New game releases of May 20-26
Killzone: Mercenary shoots onto Vita on September 10
Trion Worlds hit with more layoffs, Defiance team impacted
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault defending Vita next week
Game & Wario was originally going to be pre-installed on Wii U
The Last of Us digital download lets you start playing sooner
Weekend PC download deals: Borderlands 2 for $11
Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection coming to PS3 in July for $50
Madden NFL 25's $99 'Anniversary Edition' includes Sunday Ticket
Final Fantasy 8 getting PC re-release (in Japan)
Weekend Confirmed Episode 38
by Garnett Lee, Dec 10, 2010 12:00pm PSTTwo hallmarks of the season come together this episode of Weekend Confirmed. Brian got hit full force with the flu this week and is out recouperating (get well soon buddy). But this time of year always brings people together and in that spirit, joining Garnett and Jeff this week are David Ellis and Billy Berghammer. A massive show ensues. All four have been playing Cataclysm and share their different experiences both with the early and high-level content. But this isn't Warcraft Confirmed and there's more Gran Turismo 5 talk and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood to round out Whatcha' Been Playin? Your insights on the future for Modern Warfare 3 lead the Warning, where the topic of whether our expectations have risen too high for games in general. Big time game announcements in advance of the VGAs anchor the news in the Front Page.
Weekend Confirmed Ep. 38 - 12/10/2010
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Listen to Weekend Confirmed Episode 38 (player window will pop-up)
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Weekend Confirmed comes in four segments to make it easy to listen to in segments or all at once. Here's the timing for this week's episode:
Whatcha' Been Playin: Start: 00:00:00 End: 00:29:57
Whatcha' Been Playin and Cannata-ford a New Game: Start: 00:30:54 End: 01:06:03
The Warning: Start: 01:07:05 End: 01:41:47
Music Break featuring "Shake the Heartbreak" YUG: 01:41:47 End: 01:45:07
The Front Page: Start: 01:45:07 End: 02:24:42
NFL 'Tailgate': Start: 02:25:42 End: 02:34:02
Music Break this week features 44th and Filth artist YUG with "Shake the Heartbreak". It's a massive track with a serious beat, fantastic vocals, and a great drop. "Shake the Heartbreak" is available now in both the iTunes Store and from Beatport (please support the artists who generously let us feature their music each week if you like what you hear). Connect with more from YUG at his artist page and from all their artists at the 44th and Filth Facebook page.
Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest single, Small Town Hero on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page.
Jeff can also be seen on The Totally Rad Show. They've gone daily so there's a new segment to watch every day of the week!
Our Official Facebook Weekend Confirmed Page is coming along now so add us to your Facebook routine. We'll be keeping you up with the latest on the show there as well.
Comments
"That's a failure of design. You're admitting ... you're asking for some sort of sympathy because you decided to make a game of a certain style... I do not understand that; I think ... [I have] a huge amount of respect for Warren Spector, and I LOVE some of his games, but to somehow say that you should be given a pass on something that's clearly broken in your game, because you attempted something that's a hybrid of multiple styles? No! That means your game's not done, 'cause you haven't finished DESIGNING it yet! Find a design that works with the technology that you're using. Or, use different technology. Don't say, "Well, we were trying to be so ambitious and do these multiple things, so you have to give us some leeway." NO! It's almost unplayable as a platformer, which is what you freakin' do a LOT in that game!"
Wholeheartedly agreed; though I haven't played Epic Mickey, I've seen the gameplay video, and it looks really awkward to do things in the game, though it looks fun to watch things in that game. I think there should be a new mini-segment: Cannata-Stand a Bad Game. Or in this case, Cannata-Stand a Bad Developer Excuse.
What gets to me (and perhaps what wasn't read in the podcast, but what Jeff was thinking of) was the last line of the quoted statement, and then what followed it:
"What we did is try to find the best compromise in the moment and give the player as much manual control as we could. So we took the hardest problem in third-person gaming and made it harder by trying to accommodate two different playing styles.
"The bottom line is that we did the best we could given that we were not trying to make a platform game or an action adventure game, but a game where you get to decide what the game felt like moment to moment. And I will go to my grave, imperfect as it is, proud as hell of my camera team. If reviewers want to give us a hard time about it because they're misunderstanding the game we made, it's not for me to tell them that they're wrong, absolutely not. But I wish people would get it out of their head that we made a 'Mario' competitor, because we didn't."
Wow. For a slight bit of comparison, look at what happened with Final Fantasy XIV: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/66783
Out is previous producer Hiromichi Tanaka--who has decided to step down, taking "full responsibility for the game's current situation"
That's a different game, and even a different developer culture, but kudos to Tanaka for taking responsibility for problems in a game, instead of claiming that reviewers and consumers are "misunderstanding the game we made". I understand that he's defending his dev team, but he's doing it far too late in the game, as the reviewers have already spoken.
Here's hoping that Spector's next project won't be imprisoned on the Wiimote or other motion control, and won't be relegated to the purgatory of a "Here's something for kids!" game.
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