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 Confirmed Episode 53
by Garnett Lee, Mar 25, 2011 11:00am PDTThe Nintendo 3DS arrives in Europe and North America over the weekend but Jeff and Garnett have already been playing with the new handheld for a week. Their impressions of the hardware and some of the launch games fill most of the opening Whatcha Been Playin? section but there's much more to come includine Crysis 2, Shogun 2, Mortal Kombat, and Patapon 3. Shacknews's own Jeff Mattas and good friend of the show Christian Spicer round out the cast this week and brought their A game for the Warning where the group covers game criticism, behaviorism as applied to discovery in games, and more. All that, plus this week's videogame news in the Front Page and Finishing Moves make this a can't miss show.
Weekend Confirmed Ep. 53: 03/25/2011
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If you're viewing this in the GameCenter application, you can play Weekend Confirmed Episode 52 directly.
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 Part 1: Start: 00:00:00 End: 00:29:52
- Whatcha' Been Playin Part 2: Start: 00:30:40 End: 01:01:34
- The Warning: Start: 01:02:40 End: 01:34:46
- Featured Music "All My Life" by David RuffinJr.: 01:34:36 End: 01:38:02
- Front Page news: Start: 01:38:02 End: 02:13:11
This week's Featured Music comes from the supremely talented David Ruffin Jr. In the past years, highly touted music publications such as Rolling Stone, The Source, and Rap Pages have labeled David Jr. as "talented and is up-and-coming". However, perhaps his most thrilling moment in music came when he heard a world wide, multi-platinum song, called...Gin & Juice. A Hip-Hop Classic now! A song that Dr. Dre, T-Green, Snoop, and he collaborated on and recorded together. David Jr. recently relocated to Los Angeles in an attempt to get some recognition for his latest creations. David credits his father, along with current soloist, Joe and 80s crooners, Alexander ONeal, James D-Train Williams, and the great Marvin Gaye as the major influences on his style of singing.
Pick up a copy of his new CD "All My Life" at CD Baby. You will not be disappointed. And keep up with the latest and greatest from David Ruffin Jr. on ReverbNation, facebook, and twitter.
Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest Album, The Wait is Over on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter
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!
Remember to join the Official Facebook Weekend Confirmed Page and add us to your Facebook routine. We'll be keeping you up with the latest on the show there as well.
Comments
I picked up Crysis 2 yesterday, after hearing so much praise over the game. I went in expecting a slow start, since the general consensus is that the early hours of the game are its weakest. I spent an hour playing the game before I put down the controller, grabbed Halo Reach off my shelf, and jumped into matchmaking. I was thinking to myself "I'll get back to Crysis 2 later", but I've said that about almost a dozen games in the past 6 months, and it simply never happens.
Over the course of the day, I found myself wondering about all sorts of topics that we've been discussing here in these threads for months now, as if they were all crashing into me at the same time.
Why am I constantly drawn back to a select few games, even with a stack of fresh new games sitting on my shelf virtually unplayed?
Are the top tier games THAT much better than the "very good games"? I can't help but compare Crysis to other shooters that I love, like Halo, Bad Company 2, or Gears of War. The gunplay in Crysis 2 is compitant, but not nearly as satisfying as Bad Company, nor as strategic and dynamic as Halo. Is it possible that even a game as good as Crysis 2 simply can't compete with other AAA shooters in the long run, because it simply isn't quite good enough?
Is it a matter of spare time? I do find myself feeling like 2 hours with a "good game" is time I could have spent with a "great game". This pressure often propels me to dismiss a game if I'm not completely hooked by it instantly, which I know could be considered a disservice. But hey, I have precious little time to spend gaming, and I want to enjoy that time as much as possible (geeze, I even min/max my spare time lol)
Another element that comes into play is when games like Halo Reach do such a fantastic job with their player-investment features. Reach's daily and weekly challenges keep me coming back every single day. The credit system itself would never be enough to make me play a game, but when I enjoy a game as much as I enjoy Reach, this kind of player reward system can be the tie-breaker when I'm faced with a choice between finishing Bulletstorm, or playing some more Halo.
Personally, I think I'm moving towards a situation where I will continue to play fewer and fewer different games, with a select few titles soaking up all my time.
This makes me think about Cliffy B's statement last month that the 'middle of the road' games are dying. For me, this is beginning to ring true.
Thoughts?
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 11 replies.
I feel the constant return to old "faithfuls" is due to control. Often its a game where you can lose yourself in the moment, yet because of the familiarity, are conscious with how long you would spend with them, much like 'appointment programming' on tv.
For me, my fall back has been NBA 2K11 since I'm a huge basketball fan. Despite winning the NBA title, I still keep going back on occasion knowing that I will immerse myself in the game while also being aware of how long the game will take me.
I guess the main commonality is familiarity, control, and comfort.
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