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Weekend Confirmed 70 - PixelJunk lifelike, Bastion, Space Marine
by Garnett Lee, Jul 22, 2011 11:00am PDTGarnett returns and brings back with him tales of a trio of PixelJunk games. He got to play lifelike and demystifies its creative approach to interactively remixing music. He also got some more stick time with Sidescroller and a peek at the just announced Monsters for social networks. Jeff snuck off to Comic Con but he'll be back next week with a full report. Xav and "Indie" Jeff, though, bring plenty of their own ammo to Whatcha Been Playin, including Bastion and the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine. Some of your thoughts on the nature of online shooter players sparked the conversation in the Warning and Xav brought a "fat stack" on news for the final segment. And it all wraps up with Finishing Moves.
Weekend Confirmed Ep. 70: 07/22/2011
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If you're viewing this in the GameFly application, you can play Weekend Confirmed Episode 70 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: 00:29:37
- Whatcha' Been Playin Part 2: Start: 00:30:11 End: 01:00:09
- The Warning: Start: 01:01:14 End: 01:31:58
- Featured music I Come to Shanghai - "Eternal Life Volume 1 Track 1" Start: 01:31:58 End: 01:35:38
- The Front Page news: Start: 01:35:38 End: 02:11:37
This week's featured music comes from the excellent sophomore effort by I Come to Shanghai. Robert Ashley, host of the excellent A Life Well Wasted podcast, and Sam Frigard put a ton of love into their new work, titled "Eternal Life." It's available now on the official I Come to Shanghai site as a 320 kbps mp3 for the amazing price of whatever you name. Yep, you decide how much to pay them for it. Or, for hardcore audiophiles, a lossless FLAC version is available for $8 from their bandcamp page.
Eternal Life Volume 1 is actually the band's third recording. Their second was lost to technical gremlins and statistically improbable disasters. Volume 2 of Eternal Life is currently in the works and should be out soon.
Help Garnett's brother Andrew on his donation drive to ride for Children's Hospital. If you can, please give him a hand in supporting a good cause.
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 delriomusic.
Jeff Cannata 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!
For more information on the Play for Japan Charity Album, visit the group's official site.
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
Also, please stop clearing your throat into the mic. Seriously, http://www.ricola.com
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Was wondering if anyone on the Podcast, for reasons OTHER than related to work (reviewing specifically) ever plays the same game on both console and PC simultaneously?
I ask because the idea of doing that seemed ludicrous to me even as recently as a few months ago but in the past month, I finally started to dig into the amazing Batman: Arkham Asylum game on PS3....and on PC. I found myself switching back and forth originally due to the shinier graphics on the PC version and the enjoyment of watching the action up close but I also played on PS3 because sometimes it's fun just to sit back on a couch and feel relaxed and less engaged while playing - and because the game does just feel a tiny bit more appropriate with the gamepad, in my opinion.
But as I played both further along, I realized that there was a significant benefit of sorts to this unusual gaming behavior: I was catching Riddler puzzles and things I'd missed in whichever platform I played on to catch-up to the previous platform. Obviously most of it had to do with having a familiarity with handling previous events that allowed me a bit more of an open eye, if you will, towards the extra secrets. But I also found that on the PC, due to the detail level and close engagement with the screen, I was missing a lot less than on the PS3.
I just think it's an interesting topic for discussion. I'd love to hear what other gamers and the podcast crew think about this sort of thing.
Am I utterly mad? :)
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If they are, is that such a bad thing? I know that gamers are upset about Nintendo "abandoning" them, but what if it is for the good of the industry? Microsoft and Sony had all but forgot about the kids too young to play Halo and Killzone until Nintendo reminded them. And without a renewing fan base games would eventually die out. I know the Wii isn't for me. Hell, I know the Wii-U isn't for me. That doesn't mean it doesn't serve a vital role. If it gets younger kids playing games, and that means we will have games around for a long time to come. I am not only fine with it, I'm happy about it.
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What games would you LIKE to see delayed from the holiday season to next year. For any reason, whether it's because you don't think it will be ready/polished, because you think it will get overlooked, or because you just won't have the money to buy it.
Here are a few of mine:
RAGE - This is the first legit Id Software game since Doom 3. This should be an event release, the one the month is built around. Instead, it's probably going to get lost in the shuffle somewhere between BF3, MW3, and Bethesda's own Skyrim. A gorgeous, huge single-player shooter, it's success could breed more of the same.
Space Marine - Releasing two weeks before Gears of War 3, the HUGE shooter brand that you're most likely to be seen as cheap imitation of (regardless of how untrue that may be). I'd love to meet the marketing whizz that made this decision. Oh, it's also releasing on the same day as Resistance 3, just in case you thought it had a window on PS3. SMH
Ghost Recon Future Soldier - I'm not sure if this has been delayed yet or not, but it should be. By all accounts it was looking pretty rough last time anybody saw it. As a fan of the series, I'd rather wait and let them polish up the product than have a shitty product release, just to get ANNIHILATED by BF3 and MW3.
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Infinity Ward have been developing the good games (Modern Warfare Series) and use their own engine.
Treyarch are doing the IMO not so good games (World at War, Black Ops) and use another IMO inferior engine.
I completely agree with Xav BLOPS is totally uninteresting. Xav what you should do is go back and try some Search and Destroy in Modern Warfare 2.
I don't think Treyarch ever had a full confidence in their multiplayer mode compared to infinity Ward that's why they always included the (IMO pretty decent) zombie mode.
the reason that BLOPS isn't fun is thanks to a less smooth game engine than what the MW games has.
There are definitely shortcommings in the MW2 games compared to BLOPS but in the fun department there is absolutely no competition IMO. MW2 wins hands down.
//Niklas
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Class based? Awesome.
Quake-like? Awesome.
Chaos Marines? I'm in!
So I checked out as much video as I could find about the game and now I only have one thought.
FUCK!
This game looks amazing, the multiplayer looks super fun and addictive. But it's coming out 2 weeks before Gears of War 3, which all my friends are going to be playing and I myself am likely to be addicted to (competitive multiplayer AND objective-based Horde mode).
Stupid THQ. Just stupid. Delay this a few months, and it would have a chance to develop it's own cult following, instead of being destroyed by Gears of War 3...and Resistance 3... followed by BF3....followed by MW3.
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If there is someone to blame for the lack of sales of both of these tiles I would name; first their publisher; second, the games PR team for not getting a cogent message out selling these titles to gamers; third, the game developers for not making them a bit more full-featured; fourth, the press, for not helping these titles get more attention (which really goes back to the PR team again.
I would put the responsibility of gamers last. But, there is no accounting for taste, and who is really to blame when obviously the message on these games was not effectively communicated.
Child of Eden, despite the critical praise, is a very short game that suffered from a nebulous inital showing.
Shadows had pretty negative preview coverage and most reviews jumped on the "Suda 51 can't make well-rounded games" rail. Also, multiplayer probably would have helped round out the package.
There are a TON of reasons why both games didn't sell! I bought BOTH though.
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Last night, I ran through Super Mario Galaxy with my mate, increasing my star count from 39 to 110. I had a blast with it and I'm definitely looking forward to getting into SMG2 once I've hunted down those last 10 stars. My only criticism of that game is the backtracking on the same levels, especially for the Daredevil and Purple Comets. I know those challenges are optional and aimed at the hardcore platformer completionists, and 120 stars isn't required to complete the story, but I would have liked to see them go bat-shit crazily creative with all the mechanics in new galaxies and on new planets.
I've also just been promoted to Vice in LA Noire, and I'm having so much fun with that game. I find a joy in simply driving around that city and admiring the architecture. That's not to say the main story isn't fun. I'm really enjoying the slower pace of the adventure style gameplay, and when the adrenaline does kick in through gunfights, foot and car chases I find it really exhilarating. My favourite element has to be the interrogations though. The thrill from successfully nailing a suspect by backing up your accusation with evidence is really fun.
I've just started Alan Wake and Okami as well. Both aren't doing a great job of compelling me to play more, but I'm going to give them more of a chance to grab me. I'm slowly going through Ilomilo a couple of puzzles at a time, and so far it's very charming, challenging and whimsical :)
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Why if a movie is based on a novel do they follow the story because that's what the fans of the novel want to see. Not a movie based on characters with names from a book. Imagine if you will if "Willow" was decided to be called "lord of the Rings" because someone grabbed the movie licenses for this popular book. Would lord of the rings fans be happy... No, but gamers are expected to be with movies like resident evil and tomb raider (granted those fair decent but think of all the bad movie based games).
Treat game movies like novel or comic movies, don't take the games story put and just keep the names. If hollywood does that they might find alot of success in game to movies.
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Anyway, it just got me thinking of games going all downloadable, and companies possibly moving to digital only distribution. I started thinking that this might be a negative thing for gaming, at least at first, since the 'casual gamer' might not pick up games that are only available on PSN/XBox Live. The mom buying games for her kids can't go to a store and browse, and slow internet connections might put many people off as they are unwilling to wait hours for a download. What do you think, will digital only distribution hurt the industry by making games less accessible in terms of purchasing them?
I'm also one of those people who loves having my collection on the shelf for everyone to see...
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1) Games are a Game!
When we think back to older video games we think about mastering repetition. The real fun in the game wasn't the story, but rather how you could master the controls to get a higher score or proceed to the next level faster. Although today's technological advances have allowed us to present a compelling story, the challenge remains the same: Get better at the controls and game design to advance and take on more difficult interactions (from a story perspective: you're overwhelming and climatic bosses.) So the end usually comes right around the time you are able to orchestrate the controls in such a way that you feel like the protagonist and yourself are one.
...So what does all that have to do with change? Well this. When making a game we are ok with you changing the Story and making it as outlandish, or adult, or childish as you like. Just don't change up the controls outside of these set few styles. After all, for gamers, the quicker we can master the controls, the more fun we're having!
2) Same Same Everywhere the Same
I’ll make this one fast... Humans are creatures of routine; we like to consume media routinely to help us enjoy our regular daily/weekly/monthly free time. Since we don't want to watch/play/read the same thing every day we like to have variations in our content. You see the idea of variations and routines is strange when you think about it. We want more of the same, but change a couple settings and plot points.
Change Cole Back!
Kill WoW, Kill Wow (give me something just like it, but a little different to replace it with... for a while...)
"I don't care if you do horse porn... You're still Harry Potter"
Weekend Confirmed used to be so awesome, and (imho they're still Awesome) - Anyone saying otherwise is just mad because this podcast hasn't changed and stayed the same enough for them.
...These are opinions, not all are mine...
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Have games ever become less enjoyable for you as a result of a change in your gaming habits?
I'll give a broad example. I enjoy JRPGs a lot, especially on handhelds as of late, but I've found myself playing them very differently than I used to. When playing through Final Fantasy 6 for the first time, I never really got discouraged at any point because I knew that if a boss or dungeon was too much for me, I always had the option to swallow my pride and go kill angry bees or zombies or whatever for a little while, gain some levels, spend my newly acquired cash on some extra supplies, and try again when I was a bit stronger.
More recently, however, I've found pride getting in the way of doing that. After all, out-levelling a boss is the weaksause way out of a situation, it's "supposed" to be about you against the odds, using wits and strategy rather than just making yourself strong enough to absorb damage and spam overpowered attacks.
On the one hand, what used to be a low-impact, chilled-out gaming experience became something filled with lots of tense moments punctuated by brief periods of extreme excitement and satisfaction.
On the other hand, any point, at any time, and in any game, if the balance or difficulty curve isn't just right, it pisses me off! I'll bang my head against the same boss over and over again, losing every time, and feel insulted at the insinuation that, hey, maybe I could manage this fight if I were level 32 instead of 30. Meanwhile, if a battle is too easy, then the absence of strategy starts to annoy me and I start to feel like I'm just sinking time.
I feel like I can appreciate these games on a deeper level now, but at the same time, I'm just not having as much fun when I play them. More notably, I find myself getting increasingly cynical about this genre that I used to love, games that don't meet an exacting standard are much less appealing to me now. So, in the future, I plan to try and reverse this trend and recapture the fun, if that means being "worse" at games, and maybe it won't, so be it.
Have any other shackers ever fallen into a rut like this?
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When Riccotello came into EA, he was all about creating great new IP and creating partnerships with developers. He basically sold investors on the idea that EA's fortunes were decreasing because their IP was getting stale and the content wasn't as good as it could be.
Now I personally think he was right. But introducing a ton of new IP in the middle of a generation, when it's going to be fighting for consumer dollars against Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, God of War, is a very difficult proposition. And EA didn't help themselves by releasing games before they were REALLY polished to AAA quality (Army of Two, Mirror's Edge) or sending them to die in the middle of the holiday season (Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, The Saboteur, etc).
So the plan didn't work, or at least didn't pay immediate dividends to investors and EA lost a ton of money. So then Riccotello, either because he legitimately believes it or just wants to save his job, convinces the investors that EA's future would like in a streamlined portfolio of known IPs and tons of casual games.
So now you have EA doing their best Activision impersonation. BF3 is their CoD, Star Wars is their WoW, and they also have Need for Speed, Mass Effect and their sports titles.
The problem is that some partner titles like Shadows of the Damned and Bulletstorm, were signed before the change in direction, so EA was obligated to publish and distribute them. So they did... only they did so spending as little effort and money as possible as they geared up for the release of BF3, which they're basically hoping to float their entire fiscal year.
Had EA opted to introduce new IPs toward the beginning of a new generation, when there's less brand power in the marketplace, then I think Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Mercs 2, The Saboteur, Bulletstorm and all the other partners games - including Shadows of the Damned - would have done better and given EA what they originally wanted: a new portfolio of bankable IPs to grow their revenue.
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Here's a good example of its sampling abilities in the Beardyman routine "Unshaved", where he has four KP3's and a Kaossilator Pro, among other instruments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnl1R2dUiD0#t=9m15s
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Zynga's games are of that same vane. To me, Garnett gets angry at the simplistic nature of the game and the design of it from a hardcore gamers standpoint. Zynga has said though, most recently at GDC last year, that their games are not for hardcore gamers. Their games' audience are women. To be even more specific their games' audience are women who watch soap operas. So getting angry at that game would be like a heavy metal music listener venting about how much he hates opera music. It may be bad but it wasn't made to appeal to him in any way, it was made for another audience.
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