Weekend Confirmed 96 - David Jaffe, Twisted Metal

Just wanted to say in regards to Twisted Metal: I'm really excited about them bringing back splitscreen multiplayer. I think it's been long lost at this point. Why do you(Garnett, Jeff, anyone) think that is? Why does everyone focus on online mutliplayer? As was said during the show, some of people's best memories come from playing on the couch with their friends on one screen.

I was really looking forward to Dead Island, being able to play with my buddies on the couch..but then realized that it was online only...very disappointing.


Never played Twisted Metal, but am very much looking forward to this reboot!

Re: Game Reviews

We've discussed this before (about a year ago) but I wanted to take a quick poll and ask

A) how many of you guys still read reviews?

and of those who do

b) how many of you factor the reviews into your purchasing decision?


Personally, I can't remember the last time I read a full game review. With so much access to massive amounts of preview coverage, podcasts, gameplay videos, and free demos, I find that I've usually made up my mind on a given game long before it is released.

Although I dislike the nature of using a numbered rating system for game reviews, I will sometimes take a quick peek at Meta Critic before purchasing a game just to see if there are any surprises (For example, if I see Halo 4 reviews coming out with a meta-average of 6.5/10, then I know I might want to stay away).

I think that the main problem I have with game reviews in general is that my gaming habits are too completely different from the person writing the review for me to relate to their opinions. The average reviewer will probably play through a single-player campaign once, on "Normal", and dabble in multiplayer for a few hours. There is simply no way that any reviewer will get a good enough feel in such a short amount of time to tell me if the game will still be enjoyable after 100 hours of play (which is what I put in to most games).

To be clear, I'm not criticizing game reviewers.... I'm just saying that the nature of their job requires them to play and review 20, 30, or 40 games in a year. Therefore, they can't spend enough time with any one game to answer the questions I want them to.

Right back to the same old talk... Can we please just couch the future of handheld discussion for another 4 years. The 3DS has penetrated the market, and it's software and hardware numbers will only grow. Everything jaffe said about the iPad is true is a productivity device, he didn't mention gaming on it because you don't check your email, surf the web, update your twitter on a console just like you don't game on a iPad.

Let's just check back in 4 years from now. The iPhone will evolve by then and we don't even know about apples future with the loss of jobs.

The handheld talk reminds me of Tebow! Guess what nobody has any clue what's going to happen 5 years from now. What we do know the 3DS is bankable, and the vita is better off than the PS3 was to start.

Thank you Jaffe for trashing the crap from ad campaigns over the past generation. It seems like Halo 3 and Gears of War really set an annoyingly pretentious trend. Why is a game about a cartoon space soldier being marketed as the unearthed third testament of the Bible? If you want to make that serious game then actually do it.
I like Twisted Metal because it knows what it is and its willing to be that in earnest. As a result the vibe of the game is more creative and refreshing. I think its also true of the SSX games too for instance. Its like, don't try to convince me that snow boarding is a really an artistic metaphor for global warming or something---just embrace the irreverence in the fact that snowboarding is a fun thing.

So skirting the fodder I've got another little irk to speak ill of...
The new CoD maps dropped for "Elite" subscribers, all well and good, we knew this was happening. Being sucked in by it all I went to sign up, having seen the US$49.95/yr charge in all the screenshots and media. I booted up CoD, jumped into "Elite" went to purchase and.... that'll be $66.95 thank you very much.

So it would seem the Aussie's are screwed once again... anyone that cares can jump over and see the current exchange rate has the AUD worth *more* than the USD! I'd be fine if it was say AUD$5 more but $20 is just ridiculous. Get your heads out of your butts and stop using Australia to fatten your profit margins.

What director's style would you love to see used in a game? I would personally love to see Terry Gilliam help design the characters, art, and story for a game. His influences from his time spent with Monty Python (witty dialog, fantastic-realism, and voice) would make a great pairing with a developer like Double Fine. His penchant for making his stories riff on dystopian themes ripe for game design, and they also have social and political commentary that could elevate a game beyond just the usual 'save the world' malarkey. Many of the films in his cannon also have a similar visual art style which could be great when freed of the constraints of filming in the live action medium.

Spielberg and Del Torro have dabbled in game design, with Del Torro hopefully being more successful than Spielberg's failed LMNO. Tim Burton could also produce an
Interesting world for a game setting.

Who else would you like to see get involved in game development?

I've never bee interested in Twisted Metal but hold up...

four-player splitscreen?! I can map gas and brake to the face buttons?! Well I might have to check this game out just for that.

I loved how Jaffe talked about the dual shock controller feature for the Vita. I think his positions was, although it may be cool to have a list of features like, being able to use a dual shock controller and hooking Vita up to a TV, it's not something that he really wants to do.


Some gamers get real stoked when they hear a list of features (e.g. backward compatibility, able to use dual shock controller, 15 million USB ports, etc.). I get excited when I hear features that I REALLY plan to use (e.g. um..being able to play games with a dual stick configuration!).


I guess that's what it comes down to. What's important to you. Therefore, if Vita is to be successful, the challenge is for Sony to focus on the features that are most important to the largest population of their target audience. Somehow, I don't think it's a feature like being able to use a dual shock controller. It's one of those features that sounds cool when you say it...but Just like Jaffe, who really wants to do that?

Found this and the previous episode hard going. I really cant stand listening to people (especially people whose entire vocabulary comprises of some form of the F word) trying hard to sell me their game. More and more I avoid podcasts that have PR or even Dev people on. There are obviously exceptions but people like Jaffe make me constantly hit the FF button.

Jeff, quit the play and come back quick!

Great great Podcast...
One of the better "Weekend Confirmed" episodes... Only thing missing was Cannata and the fact that he was the person who kinda dogged Twisted Metal.... I really wanted to see how the discussion would go in that scenario

thanks

Alright, so I know that the whole open world debate has been going on for a while in the show, but I didn't really understand Garnett's point of view until now. I play games like Skyrim and other open world games and love the ability to choose what I get to do and whether or not I follow to main quests or just side missions, but I recently played through Batman: Arkham City for the first time(my Xbox was out of commission for a while) and found that the open world and abundant side missions only distracted me from the fantastic story line and made it more difficult to focus on what I needed to be doing. I felt that Arkham Asylum's nice fusion of a linear story line mixed with a world that has plenty of secrets, but nothing that distracted you for too long, was a more effective way of telling Rocksteady's fantastic story. Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of an open world Batman game was great and Rocksteady pulled it off much better than anyone could have imagined, but their incredible story was muddled by just too much distraction.
I feel that Skyrim can get away with this because their main story line, while good, is not as strong as the draw of its side missions, so the decision to play one part or the other is not as hard as when you have a fantastic story like in Batman when you want to see it continue to unfold.

Isn't the reason why no one makes car combat games anymore the same reason no one makes spaceship combat games? It just isn't that fun fighting in cars or spaceships versus being a humanoid and being able to turn on a dime, accerlate, jump, cover , and still use bad ass weapons?

Loved this week's episode of WC. Reminded me of one of the classic episodes from back in the 1up days. Great discussion all around. it was really interesting to hear a David's take on everything that was discussed this week as he is a game developer himself. Keep up the great work Mr. Lee and crew!

If I have to hear one more conversation about how much game reviewers hate game reviews and review scores I'M GOING TO LOSE MY FUCKING MIND. Please stfu, and suck Eurogamer's cock on your own time.

It's so easy to look at ALL games in the moment to moment and realize how boring the hamster wheel is. Garnett, I think you were being pretty reductive in your review of SWTOR, calling it essentially a game of watching timers. It reminded me of comments Jeff made reducing COD to a big game of tag
I think Dave expressed a more cohesive comment on this when he said he thought COD really relied pulling players into the metagame.


But I really want to bring into the discussion just HOW MANY games rely on a similar metagame mechanic. Besides obvious RPGs(WOW, Skyrim, League of Legends), consider open world games like GTA, Arkham City, and Minecraft, that have slowly implemented more stats and self-improvement. Then there's shooters like COD, Battlefield, and Homefront, where I think we have come to expect long-term goals outside off individual matches. I think some casual games like MafiaWars, Famville, and the Sims represent the most extreme reliance on a stat improvement, but also consider how much hugely popular sports game like Madden, NBA2k12 and how damn boring they would be(much like their real life counterpart) when you don't understand the context of the matchups and stats. Finally just consider the massive metagames of achievement/trophy systems on Xbox, PS3, and Steam.

How many of the most popular games is that? While I love many of these games, isn't it a little scary just how much this trend has grown? It was not that long ago when the idea of an MMO like leveling system in a deathmatch shooter had people in an uproar. Now it's the standard.

Here's my concern: Isn't there a danger of the trend going from devs using these systems to entertain players, to relying on a crutch to keep people playing a game that they otherwise would not find entertaining or dynamic enough. Do we want a hamster wheel to help turn an 8 hr experience into a 50 hr gaming epic and increase overall value? Or are we being tricked and all these games today are boring moment to moment (fetch quests, grinding, travel). A conflicting question...

Sure, David Jaffe, not voting is a great way to exercise political power. People always listen to the people who don't vote /sarcasm

Okay, you all know I'm going to complain about it, so take a drink now =P, but I'm pretty sure that research has shown (I wish I could link to it, but I'm really going second hand from something Chris Kohler said) that the majority of portable gaming, even on the iPad, is done at home, either on the couch or in bed.

I get that conceptually, handheld gaming systems are portable, but you guys still seem waaaay to attached to the idea of taking the thing with you wherever you go. The device and what it can do does not dictate how you integrate it into your life, you do.

On a side note, you guys seem pretty comfortable with the idea of carrying around very expensive gadgets with you all over the place. I'd never play my 3DS on a bus for fear of the bus going over a pothole or something, causing me to drop and break the thing. Between the system itself, and the sizable library of eShop games, that's a good chunk of money down the toilet, and I'd have no one but my idiot self to blame for it.

I can see why Jaffe is worshipped by himself and gamers, same reason why gamers will never be taken seriously.

Vita seems to have Sony in the same boat as the psp. They just don't have enough handheld/portable consumable games as they make console based games for the device.

Never heard Jaffe speak before, not sure I want to again, jesus christ every word out of his mouth is fuck.
And then listening to how he plays games, he reminds me of the typical xbox live teenager, don't think I'll bother even trying the new Twisted Metal game.. He sounds like someone stuck at the age of 13

Whoa Mike's not at Kotaku anymore, since when?
In any case I'm kind of disappointed that Jeff couldn't make it to butt heads with David.

Thank god for Jaffe, someone who unabashedly makes action games and can articulate why they matter. Great, great episode.

A little more info on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012.

The section in particular reaffirms a presidential power given to the office in a 2001 Authorization for Use of Force bill signed after 9-11 (so it was already a presidential power).

While the bill was still in committee, before the Senate voted on it, the White House protested the controversial section in an executive statement saying, "The Administration strongly objects to the military custody provision, which would appear to mandate military custody for a certain class of terrorism suspects... Moreover, applying this military custody requirement to individuals inside the United States, as some Members of Congress have suggested is their intention, would raise serious and unsettled legal questions and would be inconsistent with the fundamental American principle that our military does not patrol our streets." He also threatened to veto the Senate version of the bill.

Faced with veto proof majorities in the house and senate, for him to nix the entire defense spending bill (becoming the first president to do that) over a power that another act a decade earlier already granted him, would have been politically foolish. He would have pissed all over a Senate that barely functions as is and a House that is actively working against him on everything from healthcare reform to ordering lunch, making anything in the future THAT much harder. He also would have given up any power to make any lasting comment about the bill, at least now it has his signing statement attached.

So far, several bills have come out from both sides of the aisle to pull the text from the bill, none have any chance of passing.

Yes, you can blame the President for signing the bill, BUT, do not let the hundreds of members of Congress get off scott-free.

So, Mr. Jaffe has every right to not contribute to anyone, to not vote for anyone, or to vote for the other side, but he should do that knowing all the facts.

"I'm making the face because I have to fart." - David Jaffe, 2012