Weekend Confirmed 145 - Holiday Special Part 2 - 2013 predictions

Just a reminder:

Crashmo

Hi. I've been listening since Garnett appeared on G4's Feedback a few years ago. Love the show, you folks are fun AND intelligent and make good arguments. You're at the top of my list as far as gaming podcasts go. (Here it comes...) It's a tiny little thing but... please let Andrea finish a sentence. I'm listening at the 1:07 mark when she starts talking about Dead Space and Mass Effect. Calling her a firecracker just cause (2 was a great game!) she's gone passionate about something and repeatedly interrupting her afterwards feels awkward. I'm guessing neither Andrea nor Nicole have complained about this but it feels like the gals aren't getting the same mic respect as the guys here. (PS: I'm a 50 year old male). I don't think there are any misogynists on your team, I'm not accusing anyone of being overbearing, but this is the 3rd podcast wherein I've heard the fellas interrupting the women and, maybe it's just me, but it kinda stands out. Having got that off my chest please keep up the good work and PLEASE let us know what's up with the gang from G4. I saw Sterling and Klepeck authoring magazine articles for a while but they seem to have gone off elsewhere.`

Enjoyed the show as always...but could someone PLEASE tell me the song played after the first section at 34:14, i will love you forever.. : ) Thanks.

Andrea really sort of takes the role Ryan does in the bombcast, she isn't the primary analytical or the primary story person or the primary fun (though she's close =P) But she really keeps the rest of the people on the podcast juiced and excited. Whenever she's involved there tends to be more yelling and excitement. I enjoy that =)

So, if you'll all pardon a little shameless self-promotion, I just released my new album, and you're all free to stream, download, or even remix it if that's your thing.

http://jaspertine.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-dahlia-returns-to-shyness

Just know that I'm still kind of close to this one, so if I get a bit defensive about any feedback you might have, don't take it too personally.

Though I do hope you enjoy it.

Happy new year.

Long time listener, first time posting :)

In reference to services potentially being a major differentiator between the next gen consoles...

Hulu isn't available in the UK, BBC iPlayer isn't available in the States. Will this effect the console war? E.g. Microsoft's Xbox more popular in US, Playstation more popular in Europe, purely because Microsoft got an exclusive HBO deal? (Extreme example obviously.)

How would you feel reviewing a console when country specific services could be a major factor? Would you need to limit your review to the US version?

Anyway, thanks for such an awesome show. Saturday mornings are my listening time as it's out too late to catch Friday in the UK. It's the little differences. Over here it's called The Weekend Royale with cheese.

P.S. So great to hear it's not just me that loved Kingdoms of Amalur! My game of the year (although Far Cry 3 and Borderlands 2 are biting its heels all the way to the finish line.)

Blast, I already forgot. What's the name of the iOS game they talked about? The one that sounds similar to FTL?

So I saw the FF lighting returns trailer new one... I can't help but think the story and fiction around what original 13 keeps getting further away, and its really losing any threads of continuity at all... I guess this is why there haven't been direct sequels in the series, careful what you wish for right lol!

The biggest thing the FIFA team have over the MADDEN dev team is Pro Evolution Soccer. Even if the pro evo series has lost some luster with reviewers and even old fans of the series, A lot of the improvements FIFA has had over the years have been thanks to competition. Both series benefit from having a rival game series that introduces new ideas and game play mechanics. Everything from 360 degree movement to the manual defense systems introduced in both games are results of that. Having another series they can jump ship to gives disappointed fans a lot more clout than angry message board posts alone.

Something awesome!

https://twitter.com/mouloudachour/status/285697429771280384
https://twitter.com/iamKAVINSKY/status/285692277777641472

I can not wait to see what the rest of the radio stations are. Especially if they are getting more artists to create entire ones.

Random thought: It would be awesome if Rockstar bought TellTale games, and gave them LA Noire tech to adopt into the next season of TWD, and perhaps reinvent LA Noire as a digital episodic as well.

I have decided to try to completely divorce myself from caring about other people's opinion on Wii U. I was totally against the idea when I first heard about it, but have been in love with it since I opened the box Christmas day.

The gamepad is the best controller I have ever used. All of the good bits of the 360 remote combined with an actually useful iPad for gaming. I wanted to love my iPad. As a father my time with the tv is being monopolized by my son. I can now play games like Darksiders 2 while he enjoys the shows he wants to watch.

I love the games I have for it. Sure, I could have played some of them sooner by getting them for my PS3 or 360, but I waited. I'm very glad I did.

My wife is actually playing it with me a ton. It's everything I hoped the Wii would be, but not suckey.

Is it perfect? Hell no. But it is a great system already.

I can understand anyone feeling different from me. This device is just perfectly suited for where I am in life right now.

Lastly I guess I just don't understand your guys hate of fail states to me there has to be the fear of failure for there to be success and that applies to every genre, yet for some reason it is okay in XCOM but not in a stealth game? Which is where my averse reaction to Dishonored comes in, to an extent I felt playing that game like TOO much of a badass (mostly due to the Teleport thing) which to me doesn't work with Stealth in the slightest. The odds have to be ever stacked higher the better you should be getting at the game along with your inventory, which is why games like Thief or Metal Gear Solid works so well for me.

This probably ties into a larger point that I have been thinking about which is why a whole bunch of indie games appealed to me so much more this year. I increasingly find I want and look for more pure game experiences, that lock in on what they do and knock it out of the park and games like a Dishonored or a Darksiders or a Farcry feel like melting pots of all the cool trends in video games lathered with an singular art style but with a jack of all trades master of none approach to mechanics.

Not having played Farcry 3 every problem you were laying into Tomb Raider on its character / plot / arc can be laid directly at the feet of Farcry can't they?

Yuppie white person who very quickly gets accustomed to weapons and murder from a mixture of IT IS A GAME and Magical Skill tree tattoos?

How much is the fact that Farcry 3 is open world is offsetting that from biting it in the ass? Is open world like a safe place to make a game because it can very easily default to fun?

So not to start another Walking Dead thread but something else was clicking in my head hearing people talk about how this game is the Lightning Strike that so many of their other games haven't been. First let me preface this with I have no interest in playing the game for a couple reasons and find it extremely interesting to view it from the outside.

My question is plainly how much is the success of The Walking Dead brand secretly / subconsciously buffering the reception of the game. Is the fact that the comic is on issue 100 and is one of the most successful comics of the year and that the TV show is the most watched show on TV or close to it playing into the acceptance and perhaps buffering the game some?

Did Jeff play the original Crysis? I definitely agree with his opinions on Crysis 2 -- I thought it was one of the best shooters of that year as well due to its more open-ended arena design style as opposed to all the scripted corridors. The thing is though, the first Crysis did the same thing but far better.

The "arenas" in the first game were massive -- probably bigger than anything else on consoles right now unless you count open-world games. Crysis has probably the largest set-piece levels to ever grace a linear first person shooter. Crysis 2 was a downgrade from that, and I think the problem with Crysis 3 is that we feel it's going to be a continuation of 2 rather than 1.

At the end of the discussion those guys are totally right about next gen console gaming being about services just as much as games (if not more). Honestly, I think the advances of current gen were more about services than the games themselves, at least in terms of the playing of games.

The Xbox 360's real killer app was Live. People want to stay connected to their friends on Live and that's probably a leading reason why multiplatform games sell more on 360. For a long time this gen people also constantly compared the service to PSN. Nintendo is already trying to offer its own thing with MiiVerse, which many Wii U owners have said is one of the most compelling things to do with the console. Hell, MiiVerse in itself is already a kind of gaming social network that I honestly hope Sony and Microsoft rip off.

On the show though you guys were talking about these services going across media, turning consoles into general set-top-boxes, and I think that's what they're going to have to do in order to survive.

The reason dedicated handhelds are becoming less relevant is because of other handheld devices that do damnear everything. That kind of convergence hasn't quite taken hold in the living room yet. Other people are trying with Smart TVs and other set top boxes and whatnot, and I think game consoles have an opportunity to take their place in that market.

Microsoft is totally gonna turn the next Xbox into the living room extension of Windows 8 (even though I honestly think a gaming HTPC serves the same purpose better). They might get families to buy it as an all-in-one center-of-your-living-room device that happens to play games. I'm not sure whether Sony (well, all of Sony) will get the message beforehand despite having all the resources to do the same thing.

What a surprise Christian Spicer dissing the Wii U... Just LOL.

I think people will be surprised by Nintendo strong E3. Sony and MS have been quiet ? So is Nintendo, they've been preeping HUGE games in the shadows for years. We know that Retro, Monolith and EAD Tokya are producing big Wii U games. NOT A SINGLE PS4/720 title can stop the excitement for Smash, Zelda, Metroid and Mario 3D... IN GLORIOUS HD !


By the way, 2013 games what about Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Fire Emblem, Luigi's Mansion... Some Nintendo games are coming in 2013. Just sayin...

Here in Vancity, I have a friend on the Need for Speed team who swears up and down that the CoD mindset of "we need a feature set that's as 'sticky' as CoD" applies to their games as well. Racing games.

*headdesk*

*Posted this a few weeks ago, and had the beginnings of some good discussion but kinda got overshadowed by the two-part special. Figured some people might like to join in and talk about the issues of differentiation within a crowded marketplace,etc

"343 Industries is learning the hard way, what happens when you abandon the identity of your game and the desires of your core fanbase to pursue the almighty 'Call of Duty audience'.

Halo Charts tracks the online populations of the multiplayer playlists. Unlike Microsoft's Xbox Live charts, simply playing Spartan Ops or the single-player while your Xbox is online doesn't count towards these numbers. While Major Nelson claims Halo 4 was the second most-played game on Xbox Live behind CoD last month, the real numbers show a different story:

http://halocharts.com/2012/chart/dailypeakpopulation/all

Speaking as a long-time Halo fan, my interest in Halo 4 multiplayer is cratering. And it makes me sad. The core gameplay, buried somewhere beneath the stupid leveling system, the random ordinance drops, the lackluster map design, the [seeming] abandonment of skill-based matchmaking and the culling of multiplayer modes, is still beautifully elegant, competitive and satisfying.

But it has been dumbed down, or in better words, CoDified. I don't hate CoD as much as some. I certainly don't like it as much as Halo, but I see it's appeal. It is a blindingly fast, visceral game that rewards hand-eye coordination above all else and lets players tinker with loadouts to maximize their preferred playstyle. I really do get the appeal. The problem for Halo 4, is that now it's stuck in limbo between the two games - it's not fast or visceral enough to beat CoD at it's own game, and it's no longer pure, tactical or competitive enough to appeal to longstanding Halo fans.

343i could, in theory, stop the bleeding by putting in a host of 'classic' playlists that remove ordinance, spawn weapons on the map in traditional fashion, and limit what weapons you can put in a loadout. But I think the damage is done, and I question if they're too proud to admit the direction they took the multiplayer was the wrong one.

In a genre composed 99% of CoD copy-cats Halo had it's own multiplayer flavor. And now they've tossed it aside to be another copy-cat."

I don't remember anyone saying anything about this, but I just got through the like 10 hours of Giantbomb cast for GotY 2012 and they wouldn't shut up about it. For good reason, it's incredible, and stupid, and crazy, and amazing.

http://twinbeardstudios.com/frog-fractions

Smartglass is still at the infant state. I know Jeff continues to dismiss, but I think his walled garden approach thinking influenced his thought. I think Jason was right I think services will be the big pull for the next consoles. I think the Xbox 360 was a trojan horse I think this time it will be like a basic utility. Microsoft and in some ways Sony have spent the last couple of years building up the infrastructure. Now they need to present a new front end to show off that infrastructure.

I think Garnett is right Microsoft has done a good job of centering everything around the Windows 8 UI, but I do think they have ironically dropped the ball on gaming on those other platforms outside of the Xbox.

So what game is Andrea secretly shilling for this week and not telling us about?

All the love in the world for X-comm from everyone... Ok fine, but what no love for HERO ACADEMY!!!

I'm afraid Dikembe Mutombos 4 and a half weeks to save the world was not sold correctly.
It stars Dikembe Mutumbo and his buddy Science the Bear. I'll repeat that. SCIENCE THE BEAR.
Do I have to say it again?
No?
Good.
Science the Bear.

You made me do it.

And I loved Jeffs thoughts on EAs laziness with the Madden Franchise. The guys behind Fifa really seem like they love futbol but they also have winning 11 to compete with. Something Madden doesn't have to worry about.

No love for Resident Evil 6 ?

That game was AMAZING !

People who claimed the game was unplayable LIED !

I mean you have 3 long separate campaigns. EACH one longer than the Halo 4, Specs Ops or Blacks Ops 2 campaigns ( just sayin ) !

Ok the game has some gameplay issues, but nothing that ruin the game. Dark Souls has poor controls but praised by critics, wht the double standards ?

I think Resident Evil 6 should be in the discussion.

haha! i love that andrea spends a long time defending borderlands 2 for being a great game that didn't change much, but then yells and gets frustraited with andrew about you don't know jack for being the same game and not changing how it plays.

i mean i get it, and it might be the drinks, but it was just a funny thing to happen, quickly going from defending a game for being the same, then slamming the game for being the same :)

love this podcast!

Yo Jeff, which server do you play/recommend for Tera? Starting it up out of WoW boredom...

Thanks for another awesome year of Weekend Confirmed guys. Glad the beers got to you all in time and you enjoyed the fine Australian beverages :) Have a great new years and look forward to hearing you all again in 2013!