Weekend Confirmed 152 - Aliens: Colonial Marines, Ni No Kuni, Fire Emblem: Awakening

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Demo is out now!

Rvancetal, I'm looking at you! ;)

There is only one appropriate response when a girl you are sexually attracted to says she just wants to be friends.

"No thanks, I have enough friends."

Accept that being friends with this girl is not what you want.

Accept that there is no way for a relationship of any kind to work unless both partners are getting what they want out of it.

Accept that taking the pressure to impress off yourself, and putting the pressure on her (you can take a chance or you can lose everything - attention, affection etc), puts you in a position of power rather than a pitiful position of groveling.

Accept that, at the stage of the relationship you have, this woman is interchangable and completely replacable by any other woman of similar attractiveness. She is not special. She is not the one. She's just another girl, and one that apparently isn't interested. There is no shortage of women out there to make you forget about her.

So apparently Sony learned nothing from the PS3, and sixais. Lets release a half-cocked controller that doesn't do what the competition does but is intrusive... Seriously a touch screen without a screen!!! F-ing lame, as a vita owner let me tell you the worst feature of the vita... I just did;)

As for the PS4 I guess the only thing that would have excited me was a outstanding price. As is a bunch of "ok middle of the road games" not really a selling point sure they'll be fun. I really enjoyed motor storm, but these aren't "Elite" titles.

The blizzard news was cool, and probably the biggest news from the conference. Everything else was non exclusive aka destiny or just not exciting.

I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Nintendo jumped on the 3D bandwagon. 3D has been a pet project of that company on a number of occasions. According to an Iwata asks, former company president Hiroshi Yamauchi was particularly keen on the idea of objects popping out of the screen.

The glasses-free tech used in the 3DS screen was originally prototyped as an add-on peripheral for the GameCube, and the original Luigi's Mansion was compatible with the device, though the add-on itself was scrapped because screen resolutions at the time were not where they needed to be.

And of course, even before that, you had the Virtual Boy, and before that even, there were some first-party famicom games (or possibly just one, I might be misremembering) released only in Japan that came with shutter-glasses.

I'm sure that the sudden popularity of 3D bolstered the crap out of their E3 hype, but I'm sure design of the hardware was not a reaction to 3D being trendy at that moment.

...

That said, to say that it's now a vestigial feature is spot on. Not to be Mr. Itoldyaso, but I had a feeling from the get-go that this would end up being the case. There were some among us, I daresay, who maybe let their imagination run a little too wild with how 3D tech could be applied to games. In reality, it mostly just looks neat, and that's all it really needs to do. Designing games to be dependent on 3D severely limits the kinds of games you can create.

While I agree with more or less everything Jeff said about Fire Emblem, the way in which it was discussed is a pet peeve of mine in video game coverage.

I think that Jeff has an overall positive response to this game. But he spent a disproportionate amount of time talking about how bad it is at certain things.

To break it down:

Roughly 40 seconds spent on a basic description of the game.
3 minutes talking directly about how bad the story and presentation is.
1 minute talking about how Ni No Kuni and Valkyria Chronicles are better than Fire Emblem
1 minute talking about how JRPGs in general and Fire Emblem specifically, are bad with story.
And then a bare 1.5 minutes talking about what he actually liked about the game.

Now, as I said, I don't disagree with the substance of what was said. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't talk about the things that don't work in a game. You absolutely should. What I'm saying is that the way you talk about a game should reflect your overall impressions. If you think that the game is awesome and you dig it and the bad story presentation is a minor issue, then the ratio here should be flipped. 90 seconds talking about why the story didn't work and then 5 minutes talking about what you loved about it. The way that it was discussed makes it feel like the story is a HUGE problem with the game because of the amount of time devoted to it, despite the fact that you do say that it is an awesome game.

To be clear, this is not something that is specific to Jeff. I see it all over games coverage. Particularly in podcasts where people are speaking extemporaneously. And I understand that it's an unscripted conversation, so these things happen. All I ask is that you try to think about this from time to time.

Thanks.

F-Zero for 30 cents!

WOOOOOOOOO!

Jeff Cannata wanted a YouTube video of Nikole's Pokemon summary. VGSandwich's Nick Bristow delivered:

http://youtu.be/Wg23aEvBeMo

Epic stuff! Visit his site at VGSandwich.com and follow him on Twitter at @rbristow!

"Scottish brogue"

How do people still get these accents mixed up? Drippy has a Welsh accent. :)

Best gaming date imho.

Borderlands (1) and a bottle of single malt whisky. So. Much. Fun.

Hey jeff

I'm catching up on a backlog of episodes. Just wanna say good job on the episode you hosted. It was completely lacking ... completely lacking in the 'main host is gone so this episode is gonna be boring and awkward' department. Seriously, top job. If Garnett ever goes away the podcast is in safe hands.

Why was Garnett so insistent on defending Fire Emblem? Jeff's points were valid and not unreasonable in any way.

Jeff, I can't believe you talked about Fire Emblem on a Valentines Day episode and made absolutely no mention of the marriage system. I assume you haven't played that far into the game because it was such a painful missed opportunity. Pity.

Best romance advice on the show, was Ariel. When she essiantialy said if you buy your woman a gaming gift for V-day you essiantialy stupid!!! So true and so funny:)

First comment... long time listener. Thank you for the 2 hours of entertainment each week! I routinely listen in the car to pass the time.... I was digging the love advice this week. It inspired me to share a short awkward story.

So I never told this girl that I liked her. I was attempting to just be friends with her, which was difficult, she was pretty, and super cool. So to come to terms with this I turned to google for advice on how to deal with my situation. how to just be friends with a girl you like... or something along those lines. One day we were working on a project on my macbook and she saw my recent google search! Awkward moment to say the least. I regret not telling this girl how much I liked her, and not properly managing my search history.

In his case I would ignore her, hope that she missed me, and decides that she likes me enough to sleep with me to keep me around. Maybe not the best advice, just what I'd do.

Alright so about poor dude and the girl that just wants to be friends... Jeff and the girls are right, and Garnett had bad advice... However, Garnett was right get some flowers and say to

"I know you don't want to be with me, but these are for you because you are so....(whatever word you wish to use to say beautiful)." Then in the most manly way you can say "you know my number give me a call when those other losser let you down like they will." Then walk away and be polite if she wants to talk but start searching for someone else whole damn barrel full of fish in the world son enjoy it.

so the discussion on Aliens being servicable versus broken really breaks my brain. i thought all of the gaming world had just given up on having games that work all the way through. I mean you guys did give Skyrim the game of the year nod. That game was straight up broke on PS3 and essentially remains broke even with 3 DLC packs out, none of which work yet on PS3. Caveat your opinions all your want but there are few in the review industry that can stand on busted buggy games effecting review scores with the madness of the 2011 game of the year stuff out there.

I mean it's not like we aren't going to give Gearbox a pass when the next Borderlands DLC comes out or they announce their next game. Cause we are. Regardless that it will be built on the broken corpse of Aliens.

The mismanagement of Aliens: Colonial Marines is a crying shame.

There's no doubt that the Aliens universe and aesthetic has been plundered by the gaming industry to such an extent that everything that once made it unique seems par for the course, but I still think a game that pays tribute to what makes Aliens great could be fantastic and stand out.

I think the problem that developers (and publishers) continue to fall into with Aliens games, is the fact that Cameron's action set-pieces are the moments that stand out in the film. And with good reason, they're brilliant. So devs and publishers focus on recreating the feeling of those moments first and foremost. That's why every damn Aliens game has to have a loader battle with a Queen (or some other large alien). But the reason they have so much weight, and are so satisfying, is because he takes the time to set them up with mood and suspense.

You don't see an Alien for the first act of the movie. When they do attack it's have dozens of minutes of tension, with nothing but the beeping of the motion tracker in poorly-lit hallways. When they close in on the marines in the base, it's not a frontal assault, the fear comes from the fact taht everybody knows they're coming but they don't know where the hell they are or how they're getting in. By the time Cameron dials things up to 11 for the final act, the tension explodes into catharsis and we, the audience just want out. Just get me the fuck off this planet, I can't take it anymore!

THAT is the mood they should go for. The tension and suspense that builds into the big fire-fight, not one long, extended fire-fight. The awareness that they're out there, coming for you, but not knowing how many or where they're going to come from next.

Technology is also an issue. The aliens are scary partly because of how they look, but mostly because of how they behave. They're smart. They stalk, they flank, they communicate with each other and work together. That's what makes the notion of being trapped on a planet with hundreds of them terrifying, they're not some stupid animals. The AI needs to reflect that, and I'm not sure we're at the point where it can.

Aliens deserves a great game. If only because modern game design owes as much to James Cameron for Aliens as it does to Shigeru Miyamoto for Mario.

I was wondering, on the Aliens:CM discussion, i would really love to hear everyones opinion on embargo's and how "games journalists" have an obligation or not to consumors to giving them the scoop or story about such a bad game.

i know people can wait for reviews to buy, but when lied to by demo's (supposedly) where does it fall on the journalists to break embargo or to go out of their way to warn consumors who have pre-ordered under false pretenses.

it's an interesting topic but i dont think any site could talk freely for fear of losing first looks demo's and other media from game companies. is games a place for a more consumor oriented investigative journalism before the fact instead of after the fact like the whole aliens thing.

i know a lot of games journo's tweeted ambigous warnings, but people like my buddy who works and doesn't pay attention as much, had pre-ordered aliens months back, and had no clue until it was to late and he had brought it home and began playing it.

Hahaha, Cannata freaking out about text display speed brings up memories of the Deadly Premonition review.

I loved Ni No Kuni. It is easily the best JRPG of this gen for me. However, my one major gripe with it is that it is VERY hand holdy. It is like a great rpg experience was wrapped into a children's/first time rpg'er experience.

I'm 32... I almost passed on the game b/c it looked to cartoony for me initially. Still, I didn't mind the presentation once I actually started playing and I found myself looking forward to progressing. But it would have been a more enjoyable experience if I was forced to discover the solution to some of the quests and environmental puzzles. In most cases, the game tells you what to do before it even gives you a chance to try. I thought the broken hearted quests were going to be really cool before I realized they were going to be spoon fed to me each time.

I'm not down on the game... like I said, it's my favorite JRPG this gen, and the only one to compel me to want to finish. Last gen I finished nearly every JRPG I played... so it is clearly one of the best for those that enjoy the genre. I just hope if there is a sequel, they will allow the gamer to discover solutions more on their own.

I really enjoyed hearing Ariel go into Star Ocean: Last Hope cause that just happens to be in my backlog as well!

Best Date Game Ever:

Bubble Bobble

Jeff's rant about the text in Nin No Kuni happening to slow and the need to press x to speed it up made me think of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxyhfiCO_XQ

As for the 'friend zone' comment, I would say dude needs to not let it phase him at all. I'm not sure how old he is... but eventually, you end up getting so much ass that it's hard to care about the ass you didn't get.

Plus, I had two different cut buddies who initially only wanted to be friends... one from high school ended up being one of my regular 'no strings attached' homegirls later on in college; one of my favorites actually. And one from college turned out to be one of my best friends who I was later able to share everything with... including what I'd wanted in the first place.

Love isn't love until it's returned just as freely as it's given... in the mean time, there are other girls out there whose tastes match what you have to offer, they're just waiting for you to find them. I went through a lot of girls in my youth, until my relationship of the last 4 yrs. You can't force love. When it's real, it'll be obvious.

YES PLAY WORLD OF TANKS!!!
Garnett, Jeff, play world of tanks, its probably the best sim-style vehicular combat game ever made. Wargaming knows how to get past all the bells and whistles that fill up modern games and deliver on a pure gameplay level.

Let me explain the game for those who don't know, because until I got into it I thought it was WoW with tanks. Nothing could be further from reality. WoT is nothing more than a 15 minute tank battle with very simple objectives and no respawn. What makes it special is the complexity of the damage modeling and physics combined with the slow, realistic pace (and lack of silliness like jumping). The simplistic damage modeling in most games means that every enemy you fight is basically the same box with the only variable being the number of hitpoints. Not so in WoT. The exact armor layout of the tank you are shooting, the precise point on the armor you hit and the angle of your shot is critical for determining the damage you do. The result is a skill-based game that isn't all about reflexes and button-pressing.

Its actually more of a "stealth" game. You'll spend more time hiding in bushes in WoT than you ever have in any stealth game. It uses a sort of abstracted spotting system where enemies are either totally invisible (unspotted) or totally lit up and visible, even through walls (spotted). Much of the strategy revolves around spotting and hitting the enemy while remaining hidden and protected yourself. But its more more complex than simply hiding behind cover like in most games. You can safely expose parts of your armor if you get the angles right.

Maybe the most important thing is that I find the games much less repetitive rinse-and-repeat than your typical shooter like BF3, CoD, TF2, etc. The huge variety of tanks in the game, the endless number of positions and emergent situations you can get into, the excellent maps. I think the lack of respawns may be a big part of it feeling less repetitive. You are never in a situation where you are just dying and running back to the same spot over and over for 30 minutes, which seems to happen in every other multiplayer shooter.

Incidentally, Mechwarrior Online is basically the exact same game but with mechs. If anyone knows of any other similar games I'd like to hear about it.

It seems to me like Nintendo's communication on the Wii U should be as easy as having a commercial like this:
_______
Scene opens on the image of someone in a den playing a game on their TV using the Wii U tablet.

Sister/Wife/Mother walks in and says that their show is on.

Gamer says, "Sure thing," and then switches the gameplay to the pad only.

Sister/Wife/Mother puts on their show and sits down while gamer continues to play.

Roll Nintendo logo and end commercial.
_______

On the games front, I have more than enough coming out for the next few months to keep me entertained. I have faith we will see more announcements. It seems like a pretty standard launch to me.

What worries me more is the press reaction to every new console these days. "It is dead on arrival." " Is the 'insert game console here' dead already?" Blah blah blah blah.

Look, I think the console business has changed, for sure. I think the days of anyone having a Wii-like success on day one are over. There is too much competition, the economy is bad, and console launches are always not the best time to buy a console. I think people have learned that waiting nets you cheaper consoles, more games to buy, and a richer community to play with.

To me, the PS3 price controversy and subsequent rapid drop in price was the beginning of the end of normal console launches. There was so much hype, hysteria, and prognostications of doom and gloom. Who wants to have to fight Ebay dealers buying consoles up just to sell them online for a greater profit? Not me!

I don't see myself getting on-board with the next Xbox and PlayStation until at least a year after they launch, maybe longer if they do not have a tablet remote like the Wii U. It has revolutionized my gaming time. While I know many people playing games aren't in the situation that makes Wii U the best device for gaming, but I am a father and a husband and only have a little time to game. This has allowed me to game more than I have in a long time.

I think all the people moaning about Wii U sales while hyping PS4 and Durango will be doing the same thing for those consoles sales-wise once they release. It is a sad thing, but just where the world is right now.

So something stuck with me and I am curious what everyone thinks.

When Jeff was talking Ni No Kuni and mentioned that the story in an of itself was good enough to be a film it got me thinking. Is it possible / right to judge a video games story without taking into account the entire experience including the game bits? Does it matter how good the story is removed from the game because that is a case that will never happen?

I want to say I enjoyed the podcast and I listen every week, but is there a way to turn down Nikole's mic a little? I use headphones and her voice is very loud compared to others. I'm not saying this to be mean or anything, but she does get into the conversation and it sounds like she is yelling into the mic. Again I'm not saying this to be mean, but wanted to put this out there.

As far as I'm aware...chain whips and gun swords are real things, but there's no evidence of a touch sensitive self destructive alien being spotted.

Someone listen to this for me and see if Nikole answered my question from the previous thread. I don't really want to listen for an hour to it to find out.

so... is lost story supposed to be last story or lost odyssey?