This week the regular crew of Tyler, Arthur and myself are joined by Area5.tv’s Matt Chandronait. We discuss what we’ve been playing, the importance of video in games coverage (and how it’s changed over the years), and conclude with your letters.
We’ll be doing special broadcasts — i.e. short — from E3 when we find the time, so pay attention to our twitter feeds and eat-sleep-game.com to get the latest updates.
We are also still finalizing when we’re going to do our E3 meetup, and I’ll be sending out a group email soon to those who have written to me.
Cheers,
Anthony
This week’s music, in order of appearance:
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Tags: Rebel FM
Good way to end the work day….
Man I’ve been waiting for this!
http://j.photos.cx/BALLS-6d1.jpg
Deny the leperchauns their lie of Wyoming.
is there an rss feed?
Just started listening, but Harrison Bergeron? One of my favorite short stories. Fucking awesome.
just wondering, what is the best way to contact you guys?- like the letters you read on the show
Maybe this will help the time pass until my PS3 comes.
Awesome @ Matt being on. Can’t wait to listen.
Fantastic – podcast up – my day has suddenly become much much brighter
I have to agree with Arthur’s complaints about inFamous. The “stickiness” is good in most spots, but there are some times when I just wish I could turn it off. Another related complaint is the temporary invisible walls that appear when you are on a climbable surface. Normally, it’s fine; it keeps you from diving headlong off a moving train or falling to a watery death in some platforming areas. The problem comes in when the surface is just a foot or two higher than everything around it. In a situation where it’s safe and logical to be able to step down and keep moving, the walls kick in and you have to jump down in order to go anywhere.
Overall, though, inFamous is fun, I’ve sunk at least 8 hours into it over the few days I’ve owned it, and I plan on putting in much more.
Can you imagine Infamous if the controls were less sticky? Can you imagine constantly falling from the rooftops? It’d be the most frustrating game ever.
I agree completely, which is why I can forgive the flaw. But imagine: a button that, when held, disables the stickiness on the fly. It would be awesome.
Another random problem: you can’t mount a ladder by facing it and moving towards it. You have to jump onto it. And even then, sometimes ladders don’t exhibit the magnetism of other objects, so you end up jumping around like an idiot until the game realizes that you’re trying to climb the damned ladder.
really enjoyed the book chat in the beginning. Currently, I’m reading the Alphabet Versus the Goddess by the late Dr. Leonard Shlain. A study of how the brain functions and ties this activity to the decline of female rights in post-literate societies. Heady stuff, for sure. I usually hate non-fiction but I’ve been on a non-fiction kick since reading Outliers. Talken bout b00ks iz fun!!
Was cleaning up my room as the book discussion came up and I ran across the Grand Admiral Thrawn Star Wars book trilogy. That series was freaking awesome. Timothy Zahn created well-written, entertaining page-turners with a badass villian. Wish they would’ve made those into movies.
Also looked through my Wheel of Time books. Never thought I could read 1000 pages of super dense material in less than a week until I came across that series. It was like crack-cocaine to my fragile high school mind.
Generation Kill and Blackwater are two of my favorite non-fiction pieces.
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons are also fucking rad. Never thought old school poetry and sci-fi could possibly mix that well. Still need to read the last two in that series.
Currently reading Red Rabbit from Tom Clancy. Really liking the political/espionage intrigue, though apparently most don’t like this one.
I also dug the book discussion. I myself just finished Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand a week ago. Mind you, this is a 1200 page book and I feel proud finishing it in under a trimester. To not get into the objectivism portion of the book, the story itself really grabbed me. Lots of politics, lots going on in the background that comes full circle, and one of, if not the strongest female characters ever in fiction.
Before that I had read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. That was a nice easy read that had me turning pages out of pure interest of the characters alone. The adventure is worth a read.
As of now, I’m almost done the Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. It’s great collection of short stories that focus on Indian (not Native American) culture within the United States.
After all that I dunno what I’m going to read.
I’ve also read American Gods. Anyone else who has read it will remember a certain leprechaun who was not little person size, but was huge. Shadow (the main character) has to fight him early on in the book.
Obviously to release the Resistance and Ratchet games as quickly as they do, Insomniac needs more than one team. Although Resistance: Retribution wasn’t developed by them anyway. It was developed by Sony Bend, who developed the Syphon Filter games.
Killing Floor is from the Red Orchestra team, not a SourceMod.
Yay for Rebel FM guests named Matt Chandronait!
I’m going to bed now and saving the podcast for tomorrow morning at work, but I’m stoked to hear it and I’m looking forward to hear what you guys have to say about E3 next week.
(and I’m really REALLY looking forward to the final GUN podcast to find out what the next game club nominations are. In fact, thinking about it is making my balls wet.)
Peace out
Studio Ghibli is definitely “jibbly”, if anyone cares.
Good show as usual.
Matt, if you’re reading, does the Co-op crew plan in doing anything like the “dinner conversation” shows 1up did? I thought those werre excellent, but I imagine it was hell in the editing room. I really liked the conversations between the various developers.
If anyone else reding this hasn’t seen those episodes you should check them out.
great podcast!
I really, really wanted to like Army of Two and bought it Day 1. I blew through the entire game in what feels like five hours, or less? The weapons didn’t feel anywhere near as good as they should, even if you upgrade everything. The interactions they were supposed to have included in the game are nowhere to be seen in this, at all. The game is no where near as bad as some people give it credit for, but compared to all the good 3rd person games out there…it’s hard to suggest this to anyone except people looking for cheap games. Definitely worth looking for if you want a decent co-op experience but don’t look for a compelling single player experience…and unless they fixed the multi-player lag issues, the MP sucks.
I love inFAMOUS as well, and is the most fun I’ve had in a game other than Plants v Zombies this year. There are some bugs here and there (game has actually frozen on me two times now) and sometimes the controls are annoying in some tight spots, BUT just like Fallout 3 the game overcomes it’s issues (which are monumentally smaller than F3) to make a great game. Hope it sells well.
Hating Dane Cook isn’t just cool, it’s required to not be considered an earth-shattering dipshit.
Great podcast!
God forbid people enjoy fun.
Thanks for mentioning the new album Arthur, I had no idea there was a new one out. Fuck the haters.
I know. It’s getting so bad you can’t even have a good time making fun of Dane Cook without people trying to stop you. Pretty crazy.
Really good podcast, I love it when you have guests. I kinda agree with Artur on inFamous but despite its’ faults it is still extremely fun(I guess that was the conclusion on the podcast too).
Also, you turned me on to Cave In, -thanks!
Rebel FM episode 10,294: In which we discuss games journalism, and the rise of “news” sites like Kotaku and Joystiq!! (I just assumed…)
Okay I need to see a picture of Tyler with Dreadlocks. I would pay to see that.
Specs on Tyler’s new rig?
I second this.
Also pics. And pics of the cats already. WTF.
Much love for the Harrison Bergeron reference Tyler! I’ve been thinking about that story since I read it in like seventh grade English class.
Aristotle did not write the Cave. It was Plato, in The Republic.
But if it makes you feel better, Plato probably boned Aristotle. Alot.
I wish Arthur would just stop with the defensive comments about how he doesn’t hate Sony. It’s getting really old, and it only makes it seem more awkward. Arthur clearly seems to be more interested in the 360/PC games, and he should just own up to it.
As soon as he got into his InFamous talk it was just right back to where people expect him to be. Tom Chick review, blah, blah, blah. See, certain people seem to seek out stuff like that Tom Chick review for whatever reason, and they immediately want to try and agree with him as much as possible, as if they show some sort of anti Sony cred.
Even worse, Matt chimes in to try and say “He got in trouble with Sony for the bad list he made, but what about the good list?”. Hey Matt, did you see that “good” list by chance? Are you honestly going to try and pretend that was a “good” list? The guy fucking through around the hate in his “good” list almost exactly like he did in his “bad” list. Get your facts straight before you spew the Xbot talking points of the day. Thank You.
I like the show, but I just can’t help but point out the obvious B.S on occasion.
I just have to pause and make a mid-podcast comment after hearing Arthur talk about InFamous. I haven’t played it yet myself, but plan on purchasing it some time this weekend, so I can’t actually back up or argue with any of what Arthur stated.
That said, no game is 100% flawlessly perfect and in my opinion no game will ever be. If it’s got a solid frame rate it probably has an abundance of shitty textures. If it has amazing graphics it probably has an inconsistent frame rate. The sound design may be incredible but the AI is weak. The controls could be solid but the game itself is incredibly short and offers no replay value and so on.
However, for a game that seems to be getting very favorable reviews it seems as if Arthur would rather dwell on the negatives of InFamous. The subject of scoreless reviews has been discussed on Rebel FM a lot and by Arthur’s testimony I’d venture that he has a low opinion of the game overall, but then he backpedals and says he’s played it for 8 hours over a 24 hour period, which is indicative of a well crafted game that’s hard to put down.
This is why people might think Arthur hates the PS3 and or Sony, but really I think he’s just a bit of a pessimist. Not judging you Arthur, I’m a bit of one myself.
As Chuf would put it “I’m just saying”
Negative features often have more salience. Anyone that’s looked at user surveys of anything will tell you that 98% of all feedback is “This product and/or service raped me like a retarded gay midget”. People don’t talk about things they like anywhere nearly as much as the things they don’t. That which is accepted is expected, and passed over in conversation as taken, leaving primarily the negative remarks.
This is true of pretty much every review of anything, ever. We start with an assumed ideal form, and detail the points which this particular implementation has detracted from that ideal form. “The movement is a little too sticky” – “the moral choices are borderline self-parody” – “I did not receive oral sex during the dénouement” – etc.
All I can say is I’m pretty stoked to try out InFamous this weekend and see for myself. Until then, fat penis.
I’m slightly disappointed that the segment discussing videos and their use in videogame media failed to mention consolevania/videogaiden
About the whole ‘retard’ thing. It is not like calling someone the N word or faggot. Not at all. There is nothing ‘bad’ about being gay. So there is no reason to use it as a pejorative. However, there is something bad about having some form of mental/learning disability. Do you enjoy having one? I have one, and I hate it. So when I call someone a retard, I mean it. When I call some idiot a retard, I’m saying that he functions like someone who is retarded. This isn’t a hard concept to grasp.
Comparing retard to something as disgusting as a racial slur diminishes from the historical context of the latter.
it’s an issue of political correctness I think, which is something that’s out of control in this country (USA).
Everything is overly politically correct these days and, quite frankly, I find it retardedly gay.
Just an FYI, the correct response to “That’s gay” is “It’s is not gay enough”, and then a list of a few ways it could be gayer. For example:
“Rebel FM is gay”
“It’s not gay enough, it could use more discussions about leprechaun baculums.”
This works best if your examples are random, but not quite on the level of a non sequitur; you’re trying to deconstruct their argument, not look totally insane.
Oops, this wasn’t supposed to be a reply to this comment. I must have hit the wrong button *facepalm*
I completely agree with the retard argument, as those that are mentally handicapped to the point of “retardation” most likely won’t grasp what’s being said about them and those that have disabilities like the user above generally don’t think it’s a great thing (having a mental disorder, I can empathize). And since this is the internetz, note that I’m not advocating harassing or abusing those with a mental disadvantage; please treat others the same way you would like to be treated, etc., etc.
That being said, what the hell is up with podcasting groups being worried about “retard” and then saying midget all the time? I don’t know any little people who don’t find this offensive. These people are more likely to listen to your podcast and take offense than any “retard”, so what gives? I remember the whole 1up “Anthony’s a Star Wars nut” joke where he proclaimed to have dated a female Yoda (Yaddle?- whatever her name was) and as funny as that all was it was pretty obvious it was a lie because if you had ever dated a little person you wouldn’t be referring to her as a midget. Just thought I would throw that out there since no one seems to have made this point before in any of the podcast comments I frequent (yes yes, no one cares I know).
Sorry about the PC nazi shit as I know colloquial laziness is the new PC, but I just find the (what I thought was obvious) mistake confusing for people who seem to be serious about belittling only in fun.
Thanks for the podcast though; gotta get back to work!
Jesus, now that was a “retarded” comment – saying that “those who are mentally handicapped to the point of retardation most likely won’t grasp what’s being said about them.” Hmmm, really? Mental retardation ≠ deaf. And no, that’s not a derogatory remark about deaf people.
When I worked at a pizza place all the Mexican guys that worked at the car wash across the street would come over for lunch and order Chicken SAY-ZAR salads.
I listened to you guys chat about the lack of good video in games journalism and I have some feedback.
I think what you’ve neglected to realize is that a big reason you can’t produce meaningful video is because the blog-o-culture that dominates the highly wired-in gaming community is cannabilizing any coverage that you would otherwise like to present in video. By the time a scheduled airing of “Video Game Show X” arrives, it’s full of news and information that has existed online for days and has been fed through numerous blogs, podcasts and websites directly to your target audience, cutting any anticipation directly out from under you. Why would I want to download a show, feed it through my TV, and wait through advertisements to see the same feature that I already read online, but now read aloud to me by a few pale game journalists?
It’s no secret that “exclusive” coverage drives viewership of all kinds of news programming, and gaming isn’t immune to this. I think there’s definitely hope for the idea that you spoke about where COOP may form some meaningful relationships directly with studios that will yield such exclusives as previews, but in the corporate culture that dominates the production of videogames, that is probably a bit pipe-dreamy.
Look to the film industry and the type of “exclusives” that are received in regards to upcoming releases in that realm. They’re almost all force-fed PR bullshit and are very often the type of stuff you’re talking about.
What there is certainly room for are a few things that come immediately to my mind: investigative reporting into the practices of the industry itself, higher level intellectual discussion of gaming culture and design theory, and documentary style edu-tainment features about the behind-the-scenes of game making. I’d love to see all of these things. Unfortunately, I find it hard to believe that any of these are going to sell ads and will therefor probably not make it further than the realm of fan-made passion projects.
I’ll stop thought-jaculating all over your comment section now, but this is actually something I’ve wanted to get myself involved in for a long time (because even though I’m playing devil’s advocate, I do think there is a monumental amount of potential here) and have spent many months thinking about how to approach, so I’m always interested in chatting further about it. Maybe I’ll bump into one of you at a bar next week here in my hometown of sunny LA.
Love the podcast.
Just listened to the podcast, I must say I had you guys crashing and burning after Nick Suttner left and then i figured Phil Kollar was the final nail. But you have overcome and have a semi-professional show. Personally I think your best shows (and most videogame podcasts) consist of just three recurrent member and special guests kind ruin it usually but Matt is cool.
Anyway about Arthur’s views on inFamous, fair play to him that is how he feels about it, I put it in perspective that Arthur never liked MGS4 and seemed rather mildly impressed with Uncharted so I really don’t think my tastes align much with his. I would really have liked a bit of a counterpoint from chuf as he seems to have a quite different opinion,
inFamous is hard and it’s hard in a good way. You can’t force blast everyone at once especially with civilians in the way, you pick your times. Heroes don’t indiscriminately spam their powers. Upgrade smart. Dying all the time? Increase your health! Do you want the game to obviously point out that you are supposed to electrocute this puddle or blow up that barrel? Do you want enemies that don’t flank but just stand in place a la GTA4? I sure don’t.
You said you would change the background but it is still fucking Killzone! You know you are too lazy to change it! Make it something else before you lose interest in this venture and it is Killzone forever!
Damn, you actually made me like Dane Cook a little. You bastards.
Loved the Darksaber talk. That book is a great example of Bantam era EU — the perfect mixture of pulp and cheese.
COMMENT ON EGMNOW.COM YOU BITCHES.
Cole sounds like Batman? I’d say more of a young Solid Snake without the military and gun jargon.
I’ve have heard people say both. But to me from the bits I’ve heard he sounds more like a Snake.
I think their hidden base is inside Devil’s Tower.
If y’all are looking for some interesting long-form video game vids, I highly recommend checking out the Endurance Run, over at Giantbomb. A couple of the guys there are playing from start, to possible finish Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4. They play in clips from about 12 to 60 minutes long, and have logged over 80 episodes. The MST3K-esque commentary and the fact they have no idea what the hell is going on provides some great shit.
But I will now be checking out Area 5′s Co-op, somehow it had slipped under my radar until Anthony’s oh-so-subtle plugging.
I’m sure it’s awesome, but the iTunes one isn’t working. Any word on fixing that?
Also, you should find a way to have Seanbaby on. I’m sure he’s have…a few things to say.
This happened to me with Ep. 18. I just downloaded it from here and it worked fine.
No, infamous does not use uncharted engine, and definitely does have a unique art style
Thanks for the plug of the documentary Anthony, you can find the video at:
http://bitmob.com/index.php/mobfeed/Pixellation-The-people-of-the-game-industry.html
Feel free to embed it in the show notes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil#Notes
Penis penis piss
Bit late, but regarding Star Wars Ewoks – a traumatised Stormtroopers story ——-
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8823/starwars1.jpg
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8012/starwars2.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2039/starwars3.jpg
The discussion of using video to cover games media was a good one, but I think you guys should talk about how podcasting is becoming a growing form of gaming media. Listening to the first episode of the Mobcast, I realized just how many podcasts have come out and follow the “couple of guys talking about games” formula. I also notice how more and more podcasters want to get to the top of iTunes and digg.
Just thought it would be an interesting topic for another show.
In response to your immaculate impression of Christian Bale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBOTT0tr84
Watch it. Seriously. You won’t regret it.
Where do you guys live in the Bay Area anyway?
So… Anyone gonna fill me in on this license trick they mentioned?
I really could do with authorizing some content on my second non-live 360
Retarded fat penis.
(completely un-game related)
Robin Hobb’s books are defiantly worth a look. If you liked the “Assassins” books, you need to read her “Liveship Traders” and “Tawny Man” trilogies, they continue the “Assassins” story.
Thats right, she wrote a trilogy of trilogies, and they are all awesome.
Hey, loved the show, but really liked the part where you guys talked about PC games and gaming. If you guys could briefly brag about the SLIs and gigahertz you put into your custom builds that would be super sweet.
Or you guys might go a little more in depth. Looking forward to new hardware, looking to upgrade, needing your current setups to last a bit longer until you can afford to build again? Yeah, that latter one’s my own.
Peace
Now that Assasin’s Creed 2 is on its way out, what do you think with be the time/setting of the nearly guaranteed third game?
My guess, Jack the Ripper era streets of London. Toss in some Nikola Tesla perhaps, maybe go to France while the Eiffel Tower is being built.
Lol,I love Michael Jackson! He was the best to ever sing! We will never have someone like MJ! RIP to the GREATEST!