I gave up on the reticule turning white in Max Payne 3(PC) I thought it was glitched. Like I said earlier I would aim about the head, mostly in bullet time, for the red mist/cloud to appear. 2/3D's of the time they were done..not always, but mostly. I liked the game but it was brutal. I liked or accepted most of what Rockstar did, but I am leery of their predilection for working the graphic violence line. Becomes a thing in itself with them.

Really glad to hear Vinny giving Binary Domain some praise. I think that game is great, sadly overlooked, and got a a bit of a raw deal in the Quick Look.

To clarify about the QL, I think the game's opening does not make a great impression and I agreed with it at the time. However, as the game goes on, finds it's pace, and develops it characters a bit more - it becomes endearing, for lack of a better way of putting it. Had the QL been a bit further in, I think the guys would have been more positive about it.

Also as as Vinny said, Sega has surprisingly done right with their continued support of the PC version (even after I imagine it didn't sell that well) and it's actually a well done port at this point - especially for a game from a Japanese game company.

@Marokai: Some of the Dance Central and Fitness games do work quite well, but I do agree that Kinect hasn't been proven as worthwhile. I'm not sure they'll pack in a more powerful Kinect into the next xbox, but it wouldn't be a bad thing if 2-3 years into the next cycle we see a more improved version.

I think the real problem with Kinect is that Microsoft has to push/fund/publish all of the Kinect titles themselves so they all end up being too reliant on the Kinect (remember Microsoft's whole "no controller, you are the controller bs"). Good developers don't really have a solid reason to add good functionality - both because of the reaction to the hardware and the small (and probably extremely divergent) install base.

I still think the Kinect, as a concept, is cooler than the Move and Wii though. Hell, I'd even say it has way more potential in its premise than Nintendo's giant 3DS touch-pad controller they're calling the WiiU. Then again, I don't own any of those (Kinect included) and have to intention of buying into Nintendo's bullshit so maybe I'm just bias toward Microsoft because they're at least doing interesting things (quality not withstanding).

And with Microsoft getting into the hardware game with the Surface, there could be really interesting repercussions for the next xbox or kinect should the Surface move prove successful.

if you hate pixar sequels, just wait! The direct to DVD Cars spinoff Planes and Planes 2 are RIGHT around the corner!

surprised they glossed over the microsoft powerpoint deck - apparently they think its fake. I don't.

"I played I Am Alive this weekend. I think that game is great." 
  
"....WHAT"

penumbra doesn't have combat, you can drop a box on some dude.

I would recommend the opera web browser but right now I can't even watch youtube vids on it so...fuck that.

I question Brad's ability to 'guess the ending' of I Am Alive, but maybe he is smarter / luckier than me.

I really liked I Am Alive. It had some sweet platforming and some fantastic moments. I felt more for that world in 12-15 hours then I ever did with Fallout 3 or New Vegas, but maybe that's me. I guess Fallout is more of a rebuilding atmosphere, compared to I Am Alive's desperate survival atmosphere.

Also, to Patrick's comment of 'you have to shoot the guy with the gun first'; it's a 'you have to shoot the bravest, most dangerous guy first' game. So it's kind of like Last of Us, so don't short change it.

I feel that it has the ending it needs, because it perfectly fits the narrative and theme of the game. It could have been handled better, but so could the entire game. Many times the game does look like crap, but in terms of pure writing and set-pieces, I thought it was great.

The bullet soaking comment about Max Payne 3 is bullshit. One well aimed shot to the head and the enemy goes down, atleast until the very end when some start wearing helmets. But until that part you can one shot 95 % off all enemies if you have a decent aim. (Mouse & Keyboard definitely helps with that)

@Totori said:

@Animasta said:

@Totori said:

vinny and binary domain best podcast ever

this.

Overly nerdy PC talk not the best podcast ever anymore.

Agreed.

more games, less computer hardware

OH! HOT MICHAEL PACHTER BURNS. OOH. OUCH.

Also I don't know if you can go backwards on that level Jeff. It seems impossible.

I love listening to people talk about how computer illiterate there moms are... My mom was a system administrator.

@AssInAss said:

1:19:37

@AngryJoeShow Angry Joe mention about his Steel Battalion walkthrough!

Oh man, it's great to watch him flail around while Kinect is flipping out. "STOP GRABBING SHIT, I'M NOT GRABBING SHIT!"

Jeff was on fire \m/

wow, it's always nice to hear Brad being passionate about something, Scathing Kinect hate,

awesome

Wooooo!

I actually do order people around using voice commands in games taht allow that...but I did that mostly in SOCOM 1 & 2 where it worked 95% of the time. "Bravo - Stealth To - Cross Hairs" and most of the other commands just worked. Moreover, if you spent a tiny bit of time thinking about where to move your Bravo Team in each mission they helped you.

@Jeff said:

YEAH!

He gets it

I think I might be the only one who used the voice commands in Binary Domain. In both playthroughs I've used it. It's pretty handy that I can just shout fire without having to take my finger off the aim.

@Jeff said:

YEAH!

feigned enthusiasm? or true enthusiasm?

Time to drop some bombs

Brad is right, Kinect is a piece of shit technology that should not be out right now. You know theres something wrong that developers still don't know what the hell to do with the device, or the fact that it still uses Infrared technology.

Infrared technology.

Brad is right, Kinect is a piece of shit technology that should not be out right now. You know theres something wrong that developers still don't know what the hell to do with the device, or the fact that it still uses Infrared technology.

Infrared technology.

@AssInAss said:

1:19:37

@AngryJoeShow Angry Joe mention about his Steel Battalion walkthrough!

Fucking hilarious video and I guess the Kinect is fucked for this generation? Considering the tone from this podcast and anything that is not Dance Central that hardware is just... in beta form and MAYBE an integrated Kinect in the next gen xbox will be better?

More video games need to be turned into Game Shows.

Anyone watch You Don't Know Jack? I loved that show, watching Paul Rubens being a dick to the contestants while they try to answer questions was great.

1:02:21, was that a WTF reference?

MIKE HORN!

Fine! I'll play Binary Domain.

Ok, Brad sounds WAY more reasonable here in his argument against Steel Battalion than in the Quick Look. Feel much better about all this now... except it's still sad.

1:19:37

@AngryJoeShow Angry Joe mention about his Steel Battalion walkthrough!

@patrickklepek @Jeff and others, Wii U proprietary disc was confrmed by Reggie himself LAST year ago. They start around 4:25 talking about the proprietary disc.

@rramo010 said:

@Totori said:

@Animasta said:

@Totori said:

vinny and binary domain best podcast ever

this.

Overly nerdy PC talk not the best podcast ever anymore.

Agreed.

more games, less computer hardware

I did phase out for large portions of this episode.

@Brad made me laugh out loud this week when he yelled out "Don't you have this in brown?!" while talking about Surface.

I don't care, my OG brown Zune was indestructible! I leaned over a cup of iced tea while wearing headphones and didn't feel my Zune fall out of my pocket into the iced tea. The only reason I realized it was in there was because I had gone to take a drink and got nothing but cord.

Awesome episode! I liked the PC talk especially after Tested moved away from PC stuff.

The download isn't working for me on itunes :(

@Totori said:

@Animasta said:

@Totori said:

vinny and binary domain best podcast ever

this.

Overly nerdy PC talk not the best podcast ever anymore.

Agreed.

more games, less computer hardware

Finally got some Vinny up in this.

Say what you will about Ryan, but his laugh makes me happy :)

The Unreal Engine gaming apocalypse scares me.

Also, Jeff may not be sincere enough about how awesome Dark Sun was.

@Th3_James: The enemies definitely bullet sponge also the euphoria natural motion system make the controls unresponsive due to animation priority but great game nonetheless

I had no problem with max payne 3 and jumping around and feeling like a badass. Just make your shots count and get headshots. Never really felt any bullet sponge enemies even on old school difficulty.

@leejunfan83:

@Lucri: I love Big Bo he's my bro

@leejunfan83: You just don't understand Big Bo. :(

Comparing the Silent Hill games to I Am Alive is selling a great series incredibly short.

Binary domain is so ass

oh my god when patrick mentioned I am alive

Year of the Bo!

I should really go back to Binary Domain, it was pretty rad, but better games got in the way.

Fuck yeah, dat Vanquish.

Me upgrading to SSD last year was the most significant performance increase I've seen on my PC in the last 5 or so years. It all just runs so smoothly. As soon as the PC boots to desktop all your standard programs are ready to go, you can open up your browser or Photoshop instantly and just go to work.

Also, try playing Skyrim from an SSD. Almost no loading times.