Qrowdyy

Man the back half of this episode went from laughing at absurdity to outright derision. I had to mute the video during the big boss conversation because all the negativity was distracting.

Its an ancient, early 90s videogame. A lotta stuff ppl found cool back then, we find cringy or offensive in 2018. Gotta know that going into something like this and laugh it off

I regretted choosing Kaiden, because he becomes the most boring video game character ever written in the sequels

I mean characters like Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin still fight and contribute in significant ways even if they aren't center stage. Toriyama could have made Videl a Krillin-level character, instead she becomes the "ideal" Japanese housewife. Blergh.

This is exactly what happens to Videl in Super. It bums me the fuck out, but to be fair they have started course correcting with android 18 and Caulifla/Kale. Although the whole "physically imposing woman must be a lesbian" cliche is in full effect.

(I'm gonna copy something I posted in the forums because it seems relevant in these comments)

Here's my timeline of events:

1) Jessica Price posts a long twitter essay, talking about narrative in GW2.

2) Deroir responds with incredibly polite commentary where he disagrees with one of the points Jessica made.

3) Jessica Price reads something into Deroir's commentary that isn't there(perhaps understandably because of past experiences) and lashes out at him and others(less understandable)

4) The GW2 community sees that some their most well known/influential members are being condescended to and insulted by a dev. They are angry at the situation.

5) The community outrage at the situation leaks into the broader r/gaming community, whereupon it becomes a hot topic in the gaming community at large which sadly includes Gamergate.

6) Gamergate involvement turns the entire situation into a toxic cesspool. People start pushing for Jessica Price to be fired. People who have never played GW2 try to pressure ANet by saying things like "I was considering getting into GW2 but now I'm not going to"(ya sure bro).

7) ArenaNet caves to fan outrage and fires both Jessica Price and Peter Fries.

8) Polygon and Kotaku post "spin" articles that are blatantly trying to shape the narrative, by playing down Jessica Price's toxicity(posting edited versions of her tweets) and focusing on the firing.

9) Gamergaters feel like they've won a victory and are currently power tripping, targeting people(predominantly women) who are speaking out on behalf of Jessica Price and trying to get them fired.

I'm gonna preemptively address some points in my timeline that people might take issue with.

Why do I say that ArenaNet caved to fan outrage? Because of the firing of Peter Fries. He did nothing more than post 3-4 tweets where he defended his colleague without resorting to insults. The question is why was he fired? The only answer to that question is because the gamergate outrage machine had inextricably linked Jessica Price and Peter Fries. I'd be more inclined to believe ArenaNet's version of events if only Jessica Price was fired, because whether what she did was a firable offence is actually a matter of debate.

Why do I put Polygon and Kotaku on blast? Because, well-meaning or not, they are posting a heavily editorialized version of events where Jessica Price is a saint who's professionalism and expertise was questioned by some maladjusted nobody. DO NOT go to Polygon and Kotaku if you want to know more about the initial twitter interaction that caused all this. Instead go straight to the source.

In conclusion: What a shitshow

Phil Spencer is a likable dude. But, more importantly he's been doing work digging Microsoft out of the hole Don Mattrick put it in.

I actually didn't consider that perspective. I guess there's been some worrying news, like Microsoft changing their E3 show floor presence. But, I personally never doubted Microsoft would come back strong next console generation. The Xbox One is nowhere near the total disaster the Wii U was and Nintendo is currently thriving.

I think this disagreement between us is a perspective issue. If I put myself in the shoes of someone who's actively gaming on the Xbox, you're right, I would probably be pretty happy. They're doing right by their fans, and if that's their strategy until next gen, its totally valid.

However, you can count me among the still interested hold-outs and from that perspective I'm gonna disagree with you about exclusives.

I would say that if you took away their old, somewhat tired, standbys(Halo, Forza, Gears), you aren't left with many heavy hitters. Pretty much just Crackdown 3, We Happy Few and Session(whatever that ends up being) and I'm worried af about Crackdown 3's development. The 18 exclusives count things like Black Desert(a console exclusive but a 3 year old pc mmo with mixed reviews), PUBG coming out of early access, and Sea of Thieves DLC. Indie games like Ori, Tunic, Battletoads, and Cuphead DLC all look solid, but they're also aren't a reason to drop $400 on an xbox(I can't find a comprehensive list of all 18 exclusives so maybe their's more i'm missing). Hopefully Crackdown overcomes its troubled development and Session is ambitious in scope. I'm actually kind of excited about We Happy Few(I'm not actually sure if this is an exclusive, Microsoft acquired the studio right?).

You may be right that most people have made their choice and closed their minds. But, for people who are still actively looking for a reason to get into Xbox like me or AngryJoe, the one thing we want is big new Microsoft IPs. Its why we're not quite as excited as you think we should be. That said I'll still play the fuck out of a new Halo game.

Yes and I don't think Microsoft did a good job of making it about their platform. They showed a lot of good multi-platform games that I'm excited to play. But, they absolutely shouldn't have made the majority of the conference about other companies games, no matter how close the partnership. So yes, they got me excited about the coming year in gaming. But, they didn't get me excited about the Xbox in particular. Which, imo, means they failed because the point is to get people who aren't part of the Xbox ecosystem excited about where Xbox is going.

The press conferences exist to sell people(consumers or investors) on the future of your company. That is the way Sony/Microsoft/Ubisoft are approaching it. The celebration of gaming thing is a purely a fan perspective. The press conferences originated as very business oriented thing. If you go back 5-6 years ago Microsoft/Sony would put charts and graphs with sales figures in their press conferences.

Also, just to clarify, I don't think exclusivity is a good thing(in an ideal world you could play God of War on your xbox). But it is a real thing and its not something we cannot ignore.

All that said, I think Microsoft is on the right track. All the pro-consumer moves they've made with backwards compatibility and game pass are gonna pay off huge for them when their new first party studios start putting out games.

Edit: grammar

I actually thought the Microsoft press conference was pretty middling.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of exciting new games shown. But, how many of those games can people play on PS4? A significant amount. I think Microsoft's only big exclusive "get" was We Happy Few.

Like it or not(and I don't like it), exclusivity matters. People will generally buy the console with more games because more high quality games equals more value added.

I look forward to 2019/2020 when Microsoft's smart(but also belated) decision to acquire more studios pays off.

@toxicantidote: Dan's not a story guy(by his own admission), so he's content with skimming and getting the gist of what was said. It's not necessarily that he reads faster than you.

For an example, look at the end of Who's the Big Boss 1(when he fights big boss).

YAY! I thought this series was dead. Love it!