Giant Bombcast 03-16-2010

" @Goopynose said:

" Get rid of this crappy intro music! "

lawl. "

Early Bombcast is glorious!

I love looking at the picture and trying to imagine how the hell it found its way into the discussion.

omgsh omgsh omgsh! 3 bomb casts in like 5 days! To Much!

yakuza 3 !

I'm going to have to disagree with Jeff about Bad Company 2. He seems to really want to defend the single player and I don't see it. I loved the original's single player but the personality of the first is just completely gone, leaving just an uninteresting and unremarkable military first person shooter 5 hour campaign. 
 
On the flipside, the multiplayer is fantastic. I'm having an absolute blast with the online and it seems like something that would be right up Jeff's alley as well. Maybe I'm wrong about Jeff's online first person shooter tastes or maybe he just needs to spend more time with it. To each his own, of course but while I don't think that the multiplayer is as tight as a Modern Warfare 2, I think it's just as fun.

I was playing the same splinter cell demo last night at my friends he got the E3 demo off partner net. I agree with most of the points the GB crew had with it. My friend was spinning the left thumb sticks while interrogating that guy at the start of the demo and he was just spinning at a crazy speed holding on to that guy. The narration was also fucking terrible. 

why is there no mention of God of War in the description AT ALL!

Hell Yeah! Now I have something to do at work for the next 2 hours! Right on fellas.

I would play God of Friends.

the install for yakuza 3 for me only took like 3 minutes and the loading is not a quarter as bad as jeff says.
I'm amazed jeff didn't talk about the super super slow boring ass first 6 hours of the game.

Satisfying Bombcast as always. The talk on PC gaming and Ubisoft was a bit discomforting, as I mostly play games on PC. The idea that to stop making PC games is something any company might or should consider is depressing. I hope it never comes to that point for companies in general.

Jeff's opinion that the PC is just a lose/lose situation, where either your legitimate customers hate you, or you provide open access to piracy, isn't entirely false.  But the issue he seems to not address is this.  So what if there is heavy pirating of a game?  Look at the situation from a company's perspective.  Yes yes, pirates are shitty and all deserve to die, but is there any evidence to suggest making the game more difficult to pirate would move them into the legitimate customer field?  The idea that a copy pirated is a sale lost seems to be an incredibly false way of looking at things, and the sooner we lose that mentality, the better.

the description is huge. damn. lots to talk about man. wow. 

Also, completely agree with Jeff on the whole Ubisoft thing. It's gotten to the point where its just not worth it anymore. Why go through the PR nightmare every time you try to release a new PC game? And yeah, that sucks for legitimate PC customers. But what else are they suppose to do? Publishers have tried again and again to find some middle ground to make customers happy and foil pirates but it simply does not exist. So, it's time to just stop making PC games. Not worth the headache...

A PLAYBOY!?  HOLD UP GUYS, I GOTTA CHECK THIS OUT!

Sounds like Splinter Cell Conviction isn't for me then. That means its down to blur and Mario Galaxy 2.

Listening to them talk about FF 13 and 360s DVD 9s, I do wonder if itll ever become a problem for them. Were looking at a longer life cycle for the consoles, And I do wonder how many more games will have to go multidisc or have to cut content due to DVD 9 limitations. and if it could Potentially hurt 360 really bad. or if 360 games will continue to advance meaningfully graphically.  

One more thing, I'd just like to say that the new Bombcast theme has really grown on me.

HEPHAESTUS SOUNDS JUST LIKE RIP TORN.

Abe approves.

yes

" Nice. I wonder how Brad had been liking Final Fantasy XIII. maybe he'll be one of the few reviewers who enjoys it "

A full-cover back tattoo will never be as detrimental to your liver as a lifetime of casual drinking.. 
 
But hey whatever helps you sleep at night.

I agree with Jeff on Ubisoft, since I'm not going to put up with that bullshit.  Ubisoft has hilariously pushed me into piracy, whenever I can pirate that game successfully because its the BETTER EXPERIENCE compared to their shitty, shitty idea of online, all the time.  I, for one, have my PC connected online all the time and don't expect it to go offline, but fuck that if you expect me to give you you my cash and you give me a non-working game.  Even steam allows offline mode for my single player games.  Tho, Jeff, you could not have more of a simple minded, non-intelligent, non-productive idea of "no more PC single player" games, you clearly sound like an ignorant mad-man; which you may be cool with, which is why I love this site.

" Jeff's opinion that the PC is just a lose/lose situation, where either your legitimate customers hate you, or you provide open access to piracy, isn't entirely false.  But the issue he seems to not address is this.  So what if there is heavy pirating of a game?  Look at the situation from a company's perspective.  Yes yes, pirates are shitty and all deserve to die, but is there any evidence to suggest making the game more difficult to pirate would move them into the legitimate customer field?  The idea that a copy pirated is a sale lost seems to be an incredibly false way of looking at things, and the sooner we lose that mentality, the better. "

Great podcast, but I reserve the right to respectfully disagree to the firmest degree with the voiced opinions that there should be "no more single player games on PC" and to "**** the PC". I also disagree with the idea that Ubisoft have some kind of leg to stand on with the Online Services Platform. Such a move is, in my opinion, not justifiable in either a business or ethical sense.
 
I will admit that I don't have the Magic Bullet to solve this problem, but I do know that stopping production of single player PC games will never be the answer. It is an illogical idea, and suggests that if ever high enough, piracy could force the end of games on any platform.

uhhhh oh...judging by comments, this podcast is gunna be dodgyyyy.
 
Whoa, strange audio.
 
Surprise surprise, the first Mafia, also hard.

 The essence of human nature is convenience and risk/reward. And without this, life would be a bore. That being said, there's about 4 billion reasons why a person would pirate a game. 
1) I would've bought it, but I found a torrent.  
2) I had no intentions to buy this, but since it's here on this http/ircbot/torrent/ftp, I'll grab it because I'm bored.
3) I was going to buy it, but I can't afford it now and I've noticed there's a pirated copy. 
4) I pirate everything because I don't believe in paying for any of this for my own reasons. 
5) I discovered something about this game I'm not okay with so I'll play it but I'm not supporting the dev/pub who made it.
6) I live some place where it's not possible (for whatever reason) to acquire the game legitimately (or experience the online portion in an acceptable way).  
Etc.
Since there's an infinite number of reasons a person pirates a game, obviously to make any blanket statements about piracy and the "losing of sales" is utterly absurd. And since there's many reasons why a person would pirate, how could one anti-piracy solution work for all? It can't.  
 
What's my solution to the piracy issue? There is no solution. I press the handle, and a food pellet comes out. If someone digs a hole to the container of pellets, I might check it out if the risk is within my range. Back to gaming, if publishers and developers want to motivate people to pirate less who *would* normally buy the game, perhaps they need to take a hard look at the price pyramid of platform/publisher/whatever royalties. Isn't it painfully obvious that since we have such an abundance of amazing indie games at affordable prices, gamers are going to consider these games (and price points) when they think about a God of War or Modern Warfare? Or what about the abundance of games being sold on Amazon/Ebay/Steam/Impulse/D2D/  at significantly lower price points? The reality is that many people pirate games they have no intention of buying. Accept it or not it's a fact. It's just easy to pirate, and people in 2010 are straight up bored with their mundane lives. However, being someone who has pirated games since 1995, I've finally come full circle back into purchasing games from places like Steam and Amazon.com. I can't always afford to buy a 59 dollar game because I have to pay for groceries/bills/clothes/internet/unseen issues/etc. I can however usually afford a 5-30 dollar game, and places like Amazon and Steam allow the opportunity for developers to sell a game (like Altitude for 10 dollars) which has far more value than most AAA titles.  
 
Finally: Doesn't Ubisoft have a *ucking lineage of not providing proper patches/support for their PC titles? Every Ubisoft PC title I've ever played had this problem. And yet we blame the PC Platform and Piracy for Ubisoft's shortcomings? O Rly? 

End of Rant.    

Good, looks like Brad is enjoying FFXIII.

 
Hopefully he'll be enjoying it even more when he gets to Chapter Seven.

Ok, cool, you dont like the gameplay in Yakuza 3 Jeff, that is totally fair play, i guess i appreciate the slow, extremely Japanese pacing, just because its been so long since ive played a japanese game like this, that it makes a change for me. But i do urge you to carry on through the story, im nearly finished and i think its worth it.
 
Thanks for the extended talk about the content cuts, yeah they totally did cut out 4 minigames, the whole hostess section and a bunch of sidemissions...unbelievable.
 
Even if the HEAT actions (which there are some seriously awesome ones down the line) totally dont blend well with the main combat, and that weapons can sometimes be off...and the physics yada yada yada. I still love the combat and love getting into random battles as long as im searching for one... And the Street Fight GP in the Colosseum is like the "cage of death" almost, you got weapons all over the damn cage...its ridiculous, no lightubes in there though.

Eight and a half hours in game time? Brad, that's not very encouraging for Final Fantasy XIII.
That slow of a burn, coupled with hearing that the game opens up a bit after 25 hours.
I'm unsure whether or not that game is worth the time investment.

My name is Don, not Dan. Now how I will I become e-famous? :(

" @Turambar said:

" Jeff's opinion that the PC is just a lose/lose situation, where either your legitimate customers hate you, or you provide open access to piracy, isn't entirely false.

But any idiot can download a torrent.

That's why I'm getting a console even though PC hardware are way technologically superior than the aging consoles. Even if I still need a high-end PC for work. This whole piracy/DRM is hurting PC gaming and the PC gaming community is doing nothing about it. If they're satisfied with indie casual/puzzle games, Facebook games, flash games and MMOs, then  fine. I actually want to play the AAA games that come out for the console. Hell, I bet once traditional PC games is on its last breath, piracy of indie games would become the norm. It's sad that console has so much more priority over the PC and I bet in the future mobile games would have alot of priority over the PC as well. That's right. Even PC indie/casual games would be crappy ports of the mobile version.

It's a war where noone wins, where game developers are the military. pirates are the terrorists and legitimate consumers the civilians. The logic of a typical PC gamer is to become a terrorist as the military gets harsher. Which makes no sense as the military only gets harsher if there are terrorists. The terrorrists are the root cause yet they are lauded as champions and heroes. It's inane. 

It's no big surprise that game development thrives on platforms where piracy is more controlled. Yet, all PC gamers do is blame the developers and the publishers. I don't buy the argument that the issue is the price since there is no issue on the consoles. The main differentiating factor is the piracy rate. PC gamers are just shooting themselves in the foot.  Just like when you they decided to stick with XP and DX9. Too much nerd-rage to think right. 

"PC gamers are just shooting themselves in the foot."

" Eight and a half hours in game time? Brad, that's not very encouraging for Final Fantasy XIII. That slow of a burn, coupled with hearing that the game opens up a bit after 25 hours. I'm unsure whether or not that game is worth the time investment. "

I think the best solution for publisher is to publish pc games 6-9 months after the console counter part but make it only 25-30 bucks for the game. By then they would have almost no lost sale from the console version and more people like me (poor ass college student who can only afford games that are on sale from steam and only have a computer as a system since I need it for school and work also) would buy it.

By the way it totally is Rip Torn doing the voice.

Aw it sucks that Jeff is not digging Yakuza 3 a lot.  Thought he'd like it.

" You naysayers can bash it all you want but OnLive is mostly targeted at the casual market, folks who wanna play games on PC but can't afford a top of the line rig.  "

I'm a long time fan of the Yakuza series,  i can kind of see why Jeff may view the game the way he does, the pacing and Mechanics do take a bit of getting use to.  
 
I guess it depends on how you view the game, I see it as a Action JRPG as do a few Yakuza fans.. if you play it with that in mind then the pacing and mechanics make a bit more sense, if you try and view it like some do as a GTA Style game then yeah the pacing and mechanics would seem way off.  

 
 

" @faustyn said:

" @Goopynose said:

" Get rid of this crappy intro music! "

lawl. "

Do not get rid of this awesome blacksplotation influenced intro music! Stick to your guns! Ignore the stupid kids! "

" @Jeff said:

" @Turambar said:

" Jeff's opinion that the PC is just a lose/lose situation, where either your legitimate customers hate you, or you provide open access to piracy, isn't entirely false.

But any idiot can download a torrent.

Any idiot can download a torrent with a XBox 360 ISO just as easily, yet no one ever mentions that. "

" @atomic_dumpling said:

" @Jeff said:

" @Turambar said:

" Jeff's opinion that the PC is just a lose/lose situation, where either your legitimate customers hate you, or you provide open access to piracy, isn't entirely false.

But any idiot can download a torrent.

Any idiot can download a torrent with a XBox 360 ISO just as easily, yet no one ever mentions that. "

with a pc you just download the iso, burn it or mount it and you're good to go.

" @Sanaj said:

" Eight and a half hours in game time? Brad, that's not very encouraging for Final Fantasy XIII. That slow of a burn, coupled with hearing that the game opens up a bit after 25 hours. I'm unsure whether or not that game is worth the time investment. "

he said hes about 12 hours in, 8 and half was when it started getting good (for him). still not alot tho, im with 27 and not on pulse yet....but then again i like the game :/ "