Giant Bombcast 05-28-2013

I had to stop listening mid stream, because I got sick. I am a subscriber for the second time around, but I will cancel my payments, if Giant Bomb goes on promoting anti consumerist practices. Journalists nowadays seem to love to dream how life would be, working for an ad agency, or how else would you explain one hour of coming up with dream scenarios about how an all digital model with no free resale would work nicely and how much nine mushroom keys are worth? At least get an economist freshmen, so that someone could work some sense into your warped logic.

The used games market is the only factor publishers don't control the pricing on. If that falls, its pricedesign without market principals from here on out. Thats called "anti competitive" you smurphs. Per definition. Dreaming of a bright new future, where media isn't something one can buy, but licenses you can rent. Oh, and how fast those old game prices will plummet in a closed ecosystem (closed hardware, forced accounts, closed store ecosystems (no independent publishing). Honestly if you like to spin your listeners mind towards a brave new future, how about that one: Yes to digital distribution, no to reactivation fees (yes to a reactivation process). If someone abuses through piracy, you ban the account.

Journalism is good for nothing these days. Continuation of corp PR. Oh yes and there are still used game markets witch aren't Gamestop. Where people make more than 20 Bucks on games. Well not in the near future though, with MS licensed retailer model.

Oh yes, and its all just rumors.. And so contradicting. Aren't you guys reading the talkingpoints I read? They are coherent.

Giant Apologycast.

I find it humorous that while listening to various game podcast over the last week or so the commentators criticize folks for being "paranoid" about the mandatory camera & mic that comes with the new Xbox. I can tell you first hand as the friend of a hacker that the fear of people watching you without your consent is completely legitimate. My friend demonstrated for us on a couple of occasions how easy it is to hack into people's computer cameras & mics without them being aware. It is not inconceivable that similar hacks will be created for Kinect 2.0. I'm just sayin'.

...........wow

Just being a little bit protective about the last free market consumers have in an age of DLC, f2p and "facebooks games" (server based gaming). Ah, and how much creativity will blossom if only you've killed the last open price negotiation plattform there is (Gamestop is bad, but licensed used games retailers are the future, so Gamestop is good despite being bad, an...).

Literally sickening.

edit: And that one part, where Jeff spoke out that he wasn't sure if extending the 24 hour license to a three day license for offline play would be enough, bit it still would be "better" though...

How about us not establishing a rental model where licenses expire unless you renew them at a set intervall. How about hat? You know - how about games? Not disneyland tickets?

You don't need interval bases renewals for all accounts to establish a resell model for digital downloads. Again, one part of the logic you don't get, no really. Stop being so supportive when you don't understand whats happening.

edit: Oh, yes, and how about that part of the logic where lending games becomes illegal. That one was funny, wasn't it? Great, lets not think about that one either.

I mean, if the artstyle of Fuse was killed by focus groups I figure they also had a say on the story/characters, that original trailer had a totally different tone than the game.

GMOssssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... Life is crazy.

Man, remember when baseball cards were being sold out of cereal boxes, and said cards were being traded and sold at leisure? I remember it being super exploitative and disgusting too. Had to crack down on that satanic ritual before it took all of our souls.

kind of surprise how out of touch they are with the used games market consider most of them collect games. Do they even realize that there's more to used market than gamestop? I sell my game on ebay, amazon and craigslist. I don't replay games so holding on to them has absolutely no use to me. Also they are forgetting that the reason game price goes down so quick is because of the used market, do they really think that microsoft wouldn't charge $60 for the game 1 year down the line if that's the only option for people to get it? the reason why games on PC are so cheap because they have to compete with free.

If I lived in a time where the holodeck was a reality. I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from having weird holographic sex. I wish I could say I'd have more self control than that, but dayum I probably wouldn't.

Hopefully you can clear the cache on the holodeck lols.

Print that on the back of your T-Shirts:

"It's growing pains. [...] And we all know, where it ends up! But getting there is going to be real crazy. And there will be people who loose interest in games along the way, or can't afford to stick with it. And at some point this just becomes a math problem. I feel like I've been saying this for nine months now."

- Jeff "What does public adversary mean?" Gerstman, Giant Bomb ("Games Journalist")

I disagree with the Bombcast on their Xbox One DRM market. While I'm sure a number of people here, such as myself, buy games from Steam, not everything on Steam requires the use of running Steam with your program, and if it is, bypassing it is not exactly hard. Also, I don't shop at Gamestop because of their business practices, so usually I'm buying games from other outlets or just from individuals themselves.

The other issue I have with the Xbox One is that they're likely going to force more paywalls for features that I've already been using or benefitting from, and that includes playing used games. I don't buy games that force key passes, I also don't usually play online multiplayer games, especially on consoles because the way internet works worldwide is still not cost effective and inefficient. Plus if I were to pay for Xbox Live, nobody is playing the games I want to play except for those that don't match my skill level. My connection isn't even stable enough for "Forced online" to work 100% of the time. Its at least 75-80%.

I've already accepted that I'm skipping the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One because of this nonsense. At least with a PC I can have total control over what I've bought and support the developers I want to support without being dogged around with features that force more money out of me, and my main PC already out performs the Xbox One, and it can handle more than two programs at once.

Either they need to quit dicking around and just make a PC or give up, we're already hitting the current limit on what these consoles can do.

@vinny that audio from that lady that squeaky voice sounded alot like Stephanie Beard. She was a Host on a afternoon kids show block in Canada (YTV!), some radio, and various anime/cartoons (Sailor moon, Bayblade etc.)

@harlekinrains: Sir you had me until you parenthesized within a parenthesis. That was out of line!

Was able to continue listening in small doses after the fact, and just to be ""fair"" ( ;) ), Jeff at the end finally somewhat comes around, after getting his corp brainwashed mind softly and slowly reprogrammed ("its easy to become fatalistic") by Brad. But oh, boy, I bet at the next meeting with "This one was the shit one, where we purposely effed all the gamers, because that market caps at 100Mio units and we WANT (add german accent) to sell a 1000."-guy, all bets are off again.

Oh, yes, it is about scenarios, and no, we don't copy corp PR line thinking, without thinking. At least not, when we are arguably in the profession of "journalism".

I will never, ever understand anyone who complains about the video game industry and how video games are becoming stale. Ever. For every big AAA game that comes out every year there are like 2 or 3 really impressive smaller games. I will never understand it. If you are crying about the video game industry, than you are not paying attention to the right part of the industry.

Also, this has been the way that the video games industry has worked for a while now. Its not like suddenly military shooters have all started to do the same thing. Everyone has been chasing COD since COD4 blew up, and that was almost 6 years ago. How is this now suddenly an issue?

If they feel the need to recycle violent anti-human war games, then at least they should have a strong anti-war sentiment attached to the game.

@harlekinrains: You just put an emoticon inside parentheses. Dear god, why?

I was thinking of the same thing. Nice to see other people grew up on YTV.

No one has found a significant link between fluoridated water and any type of cancer. By all means, I hope people keep on studying it in case there is some very slight risk, but so far, that doesn't seem to be the case.

People stopped looking at connections between water fluoridation and HIV/AIDS decades ago, because there appears to be no link whatsoever and it is a waste of time. Full blown fluoride poisoning has many adverse effects on the human body, but the amount present in fluoridated water has not been found to suppress the immune system.

To the best of my knowledge, government bodies that criminalize the collection of rainwater are vastly in the minority, and pass such laws in arid regions where it is perceived that collecting rainwater deprives the local water table of what little water it gets in the first place. This is silly because the amount that individual homes collect is negligible, and many regions are starting to repeal those laws. Either way, it has nothing to do with ensuring that citizens only drink fluoridated water.

It is deplorable that anyone thinks that medical doctors look at their profession with a mercenary attitude of "How can I look busy, but ultimately help no one and keep people in constant need of medical attention?" For your position to make sense, thousands of medical researchers around the world would have to either be complicit in administering harmful doses of fluoridated water and producing fake research results assuring the safety of those doses, or they would have to be grossly incompetent at their jobs to time and time again miss the link between fluoridated water and harmful diseases. If we assume the "treacherous researchers" scenario, you'll still eventually run into that one person who puts their personal morals above both money and their personal safety, and that person would be willing to act as a whistleblower on the whole operation. The medical establishment would not have the power to silence all of those individuals; one of them would get the word out eventually.

Sagalla, if your post was meant to be a parody of conspiracy theory, then I call Poe's Law, and also that your post wasn't funny enough for it to be obvious parody because it was just a bland outline of a poorly conceived conspiracy. If it's not a parody, then perhaps you should go over there and talk to Jeff's alter ego:

waitttt, i thought the thing was that yea hackers could do this, but the light next to the webcams go off when its hacked?

dont tell me they are finally able to hack the camera's without the light now??

ANYTHING???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ju_10NkGY

I can still bring my game to my friend's house of course?

@reignofevil666: While I wouldn't go as far as you did in your post, I have found that, for the most part, journalists in the game industry have been apologetic for the upcoming measures to be put in place. I don't think it's corporate pressure, just a misguided reasoning that the future will come at any price, and that we should embrace that. Patrick was the only member on the staff that seemed somewhat disgusted by these measures; it's not our fault that game costs are skyrocketing.

Game publishers and console manufacturers seem to think that video games are a necessity like gasoline, and that consumers will "eat" everything up that comes their way. Sure, there will be some that will buy into any DRM or DRM-esque procedure in order to play the latest exclusives, but on the whole I think consumers will vote with their dollars to a degree that manufacturers will have to change.

I guess what really pisses me off is that console manufacturers, excluding Nintendo, seem to think that we will hunger so much for the future that we'll buy into anything. I realize that companies need not hold any love for their consumers when it comes to profits, but to think that their audiences are so gullible as to throw away basic property rights is absurd. I love video games, and I've been very fond of my 360 and PS3 this generation, but I'll avoid buying something that maneuvers to deprive me of consumer rights. As soon as I cannot do what I will with my disc, whether it be sell it, lend it, or anything else, I'll stop handing my money over.

I realize that Steam is really no better, but the price structure is such that there really isn't a closed system to the degree that Microsoft and probably Sony wish to implement. I can add a game with a key from GMG or GamersGate, for instance; with Microsoft and Sony standing as the center of all revenue in the absence of used games, there's no incentive to allow external purchases of keys to work. Steam is well-executed at the very least, and if not consumer-friendly than at least bearable. I never feel cheated on Steam, and I've never had a problem playing my games as I did with UPlay and other DRM systems. Though Steam deals aren't as good as they once were, at least they are deals; at a glance, Microsoft's instant download page features prices that are absurdly high when other prices for the same game are taken into account. Unless Microsoft can emulate PC deals upon the elimination of the used-game-leakage of profits, they won't receive much in the way of profit.

Same, love that dude, sure he does go on a bit, but it's fantastic getting a contrast to the guys opinions, and his laugh and enthusiasm, i dunno, he's not as jaded?

Like the minute Vinny becomes Jaded, i'm out.............

I want them to change up the medium in some fresh new way

As if it was so easy

@bisonhero: Let me make it simple for you. You can disagree that fluoride is harmful, but you can't deny it is a form of medication, and that adding it to water supplies amounts to forced medication. I have no problem assuming that the medical profession is complicit in all kinds of harmful treatments, chemotherapy, for example, uses ingredients from mustard gas, and if the cancer doesn't kill you, the treatment often will. There have been studies that prove cannabis shrinks or stops the development of tumors but there is one big problem - cannabis can't be patented, you see. You are trying to invoke logic in this situation but the bottom line is that you just don't want to believe that what I'm saying is true. You might be a smart guy but if you have spent any time in University you should realize that towing the establishment line gets you further, and that is often reflected in the state of empiricial research.

I wouldn't say I'm overly paranoid, but fuck any sort of technology that requires you to be on camera or voice. It's the same reason why I usually avoid webcam chats and the like and stick to text. I just hate being forced to do that shit. The fact that people can hack into cameras and the like just make it even worse to force that on consumers.

I would never miss The Zone after school when I was a kid! I remember back when it was Jenny and Pat hosting it.

This just in: Gamestop isn't the only place to purchase/sell used games. Unfortunately, we'll have to go several months into these consoles lifespans to see how aggressive their digital pricing actually is. Personally, if Microsoft/Sony can compete with the likes of Steam, Green Man, etc in terms of prices, then bring it on. I'll buy tons of games/media for my consoles.

CHRONOLOGICALLY FROM OUR TIME TO THE FARTHEST oops caps.

enterprise

the original series

the next generation

deep space nine

voyager.

DS9 begins at half of TNG -season 4 in fact-, and VOYAGER happens during the 24th century.

Barclay reproduced the likeness of the top officers in tng(main characters) in the holodeck and seen through his eyes. i suppose he had sex with his reproduction of the concelor although it is not talked about if i recall well.

There is kind of a rape in voyager: a vulcan(they NEED to mate once every 7 years, not the rest of that period. and i mean need like life threatening withdrawal symptoms if they don t) wanted to mate with one of the heroes and tried to mind melt with her to force her when she said no, she fought him off but it started her own(she is half klingon) mating ...heat i guess.

It started my fav couple romance of all the star trek series i have seen(tng, voy, ds9, ent. will begin tos soon.) so far.

Soooo i guess that couple is built on an attempted RAPE??

there was a serial killer in voyager.

the inner desire/need(like dexter has) to kill was approached. the 'not for pleasure but obsessive need' killing desire required the vulcan (masters at controlling their feelings so much that they appear not to have any) whole concentration to keep them away once he mind melted with the killer.

i remember a sentence: 'captain, since you entered my quarters 4.5 secs ago i devised 783 ways to kill you' -paraphrasing-.

there is a mafia like 'union' in one of the human outpost turned mining city, some characters have to deal with(very nice episode) in DS9. there is undercover, a handler, a rich family with one its members being blackmailedor something etc...

TNG begins with a promiscuity ....'cloud' of sort infecting the crew.

android/female sex happened. VERY sexy tasha! love the outfit ^^.

In DS9 we hear about not too bothered with values cargo ship captains (hi han solo!!).

The romulans are known for their manipulative behavior, Cardashians(russian?nazis??) for their cruelty and very VERY communism based way of thinking: 'FOR CARDASSIA!!' -really guys. REALLY. just add a mother right in front of cardassia ^^ - unity of the race/people and all that. occupation, torture, there is some weird stuff with the bajorans being very religious(jews??)

so russian/nazis occupying, torturing....jews......huh.

the backbone of the values and way of thinking of star trek is from the military -'the federation'- all ST main characters are part of (captains, first officers, etc); but not the VOYager first officer who is maquis. so THERE ARE humans opposing the ways of the federation, and some of them are deserters.

the emphasis of one episode was about obeying federation rules and behavioural conduct policy by maquisards and ended up demonstrating how orders are enforced (if not obeyed) in the maquis: physical violence -which is extremely rare in all ST series but

ENT: made to gather STARGATE viewers so way more SG than ST to me( including a violent physical fight used as a bonding agent).

TOS: made i suppose like TNG a first but Mr Roddenberry had to make it more 'entertaining' for the viewers of the time(1966) so he made it way more physical.

Huh something went wrong with my bombcast, it somehow ended after 2 hours.. But like for real, with Ryan saying goodbye. Then I thought but I didn't hear any listener mail.. It somehow skipped a whole hour.

Bliss: I am just going to listen to it again, who knows what I missed!

Fourty years from now, todays games Willy be free. Fuck Norwegians autocorrect. Goddamn iPod. My bus is herr.

We need a spinoff podcast with Brad telling stories about his awesome family.

Loved the in-depth discussion this week, guys. One of the more thought-provoking episodes in a while.

I'm not paranoid or anything, but I'm going to whisper around my Xbox just in case.

I think part of the reason people are upset about Microsoft charging what they want for the used game license has less to do with new releases as it does with games that are a little older.

Right now there are a bunch of older 360 games that I can buy used for a few bucks that Microsoft still charges $30 or more for on their Games on Demand service. I feel like it Microsoft will end up pricing things more along the line of Steam people would not be as upset.

Gonna be so great when Patrick is gone, god damn.

i always get chills when vinny gets riled up about something.

Speaking of killing bears...http://www.geekosystem.com/bear-fight/

So you guys are not going to have Walt Disney as a guest when he comes back?

iTunes isn't better or more convenient than...anything, really. People only use it because they've been completely swallowed up in Apple's ecosystem.

If you had said Amazon MP3, you would have been right.

I think that's the big if. If MS/Sony are price competitive with other digitally distributed games, that's great! But I have to literally see it happen before I'll get on board, because there are a zillion reasons to believe that you won't see the same prices in a closed digital ecosystem like XBL or PSN.

@nictel: *makes fart noise with mouth*

Fuck Walt Disney, goddammit!

wow. 2 or 3 games? that's an incredible amount of games for a whole year! sorry for the sarcarsm but they mostly talk about big budget productions that HAVE to appeal to a mass audience and therefore a build in a specific pattern that's proven successful. the same goes for movies. look at the financially most successful movies: batman, iron man 2, iron man 3, avengers and all that shit. there's even a company now in hollywood that's analysing scripts, just to say to the autors: we've found out and statistics prove that diner scenes don't work in romantic comedies, you might want to change that. creativity is getting fucking mangled by capitalism.

I can only agree with Patrick on the used game thing and of course all of those who point out that there are plenty of other places to share/trade/buy/sell used games rather than Gamestop.

Gamespot is being used as a fall guy by many the same way that used games are a fall guy for corporate profits not being what they are "supposed" to be. Ah well once they kill off the used game market it will be one less thing to blame ... until they come up with some other reason other than mismanagement and lackluster games.

One thing is that they are going to wait to kill off used games per se until after a certain number of consoles are sold, trapping enough consumers with the sunk cost of the console... then they bring the hammer down and start raising prices or fees and restricting license exchanges or whatever. Even if you have a used game system ( for actual media only of course ) it doesn't mean they will keep it. Once you lose the right to resell you will not get it back.

The argument against reselling data on a disk because it doesn't degrade like a car does is a bit silly. First of all new cars magically lose value the second it drives off the lot... how much decay was there in that short a time period. We have people who buy electronic devices with no moving parts, with very little degradation over time ... should we stop people from reselling equipment if it doesn't wear out fast enough. How about reselling something that is still in a package ... that would be like reselling a disk no ??

It's all about perceived value and those signals of value are better found in a more open market rather than a controlled near duopoly.

This. A thousand times this.

I caught a couple of mice in sticky traps and my aunt called me one day and said that one was alive on the sticky trap so I grabbed my shoe and WHACK, it's kind of fudged up but that's life.

@ultrapeanut: I don't get it? :P