Giant Bombcast E3 2012 Day Three

@huser said:

@MordeaniisChaos: Well, they didn't say write WELL, which I think was the unstated point, but maybe not.

yes that was the point everyone is missing. A game writers job is made hard by everybody thinking they know as much as a writer and can give valuable input which isn't true. Its like raising a kid, everyone thinks they know how and how to do it best, so they make annoying comments and suggestions while you try to parent. If you're not a new parent yet you may not get that comparison :)

@MordeaniisChaos: I only disagree with you because Tolkien is a fucking terrible writer. Not that Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit are bad stories, they're excellent; the actual writing is preeeeetty bad, though.

Justin had me laughing so hard I got tears in my eyes (just like last year). Between Sherlock Holmes and the time belt, wow. I've played all of Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes games, by the way.

Goddamn Justin McElroy is incredible.

There's Greg Millers in my Giant Bombs and Jeff Gerstmanns in my IGNs!

I love it when we get sweet game journalist crossovers, GB and IGN are my favorite outlets, so it was great to hear Greg kick it on the GB couch.

Anybody else catch Ryan's Arrested Development reference?

@MEATBALL said:

Goddamn Justin McElroy is incredible.

I almost lost my shit during the Sherlock bit.

@Little_Socrates:

Considering the fact that you're the first person I've ever heard express that opinion in my entire life, his writing style is probably just not to your taste. It not being to your taste is no reason to deride something that hundreds of millions of people have enjoyed for over half a century. He certainly wrote in an older, more traditional style, but the words were carefully chosen and, to most readers, still have impact and a certain beauty. If you were just trolling, then never mind and carry on. =]

@Cuuniyevo said:

@Little_Socrates:

Considering the fact that you're the first person I've ever heard express that opinion in my entire life, his writing style is probably just not to your taste. It not being to your taste is no reason to deride something that hundreds of millions of people have enjoyed for over half a century. He certainly wrote in an older, more traditional style, but the words were carefully chosen and, to most readers, still have impact and a certain beauty. If you were just trolling, then never mind and carry on. =]

Nah, I was specifically taught by my high school's creative writing program to avoid Tolkien's prose. He writes like a historian because he was a historian for longer than he was a writer. The Hobbit has far better writing than the trilogy (and certainly the Silmarillion), but all it takes is one hard look at the fight in Balin's Tomb to realize that his management of prose is not exactly masterful. It's usually dry, clumsy, and it's sometimes even confusing. The dialogue in the trilogy is of varying quality as well; the only consistently solid writing is the poetry and songs, which there are certainly not enough of in any version of Middle-Earth.

I'm not deriding The Lord of the Rings or Tolkien's accomplishment. His stories are fantastic, and the world is amazing. Though I'm not sure I'll ever really be able to judge the quality of the series; most of the positive memories of my late father are tied up in The Lord of the Rings books and films. But that's not enough to make Tolkien a good writer, and most of my friends who are huge fans of the films, the genre, and The Hobbit cannot even finish The Two Towers because it's so poorly paced and so poorly written. I tried to reread Fellowship and I quickly found myself incapable. No disrespect to those who disagree with me, but as much as I love his work, it's not because he's a good writer.

How can someone care so much about some guy's writing that "inspired" the most overrated and childish CG-ridden crap I ever saw in my life? Even that NeverEnding Story movie from my early childhood had more sense, inner beauty and spunk than all these orks, elves, hooded wizards, dragons and all that Tolkien inspired shit put together.

By the way, is there any developer out there that can create a fresh and mature RPG, something that ISN'T about Norse or Japanese mythology for once? Just for once I'd like to see and try something that doesn't look and feel like a fairy tale that's been digested by all the fucking 12-year old geeks that can't seem to outgrow this Lord of the Ring/ Warcraft/anime madness.

For fuck sake, there are so many nations, cultures and myths, but, because of some reason, all I see is the same Norse, Celtic or Japanese crap being forced on us year after year. Even the Greek mythology, despite its richness and all the literature or theatre plays it inspired, is nowhere near those 3 in terms videogame media representation and I have yet to see a big budget RPG inspired by it.

@Vlad_Tiberius: You seem angry.

@EveretteScott: No, just annoyed.

All that pointless and boring banter about Tolkien's writing (like he deserves to be talked about, him being such a huge and important name in literature according to some frantic idiots!) reminded me about this issue I had with current RPGs that I couldn't understand, because , after all, we're supposed to talk about games here, right?

But, hey, I don' t give a shit anymore.

The GB community has turned into this strange fucking anti-social childish mess, disturbingly obsessing over such meaningless crap, like writing entire novels in the message boards about Ryan Davis clearing his voice or some other guy's laughter and such crap, that it feels pointless to even post something about a subject entirely different here.

Very happy to have Greg Miller on one of these.. BEYOND!!!

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

@Binman88 said:

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

It may have been boring and a little inside, but I really don't think you can justifiably accuse those guys of being insincere.

@Vlad_Tiberius: You have become that which you claim to hate, a boring long-winded blowhard sperg with nothing useful to contribute. Welcome to the club!

@Binman88 said:

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

It may have been boring and a little inside, but I really don't think you can justifiably accuse those guys of being insincere.

@Degringolade said:

@Binman88 said:

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

It may have been boring and a little inside, but I really don't think you can justifiably accuse those guys of being insincere.

It felt like fake sincerity, which goes hand in hand with selling a product and framing it in the best light. Maybe they really do believe the spin and buzz words, but I wasn't buying it. It sounded no different to all the other marketing pitches we've heard from every developer ever who has tried to convince us that their upcoming product is the real, wheel-reinventing deal.

Thanks for the E3 podcasts, GB crew!

Though I have to admit I mostly skipped the segments with the 343 guys and McElroy (can't stand the way he talks/screams).

So it goes without saying. Sherlock Holmes Quick Look in September.

@CptBedlam: You missed out, man. Time Belt.

@WVUEers: Yes with Justin Mcelroy for sure

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

How can someone care so much about some guy's writing that "inspired" the most overrated and childish CG-ridden crap I ever saw in my life? Even that NeverEnding Story movie from my early childhood had more sense, inner beauty and spunk than all these orks, elves, hooded wizards, dragons and all that Tolkien inspired shit put together.

By the way, is there any developer out there that can create a fresh and mature RPG, something that ISN'T about Norse or Japanese mythology for once? Just for once I'd like to see and try something that doesn't look and feel like a fairy tale that's been digested by all the fucking 12-year old geeks that can't seem to outgrow this Lord of the Ring/ Warcraft/anime madness.

For fuck sake, there are so many nations, cultures and myths, but, because of some reason, all I see is the same Norse, Celtic or Japanese crap being forced on us year after year. Even the Greek mythology, despite its richness and all the literature or theatre plays it inspired, is nowhere near those 3 in terms videogame media representation and I have yet to see a big budget RPG inspired by it.

If you feel so strongly about this, i invite you to get the ball rolling.

I don't say this to be snarky, or to use the average "if you don't like it, why don't you try and do it, huh?" defensive argument, but really, this sort of passion is where great stuff comes from. The people that make all of the entertainment media we enjoy do so because they ALSO wanted it when no one else was making it. If you want a job done, and you really do think it would be a fresh and exciting concept, get to work on it.

Gaint Bomb and some guy from 343 talking about the Halo series like it was made by robots with no emotions. Great....

It feels strange to me to have a newer and higher respect for Jaffe and lack thereof for a core developer.

DANNY O'DWYER WAS THERE!

For like a second. Get him as a fucking guest, do a whole show.

So much alex yelling, dear god

John Drake is so fucking hilarious, jesus christ, man crush

Oh god, lost my shit multiple times during this one.

This podcast was great, with a healthy mix of inside baseball and beer fueled humor.

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

@Degringolade said:

@Binman88 said:

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

It may have been boring and a little inside, but I really don't think you can justifiably accuse those guys of being insincere.

Sorry but I have to agree with him. Felt like I was listening to a marketing pitch for 30 minutes.

I actually just came to this comments thread to see "am I crazy? People have to have brought this up, right?" It was such self-congratulatory, self-involved blather, all because "we finally showed our Halo game, the sixth in the franchise," as if they had won an Oscar or something. It was also completely unprompted, too, which would be bizarre if it weren't so damn obnoxious.

"Hey guys, welcome to the Bombcast!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, it really is the greatest game on the planet."

"... What?"

"Halo 4. It's the best game ever, we agree."

"..."

"Oh, sure, we'd LOVE to share some insight on the process for the next thirty minutes!"

And then that weird transition.

"Anyway, I can tall all you want to do is talk about Halo for another three hours, but I want to be super-considerate and briefly talk about a bunch of other games."

"... Ok."

Am I the only one who likes sexy battle nun assassins? I was more offended by the ending of Halo 2.

All the bashing of WV makes me sad...... =(

@Duffyside said:

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

@Degringolade said:

@Binman88 said:

Wow the 343 guys were boring as fuck. Maybe that stuff was interesting to Halo fans, but it was the most insincere drivel I've heard all E3.

It may have been boring and a little inside, but I really don't think you can justifiably accuse those guys of being insincere.

Sorry but I have to agree with him. Felt like I was listening to a marketing pitch for 30 minutes.

I actually just came to this comments thread to see "am I crazy? People have to have brought this up, right?" It was such self-congratulatory, self-involved blather, all because "we finally showed our Halo game, the sixth in the franchise," as if they had won an Oscar or something. It was also completely unprompted, too, which would be bizarre if it weren't so damn obnoxious.

"Hey guys, welcome to the Bombcast!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, it really is the greatest game on the planet."

"... What?"

"Halo 4. It's the best game ever, we agree."

"..."

"Oh, sure, we'd LOVE to share some insight on the process for the next thirty minutes!"

And then that weird transition.

"Anyway, I can tall all you want to do is talk about Halo for another three hours, but I want to be super-considerate and briefly talk about a bunch of other games."

"... Ok."

Exactly. Luckily the guy is not a real developer I found out. Its his job to be a tool. He's very inconsiderate about the years upon years of sheer hard work and man power that went into Halo even existing. He takes the reaction people had to a simple and short trailer (which i thought was great, sure) and turned it into something that felt like they had already shipped the game and got a 95+ metacritic score. I want to tell him: Sorry captain but your game is not finished yet! Its a great video. The game appears amazing. You got the reaction you wanted. Right now a little humility never hurt anybody!

Just listened to this. Gonna move to West Virginia for some dope wi-fi.