Jar Time w/ Jeff: We Like The Jars, The Jars That Go Boom 02/27/2013

About the XNA stuff, I agree the indie part in XBLA was a mess, but he neglected to mention some real awesome games which were done using XNA. Wasn't Bastion and Fez both done in XNA?

His equipment maybe has a gate on it that cuts audio under a certain volume level to cut out background noise when he isnt talking at all. I'm sure he could set it to activate at a lower db level. Then again, I don't hear any audio dropout.

To the guy wanting to go major in journalism, NO NO NON ONO NO. As a recent journalism grad, it's not worth it. DON'T DO IT.

Wow the audio is really bad. Hate to keep harping on it, but it's true.

Yeah, man, I had a jury summons a couple of years ago as well. Thankfully I called and wasn't chosen either.

WE bump DIICKS, Jeff!

Lower your soundgate jeff

This message was deleted.

In case anyone was wondering the title reference:

Dont ask me how i know this song considering its way before my time.

Great work Jeff! Amazing Jar Time as always.

It's wednesday and I'm watching this.

Wow Jeff really trying to skate around the whole "PS3 vs Xbox360" question.

But imho the answer to that one is pretty simple by now, assuming the person asking does not care about exclusives and especially if somebody is asking who is not that much into gaming.

Let's face the facts: The PS3 doubles as an BluRay player, so even when the PS4 is out and the PS3 ceases to matter, it can still be used as an additional BluRay player. The 360 on the other hand can only be used to watch DVD's, but even these days DVD's barely matter, BluRay is the optical media of choice for entertainment these next years.

And there is the big glaring elephant in the room that nobody really likes to talk about: XBL Gold vs free multiplayer on PSN.

Especially to a "casual gamer" who is not that much into gaming it's pretty easy to figure out which of these two would be the more sensible choice. XBL Gold is an steep additional cost for something that most casual players will probably only dabble into to test it out. On the 360 they would have to pay money, on the PS3 this is not an issue at all.

Tbh as an avid PC Gamer the whole XBL Gold thing is one the biggest arguments as to why the 360 is the "worse choice" no matter what. Microsoft is basically holding part of a game hostage, that you already paid full price for. Why support that kind of crap?

I would understand it if XBL Gold would give a far superior experience in terms of multiplayer performance by providing dedicated servers on a huge scale for the majority of MP games. But the reality is that XBL and PSN both suffer from horrible multiplayer performance due to mostly depending on P2P hosting for multiplayer. So when faced with the choice between "Crappy performing multiplayer for free or crappy performing multiplayer at a monthly subscription" the choice should be pretty obvious.

All this is imho as somebody who owns both consoles!

is it just me or does it look like a giant bomb just went off in Jeff's room?

Jar, Here comes the Jar, Ready or Not, How you like Jar now?

First time I've ever posted after a long time lurking.

I appreciate you posting your thoughts as you do. I actually don't like the majority of game coverage out there but, as many people continue to say, GB finds ways to stay a step ahead of the rest. I feel that that success lies in the personalities that govern the content of this site. I became a yearly supporter just to do my part in helping you guys continue to do what you do because, as a consumer, I want to help support content I actually want to consume. There is not one other site out there that can call themselves an equal to GB in this manner.

I find myself surprised that there are people in this industry that think on the same wavelength that I do when it comes to perspectives of games. I am an adult, and I don't have time to play everything any more. I miss that, but at the same time, I don't. Jeff, you take your job seriously, which I appreciate. That comes across in the content you and the team produce. However, what sets you apart is that you are down to earth and have developed an approach where you are able to close the disconnect between a heavily inaccessible industry and the consumer.

Whether it be through language, vocabulary, or medium, I am able to understand your intentions in your analysis and criticism - something I feel that can't be done with a lot of other companies/blogs/game-related websites.

I could go on and on but just wanted to say my thoughts on your product and to keep up the great work. Your approach to your job is a step in the right direction and your micro and macro outlook on both technology, content, and, of course, video games is a breath of fresh air in an industry heavily dominated by archaic concepts of presentation.

Really love these. Just a pity about the audio drops.

Wow a Proof reference for your title! I never thought I would see that. Great Hip Hop knowledge and rest in peace Proof.

Loving the rambling Jeff. Interesting and insightful.

Yes, the audio is terrible. Like everyone else has said.

But don't stress it Jeff. :P

Thank You!

On the subject of American-English and British-English in games: Willy Builder in the first Viva Pinata talking about 'bacon butties' was just always the most jarring thing for me. I loved the hell out of that game so I heard it a lot. It drove me bonkers!

Jeff, it's probably some kind of noise gate issue or automatic gain control.

What exactly is your setup like?

Is that border from A Dog's Life?

I think I would prefer it if JarTime were made into a podcast, then I could listen to it during my commute. Doing video doesn't really add anything unless he starts talking about Skylanders again.

The drought is over!

Jars for everybody.

"OK, Its seems to be sta...ng on" made me laugh.

lol I think so! I think it's the bit where he took a dump next to the guitar dude. :P

The jury duty thing happened to me. You go an arrange for the day off weeks in advance then you end up calling and they say you're good. Well, thanks. I could've been paid more money.

Thanks once again @Jeff!

Mr. Gerstmann, sir. My gaming news money will always be spent where ever you are.

Yo dawg your audio be cutting. I can live with it but not liking it at all.

@phished0ne: I've known this song forever, but never seen the video.

Seeing it did not improve anything. Sorry Tigra, sorry Bunny.

I haven't turned on my 360 in about a year and a half...

Also, while I am listening to this on my htpc and not headphones or something, I don't hear any audio skip (at least halfway through anyway).

Nice stuff Jeff, I love hearing how stuff was on old gamespot, that wrestling thing made me laugh so hard. And the whole which console to show games on was interesting I kind of figure you guys just pick the one that has the biggest user base and I remember a little bit that on gamespot during the PS2 and original xbox days there were a shitload of PS2 videos and people were complaining that you guys were sony fans.

edit: also your mic keeps going turning off again, I think you have some kind of background noise cancellation software that stops the mic when you're not talking, I think you need to turn a nob to make it less sensitive or more sensitive idk.

Notice the bezel image, everyone.

Two and a half years here. People crack jokes about the Wii caked in dust, but at least Xenoblade shed that layer for that one.

And I would RELISH a song listing in the wiki. Can't wait.

Jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr?

Hey @Jeff when people refer to "the Citizen Kane" of anything, they're referring to the cultural and medium-wide impact of that piece of art. Whether you like the film or not, it legitimized and revolutionized the way films were made. It's not about having a game about an eccentric and lonely millionaire newspaper mogul, it's about finding that one game that will legitimize and revolutionize the way we think, talk, and play about video games.

Just a heads up.

Jary Duty?

I agree, Nintendo did shite the lorry with the Wii Z.

Jeff needs to fix the audio problem but beyond that I love these videos. I listen to them while working on homework.

Agreed. That's why I started subscribing.

Speaking just in general about choosing to enter an industry that is competitive: do not do it unless you are very passionate about the job and extremely persistent in making headway. Understand that things will not go easily after a few years experience. It is unlikely to be a comfortably reliable income for you unless you are very very talented and very very lucky.

If you're only sorta passionate about it and would like to be able to settle down in relatively near future, I suggest you do it, whatever it is, as a hobby. Pick a job that is always in high demand that you wouldn't mind doing. Trades, legal and law enforcement, certain positions in medicine, network engineer/admin, accounting, HR, etc.

Was waiting for the video to be posted. I knew the video title would be lyrics to some old jam.

@Jeff

This is the first one if these I ever seen. Jeff that was like the greatest TED Talk I ever saw.

I love listening to these, but I'd really appreciate it if Jeff could figure out why the audio keeps popping in and out. It becomes really frustrating to listen to.

Edit: During the video, it sounds like Jeff thinks it's randomly popping in and out, but the real problem seems to be when the mic goes from NO SOUND to TALKING. The first syllable after silence basically gets cut off. Might be some sort of automatic leveler software on the system end. If Jeff is reading this, I hope it helps.

Regarding games "writing for British characters with American accents." I recall hearing somewhere (maybe on the Halo 3 LE DVD) that Cortana was originally designed to have a British accent. Which is why she tells 343GS to "SOD OFF" and saying that chief was "Toadying about".

Which is neat!

Do you know this from experience or what? Did you try to break in? Just curious.