Bombcast Breakdown!! - 9.9.2008 - #35

Because two exclamation marks means you're super serial about it!

I have this weird goal of going through each show and taking copious notes, as this whole college thing has taught me. You can find all of the previous entries in this series via my blog, the Bombcast forum, or simply by searching up top. Whenever there is pertinent discussion on a given topic/game/person, I'll do my best to link that individual Breakdown to that particular page.

This is a fluid list. Beta as its popular to be known as. Things are going to be dynamic, pertaining to formatting and such, until I get a feel for how things are going to turn out. Categories may be added, renamed, or simply taken away on 'cast to 'cast basis. Let me know if you see something wrong! This is as much mine as it is yours!

Legend:

• Voices - obvious enough, who's in the podcast
• Reviewed - initially going to be reserved for the taste testing they did early on in the series, will see how things turn out later when they start phasing it out
• Movies mentioned - despite being a videogame-centric podcast, these guys have some serious debates on movies and people/ideas pertaining to them
• Games mentioned - games/game series mentioned on the 'cast. Listed if the game has some type of discussion or context behind it, not simply if name dropped
• Companies Mentioned - these guys spit knowledge about companies like nobodies business. best to catalog it all to be held against them
• Names dropped - much like the games mentioned, people mentioned if it pertains to the 'cast
• Out of context quotes - the tiny crazy bits we all love our boys saying. taken directly out of context makes it even more hilarious
• Timestamps-the parts of the 'cast that are fairly easy to distinguish with Ryans segway ability. Oft times these will seamless lead into a bigger discussion on the topic
• Definitive quotes - the bits where they're all business, and give their honest opinion/prediction on a topic. If you were to jump to a time in the 'cast, these would be it
• General notes - ideas I've garnered from the crew during the 'cast
• ******* - multiple astricks denote a few minutes of the 'cast you'd do well listening to, if for nothing else than the hilarity/gravitas of it all
• 1+ - denotes where they talk about a certain topic for more than a minute, instead of simply dropping the name in there for no discussion.

Giant Bombcast ep.26 -- 9.9.2008

Voices

• Jeff Gerstmann
• Brad Shoemaker
• Ryan Davis
• Vinny Caravella

Location

• Giant Bomb Basement

Names Dropped

• Diane Sawyer (5.17)
• Jason Statham (23.53)
• Frank Adams (24.13)

Companies Mentioned

• EA (7.00)
• Square Enix, Tecmo Koei (56.36) 1+

Games Mentioned

• Shenmue (2.48)
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (5.22)
• NFL 2K (5.24)
• VMU Football (6.37)
• Spore (7.46, 21.05) 1+
• Infinite Undiscovery (8.54) 1+
• TNA Impact (15.33) 1+
• Crysis Warhead (23.27) 1+
• Bioshock (30.13) 1+
• Portal (36.23)
• Castle Crashers (43.35)
• Mercenaries 2 (43.55) 1+
• Age of Booty (48.30) ***************** 1+
• Red Alert 3 (54.08) 1+
• Call of Duty 4 (1.00.07)
• Call of Duty World at War (1.00.10) 1+
• Rock Band 2 (1.05.20) 1+
• Rare Instinct 3 (1.16.43)
• Banjo Nuts and Bolts (1.22.11) 1+
• Guitar Hero World Tour (1.24.00) 1+
• Silent Hill Homecoming (1.43.10)
• Dead Space (1.43.23)
• Left 4 Dead (1.44.07)

Out of Context Quotes

• Can you still have birthdays if you're dead? - vinny (.50)
• The dreamcast lives on in a cardboard box in my closet - brad (1.09)
• I still have like 5 sealed copies of Shenmue...they're worthless - jeff (2.45)
• You're a flute player in this game - jeff (12.10)
• Hold on, I'm back in. There's moon slavery? - ryan (12.30)
• That game is janky. Rated J for Janky - jeff (45.38)
• Here's to hoping bears continue to see much cross-promotional success in the world of video games - ryan (56.07)
• I have to say that introducing weird alien insect monsters into the gameplay would definatly make football more interesting to me - ryan (1.13.07)
• They call me the dirty purple - jeff (1.42.24)
• I am all about getting on your high horse and being a dick about stuff that gets you mad, but this is too far - jeff (1.56.49)

Definitive Quotes

• She touched my leg, I wore shorts on national television, and a FUBU jersey, marking the moment when people stopped searing FUBU - jeff (5.55)
• Everyone that wanted Shenmue, has it - jeff (3.04)
• Beyond the combat, this is the thing that bums me out about japanese RPGs so consistantly, is just how damn predicatble the whole story arcs are - ryan (13.16)
• It's been a very long time since there has been any legitimate competition, both in actual wrestling and in wrestling video games, and its kinda interesting to see a different take on wrestling than what THQ has been doing for however long they've been putting SMackdown out - jeff (15.57)
• I've been watching alot of wrestling lately because TV sucks so I might as well own up to that and watch the worst TV I can - jeff (17.40)
• Ok, so here's a homework assignment for the folks at home - someone who really likes Dynasty Warriors write in and explain why - jeff (58.55)
• I just want truth in advertising. I think its great they're doing it becaseu they'll let people play a game for free for a chunk of time and enjoy it, but just call it a demo, an exlcusive demo, or a limited time demo or something liek that. Don't front and say 'we need to tune all this stuff' because at this point, people should know how to design first person shooters. At this point, they know how the perks work in CoD 4, shouldn't the designers already know how the flamethrowers are going to change the game? shouldn't they already be able to figure that out on their own? - jeff (1.02.10)
• thats why xbox live arcade games come out in the dead of night, because they count on most people being asleep so if somethings broken, they can fix it - jeff (1.37.20)
• Just like most anti-piracy measures, you're primarily punishing the people who paid for the game you know? people who want to pirate are going to find a way to do it. - brad (1.49.14)

Timestamps

• Dreamcast memorandum (.30-6.20)
• What Have You Been Playing (6.20-51.20)
• Digital Download platforms (38.00-)
• News of the World (51.20-1.38.55)

1. 360 Price Cut (51.30)
2. Lets talk about Bears (54.00)
3. Drama between Square Enix and Tecmo (56.36)
4. World at War beta (1.00.10)
5. Rock Band 2 coming in days (1.05.20)
6. Old DLC pricecut! (1.09.10)
7. Spore is to be a platform... (1.10.55)
8. Sheet Music (1.16.15)
9. Rare has a new Banjo game (1.12.11)
10. Guitar Hero Apocalypse coming soon (1.24.00)
11. BREAK MUSIC (1.27.47)
12. New Xbox Expieriance (1.28.40)

• Emails(1.39.00-2.01.53)

1. stance on reviewing games after a patch (1.39.07)
2. The Fatal Pinata drink mix (1.41.30)
3. should we worry about games being pushed up in release (1.43.02)
4. controls for Bioshock (1.45.38)
5. Spore DRM issues/SecuRom (1.47.14) *************

• New Site Features (2.01.57)

1. Guides, new homepage, new videopage, white site

General Notes

• Nine year anniversary of the Dreamcast

Because two exclamation marks means you're super serial about it!

I have this weird goal of going through each show and taking copious notes, as this whole college thing has taught me. You can find all of the previous entries in this series via my blog, the Bombcast forum, or simply by searching up top. Whenever there is pertinent discussion on a given topic/game/person, I'll do my best to link that individual Breakdown to that particular page.

This is a fluid list. Beta as its popular to be known as. Things are going to be dynamic, pertaining to formatting and such, until I get a feel for how things are going to turn out. Categories may be added, renamed, or simply taken away on 'cast to 'cast basis. Let me know if you see something wrong! This is as much mine as it is yours!

Legend:

• Voices - obvious enough, who's in the podcast
• Reviewed - initially going to be reserved for the taste testing they did early on in the series, will see how things turn out later when they start phasing it out
• Movies mentioned - despite being a videogame-centric podcast, these guys have some serious debates on movies and people/ideas pertaining to them
• Games mentioned - games/game series mentioned on the 'cast. Listed if the game has some type of discussion or context behind it, not simply if name dropped
• Companies Mentioned - these guys spit knowledge about companies like nobodies business. best to catalog it all to be held against them
• Names dropped - much like the games mentioned, people mentioned if it pertains to the 'cast
• Out of context quotes - the tiny crazy bits we all love our boys saying. taken directly out of context makes it even more hilarious
• Timestamps-the parts of the 'cast that are fairly easy to distinguish with Ryans segway ability. Oft times these will seamless lead into a bigger discussion on the topic
• Definitive quotes - the bits where they're all business, and give their honest opinion/prediction on a topic. If you were to jump to a time in the 'cast, these would be it
• General notes - ideas I've garnered from the crew during the 'cast
• ******* - multiple astricks denote a few minutes of the 'cast you'd do well listening to, if for nothing else than the hilarity/gravitas of it all
• 1+ - denotes where they talk about a certain topic for more than a minute, instead of simply dropping the name in there for no discussion.

Giant Bombcast ep.26 -- 9.9.2008

Voices

• Jeff Gerstmann
• Brad Shoemaker
• Ryan Davis
• Vinny Caravella

Location

• Giant Bomb Basement

Names Dropped

• Diane Sawyer (5.17)
• Jason Statham (23.53)
• Frank Adams (24.13)

Companies Mentioned

• EA (7.00)
• Square Enix, Tecmo Koei (56.36) 1+

Games Mentioned

• Shenmue (2.48)
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (5.22)
• NFL 2K (5.24)
• VMU Football (6.37)
• Spore (7.46, 21.05) 1+
• Infinite Undiscovery (8.54) 1+
• TNA Impact (15.33) 1+
• Crysis Warhead (23.27) 1+
• Bioshock (30.13) 1+
• Portal (36.23)
• Castle Crashers (43.35)
• Mercenaries 2 (43.55) 1+
• Age of Booty (48.30) ***************** 1+
• Red Alert 3 (54.08) 1+
• Call of Duty 4 (1.00.07)
• Call of Duty World at War (1.00.10) 1+
• Rock Band 2 (1.05.20) 1+
• Rare Instinct 3 (1.16.43)
• Banjo Nuts and Bolts (1.22.11) 1+
• Guitar Hero World Tour (1.24.00) 1+
• Silent Hill Homecoming (1.43.10)
• Dead Space (1.43.23)
• Left 4 Dead (1.44.07)

Out of Context Quotes

• Can you still have birthdays if you're dead? - vinny (.50)
• The dreamcast lives on in a cardboard box in my closet - brad (1.09)
• I still have like 5 sealed copies of Shenmue...they're worthless - jeff (2.45)
• You're a flute player in this game - jeff (12.10)
• Hold on, I'm back in. There's moon slavery? - ryan (12.30)
• That game is janky. Rated J for Janky - jeff (45.38)
• Here's to hoping bears continue to see much cross-promotional success in the world of video games - ryan (56.07)
• I have to say that introducing weird alien insect monsters into the gameplay would definatly make football more interesting to me - ryan (1.13.07)
• They call me the dirty purple - jeff (1.42.24)
• I am all about getting on your high horse and being a dick about stuff that gets you mad, but this is too far - jeff (1.56.49)

Definitive Quotes

• She touched my leg, I wore shorts on national television, and a FUBU jersey, marking the moment when people stopped searing FUBU - jeff (5.55)
• Everyone that wanted Shenmue, has it - jeff (3.04)
• Beyond the combat, this is the thing that bums me out about japanese RPGs so consistantly, is just how damn predicatble the whole story arcs are - ryan (13.16)
• It's been a very long time since there has been any legitimate competition, both in actual wrestling and in wrestling video games, and its kinda interesting to see a different take on wrestling than what THQ has been doing for however long they've been putting SMackdown out - jeff (15.57)
• I've been watching alot of wrestling lately because TV sucks so I might as well own up to that and watch the worst TV I can - jeff (17.40)
• Ok, so here's a homework assignment for the folks at home - someone who really likes Dynasty Warriors write in and explain why - jeff (58.55)
• I just want truth in advertising. I think its great they're doing it becaseu they'll let people play a game for free for a chunk of time and enjoy it, but just call it a demo, an exlcusive demo, or a limited time demo or something liek that. Don't front and say 'we need to tune all this stuff' because at this point, people should know how to design first person shooters. At this point, they know how the perks work in CoD 4, shouldn't the designers already know how the flamethrowers are going to change the game? shouldn't they already be able to figure that out on their own? - jeff (1.02.10)
• thats why xbox live arcade games come out in the dead of night, because they count on most people being asleep so if somethings broken, they can fix it - jeff (1.37.20)
• Just like most anti-piracy measures, you're primarily punishing the people who paid for the game you know? people who want to pirate are going to find a way to do it. - brad (1.49.14)

Timestamps

• Dreamcast memorandum (.30-6.20)
• What Have You Been Playing (6.20-51.20)
• Digital Download platforms (38.00-)
• News of the World (51.20-1.38.55)

1. 360 Price Cut (51.30)
2. Lets talk about Bears (54.00)
3. Drama between Square Enix and Tecmo (56.36)
4. World at War beta (1.00.10)
5. Rock Band 2 coming in days (1.05.20)
6. Old DLC pricecut! (1.09.10)
7. Spore is to be a platform... (1.10.55)
8. Sheet Music (1.16.15)
9. Rare has a new Banjo game (1.12.11)
10. Guitar Hero Apocalypse coming soon (1.24.00)
11. BREAK MUSIC (1.27.47)
12. New Xbox Expieriance (1.28.40)

• Emails(1.39.00-2.01.53)

1. stance on reviewing games after a patch (1.39.07)
2. The Fatal Pinata drink mix (1.41.30)
3. should we worry about games being pushed up in release (1.43.02)
4. controls for Bioshock (1.45.38)
5. Spore DRM issues/SecuRom (1.47.14) *************

• New Site Features (2.01.57)

1. Guides, new homepage, new videopage, white site

General Notes

• Nine year anniversary of the Dreamcast

With the Age of Booty talk going on here, and with reference to the video, I thought it only appropriate to place this piece of art in here

Did I go back in time?

@ImmortalSaiyan: Eh, sortakinda. I've done a couple the day they're released, but it just doesn't seem as fun compared to going back and listening to these guys, their thoughts then and how they relate to nowadays (turns out EA has been making horrible DRM choices the past couple years), and how some of their predictions turn out - those are at times eerily accurate.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but...wh..why?

I think that Hailinel should take Jeff up on that offer to write in about Dynasty Warriors. Two years later, just mail it in with some candy or something and a copy of the audio recording of Jeff saying that on the Bombcast.

@washingmachine said:

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but...wh..why?

No reason to step around the issues, yeah, this is crazy thing to do. I just like knowing what the staff has said about a particular subject at hand (in this 'cast, they go off for a while about DRM issues, which is still pretty pertinent especially nowadays), or a certain game, or just how some of their views have changed throughout the years and whatnot. I've also gotten a couple messages from people bring up hardness of hearing issues and people involved in the game industry, so it also pays out in the end. Plus, I know there are a couple people on these boards who get a kick out this. Believe it or not, I'm not the most detailed person who takes notes on the Bombcast...

Thanks for these. They help a lot when trying to go back and hear about certain games. I'm listening to this podcast right now because of this post.

You are crazy. But this is cool.

amazing...this looks like something I would do with some adderall

I dont envy you of the task you have set yourself! Arn't there like 300ish podcasts by now? Still its a damn cool idea.

I don't know how I missed these, but I have been thinking for a long time that someone needed to do something like this. People could easily skip a segment if they don't like it (blasphemy, I say) or want to avoid spoilers. This is a great way to document and revisit GB memes as well, since most of them come from the Bombcast anyways. You've taken it so much further though. Truly commendable work.

Aww, my first Bombcast! They grow up so fast, don't they?

It would be awesome if these were easily searchable. Also, it would be sweet if when one went to say the Spore page of the giantbomb wiki that it would also be easy to see which bombcasts it had been mentioned on. Have you talked with Dave about anything like that?

The Dreamcast. How we barely knew thine bizarre breed of arcade emulation.

@Rsvaret said:

It would be awesome if these were easily searchable. Also, it would be sweet if when one went to say the Spore page of the giantbomb wiki that it would also be easy to see which bombcasts it had been mentioned on. Have you talked with Dave about anything like that?

Huh, I thought there was a blog/news option in the sidebar somewhere, I guess not...

While I agree with what you're saying and how awesome it would be if we had a link to where the guys discussed it on the game page proper, I don't do these things consistently enough to make that kind of an impact. I suppose one of the interns could handle it, but I have never approached the staff about how serious I should get with these. I did PM Jeff one time about it, here I'll paste it all right here -

Private Message started by MatthewOnline Now
as I was typing down what alex said in the most recent entry i've done ( http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/matthew/bombcast-breakdown-342008/30-47095/), it came to mind that I might put something down that could be held against you ... I know ya'll are probably the type that don't really care too much what gets put up about you guys in the internet, just as long as we stay away from your personal life for the most part, but do you want me to kinda keep a smart head about me when I go through the quotes section of this feature, or do you give the okay that if its on the net via podcast, everything is okay to be written down.
I figure ryan wouldn't allow anything to go up that could really be held against ya'll, so for right now I'm figuring it's all fair game, unless you say otherwise...
thanks again, cheers mate
Private Message by JeffStaff
Totally fair game. We wouldn't have said it in the first place if we weren't OK with it getting out there. Thanks!

@Matthew: That all totally makes sense. Nice job on this. It's awesome stuff!

I love these things, and enjoy it immensely whenever you do a new one.

These are one of mt favorite things on this site.

Hm, winter is coming. I should relisten to all of these just for the hell of it, but then I have all these damn books to read. Stupid sexy Kindle! And also make sure you're not bullshitting these, Matthew! I do enjoy these things though. The Bombcast used to be pretty much the only game journalist podcast I used to listen to so a lot of silly joke references still stick out in my head.

Love it! Thanks for posting these.

This is excellent work. It is such a daunting task, though. Every week there's a new episode and the current backlog is just huge. Perhaps you might want to get the community involved, put down some standards for coverage/documentation and let others help note down the interesting parts?

I had been thinking of trying something like this myself (inspired by similar things over at Screened), just experimenting with a single episode - but I never got around to it.

There should be a wiki page for just things that go own during the Bombcast.

@rjayb89 said:

And also make sure you're not bullshitting these, Matthew!

Yeah....too late for that already....I'll admit, there's at least one quote in here that is off by 2 seconds. I've screwed the whole thing up. Hardcore.

@KamikazeCaterpillar: @Kandycane2029: Thanks duders, It's always glad to know others get a kick out of it besides me!

@RobertOrri said:

This is excellent work. It is such a daunting task, though. Every week there's a new episode and the current backlog is just huge. Perhaps you might want to get the community involved, put down some standards for coverage/documentation and let others help note down the interesting parts?

I had been thinking of trying something like this myself (inspired by similar things over at Screened), just experimenting with a single episode - but I never got around to it.

It is daunting. I really try to make it a point not to think about the huge number I'm behind. If it was my job to actually do these, I'd be doing like 2 per day, maybe 3 in a 8 hour workday, so you could do some math on that end and figure out how long it would take, but thankfully, I'll just be rooting around in the archives for a good long bit. As for the community standards and stuff, hey, this isn't my IP or anything, the bombcast is for errbody, do with it what you will. I've kinda got a format all nailed down, but you're right, CrazyCraven over there at screened has done some awesome stuff. I tried to give him some pointers and such early on, but he just took the whole concept and ran with it. Counting the number of times each member of the swears? I don't even think I'd be able to type out the C-word when good 'ol Vinny drops it like its hot. Craven is awesome, and I tip my hat to the man.