triplestan

I realize this thread is old as time itself but I spend altogether too much of my time listening to podcasts, so I'll take any chance I can get to talk about them. I need this.

U Talkin' U2 To Me? is the greatest podcast not at all about U2 that I've ever heard.

Also Comedy Bang Bang has to be tied with the Bombcast for my GOAT. It's immediately funny enough to bring in new listeners, but it also has a surprisingly deep mythos, which is something I never thought I would say about a comedy podcast. Any episode featuring Paul F. Tompkins is guaranteed to be solid gold.

@busafe: No joke, your character is probably the best human male Inquisitor I've seen yet. Or at least the only one that makes the glued-on facial hair not look terrible, which is a huge achievement in itself.

I think this is the heart of the matter. Each given person will have their own baggage associated with their sexuality, and I think the fact that Dorian has quite a bit of said baggage justifies the emphasis on his sexuality. Contrast that with Sera's homosexuality or Iron Bull's bisexuality, which are clearly not as big a deal to them, and it only makes it seem more real. Just as an individual gay or lesbian person does not represent all gay or lesbian people, Dorian does not automatically represent all gay video game characters.

Bioware (and specifically David Gaider) is great at writing characters that almost feel alive, which is one of the reasons Dorian might be my favorite character from Inquisition. It's exceptionally commendable that in Dorian they've addressed the fact that, for some gay people, being accepted as gay isn't always easy.

Nick Scarpino is a national treasure, so I'm really happy to have more of him in my life.

The original Pokemon Pinball is pretty dope tbh

@notnert427 said:

I have to respectfully disagree with you there - the fact that they gave me two shitty choices and one good one, and then said "Which one will you choose?" was really no choice at all.

In my opinion, Option C was a total copout, especially considering Rockstar acts like it's some big emotional decision for Franklin. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember getting the sense that Option C would result in Franklin dying, and even if I did he's hardly a character anyway - Micheal and Trevor are the only two dynamic characters in that game.

On that note, I felt that their story arcs would have had so much more weight if the player had been forced to choose between Micheal or Trevor, both of whom were much more sympathetic characters by the end of the game. From the sentiment expressed in the rest of this thread it seems that either of the other two options are extremely underwhelming. As it was, even having the three of them die in a blaze of glory would have been more satisfying than the ending I received with Option C.

It's especially disappointing having played Red Dead Redemption - I know Rockstar is capable of an emotional gut-punch of a climax, and giving me a no-consequence happy ending completely trivialized everything the game built up to. All it showed me was that Rockstar was not interested in telling the kind of story I wanted to see, and that they may never again after GTA4. It honestly left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Drew is one of the most consistently entertaining members of the crew, for all the reasons you spoke to. His positive attitude and enthusiasm for games that are easy to write off is really great to see and hear, and his contributions to the Bombcast are fantastic.

Proof that Drew is the nicest guy in the world: He's remembered both my friend and I's names - and what we chatted about - for the past three PAX meetups. It may not seem like much, but it has really stuck with me.

@humanity said:

@mosespippy said:

@blu3v3nom07 said:

Believe.

As much as I'd love to see Arthur join the team I don't see him leaving Polygon or moving to New York.

Are you guys kidding around or would you seriously want Arthur Gies to join Giant Bomb? Cause it's really hard to tell and I'm getting a little scared thinking there are fun intelligent folk on Giant Bomb of all places who would actually want Gies anywhere near this site.

I know I'm in the minority, but from listening to Rebel FM I think Arthur is a pretty cool dude. Also he's a huge fan of GB and every time I've hung around the meet-and-greet after the PAX panel he's been there hanging out with the crew, they seem to get along pretty well. Still don't think it's gonna happen but I'd be happy if it somehow did.

I think it would be fine and all if it wasn't pulled off with the subtlety of a semi truck.

I'm all for artistic freedoms and yadda yadda but when you attempt to represent something so disturbing you have to do it pretty gracefully, which is not something Kojima seems particularly good at, especially nowadays. So while the subject matter is not necessarily unwelcome in games, I think Ground Zeroes is a prime example of how easily it can be portrayed in bad taste.

In fact, I think Jeremy Parish said it best in his article for US Gamer. Even watching Metal Gear Scanlon puts the older games into stark contrast with the new ones - whereas back then Kojima was able to somewhat deftly (most of the time) imply grotesque situations and have them not feel incongruous with the inherent goofiness, nowadays he seems to want to exhibit every last gritty detail, and that's where the disconnect comes in.

I don't read Kotaku, but I also don't understand the hate that website gets - now that Patrick is working there I'm definitely more interested. They have some great personalities and I think Patrick will fit right in.

And the rumor that Patrick was somehow "pressured" to leave is ridiculous to me. It seems like he was spinning his wheels ever since he moved out to Chicago - other than the video stuff, he wasn't doing much real-ass reporting, and the stuff he was doing was met with a lot of people screaming that it "wasn't what this site is about". Add that to the fact that Stephen Totilo (his old boss) is heading up Kotaku, it's probably a better paying position, and his work will probably be more appreciated. It seems like the move was spurred more by Patrick himself feeling like he could take his creative potential somewhere he could actually fulfill it.

Which is all complete speculation, but either way I'm definitely happy to support Scoops in whatever endeavor, and I'm excited to see what he can do at Kotaku.