Giant Bombcast 10-25-2011

My old high school still offers a typing class, it's called Computer Applications, and it was a graduation requirement until this year, when it was cut from the requirements due to budget cuts.

I basically got to screw around in that class because I could get the assignments done in the first five to ten minutes of class.

In case Vinny didn't figure it out, there's Drop D tuning in Rocksmith. Glad to hear there will be footage and that Vinny is enjoying it. I love it! And, ya, this is not a game but it's all kinds of awesome if you are learning guitar or want to add some songs to your playing arsenal. I can't wait to get home and play more. I will master Slither dammit!!

For the life of me I do not understand this whole "they can't do that again" attitude of the Bombers towards certain games. They've said it about a potential Bayonetta sequel — what? They can't make a crazy, beautiful third person action game with the best combat system ever again? They've said it about a third Batman game — oh no, not another dense open-world with awesome Batman characters and incredibly satisfying play mechanics. And they've said it about Uncharted — again, I wouldn't at all mind another third person shooter that isn't a shallow bro-fest, has interesting characters, bright visuals, and traversal, melee and stealth gameplay that offer far more variety in approach than any other shooter on the market.

Moreover, why don't they say something like this about Gears of War, Mass Effect, or Starcraft? How come Starcraft 2 wasn't called "a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game"? I may have played more hours of Starcraft than any game in history, trust me; Starcraft 2 is a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game. In fact, it's a Warcraft-ass Warcraft game... in space.

I'm being very serious here, what do they mean when they say a developer "can't just do that again"? Does anyone understand this? I mean, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... THAT I get. That is totally "just doing that again." But new environments, new mechanics, a different narrative, new characters, new everything but just using the same very basic structure of "this universe, this genre"... I don't see what the problem is.

NO! DON'T stunningly conclude the bombcast! Stunningly INclude it!

Oh, and great talk/website, guys. Keep it up!

Jeff is a wonderfully weird dude. He will ignore some great games and get totally sucked into stuff like TrackMania 2 and Skylanders. I love it!

Once Altoids stop being curiously strong just from eating them you have to grind them up and snort them to get any effect from them.

I know the guys are getting tired of this generation of hardware and games and want a new batch so we can suffer through a couple years of developers finding their footing but I'm perfectly happy with the games coming out now. I'm not ready to spend $500 and than buy some crappy launch games just for something "new".

Could be wrong...but pretty sure Nolan North was also Deadshot. Maybe...

Pretty ironic that Jeff calls out people "wierdly" giving BF3 9/10's when he works with a guy who gave Rage 4/5.

@msavo said:

I know the guys are getting tired of this generation of hardware and games and want a new batch so we can suffer through a couple years of developers finding their footing but I'm perfectly happy with the games coming out now. I'm not ready to spend $500 and than buy some crappy launch games just for something "new".

I feel the total opposite.

Did Jeff quite The Clipse!!!!! Love me some bombcast

with the subject of next generation im gonna make a crazy prediction.... neXtBox (720 whatever) announced 2012 E3, out November 2012, and Halo 4 is actually a launch title. MS announced and launched the 360 in the same year, so this happening again makes sense to me. It allows the smallest gap between the announcement and launch (granted who's going out and buying a 360 next year and then deciding to wait for the next xbox that's going to be easily twice the price of what the 360 is now.) This is what i least want to happen. Playstation wise 2013 makes sense, no idea what sony will do. Will they look at where the ps3 is now and try to go with another "powerhouse" or will they look at the first year or two and calm some things down a bit. Poor Wii U though, they'll have similar games for maybe a year, and after that there will be an obvious gap again.

Thank goodness.

@Duffyside said:

For the life of me I do not understand this whole "they can't do that again" attitude of the Bombers towards certain games. They've said it about a potential Bayonetta sequel — what? They can't make a crazy, beautiful third person action game with the best combat system ever again? They've said it about a third Batman game — oh no, not another dense open-world with awesome Batman characters and incredibly satisfying play mechanics. And they've said it about Uncharted — again, I wouldn't at all mind another third person shooter that isn't a shallow bro-fest, has interesting characters, bright visuals, and traversal, melee and stealth gameplay that offer far more variety in approach than any other shooter on the market.

Moreover, why don't they say something like this about Gears of War, Mass Effect, or Starcraft? How come Starcraft 2 wasn't called "a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game"? I may have played more hours of Starcraft than any game in history, trust me; Starcraft 2 is a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game. In fact, it's a Warcraft-ass Warcraft game... in space.

I'm being very serious here, what do they mean when they say a developer "can't just do that again"? Does anyone understand this? I mean, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... THAT I get. That is totally "just doing that again." But new environments, new mechanics, a different narrative, new characters, new everything but just using the same very basic structure of "this universe, this genre"... I don't see what the problem is.

I know what you mean. It's especially bizarre when they then praise games like Street Fighter 4, Mortal Kombat 9 and StarCraft 2 specifically because they are so similar to 13+ year old games, heck the entire RTS and Fighting Game genres haven't had any well-received changes in a good fifteen years. But Uncharted and Arkham franchises get two games and then "done that... it's played out... innovation".

GB's lack of interest in the Vita disappoints me.

@BlatantNinja23: MS said Halo 4 is for 360.

Jeff is very interesting. He's insanely jaded about some things but really into skylanders.

@Hashbrowns said:

@Duffyside said:

For the life of me I do not understand this whole "they can't do that again" attitude of the Bombers towards certain games. They've said it about a potential Bayonetta sequel — what? They can't make a crazy, beautiful third person action game with the best combat system ever again? They've said it about a third Batman game — oh no, not another dense open-world with awesome Batman characters and incredibly satisfying play mechanics. And they've said it about Uncharted — again, I wouldn't at all mind another third person shooter that isn't a shallow bro-fest, has interesting characters, bright visuals, and traversal, melee and stealth gameplay that offer far more variety in approach than any other shooter on the market.

Moreover, why don't they say something like this about Gears of War, Mass Effect, or Starcraft? How come Starcraft 2 wasn't called "a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game"? I may have played more hours of Starcraft than any game in history, trust me; Starcraft 2 is a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game. In fact, it's a Warcraft-ass Warcraft game... in space.

I'm being very serious here, what do they mean when they say a developer "can't just do that again"? Does anyone understand this? I mean, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... THAT I get. That is totally "just doing that again." But new environments, new mechanics, a different narrative, new characters, new everything but just using the same very basic structure of "this universe, this genre"... I don't see what the problem is.

I know what you mean. It's especially bizarre when they then praise games like Street Fighter 4, Mortal Kombat 9 and StarCraft 2 specifically because they are so similar to 13+ year old games, heck the entire RTS and Fighting Game genres haven't had any well-received changes in a good fifteen years. But Uncharted and Arkham franchises get two games and then "done that... it's played out... innovation".

I like this man because he agrees with me.

Also; yo everyone, I know I can sound like a dick sometimes on the internet, and if that's how the above came off at ALL I am really sorry. I am genuinely interested in why there is a difference between the games mentioned. I honestly want to know if I'm missing something, or if it all comes down to "whatever, it's subjective; so and so wants more Starcraft, not more Uncharted. Deal with it."

I just received my autographed poster: YOU GUYS RULE!

@Duffyside:

I find for most people similarity in competitive games is more acceptable because people don't want to relearn the game. Balance changes and added new mechanics that aren't a reworking of the entire gameplay system are usually more than enough to deal with for most people. Which is a shame imo, but whatever.

Plus you're talking about franchises that haven't seen a proper installment for a long ass time compared to franchises that started up only a few years ago. Familiarity and nostalgia plays a huge factor.

Also I'm pretty sure they don't actually want another gears of war game from what I've heard, but I might have heard wrong.

In 8th grade I had to take Computer Business Applications, which was basically a "Here's how to use Powerpoint" class. Unsurprisingly, I'm pretty sure the teacher was actually the coach for the Cheer Squad.

@Unenthusiastic said:

GB's lack of interest in the Vita disappoints me.

I've given up on them when it comes to handhelds. I'm excited for the Vita, and that's what counts for me. I commute a total of 2 hours a day on the train, have a wife and kids that monopolize the TV, and I enjoy having "a console experience on a handheld". As they like to put it. Plus, with the Vita, I get to earn trophies too. SOLD!!

I would pay money for a key chain of my avatar with my profile on it.

Jeff, in montreal??

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh,

camping out the ubisoft building !

Pretty tepid reactions to Batman... I think we can rule it out as Giant Bomb game of the year. I think it's amazing, and definitely tops my list so far this year.

I'm glad Ryan pointed out the Just Cause 2/Batman Jeff/Bred grapple and glide mechanics reversal. I'm still amazed Jeff had any problems controlling it in JC 2, I''m pretty sure he just never cared enough to try. Batman definitely is a bit trickier but it's still pretty easy to get decent at it.

@Duffyside said:

For the life of me I do not understand this whole "they can't do that again" attitude of the Bombers towards certain games. They've said it about a potential Bayonetta sequel — what? They can't make a crazy, beautiful third person action game with the best combat system ever again? They've said it about a third Batman game — oh no, not another dense open-world with awesome Batman characters and incredibly satisfying play mechanics. And they've said it about Uncharted — again, I wouldn't at all mind another third person shooter that isn't a shallow bro-fest, has interesting characters, bright visuals, and traversal, melee and stealth gameplay that offer far more variety in approach than any other shooter on the market.

Moreover, why don't they say something like this about Gears of War, Mass Effect, or Starcraft? How come Starcraft 2 wasn't called "a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game"? I may have played more hours of Starcraft than any game in history, trust me; Starcraft 2 is a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game. In fact, it's a Warcraft-ass Warcraft game... in space.

I'm being very serious here, what do they mean when they say a developer "can't just do that again"? Does anyone understand this? I mean, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... THAT I get. That is totally "just doing that again." But new environments, new mechanics, a different narrative, new characters, new everything but just using the same very basic structure of "this universe, this genre"... I don't see what the problem is.

They just CAN'T! It's no longer RELEVANT!

@Duffyside said:

For the life of me I do not understand this whole "they can't do that again" attitude of the Bombers towards certain games. They've said it about a potential Bayonetta sequel — what? They can't make a crazy, beautiful third person action game with the best combat system ever again? They've said it about a third Batman game — oh no, not another dense open-world with awesome Batman characters and incredibly satisfying play mechanics. And they've said it about Uncharted — again, I wouldn't at all mind another third person shooter that isn't a shallow bro-fest, has interesting characters, bright visuals, and traversal, melee and stealth gameplay that offer far more variety in approach than any other shooter on the market.

Moreover, why don't they say something like this about Gears of War, Mass Effect, or Starcraft? How come Starcraft 2 wasn't called "a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game"? I may have played more hours of Starcraft than any game in history, trust me; Starcraft 2 is a Starcraft-ass Starcraft game. In fact, it's a Warcraft-ass Warcraft game... in space.

I'm being very serious here, what do they mean when they say a developer "can't just do that again"? Does anyone understand this? I mean, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... THAT I get. That is totally "just doing that again." But new environments, new mechanics, a different narrative, new characters, new everything but just using the same very basic structure of "this universe, this genre"... I don't see what the problem is.

They did say the same about Gears of War. The reason why they are saying "they can't do that again" is because those games are really good at what they do. They have almost perfected their craft and it is hard to bring something drastically new or really refreshing like those games. It also has to do with being in the same environment or the same setting. They probably won't mind if the game is similar in style, but brings something new to the fold. I think it's a growing (almost negative) sentiment that a lot of games are just becoming sequel, sequel, sequel.

In terms of Starcraft, there had not been a sequel in a long long time. It felt really fresh with it coming back whereas Batman, Gears, Uncharted, and a lot of these other franchises in this current gen are starting to feel stale. And as for Mass Effect, the trilogy is not finished yet and still has a lot of potential to be an even better game. There was a huge leap from 1 to 2 and there is still a lot they could improve and add, whereas other games with sequels that have already hit a certain peak can only refine. That's fine in itself, but again it could wear its welcome.

Think of it kind of like the growing discontent with the annualization of Call of Duty or how it was with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It is hard to keep certain games or game genres interesting if there are only incremental improvements from one game to the next and even harder if those games come out close to each other. Which is kind of why it works for Starcraft and the transition to Starcraft 2 versus a Gears to Gears to Gears, Arkham Asylum to Arkham City, or Uncharted 2 to 3.

puss in boots

OMG the spray gel! So much wasted time with batarangs :(

Jeff is jaded as fuck.

Very good bombcast guys = )

I might check out rocksmith hmm

My favourite part of this week's bombcast was when Brad was saying how he didn't want to give away parts of Uncharted 3 because it would ruin the experience, then immediately went on to listing off the big sequences one at a time. Great stuff.

@Zonto: You do know that every set piece he mentioned has been heavily marketed and shown by naughty dog and sony right?

@Mikewrestler5 said:

Jeff is jaded as fuck.

Welcome to games press.

@Zonto: Well the big sequences were ones that had already been revealed at press events, levels such as the burning chateau, the ship, and the airplane ones. Like they said on the podcast looking at those out of contexts doesn't exactly spoil too much.

This podcast never really starts till Brad gets his turn. Need to talk about the good stuff earlier!

both HoN and LoL has working business models. Just sayin

I regard typing classes relative to classical guitar training. You can learn how to type fast on your own, but taking a typing class teaches you proper forms and terminology.

The idea of having old consoles - and why not, old PCs - available at libraries to play old games is a great one. I'm not sure if it's right for every public library, but it could make sense for certain universities, especially ones with strong computer science/engineering programs.

♫ This is my Skyland and it's fine. It's where I spend the vast majority of my time. It's not perfect, but it's mine. ♫

Xbox 420.. that would speak to the audience. But didn't some code name leak for something called Xbox Loop that people think could be the next gen Xbox.

Skylanders stories are the BEST.

@ABK_92 said:

WHO HERE WANTS TO FIGHT ME?

I really, really want to fight you.

@InfamousBIG said:

@ABK_92 said:

WHO HERE WANTS TO FIGHT ME?

I really, really want to fight you.

Can I get in on this. I'll fight loser for title contention.

@mrpandaman: Oh sure, I understand that. I still think it's funny. I haven't really been paying attention to Uncharted 3 trailers because I plan on playing it regardless, so I actually hadn't heard about all of those sequences. I wasn't upset, just found it amusing.

"I love exposing myself to kids." ~Jeff Gerstmann, 10-25-2011