Giant Bombcast 02/17/2015

I know Dan would like the rock jam band Umphrey's McGee.

dammit dan, and your wrestling lingo. that was amazing. also i downloaded yik yak and its great it the worst ways possible

Somehow Chevy Chase ended up in a pretty bad Swedish comedy show named Hjälp! ("Help!") about 5 years ago.

@l4wd0g: You know, one lie - if that is indeed the case - is really not very comparable to 15+ years of continuous over-promising and straight up lies.

Granted, since it's Sarkeesian you're talking, I'm sure you can get a large amount of gamers to agree with pretty much any dramatic comparison/slander.

Dan's opinion on Phish, ugh. Even worse than Brad's dismissiveness. At least Drew was open-minded enough to be impressed by how comprehensively Phish has been archived.

I finally have to address @brad and his double standard in assessing quality video games. I hope to get some sort of response, because I'm curious as to your perspective here Mr. Shoemaker.

In the olden days you commonly evoked Wolpaw's Law when discussing whether a game was "objectively" good or bad. As I understood it, a game that became fun/good many...many hours in did not make up for a boring/bad early part of the game (perhaps I'm misunderstanding that, and if so I'm open to clarification). This makes me wonder about Dota 2... if a game takes that much time investment and torment to become fun, does that not under Wolpaw's Law make it a bad game?

Secondly and more specific to this podcast was the Game of the Generation discussion. I think @jeff is totally on point with WiiSports being a contender. Your dismissal of it's cultural impact is what irks me, especially as your argument for Dota 2 being the objective winner of GOTY 2013 was based almost entirely on what it contributed to gaming outside of the actual game (spectator stuff in particular - day 5 of the 2013 GOTY podcast for this argument). If that cultural impact is important to a GOTY discussion for the site, how is it not important for a GOTG discussion?

Lastly, Jeff is on crack for hating Red Dead... but I respect the hell out of his steadfastness to hating it.

waaaaaaaaa i didnt able to ... . . . :(

As far as Tekken 7 goes, this should be a great release for people to enjoy that have been away from the series for a while or maybe are trying it for the first time. Tekken Tag 2 is great for hardcore fans, as the series has iterated throughout and peaked in complexity for this latest incarnation, whereas Tekken 7 looks to reign it in with shorter combos, introduces super moves, and will look great on new consoles. I agree that Soul Calibur is finished, whereas the original set a new graphical bar for fighters on the dreamcast, it had a great sequel, it was Soul Calibur 3 where the series lost it's way and never recovered.

Red Dead Redemption isn't all that. It's great but the pacing is all over the map and I was bored at times.

I miss the John Carmack Tweet of the Week.

Brad probably isn't communicating his feelings about Dota 2 very well. Learning Dota 2 can be pretty unfun if you're not playing with friends and you jump right into matchmaking. If you're playing with friends, the game is a lot of fun even when you're learning because 1) any game is fun with friends and 2) you don't have to worry about being scolded when you inevitably mess up. It's still fun alone, but you will probably have a bad time if you don't get your bearings in matches against A.I. for a bit.

I think Brad may like to exaggerate how gruelling the game was when he was still learning. It feels like an achievement to grasp the game completely, but getting to that point is still a lot of fun. If it wasn't, the game wouldn't be growing the way it is.

It was some Mose's Roses place, I think? Maybe? Even *I* don't know!

I thought all the new skits in the SNL 40th where fantastic. I really loved Jeopardy, Seinfeld Q&A, and Wayne's World

Using Kickstarter to fund a game is fine and if it doesn't release at the end, I'd be disappointed, but it happens. Kickstarter is no pre-order, but a risk.

However, the £500,000 stretch goal was a Linux version of Godus. The goal was reached.

Criticism has also been levelled at 22cans for their plan for a SteamOS and Linux version of Godus, despite being built on Marmalade which does not support Linux.

Godus, Wikipedia

This studio of industry professionals chose to use an engine that would make it impossible to produce a Linux version they promised their backers. In my eyes this is just unacceptable and I sincerely hope nobody will ever give this studio and Molyneux money again.

Regarding the Fast Travel options in games, I'm all for either option...fast travel and absolutely none.

I prefer the way Morrowind went about it though, it had no fast travel but it gave you the option of taking a boat, a "bus" or using spells to travel where you want. This limited direct travel but also gave the player freedom to move around the map without trekking every single step. I like something about the trade off and I don't lose that feel for the world that i think direct fast travel takes away.

I can comment?

@edgework: *replies to comment*

Can we get a Jeff Dead Redemption already?!

Asking why Eddie Murphy hasn't been funny in 25+ years, is like asking how come Metallica hasn't made a decent album since And Justice For All. It's the same answer.

8 minutes for video games

(not complaining, just keeping this comment as a reminder)