Giant Bombcast 02/26/2013

@illegalnull: Dude, you like, reached into my brain and said everything I wanted to say about this bombcast. It was great listening to positive stuff about the Sony conference. Just came from listening to Weekend Confirmed and man they were laying on the hate pretty thick. I really like those guys too! I also really hope Microsoft brings it to Sony because as Jeff said, the more they fight the more we all win.

The only thing at the Sony thing that annoyed me in any way was god damn Square Enix. I facepalmed so hard at that and started cussing at my computer monitor. Except for them publishing stuff, I really am about to give up on them. And I really liked FF13 too. Not a big hater of the Enix.

@Jeff yeah, ram is just ram.

If your motherboard takes DDR3 buy DDR3, the rest doesn't really matter.

Ah Yeah! I Love me some Wednesday afternoon Bombcast.

As a child in the 80's/90's, there is something so endearing about the cassette tape when the podcast plays :)

Sony has been VERY slow on getting their older PS3 games up on PSN, like Demon's Souls just went up not that long ago. So no Valkyria Chronicles, HOWEVER, Valkyria Chronicles II is on PSN for only $10! Unfortunately, it's a PSP exclusive, but if you don't want to track down the first game @patrickklepek, then there you go. Though like somebody else said it's pretty cheap on amazon and is totally worth playing, if anything just for the look of it, so good. Kevin VanOrd reviewed and was a fan of the first game so gamespot may have a copy?

P.S. Anybody else bummed that the 2nd game didn't come to PS3, and the 3rd game didn't even get released outside of Japan? I haven't seen the 3rd game but based on the cover art it looks like they went Jak 3 with it.

Hear, hear!

Drinkable cyborg spines will replace Gatorade for all your electrolyte needs in the future.

How would playing PS3 digital content on PS4 not be backwards compatibility? Surely the only difference is delivery.

First, I think you guys are forgetting the most important part of Dead Space 3. Whether or not you agree with it's story or are not scared or don't like big set pieces or don't want it to be a shooter...it's fun.

Second, I also don't understand the argument that they don't encourage you to switch up your weapons. That's half the fun of the game. They never encourage you to use different weapons in Halo or COD. You can play those game all the way through with one weapon. In DS3 you're free to make whatever you want, whenever you want and somehow that's a bad thing?

Third, I'd love to hear why Brad and Patrick hated the ending of the series about mutating aliens in space. Cause you do realize that the game is about killing mutated aliens...in space.

@videogamesarenotart: I don't even know where you get that from. Jeff even says that based on what we know right now of the upcoming generation, he thinks Sony is going to win it. Just the opposite of this one. Geez.

Err I didn't really get that. Capitalism, maybe, but freedom of speech? To be honest, it just seemed like the old military-industrial complex theme the MG series has been using for years. That entire boss fight was so over the top it's hard to take seriously.

I can't believe that the crew cited that Sony does NOT sell PS2 games on the PSN store!

Guys, they've had PS2 games on the PSN store for a year or so now, compatible with all PS3's - you've even reported on PS2 classics on weekly releases!

A forgivable mistake considering how long PS3s didn't have any PS2 compatibility but a mistake none the less.

@patrickklepek Valkryia Chronicles would be a perfect game to play next. Would still like you to try Etrian Odyssey 4 sometime (4th in a series of dungeon crawling games on the 3DS with an emphasis on map making and exploration) because it's not likely anyone else on the GB staff would pick it up.

Dead Space 3...I'm sure there are plenty of people that liked it and that's fine, but I can't help being profoundly disappointed by it. To the point of wondering what I saw in the first two games to begin with. Maybe I should replay them sometime.

Don't get me wrong I like Ryan, but the rare podcast without his direction is so awesome.

I love the new interface for playing the bombcast right from this page.

Yeah that really surprised me too. 52 PS2 classics on the US PSN store according to the filter I ran.

Also surprised at how inflamed Brad got about people with 7-year-old PS3s having issues getting 19gb digital downloads working. If you have that little space then on-disc is your best bet. Computers run like crap with low disk space, consoles are probably the same way.

Re: Tomb Raider, maybe as an RPG, strategy, and sports sim fan, I'm all for your intrepid but completely untrained neophyte hero to be utterly shitty at video gaming stuff early on. I'm all for having to fight the mechanics and/or controls (that's right Vinny, launch Wii level nonfidelity) even for extended periods if there is a sufficiently fleshed out story justification for it.

Given the universal acclaim of say XCOM by the Bombcrew the idea that being initially weak and being able to fail on dice rolls is suddenly not a good thing is a bit weird. Perhaps in this game, and this genre maybe not. But as time goes on, it's been proven again and again that ideas (oddball or not) aren't bad, it's their shoddy execution.

Patrick seems to be fighting the "it's video games, guys" type argument, but maybe without play time he didn't feel compelled to make his argument more stridently. I mean he's a huge fan of the less actiony Resident Evils, and other horror games and just went through Fire Emblem, infamous for permadeath and giving you TERRIBLE (in terms of in-game competence) characters you need to babysit that endangers other characters, so they can later blossom (sometimes MUCH later) into competent death dealers. He even mentioned in the QL about the standard practice like momma cats of leaving wounded prey for the baby to practice on...only to miss and be left to the counterattack.

His issue was that it, in actuality, takes up more space than it says it does. Which I'll agree with him on that it's crappy.

Most console folks aren't necessarily PC-savvy. If Dude sees that a download is going to take up X amount of space, and Dude sees that he has at least X much space, Dude should be able to download that software without being blindsided by the fact that it actually requires a larger, Y amount of space.

I mean, I think full disclosure on SPACE REQUIRED is a pretty reasonable concession to make.

I never had a single problem downloading from PSN, speeds were perfect always, at all times, from all PSN stores around the world. And then came the day of Tokyo Jungle. PSN Europe went up, started downloading TJ and it took like five hours and what the fuck.

At least I'm still without Steam giving trouble, launch, HL2 launch, HL2 episode1/2 launch, never, fine speeds always.

Microsoft will pull crazy shit and surprises with their presentation. Hopefully it's not moneyhatting EA etc to get exclusives or putting Xbox live subscriber money towards exclusive DLC. You'd be paying money in order to get the chance to be alone in the console field to pay even more money, on a service you have to pay money to be able to pay money to in the first place.

Dear Sony, please let what's free on the PS3 remain free with the PS4..

e: PS3 PS1 BC is not 100%, more like 99.8% and where in the world was that list of the titles that didn't run proper.

e: If PS4 streaming does not support NicoVideo then that will be kinda peculiar for the Japanese market. Either you're paying 525 yen a month and using Nico, you're not spending monye and using Ustream, or you're interested in foreigners with what you do (speedrunning or whatev) and using Twitch.

UPDATE: RYAN "TASWELL" DAVIS is visiting where they film Parks and Recreation.

MGS is full of 'in on the joke' goofy type stuff. Like, packed with it. Like, more than any other game. It is up its own butt, but it's got so much charm while you're playing them, you don't care.

How I know it's a "Jeffcast" besides the old intro - the audio is so damn low! 3 hour podcast makes my long commutes way more enjoyable...

"It's really funny, but it's Japanese, so there's only so much they can do."- Patrick Klepek

Oh god, I just got to the part in the podcast where Patrick actually uses the example of the shitty regenerating enemies as a GOOD part of Dead Space 3. I don't even know anymore man.

Dead Space 3 sets itself up for a fall by having just over half the game not set in space at all, but on an extremely bland ice planet. I appreciate the idea of trying to widen out what Dead Space is and can be, and at first I was pretty jazzed at being planetside for once. But the open environs, the complete nuking of any need for Air in your RIG, the lack of zero-G... it quickly becomes apparent that you traded away some of the coolest elements of the series, just for a lot of rapelling up and down cliffs...

And the fact is, like the guys say, the first third of the game is awesome. Trucking about between the ships in the mass graveyard, doing cool side missions like hunting the crazy dude in the conning tower, zipping about in space and looting derelicts for salvage... Its great fun, and so much better than what comes later on. I don't think the game becomes *bad* as such when it moves planetside, but it definitely stops being great. The first third is simply a great evolution of where they've been heading over the past 2 games, and the rest is their first attempt at doing something different, which brings you (literally) down to earth with a bump.

As for the weapons, I agree that the customisation system is great, but I disagree with Patrick that this isn't the right game for it. Engineers build stuff - it makes perfect sense for Isaac to be able to do this (less so when Carver does it, but that's another story). But like them, I barely used the system, because the Shotgun and Line Gun rule over all. This is a big problem, because it renders a great customisation system practically moot. The game doesn't give you any reason to use most of the more exotic weapons. Because let's face it - Shotguns are always ace in this kind of game. The enemies are usually at close quarters, the force throws them to the floor, it uses hardly any ammo to dispatch large groups, and its brutally powerful. They simply needed to provide more reason to use the other weapons.

Plot wise... I agree that the final third is a bit odd. I don't think the inclusion of aliens is too far fetched, but the execution is rather bizarre. Everyone takes it in stride without batting an eyelash (as indeed they do with the Necromorphs - everyone seems remarkably chilled out about them in this game). The last couple of levels look pretty cool, but it does all feel very rushed, what with the 11th hour superpower floor panels and all that. The Unitologists are very disappointing too - Danik is (very) occasionally given a few decent speeches, but mostly he's a scenery chewing goon. Dr Challus Mercer from the first game was much better, because he was utterly crazy, but spoke with absolute conviction and faith.

And the co-op... Look, I'm no fan of co-op in any games, but I respect that it has to be in some kinds of games. Hell, I even support having it in Resident Evil, which most RE fans don't. Co-op is (IMO) fine for RE some of the time, because it was always big on action anyway, even in the earlier games. The whole point was that STARS were the best of the best, armed to the teeth etc. Now the first game seperated you from your team, and that's fine. But its the way that it always happens in every game that got me. There's only so many times your people can find themselves all alone, before you start to think 'Would you stop running off by yourself?!' 2 people caught in the middle of a deadly biohazard outbreak wouldn't decide to split up all the time - especially members of the same unit! By all means, have various section on your own, but I see no problem with having partners either.

But in Dead Space, I'd prefer it not be included. Isaac's mental health was always dubious (by his own admission). It was always supposed to be a personal battle for him, both in the real world, and in his mind. Have other characters yes, but in terms of the actual game, Isaac should be seperate from the rest most of time, not least for the fact that 'Isaac Clarke versus the Horde' is such a powerful image and idea. But let me stress that I think EA and Visceral made a decent compromise on this, because you don't have to play co-op, and the game does a good job of accounting for Carver's presence or lack thereof as the game progresses. Its just an option you have, and that's fair enough IMO.

Basically, Dead Space 3 is a pretty decent game. Its not the great game that it seems like it is during the first third, but its certainly not a bad game. Giant Bomb's disjointed approach to reviewing sometimes leaves them looking a bit like scenesters, handwaving at everything that isn't 'The Hot New Thing'. I'm pleased they haven't done this with Dead Space 3 (given that Brad is a Dead Space fan and Patrick likes horror games), and much of what they said was fair. But I still personally feel they're being a little too dismissive of a perfectly acceptable game.

Regarding the Tomb Raider talk maybe they should ignore PR more and focus on the actual game. I got tired of how they talk about it not meeting their expectations and how they think its not realistic. Umm hello have you played video games before, you could tear any game apart if you do that. I wanna know how the game plays and the story not how it matches up to the PR shit.

Metal Gear Rising is pretty awesome, folks.

I understand its just not feasible to have cheaper consoles that aren't incredibly expensive, but as a person who likes to go back every year or so and play some of my favorite games from a long long time ago, it kinda bothers me that soon its gonna be just relying on pirates and emulators to actually play those games again. And I know nothing ever happens and it doesn't stop me from using them to play old ass games that I can't access, but its weird that eventually the only way to play these games is illegal.

The difference is that we now have the means and the ability to end human life on earth with the push of a button. Or a natural disaster that destroys nuclear power plants, i.e. Japan, that unleash radiation on a massive scale. This has only existed for about 60 years, of that 200,000 year timeline. Add to that the exponential population growth that is unsustainable by the planet, the ever evolving threat of super viruses (the truly dominant species on earth), the erosion of fertile topsoil, contamination of potable drinking water, utter reliance on finite fossil fuels, etc. etc. etc. The population of the earth hovered at around approximately 1 billion people up until around 1900, and is now near 7 billion and growing exponentially, all due to the use and incorporation of fossil fuels in to our lives. The logic used in your assumption is sound up until the last 150 years or so. We live in a completely different environment (literally and figuratively) then those first 200,00

Iron Galaxy and Dave Lang are the future!

Can't find the part in the podcast now. What's the name of the iOS game Brad talks about?

@samhead5: Year Walk

God I love MGS4

Is it okay that I just don't give a shit in the slightest about "ludonarrative dissonance"? Videogames.

@nation764: We have gone through plenty of plagues that have wiped out the majority of the population so we will take a new virus. We have done multiple famines and survived. Nuclear accidents aren't going to kill us off, they don't kill that many people. The one in Japan hasn't actually directly killed anyone, some people will die to cancer later in life that you maybe able to attribute to the accident but you can't really determine whether it is a direct link or not. A Nuclear War would most likely kill a lot of people but still not wipe us out. The subsequent Nuclear Winter, depending on the scale of the war, might kill a lot more people but we have gone through an Ice Age before in a much, much more primitive time.

I don't think anything will wipe us out other than total planet wide annihilation.

@thermonuclear: I'm not saying I am 100% positive that some of those bad things WILL happen, I'm just saying that the world is in much more jeopardy now than it has been in the entire homo sapiens timeline. To extend out another 500 years, I don't have enough faith in humanity based on what I have seen and what I am currently seeing, to believe that we will make it.

I win! Bombcast for me! Fuck all you guys.

Can we get back to talking about games gents? Half an hour and they've talked about hoses and dishwashers lol.

It's like Gamestop read your minds... they actually did something right!

I just started listening, let me guess: Patrick said this?

Just came here to post that. I almost fell over laughing seeing that and thinking of the Bombcast just now.

I love every time they get into a discussion of MGS lore. Complete, beautiful madness.

I feel like MGS4 is a game you should only ever play once. I loved it my first time through, but every time I re-played it, more and more of the story points started to fall apart for me. I say this as someone who loved MGS2 the more I re-played it.

Yeah, ideally it would still just list the download size and the Store would be smart enough to say "You don't have enough disk space to install this game dummy. Continue?"

Hopefully something nobody will need to worry about next gen.

oh?! no Ryan?!!

Ooohh a Hotspot reference, nice.

@draxyle: I agree, though MGS4 is fun to replay to use all of the different items and weapons and find secrets. But yeah, what a bad story. But I'll never forget that first play through.

Also, yeah every XBLA game has been "archived" and is on one massive torrent on the Internet.

Well yeah, it does suck that not many people care about narrative dissonance in games. Because you know, while a game can have nice heartwarming cutscenes with a character discovering their self, if the entire game comes down to shooting hundreds upon hundreds of guys in the face...it is too bad.

thoughts

1) with the union conversation I did not hear anything about special effects houses which are becoming a real problem in the film industry so games are not alone in this economy of laying people off when projects are finished. It's the nature of project work to a certain extent. update : nevermind - brad nailed it.

2) re marissa mayer - yahoo is trying to turn the titanic around and you cannot change a corporate culture with people not meeting face to face every single day. I totally agree with her on this. When you have a steady successful company (which yahoo is not at the moment) then you allow things like working from home.

3) re how do you raise a kid in today's world - okay, I'm zipping up my flamesuit but I strongly believe one parent needs to stay home with the kids. In my case, it is my wife but the only reason its that way is because I have higher earning power than she does. What that means is that you don't buy $60 games, the whole family doesn't have iphones and you only bought your first flatscreen TV (and only TV in the house) last year. You have to tell the world "no" when the world tells you that you have to own all these things and live in a certain kind of house and drive new cars. You buy cars far away from where you work, you drive used cars, you play video games a year and a half after they come out and gamefly is clearancing them for $10 (serious problem for next gen btw), and you don't spend a lot of time in theaters or restaurants. It's not the greatest life in the world but it totally works.

Thanks for talking about the VFX current problems guys.

You don't necessarily need to include previous hardware to achieve backward compatibility. If the new machine is significantly faster you can emulate the previous machine with software. I am not sure why they wouldn't just include a PS3 emulator in a PS4. Probably they at Sony are afraid of the emulator getting out into the wild (internet) and, since PS4 is just a normal x86 PC, people wouldn't need to buy PS3s (or PS4s) to play PS3 games. It seems business reasons they do or do not do it rather than technical or cost.

Fuck Patrick and his Pro-Nuke, Pro-Capitalist agenda

Oops, I forgot Pro-Racism