Giant Bombcast 456: The Littlest Mac

Hey what's Jeff's shirt from? I know it's from TeeKO on the new Jackbox, but I assume this one in particular was from a certain video?

I loved Lunar Lander, and I played it with that T-bar control when I saw that unit available.

I might add that if you lived back in that era, games like this were popular because they where graphical versions of computer games from the late 60s & 70s we played a lot. There were text based versions of this 'space lander' games under many names, but all came down to controlling a rocket attempting to land on a surface by entering instructions to the rocket about % or power and burn time. Variables could be set about gravity, capsule weight, and amount of fuel carried. I might add the very first games was written by a high school student. Lunar Lander helped define computer games, and its influences is impossible to calculate because of the early pioneers in home gaming in influenced.

If it sounds boring, just look at any RPG or the pick 10 system of CoD; they are all about weighing and calculating options too. Also, any game that has an "ABORT" button so you could 'punch out' in an emergency is cool in my book.

Giant Jeffcast more like. :)

When I saw the title before listening to the podcast, I was going to comment if it was a reference to the McDonalds burger or the Punch-Out character. Good thing I listened first and heard the relevant segment, haha

Jeff saying he's having more run in WD2 by restricting himself to non lethal (with a few exceptions for fuckin' around purposes) is precisely why I'm one of the few people who had only a handful of problems with WD1. Aiden Pierce isn't nearly as big of an asshole when he's actually playing batman, rather than gunning down everyone in sight.

That isn't to say WD1 didn't still have problems, though. Spending half an hour meticulously batoning dudes over the head in the marina "save your nephew" mission - only to have the cutscene where you finally find him show a bunch of smoking ruins and bodies via CCTV - was real weak. Ubisoft definitely has a serious issue with trying to enforce tone for their narrative, instead of writing around the freedom they're giving the player.

Need me so many Big Macs now...

Thanks! You the man, but I'm a scientist.

I'm still playing a bunch of Hitman, but I think so far I agree that Marrakesh and Colorado are at the bottom of my list.

@onemanarmyy: Yeah, I was interested in what he was thinking too. Too bad he didn't elaborate.

Pizza Hut serves Wing Street wings, Wing Stop is completely different and IMO much better than BWW (which I love BWW). You should definitely try Wing Stop if given the chance.

@mrthing: @giziant: @onemanarmyy: Apparently it's Transport Fever. I found the answer on the GB subreddit, the user also mentions openttd as another option.

Right here: http://games.jackbox.tv/artifact/TeeKOGame/czOI77zYjkeRsRVjPxGtIOLC09MHmWhR/

@topsteer: Thanks!

@hassun: Goddamit

I'm looking forward to hearing DOOM and Hitman get the masturbatory love they deserve on the GOTY podcasts. Two series that needed a new great game and we got them both in one year.

@nta_luciana: Don't give Japan any ideas. There is a new gimmick burger every week!

I grew up with Big Macs, so I'll stand by them till the day I die.

Anyone whose interested in the VEC9 and what it takes to drive vector monitors should look at this blog post from 2013 by the guy who did the hardware for it.

It's funny that as soon as Drew starts messing with the lighting the first thing they do is get scared of alienating their audio-only listeners.

Calm down guys. Drew did the lighting gag once back before the video podcast. You posted images of it on instagram. You need to stop worrying about the listeners so much.

Being from Germany, I never really had that arcade experience with fighting games. The only one I can remember is being on vacation with my parents on Ibiza and the hotel having a small 5 cabinet arcade. I played a lot of Power Instinct 2 during those 3 weeks.

With that being said, I absolutely love Street Fighter 3 Third Strike. The characters being weird and out there is probably one reason why. But I also only really got into it with the XBLA release, so that was long after that game has been established as one of the best fighting games of all time. At least apocryphally, we'll have to see what the science says on a future Ranking of Fighters.

We have a "Double Big Mac" here in Canada. I've never actually ordered it, but it does exist if any of you want to pop over the border to try one out!

Hearing people say the new Hitman is the best one, is really grinding my gears.

First of all the game is locked to online, so everything you have unlocked is not available in offline mode. So no items ( a sniper rifle locked to online mode ).

Then you only have six levels. Which seem like great levels, but not all are great. Marakkesh was pretty bad.

Then there is almost no good music in this game. Where is Jesper Kyd when you need him? Also the voice acting..my god. ROOCOOOOOOO

Hitman Blood Money is still obviously the best game in the entire series. Not as easy to control, and has some AI issues but still a very enjoyable game.

Negative Yelp reviews often are more helpful than positive ones. There has been a number of times where a negative review has made me decide that the place is going to be good. There are a shocking amount of people who review mom-and-pop diners as if they expect five-star restaurant service and super quality food. Who are these people??? Like, do you realize the type of place you're in? Geez.

Buffalo Wild Wings is good, but they're overpriced as hell.

Bought the new Hitman over the weekend thanks to this sale. I have played all the previous games and sucked terribly at them, so it's nice to be able to play one and actually succeed. I'm still working on playing through the levels for the first time, so I haven't discovered if I will enjoy the model of replaying a bunch of times for challenges yet. I can understand why some people don't like that model, but there is a crapton of content in this game for only being six levels.

I don't have Titanfall 2 (yet - considering it) but the fact that those codes only come from diet soda is a load of shit. Diet soda is terrible. You're already drinking soda, just embrace the death.

@larmer: Honestly, it's fun to image what's going on, too.

Fuck that guy, Lunar Lander is rad.

The thing that I liked about SF3/rd Strike was the style and especially the music. Despite most of the other SF titles being very enjoyable, they've not quite reached the same levels that drew me in to SF3/rd Strike

For many years, Lunar Lander would greet you at the entrance to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, along with Star Castle and Space Race in another area of the museum. When I visited there this year for the first time in decades, I was disappointed to find it missing.

While Lunar Lander does seem very primitive today, as Jeff said, you have to compare it to the games of the time. This was pre-Pac-Man, pre-Galaxian. Space Invaders had come out the previous summer. Most games were still monochrome at that point. While developers were starting to branch out, most successful titles were still Pong variants or racing games. Lunar Lander, in comparison, was dramatically different.

The Lunar Lander concept itself had been around since the minicomputer era of the late 60s/early 70s. Variation on the idea were found in most type-in BASIC books, and there were numerous commercial knock-offs for the nascent home computer market, to the point that it was virtually a genre unto itself (much like Doom clones).

But just looking at the Atari version, it's still notable. It offered four difficulty levels, which was unusual for arcade games - though hard even at the training level. The changing zoom level as you approached the surface was unique at the time.

It's also an early example of Newtonian physics in a commercial video game (predated by Computer Space) and the first Atari game to utilize a vector monitor. A few tweaks to the concept directly led to Atari's second vector game, the wildly successful Asteroids.