Giant Bombcast 554: A Nice Skin Deal

Weird that the XB1X dashboard is so slow for people. Everything is extremely quick and snappy on mine, this includes cold boot and coming out of suspend. This is with a nearly full hard drive and nearly full USB SSD. No issues with the “my games and apps” section either.

I'm totally fine with the hour plus of Black Ops 4 talk, it's the first CoD I've played in years and I'm really enjoying it, they made a good game.

Plus, Blackout's my first real foray into Battle Royale, and I can certainly see why that game type has really taken off.

@clearandsweet:I wouldn't say you're out of touch necessarily, but yes Call of Duty is still very, very popular and many people find that it provides a kind of gameplay that no other game does (myself included).

Odyssey is a great game.

@mems1224: You can definitely blame the game. If the game has you performing the same task for hours on end without variation or anything to "freshen it up", it's certainly not the *player's* fault they feel that the gameplay is starting to drag.

Don't care about CoD. Loved the CoD discussion. Fascinating stuff *shrugs*

So what's crazy to me about the developer crunch situation is; there"s way to many fucking games coming out.I

I get the business side is death marching towards these invisible fiscal deadlines with the twin blades of Investment and Return in a death grip... But surely there's room to breath.

I think of how many people "don't have time" to play any number of games they'd happily plunk the money down for. But those games keep releasing. Eventually, or rapidly in some cases, reach that point where the rapid release schedule must cut into sales right?

Take Ubisoft. How many copies of Origins won't be sold because they've already released the next one? Surely lifetime sales for both titles combined would benefit if they'd chilled out and given Origin another year to breath. Odyssey would have probably been a better game for it too, further bolstering sales through better word of mouth. But I bet that team crunched like crazy to hit this fall and I'm not sure what exactly the financial benefit would be for Ubisoft.e

Red Dead 2 could be delayed another nine months and it wouldn't hurt sales one bit. So I'm not understanding the need to put their people into these ridiculous situations.

I'd love to see some giant publisher just put out the numbers justifying and breaking down these practises. Prove how longer dev cycles would actually be so harmful that this is in any way a justifiable business practice. Because I sincerely doubt it could be.

I've got more games then I can play already for a long time coming. Go to forty hour weeks and release a year from now. Let them see their children.

Wait...what? So, if you aren't enjoying the game because you feel like it's too much of a time sink or you're already burned out because they rushed the formula back out a year after another huge game, that's the game players fault?

This is news to me. I thought not enjoying a game was a valid critique but I guess I should reflect more on the games I haven't enjoyed or those that have been put down because they're too long (and thus get boring) and realize that it's all my fault?

The push back here over their opinion of AC:Odyssey is kind of wild to me. Regardless of their reasons for it not grabbing them, it isn't grabbing them. If you love it, it will be okay. They don't need to validate your purchase and I highly doubt their negative-ish (it got 3 stars after all, it's more like middling) is going to influence AC:Odyssey or Ubisoft's bottom line, so I'm just not understanding why every time they mention this game the comments quickly feature several people giving them guff about it.

Thanks to Ben for calling Odyssey out for the microtransaction-pushing grind machine that it is.

This podcast disrespected this listener's time by devoting an entire hour to a single video game without a disclaimer. /s

I don't hate Call of Duty or mind that Jeff likes it but dang! I would've definitely skipped ahead if I had known it was gonna be such a huge chunk of the show...

Ben's Mega Man list would be fairly acceptable if he didn't put 8 so high. Now I realize he's just trolling.

Not only that, they're enthusiastically talking about this game that they like! The shock!

@sethmode: basically. It's been no secret what Odyssey is. It's more Origins with more variety and it's building upon those same systems like Brotherhood did off AC2. If you didn't want more Origins and another long RPG that's not the games fault. The other misconception the video game media has been spreading is that there is some long grind when it's not any worse than Origins or any other RPG.

so they can criticize the game but we're not allowed to criticize their opinions? Got it.

It's an awful world we live in, but the Rockstar stuff doesn't even seem like news to me. Rockstar is a notoriously awful place to work. The game industry is infamous for screwing over its employees and working them to the bone.

Seeing that Rockstar continues to fuck over its employees is par for the course.

@azuregale: Everyone knows Giant Bomb hates video games!

@tevor_the_third:

You're probably right about the games having a a more substantial tail if they consistantly skipped a year. The problem is that after 4 years, you only released 2 AC games instead of 3-4. We all know that sales are at an all time high around launch, and a year long tail wouldn't be able to come close to the revenue that a new AC game earns around the release. On top of that, the more games you put out there, the more products that people can buy. So you'll gain additional tails as you release more games.

Because we're giving each game one extra year of development time in this scenario, that means that we are increasing the timeperiod where we're investing in this franchise without seeing any returns. That means more red numbers will show up. Bear in mind, Ubisoft is a publically traded company, so they have to convince more than just their directors that this is a good move.

As a big company, you don't want to take on too much risk, especially not when the numbers are already satisfactory for the previous product. Only when people stop buying the game that you're putting out, it might be worthwhile to rethink the formula and invest a bit more into changing it up. As they did for Origins. As long as there's no noticeable trend of people getting tired of your franchise, taking a year off will just not be as profitable as striking when the iron's hot and releasing more games.

Unless, being able to retool the game for an extra year makes it a Fortnite-level smash hit and becomes the best selling game in the world and makes Ubisoft richer than Tencent. That's a possibility. But again that's something that they can't really hedge their bets on. As a big company they have to limit uncertainty and would only make sweeping changes when the weather forecast isn't looking too good for their franchise.

Note that the well-being of the employees & the ability to attract talent are not factored in all this. It could very well be that Ubisoft eventually starts to see that this yearly cycle causes their most talented developers to leave and new talent rather working at other companies.

Yes, any criticism of your criticism is a sign that you aren't allowed to have opinions or whatever. Jesus. Having a not great opinion about their opinion probably will get you some opinions. Absolutely no one in that process has said that you can't have one. And I'm playing Odyssey and there IS a grind. I don't know if it's different than Origins but, Origins also already came out. Can't really retroactively dock it and it's existences is part of the reason the critiques by the GB crew for Odyssey exist so...

@sethmode: I've put 50ish hours into Odyssey and it hasn't felt grindy once. Its a RPG, its supposed to be long. No one complains about Persona 5 being "grindy" or DQ11 or TW3. The level gating is almost the same as Origins and there was hardly any mention of it being grindy last year from most people in the video game media and it also had a time saver microtransaction like all AC games have since like 4. Its just weird that now in 2018 its a big deal because its cool to be outraged by all microtransactions however worthless they are.

@entireties: Yes its an incredibly lame excuse for a con in a review

And like most games a single GB staff will say something in a review, and some how anyone else who plays it feels the exact same way. Getting so tired of Bens overreacting sighs and yells.

Also are you guys really surprised on an hour of talk on one of the biggest games of the year? gonna be the same way for RDR2

I really wish there was an easier way to get to these. I feel like I always have to click through three or four different things to find the premium one.

@ripelivejam: Same here. It was a hard pass for me at first but the more I hear them talk about it the closer I come to biting the bullet and buying the game. A lot of the discussion was pretty critical of the game too, so it wasn't like they were just doting over it.

It's a big release and they're enjoying it so I think they should be allowed to talk about it for as long as they want. It's always interesting to hear them dive deep into games they like.

@bricewgilbert:

Not that a lack of autosave is good, but just assuming a game autosaves is... kind of dumb. Can’t fully blame that on the game.

Water beating electricity? Someone hasn't played Pokémon. I expect better from a Popplio fan, Jeff.

As someone who almost never plays games at release, and doesn't buy many games per year, the "AC Odyssey has too much content" complaint still rings hollow to me. It sounds like it's not the greatest, but still mostly a non-issue. Still looking forward to checking it out... years from now since I'm way behind on AC games.

I booted up Modern Warfare 3 around this time last year out of curiosity and got into a full MP game almost instantly. Granted, 90% of the players appeared to be Russian, but still. Those games have crazy life.

Use a podcast app on your phone to get direct RSS feed.

Mystified by the complaints about the COD coverage. It's a huge game and it's the one year that they actually do something new. And the new thing is a mode that a bunch of these guys like a lot as well. Naturally there will be a lot of talk about that game in it's release week. Now if the next 5 bombcasts have a COD segment i can sort of see where people are coming from.

I have only played Modern Warfare 2 and i was super engaged throughout the entire conversation for what it's worth.

@sethmode: I'm not sure why you feel the need to defend the GB crew whenever any one criticizes them. They are big boys.

The commentary on ac odyssey was particularly lazy on the beastcast, basically Alex says it's too long and Jeff immediately agrees(having played 2 hours) and then that's it. As for Ben I find framing it as not respecting his time kinda boggling when he lost 5 hours progress because of a bunk ass save system in mega man, but obviously those games are vastly different scales.

The push back comes from people who are finding this game engaging and really enjoying their time. Defending a game you enjoy doesn't = being a publishers fan boy. I haven't played a ubisoft game for more than a couple hours since farcry 4 but I'm absolutely loving odyssey. It's not going to be on their top 10 whatever but it's not a middling grind of a game.

If only Murder Island wasn't just dedicated to PUBG....I'd really like to see them go in-depth with Blackout.

@fallingdesk: generations

@youngshields: Pointing out that people being upset about GBs coverage of AC: Odyssey are behaving a little absurdly isn't me defending the crew insomuch as it is me getting tired of the same tired criticisms all because they don't like a game that people do like. Never said it made anyone a fanboy, just that that kind of knee jerk "I need to verify my own purchase and they are so wrong!" is silly.

I want to say I really appreciate how Jeff has changed and grown over the years. I've been listening to the Bombcast over from the beginning, and in the early episode I just listened to, Jeff was down on the idea of game developers unionizing. It's a reminder that people don't have to remain static, that we have the capacity to change even as adults. I kind of needed that right now.

@aufsmauhl: lol i thought you were over exaggerating

not what i was doing but please continue to make assumptions.

can anyone tell me the name of the ios game, jeff recommended in on of the last 3 bombasts? i forgot. it was some cute brick breaker game. help please!

EDIT: thank god, i found it. it's holedown

I kind of wish there was more diversity of opinions on games on these Podcasts. After Alex posted his Odyssey review talking about his multiple problems with the game, it kind of would have been nice to hear if someone else on the crew had a more positive opinion on the game. Instead, we get Ben Pack describing how the game is too slow/too long and wasting his time (I realize they're starting to prep for GOTY talks, but I never understood this impatience gamers have with needing to finish games ASAP, but that's besides the point). Anyways, I'm not saying their points are invalid, but it's just weird how if one person on the crew doesn't like a game, you rarely see someone else say much to challenge that. For a game like Odyssey that's had very positive critic reviews on other sites (IGN, Kotaku, Polygon, ACG, Easy Allies, to name a few), it's just funny if you're only following GB you'd think no one really likes the game.

It's not to say every reviewer needs to have the same opinion, but when you have 10 regulars on the podcasts between the Bombcast and Beastcast, it would be nice if there was more diversity of opinions.

Canada needs a Donair emoji

the crew has a nearly flawless track record. Ill believe them if they say the game is a slog and boring. Jeff did this for nearly over 2 decades. He knows if a game is bad. Assassins creed is bad. they needed to respect the players time and add less grinding. Thats fact.

In defense of Shaggy2Dope, in footage you can clearly see a security guard grabbing and pulling him a couple inches away from Durst before landing the kick. That security guard's grab is pretty impressive. If you look at footage of different angles you can see it more clearly.

In other news, the fight between Wes Boreland and the dude from Staind rages on. Stay tuned for more news from nu-metal nation, friends.

Maaaan seeing Brad confront Ben on telling tall tales made me so happy, you're a young man Ben you don't need to be able to relate to every situation since the dawn of time.

That Forrest Gump bit they mention about the Aftershow, Vinny talked about this as a concept in the Origins Quicklook, when he asked Alex about the Forrest Gumpness in this game :)

And then there's always Japanese developers where if you don't look like you're ready to without weekends and through the nights for months and months to get something out you're a traitor to your people. I'm watching one dev team work like that right now from within company, and there's not a single person to say that it's not normal and that they should've moved the release date 3 months ago.

Donut County has the realest, most accurate cell phone. No one texts as concisely as what JJ Macfield portrays. Which is better depends on your tastes.