The Giant Beastcast: Episode 58

This, just delete/block people like a normal person.

Brad's leaving.

Simon Stålenhag's art: http://imgur.com/gallery/fAvwL

Jeff's not wrong. His stuff is fantastic!

No it's more than that. I also hate Facebook. At some point it is the tool and not just the people. I started the despise the trend when you'd want to get in touch with someone and it's always "hit me up on FB" like texting has become too much of a burden these days. Or how if you're not on Facebook then it's "impossible" to invite you to anything because you can't get on the list, because they can't just call and invite you. This isn't even mentioning all those terrible friends, of friends of friends that constantly send you friend invites etc.

I'm with Jeff that it used to be this simple tool for keeping in touch with friends and it has now bloated into this huge thing that I simply no longer wish to interact with.

Brad actually doesn't really spoil anything. He is one of the most articulate and well-spoken distillers of game nonsense and mechanics this industry has. Like I said, the part where you get excited about something but can't say anything sucks, especially when it's your job to communicate about a product. We get it from both sides about not talking enough about specifics in service of avoiding spoilers and talking too much. I think Brad is actually very sensitive to protecting your experience. I think he gets a lot of crap for it.

Sorry for the longer post (not necessary directed at you!) but I in no way want to come across as validating some of the ridiculous stuff for which Brad gets accused. Some of it can be very mean-spirited. I only really wanted to express that talking about game mechanics and narratives is hard and I feel for the man when you just want to share it with the world and share some excitement.

Where did I say he was? Alex's impression and Vinny's description of Brad were accurate. They didn't portray him as a person who outright spoils games. Just as a person who struggles to contain himself and often feels the need to say way more than necessary as Jeff stated.

In a world where no one can agree on what constitutes a spoiler (or one where people can't help but assume they're being called a spoiler happy monster) you don't see how that behavior itself can be problematic for some people? Someone as frail as @bradportrays himself to be puts people on edge and makes them scramble to skip ahead because he's not exactly saying "trust me" when he's teasing so much and trying to convince others in the room with him to let him say just a little bit. The Beastcast just showed how to have a compelling enough conversation without the unnecessary behavior that only serves to ruffle feathers.

Oh man, I've been talking about how cool a VR/set experience would be for years. I always hoped they would do something like this with laser tag. Have a giant arena where two teams of humans are playing laser tag, but they see the other team as monsters or something. There would be real walls and obstacles to hide around. Would be awesome. :D

Bakalar!

@jonny_anonymous: (Hi, I'm the person who sent that question in.) I know! I actually didn't think to write to the Beastcast until last Thursday around midnight, so it was unfortunately after they recorded the last episode with Austin. But I figured the other beast boys would have good input too, and they totally did.

You're right, I get it. Trying to reach a balance is hard. I appreciate you all for even trying.

@mrpandaman: I really really appreciate this comment. That sucks that you lost the city you built to random bad luck. I feel like Cities is another good example of a game where the creativity you put into it and the stories you tell with it are even more significant than just the mechanics of playing the game.

And 100% yes to the tragedy being not able to recover the "magic." I think there's a chance I could back up my sims' likenesses and then add them back in to a fresh install, but they literally wouldn't have any of their old memories, friendships, or skills. I think my plan now is to follow the beast boys' suggestions and hold some sort of silly memorial service, take time to finish up other games... and then buy Sims 4 and recreate my family there. Either way I'm going to be working with blank slates, so I might as well upgrade.

Oh, my last sentence was a dumb cheap shot. My life is influenced by work schedules, too, which is why I can't take time off around the end of the month or more than 5 days at any given time all year. Or basically at all during the holidays. I'm not complaining, though, it just is what it is.

But I had a teacher talk about playing Overwatch til 3am every night this summer, then proceeded to complain about her work schedule. And the rest of the crew that had work the next morning? We just weren't willing to listen.

@vinny Personally, I love Brad and think he is perfect for this crew and this website. I am always cheering him on for success and I enjoy his work. The interview he did with the designer of the Uncharted series was one of the best pieces of content ive seen here in the past two years of being a member. His interview with Jonathan Blow was great too. His reviews are incredibly well written.He seems like a good guy in his life outside of work as well.

I just hope he gives positive comments at least equal

weight with the negative comments he might get from time to time. I know this is off topic for your discussion but I wanted to mention that Brad has many fans and supporters here.

Alex is spot on with the Ghostbusters references. Much appreciated :).

That is such a good creepy movie, It's in my "The Shining", "The Thing" etc. Rotation of horror movies I occasionally watch. I tried to get Patrick to add it to his Shocktober thing he was doing but he never replied :(.

You're obliquely shit-talking Austin, who has been on like 99 percent of the episodes of this show. Meaning you've never listened to this show before, then.

Yes totally this. I only friend people who are at the very least good acquaintances. I also have a no family/no co-workers rule and I've found that treating Facebook this way works out great for me.

PS: Also, this is going to sound mean, but some of you guys get way too touchy about spoilers. To the point of being really rude on here to some of the GB staff. If you're deep enough into video games where you're listening to 2 podcasts about them a week, then some things about those games are going to be discussed. Maybe some (to me) minor things like gameplay mechanics will be "spoiled", but as long as I've been a member of GB I've never had a major story point/plot twist/etc. spoiled for me that wasn't well past the statute of limitations for something like that.

@hermithomeboy: I was looking for this. It's pretty incredible. Thanks for posting.

Open beta seems to be working well with Warframe which seems to be extremely comfortable with never going gold. Man idk how they keep doing it.

Haha the mention of Today's Special blew my mind. I had no idea that aired anywhere beyond public Ontario television.

Nah, it actually stands for Ecstacy! Motherfuckermotherfucker! From us to you! Source.

;)

@vinny: One thing about Simon Stålenhag's paintings that I guess gets a bit lost in translation is that it very specifically goes for something very recognizable to Swedes as former industrial Sweden before all production went outside the country. Most of the companies and authorities referenced in his paintings actually existed at some point, so there's that mix of a nostalgic view of Sweden as we remember it from the late 60's, 70's and 80's which was around the golden age of Swedish industry, combined with disused machinery of a technology level we evidently never achieved. Most of the advanced technology he depicts are built around familiar industrial designs, architecture, signage, brands, color palettes and stuff like that which are instantly recognizable as "what Sweden looked like back then".

Lots of the abandoned mechs and other machines have the symbols of the Swedish Armed Forces or even the former state owned telephone company Televerket or just matter of fact company names like "Andersson's towing company".

I suppose the America depicted in Fallout may be an appropriate comparison, as if I'm not mistaken it also leans heavily into recognizable golden age Americana.

:plur

What executive did Alex mention around the hour mark? The one who said Inside was one of the best games ever?

Maaan, that Sims 2 story is the most tragic thing! Like with Jeff my first thought when the ''corruption'' and its effects were described was of a form of Sims alzheimer's. I don't play The Sims anymore, but when I did I can certainly remember getting attached to the families I created, and to watch them all slowly deteriorate and forget would have no doubt been distressing!

It's a testament to GB that I never feel like I have had anything significantly spoiled by them over all these years. The only thing I could see people perhaps being upset with is something like this weeks Bombcast, where Brad mentioned something which was in Inside promo footage - people avoiding spoilers likely wouldn't have watched promo footage or trailers. That said, if you're going that deep on avoiding spoilers you should maybe avoid podcast discussions also.

I think all you guys do a fantastic job. Trying to evoke why you like something without talking in specifics about it is an excruciating dance.

I come for the video games, I stay for the NHL trade talk.

Holy shit this corruption stuff sounds crazy and creepy. This is kinda fucked up: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Game_guide:Avoiding_corruption

Symptoms include:

• Children and toddlers with long-term wants other than Grow Up.
• Wants that don't fit the age group (e.g. a toddler who suddenly wants to go on a date).
• Memories and thought bubbles that contain squiggly lines or stretched or distorted text.
• Memories being lost or totally random.
• Disappearing Sims.
• Disappearing lots.
• Sims losing family members in their family tree.
• Sims becoming unplayable

One of the ways to cause this corruption is also kinda freaky:

As crazy as it seems, but EAxis^[4] didn't code this part properly, and now it's costing a lot of people their beloved neighborhoods. The in-game delete button doesn't delete the Sim entirely. It shreds off a portion of the Sim's character file and their Sim Description (which is located in the Neighborhoods.package file), unlinks the character file, and leaves a 1KB character file in the "Characters" folder. The game does not properly clean out all references to the Sim, which means that memories, gossip, relationships, Sim Wants and Fears, etc. that involve the deleted Sim are now corrupted, as they point to non-existent data. Even if a Sim was created fresh out of Create-A-Sim, it doesn't mean that they are safe to delete via this method.

I feel that the problem lies with your tendency to hint at big plot reveals and twists, which pretty much nullifies the effect they have.

Nailed it :)

Regarding the grim nature of Scandinavians; I dont think snow has anything to do with it. Instead having a long winter with three months of hardly any sunlight is more likely the root of this. From November to February it's like living in a deep cold cave if there is no snow.

@alavapenguin: Austin did such a great job Vice hired him to create his entirely own group which is exceptionally rare. You have missed out on a lot of excellent content if you were avoiding him.

I missed him being on this podcast.

College is NOT a safe environment, nor is it a place you can make mistakes.

@humanity said:

Not to mention that the main feed of Facebook is now awash in brands and advertising, when it isn't dominated by people you know just sharing dumb memes, or sharing something political that is either grossly misleading and factually inaccurate, or if it contains any actual truth or merit starts an argument anyway because whomever's politics disagree will just distrust the source of the information in the first place.

Hockey > Wrestling > Fighting Games

What Alex mentioned about two letter forms joined together are called ligatures.

You could always send it in to his new site when he gets it up and running? It just strikes me as something he would super love to discuss.

Nah, dog. "Proton Packalar."

@dinkydoomer: compared to adulthood it sure is (IMO)

Some teachers don't do shit during summer, some do. My sister is endlessly marking papers and homework and in the summer it's time to make lesson plans for the new year.

Some teachers don't have to do shit though, it depends on where you are, what you teach, what age range.

College profs don't do shit though, think we can all agree on that.

Brad has always been the secret funniest member of Giant Bomb and the way people freak out about spoilers stifles so much potentially interesting conversations and critique.

Now if Giant Bomb wasn't nintendo-internet-esque about adding time stamps to its podcasts people would have less reason to complain but hey why change a system that hasn't worked for nearly a decade?

Also, dragons and trolls.

I think Meg playin' the Sim 2 should kill all the sims on that save. Cut it off before the corruptions takes hold. Then let go and move on.

@dovah: @cooljammer00:

I did listen to most of these, but I found them very difficult to continue listening to after a while and stopped. I have actually watched/listened to most everything he has been in. About a month ago I made a post on one beastcast stating how I was no longer enjoyingthis[the beastcast] content on the website, and gave some reasons why. I gave very specific reasons as well. If you have a problem with something, and have some constructive feedback, then you should give that feedback. Then it is for the creators to listen to/ignore, after they find that feedback helpful or not. If I didn't like it, and didn't want to keep listening then it is more helpful to them if I state my reasons why, then to simply stop listening. It is then in their power to decide if my criticism are valid or not.

I then said I may take a break for a while and come back to the podcast. It isn't some ****-talking against the guy as one said. It is a criticism I had about some of the content on the website, and I perceived it to be around one person who's content I didn't enjoy. Some people I find less entertaining on the website to watch than others, and I am sure many other people feel this way about people I really enjoy watching [I see that all the time!]. I was never championing a cause of getting someone fired or anything. In my original post I was mostly criticizing a tone of the podcast, and if you read it enough you probably knew who I found somewhat responsible, but I was trying to be respectful as well. It wasn't some harsh attack on one specific member of the crew.

However, if I am going to give reasons of why I stopped viewing/listening to certain content, wouldn't it also be responsible that if I came back to that content, to tell why? Either the content, or my own tastes/ect? It is far more helpful that way! Yeah it may ruffle some feathers, but it is just as important of information to tell as the criticism I originally had. The criticism may not always be helpful for what they specifically need, but I would rather have someone offer it be deemed something not worth acting on, than not get it when there is a chance it could be helpful. If it is decided everyone else disagrees and my feedback is worth ignoring, go right ahead! But the feedback should still be given.

There was a time for a while I stopped watching all Brad quick looks [this was long long long time ago]. He was annoying me a lot in some ways. I never hated Brad, he is one of my favorites now. Just some of the stuff in his quick looks I found, for a short time, to be un-entertaining content. There was a similar time with Drew when he started out, and he became one of my favorites. Sometimes it is me that changes, sometimes it is them.

For the same reason I don't listen to Danswers. It isn't that it is bad or I hate Dan and Danny [they are some of my favorite] but it isn't for me, and I find it annoying in some ways. It probably is still pretty cool content. It just isn't the type I am a fan of, and a type that I do find annoying to listen to. That is ok as well! Not everything has to be for me. However, I was simply stating with some things that something may now be more for me than it was in the past. If there was something that changed with Danswers that would make me listen, I would feel obligated to give feedback as to why I now am finding this content more entertaining for me.

There was perhaps a snarky undertone to that comment some could have taken that I didn't intend, and I deeply apologize it was taken that way, but it was hardly ****-talking [srry I try not to curse]. My intention of the comment is that the content is now more interesting for me to listen to, and to give the feedback as to why. I understand most people disagree with me. That is fine. However I wouldn't only want to hear from my fans if I were in a similar position. It would be more helpful to me to hear from my critics. That is what has made this website so successful in my opinion, is that they DO listen to their community when people are not liking something.

Open betas that take place mere weeks before the game is released aren't real betas. They're demos. It seems like they say beta to cover their ass in case a random bug occurs on the user's end. It amuses me when people say "it's just a beta, it may change" when talking about these open betas, because no. It's not going to change. You're playing the game. At least it's a pretty good way to see if you'll like the game, though.

I think Google deserves a good deal of blame for this new trend, since Gmail was in "beta" for like 8 years.

More info on corruption in The Sims 2 here:

http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Game_guide:Avoiding_corruption

One of the most obvious signs is that the Sims' thought bubbles start to contain blurry wavy lines instead of the usual "thought" icons. Or toddlers that want to go on dates; that's always a bad sign.

Is anyone else having issues with this episode on Podcast Addict? Everything is super sped up and the guys basically sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. I thought it was some sort of bit at first, but after it went on for a few minutes I realized it was the entire episode. Tried redownloading and the problem persists. No others seem to be affected.

Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.