The Giant Beastcast: Episode 69

Couldn't get through this one. First Beastcast that's happened to me.

= /

MMA has to be worse to your body then boxing right ?

Man, I'm sorry, but the person writing in about using Steam's refunds like that sounded incredibly entitled. Believe me, as someone who has averaged buying *maybe* 3-5 new games per an entire year for the past good long while, I completely understand looking for and getting the lowest deal possible via "gray market" sites. I do that part myself all the time. But nothing says you are entitled to try out or demo a game beforehand. That is a gross abuse of the refund system, and all it will do is potentially ruin it for people who are using the system as it was intended - to get a refund on a game that was not what you expected (be it based on the game itself or performance issues).

Danielle's cool. Chemistry between everyone was generally good.

That Bakalar outro was great. I look forward to his return.

Don't abuse the Steam refund system. The fact that it exists at all is amazing and people doing things like what the emailer described just ruins it for everyone. You don't need to try EVERY game. Do research. Make informed purchases.

I agree that these systems should't be abused but the piling on this person here seems kind of excessive (Vinny seems to have the best approach). I think the issue is we've regressed in a lot of ways with how much consumer rights we had. Before, we had demos and rentals & easier refunds (yeah ive seen that YT vid on demos but still). I just wish there was a legit way of demo-ing a game e.g timed rentals. Steam/XBL/PS4 already do free weekends so I don't feel it's a totally crazy idea (obviously devs/pubs have to be on board for this to happen). Problem with relying on gaming press/YT is they often missed out on a lot of things that benefit the consumer due to pressures/environment of having to have a review asap (e.g. Halo: MCC, BF4, Fallout 4, AC:U come to mind) or just through poorly-disclosed native advertising (although hopefully that has become less of a thing with all the FCC rulings).

Also, obligatory PSA to Consumers: Don't pre-order Videogames and don't buy on Day-1 (esp for multiplayer). Wait for a diverse selection of reviews and coverage to reduce the likelyhood of disappointment/wasting money. :)

@elvenstein said:

Great podcast! I really liked the email about going to PAX and coming back more proactive.

Watching Drew on the site and meeting him for myself, it inspired me to make some life changes. Listening to Danielle talk about running kinda did the same thing. I can't run that far with out getting winded but I suppose walking around the neighborhood is a good start.

I think this is the first time I've ever listened to the Beastcast and noticed a correction that needs to be made.

The KH trailer shown at TGS was new and it seems like no one on staff seemed to care. The Bombcast didn't even feel it worth a mention. It's a bit sad. There was talk of the new hire being someone that actually likes the games that the rest of the staff isn't into because sometimes the generation gap between staff and audience feels very apparent. I imagine that's what it's like to be a huge Pokemon fan as well.

@graf1k:Their criticism, particularly in the case of something like Mankind Divided, comes from the game's usage of language that is highly charged, comes with plenty of baggage, and is designed to elicit some sort of emotional response from the player.

For a game to use such language, and then reveal it has no actual thought on the matter makes it feel empty and ignorant at best, manipulative at worst.

Note: I have not played Mankind Divided, and thus cannot comment on the game itself, merely the reasoning behind the criticism.

@golguin: I think this is less generation gap and more the staff not really caring about KH games in general.

69! ...nice

Danielle's laugh sounds like it comes from a saturday morning cartoon.

Great show! I have to say that I used to hate running more than anything. Grew up playing competitive baseball so 90 foot sprints were about all I could deal with. I started to force myself and as Danielle said it just sucks for a while, there's no way around it. But I started to save a podcast for my runs only - and it was a great way for me internally to say "I want to hear what these guys think, but can't listen unless I go for a run". That had me going from struggling to finish a mile because I was bored or started to do the "I'll go 3 miles...maybe 1 is fine...ok well 3/4 of a mile is still something" to going 4+ on a pretty regular basis. I actually am to the point now that an hour to an hour and a half podcast doesn't last my weekly run total and I can tell my breathing and just overall cardio health is way better. I do the same thing with the Beastcast over the weekend typically to get yardwork done around the house because I hate it, but the show gets me through.

Loved the show guys and keep it up!

congrats on your insulation Vinny!

Fun episode, time to go fuck myself. Thanks bakalar~!

Hope you guys eventually do a video/podcast that is all about your Shenmue... "experience".

Whenever someone starts prattling on about their rights as a consumer I almost immediately tune them out, because more often than not they're the kind of person who will invoke those rights while explaining that they have no intent of ever actually buying anything.

Have Danellie on more often her "yea things are great!" is a good contrast to dourness of others ;). And I agree with @solidslider lady is abusing and thank goodness they stopped her. And of COURSE you have a female co-host on episode 69 eh eh eh....and I will always say Kojami worked. The problem with five was too much gameplay and not enough Kojami. Wow so no TGS stuff about Persona 5? That is sad...and I have never heard the wii-u as the place to play the best games. I mean you would miss out on all the persona .. which is the best console game series out there...somewhat serious question for Vinny - did having Dan in New York for a bit help you learn to explain things to your son?

Guys, you really don't know the styles of pizza in italy

Danielle's relentless positivity is inspiring, always glad when she stops by.

Also, the sleeper story of this episode: Alex was on fire! Man, that dude is funny.

@madbootsy: Yeah, I'd love to see a post-ER breakdown podcast.

One reason to keep doing the press conference/trade show for you guys is the recent hardware. It was useful to go see the PS4 Pro demo and talk about it since I couldn't see the HDR stuff myself. Also with VR, its useful if you guys go and talk about the experience of playing that stuff.

I would've empathised more with the demo argument if the person sending the email didn't sound so bewildered as to why steam were telling them to stop. Especially as them doing that works out a net loss for steam due to transaction charges and admin involved. I rarely feel frustrated at emails people send in to podcasts but making it sound like some great injustice was just uggggggggh

My only hope from the Deafheaven recommendations is that new listeners to metal don't stop there.

As someone from Massachusetts, where I'm from in the South Shore area is a really good pizza around here is from Lynwood Cafe. They're smaller pizzas that don't have much crust. Very delicious. There are a few places that have good pizzas in that area.

But honestly, Massachusetts is better for American Chinese food. Tons of places all around and quite a few of them are really damn good!

What was the game Danielle was talking about having a convo with AI via computer terminals?

@jbrosk89: Event[0] on Steam. I didn't think the conversation aspect was as great as they mentioned - it felt like a customer service chat bot in terms of understanding sentences and requests. Maybe I was missing something but just seemed anytime I wanted to really dig deep conversationally I had to back off, back off, back off and eventually get to just "elevator down" or whatever I actually needed and hope that the AI was actually programmed to do that.

Knife and Fork with pizza is for savages and heathens.

I know I'm almost a week late to the party, but I have to say Danielle Riendeau is consistently my favorite Giant Bomb guest. She always sounds like she's having a lot of fun.

Holy crap I never thought the Beastcast would spend so much time talking about my home state (RI). I don't think as highly of Providence as Danielle seems to but it is a pretty cool city.

My god, I am so hungry for tacos right now. Damn you guys for talking about delicious food for like 30 minutes! xD

What's the problem with updating phones? Just update. There has never been an iOS release that changes so much that it's difficult to use. In fact they usually don't change a whole lot beyond the visuals.

Danielle is the best. So awesome when she's on the Beastcast.

The issue is when UI updates can go counter to user-learned behavior which can impede their work-flow for thier most common tasks. Also it seems more recently, these updates often introduce new issues

I always always update. Only thing I don't like about iOS 10 is that the music app doesn't let you see previously listened songs like 9 did.

That last bit with Jeff had me rolling.

This taco discussion was vile and offensive to me.

THIS is what a taco looks like! You just need A) Meat. B) White corn tortillas. C) Cilantro. D) Chopped onion. E) Fresh lime. F) Optional hot sauce.

Flour tortillas? Hard shells? Shredded lettuce? Put those things in the garbage and have a real taco.

I agree wholeheartedly that the demo girl was being completely abusive of the Steam refund system. Not only is it awful and borderline thievery to both the developer of the game and Steam, but it is a ridiculously entitled attitude to decide that just because a developer did not put out a demo that she believes the game should have, she has a right to make one herself through illicit means. If the lack of a demo bothers you so much then don't buy the game - you don't get to set your own terms regarding your consumption of someone else's work like that.

It's the same sort of attitude as people who pirate games and claim that "if they like it, they'll pay full price for it later", or they pirate it because they didn't agree with the price point of the game. If they developer didn't give them what they wanted, they have a right to just take it.

Nice.