Thursday Night Throwdown: 02/23/12

i'm reading mass effect revelation at the moment and i disagree with Gary saying the books universe is all over the place. i think it's pretty spot on although i can only vouch for the first book. also i reckon deception was not only rushed out before mass effect 3 but it was also written by a new guy with no ties to the universe. i believe the first three were written by Drew Karpyshyn who pretty much built the mass effect universe before retiring so thats why they were accepted.

Jeff is playing with some pretty incompetent people in some of these.

Gary has lost a ton of weight... good for him

@Scotto:

If this were any other company besides EA, I would totally be behind what your saying. But the moment I encountered an NPC selling DLC inside the confines of Dragon Age: Origins, I knew damn well that EA only cared about the money and didn't give a crap about the cohesiveness of their stories. They do this stuff all the time. I just cannot support that behavior in any way.

Back in ME2 we actually got the characters and other stuff for free just for buying the game new. This time we're being forced to pay 10 or 20 dollars more to get the full game. Not just cosmetic stuff either, that party member is actually significant. EA is trying to push what is acceptable and I've simply drawn the line here.

I'm totally okay if they work on more stuff while waiting for launch, but I expect it to be something more substantial like an expansion pack, not just something they can cram in at release to take advantage of the influx of customers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0vrJ-y2zM This is a good video summing up my frustrations. It's not about the money, it's about the principle of it all.

Ryan leaves and it turns into a discussion about BioWare. That is just perfect.

What ended up happening with the most recent Mass Effect novel is they changed authors. The first three were written by the lead writer of Mass Effect 1 & 2, and were good in my opinion, but for the most recent they basically gave the novel to an author that will (and does) write just about anything, and not really all that well.
 
Granted I haven't read Deception yet, hearing all of the bad news about it turned me off of it really quickly, and according to Bioware they are going to rerelease it with less errors, though who knows if that will help.
 
 
Oh and Syndicate looks pretty cool! I'll have to play it at some point, but like Gary said, 'tis the season.

I kinda found ME2 to be boring, but maybe not playing ME1 has something to do with that.

@gwhitta said:

My approach is to assume that not everyone watching already knows everything about the game, so I ask stuff that people who aren't familiar with the game might want to know. Sorry if that irritates some of the gaming Masters of the Universe up in here.

How dare you attempt to incite conversation about the game and its mechanics, Gary? Shame on you, sir. Shame.

Not played this game but in the Mass Effect 3 Demo the riot shields do my head in.

I think they'd be ok if you were always in a team with friends but I usually just go random so they end the game.

It's so weird that Gary, Jeff, and Ryan were talking about Google Goggles and how it might make you see what they want you to see, and that basically what was going on in Syndicate Wars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_Wars

@Scotto said:

@GiveUpNed said:

@Scotto: Because of this: http://au.gamespot.com/features/the-dangers-of-gamer-entitlement-6350732/

the sense of ownership that makes some gamers believe that they own the games they play. That's a common mistake; gamers buy games, so naturally they feel entitled to them. But games are, and have always been, the property of the people who made them. [...]

Out of context perhaps, but the argument is still powerful. Some gamers feel that they own games and can dictate what they want. There is a reason why there is a stereotype of the misogynistic, neck beard, jobless, virgin, basement dweller gamer. It's entertainment for your eyeballs. Games won't change the election or feed the poor - it's virtual escape from your normal life. I think for some, that escape is far more compelling than reality, which is why they define philosophical lines around their entertainment. Games mean that much to them.

Or a lot of gamers are cheap (teenagers/college students) and want to pay as little as possible for fun. See: copyright infringement.

I think having a strong philosophy surrounding your interest in gaming is fine, and even healthy. And like I said - if there ever comes a day when an EA game actually keeps the conclusions to one of their games behind an additional paywall, I will be on the frontline complaining about them abusing their relationship with consumers, and shipping an incomplete product.

But complaining about side-content? That's just gamer entitlement, and a sad lack of self-control. And as Patrick explained in this video, the day-one stuff is generally made during the period when the main game is out of their hands and off to QA, or Cert, or whatever.

Just because its made in between the day the game is sent to Cert and the day its released, doesn't mean they have to charge for it. They could have done what they did with the last game and include a code with all new copies. They're doing that for the collector's edition, why couldn't they include it in all new copies? Putting in a new game on release day and seeing a menu or ad asking you to pay more money to get the entire game is awful. If they really want to charge for that content, they should hold it back for two weeks or a month and people would be a lot less pissed about it.

@Krystal_Sackful said:

I'd love to see realistic riot shields. Ones that aren't 100% impervious to bullets.

To be fair, the Riot Shields in the game are a) Sci-fi shields, b) Are not impervious to bullets - Sniper Rifles, Miniguns, High powered rifles, etc can shoot through them, only lighter weaponry have problems with them.

There's supposedly also another type of Riot shield in the game that IS impervious to bullets, though. Though those operate on the Liquid-armor principle (read: more sci-fi) - like some mini-bosses do.

@gwhitta: Nevermind the haters, having someone ask the "obvious" questions makes for good shows. Wonder if they ever considered that the alternative would be total silence as everyone wonders if what they have to say is of sufficiently enlightening for some jerk not to be offended. *shrug*

Rory didn't get shitfaced? What's wrong here?

Great opening!

my eyes are always on so many balls

@gwhitta: And I applaud you for it! TNT, for me, generally has the problem of not explaining the game much. So you asking questions works out pretty great.

Ryan Davis, "cinnamon rolls are dope." I liked the futurist cyberpunk talk that happens about midway through.