Jurassic Radio #8: Of Upskirts and Hamlet
We relocate this week to the Gameodactyl's nest (lair? cave?) for a frank discussion of videogame boobies and DEVIL SURVIVOR, OVERLORD 2, YGGDRA UNION for the GBA and free PC stuff. Our Top 5 this week is our favorite leading ladies in video games, with some lists going in different directions than others.
We're still trying to put together a segment in which we all play an older, *relatively* undiscovered game together and discuss it in chunks. The best way to do this, we gather, is to play PS2 games, since three of the four of us have either a PS2 or a backward-compatible PS3. The first game will be SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS — something that's been played and dissected in similar segments on other podcasts (EGM Live, and David Ellis has been talking about it on Listen Up), but which Rambo and Nate haven't played. Also, Pat and I have a hankering to revisit it.
We're also considering other segments, including some sort of movie club or something. All of this is an effort to a) play to our strengths, b) circumnavigate our broadcasting and financial weaknesses, and c) build some sort of community.
So bear with us as we play with the format a little bit.
(click to play, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #8: Of Upskirts and Hamlet
SHOW NOTES
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/mq
Anime News Network - University dresses Open Campus website in 8-bit garb.
Kotaku and Kotaku - Best Buy tests used game kiosks, GameStop confident that people prefer its pushers.
Kotaku - EA tells Mythic and Bioware to work together.
Joystiq - Bethesda gets a step-sibling in id Software. Also, via Kotaku, the reasoning.
Play This Thing via Indiegames - Manifesto Games closes shop.
Multiplayer - Sierra games inspire off-Broadway 'Adventure Quest.'
Barack "Muad'Dib" Obama?
This video is a couple of days old by now, but I just caught it a few minutes ago at The Digital Bits. It's John Hodgman's address from the Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner in Washington last week.
I'm not usually one to watch such things (media wankfests, I mean) because they celebrate the breed of "journalist" I find more nauseating than any other — the White House reporter. Seriously, has a West Wing correspondent ever broken a story? Ever?
Sure, their catty, perfunctory back-and-forth with presidential spokesweasels yields the occasional gem. Consider Dana Perino's thorough dissection of the Cuban missile crisis a few years back.
But by and large, the White House briefing is an opportunity to gauge the ease with which a press secretary can dodge questions from mediocre, showboating reporters who know they're being videotaped.
Of course, Stephen Colbert's hysteria-inducing send-up of Washington power-writer culture at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner made these evenings appointment television, given the right keynote speaker. And so I give you Hodgman, celebrating all things nerd in front of the president of the United States.
(Is it a badge of pride that I could answer every question Hodgman posed to Obama? Can I be blamed for knowing my "Dune" cover to cover?)
Jurassic Radio #7: Baseball Bat
Hey, everybody!
Sorry about the late post. I was fighting gravity earlier with Nathan "Gamertooth Tiger" Smeltzer and then spent a few hours leveling up my forehand with a dude from work. Outside stuff!
In this week's episode, the fearsome foursome (that's me, Gameodactyl, Gamegnathus and Gamertooth Tiger) successfully take to the outdoors, totally unmolested by the frienemies living to my immediate north and south.
(We had some FIERCE rain earlier in the day. Nothing earthshaking, but enough to frighten my neighbors into behaving like humans for a few hours while their precious baby grassholes dried off.)
We reminisce about 1989 as we talk about GHOSTBUSTERS for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC. Pat and Rambo give us all a little more insight into YS: THE OATH IN FELGHANA, and Nate bemoans his rising estrogen count as JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 continues to fuck up his Christmas.
For our Top Five, we count down the five games we feel most need sequels. This concept has been done to death, obviously, but I think we identify some interesting contenders. Rambo, as usual, brings five games nobody outside the podcast has heard of.
In the show notes below, you'll find a YouTube embed of something that's probably racist but that I find pretty harmless. And as the podcast's resident queer, I believe I have some latitude in such matters. Also, in the podcast, we keep referring to the restaurant in the clip as Bojangles, but as you can see here, it's actually Popeye's.
(click to play, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #7: Baseball Bat
SHOW NOTES
Alice and Kev - Homelessness in Sims 3 - http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/
Joystiq - The kind thing to do with old games - http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/16/pixel-equity-offers-games-and-good-intentions-for-needy-children/
Joystiq - PopCap happy with $1 Peggle performance - http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/15/popcaps-1-peggle-sale-on-app-store-a-hit-specials-for-other-t/
Rock Paper Shotgun - Home of the Underdogs, one of the older abandonware sites, returns in various guises - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/15/underdogfight-home-of-the-underdogs-returns/
Destructoid - Something to pine for: A Metroid fan remake - http://www.destructoid.com/new-metroid-ii-fan-remake-trailer-gives-me-the-fish-sweats-136431.phtml#exthttp://www.destructoid.com/new-metroid-ii-fan-remake-trailer-gives-me-the-fish-sweats-136431.phtml#ext
Music in this week's show comes from The Gadjits and Flight of the Conchords.
Jagged Alliance 2: An Emasculating Experience
Nothing makes me feel like less of a man than a game that lets me think I’ve surmounted its learning curve just as it bitchslaps me with tougher enemies and better AI. This is what JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 is doing to me.
I’m currently trying to take over another enemy-controlled mine to generate money for more mercenaries and weapons. I’m failing miserably. It may not help that it’s my first time playing and I selected the “experienced” difficulty — this is the game’s medium setting. Every time more than one of my mercs passes out from blood loss and the medics frantically patch them up, I know it’s over and feel another piece of my manhood slipping away.
That's not your mother! It's a man, baby!
The game’s difficulty gives me this new phobia where I’m afraid that my balls are receding into my abdomen. I think it’s similar to genital retraction syndrome, which originated in China after Chinese Starcraft players were repeatedly humiliated by superior Korean players.
The main villain, Queen Deidranna Reitman, is GI Jane with a penis. She bitchslaps her male henchman in almost every cutscene, which happens whenever I finally manage to capture one of her occupied tiles on the overhead map. I thought about sending the henchman some flowers with the number of a spousal abuse hotline, but I wasn’t sure where he lived.
The only redeeming quality of my playthrough so far is that I have Steroid on my team. He’s so manly that he doesn’t use complete sentences, and you don’t even have to ask him if he juices. He's Steroid. But this brings me back to my fear of shrinking testicles. Nevertheless, I equipped him with the only automatic rifle on hand and employed my best tactic so far — spray and pray.
At this point I’m thinking about restarting and selecting the “novice” difficulty setting or looking for a mod that adds a “sandy vagina” setting. I welcome any guidance that will help me regain my manhood.
Jurassic Radio #6: Udon Noodles
Hey, everybody!
(I've anointed this the show's new tagline, so get used to hearing and reading it.)
It's just the Gameodactyl, Gamegnathus, Gamertooth Tiger and me for this week's show, in which we are driven indoors by a lawnmower and talk about gay porn, butter sculptures and hibachi. Also, videogames.
Our Top Five for the week began as a list of our favorite sandbox-style games, but it broadened (as Top Fives are wont to do) to any game that allows you to craft your own personal narrative. So, what once might have been a collection of Grand Theft Autos and Saints Rows grew to include Final Fantasies, Fallouts and Elder Scrolls games. Which is fine, because everybody gets to participate!
As for what we've been playing, I ramble incoherently about PROTOTYPE, Rambo explains his alternately cold and warm feelings for HOUSE OF THE DEAD: OVERKILL and BLUEBERRY GARDEN, Nate takes us back a ways with JAGGED ALLIANCE 2, and Pat chronicles his epic 15 minutes with YS: THE OATH IN FELGHANA.
Students of our dumb little show will recognize that the Chk! Chk! Chk! beat that used to introduce episodes has been swapped out for "You Can't Handle This" by Five Iron Frenzy. I explain as much in my especially drunk- and congested-sounding cold open, which will be MUCH more spectacular next week.
And we forgot mailbag again. Keep 'em coming anyway.
(click to play, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #6: Udon Noodles
SHOW NOTES
Danny Choo - Because in Japan, 1:1 scale statues of Gundam are normal
IGN - DS so big that Japanese schools have submitted to it.
Gamasutra - Square Enix, Edios to collaborate on ... something.
New World Notes - Second Life teaches police about Crystal Meth Labs.
JoyStiq - A useful game information scrying app for the Iphone.
JoyStiq - Not really news, just a roundup of the biggest E3 trailers.
Pat's press release - EverQuest marks 10 years with a documentary exhorting its drug-like qualities, Evercracked.
The Gameodactyl at E3: Part 2 of 2
Alright, I've had plenty of time to rest and recuperate. Time to get some things off my chest.
First of all, E3 this year was a decent size. It wasn't overblown, open-to-everyone-and-their-mom, aisles-crowded-with-breasts-for-hire like in 2005. It also wasn't the meet-in-airport-hangars-and-hotel-lobbies fiasco of 2007. As I believe I said in the podcast, this year's E3 was Goldilocks-style "just right." I hope that future E3 expos stay at roughly this size. Maybe a LITTLE more third party publishing action, and bringing back Kentia Hall, I could go for that. Just for laughs.
What really bummed me out about E3 this year was the lack of anything that "wowed" me. To be honest, the most exciting things I saw on the floor were things we'd known about for some time now: MASS EFFECT 2, ALPHA PROTOCOL, and ASSASSIN'S CREED 2 all looked decent to me. But they weren't shockers. The most shocking announcement was probably FINAL FANTASY XIV, but the details are so sparse, that again, I didn't have much to get pumped about.
I spent some time at the back of South Hall to check out the Indiecade finalists. Among the games there, the two that wowed me most were CLOSURE (a puzzle game) and PAPERMINT (a social MMO). The former won me over because it was a great, addictive, deceptively-simple puzzle game; the latter won me over primarily for its art style.
Trying to represent three different web publications while at E3 is also a very difficult balancing act. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, though I found out while I was there that many of my acquaintances were doing the exact same thing. Something about the economy and taking whatever you can get...
I have a lot of hope for Harmonix's upcoming games, THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND and ROCK BAND UNPLUGGED. I also think the new Batman game, BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM, has a lot of potential. The playable demo on the show floor was lengthy, and it didn't take long for the difficulty to ramp up big-time. Short, simple, satisfying beat-em-up mechanics are blended with the need to hide and play stealth really well. Being able to grapple-hook to virtually anything above you helps with this, but if they spot you in the sky, you may as well come down. I got shot to death while hanging out on a gargoyle statue. Whoops.
Lots and lots of upcoming MMOs out there. The most exciting ones on the radar, in my opinion, are JUMPGATE: EVOLUTION and CHAMPIONS ONLINE. Publisher "Perfect World" tried to get a lot of attention at this year's show, and I wish them well, but I'm not really drawn in by most of their games. ETHER SAGA might be fun, but it's still too cookie-cutter-cute for my tastes (says the Tarutaru in FINAL FANTASY XI).
Other than that? I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking. I finally registered a flickr account, just for this occasion! Click this link to check out 40+ pictures from the show, taken by yours truly.
Gameodactyl, signing off.
Jurassic Radio, episode 5
As a metaphor for the utter exhaustion that the Electronics Entertainment Expo reportedly induces, this week's podcast works rather well.
We talk games. Lots of games. Games that aren't out yet. Ignorantly. And by the end of the nearly two-hour show, everyone's pretty tired.
I'm not calling it a flub. I'm just warning you little monsters to be ready to hear Pat Gann, a.k.a. the Gameodactyl, tell you about the seedy, bloggy underbelly of E3 at length. News anchor Pete Rambo, a.k.a. Gamegnathus, joins us as usual.
Also piping in this week are Matt "Velocigamer" Oberdick and Nathan "Gamertooth Tiger" Smeltzer.
What do you guys think of the five-person format? I'd ask if it were too crowded, but I know that's not the case on the receiving end, given the fact that Pat and I are the only two humans who speak for most of this week's show. THIS IS MY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE WAY OF ENCOURAGING THE REST OF YOU MOUTH-BREATHERS TO SPEAK UP AND PLAY SOME GAMES. NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER.
Whoa, that was weird.
(click to play, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio, episode 5
SHOW NOTES
Some of the news we discuss:
Kotaku, Engadget - Microsoft, Sony get into the motion sensor game.
Gamasutra, AP - Activision claims Brütal Legend is theirs to publish.
Gamasutra - Sony goes and shrinks the PSP, ditches UMD.
Joystiq - EGM sold to its founder.
LA Times via Game Politics - Group stages fake protest of Dante's Inferno at E3.
"Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Japanese role-playing game character watching you shower?" (click through image to Joystiq story)
The Gameodactyl at E3: Part 1 of 2
Sup gentlemen and ladies.
I'm currently sitting in a "bloggers' lounge" (fitting area) to write this update, from the South Hall of the convention center. It's been a wild week, and there's still a full day to go.
Gameosaurus got lots of opportunity to get the name out there. We spent time with Capcom and checked out fighting games such as TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM, the full PSN version of MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2, STREET FIGHTER IV (PC), and FATE/UNLIMITED CODES (downloadable PSP title). One piece of good news for PC gamers: the limited edition bundle of Street Fighter IV comes with a sweet USB MadCatz pad with a Street Fighter IV skin/design (pics coming soon). If you think your PC can handle the game, you'll definitely want to pick it up.
Over at Square Enix, it seems they're trying to shy away from their "we are the RPG powerhouse" vibe. They have a game developed by Cavia (DRAKENGARD series) called NIER, and the producer I met with was adamant in saying that the game is an action adventure, and not an RPG... even though, he also says, it has plenty of "RPG elements." There were also behind-closed-doors demos of games like FRONT MISSION EVOLVED, which is a third-person shooter being developed by Double Helix. It's a departure for the Strategy RPG series, but it may yet be a great game. It's too early for the 'saurs to know for sure. Square Enix is also publishing SUPREME COMMANDER 2 (an RTS from Gas-Powered Games, 360 & PC) and ORDER OF WAR (a WWII title ... from Square Enix? wtf?).
I infiltrated MTV Games / Harmonix to play ROCK BAND UNPLUGGED (PSP) and THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND (PS3/360). The former is a frantic, almost WarioWare-esque game where you are forced, as the single player, to switch from one instrument to another every few measures to keep everything going. It's only single-player at this point (wtf?), but as a basic rhythm game, it's actually a fair bit of challenging fun. Having to constantly switch from drums to vocals to bass to guitar, in whatever order you wish, but without missing a note, is a new way to approach the genre. As for The Beatles? It's the Beatles. The real surprise is that they even got publishing rights to the music. The story behind this is very interesting (and is detailed at OSV ... *wink*).
We'll have plenty more impressions from the show floor, including plenty of pictures, later in the week. Our next Podcast (Jurassic Radio Ep. 5) will also be rather E3-centric, and you'll hear us praise/bash things like Microsoft's Project Natal, Nintendo's apology for last year's press conference (in the form of many, many franchise favorites making their glorious returns), FINAL FANTASY XIV, and more.
Gameodactyl, signing out.