Giant Bombcast Live! PAX 2010

[0] Mmm.

[1] Oh.

[2] Yeah?

[3] Mmm.

[4] September the 3rd, and you are listening to The Giant Bombcast, a very special edition of The Giant Bombcast, coming to you in front of a live audience here at PAX 10.

[5] I will be your MC and host master, Ryan Davis, joined by Vinny Caravella.

[6] Hey, everybody, how you doing?

[7] Brad Shoemaker.

[8] Echo.

[9] And, of course, Jeff Gerstman, starting center.

[10] Shoemaker.

[11] Shoemaker.

[12] How are you guys doing?

[13] Yeah?

[14] And how are you guys doing?

[15] Good.

[16] Doing all right.

[17] Good.

[18] Real good.

[19] Jeff and Brad, you guys went out for dinner.

[20] How'd that go?

[21] It was good.

[22] We got, what are we, Palomino is the name of the place?

[23] Yeah.

[24] They have horse?

[25] You know, I asked for horse.

[26] Yeah.

[27] Or pony.

[28] Yeah, they thought I was saying horsey, and it all went kind of sideways from there.

[29] But they had something on the menu called the Incredible Pepperoni Pizza.

[30] You know, it's not a bad pepperoni pizza.

[31] You think maybe overselling it a bit?

[32] Incredible might be overselling it a bit.

[33] Cocktails are all right, though.

[34] Brad, how did you do it?

[35] I had a salad.

[36] What?

[37] Boring.

[38] Snooze.

[39] And I am stone cold sober.

[40] Vinny and I went to perhaps the most apathetic subway.

[41] Yeah, I'd say.

[42] That I've ever been witness to.

[43] Holy shit.

[44] Hey, do you guys have Swiss cheese?

[45] Why don't you just tell me what you have?

[46] Just make me a sandwich that'll make you proud.

[47] Why don't you...

[48] No eye contact, just shitty sandwich.

[49] What was the level of artistry?

[50] Like, pretty low?

[51] Terror.

[52] It was horror.

[53] Peter of light, nothing.

[54] You and Drew both got an iced tea.

[55] I thought I was getting iced tea, but it ended up being like root beer with no carbonation in it.

[56] I see how you can make that mistake.

[57] So if Vinny and I have to leave the stage suddenly and dramatically.

[58] It is not planned.

[59] Incredible bathroom trip.

[60] Cue the break music.

[61] What were they pitching was so incredible about that pizza?

[62] Nothing.

[63] That was just how it was listed on the menu.

[64] It just said incredible pepperoni pizza.

[65] So maybe it was the pepperoni?

[66] The rest of the pizzas did not brag about their quality.

[67] Okay, so it was the pepperoni.

[68] Yeah, just specifically it was, yeah.

[69] So I guess maybe the idea was that the pepperoni itself was incredible.

[70] It was large.

[71] All right.

[72] That certainly doesn't hurt.

[73] Yeah, I don't know.

[74] I ate it.

[75] I mean, whatever.

[76] I ate it.

[77] That's all that matters.

[78] You ate it, you survived, and you're here.

[79] And I'm glad to have you guys here.

[80] I'm glad to be here.

[81] I'm glad to have all these people here, too.

[82] Thanks for coming out, you guys.

[83] We came in here earlier, and I think we were a little bit terrified of the size of the room.

[84] Yeah, we ran in here this morning during the harmonics panel and just stood inside the door and did some dancing.

[85] I don't know if you guys saw us back there over there.

[86] I know Drake did.

[87] Yeah, there they are.

[88] Drake sees all.

[89] He does.

[90] Not much of a dancer, though.

[91] Well, let's get into the meat of it then, gentlemen.

[92] Let's talk about what we've been playing.

[93] Oh, man. You like that?

[94] It's good.

[95] That's a pro music cue.

[96] See, we never hear them yet.

[97] I'm the only one that hears any of this shit.

[98] I think that's the first time I've ever heard it.

[99] Did you mess up?

[100] Because I hear some.

[101] Let's start down here at the end of the panel, Jeff Gerstman.

[102] What have you been playing, brother?

[103] Um...

[104] No, yeah, earlier today we went and played Duke Nukem Forever.

[105] You guys, you heard of that?

[106] Did you guys wait through the line to the theater and see all that stuff?

[107] Show of hands, how many people went through it and played it and saw it?

[108] Oh, wow.

[109] Pretty good.

[110] I mean, considering how goddamn long that line was, I'm surprised that many people got in.

[111] How long did it take?

[112] Two hours?

[113] Two hours?

[114] Two hours?

[115] 13 years.

[116] You know what?

[117] You get a t -shirt.

[118] That's right.

[119] You win.

[120] We don't have t -shirts.

[121] We don't have any t -shirts.

[122] I like this because now all our best comments are just live.

[123] You win a free piece of paper.

[124] Come and claim it after the instant feedback.

[125] So what the fuck?

[126] Right?

[127] Like what?

[128] It's like decided like, no, we're going to take it the rest of the way.

[129] This game, we're going to pick this up.

[130] It looks kind of like the footage that leaked out.

[131] I don't know if you haven't seen that footage.

[132] It looks like a fairly modern shooter, right?

[133] You'd say it starts out with you pissing.

[134] So it's classy.

[135] And it has Duke Nukem receiving...

[136] oral action from two ladies.

[137] So it's a Duke Nukem game, I guess.

[138] That's the most you can ask.

[139] I mean, it sounds like, you know, Gearbox is talking about how they want to try and make the game that was supposed to be made.

[140] And it sounds like they're at least hitting the tone.

[141] I think, like, tonally, they're making a Duke Nukem game.

[142] And, you know, it has the weapons, has the shrink ray, the shotgun looks the same.

[143] No foot, as far as I can tell.

[144] You can't kiss them?

[145] I understand the foot would be DLC.

[146] DLC foot.

[147] All right.

[148] Look for that.

[149] And then foot armor after that.

[150] So pretty excited.

[151] Pretty excited for that.

[152] How long was the stuff they were showing?

[153] I didn't get a chance to see it.

[154] They showed a pretty amazing trailer that I don't think they've put out.

[155] yet.

[156] I don't know that the trailer is widely available.

[157] The trailer is better than the demo, actually.

[158] It's got that Prodigy song in it.

[159] That makes anything better.

[160] But yeah, it's a demo of a...

[161] Of a game that can't possibly live up to any expectations at this point, because it's been...

[162] Well, I don't know.

[163] It's been canceled and re -announced, right?

[164] So expectations reset.

[165] Yeah, reset.

[166] That game came out.

[167] It's probably garbage anyway.

[168] Oh, wait.

[169] Well, maybe it'll be all right.

[170] But it's been in such a fucking quagmire for so long.

[171] If it's even playable, that's a big win for that game, right?

[172] The fact that it could even be a retail product.

[173] I played it, and they had belt buckles, so...

[174] Ten.

[175] They were handing out belt buckles.

[176] Five stars.

[177] You heard it here first.

[178] I don't know how to use a belt buckle.

[179] But I got one.

[180] You hardly know how to wear a belt.

[181] I just learned this year.

[182] Actually, this morning when I was putting...

[183] Maybe I don't want to tell this story.

[184] You're saying this is not a family -appropriate anecdote?

[185] No, I'm just saying that I honestly had to put a belt on a pair of shorts today because they fell off in the dryer.

[186] And I was like, how do I do this?

[187] So I had to look at another pair and go, it goes through the back and then around.

[188] Literally.

[189] You're not tying shoes, man. It just goes through the little loops.

[190] Oh, you should see me tie fucking shoes, man. Brad, your thoughts on Duke Forever?

[191] I mean, it kind of feels like a 10 -year -old game, you know?

[192] I mean, it is a shooter.

[193] Not a bad way, but it's, you know, it's kind of a serious thing.

[194] I'm like, dude, you run in a straight line and shoot stuff.

[195] You know, you shrink guys and stomp.

[196] It's a Duke game.

[197] He talks a lot.

[198] The mirrors work.

[199] Oh, shit.

[200] Can you flush a toilet?

[201] You can flush a toilet.

[202] You can pump a soap dispenser.

[203] You can pump the soap dispenser.

[204] That's next -gen technology.

[205] If you say it's a 10 -year -old or it plays like a 10 -year -old game, that's not so bad considering it's been in development for 13 years.

[206] It's still ahead of its timeline, really.

[207] It's funny.

[208] It'll go up on the site when we get back next week.

[209] Some of the guys from Gearbox came through to show the new Borderlands DLC.

[210] That's right, we had Randy Pitchford in the office.

[211] Yeah, so Randy Pitchford was in, and we shot an interview with him while he was in there.

[212] And so the whole thing is, this was before PAX, and we couldn't put up the interview until after PAX.

[213] So, you know, we're talking very casually about, you know, kind of the heat game and some of the other stuff that Gearbox has been associated with.

[214] And I just kind of, it's like, oh, so there's been other rumors you guys have been associated with, like this Duke Nukem Forever.

[215] Keep in mind, this won't air until after PAX.

[216] Panic broke out.

[217] Just like a lot of like...

[218] A lot of everybody looking at somebody else.

[219] Everyone looking at someone else for like an answer like, hey, they're right.

[220] It is...

[221] Do we...

[222] No?

[223] No. No. What?

[224] No. Talk to us about that.

[225] No. So...

[226] Not a complete mystery to us coming into this show.

[227] Necessarily.

[228] But it's one of those things I think like, you know...

[229] The game will be judged when it's finished, but right now the interesting things are the hows and the whys of how that occurred.

[230] When you hear that it's happening, that's one thing.

[231] You're like, that's messed up.

[232] I don't understand.

[233] Okay, fine.

[234] But it's going to be like how and why and when did they get involved, which is apparently sometime in 2009.

[235] But at what point did Gearbox say, yeah, we want to take these guys from 3D Realms and we're going to take this thing and finish it and put it out?

[236] And I still have to wonder how much of that is them finishing it and them just starting from scratch.

[237] Some of the stuff in the demo looks like some of the leaked stuff that came out right after the game, like 3D Realms kind of shut their doors, like there's the monster truck stuff.

[238] Right.

[239] Jeff, I believe we have you on record, recorded, saying that you were not interested in a Gearbox Duke Nukem game.

[240] Now that you've seen what Gearbox has put out there, what do you think of what they've shown?

[241] I will give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it goes from here.

[242] I still think they need to do a special edition of that game that comes with every iteration that they killed along the way.

[243] Don't even patch it up.

[244] It's just going to crash to desktop over and over again.

[245] Just compile what you have and put that out along with the finished game.

[246] That's more interesting than an art book, right?

[247] Most of the engines they were using previously have gone open source by now.

[248] They can get DOS Box on there.

[249] I still agree that that is more interesting than whatever this finished product.

[250] will be?

[251] The process?

[252] Oh, I mean, if they put out something like that, that would be more interesting than whatever this...

[253] Maybe, maybe.

[254] I mean...

[255] I mean, this game is more history than it is game.

[256] What if it comes out and it's fucking amazing?

[257] What if it's like the...

[258] Like, where would we be?

[259] I like that that's, like, worrying you.

[260] Like, I just can't fathom a world where the game ships and then where it ships and it's not a mess.

[261] And, like, what...

[262] Are you afraid that we're going to enter a sideways world from Lost or something, and this is just going to split the sky in two?

[263] I don't have a television.

[264] I don't know what that means.

[265] All right, I think we've about rung out the Duke talk.

[266] Let's, Jeff, prepacks.

[267] You went down to L .A. And by prepacks, I mean like yesterday.

[268] Yeah.

[269] It's kind of a...

[270] You've had a rough week.

[271] Yeah, so I was down in Los Angeles for the Call of Duty Black Ops multiplayer reveal where they were finally talking about that stuff.

[272] And just to keep the throwback shooter vibe going, they're adding more deathmatch modes and bots.

[273] Wow, really?

[274] Yeah.

[275] The future of video games is here.

[276] That's perhaps a little reductive.

[277] Okay.

[278] Yeah, so they're adding this wager mode where you can...

[279] Okay, so first of all, they have changed the way that the leveling system works.

[280] You will earn experience points to gain levels, but all that unlocks is the right to purchase the weapons, not with real money.

[281] I know, everyone's like, Activision...

[282] You use CP, or COD points.

[283] Because it's an acronym with an acronym.

[284] Wait, hold on.

[285] So it's CP.

[286] CP.

[287] Which stands for COD points.

[288] Which stands for COD points, but with COD standing for Call of Duty.

[289] I don't know.

[290] They didn't say.

[291] I can neither confirm nor deny what COD stands for in this case.

[292] So why not just CODPs?

[293] Okay, actually, that's a good answer.

[294] I answered my own question right there.

[295] You know what?

[296] Those Activision guys are smarter than they seem.

[297] And I expect a sea of DPs later.

[298] The orgy's tonight, right?

[299] That's true.

[300] Is that tonight?

[301] Yeah, yeah, let's wrap this up.

[302] Hey, thank you guys all for coming out tonight.

[303] It's been a pleasure.

[304] So they're doing some interesting stuff with that game with Wager Match, and the weapons are a lot of fun.

[305] I think the leveling system is changing in an interesting way.

[306] And beyond that, it's that kind of Call of Duty multiplayer that has sold millions of copies and people are still frantically playing.

[307] So they're at that stage where it would be foolish to change too much about it because it's reached that kind of competitive point where they have to make it like that.

[308] Bungie has to make Halo play like Halo.

[309] Whoever is working on Call of Duty this week has to make it play like Call of Duty.

[310] And it goes from there.

[311] But the game looks super slick, and we have some footage of that and some interviews that we shot that will go up on the site at some point.

[312] I just have to point out, we've had this conversation, I think, in private a few times.

[313] So we're talking about bots, and we're talking about deathmatch, and we're talking about Duke Nukem, and we're talking about Mortal Kombat.

[314] Yeah.

[315] So is it 1994?

[316] Is that what happened?

[317] Has time actually looped back around now?

[318] It's finally happened.

[319] The games that you cared about when...

[320] Well, I won't make any assumptions about your age.

[321] When you were in high school.

[322] Are cool again.

[323] Yes.

[324] Your dad's games are cool again, kids.

[325] Huh?

[326] Fuck.

[327] I know.

[328] I know.

[329] Old men.

[330] So Mortal Kombat is here, and they're showing the two characters that they added back at Gamescom, Cyrax and Katana.

[331] So Brad and I kind of immediately made a beeline for that, and then I decided to play funny.

[332] I snuck up behind Ed Boon while he was watching someone play the game, and he didn't see me sneak up, and I said, I guess this game looks okay, I don't know.

[333] He turns around like, oh, hey.

[334] And then we cut through the line to play it.

[335] And it's...

[336] Oh, Cyrax is so much fun.

[337] The bombs and the net and that stuff is still really...

[338] Man, I'm into that game.

[339] Brad, Brad, engage the man. Let him get his MK...

[340] Get your MK out, man. I'm still tripped up by how many of the moves they've changed.

[341] Like, I spent half of the first round trying to figure out how to throw a katana fan.

[342] See, that's because you didn't play a lot of the later model Mortal Kombat games.

[343] Some of that stuff is still kind of in line with that stuff.

[344] So...

[345] So it kind of adheres to that stuff while kind of having the balance and the juggling of kind of the older MKs, which is pretty sweet.

[346] But the net doesn't draw people in when you hit them with it.

[347] It actually just freezes them in the air.

[348] And I don't know, like you have to get over there and get to them now, which is fine.

[349] It's more of just a freeze, yeah.

[350] But it'll freeze guys in midair and all that sort of stuff.

[351] And that's pretty cool.

[352] Yeah, man, that game, we actually just played, I don't know how many of you saw on Thursday, we actually played two hours of Mortal Kombat.

[353] We played MK2 and then Ultimate MK3.

[354] And yeah, those games still hold up really well.

[355] Dude, I hope they're making that HD, whatever the hell that is.

[356] Yeah, like the retailer listed thing.

[357] Three and one.

[358] Yeah, that could be.

[359] That could be amazing.

[360] It's weird to think about Mortal Kombat undergoing this huge renaissance and becoming relevant to this huge wider audience.

[361] Mortal Kombat has always appealed to a pretty wide group of people.

[362] You took a picture of that guy in the trench coat earlier with the ponytail.

[363] I think you just talked about half the audience here.

[364] Yeah.

[365] The other half is in you.

[366] I looked at this dude and said, that's a guy that should be standing there playing Mortal Kombat.

[367] Awesome.

[368] Just floor -length code.

[369] Clearly, they are doing this right.

[370] So, yeah, I don't know.

[371] It's just weird to think that, you know, fighting games are kind of back again.

[372] I mean, you know, Capcom kind of revitalized some stuff with like HD Remix and Street Fighter 4 and all that.

[373] And, you know, SNK has been doing what they do.

[374] And it's been exciting as someone who went out to arcades and played a lot of fighting games to see this stuff kind of coming back and seeing online kind of matter again in a big way.

[375] And that's been awesome because it kind of fell into this spot where it was just super competitive and there was a very hardcore segment of people that were all about those games, but they were playing at such a level that it...

[376] I mean, I was never going to get that good at that stuff ever again.

[377] So it's good to see a wider audience of intermediate -level players and just kind of people at all skill levels having fun with video games.

[378] Well, you kind of got to do that.

[379] I mean, times have changed, man. I like video games.

[380] That has not changed, though.

[381] That has not changed.

[382] Do you want to talk at all about Bastion?

[383] Yeah, sure.

[384] So, yeah, Bastion's...

[385] Bastion is one of the games in the PAX 10.

[386] It's an indie game that we took a look at.

[387] This is from Supergiant Games, who's a group of ex -EALA guys who are working very hard on that.

[388] And they just announced yesterday that a former co -worker of ours, Greg Kasavin, is joining them as creative director.

[389] Yeah.

[390] Yeah, that's...

[391] So these guys are going to be chasing their indie dreams with this really cool action RPG, and we ran some footage of it.

[392] But it's here.

[393] You can actually go play it, and I recommend you seek it out wherever the hell it is.

[394] We walked around the floor, and I haven't seen where the pack stands.

[395] I think it's on the hidden level.

[396] The hidden level?

[397] Anybody been to the hidden level?

[398] Show of hands?

[399] You have to, like, jump through the brick wall and then get to the warp pipe.

[400] Like, hold down for three seconds.

[401] Yeah, exactly.

[402] Then the treasure chest appears.

[403] You open that.

[404] That's the card key.

[405] You should definitely find that and seek it out and make sure you wear headphones because it does this whole thing.

[406] It's got a narrator to it that is kind of responding to what you're doing.

[407] It starts out almost tutorial -like where it's kind of saying, you get up, you do this, you do this.

[408] But as you go, you realize that it's actually not just telling its story as you do whatevs.

[409] It's very much like reacting to exactly what you're doing.

[410] As soon as you pick up the hammer, if you start just beating on stuff, the kid thrashes around a bit.

[411] It kind of goes in that direction.

[412] The narration trick is awesome.

[413] It's a touch that just gives that game a specific tone.

[414] I've never seen a game that's tried to pull something off like that with that style of storytelling.

[415] It's striking.

[416] Our plan is actually that we...

[417] We've known Greg for a while.

[418] We are going to be doing ongoing coverage of the game and follow these guys as they are attempting to live out their grand indie dreams.

[419] They are super indie.

[420] They are living in a house together for the most part.

[421] It's almost like they set it up to be a reality show.

[422] What if four guys got together in a house and tried to make a video game?

[423] We provided the camera.

[424] Yeah, yeah, so they have a camera, they'll be filming some stuff, and we'll have them on the site next week kind of talking about their experiences at PAX, and we'll kind of follow them where it goes from here to kind of just show what's really going on with game development.

[425] I think that's something that a lot of people want to see more of, but it just gets so blocked behind all these walls of...

[426] PR plans, marketing plans, and all this other stuff that everyone wants to do.

[427] Like, well, we want to release one half of a screenshot, and you can't really talk about any of these weapons yet and all this sort of stuff.

[428] So we kind of want to just hopefully cut through that and kind of show it as they're making it and kind of go with them as they're figuring out what they want this game to be and making these decisions.

[429] I think it could be pretty exciting, and we'll all find out together.

[430] And with any luck, they'll be big enough to start blocking us from coverage.

[431] By the end of it, it'll be like, well, here's a quarter of a screenshot.

[432] We've made a deal.

[433] Well, I mean, that's the thing.

[434] Most developers, if they had their own way about it, would just tell you absolutely everything about their game at any given chance.

[435] And some of them do.

[436] Which is even more frustrating.

[437] You can't talk about this, but here are all these awesome things about this game.

[438] And it's like, ah.

[439] I make that noise every time.

[440] Well, it's not really.

[441] I mean, like that?

[442] Yeah, it's kind of like that.

[443] Hey, Brad, what you been playing?

[444] Oh, man. That's right, on the spot.

[445] Let's go.

[446] Just StarCraft.

[447] Yep, yep.

[448] But you guys don't want to talk about that.

[449] I think there's a contingent of the audience that wants to hear about StarCraft.

[450] What leagues are you guys in?

[451] I'm going to say all of them.

[452] There's a climbing guy up front here.

[453] So I guess there's a tournament tomorrow.

[454] Oh, yeah?

[455] I don't think so.

[456] Come on.

[457] I don't think so.

[458] Do it.

[459] Do it.

[460] Do it.

[461] Come on.

[462] Peer pressure.

[463] I don't know if there are any pros.

[464] Audience pressure and peer pressure.

[465] If there are any pros afoot here, I don't think I want to embarrass myself.

[466] It's too late, man. Yeah, I don't know.

[467] I think it's really messed up to be in Diamond tier of StarCraft 2 and say, I don't want to embarrass myself by playing again.

[468] The false modesty at a certain point kind of becomes bullshit.

[469] It's like if I entered, it'd be like...

[470] Click monster.

[471] To make die.

[472] I don't know.

[473] Oh, so you've been reading my tips and tricks.

[474] Yeah.

[475] Thank you for that pro tip.

[476] I consider being in Diamond to be proof of my competence, but not much more than that.

[477] There's some really good StarCraft players out there.

[478] All right, so Diamond players in the audience, hands up.

[479] All right.

[480] That dude.

[481] One over there.

[482] Gold or platinum in the audience.

[483] Platinum.

[484] Platinum.

[485] All right, handful.

[486] Gold.

[487] Gold, silver.

[488] Who's not playing Starcraft?

[489] Who's not playing?

[490] All right, moving on.

[491] I'm saying as far as skill levels go, you're in a room with about 800 people and you and another dude over there.

[492] You guys should probably play.

[493] Let's talk about that Zella cooldown change after this.

[494] Let's do it right now.

[495] We've got nothing else going on.

[496] I don't have anything to say.

[497] We got all the time in the world.

[498] Yeah, whatever.

[499] What else?

[500] Anything else?

[501] I haven't had a lot of time lately.

[502] Yeah.

[503] I know Vinny, you haven't.

[504] You want to talk about switchers and SDI ports?

[505] Who wants to talk about Genlock and SDI and component cables, sync signals, and stripping an XLR cable to patch it in?

[506] Oh, that's right.

[507] Oh, God.

[508] We got a lot of stuff to do next week.

[509] Damn it.

[510] Yes, so Vinny's been preparing on the back end for our big live live show live, which is...

[511] Happening next Thursday, starting at 10 a .m. Pacific Daylight Time.

[512] We'll be late.

[513] We'll start late, yeah.

[514] But it's a long show, so that's fine.

[515] Absolutely.

[516] Hopefully it's a long show.

[517] We're scheduled for like seven hours.

[518] It's seven or eight.

[519] I keep forgetting.

[520] It's like until five or something, but then the party continues outside.

[521] Then we can start drinking.

[522] And if you're in the Bay Area and over 21, you can come join us after five.

[523] Anyone from the yay area here tonight?

[524] There we go.

[525] September 9th, come on down.

[526] We'll have, actually, what is it?

[527] Go to whiskeymedia .com slash block party.

[528] And we'll have all the details there.

[529] We have all the details there.

[530] You can do it on your phone if this is boring for you.

[531] So let's, we're at PAX.

[532] Let's talk about PAX a little bit.

[533] It's pop PAX.

[534] Damn.

[535] Sorry.

[536] No, that was Brad.

[537] Brad did that one.

[538] Thanks.

[539] No, it doesn't work.

[540] So this is John Baum's, what, third year here at Palms?

[541] Yeah, no Rich Gallup.

[542] That's not right.

[543] Yeah, everyone out for Rich Gallup.

[544] He's still back here.

[545] He didn't come out this year.

[546] Dude, where's Matt Rory?

[547] He's still working on games that don't have titles yet.

[548] Oh, come on.

[549] That game totally has a title.

[550] So this has been, I've only spent, you know, we're end of day one here, and I've only spent a little bit of time on the floor, but my impression has been that this is a way bigger show.

[551] You look big.

[552] I mean, how many of you guys have been here in years past?

[553] All right.

[554] All right.

[555] A lot of repeat offenders.

[556] All of you.

[557] I like it.

[558] That's right.

[559] It's a little more E3 -ish.

[560] Yeah, I'm almost concerned for the future of PAX.

[561] I'm kind of with you.

[562] There's all these ornamental booths in there and PR people all over the place.

[563] I will say that the thing that jumped out at me most was booth designs.

[564] Disney has basically exactly what were their Epic Mickey and Tron booths from E3, which, you know, big, professional -ass...

[565] booths that obviously cost a lot of money, so I don't blame them for wanting to, you know, wring more out of it, but it's just, I remember years past, it was just like, we got some TVs, and we got some games, and we'd come and check them out and play them.

[566] And also, it was, you know, this has always been kind of a big show for indie games, right?

[567] Yeah.

[568] Like, that's where a lot of...

[569] There's still a lot of them around, too.

[570] There's still a lot of them around, just, you know, seeing more of that floor space kind of being taken up by big -ass games like that.

[571] Although there is now more floor space as well, that kind of...

[572] I feel like the last two years it had been pretty much the same size as far as the floor space, but now that whole other section where Warner Brothers and...

[573] What else is over there?

[574] 2K.

[575] 2K is over there.

[576] EA is over there.

[577] So, yeah, it's just...

[578] A lot of theater stuff, too.

[579] A lot of behind closed doors.

[580] Yeah, like the Duke Nukem thing is kind of weird.

[581] They're like checking IDs, which I guess is like ESRB plus the company that brought you hot coffee.

[582] They want to be extra sure before you go see the game that has a three -boob monster in it.

[583] I'm not...

[584] Talking about Dragon Age 2, right?

[585] Yeah, Dragon Age 2.

[586] This is Mafia 2.

[587] It's a new DLC.

[588] It definitely seems bigger, but the crowd also seems to fill that space really quickly.

[589] Yeah, it seems like they're adding like $10 ,000 to $15 ,000 a year.

[590] They're saying like $75 ,000 for this thing.

[591] Man, that's a lot of dudes.

[592] Yeah, so congratulations, PAX.

[593] Yeah, yeah, totally.

[594] That's good.

[595] It is good, but it would be kind of an asshole move to sit up here on the stage at a PAX panel and critique PAX and the size of it.

[596] I just don't want it to get overrun.

[597] It was better before.

[598] I only go to PAX East now.

[599] All the gold beanbags, man, they really sold out.

[600] There is a specific feel to PAX, and there is kind of an inclusive feel to PAX.

[601] It feels very safe at PAX.

[602] You can come out here and just be a goddamn geek and, you know, kind of revel with a bunch of other goddamn geeks.

[603] And get everybody sick.

[604] And get everyone sick.

[605] Peace 11 video games, brah.

[606] So, yeah, like, at a certain point, I don't know, there is a size where I think that you start getting diminishing returns on that.

[607] Yeah, but at the same time, I mean, you know, it's hard to argue with the point of, like, hey, what if we had more games here?

[608] that people could play.

[609] What if we had more games here?

[610] That'd be cool, right?

[611] There are a lot of games coming out over the next few months here.

[612] They're even showing some 2011 games here, obviously.

[613] I think the more of that stuff that people can get their hands on ahead of time, the better.

[614] A lot of this is stuff that was shown in Germany, and some of it is the same stuff that was shown to us back at E3.

[615] But I think it's probably useful for developers even to kind of see people play in the wild.

[616] I mean, obviously people run their sterile focus tests and do all their quantitative qualitative analysis and all that stuff.

[617] But I think that there's probably some value in the anecdotal evidence of just like sitting there watching someone play your game and going like, yeah, all these people are missing this part.

[618] Everyone's dying.

[619] And then you find out in the middle of your live web stream that the graphics need some polish.

[620] I don't know if nobody saw that here that happened to Duke Nukem.

[621] You were talking about it, right?

[622] They were running the web stream, pulling people as they came out.

[623] The first lukewarm reaction they got, they just cut the interviews after that.

[624] Yeah, they were taking interviews like, what did you think of Duke Nukem?

[625] And apparently someone went like, eh.

[626] And they went, okay, let's not talk to anyone else about Duke Nukem on the live stream.

[627] But I will say one of the things that I realized that dawned on me last week is that there is nothing more fun.

[628] It's fun to watch people play games, but it's more fun to watch developers while they watch people play their games.

[629] Just arms crossed.

[630] Watching people just lose their, like, yeah, just like, you don't even know what just happened.

[631] Like, they picked up a box or something, and suddenly the developer's like, damn it.

[632] scribbling down furious notes or like one will just start kind of pointing at the other one.

[633] Like, it's just like there's, you know, there's 18 months of inside jokes and fights and frustration and passion that are just kind of simmering just below the surface that they're trying to hold back.

[634] Because you went left instead of right.

[635] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[636] I told you they would always go left.

[637] It's, uh, yes.

[638] Why do we even put the right side in there?

[639] Spend all this time building this and no one's going to use it.

[640] Yeah, you know, that's just a symptom of, uh, of, yes, long, hard fights.

[641] All right.

[642] What?

[643] I think we're done.

[644] That's it.

[645] Thanks for coming.

[646] How about a little bit of news?

[647] Yeah, okay.

[648] Yeah, again, you guys don't know what these music cues are.

[649] All right.

[650] Sure.

[651] I just say some breaking news of the podcast is happening.

[652] I don't know if you guys heard about the Penny Arcade Expo.

[653] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[654] Seattle, Washington.

[655] It's a lot bigger this year.

[656] It's good that we can get like that hometown.

[657] Right here in Seattle, Washington.

[658] That's good.

[659] That's good.

[660] Nice.

[661] Home of Sir Mixalot?

[662] Yes.

[663] Is Sir Mixalot here?

[664] We actually were talking about trying to get Mix here.

[665] Are you saving a music video?

[666] Okay, fair enough.

[667] Is it in one of the rooms here at the hotel?

[668] Cars.

[669] What's it about?

[670] It's about Rico Kasich.

[671] Rico Kasich loves ass.

[672] Everyone knows this, so it makes total sense.

[673] Well, maybe we can get Kid Sensation here next time or something.

[674] Close enough.

[675] No, that's not going to disagree with this audience.

[676] All right, so let's talk about Telltale a little bit, a kind of indie developer that's gotten a lot of love at PAX in years past, and they've got Back to the Future in some capacity here.

[677] I don't know.

[678] I haven't seen – I ran past the booth.

[679] I don't know exactly what they're showing.

[680] Yeah, I talked to them a little bit today.

[681] The poker game is not here at all.

[682] I know that.

[683] I don't know about Back to the Future.

[684] So, yeah, this poker game.

[685] Now, they've been kind of teasing this on their site for a while.

[686] They had some silhouettes of characters, and people kind of figured, oh, that's the Heavy, and that looks like Strong Bad, and that's probably Tycho.

[687] And so people will think, oh, they're going to make some sort of – of like crazy giant crossover adventure game like those guys love to do.

[688] And it was revealed, I think like last night, early this morning, that, no, it's a poker game.

[689] We're making a poker game.

[690] But didn't they say it was going to be a poker game with like dialogue trees?

[691] Like dialogue trees and like unique tells.

[692] And yeah, so it's going to have the heavy, Tycho, all that stuff.

[693] And it's five bucks.

[694] Yeah, it's like part of their pilot program.

[695] Yeah, it's coming out of that crack splinter group that made the puzzle agent.

[696] Baffling.

[697] Just a baffling turn.

[698] It seems like the sort of thing that they would have had to spend more time getting the paperwork together to get all of those characters in it instead of...

[699] Like making the, you know, like rather than make the game or something.

[700] They just had the game already and it was just like, all right, we'll drop these dudes in once we get the, once the ink dries.

[701] I don't know.

[702] I don't know.

[703] For me, it almost seems like something that should be like for charity.

[704] Like, and we're giving all of the money to Child's Play or something like that.

[705] You're thrown down like that.

[706] I'm just saying.

[707] Don't make money off your game, guys.

[708] God.

[709] The hell?

[710] I mean, just the fact that there's five bucks and it's kind of not in their, their usual wheelhouse of adventure game stuff.

[711] It, uh.

[712] Well, who knows?

[713] How do you have dialogue trees and poker?

[714] We'll see.

[715] I raise you.

[716] And what do you say back?

[717] I don't raise you.

[718] I guess those are technically kind of dialogue trees, except it's just poker.

[719] Did you design this?

[720] Did you see your design doc?

[721] No, that's not.

[722] I think that type of crossover stuff is really exciting whenever it happens.

[723] And whatever it happens to.

[724] You mix anything with anything, I'm there.

[725] I don't care what it is.

[726] Whatever you got, put it with something else.

[727] I'm showing up, hat in hand.

[728] Let's do this.

[729] All right, Jeff, chocolate and peanut butter.

[730] What do you think?

[731] No, I'm not into that.

[732] All right.

[733] Maybe we'll figure out some other combo.

[734] Yeah, okay.

[735] That'll work for you.

[736] Oh, what else is going on?

[737] Airplanes, huh?

[738] Yeah.

[739] Why do I always get the cart with the bad wheel?

[740] Yeah, right?

[741] Three of them are like, oh, fine, we're going this way.

[742] And I'm like...

[743] Why people drive shopping carts like this?

[744] So Apple had brought out the ghastly skeleton of Steve Jobs again earlier this week.

[745] Dude, come on.

[746] Tell me that shit isn't scary.

[747] Like, it's...

[748] It's impressive that they keep pulling him out there like that.

[749] The man is in shape.

[750] You are just envious.

[751] I don't know.

[752] It's terrifying.

[753] But part of the thing, they like to talk about the iPhone and the iTouch.

[754] iPod Touch, whatever you want to call it.

[755] iDevices?

[756] Yes, the iDevices as these big gaming platforms.

[757] And so to kind of back that up during the show, they brought out some...

[758] Who was it?

[759] It wasn't Mark Rain.

[760] It was Mike Capps.

[761] Mike Capps.

[762] And then D. Must.

[763] Donald Mustard.

[764] Donald Mustard came out there and showed off Project Sword?

[765] Yes.

[766] I think?

[767] Yes, that is exactly right.

[768] Epic Citadel is like the demo version you can get now, but yes, Project Sword.

[769] Sward.

[770] Sward.

[771] Wrap your lips around it.

[772] Sward.

[773] Brad, you looked at this along with our good friends at Tested .com.

[774] Give it up for Norman Chan.

[775] Give it up for Tested .com.

[776] These guys are awesome.

[777] Will Smith could not be here.

[778] From the presentation, that shit looked awesome.

[779] It looks amazing.

[780] But then also they had the fake controls on screen again.

[781] I'm like, this looks great, except that you're doing the same bullshit thing that every other iPod touch or iPhone thing.

[782] So I actually downloaded and played around with the thing.

[783] The Citadel is kind of interesting because there's that other control scheme where you can kind of tap to move.

[784] And basically you just kind of tap on the center of the screen and he'll start walking.

[785] And once he's moving, you can kind of hold on and look around, which might work for...

[786] a non -action game or something like that.

[787] And that looked like a viable way to play a game that did not run at a shooter's pace.

[788] But if they are making some kind of action game, then yeah.

[789] Who the fuck wants to play games with a touchscreen controller?

[790] I think it just depends on action games.

[791] Really?

[792] You know, it's fine that they come out and say that the iPod and the iPhone are the world's largest gaming platform because they're technically correct because there's a lot of people on those things and there are a lot of things that they can classify as games.

[793] But, I mean, we should talk about real games when we talk about this stuff.

[794] And a lot of that stuff, it doesn't excite the people that play actual games, right?

[795] So it's just kind of annoying to see over and over again, like, check it out, we made a dual joystick shooter.

[796] It's like, oh, cool.

[797] So I put my thumbs on it and cover a significant chunk of the screen to play it.

[798] Awesome.

[799] Again, I don't sense sincerity in that voice.

[800] No, that time you're right.

[801] I'm not being sincere.

[802] Okay, got it.

[803] You have pegged that.

[804] What were we talking about?

[805] I don't know.

[806] Good to see Cher working.

[807] Although that kind of begs the question of what does this mean to Shadow Complex 2, right?

[808] If that's even a thing.

[809] Come on.

[810] That has to be a thing, right?

[811] I don't think it has to be a thing at all.

[812] I hope it's a thing.

[813] It should be.

[814] They should make another Shadow Complex.

[815] In fact, if they tried to make one on iPhone, maybe that would work too.

[816] They'd have to make a lot of changes.

[817] Don't do it.

[818] Stop it.

[819] What are you doing?

[820] What?

[821] No. Blowing up the thing you just said.

[822] It'd be like, so it's just like you get a bunch of points, and then you click on it and say, like, fight, and you push the fight button, and then it fights, and then when you run out of points, you can pay them real money to buy more points.

[823] What's just the whole, yeah, why have a button?

[824] It's just the whole screen.

[825] You just hit the screen.

[826] Touch it somewhere.

[827] Touch the screen somewhere.

[828] Just smear your finger across it somewhere, yeah.

[829] Shake to win.

[830] I am very excited about this.

[831] Patent pending.

[832] Patent pending.

[833] Patent pending.

[834] Pac -Man for Kids is now coming to iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad.

[835] And iPod, the classic, the original click wheel.

[836] We decided to do one of those.

[837] Controls are simple enough.

[838] Oddworld Strangers Wrath remake coming to PlayStation Network next year.

[839] Dude, what?

[840] Oddworld Strangers Wrath remake coming to PlayStation Network next year.

[841] I'm sorry.

[842] Just Add Water is working on this thing alongside, you know, with the blessings of Lorne Lanning and the Oddworld Inhabitants dudes.

[843] Does that company exist anymore?

[844] Apparently.

[845] Lorne Lanning is still a person.

[846] I mean, he exists.

[847] Bodily.

[848] Well, that's, you know, assuming he ever did exist in the first place.

[849] It's pretty deep.

[850] Yeah.

[851] No?

[852] I don't like this.

[853] I don't like all three of you staring at me like that.

[854] Like, hmm.

[855] Oh, no. What did I say?

[856] This is kind of awesome to me because I felt like that was a really underappreciated game in all of the...

[857] People really go nuts over the first few Oddworld games, but I think by the time Stranger's Wrath came out, people had kind of...

[858] It was only on the Xbox.

[859] It was only on the Xbox.

[860] Who had an Xbox?

[861] It was also kind of late in the Xbox life cycle.

[862] So I don't know.

[863] This is, I guess, an odd thing, and it's weird for...

[864] This panel's over.

[865] He's done.

[866] It's another thing, right?

[867] Am I right?

[868] Am I right?

[869] Say something.

[870] So...

[871] Mortal Kombat!

[872] That's a pretty good game.

[873] Mortal Kombat's pretty good.

[874] My favorite thing about the Oddworld games, my favorite weird thing, is that Lorne Lanning did a lot of the voice...

[875] stuff for it and he would not hesitate to do it in front of you anytime he possibly could like unprompted like kind of unprompted there was a demo they did where the the voice effects weren't in yet so he was playing no no no like in person and do it and doing the voices and then you're gonna work this guy's gonna work and you're gonna go seriously seriously That is, could I pay Lorne Lanny to come to my house and do that with just like any game?

[876] Let's see how Stranger's Wrath does and that'll dictate.

[877] So I guess they've only announced this for PlayStation Network, but they're also not necessarily saying it's a PlayStation Network exclusive, but they're also putting in Move support and making it 720p.

[878] It's a shooter, I guess you could, okay.

[879] A few other things like that, so it's not...

[880] I don't know exactly what it is.

[881] If it's a remake or a re -envisioning, but re -imagining.

[882] It's now you push the button marked fight, and then he uses the ammo or bugs.

[883] It's a living bug, but it's like it's ammo.

[884] I mean, cool concepts in that game.

[885] Absolutely, yeah.

[886] It got kind of weird at the end.

[887] The whole thing's weird.

[888] Yeah, weird that an Oddworld game would be weird.

[889] You know what the fuck I'm talking about.

[890] No, I don't think I fucking do know what the fuck you're talking about.

[891] When his legs come out and you find out that he's a different character.

[892] How are you going to sit there and tell me what I do or don't know?

[893] I could stand up.

[894] I don't think you should.

[895] I got the podium there.

[896] That's cool.

[897] Whatever, man. Maybe this is a good time to have someone else stand up then.

[898] Yeah, I think so too.

[899] Who among you?

[900] Who here follows Ice -T on Twitter?

[901] Is it just me?

[902] Yeah.

[903] Yeah.

[904] It's awesome, right?

[905] It's the most batshit crazy thing to think that, you know, OG original gangsta.

[906] Ice -T is constantly twittering and often twittering about games.

[907] Ice -T loves video...

[908] Ice -T is basically putting me out of work, and that's fine.

[909] His reviews are both shorter and more definitive than I think anything that I've written in the last 12 years.

[910] Yeah, they're concise, they're hard -hitting, that's to the point.

[911] They don't take a lot of time.

[912] You know what Ice -T thinks of a game.

[913] when he is done.

[914] I have been asked.

[915] People have said, I read the review.

[916] Did you like it?

[917] So, did any of you guys listen to our E3 podcasts at all or see any of the live stream stuff that we did?

[918] Some of that.

[919] So, one of the revelations from that was that a friend of the site, John Vignocchi, does a pretty amazingly awful iced tea impression.

[920] I mean, it's brilliant in spirit, let's say.

[921] The essence?

[922] The essence of iced tea is there spot on.

[923] It doesn't need to sound like iced tea to evoke...

[924] The what?

[925] You heard me. So, uh...

[926] I would, at this point now, like to invite one John Vignocchi to the stage.

[927] Yeah!

[928] John Vignocchi, ladies and gentlemen.

[929] Hey, everybody.

[930] I can't believe I signed up to this.

[931] I can't believe it either.

[932] Johnny, how are you doing?

[933] I'm doing good.

[934] I mean, like, you sent me a message on Facebook.

[935] Like, oh, it's going to be no big deal.

[936] Why don't you come and talk?

[937] Like, do your IC voice.

[938] I'm like, okay.

[939] And then we walked in here.

[940] I'm like, holy shit.

[941] I'm about to commit career suicide.

[942] That's like the fifth time you've done that with us.

[943] And you keep getting worse.

[944] What up, X2010?

[945] Yeah!

[946] More importantly, what up, Giant Bomb community?

[947] Thank you guys so much for being here.

[948] Applause yourself, please.

[949] Maybe we should hire this guy.

[950] Alright, so I'm completely nervous.

[951] Go ahead and put that on the podium there.

[952] So I've gotten a selection of game -related Ice -T quotes that we are now going to get a reading of from Mr. John Mignocchi himself.

[953] Johnny, take it away.

[954] Well, okay, so no one tell Cliff I'm doing this because I'm really concerned he's going to tell Ice -T to come kick my ass.

[955] These are actually all lines of dialogue from Gears 3.

[956] This is terrible.

[957] Actually, I have one of my associate producers in the office, Matt Soley.

[958] Could you please stand up?

[959] Everyone give him a hand if he's not embarrassed.

[960] And Matt, could you please join me on stage here real quick?

[961] Hold on, you don't get flunkies?

[962] No, no, he's got a posse.

[963] Okay.

[964] If I'm going down, I'm bringing somebody with me. Well, there's the rest of us up on stage, so.

[965] Okay, so we're both going down now.

[966] Yeah, do me a favor and stare at the back of my neck real quick.

[967] One million troops.

[968] All right, little inside joke.

[969] Anyway, okay, so here we go.

[970] Do you just want me to start from the top?

[971] Yeah, let's just hear them and then, you know.

[972] Go from there.

[973] All right, from Ice -T's Twitter.

[974] Oh, my God, I'm going to get my ass kicked.

[975] Here we go.

[976] This is the best idea.

[977] Don't worry about that.

[978] I am still.

[979] I'm so deep in this RDR game, I really think I can ride a horse.

[980] This was the best idea.

[981] I'm so fucking smart.

[982] Anyway, been playing Red Dead Redemption.

[983] Single player for three days straight.

[984] This game's got no end.

[985] I'm fighting grizzly bears.

[986] We're both fired after this.

[987] By the way, you can find me on LinkedIn if you're hiring.

[988] Yo, dude, there's no nudity in video games.

[989] They're not real people.

[990] Something to think about.

[991] Something to think about.

[992] I see it's deep.

[993] I just met two of the writers from Loth.

[994] Sorry.

[995] I just met two of the writers from Loth.

[996] They also have their own show.

[997] Tim and Eric's awesome show.

[998] Good job.

[999] I included that one because I thought that shit was just funny.

[1000] That shit was just funny.

[1001] Did he say Super this time?

[1002] Super gangsta.

[1003] Super gangsta.

[1004] Oh, this is terrible.

[1005] I know I can never get a job from you here, but here we go.

[1006] Final level quick review.

[1007] Metal of Honor beta.

[1008] Sucks.

[1009] I use those same words in my review.

[1010] And I'm still here.

[1011] And last but not least, excuse me, popping at PAX.

[1012] Been playing the new Dead Rising 2 download.

[1013] Super dope.

[1014] Let's hear it for John Vignocchi and Ice -D.

[1015] P .S. Tron, if you guys haven't checked it out, please do.

[1016] Is Jeff Bridges in the game?

[1017] Hey, easy, easy, easy.

[1018] It's a multiplayer in the demo.

[1019] There's multiplayer up to 10 people.

[1020] And that's gangster.

[1021] All right.

[1022] One thing I want to jump to.

[1023] All right, so you're going to kick me off the stage now, right?

[1024] Yeah.

[1025] All right.

[1026] Thanks, Johnny.

[1027] Thanks, guys.

[1028] Thanks, John.

[1029] Super gangsta.

[1030] Oh, it's a jumpsuit.

[1031] One of my favorite things about John Vignocchi is that he is constantly worried that he is going to be fired.

[1032] And it always involves us somehow.

[1033] I wonder why.

[1034] I'm glad we could help.

[1035] Oh.

[1036] That was exhausting.

[1037] I don't even know where to go from being in the presence of that.

[1038] You guys want to take a break?

[1039] I've had a lot of water.

[1040] You want to take a break?

[1041] Yeah, I could use one.

[1042] All right, well, why don't we take a break here?

[1043] And you know what?

[1044] Let's just go down to the audience.

[1045] So one of the things about PAX is we don't really have a lot of time to go see panels.

[1046] So we figured why not just have the most awesome panel that we could have in the middle of our own panel.

[1047] So we're going to just take off here for a second, and I would like to invite to the stage Gary Whitta, Jeff Green, and Michael Pachter.

[1048] Give it up, ladies and gentlemen.

[1049] ladies and gentlemen, the Golden Girls.

[1050] Where's Michael?

[1051] Is he awake still?

[1052] Here he is.

[1053] I got my gangsta on.

[1054] Oh, God.

[1055] That's a tough act to follow.

[1056] That is a tough act to follow.

[1057] First of all, thanks to the Giant Bomb cast, guys.

[1058] Giant Bomb, my favorite gaming website, and I think best gaming podcast on the air right now.

[1059] Check's in the mail.

[1060] Thanks, Jeff.

[1061] Also, this is a personal to Vinny.

[1062] When your internship's up, I'd like your job.

[1063] And Jeff...

[1064] I'm sorry.

[1065] Jeff, the soul patch is styling.

[1066] I'm going to do that now.

[1067] So I don't know exactly why they invited us three old guys up here.

[1068] I don't know why.

[1069] I think our cumulative age is actually greater than the cumulative age of the audience.

[1070] Of the entire audience put together, it probably is.

[1071] It's like the grumpy old men section of the podcast.

[1072] It kind of is.

[1073] And if we want to start getting grumpy.

[1074] I have socks older than the cumulative age of the audience.

[1075] And you're wearing them now.

[1076] Nope, nope.

[1077] Dude, flip -flops.

[1078] I don't know.

[1079] Oh, dude.

[1080] Nobody needs to see that.

[1081] I was so Cal guy.

[1082] We were...

[1083] wear flip -flops 24 -7.

[1084] You had a panel this morning.

[1085] There were eight people there.

[1086] If any of you eight are here, I personally greeted each of them.

[1087] Thank you very much for coming back.

[1088] Do we need to introduce ourselves?

[1089] Gary Whitta.

[1090] Hello.

[1091] Writer of Book of Eli.

[1092] And if you don't own The Book of Eli, go buy it.

[1093] You can't watch it with your mom.

[1094] It's not that kind of movie.

[1095] Gary, seriously, I just saw it.

[1096] I love that movie.

[1097] You didn't see it in the theater?

[1098] Dude, no. You know what?

[1099] The last movie I saw in the theater was Gladiator.

[1100] That's how old I am.

[1101] All right.

[1102] Wow.

[1103] I got kids.

[1104] It's like, you know, you spend your time with people like you.

[1105] You don't go watch a movie in the theater, please.

[1106] You don't, right?

[1107] It was really awesome.

[1108] Thank you.

[1109] And please do it again.

[1110] Well, the same movie?

[1111] No, do it.

[1112] Just keep writing because you're good.

[1113] Yeah, all right.

[1114] I'm working on it.

[1115] It was really good.

[1116] I'm working on it.

[1117] And my experience with Jeff Green is that I sat next to him while he was talking about how tan the CEO of Take -Two is, which is all you need to know about this guy.

[1118] Oh, that was my Take -Two live blog, right?

[1119] So Gary is an accomplished film writer.

[1120] If you haven't seen The Book of Eli, buy it.

[1121] Don't rent it.

[1122] It's really good.

[1123] It's worth watching again.

[1124] Thanks, dude.

[1125] I have no idea what I, you know, dude.

[1126] We have no idea what you do.

[1127] I don't know.

[1128] I help people invest.

[1129] How do you have a career?

[1130] Yeah, exactly.

[1131] I help people invest.

[1132] That's what I do.

[1133] I'm a stock market analyst.

[1134] I actually spend more time on CNBC than at things like PAX.

[1135] I have no freaking clue why anybody cares what I have to say.

[1136] So you are free.

[1137] I'm still waiting for the HD week.

[1138] You guys can throw shit at me. Hey, baby.

[1139] I'm just saying.

[1140] I'll take it.

[1141] You guys can throw shit at me if I say anything that you don't care to hear.

[1142] I, too, am a huge Giant Bomb fan.

[1143] And I actually called you guys out.

[1144] I'm sorry, shouted you guys out last time I was on Bonus Round.

[1145] So I'm liking you guys.

[1146] Although we are going to probably talk about how game journalism really sucks since these two guys left it.

[1147] No, no, we're not going to do that.

[1148] No, no. Gary Wittes, the former editor -in -chief of PC Gamer.

[1149] You were editor -in -chief from...

[1150] Well, the UK edition from...

[1151] The PC game was originally a British magazine, and from the launch in 93 to 96, I was the editor, and then the US edition, 96 to 2000?

[1152] Yeah.

[1153] Yeah.

[1154] You're the editor.

[1155] Why am I saying yeah?

[1156] Sure.

[1157] And here's an interesting factoid.

[1158] The very first cover of Duke Nukem Forever...

[1159] was on Gary's magazine.

[1160] 1997.

[1161] I put Duke Nukem on the cover.

[1162] And here we are.

[1163] And, you know, Gary's a little bit out of shape, but Duke Nukem, the character, was based on Gary's physique.

[1164] Yeah, it's totally, totally true.

[1165] Circa 1997.

[1166] And two times subsequently.

[1167] It was on the cover of PC Gamer onto my watch.

[1168] Three times.

[1169] And then I went on to write on the game.

[1170] I wrote some of the cinema.

[1171] I don't know if any of this is in the game anymore.

[1172] It's been through so many iterations.

[1173] But, yeah, it's been weird to come here and see it finally.

[1174] I guess coming out.

[1175] Although when I went over, there was someone to the gearbox guy, and I said, oh, so this is finally coming out?

[1176] He goes, yeah, we're finishing it.

[1177] I said, girl, do you know when it's coming out?

[1178] He said, no. So I guess not that much has changed.

[1179] But it's been, I don't know, it's weird.

[1180] I love George Broussard and all those guys.

[1181] I used to work for them, but I just feel like, doesn't it?

[1182] kind of reflect really poorly on 3D Realms, that they struggled with this game for 13 years, and they give it to Gearbox, and they're going to finish it.

[1183] It's like, you can't open this jar, you give it to someone else, there you go.

[1184] And it's like, oh, I'm going to loosen it for you.

[1185] How many people in the audience have ever played a Duke Nukem game?

[1186] Oh, that's okay, that's impressive.

[1187] All right, that's impressive.

[1188] Because, you know, we think, like, this is Atari 2600 time.

[1189] I mean, this is so old that...

[1190] Yeah.

[1191] It is amazing, 13 years, isn't it?

[1192] That's a long time.

[1193] And counting.

[1194] I mean, it's not over.

[1195] Yeah, yeah.

[1196] You know what?

[1197] You know what?

[1198] I'm going to tell you now.

[1199] Mafia 2 has no freaking prayer of breaking even.

[1200] And the CEO called me out on that.

[1201] What an ****.

[1202] I mean, what a ****.

[1203] You know, I'm sorry, but I'm going to give you guys some simple math on game economics.

[1204] You spend $60 million making a game and you take in revenues of $40 million.

[1205] That's not a profitable game.

[1206] Okay, wait.

[1207] How many of you bought Mafia 2?

[1208] Okay, there you go.

[1209] Yeah, major profits.

[1210] I'm there.

[1211] All right, I'll take my side of that bet.

[1212] Wow.

[1213] Wow, Paxter is bringing it.

[1214] He's usually so dry and polite and nice.

[1215] Have you been drinking or something?

[1216] I have been.

[1217] There you go.

[1218] Somebody else paid, so I drank.

[1219] You know what was great?

[1220] If you went to Michael's panel earlier today, everyone who went, on every seat, there was a little free button with his face on it.

[1221] With his face on it.

[1222] Right.

[1223] You got him?

[1224] We were going to wear him.

[1225] Oh, you got one?

[1226] I brought you guys each one.

[1227] Oh, thank you so much.

[1228] Right.

[1229] I know just where to put it.

[1230] And make sure that the pin is unhinged when you put it there.

[1231] Yes, thank you.

[1232] Thank you.

[1233] Gary, did you actually get to see Duke or not?

[1234] No, I couldn't be bothered to stand in line.

[1235] If they had let you cut in, would you have...

[1236] Yeah, I mean, I was able to cut into a couple of lines.

[1237] I mean, I haven't been day -to -day involved in the games industry for many years, but I did it for so long that I still can call in some favors and get in to see things.

[1238] I don't know any of the guys working on Duke Nukem anymore, so I wasn't able to...

[1239] You know Randy?

[1240] Oh, Randy Pitchford?

[1241] Yeah, yeah.

[1242] He taught me how to do the David Blaine levitating trick.

[1243] He could get you in.

[1244] He has some pull.

[1245] I'm not doing it for you, but...

[1246] No, I'm not doing it.

[1247] It turns out it's really easy.

[1248] It's such a bogus trick, but we were in a bar one time, because Randy Pitchford's gearbox is actually a really good magician.

[1249] He's a conjurer.

[1250] He can do all kinds of crazy magic tricks.

[1251] And I had just seen one of these David Blaine street magic shows.

[1252] This was years ago.

[1253] And I said, fucking David Blaine?

[1254] He goes, ah, this guy's a hack.

[1255] I'm like, dude, he fucking levitates.

[1256] He goes, I can do that.

[1257] I said, bullshit.

[1258] He gets in the bar and he fucking does it.

[1259] I'm like, oh shit, you've got to tell me how you do that.

[1260] And he's like, it's pretty cool.

[1261] Yeah, he can levitate.

[1262] And bring out Duke Nukem forever.

[1263] The guy's a genius.

[1264] So...

[1265] Gary is going to levitate Ryan Davis after this panel's over.

[1266] What else do you want to talk about, Michael?

[1267] I actually am fine with, like, why game journalism sucks.

[1268] What do you guys think?

[1269] No, no. I don't agree with that at all.

[1270] No, I do.

[1271] I'm not saying giant bomb.

[1272] It's like there's obviously...

[1273] Some places stand out, but, I mean, it's getting so freaking boring.

[1274] Isn't it boring?

[1275] It's the same shit everywhere.

[1276] What would you like to see, Michael?

[1277] What would you like to see out of your game?

[1278] You know what I actually would love to see, and I know you guys are going to hate this, but it's like if you think about the movie industry and you think about how we have People Magazine, right?

[1279] And it's like...

[1280] We don't care what movies they're in.

[1281] We're, like, finding out that George Clooney gives back or, you know, Angelina Jolie adopts kids and shit.

[1282] You guys don't even know who the developers are.

[1283] Like, you do.

[1284] You know their names.

[1285] You don't know anything about them.

[1286] I'd like to see game journalism, like, talk about these people and what is it about these people that makes them so...

[1287] Cool.

[1288] Are you saying that games journalism sucks because it's not enough like People Magazine?

[1289] No, well, you know what?

[1290] I'm saying that if you migrated that way, yeah.

[1291] The games industry needs a Brangelina.

[1292] Is that what we're missing?

[1293] I am saying that.

[1294] I think games developers, they're just like us.

[1295] They go shopping.

[1296] I think that's true, though.

[1297] I think if you guys, I do think, I am saying that.

[1298] Who has the 10 worst developer beach bodies?

[1299] You know what bothers me?

[1300] By the way, I can tell you.

[1301] I can tell you exactly what it was, is the fact.

[1302] No, I'm thinking that, like, you know, like Halo Reach coming out in a week or two.

[1303] Pete Parsons, you know, Harold Ryan could walk down the street unmolested.

[1304] I think that's wrong.

[1305] I think that's totally wrong.

[1306] He's probably okay with that, Michael.

[1307] Like, dude, I have people come up to me and ask for autographs.

[1308] I'm like, people don't know who Pete Parsons is.

[1309] And that's just wrong.

[1310] I create nothing.

[1311] I have zero value to society.

[1312] And those guys are freaking talented stars.

[1313] And they just, like, I was just at a restaurant.

[1314] I was with the Bethesda guys.

[1315] People don't even know who they are.

[1316] It's like, that's wrong.

[1317] Well, I mean, to be fair, these guys.

[1318] There's not anyone, unlike the movie industry or the TV industry, the way People Magazine makes its money, there's not really anyone, you know, in front of the camera.

[1319] These guys are all behind the scenes.

[1320] I mean, and to be fair, I pride myself on the fact that Dream PC Game, you know, we tried.

[1321] We made a real effort to try and make.

[1322] celebrities out of developers and bring them to the forefront.

[1323] Like we did a game, like about 10 years ago I worked on it, we did an issue that was called Game Gods and it was like the 25th.

[1324] Yeah, it was meant to be kind of like the Valentine's Day.

[1325] What's that?

[1326] That was kind of a whiff though, don't you think?

[1327] How so?

[1328] We had, like, what was her name from Ion Storm?

[1329] You know, John Romero's girlfriend.

[1330] No, that was Rob Smith after me. I had the legit ones.

[1331] Oh, you had the good ones.

[1332] No, we had, like, Carmack and Sid Meier and those guys.

[1333] We had the legit ones, and then afterwards they tried to do, like, the next generation.

[1334] It was, like, Stevie Case.

[1335] And Cliffy, who, you know, fair enough, he was legit.

[1336] What's he been doing lately?

[1337] But we tried to make celebrities out of these guys.

[1338] But at the end of the day, the guys who are, with the possible exception of Cliffy and a couple of others who love the camera and love being that celebrity element, like Carmack and Sid and those guys, they're not...

[1339] They're not crazy about it.

[1340] Warren Spector, who gave the keynote here, I tell you a great story about Warren.

[1341] We wanted him to be one of the 25 guys, and he was one of the linchpin guides, where we kind of felt like if he's not on the list, people are going to know, and the list's not going to have any credibility.

[1342] If we're going to say the 25 most genius people in PC gaming...

[1343] Warren's got to be on that list.

[1344] If he's not there, people are going to know.

[1345] And he was the hardest one to get.

[1346] He took the most convincing.

[1347] Everyone else signed right up.

[1348] And Warren said he was really uncomfortable doing it.

[1349] He said, I don't feel comfortable getting in front of the camera and making it about me because games are a team collaborative effort.

[1350] And I said, but Warren, you've got to do it, you've got to do it.

[1351] And he said, I'll do it under one condition.

[1352] He said, I'll come and I'll mug for the camera and do your whole celebrity thing, but you've got to let me write a sidebar about how games are not just about the individual.

[1353] It's really about the teams that make the games.

[1354] And so we gave him that little sidebar, and I thought that was...

[1355] entirely to his credit that he insisted on making it about teams and not just the personalities.

[1356] And I think that's the bigger point, Michael, of why we don't see that stuff, because it's really the studios themselves who kind of control that kind of coverage.

[1357] I mean, all of the sites and magazines are sort of beholden to...

[1358] the publishers, to give them that kind of access.

[1359] And in general, they don't want to make stars.

[1360] There are some exceptions, but most of them don't want to make stars out of these guys when you're talking about 60, 70, 100 people who are all working hard on a particular game.

[1361] In addition, even if they did, what they really want is they want the coverage that they want, which is usually about a specific beat that they're trying to push.

[1362] July, we're talking about the plasma gun.

[1363] And that's what every website and magazine has to go out and say, today's our plasma gun article because they said we can do one.

[1364] And that's why I'm saying I think game journalism has gotten boring because you can get the same information everywhere and there are very few.

[1365] Certainly no print where you get any real personality except stuff like Giant Bomb.

[1366] When you think about journalism, the reality is even during my tenure, this has not really changed.

[1367] Games magazines have always really just been kind of glorified catalogs for what's coming out.

[1368] And there's not really, I mean, there is some, but it's few and far between what you really think of, like, investigative journalism.

[1369] Like, where's the really great behind -the -scenes story that gets to the bottom of why Duke Nukem took 13 years to make?

[1370] Like, I would love to read that story, but no one's writing it.

[1371] I think that is the kind of thing that's missing from games, like, what you think of as real, you know, investigative journalism.

[1372] And, I mean, I think, you know, I don't know if you guys, you didn't go to DICE, but Matthias Milrin from...

[1373] was up talking about Alan Wake and why it takes six years to make a game.

[1374] And he put up a graph and he said, you know, it takes two years just to get the game where you can play something.

[1375] And he goes, that would get about a 75 game review score.

[1376] And if you spend another two years, you get up to maybe 85.

[1377] And if you spend another two years, maybe you get to 90.

[1378] And his point was, we will never finish a game.

[1379] We'll never finish any game because we can always make it.

[1380] just a little bit better as long as we don't run out of money.

[1381] And I think that's really the story behind Duke Nukem, that those guys made it and made it and made it until they ran out of money because they just kept trying to make it better.

[1382] I don't think they were making it.

[1383] I think they were fucking around in their office.

[1384] All right, Jim, let's get some closing thoughts.

[1385] You have no sound.

[1386] Actually, I want to just tell one quick story that happened today at PAX about aging in this industry.

[1387] A subject which we both know something about.

[1388] So much about.

[1389] I went to see Killzone 3 today, basically because Gary had tweeted about 3D and how awesome it was, and I had been sort of down on it.

[1390] So I wanted to go try it, and actually I thought Killzone and 3D, they looked pretty cool.

[1391] But what I wanted to say was my experience, you know, running a magazine for years, and I'm used to it.

[1392] cutting in line and all that stuff and having access.

[1393] And I went up to the Sony booth, and the guy there had no idea who I was, and that was cool.

[1394] But what I realized was, like, he was uncomfortable because I was so old.

[1395] And he actually was, like, looking at me like, is this old dude in the right line?

[1396] You know, like, there is a refreshment.

[1397] This is why I wear flip -flops.

[1398] Keep you young.

[1399] Right.

[1400] So he actually asked me if I was here for Killzone, and I was like, yeah.

[1401] Big Killzone sign right there.

[1402] You need a bandana or something.

[1403] You're going to be de -aging.

[1404] Well, and as he walked me to where the monitor was, he was holding my arm.

[1405] Oh, man. I'm not 90.

[1406] Anyway, that's my story.

[1407] I am 90, and I'm just going to tell you, keep playing games because it will keep you young.

[1408] It's a great activity.

[1409] All right.

[1410] Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to Ryan and the whole gang for letting us know.

[1411] Let's give it up for Gary, Jeff, and Michael once again.

[1412] Thank you guys so much.

[1413] We are so fucked for the rest of this panel.

[1414] I had some other stuff we were going to try to do, but that was so awesome I didn't want to cut it off.

[1415] Look what I got.

[1416] Oh, yeah.

[1417] Pack your head.

[1418] Make a voodoo doll out of it.

[1419] He needs some of his hair, right?

[1420] I think it's really interesting to talk about celebrities in the game development.

[1421] And one of the other things is...

[1422] When a company has a guy that breaks out and becomes a celebrity, he is then worth that much more money and then is that much more likely to go somewhere else.

[1423] All kinds of weird stuff can happen.

[1424] In some cases, some companies try to keep a secret who's really making this stuff, and that's crazy.

[1425] When we started Giant Bomb, we actually thought, wouldn't it be cool if we could do some of that style of coverage and kind of shine a light on...

[1426] People that are out there making games, you know, they're leading these interesting lives and doing that sort of stuff.

[1427] And, you know, you just can't get that level of access unless it's attached to the Plasma Gun article and that sort of stuff.

[1428] So we just kind of went about creating our own celebrities in some sense and just kind of like, you know, finding cool people that would be down with us and are down for some crazy shit.

[1429] Like Adam Boyes over there, who's over there looking at his phone.

[1430] Adam Boyes!

[1431] The world's most dangerous Canadian.

[1432] That's right.

[1433] Bret Hart got nothing on you.

[1434] And Johnny.

[1435] It's been good because those guys have shipped products.

[1436] They have put games on shelves and they understand what you have to go through to do that.

[1437] And as it turns out, it's fucking impossible.

[1438] It's incredible.

[1439] Anything gets made in the stories.

[1440] You hear people say that again and again and it's really true.

[1441] It's amazing that any game ever comes out ever.

[1442] Because there are just so many things lined up to prevent it from happening that I guess it's too bad that some of them are terrible.

[1443] Well, I think now is the time that we shift to a little Q &A.

[1444] Yeah.

[1445] A little live, what do we call them, Brad?

[1446] Emails.

[1447] That's right.

[1448] So just get on your phone and send an email.

[1449] Send us an email.

[1450] Bombcast at giantbomb .com is the email address, but we're not going to be reading any of those emails.

[1451] We're going to be forming a little line here in the center aisle if you would like to participate in a little question and answer.

[1452] You see the enforcer there in the blue shirt.

[1453] He's got a microphone.

[1454] Just, you know, go tackle them.

[1455] You know, and while everybody's getting up, forming a line, going back to the different between a few people doing stuff and a big team doing stuff, I'd like to give it up for Drew Scanlon over there working the camera.

[1456] Look at this guy.

[1457] Mad man. And before we get going here, I just got this text message from Johnny, and he says, you need to mail the announcement about our playoff immediately.

[1458] I think he means make, but typing is not one of his strong suits.

[1459] So we are going to have, he and I are going to play, we're going to find a blitz machine somewhere in this town, an NFL blitz machine, and play it.

[1460] Okay, good.

[1461] We are going to GameWorks after this panel.

[1462] And he and I are going to play blitz, $100, winner take all, money goes to child's play.

[1463] We're doing it.

[1464] And I'm going to whip his fucking ass.

[1465] All right.

[1466] All right.

[1467] Our first email comes from the guy with the microphone.

[1468] Oh, it's on.

[1469] Okay.

[1470] You guys were just talking about when you started what you were trying to do celebrity stuff.

[1471] You guys have all been smaller cogs in bigger publications and stuff like that.

[1472] What's been kind of the craziest, hardest, best part about being a small operation that you're...

[1473] running yourself, essentially, and you decide what's going on, what kind of content you're doing, the difficulties that come with that.

[1474] Joe, comments?

[1475] Well, I think that for me, it's turning stuff down.

[1476] As weird as that sounds, there are a lot of companies that kind of come to us with the Plasma Gun article of the month and that sort of stuff, and we're able to take a pass on that under the guise of, like, dude, there are five of us.

[1477] We can't cover your game 40 times.

[1478] It's just not There are other games we need to get out there and cover.

[1479] And then I think the hardest part is then striking that balance of we just turned down your weird preview event, but please invite us to the next one because we might want to write about it later.

[1480] I think it's both sides of so much more freedom to make those choices, but then also so much more accountability for that stuff.

[1481] There's not a big organization to pull back on and say, oh, it's because of that.

[1482] No, it's because of me. It's because we didn't want to see that game again.

[1483] It's because we knew that Mafia 2 wasn't going to break even about six months ago.

[1484] Mafia.

[1485] Did that about do it for you?

[1486] Yeah, thank you.

[1487] Next email comes in from...

[1488] What's your name, dude?

[1489] Hey, guys.

[1490] I'm Russell.

[1491] Hey, Russell.

[1492] How's it going?

[1493] Good.

[1494] I think you might have answered my first question.

[1495] Is there a giant bomb after party?

[1496] Yeah, we're hitting GameWorks right after this, and then we'll figure out where we need to go from there.

[1497] There's a billion bars in downtown Seattle, but there's also, it seems like, about a billion parties.

[1498] So we'll get in where we can fit in.

[1499] But GameWorks, after the panel, we will be there.

[1500] Right on.

[1501] So I know Jeff loves Borderlands, and this Duke Nukem business has me a little worried that we might have to wait that much longer or until infinity for Borderlands 2.

[1502] What do you guys think?

[1503] I guess we'll find out tomorrow, right?

[1504] We'll talk to Randy.

[1505] Yeah, we're going to talk to Randy Pitchford tomorrow.

[1506] We'll definitely ask him about what impact this has on the team, but as I understand it, there are a lot of dudes working for Gearbox, so I think they're probably capable of making another Borderlands while they're making a Duke Nukem forever, if that's what they want it to do.

[1507] I'd rather they take their time with it and do something grand.

[1508] I mean, they're still putting out one more DLC.

[1509] for that, and that's for the first game, and that's crazy.

[1510] So, yeah, they should make another one of those.

[1511] Hardline position there, Jeff.

[1512] Weekly break music, please.

[1513] Next question, sir.

[1514] Hey, my name is Eric Hong.

[1515] Jeff apparently is really good at Blitz.

[1516] Yes, Brad is apparently very good at StarCraft.

[1517] You guys kind of play a lot of games, but I think Jeff sort of specializes in super blitz.

[1518] Brad right now is StarCraft.

[1519] I'm curious, Ryan and Vinny, what do you guys like to play repeatedly?

[1520] If you guys play any games repeatedly, and Brad and Jeff, how far do you guys plan on going with the games that you do really like and go back to over and over and over again?

[1521] You know, for me, I've never been much of a competitive gamer.

[1522] You know, the games that I play tend to be more single -player experiences.

[1523] So it's, I don't know, it's not a format that necessarily lends itself to that kind of repeat play like an MK or a StarCraft or Blitz or something like that.

[1524] So I think that's part of the thing for me. Yeah, I'm kind of the same way.

[1525] I don't really get really down and dirty in multiplayer competitive games.

[1526] I like multiplayer co -op stuff.

[1527] And I really like narrative -focused games.

[1528] I like adventure games and games with a strong story and stuff like that.

[1529] So I can get behind role -playing games and adventure games for a real long time.

[1530] But when it comes to competitive multiplayer stuff, I don't know.

[1531] I just don't have that drive to spend all that time.

[1532] Then just get beaten over and over and over and over again.

[1533] So basically you're saying you guys are soft.

[1534] I'm saying I suck.

[1535] Are you going to dump our books now, tough guy?

[1536] Yeah.

[1537] They'll push you into the lockers and mess your hair up.

[1538] All right, well, I'll just play some Ask a Sleepy Guy tonight.

[1539] You guys have no idea what we're talking about.

[1540] Don't worry about that.

[1541] That is the footage that needs to get out.

[1542] That is like some of the last GameSpot footage I'm holding on to.

[1543] Do you have it?

[1544] Oh, yeah, dude.

[1545] I have all that.

[1546] Ask the Sleepy Guy is the best game ever invented.

[1547] We were great at it.

[1548] We got keys to people's rooms at E3, which, you know, everyone's like working fucking 20 -hour days.

[1549] So what better thing to do than to sneak into their room, turn on the lights with a camera in their face and say, like, top ten Honda Accord aftermarket parts go.

[1550] Three in the morning.

[1551] It's just like people, like, some of them are still drunk, some of them have, like, just gotten to sleep and haven't really slept well in, like, four days.

[1552] Top ten Oakland A's go.

[1553] Carney Lansford ten times.

[1554] Is that about to answer your question, sir?

[1555] Yeah, I guess sort of the follow -up maybe is like any games you guys return to.

[1556] Kind of like, you know, some people have their yearly, like, I go play through Final Fantasy III, you know, once a year just to make sure that I keep playing it.

[1557] Or, you know, there are some other games I can think of.

[1558] Anything like that for you guys?

[1559] Well, I find when a new game comes out in a series, like when StarCraft II came out, I ended up playing through all of StarCraft and Brood War up to StarCraft II.

[1560] When Mass Effect II came out, I played through Mass Effect again.

[1561] Again, when there's narrative and story involved, I like to refresh.

[1562] I don't know why.

[1563] I don't know.

[1564] I'm an idiot.

[1565] I've heard there's this thing called Wikipedia that Brad keeps telling me about.

[1566] It's like a database for video games?

[1567] Who the fuck would do that?

[1568] I have no idea.

[1569] I'm still chasing that last fucking achievement in Geometry Wars.

[1570] That's right.

[1571] I used to play Target Earth for the Genesis on a pretty regular basis.

[1572] Street of Rage 2, Super Mario Bros. 3.

[1573] I'll go back to you on a semi -regular.

[1574] Jump around in Karibo's shoe, shoot rockets at bad guys, stuff like that.

[1575] All right.

[1576] Excellent.

[1577] Thank you, sir.

[1578] Next question.

[1579] Hi, my name is Kier Myron, and I first wanted to say that I was the guy that sent you that indie game in the Pakistani pop mailbag back around Valentine's Day this year.

[1580] I don't know if you guys remember it.

[1581] It's very weird.

[1582] It's all kind of a blur at this point.

[1583] If you say so, dude, I'm really, really bad about this.

[1584] I couldn't hear it.

[1585] What did you send?

[1586] I sent an indie game.

[1587] I sent this Xbox box that I kind of made my own box art for, for an Xbox Live indie game I made.

[1588] You guys were completely baffled.

[1589] Yes.

[1590] I know exactly what you're talking about.

[1591] I put nothing on the back, and I gave some chocolates, and it was in duct tape, and you guys would say Canadian twine was your favorite.

[1592] How did that do for you sales -wise?

[1593] Like most Xbox, I have indie games horribly.

[1594] Luckily, I'm professionally employed now, so that's working out.

[1595] Congratulations.

[1596] My question is, for PAX, what's your guys' kind of goal?

[1597] Is it to see stuff that you saw before that you were a little iffy on?

[1598] Is it to see stuff you didn't see at other shows?

[1599] Or is it just to kind of have fun?

[1600] It's this.

[1601] It's mostly this.

[1602] It's you guys.

[1603] Like, seriously, like, PAX is not about coverage.

[1604] It's not about, like, seeing the latest builds of games.

[1605] That's really not generally what's at PAX.

[1606] It's to come and kick it with you guys.

[1607] Totally.

[1608] This is a feel -good event for us.

[1609] This is, like, it's low stress, low impact.

[1610] It's like, come up here, fuck around on stage for a bit, you know, get to talk to you guys, see some cool indie games.

[1611] And, you know, that's pretty much, you know.

[1612] Tell Drew to hold a camera for an hour and a half.

[1613] Yeah, you know, casual stuff that we would do anyway.

[1614] Yeah, I think any additions to that?

[1615] That's exactly right.

[1616] What Ryan said is it's great to come out here and see all the people that make Giant Bomb possible on the other end of it.

[1617] So, you know, glad to be here.

[1618] Thank you.

[1619] Thank you.

[1620] Next question.

[1621] Thank you.

[1622] Hey, thank you.

[1623] Thanks.

[1624] Hi, Michael.

[1625] Hey, Michael.

[1626] What's up?

[1627] I really enjoy the video content on Giant Bomb.

[1628] Thank you.

[1629] Thank you, Vinny.

[1630] Thank you, Ryan.

[1631] Particularly, I enjoy the background music for interviews, and that's why I'd like to ask, have you ever thought about releasing a Giant Bomb original soundtrack?

[1632] I guess it's an idea that has been brought up.

[1633] a few times.

[1634] We do get a lot of requests for the music, but some of it is not ours to give.

[1635] Realistically, the music comes from a lot of different sources.

[1636] All legit and all legal.

[1637] We're not stealing anything.

[1638] We don't have all the rights to republish that and make money from that in that kind of way.

[1639] We do have some original stuff.

[1640] There's a lot of Jeff's music on there.

[1641] Some of the stuff that I've written is there.

[1642] Download that at midnightbrand .com if you want that.

[1643] But Phil Reno, responsible for 100 % of the music in the podcast itself.

[1644] And Phil's a damn genius.

[1645] Also responsible.

[1646] Also the wonderful universe of Tang.

[1647] Yeah, wonderful universe of This Ain't No Game.

[1648] He did the opening theme for that with some secret assistants.

[1649] Right.

[1650] Yep.

[1651] Which is a great opening, one of my favorites.

[1652] Absolutely.

[1653] But yeah, I don't think we can package a lot of that stuff up and sell it.

[1654] That's illegal.

[1655] Just go rip it out of the bomb cast.

[1656] I mean, I don't care that much.

[1657] It's there.

[1658] And you just go steal the break music and make it your ringtone.

[1659] Whatever.

[1660] Thank you.

[1661] Thanks.

[1662] Hey, what's up, guys?

[1663] I'm Rudy from St. Louis, Missouri.

[1664] St. Louis!

[1665] The Lou.

[1666] Are you Nelly?

[1667] Do you know Nelly?

[1668] I hung out with Nelly yesterday.

[1669] That arch.

[1670] What else?

[1671] I got secrets.

[1672] Can't leave Cancun.

[1673] I'm sorry.

[1674] What is your question, sir?

[1675] Earlier I was in the free play gaming area.

[1676] I don't know if you guys know about it, but you essentially just run games and play them.

[1677] I was talking to a guy that works there, and he was saying that they basically published the top ten list of games being played there.

[1678] Earlier, they were using a game to test the 360 consoles, a game called 50 Cent Blood on the Sand.

[1679] What is that?

[1680] It's just a game by THK.

[1681] All right.

[1682] Okay.

[1683] That essentially bumped it up into the top ten list, and people saw that and wanted to try it out.

[1684] This is great news.

[1685] It persistently kept it in the top ten for a good chunk of the day.

[1686] I just want to ask, how does that make you feel?

[1687] Well, as the developers of 50 Cent Blood on the Sands, we're just happy that people are enjoying what we created.

[1688] It's our love letter to the community and to the G -Unit, of course.

[1689] And our hate letter to fucking helicopters.

[1690] Yeah, it's our hate letter to helicopters.

[1691] And hitting big -ass rams.

[1692] That's right.

[1693] Racist helicopters shot out of the sky.

[1694] Why would they hate on Tony Yayo like that?

[1695] 50!

[1696] He's a Tony Yayo!

[1697] We just like the sound of our voices amplified.

[1698] That's really all this is.

[1699] Thank you so much.

[1700] Thank you, sir.

[1701] Next question.

[1702] Jared Johnston with that, videogameblog .com.

[1703] I have a question that only you four can answer.

[1704] Bloodsport or kickboxer?

[1705] Bloodsport.

[1706] I love Bloodsport as well.

[1707] Okay.

[1708] Just making sure.

[1709] Was that the right answer?

[1710] Yeah.

[1711] Okay.

[1712] Fucking kickboxer.

[1713] Come on.

[1714] You're not a kickboxer fan, are you?

[1715] Is that what this is now?

[1716] No, I am.

[1717] I'm Sean.

[1718] Hey, Sean.

[1719] What's up?

[1720] I just wanted to point out, have you guys noticed that spider that was up there?

[1721] Oh, God.

[1722] I only watched a crawl into Ryan's ear, then I lost track of it.

[1723] You know what?

[1724] Now I do want to fight you.

[1725] Yeah.

[1726] This is going to work out.

[1727] I'm pretty happy about this now.

[1728] I am an avid hater of spiders.

[1729] We can fight together.

[1730] I just have one question.

[1731] This is my first PAX, and I didn't know that there was such a big presence for tabletop gaming.

[1732] I am a...

[1733] DM for my tabletop game as well, and I was wondering if you guys have, do, or will play any tabletop games on a regular basis.

[1734] Do they have chutes and ladders over there?

[1735] I'm more of a Pop -O -Matic Trouble guy myself.

[1736] You're a Pop -O -Matic Trouble?

[1737] Pop -O -Matic Trouble.

[1738] It's like the sound, like the feel it makes.

[1739] But you guys don't play right.

[1740] When I DM your Pop -O -Matic Trouble games, you guys just, you don't get into it.

[1741] You really, a DM screen has the sickest Dockin sticker on it, bro.

[1742] Well, I am the red peg, okay?

[1743] What is your tabletop game that you DM?

[1744] 3 .5 D &D.

[1745] Okay.

[1746] I was talking about getting a 4 .0 game running in the office in September that I have no interest in playing, but someone will play it.

[1747] It's daunting.

[1748] It's something that's always been in my peripheral, the tabletop games and D &D type stuff.

[1749] The one time I played D &D, I was in high school, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[1750] I was good friends with a guy who wanted to run the game, and I was like, okay, fine.

[1751] I've read the books and stuff.

[1752] I've read the Monster Manual.

[1753] I know what this is about.

[1754] Then I got there, and people were just too...

[1755] One girl brought a whole loaf of French bread, and she just sat there and ate it the whole time.

[1756] And I decided right then and there that Dungeons & Dragons was not for me. You gotta carbo -load before you D &D, man. It's true.

[1757] I actually tried to play Car Wars for a little while.

[1758] I will say I've been known to enjoy some Catan, some settlers every once in a while.

[1759] Something lighter like that.

[1760] I think it's something that's closer resembling a chutes and ladder.

[1761] Sorry.

[1762] Something like that that our simple minds can wrap themselves around.

[1763] It's a little more accessible.

[1764] I'll play anything.

[1765] Let's do it.

[1766] Get me in.

[1767] We've been making our character sheets over here the whole night.

[1768] This is not a giant penis.

[1769] Yeah, that's a picture of a penis.

[1770] I'm not joking.

[1771] Right there.

[1772] I think Pactor drew that.

[1773] Thank you, guys.

[1774] Thank you, sir.

[1775] Hi, I'm Mark from Seattle.

[1776] Rob, how's it going?

[1777] Seattle.

[1778] Mark.

[1779] Mark from Seattle.

[1780] But Seattle.

[1781] Before I get to my question, I just really needed to know, Duke Nukem getting oral action from two women?

[1782] He has two penises.

[1783] Okay.

[1784] Yeah, again.

[1785] It works really well with the boss monster that has three tits.

[1786] This panel is over.

[1787] What?

[1788] I mean...

[1789] Okay, so my actual question is kind of like a defending your game question.

[1790] I was wondering, what are some of the games that you really enjoy that weren't necessarily critically or commercially well -received?

[1791] State of Emergency?

[1792] Oh yeah, State of Emergency.

[1793] I remember that.

[1794] We were so stoked about that game.

[1795] I think I don't hate brute force as much as everybody else does in the world.

[1796] That was the question.

[1797] Yeah, it was the question.

[1798] All right.

[1799] Metroid other AM, apparently.

[1800] Thank you very much.

[1801] Thank you, sir.

[1802] What is this gentleman in this dapper -ass hoodie?

[1803] Oh, yeah.

[1804] Revenhard.

[1805] Nice.

[1806] So, Clint, giant bomb user named Clint.

[1807] My friend Mark and I were actually talking, and we were kind of going, well, there are a lot of games coming out, high -profile games coming out for the rest of the year, but none that we're really necessarily at all excited about.

[1808] So I kind of wanted to see, mid -year checkpoint, each one of you, what's the one game for the rest of 2010 that you're most interested in?

[1809] Oh, man. You know, the thing that I keep finding myself surprisingly excited about is Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

[1810] I think that game looks...

[1811] I saw it at E3.

[1812] The multiplayer in that game looks sick as hell.

[1813] The multiplayer is fun.

[1814] That stuff works way better than you think that it would.

[1815] I'm not trying to faint praise here.

[1816] It's actually very awesome.

[1817] I believe they have something playable of that here at PAX.

[1818] So I highly recommend you check that out.

[1819] And Dance Central.

[1820] He stole my answer.

[1821] Was that yours?

[1822] Yeah.

[1823] Oh, sorry.

[1824] I would totally need to see a release.

[1825] I can never remember what's coming out this year, and that's next year.

[1826] It feels like it all slipped to next year, right?

[1827] Well, but that's the thing, right?

[1828] Like, that happened last year, too.

[1829] It was, like, becoming a thing.

[1830] Yeah.

[1831] It's kind of awesome.

[1832] Not all of it, obviously.

[1833] I want to say, that's the thing that I think is radical, is not every goddamn game coming out in November.

[1834] Actually having some games spread out through the year.

[1835] Like, you know, everyone's talking about like, oh, 2010 sucks, but no, you just forgot that the first half of the year was full of awesome games, which it, you know...

[1836] When's Tron coming out?

[1837] Yeah, when's...

[1838] All right, Tron.

[1839] December 7th, never forget.

[1840] Is Jeff Bridges going to be in it?

[1841] Now you're in trouble, Johnny.

[1842] Yeah, that's right, Gran Turismo, because I want to see somebody lose a bet.

[1843] Brad?

[1844] Bradley?

[1845] Starcraft.

[1846] I'm not trying to be cute.

[1847] You'll be playing that for the rest of the year anyway?

[1848] Yeah, I don't know.

[1849] It's hard to...

[1850] You kind of feel like a chump when you fall for the peripheral game, but I very much want to play a lot of Dance Central.

[1851] That's fair.

[1852] And I think that's, like, maybe there's just some kind of weird offshoot because we have a platform to look like assholes.

[1853] So games like that are perfect.

[1854] Oh, yeah.

[1855] That's really been, like, the best thing about all these motion control stuff, all the connect and move stuff, is just so many more opportunities for us to be jackasses on camera, so.

[1856] Yep.

[1857] That's pretty much what drives us.

[1858] Thanks, guys.

[1859] All right, we've only got a couple minutes left, so let's see if we can crank through a few more questions.

[1860] Remove all vowels from future questions, please.

[1861] Hey, so after the epic sagas that were Persona 4 and Deadly Premonition and the lesser -known bad dudes Endurance Runs, I was wondering if you wanted to announce here at PAX Endurance Run 4.

[1862] No. No, really.

[1863] We're not talking about that right now.

[1864] We're really focusing on the panel right now.

[1865] We're talking about the multiplayer.

[1866] Just wait until Space World.

[1867] We'll have some exciting announcements.

[1868] Will do.

[1869] Thanks a lot.

[1870] Hey, guys.

[1871] My name is Michelle.

[1872] Username Shadowskill11 on GiantBomb .com.

[1873] Hey, how you doing, sir?

[1874] Oh, I'm doing just fine.

[1875] Great.

[1876] Hey, I'm just wondering, after the recent review of Cain and Lynch 2, and everything that's happened from fall to eventual rise back to gaming gods on Giant Bomb.

[1877] How do you, like, how did you bring it, have it within yourselves to give the game a fair shake with the review instead of just, like, saying 1 .0 abysmal piece of crap?

[1878] It's what we do.

[1879] There's nothing personal about it.

[1880] It's a game, and, you know, it's, I don't hold anything.

[1881] I don't hold anything against the IO guys for that stuff.

[1882] I don't know, Jeff, maybe you feel differently.

[1883] I'm trying to go through my head and see what I can say.

[1884] Okay.

[1885] But you can say anything.

[1886] Yeah, absolutely.

[1887] And also, honestly, I was fucking stoked for Cain Lynch 2.

[1888] The stuff they were showing off on that game.

[1889] The first Cain Lynch should have been awesome.

[1890] There were great ideas in that game.

[1891] It had a great tone and a great feel.

[1892] And I loved just some gritty -ass criminal action.

[1893] It looked like that's what they were going to deliver.

[1894] It didn't come together, and I kind of felt the same way about the second one.

[1895] If anything happened with the first Kane and Lynch game, which I wouldn't know if it did or not, the people at Iowa would have nothing to do with it.

[1896] So to lash out against something that may or may not have happened would be totally fucked.

[1897] And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have to bring an end to this panel.

[1898] Thanks, everyone, for your questions.

[1899] And I just want to thank the audience here for showing up.

[1900] Thanks for hanging out.