Giant Bombcast 03-01-2011

[0] right everybody it's the giant bomb cast that's right it's pulled into your stop here uh no it's i don't know the giant bomb cast is uncorked and ready to uncut and ready to go the gloves are off this podcast that's right this is it's a barebacking wait wait wait wait what are we talking about ding ding podcast i'm your host i'm your host jeff gerstman uh as always uh Ryan Davis is out with a fever.

[1] He's got a fever.

[2] Oh, no. What can cure it?

[3] The GDC fever.

[4] Yeah, I don't know.

[5] GDC fever.

[6] If the only cure is more GDC, then, man, is he in luck.

[7] Yeah.

[8] Oh, jeez.

[9] I don't know.

[10] He's lucky to...

[11] I almost feel like he's lucky to get it now because the rest of us are just going to get it in a couple of days.

[12] Yeah.

[13] I think it's creeping up on me already.

[14] I look up feeling like crap this morning.

[15] Great.

[16] Well, why don't we spend two hours in this hot fucking enclosed room so that you can get...

[17] Get the rest of it.

[18] Incubation period, like two days.

[19] Why don't I just put my hands in all of your mouths and get it over with?

[20] Well, I mean, you were doing that before.

[21] Right, but I mean, just to be sure.

[22] Okay, all right.

[23] I am very ticklish on my tongue.

[24] I had poured hand sanitizer down my throat at that point, so it probably didn't take.

[25] Why do your ears taste like ketchup?

[26] This is weird.

[27] I'm wearing my orange.

[28] Yeah.

[29] Hey.

[30] Hey.

[31] How's it going?

[32] It's going good.

[33] Vinny Caravella.

[34] Oh, man. That's me. You outed me. That's right.

[35] I did.

[36] Oh, man. And Brad Shoemaker.

[37] He of the ketchup pans.

[38] Oh, man. Yeah.

[39] Are these things from, like, Poland?

[40] Polish ketchup chips.

[41] Polish?

[42] I don't know.

[43] It smells like so much ketchup in here.

[44] Tastes like a screen door on a submarine.

[45] What?

[46] No, these are German.

[47] Sorry.

[48] Okay.

[49] All right.

[50] German ketchup flavored teddy bear snacks.

[51] Well, maybe we get your sister in here to read those.

[52] She's fluent in German, isn't she?

[53] Let's not.

[54] Again, let's move on.

[55] Your sister.

[56] From the subjects.

[57] Great.

[58] Your sister.

[59] Great.

[60] She's really awesome.

[61] Hey.

[62] Hi.

[63] She's a lot of fun.

[64] Alex Navarro.

[65] Hi there.

[66] You're here sitting where I normally sit.

[67] Yes, and you're sitting where Ryan normally sits.

[68] Yeah, I don't know.

[69] This is.

[70] It's all a little off.

[71] Yeah, it is a little off.

[72] But, man, big week this week with the Game Developers Conference in town.

[73] We've got a ton of stuff booked for that.

[74] Yeah, and then GDC.

[75] And then GDC is also happening.

[76] That's going to be crazy.

[77] Yeah, that'll be pretty wild.

[78] Actually, you know what?

[79] Looking over the schedule, I feel like we're seeing a ton of great games.

[80] Yeah.

[81] And we had to have the conversation this morning of like, oh, right, we need to actually go to the show floor.

[82] Yeah.

[83] And shoot video there, too, at some point, too.

[84] Speed tree ain't going to cover itself.

[85] I know.

[86] And I feel bad because there are actually talks I want to see this year, but I feel like some of those needs are going to be addressed elsewhere.

[87] So do you consider all of the peripheral stuff, GDC?

[88] At this point, if it comes to town for GDC, it's GDC.

[89] If it comes to town for GDC, it's GDC.

[90] Poor GDC.

[91] Yeah.

[92] I know it sucks, but that's how it is.

[93] But, you know, GDC serves a purpose for the industry.

[94] They go to learn and network and see these talks and go on the designer track and the artist track and all this stuff and see these things.

[95] And, yeah, catch colds and go to bad parties and all that stuff.

[96] But there's a talk about the NGP that I feel like we should probably try to see if it's not conflicting with one of our appointments that we already have.

[97] And, of course, Swery is talking about Deadly Premonition.

[98] But we are going to be graced with his presence on Tuesday morning.

[99] Spoiler, man. So by the time you listen to this, we will have met the man probably.

[100] The ball been punched in the face.

[101] Yeah, so this might be the last thing you hear.

[102] I'm so excited for this.

[103] Yeah.

[104] I love how he's sent a bunch of ideas ahead.

[105] Yeah.

[106] Things we could do.

[107] Here's like three different things we could do while I'm in your office.

[108] I don't know that I actually read any of that stuff.

[109] Plant the seed in your stomach.

[110] Oh, geez.

[111] And see what happens.

[112] I've not fallen for that again.

[113] I get the impression that he's never not thinking of stuff to do.

[114] Like, he seems like someone who is maybe a tad unchecked when it comes to his ideas.

[115] He's an idea man. Yeah.

[116] Yeah, definitely.

[117] He's not a shooter designer.

[118] No. I think so.

[119] Ideas, for sure.

[120] But yeah, we have a lot of stuff lined up, a lot of games to see.

[121] But let's get into it the regular way.

[122] Vinny.

[123] Hey, man. Did you play any video games over the past seven days?

[124] Oh, boy.

[125] Tell me about them.

[126] I'll take you back.

[127] So you know how Drew is playing Stronghold?

[128] Yeah.

[129] I was playing Stronghold.

[130] I saw that.

[131] I heard it went on sale for like $3 or something.

[132] Yeah, from Good Old Games, because I'm an idiot.

[133] I bought it from Steam.

[134] And so I bought the entire like stronghold collection for 20 bucks.

[135] That's good.

[136] Cause I still haven't forgiven good old games for their whole publicity stuff.

[137] You know, I was really behind them and then, yeah, they pulled that kind of nonsense and they did a little mea culpa, but yeah, that was, that was kind of cool.

[138] So I played a bunch of stronghold and that's fun.

[139] What is that?

[140] So it's like, it's like an RTS, but you're basically, um, You're building a stronghold, but you're doing resource management, and it comes down to fortifying your little settlement against...

[141] I almost want to say it's like a wave -based kind of...

[142] Whatchamacallit?

[143] Like a tower defense?

[144] Yeah, almost like that, but without...

[145] But you're building a castle, and the guys are just going to come at you in waves.

[146] And if your defenses aren't good enough, they're going to penetrate the walls, and they're going to kill your knight or whatever.

[147] Sounds like Rampart.

[148] Do you play it with a trackball?

[149] No. You could, maybe.

[150] I couldn't dig one out.

[151] I just turned my mouse upside down.

[152] The laser didn't work well, though, so that's kind of a bummer.

[153] That game's really cool.

[154] I'm kind of curious to see where that series is going to be.

[155] There's supposed to be an MMO or something that's in beta.

[156] What?

[157] I haven't checked that out.

[158] How old is it?

[159] Strong World.

[160] 2001?

[161] Yeah, like we're reaching way back into the annals.

[162] It's pretty old.

[163] And I think there is another like Stronghold 3 slated.

[164] I could be completely wrong.

[165] Again, Stronghold, not my – playing a 2001 game, obviously not very familiar with the franchise.

[166] Your strong suit.

[167] Not my strong suit.

[168] Stronghold 3 colon strong suit.

[169] That's DLC.

[170] Yeah, okay.

[171] Get the strong suit for like 500 points.

[172] So it's on a PC.

[173] It's fun.

[174] You should watch the Quick Look if you're interested in it, if you're listening to this and don't know anything about it.

[175] A lot of people have played it, apparently.

[176] Yeah, definitely.

[177] It was a thing.

[178] Well -received, if I remember.

[179] So I burned almost half a day playing that, and then there's nothing left but another half a day, so why not put in some more Demon's Souls?

[180] And I also played...

[181] something else which is the bullet storm okay yeah so so okay so demon souls are you still approaching it from this whole like i need to do this and then die much times and then do this so it's weird i put in another 10 hours my total play count to 30 20 on one character 10 on another uh i don't want to talk too much about it uh because i spent a lot of time last time talking about it but i I did read a lot of things people sent me, which was like, dude, you're thinking way too hard about this.

[182] Yeah, that was the comments on last week's podcast.

[183] Definitely I was seeing a lot of people just going like, dude, you don't need to do any of that stuff.

[184] Just play.

[185] So I tried that after I spent another five hours grinding out some stuff.

[186] Because then I reached a point where I was like, okay, yeah, now I got it.

[187] Halfway, you get some of the benefits.

[188] Yeah, now I got the bow I wanted.

[189] Now I can go play it.

[190] And I'm moving along.

[191] Great.

[192] It's still.

[193] Still got the same things that hour one had in hour 30.

[194] But again, I don't actively hate the game by any means.

[195] I think it's actually kind of cool.

[196] But it still has a lot of those same issues of like, yeah, it's kind of messed up.

[197] It hasn't hit the point for me where a lot of people seem to hit, which is like it clicks and then you're suddenly like, I understand.

[198] whatever it's talking about and like this is the most amazing game ever right it's like still just like i mean when i say the game's hard you know i'm not i'm not saying i'm like oh like every encounter is super hard or anything like that it's just there are systems in place that aren't explained well and then um encounters where there's a lot of trial and error right so like you you can die pretty quickly and the death penalty is is fairly can be pretty severe right uh so you you can encounter some something you've never seen before and then suddenly just i don't know how to you know fight this thing and you're dead in two hits uh and then there's not a lot of checkpointing going on right yeah so uh i'm enjoying it and i'm gonna keep going you know it's it hasn't burned me enough to to keep me off that souls but all right uh it seems like you went to the other extreme maybe with bullet storm I'd call that game easy on its default setting.

[199] So I kind of got a little bored kind of going through, and I was trying to use the game mechanics to spice it up a bit.

[200] Like I'm going to just kick dudes or just use these weapons or certain weapons.

[201] But I only made it – slightly past where our quick look ended, which is pretty early on.

[202] So that's the part where the game gets good.

[203] Basically, you have now trucked through all of the slow stuff at the beginning of that game.

[204] You're talking about, like, what, about the beginning of Act 3 -ish?

[205] Act 2.

[206] Late Act 2.

[207] Like, early Act 2.

[208] Like, basically, anything after you get to control that remote control dude.

[209] Yeah, I think pretty much after the dinosaur, the game really starts to pick up.

[210] You're right.

[211] Or after you crush all those eggs, maybe.

[212] That's a little slow, too.

[213] You're right about that.

[214] So, yeah, I'm kind of right before the dinosaur bit.

[215] Yeah, you haven't even started the game yet.

[216] Yeah, it still seems a little kind of slow.

[217] Very much so.

[218] That's a game that doesn't come into its own until you get more weapons.

[219] As much as it's about balls out action, why do they withhold the balls?

[220] You get to do a little bit at the beginning, but it's just like, here's how you slide, cutscene.

[221] Here's how you vault over stuff, cutscene.

[222] Like, give me a gun and let me impale a guy on a spike or something.

[223] They do give you some of that stuff.

[224] It's just that they only give you the assault rifle, which is not much fun when you don't have anything else to mix it up with.

[225] And also, you can't even unlock skill shots at first.

[226] You have to get to a point where...

[227] That was kind of weird.

[228] But that's, you know, the skill...

[229] Now that I've played through the beginning of that game a couple times, that's like five minutes or something.

[230] It did seem a little long.

[231] Just go, go, go.

[232] Yeah, it did seem long to me as well because it was like, I know this is in here.

[233] Right.

[234] And like, why?

[235] I think I'm not getting points for killing these guys.

[236] The demo does like a disservice because you kind of know what that game is sort of like when you have everything unlocked and then you play and go like, wait, is something broken?

[237] Yeah, am I missing this part?

[238] Do I need to go into a menu and turn on the cool part?

[239] Like, what happens?

[240] Because the skill shots definitely, once those unlocked, made it.

[241] you kind of have more of incentive to go out and kill guys in interesting ways.

[242] It's just kind of like...

[243] Right.

[244] Because you could get through the entire...

[245] Well, the part I played, I could have gotten through just by kicking dudes and shooting them in the head.

[246] And at that early part in the game, that's kind of all you can do.

[247] There isn't too much more.

[248] Well, there's some other skill shot stuff, which is, you know, like, kick a dude and then shoot somebody else and then shoot the guy you just kicked while he's in the air.

[249] That took a couple of tries.

[250] That one, I tried it.

[251] Every time I tried to do that one specifically, I could never get it.

[252] And it just sort of happened.

[253] It was one of those ones that just, you know, in the middle of chaos.

[254] It's one of those things that after you get the thumper, it becomes a lot easier to do.

[255] Oh, because they all fly up.

[256] I found a lot of those tougher ones you had to just stop trying because you drive yourself crazy trying to get there.

[257] Trying to shoot a guy in the ass?

[258] Like, yeah.

[259] Like, just play the game, like, do as much crazy stuff as you can, and, like, they'll probably happen.

[260] Again, so I've got that weird problem where I couldn't move on until I literally had, like, done all that whole thing.

[261] But don't play it that way.

[262] Yeah, you can't.

[263] It's because you're still going to use those weapons later on in the game.

[264] Yeah, and I'm going to burn them all out.

[265] Right, right.

[266] But the part that kind of bummed me out just in the early part, and I hope this changes.

[267] I haven't bought anything from the drop pods yet because there were – and I knew this coming out of the Quick Look.

[268] It's like ammo and like – uh everything else is locked at this point so i'm just stacking points and like every time i see a drop pod i go check it and it's like it's not like i'm getting an upgrade for the gun or even secondary abilities at this point it withholds a lot of this stuff yeah it's weird how like i've God, where am I at?

[269] I think I'm at the beginning of Act 4.

[270] I've got the flail gun, and it still hasn't let me buy charge for it.

[271] I've had that gun for like two years now.

[272] You get the shotgun, and you hold on to that thing forever, and you don't get the charge shot for it until way later in the game.

[273] So does that stuff just unlock on its own?

[274] It's progression -based.

[275] It's progression -based.

[276] You get to a drop pod, and it's like, okay, now you can get this because you're at this part in the game.

[277] Do they tell you before you get to the drop pod, like, hey, man, we got a new weapon?

[278] No, you got to check.

[279] I think it'll say new over the store.

[280] It'll say new over the stuff.

[281] But you got to be in it.

[282] Yeah.

[283] Okay.

[284] Because I was almost ready to just start skipping them, just be like, I know there's nothing in there.

[285] So you haven't run into problems where you're almost out of ammo or anything like that?

[286] No, but I've definitely just been leashing and kicking guys into his walls.

[287] I've got tons of ammo, too.

[288] So, yeah, that was kind of the other problem.

[289] It forced me to kind of, like...

[290] you're going to need to break with this whole, I need to finish all these skill shots before I move forward.

[291] Like I had to break with the, I'm never going to buy ammo in a game because what if there are a finite number of points?

[292] I want to make sure I can afford every upgrade.

[293] So you actually get so many points in that game and the upgrades are not that expensive.

[294] So buy ammo.

[295] Okay.

[296] Like, don't worry about it.

[297] I haven't had a problem yet, but I was conserving it because I know you had mentioned that, like, ammo can become sparse.

[298] And that's why it becomes sparse is because you're not buying it.

[299] You are supposed to buy it.

[300] And you get to a point where you're basically pulling off skill shots on almost every single person you're killing.

[301] So you're just making money.

[302] Yeah.

[303] So, you know, you're just pulling in 50 or 100 every time and a clip for the assault rifle is like 160 or something like that.

[304] So just the math works out that.

[305] You will have plenty of points.

[306] Don't worry about it.

[307] I'm having fun with it.

[308] Again, I did get a little bored just at some point.

[309] Honestly, I mean – Yeah, by the end of Act 1, basically everything I had played up until we started doing that quick look, up until the dinosaur thing, I was like, man, this game doesn't seem very good at all.

[310] It's a little plotting.

[311] It was really – Certainly nothing against you, but I don't feel like you're far enough to really make that judgment because there is a specific point where it just jumps off.

[312] Like I said, I'm just qualifying it from what I played.

[313] It's ridiculous that – game is structured like that they they i don't know if they thought that they were easing people into it or what but it's it's a really weird choice disjointed progression it seems like the kind of thing that would be informed by the notion of people who don't necessarily play a lot of fast -paced shooters like they wouldn't necessarily know what to do so they're just like overly holding your hand or something in the early goings i don't know it but it's like it's weird because they get the tutorial stuff out of the way and then there's like a really slow there's slow stuff after that maybe like you've learned everything and then it's you're going you know well wait what well it's okay once you get past act two like does the pace just stay constant throughout is it just like balls out from there on not really you're definitely like clearing out batches of dudes, then it's like, okay, we're going to hang out here for a little bit, and then there's going to be a cutscene, and we're going to move to the next area or something like that.

[314] Right.

[315] It's not just like dudes, dudes, dudes, dudes, dudes.

[316] Right.

[317] Or anything like that.

[318] It's just, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[319] If the pace does vary, then I can understand them wanting to build it up a little bit to try and get some kind of eventual crescendo going, but it does sound like that goes on for way too long for what it is.

[320] Yeah, it does.

[321] Well, especially the leash is really powerful in that beginning part of the game because you can...

[322] pull guys from so far away and there are so few guys coming at you that...

[323] Again, though...

[324] I know, wait later on.

[325] You're like 30 minutes from a point where it's nothing but enemies that the leash doesn't work on.

[326] Sure, and again, like I said, it's just a part of the map, but if it makes me put the controller down and take a break, that's probably not...

[327] It's an issue.

[328] It's the side of that in the review.

[329] It starts really slowly.

[330] I'm looking forward to going in because I actually kind of am digging the universe they have set up there.

[331] I don't know if they'd get...

[332] too deep into that stuff though i haven't finished i'm only halfway through they get deep enough yeah you know and some of it's a little hokey a little too convenient that you know oh what are the odds that these characters would meet or something stuff like that but uh they do a better job with the characters and with the story than i ever would have expected based on like especially the early parts of the game and the script and stuff like that you're just like this is the most just The whole game just felt like it was trying too hard.

[333] But by the end of it, I was like, oh, you know, actually, this is pretty well done.

[334] The characters have changed over the course of this game, and I would be interested in seeing where they go from here.

[335] Not major changes.

[336] I mean, you know, in the context of a fucking completely crazy action game.

[337] But, you know, it's more than I expected.

[338] I enjoy that there's a very early scene, so I don't think it's a spoiler.

[339] You're kind of walking down the side of the building doing this kind of flashback mission.

[340] Right.

[341] And I thought that was really cool.

[342] That one little scene filled out that universe a bit more of like, oh, this isn't just space pirates kind of like.

[343] And they got cool glasses.

[344] Yeah.

[345] And they're all like, oh, okay.

[346] Sold.

[347] Having finished the game, do you truck with Ryan's theory that this takes place in the Gears universe?

[348] No. I mean, I guess it could, but there's no direct connection or anything.

[349] No. Other than the art looks identical and everything is written.

[350] in Unreal.

[351] Right.

[352] Yeah, so in that sense, yes, it is the exact same universe.

[353] It's the exact same universe that every other video game takes place in also.

[354] So this actually takes place in the Bioshock universe.

[355] Yeah.

[356] No, it takes place in the Mortal Kombat versus DC universe universe.

[357] Oh, okay, now it makes sense.

[358] All right.

[359] So, yeah, I spent some time with that.

[360] Demon's Souls, again, I'm going to keep moving through that.

[361] May God have mercy on your soul.

[362] Yeah, my souls.

[363] Souls, right.

[364] May gods have mercy.

[365] Well, I should just mention the...

[366] PC version of Bulletstorm.

[367] Oh.

[368] So we can just get all our Bulletstorm out now.

[369] What's up with the PC version?

[370] It's a weird port.

[371] It's a little weird.

[372] Oh yeah, you played some of it.

[373] That's what I'm playing.

[374] I'm playing the PC version.

[375] This game, I think, marks the beginning of the end of 16x10 resolutions, which is...

[376] Oh, is it not a pretty technical thing to bring up, but it really bugs the hell out of me?

[377] Is that what you call the letterboxd or whatever?

[378] But on the sides, though, right?

[379] No, no, on the top and bottom.

[380] But even if you put it to a resolution, which is specifically 16x10, like what is a 1920x1200 is a 16x10 resolution.

[381] If you play it at that...

[382] It just slaps the black bars on there.

[383] It's still a 16 letterboxd presentation, which is just a huge bummer to me. I don't know if they were too slick.

[384] I haven't kept up on monitor stuff.

[385] much lately but do they sell 16 by 10 monitors still that is the the larger soapbox issue here is that like those things are getting real hard to find and way more expensive it's understandable i mean 16 by 9 is the standard not only is it the standard i'm sure those panels are a lot cheaper to get because that's they're making so many more mass quantity or whatever but on you know on a computer display you want more vertical Just on webpages and stuff like that.

[386] The answer is just get a bigger 16x9 model.

[387] I'm not going to complain if 16x9 resolutions become standard on PCs.

[388] It would make capture a lot easier.

[389] Yeah, sure.

[390] Right.

[391] That's fair.

[392] Those funky aspect ratios.

[393] I guess that's fair.

[394] That's just kind of a bummer.

[395] And, you know, I'm sure you saw all the stuff since you were reviewing the PC version.

[396] All the stuff about they encrypted all the config files in that game.

[397] Right.

[398] So you can't just go in there and edit all the stuff the PC people are used to being able to edit.

[399] Yeah.

[400] So somebody had to write a little app to be able to access all that stuff.

[401] Yeah, it's not very well encrypted.

[402] Yeah, it's like the most basic cipher.

[403] Somebody defeated it in about 10 minutes.

[404] Somebody put a cheap version of the club on the game.

[405] Basically, it's the exact same thing used to protect the PlayStation 3.

[406] Ouch.

[407] Are you actually being serious?

[408] No. I mean, I would believe it.

[409] I don't know.

[410] It took a solid, like, six months for them to start that.

[411] Okay, come on.

[412] I'm talking, you know, at the lower level if that was, like, the algorithm they were using.

[413] I don't know.

[414] Why even do it then?

[415] Anyway, yeah, well, that's the thing because somebody beat it in, like, ten minutes.

[416] They're kind of the...

[417] The designer, I guess, of the game put forth on Twitter that maybe they did that because the game has online leaderboards.

[418] And the files you get access to actually let you completely change the difficulty of the game.

[419] Yeah, so about that.

[420] So about that.

[421] I messed around with that a little bit and brought it to my attention.

[422] So you're playing it on very hard with all the numbers, tweaks to very easy or easier.

[423] Oh, Brad.

[424] Is it games from Windows Live?

[425] Yeah, it is.

[426] I tried it.

[427] I don't know if I'll finish it that way, but I wanted to see if that worked.

[428] It totally works.

[429] Because there are different values.

[430] They're modifiers.

[431] They're like multipliers for here's how much everything costs in the store.

[432] And so, like, on very hard.

[433] Player health and enemy health.

[434] Right, right.

[435] Like, player health.

[436] It's even stuff, like, if I was reading the little, like, variable names correctly, it's sort of, like, enemy, like, time to engagement and stuff.

[437] Right.

[438] Like, how fast they'll attack you.

[439] Or, like, their range for seeing you or hearing you and stuff.

[440] It's crazy.

[441] You turn that way down.

[442] It's crazy that they expose all that stuff.

[443] I mean, obviously, they didn't want that stuff.

[444] A lot of Unreal games do expose that sort of stuff.

[445] People have definitely hacked a lot of Borderlands stuff on the PC.

[446] Okay.

[447] you know, editing inventories and stuff like that.

[448] They're using similar techniques, not identical, but similar.

[449] Yeah.

[450] And, you know, a lot of people complain about the PC version because it feels like console port.

[451] I mean, it very much is.

[452] So it was a game that, you know, having finished it on console before starting on the PC version, I understood the way the controls worked.

[453] But some people were like, why is the space bar do three different things?

[454] You know, stuff like that.

[455] It's like, well, because when it's an A button, it makes sense for it to run and vault.

[456] And so on.

[457] And I actually thought it controlled pretty much fine out of the box.

[458] Yeah, more or less.

[459] You turn off the mouse smoothing.

[460] Yeah, I had to do that.

[461] Once you do that.

[462] It feels super squirrely.

[463] Yeah, it's weird.

[464] And once I'd done that.

[465] But other people want to go edit their FOV and do all that other stuff.

[466] And you can get to that.

[467] It's just obfuscated.

[468] It's just like one extra step.

[469] It's not a huge deal.

[470] But I guess I should say just to, you know.

[471] just to anger some people out there, I guess, that I have always found FOV editing to be insane.

[472] Unless you're in a case where you're running a game that wasn't meant to be seen in 16 .9 or 16 .10 on a widescreen monitor.

[473] In those cases, you kind of have to fuck with it.

[474] Yeah, some people seem to have motion sickness with weird FOV settings.

[475] I don't know.

[476] But then some people just tunnel it all the way out for competitive reasons.

[477] Yeah, like when you're getting the weird fisheye effect, it is when you've gone too far.

[478] But I don't know.

[479] Yeah, I've always just thought that stuff was...

[480] Weird.

[481] You shouldn't be able to edit that stuff.

[482] The developers had a vision about the way you should see that game, right?

[483] I'm going to back slowly away from this conversation.

[484] Or the internet exclude.

[485] Or whatever.

[486] Yeah, it's a good enough port.

[487] It's not ideal.

[488] Yeah, and there's some stuff like when you go into the SkillShot database, the mouse won't control it there.

[489] Like the mouse works on the main menu and all this other stuff just fine.

[490] But when you get into those menus, it's like, hit the V key.

[491] It's like, why am I?

[492] Borderlands -ish.

[493] To buy stuff in the store is WASD and Spacebar.

[494] Yeah, it's a little weird.

[495] But you know what works really well in that game?

[496] 360 gamepad.

[497] That would make some sense.

[498] Works pretty well.

[499] So it does look better?

[500] It looks great, yeah.

[501] So are we at the console point where PC stuff is taking the lead again?

[502] I think we've been there for like a couple of years now.

[503] Visually, absolutely, we've been there for a while.

[504] Well, I don't think it's been – I guess maybe you didn't see as much stuff coming on the PC because I hadn't heard people talking about it as much of like, yeah, you need to check this out on the PC.

[505] You need to check Dead Rising on the PC.

[506] I think it's just that it's become – they're starting to get through the outer edges of it.

[507] It's more than just the resolution boost.

[508] It's getting to be – Like, faster load times.

[509] But we're not talking, like, different lighting, right?

[510] We're not talking, like, there are, like, lighting effects that you're seeing that just aren't in the...

[511] Usually not.

[512] Probably the most likely thing you'd see is, like, higher resolution textures.

[513] Yeah.

[514] Because those can be designed at a higher resolution and then busted down, but I don't think you're going to see more, like, geometry on stuff.

[515] I think that stuff always...

[516] It's definitely the case where, like, you know, it's a port.

[517] It's like, right, this was written for...

[518] It's like Xbox and PS2 games.

[519] The Xbox game looked a little bit better because all they had to do was just, you know, turn on...

[520] anti -aliasing and run it 480 or whatever well to that effect though like when was the last pc port you played i mean that maybe looked a lot better than its console uh versions but at the same time like didn't have some sort of weird control quirk or you know they all issue or something that like made it messed up yeah yeah so it angered the pc community i think stuff like bullet storm the the problems are definitely surmountable Right.

[521] You can get around that stuff.

[522] It's just more of a question of should you have to.

[523] You shouldn't.

[524] You shouldn't.

[525] A lot of those games, like you said, you just plug in a game pad and it's like now you're just playing it on a more powerful 360 kind of without maybe your friends list and stuff.

[526] And that's the kind of interesting part is like, you know, is that the end of this generation?

[527] Like once people are like being able to look at that stuff easily and be like, yeah, the 360 is old.

[528] That's some old technology in there.

[529] Because that is, what year did it come out?

[530] 05.

[531] So it's backdated.

[532] It looks like two years before the technology locket.

[533] Yeah, I think it's time.

[534] Let's move on.

[535] Give it another two years.

[536] Two years!

[537] Are you saying everyone should just throw out their Xboxes right now?

[538] They're done.

[539] Take a hammer to it.

[540] Jeez.

[541] Build a cool PC, man. I'm not ready for that.

[542] Play Stronghold.

[543] As soon as you stop inverting your look.

[544] What?

[545] You want me to start inverting my mouse look?

[546] Because you're just part of an obsolete generation.

[547] No way.

[548] I am.

[549] It's true.

[550] I want to get Paul Barnett back in here and have him talk about inverted look.

[551] Because he says that only old people do it.

[552] We're old.

[553] And that there's a generation of kids that would never even think to do it and that it's ridiculous and it's eventually going to go away.

[554] You're part of a dying breed, is what I'm saying.

[555] Your time has passed all day.

[556] I wholeheartedly agree with him.

[557] And I wonder, at what point is mouse and keyboard a dying breed?

[558] Oh, God.

[559] It's getting there.

[560] With the way that developers are treating the platforms, with the way that the audience that prefers a mouse and keyboard gets treated, at what point do they just up and go?

[561] Do they either say, well, I guess I'll start playing with a gamepad, or just say...

[562] fuck this, I'm not playing games anymore.

[563] But there are still those genres that you really can't do.

[564] Oh, absolutely.

[565] For those genres, I think mouse and keyboard will continue to exist.

[566] Sure.

[567] But for the shooter...

[568] Do you think there will come a time...

[569] It seems like only when it becomes non -trivial to include mouse and keyboard support.

[570] As it is right now, I have to imagine the API hooks and stuff are such that it just sort of is there.

[571] It can't be that hard to include.

[572] Yeah.

[573] On that platform.

[574] Plus it's expected to be included.

[575] Yeah, yeah.

[576] But as time goes on and as the generation of people that expect that get older and the new generation comes in, at what point does it all shift?

[577] Well, at that point it all shifts and no one's playing first -person shooters because they're just playing Facebook games.

[578] I think you still need a big...

[579] shift on the pc like maybe once it all becomes touch screen and on screen keyboards and stuff then it's like you don't even have a mouse anymore so once we're playing video games in minority report is what you're saying yeah that's when the shift happens and then we're all done and then i'm gonna i don't want to play games like that i'm gonna invert my touch screen i'm just gonna turn Yeah, so that was my weekend.

[580] And then on Sunday, I shared some time with Alex Navarro.

[581] That's true, you did.

[582] I played the Oscars game.

[583] We played the Oscars game on TV.

[584] It was the get drunk and watch the Oscars game.

[585] And we won.

[586] No, we won.

[587] We defeated the Oscars.

[588] I don't know.

[589] Did you watch the Oscars?

[590] Yeah, no, we beat it.

[591] We beat the show.

[592] I beat the Oscars by not watching the Oscars.

[593] That was fair.

[594] It was the way to go.

[595] No, we had a good time.

[596] We hung out.

[597] We watched the Oscars.

[598] It was fun in spite of the show.

[599] entirely in spite of it.

[600] I turned it on for a little bit near the beginning, and it was like you and Rory on the couch with some dude, and I was like, I don't even know what's going on.

[601] Oh, the dude who looked like Eric Pope but wasn't Eric Pope?

[602] Yeah, that's Roy's friend Justin.

[603] Oh, has he been in here before?

[604] Yeah, he's been in here a few times.

[605] Okay, I met that dude.

[606] He's just sitting on the couch on camera.

[607] He's got a Pope hat.

[608] He has a Pope hat.

[609] He has Pope sideburns.

[610] He was wearing a plaid shirt.

[611] Eric Pope.

[612] It was really...

[613] Right.

[614] Oh, okay.

[615] Yeah.

[616] Like a Pope Pope hat.

[617] Like the Pope.

[618] Yeah.

[619] Oh, the Pope.

[620] The Eric Pope.

[621] The Eric Pope.

[622] Yeah, so he was there.

[623] Eric Pope.

[624] He became the villain of the night because he hated Inception, and that did not draw the – that drew the eye of the crowd.

[625] So I went out to a pizza place for someone's birthday for a little bit, and the Oscars were kind of on in the background.

[626] And I did actually manage to see Best Picture, and there was a guy there who I guess hadn't been keeping up on it or something.

[627] And, yeah, he was in the exact same boat.

[628] Like, when Inception came, I was like, who would nominate that piece of shit?

[629] That movie's a pile of trash.

[630] It's a bunch of horrible garbage.

[631] Fascinating.

[632] And he wasn't coming at it from the, I don't get it.

[633] Don't make no sense to my stupid brain.

[634] Right.

[635] It was more just this active hatred and indignation that someone would even think that that movie was in the same league.

[636] And he wasn't going out of his way to talk positively about any of the other movies.

[637] I don't know.

[638] It just struck me as a little weird.

[639] Maybe he only watches Adam Sandler movies.

[640] You know.

[641] I don't know who you're talking about, but I don't think you know this dude.

[642] Yeah, who knows.

[643] But, yeah, so we did that, and that was fun.

[644] There was my favorite moment of the night, and I don't remember how it exactly happened, but there was this, like, it was James Franco who was co -hosting, right?

[645] Yes.

[646] Doing their, you know, you got to feel sorry sometimes award shows are tough, so they're doing their award show banter, right?

[647] Yeah.

[648] It's pretty bad.

[649] And they come back from commercial break, and I don't know how this happened.

[650] Here's how I like to imagine it happened.

[651] Sure.

[652] In run -throughs, there was a joke in there about movie names are pretty weird this year because you have Winter's Bone and How to Train Your Dragon, right?

[653] So they come back from break, and he's just sitting there doing his kind of like James Franco kind of weird posture.

[654] He's got his neck up.

[655] He's very stiff.

[656] He's very uncomfortable.

[657] It's odd.

[658] Standing next to the co -host, who is Anne Hathaway.

[659] Anne Hathaway.

[660] And she's got this weird look on her face, and he's sitting there with this kind of weird smirk on his face, and he goes, you know, this year a lot of movies have really weird names, like Winter's Bone.

[661] Like inappropriate names.

[662] Oh, inappropriate, yeah.

[663] how to train your dragon like the most like yeah like throwing the joke under the bus like as flat yeah and she like halfway through it she that kind of laughs right just like are you fucking doing this serious and like that was it and then that was the bit like there was no follow -up yeah That was for him.

[664] That was just for him and maybe her.

[665] He had to get one in for him.

[666] But the whole night was like that, though.

[667] Half the jokes didn't have follow -ups or punchlines.

[668] It was just sort of like, here's the setup, and here's the nominees.

[669] But that one in particular just seemed like he totally didn't want it.

[670] Like, this is stupid.

[671] We'll take that out.

[672] Cut this.

[673] We should cut this.

[674] And then it shows up in a teleprompter or something, or like before, like you do in the Winter's Bone joke.

[675] He's like, fine, I'll do it.

[676] I'll totally do it.

[677] Oh, you want me to do the joke?

[678] I'll do the joke.

[679] My favorite night, or sorry, my favorite moment of the whole night that I watched, because I watched the whole thing, was Billy Crystal getting a standing ovation just for walking onto the stage.

[680] Billy Crystal's the new Bob Hope.

[681] Guys, Billy Crystal is still alive.

[682] But it was just like, oh, God, Billy, take the microphone.

[683] Like, save us.

[684] Yeah, save this show, please.

[685] Oh, right.

[686] He hosted a bunch of us.

[687] Because I was sitting here thinking, like, why the fuck would anyone stand up for fucking Billy Crystal?

[688] Like, maybe if it's the end of Comic Relief.

[689] Yeah, fair.

[690] No, that would be Whoopi Goldberg.

[691] Maybe all three of them.

[692] Yeah.

[693] Yeah, he is definitely the new Bob Hope.

[694] He is the kind of old, classy dude you bring out.

[695] I've been doing this forever.

[696] Yeah, he was talking about Bob Hope.

[697] But everybody was just remembering when the Oscar hosting was tolerable.

[698] It wasn't last night so much.

[699] The last one I think I actually legitimately enjoyed was Jon Stewart.

[700] I haven't watched the Oscars in like 10 years.

[701] But like, yeah, Jon Stewart, I could see doing a good job.

[702] He was good.

[703] He definitely felt restrained compared to what he can do at Comedy Central, but he was funny.

[704] And then I liked Hugh Jackman's musical numbers and not much else.

[705] I don't know.

[706] What about David Letterman?

[707] Watching it, I get a sense that the...

[708] It was the first time I watched the Oscars in a long time, and it just seemed like...

[709] it's not a fun industry right now i don't like everybody's kind of taking itself pretty seriously uh you have this whole generation that's moved on that were all these like amazing actors that everybody respects and there's like this kind of weird gap there are still actors that everybody respects but not on like the de niro kind of jack nicholson kind of like you know right older group and like you have a bunch of kind of younger kids that everybody's kind of like these guys kind of suck and like we have to make movies but like these guys kind of well they're like struggling i think they're struggling to figure out who matters you know like who is actually important versus who is just kind of like the weird flavor of the week and that's what it felt like it felt like there were a bunch of dudes Maybe, again, I invert my controls.

[710] Maybe I'm just too old for this.

[711] A lot of these people that are like, are they going to be back here next year?

[712] Headlining these things.

[713] Are you going to be back up here?

[714] And then Billy Crystal walks out, and it's like, I've known Billy Crystal for a long time, personally.

[715] Yeah.

[716] William.

[717] Yeah.

[718] But then Kirk Douglas came out and reminded you that we're all going to die someday, and that was really, really rough.

[719] That was rough.

[720] He is so old.

[721] So the place I was at didn't have any of the volume up or anything like that.

[722] You missed nothing.

[723] I had this moment of like, is that Sandra Bullock?

[724] Yes.

[725] She's great.

[726] I like Sandra Bullock.

[727] Sure.

[728] She's America's sweetheart now, I guess.

[729] Yeah, there was definitely this moment of just like, that's where you're at?

[730] Like, Sandra Bullock's going to present an award?

[731] Well, she won Best Actress last year.

[732] That's why she came up.

[733] Yeah, that's what she came up to do, Best Actor.

[734] Because the Best Actress winners from last year always do those categories.

[735] And she probably got out of me part of the laugh of the show.

[736] Oh, she was by far the funniest.

[737] By far.

[738] She is eminently likable.

[739] Yeah.

[740] She's just, I don't know.

[741] I feel like she had her moment.

[742] Yeah, I could not care less about a Sandra Bullock movie.

[743] Except for the net, guys.

[744] Speed, come on.

[745] Never heard of it.

[746] Come on.

[747] Come on.

[748] That's what she won Best Actress for, right?

[749] Yeah, I know.

[750] It was a retroactive award for Speed 2 Cruise Control.

[751] Of course.

[752] They do those.

[753] Yes.

[754] Lifetime Oscar.

[755] When they realize they've made a mistake, they correct it.

[756] Totally.

[757] Which is nice.

[758] Anyway, that's my Oscar bit.

[759] Okay.

[760] Yeah, I'm sorry.

[761] Brad, have you played any video games?

[762] Hi.

[763] Hello.

[764] Man, I don't even know where to start.

[765] I finished Assassin's Creed 2.

[766] Nice.

[767] Finally.

[768] Was it everything you'd hoped?

[769] Man, what the hell was that?

[770] Yeah, exactly.

[771] Crazy.

[772] See you in a couple of months after Brotherhood.

[773] It was all I could do.

[774] Have this conversation again.

[775] I finished it when I was very sleepy late at night on a Saturday.

[776] That's the way to go.

[777] Still all I could do not throw in Brotherhood right away just to see how that thing opens up.

[778] It opens up, I think, exactly with the last couple of minutes of two.

[779] Because, yeah, I would have been going crazy.

[780] I'm sure you guys, when you finished that game when it was new, like with nothing else to follow that up.

[781] I don't know.

[782] There was so much other stuff coming out at the time.

[783] There wasn't really time to sit there and go like, man, I really like more Assassin's Creed.

[784] It was more like, I've got nine other games sitting on my desk.

[785] Yeah, sure, sure.

[786] It's a little cliffhanger -y.

[787] Yeah.

[788] I will say this, though.

[789] They don't address some of the stuff from the end of 2 until pretty near the end of Brotherhood.

[790] So, you know, you just stab dudes for a while.

[791] They've got to keep you on the hook, you know?

[792] I'll get back to that at some point.

[793] I feel like I've learned some Italian playing that game.

[794] Nice.

[795] Have you learned Italian for Stab That Guy?

[796] No, I didn't get that one so much.

[797] It's Rescuate in Pace.

[798] That directly translates to Stab That Guy.

[799] Rescuate in Pace.

[800] Vincenzo.

[801] Molto bene.

[802] It's a good game.

[803] It's a good game.

[804] I know there was something else.

[805] Stronghold 2.

[806] Yeah, that.

[807] Should we just talk about the showcase stuff?

[808] Alex, can you play anything else?

[809] I've been playing a few things here and there.

[810] Actually, I almost bought Bulletstorm last week.

[811] I've decided I'm going to hold off a little bit until it's a little cheaper.

[812] It sounds great, but it also seems like the sort of thing I would totally play for a week and then maybe not touch again.

[813] Not even necessarily a week.

[814] Well, I mean, I might probably go back and play that other mode for a little bit.

[815] I mean, we went and bought that game Tuesday morning, and I had the review up Wednesday evening.

[816] No, I play in smaller chunks than most people, I think.

[817] Take that as you may. Yeah, but I think that once that game is like...

[818] 40 or something i will probably invest in it but um i actually inexplicably last week popped in punch out for the first time i've had it forever and i'd never bothered for the wii for the wii yeah i had never bothered to touch it before and i i'd played it at other like i'd like demo stations in other people's houses i never actually sat there and tried to play through it that game's fucking hard yep holy shit It starts out okay, but then within half an hour, I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.

[819] I'm so angry at this.

[820] You were playing with the controller, right?

[821] Not the motion stuff?

[822] No, I wasn't doing the motion stuff.

[823] I mean, I like it.

[824] It's a really neat game, and it's a pretty neat tribute to the original.

[825] But holy shit, they were not screwing around with that game.

[826] Yeah.

[827] I wonder – there was talk for a while.

[828] I know – I'm pretty sure those guys were starting to work on a sequel.

[829] I just don't know if it ever – I would think – I mean, that game sold okay, didn't it?

[830] I would imagine so.

[831] I think so, yeah.

[832] And I don't know.

[833] I know that's like a weird random game to like pull out of nowhere, but it's like I was just sitting on my shelf.

[834] I was looking for something to play.

[835] I was like, well, I could play any of these games that are more than like 10 hours long, or I could play this thing that I could very easily play in like 15 -minute chunks.

[836] I'm going with this.

[837] And I'd spent about an hour and a half on it, and I was like – I think I got through maybe like three dudes.

[838] It's like, yeah, it is.

[839] That game is rough.

[840] I'm sure someone is mocking me ruthlessly right now for, for sucking at that game, but.

[841] Well, it's all, you know, it's all pattern.

[842] It is all pattern.

[843] And I started to get some of the patterns, but it is.

[844] Try playing Doc's punch out or whatever the, the other, the Wii, the Nintendo downloadable.

[845] I saw that.

[846] Yeah.

[847] I remember that.

[848] That was like the fun club thing.

[849] Yeah.

[850] Yeah.

[851] One of the great Nintendo downloads of all time.

[852] Yes.

[853] I understand you're something of a connoisseur of them.

[854] I know a thing or two about downloadable products for Nintendo platforms, but we can talk about that later.

[855] So you say that ranks highly among them?

[856] I'd say so.

[857] It's relatively rare.

[858] There's a lot of things going forward.

[859] Open up your book.

[860] You should start a Nintendo downloads like Antiques Roadshow.

[861] Like evaluating the relative value of each Nintendo download.

[862] I found this in my grandmother's attic.

[863] Bit trip beat, eh?

[864] Any idea what this is worth?

[865] No, no. I was hoping, you know, I found it out there.

[866] I was hoping maybe it was worth a couple of bucks.

[867] 800 Wii points.

[868] Really?

[869] 800 Wii points.

[870] Really?

[871] Wow.

[872] Yeah.

[873] Wow.

[874] It's a very nice shape.

[875] Not really sure what this game's called, but there's these flowers and you cut their petals like their hair.

[876] It's like a tree, and you cut it, and that's the game.

[877] And now what's the story with this?

[878] I don't know.

[879] How did this come into your life?

[880] Well, you know, I was looking for games that let me cut hair on Nintendo.

[881] Of course.

[882] And that was the first one that came along.

[883] There were several others, but that was the first one I saw.

[884] I'm sorry, this one's...

[885] A counterfeits knockoff.

[886] So it's really worth, you know, just enjoy it.

[887] You know, enjoy it for the story, for the history and your family.

[888] But it's worth 80 wee points.

[889] I spent 600 on it.

[890] Uh -huh.

[891] Well, there you go.

[892] Can't all be winners.

[893] Yeah.

[894] Anything else?

[895] No, not really.

[896] I mean, usual stuff.

[897] You know, these two Portland birds nesting.

[898] If you put a bird on this bird, you might have something.

[899] Grandpa was stationed in the Far East during the war and sent me this letter.

[900] And he downloaded this copy of Disco Light.

[901] He knew this kind Chinese man. So I've obviously played a bunch of Bulletstorm.

[902] Reasonable.

[903] For that review.

[904] But then I've been playing Fight Night Champion.

[905] Oh, yeah.

[906] Which I haven't played a ton of it.

[907] You know, it's like we've...

[908] Got a quick look going up on the site this week that you can check out.

[909] Control -wise, it seems very similar to the previous games, which I liked, so that's cool.

[910] I think it looks really nice.

[911] I think it looks really nice.

[912] The story stuff seems smart, but I haven't played enough of it to say one way or the other.

[913] So what is the story stuff?

[914] It's basically like you're playing as a set character going through a story.

[915] It does the whole first fight, and the first fight slash tutorial is in prison.

[916] So it's, like, undisputed.

[917] And then it goes from there.

[918] It says, like, four years earlier.

[919] And it goes back to, like, you winning the gold medal at some amateur competition and then turning pro.

[920] Right.

[921] And, you know, introducing a bunch of evil, conniving fight promoters.

[922] And your outsized baby brother, who you can tell is just going to get you in some kind of nightclub fight later on.

[923] Yeah.

[924] Hamming it up for the camera.

[925] He's number one.

[926] Yeah.

[927] Yeah.

[928] Troubling entourage.

[929] Why did they never do this for Madden?

[930] Went t -shirt contest.

[931] Because Blitz the League beat them to it.

[932] Just saying.

[933] It's like they've already had that superstar mode forever, and they've never done anything seedy with it.

[934] That's because the NFL would never let them do anything seedy with it.

[935] And boxing has no authority at this point to be dictating anything.

[936] I don't think they necessarily – I mean, they're going out and getting licenses from specific fighters.

[937] Right, because there's no definitive boxing league to license.

[938] There's like three or something, right?

[939] Yeah, they're all over the place.

[940] The WBA, the – Yeah.

[941] Women's Basketball Association.

[942] Yeah, totally.

[943] That's one of them.

[944] But yeah, boxing is like a total mess, so there's no one that's going to regulate that stuff.

[945] The closest you could get is Don King, and his boxing game was not good.

[946] Also, he don't give a fuck.

[947] Right.

[948] He would allow that in a heartbeat.

[949] Like, oh, hell yeah.

[950] I'll jump up on the table.

[951] Vic Rames style.

[952] Make sure you get my hair right.

[953] Only in America.

[954] So here's what I hope for this story, because actually, from what I've seen, I think it's kind of cool.

[955] I think the characters seem interesting and kind of engaging.

[956] They don't seem too cheesy.

[957] I hope it doesn't just become cutscene, regular exhibition fight, cutscene, regular exhibition fight.

[958] It would be really interesting if they brought some of that story into the fight.

[959] like you know like yeah you know wrestling style it's like something weird happened during some of the fights you know some dude just has a heart attack during a fight and like whoa whoa whoa or you have to decide if you're gonna throw a fight or not that'd be really interesting uh because i could see it kind of getting a little you know awesome intense cutscene and then you know back into this right yeah it's like all right now i'm just beating the crap out of this dude right uh yeah I think you're probably closer with the thing you don't want than the thing you do want.

[960] I feel like the thing you're asking for is asking for an awful lot of creativity when it comes to a career mode in a sports game.

[961] This guy takes his boxing glove off and he's got a gun underneath it.

[962] Then he shoots himself in the head.

[963] He shoots himself.

[964] Yeah.

[965] He gets on his knees in the end zone.

[966] That's right.

[967] He shoots himself in the head and this demon comes out.

[968] Yeah.

[969] That's right.

[970] Yeah.

[971] And then you have to fight Piston Honda.

[972] Great.

[973] That's really hard.

[974] I'd buy that game.

[975] Beyond Good and Evil HD, been playing kind of the early parts of that for various videos we've been doing over the past few days.

[976] I didn't play the first one or the original, but it seems lovingly restored.

[977] Yeah, it looks good.

[978] A really good job with it.

[979] Yeah, it looks nice.

[980] It runs very smoothly.

[981] I think fans of that game will probably appreciate it, but more importantly, I think that it's a game that's aged well enough and they've updated nicely enough that you could get into this now.

[982] Will those fans rejoice?

[983] I don't know.

[984] I've never rejoiced once in my life, so I don't really know what that's about.

[985] Do you feel like this is sort of the last -ditch test case to see if Ubisoft is finally going to put the money into Beyond Good and Evil 2?

[986] Totally.

[987] Yeah.

[988] Did they announce that?

[989] They did, but they also haven't said anything about it.

[990] They didn't announce it.

[991] Like, that trailer or whatever leaked out or something.

[992] I remember stuff leaking, but I just swore.

[993] And then they were like, oh, that's not even necessarily a game.

[994] It's like it's a thing.

[995] It's like a proof of concept or something.

[996] They kind of tried to back away from it, and then when we were at E3 at the Ubisoft press conference, you asked, like, so what's up with Beyond Good and Evil 2?

[997] What did they say?

[998] They said, oh, it's not really ready for – it's not something we're focusing on at the moment.

[999] Right.

[1000] So it was not a denial that it existed as a game, but it was a – this project is in I Am Alive territory.

[1001] Right.

[1002] Somewhere Michel Ansel was in a French bunker, and he's just furiously sketching away on this idea.

[1003] In an opium den.

[1004] That's what I meant by French bunker.

[1005] Yeah.

[1006] Yeah.

[1007] Designing new species of leashes.

[1008] Yes, exactly.

[1009] There's a weird ending.

[1010] I didn't want to spoil it, but at the end, she gets into the animus, and then Desmond wakes up and goes, man, that was a really fucked up one.

[1011] Let's go back to Italy.

[1012] She gets out of the animus, and it's Jade Raymond.

[1013] What?

[1014] And then Torchlight, which there's a quick look going up on the side of Friday.

[1015] Can we talk about that?

[1016] You know what?

[1017] It's Torchlight.

[1018] We should talk about it, yeah.

[1019] With a controller.

[1020] There's not that much.

[1021] Instead of a mouse or keyboard.

[1022] At this point, yeah, sure.

[1023] And direct control.

[1024] Yeah.

[1025] I mean, it was at the event playable there.

[1026] That's true.

[1027] So, you know, there's no embargo on that event.

[1028] That's true.

[1029] So I played it at the event for about eight hours.

[1030] Yeah.

[1031] So if I've already played that game on PC, is there any reason for me to check out the XBLA version?

[1032] It's still an awesome game.

[1033] Yeah.

[1034] There's that.

[1035] So there's that.

[1036] I have bought Plants vs. Zombies like four times at this point.

[1037] Yeah.

[1038] It's freaking torchlight, man. They sent it to us early to cover it, and I was like, all right, I'll try this to see how the port shop is, basically.

[1039] Right, yeah.

[1040] I was like, all right, I spent like 20 hours on the PC already.

[1041] I just need to see how they did this, and I'm good.

[1042] Like five hours later.

[1043] For me, it was more like seven or something.

[1044] Yeah, you played even more than I did.

[1045] Like it's so easy to get sucked right back in.

[1046] Yeah, like I downloaded it on Sunday, and we're just like, oh, let's see.

[1047] What's up?

[1048] Oh.

[1049] God, it's 5 .30 and I need to be someplace at 6 and I am nude from below the weight.

[1050] This is not going to work out.

[1051] I don't even like those kind of games.

[1052] I'm not a Diablo -style player.

[1053] I am not into those.

[1054] And I dropped about 10 hours on that game without even thinking about it.

[1055] And it really...

[1056] I kind of missed the mod support.

[1057] There was some fun stuff you could do on the PC version with that.

[1058] Some of the menus and controller, like the menu control issues are a little annoying.

[1059] I suspect it's one of those things that if you've spent a lot of time with the PC...

[1060] PC version, you will be more likely to notice that stuff.

[1061] Have they announced any kind of release window for Torchlight 2?

[1062] July is the last thing they said.

[1063] Of this year?

[1064] But then they said they had pushed it.

[1065] That's the new date?

[1066] That is pretty soon.

[1067] The game needs co -op.

[1068] I want to play that with other people.

[1069] A new Diablo is still in the ether, right?

[1070] So they can see my awesome glowing sword.

[1071] Check out what I got.

[1072] What good is loot if you can't show it off to people?

[1073] That is kind of the thing.

[1074] Yeah, so Diablo 3 is still just whenever, right?

[1075] TBA.

[1076] Yeah, I think there was some earnings thing or something that implied they were shooting for this year.

[1077] But even that wasn't guaranteed.

[1078] They've quickly followed up.

[1079] They're like, we're going to make this game until it's fun.

[1080] I wonder if we'd see a Torchlight 3 or 4 by the time Diablo even comes out.

[1081] Well, I mean, Runic had that plan to go from Torchlight to that free -to -play MMO based on Torchlight.

[1082] And they made so much money on that, it was crazy not to just make another one.

[1083] But that's supposed to still be coming down the line.

[1084] All right.

[1085] But even this one, they're saying multiple towns connected by an overworld and quests spawning off of all the towns.

[1086] Like Diablo 2.

[1087] Yeah, it's basically Diablo.

[1088] It is Diablo 2.

[1089] I think they're basically straight up saying this is our Diablo 2 to Diablo.

[1090] Great.

[1091] You dudes are about to make me play Torchlight all over again.

[1092] You know what was an awesome game?

[1093] Diablo 2.

[1094] It was pretty good.

[1095] Great.

[1096] Some of those guys made it, so I think they can get away with this.

[1097] Yeah, probably one of the few that can.

[1098] All right, so that's it for that.

[1099] Let's talk about some news.

[1100] Wait, we can talk about showcase stuff.

[1101] Yeah.

[1102] That could be part of news.

[1103] That's part of news.

[1104] That's gaming news.

[1105] I want to hear about the showcase stuff.

[1106] Showcase sounds pretty awesome.

[1107] Breaking news, Microsoft had its February Games showcase in San Francisco, California last week, and me and Brad and Drew went over there.

[1108] The night before, they had a Gears of War 3 -focused thing, and I was like, Ryan.

[1109] Yeah, Ryan went to that.

[1110] I think that's where we must have picked up our flu, whatever virus is propagating.

[1111] The beginnings of the nerd virus.

[1112] I mean, like, half the people there were walking around talking like they were sick or had been sick.

[1113] And yet you're still shaking their hands and there's all this finger food going around on trays.

[1114] Finger food.

[1115] Let's cut half our GDC appointments and just go to like the two that we're really actually super, super, super excited about.

[1116] That sounds cool.

[1117] And the ones that have the most hand sanitizer.

[1118] Good with that.

[1119] So what did you – so you guys can talk all about this stuff.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] Gears of War multiplayer, huh?

[1122] Yeah.

[1123] So I played some of that.

[1124] I guess they were showing off different modes later at night because Will went for the reception they were having that evening and he played something that he described as like – oddball mixed with king of the hill i think it's uh i don't know if that's a mode or if that's a specific map because there's a what's the uh what's the coltrane's like fake football sport oh it's a thrash ball thrash ball yeah one of the maps is like a thrash ball arena oh crazy so i don't know if those i don't know if those mechanics that he's talking about are incorporated just into that map or if it's actually a mode that works across like multiple maps i'm not sure do you think there is a there is a thrash ball uh Outline.

[1125] No, no, not even a minigame.

[1126] Just somebody knows how thrash ball works over there.

[1127] Yeah, it's football.

[1128] It's the XFL.

[1129] Yeah.

[1130] Have they showed any of it?

[1131] They put the football at the 50 -yard line, and then guys have to run and get it at the beginning.

[1132] And they have a string that goes across the field and a camera that shoots from the string.

[1133] And Jesse Body Ventura is there.

[1134] Yeah.

[1135] You don't think anything explodes?

[1136] Probably.

[1137] The ball detonates.

[1138] It's not cyber ball.

[1139] No exploding balls.

[1140] Just the cheerleaders.

[1141] Yeah.

[1142] No, because I thought that they had, like, because the Terry Tate guy, the...

[1143] Dude was at the event the night before.

[1144] We saw him.

[1145] He was a large man. And then didn't they have pictures of Cole in his thrashball uniform and players in the game wearing football helmets and stuff like that?

[1146] Maybe.

[1147] That's what Ryan was saying he saw.

[1148] So I didn't see any of that.

[1149] Everybody wears shoulder pads in that universe.

[1150] That's true.

[1151] That's how you know the Bolt Storm is not there.

[1152] So when I played it, it was Team Deathmatch on a map called Old Town.

[1153] And this looks like them getting ready for the beta.

[1154] They're still doing some kind of Facebook voting thing.

[1155] to determine what maps will be available in that, I guess.

[1156] And it's Team Deathmatch, but you have limited respawns.

[1157] It's kind of a ticket -style system where you get like 15 spawns per team, and then you run out and you lose.

[1158] Were you able to play as the Locust on one side?

[1159] Oh, yeah.

[1160] One side's just kind of as before.

[1161] I'm kind of jumping the gun here.

[1162] Sorry.

[1163] Did you get to see any new character types or anything?

[1164] Anya totally in it.

[1165] For the bad dudes.

[1166] You know, I didn't get a good close look at them because I was kind of shooting them from a distance.

[1167] Were they like Lambent on the other team?

[1168] No, they were not Lambent.

[1169] Just kind of curious what snuck under the multiplayer, single -player barrier.

[1170] There were definitely multiple types of Locust in there that didn't all look 100 % familiar, but none that I would call out and describe to you now.

[1171] Okay.

[1172] Because they were so crazy or anything like that.

[1173] They're doing some interesting stuff kind of out of game or out of...

[1174] out of map in that so between spawns you can kind of pop up an overhead map uh like a drawn map that shows you kind of icons of where people are at any given time and where the weapons are and uh when you're between spawns you can also set your secondary weapons or your primary and your secondary actually So you have your smoke grenade, your pistol, but then you can decide if you want the Lancer, or they had a retro Lancer, which instead of a chainsaw, it looked like it had a big old knife blade thing on it.

[1175] And then there was the hammer burst rifle, which was your other option there.

[1176] All the reticles have been redone.

[1177] They look pretty nice.

[1178] Minor change, but...

[1179] And then secondary weapons, they had the regular shotgun and then a sawed -off shotgun.

[1180] The reticle was gigantic.

[1181] It was just like, get up in a dude's face and pull the trigger and he will explode.

[1182] But if you were not up in a dude's face, this is a huge waste of time.

[1183] Yeah, and beyond that, it played like Gears.

[1184] It's the same kind of pop -out achievement progress type stuff, but it looked like you were actually working towards unlocking things for multiplayer as well.

[1185] So like...

[1186] I ran up and did a melee kill with the hammer burst, and a little thing popped out and said, do 30 of these to unlock the...

[1187] weapon -specific execution.

[1188] Oh, so you're unlocking everything.

[1189] Or it seemed like you were just crossing over.

[1190] Right.

[1191] Not necessarily crossing over, but it seemed like if you want to do the big executions in multiplayer, you're going to have to do a bunch of lame -looking ones first or something like that.

[1192] I wonder if that's all just cosmetic, though.

[1193] I mean, we're not talking about Call of Duty perks here, right?

[1194] No, no, no, no, no. No weapon loadout changes or anything like that?

[1195] Well, I imagine you'll unlock additional weapons because you only had access to three assault rifles and two shotguns.

[1196] I mean, there's plenty of other weapons in the Gears -averse.

[1197] Yeah, but most of that stuff spawns on the map as opposed to...

[1198] Oh, you know, you're right.

[1199] You have to bring that stuff in with you.

[1200] Right, yeah.

[1201] That's true.

[1202] There were sniper rifles on the map and stuff like that, too.

[1203] Yeah, it could have been stuff that they, for the beta, they're not showing.

[1204] Hard to say how that progression will work if there is a meaningful one.

[1205] I guess we'll find out soon.

[1206] I think they announced the beta for April, yeah.

[1207] Just to hit, like, what, September release -wise?

[1208] September 20th.

[1209] Yeah.

[1210] The old Halo dates.

[1211] Yeah.

[1212] Right.

[1213] Yeah, exactly.

[1214] It's a pretty...

[1215] Gray.

[1216] Pretty Gears.

[1217] No. It looks a little more colorful.

[1218] Really?

[1219] Like the one map.

[1220] Kind of like Bulletstorm.

[1221] They added some brown.

[1222] Some orange.

[1223] Like the color palette.

[1224] Get out of here.

[1225] Bullstorm is a predominantly orange game in my mind.

[1226] I don't know if anybody else thinks it.

[1227] It's bright though.

[1228] Bulletstorm is.

[1229] It's like orange and blue.

[1230] You come to think of it like every movie poster on the planet.

[1231] Blue and orange.

[1232] It's basically orange and blue.

[1233] Teal and orange, yeah.

[1234] So really?

[1235] So what you guys were playing wasn't just overcast like weird?

[1236] Yeah, it was sunny and nice.

[1237] They broadened the color palette a little bit.

[1238] Insane.

[1239] Yeah.

[1240] Wow, I don't want to see Marcus under any kind of natural light.

[1241] I just want him to put his damn sleeves back on.

[1242] It's hot.

[1243] Put a fucking shirt on.

[1244] The sun is out.

[1245] It's hot.

[1246] Come on.

[1247] Something looks wrong about what they've done to those armor suits.

[1248] I can't.

[1249] I don't like it.

[1250] Those armor suits never looked very right to begin with.

[1251] One of them's a lady.

[1252] That one I'm okay with.

[1253] All right.

[1254] Yeah, so Gears was there.

[1255] Batman Arkham City was there.

[1256] That was the one that you guys could not stop being excited about when you walked in.

[1257] I mean, they weren't letting people play it there.

[1258] They were playing it kind of in front of people on a 20 -minute loop.

[1259] Yeah, dude.

[1260] Yeah.

[1261] That game looks to be the real deal.

[1262] Sounds hot as hell.

[1263] That game is not the same game put out again.

[1264] That game looks like the same mechanics applied to a much larger space with new mechanics in place to make that space meaningful.

[1265] Did you notice a lot of different stuff about Detective Vision?

[1266] It seems like that's one of the things they've been saying.

[1267] They know that people have been relying on it too much and they want to try to avoid that.

[1268] The thing I was trying to remember was whether you could use Detective Vision in third person.

[1269] When I asked you right after, you said that it was only first person.

[1270] Because I swear in that demo, yeah, you could only use it in first person view.

[1271] Because...

[1272] So you could do it in third person the first time, right?

[1273] Because that's why they were complaining that everybody just played the whole game that way.

[1274] I'm like 90 % sure you could, yeah.

[1275] I'm pretty sure it looked like it was just first person, though.

[1276] And you couldn't move, you just had look control?

[1277] I think you could still move.

[1278] I think you could move.

[1279] Because there were times when he would pop it on before he would go through a big set of double doors, and they're like, oh shit, there's five guys lined up with rifles behind this door.

[1280] But I don't think they're intending for you to, like, leave it on.

[1281] Like, conduct full, like, stealth sequences or, like, whole combat cycles with the detective vision on.

[1282] Do you think that's sort of, like, indicative of the more open nature of the game?

[1283] Like, it's less specifically...

[1284] I think that it's hopefully indicative that the game is not going to be designed to hide a lot of secrets around that you can only see with detective vision turned on.

[1285] Like, that was the thing, is you had people that wanted to find every last thing, and to do that...

[1286] You pretty much had to leave that thing on at all times.

[1287] Pretty much, yeah.

[1288] But there's a cool sequence where they show the exploding wall or the breakaway wall icon on a wall.

[1289] But instead of doing the explosive gel, you just run up and hit the Y button.

[1290] punches through and knocks the dude out like RoboCop style.

[1291] That was a pretty good moment.

[1292] That's pretty fucking awesome.

[1293] Pretty amazing.

[1294] Still has crime scenes and stuff like that where it'll be like Detective Vision, like I'm going to scan this gun for fingerprints.

[1295] The forensic stuff seems to have become a lot more situational.

[1296] Yeah.

[1297] As opposed to last time it was like pop Detective Vision and then follow this breadcrumb trail of like scent clouds.

[1298] Right, right.

[1299] Down the hall.

[1300] And the one we saw.

[1301] I mean it could still have that.

[1302] I'm sure that could still be in there.

[1303] But the one we saw was like a sniper shot had been taken through a window.

[1304] And it was like, find the two pieces of evidence that are actually relevant here.

[1305] And it was the bullet hole in the window and the impact point on the floor.

[1306] And as soon as you do that, it goes full on CSI, like draw a laser.

[1307] Like reconstructs the trajectory of the bullet and like flies like through the window across the alleyway and like into the tower that the shot came from.

[1308] So that gives you the indication like, okay, now I need to get to the top of that tower.

[1309] It's like immediately just like your objective rolls over and it's like get to the top of this tower.

[1310] It's awesome.

[1311] Why is CSI Batman not a show?

[1312] I want that.

[1313] Yeah.

[1314] I want that really hard.

[1315] Yeah.

[1316] Yes.

[1317] William Peterson and Batman solving crimes.

[1318] William Peterson is Batman.

[1319] Dude, yes.

[1320] That's where he went.

[1321] That's why he left CSI Las Vegas to go be Batman.

[1322] That would be amazing.

[1323] Yep.

[1324] Sorry, Biddy, go on.

[1325] Oh, no, no. My train has choo -chooed out of here.

[1326] All right, so the city, right?

[1327] So Arkham City, is that what it is?

[1328] So did it seem like it's an open -world game, or is it more like a hub with instances inside buildings?

[1329] It seems definitely like an open -world game.

[1330] Well, it's open -world in that you can go anywhere.

[1331] But no Batmobile, and you're not carjacking.

[1332] No, I didn't see any vehicles.

[1333] Cars are meaningless when you just fly.

[1334] And also, everything looks like an alley that we saw.

[1335] You wouldn't want to drive cars in these streets.

[1336] That sounds like Gotham.

[1337] Is it supposed to be a...

[1338] I'm just a little confused on the story beats.

[1339] Is it right after Asylum?

[1340] I don't think we...

[1341] Who fucked up at the Asylum after putting every single criminal back behind bars?

[1342] Yep.

[1343] Sewed up the prison, and it's like, no, actually everybody's back out.

[1344] Well, Joker's out there, but other than that, I don't think we got a sense that a ton of the villains from the first one are loose.

[1345] Well, which characters did they show?

[1346] Two -Face, Catwoman.

[1347] Two -Face, Catwoman.

[1348] Riddler is presumed to be out there.

[1349] Riddler is like a player in the story this time.

[1350] He's not just dropping trophies or whatever.

[1351] Though there is that as well.

[1352] They're definitely out there.

[1353] Frequencies you have to tune into and stuff.

[1354] Oh, yeah.

[1355] So one of the last things they showed was this.

[1356] that had, you know, like Riddler.

[1357] colored writing on it that says tune to these frequencies.

[1358] You have your door hacking device from the first game.

[1359] Now also manually tuned to frequencies to tap into people's communications and that sort of stuff.

[1360] And put the frequency on the back of the game.

[1361] I almost feel like they should just do that.

[1362] They should put a frequency on the back of the box and have the Riddler stuff be tied to that somehow.

[1363] But it did not feel like open world jank.

[1364] open world in the sense that there are quest givers everywhere with like exclamation marks over their heads you know i don't think it's like gta yeah or infamous or something i think it's i think it seemed to me that's more like the first game where you only have one objective at any given time and like that's the story and there's a bunch of side stuff that's going to be kind of everywhere but it'll be thematic side stuff like you know here's a guy getting mugged well it seems like the closest analog would be the Spider -Man games, wouldn't it?

[1365] Because, like, that was sort of, like, open world.

[1366] There was usually very specific story missions you had to do, but then there was that side stuff floating around.

[1367] And mostly you were just, like, darting around the city, web -swinging.

[1368] Yeah, maybe.

[1369] Yeah.

[1370] But I'll say this looks a lot better.

[1371] I totally don't doubt that one bit.

[1372] I'm just saying it's, like, just in terms of structure, it seems like it's maybe going for more of that kind of thing.

[1373] Just the flight mechanics.

[1374] So you can't climb to the top of the building and just jump off and glide?

[1375] There are gargoyles everywhere, even outside the city.

[1376] Every other building has a gargoyle on it.

[1377] That seems reasonable.

[1378] You can still do that stuff, but it seems like any time you were in the air, you could just pop the glider.

[1379] Yeah, and basically the guy was bat -clawing to a building and then letting go on his ascent and using that to basically just get a bunch of height and then glide.

[1380] And then when you're gliding, you can go to a dive bomb and then pull out of it, like pilot wing style, to get more height and continue gliding that way.

[1381] It seemed really maneuverable.

[1382] And you could go straight into combat from that.

[1383] You could be flying along and target a guy.

[1384] Land on a guy.

[1385] Just go street first.

[1386] There are guys just on the street.

[1387] Yeah, there's folks all over the place.

[1388] Are there civilians?

[1389] There are people that you're trying to save.

[1390] Okay, but it's not like a populated city.

[1391] It's not like Assassin's Creed where there's just people everywhere.

[1392] Is it nighttime?

[1393] Yes.

[1394] I think it's always nighttime.

[1395] I imagine it's always nighttime, yeah.

[1396] What the hell is Batman going to do during the day?

[1397] Well, if it's like the first game, it might take a course of hours.

[1398] Yeah, it might take place over a single night.

[1399] I like that about the first game.

[1400] Yeah, definitely.

[1401] It's got all tore up.

[1402] Yeah.

[1403] So you guys are excited.

[1404] Yeah, the fighting looked very similar conceptually, but the animation on it I thought looked a lot nicer.

[1405] Yeah, they've added a lot of stuff.

[1406] Like, there are times when two guys will try to attack you and you can, like, block and counter both of them at the same time.

[1407] Wow.

[1408] And stuff like that.

[1409] What was that extreme combat move that they showed at the end?

[1410] The beatdown.

[1411] Is that what it's called?

[1412] Yeah.

[1413] Basically, you go from, like, a kick into, like, you start with a front kick and then you can combo that into this beatdown.

[1414] And it's just like raining hits on this guy.

[1415] It's like 20 or more.

[1416] For a dude that doesn't kill guys, it's real close.

[1417] Definitely beats the shit out of him.

[1418] Yeah.

[1419] Hurts him real bad.

[1420] That was real cool.

[1421] I still think Arkham Asylum has the best melee combat in history.

[1422] I think it's brilliant.

[1423] It's certainly up there.

[1424] It was real fluid.

[1425] Yeah.

[1426] Because it almost turns into a puzzle at some point.

[1427] It's not even about fighting.

[1428] There was one spot where there's a guy who's a Riddler informant in a cluster of dudes, and basically you get down there, and they're all trying to attack you, but you need to make sure he's the last one standing so you can interrogate him.

[1429] Yeah, because you don't want to knock him unconscious.

[1430] Right.

[1431] Which I thought was kind of a neat thing, because he's trying to attack you just the same as the other guys.

[1432] But you have to very carefully try to jump over him or roll over him to hit the guys on the other side of him and stuff like that, which was kind of clever.

[1433] Fascinating.

[1434] Some Kinect stuff.

[1435] Gun Stringer.

[1436] The Gun Stringer.

[1437] Alex Navarro's The Gun Stringer.

[1438] No, not even close.

[1439] No?

[1440] I don't know.

[1441] Your name was the only name I saw on it.

[1442] True.

[1443] Terrifying.

[1444] Yeah, so should we just say what my involvement with that game is?

[1445] Yeah.

[1446] So that game uses a grading structure.

[1447] I don't even know if they've talked about this yet, but there's a grading structure in that game where at the end of each level they give you a critic quote or something.

[1448] It's from a newspaper, because it's presented like a puppet show.

[1449] Yeah, the whole thing has a big theatrical motif.

[1450] Right, and so the idea would be that there's a quote at the end from a newspaper critic or something that was judging the show, and it relates to how well you did and also if you...

[1451] beat other people on the leaderboards or something.

[1452] And a good friend of mine, Dan Teasdale, who used to work at Harmonix, is now the lead designer in that game.

[1453] And he was just like, hey, you write about stuff.

[1454] Do you want to just send some quotes in?

[1455] I was like, yeah, sure.

[1456] So I sent him some quotes, and I think those might end up in the game.

[1457] I don't know.

[1458] They have, in fact, ended up in the game.

[1459] They certainly are in a preliminary build of the game.

[1460] Okay.

[1461] Did any of mine pop up?

[1462] Yeah.

[1463] Okay.

[1464] That's all I saw.

[1465] Really?

[1466] I wonder if I'm actually the only one who submitted any.

[1467] He said he was going to go to multiple people, but maybe he just tricked me, and I'm the only one who did it.

[1468] That would be weird.

[1469] How was it playing?

[1470] It's early, but it looks promising.

[1471] Basically, you're kind of using your left hand to move the gun stringer around, and it's almost like you're working the marionette side of things.

[1472] Jerk your left hand up to make him jump, move it left and right to make him move left and right, and then your right hand is your gun hand.

[1473] And that you're moving the on -screen reticle around to kind of paint targets.

[1474] You can paint up to six.

[1475] And then you throw your arm back like a recoil of a pistol.

[1476] Wow.

[1477] And it'll nail everybody you've painted.

[1478] That's kind of rad.

[1479] Yeah.

[1480] It works pretty well.

[1481] I mean, it is a little early, so the control is not maybe as tight as it hopefully will be.

[1482] And they've said as much when we were talking to them about it.

[1483] I thought it looked pretty cool.

[1484] Art style school?

[1485] Yeah.

[1486] And a lot of FMV in that game, in case you were worried.

[1487] Wet bearded men at the beginning of that game.

[1488] Like shirtless, wet bearded men.

[1489] And theaters full of people standing up and cheering and stuff like that when you complete levels.

[1490] Big FMV hands coming down and pushing boulders at you.

[1491] Wow.

[1492] Like polygonal boulders, which was kind of a neat little effect.

[1493] Cool.

[1494] I told those guys they should make Night Trap, and they said that would be a good idea.

[1495] Well, if anyone's going to do it, I mean, who else at this point?

[1496] Double Fine.

[1497] That's my only other.

[1498] Telltale?

[1499] No. They have like 17 other properties they're working on.

[1500] They don't have time for Night Trap.

[1501] Yeah, exactly.

[1502] That looked pretty neat.

[1503] Child of Eden was there.

[1504] Yeah.

[1505] We took a look at that.

[1506] That looks like it's coming along.

[1507] Did you get a chance to play that?

[1508] I did not.

[1509] I didn't either, but just watching people play it, just watching the correspondence of someone's hand to the screen, it seems to have been tightened up quite a bit.

[1510] Yeah, I think it looks really great.

[1511] Yeah.

[1512] Cool.

[1513] You know, if those games come out soon -ish, like by that I mean like this year.

[1514] Everybody who has a Kinect is just going to buy those games.

[1515] Oh, yeah.

[1516] They're both coming out.

[1517] Gunstringer is a downloadable game.

[1518] Is that slated soon?

[1519] 2011.

[1520] Is that it?

[1521] I thought they said summer or something.

[1522] You might be right.

[1523] I know the build actually just said coming 2011.

[1524] It's definitely this year, and Child of Eden seems like it's close to done.

[1525] Because those are the only two Kinect games, really, that I've...

[1526] I've heard of coming out this year.

[1527] Yeah, what else are they even talking about?

[1528] I don't know.

[1529] Let me tell you about Sesame Street.

[1530] Once Upon a Monster.

[1531] Oh, yeah.

[1532] I forgot that was for Kinect, doesn't it?

[1533] Yeah, which we played.

[1534] How'd that look?

[1535] I'm sure the game was pretty fun.

[1536] It looks fun.

[1537] I mean, it's extremely simplistic.

[1538] It's for kids.

[1539] It's an interactive storybook.

[1540] At no point does it scream at you about the bookcase, though.

[1541] So it's not the best interactive story.

[1542] Right.

[1543] I've seen some interactive story books.

[1544] No, it's like every page of the book is a different kind of mini -game thing.

[1545] So you're kind of working your way through it, and they can be played alone or with two players.

[1546] So parent -to -kid style thing.

[1547] So what are you doing connect -wise with it?

[1548] You're ducking.

[1549] You're dancing.

[1550] Okay.

[1551] So it's a stand -up game for sure.

[1552] Jumping.

[1553] Yeah.

[1554] I thought it looked really nice.

[1555] The Muppetology of it all.

[1556] Right.

[1557] Is definitely.

[1558] The Henson -ness.

[1559] Right.

[1560] So, you know, it's like.

[1561] Fur shaders.

[1562] Yeah.

[1563] Actually, yeah, the fur actually does look really nice.

[1564] And they do the right stuff with the arms on the guys.

[1565] Right.

[1566] Where it's like the hand is really stiff and present and moving.

[1567] Yeah.

[1568] But then the arm is just flailing around completely crazy.

[1569] They've been to the Henson creature shop like twice in New York.

[1570] Huh.

[1571] Like.

[1572] Studied all the rigging of the limbs and stuff.

[1573] The exact physics of the googly eyes for Cookie Monster.

[1574] The eyes literally do rattle around as if they're free -floating.

[1575] Do you play as a Muppet?

[1576] Are you a Muppet?

[1577] It's not that direct, if that's what you mean.

[1578] It's literally guys running automatically down a path, and you jump when a log is coming.

[1579] Does it seem like it's educational?

[1580] Kind of, yeah.

[1581] They sort of seem like it was.

[1582] Maybe not.

[1583] It's educational.

[1584] They talk about, yeah.

[1585] It's one of the things they talked about is it's not necessarily about the letters and numbers aspect of Sesame Street and more about the, what is it they call it?

[1586] I don't know.

[1587] There's a name for it.

[1588] The whole child curriculum.

[1589] It's like a branded, yeah.

[1590] Where it's like teaching social skills and how to read feelings of other people and that sort of, how to be a decent human sort of stuff.

[1591] So it's not like brought to you by the letter G for Gears of War 3 coming this September.

[1592] Maybe.

[1593] Actually, that would be the funniest thing that they could do if at the end it totally did brought to you by this and this.

[1594] And it's all Microsoft -sponsored products.

[1595] Right.

[1596] Well, no, it's Warner Brothers, so it would be Mortal Kombat and Batman.

[1597] There you go.

[1598] Yeah, you know, Mortal Kombat.

[1599] Yeah.

[1600] Brought to you by the letters M and K. Anything else from the...

[1601] Shift 2 was there.

[1602] It took a brief look at that.

[1603] I played a little Crisis 2, but not enough to really say anything other than the 3D caught me kind of queasy.

[1604] I mean, that seemed to be the stuff you were most excited about when you came back.

[1605] You were talking about Batman big time.

[1606] They had the new Assassin's Creed Brotherhood DLC.

[1607] They did.

[1608] Da Vinci's Disappearance or whatever it's called.

[1609] They had a new dishwasher.

[1610] Yeah, that's going to be in 3D.

[1611] Side -scrolling 3D.

[1612] Great.

[1613] Vampire Smile.

[1614] Like a 2D game in 3D, which maybe sounds okay.

[1615] Why?

[1616] Well, you know, it gives depth to the backgrounds and stuff.

[1617] I think it's really cool that there's this indie developer super small team game that are actually doing it in 3D.

[1618] Actually, come to think of it, that might actually look a lot better than most of the 3D, 3D stuff.

[1619] I mean, most every game that's been 3D so far is a game that involves you moving into the Z plane.

[1620] Right.

[1621] It's like driving games and shooters, and that's it.

[1622] So you're always running into the thing that you are seeing.

[1623] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1624] Whereas this is like you're moving left and right.

[1625] But you're going to see, like...

[1626] So there's, like, ways you can make the detail pop that you wouldn't be able to do, too, with that sort of Z -AXA stuff.

[1627] They could maybe do some cool stuff there.

[1628] I mean, how did it look?

[1629] I didn't really...

[1630] It looked all right.

[1631] It kind of looked like the first game.

[1632] It looked pretty neat art style and stuff.

[1633] I like the dishwasher.

[1634] Very bloody, super, you know...

[1635] Good.

[1636] Hopefully maybe not quite as savagely difficult this time.

[1637] I know a lot of people complain about the first game that way.

[1638] I'd like to believe it won't be.

[1639] It's pretty tough.

[1640] Yeah, I'd like to believe it won't be.

[1641] Anything else from that event?

[1642] Yeah, I mean, there's stuff everywhere, but I think that was all the...

[1643] Yeah, definitely the biggest stuff.

[1644] They had the Halo map pack there.

[1645] Yeah, the new map pack for Halo.

[1646] We'll take a look at that when it's...

[1647] Fable 3 PC and all kinds of stuff.

[1648] They had a little bit of Windows Phone 7 stuff.

[1649] Yeah.

[1650] All right, well, we're going to take a quick break and come back with the rest of the news.

[1651] Stay tuned.

[1652] Seasoned.

[1653] Yeah, it's like an onion -flavored packing peanut.

[1654] Yeah.

[1655] All right, let's get back to the news.

[1656] Catherine, the game of Atlas.

[1657] Is that with a K or with a C?

[1658] With a C. Okay.

[1659] Catherine with a C contains Catherine with a K. All right.

[1660] And Catherine with a C in the game.

[1661] Is Cathy in it?

[1662] No, Cathy's not in it.

[1663] Ack.

[1664] Then I don't care about this game.

[1665] Ack.

[1666] That game showed up on GameStop's database with a July release date.

[1667] What?

[1668] And was pulled down, I guess.

[1669] So all I saw were screenshots.

[1670] Didn't see it in there myself.

[1671] So it could be all fabricated.

[1672] I thought the publisher said even less than a week ago they had no immediate plans to translate and bring to the U .S. or something.

[1673] Well, they would say that right up until they announced it.

[1674] Right.

[1675] Yeah.

[1676] They did come out last week and say, no, we have no plans to bring it to the U .S. I'm just glad I didn't imagine that.

[1677] Yeah.

[1678] And then coupling with that, there have been rumors going around this week saying that there will be an announcement on Tuesday.

[1679] Yeah.

[1680] With regards to the North American release.

[1681] That's tomorrow.

[1682] Actually, that's today.

[1683] Yeah.

[1684] It's today when the – oh, my God.

[1685] So by the time you listen to this, we may be in a Catherine -esque world.

[1686] July is a lot sooner than I would anticipate.

[1687] I would figure it would take them a little longer to localize it.

[1688] Doesn't it seem like out of character for Atlus?

[1689] They've turned games around quickly in the past.

[1690] Persona 4 was not exactly years in the making when it went from Japan to the U .S. They might have just been working on this for a while in the background.

[1691] A lot of buzz around this game.

[1692] I think it's a lot of buzz around this game until people see what it is and then go...

[1693] Wait a minute.

[1694] What?

[1695] I mean, the block climbing stuff is okay, but it's telling that they're releasing this difficulty patch to make it easier.

[1696] Sure.

[1697] Because I think the people that traditionally play some of those Atlas games, some of them might not be into intense block climbing devil madness.

[1698] You are right about that.

[1699] Well, they definitely like the devil.

[1700] Oh, they're definitely into the devil.

[1701] They're definitely into the devil.

[1702] They're definitely into madness.

[1703] Charlie Tanoku worshipped at the altar of Satan himself.

[1704] I'm not even talking about the persona Satan.

[1705] I'm talking about Satan Satan.

[1706] I'm talking about Gene F. Simmons.

[1707] Wow.

[1708] Yeah.

[1709] Any word on Gal Gun?

[1710] When's that localization coming?

[1711] Yeah.

[1712] There was – I actually got some – Something related to a localization for Gal Gun, someone saying that inquiries were made at one point.

[1713] That wasn't the Gal Gun people.

[1714] Yeah, that was you trying to localize it.

[1715] It's like, please, I just want to understand.

[1716] Those were the police.

[1717] I just want to love.

[1718] We've made inquiries, and we've tracked it back down to this address.

[1719] Yeah.

[1720] 921.

[1721] So, yeah, we'll have to wait and see if – well, whatever.

[1722] I think – I think Catherine's coming to the U .S. I think you might be right.

[1723] I think I would...

[1724] Whether they announce it tomorrow or not, regardless of what Atlas says, I think at some point they're going to say, by the way, we're bringing Catherine out in the U .S. Seems reasonable.

[1725] It seems like it would be poor business not to...

[1726] You know what?

[1727] I don't know anything about making video games, so I can't really say that.

[1728] Well, they've already spent the majority of the money it takes to make that game by shipping it in Japan.

[1729] I guess.

[1730] On 360 and PS3.

[1731] I don't want to speak out of turn here, but yeah.

[1732] So it's not going to cost them more to localize it into English than it would to develop it outright.

[1733] Okay.

[1734] I mean, no one says they have to make a million copies for the U .S. or anything.

[1735] They can keep it a limited run to see what demand is and then reprint if people are way into it.

[1736] I think it's really got a fair amount.

[1737] Maybe it's just we just live in this weird Atlas bubble where people are always harassing us about playing Atlas games.

[1738] and talking over them.

[1739] Right.

[1740] But it seems like there have been a lot of people talking about Catherine.

[1741] They're a vocal audience, the Atlas fans.

[1742] I mean, you know, the Persona series is big and this is a game from that team.

[1743] So I think it's only natural for people to want it out here.

[1744] And it seems, if nothing else, a refreshing change from the typical games that are coming out these days.

[1745] So it'd be nice to see something like that make it out over here and see how it does.

[1746] PSP price cut.

[1747] Huh?

[1748] I know you guys are in the market for a PlayStation Portable.

[1749] A third one, sure.

[1750] Yeah.

[1751] PSP 3000s are now $129 .99.

[1752] Those entertainment packs that come bundled with games and whatever else I think are $159 or something like that.

[1753] Huh.

[1754] Wait, what about the Go?

[1755] Yeah, what about the Go?

[1756] What about the Go?

[1757] The Go is sold out online on GameStop.

[1758] Does that mean they're just not making it?

[1759] And Amazon does not seem to have a ton of them in stock either.

[1760] Some people guessing that maybe Sony is not necessarily pushing a bunch of those out into the channel.

[1761] This is shocking news.

[1762] So in other news, my PSP Go has just skyrocketed in value.

[1763] You want to buy my PSP Go?

[1764] $9 ,000.

[1765] What?

[1766] Oh, no. Don't you need that for research and posterity and all that stuff?

[1767] I'll just go buy a PSP 3000 for $130.

[1768] It's going in that box with your Gizmondo and all your N -Gages, isn't it?

[1769] Yeah, eventually it's going to end up in there with my two Gizmondos and my five N -Gages.

[1770] You have two Gizmondos?

[1771] Really?

[1772] Yeah.

[1773] Wow.

[1774] Still have that Tapwave Zodiac.

[1775] I got two Tapwave Zodiac.

[1776] Jesus.

[1777] I mean, the Go seemed like a perfectly reasonable edition of the PSP, like, you know, iteration of it.

[1778] Like, what was so bad?

[1779] I never thought it was that reasonable.

[1780] It came out at the wrong time in the life cycle.

[1781] Everyone who wanted a PSP already had one at that point.

[1782] So the idea of, you know, selling them to new customers who were then going to live in this digital future.

[1783] Like, aside, well, that's what I mean.

[1784] So, like, aside from being in the PSP life stream there.

[1785] Yeah.

[1786] Like, why support the $3 ,000 more than the Go unless it's way more expensive to make?

[1787] Because there are tons of...

[1788] UMDs on store shelves that need to go?

[1789] Yeah, there are tons of UMDs.

[1790] Yeah, exactly.

[1791] Well, tons of people already have PSPs at that point.

[1792] Like, why would you buy a thing that just lets you re -download mostly games that you already own, probably?

[1793] People have these libraries built up that they can't even play on this new device.

[1794] Maybe.

[1795] But, you know, how many people...

[1796] I mean, I ended up with a few of them, but I'm not the common man when it comes to video game hardware.

[1797] But how many people need multiple PSPs?

[1798] Except for the obvious reason that they are shady.

[1799] Sure.

[1800] Yeah.

[1801] And they have one PSP that can no longer play regular games.

[1802] But for new customers, I mean, they poorly supported it.

[1803] You know, there are relatively big games out there for the PSP that you can't get on that thing at all.

[1804] On the go.

[1805] They just didn't put them out on the PSN store.

[1806] I guess I just want to support this digital future.

[1807] I love the digital future.

[1808] I mostly buy downloadable games at this point, but that system never offered anything even remotely worthwhile.

[1809] For me, it was all form factor.

[1810] The more time I spent with it.

[1811] After buying it, it's too thin.

[1812] I don't like the throw on the buttons and the D -pad.

[1813] It doesn't move enough.

[1814] It's not comfortable to hold.

[1815] Not for people with big hands.

[1816] Let's just leave it at not for people.

[1817] It's just not for people.

[1818] PSP goes for dogs.

[1819] Yeah.

[1820] It's PSP for dogs.

[1821] PSP for dogs.

[1822] But dogs don't see any color.

[1823] Is this just like the Game Boy, Game Gear argument all over again?

[1824] It sucks for them.

[1825] Yeah.

[1826] I don't know.

[1827] With the NGP due out in Japan at the end of this year, it's kind of like, yeah, of course they're going to cut the price on this stuff.

[1828] And I can't imagine this is going to be the last price cut we'll see.

[1829] And I don't know.

[1830] I'd be interested to see if this spikes PSP hardware sales.

[1831] If anyone is out there waiting to get one, just like, oh, well, now that it's only $130, I'm totally going to go get a PSP.

[1832] I don't think it's going to be like the PS2 thing where that thing just keeps selling over time.

[1833] I don't.

[1834] I don't see much of a spike with that thing.

[1835] Yeah, that's my guess as well.

[1836] In other handheld news, the 3DS was launched in Japan over the weekend.

[1837] That's a console now.

[1838] That is out there for people that are in Japan.

[1839] Well, it's not out there anymore because it's a sellout, day one sellout.

[1840] Of course.

[1841] Full on.

[1842] Was it a full on sellout?

[1843] I thought it was...

[1844] I thought it was like, yeah, we sold most all of them.

[1845] There might be a few left.

[1846] I guess there always might be a few left, but it sounds like it is not easy to find in Japan right now.

[1847] That's not a headline Nintendo wants.

[1848] Of course it's not, but I saw people on Twitter the day it came out over there saying, yeah, you can still walk down so -and -so store and they have some on the shelves.

[1849] It was sold out day one.

[1850] Okay, Reggie, whatever you say.

[1851] Please stop hitting me. Sold out.

[1852] Okay, yeah, I guess I don't know what they issued.

[1853] Actually, let me look.

[1854] I happen to have Nintendo's press site open here in a browser.

[1855] Wow.

[1856] They have nothing about the Japanese launch of the 3DS issued in the U .S. sales -wise, so I'd have to go dig somewhere else for that.

[1857] So I don't have that information.

[1858] I bet they're very happy.

[1859] Yeah, I'm sure that the number of units that they decided to put out there, the vast majority of them sold.

[1860] I think it was like 400 ,000 that they shipped.

[1861] Yeah, yeah.

[1862] So it's $249 in U .S. dollars there, right?

[1863] And that's what it's also coming out as here.

[1864] I thought it was more expensive.

[1865] $289.

[1866] Is it $289 in Japan?

[1867] Yeah.

[1868] So did you hit up any contacts for what's going on in the store there?

[1869] It's not live yet.

[1870] What?

[1871] The 3DS shop is not going to be live until like May or something like that.

[1872] They've already come out and said that there's no downloads at launch, so no interest at launch as far as I'm concerned.

[1873] Yeah.

[1874] Fair.

[1875] Yeah.

[1876] That seems like a real shame.

[1877] The cartridges have a tab on them to ostensibly prevent you from cramming them into a DS.

[1878] Oh, so they're the same form factor just with a tab on it?

[1879] Yeah, with a tab to prevent them from going into those old holes.

[1880] So what happens when you file it off?

[1881] That is exactly when presented with this fact.

[1882] That is what I wrote back to Mark McDonald and said, get a file.

[1883] The world needs to know and did not hear back.

[1884] So we don't know.

[1885] That will be a tested segment, right?

[1886] Right.

[1887] Then if you put a piece of tape over it, then you make sure you do it.

[1888] You can record over it.

[1889] Yeah.

[1890] Yeah.

[1891] Which is nice with some of these games.

[1892] Steel Diver.

[1893] I don't know.

[1894] So that's out there.

[1895] I don't know.

[1896] I kind of went through the full range of emotion in the run -up thinking, like, should we get one so we can cover it?

[1897] But, you know.

[1898] We can't take any video of it.

[1899] Yeah.

[1900] We can't take any video of it, really.

[1901] And.

[1902] Anyone that was importing them into the U .S. wanted like $450 for one, which is outrageous.

[1903] It's just like I don't really want to – for a system that we'll probably have in three weeks or something like that.

[1904] It's out in like a month, right?

[1905] Yeah, I think March.

[1906] It's the end of March.

[1907] I think it's like the 20 -something, 24th or something like that.

[1908] March 43rd, right?

[1909] March 43rd.

[1910] We will have our chance to review the launch lineup of those games.

[1911] But, you know, you're right in that it still does present this big question mark for us as like a fairly video -focused site.

[1912] Even if we acquired the necessary Arcane device.

[1913] Yeah, which I suspect will be available at some point, and that'll solve a lot of the problems.

[1914] But even if...

[1915] It's not going to be 3D.

[1916] Yeah, you still can't represent the games in the fullest, truest code.

[1917] Yeah, we were actually having conversations about, can we do 3D Flash Player?

[1918] But the question is, can people display it?

[1919] And in most cases, probably not.

[1920] I have no idea.

[1921] You can't just put on some cool glasses or something.

[1922] If it's anything like all the other...

[1923] 3D technology out there, you need a special screen for it that most people don't have.

[1924] Right.

[1925] Unless we could do, like, the red -blue.

[1926] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1927] Whatever.

[1928] You could play movies on your 3DS.

[1929] Sure, I guess we could do that.

[1930] So take our video reviews.

[1931] Download the movies to your 3DS.

[1932] And then watch them on that top screen.

[1933] And that's it.

[1934] Yeah.

[1935] Okay.

[1936] Problem solved.

[1937] Yeah.

[1938] So, yeah, I don't know.

[1939] It's still a big question mark for how we'll cover that stuff other than, like, text reviews and that sort of stuff.

[1940] Because.

[1941] Saw that tab off.

[1942] Over -the -shoulder shots look junky.

[1943] Can you present those games in 2D?

[1944] Yeah, absolutely.

[1945] Yeah, sure.

[1946] I understand.

[1947] They make the devices that put those games onto a television, at least.

[1948] They're putting out footage of it somehow.

[1949] Right.

[1950] So in a pinch, you can at least show what the games look like at their core, even without the 3D.

[1951] At some point, we will be able to do that.

[1952] We are not equipped.

[1953] With something that is the size of a Betamax player, you will be able to do that.

[1954] It'll probably be about that big, yeah.

[1955] I've seen it.

[1956] What?

[1957] It exists in the wild.

[1958] It's beige.

[1959] What?

[1960] I don't believe any of this.

[1961] I'll say no more.

[1962] Oh, man. We need a beige box.

[1963] Is that what you're saying?

[1964] What else?

[1965] A lot of people talking about this modern warfare -related website, findmakarov .com.

[1966] People started getting dog tags in the mail.

[1967] I actually got mine this week.

[1968] Some people got theirs last week.

[1969] I think it's just because mailing from Canada or wherever it came from took a little while.

[1970] So, yeah, people were looking at this site.

[1971] It's a countdown that's going to expire sometime on Wednesday, and people were looking at it saying, well, this is obviously the countdown to Modern Warfare 3.

[1972] And Activision kind of uncharacteristically came out and said, this is not us.

[1973] We don't comment on rumors of speculation.

[1974] It said, this is a hoax or something.

[1975] We are not announcing a Call of Duty game next week.

[1976] Did they say this isn't us or did they say we're not announcing it?

[1977] They say we're not announcing a Call of Duty game next week.

[1978] So it still could be from Activision?

[1979] I guess it could be, but probably not.

[1980] Okay.

[1981] My favorite running theory for this thing is that it's actually a Battlefield 3 promotion.

[1982] So Jeff Keighley put forth that it is a Call of Duty -based fan film.

[1983] Huh.

[1984] And that he was sent some sort of still image from it showing a guy dressed up as a ghost in a helicopter.

[1985] That seems totally plausible.

[1986] Yeah.

[1987] And he wrote up a thing about that.

[1988] He seems to be pretty firm about that in terms of it leading to that.

[1989] So how long until Activision sues the makers of that film?

[1990] Any day now.

[1991] Yeah.

[1992] Any day now.

[1993] I don't know.

[1994] It worked for people making a Mortal Kombat fan film.

[1995] That's true.

[1996] All of a sudden, they're making a whole lot more of those.

[1997] Well, the difference is that helped renew interest in a brand that maybe has not.

[1998] I mean, you know.

[1999] MK vs. DC sold well, but it hasn't exactly been at peak popularity for a while.

[2000] And then simultaneously, Modern Warfare is really big and really kind of Activision's big thing.

[2001] So hey, don't fuck with that.

[2002] Also, Activision is in the business of fiercely protecting their IP.

[2003] But that Mortal Kombat thing came out and was really good.

[2004] The linchpin there was like, holy shit, this is actually a quality thing.

[2005] So I don't know if they do a good job with it.

[2006] Maybe.

[2007] Yeah, I don't know.

[2008] I'm sure if that dude were selling his Mortal Kombat film to people, it would be a different story as well.

[2009] Yeah, sure.

[2010] Well, now it's a web series, so there you go.

[2011] That they are probably going to sell.

[2012] Well, as long as he gets his big thumbs up, right?

[2013] Right, right, right.

[2014] At that point.

[2015] Yeah, so it's a fan movie.

[2016] Wait and see.

[2017] Kind of whatever.

[2018] Let's take guesses here real quick.

[2019] You think this year's game is Modern Warfare 3?

[2020] Yes.

[2021] Shouldn't it be?

[2022] Yes.

[2023] It'll be a Call of Duty game.

[2024] Way to cop out.

[2025] All you're asking is, will it be called Modern Warfare 3?

[2026] Will it be said in that fiction and continue that story?

[2027] Will there be a Captain Price?

[2028] I feel like probably.

[2029] I think the answer is.

[2030] Will it pick up where Modern Warfare 2 left off?

[2031] Dudes on the run?

[2032] Since it's invariably going to new people, maybe they'll skirt around that stuff a little bit.

[2033] I don't know.

[2034] They don't have to pick up minute one after that.

[2035] Yeah.

[2036] They don't have to be all, like, who was it that was getting dragged away?

[2037] Was it?

[2038] It was you, I think, by Price, wasn't it?

[2039] If I remember correctly.

[2040] Wasn't he like, let's get the hell out of here?

[2041] Who was getting, like, firemen carried by other...

[2042] Because you were pulling a knife out of your stomach.

[2043] Yeah, yeah.

[2044] I can't remember.

[2045] And throwing it into Shepard's...

[2046] Something.

[2047] Head.

[2048] Wait, was that his name?

[2049] Yeah.

[2050] The bad guy.

[2051] Yeah.

[2052] Shepard.

[2053] Shepard.

[2054] So which major real -world political situation do you think they'll play off of for a level in this game?

[2055] Libya.

[2056] Libya, yeah.

[2057] Middle East.

[2058] So you're saying not Egypt?

[2059] It's too late.

[2060] Libya happened too late for them to realistically incorporate it.

[2061] So maybe Egypt?

[2062] I think Egypt's probably even too late.

[2063] If it's a Modern Warfare game, I feel like they've gone off the rails so much it could be on Mars.

[2064] Yeah, that's fair.

[2065] They're fighting dwarves underground.

[2066] Great.

[2067] I would totally play that game.

[2068] Yes.

[2069] All right, so we've got to kill these dwarves.

[2070] Got to get underground.

[2071] Get your ass to Mars.

[2072] Yeah, I mean...

[2073] Get behind it all.

[2074] I bet there is Modern Warfare 3.

[2075] The question is, like, who worked on it and what exactly...

[2076] It's a valid question.

[2077] What exactly is the content of it?

[2078] I think that multi -studio story will prove to be true.

[2079] Yeah, totally.

[2080] Infinity Ward is leading the charge, but backed up by...

[2081] Raven and Sledgehammer at all, whoever else.

[2082] I totally believe that.

[2083] And this beachhead studio or whatever will do continued map support or whatever it ends up being.

[2084] If that ends up being true, I'd be really curious to see exactly how disparate that game ends up feeling.

[2085] If that many different studios.

[2086] Because sometimes when there's a lot of studios working on one game, certain elements start feeling really weird.

[2087] Yeah, that can happen.

[2088] But at the same time, there are enough different parts to that game that they can easily have.

[2089] These guys are doing multiplayer.

[2090] These guys are working on the campaign.

[2091] These guys are working on DLC, etc. Also, they have a very clear blueprint.

[2092] True.

[2093] That describes exactly what that game should be.

[2094] You guys are working on the eye -rolling -into -the -back -of -your -head physics.

[2095] It's a very key scene.

[2096] It is.

[2097] It's very huge.

[2098] A 200 -person studio just works on that.

[2099] Yeah.

[2100] That's it for news.

[2101] Okay.

[2102] Sweet.

[2103] Let's talk about new releases.

[2104] Okay.

[2105] Fight Night's out this week?

[2106] Yeah.

[2107] Beyond Good and Evil HD is out this week.

[2108] I think PixelJunk Shooter 2 is out this week.

[2109] Yeah.

[2110] I think you're right.

[2111] And out this week on WiiWare.

[2112] Uh -oh.

[2113] BitTrip Flux from Axis Games.

[2114] One to two players.

[2115] Rated E for everyone.

[2116] 800 Wii points.

[2117] Wow.

[2118] This is the finale.

[2119] That's it, right?

[2120] Yeah, this is it.

[2121] Now I can finally go back and make my way through the entire series.

[2122] Right.

[2123] Follow the story.

[2124] So the BitTrip series comes full circle with BitTrip Flux Commander Video's final adventure.

[2125] Grab your Wii Remote TM controller and get ready for classic paddle -based gameplay as Commander Video returns to the source.

[2126] Whether playing in single -player or cooperative two -player mode, you'll be faced with new challenges that will make even the most experienced bit -trippers wheat.

[2127] Bit -trippers in all caps, as always.

[2128] Enjoy new power -ups, including the full -screen paddle.

[2129] New beat types, including avoid beats.

[2130] And the new meta mode, right along with Commander Video as he completes his mission and returns home.

[2131] Aww.

[2132] Yeah.

[2133] Yeah, that's kind of nice.

[2134] That's kind of like a flagship WiiWare series.

[2135] It's definitely the standout.

[2136] That's it, WiiWare's done.

[2137] It's kind of wild it hasn't been coming to a lot of other platforms.

[2138] Well, it's like the first one came out on PC and iPad slash iPhone.

[2139] They did BitTrip Beat there.

[2140] And I would assume that they would think about doing the rest of them there too.

[2141] I don't know.

[2142] I wonder how well that's done for them.

[2143] I don't know.

[2144] I mean, you know, they've kind of stuck to their guns and kept the whole series as a WiiWare series.

[2145] Yeah.

[2146] I mean, I have to imagine if it was going poorly, they would stop making them at a certain point.

[2147] Right.

[2148] Developer put out a press release last week about acquiring another studio.

[2149] These guys?

[2150] Yeah.

[2151] Gaijin Games?

[2152] I remember that.

[2153] I mean, the studio they were acquiring may have been one guy.

[2154] Sure, sure, sure.

[2155] For all I know.

[2156] We acquired this basement.

[2157] We did.

[2158] I don't know.

[2159] I guess they're doing all right.

[2160] And the snacks contained within.

[2161] And a couple of demos out on WiiWare this week.

[2162] I know you guys love demos.

[2163] Oh, yeah.

[2164] Gods vs. Humans demo version from Zalag.

[2165] One player rated E for everyone.

[2166] Comic mischief.

[2167] Cartoon violence.

[2168] Zero Wii points.

[2169] The full version is 1 ,200 Wii points.

[2170] That's $12.

[2171] $12.

[2172] Embody major gods from Scandinavian, Egyptian, Roman, and Japanese mythologies.

[2173] As a god, you have enough power to rule the humans.

[2174] All but the cheeky ones.

[2175] What?

[2176] Some of them want to enter your domain and have decided to build a tower to confront you.

[2177] Use your divine powers to bring them down and show them who's boss.

[2178] Be careful not to hurt them, though.

[2179] You need people to believe in you.

[2180] Also make sure to befuddle their language at some point.

[2181] The game includes 60 levels for the solo campaign, 16 playable gods with specific powers, 4 hysterical bosses to defeat, and 16 additional challenges for experienced players.

[2182] I still have no idea what you do in that game.

[2183] It sounds like a god game to me. It sounds like that the humans are trying to build a tower to get to you, and you have to stop them, but without killing them.

[2184] Sounds like the Tower of Babel.

[2185] Yeah, but what would you do?

[2186] It sounds like Godfather 2 Black Hand Edition, where you gotta beat the guys up enough to shake them down, but not enough to kill them.

[2187] Alright, that makes more sense.

[2188] Pong Toss Pro Frat Party Games.

[2189] Demo version.

[2190] Spear Pong.

[2191] This is from JV Games Incorporated.

[2192] What's it rated?

[2193] Really?

[2194] Like really?

[2195] Yeah, really.

[2196] Oh, man. One to four players rated E. Alcohol reference, comic mischief, mild language.

[2197] Really?

[2198] You can get an E rating with an alcohol reference?

[2199] Apparently so.

[2200] What the hell?

[2201] It could be a mild reference.

[2202] This is a demo.

[2203] The full version is 600 Wii points.

[2204] Born on college campuses, Pong Toss is the ultimate party game favorite.

[2205] Now Pong Toss Pro takes it to the next level with improved graphics and a redesigned throwing system for complete accuracy.

[2206] Also new to Pong Toss Pro is a tournament mode that supports four, eight, or 16 -team bracket play.

[2207] Pong Toss Pro features six regulation tables and the ability to modify simple house rules.

[2208] Rock it with a high -energy soundtrack and listen to the announcer commenting on your play.

[2209] Oh, man. I know.

[2210] It just sounds more and more intense.

[2211] Rule the table with fireball bonuses for consecutive shots.

[2212] That's regulation.

[2213] In speed, Pong, up to three challengers can compete at the same time.

[2214] Speed and strategy are key in this fast -paced game.

[2215] Jack up your opponents.

[2216] I don't want to do that.

[2217] Jack up your opponents by using a slew of power -ups that will slow them down.

[2218] The first player to sink the last cup wins it all.

[2219] I wonder if there is any actual alcohol in that game at all.

[2220] Or if it's just like if they just got slapped with the alcohol reference because it is just a beer pong.

[2221] There could be a picture of a beer can or something just in the background for ambiance or something.

[2222] I don't know.

[2223] Three DSiWare releases this week.

[2224] Hit us.

[2225] My Little Restaurant from Cubic Games.

[2226] It's Q -U -B -I -C, capital G, all one word.

[2227] One player rated E for everyone, 500 Nintendo DSi points.

[2228] Welcome to My Little Restaurant.

[2229] Hi, out of the table for two?

[2230] Get in here and turn this place from a small diner into a crowded eating palace.

[2231] Help Mikey and Annie seat the guests.

[2232] What?

[2233] Huh?

[2234] Help Mikey and Annie seat the guests.

[2235] Do you have to dash around to do it?

[2236] Collect orders, deliver meals, and earn money.

[2237] Every once in a while, jump into the kitchen and prepare some tasty burgers or perfect sushi.

[2238] Just every once in a while.

[2239] How cooking mama do you think that section will be?

[2240] Every once in a while.

[2241] You won't find a better deal at any other place.

[2242] The game features five restaurant themes, American Diner, Japanese Bar, Ancient Palace, Picnic Fun, and Space Lunchroom.

[2243] I just want a sandwich.

[2244] I don't want to have to work here.

[2245] Well, then you leave.

[2246] Get in the space lunchroom.

[2247] Help Mikey and Annie out.

[2248] Just for a bit.

[2249] Plus two extra cooking games, Burgers for the Chef and Sushi Master Challenge.

[2250] Enjoy 33 unique levels and discover extra features and power -ups.

[2251] You got to get in on that diner -serving -people train.

[2252] Yeah, totally.

[2253] This might close it out with space lunchroom.

[2254] I can't imagine where you go from there.

[2255] I don't know.

[2256] Dwarves.

[2257] Underwater.

[2258] Dwarf, okay.

[2259] Martian dwarves.

[2260] They need to eat, too.

[2261] How about a lunchroom in the core of the sun?

[2262] That'd be a pretty good place.

[2263] What do they serve, then?

[2264] Can I get a rare steak in the core of the sun?

[2265] Rare steak and ice cream.

[2266] You only eat human.

[2267] Okay.

[2268] Magnetic Joe.

[2269] Okay.

[2270] I think that's hilarious.

[2271] Magnetic Joe from Subdued Software.

[2272] One to two players.

[2273] Rated E for everyone.

[2274] Comic mischief.

[2275] 500 Nintendo DSi points.

[2276] Take control of Magnetic Joe.

[2277] All right.

[2278] Everyone's favorite little magnetic sphere.

[2279] I actually have another preferred magnetic sphere.

[2280] Let's hear it.

[2281] All right.

[2282] Yeah, that's what I thought.

[2283] That's what I thought.

[2284] Guide him through 100 exciting mazes filled with spikes, enemies, and other obstacles.

[2285] Help Joe as he pursues his nemesis.

[2286] Dr. Magneval.

[2287] Oh.

[2288] He was on his way to conquer the world.

[2289] All right.

[2290] He was on his way.

[2291] Yeah.

[2292] Oh, I've got to stop picking up my dry cleaning.

[2293] Work in this diner for a little bit.

[2294] He's an up -and -comer.

[2295] Go see Mikey and Annie down at the space lunchroom.

[2296] Make some perfect sushi.

[2297] I guess I'm going to go conquer the world.

[2298] But first, burgers for the chef.

[2299] The mazes are full of magnets that push and pull Joe in different directions.

[2300] Your task is to skillfully use their magnetic force to get Joe to the exit unharmed.

[2301] Use the magnetic force carefully.

[2302] The levels are filled with surprises, and the boss could be lurking.

[2303] You know, it sounds like they picked the wrong hero to go after Dr. Magneval or whatever.

[2304] Magnetic Joe.

[2305] He's just going to stick to him.

[2306] Yeah, guess what?

[2307] I'm not magnetic.

[2308] I'll walk right by everything and kill the giant magnet.

[2309] There were so many opportunities for ICP references in that press release they never went for, and I was really disappointed.

[2310] That's why it's from subdued software.

[2311] They know better.

[2312] Touche.

[2313] And closing it out for this week's hot new releases, Monster Buster Club.

[2314] Wow.

[2315] They're just putting words together now.

[2316] Monster Buster Club from Nord Current.

[2317] You're such a monster buster.

[2318] Monster Buster Club is one player.

[2319] It's rated E for every one comic mischief, mild cartoon violence, 800 Nintendo DSi points.

[2320] Earth is about to be invaded by evil aliens, and their first stop is Singletown.

[2321] What?

[2322] Is that where all the buster monsters live?

[2323] Yo, as long as they're around to save the day, the members of the Monster Buster Club refuse to let this happen.

[2324] Join Kathy, Danny, Sam, and Chris on an exciting adventure based on the hit animated TV series Monster Buster Club.

[2325] And stop these troublemakers from taking over.

[2326] You're right.

[2327] I am old.

[2328] Yeah.

[2329] As you search for the villainous Nos...

[2330] Nosida.

[2331] N -O -S -I -D -D -A.

[2332] Nosida.

[2333] Sure.

[2334] Uh -huh.

[2335] You and the NBC team will battle aliens outside the school, race your car through the streets of Singletown, solve puzzles, engage in air battles, and even visit outer space.

[2336] Gotta go to that space lounge.

[2337] Yeah.

[2338] The game features a highly interactive world.

[2339] With exciting gameplay that challenges your speed timing and puzzle solving abilities.

[2340] Discover a wide variety of puzzles and challenges to overcome using the Nintendo DSi TM stylus.

[2341] Play as any of the four NBC characters.

[2342] Kathy, Danny, Chris, or Sam.

[2343] It's good that they felt the need to bring the names back.

[2344] How much was that one again?

[2345] That's 800 Nintendo DSi points for Monster Buster Club.

[2346] If you're a monster buster, I highly recommend checking it out.

[2347] Singletown.

[2348] I got a monster buster buster.

[2349] Is that town just, like, full of spinsters and, like, weird, like, 20 -something pickup artists?

[2350] It's all the busters.

[2351] Yes.

[2352] Makes them feel good.

[2353] All right, that's it for new releases, and now it's time for...

[2354] Perhaps some e -mails.

[2355] Yes, e -mails.

[2356] Bombcast at GiantBomb .com or NDX at BXI.

[2357] What?

[2358] Is the email address.

[2359] What?

[2360] Nothing.

[2361] To send your emails to, this first one comes in from Brian in the UK who wants to know about Klax.

[2362] In the 90s, it was time for Klax.

[2363] Okay.

[2364] It is now 2011.

[2365] What time is it for?

[2366] Crick Crack.

[2367] It's time for Crick Crack.

[2368] Crick Crack is that new Klax is what you're saying?

[2369] You need some Crick Crack.

[2370] You can't even crunch it.

[2371] I know.

[2372] It's just mushy.

[2373] You have to go out of your way.

[2374] What if I cram all of it in my mouth at one time?

[2375] It's like the third time I've heard someone say that today, and every time I just nod.

[2376] All I can do is smile and nod.

[2377] How many of those times was it Brad's fingers?

[2378] Yeah, ketchup, Polish ketchup pans.

[2379] Sorry, Alex.

[2380] I don't know what time it is.

[2381] There's been no follow -up for Klax.

[2382] There is still time for Klax in 2011.

[2383] That's the answer, especially the NES version with that blob ball thing, which was a story mode.

[2384] Pretty silly.

[2385] Mike from New Hampshire says, Hey, you guys.

[2386] First off, thanks for coming to PAX East.

[2387] We haven't gone yet.

[2388] No guarantees, man. I would like to wear my Whiskey Media member shirt on Friday of PAX East to start conversation with other Whiskey Media members, but Friday is also the day of your panel.

[2389] PCU clearly states that you don't wear the T -shirt of the band you're going to see.

[2390] So true.

[2391] You don't want to be that guy.

[2392] I was wondering if the same rule applied to panels.

[2393] Yes.

[2394] Well, I'll wear two shirts.

[2395] Yeah, you can wear two shirts, you can change.

[2396] Also, I almost want to say it's totally fine to do it because you can't take life lessons from anything that Jeremy Piven was involved with.

[2397] That's true.

[2398] Charlie Sheen, on the other hand.

[2399] Yeah, exactly.

[2400] He would wear no shirt.

[2401] Nothing but life lessons.

[2402] He's got life lessons spilling out of him.

[2403] How about the dangers of consuming mercury?

[2404] Yeah, that might be.

[2405] That was a cautionary tale.

[2406] I guess that is something we could learn from Jeremy Piven.

[2407] You could make an exception there.

[2408] Be the worst person alive.

[2409] Eh.

[2410] I'd say wear the t -shirt.

[2411] Why not?

[2412] You'll be among friends.

[2413] Yeah, totally.

[2414] Yeah.

[2415] I'd say wear it.

[2416] Do what you feel.

[2417] Yeah.

[2418] See how you feel that morning.

[2419] Yeah.

[2420] You know?

[2421] Don't make these.

[2422] These are game time decisions you're talking about.

[2423] Don't plan too far ahead.

[2424] You overthink it.

[2425] It'll make you crazy.

[2426] Frank from Texas.

[2427] I was just playing through Halo Reach recently and I realized I hate using the assault rifle because I don't care much for the crosshairs.

[2428] I prefer more accurate weapons, so the smaller the reticle, the better.

[2429] Do you guys have any favorite crosshairs or preferences on scopes versus iron sights?

[2430] So this is happening.

[2431] All right.

[2432] It's a heady question.

[2433] I'm not prepared.

[2434] I like a nice red dot.

[2435] All I need is a dot.

[2436] Or a dot with a circle around the dot.

[2437] I'm more of a cross guy.

[2438] I like that 3D style.

[2439] Red cross.

[2440] Some of those crosshairs.

[2441] I never needed the circle.

[2442] Just the dot.

[2443] Yeah, just the dot's fine.

[2444] Yeah, just the dot's fine.

[2445] Yeah.

[2446] Also, that was sent from his iPhone.

[2447] In case you were wondering.

[2448] He really needed to send that question as soon as he thought of it.

[2449] Oh, God.

[2450] Wait, wait, wait.

[2451] I've got to get this in there.

[2452] Bomb cast it.

[2453] What?

[2454] Damn it.

[2455] I'm driving.

[2456] In my head, this person is also driving.

[2457] Chris from Tampa, Florida says, Hello, gents.

[2458] I was thinking about the long history of Duke Nukem Forever and the many people who have worked on the game in its past.

[2459] My question to you guys is, how long do you think the credits for Duke will last?

[2460] Will it be the longest credit sequence in history?

[2461] Or will Gearbox decide to only put people who recently worked on the game in the credits?

[2462] So they actually have a site up.

[2463] I don't know if you saw this.

[2464] Gearbox put up a website saying, Hey!

[2465] Were you affiliated with the development of Duke Nukem Forever and like to be credited in the game?

[2466] God, I was hoping that's what you were going to say.

[2467] That's amazing.

[2468] That's pretty cool.

[2469] Like they've just like lost.

[2470] The master list at some point.

[2471] Yeah.

[2472] It's like, you know, fill out this form and we'll look into it.

[2473] Like George Broussard's basement flooded one time.

[2474] Right.

[2475] We've got nothing.

[2476] And it's like, you know, obvious entries for people to actually work on games.

[2477] And it's like, if you're like press who has a significant tie to the history of the development of this game, you may qualify.

[2478] Let us know.

[2479] Like if you argue with George Broussard on Usenet once, you know, by all means.

[2480] Let's get in the credits.

[2481] Let's get in the credits for that game.

[2482] And we can put it on our pages.

[2483] Oh, God, no. But still, even with all those people, would those credits be any longer than something like Rock Band, Beatles?

[2484] That was by far the longest credit sequence I've ever sat through.

[2485] That is like half an hour of credits.

[2486] Are you counting all the photo portion as part of the overall credit time or just the roll?

[2487] The whole roll.

[2488] The whole thing.

[2489] From the moment the credits start.

[2490] It's not how long your credits are, though.

[2491] It's how fast you scroll it.

[2492] Yeah, that's true.

[2493] You've got to be able to pause it.

[2494] Bolt Storm, you can totally pause the credits roll.

[2495] As we saw in Modern Warfare, was it two?

[2496] You can have a really long credit list that goes by real fast.

[2497] I was like, here's the activation dude's pace.

[2498] Cal from Australia.

[2499] Do you live in fear that the term dick tits will get used so much that it slingshots around the moon of irony and becomes hurling back to Earth as a bona fide swear?

[2500] It's only in the game once and not in a particularly good spot.

[2501] It's not well used for it coming out in those trailers and being the thing that people latched onto.

[2502] It's not represented in the game as a major thing.

[2503] They use the word dick way too often, though.

[2504] They absolutely do.

[2505] I don't live in fear.

[2506] I'm not worried about it.

[2507] It's just too stupid.

[2508] It will not hit the window.

[2509] Bolt Storm is a fine game, but I don't know that six months from now anybody's going to be saying much of anything about it.

[2510] You think it's one of those sort of like...

[2511] good in the instant you play it and then kind of forgettable type experiences?

[2512] I mean, I bet there are some things in there some people will pick up and run with.

[2513] You don't think it'll be a franchise?

[2514] Oh, I don't know.

[2515] I think it'll be a franchise.

[2516] That comes down to how well it sells.

[2517] Yeah.

[2518] I think they could do a Bulletstorm 2.

[2519] Yeah.

[2520] I think there's definitely room for it.

[2521] It's like design -wise, there's definitely stuff they could do.

[2522] I just want to say, maybe worst cover.

[2523] I've seen it.

[2524] The Xbox version is like, what is that?

[2525] Yeah, the cover art, terrible.

[2526] It's like the bottom of a shoe?

[2527] Yeah.

[2528] Yeah.

[2529] The boxed PC version, is it different?

[2530] From Bolt Storm?

[2531] Yeah.

[2532] You got a hold of the boxed PC.

[2533] Is it different from the cover art?

[2534] Different from the console?

[2535] No, no, no. It's the same.

[2536] Because on the Xbox, like when you see people play it, the PC version, it's a different box art. It's the old box.

[2537] And then maybe that's the one they'll switch to when it's not limited edition anymore or something weird like that.

[2538] Gosh.

[2539] Yeah, I don't know.

[2540] I feel like they should have stuck with that other box art because the big boot print thing just looks...

[2541] It's awful.

[2542] It's hard to tell you what it is.

[2543] It's no Borderlands.

[2544] Dean in Wollongong, Australia.

[2545] Wollongong.

[2546] With Gearbox stepping in and cleaning up the mess of Duke Nukem, which developer can we now charge with completing Valve's work on Half -Life Episode 3?

[2547] How about Valve?

[2548] Valve needs to be taught a lesson here.

[2549] If you don't use it, you lose it.

[2550] Is that how it works?

[2551] Just sit on a franchise long enough and, nope, sorry, I'm developing it.

[2552] I heard Twisted Pixels doing it and it's all FMV.

[2553] Amazing.

[2554] Yeah, they should make a game.

[2555] They passed it to MGS and now it is a Kinect game.

[2556] It's just going to be Half -Life 3 at this point, right?

[2557] There's not even going to be an episode.

[2558] It's just Half -Life 3.

[2559] I don't even know.

[2560] It has to be.

[2561] It has to be.

[2562] I think it has to be.

[2563] Yeah.

[2564] I don't think they should do another episode for Half -Life 2 at this point.

[2565] I think they should just make Half -Life 3.

[2566] What would even be the point?

[2567] No, they should put out Half -Life 3 and then put out Half -Life 2 episode 3 as like a prequel.

[2568] Like, here's what you missed.

[2569] It's the pre -order bonus.

[2570] You only get that if you buy it from GameStop.

[2571] Doesn't making a new Half -Life...

[2572] With a new number on it, kind of bring a new engine requirement and stuff.

[2573] Yeah.

[2574] I think at this point, absolutely.

[2575] A major update in a lot of ways.

[2576] God, I would hope so.

[2577] Source engine needs an overall.

[2578] So you can't use the same stock weapons and the same art assets and stuff.

[2579] Yes.

[2580] As someone who is weeks away from building a brand new PC, yes.

[2581] It is time.

[2582] Yes.

[2583] You would play Half -Life 3 on a PC?

[2584] I imagine you would probably have to at some point.

[2585] Yeah, I would.

[2586] They ship everything.

[2587] I mean, Valve is a multi -platform developer.

[2588] I was thinking in the context of a reviewer and someone who has to play a lot of games, you would probably have to play that PC version at some point.

[2589] What if they call it Half -Life 3 Episode 1?

[2590] I think everybody will just...

[2591] What if they just call it Half -Life Episode 3?

[2592] Like what?

[2593] It's Barney.

[2594] It's the original engine.

[2595] Yeah.

[2596] Scrolling through some of these emails here.

[2597] Oh, God.

[2598] This is an even scarier proposition.

[2599] Uh -oh.

[2600] Jean -Francois writes in to say, The current generation of consoles helped the adoption of widescreen HDTVs.

[2601] Now that 21x9 widescreen televisions are barely starting to hit the market, do you think the next -gen consoles will have the option of displaying games and movies in such a ratio?

[2602] I think it is the next logical step, and it would be great if they did.

[2603] I hate this guy's logic.

[2604] You know, ready for PC games to stop supporting 16x9 also?

[2605] 21x9, jeez.

[2606] What is that?

[2607] Is that like...

[2608] I don't think that's film ratio.

[2609] Is that cinematic, like 35mm or whatever, like 2 .35 to 1 or something?

[2610] Maybe.

[2611] Somebody do the ratio for me. That sounds about right, because 18x9 would be...

[2612] 10 .5 to 4 .5.

[2613] I don't know, but I don't want that either.

[2614] No, that sounds crazy.

[2615] Is it like a curved wraparound kind of thing or something?

[2616] Well, movie screens are...

[2617] That's what I was saying with the aspect ratio.

[2618] But I mean, where would you put that in a house?

[2619] What are you going to watch on it?

[2620] Nothing.

[2621] Right.

[2622] Nobody's ever going to make anything for that.

[2623] PC games now.

[2624] I guess maybe that's what people said with 4x3, but I don't know.

[2625] It was a long time before you got a 16x9 television at home.

[2626] Yeah, I don't know.

[2627] Let's get a couple more of these in here.

[2628] Nick from North Carolina.

[2629] I was wondering, who do you think Bulletstorm's kind of terrible attitude and sense of humor comes from?

[2630] People can fly or epic.

[2631] All the large -scale space marine machismo stuff seems distinctly epic, and the over -the -top weapons and enemy design is distinctly PCF, but the source of all the edgy humor in -betweens is still a mystery to me. What do you guys think?

[2632] I work with the theory that it started with People Can Fly and Epic just egged them the hell on.

[2633] Like, no, make it crazier, dude.

[2634] Make it crazier.

[2635] My understanding is that the original script was out of PCF and had way more cursing in it.

[2636] Yeah.

[2637] Almost like that Kane and Lynch style thing of dudes who don't necessarily speak a ton of English.

[2638] Right.

[2639] Getting their English on.

[2640] You fuck stick, I will fuck you in the mouth.

[2641] I have to say, I think Ishii is actually a decent character.

[2642] I like all the weird warring for control between his human brain and the computer stuff.

[2643] They fade the weird robot distortion on his voice in and out.

[2644] That stuff's kind of neat.

[2645] It is pretty cool.

[2646] And that's going to do it for emails.

[2647] And subsequently, that's going to do it for this installment episode.

[2648] edition of the Giant Popcast.

[2649] How do you guys feel about that?

[2650] I'm pretty excited.

[2651] I'm good with it.

[2652] That just means that now we're in GDC.

[2653] Yeah, so GDC, it's upon us.

[2654] We've got some appointments lined up.

[2655] We're going to see more Batman, hopefully get an interview with that.

[2656] Do you think it is playable in some form out there?

[2657] I don't know that they're going to necessarily let us play it, but we will be closer to it.

[2658] We'll be closer to the screen, and I guess we will see a little bit more of it.

[2659] than we did at the Microsoft thing.

[2660] And they're going to issue some video.

[2661] We're not going to be taking our own video of that game.

[2662] We're also going to see Mortal Kombat again.

[2663] Sounds like we're going to sit down with Ed Boon and talk to him a little bit as well.

[2664] So look for that.

[2665] What else?

[2666] Twisted Metal.

[2667] Yeah, Twisted Metal's out there.

[2668] Infamous 2's still on the books?

[2669] Infamous 2 is tomorrow.

[2670] Today.

[2671] Sometime.

[2672] We need to figure out who's going to stuff.

[2673] There's the all -day EA thing where they're going to be showing Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning.

[2674] Rich Gallup's Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning.

[2675] The sole developer on that.

[2676] And then there's that Sony stuff, so I don't know.

[2677] We need to figure out.

[2678] Uncharted 3.

[2679] Hopefully Ryan will get unsick at some point, because I think we're going to need...

[2680] Everybody in here for this, especially if you're getting sick and I'm in this room breathing your air.

[2681] And I can't tell if me being so hot right now is me getting sick or just this room being hot.

[2682] It's pretty hot in here.

[2683] It's not just you.

[2684] This week sucks.

[2685] Yeah.

[2686] God damn it.

[2687] Well, I'm going to do the poker tournament tomorrow, so that'll be fun.

[2688] You also suck.

[2689] Yeah, you also suck.

[2690] Enter the charity poker tournament.

[2691] Yeah, I bought in for it.

[2692] What's going on?

[2693] Battlefield 3?

[2694] Yeah, there's a Battlefield 3 event.

[2695] They're not letting people play that there.

[2696] We know that much.

[2697] Yeah, let's see.

[2698] Infamous 2, Uncharted 3.

[2699] Yeah.

[2700] It's going to be around.

[2701] That seems like kind of a big thing.

[2702] Is there Resistance stuff going on?

[2703] There is Resistance, yeah.

[2704] It's going to be around.

[2705] Multiplayer, though, right?

[2706] Yeah.

[2707] Okay.

[2708] We might see Dead Island at some point, maybe?

[2709] I would like to see Dead Island.

[2710] Possibly.

[2711] Coming full circle from E3 2006.

[2712] I would like to see it.

[2713] TBD.

[2714] Yeah.

[2715] So there are definitely going to be games here.

[2716] The appointments are such that I don't know that we'll make it to any of the talks.

[2717] It's kind of a bummer.

[2718] There's some stuff worth seeing.

[2719] Bring some talks to us.

[2720] Exactly.

[2721] There was a post -mortem on Super Meat Boy today.

[2722] Oh, really?

[2723] I would have loved to go to that.

[2724] That would have been interesting.

[2725] Oh, well.

[2726] Yeah.

[2727] So, yeah, expect more from us.

[2728] We're going to be trying to rope people back here for some podcasts, but I'm not sure.

[2729] It's like the kind of usual suspects.

[2730] It seems like a lot of them didn't come into town.

[2731] So we'll be out there talking the talk, seeing who we can drag back to our bar and beat information out of them and see if we can make something happen.

[2732] But, yeah, I don't know.

[2733] Keep checking out the site.

[2734] Also, coming up this week, details on our upcoming world tour.

[2735] Say what?

[2736] Details on our upcoming world tour.

[2737] Say what?

[2738] Say what?

[2739] We're coming to your continent.

[2740] Oh, man. Oh, no. Coming to where you live.

[2741] If certain things, you know, it's like you're going to have an opportunity to rally your homeland troops and find a way to get us onto your continent, assuming you live.

[2742] On one of the three continents that we are set up to go to.

[2743] It's good odds.

[2744] Yeah.

[2745] It's pretty good.

[2746] Yeah.

[2747] It's pretty good.

[2748] Looking at the membership numbers and seeing – or the traffic numbers and seeing where people come from.

[2749] We're looking at hitting all the major spots.

[2750] Antarctica.

[2751] Hopefully the continent is not that big.

[2752] Yeah.

[2753] So we'll be looking to come to you and bring some magic.

[2754] I don't know what we bring.

[2755] American beer.

[2756] T -shirts and Funyuns.

[2757] I don't know.

[2758] We're bringing Bud Light to your town.

[2759] We're not exactly Charlie Sheen now.

[2760] I don't know if magic is what we're peddling.

[2761] But I am on a drug called Charlie Sheen.

[2762] All right.

[2763] And your face hasn't melted off.

[2764] Not yet.

[2765] Not yet.

[2766] But the lab's going to explode any day now.

[2767] I need to take it down and move it to a different motel.

[2768] I should probably get on that.

[2769] So let's call it a show.

[2770] No TNT this week.

[2771] No TNT this week.

[2772] Happy hour this week on Friday for you risky media members.

[2773] Be sure to roll through on Friday and see how that goes.

[2774] See what the week has done to us.

[2775] See who's left standing.

[2776] Yeah, exactly.

[2777] It's just going to be Drew by himself.

[2778] No, he'll be down.

[2779] Whatever, he is bulletproof.

[2780] It's true.

[2781] Drew's going to be the only one going to PAX East.

[2782] Yeah.

[2783] He'll be running and shooting.

[2784] Gosh, that's the weekend.

[2785] And that's the week after.

[2786] So, yeah, that's, of course, if you're going to PAX East, we've got a panel Friday night at PAX East.

[2787] Get ready, Boston.

[2788] Yeah.

[2789] And think about attending the rock band night on Thursday in Boston as well.

[2790] Maybe some stuff will happen.

[2791] Maybe we'll be there.

[2792] Some magic.

[2793] Again, more magic.

[2794] Magic.

[2795] Spreading this magic around.

[2796] That's it.

[2797] It is on.

[2798] We are going to be F -18s.

[2799] Yeah.

[2800] Dropping ordinance on the ground in Boston.

[2801] Poetry in our fingers.

[2802] Tigers in our blood.

[2803] Goddesses.

[2804] Goddesses.

[2805] Exactly.

[2806] See you next week or tomorrow or something.

[2807] Whenever this next podcast happens.

[2808] I don't even know anymore.