Giant Bombcast Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2010: Paul Barnett's Top 10

[0] Ladies and gentlemen, I don't even know where to start here.

[1] Special bonus.

[2] Special bonus little audio recording here.

[3] So we've been having some of our guests from the industry and beyond providing top ten lists to kind of complement our own for our Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2010.

[4] So today in an audio format is Electronic Artsist's own Paul Barnett Paul.

[5] How's it going?

[6] So a couple of things.

[7] Get close to that microphone.

[8] Lee Alexander's not here, right?

[9] That is accurate.

[10] It's just the three of us.

[11] I can't get ambushed again.

[12] Well, except for us and this Tumblr of Johnny Walker that you've got going.

[13] And secondly, here's a foam mallet.

[14] Yes.

[15] And if for any reason I talk too much, hit me. It's only because I get excited.

[16] No, it's okay.

[17] We can edit around it.

[18] But we should set the scene here.

[19] Paul and I are both wearing festive holiday Santa hats.

[20] They are?

[21] Yes, Christmas.

[22] I brought them specially for us.

[23] Yes.

[24] Because it's Christmas Day for the people who aren't paying attention to when this was launched.

[25] We actually recorded on Christmas Day.

[26] Sure, sure.

[27] It was recorded on Christmas Day.

[28] No. No. We can't.

[29] We could.

[30] No, because we don't start until after Christmas Day.

[31] You're right.

[32] We don't start until the 27th.

[33] Yeah.

[34] Oh, well, this was a recording we made on Christmas Day.

[35] All right, so here it is.

[36] Yes, we came here on Christmas Day.

[37] So Santa Paul has shown up with presents.

[38] I actually have brought presents.

[39] I've brought presents that you're going to give away.

[40] Let me explain what they are as well because I've got a couple of them.

[41] This here is the EA Crew Edition.

[42] Oh, wow.

[43] Of Hot Pursuit.

[44] So this is a – explain the limitedness of this.

[45] Well, I would do, but I don't really understand it.

[46] Everyone in EA who's in the games label was given this, so it's a specially pressed, special exclusives, tons of extra cars thing.

[47] It's the only way of getting all of them together.

[48] So we have here a copy of EA Crew Edition 2010 of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit for the PC.

[49] It's got a festive holiday outer package to it.

[50] It says Hot Pursuit in the front in a nice cursive font.

[51] Leaves and berries.

[52] Wow.

[53] It includes four EA employees only.

[54] Mercedes -Benz SLR McLaren 722 edition.

[55] Maserati Quattroporte Sport GTS.

[56] Chevy Corvette Z06.

[57] Lamborghini Reviton.

[58] Bugatti Veyron 16 .4.

[59] Aston Martin.

[60] That's how you say that, right?

[61] That's exactly how you say it.

[62] 100%.

[63] DBS and the Audi R8 5 .2 FSI.

[64] So that's a gift for Giant Bomb.

[65] This is a gift for Giant Bomb users.

[66] We'll figure out some way to give this to people.

[67] To pass that along.

[68] Absolutely.

[69] Keep it for myself.

[70] And then Carrie, friend of the show.

[71] Yes, Carrie Goosko's friend of the show, producer at EA Mythic.

[72] She's insisted that I bring you some of these.

[73] Oh, so close to spilling this energy drink everywhere.

[74] God damn, that was terrible.

[75] Street Fighter energy drink.

[76] Yeah, that would have been bad.

[77] Warhammer Online, we have a grip of patches for your sweet jean jacket, because clearly everyone who plays Warhammer Online would have...

[78] 80s rocker jackets.

[79] An 80s jean jacket.

[80] Yeah, that's exactly what they have, and it's a verminous horde.

[81] Verminous horde.

[82] That's a band, right?

[83] Maybe.

[84] And then this one, I stole this off marketing.

[85] Which...

[86] So it says war, death, kill, custard.

[87] And it's got...

[88] 8 -bit Paul.

[89] 8 -bit Paul.

[90] It's my third year at EA.

[91] Ah.

[92] So I stole that.

[93] Can you explain the custard reference?

[94] Are you known for extolling the virtues of custard within the walls of EA?

[95] I was having to explain the realms of chaos in Warhammer.

[96] Yes.

[97] And the way the Americans have generally been doing it is like, you know...

[98] devilry, satanic lava.

[99] And I said, no, no, no, it's chaos.

[100] You know, it's badgers singing songs and custard falling from the sky.

[101] It's anything.

[102] Yeah, it's all custard falling from the sky and not realizing that you guys really don't have custard.

[103] So I could have really said anything, but people just kept saying custard to me for a while.

[104] Custard falling from the sky would be pretty frightening.

[105] Something about custard just sounds like a...

[106] Like a curse word.

[107] Sounds like you're swearing at me when you...

[108] Custard.

[109] Custard.

[110] How dare you, sir?

[111] Custard you.

[112] So I brought all them a season of goodwill and cheer.

[113] Very nice.

[114] Well, thank you, Paul, for these.

[115] Our users will thank you for these as we disseminate them to the masses.

[116] But what we're here for in actuality...

[117] is for you to give us, to deliver in classic, outsized, Paul Burnett fashion, your games of the year for 2010.

[118] It's been a year.

[119] It has.

[120] So the first thing is there's not a lot of console stuff in my top ten.

[121] That's in no way a reflection of the console market.

[122] It's been a tremendous year for consoles.

[123] They've been really, really great games.

[124] It's more a reflection of the games I've had to be looking at and playing at for the secret project that I'm working on.

[125] And so it sort of reflects that.

[126] So are you suggesting that if people look at this list, they can divine what it is that you're doing?

[127] Probably not.

[128] He would suggest no such thing.

[129] Legally, he cannot suggest any such thing.

[130] In no particular order.

[131] They just wrote them down as they came to me. Oh, there has to be some order.

[132] Does there?

[133] There has to be some order.

[134] Oh, all right then.

[135] If you don't have order, Paul, then what's the point of a list?

[136] Then there's just custard coming out of the sky.

[137] In that order, there's chaos.

[138] There is chaos.

[139] Okay, so one of my favorite games was Fruit Ninja.

[140] Fruit Ninja.

[141] Did it even come out this year?

[142] It did now.

[143] Okay.

[144] Well, it's only when I become aware of it.

[145] My game of the year for me, one of them is Fruit Ninja.

[146] Fair enough.

[147] Because it combines two really important things.

[148] Fruits and ninjas.

[149] Fruits and ninjas.

[150] And what I really like about it from a sort of game designery point of view is that you get it on your iPad and your family and all of them, every age, quickly understands what to do and can quickly play it.

[151] So it's a marvelous thing for bringing people together around a table, and it's harmlessly chopping up fruit as a ninja.

[152] It is a low barrier to entry for that game.

[153] I also feel that it represents, as far as kind of the iPod, iPad, like that style of game, the swipe is one of the few actions.

[154] that you can really execute well on that platform.

[155] I think it's, you know, Fruit Ninja is representative of kind of like this first or second step of people figuring out, like, what is the best way to actually interact with this.

[156] Yeah, like reining it in and realizing, like, this slash is actually quite satisfying.

[157] Yeah.

[158] And we can make gameplay out of this motion.

[159] So bizarrely, in my opinion, all the best.

[160] iPad games involve single finger input.

[161] Oh, yeah.

[162] Of some description.

[163] Because that's actually what the iPad excels at, is what he's good at.

[164] And if you actually have to do anything else, then it's rubbish.

[165] And so it's another reason why I thought...

[166] I tend to agree.

[167] Paul, this is where we get along.

[168] Yeah.

[169] It's not just because we've got a bag of peas in front of us.

[170] No, no. That's for something else.

[171] Jeff Green will come back and get his empty pea bag someday.

[172] No, he doesn't get to take that back.

[173] We're going to fill it up and give it back to him.

[174] I never want to collect an empty pee bag.

[175] Ever again.

[176] You want to collect a full pee bag?

[177] I don't know about that.

[178] Game number two.

[179] Game number two.

[180] PC games.

[181] Digital.

[182] A love story.

[183] I don't know what that is.

[184] It's interactive fiction.

[185] Okay.

[186] It's lots of text and windows.

[187] You read it.

[188] You pay attention.

[189] You put in commands.

[190] You type.

[191] It's quite short.

[192] It's written by a lady.

[193] It's wonderful.

[194] It's an example of imagination gaming.

[195] It can play on any platform.

[196] It takes about eight minutes, start to finish.

[197] Is this the one in the apartment with the couple?

[198] Might be.

[199] Okay.

[200] To tell you anything about it is to ruin it.

[201] Okay.

[202] But digital love story, as a friend of mine, Quinn, said, when the credits rolled at the end, he found himself welling up with tears.

[203] And in his head, he kept saying, I can't believe it.

[204] Surely it wasn't that good.

[205] But apparently it is.

[206] Eight minutes.

[207] What I like about it is it's showing you that actually great design can still come from the very elementary, rudimentary building box.

[208] Nothing but ASCII done well.

[209] And that story really does.

[210] Because we were in the day and age where people were worried about whether the story's any good.

[211] And so digital, a love story, it's awesome.

[212] See, this is interesting, Jeff, and part of why I was excited to get a bunch of other folks from the industry in on this top ten list action.

[213] The difference of perspective and how that informs what you consider the best or most important games of the year.

[214] Because I feel like for the game player, you want as complete and good an experience as you can have.

[215] Right.

[216] Like a high level of polish, a lot of depth, things like that.

[217] But it seems like the kind of the designer perspective, the thing that I keep seeing is it doesn't have to be a fully formed game.

[218] It just has to have an excellent kernel.

[219] It has to have something of interest at its core center.

[220] Or going into new areas or re -engaging old areas or broadening the market.

[221] But it's always games that's like, well, we wouldn't call this a great game, but there is...

[222] There is something at the core of this that's important or can be learned from.

[223] Well, for the longest time, the drivers on games, commercial games, is to do with the size of the market, the delivery system, and therefore the potential profit.

[224] And what's been happening over the last three years is all those rules have been challenged, and they've been challenged super aggressively.

[225] We now have completely different people effectively spending money on what we would call commercial gaming.

[226] We have completely different delivery systems, mobile phones and stuff like that, that actually prove it.

[227] that you can play games, and therefore we have different size of market, and we have different budgets.

[228] We no longer just need to do a $75 million game.

[229] You've got guys working in back bedrooms knocking a game out, making tons of money on it.

[230] So it's completely changed it, which leads rather bizarrely and tangentially to the next one.

[231] There's actually multiple versions of it.

[232] The one I picked was Foursquare.

[233] And this is this idea that you go and book yourself in when you go to Starbucks and you can collect points and level up and leave objects and real live achievements.

[234] Which you could argue isn't a game, but the reason it was in is because people who actively will tell you they're not gamers will do that.

[235] And it is clearly a game because they're going back to the same place to level up to become mayor.

[236] It clicks clearly again.

[237] They're grinding.

[238] They're grinding, yeah.

[239] They're jailbreaking their phone and then hacking the geolocation services so they can check in from home without having to leave.

[240] And then bizarrely, I was in a meeting where I got the marketing term for the market segment that these people are.

[241] It's social light, L -I -T -E -S.

[242] And it's someone who has a lot of social media.

[243] They're on Facebook.

[244] They're on Twitter.

[245] Paul, you're going to have to leave.

[246] And there were other games in his top ten list.

[247] And then we murdered him.

[248] This is what a marketing man says.

[249] Just for telling us that.

[250] Just for relaying that information.

[251] But here's the point.

[252] When the marketing people are telling you there is a viable, measurable segment, then as a designer, it's become fact.

[253] It's become something you now have to pay attention to it.

[254] And you now have to at least take it into account.

[255] And just look at how achievements have completely changed gaming now.

[256] It's almost inconceivable for a game to come out that doesn't pay attention to achievements and Facebook and Twitter.

[257] So I thought that was really interesting.

[258] Next one is an indie game, Realm of the Mad God.

[259] It actually won a little independent festival competition.

[260] I know the guys were making it, and they're actually ex -Google guys.

[261] It's a web -based browser game, and you basically log into a LAN, and it's got the old, what was the Super Nintendo, was it Mode 7?

[262] Mode 7, scaling and rotation.

[263] Yeah, scaling and rotation.

[264] Okay, I'm in.

[265] They just shoot the hell out of things as these little fantasy dudes.

[266] And what's really interesting about them is they've got a blog.

[267] They're very open about how they're making the game.

[268] It's really just using clever server technology, and then they bolted a game on it.

[269] And they're trying just to figure out how to do it.

[270] And so it's public, fast iteration of an interesting game that's really quick to play.

[271] And they're really nice.

[272] They're really approachable.

[273] The game's really interesting, fast and quick.

[274] And as you play it, every month it changes and alters and gets better and is really interesting.

[275] And so from a game design point of view, it's really interesting.

[276] to see two people using public available graphics doing something that's interesting and challenging.

[277] So I thought that was really good.

[278] And I'm off to meet them soon because they're really nice people.

[279] Then I've got an Xbox Live game, finally.

[280] It's actually from the Indie Channel.

[281] I really like the Indie Channel on Xbox.

[282] I think there's some really, really interesting things on it.

[283] The fact that Microsoft get out of the way, they get reviewed, you put them up.

[284] It's unfortunate that you have to sift through.

[285] It's got that kind of Apple App Store thing of...

[286] There are a lot of things on there that aren't necessarily worth your time.

[287] Might be melting.

[288] Take my hat off.

[289] What's that?

[290] Oh, is the hat too much for you?

[291] Oh, thank God.

[292] There's no ventilation in this room.

[293] There is no ventilation.

[294] Yeah, there's no way of doing recommendations.

[295] There's no way of doing reviews, which is really sad.

[296] So you have to just sort of sift through it.

[297] But there were some real gems in there.

[298] Originally, I was going to put Soulcaster in, which is like 8 -bit, and you summon little monsters in a little dungeon.

[299] It's quite cool.

[300] An epic dungeon that got like a wave because that was really interesting.

[301] reminiscent to a very strong idea that I've been playing with.

[302] Not that I'm...

[303] Realm of the Mad God, also reminiscent of strong ideas that I like.

[304] But the one that I picked was Minor Dig Deeper.

[305] I've heard of this.

[306] Minor Dig Deeper.

[307] Yeah, which is a sort of side -on boulder dash thing, and you've got a little light on your helmet.

[308] It's very, very simple to play.

[309] As soon as you say boulder dash, I'm like, all right, let's go.

[310] Rockford, let's make it happen.

[311] It's all in there.

[312] The boulders fall.

[313] There are diamonds to find.

[314] You keep going to your shop.

[315] You make little elevators and lifts.

[316] It's mindless.

[317] It's quick.

[318] It's cheap.

[319] And I've played it.

[320] I've completed it eight times, which is unusual for me because I don't have any spare capacity.

[321] You've prestiged eight times.

[322] What is it about that package that compels you specifically?

[323] It's a really, really simple idea delivered with charm and wonder.

[324] All right.

[325] So a lot of problems people have when they do it.

[326] How do you quantify wonder?

[327] Allowing someone to see one good idea without trying to put extra ideas on top of it.

[328] Because if you have one strong idea, it's good.

[329] If you have two strong ideas, it doesn't.

[330] bring twice as many people into the game.

[331] If you put more ideas on, you've got a good chance of hiding your strong ideas until you can't see them anymore.

[332] And mine or dig deeper goes, you dig in a mine.

[333] The name pretty much lays it all out for you.

[334] You just dig, and if you have to dig, dig deeper.

[335] And you sort of go, well, if all I want to do is mine by digging deeper...

[336] Miner dig deeper is the way to go.

[337] It's the ultimate in digging.

[338] If you're going to dig.

[339] The joy when you get your little petrol gasoline drill and then you fire it up and it vibrates the controller and all of a sudden you're doing industrial digging.

[340] It felt like a Chilean miner but not trapped.

[341] It was very, very exciting.

[342] I liked it a lot.

[343] Every time I find a new ore, it's like, ooh, yet another ore. And then I was digging down and I came across this strip of land that I couldn't dig.

[344] because I didn't have a diamond -tipped, like, drill bit.

[345] And so all of a sudden I now had a goal, which was...

[346] Get a diamond -tipped.

[347] Yeah, and there's simple things, like if you dig and you design badly, you make really, really rocky, like, terribly horrific things, and they wobble and get you killed.

[348] One idea, well -delivered.

[349] That's all you really need.

[350] All right.

[351] So I like that a lot.

[352] I've got WoW Cataclysm on as well, for a very particular reason.

[353] It's a homage to my childhood.

[354] There's this company called Ultimate.

[355] who became Rare, who made all these 8 -bit games for the Spectrum when I was a little kid.

[356] And years and years ago...

[357] The ZX?

[358] The ZX Spectrum, 48K.

[359] Oh, yes.

[360] Anyway, the point is, years and years ago, they had six games development at once.

[361] Game one, game two, all the way through to game six.

[362] And then one of them was working on game three, and he'd come up with this new way of doing graphics, effectively what you and I would call sort of like isometric at the time, but on the 48K spectrum.

[363] And he showed it to the Stamper brothers who were in charge, and they looked at it and they went, wow, that's really good.

[364] That's really, really impressive.

[365] Unfortunately, we have games one and two still in production.

[366] So what they did is they cancelled games four, five, and six, got them to use this new engine, and then they sat on it.

[367] and didn't do anything with it while they finished games one and two.

[368] And they pumped out games one and two, which is a very good game called Underworld, very good, sold millions, 1 .4 million units.

[369] And they sold millions, and then they brought out the one they'd been sitting on, and everyone was blown away.

[370] And then they quickly brought out more sequels to it, and they just made tons and tons of money.

[371] Because they had already had the time with that engine.

[372] But they sat on this new development.

[373] They didn't just jump at it and go out.

[374] And so the reason I like, well, Cataclysm is because...

[375] Blizzard has just been sitting on it, going, well, we've got it.

[376] I don't know.

[377] Should we launch yet?

[378] I don't know.

[379] Should we just wait?

[380] We should just wait.

[381] Let's just wait for a bit longer.

[382] Closer to Christmas?

[383] Closer to Christmas.

[384] How about a little bit more?

[385] And then what do they do?

[386] They bring it out.

[387] They get the record for the most sales in one day of a PC game ever.

[388] 3 .3 million, I think, the last time I looked.

[389] They've reinvigorated their user base.

[390] They've had a lot of people returning to their game for a game that they were done, dusted, and finished with a year ago.

[391] And so for that alone...

[392] I go, gosh, that should be on the list.

[393] Obviously, you know, with Cataclysm just out in one of the more massive new releases recently, it's...

[394] It's impressive to consider that this is a six -year -old game that still has incredible legs, that has a massive user base, and that they're able to put out full -size $50 expansions for and break records with.

[395] That says something.

[396] Do you feel like that number, I mean, it's obviously like a huge number for 24 hours, but what number of their old subscriber base do you think will...

[397] come around to Cataclysm in the first month or something like that.

[398] Because they've got like, what is it, 12 million still?

[399] So you look at like the 3 .3 million in that context, you're like, well, what are all these other people doing?

[400] Obviously, if you have an active WoW account, why wouldn't you go out and buy the big new expansion?

[401] Well, millions of them are in China and it's not there yet.

[402] Okay.

[403] So you've got to give them a chance there.

[404] What I like about it is basically WoW is like an annuity.

[405] It makes an awful lot of money.

[406] One subscriber is actually worth way more than just the initial purchase price.

[407] So when you've got to look at it, you've got to say, well, $3 .3 million.

[408] They sold a load of those direct digital, so they kept lots of the money.

[409] And everyone that they send out that people buy is probably worth like $120 to them because they're going to subscribe for a bit longer.

[410] At least.

[411] At least.

[412] And it's actually a very fun expansion.

[413] A bit thin for what it is, but still beautifully delivered.

[414] I can't think of anyone else doing it to that level.

[415] It seems like it's just incredibly well done and finding ways to reinvigorate these existing areas that players were ignoring.

[416] Well, I was on a panel talking about it, and I tried to explain one of the things that is a hard lesson and very ego -bruising to learn.

[417] WoW is the MMO equivalent of the iPod or the iPhone.

[418] It doesn't matter that there were MP3 players before the iPod.

[419] Once the iPod came out, it dominated, and it doesn't matter what you made after the iPod.

[420] The Zoom, it's all right, but you're never going to take on the iPod.

[421] It doesn't matter how many cell phones existed.

[422] then the iPhone turned up and it just dominated.

[423] And so that's actually what WoW is.

[424] It's this sort of magnificent Uber creation and chasing after it, as I've learned to my own experiences.

[425] Painful and humbling.

[426] So I think it's a really great expansion.

[427] They worked really hard.

[428] It was really good.

[429] Loads of people bought it.

[430] I'm impressed.

[431] And I'm going to say I imagine there's probably a lot of very expensive math.

[432] used to decide when exactly that cataclysm was going to come out.

[433] I've got no idea about that, but yeah.

[434] I suspect that there is.

[435] It's probably like a lot of men standing around a whiteboard looking at charts and graphs.

[436] There are trajectories of sales and of subscription rates and things of that nature and knowing that, okay, this is the exact moment where if we put this out.

[437] Here's where the lines intersect.

[438] Maximum value for.

[439] It's like darkened rooms with men with cigars.

[440] Send the go code.

[441] They're the same people.

[442] We launch on the seventh.

[443] Button down white shirts with short sleeves, thick horn rim glasses.

[444] It's like NASA in the 60s is basically what it looks like.

[445] I was going to say it's like what happens when they get a new president.

[446] Right, where they bring him in and tell him all the secrets.

[447] And they basically set him down.

[448] First of all, they have a pool.

[449] How long before he brings up Area 51?

[450] Right.

[451] But then what they do is they show him the Kennedy assassination from seven different angles he's never seen.

[452] Right, right.

[453] And they go, do we understand each other?

[454] Yeah, there's a lot of that.

[455] So next up, but it's quite dull actually, it's Mahjong on the iPad.

[456] What?

[457] What are you doing, Paul?

[458] Because of a particular reason for it.

[459] Again, it's a one -finger input, which I think the iPad excels at.

[460] And Mahjong is really interesting in that it's a slow, sedate.

[461] You can play it while waiting for your airplane in the back of a car.

[462] It's a marker of those type of games becoming popular again.

[463] It's one more weight onto the scales of we've gone into a new super mainstream.

[464] You and I wouldn't necessarily have gone, oh, dude, mahjong coming out on the Xbox.

[465] We wouldn't have done it.

[466] One of the early iPad releases I ended up buying was Shanghai.

[467] And just that same type of tile matching.

[468] Well, not the same type of tile matching.

[469] But it was definitely that moment of just like, man, I used to play this on the Atari Lynx.

[470] I used to play this on this.

[471] having that in kind of a new portable format.

[472] I can see the appeal.

[473] And so there's quite a lot of them now, but if you look at the games that are moving on the iStore, it is all that sort of stuff.

[474] Whereas I went to visit the Epic guys.

[475] I like them a lot, but I had a look at Infinity Blade, and I sort of went, yeah, well, no. It's nice, but it doesn't feel right on the iPad.

[476] I was actually talking to you about it, and you're explaining until there's a sort of a Bluetooth...

[477] joystick input.

[478] It's never going to feel right.

[479] Which I don't think that even solves the problem because no one's going to carry that around with them everywhere they go.

[480] It's a ridiculous thing.

[481] It is.

[482] But it's just not, you know, like Infinity Blade, it's beautiful, but beautiful is not what I'm looking for from a portable platform.

[483] It's the same problem the PSP ran into and it actually had the right controls of at some point the games start to look so good you just start seeing console games or computer games and thinking, well...

[484] I would much rather play this sitting in front of a gigantic television.

[485] That's the same problem with the red shooter as well.

[486] The on -rails red shooter.

[487] I just didn't like it.

[488] It just doesn't have that.

[489] Technically kind of impressive.

[490] You look at it and go, it's pretty.

[491] The graphics.

[492] This is a phone.

[493] That's interesting.

[494] Which is why, other than showing it to someone who's a tech person who wants to Google, I would go that versus...

[495] Mahjong, you should look at Mahjong, which then led to Angry Birds.

[496] Sure.

[497] Now, I like Angry Birds because it's, was it 7 million units moved on Android?

[498] Yeah.

[499] I mean, that's one platform.

[500] It comes out on one platform, boom.

[501] Never mind how much it's done on the iPhone.

[502] Oh, and I believe that you can't even technically buy it on the Android.

[503] I believe it's ad -supported on Android.

[504] And they're making a fortune on their ad support.

[505] So I think Angry Birds is another one where you put it down.

[506] They're making a cartoon and they're going completely cross -media.

[507] All sorts of insane ways.

[508] It's frightening.

[509] But there's another one explaining the widening of the market, the one -finger input, the simplistic idea delivered well.

[510] And you sort of go, wow, that really is changing.

[511] game design and game theory at the highest possible level in a way that makes you go, ooh, we're off the iPad now.

[512] No cut the rope?

[513] No, I don't like cut the rope.

[514] Too many fingers.

[515] It's just a bit too clever.

[516] Basically, I watch my daughter, and if she just goes, this is rubbish, Dad, then I just knock it off the list.

[517] She's part of the deal.

[518] We need to have some kids, man. We could be reviewing these games twice as fast if we employed this system.

[519] I don't want to know about you having kids.

[520] Not with each other.

[521] I don't think they've figured that out yet.

[522] We're still working on this.

[523] Minecraft is the next one.

[524] These are supposed to be games.

[525] Yeah, so I was challenged on this.

[526] Like, Minecraft isn't even out, isn't it?

[527] Well, you can look at it two ways.

[528] You can look at it as something that was initially available in 2009 or something that is entering beta on December 20th and therefore isn't technically out.

[529] We've decided to allow it.

[530] because they're taking money for it.

[531] And that's the deal I have.

[532] If you can pay money for it and play it, I think it's out.

[533] Yeah.

[534] So just to get Minecraft sorted out, it's not in because I think it's any bloody good.

[535] Okay.

[536] That's not why it's in, because I don't think it is any bloody good.

[537] I think it's curious and a sandbox and fun and interesting for at least...

[538] Two hours.

[539] And then basically three things happen if you're actually playing it.

[540] One is you just stop playing it because you go, yeah, whatever.

[541] The other one is you suddenly find out that all those beautiful things that have been built on it were actually built in a 3D CAD system and imported.

[542] So they didn't even build them.

[543] Like, what's all that about?

[544] And then the other one is you like it because you're sort of like snobbishly downloading texture packs and showing how clever and cool you are.

[545] Now, the reason it's in my list is because I think there is a level of super genius.

[546] in how it was virally monetized.

[547] He's actually done two attacks on it, both of which are fabulous.

[548] The first one was, if you give me money now, then it's free forever when I finally get around to releasing it.

[549] And it's probably going to be really expensive when I finally release it.

[550] It is the Star Trek Online Lifetime subscription.

[551] It is, it's that.

[552] Just pay us now.

[553] But done virally, as in it went wild, and it went to a very particular nerd group who were like, oh, this is it, gaming's still huge.

[554] And they poured...

[555] millions and millions of dollars into his bank account.

[556] And so that, I think, is impressive.

[557] Then his second one that he's just done is his announcement that if you have bought it before the 20th of December, then you're still guaranteed the forever, forever, forever, forever, forever.

[558] So he's got this second viral introduction.

[559] And so the reason it's in my list is because I've not seen anyone pull that gag.

[560] with such panache and just sheer income draining.

[561] And I tip my hat and I go, you know what?

[562] It's not a game for me. I think it might not be particularly interesting, but by hell, did he go viral?

[563] Did he take his chances?

[564] And did he monetize the heck out of that in a way that I just go, I don't care he's a multimillionaire.

[565] He deserves to be.

[566] And I don't care whether the game's any good.

[567] Look what he did.

[568] And I think that's something that he can get away with because he is one man. If a publicly traded company came out there and tried to pull something like this, they would be raked over the coals and hung out to dry.

[569] But it was also $5.

[570] Yeah.

[571] Or it was $7 .50.

[572] But the – 10 euros.

[573] Yeah.

[574] The cost – I don't even know what that means, 10 euros.

[575] It could be $1 ,000.

[576] It could be $5.

[577] The cost to the consumer – was not great.

[578] It was not a huge amount of money.

[579] But look at some of the stuff that happened.

[580] Massively supported by the community for free.

[581] Yeah, right.

[582] And they got nothing.

[583] And you sort of go, wow, it's like ultra capitalism.

[584] It's like, have you been running forums supporting me?

[585] Oh, what are you doing now?

[586] I don't know.

[587] I'm buying an island.

[588] I'm just going to buy my own island.

[589] Keep those servers going, guys.

[590] So what I really like about it is it's a community -orientated, crazy PC thing, virally front -loaded on income, and therefore it is astonishing.

[591] It's the reason I think it'll never happen again.

[592] It's also the reason I think it's actually a game design dead end, because I think it's being bought by Laserdisc players, people who buy Laserdiscs.

[593] It's like a...

[594] You want it to be successful because it justifies a version of gaming that you think should be dominant.

[595] But actually, it's not.

[596] Everyone's buying Angry Birds.

[597] Right.

[598] I think it's really interesting.

[599] I think that the part where Minecraft got away from me is, yeah, once I learned that everything was imported from CAD programs, I was like, okay, this is, forget it.

[600] But it was, it's the part where he keeps trying to make it more like a game.

[601] It's like, okay, we're going to add more zombies and add more of this and add more.

[602] It's like, that's not what makes it interesting.

[603] building.

[604] Have you spent a lot of time playing Gary's Mod?

[605] I haven't, but loads of other people at work do.

[606] Yeah.

[607] They just build all the crazy contraptions.

[608] Yeah.

[609] So I had spent, you know, and since it's something you can do as a group, you know, it'd be like me and five other people on a weekend just spending an entire Saturday.

[610] It's like, look at this.

[611] It launches dominoes that explode.

[612] And if I hit the button enough times, it crashes the server and destroys all of your creations because that's hilarious.

[613] And those sorts of experiences.

[614] Like, that's the sort of thing that Minecraft seems like it's doing, but it didn't do it in as interesting a way to me. I like the whole idea of, like, we're going to build this whole world.

[615] Why?

[616] I don't know, because it's kind of neat.

[617] Higher barrier to entry on the Garry's mod, but you can end up doing it more.

[618] Yeah, well, yeah, I guess so.

[619] But, you know, as far as lightly interactive chat rooms go.

[620] Yeah.

[621] I think that they both kind of scratch that similar itch of, like, we as a group are going to hang out and talk shit, but then also build something weird along the way.

[622] And make a ton of money.

[623] Yeah, and make a ton of money.

[624] And go viral.

[625] And be a really...

[626] As much as it doesn't grab me as a long -term play, I still think it's astounding.

[627] I think it's an astounding piece of work for the reasons I...

[628] Which is why it's on my top ten games of the year.

[629] Fantastic.

[630] Perfect justification.

[631] However, all of that is dwarfed into insignificance.

[632] with the game of the year.

[633] The number one with a bullet.

[634] It's the number one with a bullet.

[635] It's number one with like every piece of weaponry that there is in the universe sent from Mars in a sort of slow motion attack.

[636] Yes.

[637] He's thrifting his fist down.

[638] It's very vulgar.

[639] And actually, I have to admit a weakness on my part in it.

[640] So I never played.

[641] Pac -Man Championship Edition.

[642] Okay.

[643] I missed it.

[644] I don't know how that happened.

[645] I was in a coma.

[646] There was a flood.

[647] It was 2007.

[648] That was a rough year.

[649] I don't know what it was.

[650] I don't know what happened, but somehow I completely missed it.

[651] Well, on paper, that sounds crazy.

[652] Someone tells you, like, we've made a new Pac -Man.

[653] It's like, who cares?

[654] I completely missed it.

[655] So I actually had a really bizarre introduction.

[656] Because my game is Pac -Man Championship Edition DX.

[657] And so I've never played Championship Edition.

[658] So the only thing I have in my head is Pac -Man.

[659] So you go directly from Pac -Man.

[660] Straight into Championship DX.

[661] And I only get it because I'm on the Twitterverse, and I follow very particular people, all of which follow both of you guys.

[662] And enough people who I give a damn about...

[663] I'd started making noises about it, and I thought, okay, I'll give that a try.

[664] One of the great things about the Xbox, you can get it online, download it, and so I'm playing it, and I'm getting this wave of emotion and challenge and attack in a way that hasn't happened to me for a long time and in a way that is deeply life -altering.

[665] Yes.

[666] So at its lowest level, here I am, someone who...

[667] allegedly designs games, who's supposed to know what they're doing, and I'm looking at a game that is making strong, brilliant, multiple design decisions that are all way better than anything I can do, that have been executed to a level that I could never even contemplate.

[668] And it's like someone had said to me, this is a spoon.

[669] Take the spoon home.

[670] When you come back next week, And make us a better spoon.

[671] And you sort of go, well, it can't be done.

[672] It's a spoon.

[673] I mean, I can put a nice handle on it.

[674] Filigree, maybe.

[675] But a spoon is a spoon is a spoon.

[676] If someone had said to me, here's Pac -Man.

[677] Make Pac -Man better.

[678] I just don't know where I would have gone.

[679] And then there I am, loading it up, going.

[680] And they said, here.

[681] Oh, that's very good.

[682] Oh, that's actually very good.

[683] Oh, that's very good.

[684] Wow, that's astonishing.

[685] So have you actually gone back and seen CE?

[686] No, I've stayed away because I need to be pure.

[687] But then I had a really strange experience with the game because I'm playing it and I realized it can link together and then you friended me on Xbox Live and I was checking and I'm 30 % under the skill curve.

[688] It doesn't matter what I pick.

[689] You were 30 % better than me in every single category.

[690] And it really started bothering me. So I'm like, God, I've lost it.

[691] I've totally lost it.

[692] I can't play.

[693] And so I'm playing and I'm going, I just don't get it.

[694] I was at the top of my game, playing for like eight hours straight, energy drinks.

[695] And still, every time I thought I'd done well, I then checked Ryan and scored 30%.

[696] God damn it.

[697] And then, like, out of nowhere, by accident, I hit the button and the bomb goes off.

[698] And I go, the hell was that?

[699] I do remember getting the message from you hours after you had discovered the game.

[700] I was like, oh, I didn't even know there was a bomb!

[701] All of a sudden, I was like, goddammit!

[702] This entire game I haven't been playing!

[703] You unknowingly created your own metagame within Championship Edition DX with the bombs -free mode, but bombs make a difference.

[704] Well, all of a sudden I realized it was a trainer mode.

[705] Because now all of a sudden I had bombs and I was like unstoppable.

[706] Oh, sure.

[707] If you could play without bombs, suddenly having bombs at your disposal, yeah.

[708] Because I cracked my first million on one of the waves and I thought, God, I've cracked a million.

[709] I checked, you were like 1 .3 million.

[710] God damn.

[711] Once I had the bombs, it was like, this is so much easier.

[712] I didn't realize it were like that.

[713] I think you're both probably pretty far ahead of me right now.

[714] I need to.

[715] That's going to be over the break here, over this like two, three weeks or whatever much time I end up taking off.

[716] That's a big part of it.

[717] So I won five bets at work, $5 each bet, $1.

[718] I walked in and I said, I'm playing Championship Edition DX.

[719] I think it's one of the greatest games I've played.

[720] And they all said rubbish.

[721] And so we put $5 on the table and they all came in the following day and they all folded.

[722] I'll give you that.

[723] It's unbelievably good.

[724] And it's really weird.

[725] Like my little boy never played Pac -Man.

[726] And so I bought him a copy.

[727] Thingy Bob sent it to me. Download it.

[728] He's obsessed with it.

[729] And what we do is do how many ghosts can you eat?

[730] Oh, yeah.

[731] That's it.

[732] We're just chaining just to see how many we can get.

[733] And then we're in competition now.

[734] It's son, father, who can win, who can win, who can win.

[735] And I have to do certain things.

[736] Like I have to put the background into type H. Sure.

[737] I have my type for the background.

[738] Yeah, the type, the music, everything.

[739] Otherwise, I get very confused.

[740] Set your table.

[741] And then you play.

[742] Yes, so I think that game is utterly astounding.

[743] It's one of my top ten.

[744] I will say that much.

[745] I don't know when this is going up, so I will not let loose more than that.

[746] Christmas Day.

[747] It's genius how they're able to modernize that game and still have it be recognizably Pac -Man.

[748] But the big thing for me is that it recognizes the difference of game design between the 80s and now, which is 80s.

[749] It was...

[750] There was the chase.

[751] You were always wanting for something.

[752] You could get the power pellet, but it only lasts you for so long.

[753] You were always at the mercy of the ghost.

[754] It was panic.

[755] You were constantly under duress.

[756] You were underpowered and outnumbered.

[757] And now that is the exact opposite.

[758] Video games are empowering.

[759] It's still skill -based, right?

[760] But it's more about these are the abilities that I have.

[761] You're going to hit this button and make everything explode and feel like a badass the whole time.

[762] Exactly.

[763] And the fact that they're able to kind of...

[764] Combine these two things because, like, for me, I was never very good at Pac -Man.

[765] So playing traditional original Pac -Man is a stressful, unpleasant experience for me. So suddenly to have this game that says, like, no, you are the Pac -Man.

[766] You are going to go and destroy all of these ghosts.

[767] It doesn't matter if there's a million ghosts out there.

[768] You are going to go and eat every single one of them.

[769] And that register, that sound, is going to hit faster and higher every time that you eat the next ghost in a row.

[770] And the way they key those kind of nostalgic markers, those things that are burned into your brain from 20 years of this stuff, it's impressive how they're able to access that stuff.

[771] I really do think it's pretty brilliant.

[772] So for you and me, it's the same thing it's that revisiting our youth and settling a score yes it's cathartic it's therapy what I really admire about it is if you don't know Pac -Man you can play it and have a great experience and feel really good it fools you into thinking you're good at Pac -Man that's How that game works.

[773] Have you gone back and tried to play?

[774] I tell you, we were around a guy's house, he's got a Miss Pac -Man, and he just kicked our ass.

[775] Oh, yeah.

[776] But it fools you into things, makes you feel good about playing a game.

[777] And it's got lots of all the new modern era.

[778] It's all interconnected with its friends' tables and its leagues and the rest of it.

[779] It's not as elegantly done as it could be.

[780] Things like the Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, I think, does a better job of getting people to understand how to come back.

[781] Man, if they had a...

[782] If they had a ghost log in that game.

[783] But things like you can record videos and the rest of it.

[784] So it does that beautifully.

[785] It does the unlocking beautifully.

[786] It does the achievements beautifully.

[787] It gives you all these different game styles beautifully.

[788] It gives you another thing to go at.

[789] And you never feel, I've never felt cheated by it.

[790] Because all the bits it could have done, it's like they wrote down all the things about Pac -Man that make you happy.

[791] and all the things about Pac -Man that piss you off.

[792] And then they purposely designed it to neutralize the second list.

[793] Like dying because you just moved the wrong direction at the last minute, solving it by giving you effectively bullet time.

[794] Right.

[795] Slowing down, zooming in.

[796] Moment of clarity.

[797] You go, gosh, that's brilliant.

[798] Reducing the pixel collision on the ghosts so that you can actually squeeze between them.

[799] Moment of clarity.

[800] Allowing you to pick up lots of the fruit.

[801] Having the picking up of the fruit extending the maze.

[802] supreme moment of clarity.

[803] So it's not a question of, oh, do I get the free?

[804] You're like, no, I have to get it.

[805] That's how the game gets better.

[806] Having lots of power pills and having the ghost follow you in that sort of crazy train so that you can then literally turn around and eat thousands of them.

[807] Just beautiful people.

[808] And just little things like figuring out that ghosts that have got a pill inside their tummy extend the pill time.

[809] So you go, ah.

[810] new thing i do so i yeah i really admired it i'd still really admire it uh i'm sad i missed championship edition however i'm also on the other hand really pleased because it meant that the the endorphin high i hit was super extreme yeah um because literally if they just started with dx there wasn't a championship edition then i would just you'd have to quit and kill yourself and never design again because it's too awesome so now that you've seen someone make a better pac -man can you look at games Other games of that era, can you look at Dig Dug and say, well, here's clearly...

[811] That's what I want.

[812] I want to see Dig Dug.

[813] We've been all kind of racking our brains thinking about how do you do that to Dig Dug.

[814] Oh, wow.

[815] Another Namco classic, or Mappy.

[816] It's like Mr. Do.

[817] Mr. Do is just the...

[818] Mr. Do.

[819] Is Dig Dug Championship Edition.

[820] Championship Edition.

[821] It's beyond Mr. Do.

[822] Got a clown in it.

[823] Killer clown.

[824] No, it's beyond me. And I think that's what's great about it.

[825] I love finding things that make you go, oh...

[826] I couldn't do that.

[827] I wouldn't think about doing that.

[828] I don't think I'd go into that space.

[829] But actually, every decision you've made makes me nod and go, that's obvious.

[830] And if ever you meet something that makes you go, oh, that's obvious, then it's a piece of wonderful thinking.

[831] Wonderful thinking makes you go, oh, I could have come up with that.

[832] And you've got to be very respectful to those people.

[833] So yes, that might be my game of the year.

[834] Fantastic.

[835] Well, Paul?

[836] Thank you so much for coming with the gifts and for spending some time and coming up with your list and telling us all about these games.

[837] And by the way, I'm very impressed with you guys living the dream.

[838] Thank you.

[839] Yes, it's now that you've seen The Office.

[840] For people who've never been here, never been to Fortress Giant Bomb, you've got like a bunker.

[841] But it's the bunker Hitler would have wanted.

[842] It's got a bar.

[843] No one's killed themselves down here yet.

[844] It's got a bar.

[845] It's got an arcade.

[846] It's got comfy seats.

[847] It's interestingly laid out.

[848] It's full of really...

[849] hip and happening people who are young and have tight skin and they have hope in their eyes.

[850] Give them another year.

[851] We're working on it.

[852] It's got lots of like man dolls and toys and the rest of it.

[853] It literally, you walk in and you go, yeah, actually, this is awesome.

[854] This is exactly what it's supposed to be.

[855] And it's good and life affirming for me to realize that we have people like you doing what you do.

[856] I don't mean that in a...

[857] Bad women in a good way.

[858] What I mean is, you're not corporate shills.

[859] You're not just Murdoch people being told to do stuff.

[860] You actually care and love and live it, and actually your surroundings show all that.

[861] I'd be happy if this was what I was aiming for to do in game reviewing, if I got here, because it'd be like, awesome.

[862] Yeah.

[863] You have a bar as well, have I mentioned that?

[864] It takes a while before you get to unlock the bar level as a game reviewer.

[865] Normally you have to go to the bar.

[866] They don't let the bar come to you until you've been doing it for a decade or so.

[867] It's been lucky and blessed for sure.

[868] It's been a good experience.

[869] It means because you two, basically you're the Lester Bangs of a computer game.

[870] Everyone's always hunting for, I don't know why.

[871] If they're not hunting for Lester Bangs, they're hunting for Roger Ebert.

[872] Yeah.

[873] It's that someone who wears a scarf all the time.

[874] I don't look good in a scarf.

[875] I'd rather be the Hunter S. Thompson of game reviewing.

[876] Well, you could be that as well.

[877] But what I mean is being able to speak with a voice that people can live with, understand, and have character.

[878] Like you've actually got an ability to put your personality into what you're talking about.

[879] Well, I think context is everything.

[880] And if you don't have any context of who the person is that's telling you their opinion on a thing, then what value is there in that opinion?

[881] And I get extra value from what you do because things like I follow you on Twitter and actually who you are and what you are and what you talk about is reflected in how you broadcast in your social media as well, which makes me realize that you're real people, not frauds and fakes.

[882] So we've been fooling people, is what you're saying.

[883] No, no, that's the whole point.

[884] You haven't been fooled.

[885] It's working.

[886] We keep meeting at shows, although I keep meeting you at shows.

[887] Yeah.

[888] You go far too many.

[889] So, yes, it's very good to be here, very honored.

[890] Liked it a lot and enjoyed it a lot.

[891] Well, thank you for your time, Paul.

[892] Our Game of the Year content.

[893] I don't even know.

[894] Feature.

[895] What do you want to call it?

[896] Our suite of stuff about the end of the year.

[897] Free stuff we gave away.

[898] The things that we're filling time with while we're on vacation.

[899] Yeah.

[900] Basically.

[901] Continue.

[902] So once again, Paul Burnett, thank you so much for your time and your top 10 games of 2010.

[903] Woo -hoo.