Jeff and Christian are joined by Rob Keyes from Gamerant and Screenrant to review the year that was 2014. They discuss the biggest stories and trends from the year then launch into their personal top 5 lists for the best games of 2014. Don't miss it!
Thanks. I thought he was a great guest. Honest and open about what he liked, limitations, etc. Also I got to talk about Super Mario Land 2...so there's that
I've really enjoyed the guests over the last month or two as well. Keighley being a particularly good one. I feel like he's kind of sunken into the background as more of a figurehead than somebody with visible opinions so it was good to hear him speak a bit.
I'm certainly proud of it. I hope you dug it too. It's raw and intimate. One night, one show. It's how I think comedy is best. Not over produced, not 5 shows cobbled together into one album. Sure, I stumble over a word or two...but it's honest. So yeah, hope you like/liked it
Been enjoying DLC recently, nice to see you getting more developers on the podcast, especially the ones that are allowed/inclined to talk and have lots of opinions. Also great to still hear Christian and Jeff aren't afraid to disagree with each other. And I'm glad you dropped the phone calls, much better flow throughout the episodes now.
One thing I'm still having a hard time with is Stories of Glories though. For me, it's either a game I have no familiarity with so I lose interest among all the acronyms and descriptions of the situation, or the story itself ends up being rather mundane.
I guess I'm expecting more like crazy glitches or super-rare hilarious situations. But then, it's just a couple of minutes really, so it's not a huge bother or anything. Just wanted to give some feedback.
Otherwise, I still enjoy the podcast a lot, keep it up!
Thought the PAX Prime show was great. Love the enthusiasm from the group and I also appreciated Jeff's additional commentary at the end. I hadn't heard Andrea much before and I thought she did was a great guest. Had some good insight from devs and was very well-spoken. The VR battle between Jeff and Christian is always entertaining and I think the reality of how successful it's going to be will fall somewhere in the middle of their takes. Jeff did a great job evading Christian's attempts to get him in an unscripted situation early
On a side note, did anyone else think Garnett came off as kind of an ass to Andrea and the others? He kept cutting her off and downplaying her points. He also somewhat derailed good conversation topics by saying things like "this has been discussed so many times" (about VR). Of course it has! I'm specifically listening to podcasts because I want to hear the latest impressions from PAX. I'm all for dissenting points of view, but in this case it made the first 30 minutes awkward. I wasn't there so maybe I didn't pick up what the vibe was, but that's the impression I walked away with.
Regardless, great show and this is in my top 5 of gaming podcasts (and I listen to a lot of them). Keep it up, guys.
I was going to post something too. This was a great show and it was good having the old gang back together.
Garnett is a crotchety old ranty man, which is what makes him so entertaining. I think he's being very shortsighted about VR but I didn't think he was rude, just his usual self.
I agree, this was one of better shows in a long time. Spicer seemed funnier than usual (maybe it helped having an audience around) and it feels like Andrea has come a long way since Weekend Confirmed. And I agree about Garnett to a certain extent. Ever since he left games media it's like he doesn't take things quite as seriously as he used to. Like he's more interested in hanging out and having a good time with friends rather than trying to have a worthwhile discussion.
Sorry for the necrobump, but Christian, if you see this, you are so right about the Fallout 4 premise. Establishing a singular (well, one of two) player character for the game along with the voice acting forming a very specific range of characterization takes so much away from the possibility space and "make your own fun" aspect of it.
Setting up a primary story goal that is probably the most intense feeling a parent could possibly experience and then systemically saying "eh fuck it, do whatever" is a tremendous flub of tone, character, and space.
Playstation VR is not going to cost the same as the PS4. That's ridiculous. No one ever said it would cost the same as a console, the specific wording was that it would be priced like a "new gaming platform". That's a big difference: the Vita was a new gaming platform and that was $250 which is roughly what I expect the headset to cost.
Weird to do this again, but Christian, you are super right again, and Jeff's comments re: the whole Kotaku thing are a little gross. Suggesting that those who are getting news out in enthusiast press should "care more about things that actually matter" is actually a little sad because there is absolutely no indication that they also don't care about "more real" issues; it's just dismissal because games are an entertainment medium. While kotaku's posting of this really does reek a little bit of attention-grabbing and what-about-meism, they were nonetheless completely right and valid in posting the original stories that they did. Nobody there is breaking review embargoes. Those particular stories are serving the consumer and presenting information in a way that the content owners (not necessarily content creators, and that's an important distinction too) don't want you to see, bearing what feels like some inherent skepticism, and that's very, very relevant in a medium that rides heavily on hype culture and consumers' monetary input.
I would love for more coverage to not fall under corporate filter, and this more subversive presentation (see AssCreed Victory leaks) is just that.
Suggesting whatsoever that we shouldn't care about the way this hobby's news and information is delivered to us because either "it's just video games" or "you should just have fun" is kowtowing to those at the top who are absolutely just out to get as many dollars out of you as they can, and not appreciative of the art form itself. While it's great that Jeff loves loving things, being aware that you may be exploited is certainly worth paying attention to.
PSVR targeting 90FPS on that underpowered hardware? Gonna be about as critically successful as Kinect, and financially less so. Wait for the PS5 to integrate it into the base unit. That is the endpoint of consoles.
