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[benny_a]

And it's not even controversial. Darksiders was the best Zelda game in years.

Whichever of the two games that has the better overworld with hopefully some of those RDR style random mini quests is going to be the more exciting game for me.

People that are just knee-jerk looking forward to Zelda SS instead of Darksiders 2 have probably not played it and only seen screenshots or only played the part before it turns into a Zelda-style game.

 

[Neuromancer]

The only downside to Darksiders was that there are no towns or NPC's to talk to, that would have been cool. I wonder if there will be anything like that in the second one. Other than that awesome game and totally legitimate competition to Zelda.

 

[Glix]

Pretty good episode, Andrea seems to specialize in contradicting herself, and sounding foolish.

Everyone else I don't mind, but Jeff was way wrong when he said the conversation about PR and journos was no longer entertaining, the whole episode should be about that, it needs to be talked about much much more.

 

[Gowans]

I took the Forza 4 kinect & autovista stuff from a totally different angle.

For me Autovista is a upgraded replacement for Car Bios / info videos. instead of going into the menus to learn about a car a few are highlighted in this way with Jezzas thoughts too.

As for the othe kinect stuff I'll be playing with controller and maybe headtracking and using the controller for autovista too.

 

[eznark]

Pretty good episode, Andrea seems to specialize in contradicting herself, and sounding foolish.

Everyone else I don't mind, but Jeff was way wrong when he said the conversation about PR and journos was no longer entertaining, the whole episode should be about that, it needs to be talked about much much more.

Don't worry, they have roughly the exact same discussion at least once a month.

 

[Curufinwe]

Xav's claim that the "experience" of DNF was the same on the 360 and PC is utterly wrong. Frame rate and loading times are big parts of the experience in an FPS where you will be dying and reloading frequently, and the fact that he doesn't get that means I'll be steering clear of ShackNews reviews in future.

He swears a lot and can be very strident in his opinions, but that seems to just be masking some rather fundamental misunderstandings.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I'm surprised they had to go back to the Brady Bunch movie when a perfect model of how to handle Duke Nukem today is sitting there in Eastbound and Down. Duke basically is Kenny Powers. Still talking about beer and babes and how awesome he was, only everyone else thinks he's pathetic.

 

[Gully State]

Xav's claim that the "experience" of DNF was the same on the 360 and PC is utterly wrong. Frame rate and loading times are big parts of the experience in an FPS where you will be dying and reloading frequently, and the fact that he doesn't get that means I'll be steering clear of ShackNews reviews in future.

He swears a lot and can be very strident in his opinions, but that seems to just be masking some rather fundamental misunderstandings.

Agreed, but even if we disregard technical performance such as framerate/resolution etc.., the same game across two different platforms can yield two significantly different experiences. A good example of this is Dragon Age Origins. On the PC, you're able to pull back into an isometric perspective which in turn gave the game a more tactical feel than the console version. Also, due to this advantage, the game was balanced accordingly with encounters being significantly easier on the console side--for example less enemies in a battle or replacing ranged fighters with more melee fighters to keep the combat more densely packed. Those things alone would significantly alter one's perspective of DA:O and yield a different "soul" for the same game on separate platforms.

 

[KaYotiX]

The only downside to Darksiders was that there are no towns or NPC's to talk to, that would have been cool. I wonder if there will be anything like that in the second one. Other than that awesome game and totally legitimate competition to Zelda.

The end of the world kinda does that

 

[eznark]

I'm surprised they had to go back to the Brady Bunch movie when a perfect model of how to handle Duke Nukem today is sitting there in Eastbound and Down. Duke basically is Kenny Powers. Still talking about beer and babes and how awesome he was, only everyone else thinks he's pathetic.

Kenny Powers is an asshole, but an era-appropriate asshole. The Brady Bunch analogy works so well because the point isn't just that Duke is a douche, but an anachronistic douche.

 

[Neuromancer]

The end of the world kinda does that

I know, but still. =\

 

[HamPster PamPster]

While I agree that it is stupid to divorce the technical side of a game from the overall experience I do think technical issues are given way too much attention simply because it’s easy to quantify. It’s 10 times easier to pad a review talking about muddy textures or frame rate drops then it is to actually say anything insightful about the story or characters

Shacknews has my full support in ignoring technical issues assuming they don't overlook anything truly egregious given that the tech side is examined to death everywhere else

That said I had no idea shacknews did reviews. I mean I guess they did since everyone does them but I've never read one. Shacknews is a podcast bakery as far as I'm concerned.

I'll take one loaf of podcasting please!

 

[Gully State]

While I agree that it is stupid to divorce the technical side of a game from the overall experience I do think technical issues are given way too much attention simply because it’s easy to quantify. It’s 10 times easier to pad a review talking about muddy textures or frame rate drops then it is to actually say anything insightful about the story or characters

Shacknews has my full support in ignoring technical issues assuming they don't overlook anything truly egregious given that the tech side is examined to death everywhere else

I'd say it depends on the type of game. Framerate is important for a twitchy shooter but significantly less so for a turn based strategy. I'd say that there should be room for technical analysis on a game by game basis so long as it's warranted.

Slightly off topic here, but on the subject of game reviews...have reviewers ever kicked around the idea of writing spoiler filled critiques (separate from the main review of course)? Given that you guys have just finished off a game, I'm certain that there are just some things that one would specifically like to address but can't in the current review format.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

 

[HamPster PamPster]

I'd say it depends on the type of game. Framerate is important for a twitchy shooter but significantly less so for a turn based strategy. I'd say that there should be room for technical analysis on a game by game basis so long as it's warranted.

I pretty much agree but in general my response would be that reviews should focus on what the impact of something is rather than the cause.

For example reviews often tell me a game has framerate issues but rarely do they tell me what the impact of that is (or why I should care). Saying the framerate drops takes no intelligence at all, expressing how those framerate drops affected your experience and how it made you approach the game differently takes thought. If you can't do that just leave it out.

Of course I understand how framerate effects a twitch based FPS for me, what I don't know is how it affected the reviewer.

That said my bottom line opinion on reviews is that there are so many sites and individuals providing them it’s silly to complain about how one site does theirs. I like shacknew's approach if only because it seems to differentiate themselves from everyone else

Slightly off topic here, but on the subject of game reviews...have reviewers ever kicked around the idea of writing spoiler filled critiques (separate from the main review of course)? Given that you guys have just finished off a game, I'm certain that there are just some things that one would specifically like to address but can't in the current review format.

I read more wikipedia articles about games then I do reviews simply because I love the spoilers wikipedia provides

I've lobbied for Weekend Confirmed to start doing spoiler sections but Garnett and Jeff don't care

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

I'd love a guest spot for one week to get his E3 reactions

So Brian, how about that Wii U...

 

[Nizz]

While I agree that it is stupid to divorce the technical side of a game from the overall experience I do think technical issues are given way too much attention simply because it’s easy to quantify. It’s 10 times easier to pad a review talking about muddy textures or frame rate drops then it is to actually say anything insightful about the story or characters

Shacknews has my full support in ignoring technical issues assuming they don't overlook anything truly egregious given that the tech side is examined to death everywhere else

That said I had no idea shacknews did reviews. I mean I guess they did since everyone does them but I've never read one. Shacknews is a podcast bakery as far as I'm concerned.

I'll take one loaf of podcasting please!

I wasn't really aware they did reviews either. They do bake a good podcast though. I also agree that technical issues shouldn't be overlooked completely. I enjoyed Crysis 2 but I'd be lying if I didn't wish the framerate was better. Personally, I played the game on PS3 but I know on PC it's a whole different story tech-wise.

 

[LiK]

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

Who?

 

[Neuromancer]

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

You and me both

Who?

He's the guy who had stuff to sa-hay on the front pa-hage

 

[FStop7]

Xav's claim was really odd. Loading times and bugs/framerate issues often found in ports often have a great impact on one's perception on a game on one platform vs. another.

The thing about Duke's plotline is that Gearbox didn't remake DNF - they finished it. In order to make the game like the Brady Bunch remake, or Demolition Man, it would have meant starting over. That wasn't their objective. Their objective was to put what there was together, clean it up, and ship it.

Of course it sucked, that's not a big surprise. If Gearbox decides to do a new DN game of their own ground-up design, then I would certainly hope they'd be wise enough to adopt the ironic humor angle.

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

Totally. The podcast is in desperate need of someone who is able to call out Garnett and Jeff.

 

[LQX]

Xav may not have been corrupted but I think his job sure has made him cynical. His story on industry perks started out well but damn near ended with him berating everyone that listens to the podcast.

The Forza 4 impressions was great but seemed odd a "car nut" like Garnett would be turned off by such a awesome feature. We don't often even get to see inside and up close these multi-million dollar cars and the fact we will be able to play in and outside of some of the most revered ones insanely detailed sounds awesome.

This is kinda random, but I miss Bleahy .

You and me both. The podcasts tone as changed alot alot since he left and I'm not enjoying it as much. Things seemed more on a steady path with Brian as he was kind of serious but now there is too much random diverting which breaks the discussions. There is only so much sexual innuendo jokes even a pervert can take. Not even Howard Stern beats his audience over the head like that. Its like Garnett has ADD and there is no one that really checks him though sometimes Jeff tries by saying "what?".

 

[Riposte]

Gerstmann said basically the same thing on one of the E3 Bombcasts.

Spoiler

I kind of feel the same and hope that SS will prove me wrong.

Then again, no one seems to be covering SS. I haven't heard a single dude discuss what you did in the demo and what they thought about it. So for it has been a "kneejerk" reaction which goes something like this: "Zelda... meh!"

 

[bathala]

Man an episode without someone repeating a joke with a silly voice.

Xav did a good job