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The Giant Beastcast: Episode X (July 31, 2015)
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Trumpets
Member
2 Slice Toaster said:
He did this last week with his pretentious idea that movies are interactive because we interact with them using our brains or something. Fair enough, but semantic stuff like that tends to muddy the waters of a discussion and doesn't add a great deal.
That said, he's generally pretty good, much better than Patrick was.
1. that isn't a pretentious idea.
2. since when is "skewing smart" considered a bad thing? what world do we live in? should we "skew dumb" instead?
Completely agree... I'm so glad the GBeastcast tries to bring intellectual and interesting topic discussions to the table. They seem extremely conscientious of their voices as well with even Vinny trying to correct for an overabundance of swearing. Their more philosophical topics are great because they're more general and I can weigh in or think about them. This is in contrast to talking specifically about the newest hottest item on the block which I will inevitably have not much interest in because I won't play it for a few months. I enjoy listening to the Giantbombcast to listen about dumb things unrelated to videogames. I enjoy listening to the GBeastcast for dumb things unrelated to videogames but also insightful discussion of videogames. I'm really glad Austin is apart of the cast. I found some of his 'phrases' like "realtalk" or "hashtag" a little grating at first, but I think he's also extremely conscientious of criticism and has cut down on the overabundance of these phrases and will also cut down on interrupting (although I don't find this as much of a problem because I think all voices are fairly equally represented at GBE unlike GB). Austin is just excited to be a member and it not only shows in his voice but everyone's.
Or maybe the waters are muddy because it's not a simple discussion. Stopping at "interaction" as the distinguishing factor between games and films results in a shallow, boring discussion. There's so much more to be said but you'd rather call ideas pretentious and halt all discussion. Not saying you can't disagree, but just calling something pretentious is the equivalent of saying "stop thinking so much!" rather than coming at it with a legitimate critique.
Nameless
Member
Austin is great. He's fascinated with design, narrative, and how & why we interact with video games on a multitude levels. As a result, discussions about a given game on the Beastcast tend to lead down more substantive roads than the typical dronings-on about performance and mechanics, which I personally find refreshing.
Hopefully Giantbomb gives him the room and freedom to cook; voices like his are important for the 'games as art' push.
Hopefully Giantbomb gives him the room and freedom to cook; voices like his are important for the 'games as art' push.
nail on the head. some anti-intellectual sentiment towards austin, it seems like. which is weird.
i'd think that anything that goes against the stereotype of male gamers as fast food addicted, drunk, dumb, slobby shlubs would be welcomed. instead it's "that guy uses too many big words!!!". come on guys.
Leafhopper
Banned
I like Alex's dark sense of humor.
Surprised some people aren't happy with Austin. I personally think he's a really interesting addition to the crew and I appreciate the new topics/points of view he brings to the podcast. I also think Bakalar is absolutely great. Love the guy since he came on the show. Hope that seat is as rusty as it seems and doesn't rotate too often.
Alex is fantastic. He always cracks me up.
Regarding Austin, he's hit or miss for me. I'm not sure what it is either. I Just finished three grad degrees, including a PhD, in the last half decade so it's not that he's an academic. I'm more than used to that style of communication at this point. Something about him can be grating in some way. I wouldn't call the vast majority of comments about him hate, but I can also see him not clicking with everyone.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Replace Austin with Sarah Palin. She gets me.
SlowRevolution
Member
Definitely.
I agree, I really enjoy them both. They should just add an extra chair for the occasional guest.
Ok, i agree with you on Austin. But no one puts my Vinny in a corner! You apologize right now!
Spring-Loaded
Member
Re: this "Austin uncomfortableness"
It's funny that among the people who don't like him, there are those who complain about him being too "smart," being too "academic" or using words that are too big. Then those people, in the same breath, display they're unable to articulate why they don't like him.
The annoying part isn't that people dislike him. It's that there's virtually no reasoning given, and it's just brought up to... inform us of someone's base emotional to another human being? Don't expect anything better than a "ok" when you do that.
It's funny that among the people who don't like him, there are those who complain about him being too "smart," being too "academic" or using words that are too big. Then those people, in the same breath, display they're unable to articulate why they don't like him.
The annoying part isn't that people dislike him. It's that there's virtually no reasoning given, and it's just brought up to... inform us of someone's base emotional to another human being? Don't expect anything better than a "ok" when you do that.
forgeforsaken
Member
They finished it Friday.
I don't dislike him or anything but he doesn't really entertain me. Alex is ok and Vinny is obviously king.
Well articulated-well-red guy in video games media? Of course he gotta get some hate...
but why?
Wonder myself the same thing many times before
Get dem brains outta my vidya gamz.
He's got a lot of those "book smarts" that Patrick had and the ability to immediately embrace/turn anything into a joke (that Ryan was better than anyone at). I have high hopes for Austin.
Clockwork5
Member
Austin is a breath of fresh air for Giant Bomb and video game commentary, in general. While there are plenty of opinions out there as to what games certain personalities like and why they like them, Austin has taken the discussion to a level that I have rarely seen in this industry.
I appreciate his willingness to ask the "why" questions. He often tries to get to the essence of what makes a game enjoyable or what drives people to keep playing a game beyond "Yeah the numbers keep going up!" or "Look at this hat!" It seems like Austin wants to know why people like high numbers and goofy hats. I also like that he tends to know when to announce his personal opinion on a game and when to look at the quality or value of a game from a more objective perspective . On some level I get a very "art critic" vibe from Austin. More often than not, he is more concerned with how a particular game represents the medium and less concerned with his personal level of enjoyment of the game. I'm not saying that others in the industry or on Giant Bomb don't have these conversations, I just think that Austin is particularly well equipped to structure his ideas in such a way that the conversations become more meaningful.
I get that if you are looking for entertaining opinions, he may not be for you; however, if you are looking for someone that is willing to take the discussion down a tangent that has rarely been discussed, he is quite interesting to listen to. Anyway, gaming podcasts are full of people with entertaining opinions and the Beastcast has Alex and Vinny to supply the laughs and giggles to add that "entertainment" value.
Also, I have seen no "Austin hate" in this thread.
I appreciate his willingness to ask the "why" questions. He often tries to get to the essence of what makes a game enjoyable or what drives people to keep playing a game beyond "Yeah the numbers keep going up!" or "Look at this hat!" It seems like Austin wants to know why people like high numbers and goofy hats. I also like that he tends to know when to announce his personal opinion on a game and when to look at the quality or value of a game from a more objective perspective . On some level I get a very "art critic" vibe from Austin. More often than not, he is more concerned with how a particular game represents the medium and less concerned with his personal level of enjoyment of the game. I'm not saying that others in the industry or on Giant Bomb don't have these conversations, I just think that Austin is particularly well equipped to structure his ideas in such a way that the conversations become more meaningful.
I get that if you are looking for entertaining opinions, he may not be for you; however, if you are looking for someone that is willing to take the discussion down a tangent that has rarely been discussed, he is quite interesting to listen to. Anyway, gaming podcasts are full of people with entertaining opinions and the Beastcast has Alex and Vinny to supply the laughs and giggles to add that "entertainment" value.
Also, I have seen no "Austin hate" in this thread.
Rolling my eyes a bit with Jeff being surprised at motion controls being used more in Splatoon or being that happy to play ZombiU with a "normal" controller. I still find it a bit weird people have a hard time getting over a tablet being slapped in the middle of a regular controller. Still held the exact same way, but I guess looking down to switch up the flow is annoying to people still. I might just be reading too much into it, but Jeff's never seemed too up on Nintendo in general over the span of these 11 something episodes.
I guess none of them know much about the PS4 happenings in Japan either.
I guess none of them know much about the PS4 happenings in Japan either.
Some people are too eager to go meta in every thread. Completely derails things.
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
The Beastcast is on point.
Absolutely. A few "enh, Austin's not my favorite" comments became a torrent of hate for intellectual discussion of games with Austin being persecuted for the crime of using words with more than two syllables. The word hate has lost any and all meaning thanks to the internet.
On topic: have the Beastcast guys said anything about the broken updates on Pocketcasts and other apps?
It depends on the game. In Splatoon it offers extra functionality. But in Bayonetta 2 all it adds is extra weight, worse ergonomics and a terrible battery life. So I bought a Pro controller.
Yeah, this really isn't a prentious or even uncommon idea. It's important to talk about it too, because I've seen it used in some ridiculous "here's why gaming is superior to all other forms of media" arguments that act as if movies are presenting you with information in such a way that it's impossible to interpret any part of them in any other way than what the creators intended.
I'm a huge fan of Austin; I love that he's fitting in so well and helping GBeast to become this genuinely excellent! But I say this knowing that I've also been a fan of his writing for a while now and have regularly listened to a podcast he runs since January or so. I'm also generally interested in the same things about games and game design that he is. So in a sense I get why people might be averse to what he's bringing to the table at first, but I also think people could stand to be more open to this in general.
Thanks for this comment. The people complaining that he is too pretentious would lose their minds if they ever listened to an episode of Idle Thumbs or Crate and Crowbar where either podcast crew have a lengthy discussion on a game.
He's already been called a 'try-hard' in this very thread. I fear it's inevitable no matter what he does because he is intelligent and capable of critical thinking.
Spring-Loaded
Member
People said stuff like this:
they provide poor reasoning for their assertion. by virtue of posting on a public forum, are subject to people responding to what they say. So people justifiably construe these comments as being indication people are uncomfortable by someone sounding smart.
Even if not everyone who dislike Austin thinks this, there's been just odd, vague comments people have wanted clarification for. If you're offended by people asking for that, don't provide your one-note, vague opinion in a discussion topic.
It's not a pretentious idea, but he threw it out there in an odd way. You can't flatly contradict someone on their usage of a word, and then after everyone reveals their confusion, explain that you have a very specialized definition of it. When he did that, I didn't get "pretentious," but it seemed like poor form. There's being precise with language, and then there's getting caught up in semantics. It gave me the impression that the common usage of the word "interactive" is one of Austin's pet peeves.
But that's the one time Austin has ever been anything less than a ridiculously lovely, graceful, intelligent guy in our presence. I honestly don't understand how anyone could have a problem with him.
They even had a lengthy discussion about Desert Golf that made me arc an eyebrow.
Nose Master
Member
Show seriously feels like Bombcast did in it's prime (3ish years ago). Never was big on Navarro, but he's really good in this. Austin is awesome as well. Vinny is and always will be GOAT bombcaster.
Porn conversation came on while I was working, and failed at trying to hold in my random laughter in the middle of a bunch of people.
Porn conversation came on while I was working, and failed at trying to hold in my random laughter in the middle of a bunch of people.
It's Giantbomb related. It always happens.
HamPster PamPster
Member
The phrase "start skewing too smart" actually made me dumber