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Weekend Confirmed Episode 32 | 10/29/10 Special Guest N'Gai Croal

I listen to WC every week, and have never heard anything about this guy, so we'll see what my impressions of him are.
 
Thread said:
N'Gai
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Industry Insider: "metacritic score is the most important thing to publishers"


Yet they still try to tell us that publishers aren't trying to influence scores when they send them on trips, shower them with freebies and control as best they can the review process.

Sure.
 
I wanted to say something about the podcast this week, but I fell asleep while listening. Again.

Though it did dawn on me I think Garnett really wishes he were a radio DJ. Christ on a stick, enough with the shitty music.
 
Looking forward to listening to this on my drive to work tomorrow. N'Gai was one of my favorite guests on 1up Yours so this should be good.

On the "Garnett's Rave Music" topic, I actually quite liked the last two weeks' tracks. Hopefully this trend continues.

And if you're reading this Garnett, cheer up about the Cowboys. Next season will be much better after Phillips gets fired! Hey, maybe Jerry will even hire a real GM! :D As a Raiders fan, I know all too well the dire consequences of an owner messing with the team too much. :lol
 
eznark said:
Industry Insider: "metacritic score is the most important thing to publishers"


Yet they still try to tell us that publishers aren't trying to influence scores when they send them on trips, shower them with freebies and control as best they can the review process.

Sure.
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Shacknews doesn't do review scores.
 
DidntKnowJack said:
I wanted to say something about the podcast this week, but I fell asleep while listening. Again.

Though it did dawn on me I think Garnett really wishes he were a radio DJ. Christ on a stick, enough with the shitty music.
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Are you also whingeing when they play music on Out of the Game, A Life Well Wasted, and Idle Thumbs?
 
Not even 6 minutes in and NGCROAT has already said something really stupid. As if making a game in high definition would make making a long game problematic. :lol
 
Jax said:
Not even 6 minutes in and NGCROAT has already said something really stupid. As if making a game in high definition would make making a long game problematic. :lol
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Err, talking about stupid...
 
TeethMummy said:
My only problem with him his he always seems to find some way to make every discussion a racial thing.
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QFT.

Wouldn't be surprised if he brings up the RE5 Race controversy again when they talk about Mikami moving to ZeniMax
 
Damn, the streak I had listening to the show again ends at two. Will resume next week if he's not on.
 
I met N'gai right before Mirror's Edge was released and we had a good discussion on whether the game had any chances to sell in the marketplace.

I was wrong; he was right.

Also, dude was super nice to me.

N'Gai defense force 4 life.
 
DidntKnowJack said:
Though it did dawn on me I think Garnett really wishes he were a radio DJ. Christ on a stick, enough with the shitty music.
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Same here. Little musical interludes are necessary on actual live radio shows, but on a recorded podcast just stop the tape and start it back when you guys get back from the shitter. I can't fast forward through that stuff fast enough.
 
SapientWolf said:
What is it about N'Gai that brings tard GAF out in full force?
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He tries to say something interesting about their particular hobby.
firehawk12 said:
With Ray gone, I'm not even sure who they'd get to host it.
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The hell is this? Nooooooooo!
 
Patriotsbball5460 said:
QFT.

Wouldn't be surprised if he brings up the RE5 Race controversy again when they talk about Mikami moving to ZeniMax
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Mikami didn't have anything to do with RE 5, so if he does that would bolster your position.

I actually think the claim TeethMummy made that N'Gai turns every discussion into a racial thing is nonsense, but I haven't listened to this show yet.
 
Y2Kev said:
he asks people to think
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No I just think it's hard to relate to the guy. His views are often contradictory to what the (hardcore) mass thinks. He seems like a nice guy. Personally, deep down, he feels like an outsider telling us what's right and I can't connect with somebody like that.

The RE5/racial thing probably didn't help.
 
Y2Kev said:
he asks people to think
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My only qualm with him is often times his view points seem somewhat superficial. Almost like he's bringing up specific points for the sake of being 'deep' rather than actually holding those truths to be self evident.

That said, I don't have any problems with him, I just take everything he say's when it comes to 'serious discussion' with a grain of salt. Haven't listened to the episode yet, excited to do so though, should be good!
 
It sounds funny when you say it out lout, which I would take as a compliment. This is coming from someone who thinks the word 'boob' (or rather its sound) is somehow inherently funny.
Also, I just noticed that your nick can be read as 'the buddah there' in some German dialects. :lol

MrPliskin said:
My only qualm with him is often times his view points seem somewhat superficial. Almost like he's bringing up specific points for the sake of being 'deep' rather than actually holding those truths to be self evident.
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That's because a great number of them are very likely not truths to be held as self evident, but points of discussion. I prefer that to every time Garnett ever started a sentence with 'to play Devil's advocate here'.

MrPliskin said:
That said, I don't have any problems with him, I just take everything he say's when it comes to 'serious discussion' with a grain of salt. Haven't listened to the episode yet, excited to do so though, should be good!
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It didn't sound like he was particularly enthusiastic about being there. Maybe he was stressed or something, I don't know, but he does get into what he does as a consultant and what companies ask of him, which is interesting (although not entirely surprising).
 
The Bookerman said:
No I just think it's hard to relate to the guy. His views are often contradictory to what the (hardcore) mass thinks. He seems like a nice guy. Personally, deep down, he feels like an outsider telling us what's right and I can't connect with somebody like that.

The RE5/racial thing probably didn't help.
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So aside from the race thing, can you give an example of a viewpoint he espouses that the hardcore cannot relate to at all? I'm having a hard time thinking of something (which doesn't mean I don't believe you, I just don't have an exhaustive knowledge of N'Gai's work).
 
MrPliskin said:
My only qualm with him is often times his view points seem somewhat superficial. Almost like he's bringing up specific points for the sake of being 'deep' rather than actually holding those truths to be self evident.

That said, I don't have any problems with him, I just take everything he say's when it comes to 'serious discussion' with a grain of salt. Haven't listened to the episode yet, excited to do so though, should be good!
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How could it be that a guy who was employed at Newsweek to write about tech and games has less intelligent things to say than the average games journalist? Or is the fact that he worked in a large, mainstream press outlet actually working against him in this case? Are we assuming that games writers who write specifically for games outlets are smarter about games? Because there is much evidence to the contrary, IMO.

I know you didn't directly say this, but if you're willing to listen to games podcasts it implies to me that you think they DO have worthwhile opinions and discussions and by comparison N'Gai is worse.
 
hey_it's_that_dog said:
So aside from the race thing, can you give an example of a viewpoint he espouses that the hardcore cannot relate to at all? I'm having a hard time thinking of something (which doesn't mean I don't believe you, I just don't have an exhaustive knowledge of N'Gai's work).
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Ngai doesn't like Mega Man... No narrative.(Well It's true... but why hate a NES game for that?)
 
The Bookerman said:
Ngai doesn't like Mega Man... No narrative.(Well It's true... but why hate a NES game for that?)
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Did he actually say he "hates" Megaman or is that just the internet filter at work? Anyway, that's a pitiful reason to disregard everything else he says. I was expecting something more substantial, like a general philosophy of how the games industry should be. That would be a slightly better reason to ignore everything he says.
 
On doing something just because it's always been done: I hate it. There are tons of mechanics nowadays that I think are horrible but keep being used and it seems like they're only being used because that's "The Standard." Regenerating health is the mechanic that always jumps to mind. Regenerating health encourages you to hide or run away and then go back and shoot guys a couple more times before hiding and running away. Why not make a health system where enemies dropped health orbs when they died and the only way to recover health was to get those orbs so you would have to advance forward through cover points to regain health? Why not try it? Why not try something else that encourages you to do something other than hide? There are a lot more gameplay mechanics that I feel the same way about. Industry thinks too much inside the box.
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
On doing something just because it's always been done: I hate it. There are tons of mechanics nowadays that I think are horrible but keep being used and it seems like they're only being used because that's "The Standard." Regenerating health is the mechanic that always jumps to mind. Regenerating health encourages you to hide or run away and then go back and shoot guys a couple more times before hiding and running away. Why not make a health system where enemies dropped health orbs when they died and the only way to recover health was to get those orbs so you would have to advance forward through cover points to regain health? Why not try it? Why not try something else that encourages you to do something other than hide? There are a lot more gameplay mechanics that I feel the same way about. Industry thinks too much inside the box.
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It's not like it hasn't been tried. It really depends on the game.

In God of War and some of its clones, certain enemies will drop health orbs. Diablo III's primary health system has switched over to orbs.

It's a tough thing to systemize for shooters, specifically, because without any sort of sci-fi wrapper all health systems are kind of bullshit. I prefer regenerating health in my shooters over arbitrary health kits, but it can work the other way as well - Half-Life, some Halo's, etc.

In general, I think running and hiding when you are near death is a lot more stressful and immersive than fighting even harder to earn health, but again, it depends on the game. I wouldn't mind that type of system in something like Bulletstorm, for example.
 
hey_it's_that_dog said:
Did he actually say he "hates" Megaman or is that just the internet filter at work? Anyway, that's a pitiful reason to disregard everything else he says. I was expecting something more substantial, like a general philosophy of how the games industry should be. That would be a slightly better reason to ignore everything he says.
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That was off the top of my head. He was on Listen up and 1up Yours... I should dig those up. I don't ignore everything he says, I take it with a grain of salt.
 
VsRobot said:
I met N'gai right before Mirror's Edge was released and we had a good discussion on whether the game had any chances to sell in the marketplace.

I was wrong; he was right.

Also, dude was super nice to me.

N'Gai defense force 4 life.
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Truth told !

N'gai is always really excellent on podcasts; that being said, most of his worthier than thou speech pieces on postgamedia.com come across as massively patronising. But when he shoots from the hip its always great lobing.

Out of the game is a consistently awesome listen.
 
i do like n'gai. i mean, he's measured, considerate and tends to bring a fresh angle to topics - all of which are quite a rarity among the podcasting space. but that metacritic discussion...depressing. didn't really enjoy this episode in general, the cast just seemed a little out of their depth - or maybe the chemistry wasn't right. n'gai definitely seems better suited to out of the game and the general ebb and flow of that podcast.
 
already derailed topic discussion I see. ngc.. Instead of the topics, so many posts about him. yawn. You apologists should start a thread.

well, they skirted move discussion again. How much time did they allocated? less than a minute.
33min mark. Blink and you'll miss it.

The metacritic discussion is disgusting.

did the WECONFIRMED crew ever talk about vanquish?
 
I thought it was odd that the only time N'Gai seemed to talk is when he was directly asked a question by one of the others.
 
hey_it's_that_dog said:
How could it be that a guy who was employed at Newsweek to write about tech and games has less intelligent things to say than the average games journalist? Or is the fact that he worked in a large, mainstream press outlet actually working against him in this case? Are we assuming that games writers who write specifically for games outlets are smarter about games? Because there is much evidence to the contrary, IMO.

I know you didn't directly say this, but if you're willing to listen to games podcasts it implies to me that you think they DO have worthwhile opinions and discussions and by comparison N'Gai is worse.
Click to expand...

I'm amused that you take a lot out of my comments that wasn't there, and then a few posts later talk about the 'internet filter' :lol

Anyway, it's not that I don't think N'Gai doesn't have worthwhile discussion or is "less intelligent" by any measure. Unfortunately, a lot of the opinions he holds come across as artificial at times.

I still haven't had the opportunity to listen to the podcast in full, but I'll certainly post up any thoughts I have once I do finish it.

Also, for the record, I do listen to quite a few podcasts with N'Gai, and was a huge fan of "out of the game". However, that doesn't change my opinion that sometimes he seems to take this point of view that is just too far reaching for it's own good. Especially when you're talking about things as ridiculous as video games or sci-fi movies. I hate it when he tries to pull meaning or social commentary out of this stuff...it's absurd.
 
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