That title reads like a Craigslist ad. Don't worry. I'm not selling sex.
This idea has been floating around in my head for quite sometime. See, RebelFM does a podcast weekly called “Game Club”. They pick an older (preferably cheaper) game, play up to a point, discuss it, and it’s rinse and repeat for about 1 or 2 more episodes. I wanted to try something like that, but scaled down a bit for the community blogs.
Instead of the usual 4 or sometimes even 5 man roundtable discussion I wanted to bring it down to 3 people. Anymore and I think we’d have for too much text in one blog. However, it would be amazing if the people who are not in the week’s discussion would play along with us. Hopefully this will lead to very nice discussion in the comments.
Now let me make this clear. We will not be reviewing the game. And by that I mean that this shouldn’t be used as a buyer’s guide. We will be free to discuss any spoilers up until the part in which we decide to stop playing for that section. The blog will be cut up into however many times we may need (max will probably be 3).
I know it’s nearing holiday season. Games are being released and we’re all becoming overwhelmed. Some of us can’t afford to play an older game whether it be because you’re broke or you just don’t have time to play. I’ll try to make this first one as easy as possible.
We’ll have to pick a short game. We don’t want to spend too much time on what could be a failure. Though. if it does indeed become a failure hits wise but it ends up being fun for the writers there’s no reason why we can’t continue doing it. It will still be better to test the waters with a much shorter game. I’m thinking maybe 6 hours tops. We can then figure out what changes we need to make -- what worked and what didn’t.
So any suggestions? Know of any short games we can play? Leave a comment.
If you want to be a part of this little experiment, drop me an e-mail at alexandorator [at] gmail dot com.
Cross your fingers!
EDIT: Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll start looking at all my options and will announce something on Monday!
Okay, yeah, the double comment box is unfortunate. I see what ya mean there Alex. >_>
Anywho, there's plenty of current-gen cheap games that fall around the 6 hour or shorter mark I could recommend. The big question though is, were you looking to do this from a retro point of view? Because that would require a bit more thought as far as suggestions from me...
Either way, I really like the sound of this and I'ma keep an eye on it.
Well, just off the top of my head ya got Devil May Cry 4, Army of Two, the singleplayer portion of Battlefield: Bad Company, and Bullet Witch, just to name a few. I've seen all of those in various places at the 12.99-17.99 range, and I can attest that they're all pretty short games.
Fuckin awesome idea dude. I'm so in. (PS: I think Mother 3 would be a hell of a game to do for it, it's even split into seperate chapters, though it is a bit long).
I don't want to go Tubatic on you, but I think Way of The Samurai 1 would be great. You could do 1, and then 2 in preparatio9n for the budget priced third iteration. That way you keep people's wallets in mind, and talk about an all-too-rarely talked about game. Further more, the game is EXTREMELY short, so with each subsequent part of the podcast, you could share different experiences you each had individually. The replayability in the game is pretty massive.
Or just do the first game, in the interest of not getting rid of everyone's interest in the podcast.
You could also do an XBLA title like Alpha Complex, Castle Crashers, Trials HD...there's all sorts of great, cheap, shortesque games available on zee Arcade, and the best part is they're always available so there wouldn't be any trouble with "What if everyone can't find the game?".
Interesting concept.. I'm trying not to make any Halo:ODST jokes here (6 hours was Hamza's best time).. There's plenty of short retro games, but are you talking non-XBLA/PSN here? (i.e. not downloads, only Disk-based games?) Coz' if you don't have Duke Nuk'em, it is pretty great for a short game (it's defeatable in a couple/3 days..)
Awesome idea Alex, I'd love to get involved in this. My suggestion Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) plenty to talk about in that game without actually reviewing it and with the branching plot it could be quiet interesting to see how three different people play it.
How about Wanted: Weapons of Fate? You could rent it out, complete it a couple of times due to the game's short length, and talk about that with a few peeps.
Well if you take a look at my Avatar you can guess what I will suggest: MGS1. From what I get you play up until a certain point right, so you dont have to play the whole game. Even MGS2, theres probably a shit load of discussion you can do on that. From what Im getting on this is that its more like a revisiting of older games? Or does it matter. If your talkin about MGS ill help any way I can, I would also love to talk about God of War or any car combat games. Those are my interests atleast.
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about me
Alex Carrillo Age: 19 Location: Southern California Ethnicity: Latin/Hispanic (I'm Mexican) Religion: None
.Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World
These are subject to change.
Frank Miller's Robocop Frank Millar - Steven Grant - Juan Jose Ryp Avatar Press
The original Robocop was fantastic. It was funny, violent, and it had some things to say about society (though not intelligently). The movie bordered on a thin line of acceptable ridiculousness, and was rather enjoyable cyberpunk flick. Robocop 2 and 3 on the other hand, were awful pieces of shit.
Everyone seems to place the blame on poor old Frank Miller for the dreadful sequels, but he says otherwise. According to him, Hollywood took his screenplay and made drastic changes. Producers of the film claimed that most Miller’s vision was “unfilmable”. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Miller wasn’t too happy with the way Hollywood worked.
From 2003 to 2006 Avatar Press published nine issues of Frank Miller’s Robocop, now deemed to be the real Robocop sequels by nerds across the globe. The book follows Miller’s original Robocop 2 script, and bit off of Robocop 3 as well. He didn’t write it though. The adaptation was written by Steven Grant, but was looked over by Frank Miller.
With all that said, I don’t know if what Miller had written in his original script was worth all of the drama. The outlining story is practically the same. Detroit is still shitty, OCP still replaces the cops with a private military of criminals, and there is still a “Robocop 2” that Robocop has to battle.
I won’t tell you what differences there are between the movie and comic specifically. What I will say is that they make very little difference towards the end quality. Lewis still has no character, as well as everyone else in the book. Nothing is explored -- a generic and tired formula that begs to be ignored.
Grant does inject a bit of that satire found in the original film, and while it isn’t as good, he still manages to land a few on the bullseye. What is landing one hundred percent is the violence. Some of you could have fun with watching a woman’s burning, melting corpse slam against a wall.
The art was a tad difficult for me to review. While I can’t say it’s necessarily bad, it sure is “busy” (for lack of a better term). Too busy. Many times I’ve had to take a while to figure out what I was looking at. The detail work was somewhat impressive. In a way, it sort of channels that sense of chaos that comes from this universe’s version of Detroit. You can take it either way.
I can’t recommend this to everyone. I can’t even recommend it to most Robocop fans. You gain nothing from reading it. If you’re looking for something violent, or just want to rinse out some of what you saw in Robocop 2 and 3, then this could be for you. Everyone else should just…
Got a comment for one my comic reviews? Think it sucked? Found some errors? Check these links for its community blog post.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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. Daft Punk - Alive 2007
. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
. DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask
. The Inkspots - The Millennium Collection
. Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World
I think perhaps the tagging is inappropriate....Nahh.
P.S. -- The 2 comment boxes are a very bad idea. I've already fucked up twice by posting comments in other blogs.
Metal Storm for NES is old and short (it's an awesome game to boot). Just a thought.
Okay, yeah, the double comment box is unfortunate. I see what ya mean there Alex. >_>
Anywho, there's plenty of current-gen cheap games that fall around the 6 hour or shorter mark I could recommend. The big question though is, were you looking to do this from a retro point of view? Because that would require a bit more thought as far as suggestions from me...
Either way, I really like the sound of this and I'ma keep an eye on it.
There's really no rules as to what we play as long as we can play them without much trouble. Cheap and short is the only restriction right now
I guess for the sake of ease I'd say go more current. It's really difficult to talk about extremely retro games because of their simplicity.
You could always do freeware games. Nothing's cheaper than freeware.
Also, I'm in (if there's volunteering).
Well, just off the top of my head ya got Devil May Cry 4, Army of Two, the singleplayer portion of Battlefield: Bad Company, and Bullet Witch, just to name a few. I've seen all of those in various places at the 12.99-17.99 range, and I can attest that they're all pretty short games.
I think there's a problem with those comment blocks. I know I'm commenting on the right article and it's posting them elsewhere.
Final Fantasy 1
Fuckin awesome idea dude. I'm so in. (PS: I think Mother 3 would be a hell of a game to do for it, it's even split into seperate chapters, though it is a bit long).
I keep effing up the comments too.
I meant to say in here, Halo 3: ODST is relatively short, I hear. And you were already planning on buying it.
Donkey Kong Country on the GBC.
I don't want to go Tubatic on you, but I think Way of The Samurai 1 would be great. You could do 1, and then 2 in preparatio9n for the budget priced third iteration. That way you keep people's wallets in mind, and talk about an all-too-rarely talked about game. Further more, the game is EXTREMELY short, so with each subsequent part of the podcast, you could share different experiences you each had individually. The replayability in the game is pretty massive.
Or just do the first game, in the interest of not getting rid of everyone's interest in the podcast.
Please?
Keep the suggestions coming, guys!
I'm building a list and researching the games. Seeing what will work.
I am testing to see if the comment box is broken for main page articles with this comment.
You could try some of those free to play games like Battlefield Heroes or Combat Arms.
Madworld is short, cheap, fun and pretty damn interesting.
You could also do an XBLA title like Alpha Complex, Castle Crashers, Trials HD...there's all sorts of great, cheap, shortesque games available on zee Arcade, and the best part is they're always available so there wouldn't be any trouble with "What if everyone can't find the game?".
Ditto No More Heroes and Okami.
Interesting concept.. I'm trying not to make any Halo:ODST jokes here (6 hours was Hamza's best time).. There's plenty of short retro games, but are you talking non-XBLA/PSN here? (i.e. not downloads, only Disk-based games?) Coz' if you don't have Duke Nuk'em, it is pretty great for a short game (it's defeatable in a couple/3 days..)
I should make it more clear that we need something that we can actually have a meaty discussion on.
There's only so much one can have talk about for a multiplayer game and something like Castle Crashers.
Rifter: As long as it can be played on a PC or a current (maybe even last) generation console.
Oh, come on, what CAN'T be said about shitting deers? xD
But yeah, good point. I still say Shadow Complex should be considered though, what with all the stir that game's caused.
Awesome idea Alex, I'd love to get involved in this. My suggestion Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) plenty to talk about in that game without actually reviewing it and with the branching plot it could be quiet interesting to see how three different people play it.
How about Wanted: Weapons of Fate? You could rent it out, complete it a couple of times due to the game's short length, and talk about that with a few peeps.
I like the idea for doing this. I can come up with a whole list, if you'd like, Alex.
You're not selling sex? Pffffft.
Also, Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit.
That sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. I'd definitely want to be a part of this.
As for games? There are plenty of PC choices from something like gog.com that can be run on any hardware these days.
SF:IV
Because SF:IV
...or Forza 2
There's always Suda51's games, they're all around 100-200 points on Goozex.
Nihon: Do it!
how much? i'll pay you in pot.
Well if you take a look at my Avatar you can guess what I will suggest: MGS1. From what I get you play up until a certain point right, so you dont have to play the whole game. Even MGS2, theres probably a shit load of discussion you can do on that. From what Im getting on this is that its more like a revisiting of older games? Or does it matter. If your talkin about MGS ill help any way I can, I would also love to talk about God of War or any car combat games. Those are my interests atleast.
I'm down for Shadow Complex, I haven't played it yet, and it looks damn awesome.
This is a great idea. As for game suggestions, Beyond Good and Evil's always a classic, I like the Indigo Prophesy/Fahrenheit idea, Okami, and MGS1.
EDIT: Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll start looking at all my options and will announce something on Monday!
I'll be tarred and feathered in a monkey's uncle.