This is the best YouTube video I've seen all year.
Tonight, the Podtoid crew will discuss piracy, Modern Warfare 2, BioWare story structure, and other things. And if we don't find a way to mute Adam Dork, we'll probably talk about Jurassic: The Hunted's raptor-punching QTE's.
As is typically the case, we need listener questions. As is typically the case, you will provide them. A simple arrangement, I should think. Hit the jump and start asking stuff and maybe we'll answer it.
Alright lets get serious.
With the release of the amazing Jurassic: The Hunted, does the Podtoid crew think dinosaurs will finally replace zombies as the go-to antagonist in videogames?
What are your opinions on the boycotters of Modern Warfare 2, for various reasons, be it the f*cked up PC version or the UK price hike, and based on what you've played (haven't found a place that sells it used yet myself), are boycotters just screwing themselves?
What was your favorite "a very special episode of" episode of Fresh Prince? Personally, mine is when Will's dad shows up, gains Will's respect, then leaves... chokes me up every time.
Confused as to what game you should get this week? The natural selection should be Pro-Evolution Soccer 2010!
How many people do you think felt the “Call of Flu-ty” today?
I forget what, but something made me think about prequels. Do they serve any purpose other than fan service? They often spoil or retcon the original work and rarely provide any actual substance. For example, if you look at the Star Wars trilogies – if you watch episodes 1-3 first, none of the big reveals are really surprising in the original trilogy and conversely, the suspense is sucked out of the newer trilogy knowing how things will turnout in the end. Since the player always has a sense of dramatic irony in most games, is there any way to truly provide a worthwhile prequel? Metal Gear Solid 3 is the only exception I can think of for games – you had an understanding of some of the high points (Ocelot’s alliances, the beginning of Big Boss, etc.) but it did expand on the original story and provided new questions going forward.
How does the crew think the infamous MW2 level would be received if the player was placed in the role of a civilian, running away and helping others to get away?
Do you think putting a player in a role like that would detract from whatever message they want to make?
Do you like the situation activision and other publishers have of outsourcing game spin offs/ sequels to other devs. examples are treyarch and the new metroid game coming out as well as castlevania.
A while ago, when discussing Six Days in Fallujah, Aaron Linde said that that his main problem with the game was that it sounded like it was shit and would be a horrible example to point to for games being able to effectively tackle modern day issues. How about Modern Warfare 2? Would that be an appropriate game to tackle the modern day issue of terrorism?
Also, Resident Evil movie. Zombies. Zom...Bees. Was Samit stung by a Zombee?
On average how long do you allow yourself to struggle on a level or puzzle before consulting gamefaqs?
I try to wait until I have gotten frustrated with the level(10-30 minutes), before I use an outside source. I constantly used gamfaqs to complete The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and by the end of the game I felt fairly stupid for having to use the guide so much. I also felt like I had taken away some of the value of the game.
Am I being too harsh on myself or should I be ashamed?
When was the last time you actually considered a collectathon fun? As I'm playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, I can't help but feel that it's actually FUN. Minus the Metroid-like memorization/bactracking that is apparent. I enjoy the fact that the collectathon isnt unlocking a stupid art gallery, or an extra costume, but some information that is actually relevant and interesting to the world and current location of Batman: AA, because I've never read the comics, but I consider myself a casual Batman fan.
Do you think that relevance (Riddler's challenges) is an important step to actually making them fun or are we going to be stuck in a world where shooting 200 random pigeons and catching flags is the norm?
A Jurassic: The Hunted related question. If Velociraptors were confronting you at every major exit of your home, if your trusty shotgun were in the boot of you car, if all relatives & friends were irritatingly outside and not within pushing-into-danger range, if Sam Neill were not returning your calls, and if Jeff Goldblum was currently using your bathroom and could not be disturbed, then what do you, the podtoid crew, believe would be the best size for Brad Nicolson's shoe?
I'll re-phrase the question I asked last week, now that I've thought about it more:
How important do you think music is to video games? Aside from rhythm-based games, do you think that background music plays an important role in games?
In other words, would you have enjoyed Brutal Legend if you had played it on Mute?
Speaking of Jurassic the hunted, have you ever loved or defended a painfully average or bad game for no good reason, also please try to mention some ones we don't already know you like defending.
I, for one, Find Bioware's "formula" a bit comforting. Sure they use fairly common scenarios, but each game it is tweaked in a way that makes it feel different.
My question is this: Would you rather have a game with a good story behind it that uses familiar plot elements, or an insipid boom-fest that relies on jingoistic sensationalism (I wonder what I could be referring too) that the majority of gaming seems to be about lately?
Will publishers ever stop thinking of PC gamers as a horde of pirates? It gets exhausting defending my platform of choice when the ease-of-use is diminished so greatly by DRM and other copyright measures. Any chance more companies will follow Stardock's lead and trust their audience to appreciate (and pay for) quality games?
Does anyone else have any strange traditions when they purchase new video games?
For example I always keep the receipt behind the manual. I've been doing it since the mid 90s. I don't know if doing this makes me crazy or not. It can't be that crazy since I seem to remember Aaron mentioning in an old podtoid how he bought a bunch of sealed SNES games and would periodically open one and smell it.
I wonder, what do you guys think of the MW2 $60 price tag given a lot of their restrictions on a lot of the content. I understand that there is not necessarily a proper standard for multiplayer games, but a 9v9 player cap and no dedicated servers just feel kind of rough. Thoughts?
With the release of Modern Warfare 2, and MAG just around the corner, how important do you feel it is to have the multiplayer functioning right from launch? As the case with SOCOM:Confrontation, the multiplayer took a little bit to get the bugs worked out and this left a bad taste in the mouth of many gamers. Can a broken multiplayer game mode make or break a game's sales. I understand MAG and SOCOM are completely multiplayer oriented so this may be more crucial for those developers to have them functioning from launch, but can it essentially kill the game, so to speak.
Game technologies.
Every year new technologies act as the gimmicks to list on the back of the box as a selling point.
Bump mapping, HDR, physics (cinematic/particle/fluid/object),
AI, floppy bodies, etc.
Which of the technologies adopted by games do you personally remember as having the greatest impact regarding gameplay or immersion in the game world.
How much of a game collection do you all maintain? I sell most of my games if I don't think I'll ever play them again. Others I know are practically curators of private game museums with hundreds of titles going back to the Atari 2600 which mostly just sit on shelves collecting dust. In which camp do you fall?
Somthing iv always wondered, can samit actually play sport? also what about the rest of you? is there world class sprinter lurking in the gristle encrusted heart of jim?
Bah, one more: What use do you find in Demos? I've never been sold on a game from a demo except for Arkham Asylum, but I've been turned off from buying games I might have otherwise because of a bad demo. Thoughts?
Bioware games all follow the "Heroes Journey," but they are not the only ones. Almost every game I've played this year follows the exact same story structure. Can you name any story driven games that don't follow the "Heroes Journey?"
Do you think Call of Duty has reached its peak? In other words, do you think that after Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty games will start to wane in popularity?
Why do you think there aren't more games about Dinosaurs? They seem to me like the perfect kind of video game enemy.
In the latest issue of The Onion, they had a joke article about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, where the game was "the most realistic yet!" Meaning that most of gameplay will have players "hauling equipment, cleaning vehicles, experiencing home sickness and filling out paperwork." I know it's a joke, but would you play a military game like this, if the story was good, and the designers made all that boring stuff cool to do? Imagine a war game where 95% of it wasn't fighting.
Adding mod support and dedicated servers creates a stronger community, which in turn lenghtens the game's lifespan. And that's a bad thing, because then it's a lot more difficult to sell a sequel next year. Discuss.
What are your opinions on games that are more toy than game (electroplankton, noby noby boy, Seaman) do you think these games would do better if they were sold at budget prices?
I'm playing borderlands at the moment as is probably every living thing on the face of this earth. As much as I'm really enjoying the game I couldn't help get the shits when coming across a "boss" and whittling down his hp bar like I'm playing a megaman game. I know that's the way the game's supposed to work, but after playing all of these bloody shooters of late and destroying guys with one shot, it made my blood boil.
Am I the only one who got the shits with this? It works so well in platformers and shmups, but it kills the mood for me in this.
What is your guys opinion on people trying to appeal to the whole 'gamer' market? You know, like the gunnar optiks gaming shades. When does it stop becoming useful and just become pointless?
Since they're the only cast members missing a video feature, what form should a video involving both Samit and Linde take? (Bonus points for any kind of Buddy Cop scenarios where Samit uses painfully longwinded stories as interrogationg techniques, causing criminals to crack under the agonising wait for a punchline)
I've often heard the Podtoid crew complain about DRM on PC games like Spore or Far Cry 2, but never a word about how Steam is another form of DRM. Why is Steam authentication so much less offensive to users than SecuROM? If one of the main complaints about DRM is that you can't easily take the game off the shelf and play it in ten years, doesn't Steam potentially pose the same problem? Why do we let this go? Are we willing to trade our principles for convenience? Is it such a solid system that we assume it'll be up forever? Do we just let it slide because they made Half-Life 2?
What's the worst thing you've done out of frustration at a game, whether it was built to be difficult or just had shotty design? Kill your mother? Vomit and bake it into a pie?
Is DJ Hero kind of blowing it's load with Daft Punk? I mean, if there were going to be anybody that could get the Beatles Rock Band treatment in that genre it'd be them.
With Dj Hero the latest to come out of the Guitar Hero franchise, how many iterations before we get to see Cowbell Hero and Maracas Hero? I'm not too good with instruments but I played a mean cowbell in kindergarten.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
1:40 PM on 11.10.2009
| 
With the release of the amazing Jurassic: The Hunted, does the Podtoid crew think dinosaurs will finally replace zombies as the go-to antagonist in videogames?
*sniffle*
I need a minute...
How many people do you think felt the “Call of Flu-ty” today?
I forget what, but something made me think about prequels. Do they serve any purpose other than fan service? They often spoil or retcon the original work and rarely provide any actual substance. For example, if you look at the Star Wars trilogies – if you watch episodes 1-3 first, none of the big reveals are really surprising in the original trilogy and conversely, the suspense is sucked out of the newer trilogy knowing how things will turnout in the end. Since the player always has a sense of dramatic irony in most games, is there any way to truly provide a worthwhile prequel? Metal Gear Solid 3 is the only exception I can think of for games – you had an understanding of some of the high points (Ocelot’s alliances, the beginning of Big Boss, etc.) but it did expand on the original story and provided new questions going forward.
Do you think putting a player in a role like that would detract from whatever message they want to make?
think about it.
A while ago, when discussing Six Days in Fallujah, Aaron Linde said that that his main problem with the game was that it sounded like it was shit and would be a horrible example to point to for games being able to effectively tackle modern day issues. How about Modern Warfare 2? Would that be an appropriate game to tackle the modern day issue of terrorism?
Also, Resident Evil movie. Zombies. Zom...Bees. Was Samit stung by a Zombee?
I try to wait until I have gotten frustrated with the level(10-30 minutes), before I use an outside source. I constantly used gamfaqs to complete The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and by the end of the game I felt fairly stupid for having to use the guide so much. I also felt like I had taken away some of the value of the game.
Am I being too harsh on myself or should I be ashamed?
Do you think that relevance (Riddler's challenges) is an important step to actually making them fun or are we going to be stuck in a world where shooting 200 random pigeons and catching flags is the norm?
How important do you think music is to video games? Aside from rhythm-based games, do you think that background music plays an important role in games?
In other words, would you have enjoyed Brutal Legend if you had played it on Mute?
My question is this: Would you rather have a game with a good story behind it that uses familiar plot elements, or an insipid boom-fest that relies on jingoistic sensationalism (I wonder what I could be referring too) that the majority of gaming seems to be about lately?
For example I always keep the receipt behind the manual. I've been doing it since the mid 90s. I don't know if doing this makes me crazy or not. It can't be that crazy since I seem to remember Aaron mentioning in an old podtoid how he bought a bunch of sealed SNES games and would periodically open one and smell it.
Please, come back.
Which is your favorite 90's sitcom?
I'm kinda ashamed but I'm gonna have to say "Friends"
NEWSRADIO.
FTW.
Every year new technologies act as the gimmicks to list on the back of the box as a selling point.
Bump mapping, HDR, physics (cinematic/particle/fluid/object),
AI, floppy bodies, etc.
Which of the technologies adopted by games do you personally remember as having the greatest impact regarding gameplay or immersion in the game world.
Do you think Call of Duty has reached its peak? In other words, do you think that after Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty games will start to wane in popularity?
Why do you think there aren't more games about Dinosaurs? They seem to me like the perfect kind of video game enemy.
In the latest issue of The Onion, they had a joke article about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, where the game was "the most realistic yet!" Meaning that most of gameplay will have players "hauling equipment, cleaning vehicles, experiencing home sickness and filling out paperwork." I know it's a joke, but would you play a military game like this, if the story was good, and the designers made all that boring stuff cool to do? Imagine a war game where 95% of it wasn't fighting.
Am I the only one who got the shits with this? It works so well in platformers and shmups, but it kills the mood for me in this.