Surprised you didn't embed the fake Street Fighter DVD menu.

I asked this on Retroforce, but I'd like your opinions as as well.

Any words of wisdom for a first timer covering the summer's conventions (E3, PAX, SGC)? Any horror stories you have to share so that I can learn from your mistakes?

Here's one for you... What is it about Las Vegas? I hear the new Fallout game is going to be set in Las Vegas... why? We've had Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2, there's that other game, simply entitled Vegas (if I'm not mistaken) - I'm sure you guys can think of more, but all I can think about is Swingers and a couple of episodes of Friends.

Basically, I (in London) hear that Vegas is merely somewhere where Americans can drink alcohol on the streets.

Isn't everybody just yawning at this Fallout anouncement or just me? Where else in the US of A would you take the next Fallout, Boner Quest or Rainbow Six, for that matter?

Remember when you played Street Fighter II(or the HD Remix) and Ryu wins and he does that pose where he stands to the side and is seemingly caught in a breeze? Where the hell does that wind come from?

Is someone off screen with a fan? Or Is it your downed opponent farting as one last attempt at a victory?

If Raul Julia was a hardcore gamer what would be his system of choice and game of choice and why?

what are you're big e3 predictions?

"i expect a syphon filter ps3 announcement, incognito's new game, team ico, ratchet and clank, mag, gt5, square's kh3 announcement and a new teasing of something unknown, Kojima's new project and many many more that i think i will like. i believe sony will own the floor with ms unveiling next years projects (halo4 duh) and alan wake but very few other things. and nintendo will unveil 3 first party games, one of which is a new paper mario and zelda, maybe kirby or kid icarus."

now what y'alls?

Have any of you played the Evil Dead games? I've heard that they're complete shit, but I'm thinking about getting my hands on them just to hear some good ol' Bruce-Campbell-as-Ash dialogue. If you've played them, is it worth a purchase to listen to Ash while slogging through mediocre fighting mechanics?

Also, Armed and Dangerous is highly, highly underrated. Discuss.

This is a question on challenge in games.
The typical structure in a game is that of a difficulty level that increases as you progress through the game. However some games see this as a key element in their game in order to keep it "interesting" so the player does not get bored by doing easy things. As a result this can often make the game too punishing and can really take a toll on the quality of a game. An example of this would be in Mirrors Edge using combat and pseudo quicktime events in order to keep the game fresh. All this did was make the game very frustrating and cheap.
Do you not think that developers need to start moving away from this common structure of ratcheting up the difficulty level? Maybe to focus more on interesting gameplay and set pieces in order to keep it fresh? Is Aaron thinking of these things as he works on Boner Quest?

When choosing what order to play games (choosing from your library or buying from a shop) what is the most important thing you use to decide?

My example is that at the moment I'm half way through Far Cry 2 and Prince of Persia but just bought Killer 7 and Final Fantasy VI so I totally screwed over my chances of ever finishing Prince of Persia since I'm going for Killer 7 first due to the unique gameplay I haven't had before so I wondered what you guys used to decide what you want to play when it's not street fighting time.

If you have the opportunity to buy or download the game from steam or something of that nature which do you choose? Assuming of course you have a fast connection and the store has the game available.

Do you guys appreciate and/or enjoy videogame themed music? Like when musicians make songs devoted to videogames, or based on them in some way. Would you bump that kind of thing while rolling through the hood in your sweet ride, or is that kind of thing beneath you? Would you even listen to it if it was on your mp3 player, or would it be kind of like an ironic joke thing to share with your friends when you're drunk?
I posted a cblog with a couple Street Fighter4 themed songs, you know, for refference. :3

In the same vein, what do you guys think of videogame themed T-shirts and things like that? As the old farts you are, is that kind of thing just too juvenile/lame for you to leave the house wearing?
Also, when can we expect to see some Bonerquest t-shirts? And just to channel Summa one last time, is the "Q" capitalized?

Also do your best Skeletor impressions.

Do you think that if we stopped calling video games "games" they would get more respect as a legit art form? When people think "game" they think of stuff like tag, duck duck goose, sports, and board games. Perhaps if we stopped calling ourselves "games" and something like "interactive film" we would gain more respect. What do you guys think?

What if Treasure and Blizzard teamed up to make an RTS-shmup hybrid game? how would that work out? what would it look like? would there be multiplayer? how 'bout game length? the story? platform? How can those two genre's even work together?

So I am currently working on my own game and as a pretty inexperienced game developer I am having some problems. It is a shmup but is more of an experiment in telling a story through that genre, something a little more than the typical few lines of banter before each stage. The first problem I have found is that I also want it to be the type of game where you die A LOT. How do I find a good balance between lots of deaths and a well flowing story?

OH! And don't forget about stuff like The Black Mages! Those guys are fucking bad-ass.

Do you name your toenails, i do, but only the ones on my big toes, the one on the left is called smelly and the one on the right is called fungusy, do you name your toenails and do you think you could base a game on them?

What do you guys think of games that are intended to be cinematic while playing, like Half-Life 2? Is it something that's only enjoyable as a novelty and something we don't see very often, or is it just underused?

If all the members of Podtoid could remove one game from each others conscious, whether b/c of over saturation or dubious quality, which would it be?

How do you guys feel about games that are simultaneously
A) absolutely brilliant and
B) totally broken?
Some of my favorite games of all time are flawed in ways that are totally inexcusable (not just by modern standards, but by any standards). Personally, however, I find that I was perfectly happy to forgive some broken games when I realized that they were actually substantial in ways that shocked and surprised me.
Shadow of the Colossus features a terrible camera, awkward controls, and an absolutely atrocious frame rate that can barely keep up with the action.
Bioshock's gameplay quickly boils down to "Hit the dude with the lightning" and "Swing Wrench till deaded".
Metal Gear Solid 2, beyond its inherent insanity, felt like a game made without the control and perspective innovations made since the first game's release in 1998, and the result was a number of awkward control schemes heavily reliant on finicky button sensitivity.
STALKER is, even after a 6 year dev cycle and 2 additional years of patches, a wreck at times, with a mean spirited inventory system and a large open world that still manages to break itself.
Yet all of these games feature, in my mind, substantial and important game experiences, and are important beyond an initial review determining whether a product is worth $50 or $60. I would be a very different (and ultimately, more cynical) game player if I didn't grab these games on the basis of a few messed up elements. But, how do you guys feel? Is a messed up, broken game still worth the at launch recommendation, even if it features poorly constructed elements that might infuriate a consumer? Or, do you punish a game at its launch, and boil your analysis of the title down to "Wait for the game to get cheaper", knowing that every product becomes a more feasible purchase after it's dropped in price?
(This question is posed under the belief that reviews -- scores, text or otherwise--are only useful immediately upon a product's launch, and are instantly invalidated and totally useless after the product's release.)

Konami's Six Days in Fallujah is taking on the lofty goal of saying something meaningful about war despite its sensitive subject matter. Yet, as I think about the mechanics of the FPS genre, I doubt it will move far beyond simply encouraging player empowerment. In your sage-like opinions, do you think Konami will accomplish this difficult goal? How could they?

Once a game starts to go bad, how long do you persevere with it until you give up? Alternatively:
-Have you played a bad game to completion simply to see how bad it can get?
-Have you felt compelled to play a bad game to the end because you didn't want to waste the time you had already invested?
-At what point is it acceptable to cheat to accomplish this?

Also, what do you think of having a price based rating system, whereby you rate the game by what you think it is worth? I know I asked this last week but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, seeing as this is a topic the industry talks about frequently.

Hey, since it's been a while, here's a choice of three Siegel puns:

"Mecha a fine glass of Bourbon to enjoy while playing Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2" (Bourbon = French dynasty from the 17th to 19th century)
or
"Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is so exciting it made Joan Collins break a Ming vase." (80's reference)
or
"Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 will have you smashing robots, Hanover fist." (Hanover = English dynasty of the 19th century. Plus, bonus Heavy Metal reference!)

Does the video game industry inherently hinder potential for artistic video games? It seems that, like mainstream films,video games require massive funding and the people that supply that funding are unwilling to take artistic risks. They are concerned most with getting a return on their investment. A counter example to this might be Braid, but most of the funding for that game came out of Blow's pocket. It doesn't seem like a game like Passage could ever see mainstream funding for large scale development
. Is this because the video game industry inherently hinders artistic development with a lack of funding?

Also many movies, such as Blade Runner or The Last of the Mohicans, are altered in post production to make the film more audience friendly. Does this happen with games? I can't think of any examples.

We've had Jimpressions and we've had the Podtoid simulator. Lets hear some Linde impressions.