The Three Mile Turd Episode

[fishbang]

More pointless sophomoric humor available at this link (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20090219.mp3).

This evening’s show title is a direct result of a conversation about GTA 4’s new expansion-grade material, but it isn’t intended as any kind of slander. It’s a tasteless poop-joke that we honestly struggled against using (coming, as it did, so soon after a wiener-joke), but it’s hard to talk yourself out of something that makes you laugh. None of us has committed the money to investigate the Lost and Damned properly, but the surprising reviews are working in its favor, and it seems willing to deliver on length what it isn’t willing to compromise on cost.

There’s also mailbag to be delivered, which means a quick mea culpa for breezing past the accomplishments of Final Fantasy XI, and an enlightened description of the ridiculous Rube Goldberg process our show has to travel through to get from our board to your earbuds. It’s going to happen this way nearly every time. We’ve only just gotten used to the fact, so we can understand if you folks are still scratching your heads from time to time.

An extra preview-spoiler for next time: Scott and I totally didn’t play each other in Street Fighter.

[opsin]

Haven't listened to this one yet, but on the subject of TLAD...
I really enjoyed it, but I can't see anyone who didn't like GTAIV liking it. That said, I had a friend who really liked Vice and GTAIV, but could never get into San Andreas so, maybe the biker thing is enough of a change for someone.
I got 17.5 hours out of it, and still have a few side things left to do, so I got my money's worth there, and it's worth it for the ending and the end credits, which are so very cool!

It also just reminded me how much I like the way they build worlds, and that the writing and production values are above and beyond most anything else in gaming. So alas, I guess it'll be about another year before the next episode...

[Psykoboy2]

I've got a free night to play tonight (no TV on or anything) so I plan to finish up Bourne, but I might hop in and knock out a few missions from the main story of GTA 4.

That is...if Burnout Paradise doesn't distract me on the PS3.

[Count Elmdor]

Cool of you to address the FFXI thing. For what it's worth, I agree totally with what you said here about it doing all those things, but being more of a qualified success than being the Halo of the MMO genre, if you will. Whoever it is that finally nails the MMO for the console crowd... I need to buy stock.

Question for Scott; I sent you an invite to Burnout the other night on PS3, and I honestly couldn't tell whether you'd joined or not. Maybe I'm just a retard, but there was no indication anyone had joined on screen, and no voice, but I was getting real time updates when you'd rule a road or something. Is that normal? I've done the freeburn online stuff, and it always gives a list of other players in the game on screen.

[Psykoboy2]

Question for Scott; I sent you an invite to Burnout the other night on PS3, and I honestly couldn't tell whether you'd joined or not. Maybe I'm just a retard, but there was no indication anyone had joined on screen, and no voice, but I was getting real time updates when you'd rule a road or something. Is that normal? I've done the freeburn online stuff, and it always gives a list of other players in the game on screen.

When I pick up an extra bluetooth headset, I'll start getting more into some online PS3 stuff (gonna need it for KZ2 anyway), but no, I didn't join you the other night. However, in that game you are always connected online and it was sending you updates of what I was doing in my game. If I had joined, then yeah, my name and yours would have popped up in the upper right corner of the screen.

[Straximus]

Whoever it is that finally nails the MMO for the console crowd... I need to buy stock.

Not a bad idea... Maybe I'll grab some Atari stock just in case. :)

[Count Elmdor]

If I had joined, then yeah, my name and yours would have popped up in the upper right corner of the screen.

ok, that's kinda what I was thinking. That's cool; it gave me a trophy just for inviting someone to join.:D

I should get a bluetooth headset from somewhere, too. I'm still using my PS2 SOCOM headset... surprised it still works.

[Iron Past]

It's interesting what you say about having kids. I got married pretty young and then had a baby (at 21 and 22, but closer together than you might think), and as I'm 25 now, there's plenty of times I've wondered what I would be doing right now if that weren't the case, especially trying to balance a wife, a 2 y/o, full-time college (and sometimes a job) and my hobby; guess which gets put aside first, and for lengthy amounts of time?

It's what I wanted, though maybe a decade earlier than I would have liked. In the end, I wouldn't change it, though. And no matter how you feel about kids, the first time you hold your own child, it is the most special thing you will ever do. And then they get older and sit on your face when you try to play games, or start repeating stuff thus severely limiting what you can play when they're around. Still cute when asleep, though. :)

Oh, and don't forget, for all your nevers, that the only 100% form of birth control is abstinence. Just saying. ;)

[TrackZero]

I've been on XBL since Day 1 here, I originally had to use a hotmail address or something as I recall. But about a year later they opened the option to change it to any e-mail and it's been on my gmail since (though as I recall, the process was some weird site you had to go to, etc, as MS wanted you to stick to their systems, obviously).

[kyrieee]

I know the 'Europe dislikes violence and the States dislike sex'-cliché is just that, but from my cultural perspective I really don't see why there's always so much commotion about nudity in games. I mean, I know your culture is that way so of course I realize that there will be reactions, but I just can't relate to it.

I watched the first 20 minutes of The Lost and Damned over at GiantBomb, and a little while into it they're trying to squeeze some information out of a guy, and he talks without them having to hurt him, and as they leave they randomly take a hammer and smash the guy's jaw. The guy's at GiantBomb chuckled and I cringed a bit.

I don't mind violence but it depends on how it's done, and why. Gibs in Q3? I don't really think of that as violence. I know CJ stomped on people's faces and stuff in GTA:SA but that whole game was like a joke. I haven't played GTA IV yet though so I don't have the context of game

If they want to build likable characters I don't want them committing senseless acts of violence. I feels like it's just their as part of their poop-joke humour contrasts. I think they kinda need to grow up, but maybe I'm overreacting. I just didn't like his face getting smashed (I can't remember reacting to any other violence in games ever really, strange). (the dick is just as immature though, but all guys have a dick, not all guys smash people's faces)

There's nothing wrong about showing violence, I really love Clockwork Orange for example, but I think that it communicates something and you need to know what you want it to communicate. In what movie would a likable character randomly brutalize someone in a way that's supposed to be enjoyable to the audience? I heard people had some disconnects with the character's personalities and their actions in GTA IV though, so maybe I'm not alone.

Sorry for making this so long
Should I buy GTA IV or Burnout for PC (I don't have a gamepad)? =d

[TrackZero]

I watched the first 20 minutes of The Lost and Damned over at GiantBomb, and a little while into it they're trying to squeeze some information out of a guy, and he talks without them having to hurt him, and as they leave they randomly take a hammer and smash the guy's jaw. The guy's at GiantBomb chuckled and I cringed a bit.


You're misremembering that scene. In fact, they do hurt him real bad first. Like when they ram his jaw into the moving bike tire and it tears the flesh off the guys cheek. THEN he talks. But yeah, the hammer in his face as they go to leave, totally brutal, I cringed when it happened.

[opsin]

I watched the first 20 minutes of The Lost and Damned over at GiantBomb, and a little while into it they're trying to squeeze some information out of a guy, and he talks without them having to hurt him, and as they leave they randomly take a hammer and smash the guy's jaw. The guy's at GiantBomb chuckled and I cringed a bit.

I don't mind violence but it depends on how it's done, and why.

It's been ages since this post, but you seem to be commenting on it like it didn't have a purpose. All the way through TLAD, Johnny is riling against Billy for constantly being psychotic. So comparing it to The Clockwork Orange seems reasonable.

The whole point of that scene, and others in it, are to make you cringe. It's a story about brotherhood, and how it puts you in a position where you don't take a stand against the type of behaviour you believe to be wrong.
I thought, in that respect, like was said in I believe an episode of IGC, that TLAD contains far less out of character behaviour, and less of the stuff where you wondered why Niko didn't just tell people to go fuck themselves and leave.

Late to the party I know, but just felt it needed pointing out that I think it works, and isn't just glib violence for the sake of it, by any means.

[kyrieee]

Well, like I said, I only watched the first 20 minutes, I haven't played it ;)

What I wanted to say was mostly just that I reacted a lot more to that act of violence than the dick

[opsin]

What I wanted to say was mostly just that I reacted a lot more to that act of violence than the dick

Ah, yes. Good stuff.

I'm going to rant now but it's not at all at you, just that I was thinking...
The fact that the internet (at least the parts I saw) turned into a complete shitstorm over it, when the violence and social statements contained are far more visceral continues to amaze me... Well, no, for it to amaze me I would have had to have some faith in humanity, and Fox news obliterated what little I had left).

I really don't know why guys seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to have titties in everything, and yet the minute an inch of flaccid cock shows up suddenly they're screaming and covering their eyes, like they've never seen one before.

And as for - like you point out - the way the media has no problem showing us violence, even pre-watershed, and yet any sign of sexuality is some great offense to our morals.
"Oh my god, how dare Mass Effect show us a buttcheek!"
"Jesus, we saw Janet Jackson's breast, now we have to censor every show on television in case we upset more middle American's delicate sensibilities... They might stop buying things and then we'll have no advertising dollars!"

It's nice to have seen so many rational responses to it all here. And I'm glad the mainstream media doesn't seem to have picked up on it yet. I suspect that's the real reason it showed up in DLC, was not to avoid it changing ratings or anything, but to make sure the shitstorm didn't reach beyond Live.

Hmmm, I'm behind on Major Nelsons, but have they commented on that aspect of the episode yet? I mean, Microsoft must have QA'd it before it went up, so I guess, good on MS. Anyway, I'm just rambling now (hah, now...)