[Episode 9] Unrealized Ambitions

[Voodoo]

http://image.colonyofgamers.com/imcast.png

Part of being a gamer is hearing about games that may never see the light of day. In this recording, we discuss these ambitious projects such as Warcraft Adventures, Starcraft: Ghost, Crusader: No Mercy, the Sin episodes, Conquest: The Vyrium Uprising and Mythos. We also cover the collapse of 3D Realms, the beta sign ups for Starcraft 2, the release of the Radeon 4770 and talk about the classic Descent series. This podcast's cast are Bryan [Smoof], Eric [Ravenlock], Robert [Trebor] and Clayton [Voodoo].

Immortal Machines presents... Unrealized Ambitions (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/Immortal_Machines_Podcast_Unrealized_Ambitions.mp3 )

iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=301414682) | Zune (zune://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/immortal_machines_podcast.xml) | RSS (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/immortal_machines_podcast.xml)

[Ravenlock]

It makes me happy that you kept (most of) the ridiculous nonsense that went on at the end in there. ;)

Plants vs. Zombies is still awesome, and everyone should still buy it.

That is all.

[Voodoo]

It makes me happy that you kept (most of) the ridiculous nonsense that went on at the end in there. ;)

Plants vs. Zombies is still awesome, and everyone should still buy it.

That is all.

I am quite happy with how the editing turned out. At first I thought it would be terribly difficult but after listening to it once, it turned out to be the easiest to edit show of the 9.

[Ravenlock]

This article over on Wired (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/05/quiet-death-duke-nukem/) says probably much better than I did what I feel about Duke Nukem's time having passed, and makes some of the same points.

In games and movies, we’ve moved beyond the cigar-chomping, catchphrase-spouting one-man army embodied by characters like Duke. These days we like our heroes, and our antiheroes, a little more human than that. We demand a solid story and a little thoughtful introspection alongside our explosions.

We’ve seen this kind of cultural shift in Hollywood already. In the ’80s and ’90s, the box office was ruled by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone as they single-handedly killed thousands of aliens, terrorists, soldiers and clones of themselves. 1985’s Commando, a film that epitomized the badass-with-a-big-gun genre, made 57 million dollars, despite being one of Schwarzenegger’s worst vehicles.

Yes, as Bryan said on the podcast, pure action movies like Fast & Furious still find an audience, but the "stoic badass who needs nothing but a giant gun, a wisecrack and 17 boxes of ammo" film has been out of style for a long time, to the point where practically the only movies to even contain characters like that anymore are parodies.

Were Duke Nukem Forever to ever actually see release, I think a parody is pretty much what it would feel like, except I'm afraid it wouldn't be in on the joke.

[alienmastermind]

http://dipswitchcomics.com/pictures/ds97final.jpg