The Beef Wellington Episode

[fishbang]

A full helping of IGC, somewhat late to the table, is available at this link (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20090520.mp3).

Much like the traditional preparation of beef tenderloin, this episode of In-Game Chat is both classy and succulent. In addition to your standard host assortment, we offer a side order of Matt and Dave - the very best the Air Force has to offer - and we invite you to join us in laughing at the antics of people you seriously don’t even know.

We’ve spent just enough time with this week’s terrible games to confirm their terrible gameplay, and just enough time looking into the bright-light future of E3 to believe that there’s real salvation to be found on the show floor next week. There are solid games from the recent past that still demand our attention, and the promise of some seriously polished gameplay in the near future, but we’ve always had a weakness for the sound and fury of E3, no matter how little it may actually signify.

We’d also like to note in this space, as we have in the episode itself, how much we enjoy it when the tweets drop during our recording. We’re quite good enough at going on for hours on our own, but it’s nice to have an unexpected course correction at or around the 45 minute mark to keep us keen. Much like the listener mail, this will become something we can’t live without.

[kyrieee]

Rancer hehe, don't go there =)
While on EVE, I came across this awesome pvp video that's narrated (about a minute in). It's a few months old but it's still awesome http://vimeo.com/2591033

[Iron Past]

I kinda/sorta feel Dave. I have to cue up stuff like demos and XBLA games and DLC until there's something I really want, then drive my crap an hour away to download it all. It's a little annoying, but I guess I can live with it till we eventually move.

Oh, and if you're curious, the Game of the Year edition of Oblivion didn't have that content on the disc, but it had a second disc that installed everything to your HDD so it acted like regular DLC. I'd assume they'll do something similar with Fallout.

And since you guys finished Wolverine, did anyone else feel like they got done making the game then misplaced the original chapters 4 and 5? Those last two chapters felt like the normal eleventh hour crap usually passing for licensed games, but the rest made up for it (and it only took me like half an hour to finish them anyway).

[Gerbs]

On the "any game you discuss gets remade" front, you guys ever check out Vagrant Story on the PSone? One of my favorite games of that generation. I'm going to give you guys the benefit of the doubt and assume you all played it, but just in case I'm sure Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrant_story) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chO8hTZylA8) can describe it better than I.

[Chris_D]

Had a great night listening to the show while dungeon crawling in Persona 4 (awesome game). Still, Beef Wellington just reminds me of Hell's Kitchen (Gordon Ramsey's own version of a torture chamber). Seems almost every service they had to serve Beef Wellingtons and someone was always screwing them up!

Btw, can you guys please talk about a potential follow up to the original Phantasy Star series on the Sega Master System and then the Megadrive/Genesis. You know what I want, a genuine, single player, story driven experience. I know you can make it happen :).

Thanks for the Wii discussion. My quick thoughts:

- Hmm Wii Sports.. I kind of like bowling I guess. Tennis just doesn't seem to require real skill. I want a more sim like tennis game (with motion plus?). Flailing around in boxing was kind of fun. Baseball, I just have trouble timing the swing for some reason.
- Wii Play, most fun I've had on the Wii. Beer + Laser Hockey = Gold
- Mario Party, WTF? Just the GC Mario Party with unnecessary Wii controls. You now have to flick the Wii Remote to roll the dice (wouldn't an A button press work OK?). It only works a third of the time. Also, being thrown into random mini games is even more frustrating since you have to learn a new set of controls for each one.
- Warioware, have played only a little but I thought the big weakness was having to share a single Wiimote around between 4 people rather than each person having their own remote. Annoying in such a fast paced game.
- Zelda, I'm a graphics whore but Twilight Princess just looks like an ugly game to me now. It feels hypocritical because I did love the blocky N64 OoT when it came out. But all the TP textures seem muddy. Maybe should have gone with the Wind Waker look?

[AgtFox]

- Hmm Wii Sports.. I kind of like bowling I guess. Tennis just doesn't seem to require real skill. I want a more sim like tennis game (with motion plus?). Flailing around in boxing was kind of fun. Baseball, I just have trouble timing the swing for some reason.

- Warioware, have played only a little but I thought the big weakness was having to share a single Wiimote around between 4 people rather than each person having their own remote. Annoying in such a fast paced game.
You might be interested in EA Sports' Grand Slam Tennis coming next month that comes with a Wii Motion Plus for $10 extra (same with Tiger 2010).

Warioware is awesome, but would have been so much more awesome had it been mutliplayer outside of the side mini-games.

[Ravenlock]

I'll be interested to hear what the response to Punch-Out!! is once Jeremy gets through the normal roster and into Title Defense mode. It's true that the patterns of the classic fighters are largely unchanged the first time through (which I think is fine, personally, given how long it's been since there's been an entry in the series, and they still get plenty tough in the 2nd circuit and beyond), but from what I understand Title Defense - which I haven't gotten to yet, thanks Super Macho Man - is a whole new ball game.

Personally I'm really impressed so far with how classy an update to a franchise I'm really fond of it's turned out to be.

Also need to remind myself to put Klonoa on my Gamefly queue.

[Doogie2K]

Thanks for taking my question. It's interesting how James's idealized Live/Home is in many ways an idealized Facebook/MySpace, too, with all the personalization and interactivity and none of the spammy horseshit. I particularly like the idea of adding some other reward for certain really cool achievements. I know some games give you gamerpics and shit like that (The Maw did this recently, no?), and others give you in-game enhancements (Mass Effect), but I wouldn't mind a title like Drum Lord or something like that if I were to get both Drum Trainer achievements in Rock Band 2, for example. As for how a "scarlet letter" might show up without having it be a profile type of thing, I don't know if every game (or any game) could render it, but a big red "(C)" at the front of the gamertag would make a good marker, though you're right that the real douchebags would probably carry it as a badge of honour, rather than a mark of shame.

And I could see where you guys were going before you got to the banned-from-one-game idea, and I think it's a brilliant one. I think there's a real danger in banning someone's console from a game (or Live) right off, because that really fucks over anyone else who gets it on trade-in or Craigslist sale, or whatever, but having that as an intermediate step between "ban the Gamertag from Game X" and "ban the machine from Live, full stop" might be of some use.

Not finished the show, but thought I'd pop in while the thought was fresh in my head.

[Iron Past]

Oh, a couple things. First, that little post show recap you played at the start was pretty cool, a little like how James writes things up when he posts the show here. It's probably easier doing it that way than trying to predict what you talk about anyway. And going over some of the comments from the show threads is pretty cool of you guys, too, makes me feel special. :)

[Doogie2K]

Having now finished the episode, I think the Wii game I would most rather play on my 360 would be No More Heroes. Yeah, the remote-swinging killshots wouldn't be nearly so satisfying as QTEs with, say, the analog sticks, but at the same time, having some kind of camera control would be very useful in some fights. Runner-up would be Guitar Hero III, not because the Wii implementation is broken at all -- it's perfectly functional and enjoyable -- but just so I'd have a second 360 guitar for Rock Band 2. And achievements. ;)

Game where motion controls are most integral? Well, Trauma Center worked well on the DS, too, but then you guys were mentioning adventure games, some of which have also appeared on the DS, so I'll throw that in there, and of course, Boom Blox, though I fell out of love with that quickly when I played it at my cousin's.

[Ravenlock]

Started a message board post about the Wii stuff earlier, but then realized that by the time they record again another episode will be out, so I just sent an email instead. Perhaps they'll read it. ;)

In brief, though, I think it needs to be noted that the motion sensing and the IR pointer interface are two totally separate revisions to console control that the Wii introduced, and I think at this point the IR pointer has been MUCH more successful. There are many game types where effectively having a mouse either makes the game possible in the first place, or greatly improves the user experience. Motion sensing, we haven't seen too many examples of games where it really improves things - hopefully that'll come with Wii Motion Plus - but take away motion sensing entirely and Wii still does some very compelling things just with the IR pointer.

[Vigil80]

I would want to play any Zelda game with a standard controller on an HD system, hands down. Motion/touchscreen gimmickery - and, to a lesser extent, chibi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(Japanese_term))rized visuals - are really dragging down a franchise that used to be part of a pantheon of kings of the mountain for me.

As for getting you guys to will franchises back to life, I'd like to order some Mechwarrior and some Gladius (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=7880), please. What offering should I bring to the oracle?

Finally, STOP apologizing for things like the length of the podcast. The show can neither be too long, nor come too often. If I must divert my attention, the pause button has become a proven technology over the years. If I were trying to listen to the show on, say, a vinyl record, then I might complain a little.

[Iron Past]

Finally, STOP apologizing for things like the length of the podcast. The show can neither be too long, nor come too often. If I must divert my attention, the pause button has become a proven technology over the years. If I were trying to listen to the show on, say, a vinyl record, then I might complain a little.

THIS. That's like my wife telling me she made too much pie. Well, if she made pie.

[Psykoboy2]

Okay! Fine! We'll stop. We're totally sorry about being sorry about being too long. ;)

[Spigot]

On the "any game you discuss gets remade" front, you guys ever check out Vagrant Story on the PSone? One of my favorite games of that generation.For the love of god, don't taunt me on this front. I wish Square would take some of the money they throw at their failed experiments (see Infinite Undiscovery) or remakes of yet another FF game and either give Vagrant Story the Crisis Core treatment on the PSP, do a proper sequel or at the very least put the PS1 version up on PSN.

I so love that game. It's punishing as anything at first, but once you glom onto the weapon upgrade/crafting system and figure out how to have an arsenal of weapons for every occasion you're on your way to some mighty fine gaming.

[Doogie2K]

Okay! Fine! We'll stop. We're totally sorry about being sorry about being too long. ;)

"Sorry!"
"Stop apologizing!"
"Okay, sorry!"
"AAAAAAARGH!"
"Sorry..."

[FellOpenIan]

I'm done buying consoles without backwards compatibility and after almost 30 years of being a gamer I've figured out why = Windows. I can, right here in Windows 7, play thousands upon thousands of games from nearly every console ever made and those which aren't emulated yet due to hardware constraints will be eventually. I can also play basically every PC game ever made as well as games on devices ranging from calculators to smart phones to friggin speak n spells. I have been spoiled rotten with backwards compatibility!

I've spent a lot of money on games over the years and I want to be able to play every single one of them until I die. I can't go back to the line of thinking that dead hardware should somehow kill off perfectly good software.

If the console manufacturers are content with leaving me holding the bill for hundreds and hundreds of useless games when their hardware inevitably gives out then I will be moving those discs right over to my PC and finding myself far less inclined to purchase their next console at all and instead just emulate the games for that as well.

A lot of the hardware is going away soon anyways so I guess I'm just shaking my fist at the sky while I wait.

Great episode as usual all.

Oh, and out of the money I've pissed away on Wii games here are my standouts (omitting first party, WiiWare, and VC titles):

No More Heroes (beam katanas and toilet humor)
MADWORLD (Street of Rage on meth)
Boom Blox (throw shit + jenga)
Boom Blox Bash Party (throw shit + jenga + co-op + create your own levels + download other people's levels)
Anno: Create A New World (SimCity/Populous/Colonization/Civilization fans apply within)
Klonoa (I own the original and the Wii one and the import of the Wii one)
Deadly Creatures (you play as a scorpion and a tarantula nuff said)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (wand = wiimote)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time (co-op online 4 player loot whore fest with cross-platform connectivity with the DS)
The House of the Dead Overkill (if Tarantino and Rodriguez had sex and made a little baby light-gun game)
Disaster: Day of Crisis (about 5 games mashed into one with shit blowing up)
Kororinpa (marble madness / super monkey ball)
Kororinpa 2 (same shit with a crap story but more levels)
Opoona (I still don't know what an Opoona is but 'poon' in the title is false advertising)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (I like dudes in tights)
Pitfall (platformer)
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (great game for the wee drunken hours of a party)
Rune Factory Frontier (Harvest Moon but I can stand it for more than 5 minutes)
Trauma Center New Blood (cut bitches open)
Bully Scholarship Edition (I kiss nothing but fat girls and I'm proud of it...also the game is nice)
Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop (I just like killing zombies no excuse here)
Onechanbara Bikini Zombie Slayers (see above and add breasts)
Death Jr. Root of Evil (platformer)
The King of Fighters Collection (makes me fondle myself looking for quarters)
The Legend of Spyro (platformer and more like the first than the ones that followed plus he can finally fly sorta)
Bust-A-Move Bash (wife loves this series but the music makes me want to rock back and forth in a corner poo'ing myself)
Okami (paint brush mechanic is better on the Wii I think)
Mushroom Men (Les Claypool + platformer)
Monster Lab (build and battle your own abominations while avoiding minigames)
Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World (always been a Tales fan)
Puzzle Quest (text is too small but it's Puzzle Quest)
Resident Evil 4 (love-love-love the pointer functionality for shooters...RE5 would be nearly fixed with it in fact)
Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles (refresher for those in this house who didn't play 1-3+CV)
Dokapon Kingdom (RPG + Mario Party)
Sim City Creator (ah destroying cities)
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (I don't know half of the Tatsunoko people but it was Capcom enough for me to import)
Monster Hunter G (Japanese dictionary helps)
Oboro Muramasa (Japanese dictionary required...should have just waited but it's awesome)

I could have edited out the saccharin platformers which I have a high tolerance for and the imports which really aren't fair to count and anything generally not seen by the hardcore space marine Buddhists as cool but I didn't. There's just a whole mess of games that me and my family have enjoyed thoroughly on our Wii.

[Psykoboy2]

Finally, STOP apologizing for things like the length of the podcast. The show can neither be too long, nor come too often.

I want you to remember this when you listen to the next episode that should be up later this week.

[Vigil80]

Hey, I'm ready. :D Give me an episode that outlasts the battery in my MP3 player and I have to recharge it to finish.

[Psykoboy2]

James will read "War & Peace" while giving a detailed editorial opinion of each page.

Good luck.

[Vigil80]

I must be insane. That actually sounds like a fun listen. :P

[Doogie2K]

James will read "War & Peace" while giving a detailed editorial opinion of each page.

Good luck.

Bring it on.

/knucklecrack

(Ow.)