The No Balls Episode

[fishbang]

I have no clue why we used that name for this show, but the answer is bound to be somewhere behind this link (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20090526.mp3).

E3 is just a few short days away, and at the time of this recording, none of the early news items had been distributed through the usual channels, so we’re left with plenty of editorializing and very little solid information. Fortunately, our twitter and email correspondents have given us everything we need to fuel a second hour of the program. Apologies all around for the garbled responses or for any questions that weren’t directly answered. You’ll find yourselves at the top of the pile next week, we swear.

Scott’s LA itinerary is complete, the news tickers are filled with fresh tape, and we’ve all sheltered our own personal hopes for expo announcements even though we refuse to mention them on the air for fear of being horribly wrong. Once they hit the feeds, however, we’ll be glad to say we knew it all along. And, sadly, the one drawback to having a passenger on the hype-train is that we won’t be recording our program next week. Scott is sure to have plenty to say during the show and more when he returns, but his absence makes our usual get-together unlikely.

[Cavalier]

The way SE look to be destroying the Front Mission franchise with a third person shooter, I have to say I hope they don't go anywhere near Vagrant Story.

I managed to pick up another copy of VS recently (my third copy as the other two got lent to people and never seen again) and I'll be playing through it again very soon.

I only ever completed the game once so never went through it again with the tattoo.

[Iron Past]

Hey, don't forget Mass Effect gave you in-game perks for getting some achievements, too. When you got the "X Master" achievement (kill x amount with Warp, or with the Assault rifle, or activate Overload x number of time, etc), it unlocked that specific weapon or ability for any new characters you created if that class didn't have access to it (only one, though). Also, the higher difficulties netted you some gamerpics, as I'm still questing for the Insanity one right now.

[KamaItachi]

Hey, don't forget Mass Effect gave you in-game perks for getting some achievements, too. When you got the "X Master" achievement (kill x amount with Warp, or with the Assault rifle, or activate Overload x number of time, etc), it unlocked that specific weapon or ability for any new characters you created if that class didn't have access to it (only one, though). Also, the higher difficulties netted you some gamerpics, as I'm still questing for the Insanity one right now.

You got bonuses for the companion achievements too. Wrex gave you faster regeneration and I think the completed most of the game achievement gave you a permanent increase in experience gained. You really needed that second one for a chance to get to level 60.

[Vigil80]

Ugh, those Mass Effect achievements were the bane of my existence. The companion ones specifically, since you have to get to close to 100% completion on no less than three playthroughs. I didn't start having fun with Mass Effect again until I decided I no longer cared about achievements.

Now I do my best not to even look at lists and try to stick to achievements just through natural play. Completionist that I am, if I start trying to hunt for them, it'll be paralyzing.

It's going to be hard to follow all the updates and twitters and crap. I'm looking forward to E3 coverage, but I'll almost be happier for it to pass so I can see a wrap up of the best news.

[Doogie2K]

Now I do my best not to even look at lists and try to stick to achievements just through natural play. Completionist that I am, if I start trying to hunt for them, it'll be paralyzing.

While I've generally considered myself somewhat of a completionist, I'm also a lazy completionist. If I can see an achievement that isn't totally unreasonable in the course of playing the game (Assassin's Creed's achievements were very good for this, for the most part), I'll make sure I try for it. If it's something absurd (the flag achievements), then fuck it, I'm not gonna bother. So you can achievement whore without hurting your enjoyment; the trick is to decide which achievements are reasonable, and which you don't give a shit about.

[lucklesswonder]

I guess this is a change of topic, but there was something James said that kinda stuck with me. Two things, actually, but both related. The first was when he said he felt Terminator Salvation got a lot of negativity it didn't deserve. The second was that, to long time fans of Spider-Man, the movies weren't so bad, since they had seen far worse.

I don't want to dig up old bones, but I guess I can't help it (in retrospect, I should add, pun not intended). And the only reason I bring this up is because I feel a lot of the same sentiment toward a movie that almost everyone else seemed to hate. But I really liked the fourth Indiana Jones movie. I've been an Indy fan all my life. Harrison Ford, to me, was Indy long before he was Solo. I will admit, I have seen Indy done much better. The original trilogy is dear to me, and I watch the damn things about once a month.

However, I have seen Indy far worse. Anyone remember Young Indiana Jones? Holy shit. Every time I hear someone say Lucas raped Indy in Crystal Skull, I think, have you never seen the young Indy stuff? I Netflix'd those just last year, and they were unwatchable. And the Indiana Jones books? Some of them, written by Rob MacGregor, were okay. The ones by Max McCoy were pretty bad, though. Secret of the Sphinx was a confused jumble.

Sorry if that is too far afield, but the movie comments brought that to mind.

[Spigot]

While I didn't feel the same kind of zing that the original Indy movies elicited, I enjoyed Crystal Skull as a fun 2 hour romp. It could have done with a little less of the Spielberg touch, it definately wasn't the travesty that it had been made out to be.

Now I need to get around to listening to this cast...

[Commissar Rob]

I'd written Terminator Salvation off...but after hearing James talk about it I'm wondering if this is a "must see in the theater" movie or will this work on the HD set?

[Spigot]

Great talk with regards to inFamous. I still think that the best description of the game is how Jon Davison of What They Play put it.

"It's not the best game on the PS3 but it's my favourite game on the PS3."

[lucklesswonder]

I'd written Terminator Salvation off...but after hearing James talk about it I'm wondering if this is a "must see in the theater" movie or will this work on the HD set?

I would almost say it'd be just as effective on an HDTV, but there are a lot of effects that make it worth getting your feet sticky.

That bigass robot looks pretty awesome on the big screen.

[Iron Past]

Alright, I don't remember if it was in this episode or another one, but I finally got around to picking up MadWorld (Hahahaha! Ahhahahahaha! It's great) and something James said came back to me.

He made a comment responding to something about why doesn't Nintendo make more hardcore games by saying that games like Madworld didn't sell well. For me, I didn't buy it immediately because I was short on cash. Anyway, I don't think that's a fair argument at all. It's almost like saying Sony doesn't release any good exclusives on the X360. For two and a half years Nintendo has been aiming this machine at a particular audience in interviews, commercials, first party and third party software, etc. Most of the people who would buy a game like MadWorld don't own the console because they've never had a reason to, so saying, "Well, we tried and look what happened," doesn't really cut it.

There sure as hell wasn't any kind of marketing for it, aside from an odd commercial here and there but nothing like they do for other games. I just think that saying hardcore gamers aren't buying anything on the Wii when you've never bothered to sell the console to them in the first place is a cop out for Nintendo.

[bulletfood]

Sorry I didn't make it to this weeks show, prior obligations of war and all... I listened to the podcast on my way down to P'cola and enjoyed the show. Don't get me started on why there should be a space combat sim, or where the hell is my new MechWarrior?
As far as lucklesswonder posted, I have to agree. I know that James will probably rake me over the coals next podcast, but I really liked Indy IV. Hell, I'll even go out on a limb and say that I really liked the Star Wars prequils also. I know that's not a popular belief, but I enjoy them. They are just as cheesy, poorly written and acted as the original trilogy.

[Chris_D]

I definitely appreciate the E3 coverage from CoG and others. But kind of looking forward to business as usual again. Just too much hype from some outlets and in some cases just too many damn podcasts. I suppose I shouldn't complain, somehow I listened to them all anyway. At least I don't have to blame In Game Chat for too many episodes. ;)

Looking forward to some good old banter in a week or so.

[Spigot]

Iron Past, I agree with you completely. I keep hearing various podcasts bemoaning the lack of sales of games like NMH and MadWorld as indicators that hardcore games don't sell. I think that's a load of hooey myself. These games are niche even amongst the hardcore. They've very stylized, very Japanese and definately fall on the hard M side of the Mature rating scale, so they'd probably be niche titles regardless of what platform they release on.

Something like Metroid Prime 3 or ExciteBots not selling well is a stronger indicator that 'real' games don't sell on the Wii than a few niche M-rated games with incredibly stylized graphics.

[lucklesswonder]

Hell, I'll even go out on a limb and say that I really liked the Star Wars prequils also. I know that's not a popular belief, but I enjoy them. They are just as cheesy, poorly written and acted as the original trilogy.

Nice. I'll still watch any of the prequels. Mostly I'm a whore for a good action flick, and even though those movies aren't intended as action flicks, well, who can deny a great, over-the-top lightsaber duel? And yes, Jar Jar Binks, Padme, and Mannequin Skywalker not withstanding, those movies do have a lot going for them. Maybe Georgie boy's writing ain't so hot, but in a way, that's what makes Empire and Jedi (the only two films written by someone else) all the more special.

[Spigot]

With regards to the discussion about new vs. old games, I have been trying to make a conscious effort this year to resist the lure of the new for the sake of being new. I've been trying to revisit a lot of the older stuff in my library that has been tossed by the wayside for the new stuff and have been quite pleasantly surprised by how much fun I've had delving into my backlog. It's not like money isn't spent on new games anymore and I appreciate that doing a show about video games necessitates having to at least be close to current with the games you're playing, but making the effort to not buy into the "New is Better" arguement is definately nicer on the wallet.

[Count Elmdor]

IMO Terminator Salvation was pretty awesome. Over the last week I went back and watched each of the first three, and two definitely stands out as the best of those, one is pretty good but with incredibly bad effects (by today's standards), and T3 is just sorta ok--though I really like the darker ending. It's tough to compare T4 to the others, though, because it's something wholly different from the formula thus far.

One thing about T4 that I don't hear anyone else talking about, and I think a lot of the haters are overlooking, is that this future isn't the same that Kyle Reese was originally sent back in time from. T4's future is the one stemming from all the events of the first three movies, an already time-travel-befucked future in which John Conner is only who he is by virtue of knowing who he had to become, based on who he had purely by chance been in the original T1 future.

[lucklesswonder]

an already time-travel-befucked future

You may have penned my new favorite phrase.