Spoiler Warning: Coming Soon

By Shamus Posted Monday Aug 22, 2011

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 358 comments

We haven’t worked out what game we’re doing next. I’m sure you have a game in mind, and I can promise you it has numerous drawbacks. I know this because that’s all we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks: “Which of these ugly scenarios is the least unpleasant?” Some games are difficult to record for technical reasons. (KOTOR) Some have severe pacing problems. (Dragon Age: Origins: The Deep Roads.) Others present logistical problems. (The timed dialog in in Alpha Protocol making it impossible to have conversations about choices because the game won’t wait for us.) Some of these problems can be solved with extensive editing, but there actually is an upper limit on how many hours a week Josh can spend on this, and it’s already a lot. Also, just about every game under consideration has at least one cast member who doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. So, it’s complicated, is what I’m saying. You’re free to shout “DO MY GAME OF CHOICE. DO IT!” in the comments below, but it will have the same impact as shouting coaching advice at the television when you’re watching your Sports Game of choice. Our problem is not lack of choices, but in weighing the various trade-offs. We need to make sure we can live with our selection for the next couple of months.

HOWEVER: While that conversation plays out, I am kind of curious why people watch the show. This question is too complex for a brute-force solution such as a poll, so here are a few questions. Answer as seems best to you:

  1. Do you enjoy the show more when we’re making jokes, or when we’re doing more analytical commentary?
  2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
  3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven’t?
  4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
  5. And just because I know you’ll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
 


From The Archives:
 

358 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning: Coming Soon

  1. MrGamer says:

    1. I enjoy the commentary a lot, it is very insightful and helpful for understanding a game’s strengths and weaknesses. The jokes help shake up the mood a bit if it is too serious or too anger driven.

    2.Both

    3.Either

    4.Yes, and I could not watch them.

    5. Deus Ex

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Yes,a blind lp of deus ex 3.And while doing that,they can talk about 1 and 2.It would be a perfect trilogy done in one show.

      1. Simon says:

        Blind DX3 is an excellent idea! And it’ll likely be an excellent opportunity for more comparisons with System Shock 2!

        1. krellen says:

          A blind Spoiler Warning is a horrible idea. Did we learn nothing from Dead Money?

          Blind LPs can be okay, if you’ve got a good commentator doing them. More than one person, though, and you’re just asking for trouble. Spoiler Warning simply doesn’t work when the crew as a whole has no idea what’s going on.

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            The difference being that they had nothing connected with dead money to talk about.Theyve already covered all the fallouts before.With deus ex 3,theyd have both of the prequels.

            1. ehlijen says:

              Then why not just do a SW of the sequels instead of a blind run of DS3?

              The double attention required to listen to the commentary and see what’s happening on screen is alreay significant. If you’re going to talk about a game, please make sure it’s the game that’s being played. At least mostly.

              1. Alexander The 1st says:

                “In the original Deus Ex…”

                EDIT: The above is a reason NOT to do DE3.

      2. Mincecraft says:

        They’ll have very little to talk about with no previous experience with the game.

        1. Aldowyn says:

          Um, sure they would. It’d just be different. Quite a bit different…

          1. M the Cheddar Monk says:

            MINECRAFT. 4-player, unstoppable, creeper-enabled, gushing, co-operative pixellated MADNESS.

            1. Chris B Chikin says:

              Mumbles and Rutskarn run for the hills together and are never seen again. Shamus builds a massive fortress to keep everyone out. Josh spends three days running in circles and bunny hopping before joining forces with the creepers!

    2. Uscias says:

      For the most part I too would love to see a playthrough of the original deus ex, with possibly some cosmetic mods to give people who haven’t played the game (go play it now!) something to look at.

      As for the questions, I’ve been entertained by all the episodes so far so i don’t feel strongly about any particular option.

    3. Zagzag says:

      I heartily approve of Deus ex. In response to 3) I have never played any of the games that you have shown except HL2. This is entirely due to me not owning any device capable of playing any of these games, but owning one that can play HL2. I have played Deus ex, and would love it if you chose to do this for the next series.

      The series two video did seem to be broken, however after trying it and then looking through some comments, I scrolled up to find it working. It seems that for me at least, leaving it sitting there magically makes it work again.

  2. benjamin says:

    make a video of project frontier, you should have no problem of pacing nor technical problems.

    trololol

    1. Adam F says:

      Seconded! Trolololo

    2. MichaelG says:

      Yes, he could slowly walk over his entire continent, with a live feed. It could be the new “Desert Bus for Hope”!

  3. Eltanin says:

    1. Analytical
    2. Unseemly gushing
    3. Have played (good luck with that one)
    4. Nope
    5. Er…

  4. DrKultra says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Both are very enjoyable specially from different cast members, Josh, Rutskan and Mumbles are VERY good at jokes and trolling each other, you Shamus are specially good at being incisive with the comments and this is usually followed by the cast giving their opinion on the game from that point of view.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    I would hope games have space for both because nothing SHOULD be entirely one sided, the ranting is awesome usually because the examples are funny as hell, and the praising it’s fine when it’s measured because there is only so many good things you can say about a game before it becomes a looping tape.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I have done both, and I can say I have gone out and bought games due to Spoiler Warning, Josh makes most games looks either ridiculously cool or stupidly easy, and usually the rest of the cast can pitch in with their own opinion about it and gives a nice amount of good vs bad from the video gamer stand point which leads to decision making, FOR SCIENCE!

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Last I saw em, was in like March. Sorry.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Huh, this is actually a good question, because trying to consider everything you have already said, I would go the troll route and show Batman Arkaham Asylum :p

    Cheers

    1. Alexander The 1st says:

      I haven’t bought a game because of SW, but I did re-play ME2 with a Vanguard because of Josh.

    2. Falcon says:

      Hehe the trolling of Mumbles would be epic with AA.

      I pretty much agree with your statements on the commentary and praise/ criticism.

      I think AA would be awesome, mechanically great, story stupid. I think Assasins Creed 2 would make a terrific series as well. I doubt you could fill an entire series by calling Desmond a tool, but I’d like to see you try.

      1. Joe says:

        I’d love to see josh playing Assassin’s Creed 2. Just sayin’

        1. M the Cheddar Monk says:

          Why not AC: Brotherhood? Sure Brotherhood is shorter, but in my opinion it’s better.

      2. Alexander The 1st says:

        Am I the only person who prefers Altiar and Desmond to Ezio?

        Even from Brotherhood, I barely drop Desmond to just above Ezio.

        Assassin’s Creed: Revelations for the win!

  5. Jimmy McAwesome says:

    The answer to all of those questions for me is “Yes”. The only game that you have done that I hadn’t played was New Vegas, which while you were playing it I got it and started to work my way through. Don’t force your commentary to be one thing or the other, just do whatever comes up naturally.

    As for a game I think you should do. Maybe some of the older Bio Ware games, such as Baulders Gate, but I don’t know how watchable that would be. Or you could go through all of Half Life 2, I really enjoyed your commentary that week.

  6. Roper says:

    1. Well a tough one to start off with, but I have to say I like your analytical side of things, its great to hear your opinions and perspectives on things. But jokes are always welcome!

    2. Another tough one, but I say that its good to hear you like stuff, but also hearing about somethings flaws is great too. Aghh I am so in the middle ground for these damn questions.

    3.I like to see you do games I have played because, yet again, hearing you guys opinions is great.

    4.Nope, does not seem to be working for me ._.

    5. Any game you guys feel you can properly comment on, which hopefully all of you have played and have something interesting to comment on….. well good luck with that one.

  7. Cerapa says:

    1. Both. The times Ive enjoyed the show most are when you go all out with jokes, and when you just analyze the game. I prefer all-out more than a mix.

    2. I do like the ranting, but I also really liked the Half-Life 2 episodes…cant answer this.

    3. I like watching Lets Plays when I havent.

    4. Just tried an episode, dun work.

    5. Co-op Magicka, for glorious, glorious trolling.

  8. Lupis42 says:

    I really liked the way the Half-Life 2 episodes worked. I’m not sure whether that’s because I prefer the gushing, or just because it’s interesting to revisit HL2 so many years on and see how well it does things that more modern games fail to do.

    It’s easier to follow the show when I’ve either played the game in question, or it doesn’t deliver it’s plot in overly heavy dialog/text – for example, although I haven’t played Bioshock, it was easier to follow the Bioshock series than the New Vegas series.

    I’d like to see Half-Life 2 finished at some point – it’s so influential as a game, and there are so many touches in it that you don’t notice on a first pass, or even a third, that it’s nice to see it get this treatment. But because I’m a horrible sadist, I’ll just say that you should do a run through of Left4Dead.

  9. Aldowyn says:

    ZOMG no comments? That seems kind of unfair, I haven’t been watching for a couple weeks now! (*edit* and, of course, by the time I finish writing my essay of a response there are 8 before me)

    1. Umm. Somewhere in between? Jokes are good and all, but we (or I, at least), came here to see you guys talk about some games!

    2. Ranting, definitely. It’s easier to say why something sucks than why something is really good, and easier to learn from mistakes than from triumphs. Besides, it’s hilarious.

    3. Have, so I don’t miss anything and know what you’re talking about. Not to mention I don’t have a clue what’s going on in the comments if I haven’t played it (Especially with the FO games). TBH, I haven’t watched the Bioshock season because I don’t want that game spoiled for me.

    4. Not recently? (checking) Seems to be working fine for me…

    5. I could suggest Dragon Age 2. Be interesting seeing you guys talk about why it sucks compared to DA:O, and where it’s actually better (Because there ARE ways in which it is better). Skyrim comes out in November :P And KotOR would be awesome, but you’ve discussed that already.

  10. Kdansky says:

    I only watch it sporadically. The primary issue for me is pacing. There is just too much of absolutely nothing going on, were Josh shuffles his inventory and loots every single headcrab, then reloads three times and does it once more. Also, the constant bunny-hopping makes me motion-sick. I also do not think that Fallout 3 (NV) makes for a compelling watching experience. The gameplay is mostly really bland (shoot stuff with unsatisfying weapons, spend most your time in the shitty inventory screen, reload and die randomly a lot) and there are no surprises and tension at all. Did I mention the bunny-hopping?

    Magicka? Trine? Dragon Age 2 on lowest difficulty setting with planned top-builds, and skip the more generic side quests. I still think it’s a very good game, just not as good as it should/could have been.

    1. Kdansky says:

      Apparently, I cannot edit. Weird.

      I want to add that I think Josh (or whoever plays) should plan said playing more around the viewers. Try to play in a way that is nice to watch. Don’t try to shoot for 100% coverage, rather showcase the good and bad highlights. Use mods (that will add something for those who know the game) and cheats.

      Morrowind?

      1. DanMan says:

        Yes, very much this. I commented below with my responses, but I also wanted to lend my support to this one.

        I stopped watching about halfway through New Vegas, because as amusing as it is to troll the other commentators by carrying a huge weapon that over-incumbers you frequently, I didn’t need to watch it the entire season. It really got annoying. There was nothing new to say about the inventory screen and “Drop the incinerator!” “What incinerator?” was a funny joke…the first two times.

  11. Xythe says:

    1. I think you have a nice balance going. The analysis is usually insightful and interesting, and the arsing around is very entertaining.

    2. Unhinged ranting. Detailed (troll free) negative comentary on games is far harder to locate than praise.

    3. I always play first. I mostly play for story, and I don’t want to know what’s going on in advance. Obviously, if it was a game I knew I’d probably never pick up myself, I’d watch having not played.

    4. I always had a nightmare getting anything on that stupid site you used to use to work. I got fed up of waiting an hour to play a 30 min episode (and sometimes having it fall over half way through) and gave up with the show until you moved to YouTube.

    5. I second Deux Ex and raise you a Baldurs Gate.

    1. Tizzy says:

      Hmpf… I doubt that Baldur’s Gate would be fun to follow for people who have no idea about D&D and Forgotten Realms.

  12. Annikai says:

    1. I enjoy both the commentary and the jokes. I think it’s best when you have a bit of an even pace with they so they offset each other.

    2. Since there hasn’t been a lot of unseemly gushing I can only guess that it would end up like the ranting and might over play itself. Personally The ranting was what got me into you guys in the first place but it would be interesting to see you guys play a game that you all like.

    3. Yes I would rather watch the show if I had at least played some of the game. It’s hard for me to get into the game when I haven’t played some of it because the way you guys do things it’s hard to get a grasp of the stories or characters. Not that that is a bad thing considering I don’t come here to see the story I come here to hear your thoughts on them.

    4. I watched all of Fallout 3 as it came out but I checked the link and it worked fine on my end.

    5. Personally I would like to watch you guys play Alpha Protocol. The drawback that you mentioned was actually something that I look forward to. I want to see Josh get angry or screw up because the conversation in the background is distracting him. That being said a fix for this could be post commentary but I don’t think it would work for the kind of show you guys do.

  13. both

    both

    never played any of the games

    never

    play the drinking game every second eps, it would be so funny :D other then that, any game is good :) even starcraft single player (more drinks for the player playing then the commentators for that one to make it even better ;)

  14. Zukhramm says:

    1. The commentary is what I’m here for.

    2. Finding a game that has both good and bad is the best option. If I had to chose, I don’t know.

    3. Watching a game I’ve already have played is preferable but not for spoiler reasons but rather just to understand what’s going on and what you’re talking about.

    4. In fact I just tried it last week and no, they don’t seem to work.

    5. No idea.

  15. I like a mix of jokes and commentary – either for too long becomes too stale – where there is no useful commentary to give pun for all you are worth, I guess is what I’m saying

    I actually like it when there’s a difference of opinion and you get into why that is. Ranting is fun so long as it’s making more of a point than RAR I HATE THIS JUST BECAUSE.

    I’ve enjoyed both styles. I actually quite enjoy games I haven’t and probably never will play this way.

    Nope, only started watching at the ME2 start. EDIT: But yeah, that host never liked me. I suppose you could consider dumping them across to YouTube now that they have higher length limits, but I appreciate that you guys have lives to be getting on with… /EDIT

    And as for game, depends on your preference but I’m going to vote for either Dungeon Keeper 2 or Overlord, just for a change of pace

  16. Littlefinger says:

    1. Variety is the spice of life. While I liked the analysis of HL2, the talk about scene setting and so on, the party banter is also fun. That said, some of the jokes carried on too long (eg Incinerator – though Vault 11 made up for that. By the way, what were you doing when that footage was made?).

    2. Both. Not necessarily every one be as balanced as possible, but the team as a whole should not be barking up the same tree, so to speak.

    3. Not sure where you’re going with this. Of all the Seasons, I only hadn’t played the Fallouts. I bought F NV after your 10th or so episode. But why does this matter to you at all? Would you let your choice depend on whether it was popular (in terms of sales)?

    4. Watching it on viddler itself is no problems. There seems to be something wrong with the embedded player though.

    5. As much as I love AP, unless you can mod out the dialogue timer, I don’t know if it’d be a fun experience. But so far, you guys have only done 3 IPs (Bioshock, ME, Fallout). Perhaps something else? Pathologic, Alan Wake (that’s possibly a nice one), one of ubisoft’s stealth action games (meh), or (personal favorite), No One Lives Forever?

    Mostly though, I want to suggest a filler episode: DEFCON. I want to see you guys play global thermonuclear war.

  17. Daemian Lucifer says:

    1) Both interchangingly.

    2) Both.

    3) I dont mind.In the case of mass effect 1,you did it before I have,and your first episode made me want to play it myself.In the cases of fallout 3 and bioshock,youve showed me that I wasnt wrong in not playing them because the first sucked hard and the second simply didnt interest me enoug.And in the case of mass effect 2,youve showed me that I was not the only one seriously disappointed by it.So I like to watch the show no matter what game is on the menu.

    4) No I did not.But I did link one of those videos a few weeks before,but I dont know if that counts.

    5) Do the oddboxx.

    Also,Shamus,stop thumbs downing SoldierHawke just because she is a better player than you.

    1. Alphadrop says:

      Ooh the Oddbox, that would make for an interesting LP.

    2. Shamus says:

      Thumbs downing? When have I ever done that to SoldierHawke? I seem to remember we had nice things to say about her work?

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        It was a joke,because of your barrel stackery and this comment:

        “@ShePlaysIt Eight people are jealous of SoldierHawke’s leet climbing skillz.

        One of them is Shamus Young.
        Inyssius 2 hours ago”

  18. lurkey says:

    1.Jokes
    2.Ranting (because gushing is never funny)
    3.When I played it
    4.Watched a bit when it wasn’t broken
    5.Dragon Age 2. Oh what would I give for seeing you sink your fangs into that one.

  19. SougoXIII says:

    1. I’m leaning toward the analytical commentary but there no reason why you can’t have both. I have no complaints about the show so far.

    2. Either is fine as long as it is reasonable and I can see where you’re coming from. There nothing I hate more than unjustified rant or blatant fanboyism.

    3. Well, as long as it isn’t painful to watch, I’m fine with whatever game you choose.

    4. Is it the Saint Row 3 ads? They have annoyed me for the last week. Keep showing up without letting me buffer the video even after I closed it. Guess what game I’m not getting next year?

    5. Wait… you mean I get to choose? All of them. Play ALL the things!

    1. 4th Dimension says:

      5. You do mean “Make JOSH play 4 games at the same time using split screen, and 4 different types of alcohol”?
      Right?

  20. ehlijen says:

    In this exact particular order:

    1: A mix of both. Pure analysis would be quite boring. But pure nonstop joking would probably exhaust your reportoire sooner or later. That’s not an insult or lack of confidence in your ability to joke; even the Rifftrax crew runs out of material during some movies.

    2: Again, a mix. But if I had to pick one, I could live with just rants. Geeks like ranting and rants after all.

    3: Not sure. My preference goes by genre, not whether I’ve played it (scifi over fantasy over crime glorification).

    4: No I have not.

    5: Temple of Elemental Evil? Baldurs Gate 2? Fallout 1? Freelancer?

    Also, it’s however Sid Meier choses to pronounce it, but my guess would be Mire.

    1. General Ghoul says:

      It would be nice to watch a fresh play-though of The Temple of Elemental Evil with the Co8 new content mod. First, that would make it playable, and secondly, to see someone not too familiar with the game try the new content to see if it really works well in game play. It is the best turn based D&D game ever made.

  21. 1. I enjoy a mix of both, but the analytical commentary tends to come out ahead. Of course I never consider the two mutually exclusive.

    2. I prefer the ranting, as it tends to be more entertaining though I do expect when a game gets something right for it to be lauded appropriately. I find it interesting to see the flaws in good games and the redeeming qualities in bad games, and I’d hope that any game you guys played was at least good enough to be worth watching, even if it fell short in other areas.

    3. I’ve played all of the games in question. All of them.

    4. Not recently, but I’d check if you had a proper link to the archive somewhere on the page

    5. As much as I want to see something like Planescape Torment or one of the original Fallouts, they would be terribly boring to watch. I think what would be really interesting would be Deus Ex 2: Invisible War. #1 is good too, and I think Josh could come up with some really good moments, but #2 has such a huge reputation as a disappointment, but I’ve never really seen anyone get into depth about why. I mean, I played it, I know the deal, but there’s just so much there, it needs this treatment.

    Of course I have a shortlist if you can’t do that – Neverwinter Nights 2, or more specifically Mask of the Betrayer because it’s a bit shorter and also better. Vampire: Bloodlines, or even Vampire: Requiem would be fun to watch. I say we keep at least a season between Gamebryo games, preferrably two, so Oblivion is out.

    I kind of don’t want a HL2 season because I plan on recording my own shortly, but don’t let me stop you. Or better yet, do some mods – Minerva: Metastasis, The Stanley Parable, Radiator and Research and Development come to mind. Of course if we’re going for praise then Psychonauts is always a good choice.

    Mirror’s Edge could be interesting – it’s pretty short, and it’d be fun, albeit more dizzying than normal to watch.

    1. krellen says:

      I was going to come suggest one of the VtM games; Bloodlines is newer, but both have their charms. Bloodlines is the shorter of the two, which probably makes it the more suitable for Spoiler Warning.

      As to the questions:

      I like the show best when the four of you are getting along and less so when you’re grousing at each other. The end of most of the seasons so far have been difficult for me, because you’re all tired of the game and the antics of each other in the game, and it starts to show. I really don’t like the “Josh is trolling us” parts of the shows. What you talk about when you’re getting along is up to you; complaints or praise are both welcome (and a mix of both is best; I really like hearing the “one thing I do like” or “one thing that bothered me” comments.)

      The only Spoiler Warning you’ve done of a game I hadn’t played was BioShock, and it caused me to go buy BioShock and try it before you were done (Rutskarn caused me to get SR2 with his LP of it with Jibar, too). I don’t really watch it for the gameplay, but for the commentary, so I don’t think it really matters to me whether I’ve played the game or not.

      And the Fallout 3 episodes seem to play fine for me, though I haven’t watched them since they premiered.

      1. That’s true. I just think Requiem’s shifting time periods would be something of interest to comment on.

        And honestly Bloodlines would be way more entertaining.

        1. krellen says:

          I think you meant Redemption, actually. Requiem is the new setting for the RPG.

          I’m slightly biased against it, because I’m currently re-playing through Redemption and probably won’t want to see it again immediately.

          1. Yeah, it’s been ages since I played that, I did mean Redemption.

        2. Piflik says:

          Redemption, not Requiem. Requiem is not a PC game.

          1. acronix says:

            Lies! There`s a mmo called “Requiem: Memento Mori”. But it isn`t about vampires.

    2. Simon Buchan says:

      I agree with ALL of these suggestions! Well, except NWN2 – I despise that game (with some really good highlights, though).
      – DX2 would be a great pick since we could compare with DX3.
      – Psychonauts is just pure awesomeium, and we’d get some good ranting about the gameplay mixed in for flavour!
      – Mirror’s Edge is far more fun to watch with someone who knows what they’re doing: I’m pained every time I see an LP where they don’t understand the momentum system in that game (I’m looking at you for not catching that pipe, Rutskarn!), or notices the alternate paths; so I’d ask that whoever drives that has done a bunch of practice on time-trials if that wouldn’t be prohibitive.

  22. Raygereio says:

    1. I like prefer analysis on the game intermixed with jokes about the game.
    2. Just gushing gets boring fast. That’s only entertaining if you happen to also love the game in question (cue me falling asleep halway in the first ep of the HL2 interlude). Then again, mindless ranting can easily become irritating as well. Luckily you’ve never done the latter; sure, there was ranting during the Fallout 3 run, but it was mixed with humor and jokes.
    3. Don’t really care.
    4. Both the embedded and the main links aren’t working. However, I can download the videofile of viddler and play it just fine, meaning the video itself it good and the problem lies with the viddlerplayer.
    It appears as if the player gets stuck trying to loead some add (I got something about Saints Row) at the beginning and can’t progress further.
    5. Uh, I dunno. Do something you lot think you can both talk and joke about.

  23. Vlad says:

    1. I prefer commentary over improvisational comedy. I like to learn about why you think the game is good or bad, the more detailed the better.

    2. Ranting about games is all the rage on the Internet. Negativity sells, I guess, but there are so few people actually showing off the games they like and why they liked them that I prefer gushing.

    3. I prefer seeing either games I’ve played, or have no interest in playing. I’d watch Alpha Protocol, for instance, even if I don’t care enough to play it.

    4. No.

    5. Whatever you guys want, I don’t care. I don’t watch it super regularly anyway. You could wait for Deus Ex 2, or do the Witcher 2 (though I still need to play it, so I probably won’t watch all the episodes), or that Jade Empire I keep hearing about. Oh wait I KNOW! You guys could do a 2-4 player coop let’s play of Magicka. Fun times to be had by all.

    6. Mire.

    1. Michael says:

      I think you meant DX3. DX2’s been out for about eight years now. Actually Invisible War might make for some good fodder. It also only runs for about 10-15 hours, so that could be a (relatively) quick season.

      Max Payne or Max Payne 2 are also short and might be worth consideration.

      Bloodlines is a good candidate, and unfortunately is probably the only Troika game.

      System Shock 2 would be nice, but I suspect this one has been vetoed because of technical issues.

      Actually the original Fallout might be a decent candidate, as you’ve already got a theme going there.

      F.E.A.R. could be hilarious…

      S.T.A.L.K.E.R. may be right out, but the first game only runs for about ten hours, so that would make for another short season, plus VODKA!

      Anyway, having answered 5…

      1. It really needs to be both. The jokes can be pretty funny, but the informative chunk is a major reason I keep coming back, even if a lot of it is stuff I’m already aware of.

      EDIT: I should probably clarify. A lot of the factual informative is stuff I’m already aware of, the opinion informative based on that is pretty consistently interesting.

      2. Ranting. Especially when your love for a game deteriorates through the run, as with New Vegas or Bioshock, where you start out loving and gushing about the game and then it breaks your spirit. Sorry, that may be slightly evil of me, but it is an amusing, and semi-consistent pattern.

      Honestly, this could be the most amusing aspect of a full HL2 run.

      3. I’m not sure it matters. To date everything you’ve run is something I’ve played to death, and honestly most of the games that are frequently mentioned on the programs are ones I’m pretty familiar with.

      Fake Edit: Except Amnesia, I forgot about that.

      4. I just checked and it seems to run fine for me.

      5. The only thought that comes up is the possibility of more one off episodes, like Amnesia, Half Life 2 or Team Fortress 2. Quick one week doses of crazy. This might be a better option if someone on the team really doesn’t want to sit through a game for months, but you’d still like to use it.

      One more thought on 5: Doom 3 might be a good option. I’d imagine there’s some critiques worth hearing on that front.

    2. Entropy says:

      Deus Ex 3, I assume you mean. Unless you deny the existence of Invisible War (You’d be surprised how many people do)

      1. Scott (Duneyrr) says:

        There was a sequel?
        I don’t believe it.

        1. Michael says:

          There were two. One of them is disguised as a different franchise.

  24. rofltehcat says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    1. Mixture. Too much of both is bad.
    2. Gushing. Can be some ranting but imo it got too overboard in Fallout
    3. I prefer to watch the show when I have an interest in the game. This means that it is either of a game I played and liked or games whose theme/prequel/whatever I find interesting but haven’t really played.
    4. Fallout Episodes: I didn’t watch all episodes of SW. I especially skipped a lot of the FO3 episodes and even in the other games I only watch 1/3 to 1/2 of the episodes and even then not the whole episode sometimes.

    5. Maybe it is time for a few shorter games or short features of some games that are too long (or too boring if played for too many episodes)?

    -From Dust: Pretty new, short play time that should suffice for 1-3 episodes. Suggested commentary: “no, place the earth over there! oh look how the villagers die again! quickly, freeze that water!” and “how the hell are we supposed to do that?

    -Men of War: Strategy game. 1 episode, 2 max. Suggested commentary: “what the hell just happened? why is everybody dead?” and “go attack there! see, now everything is dead because you didn’t!” also the alltime favorite “did that russian player just destroy your heavy tank with that AA gun from across the map?”

    -Freedom Force: Everyone likes super heroes (especially Shamus) and it is one of the games I bought but never played (damn you, Steam and your “duals”!)

    -Gish, Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV: Time for a jump&run! And some of them are frustrating enough so you’ll have plenty of ranting time!

    -Splinter Cell: “shouldn’t that guy see you? why did that last guy see us? it was much darker back there!” – “just shoot him in the head!”

    -Monkey Island remakes: Do it!
    -Overlord?

    -Some F’ing Street Fighter 1v1 with 2 commentators playing against each other and the others commenting, diverting etc.

  25. Airsoft says:

    I want you guys to do Kotor so bad, ive never had any technical problems with it, Kotor 2 on the otherhand would be hell to record, or even play, damn you obsidian!!!

    But i suppose practically the obvious choice is gunna be Oblivion, do it, then do Skyrim when that comes out. perfect timing.

  26. Andrew Bell says:

    Ahem. Right.

    1: I prefer the analytical comments, but I couldn’t watch a whole show of them. The gags are a vital change of pace.

    2: I don’t really like either. I prefer the mixed bits, when you like something, but acknowledge the flaws, or dislike something but acknowledge the good bits. It is in the distinction that the learning happens. It’s much easier to see a good bit of design among dross, than it is to see any individual bit in a shining pile of gold.

    3: I like to have played them. Otherwise I get distracted by the gameplay and miss the commentary, which is the real reason I watch. Plus, a lot of the comments only really work because they explain an expereince I’ve had and cause me to go “oooh, THAT’S why that bit sucked”

    4: Nope, but then, by the end of that season, I never wanted to see FO3 again…

    5: Anything as long as you’ve all played it. Hate to hark back to it, but “Dead Money” did annoy me this season. I watch because you guys are intelligent, well informed commentators. It’s less fun when half of you don’t know enough to critsise in the style to which I have become accustomed.

  27. GTRichey says:

    1. Commentary… though without the jokes I wouldn’t watch it. I find the commentary to be the primary reason and the jokes necessary when the game doesn’t lend itself to comment or the territory has been covered to death (see ME1 elevators and the end of the Bioshock/FO3/FO:NV… though you guys seem to have gotten the hang of it at this point because FO:NV didn’t become nearly as tedious)

    2. Both, but only in the context of pointing out why something is gushworthy or bileworthy. Basically whatever leads to the most meaningful commentary.

    3. Depends on the game in question. The more open it is the more likely I’ll want to have played it without spoilers. For example if you do Deus Ex: Human Revolutions next I will not watch until I’ve played it through. If however you do a more railroaded game that doesn’t lend itself to multiple playthroughs and meaningful choices, I’m much less likely to buy the game in the first place so will probably watch your series to see if I made the right choice (and if I didn’t I’ll get the important bits and not have to buy it anyway).

    4. Nope.

    5. A retrospective on something like DN3D or Serious Sam. Maybe only as a miniseries because there’s probably not enough meaningful commentary to cover the full game, but I think they’d be a good aside to point out why the blandness of so many modern games (in the area of art style at least) is so boring. So basically anything with an interesting art style even if you only do a weeks worth or something. Actually make that DNF to tear it several new ones with all the ways it went wrong.

  28. Matthias says:

    1. I enjoy both a lot, but my preference would be to lean towards the analysis.

    2. HL2 was a great break from the usual formula, but I don’t think I’d love to see a whole season of this. I really like that balance you usually seem to find, with ca. 75% ranting and 25% pointing out the diamonds you found among the trash ;-)

    3. I think I enjoy watching you play games which I have already played more, but it’s not a huge difference.

    4. Didn’t try until you pointed it out, but yes, they’re broken for me.

    5. Oh, that’s a difficult question. I personally would like to see something that is not a shooter (be it first or third person), but I’m sure some genres (like strategy) might not really work well here. Also, so many recent games are shooters, or at least have shooting as their primary mechanic!
    Anyway, here are a couple of games I’d personally enjoy watching you play:
    – Assassin’s Creed 2
    – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
    – The Witcher
    The last one even has looting, inventory management and a whole alchemy system, so plenty of opportunity for menus to be on screen ;-)
    I’ll probably watch whatever you play, though, with the exception of games that I haven’t played yet but plan to in the future :-)

  29. reg42 says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    I don’t know. There’s just something soothing and familiar about SW. It’s sorta like watching a show where a bunch of mates dick around, featuring a game.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    I think the best is when you guys are actually having fun; it gives the show a great tone.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Well you’ve only ever done games which I’ve played, but like I haven’t watched the New Vegas DLC episodes yet because I haven’t gotten them and I don’t want them ruined. In contrast, I watched the F3 DLC which I haven’t played because I don’t have any real intention of playing them.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Not lately.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Maybe a Dragon Age 2 season? Or Maybe something different like Darksiders for example.

  30. LadyTL says:

    1. Both though I prefer the commentary more than the jokes.

    2. Both as long as why the whichever is explained.

    3. Doesn’t matter since I come to listen to you all talk anyways.

    4. *shrugs* dunno

    5. Maybe one of the dead rising games or bioshock 2?

  31. Avpix says:

    1. I like both joking and analytical, but not so much the “bitch and moan” or Josh rearranges his inventory parts.

    2. Unhinged ranting

    3. I so far haven’t played any of the games Spoiler Warning has played, so I’m not sure.

    4. Runs fine for me in Safari.

    5. KOTOR 2

    1. Avpix says:

      (alas, too late to edit) Screw KOTOR 2, I want to see Josh play Myst. STOP PUZZLING ME!

    2. Michael says:

      I think I remember hearing that the KOTOR games couldn’t be done because there was a problem with the videos not showing up in the recording. Though, I could be mistaken. If not for that, I’d love to see KOTOR2.

  32. SolkaTruesilver says:

    1.Commentary. Good jokes once is a while is really fun, but you guys know or see things I don’t.

    2.Gushing, because you actually noticed a lot more details about the game than I did. You won’t really care about knowing in depth a game you guys all hate, while you made me notice lil things about the beginning of Half-Life 2 I never noticed in 5 playthrough. MOAR!!!

    3.When I played the game. Reason is… I kinda wanna be surprised about plot points in games I haven’t played.

    4.Long time since I tried. Since I watch most of these on my iPhone anyway, there is little point for me to try to watch non-YT spoiler warnings

    5. Half-Life 2 + Episodes, obviously. You guys really did a great job. Don’t pay attention to the bile-addicted audience; people aren’t ONLY attracted to negativism. Going into something you are enthousiast and love will be very nice.

    Magicka, but only, ONLY if you all simultaneously play. That will be awesome.

  33. Kuma says:

    1. Keep doing as you do, if you have fun, the analisys will be good.

    2.Both. Just express yourselves.

    3.Either

    4.Look broken.

    5. ME3, GearsoW3, DeusEx 2, MGSolid whatever, Skyrim, Diablo3, El Shaddai, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, AC:Revelations, CoJ: Cartel…

    Oh, and btw…do my game of choice. do it… :)

  34. Ringwraith says:

    1) The fact there’s a mix of both makes it all the more watchable, mostly as you have no idea what will happen next.
    2) Personally, I don’t mind, although you can really tell when you’re hating something so much you just want it to end as it’s gone on, and on, and on, and when you start running out of things to say about it, it’s not so good.
    3) I actually refuse to watch any sort of Let’s Play of a game I haven’t played and have some sort of inclination to play it in the future due to not wanting spoilers. Although I hadn’t finished the latter part of the main plot missions of New Vegas when you started them, so I quickly started playing those so I didn’t spoil much by watching, even though with the different paths it’s difficult to avoid all spoilers.
    4) They seem fine on my end, at least the first episode does.
    5) I’m afraid I’m no help here, but I don’t really know what games you guys have played which doesn’t help. I’ve also mostly been console gaming recently, and although there are some interesting things there, the chances of those games having been played by most, if any, of you is unlikely, not to mention the nightmare of trying to record them.

  35. Thor says:

    I’ll try to keep it as short as possible, as you’ll have a lot of these to read.

    1. I like a bit of both. I want to know what all of you think of the game in detail, but I also like it when Josh blows up a room full of guys (including himself) with C4.

    2. I want to know both the good and the bad points of game, but I think you should focus on the positives. I do feel that your F3/FNV episodes were sometimes too bile-filled, and repeating the bad points. Sure, tell us when you think something is broken, but it would be more fun if you showed us why you like the game.

    3. My preference is games I have played. I did enjoy Ruts’ Hitman series though, and I hadn’t played that before I watched it.

    4. Wow, that’s broken. I can watch the videos on Viddler but here I just get an ad telling me to pre-order the new Saint’s Row in the top-right corner, then nothing happens.

    I actually watched an episode recently; a couple of weeks ago I think. It was the one where Josh pickpockets everyone at GNR, causing them to attack, then waits for three days outside the door until everything cools off :D

    5. I’ll leave that one to you.

    I’ve just gotta say; I liked the concept of a short series like you did with Half Life 2. I’m not suggesting replacing the long series format you currently have, but I’m sure that you would have some interesting comments about games that wouldn’t be right for the long-series format. Doing an episode or two on a random game might be a good change of pace once in a while.

  36. Shatterer says:

    Jokes/Analysis
    To me the analysis is the important part of the show. Pointing out what a game did right or wrong helps me appreciate games in a different way. The jokes are a great way to fill up dead time, since endless analysis would probably be pretty dry.

    To love or to hate
    I definitely enjoy the ranting more than the gushing. It’s more entertaining to hear people be angry, and I do watch this show for my amusement. That said, giving credit where credit’s due is important. It helps with the monotony, morale and the viewer’s appreciation of the game.

    Viewer knowledge
    I haven’t played any of the Spoiler Warning games before you screened them, so I can only guess on this topic. Doing a new game made me interested in the game, but the fast pace of the playthrough caused me to miss some backstory and other explanations. It did save me from being trolled by Josh’s playstyle, so that’d be a plus.

    FO3 videos
    I saw them when they came out. They worked then, but they don’t seem to work now.

    Suggestions
    Deus Ex is a game I love, but it has its flaws.
    DX: Invisible War is a pretty good game on its own, but compared to The Original Deus Ex it doesn’t hold up.
    Doom 3 would be interesting…
    Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is a game I recently finished. There are obvious flaws (utter neglect for stealth in boss fights), but it has some nice narrative.

    1. Michael says:

      Actually a Deus Ex -> Invisible War -> Project: Snowblind -> Human Revolution season setup could be pretty solid. Especially since Snowblind tends to get forgotten. Though, that could easily chew up a year of program time, and I could see where that wouldn’t be desirable.

      EDIT: Project: Snowblind was an FPS that was originally intended to be set in the Deus Ex setting. After Invisible War went down in flames, the Deus Ex connections were sort of cut. You play a UNATCO Trooper who’s resurrected using nano augmentation techniques.

      1. Shatterer says:

        Hmm, so that’s what Project Snowblind is. I got it in a steam sale developer pack (Eidos if I recall correctly) but never played it since it seemed like just some generic FPS. Guess I should look into it, thanks :).

        I’d love to see them do Human Revolution as well, but I’d rather play it myself first.

  37. Eddie says:

    1. I like both. I’d say things were maybe a bit too light on the commentary in the New Vegas series but you’ve generally got a pretty good balance.

    2. I much prefer the unhinged ranting. It allows for more joking and especially joking that’s related to the commentary. Thinking back to Mordin’s loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, it got a little dry, partly because there were times that you would just sit and listen to Mordin (naturally) and partly because there weren’t a lot of jokes to be made at the game’s expense. I still enjoyed those episodes and it’s good to have some of that for contrast, but I don’t think I would want a whole series that was like that.

    3. I don’t think it really matters to me. The New Vegas series inspired me to buy it, for whatever that’s worth.

    4. I have; they’re absolutely fine for me.

    5. Whichever you guys decide is the best one to do. It’s super important that you enjoy doing the show and that will affect it’s entertainment value and my enjoyment of it much more than the individual game you decide to do.

  38. DanMan says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    – Analytical commentary by far. However, the most enjoyable is when you have something you really want to say, like in Mass Effect 2. I could really tell that even if you weren’t planning out the conversation, you had topics in each loyalty mission to talk about. Too much of Fallout New Vegas was “Where are we going? I haven’t played this part yet, so I don’t have anything to say about it.”

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    Both really work in their own right as long as there is enough to say in each episode. Because you guys love Half-Life 2 so much and played it for so many hours, there was no point where you came to a halt and had nothing to say.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    I haven’t played any of the games you have done a full season on, so I’m probably not the best one to answer this question.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    Nope

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    System Shock

    1. psivamp says:

      Do you want them to play cdshock or System Shock 2?

      I could see doing System Shock 2 and then a quick intermission episode of cdshock in the endgame of SS2.

  39. Jeff says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    I prefer a balance.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    See above.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Doesn’t matter much to me. In some cases (Fallout 3, amazingly) your series inspired me to try a game, in others, to feel like I could skip it in good conscience (Bioshock).

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Not recently, and I only ever watched the last handful.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    X3 – Terran Conflict. Not an FPS. Plenty of freedom for Reginald Cuftbert to be himself, enough interesting design decisions to talk about, enough BAD design decisions and bugs to complain about, and an inventory management experience that makes the Pip Boy look like its interface sprung straight from the mind of Steve Jobs.

    1. Matthias says:

      And X3 even has a fast-forward button built in! :-D

      But seriously, as biased I am with these games, I’m not sure that they are a good fit for this show. You might be able to play a couple of the storylines without long pauses where you have to build up your economy (otherwise you’re too weak to tackle the next mission), but those aren’t really the game’s strong suit (even though I personally like them quite a bit).
      Maybe X Rebirth will be a better fit, we’ll see.

  40. arron says:

    I think it works with a mix of analysis – positive and negative comments about a game and insights into the design and humour. I like the Half Life one where the good things about the design were discussed, and the bits in NV where it was torn apart because the plot and game design was utter pantaloons. On the non-analysis side, the humour is great so don’t change that either. The last episode when it went wrong was really funny. So – a careful mix of analysis, ranting and trolling like you do at the moment.

    I’ve been watching this since the Bioshock series religiously and even with the “rearranging inventory” episodes in NV it hasn’t been dull at all. Quite frankly, you guys could add an interesting commentary to someone writing source code in a window for an hour. Or doing a spreadsheet for working their finances out on.

    As for games – System Shock II (I keep suggesting that), Deus Ex 1,2 or HE. I’m really looking forward to the latter. Portal 2. One of the Thief games. Do some more on Half Life 2. Bioshock II – perhaps the Minerva’s Den DLC. Anything really, I’m sure it will be interesting. :D

    1. psivamp says:

      SS2 is a great game to do.

      1) Mixed.
      2) Mixed/either.
      3) Either ones I’ve already played or games that I’m unlikely to play — so basically as long as it’s not brand new it’s fair game to me.
      4) I went back to the one you linked and it played.
      5) I concur with SS2. Deus Ex is also a good possibility. You could do an Ultima Underworld intermission. Okay, I’m not serious about the last one it’s just in there on Warren’s resume.

  41. Orangeban says:

    1. Analytical Commentary
    2. Unseemingly Gushing
    3. Hmm, not sure, I’ll go with have played.
    4. Nope, can’t say I’ve tried
    5. Dunno, finish Half-Life 2 maybe? Batman Arkham Asylum?

  42. Joel D says:

    Analytical, ranting at each other (not so much about the game), reasonable knowledge about the game from at least half the cast, no I haven’t, and preferably something I haven’t played recently (and I don’t care enough to tell you what all that is :p)

  43. Thadius Girth says:

    I like both pretty much equally.

    Ranting is funnier.

    Have played.

    Haven’t tried to watch them.

    Any given Grand Theft Auto would be amusing, I think.

  44. Alan says:

    1. I think that the best episodes are ones where there is a balance between all things. I don’t think anybody here is watching to get playing tips, so that leaves the commentary. The really silly episodes are quite fun, and I think that I would rather watch a series which was all jokes than all analytical, but I would hope to see a fair amount of analysis because it shows a different point of view which is always nice.

    2. I think that if you slate everything it is bad, but not everything is good about everything either. Pick a game which is enjoyable to play, and then rip into / praise where appropiate.

    3. I prefer it when I have played the game, because at that point I have my own opinion about it. If I haven’t played it, but want to, I feel guilty about watching it because of the spoilers.

    4. Haven’t tried recently.

    5. Heh. Any of the Neverwinter Nights series, Deus Ex, Original Fallout, Duke Nukem?, Oblivion / Morrowind, Bayonetta, anything without a jump button… An RTS, Star Trek Starfleet academy.

    Actually, what could be quite fun is picking up all kinds of cheap indy games and doing an episode or two on them, like you did with the trains one.

    You could call it something like an ‘Indy extravaganza’ as a series title.

  45. GiantRaven says:

    1. Both. Too much of one or the other would become stale.
    2. Again, both. Pretty much for the same reason.
    3. I’d much rather have already played the game, so I can focus more on the commentary instead of trying to work out the games story/follow the dialogue at the same time.
    4. I never watched the Fallout 3 series. I didn’t start watching until the Youtube switch.
    5. There are two games that I think would work well for your style of Let’s Plays; Deus Ex and Vampire: Bloodlines. Both follow the Shooter/RPG elements type of games you’ve done successfully for far, have plenty to talk about (both positive and negative) and have quite a bit of variety in what they offer.

  46. Florin-Vlad says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    A: I would prefer a variant of the show with no commentary at all, since there are some games that I would like to see how they unfold but they are not in my list of preferred game play, like Mass Effect 2, which I have played for 1 hour until I finally gave up on the stupidity of the game play and the infringement of the previously established lore in ME1 (bullets). Barring this possibility I would say a good balance in between the 2 would be interesting.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    A: Haven’t seen the HL episodes, nor have I seen Fallout 3 since I lost interest in the game the moment I finished it

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    A: Better when I played it, I don’t usually play games multiple times and you usually go multiple ways in these videos so I can see the other variants.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    A: Not lately

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    A:
    Witcher?
    Baldur’s Gate?
    The Sims (1, 2 or 3) ?
    Overlord ?
    Commandos ?
    Summoner ? -looooong
    Arcanum ? – never actually finished this and it’s not working on Win7

    I don’t know, I hate spoilers..

    1. Jonn says:

      Arcanum works for me. Win 7 64 bit. Not exactly the best place to handle tech support, but it can be made to work.

      1. Florin-Vlad says:

        Oh goodie, i’ll have to fiddle with it a bit but i can’t wait for the “KILLER RABBITS OF DEATH!!”

    2. Simon Buchan says:

      Oh god – if Josh could figure out how to Cuftbert up the Sims… I would watch that.

  47. Newbie says:

    1. Both.
    2. Both.
    3. When I have played it but this makes no difference as I will either buy the game or not but still watch the show.
    4. They work for me.
    5. Deus Ex I want to see why everyone loves it so much.

  48. Matt says:

    1. I’ll echo others here and say both, possibly favoring analysis slightly. The jokes are great, but I also like getting insight and new perspectives on games from you guys.

    2. I think it depends heavily on the game. Half-Life 2 deserves the gushing with maybe an occasional critique or funny nitpick. That said, rants are more fun to listen to.

    3. Definitely one I have played before.

    4. Not in a while.

    5. Deus Ex would be fun and topical given the upcoming release. However, I’d love to get you guys’ take on Dragon Age.

  49. Piflik says:

    1. I like both, but when I have to choose, I would say analytical. It is interesting to hear what you guys think of the games and if you have the same problems with it as I have.

    2. I prefer critic to praise (especially when it comes to my art), not only because it is more fun, but also because it caries more information, so I say rant.

    3. Both have their merits. If I have played the game, I can compare your comments to my own thoughts about the game (see 1). If I haven’t played it, it depends on how much I am interested in the game itself. Bioshock wasn’t that great, because I hadn’t much interest in the game, Mass Effect 2 on the other hand was a game I considered buying (because I liked the first), but then I watched Spoiler Warning instead. But maybe Bioshock wasn’t that interesting, because there was not nearly as much wrong with this game as with Mass Effect…
    In essence…if the game is seriously broken, it doesn’t matter if I played it, otherwise I would prefer you would do games I played.

    4. I just tried, didn’t work. Just some ad for Saints Row.

    5. I’d say some Elder Scrolls…Morrowind or Oblivion, doesn’t matter, the former is better, the latter is more broken…could lead to s Skyrim Season later (like Mass Effect 1 > 2, Fallout 3 > NV)…alternatively Deus Ex (again with a possibility of a later season)…a last idea would be Two Worlds 2…fun game and exquisitely broken…

  50. Burek says:

    1. I actually enjoy a little bit of both but analytical commentaries to me are much more interesting and constructive since I’m not just spending 20 minutes listening to someone being a wiseass instead I’m learning something new.

    2. Ranting is always more fun but it’s always good to provide some positive insights as well either extreme would be dull I think.

    3. I enjoyed watching Fallout New Vegas mainly because I played most of the quests that you guys did but in a different way so it was interesting to see them solved from a different perspective. That’s why I think linear shooters would not be that much of a great choice for a “let’s play” session.

    4. I tried them a month or so ago and they work.

    5. Why not try an older game? Maybe Arcanum?

  51. Allen says:

    1. The mix is good, to my mind – the jokes tends to fill the space between the important moments.

    2. For pure comedy value? Ranting.

    3. I don’t think I’ve played any of these games yet (I have HL2 installed, and I will play it… someday…)

    4. Not recently.

    5. Go retro, and do Riven.

    1. RTBones says:

      Riven…wow, SW could do a week-long rant on the fire marbles puzzle alone….

  52. Jjkaybomb says:

    For both one and two, a mix of both makes the show more interesting than trying to focus on one or the other. My favorite episode is still one from season 4 where you go on about Halo, the third-person saw-gun shooter, but hearing about individual experiences helps add meaning to the show. And it helps when I consider buying the game myself. I trust your guys’ opinions about these games, you have experience and seem to know what you’re talking about.

    Speaking of buying the game: question number three. When I got New Vegas and noticed how much you guys really were missing, it did make the show harder to watch, or um, listen to. But that may have also been because you guys started sounding really worn down, to the point of only really trolling eachother.

    I dont care what game you do next, but maybe its best to try something a little shorter to save your sanity.

  53. Jarenth says:

    Well then:

    1. I’ll join the ‘both types are good’ crowd. Insightful commentary where available, mixed up with some jokes whenever there’s nothing insightful to say or when the opportunity presents itself, seems the ideal. Also, I’d prefer some more exasperated reactions to Josh’ trolling effort. The ‘handful of pudding’ bit still makes me laugh.

    2. No preference. I do prefer it whenever either the ranting or the gushing align with what I think, but I can’t blame you for not running everything by me.

    3. I prefer games I haven’t played yet, and have no intention of playing in the near future.

    4. Tried it just now, and I can’t get the episode to run either.

    5. Minesweeper. Failing that, any game with Kane and Lynch in it.

  54. Trig says:

    1. I think the fact that you actually achieve a healthy mix of both (in most episodes) is what’s the best thing about Spoiler Warning. If you analyze, judge and compare a game I’ll usually agree with your opinion and you make me think. And if you spend a whole episode joking, laughing and enduring Rut’s puns I’ll laugh along.

    2. Ranting, but I’m probably biased in that regard.

    3. Haven’t, that way it’s easier for me to try and stay objective so that I can better asses whether your criticism is legitimate or due to exasperation.

    4. Not recently.

    5. I really don’t care as long as it’s a shorter game. Watching 55 episodes of Fallout got boring pretty fast and I repeatedly found myself alt-tabbing out and only listening to you while doing something else.

  55. Tobias says:

    1) I like the insane trolling and the game analysis. No middle ground for me. For all 3 of my favorite LPers carrying the incinerator would be perfectly normal.
    2) I don’t care. I liked the middle ground in NV.
    3) I almost never play story based games. FO3 is the only season I had played.
    4) I watched them sometime this year, but months ago. They are broken now for me too.
    5) Kotor, Half live 2, fallout, system shock, deus ex. Or dynasty warriors :)

  56. Bodyless says:

    1. Jokes are only good if you did your research.

    2. a healthy mix if best. too many negative comments are boring and makes you wonder why you play the game at all.

    3. I dont mind. If i havent played it then its likely i wont buy it at all.

    4. FA3 episodes dont work.

    5. something other than a shooter would be nice.

  57. Jeremiah says:

    1. A mix of both. Rely too much on one or the other and I think things become stale.

    2. Somewhere in between. If a game is so awful that all you can do is complain and nitpick then it will quickly get hold. On the other hand, a game having issues is a good source of analytical conversation (how could this be better) as well as jokes.

    3. Definitely when I have played it, mostly to avoid spoilers, but also to see what else someone other than me does in the game.

    4. Nope

    5. Deus Ex (mostly because I’m currently replaying it).

    System Shock 2.

    I’d like to see Baldur’s Gate/Baldur’s Gate 2 or Planescape, but I think the combat would really bog the video down without extensive editing on Josh’s part, so they’re probably not worth it.

  58. James Pony says:

    Analytical commentary and unseemly gushing. For a change, if nothing else.

    I’d vote for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, but sandbox games generally are awesome to play but horrible to watch.

    1. Michael says:

      Though… the first game is semi-linear, and getting one of the false endings would be hilarious.

  59. ccesarano says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Technically you need both in order for it to function. Snappy comments and jokes break-up the boring monotony of analysis, yet the analysis makes it all enlightening and not just a bunch of friends getting together and bashing something.

    A Top Gear (UK) style of hosting is preferred.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    I wouldn’t mind a middle-ground. It’s easier to have fun bashing something and talking about how terrible it is, but at the same time it’s nice to know what GOOD a game has done in the past.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I always feel it is easier to contribute in the comments if I have played the game. In addition, I don’t have to fear any spoilers.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I have not. In truth, I typically don’t have the time in the day to watch Spoiler Warning. I’ve recently attempted the first couple episodes of the New Vegas Spoiler Warning while walking on the treadmill, but my basement (location of exercise equipment) doesn’t seem to get a good data flow and thus watching on my phone is troublesome.

    If the videos can be downloaded and watched off my Zune’s hard drive, that might solve some issues.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Personally, I think it would be a bit interesting to see you guys walk into something blind. Games with decent length as well, though not so much that it will reach that grinding point as New Vegas and Bioshock had.

    Some of the games I personally would like to hear your opinions on aren’t really available on PC, though, and my understanding is that you guys don’t have the equipment for console titles. I’d be curious what you guys would think of Brutal Legend, as that seems to be a rather divisive game (personally, I really liked it). Or possibly old favorites like Final Fantasy Tactics, or even something as quirky as Earthbound (which would require a lot of editing and cutting out boring parts, truth be told).

    As far as PC games, I don’t really know. I am not completely familiar with what is available on both platforms, or which ones are owned, etc. Maybe Assassin’s Creed? I imagine enough complaining can be made there, both in gameplay AND in plot.

    1. krellen says:

      People that can’t have fun with Brutal Legend need to get out of the fun-having business.

    2. Alexander The 1st says:

      ACI will require a lot of summarising of dialogue though – there’s not a word of subtitle.

      ACII…sure, Do it. And make sure to complain about the ending. Lots.

  60. De Zwits says:

    1. I think that even if you have a few analytical pointers during an episode, there will always be trolling / ranting. And that’s fine. You have an audience because of how you work. The dynamics between the 4 of you are what’s causing viewership. Keep it up.

    2. I personally like ranting more, simply because it forces you to work harder at pointing out things that are off in a game. Gushing – you’re going to run out of games to do shortly, I’m sure.

    3. I had played both Mass Effects and Fallout’s before you started, and all reviews have taught my things that I had not seen before. I tend to not do multiple runthroughs of big RPG’s (due to lack of time), but after the FO:NV one, I ended up doing a “kill ’em all, watch what happens” based on Josh’ kill-fest, and found that I very much enjoyed doing this. Probably something I should mention to my shrink.

    4. Watched them last week. Not a problem.

    5. You guys go ahead and choose. Your track record has been fine so far. Besides, I’m nowhere near current enough on games to have an opinion. You could do Dragon Age: Origins, and treat the Deep Roads the way you treated the walk to the Gun Runners after the Von Graff massacre: speed the thing up in editing. Whoops, I just made a suggestion after all. *blush*

  61. Eärlindor says:

    1. Both, but I love your analytical stuff, and I don’t want you to go out of your way to be funny. Forcing things never works. Just do what you usually do. :)

    2. No preference.

    3. Don’t care.

    4. The episode played for me. *Shrugs*

    5. I don’t care what you do next. I’m the worse person to ask when choosing something. However, I don’t know how I feel about the Mass Effect, Fallout, Bioshock pattern; break the trend perhaps?
    Well, it doesn’t matter, do whatever you do and I’ll be happy with it.

  62. Alan says:

    Actually, here is a radical idea which may not be possible for legal reasons; how about watching a feature film and doing a spoiler warning about that in the style of a directors commentary?

    1. Dante says:

      It’s very fuzzy. I remember it being a big thing on That Guy With The Glasses, some law was passed that made streaming certain media illegal, and it was a big deal because that meant a lot of what goes on on that site couldn’t happen anymore….or so they thought. I forget exactly how the law is worded, but I believe that because its done for comedic/parody reasons, you can stream games and/or movies, but I’m not entirely sure.

      Now to answer the questions Shamus asked:

      1. I like a balance of the two. I enjoy that you guys (especially Shamus) have a lot of insight when it comes to game design, and I learn a lot about it when you guys point out whats wrong or right with how something was made. I also enjoy the horrid puns and trolling of each other that you guys do.

      2. The ranting is funnier, but its always good to see you guys genuinely happy about a game, or at least the good elements of a game.

      3. I watch a lot of LPs and reviews for games I’ve never played. I played Bioshock, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas after you guys played them (currently working on finishing all 3), and I plan on getting both of the Mass Effects. I can enjoy watching an LP of a game I have played (and I understand some of the good and bad of the game better when I have played it) just as much as a game I haven’t played, as long as the people running the LP are making it entertaining.

      4. I’m currently running the first ep of the FO3 in another tab, and so far, its working fine.

      5. Deus Ex has a very big exploit/”grief the game” potential that I managed to find by accident on one playthrough, then I just spent the playthrough royally fucking over the system, playing the game in a wrong but very entertaining way. But I really don’t care what you guys play, as long as, like I stated above, you make it entertaining….which I’m sure you guys can do with pretty much any game.

    2. Michael says:

      Unfortunately, it’s not. Unless you buy the rights to run the film in question, which would be expensive.

      Well… they could do this with It’s a Wonderful Life, as the film is in public domain, but that’s about the extent of their options on that front.

      They could probably record rifftrax type commentaries, designed to play over the film, but actually running the whole film even if you’re talking over it is verboten.

      At the risk of being overly simplistic, LPs are legal because watching someone else play a game is not the same as actually playing that game. On the other hand, watching someone else watch a movie is basically the same as watching that film yourself.

  63. Mephane says:

    I can only really answer question number 3, “Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?” – In only watch it for games I have played, in order to prevent any heavy spoilers. And as it happens you’ve so far mostly done games that I’ve not played, heh. But I loved the HL2 intermezzo.

  64. Binary Toast says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    Personally I prefer the commentary, but the jokes have their place.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    Discussing what’s right and what’s wrong with a game have alot in common, so I’m gonna have to say both.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    Both. If I haven’t played the game, like the Fallout 3/NV seasons, I get an LP with interesting commentary. If I have played a game, sometimes you notice things I don’t, or have a different perspective on something. See season 1, with the comment that Saren could’ve just smuggled Geth onto the station using his Spectre status.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    Just tried the first one, loaded just fine. Don’t have the time to go through them all right now though, sorry.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    The idea of co-op Magicka seems very popular. Otherwise… have you considered an RTS? Good old Starcraft, perhaps Starcraft 2. I also enjoyed the Warhammer 40k Dawn of War series, but if you tread that path I’d suggest either doing the very first campaign, not the expansions, or doing Dawn of War 2. The original campaign is the most LP compatible, I think. DoW2 I think could work well, because it lacks the base building mechanic.

  65. Ubernostrum says:

    1. A mix of both.

    2. A mix of both as well. The short side-games are a nice break.

    3. I’ll watch it either way – I don’t worry much about spoilers as I’m not likely to play the game in question if I haven’t already.

    4. Not since they originally came out.

    5. Dunno about a main game, but a one-week session of The Stanley Parable would be amazing – a deep interactive commentary on storytelling, choice, and reality. And it’s a free Source mod with a fantastic narrator. And it’s about 10 minutes per playthrough (with multiple playthroughs needed to see every path).

  66. Ivan says:

    1: I enjoy the balance you’ve already struck there. I enjoy hearing your thoughts about why this does or does not work, but I also enjoy the change of pace of the general silliness that tends to surround all this. The humor gives it atmosphere and keeps it from becoming dry and boring.

    2: Neither, I enjoy hearing honest opinions about the game being played.

    3: I’ve never played Bioshiock, any Fallout, or either Mass Effect and I enjoy it regardless.

    4: Haven’t tried

    5: No opinion

  67. Kel'Thuzad says:

    Do a Warhammer game! Do it please!

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    A mixture of Rutskarn’s puns and more analytical commentary.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    I didn’t really enjoy Half-Life 2. Fallout 3 was an amazing season. Unhinged ranting is enjoyable, but generally you should have at least SOME complaints, and HL2 had none.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    I actually didn’t pick up Fallout 3 until Spoiler Warning went over it. Either one is fine.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    I watched them about a month ago and they were fine.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    WARHAMMER 40K… Dawn of war or space marine?

  68. Peter H. Coffin says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    The jokes leaven the commentary. But I’m mostly here to see the games, mostly because I’ve not played them. I probably even OWN them, especially if they’re available on Steam, but while my game-playing time is limited, spending a lunch half-hour watching someone else’s edited play-through is very doable.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    A balance seems to work well. In an ideal situation, Josh would be heading in to a game that he’s never played but is of a type that he’s good at generally. (It’s an ideal world, so Josh is good at ALL types of games but hasn’t played any of them, and therefore that’s not a limitation.) The others have played at least some parts of this game or one in a series of them, and one person likes it a lot, one doesn’t like it much at all, and in the course of the play-through, lessons are learned, everyone comes to respect and appreciate the others’ views and the villain is unmasked at the end.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I don’t HAVE to have played it to enjoy it. And, in fact, the odds that I’ve spent much time actually playing the game are pretty slim. ’cause, unless it’s Puzzle Pirates, a train or flight simulator game, or Gran Turismo, I’ve probably NOT played it. (Or at least not much — I *love* Fuel, for example, but still haven’t managed to put more than an hour or so into playing it.)

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I checked the one in the linked post, and found it working fine. But as mentioned elsewhere, viddler adverts can cause problems, and AdBlock Plus fixes it. (Yes, the entirety of shamusyoung.com is exempted from blocking, because we love you.)

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    I suck at this kind of question, but a couple of thoughts may help: Short is NOT a problem. A game that can be finished in five or six hours isn’t a critical problem. It’s going to broken into 20 episodes spread over six weeks anyway, which makes it feel longer to us than to someone that sits down and kills it in a weekend of casual playing. Further, games with long periods of grinding that Josh can go off and take care of on his own may make for sort of boring games to play, but they’re amenable to a black screen with white text reading “47 fetch quests and six level dings later…” That kind of editing is very easy compared to the technical synching and meshing you’ve mentioned has to happen on occasion. And, if in the course of that grinding something interesting DOES come up, that’s what an older save is for. Load it, run through with with the group, and the odds are that it’ll still fit into the grind sequence without TOO much bearing on what the outcome becomes at the end of the grind when we actually get back to plot/pretty/whatever’s worth sharing.

  69. bit says:

    1. I like a mix of both, but at the end of the day, the analytical commentary is what makes the show special, and should always take priority.

    2. I feel that a lot more gets generally accomplished when everyone stays positive.

    3. When I have, but both are fine.

    4. Hmm, no. I’ll check it out.

    5. Psychonauts! Not Bioshock 2!

  70. Ouchies81 says:

    1. I like the technical commentary and all the things done differently that, as a parent with pressed time, I don’t have the inclination to play through again for a minor change in play experience.

    2. I contend your Half-Life 2 play was the best you all ever did. Do more of that kind of commentary.

    3. Having never played(beyond the demo) BioShock, I got lost- a lot- on what was going on in the game and couldn’t follow what you were doing, why, or what the relevance was. Many times you’d comment that something was “pretty”, and I might have agreed if I had seen it myself, but in the lets play you’d rush past it and I’d have a vague clue what was being referenced.

    4. Nope.

    5. Something different. You’ve done the same game (a pseudo fps/rpg) essentially every time.
    Metal Gear, Arcanum, Baldurs Gate, Batman:Arkham Asylum, Solitaire(with mods).
    Barring that-
    System shock, HL2, Morrowind/Oblivion, Dues Ex

  71. Drew says:

    Sorry, I can’t just answer these questions in a point by point way. I think the group dynamic you have together is more complicated than that. You see, I like Josh’s playing since he manages to find all of the most rediculous exploits and interesting glitches. I like when Ruts and Mumbles talk about story stuff since they are students who are more knowledgeable than me. Same goes for you Shamus and your programming knowledge. When you talk positively about a game it draw out good commentary from the others, but I don’t really enjoy when you point out flaws for some reason. When the others rant about problems with the game it is entertaining though…. I guess you are the catalyst to get them talking about interesting stuff.

    As for if I’ve played the game or not, it goes both ways. I like to watch games that I’m interested in but have not played as well as games I’ve played. As long as it is a game that Josh can break in various ways I am happy. Also, if it were up to me I would have you all do Oblivion next.

  72. somebodys_kid says:

    1. I like both, provided they are in similar proportions
    2. Either is good when done properly
    3. I prefer to have played the game first.
    4. Haven’t tried
    5. Assassin’s Creed

    Also, could you give us say a few days warning before posting the first video of next season so that those that want to play it first but haven’t yet have a chance to acquire and play it some?

  73. Reet says:

    For the first two questions I really like both. I mean the show is constantly either one or the other and I suspect anyone who didn’t like both of them then they wouldn’t enjoy the show much. All the elements mentioned are important parts of the show and all are equally entertaining. What makes spoiler warning good is that it’s a mix of all of those things.
    3. I like watching whether I’ve played the game or not. I watched ME1 while I was playing it so that was interesting, I watched Fallout 3, New Vegas and ME2 after playing them and I watched Bioshock before I played it.
    4. Yeah, I tried like last week and all the Spoiler warning videos on viddler wouldn’t work for me. I have watched them though and I think they were working earlier this year. On a slightly unrelated note my favorite series of Spoiler Warning was Fallout 3, does that make me weird?
    5. Fallout, Deus Ex, Alpha Protocol (I wan’t to see what you guys think before I decide to get it), System shock 2 (to see you beat up on your most beloved game), X-COM.
    I also just had another idea. What if you played L4D and everyone played together or something? Just a thought, not sure how it would work.

  74. TraderRager says:

    Bioshock 2 is NOT a bad game. Unlike bioshock, The story starts at a low point and gets progressively better, instead of starting high and ending low like the original.

    Also, the gun/plasmidplay is like 5X better.

    1. Shamus says:

      Have a review copy here. Tried it while we were pondering this.

      Steamworks. Then a stand-alone, manual 2Kgames activation. Then ANOTHER activation for Games for Windows LIVE. Yes, I had to type in the CD key twice. Shameful.

      If we did a let’s play, I’d want to go through the whole activation process, up until the point where the game ran, and then end the show.

      Sorry, had to get that rant out there.

      1. some random dood says:

        Teh ebilness must stop!
        Don’t suppose you could have a “Hall of Shame” for the exceptionally shitty DRM titles out there? That way, you wouldn’t have to review them, and we would know which games really do not deserve our money.

        1. Shamus says:

          Temping….

          I’ll have to think about that.

      2. James Schend says:

        Your opinion of the DRM is irrelevant to your opinion of the game.

        Well, I played it on Xbox, so… no DRM for me. I might have been as annoyed at the PC DRM as well.

        On a completely unrelated note, why does this forum give me such a horrible “Mr. Yuck” frowny face? I hate to think this completely randomly-selected (and apparently unchangable?) icon is influencing what people think of me.

        1. Nyctef says:

          You need a gravatar: http://en.gravatar.com/ Bonus is it should work on a lot of other sites too (including all wordpress sites by default)

          1. James Schend says:

            I already have one, and it doesn’t work on this site. Oh well.

          2. Michael says:

            Ah, so that’s how you kids do it. Always wondered, but felt stupid because I didn’t know how.

            Are Gravatar changes retroactive? Or do they only change posts going forward?

        2. Shamus says:

          Ah, but my opinion of the DRM is VERY relevant to whether I’m willing to spend my time shining the spotlight on a game when there are other, less-obnoxious titles out there to cover.

    2. SougoXIII says:

      While I agree that the gun/plasmid is 5X better, I can’t say that Bioshock 2 story gets better in the end. In fact, I’ll say it get worst. Much worst. The incessant whinning of Sofia Lambs paints her as an delusional moron who I can’t take seriously, the moral choice system and how it affect your ‘little sister’ also raise questions and the ‘reveal’ involving the vita chambers make me want to bang my head against the wall repeatedly.

  75. zackrid says:

    1. I enjoy both parts, they make episodes occasionally feel like extended, low-intensity Zero Punctuation. That being said, I’d enjoy a bit more of the analytical stuff. It usually helps shine a new, informative light on past gaming experiences.

    2. I’m not sure. I kind of take Spoiler Warning as a whole and I really enjoy both parts. And with games being so huge and complex, having both of them in there is really great.

    3. I like watching games I’m familiar with. On the first run I like being in control myself, plus I can absorb your commentary more easily when I’m already familiar with the world and experience of the game in question.

    4. I watched a few a while back but lately I haven’t been able to due to a persistent Saints Row 3 banner. I can click away the ad but a black strip all across the video remains.

    5. Like many others I would love to see the rest of Half-Life 2 (it seemed like a pleasant break from the massive RPGs without sacrificing the opportunity to goof around). Or mayhaps Modern Warfare 2 or Codblops if you feel like nitpicking away at something dumber.

  76. Hitch says:

    I enjoy watching Spoiler Warning for two completely opposite things. One is insightful commentary on game design, discussions of why certain parts of games work well and others are just irritating nonsense. The other thing is silly jokes at the expense of games and your fellow players. I can’t really prioritize between those.

    When the game is one I’m well familiar with, I can kind of just let it play in the background and listen to the commentary. If I’ve never played and don’t know the game, I tend to try to focus on what’s happening in the game and pay less attention to what you guys are saying. That said, I’ve never played BioShock and thoroughly enjoyed the first half (two-thirds?) of that. Towards the end, when it devolved into a series of repetitive splicer fights and you’d all mostly run out of things to say, it got kind of boring.

    I don’t want to tell you what to play because I don’t know what you want to talk about. The show works best when you’re excited to show us and tell us about your favorite games, or one that has some really serious and interesting flaws, or ideally both at the same time. I would suggest that you be willing to abbreviate the play-through when appropriate. If you don’t have anything new to say and the game-play is substantially the same as we’ve seen before, just say you’re skipping over a section. Or just end the play-through there, if the end-game doesn’t have anything compelling to show or talk about.

    1. Hitch says:

      And with regards your latest tweet: RPGs are becoming less relevant lately because they’re being done so bad. I think it’s a matter of technology getting in the way. They major game studios can’t afford to create interesting and varied stories and branching dialog because it’s too expensive to voice act and lip sync all of that dialog if people aren’t going to see it. Of course you can’t sell a game that doesn’t have fully animated voice acted dialog anymore. (At least not in the publishers’ world view.)

      It’s similar to what’s happening in movies these days. A good story, well acted, with interesting visual presentation all take a back seat to, “Can we release a 3D version of this?”

      1. some random dood says:

        There are some commentaries about the reason for The Old Republic being an MMO is for the reason of cost. It’s expensive to do a truly branching story with consequences and to last a decent length of time for a story arc – but people are not willing to spend extra on a single player game over and above a 5-6 hour on-rails shooter. An MMO though has the potential for a monthly fee to possibly garner hundreds of [monetary units] from a person over the course of a year or two. Even though the new trend is for MMOs to go free-to-play… (maybe BioWare should have got it out the door sooner?)

        1. krellen says:

          I haven’t bought a brand-new game in over a year (and in over five if you discount ME2, which I bought because I was suckered), because companies are no longer making games I’m excited about. I really think the success of Call of Duty has turned the industry stupid; success is now a five-or-ten million unit game, and there’s just not that much interest for new games.

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            What about new vegas?

            1. krellen says:

              I thought it had been longer, but it appears I did buy New Vegas within its first month of release (I bought it on October 30th, 2010 to be exact).

              I suppose that might qualify as a new purchase. Point to Daemian.

  77. Myth says:

    1) The commentary is what I look forward to the most. But the jokes (good and bad) sometimes really surprise me and make it fun.

    2) I liked reasoned criticism. Which we often get, but can sometimes be frustrating when unhinged ranting emerges based on a mistake or misunderstanding by the cast members.

    3) I really only watch when I’ve played the game. I hate spoilers! But this has been a good thing, since the show inspired me to replay Mass Effect 2 and finish New Vegas – and check out the DLCs, which were my favorite part of the game.

    4) I haven’t…

    5) Dragon Age 2 would be interested. It has a good mix of good and bad which could make for fun commentary.

  78. Daemian Lucifer says:

    @That thing youve linked on twitter(yeah,Im not going to sign up there for a single comment):

    Funny how “RPGs are becoming less relevant” when every single game in the past few years had leveling your skills/upgrading your equipment.We truly live in the world of dumb people.

  79. bbot says:

    6. I don’t watch Spoiler Warning.

  80. Taellosse says:

    This is with the caveat that I haven’t watched all the seasons you’ve done:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    I actually quite enjoy both. The show is at its best when there’s a healthy mix of each.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    If I had to choose, probably the latter. I like it best when, again, there’s a healthy mix. I think that is part of why I stuck with both ME series–you gave out both compliments and criticism.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I’ve found this to be the dealbreaker for me, and the main reason I haven’t watched all the seasons. I watched through a lot of the Fallout 3 series while you were running them, fell behind, and finally quit before you reached the end because I found I was having to rewatch large parts–I was missing either your commentary or what was going on in the game. If I ignored your commentary, I started to think I may as well just play the game myself (and I didn’t really want to), if I ignored what was going on, I couldn’t follow what you were talking about very well. By contrast, I’ve played both ME games several times, and I’m very familiar with how they go. I don’t need to hear every word of dialogue, or read the on-screen text, to know what’s going on, so I can listen along. It’s a lot like the commentary tracks in DVD-extras. I’d NEVER watch a movie for the first time with one of those on, because I’d miss parts of the film. So when you did New Vegas, I didn’t watch any of them at all, and probably won’t, because I don’t plan to play that either. I’ll be very likely to tune in when you do a game I’ve played, and very unlikely if it’s one I haven’t.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Nope, not in months.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Part of me does want to suggest KotOR, but honestly, it sounds like a lot of trouble, and I’ve read about and discussed that game extensively over the years. Jade Empire might be neat at some point, though I’m not sure how many of the SW crew have played it.

    I think it might be good to do a somewhat shorter game, as a palate cleanser of sorts. Something fairly story-driven, but without the massive input of time of an RPG. Maybe Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or the more recent 2008 reboot of the franchise. The drawback of doing a non-RPG, of course, is that the plot tends to be delivered in considerably smaller bites and lacks any actual interaction. But that would also mean you wouldn’t have to argue about what decisions to make when they come up, because they really won’t (you can just bitch at Josh’s play style non-stop! ;-) ).

  81. Warren says:

    1. I’d say I like it about 33% jokes and 66% commentary. Something like that. I find it interesting when you guys discuss story and design and mechanics but without a good pun every now and then the show wouldn’t be as engaging.

    2. Again I prefer a happy medium. A bit of annoyance and pointing out faults is okay as is a bit of gushy joy. A game that contains opportunities for both would be ideal.

    3. To this point you haven’t done a game I haven’t played so I’m not sure how much I would like watching you do a game I haven’t played. I think it would depend on how much I want to play the game vs. how much I mind having it spoiled.

    4. I watched the Fallout 3 episodes when they were originally posted but not since.

    5. Something classic would be interesting. KOTOR is an obvious choice but I know that there are issues with that. Maybe Arcanum?

  82. Factoid says:

    I don’t much care which game you choose to do next…I just think it needs to be something other than a Bethesda or Bioware game.

    I think it would be cool to go back and do something kind of retro. I also still think that doing a console game would not be particularly difficult with the setup you’re using. It might even be easier in many respects. This of course assumes that Josh owns the appropriate console(s) and a tuner card.

    You could do voice over Vent just as you do now. Hook the console up to a tuner card and stream that window via livestream and record through the tuner’s built-in recording interface.

  83. Deadpool says:

    1. What I like best is when you guys sound like me and my friends sitting around playing games. Sometimes we’re just making stupid jokes at the game’s expense, sometimes we’re having serious compare/contrast conversations, sometimes we’re just poking fun at each other. Beavis and Butthead meets Unskippable meets Extra Credits is basically why I like Spoiler Warning.

    2. The bile is probably funnier, but the gushing isn’t bad. The balance of the two is pretty good for the most part. Btw, I did NOT hate the end of Bioshock season as much as you guys did…

    3. I probably prefer games I HAVE played, but you only did a week of Half Life 2 (only game I didn’t play) and I enjoyed that fine…

    4. No. Shame, cuz they are what got me into Spoiler Warning…

    5. Someone mentioned Mercenaries 2 in another topic. Seems all right… Although I rather like the idea of Josh playing co op with one of you more than the actual Mercenaries game…

  84. Blasmeister says:

    1. I watch for a mix of commentary, awesome puns and to see how you see a game differently than I do. some of the best moments from the series are the funny parts, but learning is great too.

    2. Somewhere between the two, when you have positive and negative things to say about a game you can make me not feel bad for liking it and not seeming like you’re hating every second of playing. On the other side of the coin, the frustrating parts of game brokenness and absurdity are often the root of the funnest running jokes, so a game you couldn’t find fault with would quickly grow dull.

    3. Generally I like having played the game before. I played both fallout games, but not Mass effect(s) nor Bioshock. Following the plot when you guys are skipping through dialogue or talking over NPCs can be tough at times and listening to the plot can distract from the commentary. Being able to see a different playstyle from my own approch tasks is great too.

    4. Works fine for me

    5. I’d like to see a dragon age playthrough (either 1 or 2), as it’s one of my favourite game series’ and I’d love to hear about how terrible they are/I am for liking it

  85. MJG says:

    I’ll note that I’ve only watched the two Fallout games and Half-Life 2 so far, so my comments won’t reflect the other games played.

    1. Analytical. But, I think the reason why is because all too often, the heavy joking comes about because the team is bored with what’s going on in the game, so they have to entertain themselves. So, I’m equating jokes with boring video content, rather than funny video content.

    2. I generally prefer the criticism, but I’ve found there’s a limit to how much of that I can take before needing to take a break. I usually do this myself by just letting videos queue up for a week, but interestingly enough, the week the team took playing HL2 did the job for just as well for me. Going forward, if you’re finding that you’re giving too much love/hate to whatever the main game is, I strongly recommend taking a short break to play something that elicits the opposite feeling. Helps break things up, you know?

    3. Depends on the quality of game. With good games, I want to have played the game myself first. With bad games, I would rather go in fresh.

    4. Not since the original postings.

    5. I’d be all for Alpha Protocol, even with the timed dialogs. Going away from the listed games though, I’d be interested in Deus Ex: Invisible War. It’s pretty topical, I think there’s a lot of room for both positive (the game, taken on its own, is pretty good) and negative (finding all the places where it failed to live up to its predecessor) discussions to be had.

  86. Fishminer says:

    1. Jokes

    2. I like when you alternate between the two.

    3. Games I have played.

    4. Haven’t looked at it.

    5. A final fantasy game. Just to balance out all the western RPGs.

  87. TheMerricat says:

    I watch because I enjoy listening to a group of people socialize while doing things I enjoy doing myself.

    1. I like hearing both. But if I could only have one, I’d go analytical.
    2. Whatever is warranted for the situation. Gushing can only get you so far, but then again bile is funny for only so long.
    3. If you are going to gush, I prefer a game I’ve had to discover love for on my own. If you are going to ‘hate’, I prefer a game either bad enough that I don’t feel the need to defend or a game I haven’t played long enough to want to.
    4. Not recently. I only just started watching ‘serially’ a month ago. I used to just catch episodes when your commentary on the episode itself piqued my interest (and then maybe a few episodes before and after.)
    5. I don’t think it’d make a great ‘season’ but it’d be interesting to see you do something that wasn’t a first person game but still had ‘story’ to it.

  88. Vect says:

    I like the analyzing of the group and you guys do get in some really good insults once in a while (though of course sometimes you guys seem to get your facts wrong).

    I guess that for a filler episode, an episode of messing around in Saint’s Row 2 could do well, that is if Josh has that game. One could make Cuftbert in the character creator and just go hog wild. Not the full game, just an episode of doing the random crap that you can get into for the game.

  89. jdaubenb says:

    1. About a 75/25 split between analytical & funny commentary would be ideal, but due to the nature of video games, a 40/60 split might be more realistic. I mean, how any hours can you spend on bitching about Little Lamblight, before you’ve hit all the plot holes and inconsistencies.

    2. I prefer the bitter disappointment of Mass Effect 2, thank you very much. But out of these choices, the week of Half-Life 2 was more enjoyable. It’s just nice to hear something positive once in a while.

    3. Having played the game makes Josh’s bunny hopping much easier on the brain.
    Recognizing locations, and comparing my impressions & opinions with yours makes Spoiler Warning more fun for me personally. Though having played the game is by no means a guarantee for success – I just didn’t care enough for both Gamebryo-Fallouts to become seriously invested.

    4. They are just as broken on my end.

    5. Something you will actually enjoy playing & watching, something that can be wrapped up in 33 episodes or less and something that’s not based on the Gamebryo-engine.
    Fallout: New Vegas really dragged on in the end, just like the Fallout-3-season did, and I hate Bethesda-faces.

  90. Benjamin says:

    1. Commentary, though sometimes it’s repetitive – there’s this one point about the game that someone just REALLY wants to get across, and doesn’t realize it was crystal clear four episodes ago.
    2. Best when balanced, but gush-leaning if a choice must be made.
    3. When I’ve played the game, since I can relate to and/or violently disagree with the opinions proffered.
    4. Not since they aired. No, not going to check them now. I have things to do / Netflix.
    5. Ooooh! Mario Party 8!

  91. Atarlost says:

    1: analytical commentary

    2: Either works, but I think gushing may lead to less trolling and the trolling doesn’t take long to get old.

    3: Dunno, you haven’t covered any games I’ve played

    3: Not since it originally aired

    4: How about something classic? Fallout 1 and 2 or one of the later Ultimas maybe or a Warcraft or Starcraft singleplayer campaign. Of the stuff you’re considering I think Deus Ex is probably closest to that category.

  92. Kjellberg says:

    1. Both.

    2. Ranting when the ranting is justified.

    3. Ones that I have played.

    4. They work for me.

    5. GTA (any of them) or Saint’s Row 1 or 2.

  93. darth Joe says:

    The show is best when analytic stuff is going on, but I liked the HL2 episode a lot. I played all the games that you guys do before you played them, except for fallout 3, which I was playing for the first time with you guys to comment (it was awesome). Deus Ex is actually fairly simple to get running on my windows 7 pc, and it doesn’t really have cutscenes so that should help. It could lead to invisible war which I want to see you guys demolish for it sucking. Kotor would be great but I would be more interested to hear what you guys have to say about its sequel (which I actually sorta liked). The old fallout 3 ones work for me. Also, I usually treat the show as a webcast, and I was listening to it while I played fallout 3. But I do watch sometimes it just depends on what I am doing.

  94. Meredith says:

    I’m sure I’m a minority, but I’ve only watched when you play games I’ve played or the gag episodes like the train thing. I tried to watch the first Fallout season and just couldn’t get into it since I didn’t know what was going on.

    Based on what I have seen, I have to say I enjoyed the HL2 videos more than most of the BioShock ones. You had just as many interesting things to say about game design when approached from the perspective “this is what this game did right” rather than “this is why this game is a miserable piece of crap” and it was easier/more fun to hear.

    I’d love to see you play a game you all enjoy. I’ve watched plenty of LPs of stuff I haven’t played and it’s always more fun when the player is genuinely enjoying himself. Even the best games have weaknesses, so I wouldn’t worry about it turning into nonstop gushing. Play to have fun and we’ll be entertained as a by-product. Don’t play to snark, that will come naturally.

    Or, what about a season where you show off the best and worst sections of several games, perhaps all in the same genre? I’d watch that.

  95. Rem says:

    1. Jokes are great, but serious comments are good food for thought. Your terrain comments for Mass Effect and your comments on BioShock’s art direction were great.

    2. I like it when you enjoyed the game, but can’t help but rant about it. Fallout games, for example. You guys all hate to love and love to hate those ones.

    3. The only game you’ve done that I haven’t played is NV, and I didn’t mind that at all. Josh’s play style is more or less the routes we gloss over, because they’re recklessly insane. Not much is spoilt, really.

    4. I watched some of the earlier Fallout 3 episodes recently, they worked.

    5. Something modern would be ideal, because you wouldn’t have as many issues with recording. I understand the issue with KotOR. My game would crash when fetching cutscenes, sometimes. It seems to jump out of the game entirely just to show them. Getting KotOR to work would be great, though. I’m sure you all have something to say about it.

  96. Cookiesy says:

    1:
    Both are great ,i’m fine with your actual formula.

    2:
    A Balance of the two works for me ,however continous ranting is tiring .

    3:I have played all the games you have recorded so ,can’t say really ,have enjoyed them all.

    4:Saw them when you guys where doing the SW.

    5:I think you guys will chose well anyways.

  97. RTBones says:

    1. You need a blend of both, but I think the balance needs to be tipped to the side of analysis. One of the reasons I watch the show (and I’m sure others do as well) is to see parts of the game that I might not based on my play style, as well as parts of the game that are “broken” – either from a plot or coding perspective. On occasion, I get the bonus of seeing things I havent done or hadnt planned to do (e.g. Dead Money). It is fun to watch you all troll one another (and us), but if the jokes take over the show it can get difficult to follow.

    2. Again, a blend works best. One of the reasons the Half Life 2 episodes were so refreshing is that we had become accustomed to the rants and bile. It was nice to hear you say something positive – and not just positive, but WHY it was positive.

    Someone else mentioned it earlier – a Top Gear blend would fit the cast.

    3. I think I get more out of the show if its a game I am either playing or played. That said, I played Dead Money specifically because of comments you all made. Heck, I hadnt even planned on getting New Vegas when it came out due to all the bugs. I think there is room for both.

    4. I have not.

    5. Oof, thats a tough one. Deus Ex would be fun to watch, but may be a non-starter for technological reasons. KOTOR II is the same. I wouldn’t mind Bioshock II (which I havent played), or a continuation of Half Life 2. For that matter, Portal I and II back-to-back could be a lot of fun (especially as, by comparison, they are short games).

    I guess from my perspective, it would be nice to see you do a game that you were more positive on for a change.

    1. RTBones says:

      As to further game suggestions, here’s a few out of the blue. I’m guessing, though, you’ll have to do something more modern than most of these due to technical constraints:

      Max Payne 2
      Planescape: Torment
      XCOM 2
      Pool of Radiance
      Ultima VII
      Jagged Alliance 2
      Return to Krondor
      Privateer
      Morrowind
      Arcanum

  98. mliebstein says:

    1. Jokes are necessary, but I’d still say the analytical commentary is more important. It’s what makes you different from other, similar formats.

    2. I enjoyed the Half-Life 2 episodes a lot, but I think they would’ve become boring much, much faster than what you usually do. And Fallout 3 is still my favorite season of Spoiler Warning.

    3. Mass Effect 2 is the only game you’ve done so far that I hadn’t played before watching. It’s also the only season I haven’t finished yet. I wouldn’t call it a huge factor, though.

    4. They seem to work fine for me right now, but that’s the first time I’ve checked in a while.

    5. The Witcher. Sorry, Shamus.

  99. Alexander The 1st says:

    1.) Stealth jokes in-between analytical commentary.

    2.) Ranting, with a touch of gushing over parts you like to explain why you even chose the game. Sort of like when you do the Fallout games – you explained *why* you liked them, and why they were bad. But mostly bad, because hey, it works.

    3.) I prefer having already played the game, but prefer seeing options taken I didn’t take. Like in Mass Effect 2 Tali’s Loyalty, with “Rally the crowd.”

    4.) I dunno.

    5.) Bastion. Yeah, it’s an action-adventure-RPG, but it’s so much fun. And it’s got great storyline. And talking over the narration will lead to a great drinking game rule: Drink when three or more voices are talking – including the narrator. Just make sure to add subtitles.

    1. Matthias says:

      I don’t think I could handle people talking over Bastion’s narrator…
      Apart from that, I agree that this might be a neat game to watch, even though it would probably lean towards “gushing” :-)

  100. swenson says:

    1. I’m going to be supremely unhelpful here and say that I like a mix of both. Personally, I’m very interested in the analysis of games, something that’s simply not done as much as analysis of movies/books/plays/other entertainment media, for obvious reasons (i.e., games are a much newer medium). But an entire show of that could be difficult to listen to, and needs to be broken up with jokes. So I really do like a mixture.

    2. I think “unseemly gushing” can work just as well as “unhinged ranting” from an analysis perspective, because instead of ranting about how terrible the design is, you’re gushing about how wonderful the design is. You can learn as much from a well-done game as from a poorly-designed game. That being said, ranting is funnier. I still wouldn’t mind at least a little gushing, though… as in you guys finishing HL2!

    3. Having at least a passing familiarity with the game helps, but it’s not necessary for me. I’ve never actually played New Vegas but still enjoyed the show, for example. (although I am familiar with the interface and whatnot because I’ve played Fallout 3) So maybe I do prefer games I’m less familiar with… but I think I could still enjoy a game I’ve already played, simply because I’m going to get what’s going on (and understand all the jokes and references!).

    4. Nope, never. The TF2 episode is broken too, which is sad because I only very recently realized you guys had done it, and now I really, really want to see it.

    5. Half-Life 2? Please? *puppy dog eyes*

    If not that, erm… I dunno, some game that requires you to be the complete opposite of dear Reginald Cuftbert’s Chaotic Stupid attitude, for the giggles.

    Or what about Oblivion? I assume that sort of game would work for you, because the interface and conversations and suchlike is fairly similar to Fallout 3/New Vegas. And plenty of opportunities to needlessly slaughter people. And if you play it without patches, you get nice glitches, too, like flying trees!

  101. James says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytic commentary?

    Both, the jokes and Puns make the show enjoyable on a comedic level, and the analysis makes me look at a game i’ve played and think about all its faults this was particularly prevalent with Fallout 3

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged
    ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Both are good, though sometimes the Half Life 2 love seems a bit OTT, the game does have flaws (don’t hit me) bias is fine but please try and look objectively.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Considering i have played them all when you made the videos, except Amnesia and TF2 (i got TF2 shortly after ‘cus i wanna be a spy). ill use other Lets Plays as Examples, i enjoy the videos regardless of if i played them. Jesse Cox did one on Duke Nuke a game i have no interest in buying and Amnesia a game a i might buy one day, his commentary and in the case of Amnesia the commentary of the other hosts made it great despite no prior knowledge or experience of the game.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks?

    i watched them sometime last week, and were fine (i was watching through the catalog again ‘cus i’m nostalgic like that)

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Dues Ex 3 would be cool, and in the interim till the 26th you could do more special eps on Half Life 2.

  102. rrgg says:

    1. Insightful jokes are the best, but a good balance of commentary and a-holery works too I guess.

    2. If it’s a game I haven’t bought yet I prefer ranting, if it’s a game I have bought with my hard-earned cash I prefer gushing. No idea why.

    3. Having played the game is helpful so that I know what is going on.

    4. Nope

    5. Maybe you could narrow things down a bit, does it have to be a recent game? Do you want to stick with the RPGs? Does it have to be original or do you mind competing against much better let’s plays?

  103. some random dood says:

    Actually, out of all the conditions that you say cause problems, I feel that not all of you willing to play a game can be discarded. There are times when I feel that having 4 of you on the team is not needed, so as long as three of you can agree on something, then why not let the 4th take a time-out?
    As to why I watch… erm, it’s mostly entertaining?
    Still, going through the list:
    1. Prefer the analytical commentary over the jokes. (And yes, there have been times when your joking has left me laughing out loud, but overall prefer the analysis)
    2. re gushing/destroying – prefer balance, so if something deserves praise, it gets it, but if it deserves criticism/unalloyed destruction then it only has itself to blame (thinking Mass Effect 2 here. The character missions were rightly praised, while the plot was shredded. Can’t say too much for Fallout 3/Bioshock as I gave up on them part way through in each case. Too much the same. And gave up for the umpteenth DLC in Fallout NV too, coming back for the end)
    3. Turns out that you have played the game before I bought it most times. I bought Mass Effect 1 *because* you did the run through – breaking my vow not to get games DRMed so that they have to dial in before they work. I got Mass Effect 2 based on ME1 – whoops… my bad…
    So guess my preference is to see games that I haven’t yet played.
    4. Erm, not sure what you mean by “broken”. I watched the first part of the series when they came out, but gave up after the first dozen or so episodes. Haven’t looked at them recently.
    5. Feel free in your choice of games! Here’s some others to consider – Beyond Good and Evil, Kotor 1/2 (yes, I know those are already well asked for, still – I feel like replaying but having problems getting them to work. At all). Vampire -the masquerade. A mini-series of Plants v Zombies while you get to an agreement for which main game to play? Deus Ex 3 – or at least if someone could tell me what DRM is on the thing, and whether it needs any dial home for verification and at what points?
    And what about multiplayer games? Would it be possible for you all to say party up in Lord Of The Rings Online for some group craziness (“Lulzy Strikes Back”)? Could be worth trying as an experiment?
    (Oh, and I really hope you get around to Mass Effect 3 sometime. Pretty please? After ME2, I don’t want to get the thing without some advance warning of what ME3 will be like, but do want to see how the story turns out.)

  104. Adam says:

    1. I love the game commentary that you bring to the table, Shamus, but I must admit the show is at its most entertaining when Mumbles, Rutskarn and Josh go off on each other. All in all, I watch the show for the multiperson commentary, which gives a different perspective of the game in question than another essay on your blog.

    2. The ranting is fun, but it’s only when you get some positivity mixed in with the vicious mockery that we really learn about the game in question.

    3. I was sad that you were going to do NV because I hadn’t beaten it yet. (I’m still waiting to finish the DLC before I watch any of the episodes to do with it.) I’d prefer games that I’ve already beaten into the ground (Mass Effect 1&2 were great series for me because I’d beaten both games so many times.) or have no interest in playing (Bioshock) but I know that’s an unreasonable request to make.

    4. Yes, I’ve had the same problems. An expedia banner that I can click out of shows up over the video, but no video plays, not even the usual pre-loader ads.

    5. I wish I could recommend a blind DX3 LP, but NV has taught me that it’s no fun dodging your website for weeks on end trying to avoid spoilers everywhere. I’d like to see someone take apart KotOR II (my favorite RPG of all time, despite the flaws) but that would likely have even more logistical issues than KotOR I, given its instability. Maybe a Spiderweb software game, now that they’re putting one of their games on Steam? If you could get it to run at a legible resolution, maybe even one of the Original Fallout(s) that you praise so highly? I’ve found a dearth of Reginald Cuftbert-style LPs.

  105. Sleeping Dragon says:

    My answers to most of the questions will be variations on “all of the above,” since I don’t think any of those would really

    1) I’d say the analytical parts are more important for the show itself, I like the reconstruction of plot and questlines. On the other hand once you’ve said your pieces and we have to wait while you wade through combat the random banter is a welcome distraction, the MST3K style fragments also make the show more lively.

    2) Ranting. I mean, sure, give praise where it’s due but generally I hear enough praise from reviews, ads, blurbs and rampant fanboys on the net.

    3) Definitely when I have played it. I am allergic to spoilers.

    4) Just tried, couldn’t get past the ad.

    5) I don’t think I’d have many ideas that would be viable for SW format and that haven’t been mentioned yet.

  106. Chris Headley says:

    1) Truthfully I like a balance of both, too many jokes means that the same jokes are going to heard again and lose some of the fun and too much analyzing can be boring.
    2) I like the goods and bads of the game to be pointed out and if it is not equal then I understand how that can be sometimes.
    3) I have enjoyed the show in cases of games I have played, games I have played halfway, and games I have not played.
    4) Yes watched them all only had trouble with a couple of links.
    5) Lego Star Wars, just joking, I think you have to pick something that works technically and does not kill Josh in editing, which I am not sure which game that is.

  107. klasbo says:

    1) Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    It’s a close tie between Rutskarn’s puns and Shamus’ insight into why the game makes no sense. Both are funny and entertaining in their own way. Everybody on the show has assumed the role of some kind of character, and sticking to the kind of interaction you have going is not a bad idea. Well, maybe Josh could be a little more accepting of the others’ advice… I’m looking at you, incinerator.

    2) Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    The HL2 episodes were a nice variation, but I think there might be more comedic material in the “not quite bad enough to be unplayable”-type games. I think the Mass Effect 2 series was the the best in this regard. There were parts in the game that were really good and got praise for it, then parts that were gosh-darn awful (Fuck you, Miranda). But the game was never rendered unplayable for other reasons than the burning sensation created by the vortex of stupid. And then Rutskarn and Mumbles started singing, and all was well.

    3) Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Well, the only game I’ve played was the demo for BioShock. Had it not been for Spoiler Warning I would never have seen anything past the first level. I just don’t care enough for the plot of a game to let terrible game mechanics get in the way of experiencing it. With the SW crew I can get through the games, get insight I wouldn’t get on my own, laugh at jokes and cringe at the trolling. Passive multitasking.

    4) Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    They are working on viddler, so it might just be embedding. I only watched the first 3 episodes though, because I started watching during the ME2 season, decided to watch ME1 for background reference, finished ME2, watched BioShock, started FO3, then decided to watch New Vegas instead.

    5) And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Well, you probably have to do ME3 some time in the future for the sake of completion, but that is still quite far into the future. Right now though, I think there’s still a lot to be said about Half Life 2. Josh knows his way around the game well enough for it to not be a super-long series, too.

  108. Corsair says:

    1: I like it when you’re having an analytical discussion about the game, and then Rutskarn completely derails it by making an awful pun.

    2: Ranting is hilarious, but I’d prefer if you weren’t filled with rage at the game.

    3: Hard to say, I’ve played almost every game that’s been on Spoiler Warning, all except for the Amnesia special epsiode, but that episode was hilarious.

    4: Have not, I’m afraid.

    5: Oblivion would be funny, but it’d probably drive you insane. Deus Ex is -too- good, I think. I think Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a good choice, it’s got very good bits and some very bad bits. The only problem is going to be the Sewer part, which is -extremely- long. Like, waaaaay too long.

    Aside from Bloodlines, maybe Arkham Asylum or a GTA-style game like GTA, Crackdown, or RDR?

  109. burningdragoon says:

    1 – More analysis than jokes, but I like jokes. Jokes are funny.

    2 – If it’s going to be the same game for several weeks, I’d want to see a mix of both weighted towards ranting. If you do something short than all of either would be fine.

    3 – It depends. I didn’t watch Bioshock past the first episode because I never played it, but I watched most of Mass Effect 2 before playing it.

    4 – Haven’t tried so I dunno.

    5 – Besides either Dragon Age, the only games I’d really want to see are console-only games I think.

  110. Brandon says:

    I only rarely watch Spoiler Warning episodes, and usually just the first few. It’s too huge a time commitment. Maybe if Spoiler Warning were abridged I would be more interested.

  111. Awetugiw says:

    1) Analytical, although a joke (or pun) here and there for variety is also a good thing.

    2) Doesn’t really matter. As long as you manage to explain what makes you consider the game so great/awful both are interesting.

    3) I played all the games Spoiler Warning has done so far, so I can’t be sure, but I think this probably depends on the game. It is generally harder to follow exactly what is going on when watching a let’s play than when playing yourself. This is doubly true for Spoiler Warning due to the amount of conversations taking up attention. My guess would therefore be that for `complicated’ games having played the game before would be an advantage whereas for `simple’ games having played them is no advantage and perhaps even a disadvantage.

    4) First episodes work for me.

    5) Deus Ex. Original or sequel (but not Human Revolution), depending on where on the gushing/ranting scale you want to be. I don’t remember whether there was some crippling problem with Deus Ex for Spoiler Warning though, so it might be impossible.

  112. Lalaland says:

    1) Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    Analytical commentary, with the group dynamics as they are the jokes riff off the analysis anyway and work better that way.
    2) Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    The modern game review is one long gush unless the game is the target of generalised ire, I prefer the hard ranting as it highlights the continuing weakness of game stories and their inconsistent application. FO3 is a good example of this, the reviews were uniformly positive all but ignoring the horrendous interface and story issues. The HL2 review was fun but more as a diversion than a main event. I found myself more annoyed by where I disagreed with the crew there than I did when they hated something I liked.
    3) Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    Either I played Oblivion, ME1 and ME2 to death and enjoyed those LPs, I gave up on FO3 after about 8 hours, Bioshock after 3 hours and enjoyed those, FO:NV I’ve never played and it was also entertaining. Seems irrelevant to my enjoyment.
    4) Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    Just tried episode #5 and #17, loaded and played fine for me. Watched them all previously (in case this question is a ‘two-fer’ on whether I watched them all and whether I still can)
    5) And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    All the technically impossible ones like Deus Ex 1 or System Shock 2 (realllyyyyy want an LP of that, all time favourite even if it takes goat sacrifices to the DirectX gods). Deus Ex 2 would be fun for the way it displays all the worst tendencies devs bring with ‘consol-ising’ a PC franchise. Condescension towards the console audience leads to a stupider, more ‘straight line’ plot, smaller levels, fewer ways to play, etc, etc.
    On a more realistic note maybe the Witcher 2?

    Either way I’ll continue to watch for the fun group dynamics and intelligent commentary, thanks for all the video!

  113. Syal says:

    1. Analytical commentary, although it’s probably just because it leads to more ranting.

    2. More ranting.

    3. I haven’t played a single one of them.

    4. Not since they ended. (How can you expect people to go back to the Pre-Time when Mumbles wasn’t here?)

    5. Contra. Just because Josh would invariably use all of the weapons that nobody ever uses.

  114. Nikos Saripoulos says:

    1. Both… i like your chemistry and after Mumbles joining in its even better. What i didn’t like was when Josh in the last eps of F:NV did his own thing and didn’t listen to the others… he felt like a griefer to me. The drinking game idea was amazing, loved it!

    2. Hmm… i liked the ranting of Fallout 3… but i also enjoyed the few half life eps… so either way it’s good… i think that what you do is spontaneous and you should keep it this way… there’s no reason to try and script the whole show.

    3. If it’s a game that i want to play i wont watch the eps until i finish the game… otherwise i don’t mind. I’d suggest picking games that are fairly old (at least 2 years old)… older is better, reminiscing fun times

    4. No, they don’t work for me either. If it’s not much trouble why don’t you upload them on youtube and have them all in one place

    5. Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2… because i want to hear Shamus’ comments… and i want to see again the most amazing spell… Finger of Death… aaaaahhhh good times

  115. Fenix says:

    1. Analytical commentary

    2. Both

    3. Either

    4. I watched them as they were posted. They weren’t broken at the time.

    5. Hmm… Oblivion, Morrowind, Deus Ex, KOTOR 1/2, Killer 7, Minecraft, Majora’s Mask, Ogre Battle 64… I’m getting side tracked here…. I think I’ve begun to list all my favorite games…

  116. Matt says:

    Jokes.
    Ranting.
    I like you better when I’ve played the game and have a clear understanding of what is happening.
    Yeah.
    HALF LIFE 2! And maybe subsequent episodes.

  117. The_Unforgiven says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    Yes.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    Yes.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    Yes.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    Nope.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    A game that most or all of you enjoy, and can get working and be recorded/edited without much difficulty.

  118. Mark says:

    1. Analytical.
    2. Gushing.
    3. Have played.
    4. No.
    5. Half-life 2, you tease. F.E.A.R., Deus Ex, Arkham Asylum, and Portal would be good choices, too.

    You can’t please all of the people all of the time. If someone doesn’t like a game, do it anyway and let them pick the next one.

  119. Irridium says:

    1)Both

    2)Again, both.

    3)Well, all the games you’ve done so far are ones I’ve played, so I’m not sure what it would feel like to watch you do a game I haven’t played. Probably better, since I won’t have to watch with the knowledge that Josh is doing it wrong, and still having fun/progressing through the game.

    4)I have not tried watching them recently. Just tried, and didn’t work though.

    5)Second Sight

    Quite an interesting title that would be fun to watch someone else go through. Also, to counter-balance everyone suggesting the big-name games. Give the spotlight to the little guy for a bit.

  120. Friend of Dragons says:

    I generally like what you do; the only part of the show I find dull is when the game really gets repetitive and you run out of on-point things to talk about and start to ramble.

    Haven’t tried to play the FO3 eps.

    For a game, I’d definitely like to see Jade Empire at some point. And (on the other end of the spectrum), maybe a filler week (or day) of Just Cause 2 sometime, because explosions and insanity are good in small quantities.

  121. toasty says:

    As far as I can tell, the only spoiler warning I’m really interested in is Half Life 2. Maybe KOTOR, cuz I never played that game.

    You could be really crazy and try to do something like STARCRAFT, but I think that would end poorly. I would enjoy a play through of Starcraft though, I do admit.

  122. Jamfalcon says:

    1: A mixture of the two. I enjoy the joking around and off topic discussion, but it’s also nice to hear some thoughts on the game. Mass Effect 2 had a good balance I think.
    2: Somewhere in between, but more on the ranting side. I didn’t really enjoy the Half-Life episodes, but that may be partially because I was not a fan of Half-Life, so when I listened to all your praise I was just thinking about my very different opinions.
    3: I only watch episodes for games I’ve played or am unlikely to play.
    4: Nope, I haven’t looked at them for months.
    5: I’d still like to see Alpha Protocol, but the reasons it would be difficult make sense. Someone above mentioned Acanum, which would be interesting, but perhaps a bit long and visually uninteresting to watch. I think Neverwinter Nights 2 would be good, since it has the full voice acting without timed dialogue. I haven’t played more than a few hours, so I can’t speak for the pacing. And I know from old blog posts that Shamus should be able to talk about it for hours.

  123. Max says:

    1. I prefer Jokes more.

    2. Definitely prefer ranting.

    3. Don’t really care, both are fine by me.

    4. I just tried it and its broken for me as well. :(

    5. Bioshock 2. So far the pattern is Mass Effect, Fallout, Biosock. You just did a Fallout and I for some weird reason I want to see this pattern continue…

    Maybe do a few more episodes of Half-Life 2.

  124. Jeremy Smith says:

    1. I prefer your commentary on games over your jokes, but I like both.

    2. No preference.

    3. I prefer to watch games that I know I’m not going to play, or games that I already have played. This is why I didn’t watch ME1 and ME2 until I had beaten both games.

    4. I’ve watched all of Fallout 3, but not recently.

    5. I don’t care. Anything you guys are knowledgeable enough about to pass commentary on.

  125. Kelly says:

    1. Analysis
    2. RANTING. Fallout 3 is by far your best series is so many goddamn ways, but mostly because it’s a bad game that all of you knew well and were able to tear to pieces. That there was nobody just repeating the same “cannibalism” joke in the background every episode was also nice.
    3. When I’ve seen it.
    4. I don’t click Viddler links on principle these days.
    5. Arcanum, Deus Ex, or Psychonauts.

  126. Viktor says:

    1: I prefer the show when Ruts, Mumbles, and Josh are making jokes and Shamus and Josh are providing insightful commentary.
    2: I prefer the ranting, but the game needs to have some good points so it doesn’t turn into a repeat of Bioshock.
    3: I’ve never actually played one of these games before you guys did it. I’ve played ME 1 and 2, but only after you finished. Playing a game I’ve played would be a nice change, but I don’t know if it would be an improvement.
    4: No.
    5: MERCENARIES 2! It’s a game basically made for Josh. Alternatively, Left4Dead would be hilarious. I wish you guys could make console games work, but that seems unlikely, so Halo:Reach and Dead Rising are out. :( My only request is that Josh and at least 2 others have played through whatever game you choose. Dead Money was…unfortunate.

  127. Ninjariffic says:

    For the first three questions I actually like both options but I don’t think that answer really helps you very much. So if forced to choose;

    1. Analytic commentary. You have many insightful observations, and I enjoy having pointed out things that I may not have noticed.

    2. Ranting. It’s more entertaining and there’s typically more variety. Sometimes when gushing there’s really only so many different things you can say.

    3. I prefer having played the game. It allows me to relive some of the enjoyment without having to actually replay the game. I watch Speed Demos Archive for the same reason. I also think that I somehow feel more included when I’ve played the game.

    4. I’ve just tried the videos and I can’t get anything other than ads for Saint’s Row.

    5. I would love for you guys to do System Shock 2 or Thief: The Dark project for the reasons stated above in #3. I also agree with PurePareidolia that Mirror’s Edge would make a pretty interesting one.

  128. JPH says:

    1. Definitely analytical commentary.

    2. Either, really. Both are interesting to hear.

    3. I would much rather have played it myself beforehand. That way I can understand what you’re talking about and formulate my own responses.

    4. I re-watched a few of them after I recorded my Fallout stream last Wednesday (oh yeah, by the way, I’m doing a Fallout stream every Wednesday) and they were working just fine. For me anyway.

    5. I would love it if you did Deus Ex. Not Human Revolution, obviously not Invisible War. Just Deus Ex. And it’d be nice if you were the one behind the wheel this time, Shamus.

  129. Coolerthanlego says:

    1. I prefer the random jokes and trolling.

    2. I’m not sure. We’ve had so little experience with the gushing…

    3. I prefer not to have played the game, but there are some that I have played that would be awesome to see on spoiler warning.

    4. They’re broken for me, yeah.

    5. I don’t care too much, but it would be fun to see Deus Ex played.

  130. The Hokey Pokey says:

    1: It is best when you have both. You haven’t yet played a game (besides tf2) that has been fast enough to support constant worthwhile commentary, and the jokes don’t come fast enough to support a whole episode on their own.
    2: I liked HL2 because you had a lot of interesting things to say for most of it, and I liked FO3 because it was entertaining to watch you rage. The only season I didn’t like was Bioshock because most of your ranting was about inconsequential details, and sometimes just plain wrong.
    3: You haven’t committed a season to a game I haven’t played yet, so I don’t know.
    4: I just clicked the link, and it seems to work for me.
    5: It would be cool if you would do a couple one episode games like tf2 and Amnesia before you start next season. As for next season, I would like to see you guys LP a silent hill game. I think 2 or 3 would be best, but if Josh has a capture card you could do some of the newer ones (or the original).

  131. JohnW says:

    Personally, I don’t like the show, and enjoy the site a lot more when it is on hiatus. Otherwise, it’s just one spoiler warning post after another.

  132. PossiblyInsane says:

    1. Both have their time and place. Analytical commentary for the noteworthy bits, jokes for the bland bits.

    2. Gushing can be more informative, but ranting is funner to listen to.

    3. I have not played any of the games you have done, so the latter choice wins by default.

    4. Viddler loads the video but won’t play it.

    5. Have you considered Vampire:The Masquerade-Bloodlines? Its a bit buggy at times, but it’s a pretty good Action/RPG.

    1. Jamfalcon says:

      Ooh, can’t believe I didn’t think of VtM:B, considering I just played it for the first time this month. That would be a really good choice.

  133. Groboclown says:

    I would like to see you fine folks do a LP of Little Big Adventure (Relentless in the States).

  134. Astrolounge says:

    1. I prefer the commentary, especially when you’re pointing out the little touches that really help sell an immersive game, or the plot holes that I generally spend too much time between play sessions myself to actually notice.

    2. I like both where it’s due, but it does tend to be more amusing when you’re picking apart a bad or just plain stupid part of a game.

    3. I prefer to watch games I haven’t played, simply because otherwise I’m aware of all the good content that may be being skipped past, although if it’s a stupendously bad game it is somewhat satisfying to watch Josh break the hell out of it.

    4. Not recently, no.

    5. Hard to say, since all the ones I can think of have rather obvious problems in trying to use them for a show. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is certainly full of things to talk about, but it’s buggy as hell, and given Josh’s legendary ability to find bugs during play, this would probably create some kind of bug-singularity which would spill forth space-cockroaches into our dimension. On the other hand, it would be fun to listen to your (Shamus’) comments on Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, considering the vast amounts of bullshit in the original campaign, vs. the story of Mask, which is generally much better and has significantly less bullshit, though they’re is still some (I’m looking at you “spirit meter”), and the evil option for that campaign is actually very interesting. However, that game would involve watching Josh play a top-down RPG, with fairly small figures poking each other automatically most of the time, which could make watching combat tiresome quite quickly. Also, since a fair amount of the dialogue isn’t voiced, it would make it hard to follow the plot for people who haven’t played it.

    tl;dr Play something you think you have a lot to talk about “” good or bad.

  135. Ander the Halfling Rogue says:

    1. Analysis is better for me.
    2. Unhinged ranting a la pokecapn’s Sonic 2006 (Screaming MURDER!, uncontrolled mumbling, and so on). I don’t care if everyone else has watched it. It’s amusing.
    3. To the best of my knowledge, you haven’t done a single game I own.
    4. I might have tried once. Not enough ranting in the first couple seconds, so I’ve since gone back to watch the “Rocketman” and “Fast Car” renditions in Sonic 2006 (saddest non-serious thing I have ever heard online, but you really have to watch the previous twenty-something hours to get the right idea). (And I’m not a fan boy or band-wagon jumper. I just know what I like.)
    5. Surprise me. I don’t watch SW regularly, anyway. In the mean time, I think you should do a single episode of another game that is considered A.the best thing ever, or B. the worst thing ever. Gushing’s fun every now and then, and the Trainz episode was my favorite SW so far.
    One note, though. Don’t do the LITERAL best/worst games, because watching an LP of Portal (or one of the LoZ games)/Big Rigs probably wouldn’t be very amusing.

  136. Paul Spooner says:

    I enjoy the series a lot more when you are all having fun and pointing out brilliant points about the game in question. There are tons of negative examples of games, but I find positive examples more instructive. It’s also more fun to watch when you are all having fun. I’d say, play games you all enjoy, and revel in the goodness.

    It actually doesn’t make any difference if I’ve played the game (HL 2) or not (everything else). As a viewer, I’m not playing the game, I’m watching a movie. You are essentially compiling the gameplay experience into a MST3K experience, so whether or not I’ve played the game before makes little difference.

  137. Sekundaari says:

    1. Jokes, usually. Analytical jokes for bonus points.

    2. Ranting. Both are annoying if not reasonable though. Also, don’t only showcase the worst parts, that should achieve a suitable balance.

    3. Have. Though it’s not of enormous importance.

    4. Back when it was ongoing, and then some… Wait what? Nooo! Do you have backups?

    5. Wish for anything? I guess Operation Flashpoint, now re-released as Arma: Cold War Assault. That should teach the bunnyhopper… or maybe not. Of the more likely ones: Oblivion, Morrowind, Civ IV. Max Payne?

  138. James Schend says:

    I loved your Mass Effect 2. I stopped watching New Vegas because:
    1) The bunny hopping was seriously making me sick
    2) It seemed like 2/3rds of every episode was dedicated to sorting through inventory, or wandering around looking for questgivers
    3) The irregular schedule was the straw that broke the camel’s back, you really need to build up a couple weeks’ buffer so people being out of town doesn’t impact the schedule

    All fixable problems.

    As far as the commentary goes, I see the major danger being getting too tied up in in-jokes that people who haven’t seen the first few “seasons” wouldn’t get. (Like I said, I started watching for ME2.) One of the parts I really enjoyed in ME2 is when you used the boring game time to do Q&A… why don’t you do a single Q&A question every episode? Or respond to reader mail?

    Oh and keep working on the audio quality, it still gets ‘iffy’ at times.

  139. Domdo says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    I like the jokes, but the analytical commentary is very nice especially since you guys/girls seem to have some good thoughts about it. A mix would be great.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    Nope
    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    Games with a little bit more action then in Fallout 3 new vegas (Josh sorting out/selling his inventory is a bit boring when it’s more then 1 minute).

  140. Lord Nyax says:

    1.Both

    2.Unseemly Gushing

    3.When I haven’t played the game in question.

    4.Nope, not even one. I don’t want SPOILERTH

    5.Alpha Centuari

  141. Museli says:

    1. I like both jokes and analysis, but I feel each has its own place in a game. If you’re trekking across the wasteland for 5 minutes, that’s a great time to make with the funny, but if you’re having a conversation with an interesting NPC and you’re still off-topic, I find it somewhat vexing.

    2. Gushing and ranting are both cool if done well, but ranting tends to be funnier. At the end of the HL2 vids, Ruts could have just reeled off a long list of things HL2 does well, but by turning it around and looking at what similair games did wrong, he turned it into a moment of pure comic genius. When the ranting is unrelenting and bitter though, like the final weeks of Fallout 3, it becomes rather exhausting.

    3. The only game I haven’t played was Bioshock, although I was familiar with the twist, and I enjoyed that series less than the others. This could well be because the gameplay is less varied than the ME and Fallout games. I’d happily watch a series of a game I haven’t played again – I recently enjoyed a Magicka playthrough on Youtube without having played it.

    4. Haven’t tried watching FO3 recently, but the consensus seems to be ‘broken’.

    5. I’d like to see your next game be a co-op game, with all or some of you playing. I’d also like to see an indie game be covered, to break up all the blockbusters, even if it means a shorter series. Based on that, and despite the fact I’ve just seen it played, I think Magicka could be a fun choice, especially if one of you is really bad at it :)

  142. Sydney says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Either and both.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Neither; I think BioShock was your best season because it mixed the two. Commentary, like plot and gameplay, can do with some pacing, not just all rage or all glee.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    When I haven’t. Don’t take this the wrong way, but when I have played a game I tend to dive deeeep into its lore – and my enjoyment of your commentary gets polluted with my nerdrage at your minor errors in that department.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Not in recent weeks.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    The Fable series. Yeah, I said it.

  143. Rasha says:

    First four: Yes.

    Five: Aether mod and nethercraft mod enhanced minecraft? Such massive improvements to the nether not to mention an entirely new place with new rules. It also triples the length of the game at least as you now have reason to build a doom fortress in all three worlds. Also Ather has a more complex weapon and tool tier systems.

  144. William Willing says:

    1. I much prefer analytical commentary that’s occasionally funny to lots of jokes with the occasional commentary. I stopped watching the Fallout: New Vegas episodes after a while because I felt it was too much of the latter.

    2. As long as the commentary is insightful, I don’t care whether it’s positive or negative (or skewed, even).

    3. Having played the game myself makes it possible to compare your commentaries to my own experience, so I prefer that.

    4. Not lately.

    5. Deus Ex.

  145. Mad says:

    1) Both are good
    2) The first, ‘cauze the game is better :)
    3) Don’t care
    4) No
    5) Halflife 2 + episodes :)

  146. Jeremy says:

    1. I like both jokes and commentary, but the late parts of all these series seem to collapse into a sort of cabin fever which doesn’t have much of either. I don’t mind the “rearrange inventory” episodes so much, as long as there’s some interesting conversation about the game at the same time. Endless frustration a whatever Josh is trolling you with gets a bit repetitive. (I guess more trolling variations would help.)

    2. Have to say HL2 was a nice change. I like it when you get into a complete apoplexy over something, but that’s hard to sustain.

    3. I prefer games that I’ve either already played or will never play. FO:NV was a bit of a disappointment because I’d just started it (but haven’t had time to get far in), and this series has made me less keen to continue. Sure, I could have not watched it, or delayed, but then how would I get my fix?

    4. Nerp.

    5. HL2 episodes? And if Valve releases ep3 while you’re doing the series, I won’t mind if you decide to do it blind as well. DX would be interesting too, and an Cuftbert style would be a complete contrast to how I played it.

  147. Fede says:

    1)I like a mix of the two, what i like about spoiler warning is that it delivers commentary about games that is also funny. If I really must choose only one of them, I’d say the commentary.

    2)no preference, what’s interesting are your thoughts on the game, I don’t care if it’s only ranting or praising.

    3)I prefer when I have already played the game.

    4)not recently

    5)Either Half life 2 or Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines.

  148. Spooky says:

    Since I fear this is a Too Long; Didn’t Read post, here’s the Short Version:

    Q1: Analytical Commentary. Jokes left to change the pace of the LP, when particularly pertinent or boring sections of the game.
    Q2: Love it or hate it but try and justify your opinions on the test subject – sometimes it’s easier said than done.
    Q3: Both Fallout 3 and Bioshock LPs on Viddler seem to work for me.
    Q4: The WHOLE Liberty Island level.

    Now, you’d you kindly read the full thing please?

    [First of all, please forgive me if I’m stating something that somebody has already said, or I’m breaking any unspoken rule of the comment section. This is my first post in here :) ]

    Q1: Personally the analytical commentary is the main reason WHY I watch the show; although the part when you start making the jokes could also be put under “commentary” – I always took those parts as the game NOT having something worth talking about happening on screen (long hikes, grinding, etc etc). You could also use them to try and change the pace a little bit, for example when you’ve been doing the same thing over and over you can change the mood a little bit by taking a more comical angle on it.
    If I wanted a pure dissertation on the game I’d read a few posts on it and, in my opinion, jokes alone can’t keep a full LP going – if you want a pure joking episode why not do a few in the April 1st style of things? Stop your main LP for a while, and just have some fun with something else (it could even be a portion of the game you’re “LPing” under a different perspective). The main point here is, try to keep a balance.

    Q2: This, I believe, falls back to Q1. If you can backup your opinions with things other than the so called “potato logic” (ex: “I like this because it’s good”) and can provide some insightful arguments it really doesn’t matter whether the cast likes or despises it. Oh, that and, like someone already said, don’t be too much one sided until the end of the show – with your most recent case Fallout: New Vegas, you might get the feel that, for instance, Shamus hates the game; although in the end he said that NV is his 2nd Fallout of choice. Half-Life 2 falls on the other end of the spectrum – aren’t there any flaws to that game?
    Now, I understand that if you’re dedicating some months to play and/or talk about one single game you can’t hate it to death, otherwise how can you sustain such torture?

    Q3: Both, with some minor variations. If I’m watching a LP of a game that I’ve never played I’m looking to see if the opinions the press and people keep on giving the game is worth it – once again, the analytical comments are the main point; If, on the other hand I’ve played the game I’ll keep on looking for different opinions on it, but one of the main lures to me is the way you guys keep on pointing out unusual things/breaking the game – and for that I commend Josh, he should REALLY apply for some Q&A position somewhere, maybe Obsidian?
    Allow me to give a crazy idea to the fire pit, whilst playing a game that the driver (i.e. Josh so far) has never played would be silly (for reasons that you’ve already stated before), Rutskarn’s Mass Effect 2 commentary was quite insightful to listen to – so don’t fear if there is a member or two that have never played the game before.

    Q4: A few weeks ago I went back to watch some episodes on both Fallout 3 and Bioshock and they worked for me – I’m using Firefox and NoScript.
    BUT PLEASE keep hosting it on Youtube, for people like me that have an OLD cheap laptop viewing these things on hosts that don’t allow you to choose the quality settings or demand too much memory would be a deal breaker (or, as an alternative, allow downloads of the videos, but this is a completely different discussion).

    Q5: The music pumping into my ears right now DEMANDS you do something about Deus Ex – maybe and interlude (like you did with TF2) “LPing” the first level? (the first Liberty Island section, with UNATCO HQ and “Looking Glass code” sections in it).
    Apart from that I would say I could do a more linear game so that people that haven’t played the content you’re showing could get a more reasonable perspective on things – it’s really hard to say that either of Fallout’s DLC is worthy the money asked when you’ve skipped most of the story and content, no matter how many overpowered weapons they might have. And yes, I understand this is a problem with more non-linear games and the “short” period of time you’re giving to it.

    On a side note, I think that you should try to plan your incursions into the game a little more. I know that “Bunny-hopping” is 10% faster than regular walking and drunken mouse movement but to a person that has to watch it at 480p (at best) it can be confusing. Also, could you apply some Hl2 schemes to your LPs? After a grand Inventory sorting session could you go for a more action packed area? On the other hand, after killing 300 Persians with a flaming stick could you focus more on the scenery (how the aesthetics work) or the “immersion”? What I’m trying to say here is to try to keep the viewing experience varied, that will do wonders for the [inevitable] burnout that will come in the last few episodes (even for the cast).

    Thank you for reading this long comment, I hope it wasn’t a waste of time.

    1. Spooky says:

      UPDATE: The Viddler hosted videos* no longer work with my configuration. They get stuck on a “Saints Row” ad.

      * Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Bioshock and the Mass Effect 2 spoof (Team Fortress 2 video).

  149. Vagrant says:

    My favorite SW was Fallout 3. Call me a glutton for punishment or something. I liked the pure broken silliness of the game and didn’t mind the menus and longish episodes. I’d say more like Fallout 3.
    And I don’t care which game you do next as long as you’re reasonably sure josh can break it in a humorous way.

  150. Cyranor says:

    Longtime reader but probably first time poster, anyway:
    1. Um bit of both, jokes are always good but need some variety with some analytical commentary in between.
    2. Well the both have their ups I would like a mix where you highlight the terrible (through ranting of course) and then gush on the good stuff :P
    3. Prefer that I am at least familiar with the game, and it is especially better if you guys have played it or at least its predecessor.
    4. I watched a few, got stale after a while and I enjoy your later stuff as well as I very much enjoy the addition of Mumbles to the cast
    5. Oh wow were do I start. Well any of the classic CRPGS Like Baldur’s gate and the like would be great, or Neverwinter nights I know you guys could tear the story to pieces while appreciating the game design and its tool set and 2 actually had a pretty interesting story (loved the trial and the politics section few games do politics well), The Witcher 1 or 2, 1 was good and I was very impressed with 2 all the way up til the ending which seemed to kind of fall a little flat, Batman Arkham asylum would be another good one but its very linear and I don’t know that linear games work as well just looking at Bioshock. And then there is Dragon Age 2 which I know you guys could just rip to pieces which I would greatly enjoy as there were many things wrong with that game.

  151. cyber_andyy says:

    I would love to see more of Half-life 2 actually. Or maybe a game that is generally favorable to the cast.
    Actually, how about a new game genre entirely?

  152. Steve-o says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytic commentary?

    I like a bit of riffing, a bit of banter about the games which will invariably lead to jokes; but they need to be slightly more on topic than say some of the videos for Honest Hearts (but that DLC sucked so I can’t really blame you)

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged
    ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    I think you need to pick a game with some major flaws to rip into but one that some people hold in odd esteem. It can’t be totally diabolical as poor Josh actually has to play the damn thing but overly fawning would be boring.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I much prefer watching Let’s Play based on games I’ve played. I enjoy the “Oh I did that differently…” reactions you can get.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks?

    They appear fine for me. (I’m using Chrome)

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Deus Ex 1 or 2, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Dead Space 1, Two Worlds 2, Final Fantasy 8, Gothic 3, Tales of Monkey Island or Back to the Future (Telltale Games), Lost (simply as it’ll really piss everyone off as it REALLY sucks) and Baldurs Gate 2.

  153. Kresh says:

    1) A mix. It’s hard to keep the analytical bit up for more than 15 minutes (and it’s usually dry), and it’s difficult to listen to people joking around (read: being asses) for 30 minutes. Keep a balance. It’s entertaining and often surprising.

    2) Again, a mix for the sake our (and your) sanity.

    3) Doesn’t matter to me. It’s the commentary that’s interesting. The game is almost unimportant.

    4) Not recently.

    5) See #3.

    Can’t wait for the next installment!

  154. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Analytical commentary.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Either, as long as it’s thought-provoking.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I actually prefer it when you play games I haven’t–it’s interesting in two ways instead of just one.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I watched some of them early on, but not recently, no.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    I’d really like to see you guys do something in the Gothic franchise–perhaps Risen, although Original Gothic is probably the best GAME and has the most features that’d be interesting to see/discuss. It’s a really interesting series that gets mostly ignored by RPG gamers.

    You know what I’d really love? To have the four of you do Gothic cold (although it’d be best if Josh plays it a bit to get used to the mechanics so he’s not dying every thirty seconds–it’s a bit unforgiving when you first start) and see what you think about this older title in the “Open World” genre that did so many things well that newer titles are only beginning to catch up with. It would be neat and retro and would probably spark a lot of interesting commentary.

    Hell, if you wanted, I’d join the show to guide you guys through the game. Gothic really deserves for people to give it another look.

  155. Michael says:

    1.) As long as people aren’t screaming, I’m actually fine. I tend to listen to Spoiler Warning, rather than watch it, so I turn the volume up and walk away. There have been several episodes where someone (usually Mumbles or Josh) has come close to blowing my speakers.

    2.) Honestly doesn’t matter. It’s funny either way, so…

    3.) Another one that doesn’t matter to me. I haven’t played ME1, watched it. I played Fallout 3, watched it. Haven’t played Bioshock, watched it. Haven’t played ME2, watched it. Played HL2, watched it. Haven’t played New Vegas, watched it. It occurs to me that maybe I just like to watch.

    4.) Was actually just watching them a week or two ago. Tried them again just now, since you asked. Worked fine. Using Firefox 6, if it helps? Only add-on I have is an adblocker.

    5.) The games I play (and therefore would want to choose) don’t lend themselves well to Let’s Plays. They’re either too long (read: Morrowind) or have no story to speak of (read: Oblivion).

  156. Alda says:

    To be honest, while I watched some of the Mass Effect 2 episodes, I never watched a single episode of the Fallout season. Don’t know why, really…

    Anyway, I would enjoy a series much more if it were about a game I know. That way I can concentrate on the jokes (re. jokes “” the more the better!), and not on puzzling out the plot over the voices and skipped cutscenes.

    And of course, here’s my unnecessary recommendation: could you play “American McGee’s Alice”? Not the new, the old one.

  157. Eleion says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    I prefer analytical commentary. It’s the things you see from the perspective of a programmer or storyteller that I find the most interesting, though obviously some humor thrown in is a good thing.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Neither! Though I much preferred the Half-Life 2 episodes over Fallout 3. I think an analysis of things done well is much more interesting than things done poorly. It’s easier to make a bad game than a good game, and often the negativity gets overwhelming after many episodes. I also think near-constant critiquing seems to increase game lethargy near the end of the game, where no one seems to be having a good time anymore and everyone is nitpicking away at tiny details because it would be near impossible to spread out interesting criticism over a 14 hour game. That’s not to say criticism isn’t interesting and useful, but I find insightful praise more captivating.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    When I haven’t, and I know I’m not going to. I couldn’t get into either of the Mass Effect playthroughs because I’d already beaten them and knew what was going to happen. I didn’t mind watching New Vegas because I had no plans to play it to begin with (though now I might pick it up once it comes bundled with all its DLC for sale on Steam). Half-Life 2 was also very interesting to me because I’m somewhat familiar with it, seen Half-Life 1 played years ago, but haven’t played it myself.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Just now opened a random episode (I think it was #5), and it worked.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Finish Half-Life Twoooooooooo!

    …. “DO MY GAME OF CHOICE. DO IT!”

    >.>

  158. Zlan says:

    1.Both

    2.Both

    3.Not recently no

    4.An older RPG

    1. Zlan says:

      Oops I didn’t catch that.

      Real 3. I think It is interesting seeing the different play stiles of others but I don’t like seeing the person miss something in plane site that is useful that I know about. But if I haven’t played the game I wont yell at the player in my head.

  159. ProudCynic says:

    1. That’s a very good question. Do I watch this show more for the jokes or the analysis? Probably more for jokes, but the fact that I had to think about it means I’d probably like a good balance.

    2. I haven’t watched all of the Half-Life 2 videos, but I followed the Fallout 3 ones religiously. So I guess that answers that question.

    3. I’ve played all the games that SW has, and I’d like to see something new, maybe so I can guffaw along with you when something stupid happens rather than rationalize it away like some Stockholm Syndrome sufferer.

    4. They’re working for me. Or at least the first one is.

    5. I still want to float my Deus Ex idea. It’d probably be a pain to record judging from the KotOR attempt, but I’m curious about what kind of trolling Reginald Denton can get up to.

  160. bentheiii (the batman fanboy) says:

    do batman arkham asylum, it’s not even that long, could easily take only 4 episodes and is pretty awesome

    1. Lalaland says:

      I’d be up for this as it shows somuch love for the source material and history of the character but the moment to moment enjoyment is from the ridiculously good combat system (I AM BATMAN!!!, , ). Josh can’t break it or do ridiculous things the way he could in Bethesda games, I think this was one of the weaknesses of the ME series, the repetitive nature of the combat.

  161. Mersadeon says:

    1. Both – I enjoy the jokes, but I love the analysing of gameplay elements (and plot points, too. A mix of both is best, of course.

    2. Hard to decide – I was introduced to SPoiler Warning during Fallout 3 and I enjoy the “bitching and moaning” part, but I absoluteley ADORE the Half Life 2 videos. I would actually like to see you guys going through it completely.

    3. Not in the last weeks, no.

    4. Hm, don’t know… maybe just finish Half Life 2 till you have a solution?

  162. David says:

    I don’t know if you’re still reading these at page 4 (I’m not), but here are my answers anyway:
    1. I think the current balance is pretty good.
    2. They’re probably both necessary. It might be fun, though, to do a game that maybe one or two of you love, but the rest don’t.
    3. I prefer when I have, but if I haven’t, I might still watch, depending on the game.
    4. I tried watching them when they originally aired, but the long episodes combined with my super slow internet connection at the time meant that I gave up shortly after you pantsed three-dog.
    5. Maybe Arkham Asylum? Think of the trolling possibilities!

  163. Felblood says:

    Serious or humorous commentary is welcome, as it comes. What I find tiresome is when you guys start sabotaging each other’s ability to comment on the game with pranks or take-my-ball-and-go-home tactics.

    Once you got into honest hearts the show got a shot in the arm, but the last few episodes before that, you guys were obviously bored and the highjinx you got up to just drug the pacing out further.

    As for weather you love or hate a game, I prefer games that are loved by some, but despised by others. It’s hard to strike a balance and still get people to show up, but I feel it gives a wider perspective and adds a more natural energy to the discourse.

    Having one commentator go in blind was a nice twist, too.

    As for games. An anthology season about short flash games would be a nice change, and save you from another whole season of brown. stuff like Cannabalt, Enough Plumbers and Infectionator could give you 5-20 minutes of discussion a piece, and then you’d never have to look at them again.

  164. Torsten says:

    # Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    I prefer the analytical commentary, but occasional jokes are good to keep the viewing and following the show fun. Good episodes have both

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Both alone would eventually get boring, as Fallout 3 proved. I think a good commentary can have both, you did find some nice things to say even from Fallout 3.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    So far I had not played any of the games when the show handled them. I have later bought both Mass Effects and Fallout 3.

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I dont get any of the videos hosted by Viddler working at all.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Mirror’s Edge. A hyped game that was considered very innovative at the time, but fell short on some parts and got later victim of an edgy lawsuit, and we do not know if there will be any continuation. I’d like to hear what you people have to say about the game.

  165. Nyctef says:

    1) Both. I think New Vegas hit about the right balance

    2) Gush about games I like, and rant about those I don’t like :)

    3) Again, depends if I’ve played it, then I probably don’t want you to rant about it too much, since chances are I personally enjoyed it

    4) Tried to load up a couple of random ones and they seem to be working ok. ME1 episodes are working too.

    5) Skyrim, Deus Ex 3, ME3. Since those aren’t out yet, Assassin’s Creed (1/2/BroHood) could be good but I dunno how well they’d work with the format. Maybe some more HL2 episodes?

  166. Zalzabar Jones says:

    I like a nice blend of unending bile-filled rants and actual commentary.
    I vote for Deus Ex. Old but not too old, new game in the series came just came out, plenty of variety for how to play, (some) choices, a sequel that isn’t as good as the original for purposes related to the drinking game.
    And oh good is viddler fucking broken as hell. I was trying to rewatch all the old Fallout 3 videos and it took my a half hour to load one video.

  167. Narretei says:

    I’ll try to keep it short. 200 comments, jeesh, do you read all those?

    1. Making jokes. But it’s a close one. Best is when your analysis slowly drifts into jokes. Especially meta-jokes.
    2. Definitely Ranting. That’s what I fell in love with when I stumpled upon the series.
    3. I doesn’t make a difference for me.
    4. I watched it up to episode 10 or 11 but then I hit a phase of less insomnia.
    5. Might sound like a strange suggestion, wouldn’t work out and you’d never do it but: Valkyria Chronicles.

  168. 1) Analytical by far. Opinions tend to vary in this regard leading to discussions that are dynamic and expansive. When you joke, it’s fine at first, but for games as large and long as F:NV, it eventually becomes grating and repetitive and quickly becomes practically intolerable since you guys almost never deviate from ‘smarm with the subtlety of a caveman’. I had to stop watching the last half of this new season because of it.

    2) While I don’t prefer either, if forced between the two, I’d go gushing. Again, in F:NV, the rants became repetitive while the gush at the very least changed in topic, however it’s not a really solid comparison considering the disparity between the time spent on each game. Really it just comes down to how interesting you can keep the discussion. If you’re going over the same problems/praise repeatedly, well…ur doin it rong. :P

    3) Hmm, difficult to say as there haven’t been enough games I haven’t played for me to make a proper comparison, but I suppose I’d relate more with games I have played.

    4) Haven’t watched it since it first came out, but I just clicked on the first ep and it’s working for me. If you’re referring to some aspect of the quality of the show, I don’t remember it too well, other than it being fairly repetitive in much the same manner as I was talking about prior, but I don’t recall it being anywhere near as long as this season. I don’t remember disliking or thinking it was ‘broken’.

    SIDE NOTE: I totally forgot there was someone else who had been on the SW team.

    5) One of the Dues Ex series I suppose. I’ve only played through quarter/half of the first one so far. There are things I like, things I don’t. I’d be invested in the show again, in any regards.

  169. Grampy_Bone says:

    +1 for Deus Ex, if that’s un-possible, I’ll say Dragon Age 2 or The Witcher 2.

  170. Geoff says:

    1. Both. Is it helpful to say the “jokes” that pass as commentary at the game’s expense?

    2. When they tend to fall into jokes (see point 1), yes.

    3. Depending on the game (RPGs with multiple paths or methods of handling the game being the most obvious), I enjoy watching games I’ve already played gone through in a different way. That was what I enjoyed most about the Mass Effect series.

    What I *really* like though, is getting to see you guys play through games I don’t have time to play through on my own. I tend to stick these videos on in the background while I work. As my personal gaming time dwindles as I get older, its harder to get through every good or major game that comes out throughout the year. Watching you guys play through and talk about them lets me see games I might not be able to get to otherwise. Of course, that doesn’t help you narrow your decision making down as what games people haven’t seen will vary from person to person.

    4. Not recently.

    5. That one I haven’t played yet… Maybe an older game. Bauldur’s Gate, SS2 or Dues Ex could be fun. Oblivion or another open world, sandbox game could be fun too (and have the bonus of being the games I rarely get around to finishing, I only know how Fallout 3 ends because of your Let’s Play series).

  171. Rayen says:

    1)I tend to like a nice mix. Shamus and Josh do the analyzing, Rutskarn and mumbles do the jokes and sings the songs. However as far as commentary goes i would prefer analyzation, especially if josh is doing his play style which tends to be hilirious in and of his itself. Don’t limit yourself though this is suppose to be casual show where we’re basicaly sitting watching josh
    play a game.

    Actually now that i’m thinking about it. If the game is bad joke at the games expence as much as possible. If it’s good a fair analytical approach would be nice.

    2)again a nice mix is preferable. I prefer a standard template AAA game, where there are good parts to point out, but there need to be flaws as well.

    3)I haven’t actually played any of the games you’ve done so i can’t answer. However i do like you doing games i haven’t done becasue it’s like a really long tech demo so i can see what i’m geting. Also if it ain’t all that then i don’t waste money getting a dud.

    4)No i haven’t, i went back through them to get the drinking game rules from the post but i don’t think i ever actually watched any of them…

    5)Assassin’s creed or AS2, maybe do the rest of half-life 2. maybe do the original halo, that would be funny… I would lke to see KOTOR done but if there are filming problems that may not be the best idea.

  172. Xiaur says:

    1. Analytical Commentary

    Actually, what I like most is when you discuss general issues of game and story design based on the examples from the game you’re spoiling at a moment. That’s why I liked Half-Life 2 episodes a lot, because I could actually hear from you what constitutes a great game. Additionally, I really like enormous knowledge of the games and the fact that you are able to tell what idea was novel at the time of the release and you can explain why it was a breakthrough in the computer gaming in your opinion and how it influenced the game’s successors.

    2. I prefer when you do a show from a game you consider a great game, not a poor or average one. I really loved your Half-Life 2 episodes. The reason is that there’s simply much more useful things to learn from a great piece of work than from a poor one.

    I liked your Mass Effect 2 episodes (I think I watched them all), but after some time you were going on repeating the same problems with the story and world logic that it became a bit boring. I think it’d be better if you cut the chase and showed a couple of episodes when you would discuss general things about the game (probably beginning and finishing episodes) and apart from that you should select gems that happen “in-the-middle”, eg. the Jack’s face animation and voice acting in her loyalty mission in ME2.

    3. I won’t watch the show if I haven’t played the game. Instead, I would read commentary to the beginning episodes of the show and maybe some past blog entries or reviews of the game and if I decided that it’s worth playing, I would play it and afterwards watch the show. If the game isn’t worth playing, it’s probably also not worth watching your show made of it, at least not all episodes, unless you would cut the chase as I suggested above.

    That’s another reason why I’d prefer you to do great games. After watching your Half-Life 2 show, I actually played Episode One and Two of it first time in my life and I really enjoyed it. I think I played Half-Life 2 only because I read about it on this blog.

    4. As I mentioned above, I don’t watch the show about a game I haven’t played, so I didn’t watch Fallout 3 episodes.

    5. Well, please surprise me, if possible, with some old gem which nowadays I can buy cheaply and it’ll run smoothly on my computer with a single graphic card. I have played only very few games in my life, so it should be easy for you. :)

    KOTOR, ME1 I played and I would enjoy watching your show on them.

    Finally, I would like to thank you for the great blog and excellent show. It’s an awesome piece of work!

    X.

  173. Tychox says:

    1) The perfect show has 3/4ths analysis, 1/4th joke.
    2) gushing!
    3) Have played.
    4) Never did.
    5) [Dementation] You *will* do BLOODLINES, lest the Interwebs come tumbling down!

    1. ps238principal says:

      And I’d advise Bloodlines with one of the many patches available for it installed. The graphics will be more tolerable, and there’s content some of the cast might not be familiar with.

  174. Adam P says:

    1: I like the jokes. Some of them are really bad, some of them are really funny. I also like the commentary about the intricate parts of the story.

    2: I don’t mind the rants about things that are broken or don’t make sense. It’s also nice to hear some praise about what works. Why it works for each host is cool, too.

    3: Historically, I’ve enjoyed every game that was played except for Bioshock, which is the only game I’ve myself played. But I really don’t have an opinion on this, because Josh will end up playing the game(s) differently than I would have.

    4: They were working fine a few months ago. The first episode loads for me right now, too.

    5: Either Morrowind or Oblivion, in preparation for Skyrim. Or, an indie game.

  175. hardband says:

    1. A nice mix of both

    2. Slightly prefer ranting, but it’s nice for gushing on occasion, but more importantly be honest and don;t exaggerate one over the other!

    3. I don’t know, considering all the games you’ve done so far are ones i’ve played, but I have enjoyed them!

    4. Just checked and they work fine and were working last week for me!

    5. I’ll let you decide

  176. Kennet says:

    Just because I feel like saying it: I don’t actually watch the show; I much prefer most of your other stuff. So, in case you ever feel like actually writing a game review again or doing some programming or something, know that you are making me a happy internet camper. As in the good camping, with smores, and not the bad camping, with sniper rifles.

  177. Jason Cole says:

    1. Analysis.

    2. A healthy mixture of gushing and scathing.

    3. I would prefer a game I have played.

    4. Don’t spend efforts on archival stuff.

    5. Cave Story

    5. Starcraft: Brood war

    5. Quake 2

  178. ps238principal says:

    Zork. Or Pool of Radiance, but I’ll have to install better drivers on my graphics card if you’re going to do that one. :)

  179. Kevin says:

    1. I like the show most when you guys are doing analysis of games, while the jokes have their place I believe the show is best when you are commentating and analyzing whether it be praise or rant.

    2. To be honest while I enjoy both your rants and your praise I believe that the best course of action for the show is to simply praise were praise is do and bash were it is not.

    3. I prefer to watch a game I have played mainly because I can compare your opinions to my own.

    4. The fallout 3 episodes play fine and I enjoyed them Immensely.

    5. To be honest I don’t care what you review next as long as you all have very strong opinions on it and have a lot to say “Positive or Negative.”

  180. Mich says:

    1.The jokes are cool if related to the actual game, otherwise not so much. I definitely prefer the commentary however, so I would suggest roughly 30% jokes, 65% commentary and the rest is up to you :) .

    2.I like both ends of the spectrum.

    3.I actually started watching the show BECAUSE I was playing Fallout 3… but I suppose I could watch a season about a game that I have no interest in playing just to see how you guys break it down.

    4.The Fallout 3 series is actually the only one I’ve finished. I’m planning to finish the others however, rest assured… ;)

    5. I’m glad to see that I’m not the first one recommending the original Deus Ex. I’ve seen here that you already considered the option once and kinda rejected it, however… can’t we just change your minds :) ? Where’s the problem if Josh plays it as usual, since you said you’d have to play it, Shamus? Is it because only you have played it? If that’s the case, what are the others waiting for ;) ?

  181. Mailbox says:

    1. Both. Jokes provide entertainment while the analytical comments provide criticism to compare with my own.

    2. Either one as long as you are saying something. So far you seem to have a nice mix of both, although more ranting than praise seems to surface.

    3. I prefer to watch a game I have played. In the case of your ME2 Spoiler Warning, I avoided watching it because I have never played any one the Mass Effect games and wanted to leave the option of playing it spoiler free. Games I have not played and have no desire to play through I would also watch.

    4. I watched all of the Fallout 3 Spoiler Warning Season as it came out. I have not tried to watch it again since.

    5. I don’t care. Bioshock 2 would be my safe guess for technical issues not preventing it from being done.

    Suggestion:
    How about switching it up and add a guess commentator.

  182. Sucal says:

    1) I have to say a mixture of both. While I like the humor and the analytical stuff, I tend to prefer to see that they are both mixed together. Especially when its slightly more mature humor, not the typical trolling/mocking each other for the hell of it stuff. Or the whiny immature penis jokes that help me remember why I hate my WoW guildies, but stay with them for the level 25 perks. I do miss the puns though, they were more effective then the trolling.

    2) Personally, I’d like to see a mixture of 50/50 in the game. Especially when its split and two like and two dislike the game. Not as much for the fights, but because it could lead to humorous and interesting analytical stuff.

    3)I like it a bit of each. I understood Mass Effect 2 better because I had actually played the game before anything else, but then i started getting annoyed at you guys for taking the less optimal choices, or never recruiting Kasumi. I still want to see you do the heist mission in the DLC dang it. I do say that I still quite enjoyed new vegas before I ended up buying it.

    4) Yes, I have been able to play them and I recently attempted to watch them again. Is there any chance to get a download link to them eventually, in order to avoid destroying my download limit. Not if they interfere with your ad-revenue. Starving Shamus can’t give content after all.

    5) Its funny really. On one hand I’d prefer to have you guys play an rpg that allows for all types of potential trollish choice. On the other hand, rpg’s would force you to jump through several dozen loops and tend to cause trouble in the ranks, as well as ending fatigue at the end.

    Well, there is always fable three. Let Reginus Cuthburt feel the power of hero’s, and mess with things in ways the crawler could only hope for. Its even on pc. Though if that doesn’t suit your fancy (because Shamus would suffer a rage headache) there is always a game such as Just Cause two. Plenty of silly plots to riff on\, no inventory to manage, and a tonne of crazy stuff that can be done in game. Unfortunately, the repetitive combat could annoy you eventually, plus its lack of rpg functions…

    How about Overlord. I know its been suggested before, but its one of Shamus’s former favourite series to get screenshots from, AND allows you to be a dick to almost your hearts content.

  183. Josh R says:

    I think you should do a run through of Zeno clash – I enjoyed the game a lot and hope you guys would too.

    I like a mix of jokes and insight, and definitely when you guys play a game that most people have already played… I haven’t watched most of the new vegas playthrough because i am still playing that game!

  184. Entropy says:

    1. Both, but I enjoy the jokes more. Josh really came into his own this most recent season. In the Bioshock and Mass Effect 2 seasons it kinda felt like he wasn’t contributing much to the banter (apart from playing.). GLORIOUSLY RECTIFIED.
    2. unhinged ranting…except when I know the in game justifcation for your rant and it makes perfect sense and you KEEP BRINGING IT UP. :P
    3. When I have played the game. I get the sly references you make to future things, and I don’t need to worry about spoilers. If the game is a couple years old, I don’t mind about spoilers, but if you ever did a recently released game I wouldn’t watch. So Please don’t do Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
    4. I’ve been re-watching that season this week. No problems, except an annoying ad with no video, but a timer before a tiny little X allows you to close it. Took me a couple times to figure that out.
    5. Deus Ex. Then at some point Invisible War. Then maybe eventually Human Revolution.
    Anything as long all of you have played it. Unless it’s Josh who hasn’t played it. Thats fine.

  185. X2-Eliah says:

    1) Honestly, I more prefer when you are joking around. Analytical commentary is not bad, but too often you go from analitical commentary to complete dissing, which doesn’t come across well. Besides, analysis is cool if it makes the viewer go ‘ah, wow.. Didn’t know that’, but it doesn’t work at all if the impact is ‘Well duh, isn’t that obvious?’.. With more joke-oriented theme, you don’t have that issue.

    Ideally, though, have both jokes & analysis. Just lose the dissing.

    ———

    2) Obviously, what you called ‘gushing’ is far more watchable and bearable than what you called ‘ranting’.. The HL2 episodes you did were far, far more enjoyable than most of Fallout 3, for example – I don’t need extra heaping of bile and ranting in an entertainment show I’m watching on my spare time, let’s put it that way.. Why should I spend 20+ minutes a day to hear someone bickering/ranting/dissing a game? Analysis, or, heck, honest praise, or jokes – that’s what I’m looking for.. Not negativity and hate.

    ———

    3) Both ways works for me. Having played the game, I tend to take less on trust and more on ‘this is not how the game is, this is just your opinions on it’ – if I haven’t played the game (e.g. bioshock), then I take more of the stuff you say at face value, without knowing how much is accurate.

    ———————–

    4) Er, never re-watched anything.. Just watching it when they are released, haven’t really revisited any series…
    ————–

    5) Deus Ex 1, or Deus Ex 2.

  186. Milos says:

    1. I enjoy it more when the jokes are flowing freely but some analysis is required, of course.

    2. I prefer ranting a la Fallout 3, but only if you also have positive points in there. You shouldn’t be doing a game all 4 of you unreservedly hate.

    3. So far I’ve had previous experience with every game you’ve played so I’m not sure how I would feel if that was the case but I’d give it a go. I can always stop watching if I want to complete it first, which wouldn’t be hard since you only progress at 2h per a week.

    4. I recently re-watched the whole season, about 2 weeks ago, and it worked fine. But I had trouble with Bioshock season because widdler would show me an add linking to youtube that just stands there indefinitely. I was able to bypass it by going to widdler website and watching videos directly from there, but I couldn’t watch them imbedded from 20sided (I just tested it and the problem is still there).

    5. Because you asked so politely: Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

  187. Mushman7272 says:

    1.Both(the jokes are a bit hit and miss with me, but they are the golden moments here)
    2.I prefer it when you all waver in-between the two like you have bi-polar
    3.when i have
    4.yeah, and your link has made me want to watch them again, you evil ploy has not gone unnoticed
    5.anything from 2005-2009, you all are best with games you’ve played over, and over, and over

  188. Sean Riley says:

    1. I confess to not really being a fan of the show.
    2. Yeah, I’m not really a fan of the show.
    3. Hmm. I don’t know. I’m not really a fan of the show.
    4. No, haven’t tried them. As above.

    5. OK, now to what I want to talk about. Yes, I know, I’m not going to watch it. But others will, and besides, you need to do this sooner or later.

    Shamus, you need to do a LP of Jade Empire.

    This is a game you’ve raved about extensively in the past. It’s a chance for you to talk about what it does right, and how to do it again in the future. It’s on PC, so that’s covered, it’s short and well paced, and it has none of the downsides the other options have. Go and do Jade Empire.

  189. Excludos says:

    1. Both. Can’t have one or the other. This show wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t crack jokes. But if that was all you where doing, then that could get pretty boring rather quick as well. (The unexpected jokes are always the funniest. Also, Josh’s insane ability to find bugs everywhere is also awesome)

    2. Both is ok. But it would be nice if we took a break from the massive ranting for a little bit, and maybe played through half life 2, before going back to another game with potential mass ranting.

    3. You haven’t done a season of a game I haven’t played yet..

    4. Yeah, what are you on about? Works perfectly for me.

    5. Continue Half Life 2!!!!
    Amnesia..not sure. Could get boring after a while as its not really scary when in a group.
    Batman Arkham Asylum?
    Maybe an older game Like Deus Ex?

  190. Odoylerules360 says:

    #1 through 4: Yes
    #5: The Witcher 2

  191. Fat Tony says:

    Strange your log seems to be eating my posts?

    1. Fat Tony says:

      Oh so it posts THAT one, where I misspell Blog -_-*FACEPALM

      1:Either
      2:Either
      3:Either
      4:No, I haven’t watched them recently, BUT I clicked that link and the video didn’t load, but a black screen and an ad did.
      5:Kane&Lynch 1 and/or 2 =)

      (I’ve started a blog: {linksies:http://fattonysbar.wordpress.com/}
      You know, in case you care, which you DO, of course, about the inane musings, ramblings and stories (fiction and non-fiction) of a deranged Brit/English..man/teen {with really bad taste in games} going through college/6th-form)

    2. Fat Tony says:

      Yay It’s working again!

  192. Ramsus says:

    1) Both. At the same time! Really, too much of either is less preferable than a balance between both things.

    2) Ranting. Even if I don’t agree with ranting I can respond to it with a reasonable thought out counterpoint and it won’t be brushed away offhand. With gushing, any disagreement I can offer is likely to get ignored. Also it’s just, for me, more unpleasant to watch someone gush over a game you don’t find all that special than it is to watch someone complain about a game you do. No game is perfect so there’s always something reasonable to complain about even if you like it. Note: What I’m saying here is that while Half-Life 2 is good for several of the reasons you guys like it, there are also tons of imperfections that you would have mentioned in another game.

    3) Definitely games I’ve played are preferable so that I can have my own viewpoint on things (and know for myself when you guys get something wrong or for the thousandth time missed the very obvious door/item).

    4) No, I watched them when they were warm from the oven. Have they gone stale? It has been a while.

    5) Vampire: The Masquerade ““ Bloodlines actually seems like a really solid idea. Not that I would mind Kotor or Arcanum either.

  193. Juggernaut246 says:

    1: I like both
    2: Same as first, the whiplash that you sometimes had with Mass Effect 2 added to the appeal of that season.
    3: When I have played, but that is because I have played all the games you have done so far and i find out new things about them and see them in a new way when you do them.
    4: Not recently but it is my favorite season (close second is ME2)
    5: If you dont mind going to another bethesda game, Morrowind. If you want to get away from bethesda and bioware then Deus Ex.

  194. Kelhim says:

    4. Yes, I watched this season just a couple of weeks ago and, in fact, it works right now for me. I don’t live in the U.S. if this has anything to do with it.

    BUT Mass Effect 1 seems to be broken.

  195. Even says:

    1. I’d prefer more balance between the two. I do enjoy both, though I guess I’m leaning more towards the analytical commentary.

    2. I can’t say I really mind either way, as long as it’s somewhere in the bounds of reasonable.

    3. When I’ve played the game. I can’t really imagine doing otherwise anymore. If I haven’t played it and plan to play it some time in the future, I’d rather go in fresh without being spoiled and form my own opinions about it first.

    4. I think I rewatched some episode a bit about a month ago. That’s about it, worked fine.

    5. Well now that you asked: System Shock 2.. or Co-op Magicka.

  196. Sozac says:

    For 1&2 I like a mixed bag with more on the analytical side. 3. I like it more if I have played it. 4. Yes, it worked just fine.5. Might as well finish half-life 2 or do portal.

  197. noahpocalypse says:

    1. Jokes or commentary?
    I like both. Commentary is more interesting, but it’s nice to hear Rutskarn pun or quote every now and then. It would much more bland if he didn’t, or if Josh quit with the griefing. (Psh, like that’ll ever happen.)

    2. Praise or Rage?
    It’s intriguing to hear people talk about parts of a game they found flawed when I consider it very well done. In contrast, it’s also interesting to hear someone else’s reasons for something you both liked.

    3. Games you’ve played, or not?
    Uh… This is a double-sided blade. On one hand, it’s very entertaining to see what other strategies or paths someone else takes in a game. On the other side, you might play something I’ve never even heard of, and I’d enjoy it immensely if I tried.

    4. Fallout 3 iz broked?
    I tried to watch them a few weeks ago, but they wouldn’t work. Dunno. As you say, Viddler sucks.

    5. What next?
    Hmm… I’d like to see a full Half-Life playthrough. However, I saw earlier comments about co-op, at which point my only thought was:

    Yes.

    My knowledge of PC games is not as broad as it should be, alas, as I have an Xbox. My computer is a Netbook. Not ideal for gaming, even with a disk drive. (Which I don’t have.) Perhaps Oblivion or Morrowind? Morrowind has an awful lot of travel time, it’s ridiculous. I beat most everything in Oblivion in 30~ hours, including all factions but the Fighters’ Guild. I even did Shivering Isles. That’s my main recommendation. Other than that, you could go for Portal, but that would be torture even if one of you hadn’t played it yet. They’d be thinking, and everyone would be cringing and wanting to scream the answer. Still, it could be interesting. Especially if you do the co-op, which I’m sure not everyone has done, even if they’ve done single-player. You might lose a lot of viewers who’ve done it already.
    __________________________________________________

    I watched the link earlier in the comments of Hawke playing Half-Life 2, and I realized that I play Half-Life like a shooter. Does everyone move as slow as she does? (or as it felt like she did?) I don’t rush, but I definitely don’t waste time. I don’t have that much of a problem with the puzzles either. Do different people just play it differently? Am I in the minority?

  198. lpbarrows says:

    1. I enjoy both the commentary and the jokes. Generally you guys seem to manage a mix of both, which is good. I think it would be a bit too dry after a while if it was just straight up analysis. Sometimes you do seem to wander of track considerably though, but that’s one of the reason’s I watch your show!

    2. Again, i think you need to find the right mix of the two. Constant unseemly gushing gets a bit nausious after a while *cough*halflife2*cough* and unhinged ranting the same *cough*bioshock*cough*. Why not settle for the best of both worlds and have gushing rants? ;)

    3. I think if it were a game i had never played at all then i may not enjoy it as much. Bioshock for instance i’ve never finished, and New Vegas I bought because of your show.

    4. Fallout 3 vids are working fine for me – well, the first one is anyway.

    5. Tough choice, I would love it if you could manage KOTOR though as it’s one of my favourates and would love to see Josh’s chaotic stupid approach to that one! Also, what about older games? Have you guys thought about maybe, seeing as you hold it to such high esteem, the original Fallout?

  199. Alex the Elder says:

    1. I like it when the commentary is, not just a balance of both, but a hybrid – joking around that calls attention to a point about the game, or commentary delivered in a witty or goofy fashion. That’s the signature strength of the video playthrough format, after all – it’s info-tainment!

    2. Again, a balance is best, but in this case I would prefer the gushing, because when you spent a lot of time with people, their mood starts to affect yours.

    3. I have never played any of the games you have done so far, although SW has made me WANT to play ME2 and FNV and maybe even Bioshock in spite of your criticisms.* :-) I will come out STRONGLY opposed to playthroughs that are blind for the PRESENTER, though – for something as long as a season of SW, the ability to plan winds up being a bigger asset than the element of surprise.
    *As I stated elsewhere, Josh’s troll-playing, when not taken to an unbearable extreme, gives people with OCD tendencies an almost unbearable urge to go through and play the game “right”.

    4. The FO3 episodes are working now, though they still have the noteworthy flaw of being on Viddler. :-)

    5. Man, I wish it were feasible for you guys to do console games, because I’d love to see your take on one of the more recent Final Fantasy games or another major JRPG. Although honestly, first-person combat-oriented games do seem to be a natural fit, though, so… I dunno, Dead Space (2)? Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood? Duke Nukem Forever (with the amount of gore we’ve seen in the Fallout games, surely occasional nudity shouldn’t be a dealbreaker…)? OOH – or make Rutskarn relive Morrowind! >:-) OOH OOH – or how about Fable 3? >:-) >:-)

  200. WWWebb says:

    -The jokes work best when the game is deserving of mockery. Games deserving of mockery usually have ample fodder for commentary so…I’d say they go together.

    -I prefer the flawed games that had so much promise, then failed so hard. My favorite SW so far has been Bioshock because there were so many things about the ideas and atmosphere to gush about, but so much fodder for ranting.

    -If it’s a horribly flawed game, I probably won’t have played it. On the other hand, the Fallout games are so huge and potentially non-linear that it didn’t feel like I’d played the same game you did.

    -No, I will not be tricked into raising your view counts.

    Pick a game that doesn’t run out of things to talk about. ME and Fallout just ran out of steam. That probably means either a shorter game or a game that changes up the mechanics and/or storyline significantly as you go along.

    Heavily flawed: Mirrors Edge, Bionic Commando, Force Unleashed

    Short but plenty to talk about: Beyond Good and Evil, Sims Medieval, anything from TellTale

    Heavily flawed AND plenty to talk about: anything from Tim Schafer

  201. Destrustor says:

    Wow so many people. Sooo,
    1 Both, but maybe not all at the same time, leading to situations where one interrupts the other’s thoughtful commentary with a joke and throwing coherence out the window. I want a show, not a random storm of stuff, even if said stuff is great.
    2 Both, although ranting has been done a lot and it would be nice to have some gushing for a change. Maybe do a few episodes of one followed by a few of the other.
    3 Doesn’t matter: the show makes me want to play/replay it anyway.
    4 Nope, haven’t tried recently.
    5 My list of stupid suggestions :
    -Any disgaea game ( which would be insanely dull to watch. and never ending, so don’t)
    -more seriously, maybe two worlds 2, as I hear it is very similar to the first, which was a mess of bad graphics, bad physics, bad writing, bad plot, bad logic and broken quests. Or just the first one itself now that I think about it. Plenty of things to rant about.
    – Half-life2, definitely my top choice. You’ve teased us with it already.

  202. superkp says:

    Do less of these.

    I know that not everybody shares my thoughts, but I mostly come to your website because of the nerdy shit you talk about that I can NOT do in my own living room.

    I am ok with noticing (even watching) a few “let’s plays”, but when I see your entire front page taken by them, I don’t stick around.

    Just sayin’.

  203. Fang says:

    1: Either. As long as you aren’t mopping like Dead Money.
    2: See above.
    3: Both work for me. I like games I’ve played cause Josh makes everything amazing and funny.
    4: Just tried. Episode 3 or 4 works.
    5: I’m up for anything.

  204. Bear says:

    1. Yes
    2. Yes
    3. Maybe
    4. Not Lately
    5. KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:
    KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:
    KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:
    KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:KOTOR:

    1. Michael says:

      Didn’t they said they couldn’t do KOTOR because the .bik files wouldn’t play in the recording?

      1. Seth Ghatch says:

        You can turn off Movies in the options menu you know?

  205. Lisa says:

    I love a good mixture in what you do. The mix of jokes, trolling, analytics, gushing, bitching all put in a blender and set on “blog post” tickles me.

    I’d love to see a run through of at least the first two Thief games. Though I’m sure you’d have a lot more to nitpick with the third!

  206. Exetera says:

    1. I prefer when you’re being balanced. Too many jokes make for an unsatisfying show. On the other hand, as long as Josh isn’t in mad troll mode, you hosts all work great together and the jokes make the show a lot more interesting to watch.
    2. I generally prefer it when you’re gushing, if only because you make more interesting analytical discussion and less trolling. That said, I would probably get sick of it once the analysis runs out.
    3. I think I prefer to watch it when I haven’t played the game in question. That way, I don’t notice when Josh messes up.
    4. Not in quite a while. I don’t plan to watch them again, either… that was a slog.
    5. Deus Ex 1 or Human Revolution, Half-Life 1 or 2, Mirror’s Edge, System Shock 2, and for the screwball suggestion The Last Express. (Josh would be so confused.)

    -5. Absolutely not Bioshock 2, since Bioshock is the only game used in a full-length Spoiler Warning series so far that doesn’t also have a full Spoiler Warning series of its prequel or sequel. Too much replication…

  207. DGM says:

    Here’s a thought: maybe you guys should each get a turn to pick the game you most want to LP? You could still rule out games that don’t fit the format, create technical problems and so forth. But it would get around the “cast member X doesn’t want to do game Y” issue, and if everybody gets a turn (with order randomly determined) nobody can complain that it’s unfair.

    And you’d finally get the chance to do a System Shock game. :)

  208. Jeff says:

    You should do one episode on chess. Doesn’t matter which one.

  209. Ooh! Ooh! Revise my #5 answer to the Silent Hill 1 campaign on the original Left 4 Dead! It’s short (relatively speaking) and everyone can actually play.

  210. WalterD says:

    1. Both are indispensable, but the analysis is why I watch.

    2. Unseemly gushing. Rants are fun, but can get tiring pretty quickly.

    3. If I haven’t played the game, my interest doesn’t hold for more than a few episodes.

    4. Haven’t tried.

    5. So far you’ve done Mass Effect, Fallout, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Fallout. The laws of symmetry dictate that you MUST play Bioshock 2 next.

  211. Derp says:

    1. Honestly, it varies. I can really get into the analytical stuff, and it really helps me enjoy repeat playthroughs more as I look for stuff you’ve mentioned. On the other hand, my two favourite moments in this season were the series of fission chip puns (“Ruts, I’m going to buy a ticket, fly to California, and beat you to death for that” “I’ll chip in!”) and that bit where you let Josh do HH and everyone flipped.

    2. The gushing was interesting, but it drew you guys in too much. You all stopped when people were talking, that sort of thing, and staying on topic. Meanwhile, when all of you are bored, some really great discussion takes place, even if it’s utterly tangential. But the hate and bile can also get hilarious at some points. So, I’d like a mix.

    3. I find it doesn’t really make a difference for me.

    4. Dude, they are totally working for me. Terrible audio and all.

    5. I would find it hilarious if you guys went with Sacrifice. Mostly because I want to see Cuftbert’s legion of abominations marching over a hill to kick the crap out of a peasant village. Don’t take me seriously, though, because Sacrifice probably wouldn’t work very well with Spoiler Warning. Mmmmmaaaybe Daggerfall or Morrowind?

    Oooh, you could probably pull a week’s material out of Minecraft.

  212. Halfling says:

    1)I prefer the joking and trolling. Not that I dislike the commentary but I am one of the people who found you guys playing Dead Money to be the best part of Spoiler Warning thus far.

    2)A balance.

    3)So far you have only played games I had played at least a moderate amount. So I have no insight here.

    4) No.

    5) Unrealistic option: Arcanum it remains my favorite RPG of all time. I must be a sucker for steampunk.

    Realistic option: Dragon Age 2. I really want to argue with the DA:O fans over why DA2 was superior in story.

    6) Bring back Randy as a guest!

    1. Halfling says:

      Skah! Used the wrong email above.

  213. David W says:

    1. I prefer a mixture, honestly. Don’t go too far in either direction
    2. Unseemly gushing. Actually – I prefer hearing the reasons, explanations, etc for your feelings. Either gets old fast when it’s the same phrasing as you’ve used the last dozen times you ran into that detail. But you’re generally better about being creative in your praise than in your insults, so ranting gets old faster. And you bring up a rantworthy subject every single time it happens, while gushing gets mentioned only once or twice.

    On the other hand, a well done rant with detail/examples/etc is gold. Just not “I hate it when they do this to you”

    3. When I haven’t played – and best when it’s a game I know I’ll never play, but is part of the culture so I need to know some about anyway. It’s the Cliff’s Notes edition of modern FPS!

    4. Yes. Not recently.

    5. As a result of #3 – errr…I dunno. Something I’ve heard of but don’t know anything about. Something I’d get a ‘what do you mean, you don’t know X’ response if I were to ask a friend.

  214. BenD says:

    I return from vacation and find that I have to TAKE A TEST omg. Let me know how I score.

    1. I enjoy it best when your analytical commentary gets so convoluted and complex that you devolve into senseless punning.
    2. Unhinged ranting by far.
    3. When I have played the game. I noticed you call it Spoiler Warning, so, y’know.
    4. Not… recently…? So I assume they’re still broken.
    5. Fallout or Fallout 2. Or, uh, Final Fantasy VII. Should be some lolarious possibilities there. Really, anything I have played would do, but the chances of that are sadly slim.

  215. Skalpadda says:

    1. Bit of both. Funny is funny, interesting is interesting.

    2. Again, bit of both, but if an entire episode consists of complaining it does tend to get boring.

    3. If I haven’t and I’m going to I won’t watch a Let’s Play of it, but if it’s something I’m not going to play I don’t care. Also perfectly happy to see LPs of games I’ve already played.

    4. Watched a little back when you made them but was in the process of playing it myself so didn’t want to spoil anything major.

    5. Whatever you can have fun with and have something interesting to say about.

    6. Better audio would be nice.

  216. Sq says:

    Is there a way to subscribe to like… all the categories in your blog except spoiler warning? I like most of your projects but I’m just not the target market for this segment.

  217. Jonathan says:

    I only watch it if it’s a game I have played. I don’t really buy new many games, so I don’t care about games I don’t play.

  218. Jymm says:

    1. It’s great when Josh is saying “Stop shooting me” Rutskarn is punning, Shamus is deconstructing the game and Mumbles is threatening you all. :)

    2. Both! There are certain parts of a game that need to be gushed about and also parts that deserve a good rant. You do choose games well in that regard.

    3. I like seeing how a game I’ve played gets the “Spoiler Warning” treatment. But there are some games I may never play and I like seeing SW play them.

    4. Fallout3 LPs work for me I’ve been watching them for the last couple of weeks.

    5. This is an odd time for your show, there are some possibly great games coming out soon and I think you guys don’t want to be in the middle of a lengthy project. So what ever it’ll be it needs to be relatively short. Having said that it’d be nice to see Morrowind. I know mods are usually left out but maybe a modded version of the game would be cool.

  219. Harry says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Probably half of one and half of the other. On the one hand, your jokes are hilarious. On the other hand, if I wanted wall-to-wall gaming jokes, there’s plenty of other LPs out there, whereas the Spoiler Warning commentary is uniquely insightful and interesting.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Definitely the latter. Fallout 3 was my favourite season, with FO:NV a close second.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    When I have, as otherwise it makes things much more difficult for me to follow. I couldn’t get through the Bioshock season, as I hadn’t played it, and thus couldn’t really relate to your commentary.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I last watched them ages ago.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Well, co-op Magicka seems a popular option, and one I agree with if technical limitations aren’t too much – however, this would be better for a one-off episode, not a whole season. Another good one-off would be Saints Row 2.

    For the season itself, maybe Deus Ex 2? The problem with playing Deus Ex is that it’s just too good to rant about, whereas Deus Ex 2 is plenty flawed enough. If not that, then VtM:Bloodlines might be good, as many have suggested. And if you’re looking for a more modern game, maybe Two Worlds 2?

    Oh, and pro-tip: I love Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate 2, and Planescape Torment. I can totally understand why these great games have been recommended. But I have to disagree. For God’s sake, DON’T LP THEM. The combat is dull to watch, and the text will be too small and blurry for everyone to read over livestream. And apart from combat and text? There ain’t much else to do.

  220. Ellery says:

    I think the best shows you have done were the HL2 ones. Not because of lack of Mumbles, but because the show was informative and fun. Once the trolling, complaining, and bunny hopping really get going in a season, I stop watching. I feel like I could finish a season of HL2.

  221. Kana says:

    1. Both really, but I really really enjoy hearing an analytical look on the game. Picking apart the why’s and how’s (among other things) is something I enjoy doing with video games, and hearing fresh perspectives is always a treat. That coupled with trolling, possible alcohol, and puns leads up to a nice binge of episodes (I always did enjoy the old chunk style more, but I know most people don’t want to sit down for an hour every episode).

    2. Personally I enjoyed both, but I have to say ranting comes out ahead in entertainment and food for thought. When it’s ‘this section is really good,’ there never feels like there is enough meat to really dig in to. When it’s ‘okay, this sucks and here is why’ it provides both a good look at why a game screwed something up, but also how it could have been better. More food for thought, I think.

    3. I can safely say I started watching this show on a whim. I’d never even heard of Fallout or Fallout 3. Halfway through watching the show, I had the game. Same for Mass Effect 2 and New Vegas. Spoiler Warning is bad for my bank account. >w<
    Either way, I enjoy the show, whether I've played the game or not.

    4. Not recently, and I fear to check, lest I get sucked into watching that season. Again.

    5. Oddly… I have nothing to really add. Of the two games I’m really looking forward too… Space Marine doesn’t really lend well to analytical speech and even if it’s Josh, you can only troll the audience so many ways in a spectator game. The other, Skyrim, would probably be better… but isn’t out for 3 months. Sad face.

    If I had to, I’d almost say Dead Space 2. Just to see how the cast feels about horror and how badly DS2 missed some of the more basic points of a horror game (Startling != Scaring).

  222. Chris says:

    1. I would say that while I prefer a mixture of both, I prefer the commentary more. I find a lot of your discussions extremely interesting, especially when you get into the writing and characterizations in a game rather then the raw mechanics.

    2. Probably more the unbridled hatred, although I think the best is when there is a mix (as with Bioshock early on and some of the DLC for New Vegas).

    3. A game I’ve played. The only game you’ve done that I hadn’t played was Bioshock, and I actually ended up buying it and playing through it about half way through the season so I could keep up better.

    4. Yes, and I find that they will start playing, but stop to buffer every few minutes rendering them unwatchable, even if the video has loaded significantly past the point I am watching. Haven’t tried for a few weeks though, last time I did was I think during the time you guys were taking a break from New Vegas.

    5. While I definatly see your point, I would say Alpha Protocal, it is one of my favorite games of the past few years in spite of all of it’s issues, and I think that the story is very interesting, but is rendered damn near incomprehensible by the way the game doesn’t account for doing missions in certain orders, which would make it very interesting to see Spoiler Warninged. Also, I have never played as an aggressive character, so I would actually like to see the Reginald Cuftbert play through of it.

  223. Jamas Enright says:

    I’m not likely to ever play these games, but I like seeing what they are about (which means watching others play). The commentary is useful to add value over just being a Let’s Play (Reginald Cuftbert style).

    As for which is next, would think BioShock 2 an obvious choice…

  224. LB says:

    Call me wishy-washy if anyone would like to, but in regards to in-depth analysis versus humour and critical praise versus critique of negative qualities, I prefer a balance. For whatever game you choose to do, it’s most pleasant, for me at least, for you all to acknowledge what a game does right and wrong. I think that a brilliant blend of analysis and humour is already present, which is the primary reason for my watching this series.

    I would say that I do prefer to be familiar with the game that is being played. The only moment where I was not was Fallout:New Vegas, which was bought for me by a friend in late July. 55 hours have been sunk into my first playthrough so far. I had started playing Half-life 2 shortly before Mumbles’ convenient disappearance in mid-July.

    I actually started watching this series with season four, but now that New Vegas is finished, I am backtracking through seasons two and three at this moment. The Fallout 3 videos are working fine for me.

    Since Bioshock was apparently a one-time deal, I’ll forget about Bioshock 2. Dragon Age Origins/DA2 would be my primary choices, but watching a season for Alpha Protocol could help me decide whether to buy it once I’ve exhausted DA2, New Vegas and Mass Effect 3. As I’ve mentioned, which I’m sure none of you noticed*, I’m worried that I’d be a lone voice of positive opinion, like when I watched the ME2 season, if DA2 was done. There’s such hate-dom for Bioware’s recent entries. . I feel isolated from fellow RPG fans.

    That all being said, whatever choices are made on the part of the Spoiler Warning team will be supported by me, because I bloody love this project and everyone that is involved in it.

    *I’m not complaining or anything. I know that being noticed on the internet is a rarity, even when one is not amidst a swamp of other comments.

  225. Ranneko says:

    1. I like both, but I guess I would favour the commentary a little more.

    2. I would prefer gushing to unhinged ranting, the ends of Fallout 3 and Bioshock were a bit wearing.

    3. I have played all of the games you have done save for Amnesia (which you did in a way that doesn’t really count) and the last 75% of New Vegas. I kind lof lost interest part way through, I plan to restart later this year.

    4. Not tried to watch any since the season ended.

    5. X-com: UFO Defense. No particular reason.

  226. CalDazar says:

    1. Both are enjoyable and I like it when there is a bit of both or they are one in the same, but to answer the question as asked: analytical commentary. But not by much.

    2. Unseemly gushing I guess. Maybe it just seems nicer because the standard is to point out what is wrong these days.

    3. Prefer to watch when the game is one I have played.

    4. Lately? No.

    5. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Deus Ex IW. I kinda want to say Dragon Age or Baldur’s Gate, but I like those games and you will ruin them, also it might be an idea to shift away from Bioware and Bethesda.

  227. Kagetsu says:

    1. You need to balance the two, too much of either makes it less enjoyable.

    2. Dont care as long as the commentary seems honest.

    3. I enjoyed the ME2 SW because I didnt have to bother finishing the game myself anymore :P

    4. Still work fine for me.

    5 And now the interesting question. Quite honestly the best game I can think of you guys playing right now in your current format is prince of persia:sands of time(available on steam!). Its a nice balance of things done well, things done not as well as they could be, combat where josh can fail miserably, good story with clearly mockable moments. Alternately Psychonauts is another good game (except meat circus, how I hate the meat circus level). The witcher might be an interesting endeavor.

    Other things that might be good. Monkey Island or one of the old lucasarts adventure games so you can all yell at josh for using something the wrong way. If you want to keep with the shooters theres the farcrys/crysis/borderlands (ooh multiplayer trolling)/fear which you could probably get something out of.

    I would love to see you do a sort of variety week in between the big seasons where you do games that dont deserve an entire season but have stuff to discuss anyway like you did with amnesia. There’s lots of great games you could do here, gish, world of goo, vvvvvv, super meat boy, basically any great indie game.

  228. Ateius says:

    1) While the jokes and witty commentary are always a delight, I find the analytical conversations to be the most interesting part, and I constantly look forward to the next discussion.

    2) You’re more entertaining when you hate something.

    3) I like it best when you do big-name titles that I lack the time, patience or money to play myself (Bioshock, New Vegas, for instance).

    4) Not recently, no.

    5) In stark contrast to my answer to #2, how about an older game that demonstrates some of the right ways to do the things you often rag on others about? Deus Ex or System Shock 2, perhaps?

    In the interim you could also do some more of those intermission episodes. Another peek at HL2, or some random grab-bag like Trainz, is always welcome!

  229. Gravebound says:

    1. Commentary

    2. Somewhere in the middle, leaning toward ranting (I think the praise is too repetitive)

    3. Doesn’t matter to me

    4. Doesn’t even load for me (maybe if I left it running…but I won’t)

    5. KOTOR. I can’t remember if the problems with the video was that it was just not recording or if it wasn’t showing on the streaming video. If the first, couldn’t Josh just convert the videos using “The RAD Video Tools” (http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm) and add them back in later?

    6. This wasn’t a question but I really wish Josh and Mumbles would cut back on the swearing. It doesn’t help that those two are significantly louder than you and Rutskarn(perhaps another, subtle, Josh troll :\). I remember when swear words were considered shocking on this site, when they showed up; I kinda’ miss that. It’s getting a bit low brow these days.

    1. Halfling says:

      I too would prefer much less swearing.

      1. krellen says:

        I think the swearing should be limited to Mumbles. Josh shouldn’t be allowed to swear.

  230. Kreek says:

    1) analytical commentary, with some jokes, mostly though i just like to listen to you guys talk

    2) i go eather way

    3) i prefer you to do a game that i have played, i find games that i havent to be difficult as you all talk over all the dialoge and story, which is okay for the most part, but i feel somehow cheated when i watch someone play a part of a game i havent seen and cant get the full experience of it due to this

    4) not since they were first aired

    5)how about trying your hand at Prey (that alien abduction themed fps about a native american guy)

  231. Luke Maciak says:

    1. I appreciate the analytical commentary, but I also love the bickering, in jokes and constant trolling. So both. I think you have a great mix of insightful comments and random jokes. Don’t change a thing in this aspect.

    2. Ranting is funnier most of the time. Watching the HL2 commentary was sort of like entering the Twilight zone. Not an unpleasant experience but I don’t know if I would like the entire season of that.

    3. I prefer to watch it for games I played. I actually stopped watching New Vegas season for a while because I never finished the game and you caught up to the point where I got in the main quest. I went back, finished the game and went on a multi-episode binge.

    4. I have not tried them in a while.

    5. I’m hoping it is something I already played. I wouldn’t mind Alpha Protocol or Dragon Age Origins.

  232. Ross says:

    Your writing is infinitely more enjoyable than spoiler warning. Even your post asking for comments is more enjoyable to me than the show. Of course that’s subjective and can be taken with a grain of salt. Just saying. I come to your site for everything but spoiler warning.

  233. Dwip says:

    Boy am I late to the party, and probably being repetetive, but:

    1. Balance. You’re all very good at the trolling, but episodes after episodes of it get kind of boring. OTOH, I really like the analytical stuff, but think it needs a little amusement in there, too.

    2. I like both, but I think the focus has been too much on the unhinged ranting. Perhaps too many Bethesda games (which is to say, please don’t do Oblivion next – I fear for Shamus). One of the reasons I really like the HL2 episodes is that it’s so rare to hear so much praise for a game you all claim to love. Most of the time I hear “Yeah, I really liked this game” from the gang, and then episode after episode of nitpickery and hate, which kind of defeats the purpose. I may be being unfair here, and that may be a function of which seasons I saw, and read on for that.

    I learn a lot either way, but when it goes too negative for too long, my morale suffers.

    Also, really don’t care if the analysis is funny or not. I know there’s a bunch of folks that mostly show up for the lols, but I’m not that guy.

    3. The only ones I’ve skipped thus far were the Mass Effect ones, although I watched about 10 of the ME2 videos and decided to wait until I’d played the game because I didn’t want the, yes, spoilers. It’s waiting for me now. Since I play a lot of Bethesda stuff, obviously I paid special attention to the two Fallout series, but I enjoyed the Bioshock series even though I’d never played it (and it nicely let me know not to buy the game – not my thing).

    4. I just tried the one you linked, and it’s slow but works. I also tried a week or two ago, and no joy, so who knows. I’d probably go back and watch some of them again if they were someplace managable, like YouTube.

    5. First choice is probably Half-Life 2. I really enjoyed those episodes, and would love to see more.

    Second choice would be KOTOR. Even if you had to fake something for the movies or whatever, I think I’d really enjoy you talking about it. I’d also be interested in hearing about DA:O, provided there are plenty of amusing fast-forwardy bits (love those). Something good by Bioware, in other words*

    Third choice, pretty much anything that isn’t Bioshock 2 or another Bethesda game. Bioshock was enough, and like I said, you’ve done enough Bethesda stuff for a while. Going back to Oblivion or Morrowind after Skyrim releases might be cool, but not yet.

    Lastly, have you considered the possibility of doing short (1-3 week?) seasons of some games that aren’t RPGs? Stuff like the TF2 video (not a TF2 player) is cool, and something more than a single video but less than 50 soul crushing episodes seems like it would be cool, and some random other genre would be a nice change of pace – do a few episodes of a Civilization game or Sim City or a flight sim or something.

    In addition/alternately, for the games that have mods, consider doing a couple of random mod showcase eps, since you talk about them a lot. Speaking as a modder, I think most of us would agree that any mods at all getting shown off would be awesome, especially for Bethesda games where so much of the experience really revolves around the mods.

    * – That isn’t Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2, that is. As far as I remember, Shamus hasn’t played either one, and I’d be hugely sad if his (or anybody’s really) first experience with them was blind via Spoiler Warning. I do, however, feel very strongly that they are games he should play, would love to see Shamus do a blog commentary on them, and would love this to happen enough that I’d spring for the games even.

    Boy do I ramble.

  234. Crowbar says:

    1. Something I like about the show is that I don’t feel like I’m picking one or the other. I get funny jokes and interesting commentary. So both, I guess?

    2. They’re both pretty good.

    3. So far, I’ve played all the games that have been done. I guess that if it was a game I hadn’t played but had full intention of playing at some point, I wouldn’t watch.

    4. I have, but not recently. They seemed to be working at the time.

    5. Well, there’s Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, which is full of ups and downs. A run-through of the new Deus Ex would be pretty cool, but I would probably wait on watching that until I’d completed the game myself.

  235. Sephyron says:

    I mostly have Spoiler Warning running in the background while doing other things just bescause i like having something interesting to listen to (and look at every now and then).

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Enjoy both about equaly

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Same here, both about equaly

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Doesn´t matter.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Tried after reading this, OMG ITZ TEH BORKEN!

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Baldurs Gate 2 or Planescape Torment :P

  236. shlominus says:

    1) more analytical commentary, but keep the jokes.

    2) ranting (cause it’s usually more fun)

    3) don’t care, both suit me fine.

    4) did for a bit. didn’t like them that much.

    5) deus ex. i would watch it. :)

  237. BitFever says:

    1. and 2. both inherit the same answer. People come here for both humor and actual insight into the design of these games both good and bad. Your goal shouldn’t be to simply make it funnier or to give better explanation of how a game is fundamentally flawed or brilliant in its mechanics. Whats needed is rather a better sense of pacing between these forms of commentary in order to avoid any of it becoming grating. Listening to only faults of a game for episodes on end such as was the case in mass effect 2 tends to make it somewhat bleak even if the jokes do keep rolling.

    3. I personally enjoy seeing games I have played before because it allows me to compare my thoughts on it to those of others. that being stated I am vastly excited to see games I haven’t heard of or played myself as it opens new experiences to me and encourages me to try them myself.

    4.They aren’t working for me ether

    5. I’m going to be a shit disturber and vote that you do a 40 episode long lets play of pong. in all seriousness though why don’t you make a list of the most possible games for you 4 to play and let us vote for it since you seem to struggle to come to a consensus yourselves. I also think it would be rather interesting to see you play a 4 player co op game but I am aware thats to much work to record/edit for your time constraints.

    I hope this was helpful input for you. I’m a long time fan and cant wait to see more!

    GOOD LUCK! ^.^ : D

  238. Siel says:

    1: Both, the analytical contact is great but without the jokes to spice things up it could get boring and Rutscarn would be quiet most of the show.

    2: Ranting is more fun, but credit should be given where is due.

    3: When I have played the game because of spoilers.

    4: I have them on my hard drive and listen to them sometimes at work.

    5: I have played bastion recently and it´s really a great game in many ways, so i would love to hear a spoiler warning about it.

    Advantages about a let´s play of Bastion:
    – New and is on steam so the technology wouldn´t be a problem.
    – It's short so not much time on it.

    Disadvantages
    – The music and narration is a great part of the experience and with people talking over , it would be difficult to manage a balance.

  239. Loafy says:

    1. I like a mix of both. I really do enjoy the more analytical stuff, but… the jokes are funny. Who doesn’t like funny?

    2. I think I oddly enough do like the unhinged xD Y’all are a lot better at noticing plotholes and the like than I am, so I definitely enjoyed watching them get pummelled in the FO3 Review. That said, I like a bit of the gush, it’s just as important to look at what DID worked if there is something that worked there.

    3. I just haven’t played any of the games shown to any length, so I don’t think I can comment on that. That said, watching the videos for it did make me go out and give ME2 a shot, and inspire me to try playing Fallout 3 again (Didn’t get very far, but it’s the thought that counts)

    4. Sorry doll, haven’t touched them since they came out

    5. I’m looking to my shelf for inspiration but all I can see are Bioware games xD So I’d suggest maybe Dragon Age 2? It might be quite a short one, but it doesn’t have the same pacing problems as Deep Roads Origins: Rise Of The Deep Roads. Having been an Origins fan I actually found the hate for 2 to be a bit… overhyped, and most discussions of it just quickly nosedive to URGH IT SUCKS URGH DUMBED DOWN CONSOLE PLAYERS URGH instead of anything constructive, so I’d like to see the four Spoilerettes do a take on it. (Oh, and The Sims 3 is there too. So if you’re looking for another one episode game…)

  240. Marcellus says:

    1. My ideal mix is: 60% Analysis, 30% Jokes, 10% Collective Grilling of Mumbles

    2. I enjoy both, as long as it doesn’t get too one-sided.

    3. If I intend to play the game in question, I hold off on watching your show until I get started with it. I watched the Mass Effect 2 and Fallout 3 seasons while I was playing the respective games, in a way that I was always _just_ ahead of your progress.

    4. Since last week, most of the time they get stuck at the end of the Saints Row 3 ad, but the episodes do start about once in every fifteen attempts.

    5. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It has just the right mix of horrible design decisions and really inspired ones.

  241. Varewulf says:

    Well, been a while since I’ve commented, but here goes the river gobbing:

    1: I prefer the analytical commentary, though I don’t mind if it takes the piss out of whatever you’re analyzing as well.

    2: The ranting is good, but I quite liked the Half-life 2 eps, maybe because of the contrast it created to the other stuff you covered. So I guess I’ll say: Mostly the ranting.

    3: So far I’ve played all the games you’ve done, so I can’t really comment on that.

    4: I did try, and they wouldn’t load.

    5: I don’t really have a clue, but why not play Halo, just for the giggles? It would be a short season… maybe you could tackle 1, 2 and 3 in one go? Okay, this is probably straying into crazy territory. STALKER?

  242. evileeyore says:

    1.Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Both. Too much of either and the show loses something.

    2.Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Unhinged hate filled ranting is more beneficial than fanboi gushing.

    3.Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Either.

    4.Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Originally. Not since.

    5.And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    System Shock. Old school or no school bitches. If you’re too wimpy to go back to the begining to school the new kids on where it all began then I’d settle for SS2.

  243. ChaiViolet says:

    I haven’t commented before, but I have watched every episode of Spoiler Warning and consider myself a big fan.

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    There’s a million Let’s Plays on the internet – what distinguishes Spoiler Warning from all the rest is the chemistry of the four commenters and the insightful analysis of the game. The camraderie and jokes are wonderful and make me laugh out loud, but it’s the discussions about design decisions that work and didn’t work that really keep me interested. I found the Half-Life 2 episodes the best ever because of how well the three of you pointed out the little touches in the game that made it great. I also found the discussions about how Fallout 3’s main quest didn’t work and what the developers could have done differently to be just as interesting.

    What I don’t enjoy is when the majority of the crew haven’t played the game/section being covered. It’s obvious when you folks don’t have anything to talk about (and it sounds like the stream set-up doesn’t work for blind runs of anything). I don’t mind a bit of trolling either, but it did get old throughout New Vegas to constantly hear about the damned incinerator and have the playing stop to muck about in the inventory screen. When it affects the flow of your episodes it’s going a bit too far (and just gets boring).

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    As I said above, neither. Intelligent, informative discussion about the game – whether it’s good or bad – is one of the main reasons I love this series. I’d just suggest keeping balance in the back of your mind. You folks could’ve discussed some of the great side quests in Fallout 3 when things became too negative or repetitive. I’m assuming the crew wouldn’t choose a game they loathe for the series, so if it gets too bile-filled switch up to talk about what made you happy with the game (especially if we’ll never get to see it because it isn’t planned/part of the main story).

    Tangentially related, I didn’t find the Half-Life 2 episodes to be overly gushy. I remember more than a few times where you discussed what stumped you as a player, or what you had difficulty fighting/moving past. Learning about the game design, then hearing the personal stories/reactions about how the crew, as players, responded can really be fascinating. Spoiler Warning is the only Let’s Play series I’ve found where I get to hear about both sides of the game design coin.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    I’ve played four of the five games. Bioshock I hadn’t played, but I really enjoyed those episodes. It had everything I love about Spoiler Warning – informative talk about the game design/aesthetics, personal stories of how everyone played the game, and bad puns and BEES!. In general I prefer to have played the game before, but in some ways it can be a little more painful – when the crew doesn’t know/misinterprets something and proceeds to blast the game for a fault it doesn’t have it’s like nails on a chalkboard to my gaming soul.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    I watched them all a couple of months ago. Just tried episode one and it works fine (I’ve got Firefox and AdblockPlus).

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    A game you’ve all played and know well. I really don’t care what it is, just as long as you all come to the table with something interesting to say about it!

    6. Bonus answer for extra marks – Please, for the love of my speakers and my ears, please find a way to level out the volumes of the crew’s voices. Boost the hell out of Rutskarn’s input, or drop Josh’s and Mumbles’, but please fix the volume disparity. Even with my speakers way too high I have trouble hearing Rutskarn at times, and then when Josh or Mumbles gets loud it *hurts*. It’s been a consistent problem with the four commenters throughout the series and it’s my number one complaint.

  244. Usually_Insane says:

    Not gonna bother reading all the 315 comments before me.

    STAR CONTROL II a.k.a. The Ur-Quan Masters.

    ‘Nuff said

  245. Double A says:

    1. I like them both, but I prefer hearing you all scream in pun-related agony. I mean the jokes.
    2. Ranting!
    3. I’m not sure, I’ve played both Mass Effect games and neither new Fallout games. I guess I liked the Fallout ones a little better? Although I rarely did Renegade, so it was still different.
    4. It won’t play for me either.
    5. Dwarf. Fortress.

  246. Jeff R. says:

    1. I like jokes in the show and analytical commentary in the post most.

    2. Ranting, all day.

    3. Neutralish.

    4. I’m in the middle of a trawl through the Fallout episodes. (my browser, chokes on the embedded versions but can play the episodes straight from viddler).

    5. Oblivion. Or better yet, Shivering Isles. (Ignore the main plot after the tutorial and head straight for them, and consider the ending of the DLC the end of the season.)

  247. Seth Ghatch says:

    Since shamus and the rest will see it, in case they didn’t already. I’ve played KOTOR, and if you go into the options menu at the game launcher menu, you can turn off cutscenes. Since cutscenes make my game crash as well, I used this alot. Only downside is you would have to explain the stuff in the cutscenes yourselves. Or not.

  248. NihilCredo says:

    1. By far, VERY FAR, the analytical commentary. I frankly don’t find your jokes funny at all (no offence meant – I’m sure that if I recorded myself and my friends kidding around, it wouldn’t be any more entertaining).

    2. Either works well. Maybe with a little preference for gushing since we have your blog for the ranting ;)

    3. When I have played it, because that way I am looking forward to some part or another, instead of it being a crapshoot.

    4. Just checked and they work fine for me.

    5. Do Alpha Protocol! Either find some hack to freeze the game (or play on the XBox, where apparently the pause button still works) or just take it as a challenge to improve on the hardest aspect of standup – timing!

  249. Guppy says:

    i love this show shamus :p im norwegian and all week long i wait for this to come online, and i gotta say that josh’s playstyle cracks me up all the time :p
    1. i love it all ^^
    2. i love it all ^^
    3. i love it all ^^
    4. yes i tried but its not working :( i really want to see them hehe
    5. Stalker series ^^

  250. Merle says:

    Hey, I JUST started watching the playthrough of Mass Effect 2. Don’t ask me.

  251. 1. Both. I’d be sad if either of these went away.

    2. I . . . probably prefer the ranting, long-term, but I loved the Half-Life episodes to death. I guess I don’t really care which you’re doing, as long as you’re saying interesting things about the game.

    3. Usually, I prefer to have played the game myself. As I have a limited amount of time, though, that’s not always feasible. Fundamentally, the more respect I have for a game the less I want to have it spoiled. Nothing I’ve heard about Fallout 3 makes me suspect that I’m going to be upset if the story gets spoiled for me. On the other hand, I’m trying to stay ahead of where you are on the New Vegas story in my own playthrough because I don’t want it ruined, and I really want to watch the episodes. (As you can probably imagine, I’m not very far into the latest season . . .)

    4. They’re working for me, but it’s been a couple days since you asked so . . .

    5. No idea. Really, no idea.

  252. Chris B Chikin says:

    1. I think that the balance between jokes and analysis is what makes the show so enjoyable for me. The analysis has helped me look at various games in new ways and sometimes pin down all the niggling irritations I’ve had with a game and drag them into the light. This was especially Fallout 3 – I’ll never be able to look at the franchise again without some cynicism.
    On the other hand, it’s your jokes and witty banter that makes the show actually enjoyable to watch. Very, very few Let’s Plays have been able to make with the funny, either in the commentary or in the style of play, as well or as consistently as you guys.
    So yeah, if push came to shove, I’d probably have to say the analysis is more important. That said, the balance you have is pretty much perfect.

    2. Maybe because I never actually played Half-Life 2 (LE GASP!!!1!) but I didn’t particularly enjoy those episodes compared with others. As I said, I love the analysis and interplay between you guys and I feel like that loses something when you’re just unanimously praising a game rather than debating its quality and pointing out bits that were done particularly well or badly.
    By contrast, the Fallout 3 episodes are still my favourite overall. Even though you were still unanimous in your hatred of the plot, hearing constant cries of “This is bullshit! Here’s what they should have done…” is more interesting than, “This is the very greatest thing ever and I wish it were a person so I could have sex with it because it would be such a perfect lover!”
    In short, you guys are at your best where there’s debate about the game’s quality but where debate is absent, bile is more interesting and insightful than praise.

    3. When you do RPGs, I don’t really mind whether I’ve played them or not since, either way, my playing experience and yours will be totally different. My characters in RPGs tend to be lawful neutral (though this tends to end up as lawful good due to most RPG choices being, as Shamus points out, save kitten/eat kitten) whereas Reginald Cuftbert is the patron god of pure chaotic stupid. This guarantees that I’ll be seeing new things whichever way round I play or watch.
    Since the only non-RPG you’ve done is Bioshock (Mass Effect 2 still counts as an RPG, Shamus!) which I haven’t played, it’s a bit difficult to say. Certainly, I have no intention of playing it now, since my plying experience is likely to be very close to what I’ve already seen you guys do, so there’s no point.
    In other words, I don’t mind whether the game you play is one I’ve played or not. On the other hand, if the game in question is one with very limited choice, then you’ll save me £50 if you play it first!

    4. Tried the first one just now. Broken. As. Shit.

    5. Pong

  253. decius says:

    Older games. Star Control 2, Half-Life, Blake Stone:Aliens of Gold, or Crusader:No Remorse/Regret…

  254. swimon1 says:

    I’m using my brother’s computer which only has a swedish corrector of spelling so I’m sorry for any abuse of the english language.

    1. More analytical definitely. The jokes are fine but but the interesting part has always been you breaking down the game and examining the parts.
    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    2. I don’t care that much but I prefer a balanced approach. Both gushing and anger gets a little tired if it’s a whole season, but gushing gets tired faster I think. Maybe it’s just that I find both new vegas and half life 2 kinda mediocre tho, then again I really liked Bioshock and I didn’t mind you pointing out the very real flaws with it.

    4. I’ve actually played all the games you did so… Although judging from the episodes of new vegas where you did dlc I haven’t played, I seem to prefer games I have played.

    5. Not recently and they seem broken to me too. I did watch them initially tho if that’s what you’re wondering.

    6. Do arcanum :D I mean what could be more stimulating than watching someone play a 2D top down turn based RPG? You can’t get more action than that… I have no idea really Jade Empire? It has a lot to gush about (looks gorgeous, interesting story etc.) and a lot to hate (combat system, levelling system etc.) and it’s very unusual so the commentary will be different from the other seasons. Also there is a point where you defeat John Cleese both in rhetoric and kung-fu (the cheater has a musket).

  255. Larry says:

    1. A mix of both
    2. A mix of both
    3. A mix of both
    4. A mix of- no not recently
    5. A mix- Daggerfall or Deus Ex
    Pong is also a good possibility

  256. V'icternus says:

    1. I enjoy both commentary about the game AND jokes, cringe-inducing as they may have been in the past.
    2. I like a mixture of the two. Praise is good, and it’s fun to hear others having fun, but hearing people complain about something you hate is also very pleasing to me.
    3. I’ve only watched the episodes involving games I’ve played, except for the short trip into Half-life 2, which I intend to play, but haven’t yet.
    4. I was about to watch the Fallout 3 episodes again a few days ago, but then I realised that they are still on a video service that doesn’t load well for me. (I blame the Australian internet)
    5. I would suggest KotOR, BUT; only because I want you to do KotOR II, and I figured it would make more sense to get the first one out of the way first.

  257. xXDarkWolfXx says:

    Honestly i just watch the show because i love everything about it. I love the joking and the analytical commentary. I love the gushing and the unhinged ranting. i love it all because thats what Spoiler Warning is it is all of those things. Also i wouldnt mind seeing you guys play LA Noire

  258. I tend to like the jokes more.

    Unhinged ranting is preferred over the gushing. I watched one episode of the HL2 thing and didn’t enjoy it.

    I have never played one of the games before you guys do it, so I dunno.

    Last hiatus I re-watched them. Worked fine. But I watched them on vidder.

    I’d love to see an old school RPG, even as a one-off. Fallout 1 or 2, Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2, or even Planescape. I know that may be technologically difficult. Ooh, and if you find another game as broken as the Trains one was, that’d be awesome. I introduce people to Spoiler Warning with that episode.

    And edited to add, after reading some of the comments, a season of one/two shot games would be really cool. I tend to prefer the earlier parts of the seasons. I’d also love to see each of you do a one-off of your favorite game (whether in a particular genre or not), with the others commenting on your selection.

    Maybe do an FPS or RTS match with all 4 of you as a special episode?

  259. MrWhales says:

    1. Yes. As long as it is interesting and tangent-based I’m fine with it.

    2. I like a mix of both. With HL2, you had good things about it, and bad things as well (I can’t recall many, but there were some)

    3. Any game is fine really. Play Minecraft for all I care…

    4. Haven’t tried since that series ended…

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Minecraft? Maybe just for a filler episode?

  260. wootage says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Both, especially when the jokes constitute analytical commentary :)

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Rant on, baby. If I wanted unseemly gushing, I’d just read game reviews on the big sites.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    So far, #1 has not come up.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Work fine for me.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    … Vampire the Masquerade – Mumbles can get her cannibalism fix, plus it’s the kind of adventure game I like. Kotor II – we all can get our Star Wars fix and you can make lots of fun of the characters. Left 4 Dead 2, so you can all play and talk at the same time!

  261. Ryan says:

    Do one of the STALKER games.

  262. Spectralist says:

    1: Analytical. Though it’s at its best when the commentary is itself funny in some way.

    2: Some mixture of the both is best, but the ranting would be preferably to gushing if it had to be one. I think it’s best on those circumstances where something in a game worked for some of you but not at all for others and you discuss/argue why it did or didn’t work.

    3:Hard to say, only game you’ve done that I haven’t played was Bioshock, and while it was the least enjoyable SW for me that might just be because I hated Bioshock

    4:They do seem to be broken.

    5:NWN2, or maybe Fable III

  263. velkito says:

    1. Both

    2. Leaning a bit on the raving side rather than the ranting side

    3. I’d prefer to watch a game I’ve played but that’s not usually the case. Either way works usually though.

    4. I watched them when they first came out and they were fine.

    5. The Witcher 2

  264. SyrusRayne says:

    I shall answer your questions!

    1. I think I like both the humor and the commentary. A good mix is excellent. I’m generally interested when you’re talking about something seriously (level design? Fallout 3’s ‘plot’?) but on the flip side I love when you guys are joking and trolling each-other, it’s a lot of fun to listen to.

    2. Gushy is good, but the ranting tends to be more interesting. Non-stop gushing would be bad, but pointing out something done really well is quite alright. Probably why Half-Life 2 wouldn’t make a good playthrough. You guys love it too much. So do I, for that matter.

    3. I can’t really comment on which I prefer, as every game you’ve done was one I had played myself. Except for the Amnesia special, which was hilarious.

    4. I’ve only looked at the first episode recently, and it works fine for me. It might have something to do with having adblock turned off for your site, though.

    5. I’d like to see you guys play something like Deus Ex (The original, and then Invisible War.)

  265. Rariow says:

    1. Analytical Jokes. Too much analysis, it gets boring. Too many jokes, they get tiresome.

    2. If made to choose between two extremes, I prefer Fallout 3 ranting. However, my favourite SWs are ones were the good and the bad elements are contrasted against one another, like the part of BioShock before everybody got tired of it or the majority of New Vegas.

    3. When I have, or when I haven’t and don’t plan on. I held off watching the ME2 and New Vegas seasons for quite a while because I planned to play those games and didn’t want them spoiled for me.

    4. Yup, watched them. Haven’t watched them recently though, the entirety of Viddler has been not working on my computer for a while now.

    5. I’d really love to see KotOR I, even though I know it’s not going to happen because of technical difficulties. I think that that’s one game that will be very interesting to analyze, because of the way it handles plot. Apart from that, whilst I do prefer rantfests, I’d like to see a season full of praise at least once.

  266. Irony says:

    1. Honestly, I like the analytical aspects the most.

    2. Mix, leaning towards harsh, but fair criticism. If you can point out the best parts of a game, while ripping it to shreds, I’m happy.

    3. No preference.

    4. BROKEN.

    5. Hmmm. My vote is for something “old school” (or at least with an old school feel), but pretty. Baldur’s Gate comes to mind.

  267. Thomas says:

    1. The jokes are cool, but only in moderation. It’s a pacing thing and whenever either dominates for too long the show is weakened

    2. Neither. Really. The gushing was a little better than the complaining but it would be nice to have an opinion that contained many sides. Towards the end (barring the insane trolling episodes) of New Vegas you can began to strike a much better balance of “this is good and this isn’t” compared to it all sucking.

    3. I’ve played ME2 and I enjoyed it because I didn’t find the game great and it was nice to feel lonely for once but it was irritating when you missed something which I’d seen in my play through (when complaining), I haven’t played New Vegas and I enjoyed it because I got to see what New Vegas was like, although it was a little bit annoying sometimes that it wasn’t easy to hear the story or see how it’d turn out if I’d done it. Either works and I’d probably prefer new experiences.

    4. Nope.

    5. I’d be quite interested to see you try a different type of game, if only for a short while. Linear and not choice based/sandboxy maybe. It’d be interesting to have a shorter season.

    But you couldn’t had long non-unique sections of fighting (ME2 was bad that way) so I’d suggest Max Payne 2 or maybe even CoD 4 might work.

  268. Rob Lundeen says:

    1. Both. With a slight lean towards jokes.

    2. Both.

    3. I bought Mass Effect after starting your series on it (previously played all others). I don’t care whether it’s a game I’ve played or not.

    4. I watched them when they were first made but the are now broken.

    5. I liked the previously suggested games: Arcanum, Deus Ex (any) or Planescape.

  269. somecrazyfan says:

    Please don’t do any more lps, please go back to your analythical reviews.
    They are awsome and informative.

  270. Gamer says:

    Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    I like both, but I prefer the analytical commentary because I learn much more from them than when you just joke around.

    Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    A nice mix of both.

    Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    Can’t comment. The season that I’ve never played before (Mass Effect) doesn’t work because the ads don’t load. (Fallout 3 and Bioshock also have this problem)

    Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    See above.

    And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    Deus Ex 1, because I just got the new one and haven’t played the first game. (I heard the second onwe wasn’t as good.)

  271. TSED says:

    Late to the party here, but:

    1)Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?

    Both. No strong preference either way, but I must say I enjoy a good laugh more.

    2) Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?

    Ranting makes for more laughing, so…

    3) Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?

    Tough question. The one game I haven’t played (BioShock) is also the one season I stopped watching. I hear that it just dragged on and on, though, so… Maybe? I think it was just bad luck and needs a larger sample base.

    4) Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.

    Not recently. I watched them when they were new, though.

    5) And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?

    Jade Empire. YOU CAN WORK OUT THOSE TECHNICAL ISSUES, I HAVE FAITH IN YOU, JOSH. I HAVE FAITH.

  272. Universe42 says:

    1. Jokes and the serious commentary is great especially when they are integrated together.

    2. Rant! Rant! Rant!

    3. Doesn’t matter, in fact you make me want to play them regardless.

    4. I’m watching episode 25 right now!

    5. Maybe Oblivion. I don’t care. Anything that Josh can exploit.

    6. BONNET! CUFTBERT!

  273. p1p says:

    1. Do you enjoy the show more when we're making jokes, or when we're doing more analytical commentary?
    I really enjoy both actually. My play through of FO3 was in an ideal world where i either didnt consider plot or forced it to make sense. Hearing how broken really made me enjoy the show a lot more. BEEEEES still gets me every time.

    2. Do you prefer unseemly gushing (as with Half-Life 2) or unhinged ranting (as with Fallout 3)?
    Rants. I know the good games are good and i could read that almost any critic magazine. I’d rather hear about the good points during a detailed rant that only an LP can give.

    3. Do you prefer to watch the show when you have played the game in question, or when you haven't?
    Torn on this one. The only game i hadnt played yet was new vegas, which i had to get while watching the series. The team has always taken a different path than i did on my first play through, so re-playing value is still quite high.

    4. Have you tried to watch the Fallout 3 episodes at all? Because they are broken for me, and have been for weeks.
    No. I dont want to go back to that dark time. It would be like watching 20 minutes of face manipulation. I watched it once and that was more than enough.

    5. And just because I know you'll say so anyway: What game do you wish we would do next?
    I honestly have no preference. I trust you’ll come to something fun to watch and listen to.

  274. SomeUnregPunk says:

    1: Both gives equal enjoyment.
    2: Neither is preferred over the other.
    3: If I haven’t played the game but I am intending to, then I won’t watch it like how I’m watching lordkat’s stream. “I stop watching when he starts playing Deus Ex:HR. If you do a game that I have no intention of playing then I have the same ambivalent feelings that I would have if you were playing a a game that I have played.
    4: I have watched them when they come out. I have not noticed the non working status. Have you thought about converting them to a downloadable media?
    5:Anachronox …. after watching the machinma movie[http://www.archive.org/details/JakeHughesAnachronoxTheMovie]… it interests me…

  275. Xpovos says:

    4. No. I don’t watch Spoiler Warning and won’t until you play a non-shooter game.

  276. Ardis Meade says:

    1. Yes
    2. Yes
    3. I’ve yet to see you do a game I’ve played
    4. Just finished and they worked fine for me
    5. Whatever, it’s all good

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