The Diecast #1

By Shamus Posted Thursday Feb 14, 2013

Filed under: Diecast 286 comments

splash_diecast.jpg

There’s this long-running joke among the Spoiler Warning cast. When we’re getting ready to record the show, we frequently get sidetracked talking about other stuff. Sometimes for hours. Then eventually one of us will say, “You know what? We should do a podcast.” This joke ran so long that we actually went and did it.

Embedded using HTML5. It either works or it doesn’t:


Direct download (MP3)
Direct download (ogg Vorbis)
Podcast RSS feed.

Discussion:

  1. What’s everyone playing?
  2. Next gen backwards compatibility unlikely says random analyst.
  3. Last of Us Squeezes Every Last Drop of Power From PS3.
  4. FarCry 3 is a worse game than FarCry 2?
  5. Star Wars Free-for-all: Disney owns Star Wars, JJ Abrams directing next SW movie, Obsidian pitching new Star Wars game, and new Star Wars 1313 game.

The odds of us making more of these is directly proportional to how many people are interested in this one.

 


From The Archives:
 

286 thoughts on “The Diecast #1

  1. Elilupe says:

    I’m incredibly interested in more of these! The Far Cry 3 discussion was especially interesting to me, since I’ve wondered a lot about that recently me’self. In line with Chris’ ideas, it seems Far Cry 2’s theme and gameplay worked much better together than in Far Cry 3.

    Keep doing these podcasts!

    1. Aldowyn says:

      I REALLY need to play Far Cry 3, because everything I’ve heard about Far Cry 3 is ‘it’s not at good at the themes as Far Cry 2’, to which I counter ‘but Far Cry 3 is supposed to be more ‘fun’ right which is part of the point!’

      P.S. If you guys ever had guest twenty siders come on to the Diecast (sweet name btw) I would definitely volunteer ;)

      P.P.S. Disclosure Alert coming next week I have school >.>

      1. Elilupe says:

        It is true, I’d say Far Cry 3 is more immediately engaging in it’s everyday gameplay. However, again, as Chris said in his video about Far Cry, where FC3 has that quick, action movie fun-ness to it, FC2’s fun is a bit more subtle. FC2 kind of makes you work for the fun, and almost wants you to create your own fun, whereas FC3 quickly shoves the fun in your face. Both approaches to entertainment are pretty fun, but FC2 just sort of needs you to be in a certain mood to enjoy as much as FC3. The catch is, FC2, when you are in that mood for it, can have a much greater personal payoff.

        1. Paul Spooner says:

          So, FC2 is a sandbox to the FC3 action playset with action figure included?

          1. bloodsquirrel says:

            I had tons of fun with Far Cry 3 when I was running around on my own initiative, activating radio towers, taking outposts, hunting animals, and generally screwing around. The game is definitely at its best when you’re just exploring the world on your own.

            The main story missions were far, far weaker, and the story itself is one of those things that everybody who wants to develop a game in this genre should experience to see how not to handle your game’s narrative.

            1. James says:

              I have to stop playing Far Cry 3 for a bit after I do a story mission due to a critical mass of stupid.

              In comparison Far Cry 2 was alot lighter when it came to story. The only really cinematic moments were the start, the middle when you meet the jackal and the end. So really 2 had a lack of writing, which I think is better then stupid writing.

              1. StashAugustine says:

                Is there a post-credits mode? I’m kinda blowing through the story to get all the upgrades, and I don’t wanna accidentally end the game.

                1. Galad says:

                  Yep. Note however, that if you take all the outposts, there’s nothing challenging to do left.

            2. stratigo says:

              Vaas.

              One of the most interesting villains in any game ever.

              FC3 had a better story and better characters then most modern games. It just mishandled it more and more the more the game dragged on.

              FC2 is a terrible terrible game. Thematic unity does not excuse bad and broken gameplay

              Also I love the podcast

              1. bloodsquirrel says:

                I wound up just hating Vaas because of being constantly being beaten by him via writer fiat, followed by having to listen to him rant, followed by Bond villain stupidity where he fails to kill me for no good reason, finally followed by not even getting a proper fight against him in the end

                What little was good about him was completely wasted.

            3. Jokerman says:

              I dont think the story was THAT bad, it wasn’t anything we will be remembering in a year but it served its purpose well enough. I do agree gameplay wise the game is far stronger when its you on your own taking outposts, assassination mission, hunting….that stuff is just better.

              On Far Cry 2, liked it a lot…..and i get Rutscarns points on the feel of Far Cry 2, i got that too…but for the most part. 2 was just such a hard game to love, it took me 2 years to finish because i really liked playing it but i could not play it for too long.

        2. AJax says:

          Precisely. Honestly, even if FC3 is far superior to FC2 mechanically and visually, I still consider it one of the most boring, unrewarding and unsatisfying open-world games I’ve ever played. Which is funny considering the sheer amount of content and polish Ubisoft have managed to jam into the game.

          And yes. I’d love to see more podcasts please!

          1. aldowyn says:

            Especially funny considering how much better the open-world part of it is than Assassin’s Creed 3, which was made by the same people >.>

            I certainly managed to get a lot out of Far Cry 3. There’s a lot of metaphor in that game hiding just under the surface. Although I haven’t played Far Cry 2.

    2. Vipermagi says:

      Far Cry 3 is a Far Cry game.
      Far Cry 2 is an entirely different game that carries the Far Cry name for no good reason.

    3. wererogue says:

      I’m hoping for a Far Cry 3 spoiler warning some time. The “broken-on-purpose” story seems like a perfect candidate for in-depth critique, with an eye towards whether it works (a) as narrative (spoiler: it doesn’t) or (b) as a commentary on how broken game narratives are as character motivation.

  2. Duhad says:

    I love a good podcast and would love to see this continue!

    1. newdarkcloud says:

      Indeed. You guys need to do this more often.

    2. Jamfalcon says:

      I also approve of this becoming a regular feature.

  3. BeardedDork says:

    I haven’t had the chance to listen to this yet, but I will soon and I’ve been wishing you guys would do this for about a year or two now.

  4. BenD says:

    I found a button in the sidebar to use to record my interest in this project. I would certainly enjoy more of them!

  5. Deadfast says:

    Hitman is a franchise that has been killed by an attempt to shoehorn a story into it. I’m not sure how far you got Josh but there is a certain point at which the game’s story takes a turn from stupid to criminally insane.

    1. newdarkcloud says:

      The new Hitman is flawed in quite a number of way. I like the game, but I like Blood Money more.

      As you noted, the story is really fucking stupid. Dear god.

      Also, Josh noted the new disguise system which I hate and for one the reasons I hate it. The other reason is that I hate that you have to put your hand over your face to blend in and avoid detection. That’s stupid to me and makes disguises nearly useless.

      And fucking checkpoints. Dear god, the checkpoints. Why would people prefer that to manual saves?

      On the positive, I like the new UI as a whole and I really enjoy Contracts Mode, even if I find that the restrictive nature of Contracts doesn’t quite mesh with Hitman.

      1. Deadfast says:

        Ah, yes, the checkpoints. They are an absolute joke. The only thing they save are competed objectives and your position.

        Those two guards you took down and hid in a box? They’ve magically reappeared.

        I’m quite sure this wasn’t a gameplay decision (you’d have to be seriously inebriated to decide ths was a good idea) but rather a technical limitation, in which case booo, your engine sucks.

    2. GiantRaven says:

      I disagree with that notion about Hitman and story. Blood Money is a game I always come to when I think about cool stories in games. The way it’s been designed and shown to the player gels really well with the gameplay and watching events unfold is great fun.

      Contracts is also similar, but in a much more vague way. Still, there’s something about ‘playing the thoughts of a dying Hitman’ that is completely awesome.

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        I disagree with this in part. The story of Blood Money was good, but only because it knew what it was. Blood Money’s story only served as a framing device for the gameplay.

        Plus, the last segment was pretty bad, imo.

  6. swenson says:

    “Embedded using HTML5. It either works or it doesn't:”

    Stuck on IE8 at work, so it definitely doesn’t. I’m looking forward to listening once I get home, though!

  7. Why an “ogg” file vs “mp3”? Not critical; I am sure I can find a way to convert it. But the fact that it’s not supported out of the box for many devices makes it less likely for someone to listen. I know I went from “I’ll download this and listen on my phone at work immediately” to “I guess I’ll download and convert that sometime in the future” with “sometime” often becoming “never” knowing my general pattern with such things.

    1. Raygereio says:

      The .ogg format has better audio quality. But the downside to it is that’s it’s less suported then the .mp3 format.

      Here are some converter site:
      http://media.io/
      http://www.zamzar.com/

      1. Josh says:

        So there actually is an MP3 version of this podcast that will play if your browser doesn’t support oggs. I have no idea why Shamus put the ogg up for direct download over the MP3, but I’ve updated the post so you can grab either.

        1. KremlinLaptop says:

          Personally I blame all that Linux-ing he was doing.

        2. Steve C says:

          Cause Shamus is awesome that way- a good example of an engineer in a leadership position. Other engineers say “Good (qualified) idea!” Non-engineers say “wtf?”

    2. Zak McKracken says:

      Fun fact: Every Linux installation has zero problems with ogg, but many will not play mp3s without installing some proprietary stuff. Reason: There’s a patent on MP3, there is none on Ogg Vorbis.
      Of course, for MP3 players ist’s the other way round :(
      If there’s nothing specialised handy for you, you can simply use audacity. Free, open source, and edits and encodes whatever you want.

  8. Thomas says:

    I like this.

    If HD rereleases keep on making money, then maybe lack of backwards compatibility will save some of the historical games. It will never be perfect, but Devil May Cry 3 might be able to be sold again during the PS4 lifespan and if people see the money potential, companies might start structuring themselves better to preserve their code just in case it makes money again.

    1. krellen says:

      Why do all the rereleases have to be “HD”, with “updated” graphics? I’m right now playing Champions of Krynn, one of the old DOS-era “Gold Box” D&D games. It’s just fine without a graphical upgrade (and it only took me about two minutes to get all the DOSBox stuff set up to run it.)

      1. Thomas says:

        I think people with 50 inch TVs notice pixels more, is the main reason. I think a couple of them (Devil May Cry?) haven’t been much of an upgrade though, it’s just the excuse to make it sound like they aren’t selling you a ten year old game for lots of money

        1. X2-Eliah says:

          Yes and no. I tend to notice pixels even on my tiny 17′ laptop display. For some games I can suck it up and deal with it, sure, but if there is a choice between an hd version and a baseline, well, I just don’t have that grumpy hipster grognard gene that will go for the worse-looking version because of… what, exactly? Some oldschool elitism?

          1. Asimech says:

            Some of the HD-stuff actually does look worse or has technical problems. I’d rather take an evenly bad look than a generally better but with hiccups that sting due to contrast.

            Also in my case there’s often the feeling of unease that comes from seeing something that’s familiar, but not.

            Although with Final Fantasy 1 it would be because the White Mage does not have light brown hair, dammit.

              1. X2-Eliah says:

                Nice webcomic link….
                HIIIIIIPSTERRRRRRRRR

      2. Nataline says:

        Oh! Oh! I just made a post about something vaguely relevant on an old delusional nerds’ loony bin forum.

        When you say hd-updated do you mean an old game resurrected (old resources (SFX, GFX etc.) essentially replicated in higher resolution) or an old game reincarnated (old concepts tacked onto a completely new game, usually terrible)? Or both?

        What Thomas said is very true. I’ve played Pool of Radiance (another Gold Box gem *brogauntlet*) via E-UAE on a 20″ LCD monitor and it is indeed just fine as it is. I doubt very much I would enjoy it on my 46″ TV. In that case a hires upgrade would be welcome, provided they wouldn’t get the bright idea of significantly altering the artwork. Which they would, of course.

        1. Asimech says:

          Have you checked if your TV allows “softening” or something? It might not be in the settings with HDMI, but it should be for analog connections and basically just blurs the image. I’ve noticed that it can make older consoles more pleasant.

      3. Zukhramm says:

        A 2D game is different, the resources are clearly tied to the resolution in a much tighter way. Rendering an old 3D console game in HD doesn’t require any change in the actual textures or models. There’s still work in making old code work a a new machine of course, but speaking only of the visuals, there’s a lot to gain from a relatively simple change.

      4. Blake says:

        Because those of us that never played them before don’t care for the nostalgia factor.
        Outside of nicely stylised games, graphics age badly. HD re-releases give us a chance to play a game for the first time without forcing us to try to ignore the visuals which by today’s standards simply look bad.

        It also gives people who already own the game a reason to buy it again.
        Basically it just makes good business sense, and everyone (outside of gamer hipsters) wins.

        1. krellen says:

          Except when the work to make it HD costs more than the resale could ever bring in – something that’s central to the problems the game industry is having.

          In other words, you graphic snobs are literally killing the industry.

          1. Zukhramm says:

            The cost shouldn’t be that much. Any emulator can do it, and getting old (or new, like Dark Souls) PC games to run at a good resolution is relatively possible most of the time too.

            1. krellen says:

              We’re not talking about just DOSBoxing a game and shipping it. We’re talking about making this into something that allows folks like Blake to “play a game for the first time without forcing us to try to ignore the visuals which by today's standards simply look bad.”

              That’s basically going to require a whole art department to redo every asset in the game.

              1. Zukhramm says:

                We’re talking about re-releasing games in HD, that is, to increase the resolution it is rendered at.

                1. Cineris says:

                  Most games do not have libraries of hi-res art waiting around to be used. “HD” means all the art in the game has been recreated at higher resolution (and possibly redoing many sound effects and music). It actually takes a lot of work to do this, depending on how old your original game is and what your visual quality goals are.

                  Frankly, I’m fine with re-releasing older games with updated graphics though. The new X-Com, for example, while having its flaws, was a great way to bring back a genre that basically doesn’t exist anymore. Those older games weren’t perfect, and it’s good to learn from the past and try to improve on it, but oftentimes you can lose elements of gameplay you (or someone else) liked when you take out or change things you don’t like. Even more faithful adaptations, such as Serious Sam HD or the latest iteration of Counterstrike have made it easier to find and play games that currently have poor hardware/software support in their original incarnations.

                  1. Zukhramm says:

                    Since when did HD mean that? It refers to a resolution, if you want to improve more than that, it will cost more.

                    1. Asimech says:

                      “HD (version of a game)” has implied improved art assets alongside a higher resolution(s) for some time now. Except when the game’s smartphone version is called “HD”, in that case it’s just an unintuitive way of marking that it’s not the exact same version.

                    2. Zukhramm says:

                      Can’t say I’ve seen much of that. When someone says HD I assume HD is what they mean.

                2. Thomas says:

                  Plus I’m pretty sure the good ones easily make enough money for that amyway. ICO+SotC knocked Gears of War 3 off the top of the US charts
                  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37559/Saling_The_World_ICO__Shadow_of_the_Colossus_Collection_Heads_Domestic_Charts.php#.UR2zaWe-kXU

                  And ICO, SotC weren’t made to look unpretty :D

    2. False Prophet says:

      For example, GOG.com just put up System Shock 2. That was one of the most notable holdouts from the Golden Age.

    3. Ringwraith says:

      Non-HD re-releases are being done, but it’s a slow process and usually only for popular things, as PSOne classics have been kicking around PSN for a while (licensing for different regions permitting) and even they have to be tinkered with to work properly on a machine that’s meant to be able to emulate the old console.
      They’ve also been releases some PS2 games on there, which are definitely tinkered with to work on a PS3 as only the original models are PS2-backwards-compatible.

  9. Amstrad says:

    I’m going to complain here about this not that it’s Shamus or anyone’s fault, but in the vague hope someone will know what’s up and how to fix it.

    For me, in the latest version of Firefox, anything using html5 has laggy/skipping audio. Animations and videos and the like seem to play back fine, but audio is always terrible.

    Thoughts?

    1. X2-Eliah says:

      Browser might be overloaded with tabs/plugins and unable to send audio data at an acceptable rate, perhaps. People tend to add insane amounts of extensions to firefox in particular. Maybe that’s the case?

      1. Amstrad says:

        Nope, definitely not this, I only have 7 Add-ons and this issue was happening before I even installed those.

    2. Andy_Panthro says:

      I had this issue as well (Firefox 18.0.2 with only a few add-ons). It seemed to be the OGG/HTML5 playback, because I could use the MP3 perfectly well (through VLC web plugin)

    3. BeardedDork says:

      I’m not a tech guru or anything, probably the farthest thing from around these parts, but I’m using 18.0.2 and am absolutely not having this problem.
      With my admitted lack of knowledge I’m disinclined to blame FF.

      1. Hitchmeister says:

        I’m going to have to side with the BeardedDork here. I’m running Firefox 18.0.2 and had no playback problems and have done nothing special to make it work.

  10. StartRunning says:

    I never knew it until it happened, but this is the one thing that has been missing from my life.

  11. some random dood says:

    Don’t have the time to listen now, can anyone please give an approximate running time for it?

    1. Chris says:

      Almost approximately close to exactly one hour, three minutes, and fifty two seconds.

  12. krellen says:

    This was totally worth an hour of my time. You should do more.

    1. newdarkcloud says:

      Indeed. I am looking forward to this continuing.

  13. Retsam says:

    You know, Tekkit Minecraft sounds really interesting, and I’ve downloaded it before tried to mess around with it and just been completely lost trying to figure out what’s going on.

    I realize, of course, there are web tutorials that I could look up that would probably get me going, but do you know what none of those tutorials have? The dulcet tones (or words) of Shamus Young narrating.

    In all seriousness, something like a post or a video either describing Tekkit, or showing off the things you’ve done on there, etc. would be really interesting to read/watch, if Shamus is looking for something to post about.

    1. vyndallis says:

      I would suggest going to the Industrialcraft wiki, or just to the tekkit wiki, and finding a getting started tutorial.

    2. Ithilanor says:

      Yeah, I’d like to see Shamus do an introduction to Tekkit and show off what crazy wackiness he’s built.

    3. Neko says:

      There’s a modpack called “Feed The Beast” out there that’s more endorsed by the mod authors themselves, and has more up-to-date versions of everything AFAIK. Been meaning to try it myself after all the Mindcrack youtubers got into it.

  14. Katesickle says:

    I greatly enjoyed that. Especially Chris’s joke about murdering things with your enlarged penis, because I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old.

    On the Star Wars topic I’m the opposite of Rutskarn–I like the setting (at least the superficial elements like lighstabers and the ability to force choke people) but I’m not a huge fan of the story.

    Also: http://coolrom.com/roms/gba/14488/Pokemon_FireRed.php

    1. Andy_Panthro says:

      Surely the original Pokemon games (Red/Blue?) would do well from another upgraded release. The FireRed version is very good, but I think HD versions for the WiiU would sell very well, and would mean they could slow down on making yet more new pokemon (I don’t even know how many there are now, wasn’t it originally 151?).

      1. Irridium says:

        What they need to do is make a Pokemon Snap for the WiiU. Or do and HD-remake of the N64 game and have it use the gamepad as a camera. That’d sell like freaking hotcakes.

        1. Thomas says:

          They need a new Pokemon Stadium

          1. aldowyn says:

            Yeah, there wasn’t one at all on the Wii,was there?

  15. Fawstoar says:

    This was the highest-quality quality-time I’ve spent today. Make more when possible!

    1. Jokerman says:

      Ill throw in another thumbs up for this podcast, was a great listen.

  16. Paul Spooner says:

    Nice going guys! Enjoyed the discussion. It feels like everyone shifted up a gear intellectually (or, down a gear? The better way) when there isn’t a game distracting from the point. A few comments on the topics discussed to follow, but I’d definately like to hear more of these:

    PS3 architecture: Agreed with engineer instincts. Making things “easy to use” and “elegant” are such foundational principles that working against them would feel like practicing being a bad engineer. However, occasionally you have to make things hard to adjust, so people don’t customize the functionality right out of the dang thing. Not the case here, obviously, but it is possible to design something that is so “easy to use” that it’s also “easy to use completely wrong”. Finding the balance between user empowerment and poke-yoke is always hard.

    FC3 holding your hand: Rutskarn doesn’t like being treated like a child. Really, who does? Even CHILDREN don’t like to have their hand held to the tune of “I’m just keeping you safe”. This is because the subtext is always “…because you’re too much of an idiot to figure it out without getting hurt”. The whole point of “fantasy simulator” video games is to give us a place to play in where no one can get hurt! There is no reason to babysit a player in this scenario. Other than to give the developer a nanny-like sense of motherly responsibility. It’s a sandbox! Take down the guard rails and OSHA warnings and just let us play in the dang thing!

    Starwars: Lots of confused discussion here. The topic is probably too close to all of our hearts to see clearly. I think the “Focuses on the plot, but leaves everything else to the audience’s imagination.” and “Wonder of discovery!” points came closest to core. A distinction must be drawn between the Star Wars setting, and the Star Wars movies. There is still plenty of new ground, amazing scenes, and lovely characters to fuel good movies in the Star Wars setting. But the Star Wars movies have already been made, and attempts to make those over again will require a re-boot. One can recall the past, but never relive it. We move always forward in time.

    1. newdarkcloud says:

      As I life long PS fan and someone who bought the PS3 after its price drop, I’ve simply amazed at the stupidity Sony exhibited when going next-gen. It was a great amount of hubris that caused Sony to screw up in the way it did. I remember the gasp at the $599 price tag and the “FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE!”

      Ugh.

  17. Thomas says:

    I like the size and variety of the Star Wars universe and love it’s fractally-ness. It’s one of the call things that there’s always something bright and exciting in each corner.

    So I’m excited for those sort of games and those sort of films, it’s making me rather unexcited about the main films, by the Seven Samurai’s Jedi version? Heck yeah.

    Star Wars 1313 looks like it might be interested and Battlefront was interesting, and KotoR 2 was interesting and Jedi Knights was good. There’s lot of different places for different things hear and it just increasing the greatness of the universe, that whatever you look, there’s an exciting unique story behind that.

    It does need some flexibility with canon though, people need to be able to tell stories without worrying to keep in track with others. If we can have a loose continuity where we like whats kept in track and don’t mind what it isn’t

    1. Paul Spooner says:

      I think the problem with the canon is not so much that it is inflexible, but that storytellers all want to appropriate the main characters from the movies as the main characters in their works. If you’re willing to step off the time-line of “people who had more than one line in the original three movies” and start coming up with your own themed material, there’s lots of places to put it.

      1. Thomas says:

        Oh that’s a good point, if you want to tell a new story, don’t use someone else’s character. I just don’t particular mind if in world A mandalorians are a bit thuggy and they seem a bit more intellectual in world B etc. Even if people want to have new takes on Jedi, thats fine as long as it’s not too radical and doesn#t involve already established ones

      2. Ithilanor says:

        Yeah, things get *much* better without trying to tie things too closely to the original trilogy. Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy is a decent example, especially considering it continues using the original characters – it has a lot of original characters, goes to a lot of new places, and is very good for it. KOTOR I and II also work well. Contrast how practically every other Star Wars game has obligatory levels on Hoth and Tatooine, or The Force Unleashed trying to connect to the films.

        1. Jace911 says:

          Another reason I really enjoyed Zahn’s trilogy was because not only did it build on the original movies, it followed the tradition of “this is the world, accept in and move on” instead of going “as you know, thirty years ago there were these things called the Clone Wars”. People referenced them and you got the sense that they were bad, but we never had a historian sit down and explain what they were. He added supplementary details that flavored our perceptions of it while still leaving it open enough for our imaginations to run wild.

          Example: before I saw the prequels, I always thought that the Clone Wars were some sort of cold war gone hot between two major galactic powers. Both were about equal militarily and neither liked the other, but neither were willing to engage in open warfare because the cost would have been too high. In the middle of this you have the Jedi running around trying to keep the peace, but suddenly one faction discovers the secrets behind cheap and fast cloning. The faction in question gets a huge boost to its military and its leaders decide the time to strike has come, only to find that the other side also has clones. Both sides get dragged into a huge war where millions of cheap and expendable soldiers are thrown away in bloodbaths to gain tiny bits of territory ala World War the First, and thus you have the Clone Wars.

          1. What do you think the chances are they’ll borrow from the Thrawn Trilogy?

            Also, I know Lucas apparently wrote an outline spanning 9 “chapters” or episodes for his Star Wars timeline way back when, but I don’t know if Zahn borrowed from that at all.

            EDIT: Oh wait! I remember hearing a rumor the original actors would be coming back to play Luke, Han, and Leia, and something about a Jedi temple on the Yavin moon, which would imply a massive time skip. I don’t know if that’s true though.

            1. Jace911 says:

              I highly doubt it, everything they’ve said about it thus far could be summed up with the phrase “what expanded universe?”

              Which is not necessarily a bad thing, considering some of the more…unusual elements of the EU.

              1. StashAugustine says:

                I kinda liked the consistency- I’d rather a world that’s one consistent canon rather than a comic-book mess of alternate continuities and retcons.

              2. You doubt they’ll borrow from Zahn’s books or the return of Hamill et al?

                1. Jace911 says:

                  The books. They’ve already stated outright that it will be a new story with new characters.

                  1. StashAugustine says:

                    I just want Thrawn and Jade. They can write whatever story they want, it just has to have those two.

                    1. The Eclipse would be cool too. Who DOESN’T want to see a massive Star Destroyer with a mini-super laser?

    2. I love me some Star Wars, but I’m torn; wanting this and afraid of what may come next.

      I fear what I want from these upcoming movies is entirely wishful thinking. I want 7-9; I want them to know and care about what made the originals great; I want to see even just a tiny nod to the EU–the families of these characters: Han and Leia’s kids, Luke’s wife Mara Jade, and people like Kyle Katarn. I want them to completely ignore all the added Jedi/Force crap from the prequels (in fact, ignore the prequels entirely). I don’t want this to be just a “safe” action movie (with regards to Abrams being a “safe” choice), and I don’t want it to be a “guilty pleasure” movie as Plinkett calls the 2009 Star Trek.

      But just how real IS any of that? :/

  18. Licaon_Kter says:

    I don’t want another one… unless you make a RSS feed for it daaamit! :D

  19. bloodsquirrel says:

    There are good technical reasons behind the lack of backwards compatibility- you’re either restricted on what kind of architecture you can use, you can try to put in extra hardware just to run old games, or you can try to emulate.

    Having to use the same architecture does limit what you can do. It’s not like a PC where the OS is abstracting most of it- you really are limited on what you can change.

    Having extra hardware was a more reasonable option back when we were going from PS1-PS2. Modern consoles are more complex, and the leap in technology between the PS3 and now isn’t as large as it was back then. It would be possible, but expensive, and there are a lot of incentives to keep the cost of the console down.

    Emulation requires a huge difference in processing power, so that’s not even on the table.

    It does suck, though, but it’s also a very broad problem with gaming. People still listen to music that was produced 10 years ago. People still print books that were written thousands of years ago. A game single-player game that came out two years ago is ancient history. I’d love to bash Sony and MS on not providing better support for older games, but there’s a sadly limited about of market pressure for it. I’d gladly pay an extra $100 for a new 360 that could play all of my old Xbox games as well, but I’m not sure if there are enough other people for it to be a profitable move for MS to make.

    1. Zukhramm says:

      The thing about technical reasons behind problems is that I don’t care. It’s not my problem. Either you get me what I want and I buy your machine, or you don’t and miss out on my money. Your loss! If you can’t fix it, what do I need you for? I can just play games on my PC without having to worry about discreet generations.

      The thing about digital distribution is (yes, this is how I start every paragraph) that it’s terrible on the PS3 and the Wii, I don’t know about the 360 but I can’t see it being much better. But still, even if it was great digital distribution makes me even more tied to a platform, at least in the future I can still put in my discs and play them, but I can’t be sure about the games I’ve bought digitally. If the games could run on the PS4 I’d be a lot less worried about them.

      1. bloodsquirrel says:

        The thing about technical reasons behind problems is that the problem is still there, whether you appreciate the reason behind it or not.

        A console with backwards comparability is either going to be a bit less powerful (because they have to make compromises) or a bit more expensive. If you tell them that you’re not buying unless they make it cheap, powerful, AND backwards compatible then they’re just going to shrug and focus on the people who are willing to pick 2 out of 3.

        1. Zukhramm says:

          The problem is there, but it’s not my responsibility to solve it. I simply don’t buy things I don’t want.

          1. Thomas says:

            The people in charge will run the numbers, and they’ll probably just decide your sale isn’t worth it. Sony would lose far more releasing an expensive console. In the long run backwards compatibility didn’t hurt PS3 sales and if neither of them offer it, by the time the next Dishonoured/Far Cry 3 whatever comes out for the new platforms, there’ll be very few people who hold out solely for BC.

            I’d like BC, but I value free online more and having a console which plays the game which are being released more than that. At best no BC is only going to slow down the speed with which I buy a next gen console.

    2. newdarkcloud says:

      Yeah. If the tech isn’t in the system (which would be expensive to do) then you would need enough processing power to create a virtual PS3/360 system on the console.

      As Shamus pointed out, it’s difficult enough to get this working for the PS2, let alone a current-gen console. In my CompSci class last year, the teacher had a tough time simulating an Android phone in his computer. It takes a lot more power than the original system’s specs to simulate it virtually.

    3. Daimbert says:

      The issue is that unless they are just going to discontinue the old systems and force companies to not make games for them, there’ll be a period of YEARS where you can still get games for the old system and, basically, still use it. Sure, you’ll have exclusives for the new system, but if they don’t have backwards compatibility you’ll have to rely on people who always have to have the newest thing or people who find one killer game that justifies them buying the new system. If you can still get the old systems and games — even in the used market — it’s just not worth it to buy the new system when you can buy the old system cheaper and have a much bigger library of games.

      So, for someone buying a console or even just a Sony console for the first time, when the PS2 was backwards compatible and the Xbox came out, the PS2 had a massive advantage because it had an enormous library of games that you could play on it out of the box — most of the PS1 games — that you could still buy, as well as the improved PS2 games. For someone just starting out, that was a massive bonus. And for someone who already had a PS1, being able to play all of your old games on the new system meant that you could make it your main gaming system and play everything, meaning that if you bought it you’d certainly get your use out of it right out of the box.

      When the PS3 dropped backwards compatibility — and it dropped it right when I was going to buy it, which caused me to delay buying it — none of that happened. There weren’t enough games — and nothing killer — on the PS3 to make me want to buy it, and I was spending my time playing on the PS2 anyway. I actually bought new and used PS2s to preserve my being able to play those games instead of buying the new system. And the library didn’t improve enough to make it worthwhile. I only bought the PS3 because I ended up replacing my old TV with an HD one and thought that having a Blu-ray player that could play games was good. I now play more on the PS3 than on the PS2, but it took me YEARS to upgrade. And a lot of people who aren’t hardcore gamers are, in fact, going to wait. This is not a good way to gain market lead by introducing a built in delay into people adopting the new system. And it also gets worse the more successful your previous generation system was, because if I like playing the games on it and it still makes money the more likely it is that I’ll stick with the old one.

      See, you should be able to gain a big advantage in the next generation by keying off of the success of the current one, but not having backwards compatibility eliminates one of the big advantages you have: that massive library of games that made your console such a success in the first place. Then I decide not based on past loyalty, but basically on the games and performance and features of THIS system, and this system alone. Losing that inertia could cost you a lot, and I think did for the PS3.

      Now, I understand the technical issues, but I think that it would be a good idea for console makers to try really hard to overcome them. Heck, even just offering a software emulator that works reasonably well as a separate, installable program could go a long way towards keeping this inertia going.

  20. Lame Duck says:

    While I am disapointed at the idea of no-backwards compatibility in the next consoles, I am not even a little bit surprised by it. You could tell this generation that Nintendo was the only company that really thought of backwards compatibility as a priority and when Microsoft and Sony are looking at what lessons they can learn about launching a new console, I absolutely believe that their overriding thought will be “Keep the price as low as possible!” Backwards compatibility is not something that will survive that thought process.

    However, to Chris’ point, while I will absolutely agree that there is still plenty of space for things to be lost, I think the industry is in a better position to preserve gaming history than it ever has. The rise of digital distribution means that it’s vastly more viable to re-release games than in the past. Backwards compatibility extends the life of games but it doesn’t preserve them; correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are any consoles that had backwards compatibility for more than one previous generation.

    1. Thomas says:

      Oddly enough, the PS3. In fact the PS3 is still backwards compatible with a PS1, even after PS2 backwards compat. was removed

    2. Mintskittle says:

      The Gameboy Advance was backwards compatible to original Gameboy and Gameboy Color. Might not count though as GBC wasn’t much of a step up, and some GBC cartridges would work just fine on an OG Gameboy.

  21. KremlinLaptop says:

    This was incredibly enjoyable to listen to and I have nothing constructive or to say other than to express the fact that I want more of this.

  22. Magdain says:

    I really enjoyed this and want to hear more!

  23. Amstrad says:

    I contend the thought that Star Wars isn’t dark gritty. Taken in the context of when it was created it’s an order of a magnitude more gritty than the vast majority of science fiction television and movies that came before it. Not just visually in terms of the mechanical and set design but also in terms of some of it’s characters. The scene that springs to mind is Han and Greedo in the Cantina. We see Han playing every bit the part of a classic noir protagonist in that scene.

    1. Jace911 says:

      Plus, y’know, Bounty Hunter. AKA one of the best Star Wars games ever made and probably one of the few good things to come out of the prequel trilogy.

      1. StashAugustine says:

        Also, Republic Commando. Another dark, gritty game based on the prequel trilogy that’s arguably the finest Star Wars shooter.

        1. Irridium says:

          And has some of the best squad AI ever I’ve ever seen.

          1. Raygereio says:

            Dammit Lucas. Let me save Sev already!

          2. Raygereio says:

            Dammit Lucas. Let me save Sev already

    2. Gruhunchously says:

      What? Han was totally acting in self defense during that scene. You can clearly see that Greedo shot first.

  24. bloodsquirrel says:

    Oh yeah, about the cell:

    Sony had big plans for the cell. It wasn’t originally designed as a processor for a video game console, it was designed as a generally processor for media devices. The architecture was suited more to HD decoding than it was running a game engine. Sony was more concerned with using the popularity of the PS3 brand to push the cell and blu-ray than they were making a strong competitor to the 360 at that point, and the rest is 599 USD of history.

    Meanwhile, the cell has had a quite life of applications in specialized hardware, but has never really gone anywhere as the kind of general purpose CPU that it’s being used as in the PS3.

  25. Attercap says:

    I liked this podcast but, for some reason, every time I decided to start listening to it at the office, conversations at nearby desks also broke out. If you could fix my workplace or transfer me to an office, I would like the podcast much more.

    Also, it’s pronounced “noir.”

  26. Jarenth says:

    This podcast was so awful, I sat immobile for over an hour listening to every word. It paralyzed me with awfulness.

    Man, that Mount and Blade stream with Rutskarn and Josh and nobody else sure was something, huh?

    1. StashAugustine says:

      I totally wanted to see that, being a huge Mount&Blade fan, but it was precisely during my work shift.

    2. Funklewrinkler says:

      Yeah, too bad no one from, say… the Netherlands, or something, was there, hanging out on vent, contributing to the stream. That was an opportunity of massive, once-every-week proportions that will never come around again unless you show up again every week.

    3. Nytzschy says:

      I’m loving how Mount & Blade’s Cahmel is turning out. He’s really holding up the Cahmel family reputation of being a ne’er-do-well.

    4. Andy_Panthro says:

      I’ve been watching! Could only make it to this weeks one live though, and that was only about 30mins or something.

  27. Viktor says:

    This podcast is way, way too long. I rarely have a solid hour where I can do nothing but listen to one thing. 20-30 minutes is fine, but TV show length is a bit much.

    1. BenD says:

      I can’t listen for an hour straight at work, which is where I do my podcast listening, either. However, there is a pause button and a time counter (so you can take note of where you stopped listening) and your MP3 (or OGG?!) player probably has similar features. Since they covered multiple topics with clearly delineated points of departure between each, I found it very easy to break this up into shorter chunks.

    2. LassLisa says:

      For whatever reason, I find an hour of audio actually much better than half an hour of video. Probably because I don’t actually spend the hour just listening to the podcast – I’m sure I missed some things, but I caught some pretty entertaining bits and could just let it run in the background while I did other things (like my day job).

    3. Entropy says:

      Travelling! That is what podcasts are for!

    4. This is very American of me, but the “I want my podcasts to be 20-30 minutes” and not “TV show length” amuses me, as the vast majority of our TV is in that exact 20-30 minute window.

      1. Cuthalion says:

        I concur. (Though I do tend to get more into longer TV shows, they’re just rarer unless you’re watching shows produced elsewhere.)

    5. Cuthalion says:

      I strongly disagree, but only because of my different situation. While an hour video would be a problem for me, the longer the better for audio content because I listen to it at work while cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming theatres, and so on.

      Doesn’t mean an hour is better than 30 minutes, or that you’re wrong (you aren’t) of course. Just better for me. So I hope they keep it long. :P

      For what it’s worth, some media players will remember where you left off if they have the file classified as a podcast (which may not work without a feed though). So it can be stopped part way through and resumed later after switching the media player to other things. Doesn’t help with the problem of breaking up the episode into unnatural chunks, unfortunately. :(

  28. Bix Biderbecke says:

    Please, kind sirs, continue to cast thine pods into my face.

    Regards, Bix

  29. Wedge says:

    Hey, flight sims aren’t dead! It’s definitely a niche, but it’s still a pretty healthy one (the death of MSFS notwithstanding).

    1. 4th Dimension says:

      Agreed. We are even getting an MMO flight sim, War Thunder that Josh mentioned. I know that most players there play arcade mode, but there is a historical and full real modes too. And realism is in best traditions of IL-2 Sturmovik, the best WWII air sim.

    2. I can’t believe Rutz didn’t lambaste Josh for pronouncing “niche” as “nee-shay.”

  30. X2-Eliah says:

    Blimey, a whole hour? … That’s a looooot of time to make free (I can’t really multitask enough to, say, write meaningful code and listen & follow the podcast discussion.. It’s either one or the other, but something must fade into the background.)

    1. McNutcase says:

      This is why I have an extensive collection of puzzle games. Some on Steam, and the excellent Portable Puzzles by Simon Tatham, keep me in a problem-solving mindset while I listen.

    2. Zukhramm says:

      I take podcasts as a good reason to just take a long walk.

  31. anaphysik says:

    “Diecast” XD Love that punny title. Very formative.

    1. Josh says:

      For the record, my original suggestion for the name was “Shamecast.”

      But apparently some people didn’t like that.

      1. el_b says:

        thats a shame.

        epic cast by the way, i would welcome more.

      2. Cuthalion says:

        Love Shamecast for pun + hostname value.

        But Diecast is quite good for (lesser) pun + sitename value. And it gives me (false?) hope that you’ll end up discussing tabletoppery as well. Not that I’d object to a videogame-focused cast. I’ve had a harder time finding those than tabletop RPG podcasts, strangely enough. (Mostly because I try to avoid ones tagged “explicit”, since I’m at work and worry that someone will find my player unattended, look it up or play it, and get me in trouble. All video game podcasts [well… almost all] are explicit.)

        Edit: I should mention that I won’t be listening until my worknight starts. So maybe the tabletop content question is already answered for me. :P

  32. The Schwarz says:

    Yay! I’m totally gonna listen to this tomorrow at the gym. *happy*

  33. Chris says:

    Nice, I enjoyed the podcast with selected topics made it so discussion was had without having to fill in blank space with drinking during inventory fiddling. Continue please at your leisure.

    Ruts: Lizard God Cult or Cult of Lizard God I think is the module you are talking about, I think on my groups play through we ended up with two party members under naga control execute players in the party they already had issue with. Adventure ended with naga retaining power and us failing.

    1. Rutskarn says:

      Collect your prize, for N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God is the one I mean.

      1. drlemaster says:

        Rutskarn, are you even as old as that module? I have run it a couple of times, it is probably my all time fav low-level module. I also played some of the town section once. We were about to be kidnapped, and the cleric got the bad guys to back down by pouring out a bunch of oil and threatening to burn down the inn.

  34. McNutcase says:

    Well, that was an enjoyable hour. I do have three comments to be borne in mind for future episodes: first, timestamps in the show notes are very helpful when dealing with a well-segmented show, especially one which may spoil things; second, some kind of dedicated RSS feed would be an excellent idea (and should serve the mp3 by preference, since anyone relying on iTunes will be inconvenienced by OGG; it’s POSSIBLE to get iTunes to play them, but not easy); and third, you may want to pick a different theme tune, since that particular one is distinctly popular among podcasts, and I associate it with Kicked in the Dicebags, which is very much NOT the same sort of podcast this is.

    1. Ithilanor says:

      What’s the name of that tune? I don’t listen to many podcasts; I’ve never heard it before.

      1. McNutcase says:

        It’s one of Kevin MacLeod’s ones: There It Is, filed under Funk.

  35. Lame Duck says:

    Personally, I think the only things you need to make a good Star Wars movie is lightsabres, the Force and likeable characters. The lightsabres and Force are there to make it Star Wars and the likeable characters are there to make it good. Actually, visual and sound design are pretty important too, but you absolutely don’t need a complex plot or big ideas.

    1. Lame Duck says:

      Oh, also, I can confirm that Republic Commando is pretty damn good.

      1. Gruhunchously says:

        Also, Chris must have meant about something else when he talked about killing Wookiees in Republic Commando. You can kill Wookiees, sure, but it’s definitely not encouraged, or conducive to your continued existence.
        In fact, theirs a whole mission based around saving the big guys from slavers.

  36. 4th Dimension says:

    Wierd, I was just having a World of Tanks break from WarThunder to get all those nice 3x bonuses, when Josh mentioned those games.
    And both rock.

    Also, I’m not so sure Disney would jump at the opportunity for Obsidian to make an SW game. Since their pitch wouldn’t concern with JJ movies, and I guess managers there would prefer a game to be a tie in to the movies.

    1. Thomas says:

      I can’t see it going down with Disney, but I wish it would. But even if Disney accepted, we’re looking at a new console generation, so what engine would Obsidian use? I feel like the company probably isn’t chock a block with engineers and their strength is probably in making a game using someone else assets and engineering

      EDIT: Here’s a fun question, try to find an engine Obsidian used more than once. AP was Unreal 3, Dungeon Siege 3 was Onyx, KotoR 2 was Odyssey, F:NV was Gamebryo etc… They never ever get to practise and use their experience

      1. 4th Dimension says:

        That’s what I’m talking about. Right now they probably want something ‘flashy’ ‘next-gen’ ‘AAA’, something that everyone and their grandma wants to play, and not a niche RPG, and RPG will allways be a niche.

        1. Jace911 says:

          Except they’ve already seen where that gets Star Wars with TFU. If they go the same route with LucasArts as they did with Marvel (Business as usual, keep doing what you’re doing) we could see a renaissance of Star Wars games.

          Plus there’s no reason they can’t greenlight Obsidian while setting LA to work on another flashy AAA title.

          1. Klay F. says:

            Plus, the source code for Battlefront 3 is bound to still be somewhere at LucasArts in some long forgotten hard drive.

            They can’t have gotten rid of it, I refuse to believe they would do such a thing, I don’t think my heart could handle it.

  37. Yanshui says:

    Bit premature, but any chance of creating an RSS feed for the podcast(s)? That would make it a lot easier to add it to my podcast app and bring it with me on my commute :)

  38. Wedge says:

    Fun fact: Lucas actually wanted Spielberg to direct Empire and Jedi, but he couldn’t due to SAG rules since the original trilogy were non-union films. If they gave Star Wars to Spielberg, I might actually care (though probably not). While J.J. Abrams can’t screw it up as badly as Lucas did with the prequels, I kindof suspect that what we’ll end up with will have a tone closer to the prequels–big and flashy with no soul.

    It’s really sad, because I am/was such a HUGE Star Wars fan, but I just don’t care anymore–over the last 15 years or so Star Wars and everything Star Wars related has just been run into the ground, repeatedly, and I kindof just want it all to go away for awhile. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my room, with my Han-shot-first cut of ANH and my copy of KotOR.

  39. Jeff R. says:

    Honestly, we really should have had future backwards compatability as an overriding concern in the design of the last generation (and almost certainly didn’t.) At the current level of hardware power there really was no excuse for letting game developers anywhere near the metal; if everything was mediated through fairly high-level APIs that virtualized the actual hardware to at least some extent then software-level emulation on the next generation of hardware would already be practically cost-free.

    Hopefully (but not very likely) this mistake won’t be repeated again.

    1. bloodsquirrel says:

      If they hadn’t let developers get so close to the metal the current gen games would be looking even more dated than they do now.

      1. Jeff R. says:

        So? First off, cutting a year off console lifespan would probably have been an excellent trade for full backwards compatibility.

        Secondly, and more importantly, we’ve really been past the point where adding ‘better’ graphics actually improves anyone’s gaming experience for about a decade or more. Driving screen output a few feet further into the uncanny valley has never been worth the expense anyhow.

        (And thirdly, the biggest thing holding the current-gen consoles back, relative to PCs, is their puny RAM. Distance to the metal wouldn’t have done a thing about that either way.)

        1. bloodsquirrel says:

          A year? Consoles are running on tech that wasn’t top of the line seven years ago.

          Also, where are you getting that abstraction won’t affect memory usage? Loading/unloading of memory becomes incredibly critical when you’re working around having so little memory, and anything that takes control away from you (ie, letting the OS decide when to swap things in and out of memory) is going to hurt your ability to get your game to run.

  40. The Rocketeer says:

    I want to voice some additional support for this! The mythical podcast finally took place, and it was good!

    The way I look at Far Cry 2/3 is this:

    Far Cry 2 is constructed largely of parts that are broken or unfinished, miraculously built into a whole that is near enough to its lofty goals to evoke greatness, if never actually achieving it. As a result, I always found it fascinating, and compelling, but was always ground down by the innumerable and ever-present little flaws and aggravations of a product that was equal parts unfinished and malformed.

    Far Cry 3, meanwhile, is made largely from very nice, high-quality parts that add up to a rather unremarkable whole. The moment-to-moment gameplay was really very fun, and I never experienced the kind of face-slapping brokenness that plagued Far Cry 2, but it seems like I was never really itching to pick the game back up again whenever I put it back down, and having finished it, I can’t see myself ever going back to it.

    Far Cry 2 is what I like to describe as a mile from good and an inch from great. There was the specter of something magical in it. But only the specter. I was fascinated by it, but I could never honestly recommend it to anyone just for the sheer volume of bad design and conceptual shortfalls that compose its body. Far Cry 3, meanwhile, left me with few bad impressions and a great deal of fun times, but it failed to leave a real impression on me. It is the vaguely nice person that no one bothers to get to know.

    Additionally, with respect to the whole structure/design/handholding ‘thing,’ I think in Far Cry 2, the game helps you struggle against the world, and in Far Cry 3 the world helps you struggle against the game. I much prefer the former approach, but I also prefer it when games aren’t obviously still in beta. *shrug*

  41. Jace911 says:

    There are not enough “fuck yes” jpegs on the internet to encompass my want for Obsidian to make a Star Wars RPG set during the Dark Times. It’s absolutely perfect for them and they’re absolutely perfect for it.

    As long as they pretend the TFU games never happened it’ll be absolutely fandamntastic, no matter how buggy it is.

  42. Nano Proksee says:

    I liked it. Keep it up :D

    1. Tzeneth says:

      I second this with the amount of wordage equivalent of spam and “first” posts :P Also, I enjoyed the podcast and the length of it didn’t bother me.

  43. Chard says:

    I am here just to voice my interest in more podcasts. I think you guys are great and all those happy adjectives. Now I have to go to bed. Good night.

  44. Blake says:

    Just starting this now, much easier for me to enjoy at work than a Spoiler Warning video.

  45. TouToTheHouYo says:

    FINALLY!

    If there’s one thing I need more of, it’s random internet people talking.

    I have a void and this is the only way to fill it.

  46. Ithilanor says:

    I really enjoyed this; lots of fun to listen to, and the discussion was much higher quality without a game in the background, as it were. Definitely looking forward to more!
    Side note: I’m curious if Mumbles would be interested in coming back for a podcast or two. The talk about dark & gritty Batman reminded me of trolling her for fun and profit. :D

  47. Nytzschy says:

    This was pretty darn good, especially the Far Cry and Star Wars segments. As a person whose preferred form of entertainment is podcasts, I heartily approve and want moar.

    This would also be a nice venue to bring in guests. Like Mumbles.

  48. Funklewrinkler says:

    Incredible. A whole lot better than taking random sound bites from various episodes all along the Spoiler Warning timeline and putting them together to make hour-long discussions between the cast members and past versions of themselves.

  49. anaphysik says:

    Ehhh, excepting handhelds, backwards compatibility doesn’t really seem like an issue of “oh man, I can’t play my old games anymore.” I don’t know about other people, but *I* keep all my old consoles (or would, were I to actually have any current console ;P ). If I want to play one of my N64 games, I just load it into my N64, and if I want to play one of my Gamecube games, I just load it into my Gamecube. Because space is not really an issue for consoles – they’re just all sitting next to/on top of each other near the TV :/ (NES sitting on PS2, Gamecube sitting on DVD player. And the N64 could be sitting on the NES, but I’ve got it to the side right now.)

    It’s a bigger concern for handhelds, because carrying around more than one is a pain. (Of course, carrying around a bunch of cartridges/etc. is kind of a pain anyway ;P. Also, to be honest, most of my handheld play gets done on my butt in my apartment /anyway/, so….)

    To me, backwards compatibility is much more of issue of “oh man, /future/ players won’t be able to play these old games anymore.” Emulation is, I guess, probably the best solution nowadays. It’s unfortunate that the best option is the “shadiest,” but hey, it /is/ currently the best option, and that’s more important :/

    1. newdarkcloud says:

      I still have my fully functional PS1 and PS2.

    2. SomePunk says:

      there is those all in one consoles that allow you to play a bunch of older consoles on one machine.

    3. Lame Duck says:

      Things are going to get pretty bad for the Xbox 360 though.

    4. SougoXIII says:

      Yeah, I’m not too worry about not being able to play old games in the future either because if there’s an old game worth playing, you know there will someone making some sort of emulation for it somewhere.

    5. Zukhramm says:

      I wish I had the space for that, but I don’t. Sure, once I’m rich I’ll buy a massive castle with room for anything, but until then keeping everything is not an option.

    6. Thomas says:

      My Ps2 kicked the bucket. Also those poor gameboy games are probably already unsalvageable, the memory on my Pokemon cartridges ran out years ago. (Though I guess you could probably replace the batteries with enough skill?)

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        If you were determined enough, I am almost certain you could find a place in your area that fixes PS2s at a reasonable price.

    7. Josh says:

      But Glitch has my N64!

      1. anaphysik says:

        I actually own TWO N64s <_<. And my brother and I BOTH own GameCubes.

    8. Klay F. says:

      If you are so lucky that your consoles NEVER break or malfunction, then I truly envy you. I honestly have trouble believing ANYONE still has a functional PS1 that doesn’t destroy your discs. Also, if one of my old consoles ever breaks, then I’m pretty much shit out of luck, unless I feel like taking up console manufacturing as a hobby.

      1. Daimbert says:

        I bought new and used PS2 consoles to try to avoid that. Of course, I did that INSTEAD of buying the new PS3 console, which can’t be what Sony wanted when they removed backwards compatibility from the PS3.

        I also bought a Wii instead of a PS3. Turns out that once I bought the PS3 — mostly for the BluRay player — I played it a lot more than the Wii … but I bought it probably a year or so later than the Wii, and after another price drop. Again, probably not what Sony wanted.

      2. anaphysik says:

        Well, my breakage-free record is somewhat helped by the fact that I’ve never owned a 360 ;D

  50. Theminimanx says:

    Hearing you talk about the sense of wonder you had watching Star Wars and playing Mass Effect, I feel really sad I started with the prequels because of my age (I’m only sixteen and I watched the films in chronological order). I love Star Wars, but I never had this sense of wonder watching Star Wars when I was nine, even though I did while playing the original Mass Effect less than two years ago.
    I’m starting to kinda resent my uncle for sending me a copy of episode 1. If I ever have kids, I have to make sure not to make the same mistake.

    1. Cuthalion says:

      I would guess this is more due to probably already being used to the idea of space battles and better special effects than the story (especially if 9 years old). I’m not sure how you’d get a greater sense of wonder out of watching in release order instead of chronological. I watched in release order as a kid, but don’t think I was really wowed until Episode I came out, though I will say there was an elegance to the originals in terms of plot and character (and definitely more likeable characters for the most part) that the prequels lack. But in terms of awe, I actually don’t recall getting that until I watched Episode I as an… 11-year-old?

      1. Theminimanx says:

        Why would I get a greater sense of wonder out of the originals? Simple. The original films were better, and weren’t filled to the brim with political nonsense and awkward romance.

  51. Jace911 says:

    I would contest Chris’ assertion that Clone Wars is a kid-friendly show, because that friggin’ show does not know what it wants to be. Sometimes it’s light-hearted, sometimes it tries to be dark, and it comes off as really schizophrenic and disjointed. I remember watching an episode where R2 and 3PO wander around in an Alice in Wonderland-esque story, then in the same season I saw a three-parter story where Anakin and Ahsoka lead a raid on a maximum security prison to rescue a grouchy Russian Jedi and Tarkin, the former of which literally gets his throat ripped out by guard dogs.

    Also a clone trooper gets cut in half by a bulkhead off-screen and you hear his death scream.

    1. Zukhramm says:

      Yeah that, and it’s needlessly unchronological, not in an interesting way but just seemingly completely at random.

      Still, much better than the prequels.

  52. Knoster says:

    I would certainly be interested in more of these.

  53. Geoff says:

    Not the classic safe bet… but I would be totally stoked to see a Star Wars film directed by Clint Eastwood. ;)

  54. Kavonde says:

    I listened to the podcast on my drive to and from class today, and I greatly enjoyed it. I look forward to the next one!

    That said, the Star Wars discussion took a few turns that irked me. I think the setting’s actually got some great potential for a noir-style story. A lone detective/bounty hunter, seeking the truth behind a mystery in the gritty depths of the galaxy’s greatest city, stepping on the toes and interfering in the games of the great and powerful? Especially when those great and powerful can potentially strangle you through a video monitor? It’s the same kind of vibe The Dresden Files have; Harry’s a wizard and a fairly badass dude, but the things he routinely goes up against can stomp him into the mud without much effort. Likewise, a Star Wars bounty hunter might be pretty cool, but he’s still not going to piss off Darth Vader if he can help it. (Plus, it could finally give the Stormtroopers a chance to act like the “elite soldiers of the Empire” they’re supposed to be. Jedi can tear through them with ease; can some dude with a jetpack say the same?)

    I’m not saying that 1313 will be great, I’m just saying that there’s a lot more potential there than you guys gave it credit for.

    Also, I almost swerved off the road when Chris called The Clone Wars series “cute and cuddly.” Dude. Dude. No. I can’t say this strongly enough. It is a seriously good show, occasionally veering into absolutely fantastic, particularly when the episodes deal primarily with the clone troopers. It deftly deals with what it means to be both a disposable, identical clone and a unique individual, and some of these episodes (say, “Rookies” from season one) play more like a good Band of Brothers-style war movie than Star Wars. It’s a damn good show, and it’s largely why I have faith in both 1313 and the whole idea of standalone Star Wars movies in general–this universe really can support a lot of genres, and can do them very well, in the right hands.

    Y’know, the fact that no one corrected Chris on his statement indicates that none of you have seen the show. If you need a geek who specializes in Western animation, well, I’ve got a microphone and a radio-friendly voice. Happy to help. Cough.

    1. Jace911 says:

      It does have some pretty good moments, but I keep getting turned off by its much more numerous terrible ones: Cad Bane, Padme, Satine, Gungans, Grievous, Darth Maul, etc etc fierfeking etc. Every season I start watching it again hoping that it’s gotten better and every season, with one or two exceptions, I’m disappointed.

      1. stratigo says:

        Dath Maul was a genius move. He’s a bad guy you can actually do something with. Albeit he sounds far to effeminate.

        Also, I shit you not, mecha maul has been in SW canon for yeeeeears.

        1. Jace911 says:

          Well technically mecha Maul was from a non-canon spinoff comic, but yes, I was aware of him before TCW.

          My main problem with him is his voice actor; he sounds like a teenager machinima actor who’s trying to come off as dark and scary but has to voice all of his lines quietly so his parents in the next room won’t hear him. It’s grating and painful to listen to and that completely turns me off from his character, or what little there is.

      2. Kavonde says:

        Wow, what’s wrong with Satine? I like her as a character, and I love that her relationship with Obi-Wan sort of parallels Anakin and Padme, except that Obi-Wan, being the ultimate exemplar of Lawful Good, chose the Order over her. It’s a brilliant addition that humanizes Ben and further defines both the similarities and differences between he and Annie.

        I also think Padme’s great in the show, think Cad Bane is ridiculously cool, and even think they’ve managed to rehabilitate Jar Jar somewhat. So I suspect we’re not going to find a lot of common ground in this discussion.

        1. Jace911 says:

          What’s wrong with her is she’s an annoying and short-sighted idiot.

          Example: you are on a space liner heading for Coruscant when it is hijacked by violent terrorists. Several hundred people are aboard but your Jedi ex-boyfriend and his former Padawan manage to corner the main bad guy, who threatens to blow the ship up in order to drive a wedge between you, a pacifistic leader, and the Jedi, who is now forced to choose between killing him or endangering the lives of hundreds of people.

          The only sane option would be to shout “shank his bitch ass, Kenobi”. What does Satine do? Stare longingly into Obi-Wan’s eyes, as if to say “no, you’re better than this!” Better than what? Saving lives by killing evil men? Oh, and let’s not forget how when Anakin does the right thing and stabs Vizla in the back everyone gives him this mildly disturbed look, as though condemning him for the way he just saved a star liner full of people. Ugh.

          And don’t get me started on Padme, every time she shows up in an episode I want to rip out my own femur and beat her to death with it.

    2. Shamus says:

      To be fair, I totally believe that 1313 could be great. The only reason I was uneasy is because “We want to make it gritty and edgy” is all too often the impulse of tone-deaf hacks. It’s not that grittyness is bad, it’s that a lot of attempts at grittyness are bad.

      In a game, I’d much rather play a smuggler or bounty hunter instead of a Jedi. It’s fun to WATCH a Skywalker, but it’s fun to BE Solo.

      1. Jace911 says:

        Then tell me your next two wishes, because this one has already been granted!

        Ignore the average reviews, it was an awesome game back in its day. I spent about half of fifth grade twirling blasters and zipping around on a tongue of fire. I think you can get a new copy for the PS2 pretty cheap on Amazon.

      2. aldowyn says:

        I still don’t think TOR deserves as bad a rep as it gets… Being a bounty hunter is seriously fun.

        Assuming you don’t fundamentally hate the WoW model, which you might. TOR didn’t even PRETEND to be not-like-WOW though.

        1. Muspel says:

          TOR wasn’t a bad game, it was a bad MMO. It was fun, but if you’re making a subscription-based game, the primary draw cannot be setting and story, because those are both finite. You need endgame or some other kind of replay value.

          A lot of people got TOR, played it, then stopped playing it when they finished/got bored with the storyline.

      3. X2-Eliah says:

        I’d be a lot more confident of 1313 if their design motto and underlying philosophy was not “hard and gritty and dark”, but “sleek and stylish and noirlike”. Because usually the devs that go for the latter have things figured out to a much greater depth than devs that go for the former.

        Ideally, I’d just want dx:hr in the star wars setting.

  55. anaphysik says:

    The best Star Wars game is Episode 1: Racer, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

    Anyway, I haven’t heard of this 1313 thing whatever (though I’ll note that google’s autocomplete DOES point “1313” to “1313 mockingbird lane” ^_^), but I will note that there was already a Star Wars bounty hunter game – namely, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter :P. Anyway, that game was alright.

    1. Jace911 says:

      I think you mean that game was fantabulous and it’s a crime against humanity that there was never a sequel.

      1. StashAugustine says:

        So was it a good game? I can’t tell if you’re recommending it.

        1. Jace911 says:

          Yes, it was a fantastic game.

      2. Bubble181 says:

        Agreed. Not the deepest or whatever, but Ep1 Racer was just plain *fun*. It’s a shame it doesn’t work on anything after XP.

    2. Gruhunchously says:

      Episode 1; Racer was fan-flippin’-tastic fun, and pretty gorgeous for it’s time.

      Also, for whatever reason, I keep remembering that ‘1313’ was the address of Maggie Chow’s apartment in Deus Ex. So yeah…

      1. anaphysik says:

        1313 Tonnochi Road

        1. Gruhunchously says:

          When I heard the address, my first instinct was ‘Huh, she lives at 13-13? She must be evil! This is such artificial foreshadowing; why would anyone live at an address that has 2 13s in it if they weren’t obviously evil?’ But it’s funny, because the number 13 is unlucky in Western culture but lucky in Chinese culture.

          1. anaphysik says:

            Aha! So you out yourself as a racist bastard onto whom we should wish many 4s!

            1. Gruhunchously says:

              Exactly.

  56. ACman says:

    I also boo this new dark gritty Star Wars.

    Where is my Space Trading and combat game where I can win the Falcon in a game of cards in a scuzzy space-bar?

    Where is my “world of tanks” style free-to-play version of X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter?

  57. Wraith says:

    The Star Wars Expanded Universe has been in decline for a very long time. I only ever read a few of the novels. For me, it was finally broken after the ludicrous bullshit that was The Force Unleashed. I can’t fathom why the people who control Star Wars feel the urge to constantly escalate what the force can do. Apparently some random dude never heard of before (WHO BY THE WAY FOUNDED THE REBELLION TROLOLOLOLOL) is exponentially more powerful than both the Chosen One and his son (repeatedly stated to be the most powerful Force User ever) combined. Then there’s The Old Republic, which ruined Revan forever by making him a raid boss and creating an entirely new “Great War” never ever mentioned before in canon. Yeah, I know that you can’t allude to an event in the expanded universe’s history in past works in the EU if that event hasn’t been created yet. But it’s more of what I’m talking about – escalation. First it was the Clone Wars that were massive and terrible and galaxy-spanning. Then the Great Sith War where the Sith got almost completely wiped out. Then the Jedi Civil War and the Mandalorian Wars. Now the Great War. Just stop already. So now I have a very specific list of what I consider Star Wars “canon”:

    The Original Trilogy of Movies
    The Thrawn Trilogy of Books
    Star Wars: KOTOR and KOTOR II
    Star Wars: Republic Commando

    Nope, the prequels didn’t happen. I don’t know what you’re talking about. So what is that means Star Wars Republic Commando has absolutely no context for its events? LALALALALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU LALALALALALA

    1. StashAugustine says:

      I’d make a few case-by-case exceptions, but yeah, pretty much.

    2. Jace911 says:

      I would also add the Thrawn duology as a legitimate “ending” to the saga as a whole, as it wraps a lot of things rather nicely.

      There’s also James Luceno’s “Labyrinth of Evil” and Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith novelization, which is so much better than the movie it’s not even funny. He single-handedly fixes every single problem with that film and actually manages to turn it into a tragic story rather than a Michael Bay-esque space romp with wooden acting and rotten lines.

      1. StashAugustine says:

        Everything dies. Even stars burn out.

        I also liked Shatterpoint (Heart of Darkness with Mace Windu) and the other Zahn novels (Allegiance, Outbound Flight, Survivor’s Quest, havent read his two new ones) but none of them really add to the plot.

      2. Chuck says:

        I second Stover and also add that I liked the Legacy comic book series, but that only really works if you like comic books.

    3. bloodsquirrel says:

      I’d find it harder to believe if there weren’t any major wars in the thousands of years of history in the Star Wars universe. That’s a long, long time and there’s nothing stated in the OT to imply that they were 100% dull and peaceful. We’ve managed two world wars in one century here on Earth.

      The escalation is a problem, though, and it’s not just with the force. The sad truth is that some of the EU writers (particularly the people writing some of the tech manuals) felt the need to show that Star War’s dick was bigger than other Sci-fi series’ dicks, and so we get stuff about an Imperial walker having kilotons of firepower, despite now showing a thousandth of that in Empire Stikes Back.

      1. StashAugustine says:

        Zahn’s Hand of Thrawn series is magnificent about this- it spends half its time trying to retcon the more ridiculous OP stuff from other books. Mara comes out and says that if you’re using the force to throw Star Destroyers around, you’re doing it wrong- it’s supposed to be there for guidance, not power.

  58. milos says:

    I enjoyed it very much. It’s great that for a lot of the discussion you had people arguing for both sides. And we finally have a sort of Spoiler Warning iteration that won’t leave me feeling like I’m missing something if I’m tabbed out doing my own different thing.

    Also the porn music intro/outro was excellent.

    I would definitely enjoy more of these.

  59. somebodys_kid says:

    I will pretty much consume any sort of content that you create, Shamus. Are action figures next?

    1. anaphysik says:

      Or, more appropriately given your word choice, a TwentySided-brand breakfast cereal?

      1. Jace911 says:

        I just imagined Josh as Reginald Cuftbert eating a stack of Brahmin Steaks and then accidentally cramming an action figure of himself down his gullet.

        1. somebodys_kid says:

          If I send in enough “proof of purcahses” from the cereal boxes, will they send me a blood stained bonnet?

          1. Jace911 says:

            That’s what it says on the box, but I got a live grenade.

            Score, right?

            1. Indy says:

              Mine was defective. It didn’t come with a pin.

              1. anaphysik says:

                Both of you are confusing the Reggiebert-figure-with-real-bunnyhopping-action!-containing cereal with the TwentySided-brand pants you bought.

  60. Astrolounge says:

    A very enjoyable podcast, I would love for you guys to make more of them.

  61. Gothmog says:

    Before finishing reading this post, I had already taken out my phone and searched ‘Diecast’ on my podcast reader of choice (Doggcatcher on myGalaxy S3, if you must know), and was sorely dissapointed when I got 0 hits.
    After a closer look- I see this is a test-thing.
    WELL, I’M INTERESTED. GET TO PODCASTIN’.

    Sorry. Don’t know what came over me there.

    Ahem… looking forward to a regular podcast, guys! *downloads podcast onto phone*

  62. TouToTheHouYo says:

    Having listened to the first episode in full, I suggest a one off “Campster Cast” wherein Chris tries desperately to speak and/or make a point in vain as he’s constantly and callously interrupted by Josh.

    And Rutskarn.

    And occasionally Shamus.

    So, pretty much, business as usual, but damn it man! Let him speak!

    Not like he as any other outlet to express his opinions.

    1. Rutskarn says:

      This would of course be shortened to, “Campster Van.”

  63. Hydralysk says:

    Loved listening to it, hope you make more.

  64. Nalyd says:

    My god, this was wonderful.

  65. Aaron says:

    this was great, normally i just listen to an old episode of spoiler warning while gaming but now i can be entertained while being entertained….yo.

    and you guys really covered a lot of ground…the main thing that gets me is the rumors of no bc on consoles since that is one of the main ways i feel i get the most out of a console and ensures i will not be left trying to find the cords and parts of an older console out of boredom.

  66. Bryan says:

    Hey now! I have a joystick here!

    …Of course, it’s not plugged in, and I’ve only ever gotten it to work for about ten seconds before the flightsim I was trying to use crashed under wine, but … well, OK, good point. :-/

    1. StashAugustine says:

      I have a joystick, it just doesn’t work with Freespace unless I get a mod which I haven’t gotten around to getting yet.

      1. aldowyn says:

        I just have a classic Logitech Attack 3 that I used for FS2 yeaaars ago, and the thing still works. It’s pretty basic, but I don’t need EVERY thing on a joystick. But yeah, I even brought it to my dorm.

        The only reason no one has joysticks is because the space sim genre ‘died out’, is what I’m saying.

  67. Lanthanide says:

    Hopefully you read this Shamus:

    I’m not particularly interested in some of the topics you’ve covered, so I don’t want to spend time listening to all of it. But unlike an article, I can’t just easily skip the parts I don’t like until I get to the part I want to read.

    If you do more podcasts in the future, please write down the timestamps where each new topic starts, so people can skip just to those parts. This is also useful if someone wants to re-listen to a particular segment or only has time to listen to part of the podcast in one sitting.

  68. Deadyawn says:

    This was pretty good. I’d tune in for more if you made them.

    Also, I actually played through the entirety of Kotor 2 with the restored content mod. It’s pretty good. I mean, its still as broken and unbalanced as it was before but it fills some gaps in and is generally a positive addition. I do quite like that game, shame it got cut up the way it did.

    1. Jace911 says:

      What exactly does the new ending add on? I could never get KOTOR 1 or 2 to work on my computer no matter what fixes I tried (Even the Steam versions just go “lol nope” after I install them) so I was never able to try out that mod and I sorely wanted to.

      1. Thomas says:

        There are some more showdowns between certain crew members and they reinstalled an ‘activate the mass-shadow generator’ thing. I don’t know if they added more to the end since then. It’s a really good job, particularly readding the HK factory, which is incredibly funny and it patches up all the little details. The only thing I disagree with, is they change one particularly big plotline, which may have been cut just because it didn’t fit with the lore very well (genohardan)

        What operating system do you have? I think there might have been a few tweaks to the ini necessary for newer ones

        1. Jace911 says:

          Windows 7 Home Premium, which as I understand it hates KOTOR’s guts for some reason or vice versa.

          1. Thomas says:

            Thats what I had but I did manage to get it running.

            I supposs you tried these things?
            http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620666

            I don~t think that was what I did, but I can’t find it again. :( It’s the real downside to computers (although I guess in console terms,this would be tracking down a PS2)

  69. Karthik says:

    What I’d like to know is, given that the biggest peeve with Far Cry 2 was mooks respawning at checkpoints, why isn’t there a mod that tweaks the respawn time to something less painful? (Ditto with the gun jamming frequency.) It’s not the game being hostile towards me that keeps me from playing FC2, it’s just how hostile it is. You’d think a mod that tweaks a variable somewhere (in memory via a trainer if it’s hardcoded) would solve most problems people have with that game.

    1. Klay F. says:

      From what I can gather from dev interviews and the like. The respawning enemies were a consequence of their engine. The world was composed of “cells”, the only problem was that whatever cell you were in, the engine never tracked changes you’ve made to adjacent cells…ever. As soon as you entered a new cell, the engine cleared literally everything (except for the diamonds) you had done from memory. As far as I am aware, fixing this problem (yes it IS a problem, the game can shove its themes up its ass), would require a rewrite of the engine, which is apparently something modders cannot do.

      It was such a stupid design oversight, it kind of boggles my mind to this day how nobody spotted this early enough to be fixed. Hell, if they had just made the enemies respawn in the style of a Gamebryo game (say, all cleared checkpoints get re-manned every three in-game days) it would have been immeasurably better.

      1. Paul Spooner says:

        It’s easy enough to miss this kind of stuff if there’s a “keep your head down and get back to work” attitude. When people are not talking to each other or collaborating, even if several people notice the problem no one will do anything about it.
        Not sure that’s what happened here, but it’s all too often the case in creative endeavors of all kinds.

        1. Lanthanide says:

          Yes, but, all they had to do was have real people play-test it. Valve are an example of perhaps over-play testing their games, but it points out these obvious problems rather quickly.

          1. Klay F. says:

            It’s possible nobody play-tested the game until it was in beta, or late-alpha, at this point rewriting anything to do with the engine takes exponentially more time. If this was the case, they probably spotted the issue, tracked down the cause, and upon discovering the fault lied in the engine, immediately disregarded it, since it wasn’t game-breaking.

  70. Ysen says:

    You know, there’s been a lot of talk about how you don’t really own games you buy on Steam and other digital download services, but with the console cycle being what it is it strikes me that you may end up having access to your Steam games for longer than your old console discs/cartridges.

  71. TheMich88 says:

    I enjoyed this podcast very much and approve on you making more!

  72. RTBones says:

    Enjoyed this. Would be happy to listen to more. A couple of suggestions –

    :: In your topic list, include a time-stamp of where discussion topics start. This way, if your listeners aren’t bothered about some topics, they can jump directly to the ‘good parts’.

    :: Outtakes, sort of. Given that you record Spoiler Warning, it might be interesting (and/or more likely funny as hell) to listen to you all as you set up to record SW. As an added bonus, keep the tape recording after your session, for those ‘post-recording’ comments and commentary. You may think its all drivel – I suspect we will be laughing our keyboards off.

    As to some of the topics? Hmm – me, I am mostly playing Skyrim at the minute, with forays into Minecraft (vanilla for me), and soon to be Dishonoured as I play along with the next season of Spoiler Warning.

    Havent played Far Cry 3, so I dont feel qualified to comment.

    Consoles…I can say, I own a PS3. I can also say, it is largely NOT used for gaming. I enjoyed the Uncharted series (I got it when Uncharted 3 came out, then got a bargin on the first two titles in the series), I did enjoy Heavy Rain (which I found for $5 in a bargin bin), but largely, this gadget gets used for the BBC iPlayer and as a BlueRay disc player. If I am going to game, it will be on the PC.

    Directors for Star Wars, the Disney version? Ridley Scott comes to mind, as does Duncan Jones (director of Source Code).

    Oh, and I still own a joystick (of the Microsoft Sidewinder variety), but only use it any more if I decide to go back and play some Mechwarrior, which I do on occasion.

  73. Wulfgar says:

    full of awesome
    but i have the that feeling like topics didn’t end. you just stop talking in middle and jump to other topic.

  74. PhotoRob says:

    Yay. Another thing with people talking about nothing which we can barely understand anyway. Its just like spoiler warning except without the crappy gameplay video. I guess we’ll never see writing here again.

  75. As with the cacophony of voices above, I am certainly interested in more podcasts (maybe as a regular thing, with their own RSS feed for easy automatic downloading to music playing devices).

  76. Artur CalDazar says:

    Joy, I’ll save this and listen to it on my player when I ride the train to uni.

  77. Kevin says:

    If you guys continue to make these, I will continue to listen. Thanks.

  78. Starkos says:

    I’m definitely interested in current and future Diecast trends. I love feeling like I’m hanging out with you guys.

  79. Harry says:

    Excellent. More of this, please.

  80. Museli says:

    That was a highly enjoyable hour – if this happens again, I shall definitely listen.

  81. StashAugustine says:

    I just wanna say, as the son of a materials engineer focusing on metallurgy, I approve of the pun.

  82. Thumbs up on the new Diecast guys.

  83. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Not bad,but I sense a disturbing lack of cowbell.

  84. Mailbox says:

    Yeah! Tekkit! I love playing that too. So much to craft.

  85. Mike says:

    You guys are great team, and listening to your opinion is really rewarding and insightful for me, being also one of the best parts of Spoiler Warning (other important one being Josh’s playing style with wacky situations and discussions it inevitably creates, but that’s just off the top of my head, doesn’t do subject justice).

    On many occasions I though that it’d be great if you weren’t limiting yourselves (though I acknowledge that it’s fairly relaxed limitation here) to discussing the game played, but went off-track with genuinely interesting stories and discussions you’re having (and interested in the subjects, hence running off-track, and them inevitably ending up not forced and thus really great).

    Podcast seem to allow just for that, I really hope you enjoy (and have time to do-) it enough yourselves to continue.
    You’re definitely got +1 listener/fan here ;)

    Thanks!

  86. Mike says:

    You guys are great team, and listening to your opinion is really rewarding and insightful for me, being also one of the best parts of Spoiler Warning (other important one being Josh’s playing style with wacky situations and discussions it inevitably creates, but that’s just off the top of my head, doesn’t do subject justice).

    On many occasions I though that it’d be great if you weren’t limiting yourselves (though I acknowledge that it’s fairly relaxed limitation here) to discussing the game played, but went off-track with genuinely interesting stories and discussions you’re having (and interested in the subjects, hence running off-track, and them inevitably ending up not forced and thus really great).

    Podcast seem to allow just for that, I really hope you enjoy (and have time to do-) it enough yourselves to continue.
    You’ve definitely got +1 listener/fan here ;)

    Thanks!

    1. Mike says:

      Oops, sorry, I thought it’s my ISP link that hanged when posting the previous one (and it didn’t seem to appear at the time of re-posting either).

  87. Smejki says:

    I definitely want your podcast, guys.

  88. BeamSplashX says:

    Well, this sucked. NOW MAKE MORE.

    Non-facetiously, I did want it to keep going. You guys are podcast dynamite.

  89. Tomas says:

    Finally had the time to listen to it and it was great! More of this please. Very interesting thoughts from Rutskarn and Chris on Farcry.

  90. somebodys_kid says:

    Excellent work lads.
    However, far too often you all have the bad habit of mumbling at the end of your sentences resulting in road noise (I listen in my car) drowning out whatever it is you were trying to say. If you could minimize the mumbling, and instead maintain the confident audible statements you usually make, that would be wonderful. Also Chris’s mic seems to be a bit quieter than the rest of them.
    I eagerly await the next one.

  91. Tony Kebell says:

    Woohooo Tekken joke! I got that! Mishima Zibatsu! (Team Heihachi! Woo!)

  92. Tony Kebell says:

    @18:00: Exactly why I now have an Xbox. They didn’t explain the availability of backwards compatibility stuff. So I sold all my stuff, like an idiot…now got an Xbox, miss my old games.

  93. jesus says:

    Podcast is great, unlike a lot of others you guys stay on topic and talk about games a lot. Intro and outro music is kind of lame, sorry if any of you guys made it.

  94. Artur CalDazar says:

    I listened to the podcast on the way to uni today. It was great, made the normally boring ride interesting, and provided some discussion for me and the friend I commute with.

    Solid work.

  95. The Schwarz says:

    Great podcast! I love listening to you guys ramble. Please do more of this. (Also a bit more rambling in the games-you’re-currently-playing part would be nice)

    That said, I’d like to offer some constructive criticism, as someone who has > 2 years of experience in recording and editing podcasts:

    1. Sentences tend to get cut before their end quite frequently. I’ve noticed this in Spoiler Warning as well, but here where it’s only audio it’s much more noticeable and weird. It’s much, much better to have a bit of background noise at the end of every sentence, if that’s the alternative.

    2. WAY too much awkward silence. You should cut these parts out.

    3. Also maybe cut the awkward not-silence parts? You know, the parts where no one actually *says* anything, but everyone’s sort of mumbling or saying unclear, unimportant things?

    Please keep on doing this, looks like it’s gonna be a lot of fun!

  96. Cuthalion says:

    SQUEEEEE!

    *downloads for work tonight*
    (nightshift janitorial is greatly enhanced by podcastery)

    I was hoping you’d eventually do this.

    1. Cuthalion says:

      Just listened to it a couple hours ago. Fun stuff. I would listen to more, and I really hope you make more!

      Do something about the cut-off sentences though, please.

  97. Cuthalion says:

    I just noticed that I don’t see any share buttons. Maybe I’m missing them? Fortunately, I know how to copy-paste a url.

  98. deiseach says:

    Tie Fighter is the best game ever. And it surprised me, given your discussion earlier about backward compatibility in consoles, that none of you picked up on the fact that the definitive version of Tie Fighter, the Collector’s CD edition, has been pretty much impossible to play ever since Windows 95. And no, DOSBox doesn’t cut the mustard. Who cares if the early adopters of the PS4 can only play Ridge Racer XXIII. MY CHILDREN WILL NEVER PLAY TIE FIGHTER THE WAY IT IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED! It’s a thought that depresses me to an alarming degree.

    More podcasts please.

  99. Tuskin says:

    Clone Wars CG Series had some Dark and gritty Episodes.

  100. Tuskin says:

    There needs to be an Edit Button.

    But seriously, Clone Wars is no longer the cute and cuddly cartoon it was in the movie and first season or 2.

    Its got dark, it is dark. Its violent, well as violent as any of the movies have been. You’ve seen people impaled on spikes on screen, someone was decapitated. I don’t think it is as kid friendly as people think it is.

    Edit: there is an edit button, it just didn’t show up on my last post for somereason.

  101. BitFever says:

    The entire time watching the trailer for star wars 1313 I felt like I was just watching uncharted in space. It felt a lil silly to be honest.

    Josh’s friends are right Republic commando is the best star wars game. It was a bit like rainbow 6 in star wars. Although it was dark I think that’s fitting given its setting in a massive horrible long bloody war.

    Star wars battle front 2 is also great. I loved how its narrative humanizes the nameless mooks that are the clones and makes us care about there struggles.

  102. I think people are going to have to admit eventually that all of star wars is overrated. I really don’t see a drop in quality from 1970s/1980s star wars and 1990s/2000s star wars. They’re both awful, Red letter media just decided to make a documentary about the latter 3. When we look at the older star wars, we really just are wearing beer nostalgia goggles.

  103. NBSRDan says:

    Based on your voices, I feel like Chris and Rutskarn should switch names.

  104. bobbert says:

    I would really like a Munsters video game.

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