It’s our E3 spectacular! We talk about the conferences, we talk about the games and we talk about the Wii U! Plus, with all of the recent controversy over violence in video games, as the industry finally gone too far? With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard Naik and Dylan “I still haven’t got the hang of this ending thing” Collins.
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Latest posts by Dylan Collins (see all)
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The best thing Cage ever did was the demo to Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy). The one where he appears “on set” and tells us what’s going to happen, Hitchcock style. That demo made me think we were about to see something really unique. God, it was promising like no demo ever before. He didn’t deliver with that or Heavy Rain, but both contained enough great ideas, good moments, and a sincere attempt to focus on connecting emotionally with players, that I enjoyed them greatly, and am eager to see what he does next. Despite the obvious and significant flaws. He also… Read more »
Great episode again. I think you guys are absolutely right about the Wii U. A tablet as a controller is the worst idea ever. Tablets and smartphones are succeeding DESPITE the touchscreen being lousy for gaming, not because of it. The success is in the ease of access, the price, and the huge and great non-gaming content. And the whole second screen pseudo-fad is just retarded. It. Will. Flop. How is moving your eyes/head and refocusing on a separate screen somehow better than just having a HUD on your main screen? This is so obviously a worse experience, as anyone… Read more »
I’d love to have the opinion on the cast on “what’s left of survival horror”, especially in RE6’s demo’s wake.
We’re doing a listener Q&A segement for episode 76. So post any questions and comments you’d like us to discuss here or email them to podcast at gamecritics dot com.
The happiness at a new podcast is only countered by the realisation that it’s the E3 episode…bleugh! Great job of making it entertaining, as usual, folks! I particularly enjoyed Richard’s sheer unrepentantness in the face of the Jaws/Robocop criticism. I don’t agree that Cage is a hack writer – the plot of Heavy Rain was bobbins after a certain point, but I don’t remember the writing being bad. In the absence of Thumbs Up Thumbs Down, I have a couple of Thumbs Ups – first to GCGOTY Dead Island, which I finally tried out after having my doubts, and it… Read more »
[quote=aHei]At last, I’m so happy Brad mentioned Dishonored because I’ve been waiting for this game for ages. The developers behind it also made Dark Messiah (currently 10 euro on Steam), which is worth trying for its freedom and cool ways to kill. [/quote] Agreed. Brad, I didn’t even notice that you mentioned Dishonored. It was my favorite game of E3, and I’m excited that it’s scheduled to release this October. I’ve heard and seen really good things about this game, and at this point I’m more excited about it than Bioshock Infinite. I think you are all too quick to… Read more »
[quote=Pedro]I don’t agree that Cage is a hack writer – the plot of Heavy Rain was bobbins after a certain point, but I don’t remember the writing being bad.[/quote] If by “after a certain point” you mean “after about 15 minutes”, then I wholeheartedly agree. It is bad writing if characters behave at subhuman levels of retardedness at almost every opportunity because the plot wouldn’t move forward otherwise. It would be quite painful to watch actually if it wasn’t so hilarious. But to be fair, I have not seen anything by Cage besides Heavy Rain – so maybe he can… Read more »
I found Richard and Brad’s distaste for having real people modeled in video games interesting. Does that also apply to the growing trend in movies as well, where that’s been done? I’m thinking Tintin, Polar Express, Scanner Darkly, Waking Life.. even Shark Tale kinda, although that was obviously done for comical effect.
[quote=aHei]I disagree with Chi that the way Lara is portrayed is some kind of fetichism, at least from what I saw from the videos. I think they were just going for a frailer, unexperienced, more human version of her. Even though I’m not sure they totally succeed at this, this is what I perceived from the demos.[/quote] For 2 E3s, I’ve seen variations of the trailer a bunch of times and content-wise it feels like over 50% of those trailers is Lara falling around while wailing and grunting the *whole* time. While I get that the actual gameplay demo won’t… Read more »
Outstanding episode as usual, good job to each of you. However, I was slightly disappointed there was such little time devoted to the violence section. But that’s just me not being that interested in the E3 conferences. I disagree with Chi that the way Lara is portrayed is some kind of fetichism, at least from what I saw from the videos. I think they were just going for a frailer, unexperienced, more human version of her. Even though I’m not sure they totally succeed at this, this is what I perceived from the demos. At last, I’m so happy Brad… Read more »
I’ll have to back Richard and say that David Cage is a terrible hack writer. I consider myself lucky that I found the Heavy Rain demo so aggravating to play control-wise that I didn’t bother to get the game and watched a Let’s Play instead. As it turned out, the story was even worse. And I agree that it’s more interesting or whatever than your average videogame story only in the sense that it’s really great to make fun of, but to me that’s not worth paying for. So, about his new brainchild, Beyond: Two Souls… all I can say… Read more »
I think you got a bit sidetracked with the Tomb Raider thing in the end, because that was hardly the worst offender that provoked Warren Spectors comments. And while I also was a bit wary of his motivation to speak out against violence while promoting for Disney, I do think he had a point. I feel that the whole stupid “Do videogames hurt our children” debate from the last few years made us avoid a serious discussion about violence. And if a room full of people gives deafening applause after watching a close-up of an exploding head, I think that… Read more »
Can’t download it for some reason.
1. Totally with Brad on Dishonored. This past year I finally went back to play Arx Fatalis and really enjoyed the otherworldlyness of it and its comfort out of the box. These devs are clearly committed to ideas, not simply flash. 2. After watching the Laura Crossroads trailer, I have a hard time understanding what the problem is. Tomb Raider is easily my surprise game of 2012. The violence has a realism and impact rarely seen (from what i can see so far), kind of reminding me of the shift film made in the 70’s towards ‘real’ depictions of violence.… Read more »