CO-OP’s move to a live format starts the podcast discussion this week. Erik’s waning interest has not been swayed by the new format, but Jon and I will be sticking around to see what the Area5 guys do with the show. Also, the return of Idle Thumbs is a great thing indeed.
X10 stuff kicks-off games this week with an unexplainable amount of time spent on Lost Planet 2. Erik spent some time with the Heavy Rain demo and sends me into an overly serious diatribe about how games approach telling stories. Jon is a couple hours into BioShock 2 and he is enjoying it and defends its existence. Oh, and no more Halo 2 multiplayer.
A quick section of already obsolete predictions about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 announcement is the only topic in tech this week and the show finishes with some fun at From Paris with Love and John Travolta’s expense.
Covered topics and games: CO-OP goes live, The Idle Thumbs Podcast, X10, Heavy Rain, BioShock 2, Windows Phone 7, From Paris with Love
Runtime – 34:09
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Seeing some of the Windows Phone 7 coverage, it's getting me more interested than I expected. I've really enjoyed my ZuneHD and think it has an amazing interface, so to see it on a phone is worth some excitement. Also, most of my smartphone experience has been on WIndows Mobile, so I'm more than happy to see that go away.
And since I'm thinking about the ZuneHD, I recently discovered one of its greatest features on accident. It will automatically download photos and a biography of almost every artists that you have on your device, so you can scroll over and review them at will. I don't care about the photos, but to have a band bio immediately on hand has turned out to be surprisingly useful when talking about music. Nerdy, but useful.
All I'll say is I don't believe anyone should pass judgment so heavily on a game that hasn't even been released yet
Wow, I don't quite know where to start, but there is a lot of cynicism in that post. I must assume that you are referring to my comments about story and the approach to story in games. I'm not going to go into it too much more here, but I feel like games can offer story in a way that no other medium can. Even if all stories that have been told in games have been "comparatively awful" up to this point (which I don't agree with), there is no doubt in my mind that the quality of storytelling will inevitably improve, just as it has in every other medium throughout history. Writers and directors who were working in the first few decades of their medium's existence could not be expected to produce the pinacle works in their respective fields either. Bottom line– nothing good comes from cynicism.
I wasn't referring to anyone in particular's comments.
I think Mass Effect 2 backs up your point Jonathan. The way the story in that game is told and plays out based on your decisions from the first game aswell as the ones you make in ME2 itself couldn't be done in another medium. It's doubly impressive that the story told is a bloody good and entertaining one.
I think the nature of games makes storytelling difficult and there are still alot of games that fall very short but these days the number of games that nail it is far higher. Storie in games, in my opinion, excell when they utilist the medium, meaning they let the player mold the story as they play. Sure there are plenty of games that buck that trend but I think the pinnacle are games like Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3 and games like them.
Heavy rain is going to be interesting concept at least, story aside its gonna be a different take. I mean one could say the same about ME2 story seeming lackluster especially for people who dislike space operas like me. Most of your post can apply to Mass Effect 2 story (MGS4,AC2, etc) about game stories sucking thats all Im saying. Keep an open mind and if u hate the gameplay thats fine its not for everybody.