I haven’t gotten there yet. I just started listening to the most recent Weekend Confirmed episode this morning. When I heard that Andrea Rene’ was on, I groaned. When they spent 20 minutes dicking around with unfunny banter, I was displeased. When Garnett repeatedly called the town in Diablo “Tristan” after having proclaimed himself a huge Diablo fan, I had to smirk.
In his defense, there’s a special place in hell for people that put rs after two ts in a row.
I’ve been listening to the 1UP Yours podcast recaps on This Year, and, man, Garnett Lee gets on my damn nerves. Also, Shane Bettenhausen was kind of a dick.
Well, I’d be curious as to your thoughts once you get towards the end. I didn’t finish it, and between this and not really enjoying WC for several months now, I may take a break from it for awhile.
Yeah, Garnett’s hissy fit was really embarrassing. You could tell the other people on the podcast were annoyed because they actually wanted to, you know, DISCUSS the issue. Tease apart who this affects, how to deal with it, and why Blizzard was doing it. This is the area where WC really seems to fall short: Garnett seems more interested in arguing and defending a pre-established position than discussing things. It’s endemic to almost every exchange they have and it ruins whatever chemistry that might otherwise develop.
And his claim that wasn’t going to buy it or play it was just childish at best. He will, I hope, get called on it as soon as he starts talking about playing it.
Between games discussion I’ve already heard elsewhere, the annoying musical breaks, and “debate” topics that I don’t really care about, I probably scrub through at least half of WC at this point. The news is usually the only section I listen to beginning to end.
Still haven’t gotten to the Diablo hissy fit, but I did hear most of the Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet discussion. Garnett didn’t seem that interested until Cannata compared it to Pixel Junk Shooter and then Garnett was in full Pixel Junk defense mode. Not that Cannata was saying anything against Shooter, just that he preferred ITSP’s structure. Is it just me, or is everything Garnett says about Pixel Junk games extremely suspect? He seems a little too close to the Q Games guys to really be objective, at least in my opinion.
Andrea Rene had been thankfully quiet up to this point. And then she starting bleating about how she was confused by ITSP having never played a Metroid/SotN type game. That’s totally fine, though I have no idea how she somehow missed Shadow Complex, but then she said she wants to be told explicitly by the game how to deal with each and every situation. She’s just awful. I cannot stand her.
I got through the Diablo discussion on WC this morning. Garnett’s reaction is best termed a hissy fit, but in his defense, he realized that he had gone overboard and seemed genuinely embarrassed about it. I still don’t understand what his problem is outside of some paternalistic need to protect people from themselves. That is, it sound like he didn’t expect the cash money auction house to affect him directly, but was more worried about “weak” people giving in to the temptation to buy phat loots as opposed to working to find stuff themselves.
It’s a false premise anyway, since you still have to put in the time to be the requisit level to even equip those “phat lootz”. All it really shortcuts is the arbitrary need to farm drops, and I’m not sure why we need to protect that experience.
Garnett found no support for his position amongst the other WC participants, that’s for sure. They all pointed out that the player still needs to fulfill the use requirements for a particular item, so it’s not as if someone can come in and buy the best stuff right away. Not that it would affect me one iota even if someone could do that. I really don’t know what Garnett was raging about.
My only concern (and I realize now I’m typing this it belongs in the Diablo thread) is if I pick up a grazy great unique/rare item that I know I could get, say $20 for… if I keep it is that the same as spending $20 for it? I’d feel really guilty keeping an item I know I could get a lot of cash for, and I do NOT want that feeling when playing a game like Diablo. So I can see some of Garnett’s concern, but it’s not his argument I take umbrage with - it’s his fucking TANTRUM. Grow up, Garnett. Seriously. Embarrasing.
For myself, if the item I picked up will help me, I’m keeping it. If it’s the sort of thing I can’t use, I’ll put it in the AH. I want to use the in-game currency AH as opposed to the real world currency, but if the in-game AH is as ghettoized as everyone fears, I might have to use the real world currency AH. I’m just not very interested in trying to make money by selling rare drops. I have low expectations as to the prices folks will be willing to pay though. If someone really wants to pay $20 for something I have and can’t use, I’ll certainly take it. I just don’t really expect anyone to pay $20 for something.
The opening bit in the bombcast had me rolling! That was pretty awesome.
It kind of depressed me a little. The chances were one in thirty six, guy. That’s not unheard of. You should have put a choice in there, like go again OR or shove the microphone down your pants OR or chug a beer OR. So I guess I’m not just crazy - I’m also a massive nerd.
I totally wish they put out 2 separate podcasts. a 5 minute podcast would have been epic.
JM1
4275
The latest Jumping the Shark is pretty bad. Just a two man show - and neither Danielle nor Brandon know when a joke has reached its natural end - but the most disappointing thing is that they picked a genuinely interesting topic and then pretty much ignored it.
The topic was a suggestion to play the roles of a games company pitching a game idea to a second person who was to play the corporate role. This I thought was going to be something that looked into how you take a game idea and make it understandable for non-gamers, how commerical viability is a big deal these days, the problems with trying to stand out in a crowded market (and the issues with games that aren’t easily pigeonholed).
Instead we got “My First Games Design” where they ignored all this and just talked about game ideas they came up with. The corporate side of it was represented by “Cool and interesting!!!” and some game design suggestions (uh, no.).
A real shame because I think the topic could’ve been excellent but this was a dud. Still, in 80+ episodes there’s been very few poor ones and a 2-man show was always going to be tricky.
serling
4276
I was just wondering if I should bother finding time for this weeks podcast. Guess I’ll skip it.
I had the same thought, immediately followed by the certainty (as I was mowing the lawn while listening) that I’d have only noticed the one five minute cast and would have had to run into the house to see if they even DID a second podcast! The fact they played the end credits music all the way was pretty much good enough, as I laughed during the entire thing. ;)
Do avoid. They need to learn when they’ve got to call the show. One of the things I respect most in my favorite podcasts is a willingness to miss a week if you can’t get the right people together. Two person podcasts tend to be insipid, and listening to two people who don’t design games praise one another’s crappy design ideas is like nails on a chalkboard. I’ve got a reasonably high tolerance for things that annoy me (watched every episode of Flash Gordon), but I had to leave that one midway through.
Yeah, this JTS was a bummer. Today’s GWJ features the Legion of Substitute Heroes too, so it’s been an 0-for-2 week.
One of my favorite 'casts is a two man show actually, Midlife Gamer from England. Just two enthusiastic guys with some clever features putting out a long show every week and working through their homoerotic feelings for one another.
Hmm. I liked this week’s Jumping the Shark. Yeah, Brandon and Danielle didn’t bust each others ideas down like true corporate overlords, but I enjoyed listening to their pitches.
