Saturday, April 5th, 2008...10:01 pm
GameHounds Episode 12: Gerstmann’s Revenge
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We’re back on our regular podcasting schedule, which means we bring you Episode 12: Gerstmann’s Revenge on time and in classic GameHound form.
On this week’s episode, we rehash a few old topics, and some we’ve touched on before, and we clean up the last of the week’s gaming news, including:
- According to Rob Taylor, deputy editor of Xbox World 360 magazine and the first gaming writer who’s finished Grand Theft Auto IV, the game is not only as good as the hype, it’s better. Drooool.
- We’ve been linked by (I kid you not) IHeartMorganWebb.com. Of course we had to welcome them to the GameHounds fold and let them know that we still think power-jawed Mrs. Webb is a cum dumpster.
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be unleashed to retailers on September 16 in the US and September 19 in Europe, and with last-gen exclusives. Why are we so excited about this game? Because it looks so damn good. But we hate the idea of having to buy every iteration just to get all the exclusives.
- Playstation Home open beta promised to open “very soon,” according to Sony. Does that mean sometime before next GDC?
- Josh Larson, the “suit” who fired Jeff Gerstmann from GameSpot, has been shown the door. Who would you rather be: The editor who stood up for his principles and left a corrupt site or the asshat who corrupted the site and then couldn’t do well enough to keep his job? Three cheers for Gerstmann’s Revenge!
- Sony discontinues the Sixaxis controller as it releases the new and “improved” DualShock 3 controller. Sony early adopters cry in their beers.
- Saints Row 2 coming to consoles on August 26. Ya think they cleaned up the bugs? Naaah, neither do we.
- New Call of Duty 4 maps hit Xbox Live. Xbox Live hits back with massive outtages, and a dubious silence from Redmond.
- Horror author Stephen King weighs in on the handwringing over video-game violence. Now we know why they pay him the big bucks. I loved your book, you magnificent son of a bitch.
- And a very special bloopers reel at the end. Figured you want to hear a little of what goes on behind the scenes before we start the show each week.
As always, remember to let your opinions be heard on our forums at PlatformNation.com.
Next week, we’re back to Saturday nights, so don’t get all damp about this one-off. We wish we could do it more, but until this becomes a paying gig, we gotta get some work done.
16 Comments
April 6th, 2008 at 5:08 am
I havent got time to listen to episode 11 and 12.. but if you havent mentioned it yet: GamerAndy is back!
http://blip.tv/file/781872
April 6th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Guess I’m not eighteen, so I can’t listen. Bye guys…:’( hahaha
April 6th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Did I detect a Patton reference there?
April 6th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Heartbreak….
… man, I love you. I’m so glad someone got that.
-e.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hah! I deserve a beer for that, let me go get one.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I can tell you exactly why Microsoft said jack and shit about the service Friday. It is because of the stupid cunts who filed the lawsuit for the outtage on Live back around Christmas. If you recall, after that suit was filed, Major Nelson was no longer allowed to post updates on the state of the service. I think we will never see such statements again. At least until this lawsuit is resolved and sets a legal precedent.
I also think GTA IV will sell more on the 360 than the PS3. 360 has a greater install base and every title that is out on both systems sells more on the 360. I have both systems and I will guarantee I will buy it on the 360. Well shit, I mean I already pre-ordered the duffel bag version for the 360.
Reasons?
1. Better Controller
2. Better Online Service (Friends List, Ease of Finding Friends, More Stable Communication etc)
3. Exclusive Content
4. Achievements (Call me Pavlov’s Dog)
I would bet most people who own both, go 360 (if they are a Live! subscriber). But, I do agree that GTA IV will sell more new PS3s than new 360s. But I predict overall sales of the title will be higher on the 360 by as much as 2:1.
Force Unleashed is one of my most anticipated games of the year too. Followed closely by Lego Indy Jones. Looks like Lucasarts is going to get some more of the Maj’s money. Oh and from the official website:
“Will there be a multiplayer mode?
There will be a multiplayer component to the game. The Wii version will feature a dueling mode and the PSP version will allow you to play with up to 3 other players. No info on the other versions is available yet. ”
I’ll ramble more after I finish the episode. Have to hear what you say about the Dual Shock 3.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:58 am
The more I see/read about Force Unleashed, the more excited I get. At first I said, meh…another Star Wars game. But this game is really shaping up to be an amazing title.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:41 am
The only caution I have heard about Force Unleashed is during the 1UpYours podcast. The comment was that the first few times you see the stormtroopers (etc) react to getting thrown around is great, until you realize that the animations are always the same.
Guess we’ll see.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I don’t get the obsession with multiplayer options in a game. If the designer wants to make a singleplayer experience, it annoys me that they get pressure to shoehorning in a multiplayer mode instead of simply putting all their effort into a great singleplayer experience. I’ve heard Edie sometimes say that games in 2008 better have multiplayer.
And I don’t agree with that at all, the two best games last year, in my book, did not have any multiplayer support: Super Mario Galaxy and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, they solely focused on a highly polished and extremely engaging singleplayer experience. I honestly don’t care all that much about every single fucking FPS having an online multiplayer mode, because guess what, they’re mostly generic and suck cock AND balls.
COD4 hoop-ty-doo, I played the PC version some, definitly a fun multiplayer game, but not something i got completely immersed in, which hasn’t happened since Quake, but then again, I’m very picky when it comes to multiplayer FPS games, Quake still stands as the best multiplayer FPS game of all time. It was a game where they just said “fuck balancing”. You had 3 main weapons of choice if you wanted to live: RL, GL, and shaft. and you’d better master them, the levels unlike almost everything these days did not follow the symmetrical design to keep it balanced, and thats the most lazy fucking design choice ever, i fucking hate Halo for that, people bitching on and on about how great and balanced the Halo multiplayer is haven’t ever played the older great FPS games. I could create a Halo level that was the “most amazingly balanced” map ever conceived. just give me a crayon and a bloody mirror.
Meh enough rant. Multiplayer nowadays suck is the bottomline, overrated. Singleplayer ftw.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
….last note: Get over the rumble-dealio already. All the stuff you said about the Sixaxis/Dualshock 3 deal you’ve already said in podcasts over one year old, and just by sony discontinuing the Sixaxis does not justify taking a trip down memory lane again, as if it was fresh, as if we didn’t catch the double morals of Sony. They are making things right, it should be a positive thing, this is the closest you’ll see any consolemaker (note: not just Sony) will ever come to saying “We were wrong”.
Hating Sony is not that hot anymore.
I like the podcast though, just wanted to air that
April 7th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I agree that more people these days expect MP, but I can’t agree it’s required - does anybody think Bioshock, Mass Effect or Oblivion *needed* MP?
I think the feeling that MP is required can hurt an otherwise decent SP game, because it diverts effort from SP polish and if it’s not a big seller, finding MP games down the road can be quite a problem.
MP is a good addition *if it makes sense for the game* - and from all the comments and reviews I have seen, Condemned 2 would have been better off leaving off the MP (and The Darkness too, some would say.)
April 7th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Multiplayer is not required for games. But I think it is almost a must have for the type of games that multiplayer makes sense within.
Bioshock, Mass Effect, Mario Galaxy (wait technically, Mario Galaxy DOES have a multiplayer component), Zelda, Uncharted are all great single player experiences. But, I think other than maybe Uncharted, these games do not lend to multiplayer type of gaming. Sure, you could put a half assed multiplayer mode in Bioshock, but the other games are not the right genre for this.
But, GTA is a series just ripe for the inclusion of multiplayer. Force Unleashed would be expected to have multiplayer especially as the rest of the recent Star Wars FPS games had it.
I doubt we see multiplayer in Alan Wake, or the next Resident Evil game. These games just don’t sound like a buddy game to me.
I also don’t want to see devs toss in a half-assed Multiplayer mode to support a short single player campaign to try to justify $60. If you are going to do multiplayer, you better fucking do it right.
my 2 cents
April 8th, 2008 at 6:21 am
….On the other hand, multiplayer in Halo and COD have not only enhanced the game, but kept people playing for months after their release. Bottom line for me is multiplayer is NOT required, but the single player had better be stellar for 60 bux.
April 8th, 2008 at 6:37 am
@Steve Vice
I’m not concerned what is considered the new hot or not. Sony is doing well; no one is more pleased about that than I. My point is to always keep things in perspective. You should never just forget or ignore something that has been said by any company before. Do you think it’s still old school to make fun of Velocity Girl for the Xbox 360? No, these are promised features that have not seen the light of day yet.
Sony Home, we’re over a year since its announcement, and another BETA is coming soon. When is this amazing new service going to start?
I will always remind people where things came from. I’m not simply going to give Sony a pass because they finally saw the light (or settled a lawsuit). Nor am I going to let up on Microsoft until you can sell items on Xbox Live the way Microsoft promised.
I don’t do it because it’s stylish, or because everyone else is doing it, I don’t do it because I think this is what the listeners want to hear, I do it because this is how I feel; listen to something else if you so vehemently disagree.
@Everyone else RE: Multiplayer
I have a simple question: name a game with a completely satisfying single and multiplayer experience. It’s a smaller amount than you think, and in most cases one of those makes up for the shortcomings of the other. I feel that all games need to have an excellent single player experience, and that the multiplayer, while not necessary, should equal that experience. We also need a new way to multiplayer, as the current types are starting to get old.
Just my two cents. Nice to see a lively debate on the subject!
April 8th, 2008 at 10:11 am
@CooperHawkes: Don’t take this like I hate listening to the show, as I said, I like the show, but when I listen to a podcast that is more on the community side (as in you actually talk to your listeners unlike most other podcasts), it’s not like I’m going to church, amen this amen that. I want to listen to opinions, and if I don’t agree, I air the opinion. Its all in good fun
About games with equally satisfying multi and singleplayer components, that was usually in the old days, and usually done by Blizzard: Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. I doubt that many would disagree on those, but you are right, it’s a smaller amount of games that deliver on both fronts, and I think we agree that if the multiplayer can match the singleplayer in awesome-ness they might as well just focus on the singleplayer.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am
[…] The hype machine is obviously in full effect for the latest target in wacky Jack Thompson’s sad life, and sales are already expected to hit the stratosphere. Personally, I won’t be waiting in line for GTA IV. Actually, I have yet to actually purchase a copy of any Grand Theft Auto game since the second one for my PC. Don’t get me wrong though, I have no ill will against this game or the people who enjoy them! I’ve played all of them. I gave them every chance to prove to me why they are as popular as they are. Just not my taste of game. But then again, I’ve always preferred Spy Hunter (sorry Edie, I couldn’t help myself… hugs not drugs). […]
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