22 replies to this topic

[PlayerOneCJ]

This week! Enemy of the Show C.Bake joins us for another fun-filled episode where we talk about Old Zealand, The Avengers, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, The Amazing Spider-Man, Pinball Arcade, Pinball FX 2, Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational, Quarrel, Unit 13, Skullgirls, Colors 3D, Nintendo Week, Qore, Life of George and T.U.R.T.L.E. Power!

Check out Greg’s new web series Generation 16 (Episode 4 now available) – click here. And take a trip over to Phil’s YouTube Channel to see some awesome retro game vids.

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Direct download: POP Ep.286: Easy Baked.mp3

Running time: 1:27:37

[Planet_JASE]

Aren't you meant to be out looking for Old Zealand?

Anyway, the this is the longest I've had to wait for a new episode in, like, forever! Don't you ever leave me for so long ever again.

[PlayerOneCJ]

Actually the New Zealand portion of the trip is over and I'm in Australia until Saturday. It's easier to get an Internet connection going here than it was in NZ.

[TheKurichan]

Actually the New Zealand portion of the trip is over and I'm in Australia until Saturday. It's easier to get an Internet connection going here than it was in NZ.

Of course, Australia has people and technology, New Zealand just has hobbits.

Where are you visiting in OZ?

Yes hungry jacks will make you sick.

Edited by TheKurichan, 19 April 2012 - 08:27 AM.

[famousmortimer]

FINALLY OMGGGGGGGG

[famousmortimer]

Liveblog!

Dead Alive! Meet the Feebles!

Ways to make Mike Phillips go completely mute: Talk about Zelda and comic books - until a chance to talk about masturbation.

The not uploading of high scores in pinball arcade when you put the game in sleep mode is a weird, bad misstep.

Vertical mode is awesome for the camera - bad for everything else.

Atleast you play sewart! Mik has seemingly given up on HSG

LMAO @ greg's kids yelling at kinect

Ok, halftime.

[K-S-O]

I'm in California and there is an EB Games that is about a few blocks away from where I work.

Just sayin'.

[famousmortimer]

Liveblog part 2:


Oh wow, thanks for the plug.


Unit 13 with No One Lives Forever's art style would have been PERFECT!


But even without it though Unit 13 is a solid, fun game.


Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is really, really fun (on the vita)

I kinda want fez, and have the points, but those games make me feel dumb as well

Oh, it was the fez dude who said that stupid shit about japan? Blah.

Dynasty Warriors Next is still fun to me. I guess i'm a fan. *gets scared*

I love Evo and Starcraft tournaments.

If my wife asked me to stop playing games i would shit on her pillow. But like Phil, my wife plays as much if not more than me. But it's mostly on her phone.

No sewart again next week! GODDAMIT!


Awesome show as always, fellas.

[momerath]

Greg, I'm glad you're still enjoying skyward sword. After all was said and done, I still had a great time with it despite its annoyances.

[SickBoy]

So my question about (The) Pinball Arcade for anyone who's sampled a variety of the versions is whether the big console versions feel different from their iOS counterparts. I was playing on my iPad the other day, and I felt like the controls were not particularly snappy (may have been just the lack of tactile feedback)... and I wasn't too sure about the physics... just doesn't feel as good as Pinball FX2 to me.

Of course, the problem with Pinball FX is the table design. I like the flight-of-fancy tables that they have, but it seems like we're going to see more Marvel stuff (not that there's anything wrong with that) than faux-real tables. It's cool all the stuff that they do that wouldn't work on a real table, but that's not always what you want to play.

I'm not planning to pick up Pinball Arcade immediately. As soon as they have a table I loved from the real arcade days, I'll be all over it. Everyone says Addams Family (it's so true -- spent a few bucks on a busted Addams Family machine on Santa Monica pier last time I was in California... annoying to play such a beat-up machine, but still great)... I'd also be happy with Police Force and there are a few others that I loved enough that would spur an instant purchase.

[juanster]

The only reason I bought Pinball Arcade was for Theatre of Magic. I played the hell out of that table back in high school

[Planet_JASE]

Actually the New Zealand portion of the trip is over and I'm in Australia until Saturday. It's easier to get an Internet connection going here than it was in NZ.

Welcome to our fine land!

Getting reliable internet is not a reality everywhere, though. My options for internet are restricted to 1 option (which, I assume is an oxymoron), which is a USB 3G modem. I don't even live out in the middle of nowhere, either. Farmers that are living 30 000kms from the closest city have more, and far better options.

What have you decided to do on you Australian Tour?

[Owozifa]

Fellow panellist Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid, apparently agreed with Fish's view, referring to Japanese games as "joyless husks".

Just thought I'd share this as I looked up this whole controversy. I find it amusing because it could so easily be utilized on his own game. And I kinda liked Braid. I didn't like it as much as Dragon Quest IX, though, so I guess they can screw off.

I know, making wide reaching generalities in a profane way brings people down on you. It is a shock of our society.

[momerath]

Thinking about it more, I think what bugged me about the comments Phil Fish made was just the unfounded arrogance-- he has released, now, a grand total of *one* game after about a 5 year development period. That's it. This does not make him famous by any stretch, nor does it entitle him to make blanket judgments about Japanese games-- no matter how good his IPPWAUAS might be.

[SickBoy]

Don't fall into their trap. After the Internet destroys Jonathan Blow and Phil Fish, they'll combine into their final form, 10 times more powerful and egotistical than before: Jil BlowFish.

[Planet_JASE]

Thinking about it more, I think what bugged me about the comments Phil Fish made was just the unfounded arrogance-- he has released, now, a grand total of *one* game after about a 5 year development period. That's it. This does not make him famous by any stretch, nor does it entitle him to make blanket judgments about Japanese games-- no matter how good his IPPWAUAS might be.

Just because he hadn't made a game yet doesn't negate the validity, or his right, to make a comment or judgement.  If this were the case we would have very few professional critics in the world.

The only difference between a critic and a member of the industry spouting theories on what's wrong with entire countries is that some day, the industry professional will release a product that will be measured against the criticisms they applied to everyone else.  And if sweeping, generalised statements are the currency that he deals in, then he won't care if people say "another f--king indie puzzle platformer with a unique art style?  2/10."

Edited by Planet_JASE, 20 April 2012 - 06:11 PM.

[momerath]

To be fair, I'm trying not to pass any kind of judgment on his game specifically-- by all accounts it seems like a pretty awesome game.

But I can't help but feel like there's a certain amount of hubris here. With a guy like Fish saying "Japanese games suck," he comes off looking like he thinks his product is better than all of them. It's a little hard to draw a contrast between your one game and the collective output of a whole country full of game devs [indie and AAA alike.]

Perhaps I'm just misinterpreting his statement. But to the extent I've looked into the situation, it rubs me the wrong way, mostly because I'm tired of people praising the dude as some sort of genius. There are people with big egos in all creative fields, true, but that doesn't mean I have to like them.

[Planet_JASE]

From my point of view, the issue I have with his statements were not because his output (or lack of) or even that he is part of the industry.  My issue with what he said was the manner with which he said them and then responding to twitter replies with "suck my d--k" (No, he did.  Really.).  That just makes you a huge @sshole whose opinion, if it carried any truth or incisive insight, is now lost because you have no interpersonal and communication skills.

I think his point (and I could be wrong) was that Japan had stagnated as far as game development and innovation were concerned.  That the west were far more nimble in changing to meet customer needs and invested more time in Indie projects that explored different play styles and methods.  I think he may have said that Japan were, for the most part, producing the same games that they were 10 years ago; in many cases still using the same franchises.

This could have held a lot of weight if said correctly... apart from the fact that all of last year's top sellers in the west were all sequels.  No new IP has really done anything in the past couple of years.  Publishers are killing off anything that isn't Call of Duty or a proven franchise.  And that he has made a f--king puzzle platformer.  The last part is what really negates any opinion he has, for me.

If you're going to tell a whole country to try doing something new, innovate, and try not to use well-worn path of previous generations, try to back that up with an example.  Not with a game that fits into the biggest groove the industry has

PS-I didn't think you were criticising his game, at all.

[momerath]

From my point of view, the issue I have with his statements were not because his output (or lack of) or even that he is part of the industry. My issue with what he said was the manner with which he said them and then responding to twitter replies with "suck my d--k" (No, he did. Really.). That just makes you a huge @sshole whose opinion, if it carried any truth or incisive insight, is now lost because you have no interpersonal and communication skills.

I think his point (and I could be wrong) was that Japan had stagnated as far as game development and innovation were concerned. That the west were far more nimble in changing to meet customer needs and invested more time in Indie projects that explored different play styles and methods. I think he may have said that Japan were, for the most part, producing the same games that they were 10 years ago; in many cases still using the same franchises.

This could have held a lot of weight if said correctly... apart from the fact that all of last year's top sellers in the west were all sequels. No new IP has really done anything in the past couple of years. Publishers are killing off anything that isn't Call of Duty or a proven franchise. And that he has made a f--king puzzle platformer. The last part is what really negates any opinion he has, for me.

If you're going to tell a whole country to try doing something new, innovate, and try not to use well-worn path of previous generations, try to back that up with an example. Not with a game that fits into the biggest groove the industry has

PS-I didn't think you were criticising his game, at all.

Yeah, you make a good point here... I think when I boil it down, a good part of the problem was that his comments were not framed in a constructive way at all. While he may have legitimate criticisms of Japanese games, he chose not to elaborate and instead summed it up with basically a big put-down.

The difference between making constructive criticisms and simply saying "your games fucking suck" is pretty large-- especially when you blurt them out at a panel discussion in response to a Japanese dev's honest question. I'd hate to be the guy that asked it.

[gamer812]

In the Q&A, they did elaborate why the Japanese industry "sucks". It's only that the press didn't focus on that nugget of information. I think Fish could have worded it better and not sound like a douche. He was terrible in the twitter replies though, those I cannot defend.

[momerath]

Well that does alleviate it a little bit-- though I thought it was the other people on the panel who elaborated on the comment, not Fish himself.

Either way, as you said, the tweets make his general handling of the situation pretty tough to defend.

On a related note, the whole discussion saddens me a bit because there actually is legitimately good stuff coming from Japan. It may be hard to pick out from the mass of less-than-stellar content, but it's out there. Xenoblade alone has given my Wii a new lease on life, and in recent memory I've thoroughly enjoyed stuff like Ghost Trick, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Demon's / Dark Souls, Persona series/Catherine, etc.

[Owozifa]

It's interesting to note how the break music gets better whenever Greg hosts.

[Jave]

So my question about (The) Pinball Arcade for anyone who's sampled a variety of the versions is whether the big console versions feel different from their iOS counterparts. I was playing on my iPad the other day, and I felt like the controls were not particularly snappy (may have been just the lack of tactile feedback)... and I wasn't too sure about the physics... just doesn't feel as good as Pinball FX2 to me.

I think that's part of where the comparison to racing games was actually surprisingly apt. Zen and Farsight are both using different physics models for their pinball games. Getting used to one then trying to switch to the other can be jarring. I don't have a lot of experience with actual pinball tables, so I don't know which one is closer to the real thing.

For myself, having started with Pinball Hall of Fame and trying the FX stuff afterwards, I had kind of the same reaction, but the other way around. The balls in PFX felt too heavy, almost like someone ratcheted up the slope of the table, but I got used to it, though I still prefer the Farsight model.