Archers nock and ready the firestorm, its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish we discuss the recently announced (and temporarily 360 exclusive) Modern Warefare 2 DLC, Left 4 Dead 2′s ‘The Passing’ downloadable content, the plethora (yeah, we went there) of pre-order bonuses announced for Red Dead Redemption, and the announcement of Ghost Recon Future Soldier.
The Microsoft X10 conference in San Francisco provided gamers with a heaping pile of new media and details for some of the biggest titles coming out this year on 360. We, your humble Axe Lords, run down the list and pick the games we’ll be on the lookout for in 2010.
The Battle Cry of the Week goes to the Hughes Bros film adaptation of the anime classic Akira, 8 Bit Horse, a new web-shrine to all things pixel & sprite from Mommy’s Best Games’ creator Nathan Fouts, the new Chaos Will Rise trailer for God of War III, and the original Fallout.
Stay sharp.
In light of the trouble playing the video last week, we’re going to try breaking up the show in smaller bite-size morsels. Note that there might be a slight delay when the player skips from one part to another. We apologize for trouble last week and hope that the steps we’ve taken will ensure a good experience for everybody. Let us know what you think in the comments.
-iPod compatible mp4 download-
Just a heads up guys about your GOG codes, the SZ*-series codes’ where supposed to expire a little while ago, but because you gave me one of those codes after it expired they where kind enough to do me the favor of extending the expiration date to march 31st.
You guys might want to look into getting some new codes if you haven’t already.
PS: Thanks again for picking my battle cry the other week, It gave me an excuse to finally play Psychonauts, Its become one of my favorite games.
Thx for the heads up and we’re glad to hear the fine folks at GoG sorted that out. We’ll be in touch with them shortly about some new schwag.
Just downloaded the MP3 version so I can kill time on my job tonight since I’m late shift at my hotel. Thanx for the early post.
great ep guys, as always.
great episode guys
I got a subject i’d like for you guys (EBC) to read and maybe discuss on your next episode.
So my battle cry goes out to making games more excesible.
You guys mention that Fable 3 might me watered down so it could reach a larger audience, but then it might just end up being to many things at once.
Same thing on Invisible Walls where they talked about the battle system in FF13. One of the guys there like the battle system in FF12 better than in FF13 so he asked the developer or someone about why they made the decision they did about the battle system, and the answer is of course to make the game more excesible.
So basically my answer to this is that why the hell can’t developers just put in some extra modes where you can choose your battle system or how much of the RPG element you want for example. By doing this you can just choose how complicated some things are in games. I can’t see this as a problem when it comes to the RPG element in Fable or the battle system in FF.
Luchy
awesome episode btw!
great ep as usual guys. The new player works way better than the ones in the past two weeks.
My member battlecry is to bring to the attention of you guys about the comments of jason rubin on the recent bonus round episode(http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/402?ch=2&sd=1) and could you guys do a disscussion on future battlecry’s about the subject of microtransactions affecting the future of gaming.
I completely agree with you guys on the hole using a popular franchise name to sell games. One game that doesnt fall short of that is Final Fantasy, dont get me wrong i love final fantasy been playing them since ff3 (ffVI)but for F*** sakes can they stop with all these final fantasys.Why is it that if it has a chocobo its final fantasy(which im pretty such thats the kind of chicken they use in KFC) FF12 was such a different experience i fail to see why they had to brand it with those cursed words. Another example is Final Fantasy 11… Its a MMO why couldnt it been called Crap Advancers or just not come out at all and OMfG! Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the Crystal Bearer …..need i say more cuz im not im just pissing myself off now anyways great episode guys!
they should really leave akira alone, It’s already a masterpiece.
awesome work guys, no need to apologise about last week, i couldn’t believe some of the comments to be honest…
a bit of feedback, i like the new delivery method, but seems everyone and their dog has jumped on now, and it’s crawling for me at part four now… still, it’s a good sign right!
Downloading MP4 version, await to hear your views on X10 announcements.
Perfect Dark >>> Goldeneye…
What makes it better?
Laptop Gun…
Nuff said.
No problem with the player at all, the most I waited between parts was just a matter of seconds. The transitions were a little jarring though in between parts, DK was saying something and it abruptly ended into the load of a next. I thought it crapped out on me until I saw the next part was loading.
@ Oath Psychonauts is a great game. Out of all of Schaefer’s games I was surprised that one wasn’t a hit. Any Platformer fan who hasn’t played it yet should try to play it. Have fun.
@Luchy They don’t do that because it would be more expensive to do so. Going with the more accessible route is a gamble of upsetting the fanbase but hopefully brings in more people to even it out. it’s smart business and the goal of a bigger profit margin.
Great podcast as always, guys!!
Ok, first of all I gotta say that Daniel is some mean son of a bitch! lmao!! The midget joke was cruel but so funny I couldn’t stop laughing
I agree with you guys on the FFXIII bundle fir the 360, it just doesn’t make any sense, kind of like the iPad. lol
Lost Planet 2 makes me feel like a fanboy, I can’t stop playing the demo on my PS3, and I hope I get to play it with any of you Axe leaders or Axe heads in our community, that game rocks!
Ok, now my rants.
I felt the show was very dislocated, but not because of the content but because of it being cut in 4 different segments. For some reason it took an eternity to load every part, to the point that if i didn’t let it load entirely before watching it would stop every couple of seconds to continue loading.
Cheers Axe heads!
new players alright… it as a bit slow when i was watching the 1st part, stopping every 15secs or something, so i just loaded up the other parts at the same time as the 1st and waited 5 mins and it was smooth all the way from then
Awsome show man i loved the start of it. Many sweet puns. =)
If the player cuts off something Daniel says, thats not a problem…its a feature.
Holy shit!! That first pun… I laughed my ass off and its only the beginning.
yeah i watched that ep of bonus round myself and couldn’t for the life of me think of any gaming companies that would adopt this strategy, then they answered my question; they being pachter, rubin, and satterfield with clips from MW2 and Brutal Legend. Rubin is such a tool bag for even bringing this up. you guys at the axe need to do a future episode about micro transactions toget your input along with what some member battle cries would be.
Why are you putting the show in parts?
I don`t have a highspeed internet connection, so I cant watch it online so I download you show every week. Before it was good just one file to download, now I will have to download in parts.
I think previously it was better. At least for me.
Anyways keep up the good work! Love your show!
Nice show, as always.
About the video thing, I THINK what happened was: gametrailers didn’t release the video on Monday night, as they always do, neither on the Tuesday morning, so many people must have come to epicbattleaxe to watch it. I know I did, just like I’m doing it again today. The video is loading way faster than last week, so I think breaking it in pieces must have worked.
We’ve broken the show into parts so serving up the streaming version doesn’t overwhelm the server like last week. As for a single download, there’s a link right under the player to a single mp4 file, I hope that helps.
great episode Tony, Brent, DK as always. my battle cry is for the red dead redemption pre-order fiasco. this game has been very high on my to get list since it was announced, so i have no incintive to pre-order it for gimmick dlc since i am buying it day one. if the following trends hold, then some of these so-called pre-order exclusives will be released with RDR inside it’s package on release. when i bought dragon age there was a code for the stone prisoner dlc inside (pre-order exclusive), when i bought the GOW collection there was a code for the GOW III demo inside (pre-release exclusive), and darksiders there was a code for the harvester scythe inside (pre-order exclusive). so why even bother with the so called exclusivity on pre-ordering a game if it will most likely be given to any who buys the game on release within it’s package. the gift cards are a good idea, or store credit towards purchases, free breakfst at IHOP, or a free trip to “dancouver” (lolz DK) give us something tangible and concrete that can be usable. especially if you want us to pre-order a game from a certain retailer over others
I don’t like the split up video, the switching took about 10s and was annoying.
You should also provide a full episode option for people who don’t experience technical difficulties.
Hey, Are we going to hear a professional opinion on the heavy rain demo?
Just wanted to say that it actually makes perfect sense to me for the epilogue to Dead Rising 2 to be a 360 exclusive. It’s supposed to help connect the two games and bridge the story, right? Well, the first game was only on the Xbox 360 so it just wouldn’t do anything for PS3 players, and might actually confuse them.
The trailers for DR2 gave me a feeling that it was just too detached from the first game. I loved the original and was actually pretty disappointed in how DR2 seemed just too stand-alone, with no connections to the first game (which makes sense since it went multiplat).
Now, I’m a bit relieved to see them give some sort of explanation to the events of DR2 from the perspective of the first game. It makes sense and feels more natural for Capcom (it’s Capcom right?) to try and gently ease the existing fanbase into the sequel (sounds wrong I know); and it also makes sense for them not to do so on consoles that don’t already have a fanbase.
@ Boysangur:
(it’s a Prologue, and…)Yeah…because Dead Rising has such a deep story behind it…lol
Woot! Edit button!!! Thank you Axe gods!
Thank you for breaking it into parts, it’s the first time I’ve been able to watch it in weeks. I usually come here and listen to the audio then wait for the video to get posted on Game Trailers. But this week it’s all systems go! Now to see if I can log onto the forums….
still no joy logging on to the forums…forum user names/passwords are the same yeah…? Can anyone help me out, I really wanna rip on the xbox/Halo fanboys- i mean engage in meaningful mature discussions about interactive entertainment…hehe
Since you had an account on the old forums, you just need to click here and reset your forum password. Since the switch to vBulletin, the main site and forums are now separate accounts.
Thanks for that!
Great skirmish guys.
You raised an interesting point that I was discussing with friends a few weeks back about difficulty of games.
I’ve found over recent years that I’m more inclined to play the single player through just on normal looking for an enjoyable story/experience rather than a massive challenge.
My challenge these days comes from playing against other people online as I find it sharpens my skills and there are usually guys better than you on there to keep things fresh.
Why can’t we just get the episode stragith to GT?
It’s not that I mind wathcing it on this site, but it takes forever to stream to episode with the player u guys use.
Or if not to GT atleast have it on itunes at the same day.
Great episode guys, I like the fact DK picked up on the AWFUl name given to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, it’s a bit “Army men” isn’t it!? My 9 yr old could have thought of something better.
I think it’s great you are supporting those with technical difficulties, I had no probs watching it in 4 parts, but the normal GT player is my preference.
[...] here: EpicBattleAxe » Blog Archive » EBC Skirmish 063: Van-Dammit … tags: highspeed internet, show-every, think-previously, watch-it-online | Featured | Fix [...]
Thank you Brent!
Nah, I give up. Guess I’ll have to wait for the episode to hit GT. The load times are ridiculous. I don’t even have a slow connection yet I need to wait 10 minutes to actually watch the following 10 minutes.
Prologue, whatever, you get my point. I take it you haven’t actually played Dead Rising because it DID have some very memorable characters and a pretty intriguing story. It was certainly no less deep than an average action game. I think that anyone who has actually played it, would agree.
Also, unless it’s a sports game, I don’t like when a sequel is completely detached from the original, no matter how deep the story is. Even fighting games have some sort of connection between them.
Well, Left 4 Dead had all that and the story was hardly “deep” or “well thought”, but it had memorable characters and was mainly about having fun killing zombies. DR was the same.
My point is, in these kind of games the story is irrelevant, it’s all about killing zombies in “almost” any way possible.
Cheers axe heads
Left 4 Dead is a completely different game that has nothing in common with DR except for zombies. It’s made up of several disconnected levels and has absolutely no story. Except for the player characters, L4D had no characters either, while DR had actual NPC’s and missions that were part of the story. Yet, even Valve is adding a DLC to L4D2 that has the characters from both games cross paths. There is an even more valid reason for Capcom to connect RD2 to the original.
If by “these kind of games” you mean games that involve killing numerous zombies, how does that make story irrelevant?? Most FPS are about shooting things, are you saying that the story is irrelevant in FPS games? By your logic, story is irrelevant in 90% of all video games. They are all about killing aliens, solving puzzles, racing, etc. So I shouldn’t care if the next Halo game makes no references to the previous ones? After all, it’s all about killing lots of aliens.
Story would only be irrelevant if DR had absolutely no story, which is what you tried to imply and which is not the case at all. It’s the second time you try to argue a point completely uninformed. First was the Diablo 3 discussion and now this.
Nice episode as always.
My Battlecry goes out to the modern videogame experience. I reminisce about the days, when I could go to a store and pick up a game that I’d have no information about – and it would blow my mind with its surprising story and gameplay, ex. Final Fantasy IX (my first game
).
Nowadays, in the age of trailers, they pretty much spoil all the good moments before you even get a chance to play the game (By the way, can anyone explain the recent trend on gametrailers, putting out endings of games???? WTF!?!?!)
Games have become much better in my oppinion, otherwise i’d stop a long time ago, and i would’nt have known about many great titels if there weren’t any trailers, but there just isn’t any genuine moments of surprise for me anymore because of the trailers – except at the last part of the games, which they do not show in the trailers – but when you accidently see the ending at gametrailers (which happened twice for me :/), it just makes me sad. Commercialism has ruined the experience a little for me
i think the reason Capcom/Blue Castle have decided to make the Dead Rising 2 prologue exclusive to the the 360 is because think about it, this prologue is supposed to bridge the gap between the first game and the second, and as you mentioned the first game was a 360 exclusive so there for only 360 owners would have played the first game.
It would be pretty pointless to release it onto the PS3 beccause they hadnt even had the chance to play the first game so theres no gap to bridge for the PS3 players.
and no im not a 360 fanboy lol im probaly even going to buy Dead Rising 2 on my PS3 because ive got that set up in HD where as my 360 isnt hahaha
I’ll buy any console that has a Zelda game on it, save for the Phillips CD-I. I’m a huge Zelda fanboy and not afraid to admit. On another note, I think that aside from Halo, Gears of War and a couple of others game, Microsoft doesn’t have much in terms of exclusives. Most of them get ported to the PC, anyway. Sony, on the other hand, has done a great job keeping their exclusives, well, exclusive to their system.
Dude, that’s EXACTLY what I was saying. It’s service for fans of the original that would just confuse PS3 players as they aren’t familiar with it.
hey guys, my epic battle cry goes out to a video i just watched on youtube.
you have to watch the full video (about 5 minutes long) to understand the real message behind it.
it is about how games themselves mean nothing and the experiences in them arnt real but the community that can come from gaming is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKBRG_QgEAM&feature=popt00us0f
even if i dont get chosen to be the member battlecry i really hope some of you will check this video out.
My Battlecry of the week goes to the DVD release of “Black Dynamite”. It’s a comedy based on the Blaxploitation films of the 70′s and is hilarious. It’s an over the top film and if you liked the film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” your going to love this one. I haven’t laugh this much in years and the jokes are better than anything else out there from beginning to end.
Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wqmnJrOFM
Site
http://www.blackdynamitemovie.com/
Not surprised about Xbox getting the MW DLC first, although Microsoft always seems to forget they own one of the other platforms it’s on: PC. Anyways, PC users got gimped by IW so none of them should be shocked by this announcement. I’m with Brent on that I don’t understand how this benefits MS at all, aside from giving Xbox fanboys more ammunition for their obnoxious gloating.
Those preorder bonuses do sound rather lame. I would always go with buying it on Amazon regardless. Mostly because you don’t feel like a complete tool buying stuff there.
I’ve got a problem with GameStop… in general.
Future soldier made me think of Universal Soldier too… lol
Same for Halo Reacharound… hahaha
Brent’s suggestion of having the prologue be released as a demo is fantastic. I wish publishers would do more creative things like that with game demos.
Alan Wake – Tony’s right about games being in development that long being one of two extremes, and generally, the positive extreme only rings true for Blizzard games :p
I’m still very PO’ed that it is no longer coming out for PC, and mostly because of the nonsense reason that MS gave. I mean really, horror is not appropriate for PC??? Who the crap ever thought that rang true? Gaming on a PC is a much more intimate experience, which for horror, is perfect, because you really get sucked in and closed off from the real world.
Having multiplayer these days is like being in the phone book, who cares?
I also wasn’t that impressed or captured by Lost Planet 1, so 2 isn’t a huge point of enthusiasm for me, but I’ll check it out at some point.
I’ve played through the Splinter Cell series just because I felt it was one of those seminal franchises that I HAD to play, but I’ve never been all that attached to it. The gameplay was mostly very good, excellent stealth manuring systems, but that’s where it ended for me. The character of Sam Fisher is flat and uninspiring, with no real depth or history that can make you identify with him. The thin storyline could just as well not be there and the game would be unchanged. For me there has to be more substance to a game besides the gameplay to get me hooked on it as a franchise.
As for DK’s comment about it being frustrating, I think the most frustrating part for me was the progressively unrealistic and absurd enemy AI. I rage quit one time because on the final level of Chaos Theory, they throw all stealth and realism out the window and give you these enemies that can hear a fart from 10 miles away and kill you immediately with one shot. That’s what I call an artificial difficulty increase, and it infuriated me.
Seeing the exploding barrel in the Splinter Cell footage you were playing made me think of a good forum topic: are games every going to stop having exploding barrels in them? lol
Always a skeptic here about animated features being translated into live action. Akira will be a pretty hard mark to hit.
I agree with Brent, the more I think about game immersion, the more I think that the audio environment and sound design are probably THE most important things. Would Dead Space be anywhere nearly as creepy if it didn’t have appropriate sound effects or atmospheric music, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as intense. It’s something that you really don’t think about or realize without analyzing the game, but just for a test, mute your computer or TV and play the same game and see if it’s as immersive. I guarantee it wont be at all.
I actually have to side with the group who does find value in what video games have to offer. I feel kind of bad for the person who views his entertainment as meaningless time wastes, get a habit worthwhile. I would’t even read a book or watch a movie if it had no affect on my life, what would be the point? I use the same approach to games. If they don’t have any lasting affect (even if just well-spent fun) then why do it?
Having said that, I think he was truly addicted if it ruined his life that way. Sadly, Video games aren’t to blame for him allowing himself to get addicted. In any case, if it opens your eyes, chances are you might be in over your head as well.
My battle cry goes out to Naughty Dog…For fucking up Uncharted 2.
Seriously I’ve sucked Uncharted 2′s dick since I played the pre-order beta in September. I’ve played it more or less every day, maybe taking a few days off occasionally, but I stuck with it all that time, clocking in well over 100 hours and reaching level 51 out of 60. I’ve recommended it to everyone and it was HANDS DOWN my game of the year and best PS3 game thus far.
Then on monday, the shit hits the fan. Naughty Dog released an update that increased weapon damage, so now it’s Uncharted 2: Among Modern Warfare.
The best thing about Uncharted 2 was that if you were better than the opposition, you’d come out on top – skill mattered. Now it’s just twitch gaming like MW2, a game of who sees who first and who spawns behind who. Now my hours of practice counts for nothing, the game’s ridden with campers whoring out the sniper rifle or using the 2-shot-kill FAL, nobody can move anymore, the cover system’s totally irrelevant. I want the the Uncharted 2 I bought in October back!
I’ve never been so pissed off with a developer in my life. >_>
thanks for quoting me i like your take on it.
as for myself i dont think im over my head im not really much of a gamer (gasp) i just see that it is the next big medium for creative entertainment.
personally i just thought it was a well made video about this guys story.
i guess it did have a sort of personal meaning to me in some ways though because i once lost my sister to WoW untill she gave it up heh.
[...] right, why is Rockstar doing something so stupid before the game even comes out? As discussed on this week’s episode of EpicBattleCry, Rockstar Games is offering no less than eight different pre-order bonuses for Red Dead Redemption [...]
My battle cry goes out to the powerless individuals.
I saw a clip from a guy who made a movie about the PS3 Motion Controller on YouTube.
He’s ideas with the new design of the controller would be a groundbreaking game experience for all gamers, casual & hardcore.
After watching this clip, I kinda felt sorry for the guy who made it. No matter how awesome his ideas are, he will never be able effect the outcome of the controller.
What I’m trying to say is; There’s a lot of creative people out there who have the most awesome ideas for the future of gaming, but they will most likely never be to change the big companies decisions.
Big companies should be more open-minded to their loyal fans and costumers.
If you are interested in the PS3 motion controller, I would recommend watching the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXGmk2Va4_I
There is a trend now for limited editions and special additions of Bad Company 2 and other games to give you items that would other wise have to be unlocked in the game. Though it is a choice whether or not to pick these up additions do you think it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game when such deals deals entice players to go this route instead of unlocking it themselves? Does really add value to the game or does it take away for what we are paying for when it’s essentially already be done for us?