Ride! Ride now; its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week we welcome a new member of the EBA team in a debut appearance on EpicBattleCry. Please extend your most epic welcome to EpicBattleAxe features writer Lorin Baumgarten, filling in while Tony is on vacation.
In this week’s skirmish we ponder the Call of Duty: Black Ops prestige and hardened editions, run down the cast of voice talent for Fallout: New Vegas, marvel at the rumors of Duke Nukem Forever may be in active development, and discuss Quake Live‘s subscription business model and what it might mean for other titles.
With the big event in NYC last week, the big news in gaming is undoubtedly BioShock Infinite. With that title consciously moving away from familiar territory, the Axe Crew talks sequels and the balance developers must find between forging new ground and alienating fans hunger for more of the same.
The Battle Cry of the Week goes to BioShock Infinite, Mafia II, and Little Big Planet.
If you’ve got a comment on the show, sound off below, if you’ve got a Battle Cry you want to share, click here and sound off on the latest topic-started post! Stay sharp.
Sweet!!! I have been waiting. Thanks for an awesome show, and greetings from sweden.
Nice been waiting for this tome come up glad it early today.
The puns are getting old, so fucking old.
Just wondering…does he do this all the time or just on the show?
Great show as always guys, though I did miss Tony and I do hope that he will be back next week. Lorin, awesome job man. You mixed right in between the Pun-isher and Viking himself and did a really good job. Cry Havoc!
I think that Originilaty is way better than playing it safe.
because thats where almost every game starts, and goes downhill from there. the marketing scheme of milking products until the very last shred of blood will eventually tire out all the genres. you have fps games coming out yearly like crazy until fps stops bleeding they will attack another genre and repeat the cycle.. we get less variety , originality will give variety..
what I miss is beeing able to go to a gamestore and select a good game just by the look of the cover or the description on the back.. nowadays you knoooow it sucks if it aint talked about and that kind of takes away from the expirience.
best regardz from norway, i count dow days for you guys, keep doing what you doo AND the fill in this week rocked.. u guys can do a 4 man show, plus do video again!!
all hail the epic axe heads
Wussup, DK shizzle? I have been wondering ever since I saw your interview with Tameem Antoniades about Enslaved (excellent!), I noticed he mentioned one of his favorite games was Another World and you seemed pretty happy about it. I want to ask you, what do you think are those timeless or classic games that newer generations of gamers probably haven’t had the opportunity to play and should give them a try? Thanks.
Awesome show as always guys! Great job Lorin, you fit in perfectly. It’d be awesome to see you on the show more in the future!
hey better post on make sure im heard.
bioware’s Dr Greg something have again teased me with a remake of baldurs gate and also i think its todd howard is now teasing what has to the next elder scrolls
but with the whole sequel after sequel thing it would be nice to see new ips, an awful lot more new ips.
though to my point the new addition to the show Lorin was a great addition. really helped freshen things up and he really made his points and was funny as well, pretty down to earth, etc. really really great addition to the ebc.
Great episod, as always. And a special cudos to Lorin for doing such a good job his first time out.
Smell ya later!
Who loves Bioshock infinite? THIS MOFO RIGHT HERE. I’ve been a steampunk fanboy for fucking ages, from Rise of Legends to Resonance of Fate hell even PB winterbottom and the Penny arcade games make my toes curl with glee. I kinda wish the first 2 bioshock games weren’t made so this laughably stupid hate against the game wouldn’t exist. If this didn’t say Bioshock in the titles and confuse all the dimwitted children on the internet, this game would be welcomed with open arms. Its not a sequel. Its as much a sequel as Bioshock is a sequel to System Shock.
Maybe Irrational should rename it skyoshock just to make that clear.
Oh yeah, I just went over to the GT forums, apparently they’re installing “Performance upgrades” and then later the GT forums are going drift racing or something. Lorin, come back on the show please. Tony? Meh. just kidding.
Lorin, you should have your own section on the show or something!!!!! EBC get’s better every episode, although I miss TG’s: AND SRSLY?
I think Bioshock Infinite would have been a gutsy/brave decision if they had actually given it what it deserved/needed; it’s own name.
Bioshock wasn’t called Systemshock Infinite. Bioshock took a chance and was a worthy ‘spiritual successor’ to System Shock and did not have to rely on its distant cousins name/franchise to succeed and stand out in the crowd. The fact that “Bioshock Infinite” is being called a ‘spiritual successor’ to Bioshock and that its creator is making it quite clear that there is no intended connection between the two worlds/stories/universes, then the only reason for retaining the Bioshock name is solely to play it safe from a marketing and branding standpoint.
This is not the gutsy or bold move that I’m hearing many people claim it to be. It’s actually quite the opposite.
What if Assassin’s Creed had been called “Prince of Persia: Infinite”? What if Remedy called Alan Wake something like “Max Payne: Infinite”?
see how ridiculous this is?
Making a new world from scratch but being too afraid to give it its own new brand/title doesn’t instill very much confidence, in my opinion.
…unless Levine things going with the “Final Fantasy” model is a good idea…
What up doe greetings from Detroit thats how great each other
My epic battle cry goes goes out to problems facing a new unproven IP.
New IPs aren’t proven or well known and have to be marketed heavier. If you look at Psychonats it was a great game but didn’t sell well but if it was named psychic mario it would have sold millions. Many people don’t trust new Ips and come to depend on name recognition rather than the quality of the game. Many sequel aren’t as good as the original but sell a lot better if you look a t Modern warfare many people think that the first one was better but MW2 sold a sh(guitarsound) load. You can also look at sega every time they release a sonic game good or bad it does well but your bayoneta or madworld doesn’t do so well. New IPS have a problem of not being proven to be good rather sequels have the last games street cred
Lauren you were awesome you should definitely come back on the show
The thing in Quake Live is this Pro players will pay others i dont thing so coz Quake 3 CPMA (popular mod) still alive and its free. Yes u have to have Quake 3 Arena but still a lot of gamers buy this subscription for QL. Whats worries me is that other companies look at this and say “hey this works lets add this for every game” Yes it work but only with very good game Quake is that game. I will never pay sub for MW or Battlefield u name it. I dont want to start consol vs pc or new game vs old games wars but for me the golden era of awesome gameplay (clan wars etc) has past (RTCW, Quake World, Q3, CS, W:ET …). Games nowadays are just … i dunno they lost something.
Sorry for bad english
Oh great show as always ;]
Originality hands down is the most important thing in this industry, even if you’re talkin about a sequel, revamping it like say.. Bioshock Infinite gets the hype level way up there.
In this day and age where most “original” gaming titans such as warcraft have their roots in Warhammer and let’s say Dune for the RTS part, I feel like we have to separate originality and creativity. Uncharted was an original IP right? But it was clear to everyone that it was just a mash-up of the best games out on the market of certain genres. LBP has both an original IP, a creative game concept and a wonderful social aspect which alone might have made it a great game. Still i’m not saying LBP is wholly original, I mean it is a platformer, and most ppl create remakes of their favourite games in it right? So what if ANY game nowadays is wholly original?
My personal opinion in all of this is that new IP’s with interesting twists on their genres will be the mainstay in the industry for a while… but the real battlecry goes out to PC gaming, Blizzard, Media Molecule and even Bethesda for including their map editors content creators and such.
It’s because of them and the community behind most games that new genres of games were spawned, arena games such as League of Legends stem from DotA, Tower Defense games still from Warcraft 3′s many mod maps, whole new game purpose, redesigned experience and such in Morrowind got most ppl playing that game for a hell of a lot more time than most played Oblivion. Same goes for Fallout 3 (personaly I prefer 1&2) which I consider to be a console-friendly RPG that seems lacking to me, as a multiplatform gamer, the fact that they included comunity fav mods into New Vegas is proof of this.
So my BATTLECRY OF ORIGINALITY goes out to the COMMUNITY who’s KEEPIN IT REAL and is either givin a new twist on the old or lighting the dev’s path to gaming enlightenment. That and DK’s puns; original twists on the lame puns of yesteryear
What game is this picture from? *The one with the chick reaching out her hand*
Great show, good debate, DK – once again – rulez with his puns… The one thing I missed though – at the end, when they said “you don’t do anything as well as Tony does” – where the hell was the “That’s what she said” joke????
Excellent!! *air guitar* It was very cool to have the shout out by Brent
ooh and on pronunciation, when you read in a dutch name two E’s right after each other, pronounce it as A. That’s the only thing :p Lorin, very well done as fitting in for Tony. DK you did a nice job as being the host, you only lacked a bit of the power that Tony puts in the beginning and ending, for the rest as host good job. I laughed when Lorin made his comebacks at the jew-related jokes. (and also because of Daniel’s jewjokes 
)
On the main topic. My battle cry of the week goes out to the Bioshock franchise. Not just number 1 but also 2. I actually loved Bioshock 2 just as much as the first game, though it was only a bit too linear then the first game. I think I have cracked the code of the Bioshock franchise and why it works. They get their hands on a certain philosophy (1: Objectivism, 2: Collectivism) and then break it from the inside by showing what happens when its implemented. Through that, they can go to different places, next to Rapture (ie Bioshock Infinite) and show with new settings what is wrong about a philosophy in a setting that works better for that philosophy. I think that “part 4” will also be in/on Colombia, and shows the opposite of Jingosm (aggressive form of patriotism that only your country is the best). But back to Bioshock 2. The story once again immersed me just as much, and it touched me just like the first one did. The need to protect the Little Sisters (if you don’t harvest them) gave me more of a connection to the girls and made you feel being a Big Daddy, and the worry you have to protect the fragile form of life against evil. Too bad only that Tenenbaum didn’t had much of a role in this game, on opposite of the first. But the character that you “interacted” with (Sinclair) made a good substitute. Even making choices that didn’t involve the Little Sisters, made you more feeling like you were part of the world. All in all the game was great, on par with the first, in my opinion, a great addition to the franchise. But I do find it smart of the devs to leave Rapture, because a third iteration in Rapture would have been very difficult.
Strange thing though, I don’t hear people complain about God of War 3, which was also in the same framework and gameworld again…. Just saying
PS: sorry for the long read, but It was an overall incomposing thought (Member battlecry and comment on the episode itself.)
Hello there EBA, this weeks show was awesome(as expected).I hope this gets on the Axe or Forced Feedback because my voice isn’t really heard too often.
Something i want to address is what lorin said when it came to Quake Live. He insinuated that Quake Live didn’t have to appeal as other games do because it’s a bit behind in some catagories(most notably graphics) but a point i want to make is if the games entertains you then it doesn’t matter about its faults. I’ll give an example, I have a PS3 with Modern Warfare 2 which is good in itself but do you know what i’ve been playing? Metal Gear Solid 1 on my PS2. People would point its faults in comparison to current generation like when you crouch you can’t shoot or that the details so poor that you’d have to sandpaper your eye’s to get the graphics as poor now but i don’t care because the game presents a challenge you don’t get in the gaming industry anymore and the story is better than any game on the markets today. Quality is all relative and for people like the Quake Live fans, the deal being offered is worth it and the will buy it because of what the game has offered them so far. I personally see it as a great offer considering your get 20 maps along with plenty of other content just for €2 in comparison to 5 maps for €15(take a bow Bobby Kotick).
I also want to point how people are going mad over the new Black Ops multiplayer trailer which is what goes to prove something i’ve been saying for a long time. Online Multiplayer is becoming an excuse for poor single player games. There have been plenty of game’s that have had good premise’s in the passed two-three years but these premises have failed because developers have to focus on the online in order to snag an audience they have to cut off development on the story and the game doesn’t have th potential it could live up to. Look at Black Op’s, people thought it was “good” during the single player player through’s at E3 but now since the online’s been released it’s apparantly one of the best things since sliced bread. Another Example is in Halo Reach, the single player is “good” but every since the online, forge and firefight were introduced it’s going to be one of the biggest releases this year. The single player which is supposed to be the foundation of the game is dissappearing because of online multiplayer. The only game which i feel puts their heart and soul into the single player is the Resistance series and even when they do have online co-op and competitive in Resistance 2, they work the co-op into the story in the forms of unlockable intel. Resistance also has books(hole in the sky currently in production) comics and viral sites based from the extremely intertwined and deep story which puts you right into that world. it makes it feel real to me which is something games used to have before the online play. Look at games like Singularity which had some of the best premises i.e. controlling the time and state of objects around you, which aren’t being done to there full potential simply because they had to work in a multiplayer.
i missed TG but Lorin is great
maybe regular guest and longer skirmishes?:)
Great episode!
Lorin was a great addition to the crew! I hope he comes back more often.
Cheers axeheads!
Regarding this weeks topic, I think that sequels should improve upon the concepts manifested in the original game. That is, the core should be intact if a game is to receive the title of sequel.
They should add new features, update the visuals, tweak the gameplay and further the story, so that fans of the original game aren’t left out, while at the same time, people who didn’t enjoy the previous installment can be promised a better product to renew their interest.
Games that have done this successfully in the current generation include Resistance (great starting point, fantastic sequel), Uncharted (excellent starting point, amazing sequel), Mass Effect (extraordinary starting point, absolutely mind-blowing sequel).
When the developer depart too far from the core of the game, even if they invent something new, innovative and amazing, expectations will always lead to dissapointment for the fans.
The best example I can give you is my dissapointment on how Dawn of War 2 was handled. Being a huge Dawn of War fan, I had murdered my way to a respectable online score in the the various expansions to the original, so when the announcement that DoW:2 was coming it sent my mind racing. When they hade dissolved the core of the game to an RPG:esque tactical unit managmenet and almost completely removed Macro from the game, my heart was broken.
The honest way to market such a departure is to avoid the numerals altogether, and only use the name to tie the game in to the universe of the previous game. For instance, The Mario Games. The only numerals used in that franchise is when there is a direct sequel to the original concept. Otherwise, the game gets a name or subtitle to better fit what’s actually in the box. If someone had named Mario Kart into Super Mario Bros 3 (timeline?) I bet there would’ve been great confusion among the fans. The same with Halo Wars, had it been marketed as a numeric Halo game.
The exception is ofcourse if the name or company has a history of changing things up, like Final Fantasy or Team Ico games (doesn’t really apply, since all their games are named individualy, but nonetheless).
So, yeah, my opinion is that you should IMPROVE on what’s safe, rather than branch out for the hell of it.
Great shows guy.
I like that BioShock is going difrent way, starting to tell a new story. But naming a game that infinite it’s a bad choice didn’t they learned from Duke Nukem forever???
Great, great episode as always! I just recently got into EBC, been watching all of the episodes non-stop.
Anyways, Black Ops Special Edition, RC car with camera? I’m not 14, but I’m in. You can’t get any decent camera for $20. This is a good way to get one for rather low price especially if you’re going to buy the game anyways. The camera can’t be very big, after all it is in a RC car. Could be kinda neat little gadget…
Quake Live. I’m a big Q3 fan. I’ve played it about 10 years total. Stopped playing roughly 4 years ago. Quake Live blew my mind when I heard it was going to be free. It is available everywhere to everyone which is wonderful, but as for the premium service, I don’t get it. Creating your own game server, cool, you can do that in Q3 as much as you want, for free. I’m not very familiar with Quake Live concept and what it has to offer. More maps? Okay, but what about Q3 mods? There are so many incredible maps and mods for it. I’m sure the fanbase is still alive and there are tons of servers.
You can get Q3 for 19.99€ on Steam and enjoy it all forever without ever having to pay extra.
So, in my eyes the only reason to look at Quake Live is only if Q3 is dead, but for some reason I’m very confident it’s just as alive as it was 10 years ago.
Fallout 3 New Vegas voice cast. Good voice acting whether it’s done by famous actors or not can have a huge impact. For example Kane & Lynch. Without the wonderful voice acting I probably wouldn’t care about the game at all.
Can it drastically change the game? No. Look at Ironman 2…
Duke Nukem and Gearbox Software. Uhh, not again…If they mess it up then law should be made. Nobody is allowed to develop Duke Nukem again or even think about it. It was a great game and if you can’t do it then just leave it alone. Game developers should respect it enough to let it die. Many people have the memories and so do I. For me that’s all I need. Even though I want the new game I’m very unsure whether they’ll be able to bring back that feeling I had back in the day. Therefore I don’t mind if I’ll be left only with my memories.
Bioshock Infinite, I thought it was a joke until I saw this episode. There were few videos out on some sites, but I didn’t even bother looking. I was absolutely convinced it was going to be one of those milking games. I.e. some 2D adventure game in Bioshock style. I’m really glad I was wrong and it’s a true sequel. I’m actually overly happy, because Bioshock 2 for me was a disappointment. It was a great game and all that, but I didn’t have any ‘wow’ moments. In the first games I was constantly surprised by the game and immerse environments, but Bioshock 2 didn’t offer enough new things. It felt like an extension more than anything else.
It’s only a good thing if they get out of the water and introduce us to something new. In the end of Bioshock 1 I wondered what about the rest of the world? Even though the Rapture was a mystical place, the whole Bioshock world seemed mystical and full of unique style for me. The beginning sequence when you’re on the plane felt so…unique. I really wanted to see more of that world. If they can do that with Bioshock Infinite then I’m absolutely sold and I don’t even care if they have little to no reference to Rapture. I just want to see more of that creative, immerse and unique world. Two years? Yeah I’ll wait. It’s actually somewhat heartwarming to know a whole new Bioshock game is coming out and it’s going to be unique just like the first game was.
Excellent show guys.
lorin iss awesome he should do the show more often
Great show loved it , Lorin shold be constant 4th member of the podcast
Smashing show again lads!
Damn I got so many ideas from this I had to take notes to keep track of it all, phew. Now let’s get to it.
I’m actually a little disappointed about the all star voice cast for Fallout: New Vegas. Those jobs belong to pro voice actors who can do more than one voice. Martin Sheen always snaps be out of it in ME2. I have nothing against the man I just can’t see illusive man when I hear Martin Sheen, I just see Martin Sheen after a lot of plastic surgery.
Speaking of great voice actors. There is a great Kevin Pollak show with Billy West and John DiMaggio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y06r95CtpYY. It’s a ridiculously long show for a youtube show but well worth the time btw. And I think they talk about hollywood actors taking the jobs of real voice actors at some point, or then I confuse it with some other show. Anyway watch that.
Ok, next in my notes – Quake Live! I really might pay $2 or $4 a month for Quake Live if I had more time to commit to it. It’s not about the money, that’s like 2 pebbles of mouse droppings in a sea of s**t. If I stumble upon a clan or my old clan mates of old and happen to quit my job to get more time for gaming I’d definitely pay that.
And as for BioShock: infinite. I’d like to ask a question to anyone who has seen some gameplay. Or did they even show any gameplay? Did it look a lot like BioShok 1 or 2? I understood that they have a totally new codebase for BioShock: Infinite. So does it look like they are reusing assets from BioShock? And if so, are they doing to too much, not enough or just right?
That’s all. Great job Lorin, please return for future podcasts.
Really enjoyed Lorin’s contribution this week. It would be great if he became a regular. Thoroughly entertaining. Cheers!
Awesome show guys! Lorin on the show was awesome and hopefully he can pop back at some point? Keep up the awesome work fellas, best show on the net … period!
Greetings, my Ravagers of Ritz, my Terrorizers of Triscuits, how art thou?
Seriously, Brent, how could you say Ritz crackers are the best crackers ever? Everyone knows Triscuits are far superior!
Anyhoo, good show, nice to see Lorin on there, keep up the good work!
A Grice-less episode had me worried, but Lorin has slain all doubt and solidifies EBC as the most finely produced podcast in existence.
Wow, Lorin said everything exactly like I would have said it. About Bioshock for example. I never played the second one because I had the feeling that I alreaday saw everything, that was worth it in the first one. I hoped for a different environment, and here we have it now.
Thank you for the great show.
What’s up my sequoias of sequels, my Pecans of prequals,
How are thou ?!
my idea of originality versus staying with a working formula is that those two should go hand in hand, a sequal should keep what was good and inovate with new and original ideas and concepts.
For example, little big planet 1 and 2, the first gave you a sidescrolling game and the option to create and share your own levels, the second one keeps that but adds a lot of new and inovating ideas, you can still create your own lvl’s but you can also create your own games within those lvl’s.
I think that when they create a sequal, game developers should first listen to the crowd to know what they liked or disliked in the game and then keep the good things, improve the bad things and think of new and original ideas to add in the game.
As usual, love the show, love the jokes, love the puns.
P.S. Jews are awsome, nuff said !
Great show as ever guys. Just wanted to comment on the whole idea of developers choosing between innovation and a proven formula when making games. Surely you can have both! Think about what BioShock Infinite has planned; a game that will have features and mechanics similar to fans of the original, but in an entirely new environment with so many different narrative to choose from. To me, that’s how developers should go. Haze, ont the other hand, is how this mix doesn’t work. It was a typical fps with their “great innovation” being the use of nectar….yeah, that was a bad plan.
Awesome episode guys, too bad Tony wasn’t around though. Lorin, you should be the fourth Axe-man, I thought you were great!
On the subject of changing the formula, in a squeal. I think that people expect some of the same thing and they really don’t want the game to be very different. If the first game was really good then people will most likely want more of the same, but with some part of the game that is in some way different. The Resident Evil franchise is a example of how a game can be changed so much but still remain good. A lot of people who played the first ones (RE1 to RE0) and enjoyed them were very pissed off when RE4 was so action oriented, so Capcom lost those costumers but gained a nut load of new ones, they have taken the franchise in a new direction but they did it slowly and did it fairly well, but in the end you can’t please everyone. But you can always please your self.
Thx for all of the LOVE ‘Axeheads!!
I had a great time doing the show and I am sure I will get a chance to do it again!!
When I’m not on the show (which is pretty much always), check out my weekly editorial column on the site, Gaming Matters. It is usually a reaction to the topics the guys discuss on the show and you can find it in the pics at the top of the site when it first comes out (Weds/Thurs). If you don’t see it on the top of the site, you can always find it under ‘Features’ in the nav bar. Check it out!!
Thx again for the kudos! I am really glad you guys enjoyed listening…I sure enjoyed doing it! Cry Havok!!
BioShock Infinite
Hello my librarians of lethality, my archivists of anarchy, and my catalogers of chaos! (I’m a nerdy librarian. Shhhhhh.)
My BattleCry this week goes out to Ken Burton and all those who want to keep gaming fun for all. Ken’s K.E.N. Project is trying hard to stop cyber bullying and immaturity from ruining gaming experiences for everyone. It may seem that trying to quell the flame war that is a MW2 lobby is like catching a moonbeam in your hand, but the tide of intelligent, mature, and decent gamers can spread the message of sportsmanship and fun to those in every game they play. Just because there is competition doesn’t mean everyone gets free rein to intimidate and insult your fellow gamers.
My EBC goes out to Call of Duty going pay-to-play. I’m gonna go out and say now that Call of Duty will never go to a subscription base. Activision said they are planing to do the biggest marketing campaign for Black Ops and I believe that started many months ago. What are they doing by spreading these rumors besides getting people to talk about Call of Duty. That is just my opinion, either way Bobby Kotick is still the devil himself. Love the show guys keep rocking.
lol @ the jew joke. I think Lorin should join the show he’s very insightful.
My Battle Cry goes out to the one and only, Epic Battle Axe! No other site has a more positive and friendly community and it’s a breath of fresh air in the always harsh world wide web. So stay metal axeheads, and keep the intelligent questioning of gaming news coming!
Great episode as always and Lorin must be the fourth Axeman of the gaming make it happen.
Nice Job DK ^^ You can be the next host… And it is always nice to see guests
Just a quick note Irrational Games didn’t have much to do with Bioshock 2, it was actually developed by 2K Marin, 2K China, Arkane Studios, Digital Extremes (multiplayer). The only aspect that remained the same was the publisher. 2k didn’t do a bad job but just missed the bar that would have made it a great game.
I don’t have any problem with well known voice actors doing voices in games, like Patrick Steward in Oblivion he made that short lived character stand out in my mind and he played a character well.
why 3 guys on this show add Lauren no one will left angry
If i personaly should choose between originality or proven stuff id go with proven formulas and heres why…few of my all time favourite titles are final fantasy, god of war and lets say Elder scrolls…and of course i agree that originality and proven formulas should go hand in hand in new titles because thats what we want…and sure originality is great if it works out but there are so many games out there already that there always will be someone who dug deep and can say ive seen this there and there…so why i chose FF, GOW and Elder Scrolls is quite simple…there are no good FFs out there since FFX because the proven formula has been changed by originality so much that the fans are holding their breaths for every new outing…and in FF XIII the turn based formula got so close to being good that SE obviously knows the way but something is wrong…and GOW is the perfect example of proven formula gone better and better by new original ideas…we all have seen different fighting titles and GOW got the best of most and as it went further the originality only came in small chunks or epic half hour long orgasmic never-seen-before battles that improved the best old formula until perfection was achieved(even the falling sequences in GOW were so epic that even TFU2 got it and Dead space 2 and i wont be surprised if many other will go for something similar-and yet it is a simple plain old arcade formula-move in a tube to avoid colision, you add firing mechanic and u have any old-style arcade flight shooter)…and elder scrolls or fallout went from their basic roots changing this and that as the technical options went further but still the RPG element didnt go that far and a lot of people love it…either the older fallout or the new ones…and my point from all of this that for example the new bioshock will still be an FPS(i hope so!) and the new original way of portraying an FPS in an anarchistic era will or work out or not…and since i would choose something proven over new original way is why i dont like…and i dont think i will have much of a succes… Kinect! here the originality went so far that it will take any proven formulas and oveshadow them with its new hop and pop your spleen mechanic that the originality itself will be its downfall…
Greetings my fellow game enthusiasts! My name is Josiah and I dream to one day be a game journalist like you wonderful people at the axe. I am currently attending college and writing some reviews and articles on the side, but I was wondering where you all got your start. How did you get to where you are career wise today and do you have any tips? Keep up the awesome work and never stop crying havoc!
I realize that there’s a lot to say about game trailers, particularly ones that don’t contain any actual gameplay. I think the Bioshock: Infinite trailers reminded me a lot of the Fable 3 trailer, and that got me thinking. Part of the beauty of Bioshock was in the incredible detail that was apparent in its poorly lit, almost dim or “obscure” setting of Rapture. You can push a lot of graphics when you need them most when you can excuse darkness as part of the setting of your game. Darkness means you can lower polygon counts and texture qualities in such a way that you can essentially end up coding two game settings, the one that the player can see, and the one he wont. The world of Bioshock infinite seems bright and colorful for a setting, and bright is the number one enemy of frame rates on any platform.
You have to make compromises when you invite the eyes of the player to wander. Either you limit the openness of the world or the overall quality of the graphics. Of course, if the developer takes the time, the game can be tightly coded so that they dont compromise graphics so much. I will say, though, frame rate skips are my number one pet peeve, it snags me right out of the game and slams me out of the immersion like being slapped across the face with a bag of ice. Frame rate drops was the reason I could never get myself to enjoy Fable 2, it just annoyed the hell out of me since the game itself didn’t even seem that graphics intensive to begin with.
Here’s hoping that “Infinite” will be a smooth running game, and that it lives up to the trailer in the quality and ambition of its setting.
You guys run my favorite podcast hands down! Cry Havoc!
Did I miss something? When’s the new show comin on?
I am dying out here hahaha
Excellent list! I’ve learned more from this forum in about 2 days than I have at any other forum community.
Hello, this is great article. I like it. Regards!