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EpicBattleCry: Skirmish 171 - Thankful When It's Over!

Tuck in that turkey - Team EBC is carving up the details on industry topics like the new standard of 'AAA' games beyond blockbusters like Black Ops II. Plus, Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC not-so detailed, Halo 4 says "Hello" to a pretty pay day, Lara Croft is blowin' up in a TR CE, and PS Vita gets a major Plus next week! We're stuffing your head with gaming knowledge (and a side serving of puns) on this edition of EpicBattleCry!

EpicBattleCry

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EPICBATTLECRY SKIRMISH 171 SHOW NOTES

GAUNTLET

Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC Coming December 4
Halo 4 amasses $220 million in 24 hours
Tomb Raider Collector’s Edition Ships with Lara Figure, Poster, and More
PS Plus hits Vita on November 19

TOPIC: The New AAA

At a recent conference in Toronto, Splinter Cell: Blacklist director Patrick Redding went on the record discussing his concepts for a new breed of AAA games - something he calls “lower-case aaa”. These titles take into consideration the rising production costs associated with game development as well as the shifting tastes of consumers in a continually evolving marketplace. Question is, what do gamers really expect out of a AAA (or aaa) game in the future? How much is tied to systemic design and social interaction? Have we seen the end of Hollywood-style AAA blockbusters in the gaming industry? Team EBC breaks it down and discusses in this Skirmish of EpicBattleCry.

SOURCE

BATTLECRIES

Tony - Black Ops Sick Days
Brent - GTAV GameInformer preview
Daniel - BIT Parts

Member Battle Cry

Matthew Smith

Hey guys! great show as usual. I very much enjoyed the discussion of horror in the main topic, which came as a bit of a surprise to me since I don't really consider myself a big fan of horror in general. I was really struck, though, by the points you made about solitude and player choice being some really effective tools to create scares that go beyond just gore and shocking or surprising scenes. I also agree with FrankeeNL that a feeling of helplessness goes a long way towards making a situation scary. The games that have scared me the most so far are probably Demon's Souls and The Walking Dead, each in their own way.

I feel like most of the fear I experienced in Demon's Souls was as a consequence of knowing just how helpless I was. Especially when you find yourself in a new area with a lot of souls, you very much do not want to die, and any sense of a new trap or a powerful enemy in the vicinity would always start my heart pumping. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, really plays on my sense of choice. Some of the scariest moments I've experienced in that game are actually when the optional text clues say ominous things like "Clementine will remember that." I'm thrilled by the possibility that my decisions will come back to haunt me. It's actually kind of interesting because I don't care about dying much at all in The Walking Dead, which you'd think would detract from its effective scariness, but I haven't found that to be the case. Anyway, great discussion, and I look forward to seeing how these elements continue to develop in the future.

Tags: EpicBattleCry, podcasts

40 members like this

Comment by Daniel Kayser on November 15, 2012 at 1:02pm: Hey everyone, DK here. FYI, in regards to the Skyrim segment on this week's EBC, Bethesda did in fact release some content details (along with some new screens) on the DLC. They just so happened to do so a few days after we recorded this Skirmish. Anyway, you can find those in a story I wrote over on Side Mission - sans "Dragon Jacking"... Thanks for watching/listening!!!

Comment by Beema on November 15, 2012 at 1:03pm: DK, minor edit: you listed it as Dawnguard on the Gauntlet links list.

Comment by Beema on November 15, 2012 at 2:00pm: Great episode, hope you all have a good Thanksgiving. Sorry you have work that day Tony :-( didn't know you were in retail. May the lords be merciful on you.

DK - is Novembeard in full effect?

I think the discussion about development cost vs returns is probably going to be the biggest issue in the games industry (if it isn't already). Every single thing we complain about, from shilling ridiculous DLC, online passes, DRM, etc etc stems directly from this problem.

Comment by Fluent on November 15, 2012 at 2:18pm: Tony, I'm right there with you. I'm working 2 jobs on Thanksgiving Day. The only holiday I get off is Christmas day, and that's only because the office building is actually closed, not my company.

Comment by Thor the Mighty on November 15, 2012 at 2:24pm: After over 200+ hours of Skyrim i just can't eat any more of that cake. It was delicious,but i'm stuffed. Looking forward to playing many more Halo 4 multiplayer matches until dawn. Also walking on the warm white sand beaches of Far Cry 3 during the cold winter days.

Comment by StarBound on November 15, 2012 at 3:36pm: I'd rather have the fat mercilessly being cleaved from the gaming industry than the turkey next week.

Comment by Daniel Kayser on November 15, 2012 at 3:53pm: Thank, Beema! I missed that typo. Fixed now though. Cheers!

Comment by Fredrik Pedersen on November 15, 2012 at 5:59pm: You forgot to tag this post with epicbattlecry and podcasts tags so that it'll show up in 'Shows'

Comment by Crazeegamer on November 15, 2012 at 8:03pm: I love the metal intro, it gets me PUMPED.

Comment by Scott Quertinmont on November 15, 2012 at 9:20pm: Hey DK are you going to put up a mp3. I made one but would like to have the official

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