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Jake

The Idle Thumbs Podcast Episode 9: Rolling With the Pope

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Well, I would hope the Assassin's Creed 2 discussion clearly demonstrates how much I would like to see more video games be grounded. ...so Driver is losing a lot less by lifting off into video game land, especially since--unlike Assassin's Creed--it has a concrete gameplay reason to do so.

Ah... I just listened to that part again a few times to make sure I interpeted everyones comments correctly and didt just write what ws already stated... and I think I did just that.

So I'm pretty sure I misinterpreted originally, but as I take the comments now(which shouldn't have been so hard since its exactly what was said); Sean believes they wanted to make a Bullit-like game but needed to tack on a gamey feature and come up with a b.s reason for it. Chris thinks the idea came first and the narrative was built around it in order to support the feature in the universe they established(with reference).

So, anyway, for whatever reason I thought Sean was bringing up that point using Driver as an example for a broader topic about the industry... he wasn't so my jibbersh was moot.

However caring about the Driver franchise/fiction aside,

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Couple of points to throw out:

LAN parties still very much exist, hell over here we have a subsidiary of HMV called Gamerbase. The one in Manchester is really good, offering free play events, tournaments, etc.

The second players portals in Portal 2 would likely be a pair of complimentary colours: red and green or yellow and purple.

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The second players portals in Portal 2 would likely be a pair of complimentary colours: red and green or yellow and purple.

Yeah but Sean(jake?) is still right, green and purple portals would be so cool.

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Yeah but Sean(jake?) is still right, green and purple portals would be so cool.

Yeah Sean was right, it would be cool.

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Wow, I got my e-mail read (I'm Myles). I instantly felt bad once I realized you hadn't finished Cryostasis, I hope I didn't spoil it too much. I'm also glad you didn't read my original facetious e-mail on the topic.

I really like Assassin's Creed's Animus construct, because it puts the video game trappings in the game world. It reminds me of Sands of Time's rewinds and storytelling construct, in that they are in game reasons for lives and game overs. POP was clearly a lot more natural than AC though.

Putting their historical game in that frame makes me believe their fairly weak world mechanics. The Incognito/Notorious switch is a good example. There's really no reason why Ezio isn't just constantly hunted down, but the animus is designed to represent that in a specific binary way. I thought of the guards and companions as programs and routines, which explained why they are so system driven (even though all games are that way). I feel like if the game was just set in the various historic settings Ubisoft would have to up their ability to simulate a town or the game would feel weird.

Even stuff like objectives make more sense in the Animus, since you're supposed to be experiencing the lives of Altair/Ezio as they did. Telling me I failed a mission because I failed to assassinate a guy while remaining unnoticed is dumb. This is especially true if it's handled like it is in most games, with your unstoppable dude being killed by the guards that saw him in a cutscene. However, if I failed because I didn't mimic the actual event it makes a bit more sense (although it is still dumb).

AC2 also made me want to play as Desmond more, and experience his world, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. If you don't care about the world of their frame narrative, then everything else they do is just annoying and unnecessary.

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I really don't think there's a problem with being too ungrounded. Look at something surreal like Killer 7 or No More Heroes. I don't think those games would have been so enjoyable if they weren't balls-out nuts. I think the problem is that too many games fall in this weird middle ground where they're kinda sorta grounded, but not really, because this wouldn't really happen but kinda y'know maybe. Being grounded is one thing, being believable is another thing. There's a lot of "grounded" games that are completely ridiculous.

Wow, that paragraph is a mess.

Also:

By the way, http://www.snooglebum.com/ is already taken, so disappointing.

Taken by me. :)

Yes, I got a web domain for chrismas.

And about the PAX age limit: I meant too young to get over there easily. Being a student doesn't help.

Edited by Snooglebum

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Quick comment on the discussion about the new design of the 360.

The first design was really thought through and I have to say it was an amazing job from Microsoft. It was classy and appealing. There is an excellent article published in 2005 about the work of the design team:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002276090_xboxdesign16.html

There is nice tidbits:

The Xbox team cast a wide net at first, bringing on a dozen firms two years ago to brainstorm ideas. Armed with an array of concepts, the team made several trips — to Japan, Europe and the United States — to see what people liked. Patterns arose in the responses. People wanted a softer look than the original console. They wanted Microsoft to tone down the logo. They loved the use of chrome as an accent color.
Apple Computer's iPod is mild, executives said. Mild will still look fresh five years from now. Wild and aggressive will seem dated.
Microsoft hit the road again, testing the colors last December on focus groups in Japan, the United Kingdom and Texas. People felt the gray was wishy-washy and vague. Reaction to the white was extremely positive — particularly in Japan.

With the new design Microsoft do a U turn with the new design that we could call XBox180. Does it mean that what they wanted to achieve is a design that will be dislike by many people, outdated in 5 years and hated in Japan?

Gimme J back!

media-id-3294417.jpg

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Snoopy's Flying Ace is the only game that makes me wish that I had XBL gold subscription. Nice to hear you guys are so enthusiastic about it. :hah:

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+2309031293203 points for throwing in a Horse Bag reference.

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No one's gonna hire me to design game boxes anytime soon.

MaxIdes.jpg

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, the Ides of March. Cool for two reasons. One, I was born on that day. Two, Julius Caesar was murdered on that day.

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The Ides of March: beware that shit.

That's basically exactly what a fortune teller told Caesar days before he was murdered. Then on the morning he was all like "Aw man, I feel like shit today. cba to go into work" and his wife was like "don't go then" and he was like "I gotta" then he got there and Max Ides was all like "You're dead."

I just realised it would totally be cooler if every day of Max Ides's life was the ides of that month. He just like sleeps for four weeks, then pow! Wakes up and kills some dudes.

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Snoopy's Flying Ace is the only game that makes me wish that I had XBL gold subscription. Nice to hear you guys are so enthusiastic about it. :hah:

I think Sean expressed more or less exactly how I feel about the game, even though I enjoyed Snoopy vs the Red Baron more. This is exactly the multiplayer I wanted from that game, that it didn't have (on PC anyway). Nothing beats the thrill of dog fighting over Paris in a doghouse.

I'd love to see all the ground-based gameplay they cut.

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The ides of <month> scares me, because one time it's the 13th, and then the next it's the 15th, and there's just no system there ;(

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The Ides of March: beware that shit.

It worked out well 'cause the only picture of a boat related calendar I could find was of March (also 2009, but whatever). Of course I put that tugboat in there since no one will actually ever make a tugboat-centric calendar.

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The ides of <month> scares me, because one time it's the 13th, and then the next it's the 15th, and there's just no system there ;(

The system is based on a lunar cycle, the ides is when the full moon for each month would occur in the roman calendar.

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The system is based on a lunar cycle, the ides is when the full moon for each month would occur in the roman calendar.

I just thought it was the 15th, always?

Well, there goes my fun :(:tdown:

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The system is based on a lunar cycle, the ides is when the full moon for each month would occur in the roman calendar.

I mean, there's no handy system of knowing when that is, apart from stupidly learning the dates by heart.

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I mean, there's no handy system of knowing when that is, apart from stupidly learning the dates by heart.

I do know that a blue moon is when you have two full moons in the same month.

Not that it helps this discussion, of course.

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This has to be the longest, most indepth discussion about a 20 second idlethumbs joke rift ever in existence.

I wonder what Max Ides middle name is? Is his full name Maximillian or Maxwell? What's his favoite colour?

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This has to be the longest, most indepth discussion about a 20 second idlethumbs joke rift ever in existence.

I wonder what Max Ides middle name is? Is his full name Maximillian or Maxwell? What's his favoite colour?

Third act twist: Max Ides is actually Brutus. Think about it.

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Third act twist: Max Ides is actually Brutus. Think about it.

Max Ides is an honourable man...

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