Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s the triumphant 3rd year birthday for Jumping the Shark and to celebrate we’ve done nothing special other than make sure we’re all here. Whoo.
The gang is all in the house for Jumping the Shark #161 and we wile away our hour together by talking about Bill’s latest foray into Risk: Legacies and Brandon DudeBro’s up for a little Black Ops 2 and a side plate of Little Inferno on the iPad. I put on my best book reviewer’s hat (it looks rather like one of those multicolor beanie deals with a propeller on top) and do a couple minutes on Markus Zusak’s WW2 era novel, The Book Thief (coming, eventually, to a theater near you, if the news I read this week is accurate). It’s all prelude to next week when Jon Shafer makes his triumphant return to the show to talk about his new gaming venture, Conifer Games, and it’s first game, At the Gates, which launched its Kickstarter campaign today. It’s Shafer, people, so go Kickstart the hell out of it.
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Dishonored in Review
XCOM: Enemy Unknown in Review
Borderlands 2 in Review
First off, the movie is Without a Paddle.
Secondly, the intro/outro music plays at around 35 minutes and makes it difficult to hear Bill discussing whatever it was he was discussing.
Lastly, JRPGs really need to fix the grinding part of the game. I get that all JRPGs do it, but that’s no excuse to continue. The game does not need to be 100 hours long with 60 hours of grinding. I’m sure they could design around it.
Ah, I see you figured out the movie, I had not finished the podcast yet. I should have assumed you would figure it out, I mean you have the internet.
IMDB for the win!
Hey Todd, how come Barnes never joins in on your Podcast?
Regarding JRPGs, I feel like japanese publishers are consistently behind the the design curve regarding many of the incredibly valid criticisms you all mentioned. Partly because I think they are still designing with a Japanese audience in mind, who seem to have a different set of tastes and values regarding games, and partly because it seems like the corporate culture over there makes it even harder to turn the ship around.
Which isn’t to say corporate culture over here is much better–just that it seems like there is a more varied landscape here.
I’d say two reasons. The main one is that he’s usually too busy with family obligations to record on our Thursday night schedule. Number two, because of number one we end up not asking nearly as often as we should. Michael, though, knows he’s welcome to join whenever he’s like. It’s always a great show when he’s on so you all should harass him some about setting aside the time.
I’ll add my vote for more podcastin’ Barnes, too.
I wasn’t able to participate in his boycott of Dead Space 3 on account of having prepurchased the digital PC version when Green Man Gaming’s voucher had it for about $33. On the plus side, I’ve never spent one red cent on microtransactions and won’t be starting now.
This is the first Dead Space game I’ve played on the PC, and man, does it look and feel great! I’m only about 90-minutes in, so please don’t mistake these for comprehensive impressions, but this game opens extremely well and maintains a great sense of pacing through the first three chapters. It does feel a lot more like an action-packed shooter than a survival horror game though, so people hoping to revisit that tense feeling of quiet dread from the first game are likely to find the ratio of explosions per minute disappointing.
Personally, I’m a big fan of this series’ aesthetic. The holographic interface, the weight and impact of every shot, the excessively complex machinery everywhere. Who would design a ship full of doors that require eight discrete panels to piston into place whenever someone walks through? I don’t know, but I’m a fan all the same!
Bill wondered if he was ready to pay $60 for more Dead Space. As long as he’s asking that question, the answer is no. Seriously, with X-Com and Mass Effect 3 waiting on the shelf, only the most sustained compulsion to revisit this franchise would be worth that sort of money.
It would be cool if Brandon and Petey give the co-op play a whirl, though. I’ll be playing exclusively solo and it’s always fun to hear about their exploits on the podcast.