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[LiveFromKyoto]

You could get through everything in 999 in like two days. It's only the first two play throughs that take any time, after that you can skip through everything until you get to the scenes you haven't done. The last couple of play throughs are only like an hour or two.

 

[matrix-cat]

On the Star Wars subject, I just watched Harmy's remastered Despecialized edition of Star Wars and it's absolutely amazing. There's one scene (Obi Wan scaring off the Raiders with his Krayt impression) where the white balance is blown out, but apparently he's already working on redoing that scene and then it's on to Empire. It's only 720p, so it isn't quite Blu Ray quality, but it does look fantastic. Best of all, it looks like a movie from 1977 should look, with no DNR or post-processing.

It's better than I can imagine any official release ever looking. Lucas has made his stance clear on the theatrical cut of the movies, and even the Blu Rays are still hamstrung by the godawful special effects work that was done for the Special Editions in the '90s. Maybe one day Disney will track down an original print and remaster it, but they seem like they'd want to respect Lucas' wishes.

 

[I speel my dreenk]

After the real talk on this episode (and a long fucking time of enjoying their free content), first thing when I got home from work was sign up for a premium account.

Fuckin' A.

 

[Rapstah]

This is random dudebro shooter #1432, not Zero Escape or 999. I feel comfortable saying nobody should get too worked up about hearing that there's a Bin Laden analogue.

There were more percieved spoilers tham that one. Doesn't change anything for the minority of people who care. Accidentally slipping and saying something because it hadn't crossed your mind that people might care is forgivable and understandable to and by most, but going out of your way to try to define what real spoilers people should actually be caring about is assy. I don't care about or play MoH or any of the other games mentioned here.

 

[Lombax]

After the real talk on this episode (and a long fucking time of enjoying their free content), first thing when I got home from work was sign up for a premium account.

Fuckin' A.

This pleases Vinny

 

[slightconfuse]

i almost spit my drink out at the beardfather part.

 

[sixghost]

I don't understand.

Spoiler

I JUST OWN A BASEBALL TEAM

That's just classic ironman

 

[joeygreco1985]

This is random dudebro shooter #1432, not Zero Escape or 999. I feel comfortable saying nobody should get too worked up about hearing that there's a Bin Laden analogue.

Fuck off. Spoilers for ANY new release is never cool, just because you're not going to play the game doesn't make it ok.

 

[funkystudent]

I am beardfather.

I give on to you the Hybrid Theory!



Also jeffs story was great.

Reminded of the time my house was also raided because the fucking cops couldn't read the door number and where meant to go next door. :/

I forget if the guy was caught dealing or was it the time he was caught stealing rolls of Grass/Turf from a place up the road.

 

[FStop7]

Also, you got to have a fistfight in mid-air. That was fucking baller.

Is it with Bobby Kotick?

I don't understand.

Spoiler

I JUST OWN A BASEBALL TEAM

Play World of Warcraft for free!

 

[Hot Coldman]

Yeah, if you feel people who bought MoH made a bad decision, there's better ways of expressing that than deciding it's fair to tamper their experience with it.

Although with regards to

Spoiler

the Bin Laden stuff

, EA kinda ruined that themselves with their fairly well publicised

Spoiler

Zero Dark Thirty multiplayer DLC tie-in.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

Remember how Jeff said he paid freelancers $300 for a review in the "good days."

$3,500 for a mock review
(via @supererogatory on twitter)

Man, I'd sell out for half of that

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

I love that they talked about "the issue" on this week's bombcast and didn't bother to discuss about the fact that AC 3 came out and a number of other titles.

You get an idea of what's important to them and although they used some "enthusiast press buzz words" that I don't love, I still feel as though they "get it".

So much so that I did two things.

I bought Dust an Elysian Tail and I bought a premium membership.

I trust those guys.

Thanks for speaking about an obvious concern and seemingly treating us with respect.

 

[Oxx]

Laurence Wainwright? Good to know that 'Scoops' has been paying attention.

 

[AColdDay]

After the real talk on this episode (and a long fucking time of enjoying their free content), first thing when I got home from work was sign up for a premium account.

Fuckin' A.

Watch some of the jar time videos Jeff does. I like the goofy stuff, but Giantbomb is at its best when it strikes the proper balance between stupid and substance. Jeffs videos are him at his most candid, talking ernestly about what he does and how he sees things, it can be super fascinating. I wish that the rest of the guys would follow suit and do similar videos!

 

[Chip N Chance]

Laurence Wainwright? Good to know that 'Scoops' has been paying attention.

Didn't he durring the discussion refer to her as a man the whole time? lol

Also they loosely mentioned me durring the journalism section when talking about how someone found a picture of him from last fall pounding Game Fuel getting ready for MW3.

 

[ultron87]

I'm on duussssssttt!

 

[Curufinwe]

Laurence Wainwright? Good to know that 'Scoops' has been paying attention.

That was kind of funny

Spoiler

and sad

, but a more important error was they way he downplayed the very real threat of a libel lawsuit.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-30-editors-blog-lost-humanity-18-aftermath

Lauren Wainwright threatened us with legal action and made it clear she would not back down, at which point we took legal advice and ultimately made the decision to remove the paragraphs.

 

[Oxx]

I really hope the 'witch-hunt' comment wasn't regarding the Lauren Wainwright stuff.

She threatened another writer with libel for this:

And instantly I am suspicious. I am suspicious of this journalist's apparent love for Tomb Raider. I am asking myself whether she's in the pocket of the Tomb Raider PR team. I'm sure she isn't, but the doubt is there. After all, she sees nothing wrong with journalists promoting a game to win a PS3, right?

Simple Google searches revealed many strong links to Eidos, Tomb Raider, Square Enix, and PR firms dating back to 2008.

Obviously any gender-based or aggressive abuse should be condemned, but don't let it distract from the fact that Robert Florence was closer to the truth than me may have known when he wrote that piece.

 

[netBuff]

Yeah, if you feel people who bought MoH made a bad decision, there's better ways of expressing that than deciding it's fair to tamper their experience with it.

Although with regards to

Spoiler

the Bin Laden stuff

, EA kinda ruined that themselves with their fairly well publicised

Spoiler

Zero Dark Thirty multiplayer DLC tie-in.

That's not tampering with anyone's experience. I don't think stuff like this can be considered a reasonable "spoiler": You really didn't expect the game to feature a mission where the good guys raid a house where a terrorist is at and the good guys then proceed to kill the terrorist? Really doesn't tell you much about the story beats of the mission, this is pretty much generic "shootymen game" stuff. Not every little thing is worth keeping silent, or else we wouldn't have any discussion on this forum. And let's not forget about EA marketing explicitly telling us about the fact that they had the person that wrote the book about the Bin Laden raid on as a story consultant.

This is also what I was criticising in the other thread: Some people are so overly sensitive about knowing even the most basic details about their entertainment product, that we tend to have too much discussion that only deals in uninteresting generalities. People shouldn't cater to every absurd demand.

 

[I speel my dreenk]

Watch some of the jar time videos Jeff does.

This was actually the first thing I did.

Cue Jeff drinking a Diet Coke and water(?) from a Ball jar. Talking about the weather. Whispering to the camera. Reminiscing about a sticker he peeled off of a TV in a hotel room at a gaming convention. Pondering an incomplete question sent to him over Twitter. Still, I watch.

I have no regrets.

 

[Typographenia]

Just now got through the segment talking about the games journalism. That was one fantastic discussion. I love hearing Jeff lay things down.

Brad, I laughed at your terrible origin joke, haha

 

[Anatoli Bacharach]

That's not tampering with anyone's experience. I don't think stuff like this can be considered a reasonable "spoiler":

You don't think a detailed description of the last level of the game can be considered a spoiler? What if I told you about the last level of Halo 4 or AC3 or Bioshock Infinte right now, you wouldn't think that's a spoiler?

Brad should have at least given a fair warning to allow listeners to skip ahead.

 

[Odrion]

I just skip ahead a half hour whenever a podcast talks about a game I'm currently playing. The enthusiast press just don't give a fuck about spoilers.

 

[hamchan]

What a great episode. Jeff's stories about his roommates were so interesting. The whole games journalism discussion is AMAZING and very candid. Giant Bomb is easily the most trustworthy games site on the Internet. I've been a fan of these guys since 2008 and will be a fan for a long time to come.

 

[netBuff]

You don't think a detailed description of the last level of the game can be considered a spoiler? What if I told you about the last level of Halo 4 or AC3 or Bioshock Infinte right now, you wouldn't think that's a spoiler?

Brad should have at least given a fair warning to allow listeners to skip ahead.

It's absolutely not a "detailed description of the last level", as you know neither the exact layout of the Bin Laden compound (unless you were part of the raid), nor what the Medal of Honor team took from it, nor how it relates to the Medal of Honor story (they obviously only took the general idea for co-marketing reasons with the Bin Laden movie). What you know is that the game's last level features a terrorist being shot - not really a revelation.

Brad was right in not giving any warning for such banality (although he himself often suppresses discussion of year old games because he hasn't played them yet - even if he doesn't plan to actually play them in the near future).

I just skip ahead a half hour whenever a podcast talks about a game I'm currently playing. The enthusiast press just don't give a fuck about spoilers.

Gaming podcasts typically only deal in generalities in fear of offending anyone. People probably shouldn't care this much about really minor spoilers of entertainment products that aren't that plot-dependant anyway. It'd make for better, more succinct analysis.

 

[Fox Mulder]

On the Star Wars subject, I just watched Harmy's remastered Despecialized edition of Star Wars and it's absolutely amazing. There's one scene (Obi Wan scaring off the Raiders with his Krayt impression) where the white balance is blown out, but apparently he's already working on redoing that scene and then it's on to Empire. It's only 720p, so it isn't quite Blu Ray quality, but it does look fantastic. Best of all, it looks like a movie from 1977 should look, with no DNR or post-processing.

It's better than I can imagine any official release ever looking. Lucas has made his stance clear on the theatrical cut of the movies, and even the Blu Rays are still hamstrung by the godawful special effects work that was done for the Special Editions in the '90s. Maybe one day Disney will track down an original print and remaster it, but they seem like they'd want to respect Lucas' wishes.

Maybe when he's dead.

 

[netBuff]

It's better than I can imagine any official release ever looking. Lucas has made his stance clear on the theatrical cut of the movies, and even the Blu Rays are still hamstrung by the godawful special effects work that was done for the Special Editions in the '90s. Maybe one day Disney will track down an original print and remaster it, but they seem like they'd want to respect Lucas' wishes.

Maybe when he's dead.

George Lucas has pretty much said that he is washing his hands of Star Wars and does want to give it over to fresh people. I don't think he cares at this point whether Disney re-releases the theatrical version or not, he got his money and doesn't want to be involved anymore (otherwise, he would have done a different contract with Disney).

And Disney will do what makes financial sense. While they, as a company, like to vault their old releases to increase their value, I certainly expect a "theatrical" version to be out some time in the future.

 

[joeygreco1985]

It's absolutely not a "detailed description of the last level", as you know neither the exact layout of the Bin Laden compound (unless you were part of the raid), nor what the Medal of Honor team took from it, nor how it relates to the Medal of Honor story (they obviously only took the general idea for co-marketing reasons with the Bin Laden movie). What you know is that the game's last level features a terrorist being shot - not really a revelation.

From where I was in the story at that point (I'm still at the same point in the campaign, haven't had a chance to play much this week), Bin Laden wasn't even revealed as the "evil mastermind" who you go after in the last mission yet. Then Brad does give some detail on the mission saying you

Spoiler

have to cut the power and go in with NVGs

. This is a spoiler no matter how you look at it. When you reveal plot details and mission structure of the last level in a game it is a spoiler.

But Brad didn't draw a fucking map so its not a spoiler?

I think what the argument boils down to is a lot of people are in the camp of "oh It's just a dudebro shooter. You kill all the terrorists, so theres no such thing as a spoiler because those games have shitty stories", which is bullshit. You can't pick and choose which genres allow spoilers.

 

[netBuff]

From where I was in the story at that point (I'm still at the same point in the campaign, haven't had a chance to play much this week), Bin Laden wasn't even revealed as the "evil mastermind" who you go after in the last mission yet. Then Brad does give some detail on the mission saying you have to cut the power and go in with NVGs. This is a spoiler no matter how you look at it. When you reveal plot details and mission structure of the last level in a game it is a spoiler.

I haven't played Medal of Honor that far, but from what I know, Bin Laden isn't the terrorist you are going after. It's just a mission inspired by the raid for marketing reasons. What Brad said doesn't tell you anything interesting about the plot.

The "mission structure" he was describing wasn't all that revealing and is unimportant to the game (this is a heavily scripted corridor-shooter, you aren't being "spoiled" on different possible approaches). Raiding some compound or other (including an abundance of door breaches) is basically all you do in this game.

I think what the argument boils down to is a lot of people are in the camp of "oh It's just a dudebro shooter. You kill all the terrorists, so theres no such thing as a spoiler because those games have shitty stories", which is bullshit. You can't pick and choose which genres allow spoilers.

Of course you can, this game features a typical disjointed, nonsensical "shootymen game" plot intent on delivering a maximum of scripted "dramatic moments". The fact that you kill a terrorist in such a game is hardly surprising.

Medal of Honor's plot is basically backdrop, not a carefully crafted story.

 

[StuBurns]

I could see how it'd be a spoiler, the final level should be the culmination of the game, as I didn't hear anything about this Bin Laden level before this podcast, I would presume EA did not use it heavily in marketing the game, and if that is the case, it was meant to be a reveal.

Is it like spoiling the end of Halo 4? No, of course not. But is it a shitty thing to spoil? Yes.

 

[netBuff]

Is it like spoiling the end of Halo 4? No, of course not. But is it a shitty thing to spoil? Yes.

Absolutely not a "shitty thing to spoil" - it's irrelevant to the Medal of Honor experience. And EA absolutely did use it in their marketing, but they never said where exactly the "raid inspired mission" is in the game's timeline. MoH isn't a "carefully crafted experience" anyway.

But buy talking about it on the podcast, the Bombcrew was able to get some opinions on it across, which is better than keeping mum to maintain the magical "sanctity of experience" of an otherwise extremely generic game. I'd rather have the discussion about it than not. And I feel that, in general, gaming podcasts are much too concerned about people moaning on the internet.

 

[StuBurns]

Absolutely not a "shitty thing to spoil" - it's irrelevant to the Medal of Honor experience. And EA absolutely did use it in their marketing, but they never said where exactly the "raid inspired mission" is in the game's timeline. MoH isn't a "carefully crafted experience" anyway.

But buy talking about it on the podcast, the Bombcrew was able to get some opinions on it across, which is better than keeping mum to maintain the magical "sanctity of experience" of an otherwise extremely generic game. I'd rather have the discussion about it than not. And I feel that, in general, gaming podcasts are much too concerned about people moaning on the internet.

You think because you don't think highly of Medal of Honor, no one could, which is bollocks. I don't think highly of Mass Effect 3, if I detailed the ending now, and Brad read it, I imagine he'd be irritated, and rightly so.

It seems pretty obvious to me, don't discuss the end of a game, without at least heavily prefacing, the week it's out, regardless of it's quality, or originality.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

netBuff has just hit my ignore list due to his attitude on spoilers. Loose cannon that one.

 

[netBuff]

You think because you don't think highly of Medal of Honor, no one could, which is bollocks. I don't think highly of Mass Effect 3, if I detailed the ending now, and Brad read it, I imagine he'd be irritated, and rightly so.

It seems pretty obvious to me, don't discuss the end of a game, without at least heavily prefacing, the week it's out, regardless of it's quality, or originality.

I agree that spoilers should be respected in general, but not to the detriment of interesting discussion in such mild cases as this one (they absolutely weren't discussing or "detailing" the end of the game in any meaningful way as it relates to MoH's storyline).

 

[StuBurns]

I agree that spoilers should be respected in general, but not to the detriment of interesting discussion in such mild cases as this one (they absolutely weren't discussing the end of the game in any meaningful way as it relates to MoH's storyline).

I don't respect your, or their ability to determine what is 'mild'.

 

[netBuff]

I don't respect your, or their ability to determine what is 'mild'.

In that case you won't be able to listen to any discussion on video games (or movies, or books, or any other entertainment product). I'm interested in reading and hearing more than uninteresting generalities, Medal of Honor trying to tie itself to the Bin Laden raid is a relevant point of contention and worth discussing.

I'm not about openly spoiling other peoples experiences (and it isn't that much of a problem in writing anyway, as we are easily able to conceal plot details), but I think we as a (gaming) society should care less about them and engage in more open discussion.

 

[chogidogs]

I agree that spoilers should be respected in general, but not to the detriment of interesting discussion in such mild cases as this one (they absolutely weren't discussing or "detailing" the end of the game in any meaningful way as it relates to MoH's storyline).

You don't have to spoil a game for "interesting discussion." It actually a good challenge for them to do that, regardless if they were interested in the game or not to begin with, somebody out there might and is. No point ruining the experience for them.

They deserve to experience their game the way they want as much as you deserve interesting conversation from a podcast.

 

[Anatoli Bacharach]

You think because you don't think highly of Medal of Honor, no one could, which is bollocks.

This is what this whole thing boils down to. It's not specifically about Medal of Honor.

I get netBuff's point of "open discussion about the ending is more valuable than staying spoiler-free", but he's in the minority. And a simple spoiler warning on the podcast would have satisfied both sides.

 

[joeygreco1985]

In that case you won't be able to listen to any discussion on video games (or movies, or books, or any other entertainment product). I'm interested in reading and hearing more than uninteresting generalities, Medal of Honor trying to tie itself to the Bin Laden raid is a relevant point of contention and worth discussing.

Then you discuss that in a spoilercast, or in a regular setting well after the game has been released, not within the first week.

 

[netBuff]

You don't have to spoil a game for "interesting discussion." It actually a good challenge for them to do that, regardless if they were interested in the game or bkt to begin with, somebody out there might and is. No point ruining the experience for them.

They deserve to experience their game the way they want as much as you deserve interesting conversation from a podcast.

And sometimes the "experience" isn't worth saving or isn't ruined in the first case. They don't have to bow down to every persons extreme definition of a "spoiler", and they shouldn't.

But yes, maybe they should have had a spoiler warning: But the discussion already happened, and nothing of value was lost.

 

[StuBurns]

In that case you won't be able to listen to any discussion on video games (or movies, or books, or any other entertainment product). I'm interested in reading and hearing more than uninteresting generalities, Medal of Honor trying to tie itself to the Bin Laden raid is a relevant point of contention and worth discussing.

Can you name another instance of GiantBomb detailing the final mission of a game week one?

As for the lofty and valuable discussion, it didn't happen. They didn't derive anything meaningful from it, they just said what it was and moved on.

 

[joeygreco1985]

And sometimes the "experience" isn't worth saving or isn't ruined in the first case. They don't have to bow down to every persons extreme definition of a "spoiler", and they shouldn't.

I don't think discussion of the last level in a game is an extreme definition of a spoiler. Its a very basic definition of a spoiler if you ask me.

But yes, maybe they should have had a spoiler warning: But it already happened, and practically nothing was lost.

Nothing lost to you, because you're not going to play the game. Which is why we're in this argument in the first place. You don't care about Medal of Honor so you think its OK to spoil.

 

[netBuff]

Can you name another instance of GiantBomb detailing the final mission of a game week one?

You are continually claiming they were "detailing" the final mission, when it absolutely wasn't that. A raid on a terrorist base isn't exactly an uncommon scenario in Medal of Honor. MoH took the real-world scenario and applied it to their fictional storyline.

As for the floaty and valuable discussion, it didn't happen. They didn't derive anything meaningful from it, they just said what it was and moved on.

That we can agree on

 

[StuBurns]

You are continually claiming they were "detailing" the final mission, when it absolutely wasn't that. A raid on a terrorist base isn't exactly an uncommon scenario in Medal of Honor.

They said it's the same as the Bin Laden mission, you're right, they didn't describe it, they don't need to. If I say the final mission in Mass Effect 4 is the same as Luke's attack on the Death Star, I don't need to tell you what that is for it to be a spoiler, you know what it means.

 

[joeygreco1985]

You are continually claiming they were "detailing" the final mission, when it absolutely wasn't that. A raid on a terrorist base isn't exactly an uncommon scenario in Medal of Honor.

But they said WHO you were going after, which is big because like I said previously, its not revealed early on in the game.

And then Brad revealed details on HOW you did it. Which is a spoiler.

 

[Nibel]

Anybody got a link of the mentioned Dishonored video? The one which is described as "John Woo'ish"?

 

[joeygreco1985]

I decided to finish up Warfighter this morning. So it turns out...

Spoiler

You don't infiltrate Bin Laden's compound, you infiltrate Hassan's compound, who is known as The Cleric. So Bin Laden isn't in the game at all, but I guess Hassan is supposed to fill in as a fictional Bin Laden?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

After the real talk on this episode (and a long fucking time of enjoying their free content), first thing when I got home from work was sign up for a premium account.

Fuckin' A.

Speaking of premium accounts, has it ever been explained where the money goes now that they are a part of CBS?

Mine's up for renewal in January, I think.

 

[Anatoli Bacharach]

I decided to finish up Warfighter this morning. So it turns out...

Spoiler

You don't infiltrate Bin Laden's compound, you infiltrate Hassan's compound, who is known as The Cleric. So Bin Laden isn't in the game at all, but I guess Hassan is supposed to fill in as a fictional Bin Laden?

REVERSE SPOILER!!!!