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Giant Bomb #15 | Just a Clip-On Tie

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erawsd

Member

I think what Austin wants is almost impossible in an open world Batman game without being completely out of character.

Batman hanging out in a diner and just walking along the streets eavesdropping on people just undermines everything about him. You could do that with characters like Superman because Superman is a man of the people, he does press conferences, photo ops, waves to people as he passes by, hes literally saved kittens from trees. Batman is a character that lives in the shadows and what the people of Gotham know of him is largely built on a mythology of second hand accounts since few have actually seen more than a glimpse in person.
 

Zaph

Member
Remember during the CBSi purchase everyone was worried they would homogenize Giant Bomb with Gamespot? I have to admit, I was legit worried something like that would happen over time.

Yeah, CBSi outright owns Giant Bomb, but the thing about hiring a bunch of editors who bolted last time to do their own personality-focused thing, if you mess with their style too much, you risk having them bolt again.

GB is fine, it just took a bit to get used to not being able to move at a start-up pace anymore (but I don't think anyone expected that glacial 18 months)
 
Yeah, CBSi outright owns Giant Bomb, but the thing about hiring a bunch of editors who bolted last time to do their own personality-focused thing, if you mess with their style too much, you risk having them bolt again.

GB is fine, it just took a bit to get used to not being able to move at a start-up pace anymore (but I don't think anyone expected that glacial 18 months)

Yeah I agree, it turned great for them. I hope their move to the new space is relatively painless for them, and that they have a lot of room for antics.
 
That Batman article is probably the greatest article I have ever read on GiantBomb.

Keep it up.

I don't want to be a hater, but I feel like Austin actually is what Patrick wishes he could be. Deep, thoughtful examination of games, the industry, and the wider implications of games in society. I feel like the two probably share some ideals that I don't agree with, but I am responding so much more to Austin than I ever did Patrick. I actually want to hear what Austin has to say, and he is so much more eloquent.
 

M3z_

Member
I don't want to be a hater, but I feel like Austin actually is what Patrick wishes he could be. Deep, thoughtful examination of games, the industry, and the wider implications of games in society. I feel like the two probably share some ideals that I don't agree with, but I am responding so much more to Austin than I ever did Patrick. I actually want to hear what Austin has to say, and he is so much more eloquent.

Can't just give a compliment to someone you like, gotta drag someone else through the mud in the process?
 

Fjordson

Member
I dunno, some of that stuff in Austin's article doesn't make a ton of sense for a Batman game imo.

edit:

I think what Austin wants is almost impossible in an open world Batman game without being completely out of character.

Batman hanging out in a diner and just walking along the streets eavesdropping on people just undermines everything about him. You could do that with characters like Superman because Superman is a man of the people, he does press conferences, photo ops, waves to people as he passes by, hes literally saved kittens from trees. Batman is a character that lives in the shadows and what the people of Gotham know of him is largely built on a mythology of second hand accounts since few have actually seen more than a glimpse in person.
Basically this. Though maybe there's some comic out there where Batman / Bruce Wayne becomes a public figure. Still, I think how you describe Batman is the most interesting version of him.
 
I think what Austin wants is almost impossible in an open world Batman game without being completely out of character.

Batman hanging out in a diner and just walking along the streets eavesdropping on people just undermines everything about him. You could do that with characters like Superman because Superman is a man of the people, he does press conferences, photo ops, waves to people as he passes by, hes literally saved kittens from trees. Batman is a character that lives in the shadows and what the people of Gotham know of him is largely built on a mythology of second hand accounts since few have actually seen more than a glimpse in person.

I don't see how wanting a city that actually has some life to it is impossible for a Batman game, sure Batman isn't the kind of guy to run down a busy street but even just having the city actually be inhabited would add a lot to those games.

In Arkham Knight Batman continually talks about how he's a protector of Gotham but I found that a lot of that felt off because at this point he's protecting an empty city and a handful of policeman, there's no real feeling that you're actually this great protector of Gotham because there's nothing to protect.
 
E3 last year I think was an eye opener when it comes to Giant Bomb. Things changed after they were so successful bringing traffic to their video content and with some actual innovation in how they chose to cover the event. It seemed like a lot less talk of fighting for resources and dealing with endless meetings since then. There was a definite shift in how they talked about dealing with CBSi.
 
Oops sorry I should have said. It's a ps4 I bought a few days back
Ah, I see. I know the latest update has some issues on PS4 and they're looking into a fix soon. Could be related?

Comparing two members of staff who held exactly the same role is perfectly acceptable, its just his opinion. Calm down.

That's exactly why I was making the comparison. Some people don't want to hear it, I guess.
 
Oh, wow! How many of the Contradiction cast members have now reached out to the Giant Bomb community? Certainly they will have some role in the GOTY stuff, right? It's just so perfect!
 
I don't like to diss anyone, but he's like a black hole of fun. He's a gamer designed by committee.

Chris has a better video prescence when he's not doing his video prescence, but no one tells him this.

I remember him as a mod on the Gamespot forums. The Virtual Underground was the sub forum I remember reading a lot of his posts, I think. Seems like a good dude, but I stopped reading the site around the time he was hired. And then The Great Exile happened and it might as well have been shut down, IMO.

Van Ord got Gamespot back its respectability; sucks though, he's one of the best out there.
 

Myggen

Member
E3 last year I think was an eye opener when it comes to Giant Bomb. Things changed after they were so successful bringing traffic to their video content and with some actual innovation in how they chose to cover the event. It seemed like a lot less talk of fighting for resources and dealing with endless meetings since then. There was a definite shift in how they talked about dealing with CBSi.

Yeah, Jeff has talked about how they at some point got their bosses to understand what they are and what they need, might've been around that time. Sounds like it was quite the struggle, IIRC Jeff hinted on Tumblr a while back that he wasn't that far from giving up on the site at some point there.

I think getting the bosses to understand the subscription model probably went a long way. I also wouldn't be surprised if Squarespace will be willing to sponsor future GDC and E3 streams like this year's E3 stream, that Phil Spencer gif going viral with their logo all over it must've made it worth it for them alone :p
 

repeater

Member
Dude. The Bomb Crew totally needs to go to Dublin and get shitfaced with the cast of Contradiction. I'm sure Danny would be ecstatic at the idea of joining them and being their guide. They could film this and make it a series of videos.
"Have you seen...

this?"
bmS0oFQ.png
 

erawsd

Member
I don't see how wanting a city that actually has some life to it is impossible for a Batman game, sure Batman isn't the kind of guy to run down a busy street but even just having the city actually be inhabited would add a lot to those games.

Its not impossible but I think there are 3 ways to do it

1) They can just say screw it, and let you play an out of character version of Batman.

2) They give you a great big living city but they dream up all kinds of weirdness to keep Batman's interaction with it severely limited. In which case, it probably becomes a matter of whether its worth pumping lots of resources into making a living city if interactivity is so bare.

3) The streets are largely deserted but you do spot the occasional citizen who sees Batman and runs away or needs to be rescued for some reason. That type of things seems very easy to do, but it also sounds like that is exactly what Austin doesn't want.

In Arkham Knight Batman continually talks about how he's a protector of Gotham but I found that a lot of that felt off because at this point he's protecting an empty city and a handful of policeman, there's no real feeling that you're actually this great protector of Gotham because there's nothing to protect.

To be fair the game does address that.
Scarecrow's the gas will engulf the entire east coast
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Nobody forced them to make an open world game (Well, WB probably did, but nobody forced them). If the only open world you can do Batman in is a lifeless empty shitty open world like they keep doing, maybe stop making open worlds for Batman games.
 

erawsd

Member
Nobody forced them to make an open world game (Well, WB probably did, but nobody forced them). If the only open world you can do Batman in is a lifeless empty shitty open world like they keep doing, maybe stop making open worlds for Batman games.

I disagree that the open world is "shitty", I think its ok. That said, I actually would like to see them scale down and just focus on smaller and more linear experiences. Instead of one big 25 hour Scarecrow story where you evacuate the whole city and have to crowbar in a bunch of other villains.. just gimme a little 5 hour "episode" where hes threatening City Hall and then move on to the next villain and story.
 
On the subject of Batman, you could also just make it an AU or hell, any of the Bat-family that isn't directly involved in the Manor. For example, in the latest animated thing from WB, Gods and Monsters, Batman is actually Kirk Angstrum. In the normal series and in Knight, this is the guy that turns into Man-Bat, but in this universe he turns himself into a vampire instead (using nanites!). Or you make a Nightwing game.
Please. Then we can work towards a Teen Titans game.

What I'm saying is that Batman and comic books in general can be very flexible.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
I disagree that the open world is "shitty", I think its ok. That said, I actually would like to see them scale down and just focus on smaller and more linear experiences. Instead of one big 25 hour Scarecrow story where you evacuate the whole city and have to crowbar in a bunch of other villains.. just gimme a little 5 hour "episode" where hes threatening City Hall and then move on to the next villain and story.


I don't think they've made an open world Batman game which I'd describe as "good". The last three Batmens have been mediocre at best games due mostly to their terrible open worlds.
 

repeater

Member
Is vaporwave just a new way of classifying stuff like what m83 has been doing for 10+ years aka electronic shoegaze?
I'm the first to agree that proliferation of genres and "waves" seem to have gone completely bonkers in some parts of contemporary pop music (case in point: the Wikipedia page for vaporwave describes it as "a musical genre that emerged in the early 2010s from indie dance genres such as seapunk, witch house, and chillwave", I mean - what?). But I would say that whereas, from my limited experience, there are certainly commonalities between electronic shoegaze and vaporwave, the latter seems associated with some characteristics typically lacking in shoegaze.
 

mintyice

Junior Member
I'm the first to agree that proliferation of genres and "waves" seem to have gone completely bonkers in some parts of contemporary pop music (case in point: the Wikipedia page for vaporwave describes it as "a musical genre that emerged in the early 2010s from indie dance genres such as seapunk, witch house, and chillwave", I mean - what?). But I would say that whereas, from my limited experience, there are certainly commonalities between electronic shoegaze and vaporwave, the latter seems associated with some characteristics typically lacking in shoegaze.

Yeah vaporwave seems more tied to a 90s visual aesthetic but really it's not dissimilar to anything you'd hear in an H&M or uniqlo dressing room for the past decade.
 

Xater

Member
So I just started playing the iPad version of Contradiction and that version has a bunch of color correction going on to make it seem like it's dark. The scene with the symbol on the tree was in broad daylight in the PC but here it's all tinged in blue. Not a great effect because it's pretty clear this wasn't filmed whole it was dark. That's definitely a plus for the PC version.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Based on the pictures posted earlier by the person who visited the Contradiction town, they did work on the colors in the PC version too. Red in reality is orange in the game.
 
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