Escapist Podcast: 058: Layoffs at PopCap & Dragon Age 3 Leaks Pages 1 2 NEXT | |
058: Layoffs at PopCap & Dragon Age 3 Leaks We also talk about pie, naps and Magic the Gathering drinking games. | |
Jeez guys, about time you all pitched up! | |
Oh thank god, I was starting to have serous withdrawal symptoms. | |
Here is the naptime chart. You're welcome.
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We were too busy. Sorry. It's not a terribly interesting explanation. :( | |
Okay, thanks for that. Heck, even your Janitor could have let us know! :) | |
So much talk about Bioware in this Podcat, Must engage tongue holding mode. But there is one thing that I will say about roll playing Dragon Age 2 and the main reason I didn't like the game. Everything Hawke did regarding the plot seemed glaringly out of character regardless of which attitude you picked buying a fancy expensive house, dealing with a political mess and getting involved in a...uh, well let's not beat around the bush it was a state sponsored genocide. The good the bad or the snarky wouldn't do all 3 of those things. Same thing with Mass Effect 3 I roll played the crap out of Commander Shepard down to what she wouldn't ask about from the investigate menu, then in ME3 it's just like: Good Option! Bad Option! And Here I am with all sorts of deeply through out back story and nearly 100 hours of active character development as Shepard then her personality is reduced to that of a light-switch... I don't care what EA says I don't have faith in Bioware any more. | |
Good to see this back again. | |
I would totally buy a Space Muffin T shirt, though I'd like to see the design. It'd be an excellent conversation starter. | |
The DLC situation was more complex. They did not demand that the Steam version of the game could only work with Steam DLC, rather they demanded that any DLC sold must also be offered on Steam as well. As for DA:O and DAII sales, do the sales figures include digital downloads? | |
About the T-shirt, I may buy one, but it would help if I could see the design ahead of time. Also I look forward to an intervention for Mike at the expo where everyone forces him to eat all the foods he avoids. | |
With expo coming around the corner I doubt any of us designers will be on the podca(s)ts soon, although I'd love to be on a podcast sometime in the future. Other then that Carrie (the designer your referring to) is doing well! Going to point her to this comment when I get the chance :P | |
I would definitely buy a Space Muffin T-shirt! Now that I'm done with my summer job, maybe I can start sketching up a few panels for a comic book >.> I'm really bad at sketching. Of course I would swim with otters, I wouldn't have it any otter way. But if it were both Nathan Fillion and the otters, it would just be otter confusion. Did Susan say that the T-shirt design would be in the comments? | |
*Double Post* | |
I would looooove a space muffin t-shirt! Also yay for the podcat, I missed you guys :) | |
once again mike gets the quote of the week: also id buy a space muffin shirt! Q: do you guys filter out mail coming from hotmail accounts? | |
That Dragon Age 2 was nothing like the last game was bad, but the terrible mechanics, plus the bad writing was what made it unbearable.The repetitive and goddamn irritating fights with the paratrooper brigades made every minute of non-dialogue gameplay an exercise in frustration. Also that the game is filled with retcons (Leliana being alive regardless of whether she survived the first game; Cullen being a completely different person; Anders being fucking retarded) and character actions that make no goddamn sense ("Choose, Hawke!" "No." "Do it anyway!" "Okay"). It didn't help that every main character except Varric was an asshole. Intentional or not when they're not likable or interesting it makes it hard for me to care about them. I understand different people have different preferences but whenever the whole "They're only upset because it wasn't Origins 2" excuse gets dragged out it irritates me. It's ignoring all the legitimate complaints made against the game. EDIT: And after seeing how negative this post is, I must say my power napping skills are something of legends around my campus. Stuff spoken of in hushed whispers. | |
Another hilarious podcast, great job, guys. Susan's food appreciation noises crack me up. | |
Great podcat. YES! Would love a spacemuffin's T-shirt, would definitly buy one (maybe two)! Mike's crazy ways are making him sound more and more like a sitcom character. On the topic of roleplaying games; I almost always end up being a jack-of-all-trades because I love being self sufficient in games. If my equipment gets damaged, I hate the idea of trekking back to the nearest town/checkpoint to get the local handyman/blacksmith to repair my stuff. If there's magic in the game, I will try and be proficient in all classes because I like to keep my options open (Elder Scrolls games, love choosing between throwing fireballs or turning myself invisible to take down the bandits). ... It's hard to articulate how I roleplay. *Edit* | |
that's it, i expect an 'Escapist Pie-cast' you cant just run out like that ! | |
i would love a space muffin t-shirt | |
I love pie! I love meat pie! (as i am indeed australian) And I love that pie is different depending on where you go! | |
Australian here saying sweet pies all the way! | |
The stuff about role playing in a game was actually really interested. I've never really been in to that but I've wanted to give it a go recently and that gave me some good ideas of how to get in the proper mind-frame. | |
I'm sad to always hear the same complaints about motion control. Not because they're not 100% accurate, but because it means we are not learning. We keep making the same damned mistake over and over -- trying to fool the brain by fooling the body. Our bodies are incredible, super-complex information gathering systems. Each sub-system has redundancies, those redundancies have redundancies, and the little dude behind the controls (the brain) gets a non-stop feed of information from myriad sources. Trying to use a remote to fool the brain would be like trying to break into NORAD by putting a crudely made cardboard cutout in front of one security camera. And sure, we could use all kinds of top-shelf equipment and clever trickery to fool each of the dozens of security measures individually... but wouldn't it be easier and more effective if you could just bribe someone on the inside? Traveling back from this over-extended metaphor, we can't fool the brain by trying to imitate what the body does during an activity. Swinging my arm is just not similar enough to swinging a sword for my brain to buy the illusion. We can fool the brain by imitating what the brain would do during this activity... and we do that by removing bodily awareness from the equation. When I'm trying to use the Kinect, I'm very, very aware of my movement. That's "brain RAM" not being used on the game. But when I'm playing Arkham City on a 360 controller, and I'm neck-deep in a combo chain, I'm not aware of my hands at all -- I'm thinking about my Batman avatar and what he (me) is doing. My brain is being bribed by awesome, so my body is not a factor. (Also, when talking about Southern pecan pie, you can't pronounce it "peh-CAHN." In the South, they make us all say "PEE-can.") | |
A pee can is something a trucker uses, darlin'. | |
Where can I see the Space Muffins shirt design? Was it posted and I'm just not looking close enough? | |
Oh, I know. I say 'peh-CAHN,' too, and get endless grief for it. | |
I'd love to report myself as present and accounted for on the space muffin T-shirt. But my wacky foreigner-bucks have all fled me, or will have to go to more important (and boring) ends. :< Otherwise, I'd so be on board! | |
I honestly think Bioware could have saved itself a lot of grief by naming Dragon age 2, Dragon Age 2: Hawke's tale or something (I guess the two is necessary so people didn't think it was an expansion like awakening.) It would have said hey guys this isn't a direct sequel its a tangential story. And for the record I liked Dragon Age 2 but I also game like 3 years behind the curve so I knew what I was getting. Motion controls need some form of physical feed back like the vibration in the controller, just enough of a physical signal to say something was going on. For a crazy dangerous idea, an electrical shock that is enough to tense all the muscles in your arm if your sword hits something so your arm actually stops moving. The only time i liked the sword fighting in Skyward Sword was during the training bit with the trees otherwise it added nothing to the game-play and terrified the cat. | |
Put me down for two shirts. One for me and one for my girlfriend. | |
So, I worked at Nintendo when the Wii was still cool. There is a VERY simple reason that I am shocked that as gaming journalists you don't know about for the Wii remote being called the Wii remote. The name Wiimote was trademarked by somebody else first. It sounds obvious now that you know but it really is that simple. They wished they could have used Wiimote but legally they can't. | |
I would be totally down for a SpaceMuffins Shirt | |
I've grown up in Texas since birth and it's always been "cahn" not "can." Unless you're in East Texas. We don't like to talk about them. | |
Actually, I have a serious question. A few casts back you guys talked about not meeting famous people you like because the illusion of grandeur they may have could be spoiled. Does this mean I shouldn't talk to you guys at the Expo?? :( :( | |
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