PixlBit

Thanks Mike, glad you enjoy the videos. First off let me say, what is with the thumbnail that YouTube gave me? God, it looks like I’m constipated or something (I apologize to all viewers for having to witness that).

Okay now back on track. I’m with you, I was expecting more from Nintendo yesterday. Chances are they are holding back information till we get closer to the launch, but that still doesn’t make up for the fact that there showing here at E3 was lackluster. The worst of it is, there are some good games out on the floor that they either didn’t show, or barely spent time on.

Thanks Mike, and yes and yes sir. I loved the photo had to use it when I saw it. Anyways, get ready for some intense coverage this video was nothing but a warm up!

J-Bone lol, that's how your getting introduced in the next podcast Jessie.

Wonderfully said Mike, I agree not a lot needs to change with the series because honestly a lot of what they have already done is great and plays a large part of why the series has been so popular. (Though I may be a bit Call of Dutied Out, after playing every single one since COD 4).

Honestly my reason for writing this was more to address the media stir up where people were saying, “This call of duty is going to completely break the mold”. Because I just don’t think that’s true, nor do I think it’s possible unless the series abandons some of what has made it so great in the past.

And like you said I think a lot of the fans aren’t looking for all that much change. I will say this thought I do hope we see a change in the AI. This is the one aspect where I think Call of Duty lags behind other games, the fact that there are still continuous spawn points where enemies pour out from houses and buildings unabated into open fire really puts a damper on the gameplay for me. If they can do away with that and make the AI a bit more intuitive that would be great.  

That’s fair. I really do feel for the people who took time off, and I understand that the game does not need to be online at all times. Hopefully Blizzard will do something to make it up to those people. I’m not saying that it’s ok that the game did not run properly at launch. I would never make that claim, but I’m not so sure that bringing this game online is such a bad thing. I honestly really enjoy the ability to go straight from single player to multiplayer and have used this function a bunch of times with friends. I am in agreement with you guys though, I do not feel this is a suitable means of DRM and I hope they find a better method in the future, but I just wanted to point out that the online feature is not all bad.

As far as saying that the AH was not intrusive I think I misspoke a little. What I meant to say was, given that the serves are up and running the existence of the AH is not intrusive to your experience.  It’s there if you want it; you can completely ignore it if not. Of course, the whole online thing has made things difficult, but once they get the servers figured out it shouldn’t as problematic (not to say that it will be perfect, but what is).

I understand that just because other things have faults, it does not excuse blizzard’s (much like what Jimquestion said about eating excrement). I guess I just understand how launches specifically online ones will have bugs problems in the beginning. I know that’s where you and I differ though, where you think it’s not correct for them to bring the entire game online, and maybe it isn’t? I will say this however; the future of games is in social connectivity. Game companies want to foster strong online communities are going to push for ways bring their games online (DRM or No DRM). Obviously there are both good and bad things to games going online, but I don’t really think there is anything that is going to stop this from happening.

I agree with Julian, also the Auction House feels like a great addition to the game. It’s not invasive at all, honestly completely separate from the game, but it’s a nice tool to use when you need it. Actually I’m not sure if the higher difficulties are even possible without it (unless you spend months gathering loot till you get the specific pieces you need).

Thanks Julian,

appreciate that, and I'm glad you enjoyed the podcast.

I see your point Julian that this has the potential to cause some serious damage, but I think your being a bit hyperbolic. While it’s certainly true that people enjoy playing Diablo as a single player title, the game serves primarily as a multiplayer co-op title. That said, until we start to see single player titles take up this strategy solely to mitigate piracy, I’m going to refrain from getting upset about this. I’m sure your right that the fact that this helps dampen piracy is a nice bonus, but I don’t believe it’s the only reason they decided to do it.

Part of what bugs me about this, is it fits right into the current way that everyone reacts to things in the video game industry. I’m not saying that you or anyone on this site is doing this, but often times when anything gets announced in the gaming community everyone attacks the game companies ruthlessly.

I mean listen to our discussions about the Skyrim MMO announcements and God of War Ascension. We immediately assume the worst; it’s a practice that is all too common online and frankly in games journalism. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be weary, because your absolutely right in that sense Julian. If everything was to move to servers we would lose a great deal of gaming history and it would destroy the medium. I just don’t think that we should always assume the worst of every company anytime they try to implement anything. We have to understand that at the end of the day these are businesses they need to protect their products, but their also gamers too. Most (of course there are exceptions) of them love games as much as us, they want to progress and cultivate the medium, and they enjoy the history of video games as much as us. I don’t think they’ll destroy it. Yea sometimes they have to make decisions that we don’t like, but for the most part they try to bring us the best games they can. These guys are putting 5-10 years of sleepless nights into these titles, I find it hard to believe it’s only for paycheck, cause frankly there are plenty of easier ways to make a buck.

Glad you enjoyed. Always great to hear from listeners. If you have any questions, comments, or you'd like to see us tackle other topics in the future feel free to let us know.

Being currently entrenched in Persona 3 Fes myself, I was curious to see how fans thought of Persona 4 by comparison. From what I’ve read on the web it seemed to be almost 50/50 with some people preferring 3 and others 4. I understand that the ‘dark hour’ in 4 is described as the ‘midnight channel’, which I will be honest is a little corny. However, I am excited to see some the technical upgrades that they made in the 4^th installment. I love persona 3, but there are a few tweaks that I wish they made, and from what I’ve read I heard a lot of that has been addressed in 4.

I’m still a few months away from completing 3, but when I’m done I’ll be looking forward to sinking my teeth into 4 for sure.