Topics

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Way of the Game / Sony Press Conference Tweets

« on: February 21, 2013, 07:40:28 AM »

Here's a list of the Way of the Game tweets made during the Sony event:

Sony starts with dramatic recap of previous systems & properties, Crash, Lara, etc.

The Vita is the first system mentioned by name in the Sony conference. Exec says "we'll continue to unlock its potential."

The new Sony game console is named PlayStation 4.

New PS4 controller to have touchpad, share button. There's going to be a Kinect-style stereo camera as well.

First new title: Pixar-esque character driven action adventure "Knack."

PS4 to have instant save/load feature. Interrupt a game, shut it off, it'll come right up on the next bootup w/o loading main GUI.

PS4's share button to allow for real-time broadcasting, friend comments during play.

Sony execs want the Vita to be the remote player for the PS4, Wii U-style.

PS3 games aren't natively supported by PS4, but Sony execs intend to make PS games of all generations playable.

New game: Shadowfall. Sci-fi shooter. Pretty, just waiting for something to set it apart.

Somebody got the "don't make your shooter brown on brown" memo.

Oh crap, it's a two-man live tweeting session. So it's like cyberpunk without being dirty, right?

Cyberpunk is always dirty.

Drive Club developer is burying the lead big time.

So a standard shooter with fancy physics. Yawn. Will Driveclub be something Forza or NFS isn't?

Selling a driving game in the modern gaming era has to be tough. We have photorealistic driving already, for God's sake.

Walk around the car. Pop the trunk. Put on your seatbelt. Why the hell would I want to do that? What does that have to do with racing?

"Smell the leathah! Put on your fookin seat belt!"

Watch Dogs, baby.

Oops, I'm wrong, it's something else.

Second Son looks like Watch Dogs meets... Watchmen?

So, two franchise continuations and yet-another-hyper-real-racer. Not exactly groundbreaking.

If they can open up the hardware and embrace indies in a way that isn't insulting cough*microsoft*cough that could be interesting.

Braid creators unveil new project, The Witness. Think a modern Myst. An island festooned with puzzles.

Really? You transition from emotions to polygon count? Ugh.

I wanted to be snarky about the dream sculpting thing, but people did some amazing stuff with LBP. Not me, mind you, but other people did.

Capcom shows off project "Deep Down" (working title). Looks like a Monster Hunter-type experience, though not cute at all.

Watch Dogs, baby (for real this time)

Blizzard will bring Diablo 3 to the PS4.

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Way of the Game / Episode 157 - The Twoferinizationing

« on: February 17, 2013, 06:21:05 PM »

The hosts of the Way of the Game couldn't get together this week. Lesser podcasts might use the opportunity to take a week off. The Way of the Game uses the opportunity to deliver twice the usual content.

There are two shows this week: Episode 157 is a podcast featuring Jonathan the Holmberg and two guests, Michael and Nathaniel from the upcoming We Just Watched a Movie podcast. They discuss Batman: Arkham City  spoilers, Telltale Games's The Walking Dead, the BBC, Heavy Rain vs. Shenmue, the necessity of boredom, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, the next generation of consoles, and PCs in the living room.

Meanwhile, Alex wrote a script, threw some headphones on, grabbed a mic and showed why he’s the called the Producer. What results is the first Way of the Game One-Off. Alex discusses a new Xbox Live Arcade game called Arcadecraft, gets tactical with Skulls of the Shogun, and delves into the debacle that is Aliens Colonial Marines. Things get funky. Morals get reversed. Skulls get eaten.

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Way of the Game / HabitRPG

« on: February 06, 2013, 03:59:51 PM »

I've talked about HabitRPG a little on the podcast, and if you follow my twitter feed you know I've been tweeting my admiration.

If you don't know what it is, it's like a mix of 8-bit D&D, tamagotchi, and a to-do list.

Sure, I have two jobs, a podcast and so on, but I consider myself one of the laziest guys in the world.

Enter HabitRPG.

You'll get a little 8-bit fighter dude. Mine looks a little like Luke Skywalker. He has hit points and experience. You plug in the stuff you want to get done. There are categories for habits (stuff you want to make a habit of, or you want to break your habit), daily (to-dos with a set date, or which recycle on certain days of the week) and more generic to-dos (stuff you want to do eventually, but don't have a date).

So you put the stuff in that you want to accomplish, and much like any other productivity app, the more honest you are with yourself, the more challenging it is.

If you accomplish tasks, your little dude gets gold and XP. If you don't accomplish tasks or admit to doing a bad habit (like smoking a cigarette or something) then your dude loses hit points.

You use gold for rewards, either self-made (I set a price of 6 gold for an hour worth of gaming on weekdays) or for equipment for your dude.  Armor makes you more resistant to damage, weapons make you gain more experience for accomplished tasks, that sort of thing.

Now here are some of the subtle mechanics that make HabitRPG great:

1. The more you delay a task, the more gold it'll be worth when you finally get around to accomplishing it... but the more damage it will do to you as you procrastinate.

2. The more you perform a task, the less gold and experience you'll be rewarded, so you can't just put "inhale/exhale" in the habit column and spam it.

3. When you level up, you heal 100% of your damage, but your maximum hit points don't increase. However, your XP needed to get to the next level DOES increase. That means you're going to have to pump gold into equipment to mitigate the ever-increasing penalty of procrastination.

So I've just unlocked the ability to form parties in HabitRPG, and I think it's safe to say if you see this message and you're a member of the boards, I'd be glad to have you in my party to experiment with it.

Just don't mess up. I got a little 8-bit fighter dude to take care of.

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Way of the Game / Episode 156

« on: February 05, 2013, 06:18:49 PM »

On the next episode, we'll talk with the man behind a new kickstarter, discuss whether violent video games really belong in public libraries, and Alex will tempt fate by talking asynchronous strategy with a giant-handed man who's infamous for asynchronous strategy beatdowns.

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Way of the Game / WotG's Best of 2012

« on: February 03, 2013, 08:16:43 PM »

 

So we've put up our best/worst of the year choices, now its your turn what's your Molyneaux? Your Brink? Your Darksidersed?

And yeah, I should be a bit more active here. I'm putting forumizing on my HabitRPG. :-)

6

Way of the Game / Episode 116 - Pulling A Hipster

« on: April 29, 2012, 01:33:16 PM »

Hey gamers! I talk a lot about the Ghost Recon Future Soldier beta in this latest episode, and I now have three codes for it. I'll give one to the first three people who request it on this thread!

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Video Games / Syndicate

« on: February 21, 2012, 06:10:54 AM »

I'm getting Syndicate, and I know I'm not the only one. I'm going to create a Syndicate for our community. I'll let you know what I name it here. Get in touch with me if you have a suggestion, but right now I'm thinking "Renraku," ala Shadowrun.

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Way of the Game / Epic Quest

« on: February 17, 2012, 12:02:13 PM »

Here's WotG's take on Epic Quest.

In related news, dammit, Juriel, ALREADY?

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Way of the Game / Episode 106 Preview

« on: February 10, 2012, 06:09:00 PM »

Just got finished with recording episode 106. In this episode:

Sam brings back the FM voice!
Sam & Jonathan talk about Skyrim and a PBEM game called Empires.
Jonathan gives his impressions on Kingdoms of AMALAMALAMLAMLAALAMALR.
Sam gets down, and I mean way down, with Dance Central 2.
Alex doesn't have any games to speak of, but talks Sam & Jonathan into buying Ready Player One.

Then we get into the meat of the episode.
Topic #1: Double Fine's surprising success at raising money via their Kickstarter project and its potential ramifications.
Topic #2: Rumors about the new Xbox's methods of restricting used games.

And for the first time in several episodes, we have a game! And it's a variant of an old favorite! It's REVERSE Casting Call, where we take a classic movie and put video game characters into the important roles. This episode's movie is Terminator, and the roles are Sarah Conner, Kyle Reese and the Terminator! Who (or what) would you cast?

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Way of the Game / The WotGs!

« on: February 02, 2012, 12:40:27 PM »

Agree? Disagree? Discuss!

Biggest Time Sink
Skyrim (100 Hours)
Full House Poker (67 hours)
Dead Island (40 hours)

I Take It Back
Hero Academy
Brink
Duke Nukem Forever

Biggest Disappointment
AssRev
Homefront
AssRev

Most Addictive
Tiny Tower
Battlefield 3
EDF: Insect Armageddon

Made Just For Me
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Space Marine
Crysis 2

Over-Hyped
From Dust
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
L.A. Noire

Pleasant Surprise
EDF: Insect Armageddon
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Catherine

Best Throwback
Sly Cooper Collection
Sonic CD
Resident Evil 4 HD

Dishonorable Mention
Mindjack
Brunswick Kinect Bowling
Two Worlds 2

Prettiest Game
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Rayman Origins
Crysis 2

Best Story
Portal 2
LA Noire
Dead Space 2

Best Character
Cole Phelps, L.A. Noire
Vincent Brooks, Catherine
Rucks, Bastion

Host’s Random Pick for Distinction
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Pinball FX 2
Saints Row: The Third

Game of the Year
Bastion
Catherine
Bastion

WotG’s GotY
Bastion

11

Way of the Game / The Vengeance & Virtue Pinball FX 2 Tournament!

« on: December 14, 2011, 03:46:43 PM »

We have something very special this week. Jonathan and Alex sit down with Neil Sorens and Mel Kirk of Zen Studios to talk some serious silver ball. Zen Studios is responsible for bringing some spectacular tables to consoles and handhelds via Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball. If you love those games (and really, you should), get ready to get deep inside those titles. We go over topics including the initial inspiration for Pinball FX, why a sequel was necessary, the process of working with an established IP like Marvel, and the challenge of portraying beloved characters in pinball form. We also ask the all-important "Why Moon Knight?" question in a discussion about the brand new Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue four-pack of tables and take a glimpse into what's in store with the upcoming Epic Quest table.

We also have a contest for a code for the Vengeance and Virtue tables! This is how it's going to work:

1) Send a friend request to Alex here. If his friends list gets too full, send your gamertag to alex(at)thewayofthegame(dot)net or post your gamertag on this thread.

2) If you haven't already, get the Paranormal table on Pinball FX 2 (sorry PS3 owners, this contest is only for Xbox 360 players)

3) Alex will periodically post up a leaderboard of the top Paranormal scores during the course of the contest so people can know where they stand. The top five scores will be posted on this thread, on the Google + page and on Twitter.

4) When the ball drops at Times Square in New York City Eastern time, Alex will check the weekly high scores of the players who are in the contest.

5) The highest score wins the code for Vengeance and Virtue!

So have fun listening to the interview (should post soon) and get cracking on Paranormal! There's time to get some practice in before you have to start playing for real!

12

Way of the Game / New Contest!

« on: December 04, 2011, 07:25:33 AM »

Just in case you haven't noticed, we have a new contest going for Steam codes for NightSky and the Ben There, Dan That/Time, Gentlemen, Please! combo pack. All you have to do is tell us (either here, or via email, or via a comment on our page) about your favorite indie (not Indy) game.

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Video Games / Battlefield 3

« on: November 14, 2011, 02:51:28 PM »

Just thought I'd drop a note and say I have BF3 on Xbox 360 and love it, and would be more than happy to squad up with any SOPers.

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Way of the Game / The Deep Philosophical Debates Of The Way Of The Game Crew

« on: October 19, 2011, 09:20:13 AM »

The Producer: picked up Ace Combat Assault Horizon last night. Returned by a guy who said he liked the AC series. He says this SUCKS.

Sam: Damn

The Producer: AC6 gave you an entire battlefield in which to fight, however you wanted to fight. AH apparently says "you VILL pilot this machine! These VILL be your armaments! You vill NOT attack targets on zee ground, except in missions in which you do not pilot zee craft!"

Sam: Angry German Woman commanding you huh.

The Producer: I was going for Nazi commander, but whatevs.

Sam: I was thinking angry SS woman

The Producer: angry SEXY SS woman?

Sam: She MAY have had a short skirt, jack boots, a tight top and one of those little hats

The Producer: now I'm aroused. I wouldn't mind following those orders, then.

Sam: TMI
T
M
I
But she would be hot
Sent at 8:38 AM on Wednesday

20 minutes pass...

The Producer: Just came back. That visual was... well, it was too much

Sam: Yikes
Her name is Helga
btw.

The Producer: brb

Sam: AGAIN?!
SERIOUSLY?!

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Way of the Game / Casting Call: Final Fantasy 7

« on: October 13, 2011, 07:42:32 AM »

We're continuing with our Casting Call series, and the next one's a classic: FINAL FANTASY 7!

Your mission: Cast Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth.

No bitching about a lack of Aeris.

Remember, the cast must be chosen as if filming was to begin immediately. No picking Errol Flynn for Cloud, for example.

Post your ideas here or, better yet, send a voicemail.

If you do send a voicemail, you'd better post up here as well. The hosts have a way of forgetting the voicemail system exists.