Episode 257: The Golden Boys

This week’s episode has a lot of … personality. That is, a lot of mockery, cursing, sniping, and general chaos – making it one of the best podcasts ever. Jordan Lund wasn’t available due to commitments at work, so Dan Quick once again filled in, and as expected, got along with Paul S. Nowak famously, as they tagteamed Jonah Falcon. In the meantime, the Gaming Flashback this week was Civilization II.

This week’s news also made Paul explode. Twice:

  • Congressmen want warning labels on all games
  • Exec: Console version of Diablo III will be “full Blizzard experience”
  • Grand Theft Auto V details allegedly leaked
  • EVE Online FanFest Panel accused of “tasteless” behavior
  • Rumor: Microsoft to release ‘Xbox Lite’ before next-gen

The winners of The Darkness II contest were also announced. All this in an episode bursting full of good, old-fashioned bitchiness.

0 thoughts on “Episode 257: The Golden Boys”

  1. Sorry I couldn’t be there with you guys. Had a 6 hour work project Monday and Tuesday. 🙁

    Paul seems to swear more when I’m not there to calm him down… 🙂

  2. @Civ2 Preorder: The first game I preordered was Shenmue for the Dreamcast from Software Etc. Awesome stuff. I also remember paying $65 for Harvest Moon 64. Weird times…

    @EVE Panel: It seems like people are “Indoctrinated” and can’t think for themselves anymore. Someone must have known that this wasn’t right, just like other people in that fighting game tournament where the sexual harassment took place. The Nuremberg Trials show you’re going to be held responsible for your actions, so they might as well be your own. And that person should seek professional help.

    @Paul’s swearing: Disney games need more profanity. Preferably in a British accent.

    And thanks for the game! <3 Four men and a podcast? Sounds good.

  3. Thank you very much for the game! On the podcast: Wow, Paul and Dan together can be a bit overwhelming. I think that Paul always wants to be the one who talks the most and keeps on chattering until he is out of breath (hate mail!).

    @Congressmen want warning labels on all games: This would be really stupid if this actually happened. Unlike cigarettes, video games do not have a guaranteed health risk, and I have never known anyone who act aggressively because of video games. Hell, I think gamers are more likely to be peaceful in the real world.

    @Rumor: Microsoft to release ‘Xbox Lite’ before next-gen: This isn’t very surprising since the next Xbox won’t be out for at least one and half years. Better milk it till it’s dry, eh?

    Keep doing what you’re doing, this podcast keeps on improving every week.

  4. Jonah, I think the two chewed up your ears all the way to the skull …

    @Congressmen want warning labels on all games
    I agree with the congressmen!
    They should also consider the following stickers:
    “Exposure to TV can increase the rate of diet related diseases”
    “Exposure to seats in congress can lead to disconnects with the people who voted you”
    “Not doing anything useful during ones mandate can lead to a scramble to public yet futile initiatives during election campaign”
    and the list can go on.
    I mean let’s put stickers on anything.

    @Console version of Diablo III will be “full Blizzard experience”
    If the controllers can handle it, sure. I mean the whole inventory system, the shortcuts and whatnot, they all need to somehow be mapped to the console inputs. Not that easy.

    @Grand Theft Auto V details allegedly leaked
    Weight should be the same, be it the material being in liquid state or in solid state.
    Feels more like a PR stunt. Too many details regarding the character to be wishful thinking.

    @EVE Online FanFest Panel accused of “tasteless” behavior
    Quite true regarding the dickwad theory. One thing that helped me evolving from a dickwad to normal person is to imagine that instead of writing/texting your reply, imagine you’re talking to the guy face to face.
    As for depression and MMOs, well, Jonah is right, cutting all your connections to the real world and immersing yourself in an MMO will not help.

    @Microsoft to release ‘Xbox Lite’ before next-gen
    Dunno … it is very risky to them to develop two future platforms.
    I say the Lite one will be an evolution of the current 360, oriented towards power saving an lower production costs (confirmed later on by the podcast, yay!).
    Good point on the second hand 360; if the Lite one has lower performance than the 360, then the older console will outlive the Lite.

    And yes, I do write the comment while listening.

  5. Hello and many compliments for the show. I am big fan and I always listen to you guys every week. I’ll go straight to the point:

    @4 men podcast: please No. I am not saying that the idea of a four men podcast itself is bad, but please not with this guy. It took me a while to like Paul but he is really like a “Paul^2”. Dan, in the last podcast, might have in fact reached levels of douchiness no man has ever reached before…

    That said, thank you again and keep it up (without Dan 😉

  6. hello guys,
    @4man cast
    the show was great w/o jordan, i mean, not that he is replaceble, but in the way that 4man cast, YES WE CAN! and he is as energetic as paul, so it will work.

    @warning labels in games
    WARNING – this game cantains large amounts of awesomeness and should be played right now
    (i should really not do this 2nd one because i am not american, but….)
    WARNING – congressman should STFU and GTFO, because ESRB is already doing their jobs and the warning label would be redundancy

    @Diablo III console vers.
    Jonah, when i said: “while one’s equipament still works (not fry out into oblivion)” while my motherboard/grapx card doesn’t fry (“expire”)
    Good luck blizzard, but i could not care less, i’m getting on my PC

    @EVE Online FanFest Panel accused of “tasteless” behavior
    i once suffered of depression and i normally took shelter in PC online gaming as well, and i can imagine how that guy felt, being rejected from the only place he feels he belongs to…
    i hope he is ok

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It seems the console maker who’s trailing in sales typically says how great competition is and how it’s great for the consumer. Sony’s not leading the console race, as of now, and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves stated in a recent interview:

The winner, he said, is the consumer. “That’s why we are not going to slag off Microsoft or Nintendo at all,” he said, “because again it’s rather like the trainer market: one year it’s Reebok, next year it’s Nike, and then suddenly it’s Adidas; it’s cyclical, but in the end everyone wins in five to ten years.”

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The PlayStation 2 is going strong as a nine year-old and doesn’t seem to be letting up in game releases. Sony’s press conferences always cover the PlayStation 2 in their talks with the PSP and PlayStation 3 for three big reasons: it’s worth bragging about, it distracts from lower PS3 sales and it separates them from the competition.

Where is the GameCube or classic Xbox in Nintendo and Microsoft’s press conferences and number crunch reports? The fact is, the companies have given up on both products retiring them as “last generation” (translation: poor sales). What better reason to buy a PlayStation 3 than knowing the company is in the game for the long haul?

It might be bit cheaper to buy an Xbox 360 but who’s to say Microsoft isn’t going to announce their next generation console tomorrow and kill off the Xbox 360? Obviously, Microsoft will deny those claims but there will always be doubt without a proven track record.

On the other hand, Microsoft hasn’t seen the success in the classic Xbox and Nintendo hasn’t seen nearly the fervor over the GameCube as compared to their current generation consoles. So, that begs the question, why would they halt all that for new console announcements?

Until they’ve had more time in the market, we cannot be 100% certain what Nintendo and Microsoft are going to do when it comes to next-generation announcements while Sony’s been very clear in each press conference. As Kaz Hirai said to Eurogamer earlier:

“We certainly don’t do the consumer the disservice of basically saying that the consoles have gone by the wayside because we have a new one. Right now, a prime example? PS2 is nine years into it. Where’s the Xbox? Where’s the GameCube?”

If one console maker is looking for a way to stand out and explain their slow sales figures, Sony’s got the PS2 and its long history in their back pocket.

Now, if we could only get those game designers to continue to take it seriously and not put all their eggs into the PS3 basket.

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Let’s face it, an estimated 21-million people are still using over the air TV broadcast signal and a large portion of those think that their TV is high definition because it doesn’t have an analog dial anymore. Recent Nielson ratings are showing most gamers are still pushing PS2 hardware, which isn’t high definition.

In the US, HDTV sales only reach 25-30% of the population. Couple this with the fact that one in five HDTV owners can’t tell the difference between standard definition and high definition content and you’ve got roughly 20% of the population utilizing HD. Looking at the number of gaming consoles out there and the rate of uptake, it’s clear that a large majority of gamers are not using HD resolutions for their gaming needs. (loot-ninja)

We’d like to think 1080p looks much different than 480p but some people don’t seem to notice because, honestly, they just don’t care. We’d also like to think a PlayStation 3 buyer would be aware of the HD content and already have equipment at home to take advantage of the system. Although there are no solid facts to state otherwise, there must be a group of individuals that have purchased a PlayStation 3 and are rolling with SDTV (ghetto).

High definition graphics matter to people who want a true HD experience. Wii gamers don’t care about high definition because they’re focused on the game play environment or are just following the wave of hype and desire to own the infamous white box. The Xbox 360 gamers may go either way, a gamer wants to own the system because they can get a lot of cool new games for it secondary to the HD experience. The hot games just don’t get designed on the Xbox classic or PS2 anymore. We’d presume a PS3 gamer really wants to play a high definition game because the cost of the console is more and you’re getting a Blu-ray player all bundled into one.

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