The Podcats: Interference
In this show: we talk attempted interference from publishers, The Saboteur’s interesting 10 Dollar strategy and get the name of a magazine wrong
Also: The Podcats turns 18. Ok, so we’ve done around 165 podcats since 2006 in one form or another, but this iteration is now legal in some states.
April 10th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Whoa, cool, I like that Cameron’s letting us in on the details of game journalism. It’s like a juicy tell-all in podcats form.
It can tough to trust most gaming publications these days. A lot of magazines gave God of War III a 10 out of 10. I find it hard to believe that their reviewers played the same game that I did. Of course, these guys also gave Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV 10s too. I actually like GTA4, but it’s not a 10 by any means. I think of a 10 as a five-star rating: reserved for only the revolutionary and masterful, games that will change all games to come. I consider it different from a four-star rating or c1′s 3/3, which means a must-play, but not world-changing.
Super Mario 64 deserved a 10/10. Half-Life 2 deserved a 10/10. Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid 4, Bayonetta and God of War III are not 10s. To toss perfect scores out to any big budget game that comes down the pike shows a lack of integrity.
April 10th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Also, I’m curious: what was the first game to break the bad-language barrier and use the fuck-word? We saw a lot of “damns,” “shits,” and “hells” in games throughout the 90s and 2000s, but even the most violent games held back from saying “fuck.” After Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, it was everywhere, but that wasn’t the first game to use it. The first one I remember is Max Payne 2, but that may not have been the first one either.
These are the kinds of things I think about when I’m home alone and the television is broken.
April 10th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Swearing has always been a part of gaming. Think about it.
You’re playing two player Pong or Combat and your opponent gets a lucky shot “YOU LUCKER FUCKER!”
It goes back further. I’m sure there were many a board game where the air was blue. Scrabble, Monopoly, Boggle, Subbuteo, Snakes and Ladders (What the fuck is Chutes and Ladders?)
As for video games, I’m guessing it was a PSone Game developed in Europe. That’s the first time game devs went after that “cool” market.
April 14th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
LisVender:
“Bayonetta was not a 10/10 game”
“Half-Life 2 deserved 10/10″
Half-Life 2 bored the crap out of me, I couldn’t get into it at all and quit near the beginning.
Bayonetta had style, good music, great graphics, a sophisticated fighting mechanic, loads of polish, and again: style.
Anyway, after all that…
Great podcast! But I don’t understand how writing a bad review (especially for a print magazine) can be a firing offence because someone obviously saw the review before it was sent to the printers. Hopefully the editor.
Anyway…
Time to go take my kid to the Stuff… I mean zoo.
April 14th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Oh yeah.
What’s Facebook?