Jimquisition: In the Hall of the Mountain Dew

Jimothy Sterling

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Apr 18, 2011
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Jandau said:
All this is well and good, but what I want to know is how does Jim know what hedgehog piss tastes like? :p
Hedgehogs can't hold it in when you're trying to suck their little hedgecocks.
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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Jimothy Sterling said:
Jandau said:
All this is well and good, but what I want to know is how does Jim know what hedgehog piss tastes like? :p
Hedgehogs can't hold it in when you're trying to suck their little hedgecocks.
Ah, this is one of those answers that brings with it even more questions. And vomiting. Plenty of vomiting...
 

IamLEAM1983

Neloth's got swag.
Aug 22, 2011
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Falseprophet said:
If you needed any more proof that video games are part and parcel of the mainstream entertainment industry, here it is. Pro sports teams guzzle cash from sponsors and TV networks and city governments, and ticket prices continue to hover in the stratosphere. Tentpole movies are co-financed by government grants and tax breaks, sell buckets of toys and other tie-in merchandising, have product placement in their films, but try seeing a blockbuster film without paying the 3D/IMAX/what-have-you surcharge. And of course the movie studios keep crying over piracy while failing to provide any kind of effective digital distribution model for their content. If you had any doubts the AAA game industry is one of the big (whiny) boys now, you can discard them.
*slow handclap of utter approval*

And my deepest sympathies to Jim for suffering through the piss-coloured Hell of the Dew.

It's just sad to consider that what once was a hobby shared by a niche of passionate folks, some twenty years ago, turned into this big corporate enabler that tries to justify its own excesses with online passes, gateway fees and other ridiculous opt-in purchases.

I miss the days when a team of two or three, a Pizza and Coke budget and some patience could deliver little games that would get passed on via floppy discs. In the triple-A business, if you're not siphoning the equivalent of a fraction of a single State or province's yearly budget into the cost of producing a SINGLE game - you're apparently doing it wrong.

And some people wonder why innovation's dead. Of course it's dead; the only way to make money is to play it safe and use your millions to, oh, sharpen up the textures in places and maybe - just maybe - keep your level designers busy for a year. That's when you're not releasing map packs.
 

hermes

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Mar 2, 2009
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This issue is pretty meh... Jim talks a lot about not understanding how AAA games always trying harder to get more money than other, smaller games; but he fails to notice that those games costs several times more than other, smaller games...

Yes, I do agree with some of his points. The XBox Live price has become harder and harder to justify since the amount of invasive ads has grow to such an annoying level. But to compare the server and costs requirements of Halo 4 or Uncharted 3 with Gotham City Impostors, for example, is rather naive.
 

Mr. Omega

ANTI-LIFE JUSTIFIES MY HATE!
Jul 1, 2010
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3:12-3:38, among other bits talking about xbl
A nice summary of why I've avoided the Xbox 360 this generation and why I'll almost certainly avoid its successor next generation.

As this generation winds down, all the problems with this generation have been becoming more and more noticeable. As said in a previous episode, some of the industry's best games are getting bogged down by their worst business practices.

I really, really hope Nintendo will avoid this shit with the WiiU. They probably won't, but one can hope...
 

CardinalPiggles

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Jun 24, 2010
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Maybe triple A developers and big name publishers are more worried about this kind of thing compared to middle ground or indie developers because their games cost more money to fund? Plus these triple A games are more likely to be pirated over any smaller game as we found out with stats from -I believe- The Pirate Bay or some other big pirating web site.

Then again I completely agree with you otherwise, that these companies are hiding their greed behind 'desperation'.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
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I do it funny, funny in a "beat you head against a desk" sort of way, that it's the biggest and richest companies in the business that are all crying poverty. You don't see any of the Indie developers crying poverty or whining about piracy and used game sales. Yeah, games have to make money as you're swimming in your Money Bins like Scrooge McDuck.
 

thiosk

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Sep 18, 2008
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I concur, mountain dew is AWFUL. Won't ingest the stuff. Ugh!

Give me the original mountain dew back. Straight distilled corn whiskey in a glass jar. Whoopee!
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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Sep 4, 2009
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Just stay away from corporate publishers and you can avoid the vast majority of the bullshit. None of the "big" franchises are so good that you can't live without them. Just skip halo and uncharted. Borrow it from a friend or rent it or buy it used.

Though to be fair I did spend some of my gaming budget this year on Borderlands 2 and XCOM. But other than throwaway multiplayer mode in XCOM it seems like 2K is generally hands off with its developers.

There are gillions of free or almost free games out there, no need to spend $60 on a box if you know it goes mostly to support the trophy wives and drug habits of executives and board members.
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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Mmmm. Brominated vegetable oil.

Regarding the episode: as a primarily PC gamer, I think I may actually be glad in some ways not to have the option of playing Uncharted and Halo (at least, Halo post-2, when Microsoft returned to admitting that they really don't give a rat's ass about PC gamers.) Sure, they're good games, and PC gamers have to deal with more onerous DRM most of the time, but something about the console market seems to give the big boys the idea that they can get away with "every game comes with a heaping helping of contempt" policies even more than the PC market.
 

JarinArenos

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Jan 31, 2012
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I'm still waiting for the kickstarter revolution to really bear fruit. In another year or two, a few of the biggest ones (Wasteland 2, etc) will have borne fruit, and we'll see whether their success/failure will have a major impact on the gaming industry.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Uncharted 3 pissed me off, and I'm still pissed. I love the games. I bought Uncharted 1 used, loved it. Then I bought Uncharted 2 new, loved it. Then me and my brother pooled our money together to buy the Uncharted 3 collector's edition, and only one of us could play multiplayer because of the fucking online fucking pass.

Thankfully a good friend gave me her pass, but the fact all this happened is just fucking sad.
 

Catrixa

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May 21, 2011
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I think we're being told to feel sorry for the poor developers because that's kind of the culture here in the US. Customer loyalty isn't really derived from superior products or services, it's derived from ignorance and guilt trips. Maybe this is from a lack of regulation? I'm not sure, but when a huge company is about to create about a million unemployed workers because the CEO made a critically stupid error, our first reaction is to throw money at them until they're better, because THINK OF THE WORKERS. Hell, there were about a grillion threads on why tips are mandatory in the US, and that's a case of "think of the workers!" too.

Maybe it's the idea that we, the lowly, poor, stupid consumers can't possibly touch those big, powerful, rich CEO's (who obviously are infinitely smarter and better and have never had any advantages in life whatsoever), but if we stop buying from them for ONE SECOND, they'll fire all of our friends and relatives, because if they can't buy another yacht, well, then life just simply isn't worth living. I feel like this is not at all unrelated to the idea that, if we just give all of the rich people a break, they'll shower us with money. It hasn't happened yet, but that hasn't stopped anyone from spouting it.

I think, to get Microsoft to stop crying "but we're too pooooor!" we'd need to rearrange our silly culture to stop emphasizing early life advantage, which is only attainable by having more money than everyone else. I could be wrong, but that's just what it looks like to me.
 

Entitled

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Aug 27, 2012
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IamLEAM1983 said:
It's just sad to consider that what once was a hobby shared by a niche of passionate folks, some twenty years ago, turned into this big corporate enabler that tries to justify its own excesses with online passes, gateway fees and other ridiculous opt-in purchases.

I miss the days when a team of two or three, a Pizza and Coke budget and some patience could deliver little games that would get passed on via floppy discs. In the triple-A business, if you're not siphoning the equivalent of a fraction of a single State or province's yearly budget into the cost of producing a SINGLE game - you're apparently doing it wrong.

And some people wonder why innovation's dead. Of course it's dead; the only way to make money is to play it safe and use your millions to, oh, sharpen up the textures in places and maybe - just maybe - keep your level designers busy for a year. That's when you're not releasing map packs.
Innovation is not dead, you are just searching for it at the wrong places.

Nowadays, it's popular to accuse people who bash "the mainstream", with claims that those are just hipsters, but really, in that regard, they have a point:

If you are looking for dedication, artistic fidelity, and styles and themes that feel like they are made directly for you, then go and find your own obscure niche, instead of drooling over whatever the "AAA" industry and the main gaming media is hyping at the moment.

A mainstream blockbuster industry is, by DEFINITION, soullessly bland, CEOs are intentionally trying to dumb it own to the Lowest Common Denominator, it's only purpose is to reach as mony people as possible.

To identify that monstrous side of gaming as "our" gaming, as the serious, hardcore, high-quality, AAA, call-it-what-you-want industry that we are supposed to care about the most, is it's own foolishness.

Just because you are interested in literature, doesn't mean that you have to judge the past years based on Twilight and 50 shades, you can always find some postcyberpunk adventure, or an epic Fallout/My Little Pony fanfiction novel written with amazing talent, whatever floats your boat. Just because you like music, doesn't mean that you have to listen to Bieber and Lady Gaga, there is always some christian industrial death metal band or some alternative J-rock that you will like.

The same with games. No one says that you HAVE TO care about the mainstream, or identify with it as if it would be made for you. There are also some incredibly enjoyable games made, (and not even just ironically pixellated 2D indie games) only slightly behind the front lines. Look them up.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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Now what's so bad about Mountain Dew? I would buy Halo 4 if that means I could get Mountain Dew with it. I miss Mountain Dew so much. They stopped selling it here many years ago. Like any other awesome soda.

I've got to say that I agree with the XBL fees being bullshit. Steam is able to offer a great service which does pretty much the same for free, the main difference is that it's better.
 

Your Gaffer

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Oct 10, 2012
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Great video! I have always felt the same way, it is so galling to hear these various developers and publishers talk about how they NEED to have the day one, on disc DLC, the online pass, the in-game advertisements, the cross promotions, and the always online DRM or else they won't make any money and will go out of business.

Of course as long as people buy into these things they will continue. I don't really mind a lot of it except for in-game advertisements in paid games and the always online DRM stuff, but I agree it is so insulting to hear some of the justifications given for these practices.

I wish they would just man up and say, "We are a for profit business and our mission is to make money. Now go buy that day one DLC. Make sure to buy some Mountain Dew and Doritos to get the "Fat Nerd" unlock and hey, did you notice all those subway sandwiches in the game? I'll bet that makes you hungry, go buy some Subway."