The Cynical Brit

Starcraft 2 i40 Finals Video-on-Demand available now!

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:50:42 +0000

Ok folks, here’s the deal. Multiplay have a week’s exclusivity on the i40 Starcraft 2 stuff, which is more than fair, it’s their event and it’s REALLY important to show the sponsors of the tournament that Starcraft 2 is the future and they need to inject more money into the scene. I’d ask you all to watch the video on their site to show them support and beef up the numbers. EVERYTHING I cast, which is about 14 or so hours of footage, will be available over the course of the next couple of weeks, so enjoy the Starcraft 2 overload

This video was recorded at about 00:30 in the morning. I had started casting at 10am and not stopped until 8pm. To say that I was tired would be an understatement and my voice is totally boned, but the crowd were awesome and everyone seemed to have a great time. I would recommend registering with Fileplay so you can watch the HD stream.

Once again, thanks to the players and to Multiplay for making this a great first tournament for the UK and I will be at many more in the future.

Torchlight 2 Interview podcast

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:04:43 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (torchlight2interview.mp3)

Torchlight 2 interview.

The guys from Runic Games sat down with me to talk about the sequel to last years indie smash-hit Torchlight. I know a lot of you have already played Torchlight, as have I, so I thought you’d be very interested in hearing about the sequel. This will be going up on Youtube with some concept art, screenshots and the trailer, but it’s going up in audio form for you guys first. Enjoy.

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i40 Stream

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:35:31 +0000

Here’s a quick one folks, I’m going to be streaming Cataclysm for about 90 minutes on the i40 main stage at 11:30 BST/12:30 CEST/6:30 EST. The stream is embedded below. I will keep this post up-to-date with embeds and stream links for the various things I’m doing.

Main stage content like the Cataclysm Q+A and the SC2 finals will be on the Fileplay stream below. SC2 tournament coverage throughout the day and whatever else I decide to stream will be on my Ustream.

Scheduled Starcraft 2 tournament streams are as follows. For CEST, add one. For EST, minus 5. These times are in BST.

Saturday

14:30-18:00 – Group Stage
19:00-20:00 – 1/10 Double Elimination.

Sunday

10:00-18:30 – Double Eliminations.
22:30-23:30 – Arena finals.

I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episodes 14 and 15

Intricacy — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:19:46 +0000

I Suck at Starcraft 2 – The Tutorial Series

As you may have noticed, not all of the ISS2 videos have made their way to being posted on the website. Make sure you Subscribe to the YouTube channel to view the entire series and more.

In this matchup, I face off against the unusual and apparently rather ineffective 9-pool and show you how to beat similar aggressive zergling openings. Sorta.

In this matchup, I try to be too clever, screwing up my build order completely and then getting drowned in zerglings by an interesting double-hatchery strategy.

Cataclysm Videos – The Best Cataclysm Quest (not Deathwing)

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:51:27 +0000

Blue Plz! airs every Friday at 20:00 GMT (21:00 CEST, 15:00 EST) only on cynicalbrit.com. If you miss the live show you can download the podcast, click the links at the bottom of this article to subscribe via iTunes or browse the archives.

Don’t get me wrong, The Day Deathwing Came is worthy of a chuckle, but it’s childish, it’s catered towards people that have just discovered words like EPIC FAIL and demotivational posters. Welcome to the Machine on the other hand is layered with great references and is a good commentary on the state of the community. It’s also an extremely unique twist on the concept of questing. Enjoy.

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Cataclysm Videos – Goblin and Worgen levelling updates 21st August 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:39:27 +0000

Stop slacking TotalBiscuit, post the vids on the site! These are two videos from the Goblin and Worgen levelling series. This is Azshara Part 3, in which we finally finish that stupid basilisk quest.

And here’s the next part of the Worgen zone, Part 4 I guess, in which we hunt trolls and ride cats.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 27

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:00:32 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz200810.mp3)

This week’s featured artist is once again, 19ninetynine, check out their site by clicking the banner link below. If you play in a band and want the chance to be featured on Blue Plz! Drop me a line via johnbain[at]cynicalbrit.com. I generally prefer rock and metal bands, anything heavy.

This week on Blue Plz!

Preshow Playlist

Amon Amarth – An Ancient Sign of Coming Storm (Death/Viking metal)
At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul (Old school melodic deathmetal)
The Haunted – Abysmal (Melodic death/post-thrash metal)
Fear Factory – Demanufacture (Industrial metal)
Fear Factory – Edgecrusher (Industrial metal)
Machinehead – The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears (Post-thrash/groove metal)
Nevermore – Riverdragon (Progressive metal)
Opeth – The Drapery Falls (Extreme progressive metal)
Iron Maiden – El Dorado (Heavy metal)
Pantera – By Demons be Driven (Thrash metal)
Cannibal Corpse – Hammer Smashed Face (Death/gore metal)

Music breaks

19ninetynine – Terrornation (left in the podcast with permission) (industrial/EBM)
Children of Bodom – Bodom Beach Terror (Melodic deathmetal)
Luca Turilli – Black Dragon (Power metal)
Deep Purple – Highway Star (Hard rock)
David Arkenstone – Welcome to Orgrimmar
Russell Brower – The Shattering

Apologies for the audio issues in this show. My sound settings reset during the preshow and I was unable to do a proper check. As such, some of the audio in this podcast is clipped. I do try to make sure my audio is as high quality as possible so again, I’m very sorry for that.

This week we’re talking about Tom Chilton’s presentation at Gamescom. You can read the liveblog which I based my discussion on here. Thanks Digitalspy.

I also discuss Tol Barad as well as the meaning of respect in one of my life lessons. Cataclysm Q+A and Mailbag are also featured.

If you wish to check out BlueXephos, aka Yogscast’s Cataclysm videos, as mentioned at the end of the show. Here’s one of them for you. May contain strong language and crude British humour (ie. awesome). Go leave a comment on their channel page to say hi.

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Cataclysm Videos – Holy Power and The Best Kodo

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:31:05 +0000

Here are a couple of shorts. The first of which shows off the new Paladin Holy Power interface and gives a brief explanation of how it works. As for which spells trigger it, that’s not entirely clear yet. The devchat said that Crusader Strike and Holy Shock definitely would (and you can see Crusader Strike generating Holy Power in the video), but that some other abilities would also. It’s not entirely complete yet, but you’ll get the idea.

This next video is of The Best Kodo ever. It is rumoured that this will be the new Tauren Paladin epic mount. I cannot confirm that however.

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Cataclysm Videos – Tol Barad preview series

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:26 +0000

Tol Barad is a new outdoor PvP island, consisting of a PvE daily quest hub for Level 85s, a Wintergrasp style battle area and a VoA-style raid instance (groan). These 3 videos are designed to explain the area in detail and provide analysis and commentary. We start off with a look at the fire-mage PvP spec I’ll be using for the video. This might not seem interesting to you non-mage types but bear in mind, you’ll have to fight a mage at some point and knowing what new tricks they have up their sleeve will be helpful.

The second video consists of a tour of the PvE area plus a short look at parts of the Tol Barad PvP area while it’s quiet and then a short battle. I am aware that the Kul Tiras are not the magic faction, but if you read up on the lore, the prison involved mages from Dalaran as well and was a magic prison, so it’s a valid comment.

The third video consists of a longer, commentated battle with discussion and analysis on the various merits and pitfalls of this new zone.

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Cataclysm Videos – Shorts Roundup 11-18th August 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:53:03 +0000

Well guys, I’m back from Bloodstock and I’ve also been slacking with keeping the site up-to-date with the new videos. I’m going to put all the short videos I’ve done since Darkshore 3 into this post and then make separate posts for the large ones.

First off, we have some female worgen NPCs

Garrosh is apparently planning on choking a bitch.

The site of the new Worgen district. Commentary may not make much sense at all.

For me I guess this does qualify as a short, here’s a tour of Gilneas from the air, in a different and possibly unfinished phase. And yes, I know about the island now, I didn’t need scrub gear back then, I was in full T2 when that Dungeon set 2 patch came out.

Worgen bear form anyone?

This isn’t a short at all, but it’s short on commentary. The new opening theme from Cataclysm.

I know some of you guys just use the site to watch videos, so my apologies that I’ve been slacking on the updates. It’s quite time consuming and I’ve had a lot of things to do.

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Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Levelling in Darkshore Part 2 and Bear Form

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:23:40 +0000

Here is the next in the series of Darkshore levelling videos, split into 2 parts.

And here’s the Worgen Bear form

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Gaming the System 8th August 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:08:53 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts070810.mp3)

This time on Gaming the System

SWAG and TB discuss what they’ve been playing over the last fortnight, including League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Deathspank.

This week’s music is provided by Blizzard Entertainment, from it’s excellent new game, Starcraft 2.

Music break – Blizzard Entertainment – Fire and Fury

This week in Gaming

A roundup of this week’s stories and releases.

Music break – Blizzard Entertainment – Heaven’s Devils

The Review – Singularity

SWAG talks about Raven’s latest effort.

Music break – Blizzard Entertainment – The Prophecy

TB’s Top Tens – The best gaming rip-offs

1. Rock Band > Guitar Hero

2. Bubsy the Bobcat > Sonic the Hedgehog

3. Dante’s Inferno > GoW

4. Puzzle Quest > Bejeweled

5. WoW > Every MMO that preceded it

6. Shadow Complex > Metroid

7. Saints Row 2 > GTA 4

8. X-Men Legends > Gauntlet Dark Legacy

9. Chaos League > Blood Bowl

10. World Heroes 2 > Street Fighter 2

Music break – Blizzard Entertainment – The Showdown

Your Turn – Your worst gaming rip-offs

TB and SWAG want to know the worst gaming rip-offs you’ve ever played. TB points out the Korean Starcraft ripoff, Atrox.

Music finale – Blizzard Entertainment – Wings of Liberty

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Cataclysm Videos – Twilight Highlands

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 10:16:58 +0000

In this video, I venture into the unfinished zone of Twilight Highlands to have a look around.

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Cataclysm Videos – A bag of shorts

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:19:05 +0000

Here’s the thing about betas. Sometimes they break. A lot. Yesterday was one of those days. World servers stayed up for about 10 minutes, if you were lucky, then went down for an hour at a time for no visible reason. So yesterday, I made a bunch of short videos. I’m putting them all in one post because doing otherwise is dumb. They are, in order.

A look at some of the new Cataclysm models and the a new Hunter pet
A look at how Reforging works
A listen to the new Goblin NPC voices
A fan video sent in with the most blatant abuse of the Reforging system ever, creating Shadowmourne of the Whale aka. Spiritmourne.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 26

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:41:12 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz060810.mp3)

This week’s special guest is Bigredkitty, the most prominent hunter expert in the WoW community. You can check out his website by clicking the banner below.

This week’s show is brought to you in part by Multiplay Game Servers and the i40 LAN event, which I will be at, casting the Starcraft 2 tournament. i40 is the biggest LAN in the UK and is a great, Bring-your-own-Computer event. There are some seats still available so if you want to come down, it’s on the 27-30th August and you can click the banner below to learn more.

Preshow Playlist

Kiss – Rock and Roll All Nite (Glam rock)
Kenny Loggins – Danger Zone (Hard rock)
Edguy – Rocket Ride (Power metal)
Edguy – FWF (Hair Force One) (Power metal)
Metallica – Fuel (Heavy metal)
Andy Gillion – Streets of Rage Tribute (Heavy metal videogame cover)
Daniel Tidwell – Ken’s Heavy Hadouken (Heavy metal videogame cover)
Sabaton – Ghost Division (Power metal)
Sabaton – 40:1 (Power Metal)
Finntroll – Maken Spira (Folk metal)
Equilibrium – In Heiligen Hallen (Folk/Epic metal)
Turisas – Battle Metal (Battle metal, of course)

Music breaks

Frank Klepacki – Hellmarch (Rocktronic)
Dio – Holy Diver (Heavy metal)
Staun Bush – The Touch (Borderline unacceptable cheese rock)
Rhapsody of Fire – Epicus Furor/Emerald Sword (Power/symphonic metal)

This week on Blue Plz!

Listener mail a-plenty. A listener asks about Guild talents and another suggestions that Blizzard ‘borrow’ an idea from Lord of the Rings Online, regarding Legacy weapons.

Our special guest this week is Big Red Kitty who tells us about the state of Hunters in the beta.

Reforging is something that has barely been mentioned in the run up to Cataclysm, yet is an extremely cool feature. TotalBiscuit is pleased with the additional complexity being added into the game. You can watch the video of Reforging in action here

How can boring quests be spiced up? TotalBiscuit explains the nature of quest fatigue and how a boring ‘Kill 10 X’ assignment can be changed into an exciting, unique encounter with little effort required.

Also this is the best dungeon set ever made, confirmed, inside sources.

Cataclysm Q+A caps off the show as always. Thank you very much for listening.

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Cataclysm Videos – Azshara Levelling Part 2

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:00:52 +0000

My apologies for not updating the site more regularly, I’ve been very busy.

Here’s the second part of the Azshara levelling series, just bear in mind that it’s kinda incomplete due to beta server instability and a whole load of other nonsense. Enjoy

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State of Play for August

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:35:49 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (stateofplayaugust.mp3)

This is a State of Play update for August 2010, outlining the various projects and upcoming events on the site. There’s a few things I’d like to discuss. The audio reading of this article has gone out on all feeds to ensure that all listeners are kept up-to-date on the site’s latest news. These updates tend to go out whenever I have enough to talk about.

Fragworld Interview

I recently did a lengthy interview with Fragworld’s World of Warcraft podcast. Their WoW correspondent Rashakan quizzes me on a wide variety of topics. You can listen to it here.

Guest role in Legendary Frog animation “Legend of the Blackbook”

Legendary Frog is an extremely well-known flash artist and is also the guy I commissioned to create the TotalBiscuit SHOUTcraft cartoon figure. I voice-acted a small role in his latest animation and you can check it out here on Newgrounds or via the Youtube video below.

Classaclysm Interviews

I’m continuing my series of Classaclysm interviews, in which I bring on experts in various classes to talk about their state in the Cataclysm beta. Tomorrow’s Blue Plz! (6th August) will feature Bigredkitty who has come out of retirement to check out the Cataclysm beta. His expertise is the Hunter and I’ll talk to him on the matter tomorrow. Stoneybaby will be on a future show to discuss Enhancement shamans and I will happily take suggestions for people you’d like to hear from on the show, in terms of a particular class. Feel free to post suggestions in the comment box below.

August Show schedule

August is a busy month for me. I’ll be off at the Bloodstock Metal Festival in Lichfield from the 12-16th of August. There won’t be a Blue Plz! on that Friday. I’m going to attempt to stockpile video content and release it on the channel via my phone (oooh technology!) to tide you over. I will also be broadcasting the Starcraft 2 tournament at the i40 from the 26th to the 30th. Same deal. The i40 footage will all become available online and should also be livestreamed. More details will be posted when I get them. If you’re going to the i40 LAN this year, let me know and we can meet up.

Future video plans and SHOUTcraft

Video and podcasting is now my full time job, so you’ll see regular content on a daily basis. SHOUTcraft eSports broadcasting for Starcraft 2 will return at the beginning on September, if all goes to plan. The reason for that is the state of my ISP. My line is being replaced and a new ISP being installed and once that happens, live and Youtube shows will resume. I Suck at Starcraft 2 presentations will continue at a rate of a few a week. WoW videos will continue at a steady rate dependent on beta stability. My priority is to show the changes in the latest beta build and make a start on the Worgen area beyond Gilneas as well as continue the Azshara levelling series and zone tours. More introductory and review content is also on it’s way. I’m putting together my League of Legends introductory video and I’ll be showing a number of different games, including MMOs, over the next few months.

That’s about it folks, thanks for your continued support.

Cataclysm Videos – Guild Perks and Troll Trainers

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:48:53 +0000

These are two short videos. One of them goes over the guild perk system and the changes to the guild interface. The other is a very quick look at 2 troll trainers in the Valley of Spirits, which showcases the new Troll cat form and a Tiki imp.

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Cataclysm Videos – Azshara Levelling Part 1

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:44:30 +0000

We have finally left the Lost Isles and arrived on the shows of Durotar. Will we be eaten by Worgs? Let’s find out.

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Cataclysm Videos – Gnomeregan

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:32:47 +0000

Suffering for one’s art is something I’m willing to do, however I must say it took some hefty willpower to stomach playing a Gnome for an hour. Thankfully the new Gnome Starting Zone in Gnomeregan is a big improvement on their previous ‘effort’. Enjoy both parts of this zone with these 2 videos.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 25

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz300710.mp3)

This week’s show was brought to you in part by Hordereview.com a WoW fansite featuring Resume system, armory integration, social networking, forums and more. Go check it out.

Preshow Playlist

Brainstorm – Mr Know-it-all (Power metal)
Iron Maiden – Can I Play with Madness? (Heavy metal)
Motorhead – Smiling like a Killer (Hard rock)
Pantera – Cemetary Gates (Thrash metal)
Evergrey – End of your Days (Progressive metal)
Threshold – Paradox (Progressive metal)
Manowar – Secret of Steel (EPIC metal)
Kamelot – Karma (Progressive/symphonic metal)
Devin Townsend – Hypergeek (Progressive rock)
Devin Townsend – Vampire (Progressive rock)
Strapping Young Lad – Aaa (Melodic Death metal)
Archenemy – Ravenous (Melodic Death metal)

Music breaks

Candlemass – Black Dwarf (Epic/Doom metal)
Equilibrium – In Heiligen Hallen (Folk metal)
Tad Morose – Anubis (Power metal)
Sonata Arctica – Wildfire (Melodic Power metal)
Finntroll – Slaget Vid Blodalv (Folk metal)

This week on Blue Plz!

We talk to ‘teh best’, the one and only Turpster himself on a wide variety of different, important and serious issues! Go check out his website, Turpstervision.

Cynicalbrit PR manager Frank “Bunkerface” Dokter also joins us on the show this week. We discuss talents once more and the concept of zone aesthetic and how it can contribute to the enjoyment of the area. The show caps off with a Cataclysm Q+A.

We’d like to remind folks that sponsoring an episode of Blue Plz! is an incredibly cost-effective of getting your message out to over 50,000 podcast listeners on iTunes #1 videogame podcast. Check out the advertise with us link below to find out more.

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Cataclysm Videos – Inside Uldum

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:43:48 +0000

Blue Plz! airs every Friday at 20:00 GMT (21:00 CEST, 15:00 EST) only on cynicalbrit.com. If you miss the live show you can download the podcast, click the links at the bottom of this post.

After finding a way inside the unfinished Uldum zone, I decided to do a little tour. As always, bear in mind this is absolutely not finished content.

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episodes 11 and 12

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:40:39 +0000

I Suck at Starcraft 2 – The tutorial series

So Starcraft 2 is out, some of you might have heard. It’s about time that I started doing more ‘learn from my mistakes’ videos, so here are two episodes of I Suck at Starcraft 2 from the release version. More will be on their way. Both of these are placement matches, so I’m even more rusty than usual, having not played any of Phase 2 beta.

In the first match, we face off against another Protoss, with blunders on either side.

In this second match, my opponent fails to scout and takes too long to get aggressive. By not paying attention to his base or mine, he ends up getting sandwiched between Zealots and Photon Cannons.

Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Finale

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:54:11 +0000

It’s the finale of the Worgen Starting Zone. Gilneas is about to be attacked by the deadly Forsaken plague and the Gilneans are evacuating and we are the rearguard for their retreat. Withkittens will return in a future video.

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Cataclysm Videos – Mulgore Tauren Paladin Part 2

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:16:28 +0000

Bring on the puns as we take a Tauren Paladin through the Bloodhoof questlines and have a look at the new Holy Power mechanic.

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Cataclysm Videos – Lost Isles Finale

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:12:48 +0000

Why spend 412 videos getting to the end of the Lost Isles when we can do it in 6? The epic finale to the Goblin Starting Zone series is here as our hero liberates the Goblin people from the ruthless Trade Prince.

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Gaming the System 25th July 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:12:29 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts250710.mp3)

This week on Gaming the System

Wow, it’s been a while hasn’t it? Our apologies, we’ve had a bunch of issues that have prevented us from putting out a GTS. Hopefully we should be back to our usual fortnightly schedule. Don’t forgot to check out this thread on the forums for your chance to win a big Demon Lord statue from Runes of Magic! You can checkout SWAG’s interview with the folks over at Frogster below

Our week in Gaming

SWAG discussed the questionable delights of Lost Planet 2 and TotalBiscuit gushes about Alien Swarm and how much he hates bullet-time.

Music Break – daxx – Golden Axe Orchestral remix

This week in gaming

Our roundup of this week’s news and comment, featuring the following stories.

Music Break – Shunsuke Kida – The Nexus (Demon’s Souls)

The Review – Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls has taken an awfully long time to get to the EU, but it’s finally arrived. TotalBiscuit and SWAG review the game that will kick your ass and have you begging for more.

Music Break – Andy Gillion – Streets of Rage Tribute

TB’s Top Tens

SWAG and TotalBiscuit come up with the Top 10 things that Dragon Age 2 requires to be a good sequel.

Music Break – Supersweep Co. Ltd – Theme of the Legendary Hero (3d Dot Game Heroes)

The MMOrrerry – World of Warcraft – Cataclysm

Is it worth coming back to WoW for Cataclysm asks SWAG? TotalBiscuit gives his honest opinion straight from the beta.

Music Break – Shunsuke Kida – Phalanx (Demon’s Souls)

Your Turn – Your hardest game experience

You can get your opinion featured on the next show by leaving a comment on this article. What was your hardest ever gaming experience? SWAG weighs in Gauntlet : Dark Legacy while TotalBiscuit waxes lyrical about the punishment dealt out by Godhand. Both agree on the subject of Ikaruga and accept that they suck.

Music Finale – Motoi Sakuraba – Shining Force 3 Opening Theme (Shining Force 3)

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Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Starting Zone Part 5

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:01:44 +0000

We are approaching the critical point in the Worgen starting zone. The Gilnean militia are poised to strike at the Forsaken occupying Gilneas, but first, we must prepare the troops.

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Cataclysm Videos – Lost Isles Part 4

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:17:26 +0000

Why is it that every place the Goblin makes their home, ends up exploding?

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 24

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:55:25 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz230710.mp3)

This week’s show features music from my younger brother’s band 19ninetynine, specifically a cover of New Model Army track “Vagabonds”. This is part of the podcast and you can check out their material over on their Reverbnation page.

If you have Spotify, you can listen to the music from this preshow with this Spotify playlist, thanks to BadCriticism for maintaining that.

Preshow Playlist

Amon Amarth – Where Death Seems to Dwell (Viking metal)
Kreator – Coma of Souls (Thrash metal)
Ministry – N.W.O. (Industrial metal)
Pantera – A New Level (Groove metal)
Fear Factory – Linchpin (Industrial metal)
Eldritch – Reverse (Industrial metal)
Norther – Death Unlimited (Melodic deathmetal)
Children of Bodom – Children of Decadence (Melodic deathmetal)
Soilwork – Chainheart Machine (Old-style gothenburg melodic deathmetal)
In Flames – The Jester Race (Old-style gothenburg melodic deathmetal)
Disarmonia Mundi – Celestial Furance (Melodic deathmetal)
Raunchy – Join the Scene (Metalcore/Melodic deathmetal)

Music breaks

19ninetynine – Vagabonds (Industrial/EBM)
Dragonforce – Starfire (Power metal)
Sabaton – Coat of Arms (Power metal)
Dark Tranquillity – Hours passed in Exile (Melodic deathmetal)

This week on Blue Plz!

We asked which of you WoW players hasn’t played another Blizzard titles. Vote here!

We welcome Lissanna from Restokin.com as part of a new series on Cataclysm talent analysis. First up is… well, as you might have guessed, Druids. A different expert will be brought on each week to talk shop about their class of choice and what you can expect in Cataclysm, plus what needs to be done in terms of talent changes before release.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! Guild perk information has been released, TotalBiscuit goes through them with a fine toothcomb and also deals with the crying over perceived ‘required’ guild-play. Also THE QUEST FROM HELL and starting zone balance as well as the usual Cataclysm Q+A at the end of the show.

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Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Starting Zone Part 4

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:34:54 +0000

The Worgen hunter is no more, in it’s place, a Worgen druid! Complete with fully 100% legit canon lore reasons and stuff. Watch the 4th part of the Worgen starting zone series here.

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Cataclysm Videos – THE QUEST FROM HELL

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:47:06 +0000

This is a piece of B-roll footage that I took before rerolling the Worgen hunter. Pets are currently bugged in the beta. I don’t need to hear your advice because I know they’re bugged, BRK knows they’re bugged, Blizzard knows they are bugged. They can disappear at random, more is explained in the video. Whatever the case, because of the way the starting zone is balanced, it assumes you have a pet and an uber Level 10 ability and ramps the difficulty up accordingly. So what happens when you don’t have a pet? Well, you get your ass kicked. Enjoy.

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TotalBiscuit joins The Game Station

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:09:59 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (tgs2.mp3)

Yes indeed folks, it’s time to announce what I’ve been keeping a secret for so long. You may have noticed the changes to my channel, upgrades if you will. My video content is now part of a brand new group of talented producers called The Game Station. Amongst our ranks include Starcraft 2 titans HD, Husky and I’ve just heard Artosis will be with us as well. We’ve also got the gigantic Optic Gaming network providing us with all the FPS content you could imagine as well as ZAM, including WoWHead and Tankspot, plus many more fantastic channels announced and forthcoming in the future. I’ll be working directly with all of these guys in future and the site plus my Youtube productions are now my full-time occupation. I’m very pleased to be involved with these fellows and look forward to many joint projects in the future. The site isn’t going anywhere and will continue to produce the content it always has, so no need to worry about that.

For the last couple of months, I’ve been getting a lot of offers from various different sites and that skyrocketed when my Cataclysm videos and podcast rose to be the most popular on the internet. I chose to join up with these guys because I think their vision for professional gaming content matches my own and they will support me and the rest of the producers in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Welcome to the future of Cynical Brit content.

Cataclysm Videos – New Worgen model and Bonus Lore Nonsense

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:33:12 +0000

Today’s content consists of 2 shorts. The first of which is a look at the new, meaner Worgen model, released in the latest beta patch.

The second is a scene that was supposed to play at the end of the Troll video, but was bugged. It is a conversation between Thrall and Vol’jin, directly after you finish the finale of the Troll starting zone. There are voice files which are most likely NOT the final version and are not in the beta, however they are in the data files, so I extracted them and synced up the video with the audio for you to enjoy.

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Cataclysm Videos – Mulgore (Tauren Paladin)

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:37:26 +0000

What does a Tauren paladin look like? Every other Tauren of course, however, Mulgore has changed from the worse. Let’s have a look at this much grimmer version of the Tauren starting zone.

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Cataclysm Videos – Lost Isles Part 3

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:30:53 +0000

Let’s continue blowing up this island in the third part of the Goblin Lost Isles series.

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Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Starting Zone Part 3

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:39:56 +0000

Part 3 of the video series showcasing the new Worgen starting area, taking us from Level 7 to 10. Oh and please ignore what I said about Conc shot not costing any focus, I literally have no idea why I said that because it’s wrong.

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Cataclysm Videos – Lost Isles Part 2

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:17:35 +0000

The Goblin Starting zone series continues with Part 2 of the Lost Isles, where things get even more ridiculous. Regardless of how I feel about gimmicks, this is still the most fun I’ve had in a starting zone so far.

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Blue Plz! Special Saturday Slaughter edition

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:12:18 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz180710.mp3)

Preshow Playlist

Epica – Imperial March (symphonic metal cover)
The Haunted – D.O.A. (post-thrash metal)
Mors Principium Est – Parasites of Paradise (melodic deathmetal)
Mors Principium Est – The Harmony Remains (melodic deathmetal)
Scar Symmetry – The Three Dimensional Shadow (melodic deathmetal)
Dark Tranquillity – Monochromatic Stains (melodic deathmetal)
Opeth – The Baying of the Hounds (extreme progressive metal)
Evergrey – A Touch of Blessing (progressive metal)
Dream Theatre – Caught in a Web (progressive metal)
In Flames – Pinball Map (melodic deathmetal)
Soilwork – Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter (melodic deathmetal)

Music breaks

Pendulum – Self vs Self (ft. In Flames) (melodic deathmetal/drum’n'bass crossover)
Black Label Society – Concrete Jungle (sludge/groove metal)
Ensiferum – Token of Time (viking/folk metal)
Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew – Flitlocke Glock (PIRATE RAP)
Faith no More – Epic (alternative metal)
Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew – Deadmines battle (PIRATE RAP)

This week on Blue Plz!

It’s a special bonus show to cover the Blizzard twitter Q+A which always seems to conveniently happen AFTER Blue Plz! on Friday. Funnily enough this only started happening after they did it before Blue Plz! once… hmmm.

The entire Q+A is available here to read

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Cataclysm Videos – Lost Isles Part 1

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:45:19 +0000

The Island of Kezan exploded and we wake up shipwrecked on the coast of a mysterious misplaced island. I’m concentrated on Goblin and Worgen levelling videos for the time being, since that’s what people are most interested in as far as I can tell. Zone tours will resume after that and in the meantime I will try to get something done with Deepholm.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 23

CynicalBrit — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:39:23 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz170710.mp3)

Preshow Playlist

Nightwish – 10th Man Down (Operatic/Symphonic Powermetal)
Epica – The Last Crusade (Symphonic Metal)
Kamelot – The Fourth Legacy (Melodic Powermetal)
Nocturnal Rites – Never Trust (Powermetal)
Edguy – Ministry of Saints (Powermetal)
Amon Amarth – An Ancient Sign of Coming Storm (Viking/Death metal)
Insomnium – The Day it all came down (Melodic deathmetal)
Equilibrium – Blut Im Auge (Epic folk metal)
Finntroll – Fiskarens Fiende (Folk metal)
Finntroll – En Maktig Har (Folk metal)

Music breaks

Equilibrium – In Heiligen Hallen (Epic folk metal)
Frank Klepacki – No Mercy Remix (Rocktronic)
Frank Klepacki – Industrial (Rocktronic)
One Minute Silence – A Spoonful of Sugar (Rap metal)
Machinae Supremacy – Return to Snake Mountain (SID metal)
Disarmonia Mundi – Celestial Furnace (Melodic deathmetal)

This week on Blue Plz!

A listener asks, are Blizzard attempting to train newer players for raiding challenges by introducing raid-style mechanics into dungeons? TotalBiscuit hopes so!

There is some disagreement as to just how intense a tutorial should really be. Should Blizzard be hand-holding new players the entire time, or should there be some room for personal exploration? How do the new starting zones shape up in this regard?

The new talents are here! But are they any good? Analysis from TotalBiscuit and the listeners as to whether or not Blizzard are on the right lines and what work has to be done to ensure the talents are genuinely better than they are right now.

The show caps off with Cataclysm Q+A.

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Cataclysm Videos – Northshire Abbey

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:56:32 +0000

The human starting zone of Northshire has driven out one threat only to be invaded by another. What can you expect if you decide to roll a Human in Cataclysm? (why, why would you do this)

Bloodstock 2010 Cynicalbrit Meetup

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:43:37 +0000

Yes indeed folks, the time has come once again for the best metal festival in the UK, Bloodstock 2010, a 3-day open air extravaganza down at Catton Hall near Lichfield.

Several members of the Cynical Brit community are going to be there, myself included, for the entire duration and we’ll have our own camp (complete with a flag of the site logo so we’re easy to spot). The line-up is crazy. You can read the entire thing here, but some of my personal highlights are Opeth, Children of Bodom, Devin Townsend, Fear Factory, Edguy, Sonata Arctica and of course the mighty Twisted Sister. Having been to the festival before, I’d like to give those of you attending (or considering it) a few pieces of common sense advice.

There is no beer restriction this time, go nuts

Yes indeed, last year you were limited as to the amount of alcohol you could bring in. Not so this time, although do consider spending some money on-site to help the organisers out, since the festival is independently operated and isn’t making a massive amount of money (and has in some years, run at a loss).

Sunblock for god’s sake

4 days of glorious sunshine later, saw some very burned people in an awful lot of pain. It’s an open field with absolutely no shelter, bring plenty of strong sunblock and ensure you’re wearing a hat to help avoid heatstroke, which can and will happen if you’re not careful.

Take as few valuables as possible

Bloodstock is usually far better than festivals like Download or Reading when it comes to on-site crime, but last year a number of tents were raided on the first night. Security is likely to be tighter this year, but sadly, this is real life and thefts can happen. I kept my valuables in the on-site cloakroom and had no problems with them at all. I would recommend doing the same and leaving as much of your valuable stuff at home as possible.

Somebody bring portable battery powered speakers

Because I don’t have any but can bring my glorious mp3 collection and plenty of batteries to keep it running.

On-site food mostly sucks, but not always

The stand-out vendor on site is Deli Kate, which last year was secreted away at the other side of the main stage. GO THERE FOR FOOD, it has great baguettes with plenty of choice at extremely reasonable prices. The chinese place they had there last time was pretty good too, though pricey. Avoid the burger vendors, fish and chips and ’steak sandwich’ places, all of which are expensive and poor quality. We’ll have at least 1 driver at the festival and will take early morning trips into the nearest town to stock up for the day and get breakfast, though don’t expect to all fit in it, by any stretch of the imagination.

Visit the portaloos directly after the cleaning wagon has come around.

This should be very obvious. The horrors of festival toilets await thee, abandon hope all ye who enter them. Dear lord. Also you may wish to bring your own toilet roll with you.

Don’t neglect the other 2 stages

There are plenty of main stage bands I’m not all that into, which allowed me to see some great unsigned and lesser known acts on the 2 other stages. There’s plenty of stuff waiting for you there, plus they often sell their cds and t-shirts cheaply after their set, so it’s a good time to pick up merch.

Save your legs, bring a portable seat

The queue to get in on the day before is crazy, but a great way to meet new people and have a laugh. Bring a portable directors chair or stool to make the experience much more pleasant.

Mobile phone issues

Certain areas of the venue are complete deadzones for mobile signals, to the point where they will drain battery very fast trying to acquire one. Obviously we’ll need to try and find each other, so I will tweet our location once I’ve found a spot to camp. Some Cynbrit people may get there before me, in which case, try and find an area with a signal and tweet where it is, so we can all meet up and stake our claim. There are phone charging facilities on site but they vary wildly in price, it is recommended that you bring a battery-powered charger for your phone.

The best camping location

Depending on who gets there first, it’s best to try and find a place close to the edge of either of the camping fields. That provides easy access and makes sure you’re not surrounded completely by noise 24 hours a day. There is a border around each site that must be kept free to allow firetrucks/ambulance through, so setting up very close to that is ideal for easy walking access to the stages and car park.

Get on Twitter

Seriously, it’s the best way to find people and quickly get a message to the rest of the group to find out where they are. Sending a twitter message requires very little signal strength or stability, so it’s easier than calling people and gets out to the entire group. Leave your twitter name in the comments section below if you’re coming and make sure to follow Totalbiscuit. I will create a Twitter list of all of those attending, so that you can communicate with them.

The venue is huge and generally the festival doesn’t sell out, so even if you’re thinking about just coming for a day or decide to head on down at the last minute, you will be able to get tickets. There are festivities and bands playing the night before, so you’re looking at 3.5 days of entertainment and 4 nights of camping for £105, outstanding value. Get your ticket from the site or buy it on the gate (beware, last time they didn’t have card facilities at the box office, though there are cash-points on site, they don’t open until later and you can’t get in without a ticket anyway).

I hope to see as many of you there as possible. Blue Plz! has been a champion of metal for years, many of our listeners are also metal fans and this is easily the best metal event in the UK calender.

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 22

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:50:31 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz130710.mp3)

Blue Plz! is the Number 1 videogame podcast on iTunes. Do you want to advertise on WoW’s original shock-jock show and join the ranks of our esteemed sponsors? Use the contact page to submit an enquiry.

Preshow Playlist

I won’t provide the Amazon links anymore, since I can’t provide them for all regions and most people just listen via Spotify anyway so there’s little point. One of our listeners does the Spotify lists for each show so thanks to BadCriticism for his work. What I will do however, is to provide genre information for those of you who are trying to learn more about metal and the various styles and sub-genres available to you.

Spotify Playlist

Arch Enemy – We Will Rise (Melodic Deathmetal)
Soilwork – Song of the Damned (Newer Gothenburg style Melodic Deathmetal)
Mors Principium Est – Pure (Newer Gothenburg style Melodic Deathmetal)
Norther – Of Darkness and Light (Melodic Deathmetal)
Dark Tranquillity – Lost to Apathy – (Newer Gothenburg style Melodic Deathmetal)
Caliban – Fire of Night (Metalcore)
Machine Head – Clenching the Fists of Dissent (Thrash/Groove)
Dream Evil – Heavy Metal Jesus (Heavy/Power)
Rhapsody – Dawn of Victory (Power/Symphonic)
Finntroll – Slaget Vid Blodalv (Folk)

Music Breaks

Equilibrium – Snuffel (Folk/Viking)
Axxis – Tales of Glory Island (Power)
Kamelot – March of Mephisto (Melodic Power/Symphonic)
KMFDM – Stars and Stripes (Industrial Rock)
Judas Priest – You’ve got another thing coming (Heavy/Speed)

This week on Blue Plz!

This special Tuesday episode was put out to replace Vendorstrike, which (fortunately) did not happen on Friday.

In the mailbag, a listener asks about the history of Activision-Blizzard. Correlation does not equal causation and TotalBiscuit believes that we should stop treating Activision and Blizzard as heel/face.

How not to design a starting zone! The Dwarf starting area in it’s current state is a disaster and huge changes have to be made to bring it up to par. What makes a good starting zone?

Talents are receiving a massive revamp in Cataclysm. How will it affect you and is this yet more dumbing down?

RealID is dead and Bashiok is buried under a pile of pizzas and black fax machine transmissions. Was Blizzard really trying to implement this and what did they hope to achieve?

We round off the show with another Cataclysm Q+A

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Cataclysm Videos – Stonetalon

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:12:33 +0000

Stonetalon is a much grimmer place that it used to be. This once low-level zone filled with minor inconveniences and petty tasks for low-levels to complete is now a full-blown warzone with many areas ravaged by battle and resource exploitation.

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Cataclysm Videos – A case study in bad starting zone design

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 10:58:39 +0000

So here’s the story on this one. I decided against my better judgement, to fulfil the request of many viewers. Up until this point, I’ve done the videos I think would be best to show so this was a new thing, especially since I knew that the current state of this starting zone was horrendous. So I did it, critiqued it, complained and provided feedback on what I perceive as a HORRENDOUS piece of quest design. 24 hours after the release of this video, Blizzard publishes a list of finished and unfinished zones and of course, this was among them. In the meantime, people bitched at me for posting the video (damned if you do, damned if you don’t).

I’m going to leave the video up however, because it demonstrates exactly my point about alt-a-holism and why many of us don’t care to roll an alt at all. This starting zone has so far received only minor alterations from it’s original format and if you look at it objectively, you will see bad game design. Questing is as a whole, dull and lifeless, this zone is a prime example of that in action. If Blizzard wants to enthuse people like me and even drive us to roll an alt, they’re going to have to reject everything that the vanilla starting zones stood for. This is the sort of thing you can use against MMOs in general, it demonstrates stupidly simplistic errand running tasks that take far too much time and require zero skill of any description. I look forward to having a look at the new Gnome starting zone when it’s finalised but I’ve learned 2 things in the process.

1) People don’t know what they want.

2) Taking requests is a bad idea and won’t happen in the future

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Tonight’s show cancelled, moved to Tuesday

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:39:54 +0000

Just a quick note to let you guys know that we’re cancelling the show today. I’ll do another Blue Plz! on Tuesday, then on Friday to catch up on the schedule, but I’ll be completely honest, I’d rather just enjoy my birthday weekend. Cya Tuesday.

Cataclysm Videos – Western Plaguelands

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:41:52 +0000

The Western Plaguelands has undergone a major revamp as most of the undead have been driven off. Unfortunately, this has left a power-gap which both Horde and Alliance are trying desperately to fill.

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Cataclysm Videos – Roundup from the last couple of days

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:30:42 +0000

I’ve been a little busy to update the site, plus with all the new visitors, I would rather it was easier for them to find the new Blue Plz! episode, rather than come across a page full of videos. This article is a list of the videos I haven’t posted on this site yet, enjoy.

Since it’s now my birthday and I’ll be celebrating with friends for the next few days (that’s just how we roll), videos will be a lot less frequent, expect normal schedule to resume on Tuesday.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Special Celebration Episode

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:02:57 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz060710.mp3)

Preshow Playlist

This week on Blue Plz!

It’s a special celebration episode as Blue Plz! hits #1 across the world on the iTunes Games and Hobbies charts. In the mailbag, a listener asks if one can expect to see more single-player ‘vehicle’ bosses in Cataclysm.

Music break – Captain Dan – Sea Monsters

So let’s talk about this whole RealID thing. Is it a big deal? Leave a comment below to express your opinion.

Music break – Frank Klepacki – Hellmarch

According to very important people on Youtube, being in a guild is elitist! What caused this ridiculous attitude and what steps is Blizzard taking to correct the problem in Cataclysm?

Music break – The Prodigy – Voodoo People

It’s a Cataclysm Q+A, which will be common-place on this show for the next few weeks I think. You can send your questions in via the email address stated on the show for next week’s broadcast.

Music Finale – Korpiklaani – Vodka

Music Finale – Queen – We Are The Champions

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Blue Plz! Special Celebration Show

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:29:25 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (number1.mp3)

It’s my pleasure to share with you guys some great news. Boosted by the popularity of the Cataclysm Videos, Blue Plz! has done what I didn’t think it would ever manage, reach #1 on the iTunes Videogame Podcast Charts. It’s a huge milestone for the show and to celebrate that I’d like to give you guys a bonus show tomorrow. There will be a Nubcake News, there will be an Ask the Murloc, there will be a full-length preshow and I would like to see as many of you as possible in the chatroom for fun, frolics and fury. The show will air at the usual time of 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST/15:00 EST) with the preshow kicking off one hour before hand. Those of you new to the site and show, will see a Blue Plz! icon and a play link pop up on the frontpage at show time. Simply click that link to tune in. Our videochat is available at the bottom of the page by clicking the chat link.

Here’s the chart, which I may have framed at some point just for nerd-cred.

If you miss out on the live show, don’t worry, you can have it and all future episodes delivered to you by iTunes or our RSS feeds, just click the appropriate links below.

Thanks once again guys. This would never have happened with your support. Here’s to much more madness and mayhem. Tinkertown is in Shattrath, goodnight.

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Cataclysm Beta – Stranglethorn Vale

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:04:53 +0000

Stranglethorn Vale hasn’t seen all that many changes, but he’s a look at it from the air.

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Cataclysm Videos – The Tainted Scar

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:19:06 +0000

This is a short video of the only area within the Blasted Lands to have seen major changes, the Tainted Scar, which is now home to a sinister Worgen plot.

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Hi to all our new visitors

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:46:45 +0000

Welcome to Cynicalbrit.com, the home of Blue Plz! a WoW ’shockjock’ show that has been running since March 2005. This show used to be the flagship broadcast of WoW Radio, an official fansite that was setup in October 2004 and closed it’s doors in February 2010. In it’s time on the airwaves, WoW Radio was host to over 30 different WoW podcasts, was the exclusive broadcaster of Blizzcon 2005 and provided interviews with various members of the community, including Blizzard developers, top guilds, machinimators, comic artists, addon developers, fansite owners and more.

To make things easy for you, below is the latest episode of Blue Plz! Every Blue Plz! episode airs live on Friday’s at 8pm BST (9pm CEST, 3pm EST), with a preshow kicking off an hour before-hand. You can access the lively videochat during live shows by clicking the Chat button on the bottom bar. The link to tune into the live broadcast appears on the website at the start of every preshow. However, the vast majority of listeners get their fix via iTunes, with Blue Plz! sitting in the Top 3 WoW podcasts chart, behind the ever-popular “The Instance” and “WoW Insider Show”. I’ve provided an easy subscription link for you at the bottom of this article if you’d like to subscribe, episodes are generally released every Saturday, about 12 hours after the live show airs. You can also stream archives via the website or download them directly, here is the latest episode for you.

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz020710.mp3)

The Style

Blue Plz! is presented in the style of an American Shockjock. Think Sean Hannity, Bill O’reilly and Glenn Beck. It is a larger than life, exaggerated presentation of what I actually think, it’s designed to make you examine your opinions and disagree with mine, promoting host/audience interactivity via chat, email and twitter. It is a unique format that other WoW podcasts do not use and it’s what has made the show successful over the years. Blue Plz! sits happily on around 50,000 podcast listeners per episode.

The Format

Each show opens up with a 15 minute mailbag segment, answering various questions emailed in by fans. These can take the form of requests for advice, or disagreements with opinions presented on a previous show, allowing an opportunity to follow up on previous topics in more detail.

The show then moves into 3 15 minute monologues, each centered on a specific topic.

The show ends with ‘The Illusion of Choice’, a topic chosen by the listeners and discussed ad-lib with no preparation from the host.

Segments are broken up by music breaks in the live show (which are removed from the podcast due to copyright reasons)

The show also features several recurring sketches. Nubcake News is a satirical news segment, inspired by shows like The Colbert Report and The Now Show (BBC Radio 4). Ask the Murloc features the character of an angry, homicidal British murloc, who much to his disgust, is forced to help the local villagers by giving out advice, most of it designed to cause their violent deaths. He has been a recurring character in his own 2 season radio play, part of a previous podcast called [EPIC], hosted with Kikijiki and is a much loved (and despised) part of the show.

The Content

Blue Plz! is centered around current events, game mechanics, raiding and Blizzard design philosophy. That is the kind of thing that you can expect to hear discussed.

The rest of the website, I’ll let you discover on your own. We have a lively forum community, a well populated ventrillo server and several other gaming related podcasts and presentations. Thanks for checking out the website and I hope to see you again in future. Feel free to subscribe or browse the archives with the links below.

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Cataclysm Videos – Troll Starting Zone

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:58:31 +0000

Trolls have finally gotten out of the Valley of Trials and into a location more suited to their greatness. Let’s have a look at the quests available in the Troll Starting Zone.

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Cataclysm Videos – Trees of Woe

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:05:57 +0000

This is a tour video demonstrating amongst other things, TotalBiscuit’s lack of knowledge about the lore, but more important, the remodelled Ashenvale and Darkshore. What a mess.

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Steam Sale Roundup 3rd July 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:05:45 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam9.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 3rd of July 2010

Just Cause 2 – 50% off – One of the best sandbox games I’ve ever played as well as one of the best PC ports. Totally great in every respect and a beautiful game to boot. The DLC is also 50% off (which makes it cost next to nothing). Do you like surfing on top of planes? Swinging a car from a helicopter like a wrecking ball? Yeah, get it.

Bad Company 2 – 33% off – This year’s best multiplayer game so far, though not a substantial discount. An astonishing high-fidelity experience and well worth picking up if you want to sink a lot of time into a multiplayer shooter.

Portal – 90% off – Who doesn’t already own this? Fix that.

World of Goo – 75% off – Not the cheapest we’ve seen this indie physics puzzler, but a good price none the less if you want some casual fun with great visuals and style.

Sam and Max – 50% off – The Devils Playhouse is 5 episodes of the continuing Telltale series. A must for point and click fans, a pass for everyone else.

Metro 2033 – 50% off - A fairly disappointing discount considering how cheap the THQ pack with this in is. This is a visually intense atmospheric shooter that is rather linear in places. Not a bad game, but personally I’d wait for it to get cheaper.

Mount and Blade – 66% off – An open world medieval game, very unique though lacking in the visuals department. Warband is better in every way and you should get that instead if you can find it for a similar price.

Devil May Cry 4 – 75% off – One of the best spectacle fighters on the PC, just make sure you have a gamepad to play it.

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Cataclysm Videos – Mount Hyjal Tour

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:07:24 +0000

Mount Hyjal is, along with Vash’jir, a Level 80-82 zone. It is located near Azshara, south of Winterspring and is a vast, phased questing area based around the Nordrassil world tree. The Twilight Cult is attempting to resummon Ragnaros and a war of the elements has broken out, which includes many significant lore characters. In this tour, I attempt to showcase all of the areas within Hyjal.

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Cataclysm Videos – Throne of Tides

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:01:12 +0000

This is the second of two currently available 5-man dungeons in the Cataclysm beta. As it stands right now, the last boss is unfinished and cannot be beaten, but I’ve shown you it anyway because of the awesome character is involves. Throne of Tides is a similar level range to Blackrock Caverns but is a real step up in terms of visuals, with some neat boss mechanics too.

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Cataclysm Videos – Taking a swim in Vash’jir

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:27:16 +0000

This is a sightseeing video showcasing just a small part of the vast undersea world of Vash’jir.

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Steam Sale Roundup 2nd July 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:12:12 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam8.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 2nd of July 2010

Beat Hazard – 75% off – A fun indie shooter that creates levels based on your music. Extremely colourful, may blind you, definitely worth it at this price, here’s my video review.

Max and the Magic Marker – 75% off – A middling indie puzzle-platformer with a drawing gimmick that has attracted fairly good reviews. Seems kid friendly and might be a good casual buy.

Borderlands – 66% off – If you haven’t tried it yet, Borderlands is an enjoyable multiplayer romp, Diablo with guns and a unique artstyle. Only the General Knoxx DLC is a must buy, the Zombie Island is ok for the price but the Underdome is awful. Buy in a 4 pack for even more savings. Use the Advanced Settings Tool, you can thank me later.

Prototype – 50% off - A really enjoyable gorefest set in an open world. The spiritual sequel to Hulk : Ultimate Destruction, with much of the same team behind it. Not the best price I’ve ever seen for it though and it should be played with a 360 pad for best results.

Saints Row 2 – 75% off – What is it with the PC and poor performance GTA-style game ports? Saints Row 2 will vary wildly in how well it runs depending on your system. It’s a good price though so it might be worth checking the risk if you like low-brow toilet humour and ridiculous side missions.

Star Wars : Empire at War Gold – 75% off - A lite-4x RTS set in the Star Wars universe with excellent fleet combat but painfully average ground missions (with respawning enemy forces, bleeehhh). Worth it for the fleet battles, which can be played in a customisable skirmish mode.

Day of Defeat Source – 75% off – I don’t even know anyone that plays this anymore, but it’s a cheap, cheerful and enjoyable pseudo-realistic WW2 shooter.

The Bionic Commando Pack – 75% off – Avoid for the sole reason that most of that price is the 3d version of Bionic Commando, which should not be considered a good game and is also a lowsy console port. Get Re-armed on it’s own for best results.

Half Life 2 – 66% off – It’s Half Life 2.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 20 – I WAS IN THE ALPHHAAAAAA

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 11:10:18 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz020710.mp3)

I apologise for the audio issues in this show, my audio hardware is degrading badly in non-ASIO environments and it needs an upgrade urgently.

Preshow Playlist

Deep Purple – Highway Star (1997 Digital Remaster)
Stan Bush – The Touch
Testament – DNR
The Haunted – DOA (not available on Amazon)
Fourwaykill – Removing Face (not available on Amazon)
Nightrage – Shed The Blood
Strapping Young Lad – Detox [Explicit]
Motorhead – Ace Of Spades
Motorhead – Speedfreak
Children of Bodom – Smile Pretty for the Devil
Pendulum – Self Vs Self (Feat. In Flames)
Deadlock – Code Of Honor

This week on Blue Plz!

I WAS IN THE ALPHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feels good to get that out of my system. This is the kick off of Blue Plz! Cataclysm beta coverage. You’ve seen the videos and I have plenty more on the way, but what do I really think?

In the mailbag, a listener asks if he’s some kind of monster for guildhopping. The moral implications of dumping your guild in favour of a better one are discussed.

Music break – Dark Tranquillity – Dream Oblivion

The Blackrock Caverns are the topic of discussion. You can watch my full run right here.

What does a starting instance like this mean for the quality of Cataclysm’s dungeon content?

Music break – Primal Fear – Armageddon

What makes a good starting zone and should vehement raiders and end-game content lovers really care about what level 5 quests are in the game? Blizzard’s strategy is explained in regards to alts and new player retention.

Music break – Soilwork – Like The Average Stalker

It’s a Cataclysm Q+A! TotalBiscuit answers questions via email, twitter and the live chatroom on various aspects of the beta in it’s current form.

Music break – Pantera – Domination

To cap off the show, The Murloc returns to answer Cataclysm questions, but rather rapidly decides to insult the denizens of the videochat! I’m sorry, I can’t control this maniac, I was fortunate to escape with my life.

Music Finale – In Flames – Trigger followed by System (not available on Amazon for some god forsaken reason)

Cataclysm Videos – Goblin Starting Zone

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:31:02 +0000

Who fancies 40 minutes of the Goblin starting zone? Thanks to Goblin Engineering, this hour long starting area has been reduced down to a more acceptable length, the explosive Edit-o-Matic and Hyper Speed Transmogrifier are wonderful tools. This is the entire first island, which is Level 1-6, all quests and an awful lot of nonsense. Enjoy.

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Cataclysm Videos – Stormwind from the Air

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:35:12 +0000

Here’s a factually inaccurate tour of a town I never visit. Yes indeed, it’s Stormwind, where Tinkertown used to be!

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Cataclysm Videos – Garrosh Hellscream

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:26:50 +0000

This is a quick video showing Garrosh Hellscream and detailing plans for future videos.

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Cataclysm Videos – Blackrock Caverns Run

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:22:52 +0000

The Blackrock Caverns is one of two 5-man instances currently available in the beta and it’s by far the most stable of them. This is a full run at 2x speed of this instance, which not including wipes, took us about 35 minutes or so. It’s a 5 boss dungeon with well paced trash and a few surprises along the way. It is a notable step up in difficulty from the opening 5-mans in Wrath of the Lich King and I’m looking forward to seeing it on heroic mode.

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Cataclysm Videos – Worgen Starting Zone

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:18:48 +0000

Ok, time to kick it into high gear with some actual content. This is the prologue area of the Worgen starting zone. It’s basically your Level 1-5 area and it’s heavily phased with a tight cohesive storyline. This video clocks in at almost 30 minutes so get a snack and relax, you’ll be here a while. Needless to say, full commentary is provided.

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Steam Sale Roundup 1st July 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:20:28 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam7.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 1st of July 2010

Titan Quest Gold – 75% off – Could have been the perfect Diablo 2 clone if only it didn’t suffer from a number of infuriating performance issues. Seems to vary from machine to machine, otherwise a great game if you can get it to run well.

Tropico 3 – 75% off – El Presidente wants you! An extremely good economic management sim with a dash of humour set on a banana republic island. You will hate construction depots by the end of it.

Thief : Deadly Shadows – 85% off – Stealth action from a series that sorely needs a new game. Hard, creepy and sneeky.

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom – 50% off - Cheap and cheerful indie puzzle platforming with a questionable main character and interesting art design.

Dragon Age Origins – 40% off – 2009’s best RPG, now even cheaper. 100 hours of pure Baldurs Gate style love. Avoid the Digital Deluxe and be wary of the expansion content.

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas – 75% off – Arguably the best GTA game ever made, but showing it’s age in the graphics department.

Star Wars Galaxies – 75% off – Just no.

Madballs in Babo:Invasion – 80% off – Surprisingly enjoyable isometric shooter that makes very little sense. Plenty of content and a good price.

Bioshock – 75% off – Why don’t you already own Bioshock? Be sure to get the hard mod for an extra challenge, since the game is a little too easy.

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Cataclysm Videos – Orgrimmar from the Air

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:58:44 +0000

I felt that Orgrimmar needed a different perspective, plus I’ve now filled in the bits I missed and enabled the enhanced water effects and sunbeams. Explore the new Orgrimmar coutesy of Blue Plz! with many more videos on their way.

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Cataclysm Orgrimmar Walkthrough

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:17:57 +0000

Finally, the NDA has been lifted, I don’t have to pretend that I wasn’t in the Alpha anymore. The Alpha was a mess and not worth creating videos of imho. I’d rather give a more honest impression of a more complete product, regardless of whether or not it’s going to lose me potential viewer numbers of ad revenue since my videos weren’t ready to go on Youtube as soon as the NDA lifted. What you’re going to get here are some high quality Cataclysm videos of the various new features, areas and changed to the game, all in 720p with full audio commentary. I will also be taking requests as long as they’re not too time consuming. Let me know what you want to see and I’ll try and put it together.

Blue Plz! Cataclysm Videos will include the following :-

Instance runs
Starting zones
Capital cities
Notable quests

I’m going to start off with a look at my hometown of Orgrimmar. It is a beta so it’s not exactly polished yet, you’ll notice a few wierd bugs and texture issues, items out of place, but overall this should give you a solid impression of the remodelled Horde capital. Far as I’m concerned, this is a city more worthy of the Horde, covered in spikes and heavy metal. We love heavy metal here on Blue Plz!

Embedded videos are not in HD, double click the video to go to the Youtube page if you wish to watch in HD.

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Steam Sale Roundup 30th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:32:21 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam6.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 30th of June 2010

Shatter – 75% off – A fantastic indie game in the style of Breakout, but with physics puzzle and shooter elements thrown in. Very innovative, amazing visuals and soundtrack, a must-by at this price.

The Guild II + Expansion – 75% off – An age of sail open-world game, a wierd mish-mash of trading and RPG with some combat for good measure. Difficult to get into and mixed reviews, check out demos/videos before buying.

Red Orchestra – 75% off – Love it or hate it realistic WW2 shooter action. Pretty much a multiplayer only experience with a steep learning curve. Prepare to die a lot. For this price though, it may be worth trying out even if that sounds like the kind of thing that would make you want to tear your hair out.

Mass Effect 2 – 40% off – A contender for 2010 GOTY, an outstanding RPG from Bioware that is streamlined and polished to perfection. Check out my editorial on the game.

The Void – 75% off – Nobody can properly explain to you what The Void is, you have to see it for yourself.

Left4Dead – 66% off – Cheap and thoroughly obsolete thanks to the new game which is better in every way.

Red Faction Guerilla – 75% off – Break everything, a reasonable port with some performance issues on certain machines. This song should explain what to expect.

Flatout : Ultimate Carnage – 90% off – I adore this game, seriously, it’s like Destruction Derby, bunch of fun. Get it for this price, really.

Torchlight – 75% off – Buy Torchlight, don’t be dumb.

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Steam Sale Roundup 29th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:47:32 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam5.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 29th of June 2010

ARMA II – 50% off – Realistic military sim with some buggy elements, but solid multiplayer community for those willing to invest the time in the learning curve.

Commandos Pack – 75% off – The original game has issues with Windows 7, but this fixed exe should resolve them. Trial and error games from ancient times, very hard, very unforgiving but satisfying none the less. Great tactical games and there’s a lot of content here for the price.

Team Fortress 2 – 66% off – I’ve seen it cheaper, not much to say about this one.

XCom Complete – 75% off – These classics haven’t aged all that well but are a must play for anyone that can stomach the archaic UI and speed issues inflicted by modern systems. Don’t play Enforcer, it’s bad.

Osmos – 75% off – Pretty physics based puzzling for the price of a beer.

Numen – 75% off – Avoid at all costs, a lowsy single-player WoW-style RPG. A banal, buggy mess.

Street Fighter IV – 75% off – Still a reasonable online community for the PC version, plus you can use custom art assets and the game looks and plays better on PC. Recommend you get a proper controller for it and you will be infuriated by the online matchmaking, so play with friends when you can.

Grand Theft Auto IV – 75% off - A fairly poor port of the console classic, which seems to vary in performance at random from machine to machine. Turning off Dynamic Shadows may help and if you’re looking for sandbox action, you can’t go all that wrong with GTA4.

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Steam Sale Roundup 28th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:37:30 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam4.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 28th of June 2010

King Arthur – 66% off – Not a bad game, a lighter version of Total War in a fantasy setting with some RPG elements. Was cheaper a little while ago though.

Europa Universalis series – 66% off – A Paradox Grand Strategy wargame that if you were into, you’d probably already own anyway. Very steep learning curve and takes a lot of dedication to get into.

Dogfighter – 50% off – An arcadey dogfighter with some mixed reviews. Get Altitude instead.

Tales of Monkey Island Complete – 66% off - If you have even a passing interest in point and click, this is a great series at a great price.

Oddworld Pack – 75% off – The classic puzzle-platformers are showing their age now, but if you can stomach the low resolution, these are both classics that deserve to be played.

Order of War – 66% off – Avoid, completely generic and worse than games like Men of War and Company of Heroes.

Operation Flashpoint : Dragon Rising – 85% off - While nowhere near as good as it should have been, this is a crazy low price and might be worth a buy. Just bear in mind it has outstanding bugs that will never be patched and the multiplayer community is pretty dead.

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Steam Sale Roundup 27th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:38:55 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam3.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 27th of June 2010

Gaming Express will air every day of the Summer Steam sale with a run-down of the daily deals, giving you recommendations and information about each game on the list.

Dawn of War 2 Gold Edition – 50% off – A hybrid squad-based RPG and RTS title with a fantastic single-player and multiplayer that you’ll either love or hate. Definitely an authentic Warhammer experience, a little pricey still.

Half Life – 80% off – This is the correct price, for those of you who do not already own this game, go fix that right now.

Eve Online – 90% off – 30 days of play in one of the most brutal MMO universes around. You’ll either love it or hate it, but for that price, it’s worth giving it a try.

Kane and Lynch – 75% off – A pretty horrendous 3rd person shooter that I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot bargepole. Has become a running joke around here.

Civilisation 4 Pack – 75% off – With Civ 5 on the way, now would be a great time to indulge in some of the best turn-based gaming around, if you haven’t already. Not really worth buying the games individually, though Warlords is a fairly useless expansion overall. Civ 3 also available really cheaply if you have an old machine or netbook that can’t handle 4.

Max Payne – 75% off – Showing it’s age, but a brilliant Film Noir 3rd person shooter with some of the best bullet-time mechanics around. Worth modding.

Flotilla – 75% off – A tactical space combat game with very raw graphics. It has space cats, also space hippos. For that price, it’s worth giving it a try.

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Steam Sale Roundup 26th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:37:01 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam2.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 26th of June 2010

Gaming Express will air every day of the Summer Steam sale with a run-down of the daily deals, giving you recommendations and information about each game on the list.

Half Life – 33% off – Ermm, what is this, I don’t even… A pretty pitiful discount on an ancient game that everyone already owns.

Company of Heroes Complete Pack – 50% off – Plenty of balance issues but a stellar WW2 RTS regardless. Definitely worth it for the single-player, big Band of Brothers feel to it. Tales of Valor is all you need to play the multiplayer, but contains very little single-player content.

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed – 75% off – A poorly optimised port (ie. enormous install) that I would recommend playing with a 360 pad. It is however a great game, especially for that price, an authentic Star Wars experience.

Zenoclash – 75% off – A totally unique first-person melee game set in a bizarre alien world. Totally worth the money, even if just to experience the wierdness.

Hearts of Iron – 50-66% off - A hardcore grand strategy series set in WW2. Hearts of Iron 3 is buggy but apparently the Semper Fi expansion fixes a lot of issues. Learning curve is pretty extreme.

Left4Dead 2 – 66% off – A solid improvement on the original that should move you to purchase it if you haven’t already. Very atmospheric and an enjoyable co-op experience. Buy as a 4 pack for additional savings.

Audiosurf – 75% off – Like music? Like colours? One of the 7 people who doesn’t already own this game? Buy.

Supreme Commander 2 – 66% off – A crippling disappointment for me as a Supreme Commander fan. Read my full review here. You will probably get your moneys worth, but no more.

City of Heroes Architech Edition – 50% off – MMORPGs based on superhero customisation. Not a fan personally, get the trial first.

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How to survive the Summer Steam Sale

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:34:57 +0000

This is a long article, reading is hard! Why waste time when you could be playing games? Embrace Web2.0, reading is for suckers so click on the flash-player below to listen to this entire article as an audio-blog!

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steamsale.mp3)

Steam sales, the bane of any PC gamers wallet. Valve has become an expert in selling cheap games to people that probably won’t even play them. It’s genius when you think about it, you’re selling a product that doesn’t exist in physical form and can be reproduced ad infinitum, creating a tempting, limited time only offer, plastering it all over a client that millions of gamers use and making it extremely easy to buy. Steam users more often than not have huge virtual shelves of games they have never played and don’t ever intend to either. I have 205 Steam games, 100 of them are installed and I have never played or even installed at least 50 of them. But I’ve gotta have em, they’re on sale, they may never be this cheap again, I may at some point play them and get my money’s worth. That’s what I keep telling myself even though I know deep down that I’ve just purchased a virtual paperweight because it was 75% off.

The Summer Steam sale is upon us and by the looks of it, it’s going to bring an even bigger apocalypse upon our disposal income than ever before. The Christmas sale was bad enough but this one has so many absurd deals, it would be nigh on impossible to resist. It’s going until the 4th of July and I’ll be putting out a short, daily podcast and article on the different daily deals available. You can subscribe to the feed to make sure you get them through iTunes or whatever RSS reader you prefer, by clicking the links at the bottom of this page. The purpose of this particular article and podcast, is to give you a few money saving tips as well as hi-light the best deals currently available on Steam, so let’s get started.

The Golden Rule

Patience is a virtue in any Steam sale. Valve only started doing this format very recently, in which they put a ton of stuff on sale and then do daily additional discounts which last for 24 hours only. What that means is, a product you bought yesterday which you thought was a great deal, could very well get slashed even further the next day. The way to avoid getting burned by this is to hold off on any game purchase that you don’t desperately want RIGHT NOW, until the final day of the sale, when you’re absolutely sure it won’t be discounted any further. It seems obvious, indeed a lot of the tips here will, but I’ve seen too many people lose money needlessly, because they were too trigger happy with their purchases.

If it’s 75% or more off, chances are it won’t go any lower

During the Christmas sale this year, the daily discounts would generally be on stuff that wasn’t a particularly amazing deal to begin with. It’s not a universal truth, but if it’s 75% or more off, you can safely buy it now and the chances are you won’t get burned later on.

Always ALWAYS wait on purchasing packs

There are a number of reasons why buying a pack is for suckers. The first is that packs do go on daily deals. Several people bought the id Superpack at Christmas only to have it discounted further on day 2. They felt stupid and you will too. The second reason is that individual games in the pack may also go on sale as part of the daily deal, which may give you the opportunity to be selective if you either don’t want everything that’s in the pack, or already have some of it. On that note…

Long ago, demons used to steal your soul. Now, they steal your spare change.

You cannot gift spare copies of games, stop asking

The only real exception to this rule is the Orange Box. There’ll sometimes be deals whereby you can gift a spare copy, but they tend to be temporary pre-order bonuses. Assume when buying a pack that any game you get with it which you already own, will be lost to the twisting ether.

Packs are not necessarily as good a deal as you think

Marketing is a tricky thing, it is designed to make you want to purchase a product, desire it, even believe that you need it and can’t live without it. Percentage based discounts often give the appearance of excellent value and may override consumer common sense. A specific example of something that appears to be great value but really isn’t, would be the Call of Duty pack. Activision giving a 76% off discount? Crazy, better take advantage of this momentary insanity on their part. Oh wait, let’s have a look at what’s in it. Call of Duty 1 and United Offensive for £14.99 each? That’s ridiculous, that game and expansion are almost 7 years old. Call of Duty 2 is in there as well for the same price and combined, those games artificially inflate the price of the pack. Are you really going to play those games, because if not, you’re paying quite a bit for Call of Duty 4 and 5 and one of those games is not like the others. Do check exactly what’s in the pack before ordering.

4-packs are usually on sale too

If you want to save an additional 25%, look for 4-packs and club up with a few online friends. Notable games which have 4-packs are Bioshock 2, Borderlands, Left4Dead and Plain Sight. Check your regional prices before buying, ensure that the person doing the buying is getting the best deal out of the 3 major currencies, dollar, pound and euro. If the guy in the euro-zone is getting the best deal, feel free to mark it with a national holiday, since this rare event deserves recognition.

Never try and buy within an hour of the deals changing

Some of you may enjoy hammering F5 and getting blank pages or broken style-sets. Personally, I would rather not have to try for an hour to pay for some game I didn’t really want anyway. The Steam servers get pounded everytime the deals change, chill out, patience is a virtue, wait a while for everything to calm down and then enjoy a smooth shopping experience.

If you’re getting slow download speeds, change your server

During Steam sales, it is common to get poor download speeds, however, Steam has a large number of servers all over the world and some are far quicker than others due to variable load. If you are experiencing slow download speeds, try clicking Steam > Settings > Downloads and changing your region to somewhere else. Ensure to restart your Steam client for these changes to take effect. Personally, I’ve had great luck with Iceland/Greenland (and probably won’t now that I’ve said that).

Ok, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s a definitive list of games that are worth picking up and probably won’t get discounted any further.

Sacraboar – 90% off - This is just silly. Do you even need to know what a game that’s 90% off and the price of a beer is? Of course not, but just in-case, it’s a tounge-in-cheek competitive RTS with no story to speak of that now suddenly has a vast playerbase thanks to this absurd discount.

Introversion Complete pack – 79% off – I can’t see this deal going any lower and even if it does, you’ll be out a couple of dollars/pounds/euros at max. Introversion are a fantastic British indie developer and every game in that pack is innovative and great fun. I paid more than that for Defcon alone a while ago and you should do yourself a favour and try Uplink, it’s very neat indeed.

Space Rangers 2 : Reboot – 75% off – This innovative game is a true genre-mashup, featuring elements of RTS, space-trading, Asteroids style arcade combat and ermm, text-adventures. You can really get stuck into this game and it has a lot of replayability. This rebooted version sports additional content and a less shaky translation.

Kings Bounty : The Legend – 75% off – Normally, I would recommend Armoured Princess, but The Legend is a much better deal at less than half of the sequel’s price and provides much of the same, addictive gameplay. An exploration-based RPG with quests and Heroes of Might and Magic style, turn-based stack combat, it’s a beautiful reboot of the old classic and well worth your time (all of your time)

Men of War – 75% off - The best way to describe this game would be an updated version of Commandos, on a larger scale, with the ability to hijack almost any vehicle in the game. It is challenging, innovative and has great online play. It’s stand-alone expansion is pretty good, but personally I’d pick this up first before considering Red Tide.

Cryostasis – 75% off - This atmosphere laden shooter is a little ropey at times, but it’s hard to argue with that price. I do find that deep discounts make bugs and sketchy gameplay issues seem far less important, don’t you?

UFO Afterlight – 75% off – The best of a bad bunch, the final chapter of a reboot trilogy which failed to give the true X:COM experience back to slavering PC gamers like myself. This one is set on Mars and it’s better than the other 2, it’s also the price of a beer, at least in the UK. Just try and pretend that X:COM didn’t exist and you’ll have a good time with it.

Chains – 75% off – Like Puzzle games? Like paying chump change for them? You’ll like Chains

Avencast : Rise of the Mage – 75% off - A reasonable RPG that certainly wasn’t worth what I paid for it at launch, but you will find enjoyable if dungeons, dodging and pyrotechnics are your thing. The voice-acting leaves something to be desired.

Alpha Prime – 75% off – This much derided FPS smacks of generic, but is also extremely competent and enjoyable with a great weapon selection. It’s a nice looker and some even go as far as to say that it’s what Doom 3 should have been. It’ll cost you next to nothing.

Shadowgrounds pack – 75% off - I will defend Frozenbyte to the death, because they created 2 games which stomped all over Gas Powered Games abomination, Space Siege. They did so 3 years before Space Siege and with a development team that could fit inside a Ford Fiesta. If you’re into wave upon wave of Robotron-style slaughter, you could do an awful lot worse than this. Suffers from an excessively cheesy plot and some fairly dire voice-acting.

Buccaneer – 75% off – Yarrghhh! Arcadey naval combat isn’t exactly a big thing these days and with it’s substantial post-launch content update included, Buccaneer is a great looking and enjoyable way to get your fix. Features a stupidly large 50 mission campaign as well as co-op and 16 player competitive multiplayer.

Altitude – 66% off – Oh look, it’s one of the best multiplayer games of 2009. A Subspace-inspired dogfighting game with Worms-style graphics, great balance and persistent character profiles, perks and unlocks. This game is an absolute blast and well worth the price they’re asking, which wasn’t even all that high before the discount.

Ghostmaster – 81% off – It’s like Dungeon Keeper, only you’re scaring middle-America housewives and fratboys. It’s got a wicked sense of humour and the only downside is that you’ll be pining for Dungeon Keeper 3 by the end.

AI War : Fleet Command – 66% off – It’s hard to believe that this game was made by a single guy. A complex cooperative RTS with a scale that puts Supreme Commander to shame, you command a human fleet against a devastating AI opponent that acts like an actual AI. It’s extremely unique, innovative and well worth investing your time in. The expansion is also really cheap.

Super Laser Racer – 75% off – Geometry Wars meets Wipeout in this cheap and cheerful indie racing game. Great for a quick coffee break and will probably cost less than the donut you scoff while doing so.

Puzzle Kingdoms – 95% off – Even if it’s a pale shadow of the glory of Puzzle Quest, 95% off is a stupid price.

I’ll keep you updated as to all the best deals on a daily basis with my Gaming Express podcast and remember once again, the Golden Rule, patience is a virtue (seldom found in gamers).

Steam Sale Roundup 25th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:25:35 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (steam1.mp3)

Daily Deals in the Steam Summer Sale for the 25th of June 2010

Gaming Express will air every day of the Summer Steam sale with a run-down of the daily deals, giving you recommendations and information about each game on the list.

Ghostbusters – 80% off – 6-8 hours of single-player Ghostbusting fun. A reasonable console port, no multiplayer, definitely worth it at that price.

Grand Theft Auto – Episodes from Liberty City – 50% off – A poorly optimised console port that may run very badly on your PC. If you can run GTA4 well, this is a good buy, otherwise, you may wish to avoid, particularly if you haven’t played GTA4.

Alien vs Predator 2000 – 75% off – This is a no-brainer decision, it’s the price of a Coca Cola for an updated version of the original classic. One of my favourite FPS of all time and something everyone should play at least once. Buy immediately.

Galcon Fusion – 75% off - A fast-paced light strategy game by an indie developer. Honestly haven’t played it but at such a low price, it’s hard to resist giving it a try. Seems like a decent coffee break game.

Lead and Gold – 66% off – A surprisingly large discount for such a recent release. This team-based Wild West 3rd person shooter now has dedicated servers and more than enough content to justify the reduced price-tag, a definite buy if you want some quick multiplayer action.

Alpha Protocol – 33% off – Avoid like the plague, a buggy horrible mess, one of the worst console ports I’ve ever played. Read my in-depth review for more reasons why you should not buy this game.

Serious Sam HD Double Pack – 75% off – Just got added to the sale so it wasn’t part of the podcast. For that price, this isn’t bad. Honestly I felt like I overpaid for the original HD game, but this pack has both. Very much an old-school game, a lot of fun to be had if you’re into braindead shooters like Painkiller. Also has an excellent co-op mode. Performance issues that were in the release of the original appear to have been resolved. If you don’t have either of these games, this would be a perfect opportunity to splash out, just don’t expect anything particularly cerebral or innovative from either.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 19

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:54:53 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz250610.mp3)

Preshow Playlist

Zakk Wyldes Black Label Society – Come Together (not available on Amazon)
Zakk Wyldes Black Label Society – The Wizard (not available on Amazon)
Ministry – Jesus Built My Hotrod
Guns ‘n’ Roses – Rocket Queen [Explicit]
Helloween – Open Your Life
Edguy – Fallen Angels
Sonata Arctica – FullMoon
Strapping Young Lad – Aftermath [Explicit]

This week on Blue Plz!

In the mailbag, a listener asks, how do you make money with tailoring and enchanting? Answer? You don’t, get a gathering profession. Also should other games follow the same route as LOTRO and DDO, by turning to a F2P business model?

Music break – Pendulum – Self Vs Self (Feat. In Flames)

Blizzard believes that Rated battlegrounds require such a degree of organisation, that only pre-made teams should be allowed in. TotalBiscuit asks why this can’t be applied to raiding and why their vaunted ‘bring the player, not the class’ philosophy seems to go out the window when PvP is involved.

Music break – Evergrey – The great deceiver

TotalBiscuit takes some time to answer some of the criticism levelled at the last show, going in-depth on the reasoning behind his condemnation of last week’s removal of Path of the Titans and Guild Talent system.

Music break – Eluvetie – Calling The Rain

Puzzle Quest 2 creator says adding complexity makes their game easier to balance. Could the same philosophy be applied to World of Warcraft? Prepare for terrible analogies and visual gimmicks!

Music break – Sabaton – 40:1 (not available on Amazon)

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks for an opinion on the current state of beta products, another whines about Gearscore and finally one more believes that Wrath of the Lich King gets far more stick than it really deserves. M-M-M-M-Multillusionofchoice!

Music finale – Europe – The Final Countdown

Music finale – Stan Bush – The Touch

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Irresponsible Reviews – Transformers War for Cybertron

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:13:01 +0000

Transformers War for Cybertron Review

This is an Irresponsible Review, or at least it was supposed to be. You saw my first one of these, in which I reviewed a game based on a woefully inadequate play session. It was an experiment that said one thing, first impressions matter. I was going to do the same thing for this game but suddenly, 6 hours of my time had disappeared, which is adequate for a real review. Whatever the case, enjoy this video as it was meant to be watched, in High Definition, by double clicking the video to go to the Youtube page directly.

And I hate scores, so don’t ask me to give it one. Watch the video, get an honest impression.

War for Cybertron is available on 360, PS3 and PC, I’ve provided Amazon links below for anyone who wants to get ahold of it in the UK.

Transformers: War for Cybertron (PS3)

Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360)

Transformers: War for Cybertron (PC DVD)

Blue Plz! – Season 4 – Episode 18 – Special video edition

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:47:18 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz180610.mp3)

Preshow Playlist

Lacuna Coil – Senzafine [Explicit]

Nightwish – 10th Man Down

Rhapsody – Dargor, Shadowlord Of The Black Mountain

Avantasia – The Tower

Dragonforce – Disciples of Babylon (not available on Amazon)

Winnie the Pooh – Heffalumps And Woozles (Album Version)

Nile – Chapter for Transforming Into a Snake

Type O Negative – Life Is Killing Me (Album Version)

Jet Set Radio OST – Rock it On (not available on Amazon)

Tool – Parabola (not available on Amazon)

Monster Magnet – Spacelord (not available on Amazon)

Korpiklaani – Vodka

Finntroll – Ursvamp

This week on Blue Plz!

In the mailbag, TotalBiscuit answers a listener’s question on the subject of ‘lame WoW advertising’, plus should Blizzard steal a great idea from Lord of the Rings Online? Of course they should!

Blizzard cuts critical content from Cataclysm, tries to rationalise it away! TotalBiscuit is having none of it, in two 15 minute rants, the reasons for cutting Path of the Titans and Guild talents are mercilessly analysed.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks, what does the colour purple really mean and would it be ok to give out welfare items if they were blue? TotalBiscuit goes back into the mists of time, the glory days, to talk about the meaning of purple.

Now, those of you who missed the live stream, this show contained a live video feed of Dungeons and Dragons Online. This video has been re-recorded in 720p and is now avaialble for your viewing. Those who watched the livestream, this version of the video has additional content and higher quality video and audio, you may want to have another look. You can sign-up for DDO here, it’s free and the guild gets bonus Turbine points which we can use for Guest passes and other useful material, when anyone who signs up with this link subscribes or buys Turbine points.

The Cynical Brit guild is on Argonnessen US. Whisper TotalBiscuit, Alris, Krezra or Gellen for an invite.

Show music breaks

Porcupine Tree – Halo

Dream Evil – The Book Of Heavy Metal (march Of Metallians) [Explicit]

Edguy – Ministry Of Saints

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Gaming the System 20th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:04:02 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts200610.mp3)

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System, featuring post-E3 analysis and hands-on impressions from our intrepid reporter SWAG, who has returned from the show with at least 3 brand new infectious diseases!

What have we been playing?

As always we start off by telling you what we’ve been playing this week. TotalBiscuit has had the questionable pleasure of playing the early Medal of Honor beta. While the rush-style objective mode seems to be pretty enjoyable, team deathmatch is atrocious and the game suffers from a complete lack of innovation and polish. That said of course, this is an early beta so there is time for improvement before release. You can check out the walkthrough video, commentated by TotalBiscuit, here.

SWAG gives his impressions of Hunted : The Demons Forge, a co-op fantasy hack and slash title with RPG elements and a Gears of War style cover system.

Music break – Mikael Karlsson – Battlefield Theme and War Theme (Bad Company)

This week in Gaming

E3 is the news and that’s what we’re talking about. The 3DS was the surprise hit of this years event and SWAG got hands on with the device and gives an in-depth analysis of the device itself, answering questions from the audience and his co-host. Also, will Sonic 4 break the cycle? SWAG’s played it so maybe he can answer that one for you.

This week’s releases

Music break – Michael McCann – DX:HR ‘Icarus’ (Deus Ex : Human Revolution)

The MMOrrery – The Old Republic

SWAG got hands-on with Bioware MMORPG, The Old Republic and TotalBiscuit is eager to hear about it’s actual MMO elements. Get the inside scoop on the whole damn thing, right here. If you haven’t already seen it, here’s the Hope of Alderaan CG trailer for you to enjoy.

Music break – Invasion (Transformers : War for Cybertron)

This is why we can’t have nice things – Motion controllers and THE DEATH OF GAMING

According to various loudmouths who should stick to what they’re good at and stop pretending to be knowledgeable or qualified to discuss the subject, this years E3 signifies the death of the gaming industry. SWAG and TotalBiscuit debunk this latest internet myth and remind you that it’s ok to make things for kids in 2010. TotalBiscuit also expresses his dismay at the lack of enthusiasm for the Move controller and is looking forward to finally being able to play FPS on a console with it.

Music break – Supresweep Co. Ltd – Opening theme (3d Dot Game Heroes)

Your Turn – The best and worst of E3

We would like to know your thoughts on the best and worst of E3. Leave a comment below and we’ll read out the best (or worst) on the next show, which airs in a fortnight. TotalBiscuit was disappointed with the lack of PSP2 whereas SWAG disliked the new Castlevania title which he and many others are calling, a God of War clone. On the other hand, the 3DS proved popular in the chatroom and with SWAG, whereas the joy of Twisted Metal and Epic Mickey rated highly for TotalBiscuit.

Music finale – Enter the Core (Transformers : War for Cybertron)

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Medal of Honor HD Preview

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:26:19 +0000

This video presentation is brought to you in part by UGT Servers, premium quality gaming Ventrilo servers.

Medal of Honor preview video

Thanks to the early access beta, I’ve managed to put together a commentated playthrough of a couple of games of the new version of Medal of Honor, showing you the various aspects of EAs latest effort to dethrone Modern Warfare 2. This video is best watched in 1080p, enjoy.

My overall impressions of the game are fairly positive. It’s not a remarkable experience that changes the paradigm of this kind of shooter, but everything points to Medal of Honor being a solid entry to the genre and potentially a staple for PC gamers who are sick of the lack of dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2. I would hope that the final product is moddable and can grow to become a real multiplayer powerhouse. As regards to comparing it to Bad Company 2, this game is a more methodical, infantry and team-based experience. You die much faster, your guns are more accurate and levels are not littered with cover that can be blown up with rockets and tanks. Vehicles are much more scarce, though chaos can still reign thanks to kill-streak bonuses. The guns felt good which is perhaps the most important point and I’m looking forward to playing more of it.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 17

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:37:11 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz110610.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

Many apologies for the delays to Blue Plz! this week. This was due to the site hack as well as technical difficulties encountered in the last section of the show. This section has been re-recorded and added to the end of the podcast.

Preshow Playlist

This week on Blue Plz! a listener asks whether or not it’s unreasonable to expect a random who asks for heroic modes in ICC, to actually have the achievement for it? TotalBiscuit suspects a breakdown in communication! Also a player with several terrible names asks how to revitalise ones interest in World of Warcraft. TotalBiscuit replies, why?

A laundry list of problems, TotalBiscuit spends 30 minutes breaking down just some of the reasons why WoW is not enthusing anymore and what would be required to fix that. What is there for the jaded veteran these days who has seen it all?

In a special feature, TotalBiscuit attempts to leave WoW for another game, trying the starting area of Everquest 2. Hear his impressions at the end of the show.

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Day Late Dollar Saved – Supreme Commander 2

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:13:26 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (supcom2.mp3)

Day Late Dollar Saved is all about looking at a game in retrospective that you might not have considering buying on launch and letting you know after the patches and the discounts, whether it’s worth giving a chance.

Total Annihilation was a revelation to me. My love of RTS started back in the days of Dune 2 but it didn’t truly begin to mature until the release of Total Annihilation. It was at that point that I started to think big, learn the importance of economy and macro-management, because that’s what the game demanded. Total Annihilation was about scale, it was about big expensive units and hordes of smaller, lighter units too. It was about balancing income with expenditure, tweaking one’s economy so that it was as optimal as possible, as well as choosing which big investments to go for. It was a much longer game than the Command and Conquer style of RTS, played at a slower pace across larger maps. In short, it was a revelation that spurred on the idea that more is… well more and 12 soldiers and a tank does not an army make.

Total Annihilation with its interesting resource system, we'll talk about that later.

It took a long time for the spiritual sequel to Total Annihilation to finally hit our screens. In the interim, TA’s mastermind, Chris Taylor, had formed his own company Gas Powered Games and created the Dungeon Siege games, a fairly well received set of RPGs. When Supreme Commander came out in 2007, it was my pleasure to play it to death, though it was plagued by bugs and performance issues, many of which still linger to this day as well as GPGnet, a truly awful matchmaking system that was bizarrely a step backwards from Cavedogs Boneyard a decade before. Some gamers described the units as dull and unimaginative and complained that experimental units, the huge, lumbering, nigh-on-unstoppable warmachines unique to each faction, took too long to build. Those people are weenies, Supreme Commander was about long, drawn-out arms races and wars of attrition. It was about massive artillery salvos, nuclear strikes, wave upon wave of tactical cruise missiles, hundreds of units wreaking merry havoc. The fact that it could take upwards of 20 minutes to build the most powerful experimental units served only to fuel the gleeful anticipation of their deployment and the apocalypse they’d bring on ones opponent. Supreme Commander was a glorious, buggy game and one of the most enjoyable and innovative RTS I’ve ever played.

3 years on, Gas Powered Games has tarnished its reputation with a couple of poor releases. Space Siege was panned across the board for billing itself as an RPG and spiritual sequel to Dungeon Siege, yet having barely any RPG elements at all. The game was a shallow and difficult to control mess that was bested in every possible respect by Frozenbytes Shadowgrounds, 3 years earlier. GPG then went on to release Demigod, the first of the commercial DoTA-clones as well as the worst. An undeniable disaster on launch, this pricey title was poorly balanced, shallow and worse still, didn’t work for the first month or so. The online servers were nothing short of horrendous and I exercised my right to a refund, thanks to its publisher Stardock. Yes indeed, GPG has been suffering through a self-inflicted dark age in the last couple of years and the more I heard about Supreme Commander 2, the more my heart sank.

While a poor game, Demigod did at least have a solid engine that could handle large numbers of units, perfect for Supreme Commander 2

This is one example of going into a game expecting the worst. GPG released a demo for Supreme Commander 2 which summed up everything I feared about the game in one neat little package. I can’t think of one person who enjoyed that demo, the lack of unit variety, the poorly chosen missions, the horrendous voice-acting and campy attempts to inject characters and a story into a game about blowing up thousands of nameless tanks and planes. I exercised my right as a sane and responsible consumer (ok that might be overstating things a little) to not buy what I perceived to be a bad game and so it was that I avoided it for several months, until one fateful day it was heavily discounted in a local gamestore. So I bit the bullet and picked up a copy for the sake of this late review.

Supreme Commander 2 falls victim to a growing trend these days. It seems that we as gamers are perceived as a little stupid, easily befuddled perhaps confused by certain concepts like economic management, lots of units and say… hotkeys. Let’s get this out in the open right now, Supreme Commander 2 treats the player like an idiot and seems to forget that both Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation sold by the truckload. Perhaps Chris Taylor believed that in the 3 years since the original, the PC strategy market had gotten fat and stupid on a diet of squad-based resource-grabber RTS (courtesy of Relic) and Red Alert 3 (you know, the game that got rid of having multiple ore harvesters because economic decisions are hard). Allow me to count the ways in which Supreme Commander 2 treats you like an idiot.

Numbers are hard :- Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander used a real-time income and expense system. Resources were gathered via mass extractors and power plants and came in at a consistent, predictable rate. Resources were then spent in the production of units and buildings, which was the expenditure. At any time you were either making a resource profit, in which you gathered more resources than you spent, or a resource loss, the opposite situation. You could store the excess resources to use later, by building storage facilities. This was useful if you needed to build a large number of units quickly, since your engineers could assist in the construction of a unit, making it build faster, but causing a quicker resource drain in order to do so. All in all, it’s not a very hard system once you get past the fact that it’s not traditional. Tweaking your economy to find the right balance was an interesting part of the game and once you learned the ropes, you would always have a good idea of just how far you could push your production without running out of resources.

Even the 360 version of Supreme Commander has numbers!

However, Supreme Commander 2 thinks you’re stupid and removed that entirely in favour of a more traditional ‘pay up front’ system. The reasons why this doesn’t work are two fold. Firstly, Supreme Commander is a game about macro management, in which you can queue up an infinite number of units and buildings. That was one of the best things about it in fact, you could set your engineers away on a 20 minute task, building structures all over the place, elegantly plan out your economy and defences from the start. The shift-click queuing system from the original remains and yet if you do not have the resources to build whatever it is right then and there, it won’t build at all. In Supreme Commander, if you built something that drained your overall resources to zero, production would simply slow down to be in-line with your current level of income. In Supreme Commander 2, everything just stops and has to be manually restarted again. It is a horrendous contradiction that a game which supposedly focussed more on the macro and economic side of things than micromanaging individually units, should become so damn dependent on checking whether or not your factories have gone on strike over and over again. Since you can still queue up units ad infinitum, your great warmachine may suddenly grind to a halt because you ended up 1 mass short when it came time for the factories to build their next unit. I should also point out that in an effort to satisfy the complaints of a handful of whining individuals, who not being very good at the original game, thought too much emphasis was placed on economic management, GPG have inadvertently forced you to pay even more attention to it. The ability to queue units ad infinitum, set up ferry points and basically automate your entire production line, allowed you to focus on your strategy and the front-lines. As a result of automations complete unreliability and the ironically obtuse nature of the pay-up-front system, you’re forced to babysit your factories to ensure they don’t randomly stop. There is absolutely nothing good about the pay-up-front system, at all.

The second and by far worst reason for the failure of this system is the fact that it was designed to make things easier for players who supposedly found the income/expenditure economy of the previous game to be too complex and obtuse. In this regard, it fails utterly. Thanks to the fact that you can’t tweak your economy effectively in real time, figuring out how many units you can queue up without running out of resources is a nightmare. Supreme Commander showed you exactly what kind of expenditure a unit would need every second, so say, you had 4 factories and you wanted to build some kind of tank. You had 10 mass per second coming in and each tank required an expenditure of 2 mass per second. You can afford to build 4 tanks at a time add infinitum and still have enough mass income left over to build something else, or store it for later use. That was easy to see and allowed you to control your economy nicely. The economy bar at the top of the screen indicated straight away whether you were making a resource profit or loss. In Supreme Commander 2, the same issues exist for the player, they must control their economy effectively in order to succeed, but all of the tools they had at their disposal in the original game to do so are gone, replaced by pay-up-front. To play Supreme Commander 2 at a very basic and awkward level, you could just build units as and when you have the money to do so, a’la Starcraft, but if you don’t make use of the queuing system, you will end up getting stomped by anyone who’s even the least bit good at the game. In trying to simplify the economy, GPG have succeeded only in making it harder to judge how yours is doing.

This is the kind of thing you really want to see, so why does the game have to be so damn infuriating when it comes to building the armies in the first place?

2) Lots of unit types are hard :- There is an argument to be made that many units became obsolete in the original Supreme Commander. Since it was based on a tiered technology system, a tech 2 factory could build bigger tanks than a tech 1 factory, so why build the little tanks at all? GPGs argument was that because there was this perceptive of units becoming obsolete, then units should be homogenised and upgraded via a research tree. No more Tier 1, 2 and 3 tanks, just the same tank with an extra turret, an anti-air missile launcher or whatever other upgrade has been strapped onto it. I reject GPGs assertion whole-heartedly. In my experience, low-tech units had a purpose as cannon fodder and screens in many scenarios. They became expandable, could be produced rapidly, cheaply and in large numbers, formed an effective fighting force. A couple of examples. Tech 1 artillery pieces still worked very well later into the game in big groups, Tech 1 bombers could be used in a huge flock, to screen more expensive strategic bombers. In a game of nameless units and thousands of causalities, the role of cannon fodder is obvious, so why take it away? As opposed to Tech 1 bomber, Tech 2 bomber etc, Supreme Commander 2 now has bomber. Indeed, 2 of the 3 factions don’t even have that, they have the fighter/bomber, only the UEF has a dedicated bomber aircraft. That’s some pretty extreme homogenisation there and quite frankly, it’s boring as hell. Units will always cost the same to build and are all automatically upgraded once the appropriate technology is researched, so gone are the days of massive hordes of cheap units, or the macro-intensive frontline wars of attrition. Critical and interesting units like the scout aircraft, radar jammers and cloaked units are gone entirely. The lack of scouts is particularly hideous, but I’ll discuss that in a moment. One of my biggest problems with this upgrade system is that of strength identification. Say you’re facing off against a large force of Rockhead tanks. Unless you’re zoomed all the way in, you have no idea if they are unupgraded or fully upgraded monsters. Some upgrades are visual and can be spotted if you look closely but some aren’t. For instance, I can research combat training repeatedly for my assault bots and make them upwards of 50% more effective than they would be otherwise, yet my opponent wouldn’t have a clue how strong they were until he engaged, he’d have to guess at where my research points were being spent.

I hope you like the look of this, you're going to be seeing an awful lot of them.

3) The research system is fundamentally broken :- I’m the kind of person that really digs research and upgrades, it’s neat. Supreme Commander 2 has research and lots of it, but it brings with it a whole bunch of problems. Firstly, it discourages the combined arms play that I loved so much in the original. Land, sea and air, working in tandem for victory. So the way research works is, you get points over-time based on the number of research facilities you have, which are fairly costly and then you spend those points to advance along technology paths. You can invest in land, air, sea, acu and structure trees. You also gain research points by killing enemy units, so early game aggression is encouraged, particularly since research centres are pricey and put a dent in your early-game economy. The problem with research, is that due to the length of the average multiplayer game, it’s optimal to rush down one trees to the biggest, most dangerous unit you can find and build one, or preferably ten. Say if I invest in land while playing Cybran, it takes an awful lot of research points to reach one of my experimentals, so naturally, I’m going to want to build units that I have invested points into, ie. land units. There is very little benefit to using anything else at that point, because I’ve sunk a ton of points into land upgrades. Why would I build planes if I haven’t put a single point into them and they’re weak as all hell? Heck since research is also required to unlock some units, I probably won’t even have gunships or anything advanced at that point. I hate this aspect of the game and it’s truly at odds with the way the previous game worked. Combined arms is punished in this game, not rewarded.

Secondly, research can cause you to lose the game simply because you’ve gone down the wrong tree. I recall one match where I invested heavily into land, only to have my opponent rush to his minor experimental assault bot, which was enough to decimate everything I had. The best counter to this is air, but without any points invested in air, I couldn’t build the gunships I needed to take it down, nor did I even have the factories ready to produce them. Thanks to the removal of land and air scouts, there are no fast moving units to keep an eye on your opponents base and throwing fighter/bombers at your opponent over and over again to try and get a look at what he’s up to is easily countered by a little anti-air. Often the only warning you get of an incoming experimental is when it’s bearing down on your base, at which point it’s far too late to counter. RTS like Starcraft requires one to scout and is built to allow for it, Supcom 2 isn’t, you cannot scan your opponents base, send in cloaked observers nor do you have fast scouts that can take a look around. It reminds me all too much of 4X RTS Sins of a Solar Empire, in which the entire game is often decided in a single-engagement, when you find out your opponent blind-picked a better fleet than you did and just happened to attack while yours was halfway across the galaxy. GG and so forth.

Ok, that’s the 3 major issues I have with the game out of the way, oh wait, I’m not finished.

4) SupCom2 has an awful story :- Perhaps in an effort to recapture the glorious camp of Command and Conquer games, SupCom2 has a story, yay! Not yay. I don’t know if this is publisher Square Enix’ influence but good lord it is bad. Awful voice-acting, terrible jokes, a plot that would make CS Goto blush (look him up, or better yet, don’t), the entire single player is one giant, bad joke that is not worth playing, at all. The concept of the Infinite War is a depressing one. Back in Total Annihilation, both sides used either clones or robots to do their fighting for them, because there weren’t enough actual soldiers (they were all dead). The Infinite War was a giant meat-grinder, stripping planet after planet of resources all in a faceless war of ideology. Never did I expect to hear such cringeworthy lines as “Sir, my wife is there. She’s Illuminate…” in a large scale strategy game. I do not care about your dumb characters, your stupid jokes (of which the manual is full and almost every Illuminate unit name is a bad pun), it’s a war with millions of casualities, it’s kind of a big deal. Meatgrinders are not funny, they’re awesome when they aren’t real, but SupCom2 is like some kind of bad sitcom. Wait a minute… SupCom… SitCom… HOLY S**T! Can someone please explain to me why the plot of Rooster Teeth’s comedy machinima, Supreme Surrender, made more sense than this? Enquiring minds wish to know.

MY WIFE IS AN ILLUMINATE, also what's the deal with starliner food? *canned laughter*

So this game is awful right? Well not necessarily. The key to enjoying this game regardless of its flaws is to completely forget that it’s a Supreme Commander title. I say this because in essence, it’s not. Big stompy units do not a SupCom game make, or a Total Annihilation spiritual sequel for that matter. Both of those games had a heavy focus on macro and economic management which this game simply does not and indeed is incredibly clumsy in that area. A lot of the nice stuff from SupCom is gone, including really sensible things like building hotkeys, which is a damn crime. For Gods sake, games a decade old had hotkeys for buildings and since you’re building a lot of stuff in SupCom2, it would be awfully nice to have them. You really have to compartmentalise to enjoy SupCom2 if you ever went within 10 miles of the original, you have to forgot all the neat things that SupCom and TA did because you don’t have them anymore. At its core, SupCom2 is a flawed RTS with big units. The variety of experimental units (each side now has 9 of the things) is a significant plus for the game. If you’ve never played Supreme Commander in any form, an experimental is a large, expensive unit that can wreck entire armies. In SupCom2, experimentals have been made easier to build and consequently, not as tough. I don’t necessarily object to that on principle, since competitive SupCom did not allow for the construction of such things, they simply took far too long. Experimentals were game enders, in this case, they are game influencers and play a central role in your army. The complaint about lack of unit variety is mitigated somewhat by this, although bear in mind you’ll probably never see more than 2 types in your army at any given time, almost all experimentals are at the absolute end of a tech-tree and require significant investment to get to. As a further neat trick, you can choose to launch an experimental ‘half-baked’ and it will randomly break down like the damn bouncy castle in Theme Park. The original game made it all too easy to blow up an experimental as it was being built, which was the most infuriating thing you can imagine. In SupCom 2, this scenario is far less likely since you can launch the units early. Long story short, big stompy robots are fun and SupCom2 allows you to have a lot of fun with them.

In terms of big, chaotic battles, SupCom2 still reigns supreme, shying away from the regimented style of the Total War games in favour of bombastic colour and pyrotechnics. One thing I have to give GPG credit for is the superb engine which shockingly came out of the development of Demigod. In comparison to the first game, SupCom2 runs like a dream, it’s unbelievably smooth and scales extremely well on older hardware. You cannot deny that GPG did optimise and polish this game very well and credit where credit it due, that’s increasingly rare these days. You can have battles that are as grand in scale as they were in the original game and that’s pretty heartening. Sure, it’s more of a pain in the ass to amass those kind of units thanks to the broken economic model, but if you can work around that, SupCom2 supports battles the size of which no other RTS can match. Though the graphics are overly colourful, so are the explosions and effects. Seeing huge experimentals and hundreds of ground units bringing down the sky on one another is awe-inspiring, the fact that the game can actually support it without major performance issues is even more incredible.

This is a game that bitterly divides people and it’s not so obvious where the battlelines are drawn either. You have some players who found the economic management of Supreme Commander tedious and like the fact that they perceive it to be gone (although it really isn’t, as I explained earlier, it’s simply reformatted), on the other hand you have those who liked it and despise the system in SupCom2. You have those who did not play Supreme Commander and enjoy the big battles of SupCom2, treating it more like a traditional RTS on a grand scale. That’s a valid point of view and if you are able to think that way, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had here. For me, I’m somewhere in the middle. I can find enjoyment out of SupCom2 but only if I try and forget the original game and treat this as a different experience entirely. Allow me to stress that does not negate the glaring flaws in this game merely via the magic of wilful ignorance, those flaws are impossible to ignore, it just makes you think about the game in a different, perhaps more traditional manner at which point, your expectations and playstyle change. SupCom2 is the big, dumb, playful brother of Supreme Commander, the guy who went on to play American Football while his sibling ended up a hot-shot accountant or lawyer. He’s a nice guy to be around, just don’t expect to try doing anything complicated with him, he’ll just look at you blankly and wander off.

Big, dumb, colourful, dare I say fun?

Now the real focus of these features is to look at the value for money a title provides. There are several factors to consider. First is quantity, how much playtime can you expect to get out of the title? It’s always going to be a rough figure because people play games at different speeds and must also take into consideration potential replay value. If there is replay value, just how many players are going to take advantage of it? Is there are New Game+ mode that most players will feel compelled to try out, or is the replay value merely a harder difficulty or even worse, achievements? Replay value is worthless if only a tiny fraction of purchasers feel the desire to take part in it. Secondly, we have to look at quality. What use is a 40 hour game if it’s 40 hours of dull garbage? Is a mediocre 20 hour game more or less value than an excellent 5 hour game? It’s a tough question and ultimately one you’ll have to answer yourself. I hope to provide you with the information to make that happen. Finally, an objective figure, price per hour for a single play-through. How much can you expect to get for your money? Some people are very strict about this kind of thing, some not so much, but seeing that figure in black and white, albeit only a rough estimate, can be helpful in the purchase decision. So without further ado, let’s break it down.

Quantity : There’s a lengthy single-player campaign, skirmishes and multiplayer. The multiplayer is where the meat is and as with all multiplayer RTS, the quantity of content is essentially infinite so it’s best to look at how quickly you might get bored. There are quite a few different strategies to try but outside of long, drawn-out matches which sometimes occur, you are restricted primarily to all-ins, teching is fast as possible down one tree and hoping for the best. The lack of map-creator does not help matters at all, for instance, there is no 3 player Free-for-All map with water on it, so if 3 of you want to play, enjoy having 1/3^rd of your units being made unavailable to you. The game is also unmoddable so that is something you should consider carefully. There have been no announcements or indications at the time of this article, that there will be an expansion pack.

Quality : The single-player campaign is not a good time, mostly due to the horrendous dialogue and plot. It is essentially a set of skirmish battles with poor voice-acting and I could not force myself to play it, so consider that area of the game to be of poor quality. Skirmish AI is reasonable but not great, there is a set of cheating AI which you will find an overwhelming challenge. Multiplayer stability is very solid, the matchmaking system is leaps and bounds better than GPGnet and benefits heavily from steam integration, so you can expect multiplayer games to connect properly and provide an enjoyable experience. 1v1 games consist primarily of all-in strategies, where the one who blind-picks the most effective force wins in a single strike. Team-play is more much enjoyable since it’s easier to compensate for your team-mates and specialization has less of an overall impact on the outcome of the game. Team-play can be considered a high quality multiplayer experience, assuming one enjoys the game to begin with.

Price per Hour : I can tell you that I picked this game up for £9.98 ($15). It continues to be on sale at Amazon.co.uk at the time of writing this article. It is impossible to quantify the price per hour of a game that really only works well in multiplayer. I managed to tolerate about 2 hours of the single-player so £5 an hour isn’t exactly what I’d call great value but again, there is very little fun to be had in the single-player campaign anyway so the value for money you get out of SupCom2 will be entirely dependent on how well you take to the multiplayer and who you get to play it with.

Conclusion : Supreme Commander 2 is a fine example of why developers with bigger ideas than their skills can handle, should not try to reinvent the wheel. Supreme Commander provided a solid foundation to work from, yet GPG decided to tear an awful lot of it down and rebuild. Many of those new system failed badly and severely hamper the game.

Buy if you like: Traditional RTS, big robots, Dinoriders (seriously), huge battles, a smooth, reliable engine, to be treated like an idiot.

Avoid if you hate : When designers completely change a game in it’s sequel, PC games that lack key interface features such as hotkeys, needless dumbing down, building an economy on guesswork, being hard-countered blind, how far Chris Taylor has fallen, Steam.

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SHOUTcraft – rANDY (Z) vs DeMusliM (T)

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:03:38 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist sAiQOh41gio]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

I particularly liked this game, it was the end of the BIO tournament with the final 2 really giving it all they had. DeMusliM employing unconventional build orders was great to watch.

Gaming the System 6th June 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:12:29 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts060610.mp3)

Please accept our apologies for the various technical audio issues suffering during this broadcast.

Our week in gaming

As always we kick off the show with a description of what we’ve been playing this week. SWAG has been hitting up Xbox Live Arcade, expressing disappointment with Raystorm HD but enjoying Afterburner Climax. TB has been enjoying indie tower-defence Sol Survivor as well, raging at Alpha Protocol and exploring the questionable delights of Supreme Commander 2.

Music break – Hiroshi “Hiro” Miyauchi – Afterburner Climax “Remix”

This week in gaming

TB and SWAG discuss the implications of the Deus Ex 3 trailer in great detail, you can watch the brand new production here.

Also mentioned is the fact that Lord of the Rings online is going free-to-play. How will it work, is it a good system? TB and SWAG discuss the pros and cons.

The release list for this week can be found here

Music break – Tom Salta – Defying Gravity (Prince of Persia : Forgotten Sands)

The Review – Red Dead Redemption

Music break – Hiroshi “Hiro” Miyauchi – Afterburner original theme

The Top Ten – Reasons why Ninja Blade is a better game than God of War 3

TotalBiscuit is causing controversy as he dares to suggest that God of War 3 has plenty of problems. Here are the top ten reasons that Ninja Blade, a fairly poorly received God of War clone, is better than God of War 3.

10. On PC
9. Ken is less of an insufferable dick
8. Doesn’t take your powers away, AGAIN (no Abilitease)
7. Doesn’t take itself too seriously
6. QTEs are exactly what they should be, completely over-the-top
5. More boss battles
4. Better platforming
3. More responsive controls
2. No Puzzles
1. Has 100% more crushing giant skyscraper sized spiders with wrecking balls

If you want proof of the number 1 reason, you should check out this video

Music Break – Keiichi Okabe – Dispossession / Strings version (NIER)

The MMOrrery – Global Agenda

Unique Third-person shooter MMO Global Agenda has just received a big content update, but is it any good? TotalBiscuit explains the ins and outs of this flawed but fairly enjoyable game.

Music Finale – Tom Salta – Main Theme (Prince of Persia : Forgotten Sands)

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 16

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:21:46 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz040610.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

So for a while now, folks have been asking me to provide my pre-show playlist. So I had an idea as to how best to achieve that. I play these guys on my preshow so that I can help grow their fanbase. I’ve been doing metal shows online for 11 years now as well as 4 years with my University radio station. Everytime the goal is the same, play good, sometimes unappreciated metal bands, get people into them, show people how great a genre metal is. So here’s what I’m going to do. You will find the playlist for each preshow in the show notes from here on in. I will provide Amazon links to each track, so you can buy the individual mp3. Amazon is generally the cheapest place to get them and the tracks are high quality, DRM free mp3s. If you buy a track from the preshow list, the site gets a small cut of the profit. The bands win, the site wins, you save money and get the music you want, it’s great for everybody. The affiliate links are for the UK version of the store, so you may have to find the tracks yourself if you’re outside of that region. You can preview each track via these links as well, so you can get an idea of whether or not you want to purchase it. If you usually listen via podcast, you may not know that each live show is preceded by an hour’s worth of music, consisting primarily of various types of metal. This is what you’ve been missing.

Preshow Playlist

Amon Amarth - Guardians Of Asgaard
Darkane – Rusted Angel (not available on Amazon)
Strapping Young Lad - Underneath The Waves [Explicit]
Evergrey – The Masterplan
Symphony X – Church Of The Machine
Ensiferum – Token Of Time
Ensiferum – Sword Chant
Turisas – One More
Turisas - To Holmgard And Beyond
Rhapsody – Emerald Sword
Rhapsody – Rain Of A Thousand Flames

Show break music

Disarmonia Mundi – Celestial Furnace (not available on Amazon)
Saboton – Coat Of Arms
Saxon – Denim And Leather (2009 Digital Remaster)
Running Wild – Under Jolly Roger (not available on Amazon)
Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew – We Be Sailin’
Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew – Sea Monsters

Show Notes

This week on Blue Plz! A listener asks at what point do add-ons become too much and does the banning of the AVR mod mean a change in Blizzard’s stance? Plus would giving players gear above their station be ok as long as it took them a long time to get it asks another fan? TotalBiscuit says hell no.

Blizzard has delayed the deployment of the Ruby Sanctum. TotalBiscuit explains why this is a positive move and another sign by Blizzard that they are taking the progression race far more seriously.

As a consumer, when is it right to protest and what is the best way to do it? Well, TotalBiscuit tells you how NOT to do it.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks for TotalBiscuits opinion on the new Battleground, Twin Peaks. Can Blizzard really pull off asymmetrical like they did in the old days?

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Alpha Protocol Review

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:02:19 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (alphareview.mp3)

It’s no accident that my 2 favourite PC games are part of the same, tiny little sub-genre. Deus Ex and Vampire the Masquerade : Bloodlines, both inhabit a special place in my heart as RPGs with imperfect combat systems but huge freedom of choice. Yet somehow, this mix of traditional FPS with underlying RPG mechanics never really took off. The reason for that, as far as I’m concerned is fairly straight forward. Games like Deus Ex are hard to make. Vampire the Masquerade demonstrates that point nicely, it was a complete mess on launch, riddled with bugs, pushed out the door far too early and caused the collapse of its developer. Who wouldn’t be gunshy after seeing that happen?

Alpha Protocol is a game after my own heart, a third-person RPG with stealth, shooting, branching dialogue trees and plenty of choice. You play Agent Michael Thornton, bad stuff is happening in the world, you have to go and stop it, you know the drill. The principle of the plot isn’t important, it’s ok to be cliche in your premise as long as it’s executed in a suitably intriguing manner. Intrigue is what this game is all about, discovering various plot twists and conspiracies as well as the unpredictable and treacherous nature of some of its cast. Yes, it’s sounding an awful lot like Deus Ex at this point in time and that’s not where the similarities end. Weapons can be modded, terminals can be hacked, emails can be read and you can avoid killing the vast majority of your opponents should you choose to. Missions are presented in a non-linear fashion and you’re free to hop from one to another at will from your safehouse, in which you can purchase weapons, mods, ammo and intel as well as peruse the various dossiers on factions and individuals you have discovered. It’s an alluring cocktail and yet rather than capture this cynical, jaded heart of mine, it laughed and stomped a console-shaped hole in it.

Those 4 happy colourful looking buttons.. THEY ARE POISON

It is unfair to lay all of the blame at the feet of the humble console. It can’t help that it’s not as powerful, not as flexible and uses an inferior interface. It also can’t help that a significant chunk of it’s userbase is not particularly discerning in what they buy. I own all 3 current generation consoles and they’re all great in their own ways, but just as I wouldn’t expect a selection of party games to work particularly well on the PS3 or a flight sim to control well on the Wii, I don’t expect to see a game whose interface is blatantly designed for consoles, to work on the PC. My expectation isn’t unreasonable and if there were ever a game to prove that, it would be Alpha Protocol. I can’t help but draw comparisons to a game I reviewed last year called Borderlands, also a shooter with RPG elements, which suffered from the fact that Gearbox did not properly consider the PC when porting the game. Regardless of it being an extremely entertaining game, it was bogged down by an awful interface. It was almost enough to sink one of the most original titles of 2009, a game I put at least 50 hours into. So consider then, if a game of that calibre can be brought to its knees by a poor console port, the horrors that have been wrought upon Alpha Protocol, which has an interface which is EVEN WORSE.

Radial menus, a common offence for any poor PC port. Ignoring the fact that PC users have keyboards and can easily access skills via the number keys, Alpha Protocol requires you to bring up a menu in order to switch gadgets, skills and even ammo types. That last one is a particularly hideous crime, since even Bioshock 2 managed to get that right, regardless of its other failings. It’s a complete pain in the arse, breaking the flow of the game and perhaps more annoyingly, making one potential character build (that of the gadget-using techno-wiz), extremely tedious and ineffective to play. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that Obsidian, in their infinite wisdom, allowed me to switch weapons using the mouse-wheel, after all, Obsidian have no experience at all in the development of PC games and can’t be expected to know such things. Praise to them for their insight! May I present Exhibit B, the mini-games. Lockpicking works fairly well with the mouse, although for some inexplicable reason the position of the pin doesn’t seem to match the ‘right answer’, so it’s best to do it without even looking at the pins at all. It’s difficult to explain so have a look at what you’re expected to do.

The line is in the right place, yet the lock indicator to the right is still dark, which means you will fail if you click now.

Now you’d expect to have to line the pins up with the groove on each one, right? Wrong, that’s what you should be doing in theory, but in reality it doesn’t even work half the time. The actual right area is slightly off. Gotta love that, when one cannot even trust their eyes. The real offender though is not the slightly buggy lockpicking, but the disgraceful hacking mini-game. This eye-muddling wordsearch requires the player to find two alphanumeric phrases in a sea of constantly moving letters. The phrases themselves are static, but every letter or number around them moves, so they are quite tricky to spot. They will also move from time to time just to make things ‘interesting’ and every hack has a time limit which will invariably set off an alarm if you fail it. This all sounds ok for the time being, annoying, but tolerable, until you realise how the controls work. I use the term work as loosely as possible, which is appropriate considering the control scheme. On the console, each of the two phrases is controlled with an analogue stick, which makes sense and works fairly well. On the PC, one phrase is controlled with the mouse and the other with the keyboard. The keyboard is unresponsive and slow as hell, whereas the mouse floats all over the place and is difficult to control. Throw in some strict time limits and stiff penalties for failure and you have a huge pot of frustration that will have you begging for the days of Bioshocks Pipedream clone.

This nonsense is enough to get you a headache WITHOUT the awful controls.

So far, all of these sound like relatively minor gripes. That’s because I’m leading up to the big disaster that is how the main character handles. Let’s just review for a second. This is a third person shooter with RPG elements and a focus on precise gunplay, cover mechanics and perhaps most importantly, stealth. All three of these elements come together to form a good spy game and each part must work correctly in order for that to happen. Such a shame then, that Obsidian has nailed precisely none of them. To start with, the gunplay is reminiscent of Deus Ex in that unless you are trained in that particular weapon, your targeting reticule will be huge. In Alpha Protocol, Obsidian decided that the best way to bring Deus Ex shooting mechanics (perhaps the weakest element of that game) into the 21st century, would be to make the reticules even bigger! I’m talking about shotgun reticules that almost fill the entire screen and assault rifles, the only truly long range weapon in the game, being an imprecise mess with a crosshair so large that you can only begin to guess at where the bullets might land. Combine that with the hard-coded mouse-smoothing, a relic from the days of ball mice that has no place in 21st century gaming and you will find yourself pissing away bullets in a thoroughly undignified manner. My first (and most likely last) playthrough consisted of putting my points into pistol and stealth skills, creating a sneaky assassin with dead-eye aim. Or so I thought, you see, the pistol can’t hit anything more than about 20 feet away and it’s gimmick mechanic (each weapon has one), that of the critical aim, doesn’t work outside of a certain range. I started the game on Hard difficulty, as I do with most games, only to find that my opponents shot me down with pinpoint accuracy from across the room with a handgun whereas my trained super-agent might as well have been returning fire with a waterpistol. Unless you inflict a critical hit, which involves aiming the crosshair for a certain amount of time at the enemy, the pistol inflicts almost no damage at all. As I mentioned earlier, you cannot inflict critical hits outside of a fairly short range, so if you major in pistol-play, you will have to close the distance in order to be effective. But that’s ok, because you can use cover in order to do so, right?

Wrong, because once again the terrible controls rear their ugly heads. Far from being an intelligent cover system, Alpha Protocol sports one of the dumbest, the kind that belong on a special, shorter bus. Sticking to cover requires the use of the space bar, as does getting yourself out of it. Sounds good in theory, but in practice it doesn’t work half the time. Some cover you can’t stick to at all, so in the middle of a firefight, you’ll dash for a good looking piece of cover, only to find that it’s not really cover at all. Shooting from cover is an equally horrendous task. Going back to the pistol mechanics for a moment, an early skill you can spend points on is the ability to line up a critical shot while still in cover. You angle the camera in the vague direction of the enemy and a crosshair will appear. Keep it on the enemy for a few seconds until it goes red, then pull the trigger and down he goes, assuming you hit him in the head. Except sometimes it doesn’t fire, at all, for no good reason. It’s a pretty ridiculous move to begin with, I mean you’re lining up a shot and then pulling the trigger without even being able to see your target, but the game seems to arbitrarily decide when and where that will work, neglecting to tell you in the process. Oh I’m sorry Agent Thornton, that shot is just a little TOO ridiculous. You see, we adhere to strict, independently researched limits on just how ridiculous a shot can be and I’m afraid this one was about 2% over the recommended daily allowance of ridiculous. And now you’ve been shot. The cover system also wrecks the use of gadgets (most of which come in the form of various types of grenade). Sometimes you can toss a grenade over cover, but it won’t give you an indicator as to where it will land. Sometimes it will, sometimes it will randomly stick the grenade to the piece of cover you’re hiding behind, only for it to blow up in your face a few seconds later. Sometimes, if you’re really lucky, it will bounce off the cover, land behind you and kill you. Wunderbar! Back to the checkpoint you go. Yes, this game has no quicksave and checkpoints are often woefully far apart. Christ on a bike.

The most commonly seen in-game screen when playing on Hard, usually accompanied by angry screaming.

In a game like this, where you can die extremely quickly, precision is required. If your character does not go where you want it to, place bullets where you aim them and enter cover when asked, he will die and that exactly what happens here. This game is riddled with horrendous, cheap deaths where bullets fly by your ear but seem to kill you anyway. If Mr Thornton had such a weak heart, that the mere presence of a bullet near his personage would send him into cardiac arrest, perhaps he should have picked a different career. But of course, all of this nonsense can be avoided by simply being stealthy right guys? Wrong, again.

Here’s a rule for any game that allows the player to invest heavily into a stealthy style of play. There must be a stealthy solution to every problem. That does not mean arbitrarily filling a room with alert guards that will shoot at the mere scent of you. That does not mean throwing you up against a boss who can kill you in a couple of shots and cannot possibly be snuck up on. And of course, that does not mean expecting the player to be stealthy when the controls are randomly spazzing out for no reason and the camera is getting in your way. It means none of those things, in fact, quite the opposite. Why allow me to invest in a stealthy skill path if all you’re going to do is throw me into situations that cannot be solved with stealth? It practically requires that the player invest heavily in an un-stealthy skill, which might not be what they want to do. Why give such an illusion of choice in terms of the playstyles available when you know for a fact that players are going to make use of those choices and then find themselves in situations they are completely ill-equipped to deal with?

I wish I could say that the bugs in this game end there, but they don’t. Suffice to say, Alpha Protocol is practically in an Alpha state. I remember fondly walking into a nice big room in a large stately home, only to find that the walls and floor had disappeared and I was staring at an untextured mess. It was rather handy to see through the floor and spot various items and enemies beneath me, shame that was a bug and not an actual gadget available to me. I couldn’t navigate the room because I couldn’t see the obstacles in front of me. I left in disgust, probably missed out on some nice loot in the process, or more importantly, some key plot data. There are new bugs hiding in every nook and cranny and its hard to believe that this game got delayed 5 months, only to be released in such a poor state. Ok I’m sorry that’s not true at all, it’s very easy to believe that because it’s Obsidian, a developer with a history of creative yet buggy releases, combined with Sega who have no qualms shoving half-finished games out the door and taking a big dump on the PC market as a whole (see Empire : Total War, Sega Allstars Racing, Alien vs Predator etc). Its easy to blame the developer, but developers tend not to deliberately release unfinished products unless forced to do so. When Sega delayed the release of Alpha Protocol for 5 months, it wasn’t so it could be polished, properly tested and finished, it was to avoid the release window for Mass Effect 2. I very much doubt Sega stumped up any extra cash to fix the game in the meantime and Obsidian has bigger things to worry about, namely Fallout New Vegas. Alpha Protocol, by the looks of things, sat gathering dust until it was time push it out the door, unwilling and unfinished.

For every awesome moment like this, there are all too many infuriating problems

The most heartbreaking thing of all, is that some of this game is genuinely great. The dialogue is snappy and entertaining and the promised branching dialogue trees appear to have made it intact. You can gain and lose reputation with everyone you speak to, depending on the choices you make. Unlike Mass Effect, you are not given clearly right or wrong answers, Alpha Protocols dialogue sits nicely in a grey area, allowing some freedom to roleplay your character as you choose. The dialogue, combined with some of the choices available to you in the game, can result in very different outcomes, which is exactly what a game like this needs, real, tangible choice. The character of Michael Thornton is particularly well voiced, he can be as likeable or contemptible as you make him and he’ll sound completely natural in either role. The game presents you with dilemmas, rather than simple black and white choices, indeed one incident in Rome has no clear correct answer and I applaud Obsidian for that. As they showed with Knights of the Old Republic 2, they are very much capable of writing and presenting compelling dialogue and genuine adult choices, they see no need to handle the player with kiddie gloves and give you a binary right/wrong choice at every turn. The presentation in general is fairly strong. It’s got a great soundtrack, excellent voice work across the board and punchy, satisfying sound effects, particularly in terms of the weapons. The skill paths available are nicely varied and I could see plenty of potential for multiple playthroughs, if only the game wasn’t an infuriating mess. That’s the real crime here, that collectively, Obsidian and Sega are responsible for ruining a great concept and potentially an excellent title that I could see myself loving, if only I didn’t hate it as much as I do. While it might be worth a rent on a console, I am not convinced that merely switching systems and control schemes can fix this game. It’s Bloodlines all over again. Maybe in 5 years and many fanpatches later, Alpha Protocol might be the game it should have been, but personally, I’m not going to hold my breath.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 15

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:34:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz290519.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

A listener asks if Facebook integration is really going a step ‘too far’ in terms of mixing one’s real life with their online persona. No says TotalBiscuit, but for god’s sake don’t give them ideas about Twitter.

The Remote Auction House is up and yet Blizzard has decided to add a fee to your monthly subscription if you choose to use it! How the RAH is an unbalancing element and Blizzard is introducing a stealth tax for those who want to use the AH successfully in future.

Blizzcon 2010 has been announced, for the outrageous price of $150. Yes it’s still a 2 day event, yes it’s still just Blizzard games, TotalBiscuit shares his experiences from 2005 and asks has Blizzcon really advanced to the point where they can charge more than every other geeky convention on the planet?

A grab bag of email questions follows and we cap off the show with the Illusion of Choice, shredding a terrible post wherein an imbecile on MMO Champion unsuccessfully tries to argue that Wrath was the best expansion. Rage ensues.

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Star Trek Online editorial

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:01:58 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (stoeditorial.mp3)

When STO launched a few months ago I and several other community members threw ourselves into it with gusto. I have this nagging affliction that forces me to give every Star Trek game a chance, regardless of the fact that they have a more chequered history than the Super Bombad Racing era of Star Wars games. For every Bridge Commander, there’s a Legacy, for every Elite Force there’s a Deep Space Nine : The Fallen and for every Starfleet Command, a Star Trek : Encounters. Let’s face it, the license has not done so well over the last few years thanks in part to the waning popularity and directionless flailing of the Enterprise era. Up until the recent feature film ‘rebooted’ Star Trek, the great wagon-train to the stars was running on emergency power with a warp-core breach in progress. Have I reached the requisite number of dumb metaphors yet? No? Damn.

The problem with Star Trek, that very few games seem to grasp, is that the series has never been about the ships, the combat or the action scenes. The things that made Star Trek popular to begin with are also elements that do not translate well into gaming. It is indicative of those various factors that the best Star Trek game is A Final Unity, which is essentially a point and click adventure. An episode of Star Trek will contain far more diplomacy, cultural divisions and reconciliation, character studies, investigation and puzzling than phasers and photons. Many Star Trek fans object to the fact that most Star Trek games are combat-orientated and indeed, those same people came out in droves to scream about the war-torn Star Trek Online, set in a time full of convenient contrivances to explain the various liberties taken with the canon as well as the fact that everyone seems out to kill each other. Personally, I don’t care. I like what is essentially tall-ship combat in space. I like the phasers and the photons and I like to blow up Klingons (or Federation when my Gorn alt comes into play). My personal favourite Star Trek game was Starfleet Command 2, a fairly advanced starship combat simulator where the Federation’s vaunted diplomacy and ideas had apparently been thrown out of the window in favour of firepower. I didn’t miss the themes which made the Star Trek television series great because I was too busy blowing fools up.

Its continuing mission, to blow up strange new fools

The problem with Star Trek Online is that it’s a game of two halves, one of which is solid, flashy and enjoyable while the other is clunky, buggy and an exercise in utter tedium. STO players will know exactly what I refer to, those of you that don’t, let me set the scene for you. There have been a number of games that represent Star Trek space combat in a positive and enjoyable way. Starfleet Command perfected the 3^rd person tall-ship combat with plenty of depth and options available. Starfleet and Klingon Academy, plus the later Bridge Commander, did a solid job of putting you in the Captain’s chair, providing first person perspective action, focussing more on the immersion factor than the situational awareness and battlefield control of Starfleet Command. Armada and to a lesser extent it’s sequel, managed to successfully create an RTS out of Deep Space Nine-style fleet engagements, doing so in a cinematic and enjoyable manner. Hell even the budget-ware Star Trek Conquest on the PS2 took a fair swing at a fast-paced, arcade-style interpretation of space combat. The fact is, aside from a few slips like the dreadful Legacy and lacklustre cash-in of DAC, gaming has done justice to Star Trek’s brand of space combat and STO is no exception. Weapon-arcs, shield arcs, a huge element of movement plus various techno-babble tricks and abilities plus Star Trek’s trademark slow-paced, majestic grace, all of these things come together to create a thrill ride for any Star Trek fan. In effect, STO’s space combat system is Starfleet Command 3, which in turn was a simplified, next-generation version of the two previous games in the series. STO has the scale and production values that Starfleet Command 4 should have had, if the series hadn’t been killed off in its prime by Activision. I can safely say I thoroughly enjoy STO space combat, both in PvE and PvP settings. It gives me what I want from a Star Trek game. I can fiddle with my ship’s loadout, customise my officers, struggle with my shield settings, desperately rerouting power and using abilities to stay alive as my hull crumbles around me. That’s what I want from a Star Trek game and STO delivers in spades.

Borg ships are vulnerable to spades.

Here’s the problem, space combat is only half the game. The other half is where things get ugly fast. It seems that Cryptic couldn’t go all the way on the innovation front, because STO’s ground combat is standard MMO fare through and through. Except its worse, far far worse, a dull, lifeless, clunky mess of unenjoyable button mashing. It’s repetitive, completely devoid of immersion or challenge and somehow inferior in both production values and performance to the space combat portion of the game. It’s a step backwards for Cryptic who presented a fairly dynamic and bombastic approach to ground combat with their previous effort, Champions Online. Now I don’t expect to see a Ferengi punch a romulan into orbit in the same way that my mighty M.Bison clone in Champions can, but what I would expect, is something that doesn’t make me want to pull my own teeth out and jam them into my eyesockets, just to escape the tedium of it all. Hyperbolic as it may be, STO’s ground combat is bad and let’s face it, what did it have to work with? Ground combat focussed Star Trek games are few and far between. I’m sure you can guess why that is. It’s because ground combat in Star Trek in general is dull. It is normal everyday combat, only with lasers and less tactical sense, mere skirmishes between two groups which invariably result in a few redshirts getting vaporised while the Captain stands astride the battlefield in his invincible plot-armour. In short, it sucks. Away Team managed to do it fairly well because it was little more than a modded version of Commandos. Elite Force does it well because it’s barely even a Star Trek game, it’s Quake 2 with a Star Trek make-over. Did Cryptic decide to go down the route of tactical isometric squad combat or first person shooter, the two formula that have actually worked so far? No, of course not, their approach was to use the blandest, run of the mill MMO combat system imaginable. Press button to fire phaser, press second button to fire bigger phaser on longer cooldown, press other buttons to cast arbitrary buffs and abilities, the durations and cooldowns of which are so short that rolling your face across the keyboard is a viable combat strategy. It’s pretty difficult to create a combat system more banal than World of Warcraft, yet somehow Cryptic pulled it off. What was going through their minds at the time is a complete mystery.

Do you want to stand around in goofy space armour hammering hotkeys at random? Well boy do I have the game for you!

About a month after launch I quit STO for a while. It wasn’t due to the ground combat system although that didn’t exactly help. It was due to the crippling lack of challenge presented by the game which in turn was a huge immersion breaker. I’m a Star Trek nerd, I own technical manuals, I can tell you the relative power and armaments of ships only ever shown once in the series. This game is aimed at me and people like me, of which there are many. So why pray tell, can a Miranda class ship, a dinky little frigate from the Enterprise A era, kill a massive Negh’var warship on its own? Why indeed can it engage a Borg Vessel for more than 5 seconds without being vaporised? Game balance that’s why, a misguided example of game balance I should say. In an effort to hide the inescapable fact that low level PvE encounters in MMO games consist of killing rats, STO gives the player Negh’var shaped rats, Vor’cha shaped rats, cube and sphere shaped rats. In short, it tries to make you feel meaningful in a universe where your tiny Miranda class hunk of junk is anything but. In doing so, it shatters any immersion a Star Trek fan might have as well as, perhaps more importantly, defeating the entire point of having an elegant and interesting space combat system. Why bother with shield-arcs, weapon arcs, abilities, power management and elegant manevours when all you need to do is mount the biggest forward weapons you can find, point at the enemy ship and hammer the space bar over and over again? That in combination with the inescapable fact that my Miranda-class frigate has 19 Negh’Var warships to its name as well as several hundred lesser Klingon vessels killed any enjoyment I could possibly get from the game.

Thankfully, Cryptic has taken steps to address this issue in a recent update, implementing a death penalty as well as optional advanced and elite difficulties for each mission. Dungeons and Dragons Online came up with this idea first, providing 4 choices of difficulty for most of its dungeon content. As far as I’m concerned, DDO provides the best PvE levelling content of any MMO title and the difficulty settings are a big part of that success. STO’s implementation of it works very well in group space combat, which is now thankfully a lethal prospect. Even the smallest of enemy ships have stronger shields and weapons as well as a tendency to use special abilities more often. Larger ships can melt a player if you’re not careful and utilising a defensively-orientated Cruiser to take as much of the punishment as possible is essential to success. Upping the difficulty brought all of the fun back to space combat and I can only applaud Cryptic for that. A necessary and thoroughly overdue change.

I am become Death, destroyer of Borgs. Look upon my Miranda and despair.

Sadly, Cryptic still mistakenly believes that ground combat is viable and while extra difficulty helped the space combat significantly it has the opposite effect on the ground. Cryptics definition of ‘challenge’ appears to be bumping up the enemy damage resistance and hitpoints a bunch and making them hit a little harder. They don’t act smarter, they don’t attempt to flank you they don’t use abilities in an intelligent and context-sensitive manner, they just take longer to kill. Consider that for a moment, Cryptics solution to the almost universal hatred of ground combat was to force players to spend longer doing it, since it’s almost always part of an episode along with the far superior space combat. You can’t change your episode from Elite to Normal when a ground section suddenly pops up and the standard layout for most episodes seems to be warp into sector, have a look around, kill some ships, beam down to planet, kill some aliens, beam back up, get attacked by bigger force of ships with maybe a boss thrown in there and then you’re done. In another twist, the very thing that fixed the previously broken immersion of the space combat is now breaking the immersion of the ground combat, not that there was much of that to begin with. How ineffective must Federation weapons technology be if you have to shoot an unshielded Klingon grunt upwards of 20 times with a phaser rifle in order to take him down?

A special issue Federation compression phaser pistol Mk X

Cryptic was able to create a contrivance to explain player’s unnatural resilience and ability to regenerate health, that of a personal shield, yet most enemies do not have these devices. Even if they did, let’s be completely honest with ourselves, standing there shooting a phaser over and over again at a stationary target is boring. Cryptic had the opportunity to create an enjoyable form of ground combat and they failed to do so. Bearing in mind the heavily instanced nature of the game, what was to stop them creating a 3^rd person shooter, whereby the player’s own aim was a big factor in their combat prowess? At the end of the day, Star Trek ground combat is just like modern combat, getting hit is generally not a good thing at all and a single shot landed will generally take you out of the fight. I’m not suggesting hyper-realism in a game environment such as this, that wouldn’t work, but STO is barely an MMO game and shouldn’t have to comply with outdated genre conventions. The vast majority of content is done in a closed 5-man group in which a more suitable system could be devised for ground combat that is not a WoW-clone with a couple of extra superfluous bells and whistles such as ‘aim-mode’ and dodge-rolls which really serve no practical purpose at all. Cryptic are obviously capable of being inventive but it seems to me they are still far too gunshy to create a truly great MMO.

At this point, it’s hard to recommend Star Trek Online. Its fun in small groups but ground combat is overwhelmingly tedious and I feel that once again I’ll be cancelling my subscription in favour of doing something more interesting, like reinstalling Starfleet Command 2.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 14

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 18 May 2010 23:23:54 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz140510.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

The site is under repair so not everything works right now. Please download the episode via iTunes or the download link above. Streaming is currently non-functional

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 13

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 09 May 2010 09:02:23 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz070510.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

TotalBiscuit is out of content and opens up the mailbag for completely unscripted and unprepared show on a wide variety of listener-chosen topics. To cap off the show, an analysis of this excellent blog post by the leader of one of the Top 3 10-man guild’s in the world.

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Announcing SHOUTcraft BIO

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:25:22 +0000

Yes indeed folks, I hope you’ll join me and the players for this month long event. I’m happy to introduce for you, SHOUTcraft BIO (British and Irish Open), broadcast on Thursday’s at 7pm BST (8pm CEST/2pm EST) on our Livestream channel. Featuring some of the very best British and Irish players, battling for supremacy with select matches commentated live as well as the very best, recast in 1080p, SHOUTcraft-style, on Youtube.

I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring this tournament to you both live and in VoD form and I hope you’ll all join me for what should be some truly explosive match-ups. Further information on the tournament’s format and participants is available in the Teamliquid thread.

Gaming the System 3rd May 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:29:32 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts030510.mp3)

Welcome to Gaming the System

As always, we kick off the show by mulling over what we’ve been playing this week. SWAG expresses his sorrow at the state of the new Samurai Shodown game but enjoys Final Fight Double Impact. TotalBiscuit sinks obscene amounts of time into Mount and Blade Warband, ironically plays 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, a little Blazblue and plenty of Starcraft 2.

Music Break – Nobou Uematsu – The Man with the Machinegun (Final Fantasy VIII) (http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/)

This Week in Gaming (00:29:42)

A joyful occassion, as Mechwarrior 4 is released for free. Mechwarrior 3 is still better though, says our resident Mechwarrior elitist. Also Activision signs 10 year publishing deal with Bungie, yikes! Good news for those of you interested in Medal of Honour, your copy of Bad Company 2 gives early access to the M24 snipe rifle unlock. If you don’t already own Bad Company 2, what are you standing around for? Go get it!

Release list

This week in horrible shovelware – Dance Sensation!

Music Break – Capcom – Dan’s theme (Super Street Fighter 4)

The Review – Resonance of Fate (00:58:20)

TB and SWAG talk about the latest effort from Tri-Ace, a trigger-happy JRPG set in a steampunk world. Find out of it’s worth your time.

Music break – Kohei Tanaka – Cranktown (RoF)
Music break – Motoi Sakuraba – Hughes Power Station at Night (RoF)

This is why we can’t have nice things – Super Street Fighter 4 (01:24:10)

Capcom’s producer announces that Super Street Fighter 4 is a hard-sell on PC due to rampant piracy of the original. TB and SWAG wade into the mire of debate surrounding PC piracy. How does one quantify lost profits? Is it ever ok to snub the PC market, will it do any good in the long run?

Music break – Capcom – Adon’s theme (Super Street Fighter 4)

Top 10 – Bands that should have gotten their own Rockband instead of Greenday (01:45:38)

SWAG is unhappy about the fact that Green Day is getting it’s own Rock Band game and has come up with a list of bands far more deserving.

1. Slipknot – use of many peripherals including DJ pad two drum sets, DK bongos.]
2. Iron Maiden – The best heavy metal band on the planet that is still active.
3. Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne – The godfathers of metal, Ozzy is an icon. People have to use Ozzy gibberish in minigames.
4. Slayer – they have so many die-hard fans that will probably by 3 copies each just for themselves and twofor each of their friends; even if they don’t own gaming consoles.
5. The Rolling Stones – To appeal to all the non-beatles fans (you’re either a Beatles fan or a Rolling Stonesfan). The game can come with authentic varicose veins.
6. AC/DC – let’s give the Australians something to buy too; they get shafted in gaming as it is.
7. Judas Priest – Blistering difficulty in their songs, the experts will love it.
8. KISS – because Gene Simmons is a whore that will license his name to anything.
9. Megadeth – because if GH has Metallica, RB needs Megadeth to even it out. An unlockable movie should be available that is Megadeth’s version of Some Kind of Monster.
10. Testament – for making one of the best comebacks ever with The Formation of Damnation (featured on MTV and had songs in Brutal Legend). Chuck Billy beat cancer, that’s a badass.

Music break – Song of Ancients /Popola (Neir)

Your Turn – Your favourite fighting game. (02:08:20)

We want to know what your favourite fighting game is and why. Leave a comment on this page and we’ll read some out next show, plus tell you why Marvel vs Capcom 2 is obviously the right answer.

Finale – Nobuo Uematsu – Main Theme (Final Fantasy VII)

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 12

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:51:45 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz300410.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

In the mailbag, a listener expresses concern over a renewed emphasis on crowd control. Will it cause some specs to be left out in the cold? Plus is there really a difference between PvP and PvE realms and will Blizzard ever be able to come up with an original boss mechanic ever again?

Cataclysm raid changes abound ladies and gentlemen! Controversy arises over the decision to make 10 and 25 man modes share a lockout. Plus identical difficulty levels?

In comparison, a distinct non-change in the form of Cataclysm badges. TotalBiscuit conjures up a few ways to assist players late to the game, in experiencing the content and following the progression path properly.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks, when do mods go too far?

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episode 10 – Double Trouble

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:58:03 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist qTm47ETmkOM]

Here are two games in which my opponent made critical errors and I was able, through strategy or more likely brute force and ignorance, to exploit them. This is what not to do ladies and gentlemen.

Gaming Express 29th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:50:05 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp290410.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by UGT-servers.com, premium quality gaming ventrilo servers.

Digital Distribution Deals

Guild Wars Games (Steam) – 50% off

Kings Bounty : The Legend (Getgamesgo) – $3.49/£2.49

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SHOUTcraft – Sid (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T)

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:16:48 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist 5UkOnEBYkIo]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

Make sure to subscribe and turn on annotations for your chance to win beta keys! There will be further giveaways throughout the week on the Youtube channel.

Audio for this match is forthcoming.

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 11

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:47:40 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz230410.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

Be sure to check out the latest episode of The Grind on Warcraftmovies.

In the mailbag, a listener points out that PUGs don’t even know the meaning of ‘mana break’ anymore. Plus what should the badge system be for Cataclysm? We speculate.

Dark were the Skies is being forced to make a choice! Why the hell is Blizzard arbitrarily changing PvP servers to PvE instead of merging the realms?

Breaking their promise, Blizzard is planning to introduce a hearth-stone style item in the TCG, for the first time (unless you count the Ethereal Trader’s lesser invisibility detection potions, and who the hell needed them anyway?) adding in-game utility for cash.

Plus I’m bored, deal with it. Why WoW is not as good value for money as people claimed.

In the Illusion of Choice, a selection of micro-topics from the chatroom!

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SHOUTcraft news and beta keys giveaway!

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:00:07 +0000

Yes indeed folks, you may have heard that SHOUTcraft is going through some changes. Emperor has left the show to concentrate on work and family. He’s getting married in less than two months and it’s all go for him so we wish him the very best and hope to see him again soon. For now, TotalBiscuit is taking on the task of solo-commentary and some changes have been made to the schedule and format. You can still tune in by heading over to the Livestream page.

The Future of SHOUTcraft

SHOUTcraft will now consist of 2 live shows. The first of which is SHOUTcraft US, featuring our usual roster. That will now be airing on Saturday at 5pm BST (6pm CEST, 12pm EST). The move allows us to avoid clashing with other streams as well as provide an unofficial warmup for the tournaments that generally occur on Saturdays later in the evening. The second is SHOUTcraft EU, which will consist of an all new line-up, airing on Wednesdays at 7pm BST (8pm CEST, 2pm EST). It’s the same format, but showcasing EU platinum players.

The Problem

As regards to how the Youtube videos will work, it’s become clear after a month or so of doing it that the old way doesn’t work. There are two key problems.

1. When recording a replay of a match that was broadcast live, we used to use the camera-lock function, which would automatically follow the camera of the spectator during the match, which allowed us to FRAPs the replay after the fact. Unfortunately, in it’s current incarnation, the replay camera tracking is insufficient. It does not ‘ping’ enough updates per second which means that the motion is stilted and jerky. After a number of complaints on this matter, I have decided to abandon the 1-for-1 creation of Youtube videos in this manner.

2. SC2 replays, unlike SC1, do not contain any delay or latency that may have been present in the live match. This means that recording commentary during the live broadcast and then placing it in the recording of a replay, will invariably result in the commentary being longer than the replay itself and as such, out of sync. There is currently no way around this other than FRAPsing live while also broadcasting, which is nigh on impossible and outside of the capabilities of our current hardware.

The Solution

Our solution to this is as follows. TotalBiscuit will choose the best matches from each broadcast and re-cast them in full 1080p with new commentary. While this might sound laborious, it will in fact drastically cut down the production time which was unnecessarily long due to the extremely technical and time-consuming editing required to resync the commentary to the replay video. This will also allow for smoother camera work since it won’t be relying on Blizzard’s camera-lock feature.

Win beta keys!

SHOUTcraft have 20 beta keys to give away. We’re going to do this in 2 phases. 5 keys will be given away on Saturday’s live show, which you’ll have to tune into to have a chance of winning. The other 15 will be given away on our Youtube channel over the course of the week. In order to be eligible to win a key from Youtube, you’re going to have to be a channel subscriber, so if you haven’t already, go and subscribe to the Youtube channel! News of how you can win will be posted on the channel at some point this week.

Are you a European platinum level player?

There are spaces on the European roster for platinum players to get involved in our productions. If you are up to the challenge, then email shoutcraft@cynicalbrit.com If you wish to showcase your skills to a rapidly growing live and Youtube audience, let us know.

Gaming Express out of service for a few days

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:15:05 +0000

Due to some bad wisdom tooth pain that’s affecting my ability to speak for extended periods of time, Gaming Express is taking a short break. I would hope that the pain recedes by Friday, I’ll keep you posted via Twitter, which can be viewed about halfway down the frontpage as well if you don’t have an account.

Irresponsible Reviews – Beat Hazard

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:27:09 +0000

Something new and quick that I threw together. I call it an Irresponsible Review, it’s a first impression of a game, masquerading as a review. No credibility or research here! So, like 95% of Youtube reviews then. This is an indie game by the name of Beat Hazard, which claims to be powered by your music. It takes a track from your library and turns it into a Geometry Wars/Asteroids game. Each track produces a different result.

The real purpose was just to show how pretty a lightshow this game can put on for you. I’d recommend watching this video in 1080p so pop it out and do just that.

BE WARNED, THIS GAME USES STROBE EFFECTS, YOU MAY HAVE A SEIZURE, THANKS.

[myyoutubeplaylist myVidqa3FCg]

Beat Hazard is currently available on Steam and various other digital distribution platforms, including directly from the developer

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 10

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:04:18 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz170410.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

It’s a special edition of Blue Plz! covering the devchat. Got have a look at it here. There’s not a lot to say in these show notes to be honest, it’s a Twitter dev chat, what more do you want? Well, I guess you can have an impromptu Q+A as well.

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Day Late, Dollar Saved – Bayonetta

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 11:53:38 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (bayonetta.mp3)

This is a Day Late – Dollar Saved review for Gaming Express, in which I take a game that’s no longer full price, which you may have ignored at launch and tell you whether or not it’s worth buying a little cheaper. Today’s subject is Platinum Games’ spectacle fighter, Bayonetta.

The story in brief – Bayonetta is the last of a breed of dark witches who fights weird looking angels in order to keep the legions of hell from dragging her back to the fiery depths. She does so with guns on her feet, because that’s just how she rolls.

I played this game on the PS3, though would have preferred to do so on the 360. The reason for this is simply that the PS3 version is inferior. The framerate is lower, the graphics are less vibrant, the entire game is washed out and the loading times are longer. It’s easy to see the difference, just have a look at this comparison video. The PS3 version was criticised on release for this and suffers from an unreasonably length install-time of around 15 minutes. Sega patched the game to speed up loadtimes, though it’s by no means an equaliser, the game is simply inferior on the PS3 on a technical level, but more to the point, how does it play?

Bayonetta is over-the-top in almost every way. From the hyper-sexualised protagonist, whose skin-tight leather catsuit is actually made up of her hair and has the tendency to disappear at times, to the frantic, ultra-stylised combat and huge boss enemies, the game could best be described as an exhibitionist. Combat moves are flashy yet ultimately impractical, there’s no particularly legitimate reason to attach guns to your feet unless you’re just trying to show off. Thankfully that’s what the game is about, showing off, it embraces the nascent genre of the spectacle fighter, a phrase coined not too long about by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, the renowned gaming funny-man who is undeniably awful at the games he reviews. It’s fitting that the phrase was first used in a review of Platinum’s Wii title, Madworld and judging by their forthcoming title Vanquish, they have no intention of dialling down the spectacle anytime soon. Combat is an orgy for the eyes to the point where so many things are going on that it can be a little tricky to keep track. Fortunately, as a player of Bayonetta : Drab Edition (PS3 exclusive!) I was able to maintain my sanity in the face of such graphical absurdity. I know of several 360 players who were struck blind by this game, such is the flashiness of it. It’s a credit to Platinum games that they obviously knew what style they were going for and stuck with it throughout. It shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone that the guys behind Godhand and Okami are able to realise an unusual vision in such a complete way. The cutscenes in particular are utterly off the wall and as a result, fantastic. Ridiculous dialogue and one-liners mesh very well with situations and combat scenes that make the Matrix look like a SyFy (god I hate that) original movie in comparison.

Bayonetta doesn't earn too many points on the realism front.

It would be easy to dismiss Bayonetta as an exercise in titillation and there’s certainly plenty of that, but beneath that catsuit lies an elegant and fluid combat system. I have to blame Bayonetta for ruining my God of War 3 experience, simply because while God of War 3 is still using a now-clunky system developed 5 years ago, Bayonetta chains combos, magic, sword and gunplay together in a way that surpasses everything else on the market. Devil May Cry designer Yusuke Hashimoto, the producer on Bayonetta, has done a stellar job of creating a system that allows you to slide organically from one ridiculous move to the next in a way that doesn’t feel at all mechanical or stilted. Like Clover’s Godhand, Bayonetta gives you plenty of tells, warning of incoming enemy attacks. If you get hit by them, it’s your own fault and various dodge and evasion moves are at your disposal. A perfectly timed dodge will trigger ‘witch time’, a short bullet-time effect for you to use as you wish. Personally, I found it helpful to lay down a big, damaging combo that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to pull off without the risk of taking damage. It’s extremely easy to break out of any combo and avoid being hit, as long as you’re alert and quick enough to do it. That’s an issue that God of War 3 failed to address in a satisfactory manner and future spectacle fighter games should learn from Bayonettas approach. There’s plenty of enemy variety here as well

I... I dunno either

Those hoping for a purely combat-centric experience like Godhand may be disappointed, there are limited platforming and puzzle-solving elements, which is unfortunate because they’re not very good. Those of you who enjoy God of War’s platforming and puzzle-solving will also be disappointed, since Bayonetta doesn’t have a lot of it and what there is isn’t exactly taxing. Personally I found both elements tolerable. The occasional moment of frustration where I would fall into lava and instantly die is something I could have done without. This kind of thing can really ruin a game of this type. Devil May Cry 4 would be a good example of this, timed jumping puzzles were the bane of my existence in that game and I ended up shelving it for that very reason. To Bayonetta’s credit, many of the platforming sequences are impressive in terms of spectacle, often involving running on walls or ceilings while chaos reigns below. It’s understandable to want to extend the game by adding these kind of things but honestly, I would have preferred a shorter game that was purely focussed on combat. Ultimately it’s a matter of sticking to your strengths and trusting the players to appreciate the meat of the game as opposed to time-filling fluff. The temptation to cater to a wider audience by putting in flimsy platforming, puzzle-solving or god-forbid stealth segments seems to be common lately and it’s a trend I dearly hope to see die a painful death as soon as possible.

What is the world's premiere guns-on-feet simulator worth?

Quantity : You can expect to finish this game in roughly ten hours. Its replay value depends on how much you embrace the pursuit of perfection. A hard mode unlocks at the end of the game, which will provide a punishing experience. There are plenty of additional weapons and accessories to unlock, which change the gameplay considerably as well as challenges to complete and an unlockable arena mode, secret characters and an online leaderboard. Each encounter is also rated, so perfectionists will want to gain a pure platinum medal in each fight, which also unlocks a special bonus. If perfecting your technique against a punishing difficulty curve appeals to you, you can expect to be playing this game an awful lot longer than ten hours.

Quality : The majority of your time in Bayonetta will be spent engaging in absurd combat or watching absurd cutscenes. If you appreciate either of those things, then every minute is one of pure gaming joy. Platforming and minor puzzle-solving is filler content that is not particularly enjoyable, more of a necessary evil to get onto the next wonderful brawl. There is isn’t an awful lot of it.

Price per Hour : Based on current prices for the game from Amazon, you can expect to pay £17.99 in the UK or $39.99 in the US for a new copy. The price disparity there is quite high. UK players are getting a bargain at £1.79 per hour for a single playthrough, whereas US players are looking at $3.99. For US players who doubt that they will play the game a second time, I would recommend a rental on that basis. 4 bucks an hour is not that bad in the grand scheme of things, but bear in mind this game has no multiplayer so how much value you get out of it is pretty heavily dependent on your desire to tackle hard-mode and pursue unlocks. A used copy will save you a chunk of change, but bear in mind that this game only came out a couple of months ago and new sales support the developer and publisher directly, whereas older games that are out of print do not. I would never recommend buying a used copy of a game like this until the publisher stops paying attention to the sales figures further down the line. By purchasing a new copy at the moment, you’re showing the publisher how well a game like this can sell and encouraging them to bankroll future titles of this type. It might sound a little preachy, but it’s the reality of the industry, money talks.

Conclusion : A thoroughly engrossing and stylish spectacle fighter which I’d rate as best of breed right now. Get it on 360 if you can but even with its graphical issues, the PS3 version is an extremely good time.

Buy it if you liked : Devil May Cry, Godhand, Heavenly Sword, God of War

Avoid it if you hate : Hyper-sexualised female characters, hectic combat, absurdity, repeat mini-bosses, remixes of Fly me to the Moon.

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 9

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:52:53 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz160410.mp3)

This episode of Blue Plz! is brought to you by Firstpersonleisure, a new gaming podcast that reviews console, computer, card, and board games. Each episode reviews games with an emphasis on providing a humorous presentation and entertainment.

This week on Blue Horse!

Do you own a Celestial Steed? Are you easily offended? This may not be the podcast for you!

In the mailbag, a tank asks why it’s not ok for him to ‘take things slow’ in 5-mans, the value of flasks is questioned and That Retarded Horse may or may not be mentioned (it is mentioned). You should also go and check out Drewbie and Macheath’s teaser trailer for The Grind 3!

[myyoutubeplaylist hxBEu5s85NA]

Opening topic for the show needless to say concerned the Celestial Steed mount (hereby referred to as that retarded horse). TotalBiscuit successfully trolls the entire World of Warcraft, but how did Blizzard pull this off? How did they convince so many people to pay so much money for a mount that is now common as muck? Their marketing tricks are revealed.

New Cataclysm zones are previewed. Check out Vashj’ir, the incredible underwater zone. How will these mechanics work? Nobody knows but Blizzard, that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate however. Will extensive use of phasing in Hyjal provide the storytelling experience we’ve been looking for?

We also look back at Wrath it’s successes and failures, as Blizzard publishes it’s woefully thin-on-the-ground Battleplan. What needs carrying forward and what needs throwing in front of a bus before Cataclysm comes out?

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener suggests a Choose your own Adventure style system for raiding. Could that work? We investigate.

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Two Plz! Blue Plz double bill starting tonight!

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:22:33 +0000

Yes indeed folks, you heard me correctly. There will be NOT ONE, BUT TWO Blue Plz! episodes this week. The first will be at the usual time of 8pm BST (3pm EST, 9pm Paris/servertime) with a pre-show one show beforehand. The second will be on Saturday the 17th of April at 9pm BST (4pm EST, 10pm Paris/servertime), also with a pre-show beforehand.

The reason behind this is simply to ensure that I get to talk about that big Twitter devchat that’s going on tonight, a few hours after my show ends. Those fiends! Well they will not escape me this time.

Why not take this opportunity to tune in live? It’s easy! Simply check the frontpage when the preshow starts, an on-site player will pop up, click the play button and away you go!

If you’re new to the site and haven’t checked out Blue Plz! before, click the Episodes link below to download or stream any episode of the show, or subscribe via iTunes.

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TRH – Blue Plz! replaces Gearscore

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:53:59 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist gCjuFpQ3EeA]

Yes indeed folks, Blizzard have answered your prayers. Gearscore is a thing of the past thanks to the new, innovative way to tell at a glance whether or not a player should be a part of your raidgroup. Introducing TRH, short for That Retarded Horse.

That Retarded Horse is the ideal way to quickly determine who shouldn’t be in your group, with no mods required! Simply use your eyes, these are usually located in the front of your face. Direct your eyes at your game screen and observe the prospective player. Is he sitting on a dumb looking, impractical horse that he bought with real money, a reskin that he willingly sat in a queue for hours in order to purchase, with actual cash? If yes, then there is no need to invite that player. That Retarded Horse will tell you all you need to know about potential PUG members in an incredibly efficient manner. It’s perfect for raid leaders, puggers and even guildmasters. Does a guildie have That Retarded Horse? Then bust em down to bencher! Want to get back at a dramallama within your guild? Tell his wife/girlfriend (ok, who am I kidding)/mother/sister/friends about how he spent real money on That Retarded Horse, sit back and watch the fireworks! It’s astounding, it’s amazing and best of all, it’s free to use, with no downloads required!

Celebrate, dance on the rooftops, for the age of TRH has arrived.

Gaming Express 14th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:00:23 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp140410.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by First Person Leisure. First Person Leisure is a new gaming podcast that reviews console, computer, card, and board games. Each episode reviews games with an emphasis on providing a humorous presentation and entertainment.

Digital Distribution Deals

Alien vs Predator Classic 2000 (Steam) – $1.99/£1.99
Commandos Pack (Steam) – $4.99 / £4.99 / 4,99€
Madballs (Steam) – Free weekend

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Gaming Express 12th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:49:08 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp120410.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by UGT-servers.com, premium quality gaming VOIP solutions.

Digital Distribution Deals

Direct2Drive Spring Sale (US) (UK) (EU)

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Gaming the System 11th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:12:40 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts110410.mp3)

Welcome to Gaming the System

As always, we kick off the show by telling you what we have been playing this week? SWAG’s been butting his head up against Galaga Legions and dying horribly, whereas TotalBiscuit is playing the best of the robot suicide ninja dog-fighting simulators around, Plain Sight. SWAG also expresses his frustration at elements of Mount and Blade Warband, so if you too are having issues overcoming the learning curve, TotalBiscuit, the show’s very own Mount and Blade expert, can help.

Music – Helena Noguerra – Fly me to the Moon (Bayonetta)

This Week in Gaming (00:25:20)

This Week’s Releases

This Week in Horrible Shovelware – Rig’n'Roll (PC)

Music – Hidenoria Iwasaki – Althea’s Waltz (Crystal Chronicles – The Crystal Bearers)

The Review – Just Cause 2 (00:59:10)

Music – Masaharu Iwata – Counterattack (Tekken 6)

Top 10 – Next Generation Asshole Simulators (01:26:23)

1. GTA 4
2. Assassin’s Creed 2
3. Saints Row 2
4. Just Cause 2
5. inFamous
6. The Godfather
7. Crackdown
8. Prototype
9. Red-Faction Guerilla
10. Dead Rising

Music – Falcom Sound Team jdk – DESERT OF DESPAIR (Ys 7)

MMOrrery – Runes of Magic (01:48:40)

Music – Erina Niwa GM01 Chapter Start (Bayonetta)
Music – Hiroshi Yamaguchi – The Gates of Hell (Bayonetta)

Your Turn/Why this and not that? (02:12:50)

We asked you why you picked a PS3 over a 360, or visa-versa. You answered, find out who won the limited edition Machinarium LPs by listening.

Music – Go Shiina – Give me Power (Godeater)
Music – Go Shiina – Strategy Briefing (Godeater)

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Blue Plz! – Season 4 – Episode 8

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:21:12 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz100410.mp3)

This episode of Blue Plz! is brought to you by the Edge of Insanity guild (Bloodhoof-US). Congrats on our first Lich King kill since losing 18+ core raiders and rebuilding our guild. My thanks to everyone who had faith in us and stayed or joined, from Bhoz.

This week on Blue Plz!

Welcome to this week’s Blue Plz! In the mailbag, a listener asks a variety of questions. The claims that I am an agony aunt have been greatly exaggerated by the way. Plus another listener thinks Gearscore should be banned! Why that’s a bad idea, even if the system itself sucks.

Cataclysm changes abound ladies and gentlemen! A lot of class info has come out and all I care about is the Mage. Well, not really, various issues have cropped up. Can homogenisation ever be a good thing? Do I really want Bloodlust? What’s the deal with airline food? All this and more.

The X-53 touring rocket is almost here. Here’s the reasons why you can’t have it and why you’re not entitled to it just because you took part in some offer a year ago that was completely different to what’s there now. The entitlement is overwhelming!

Also Imbecile of the Week returns. Why do you want me to hurry up and not spend an hour in this horrible instance asks a dumb-ass on the EU forums? The evisceration commences.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks whether or not it’s justified for Blizzard to charge for optional services and totals up how much you have spent so far on World of Warcraft. The results may scare you.

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SHOUTcraft – JTProg [T] vs Viperskwa [T]

Intricacy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:33:41 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft3match3podcast.mp3)

[myyoutubeplaylist oUBwRiZ3Xrc]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

SHOUTcraft – JTProg [T] vs Whiplash [P]

Intricacy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:29:33 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft3match2podcast.mp3)

[myyoutubeplaylist M9AMquVwTTE]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

SHOUTcraft – Viperskwa [T] vs JiYan [P]

Intricacy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:26:32 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft3match1podcast.mp3)

[myyoutubeplaylist dwfNO62zOVQ]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

Gaming Express 8th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:31:22 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp080410.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Trials 2 - $1.99

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Gaming Express 6th April 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:14:07 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp060410.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Courtesy of Robothobo.com
Geometry Wars 2 (XBLA) – 400 points
Various Xbox Live Arcade titles
Joint Ops (Direct2Drive) – $7.50 / 4,95£ / 7,50€
Various EA iPhone games

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episode 8 – There is reaper harrassment in this video, honest

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:17:11 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist b6lt5NtjipI]

In another placement match, Terran vs Terran occurs, a perfect opportunity to show off the dangerous Reaper harassment strategy.

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 7

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:11:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz020410.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

A shorter show that usual, simply because I have very little to say. I know, shocking isn’t it! WoW’s been sitting in a state of stagnation lately and it’s really starting to take it’s toll. However, the show must go on!

A plethora of questions for the mailbag are followed up by an exposition of raid lockout extension. Why should you do it, what hurdles would you have to cross to get there and at the end of the day, who’s fault is it that guilds are getting so bored of ICC, they are desperately trying to get to hard-modes as fast as possible, willingly sacrificing badges and gear in order to do it?

Paragon gets world first kill of Lich King 25 heroic. Congratulations to them, but why exactly did Blizzard put the 5% buff into hard-modes as well? Does Blizzard know what it’s doing or where it wants to take the hard-mode idea, is it betraying the original purpose? And why exactly did Ensidia have to endure a month of awful server conditions with Blizzard lifting barely a finger to do anything about it?

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks why there isn’t more investment in roleplaying.

If you want to a win a baby gryphon hatchling, simply leave a comment below and tell me, which 5 man boss would you like to see turned into a raid encounter and what changes would you make to ensure that it was challenging? The best response wins.

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Gaming Express 31st March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:01:10 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp310310.mp3)

This episode is brought to you by UGT-servers.com, premium quality gaming Ventrilo servers.

Digital Distribution Deals

Quake Pack (Steam) – Various prices
AI War : Fleet Command – $9.99 / £5.99 / 6,99€
AI War : The Zenith Remnant – $4.99 / £3.49 / 4,49€

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Gaming the System – 28th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:19:30 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts280310.mp3)

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System. For your information, due to SWAG’s new commitments, Gaming the System will be bi-monthly from here on in. I’m working on a new concept show to fill the odd weeks, stay tuned for more details.

What we been playin’?

SWAG ends up frustrated at Left4Dead too whereas TotalBiscuit has been menacing the townsfolk with a Spring Onion in Way of the Samurai 3.

Music Break- Masashi Hamauzu – Can’t Catch a Break (Final Fantasy 13)

This week in Gaming (00:25:00)

Seems that Gamestop got involved in class action lawsuit over DLC. Who’s in the right on this one? We explore the legal issues. Plus the 3DS is announced, but what’s the point? How is it going to play? Speculation abound!

You can find this weeks releases here

This week in horrible shovelware – Monster Buck Hunter

Music Break – Tokyo Metropolitian Symphony Orchestra – Oboe Medley in the Castle (Dragon Quest 9)

The Review – God of War 3 (00:58:50)

The killer app is finally here, but is it too much of a throwback? Find out in our full, honest-to-god review of this PS3 title and the conclusion to an epic trilogy.

Music Break – Cris Velasco – Brothers of Blood (God of War 3)

Top Ten Spectacle Fighters (01:22:00)

Spectacle fighters, over-the-top violence, visual glory, but which are the best titles in this new pseudo-genre? Find out below.

1. Bayonetta
2. Devil May Cry 3
3. God of War 2
4. GodHand
5. XMEN Origins Wolverine
6. Madworld
7. Ninja Gaiden Sigma
8. Heavenly Sword
9. Onechambara: Bikini Zombie Slayers
10. Genji

Music Break – Masafumi Takada – Sunset Heroes (Godhand)

Why this and not that? (01:44:30)

Why did you buy a PS3 and not a 360, or visa-versa? What made you choose, at the time? Answer this question in the comments box below for a chance to win 1 of 2 limited edition Machininarium soundtrack LPs, signed by the artist himself.

Music finale – Tokyo Metropolitian Symphony Orchestra – Beckoning, Dream vision of our Town, Tavern Polka (Dragon Quest 9)

Gaming Express 28th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:38:44 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp280310.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by Wantsthis.com – WantsThis.com is a free online wish list that works with any website. Perfect for christmas, birthdays, or a baby or wedding registry. Share the list with everyone, and get all the stuff you want!

Digital Distribution Deals

Courtesy of Robothobo.com

Bad Company 2 for $20 with coupon code
Torchlight (Steam) – $5.00 / £3.75 / 4,00€
Play Global Agenda for free until April 1st
Cryostasis (Direct2Drive) – $7.50/£7.50/6,95€
Viva Pinata (GFWL) – $4.99
Kalpyso Strategy games (GoG) – Various
Various Impulse Deals
Bloodbowl (THQ UK Store) – £17.49

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 6

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:12:07 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz260310.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

TotalBiscuit returns with another dose of vitriol and intrigue.

Opening up the mailbag a listener asks, is it ok to blow off friends for a raid? (not like that…) TotalBiscuit has to wonder how he became an Agony Aunt all of a sudden.

Our first topic is the concept of the lethal boss mechanic. Where did it go outside of the occassional hard-mode fight? How has the raid-game suffered as a result of it’s absence and why exactly does TotalBiscuit suck so much at Sindrigosa? All will be revealed!

The WoW TCG has been picked up by another company and will continue, good news, but why should people care? There are certainly reasons for that and what’s the difference between good merchandise and flagrant cash-cows?

No, you don’t get to be in my group? Wanna know why? Blame the Entitled Spider.

We’re also happy to showcase a new track from composing legend Alexander Brandon, the man behind such soundtracks as Deus Ex (which you hear in Blue Plz!’s music bed) and Unreal Tournament. It’s called Severn City, the opening track from his new album Earthscape, go check it out!

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Gaming Express 25th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:24:53 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp250310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Torchlight (Steam) – $5.00 / £3.75 / 4,00€
Sword of the Stars Ultimate (Gamersgate) – 65% off
Tropico 3 (Gamersgate) – 50% off
Gothic 2 Gold (Gamersgate) – 40% off

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Gaming Express 24th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:37:11 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp240310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Left4Dead2 (Steam) – $24.99 / £14.99 / 18,99€

Left4Dead2 4-pack (Steam – $74.99 / £44.99 / 56,99€

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State of Play for March

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:23:35 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (stateofplaymarch2010.mp3)

This is a State of Play update for March 2010, outlining the various projects and upcoming events on the site. There’s a few things I’d like to discuss. The audio reading of this article has gone out on all feeds to ensure that all listeners are kept up-to-date on the site’s latest news.

The Head of Steam Sponsorship Program

We’re happy to announce an innovative new advertising program, which allows you, the listener, to invest in the site and get something back in return. We’re opening up show sponsorship opportunities for Gaming Express, Gaming the System and Blue Plz! What does this entail? Well, it means that an individual, organisation or company can ‘buy an episode’ and advertise their product, website, guild or whatever they want to a huge podcast audience. How will we use the revenue raised for this program? Simple, we’re going to pump it directly back into advertising. You buy advertising on our site and we use that money to buy advertising on other sites, bringing in more listeners which in turn increases our ad revenue and the number of people hearing your sponsorship message. Beautiful isn’t it? A cycle of investment. We like to think of it as building up a head of steam, stoking the coals of the Gaming Express engine. Let me lay out in simple terms, the benefits of this program to you, the listener. Getting more listeners sounds good for the site, but how does it affect you?

More listeners means more cooperation from publishers and developers. A larger site can demand more frequent review copies of brand new titles, which means more content for you, the listener.
A larger site can bring in bigger interviews which again, means more content for you.
A larger site can also bring in more contest prizes and giveaways, which means free stuff for you.
You get to watch your investment grow. The money you put into advertising on our site, will directly bring in more listeners who will hear your advertisement. The more you advertise, the greater your return, as more and more listeners hear about whatever it is you want to promote.
You grow the community, which means more active forums, chatrooms and game servers. More people to talk to and socialise with within an already vibrant and grown-up community can’t possibly be a bad thing.

So how does it work? Real simple. In order to setup an ad, go to the Sponsors link at the top of the page. Enter the appropriate fee amount for your chosen show and click the ‘recognition wall’ button, a form will pop up. Select ‘User Details and Comments only, then enter your name, email address and the website of what it is you want to promote. You then have a 200 character text box to enter your sponsorship message. No need to start it with ‘This episode was brought to you by’, we’ll handle that, just start with the name of whatever it is you want to promote and a short message about it that you’d like read out. Once you’re done, click ‘Tip the Brit’, a Paypal screen will pop up, login to your Paypal account and complete the payment. We’ll then get back to you telling you which show your ad will air on. We reserve the right to refund your money if the sponsorship schedule gets too full. Below, you can find the prices for show sponsorship.

An episode of Gaming Express (approx 20 slots available per month) – $10
An episode of Gaming the System (4-5 slots available per month) – $15
An episode of Blue Plz! (4-5 slots available per month) – $30

What will you get for that money? A custom sponsorship message beginning with “This episode of Show X is brought to you by….” followed by whatever message you have in mind. Sponsorship messages should be around 10 seconds in length. This message will be presented at the very start of the episode. Your message will also be embedded into the id3 tags of the podcast and a bolded text link provided at the top of the episode’s page on the website.

You might be asking, just how effective is this form of advertising? Audio endorsement is an often overlooked but highly effective form of advertising. For starters, unlike banner advertising, you can’t adblock it and it’s often more of a hassle to skip than it is to just listen. Secondly, it’s being delivered by the host of the show, so other listeners are more likely to take notice. In combination with a text link, to ensure that those interested in whatever you are promoting can quickly and easily access your website, what you have is an extremely effective single-shot advert that goes out to a community tens of thousands strong with no strings attached and no long-term commitment. The average banner ad gets 1 click per 1000 views. While we can’t give an exact numbers for obvious reasons, our previous and current sponsors have been extremely happy with the performance of their audio advertising.

You can advertise your blog, your iPhone app, your indie game, your band’s website, whatever you want, just as long as it’s legal and isn’t run by horrible chinese goldfarmers. Best of all? 100% of that money goes straight into our marketing budget, buying up advertising space all over the internet. You can already find our ads on such sites as Team Liquid and Twilightsucks.com, we are genuinely committed to investing as much as we can into this site and into you, the community.

SHOUTcraft video delays and hardware upgrades

Righto, now that we’ve got that over with, I do have a piece of bad news. SHOUTcraft’s new videos will be delayed a few days due to the unsatisfactory state of my hardware. At this time, my computer is incapable of FRAPsing 1080p footage at the appropriate framerate to create new videos. Needless to say, exporting lossless video at that resolution (that’s over 40 megabytes a second) is extremely taxing on any machine. Now, as the invariable result of slight slow-down due to installing stuff and having more stuff on my machine, it’s dropped below that 25fps barrier and I can’t hold the framerate stable anymore, which results in stuttering and poorer video performance.

The good news is however, all of us are Cynicalbrit are committed to going above and beyond the call of duty to give you the absolute best quality and we’re not afraid to invest in order to make that happen. A brand new high-end quadcore processor is on it’s way as I write this, which should alleviate the FRAPs bottleneck. In combination with my current low latency RAM and double DirectX11 graphics cards, you can expect videos created with an even higher framerate and improved visual fidelity. You want the best looking Starcraft 2 videos on the internet? You got it.

Alexander Brandon interview

I’m excited to announce an upcoming interview with legendary composer Alexander Brandon, the guy behind the music of classics such as Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament. Alex sadly has a bit of a fever right now so we’re unsure as to when the interview will happen, but he’s committed to doing it and we hope he gets well soon. He has also very generously allowed us to use his music in our podcasts and joins fellow composer Frank Klepacki as one of Cynicalbrit’s favoured artists. You can expect to hear his new material plus plenty of his golden oldies in future shows.

Bad Company 2 server

Now before I sign off for today I’d just like to remind everyone of how much we appreciate your support. Without you guys, the site would serve no purpose. As a thank you, we brought up a full-size Bad Company 2 server a few weeks ago. We’d love for you to join us in this fantastic multiplayer game. Finding it is simple, just load up the server list and sort alphabetically, you’ll find us under Cynicalbrit.com – Easy, isn’t it? It should be noted that blowing up TotalBiscuit will invoke swift and lethal retribution with the business end of an M95 sniper rifle.

Thanks for reading guys and we will of course keep you up to date of any future

Gaming Express – 23rd March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:46:17 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp230310.mp3)

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episode 7 – Somebody call the exterminator?

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:42:54 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist uxsbZfgqDIk]

As the placement matches continue, will TotalBiscuit find his vengeance against the never-ended Zerg tide?

As always, watch on Youtube in 720p for best quality.

I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Episode 6 – ASpire to Greatness

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:40:37 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist XNwLIlkio7I]

The placement matches continue. I hate bugs.

As always, watch on Youtube in 720p for best quality.

Gaming Express – 22nd March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:37:22 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp220310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Universe at War (Gamersgate) – 75% off
7.62 (Gamersgate) – 75% off
Rome : Europa Universalis (Direct2Drive) – £4.95/$5/4,95 €

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Gaming the System – 21st March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:36:02 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts220310.mp3)

Welcome to Gaming the System. SWAG is away this week so Stormgale and Alris step-in to fill his big shoes.

We kick off the show with a discussion of the various games we’ve been playing, video and otherwise. While the temptation to talk about God of War 3 at length is great, that’ll be saved for the full review later this week. We did get our hands on Nintendo’s masterpiece, New Super Arsehole Bros. for Wii however, high-fived the president in Ghost Squad and failed to save the planet in Pandemic.

Music break – Gerard Marino – Poseidon’s Wrath (God of War 3)

This week in Gaming (00:15:24)

The trio talk War in the North, the new LOTR hack-and-slash by the developers of Champions of Norrath and Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance. Also is the Natal really just a glorified Eyetoy? Sony thinks so.

This week’s releases

Music Break – Luxoflow Houston/John (Vigilante

The Review – Dawn of War 2 – Chaos Rising (00:42:14)

Dawn of War 2 gets an expansion, but is it worth buying? Find out everything there is to know about the product in today’s review. Did Relic screw up the balance again? Do lemmings like cliffs?

Music Break – SEGA – Funky Dealer (Jet Set Radio Future)

This is why we can’t have nice things – Lightgun games (01:06:10)

There is some disagreement in the studio as to whether or not lightgun games are a legitimate and relevant genre anymore. Why did Dead Space Extraction sell so poorly? Is it a big leap forward for lightgun games or a step backwards, perhaps both?

Music Break – Solar Fields – Edge & Flight (Mirror’s Edge)

Your Turn (01:28:30)

Bayonetta and Darksiders both came out on the same day and were both marketed to the same demographic. Which did you buy and why? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Music Break – Gerard Marino – God of War 3 Overture (God of War 3)

SHOUTcraft – Zieth [T] vs Zei [Z] – Match 2 – 12th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:45:06 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft120310_match2.mp3)

[myyoutubeplaylist 5FjbLwtuW-M]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

Zieth and Zei (aka Zarum) have a bone to pick with each other after the last match. Will Zei be able to counter Zieth’s dangerous marine and marauder strategy that was showcased so well in the last match?

Vendorstrike! – Elcor Paladins

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:19:36 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (vendorstrike200310.mp3)

This week on Vendorstrike!

The quarterly Gamefest at TB’s place is back in full force and that means the return of the distinctly lo-fi disaster-area known as Vendorstrike! Featuring TotalBiscuit trying desperately to reign in the tangents and nonsense of 4 co-hosts, Stormgale, Alris, Bunkerface and Mustachionut. This entire show should be taken with a pinch of salt.

So do you feel the cold hand of death upon your heart? Voice-acting, the good and the bad, why would you use the same actor for 2 completely different bosses, in the same instance? Ask Blizzard, we don’t have a clue.

Our main event this evening is an interview with Larisa of The Pink Pigtail Inn a great blog about daily life in a casual raiding guild with plenty of strong opinions. If you’re looking for the lone island of sanity in this episode, then skip to 34:34

So, Ensidia is moving to Paragon’s server. Is that a justifiable state of affairs? We find out as we cap off the show.

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Gaming Express 18th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:10:29 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp180310.mp3)

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Gaming Express 17th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:26:44 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp170310.mp3)

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Gaming Express 16th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:27:01 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp160310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Dragon Age (Steam) – $33.49 / £20.09 / 33,49€

Everquest 1 pack (Steam) – $2.50 / £1.99 / 1,99€

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SHOUTcraft – Zieth [T] vs Zei [Z] – 12th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:04:11 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft120310_match1.mp3)

[myyoutubeplaylist L3Vn5vo202w]

Remember to pop the video out into a new window and watch it in Full HD for the best quality possible.

Emperor and TotalBiscuit test the waters with their first ever co-commentary as Zieth and Zei, both platinum league 2v2 players, are brought out of their element into a short and brutal 1v1 match. Who will prevail? Watch and find out.

Gaming Express 15th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:44:36 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp150310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

A week of Atari (Gamersgate)

Hacker Evolution Untold (Direct2Drive) – $12.50 / £8.50 / 8,50€

Sniper Elite (Steam) – $2 / £2 / 2€

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 5

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:28:07 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz130310.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

TotalBiscuit delves into the mailbag to answer questions on the subject of Gearscore. The answer? Get Elitist Group you ninnies!

Newsflash ladies and gentleman, you are not a unique and beautiful snowflake. An argument from someone who should know better claims viability for the Frost spec in raiding, against all rationale, rhyme and reason (oh and of course, peer-reviewed theorycraft). Why would you pick sub-optimally? Well it’s because you ‘like it’ of course, and you want to shove your misinformed, selfish choice down the throats of everyone else that raids with you.

Nerfs make you stupid, it’s as simple as that. An anecdotal segment presents the argument that nerfing content proportionally dumbs down raiders. We call it, Suckmosis. Find out about it’s effects as Dark were the Skies puts on their dunces caps and wipes on previous farm-status content, while using the 5% damage/healing/stam buff so ‘kindly’ provided by Blizzard to help morons beat ICC content.

The Crimson Hall is cleared by Dark were the Skies, but is it any good? A mix of old school mechanics and new ideas creates a challenging, yet not mind-blowing set of bosses.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks are some race/class combination obsolete and what can be done about it?

For those of you who don’t usually tune in live, I’d like to point out that Studiocam is now in use. Invade the privacy of the host by clicking on the Chat button in the bottom navbar and listening live on Friday’s at 8pm GMT (3pm EST).

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – A Complete Void of Skill

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:17:12 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist kEdvD_BCdZo]

The placement matches begin in a typically disastrous fashion. Will our plucky failure prevail? (spoiler : no)

As always, watch on Youtube in 720p for best quality.

Gaming Express 11th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:12:20 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp110310.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by ugt-servers.com, premium quality gaming ventrilo servers as used by us.

Digital Distribution Deals

Today’s deals courtesy of Robothobo.com

Gyromancer and Mini Ninjas (Steam) – Check the page for deals

Mount & Blade (Gamersgate) – £5/5€

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Gaming Express 10th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:18:12 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp100310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Tomb Raider and Last Remnant packs (Steam) – Check out the deals page for more info

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Gaming Express 9th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:18:58 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp090310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Condemned : Criminal Origins (Direct2Drive) – $3.95/£2.95/2,95€

Battlestations/Order of War Pack (Steam) – Check the various deals here

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Gaming Express 8th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:14:15 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp080310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Hitman/Deus Ex complete pack (Steam) – $16.98 / £10.18 / 16,98€

Cogs (Gamersgate) – 50% off

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Gaming the System 7th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:04:07 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts070310.mp3)

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System.

As always we start off by telling you what we’ve been doing this week in gaming. SWAG and TB both wreaked havoc in the Just Cause 2 demo and TB retained his indie cred by playing Bob came in Pieces.

Music Break – Normand Corbeil – Ethan Mar’s Main Theme (Heavy Rain)

This Week in Gaming (00:16:15)

In the news this week. STO players are angry(again). Was Atari’s Star Trek Online firesale too much too soon and is STO going to survive? In-depth space analysis ensues! Plus Activision vs Infinity Ward, what a bloody mess, we dissect it. Last but not least, Sumo Digital hates PC gamers, TB has a few choice words for .those ignorant of the PC gaming market. Remember to check out this week’s releases.

Music Break – Megaman 10 Soundtrack – Blade Man’s Stage

The Review – Bad Company 2 (00:51:43)

On the block this week, DICE’s latest multiplayer shooter, Bad Company 2. All you need to know about your future combat purchase.

Music Break – Cris Velasco & Mike Reagan – Darksiders Main Theme

Sacred Cows – Battiefield 2 (01:22:18)

Does anyone ever have anything bad to say about Battlefield 2? TB and SWAG delve deep into the multiplayer classic to pick at it’s flaws and look at why it is remembered so fondly.

Music Break – David Tallroth, Jonas Ostholm – Load Music MEC (Battlefield 2)

The Top Ten – Why you need to own an N64

This week’s Top Ten is for the benefit of those who missed this particular generation of consoles. Here are 10 games you need to own on N64.

10. Tetrisphere

9. Mario Kart 64

8. Blast Corp

7. Super Smash Bros.

6. Ogre Battle 64

5. Killer Instinct

4. Goldeneye 007

3. Starfox 64

2. Super Mario 64

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Music Break – RARE – Jago (Shakuhachi Remix) Killer Instinct 2)

CONTESTS!

Yes indeed folks, as well as announcing the winners of our two contests this week, we are announcing another. You can win a copy of Bad Company 2 on PC by providing us with some Gaming the System fan-art. Artistic or funny (or both), all are welcome to submit their artwork. If you provide it in 2000×2000 resolution at 200dpi, we’ll also put your design on merchandise for the world to see. Email your design in using the link below. Remember, the work must be your own and not contain copyrighted material, in order to be eligible.

Gaming Express 6th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:08:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp060310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Global Agenda- £23.99/€31.99/$39.99 for 1, £20.99/€27.99/$34.99 each for 2 or £17.99/€23.99/$29.99 each for 4.
Flock (Direct2Drive) – £2.61/€2.90/$3.95
Toki Tori (Steam) – £1.62/€2.23/$2.45
Operation Flashpoint 2 – Dragon Rising – £5.49/€6.99/$7.49
Streetfighter 4 (GFWL) – $19.99
All Mac Games 50% off (Direct2Drive)
Real Myst (GoG) – $4.49
Uru (GoG) – $7.49

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SHOUTcraft

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:52:01 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (shoutcraft.mp3)

On the 5th of March 2010, David “Emperor” McCafferty announced live on his show The Emperor’s Court, that Cynicalbrit host John “TotalBiscuit” Bain and himself, would be teaming up for a brand new Starcraft 2 play-by-play show which they are calling SHOUTcraft. We are now in a position to tell you why you should be excited about this.

Award winning hosts.

Anyone can commentate a play-by-play, but not everyone has been recognised by Blizzard themselves for doing so. Emperor was the grand champion of Blizzard’s US Shoutcasting Contest 2009. TotalBiscuit was the grand champion of Blizzard’s EU Shoutcasting Contest 2009. They beat rivals from all over the world, both professional and amateur, to win the grand prize in each event. This wasn’t just a flash in the pan, both Emperor and TotalBiscuit have been shoutcasting for many years, TotalBiscuit has over a decade of experience behind the mic. Up until now, you’ve gotten to hear them both on their own, or with co-hosts, but never together.

Emperor’s clear, technical style is to-the-point and easy to understand. He delivers the commentary as it happens with perfect clarity, helping the viewer fathom exactly what’s going on on the screen. His style has been described by listeners as so accurate, that they can picture exactly what’s going on without even having to see it happen.

TotalBiscuit’s fiery rhetoric serves him well in the role of co-commentor, bringing an empassioned thrill-ride of rapid-fire excitement to the mix. He is a firm believer in conveying the atmosphere of a professional sporting event, in a gaming play-by-play setting. You will be on the edge of your seat and feel your blood pumping when he launches into an all-out verbal assault.

It’s a match made in gaming heaven and we think that this unique chemistry will help bring you play-by-play gaming as you’ve never seen it before.

1080p HD Video

One of the great things about sporting events is kicking back in front of your big widescreen TV with some buddies and watching the game. Up until recently, the clarity of television has not been available online, but thanks to Youtube’s 1080p option, that has now changed. SHOUTcraft will bring you every match in full 1080p, that’s 1920×1080 resolution. We’re bringing a new meaning to the phrase ’sit back and watch the game’. Standard definition, 480p and 720p will also be available for those with smaller monitors or lower bandwidth connections. Thanks to SHOUTcraft’s legacy Director’s account, we enjoy unlimited video length and a limit of 20gb per video, so unlike other Starcraft 2 channels, you’ll get to watch the entire match, regardless of length or quality, uninterrupted.

Live video streaming

Watching archived video is great, but watching it live is a different experience entirely. With un-capped live video streaming, SHOUTcraft will provide you all the excitement of a live e-sports event as it happens. With integrated chat, you can be a part of the crowd and enjoy the triumphs, defeats and emotionally charged drama, un-cut and uninterupted.

Crystal Clear Hi-Fi Audio

Thanks to many years of producing experience, the SHOUTcraft team will be able to provide you with excellent audio quality. A tried and tested VOIP setup will be used to provide live commentary and our 1080p archived videos will enjoy fully post-produced audio taken directly from the source. Both commentators will record themselves losslessly so you’ll get to hear sportscast quality audio and nothing else.

4 Ways to experience SHOUTcraft

We realise that restricting the ways that our fans can enjoy e-sports is counterproductive, so we’ve come up with 4 ways to enjoy SHOUTcraft productions.

Live video-streaming, as it happens
1080p streaming video courtesy of Youtube HD.
Post-produced, high quality audio podcast, available via iTunes and on-site streaming.
Watch the replay in Starcraft 2 itself, with an audio commentary track designed to be easily synced up with the playback.

Exciting and Accessible

This is our mantra. E-sports has thus far been shackled by an extremely limited audience and part of the blame for that must rest with the commentators themselves. Some of the best eSports commentators are also some of the most inaccessible, using unfamiliar terminology and assuming a great deal of knowledge on the part of the viewer. This can and does turn off new eSports fans, who view the barrier to entry as too high. SHOUTcraft is different, thanks to extensive experience in presentation and shoutcasting, the team will present Starcraft 2, an incredibly deep and technical game, in a clear and easily understood manner. SHOUTcraft’s style will be appealing to both new players and veterans alike. It’s not just about making the game easy to understand however, it’s about making the game exciting to watch. If commentary doesn’t enhance the viewing experience, then why even bother having it? SHOUTcraft’s commentators are some of the best in the business and completely capable of making any match more exciting and enjoyable to watch.

SHOUTcraft’s maiden broadcast will happen on Friday the 12th of March at 23:00 GMT (18:00 EST). Videostreaming will be available on both Cynical Brit and VTWProductions. We hope to see you there.

Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 4

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:39:56 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz050310.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

The winner of the Starcraft 2 beta contest is announced, you’ll have to listen to find out if it was you!

In the mailbag, the question is asked, when is it right to bail on your guild for real life responsibilities? The answer? ALL THE TIME YOU SPERGLORDS, GOOD GOD, REAL LIFE > WOW. I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.

Eyonix spills the beans on big stat changes in Cataclysm. Good? Bad? A little of both? It is a mystery that only listening to the show will unravel!

It’s Twitter 3 : Revenge of the Tweets. Blizzard’s latest Twitter dev-chat once again dodges a live Blue Plz! by a mere few hours. Coincidence? We think not! Well, I suppose we’ll just have to make do with being the final word on the matter, won’t we?

In the Illusion of Choice a listener asks, are players building unreasonable expectations for Cataclysm?

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – A Swarm of Bees

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:45:36 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist VGR3XrcL6Fg]

The series of 5 games from that fateful evening draws to a close. Will there be any noticeable improvement, or yet another horrendous loss? Find out! As always, watch on Youtube in 720p for best quality.

Gaming Express 4th March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:03:47 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp040310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

The Indie Strategy Pack $49.99 (or your regional equivalent)

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – The Terrible Confederacy

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:15:05 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist f0Ghl1BYnUw]

As the series of terrible Starcraft 2 videos continues, here’s a combo-meal of 2 short games, both of which end in a vicious and thoroughly undignified manner. As before, watch in Youtube in full 720p for best quality.

Gaming Express 3rd March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:51:51 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp030310.mp3)

This episode is brought to you by UGT-servers.com, premium quality gaming ventrilo servers.

6 Days in Fallujah still being released, complete

WoW could become obsolete (no sh*t Sherlock)

Ex-Tecmo developer opens new studio

Bad Company 2 DLC details

Halo Reach has jetpacks, someone alert the media

Digital Distribution Deals

The Indie Game Pack (Steam) – featuring Space Giraffe, Gridrunner Revolution, Altitude, Bob came in pieces, Galcon Fusion, Super Laser Racer and Bullet Candy – $9.99/£9.99/€9,99

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Gaming Express 2nd March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:57:42 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp020310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Courtesy of Robothobo.com

Football Manager 2010 (Steam) – $19.99 / £14.99 / 24,99€
Virtua Tennis 2009 (Steam) $7.50 / £5.00 / 11,25€

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Gaming the System 28th February 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:11:29 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts280210.mp3)

Myself and SWAG would like to apologise for the lack of episode last week. This was due to unforeseen technical difficulties.

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System and what a show it was, with TotalBiscuit suffering cold, possibly even the dreaded man-flu and SWAG drinking irresponsibly to the point where he’s hoarse and raspy, truly this is the finest example of talk radio on the internet.

Contests a-plenty!

Two contests for you guys this week. Firstly, the chance to win a copy of Borderlands PC and the new DLC, the Secret Armory of General Knoxx. In order to win this prize, all you need to do is write a review for Gaming the System and post it on iTunes. Be honest, we won’t favour good reviews, the winner will be chosen at random. Show us proof of your review by taking a screenshot in paint and emailing it to themurloc@gmail.com.

Secondly, win 2 GoG games of your choice. Keep an eye out on the Cynicalbrit Twitter Account for a special message about this episode and the interview. When you see it, retweet it to be entered into the prize draw.

Welcome to the show!

Our introductory segment as always describes what we’ve been playing this week and while SWAG’s been working on Vandal Hearts XBLA, TotalBiscuit has been busy with the Supreme Commander 2 demo and the Starcraft 2 beta, one of which is significantly better than the other. Care to guess which? If you’re looking for some beta information, you’ll enjoy this segment.

Music break – Blizzard Entertainment – Terran 1 (Starcraft 2)

This week in Gaming (00:28:18)

Our headlines this week are as follows.

A former DICE boss says what many are thinking, that the Wii is a ‘toy’ and a ‘virus’. Is that a fair assessment? TotalBiscuit doesn’t think so, discussion ensues!
Previously struggling MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online has announced over 1 million players and a staggering 500% increase in revenue. Good for them we say, but can their free-to-play model translate to other games effectively or is this a one-off success?
A TV psychologist believes web-games are the root of all evil! Well maybe that’s a little hyperbolic, but hey, it makes for good radio.

Music break – Sascha Dikiciyan & Chris Valesco – Fighting Sledge’s Minions (Borderlands)

The Interview (01:00:10)

TotalBiscuit interviews GoG and CDProjekt co-founder Iwinski, who goes into detail on the history of the company, the Polish PC games industry and DRM. This is a great discussion with a knowledgeable individual who has a lot to say about the state of PC gaming, so soak it all in!

Music Break – Bear McCreary – Theme from Dark Void (Dark Void)

The Review – Aliens vs Predator (01:30:50)

Rebellion’s new title comes under the spotlight. Is it really as bad as the critics say? No, but match-making is the gaming satan. Find out more in this week’s review.

Music break – RARE – Maya Remix (Killer Instinct Gold)

Why this and not that? (01:56:10)

To cap off the show, we investigate why the listeners bought Bioshock, yet didn’t buy STALKER (hint, STALKER is better). Contribute to next week’s show by leaving a comment on this episode. Let us know why you bought or preferred one of these games over the other, Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. Are you a die-hard TA fan or did the spiritual sequel capture your imagination? Let us know!

Thank you to our special guest Iwinski, go and see what GoG has to offer!

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Gaming Express 1st March 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:38:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp010310.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

A Farewell to Dragons (Direct2Drive) – €7,50/$7.50/£7.50

Various strategy titles (Direct2Drive)

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Zerg Plz! – That’s not what scouting means!

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:02:42 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (zergplz260210.mp3)

It is possible to sync this audio file up with the replay. Instructions on how to time it have been inserted into the audio file. The replay file can be downloaded here – Since the sound is provided in the audio, it is recommended that you disable sound in Starcraft 2 in order to view this replay correctly.

While sound levels were better this time around, an untested sound setup was used in this broadcast which resulted in excessive vocal clipping, reducing the voice-over quality. We apologise for this and will work to resolve it in future broadcasts.

TotalBiscuit begins his placement matches for league play, coming up against an unexpected advisory in this marathon game.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 3

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:23:25 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz260210.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

Your chance to win a Starcraft 2 beta key! Here’s how you do it, in 5 easy steps.

Go to iTunes (download it if you haven’t already got it), login to your account (create one if you don’t have one already) and search for Blue Plz! on the iTunes store. Now write a listener review for Blue Plz! on iTunes in an honest and intelligent manner (sycophancy won’t win you any points) (THIS IS A LOT OF BRACKETS)
Take a screenshot using print-screen, of your review.
Submit your review to iTunes
Paste your screenshot (ctrl+v) into MSPaint and save it as a JPG
Email the screenshot to themurloc@gmail.com

Easy isn’t it? The winner will be announced on next week’s show and of course, we’ll try and get hold of more keys for future give-aways. Obvious duplicates and tomfoolery will be disqualified.

This week, the mailbag vomits forth some listener questions, including asking why there isn’t a proper appeals process for player bans and whether or not Exodus will be forever tainted by their illegitimate kill of Yogg Saron.

In our first discussion topic, a tale of redemption and drama, wherein a terrible rogue is taught the error of his ways and becomes l33t. It’s a heart-warming tale and you can read all about it in the thread on the Cynical Brit forums.

This week we have a live interview with Kevin Michael Johnson, a film-maker who’s upcoming project The Raid is an intriguing look into the life and times of raiding guilds and the social value of large-scale group activity. TotalBiscuit lays down the gauntlet, stating that if Blue Plz! listeners can raise the remaining $3,000 required to fund the movie by next show, he will sing a Britney Spear’s parody live on the air. So get to it!

Dark were the Skies, The Cynical Brit’s 10-man raiding guild got itself back in gear last week and flattened the plague wing of Icecrown Citadel. Is Putricide really as good as everyone claims? Find out in this week’s raiding analysis.

Capping off the show, the illusion of choice asks two questions. Firstly, just how hypocritical are WoW Insider and secondly, does TotalBiscuit miss the days of farming for consumables?

The show concludes with a new song, a parody of Rage Against the Machine’s “Standing in the Fire” which can be downloaded separately here

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State of Play for February

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:48:26 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (stateofplayfeb2010.mp3)

Welcome to the State of Play. State law mandates that you read (or listen) and pay attention!

This semi-regular article exists for the sole purpose of keeping you, the viewer, listener and reader, up-to-date on everything that’s going on with cynicalbrit.com. So here’s what we have coming up in the immediate future.

Good news everyone!

Some good news on the iTunes front. Last week, Blue Plz! broke both the videogame podcasts top 10 on UK iTunes and the top 25 on US iTunes, the two largest iTunes regions. The system as to how their charts are calculated is a little cryptic, but from what we can tell, it’s based on subscriber numbers, new subscribers and reviews. While it’s easy enough to grab a few days in the Top 25 if you’re a new show with an established fanbase, for an older show to get and stay in the Top 25 is a huge achievement and places Blue Plz! firmly in the running for the most popular WoW podcast in the UK, beating out other veteran shows such as The Instance and World of Warcast. Personally, I’m thrilled that Blue Plz! is enjoying this kind of success and it says to me that there is a significant portion of the playerbase who wants something more critical and outrageous, aimed at high-end play as opposed to the every-man style of show that seems so prevalent these days. There’s definitely room in the market for both and variety can only benefit the playerbase. Gaming Express has also been enjoying some success, frequently appearing in the top 25 on iTunes UK. We expect that show to continue to gather pace as we market and purchase advertising for it and feature further interviews, editorials, reviews and special features. The format seems to resonate well with our listeners and we look forward to bringing the quick-fire gaming news and comment format to a wider audience in the coming months. The Mass Effect 2 editorial enjoyed attention from Kieron Gillen, former PC Gamer and current Eurogamer writer, in his Sunday Paper’s feature on PC gaming site Rockpapershotgun.

Interviews

A live interview with Kevin Michael Johnson, the producer of forthcoming documentary “The Raid”, will occur on Blue Plz! 26^th February 2010 at 20:00 GMT (15:00 EST). The interview will cover the aims of the documentary as well as a discussion on the perceived social value of large-scale raid play. Since this will be a live interview, the IRC channel will have the opportunity to ask questions, so make sure you hang around on Quakenet, irc.quakenet.org #cynicalbrit to do so. Kevin is a charismatic and interesting individual so you won’t want to miss out on this one. A podcast will be available for those who miss the live broadcast.

An interview with Iwinski, co-founder of CDProjekt and GoG will air on Sunday’s Gaming the System at 17:00 GMT (12:00 EST).- 28^th February. The interview is around 25 minutes long and what I can say is that if you’re interested in DRM and the future of PC Gaming, there’s some fantastic points made. You’ll also learn about the history of PC gaming in Poland, which is surprisingly interesting stuff.

Contests galore!

To help spread the word about the fantastic GoG interview, we have a special contest for you. We have 2 GoG games of your choice to give away. In order to have a chance of winning, keep an eye out for the special Twitter message from @cynicalbrit – about the GoG interview. Retweet that message to be in the running for the prize.

A further contest will be held on Sunday’s Gaming the System to celebrate the release of the 3^rd and by all reports, substantial DLC pack for Gearbox’s title Borderlands, The Secret Armory of General Knox. We’re giving away a copy of the game plus the Armory DLC and you can find out how to win by tuning into the show. This contest is available for all regions, all you need is to ensure that you have a valid Steam account.

Friday’s Blue Plz! will feature a special give-away for a much sought-after Starcraft 2 beta key. To find out how to win, tune into the show. Live and podcast listeners from all regions are eligible for this prize.

Cynicalbrit’s first “Let off Steam” gaming event occurs on Sunday at 20:00 GMT, 15:00 EST, featuring Rebellion’s new Aliens vs Predator game. Be sure to join the Cynical Brit Steam group to participate and meet in the chatroom. The event will be a series of Species Deathmatches and the overall highest scorer will win a copy of the Dark Horse Aliens vs Predator Omnibus, featuring almost 500 pages of the classic AvP comics. Future Steam group events will be announced on the Steam group and front page, featuring games both new and old.

Goings-on and questions from the listeners

I’d also like to take a moment to talk about Cynicalbrit’s Starcraft 2 coverage, in order to clear up some confusion. The Zerg Plz! and I Suck at Starcraft 2 productions are two different series, one of which is solo audio commentary and the other a series of post-mortem analysis videos of novice play. I intend to produce content for both series and keep them separate. I am also in the planning stages of a third series, consisting of tag-team commentary of more advanced games, with a well-known, award-winning shoutcaster of some repute. Further details will be posted as they become available. As a side-note, I Suck at Starcraft 2 enjoyed attention from Blizzard who highlighted the series on the Starcraft 2 beta forums and official twitter.

There have been some questions regarding my Shining Force 3 “Let’s Play” documentary series that began back in 2008. I would like to continue its production, unfortunately my capture card is incompatible with Windows 7 64 bit. A significant investment would be required to get another card which performs as I would like. There are also other aspects to consider. The original thread, posted on the Somethingawful forums, has been archived and is no longer available for public viewing. The screenshot links in this thread are all broken now due to WoW Radio’s shutdown and the mammoth amount of transcription that would be required to transfer the data to a new thread would be insurmountable. It should also be noted that on average, a Shining Force 3 video takes 8+ hours to produce from start to finish which is not time I can currently invest in such a project, considering the limited interest surrounding the title. I’m not saying it will never happen again, but I am saying that it is very low on the priority list and would not be a sensible investment of my time at present. By comparison, an ISS2 video can be put together in 90 minutes.

Some listeners have asked where the music featured in Gaming Express comes from. It is provided by Frank Klepacki, who used to compose music for Westwood studios (makers of Command and Conquer and the Dune series) and now produces solo albums as well as soundtracks for Petroglyph. Gaming Express’ background music is taken from his solo album Infiltrator, which I would highly recommend that you pick up. His work is astounding and his latest work Viritia, a concept album featuring an amazing comic-book which ties in directly to the music, is also available from his website and on iTunes. Go check him out and tell him The Cynical Brit sends his regards. Frank gave us express permission to use his music in our productions and we’d like to thank him for his generosity and wish him every success in future.

That about wraps it up folks for February’ State of Play. These articles will come out when there is enough news to justify a round-up. Thank you for your continued support.

If you’d like to ask a question for the next State of Play, feel free to email it to

Gaming Express 25th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:25:21 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp250210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Batman Arkham Asylum (Gamers Gate) – 65% off
Majesty 2 (Gamers Gate) – 75% off

Remember to listen to the GoG interview on Sunday’s Gaming the System!

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – Protossibly

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:00:31 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist mNg5o5x9H0E]

We’re back with the second in a series of Starcraft videos entitled, “I Suck at Starcraft 2″. The aim of this series is to provide an absolute beginners perspective on Starcraft 2, documenting my progress as I attempt to suck less at Starcraft 2, mercilessly analysing my mistakes and hopefully teaching those new to the game, just how not to play it. Enjoy.

This is the second of series of games against Malvoo, a player significantly better than I am. Did I learn anything from my first thrashing? Let’s find out!

This video is meant to be viewed in 720p for best results, so I would recommend going directly to Youtube, rather than watching the embedded file, which is smaller and lower resolution.

Gaming Express 24th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:58:04 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp240210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Hammerfight (Steam) 50% off. - $4.99 / £2.49 / 3,49€

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Gaming Express 23rd Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:34:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp230210.mp3)

New Worms Game, in 2d!

Subversion details and screenshots revealed

5% of consumer spending is going on games

Age of Conan still in development for 360

XBL release list

Sony believes in a less in your face PR campaign for it’s new motion controller

Digital Distribution Deals

Wings of Prey (Steam) – $24.99 / £15.49 / 17,49€ until Thursday 25th.

Serious Sam HD (Steam) – $7.49 / £5.99 / 7,49€

4 Pack also available for $22.48 / £17.98 / 22,48€ – until March 2nd.

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Gaming Express 22nd Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:21:08 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp220210.mp3)

This episode of Gaming Express is brought to you by ugt-servers.com, premium quality gaming ventrillo servers, as used by us. Get yours today at ugt-servers.com

Bioshock 2 DLC announced

Console comparison’s are ‘bollocks’, so says new Castlevania developer

AvP fastest selling title of the year so far in the UK

Natal will sell for ‘$50’, so claims the analyst that thought Borderlands would be a failure (his full show)

This week’s releases

Digital Distribution Deals

5 weeks of Capcom (PSN)

Pre-purchase Dragon Age Awakening and get the base game 40% off (EA Store)

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I Suck at Starcraft 2 – A Cynicalbrit Original Series

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:56:10 +0000

[myyoutubeplaylist 92Rv-s-7rNk]

As promised ladies and gentlemen, the first in a series of Starcraft videos entitled, “I Suck at Starcraft 2″. The aim of this series is to provide an absolute beginners perspective on Starcraft 2, documenting my progress as I attempt to suck less at Starcraft 2, mercilessly analysing my mistakes and hopefully teaching those new to the game, just how not to play it. Enjoy.

This video is meant to be viewed in 720p for best results, so I would recommend going directly to Youtube, rather than watching the embedded file, which is smaller and lower resolution.

Watch more episodes on my Youtube channel or check out the following videos.

Let off Steam – An Alien vs Predator Event

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:13:07 +0000

So we have a Steam group. Are you a part of it? If not, sign up now!

Unlike normal Steam groups, which go nowhere and do nothing, Cynical Brit’s Steam group is organising weekly events for various games. Not only that, but we’re offering prizes for the best players as well as the coveted(?) Player of the Week award.

For our first event, we’re entering the ultimate battle with the new Alien vs Predator game. We’re organising a species deathmatch for Sunday 28th Feb at 20:00 GMT (15:00 EST). Be in the Steam group’s chatroom at that time to secure your spot. The top scorer will win a fabulous prize, a copy of Dark Horse’s Alien vs Predator omnibus, which contains almost 500 pages of the excellent Alien vs Predator comics. This contest is open to all regions, so no-one will be left out. Make sure you come and join us for this, the first of many chances to kill TotalBiscuit in variety of gory and amusing ways.

Our public ventrillo server is available for the event, just get online and join the Cynical Gaming channel.

Address : vent2.ugt-servers.com
Port : 10024
Password : wcr4diov3nt

Gaming Express 20th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:47:13 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp200210.mp3)

Sonic 3 designers also involved in the development of Sonic 4

No Lan/Dedicated servers for CnC 4

Just Cause 2 may very well be the best game ever

Michael Pachter was wrong about Borderlands

Retailers whining about measures to deter used sales

New EvE expansion announced

Digital Distribution Deals

Bionic Commando Rearmed (Direct2Drive) – $7.50 / £5.95 / 10,95€
Divinity Games upto 50% off (GoG)
Get Peggle Nights free
Shattered Horizon (Steam) – $9.95 / £7.49 €9.95

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Bioshock 2 Editorial

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:58:06 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (bioshock2editorial.mp3)

Full Review was part of last week’s Gaming the System

What do all videogame protagonists have in common? The answer is so obvious that you might not have ever noticed it before, immortality. While many characters you’ve played can potentially die and indeed, do so quite often, they never stay dead. Their souls, their essence, are tied into a mythical phylactery known as the save-file, capable of healing the greatest wounds and breathing life back into the bullet-ridden, sword-bitten, laser-burned corpse of our hero. It’s something that’s always niggled in the back of my mind, so obvious yet never overly obtrusive, present, but in the background, out of the way. At least, until I got my grubby hands on 2K’s latest opus, Bioshock 2.

The original Bioshock was criticised on multiple fronts. When the initial shock and awe of the setting and philosophical musing subsides, what’s left is a good, but flawed first person shooter with a dash of RPG mixed in for good measure. One of the most frequent complaints addressed the game’s difficulty or more accurately, lack thereof. Even on its hardest setting, I recall stomping my way through the game, a god amongst splicers, committing genocide with pistol and plasmid. There are several reasons for this, including the distinct lack of enemy variety. Opponents plateau very early on, splicers only come in four varieties, bosses don’t deserve the name and the big daddies, terrifying adversaries in the early stages of the game, rapidly become lumbering pincushions to be farmed for easy resources. While all this is happening, the player is constantly acquiring new weapons, upgrades, tonics and plasmids, increasing their power in relation to the foe that they’re facing.

Excuse me, would you kindly direct me to the nearest challenge?

Bioshock has a survival and scavenging element to it. I enjoyed the game by exploring every nook and cranny, hunting down every audio log, taking in the sights and sounds of every little location. The same curiosity that brings me back time and again to genre-classic Deus Ex, fuelled my enjoyment of Bioshock. “I wonder what’s down this back alley?”. In the early stages of the game, scavenging and resource conservation are essential due to the limited firepower at your disposal. However, due to the aforementioned plateau, this ceases to be become a factor earlier than one would expect. What you have to understand is that games which involve resource management can run into problems of scaling. It’s more easily explained with a little bit of mathematics. Let’s say it takes 6 bullets to kill a splicer with the basic pistol (it doesn’t, but forget that for a second). Then I upgrade the pistol so it only takes 4 bullets, yet the splicer in question has the same number of resources to pilfer from his corpse. The environment also has a similar number of resource caches. So on aggregate, the player is making a resource profit rather than suffering resource loss. That’s a very simplistic way of looking at it, there are more factors to consider. The acquisition of bigger guns mean that splicers die faster. The acquisition of more powerful plasmids means that less eve is consumed per kill, yet the acquisition rate of the eve is consistent, indeed higher with the addition of certain tonics. Upgrading ones plasmids often causes them to gain area of effect properties, ensuring yet again, a more efficient eve/kill ratio. An even more obvious factor is the use of medkits. The faster a splicer dies, the less potential damage he can do, so the fewer medkits one needs to use. The addition of weapons like the crossbow later in the game allow for efficient kills from a great distance, further reducing the potential for damage to your character. Medkits too are a resource and, rather appropriately considering the setting and philosophy of the game, every resource has value and a price-tag. The biggest guilty parties in every sense are the Big Daddies. Early on, taking down a Big Daddy is a resource-intensive task. It takes longer than it does later in the game and since your plasmids are not up to scratch, you have less tools at your disposal to avoid damage. Add in a smaller health bar, weaker weapons and general inexperience and you can see why early big daddy kills usually involve chewing through medkits and bullets like they were skittles.

The issues with the resource economy tie in nicely with the other difficulty-associated problem that the game had, the vita-tubes, instant respawn points that brought your character back from the dead with half health. This respawn mechanic single-handedly turned Big Daddy encounters into Rapture’s equivalent of suicide bombing. The optimal and most resource efficient strategy is to run at the Big Daddy with the wrench and do as much damage as possible. Die, respawn, rinse, repeat until dead. Big Daddies do not regain health in the meantime, so they will just lumber around waiting for you to go at them again with the wrench. With no penalty for death there is no reason to use expensive resources when you can just use the one thing Rapture does not charge you for, resurrection. The idea that life is not important enough a resource to warrant a monetary value in Rapture is an idea that tickles me, though from a game design perspective, it is thoroughly bizarre to see the old-school concept of “infinite lives” actively integrated into a modern title.

Behold, the ultimate weapon. Prostrate yourself before it and beg forgiveness.

Now that you understand the issues with the first game, it becomes easier to provide context for the second. Vita-tubes return in Bioshock 2 though an option (and associated achievement) exists for disabling them. It is left up to the player to choose between the more traditional quick-save and quick-load and the instant, immersion-friendly vitatube respawns. 2K noted the aforementioned suicide bombing strategy and made changes, allowing little sisters to repair Big Daddies in the interim. If you are quick enough, you can get back to the Big Daddy and resume beating on it before it can be repaired, but otherwise, a portion of the Big Daddy’s health will be restored by the time you get there. This sounds like an ideal solution to the issue, at least, until you realise the glaring flaw. Bioshock is, as I mentioned earlier, a game about survival and resource management. There are a finite number of resources available in every level, with the exception of occasionally respawning splicers who may drop a dollar or two and a couple of bullets, if you’re lucky. In the original game, the player expends resources to do damage, an investment if you will. The investment endures through death, so the resources expended are never technically lost, they contribute to the defeat of the opponent over time. Therein lies the paradox. The system allowed for a properly scaled investment of resources in theory, yet the most effective course of action is to use no resources at all, to exploit the system with suicide wrench attacks. It’s broken, because in a game where players are asked to expend limited resources to accomplish tasks, they will always find the cheapest possible path, which turned out to be the wrench and repeated suicide tactics. Bioshock 2 stops this from happening which initially sounds like a good thing, but in doing so introduces the opposite problem entirely. Now, the player is asked to expend resources which if he dies, he will not see the effects of. Those bullets which you ‘invested’ into the shiny metal arse of a Big Daddy, will not yield a return, they are gone forever as are, perhaps more importantly, all your medkits.

This thing taunts you every time you die. In the first game it actually laughed at you, what a dick.

The Big Daddy encounters are not the worst example of this resource loss, the worst by far are the new ADAM gathering events. These frequent challenges involve protecting a little sister as she gathers ADAM for you from preset corpses within Rapture. In doing so, she attracts the attention of every splicer within 5 miles of your current location, who will rush to attack the little sister and steal the ADAM. You can start the events whenever you please and some of the areas in which they take place are obviously designed with traps in mind, obvious chokepoints and environmental hazards being present. The problem is that there are so many splicers, coming at you from so many different angles, that it’s almost impossible not to take damage. On Hard difficulty, which is genuinely challenging this time around, melee hits from splicers can take off a quarter of your health bar, along with sprays of bullets from pistols and tommy guns whittling away at you. Combined with the excessively limited field of view, avoiding damage is nigh on impossible and there is the very real possibility that you may die a horrible death. When that happens, the event has to be started all over again, which spawns brand new splicers. While you can loot the corpses of the splicers you killed for small amounts of resources, they rarely replace what you’ve lost. Good luck finding the 5 medkits or the money to buy them again, in the corpses of a few leadheads.

What we have here is a case of a real, tangible death penalty. Singleplayer games tend to avoid this as much as humanly possible and the failure state is a constant debate amongst game designers and folks far more knowledgeable than I. The commonly accepted principle however is as follows, one should never overly penalise a player for losing. RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics are particularly harsh with permanent character death, a mechanic that simply does not work. The reason for that is that a character represents a large investment of time and resources which the player is now expected to accept as lost forever. I know of very few gamers who would carry on after that rather than just reload an earlier save state. In that sense, the mechanic is a total failure if everyone simply cheats the system by reloading. Bioshock 2 has a similar problem. The vita-tube mechanic was broken in the original Bioshock and continues to be broken today, in a different way. The player is expected to accept a loss of resources in a game where supplies are limited and must be scavenged. No sane player would carry on after that when the option of reloading with all your resources intact exists. In that sense, the vitatubes are a failure and indeed, the entire Big Daddy repair mechanic might as well not exist, since an optimal player will never see it happen, having reloaded his saved file before one can say ‘kindly’.

I ask you this, is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No says Bioshock 2.

Zerg Plz! – A Starcraft 2 deflowering

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:12:04 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (zergplz.mp3)

Apologies for the uneven sound levels in the first part of this broadcast. It was a bit of a spontaneous thing, due to the fact that weren’t even sure whether Starcraft 2 was going to run properly. Future broadcasts will have this sorted out.

In a special presentation, TotalBiscuit plays Starcraft 2 for the very first time and broadcasts the results. If you want to learn a bit about Starcraft 2 from the perspective of a complete newbie, this show is for you.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 2

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:30:19 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz190210.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

In another bumper edition of the show, The Cynical Brit covers a wide range of topics and announces the winners of the Grunty contest. Today we are featuring music from legendary composer Frank Klepacki, who is perhaps best known for his iconic Hell March theme from Command and Conquer : Red Alert. His latest concept album Viratia is now available and today’s Blue Plz! contains 2 tracks from it. We are all huge fans of Frank’s work over here at CynicalBrit and suggest that you go buy his album.

Winners of the Grunty Contest

Omedius

Anubiros

TotalBiscuit kicks off as always with the mailbag. Does the Spirit of Competition mean that Blizzard really favours Asian players? No you imbecile! Also has ICC been cleared too fast? The first live interview of Season 4 has also been announced. Next week, we’ll be talking with Kevin Michael Johnson, a film-maker who is producing The Raid, a documentary showing the social side of raiding.

Hot off the presses, Ruby Sanctum, another raid dungeon for Wrath has been announced. Should we be surprised that Blizzard is putting in another raid dungeon before cataclysm launch? What will it consist of? Speculation abound!

In a forum discussion, Blizzard addresses the issue of 40 man raids. TotalBiscuit ponders on the legitimacy of such a thing and whether or not it’s simply had it’s day and should be left to rest.

Battlegrounds are up for big changes but are they for the best? A closer look reveals a gaping flaw in Blizzard’s design that clearly requires attention.

It’s official folks, VoA is the worst raid dungeon ever made. TotalBiscuit had the misfortune of killing the new ‘boss’ this week and has a few choice words to say about it.

In the Illusion of Choice, a listener asks why would a new player enjoy WoW? It’s an intriguing point and it’s covered at length for the last segment of the show, capped off as usual by shoutout requests from the live listeners.

The special Starcraft 2 live ‘deflowering’, Zerg Plz! will be a separate podcast entirely and will be uploaded later on.

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Gaming Express 18th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:25:54 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp180210.mp3)

Starcraft 2 beta goes live

Starcraft 2 specs revealed

Assassin’s Creed 2 has to be connected to internet at all times, you may lose progress if your internet disconnects

University of Alabama shooter was a tabletop gamer, oh no!

Bad Company 2 to have free launch DLC, a’la Cerberus Network

Ninenty Nine Nights Two details

Buy Darksiders in the US and receive Red Faction Guerilla Free!

Results of the Gamefly Awards

EU Playstation network releases

Digital Distribution Deals

Reduced price on SF2HDR and Marvel vs Capcom on EU PS Store

Hearts of Iron Games 60% off (Direct2Drive)

Shattered Horizon 50% off and Free Weekend (Steam)

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News about our iTunes feeds

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:55:46 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (itunesmessage.mp3)

This is a quick message intended for iTunes subscribers or those interested in subscribing via iTunes. Our feeds are now functional. Those of you who were already subscribed to the shows, should now be subscribed to the new feeds automatically. To check whether this is the case, go into your iTunes client and check whether the feed is titled WoW Radio. If it is, then your feed is not up-to-date and you will need to unsubscribe, search for Blue Plz! and then resubscribe to get new episodes. If it does not mention WoW Radio, then you are successfully subscribed to the new feed and should have received the audio message above as well as the first episode of Season 4.

This also applies to Gaming the System. If you are subscribed, it will not state WoW Radio in the title any more, follow the same procedure to resubscribe if your feed is not up to date.

You will notice that the feeds are missing a large number of episodes. This is due to an issue with iTunes that we only recently discovered and did not appear to be documented officially. We are in the process of re-adding old episodes to the feed. For the time being, only the latest episodes are available via iTunes. If you wish to download old episodes, you will notice that on our shows page and on individual, newer episode pages, there are ‘Episodes’ links. Click that to get all of the episodes in a handy list. At present, the iTunes issue is also preventing on-site streaming for most old episodes. This is also being rectified over time. Direct downloads will work for the time being.

We thank you for your patience while we work out the kinks in our system. Please tell anyone that you know who listens to the shows about this article, so that they can check their feeds too.

Blue Plz! links :- RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Gaming the System links :- RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Gaming Express 17th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:58:10 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp170210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Shadowgrounds pack, 75% off (Steam) - $4.99 / £3.49 / 4,99€

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Gaming Express 16th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:59:07 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp160210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

The Indie Love Bundle (ends Feb 19^th) - $20

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Gaming Express 15th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:26:54 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp150210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Various discounts on Mac Games (Gamersgate)

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Gaming the System 14th February 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:40:03 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts140210.mp3)

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System

As always we start our show by asking what TB and SWAG have been playing. While TotalBiscuit continues his space-grinding in Star Trek Online, SWAG has entered the seedy world of free MMOs, playing WoW-a-Like Runes of Magic.

Music break – Sega – Sky High (Daytona USA Anniversary collection)

This week in Gaming

This week’s news and comment, covering some of the more interesting tid-bits of information in the gaming sphere this weekend. The full articles discussed can be found below.

Music break – Yuzo Koshiro – Titlescreen and Industen Greed

The Review – Bioshock 2

Bioshock 2 gets a thorough 30 minutes under the research camera. A leap forward, or just going through the motions? Find out in this spoiler-free discussion.

Music break – Todd Rollins and his Orchestra with Chick Bullock – The Boogie Man (Bioshock 2)

Top Ten Xbox 360 games for under 20 bucks

It’s time for some cheap thrills, you can get all of these games for 20 bucks or less and usually, the equivalent amount outside of the US. SWAG enters the discussion with a rant about Gameinformer’s blinkered view of non-triple A titles as well as their sordid history of giving bad reviews to good games.

10. Earth Defense Force 2017
9. The Darkness
8. Star Wars The Force Unleashed
7. Gears of War 2
6. Raiden Fighters Aces
5. The Simpsons game
4. Burnout Paradise/Burnout Revenge
3. Mirror’s Edge
2. Bioshock
1. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Music break – Sega – Pounding Pavement (Daytona USA Anniversary collection)

Why this and not that?

Why did you play Bioshock and not STALKER? It’s a good question, after all they are both pseudo-RPG FPS hybrid titles, yet one sold millions and the other stayed within the underground. Which did you play and which did you prefer? Did you hear about STALKER yet not pick it up? Why? How about Bioshock? Let us know by leaving a comment on this post.

Music break – Django Reinhardt – Chasing Shadows (Bioshock2)

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Dark were the Skies is recruiting

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:20:44 +0000

As you can see commander, your situation is shockingly grim! You face the might of not one, but two rocket-bears so now would be the time to lay down your arms and listen to what we have to say.

Dark were the Skies is recruiting. We are a 10-man raiding guild on Mazrigos EU, horde-side. We are a guild for busy players who want to make the most efficient use of the time we have. We raid twice a week, for a total of 8 hours and in that time, we get as much done as humanly possible. Can you bring your A-game twice a week and help us succeed?

Recruiting

1x Holy Paladin for main-healing duties. Will be tasked with keeping the tanks alive as a priority.

Raiding Times

Saturday – 18:00 GMT (19:00 servertime) to 22:00 GMT (23:00 servertime)
Monday – 18:30 GMT (19:30 servertime) to 22:30 GMT (23:30 servertime)
Optional raids are sometimes arranged via the guild calender.

Attendance requirements

Be there as much as humanly possible. Don’t apply if you can’t commit to that raiding schedule every week. Obviously there will be times when real life takes priority, as it should, in which case you should let us know via the guild forum so we can ensure we have backup to replace you.

Other Requirements

Over 18’s only please.
Speak English fluently
Use Ventrillo and have a working microphone
Have a sufficient level of gear to be able to handle ICC10 content (We would expect iLevel 226-232 gear across the board)
Raid experience and the willingness to listen and take constructive criticism when given

If you think you would fit in, then leave an application via the comment system below. Doesn’t have to be huge, just give us the information we need to make a proper judgement as to who would be the best fit for our group.

Playing WoW casually and want to be a bencher?

There are also spots available for bencher players. These players do not get guaranteed raid spots but will be invited to optionals and main raids if core raiders are not able to attend. It’s an ideal position for those who really do play WoW casually but are interested in raiding infrequently with players who know their stuff. If you are in this situation and this arrangement suits you, then feel free to let us know with a comment below, explaining that you would like to be a bencher. We are currently recruiting all classes and specs for benchers but again, bear in mind, a bencher is not guaranteed a raid spot and most of the time probably won’t get one. It’s beneficial to those who just want to do a raid every now and again but say, PvP a lot or just do dailies and 5 mans. It is not an ideal situation for someone who wants to raid regularly and you should not apply as a bencher if that is the case.

Gaming Express 13th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:01:31 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp130210.mp3)

This weekend’s Digital Distribution Deals

Courtesy of http://www.robothobo.com/ddd/

Mount and Blade (Steam) – $4.99 / £3.99 / 4,99€
Sword of the Stars Ultimate (Impulse) – $7.49
Red Baron Pack (GoG) – $4.99
Incredible Machines Mega Pack (GoG) – $4.99
THQ Complete Pack (Steam and Impulse) – $49.99 / £26.49 / 49,99€
Quantz (Steam) – $2.99 / £2.99 / 2,99€
Direct2Drive Valentine’s Day Sale
(US) - http://www.direct2drive.com/promos/valentines/
(UK) - http://www.direct2drive.co.uk/promos/valentines/
(EU) - http://www.direct2drive.eu/promos/valentines/
Buy Stalker Call of Pripyat for 33% off if you already own STALKER (Steam)

One final thing. It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and my present from my wife arrived. I think you will agree, that custom Gaming Express chocolates, are amazing.

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Blue Plz! Season 4 – Episode 1

TotalBiscuit — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:47:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz120210.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

It’s the second, more successful attempt at Episode 1 of Season 4, after last week’s myriad of audio problems. Still a few minor teething problems (if anyone knows how to fix a digital ground loop, let me know) but it won’t make your ears bleed this time around.

TotalBiscuit opens the mailbag in search of interesting treats. Unfortunately, he finds only listener mail. Oh well, we’ll make do I suppose. Collectors editions, just how far should a company go to give those who purchase them an in-game advantage? Plus are LFD groups getting better or worse? Survey says, neither, population is as stupid as it always was.

In our main feature of the day, TotalBiscuit gives the final word on the Ensidia debacle, with three 15 minute discussion segments dedicated to it. Covering all aspects of the argument including listener opinions and Ensidia blogs, this is the definitive debate on the matter.

The auction house is coming to iPhone and the web! Does this constitute paying premium for an in-game advantage? The matter is discussed in great detail.

In the illusion of choice, are cutscenes of value in World of Warcraft a listener asks?

Remember to leave a comment for your chance to win a Grunty! We have several to give away and winners announced on next week’s show.

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Gaming Express 11th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:26:59 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp110210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Trine (Steam)
Fort Zombie (GamersGate)
Phatasmagoria and Space Quest 4-6 pack (GoG) - $9.99 each

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Gaming Express 9th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:08:41 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp090210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Mob Rule (GoG) – $5.99

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Gaming Express 8th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:11:28 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp080210.mp3)

Digital Distribution Deals

Total War Complete Pack

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Gaming the System – 7th February 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:26:18 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gts070210.mp3)

On this week’s Gaming the System!

What have we been doing this week?

TotalBiscuit has been Star Trekkin’ across the universe and being snorked to death while SWAG checked out the brand new Vandal Hearts title on XBLA.

Music Break – Alexey Omelchuck – Combat Theme 2 (STALKER – Call of Pripyat)

This week in Gaming

Original XBL support to cease
Supreme Commander 2 units reveal
Monster Hunter Frontier may be coming to the west
This weeks releases – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62263
This week in horrible shovelware – The Daring Game for Girls

Music Break – Shusaku Ochiyama, Takeshi Miura – Game of Oblivion (Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles, the Darkside Symphony arrangements)

The Review – Mass Effect 2

Guaranteed fresh, original and spoiler-free, TotalBiscuit goes into great detail on the subject of Mass Effect 2 as SWAG takes up the role of quizzing him on his experiences.

Music Break – Kirill Pokrovsky – Goblins! No Time to Waste! (Divine Divinity II – Ego Draconis)

TB’s Top Tens – Top Ten Games with RPG stuff in ‘em (from top to bottom)

In honour of Mass Effect 2 and the release of STALKER – Call of Pripyat, this week’s Top 10 is the very best games that benefited from a dash of RPG-mechanics for good measure.

Deus Ex
Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodlines
System Shock 2
STALKER
Mass Effect 2
Dawn of War 2
Warcraft 3
Borderlands
Savage 2
Killing Floor

Music Break – Martin O’Donnell – Fight (Oni)

This is why we can’t have nice things – Wolfenstein

TotalBiscuit is an ardent defender of the newest Wolfenstein title but SWAG is cynical. The pair investigate why it fell flat on it’s face and what Raven and Activision could and should have done better to make a flawed, poorly-selling gem into a great one.

Music Break – Kirill Pokrovsky – From Hell (Divine Divinity II – Ego Draconis)

Why this and not that? – Mass Effect 1 vs Mass Effect 2

It’s your chance to contribute to this debate. Tell us, by leaving a comment below this post, why you enjoyed one game over the other, or perhaps why you bought one but not the other. The best responses will be read out on next week’s show.

Music Break – Shusaku Ochiyama, Takeshi Miura – Sorrow(Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles, the Darkside Symphony arrangements)

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Gaming Express 6th Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:42:10 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp060210.mp3)

Show Notes

Weekend Digital Distribution Deals – (Courtesy of http://www.robothobo.com/ddd/)

Majesty Gold + Majesty 2 Bundle pack (Impulse) – $9.99
Farcry Complete (Steam) – $14.99 / £9.99 / 19,99€
Far Cry (Steam) – $19.99 — $4.99 / £2.49 / 4,99€
Far Cry 2: Fortune’s Edition (Steam) – $9.99 / £7.49 / 14,99€
Demigod – £4.60/€5.48/$7.49 (Impulse) – Use the code DG-4355237
Overlord 2 (Direct2drive) – $9.95 / £6.50 / 9 euros
Preorder Metro 2033 and get Red Faction Guerilla for free (Steam)
Vampire the Maquerade Redemption (GoG) – $5.99

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Win a Grunty from CynicalBrit.com!

Intricacy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:18:04 +0000

The murlocs are coming, run and hide! To celebrate the start of Season 4 of WoW’s #1 Shock Jock Show, we’re giving away 5 grunty pets. This menancing machine-gun murloc can be yours by simply leaving a comment on the episode’s post. The post will be up after the show, along with the archive. It couldn’t be simpler! Leave a comment about whatever you want, critique or praise the show, discuss the issues raised, it’s all good.

Remember, if you want to win a code, you’ll need to register an account on cynicalbrit.com. If you don’t already have one, go here and make sure to use an active email address, so we can get in touch with you if you win. The contest will run until February the 12th and the winners will be announced on the next episode of Blue Plz!

Gaming Express 4th Feb 2010

CynicalBrit — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:05:00 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp040210.mp3)

Sonic 4 announced, episodic. Teaser trailer - http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62226
PS3 hardware sales figures - http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/04/global-ps3-sales-rise-to-33-5-million-units-narrow-gap-on-360/
New Free DLC for ME2 – http://twitter.com/biofeed
THQ to focus on Darksiders on Q3, sales not as bad as claimed - http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/03/thq-darksiders-shipped-1-2m-units-in-first-four-weeks/
More Darksiders to come - http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/03/thq-to-release-1-3-core-titles-a-year-focus-on-xbox-360-and-ps3/
New Red Faction, Saints Row coming - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamasutraNews/~3/PfkV-migJyI/THQ_New_Red_Faction_Coming_Fiscal_2011_Saints_Row_Fiscal_2012.php/
EU PS-Store releases - http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/02/04/%E2%80%98heads-up%E2%80%99-playstation-store-update-4th-february-2010/

Digital Distribution Deals

Space Siege (Gamersgate) – £2.49

For the Glory (Gamersgate) – £5.98

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Gaming Express 3rd Feb 2010

TotalBiscuit — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:16:09 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp030210.mp3)

It’s not going to take long for PS3 to pass 360 - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-its-not-going-to-take-too-long-to-pass-360
Game Informer scores Bad Company 2 before they publish their review – http://www.respawnaction.com/2010/02/battlfield-bad-company-2-box-reveals.html
Steam downtime this week - http://store.steampowered.com/news/3399/
Darksiders didn’t perform up to THQ expectations - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27060/Analyst_Darksiders_A_Disappointment_For_THQ.php
Gameloft posts 11% revenue increase, iPhone revenue triples – http://bit.ly/dmCyzj
CCP running Haiti Donation program – http://bit.ly/8ZHsGi

Digital Distribution Deals

Titan Quest (Steam) – 75% off – $4.99 / £2.49 / 4,99€

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Mass Effect 2 editorial

CynicalBrit — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:12:16 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (masseffect2editorial.mp3)

Mass Effect 2 – You got your 3^rd-person-shooter in my RPG!

A full review of Mass Effect 2 is forthcoming on Gaming the System.

The internet has very specific opinions about what certain products should and should not be. The problem is that it has an awful lot of said opinions and the annoying tendency to make them known at every conceivable opportunity. It’s no surprise that Mass Effect 2, the first blockbuster release of 2010, is raising eyebrows in more ways than one, but is the mewling justified? To answer that, we’d first better find out what exactly is being said.

A few days ago, I had a confrontation with someone on IRC. As is the way of the internet, this confrontation devolved into mudslinging around thirty seconds after it began, but a couple of interesting, if questionable complaints were raised. I decided to scour Google and see if these were common issues, or the ramblings of a deranged angry internet man and sure enough, the hits were plentiful. The internet is one giant vocal minority.

When is an RPG, not an RPG?

This is what it boils down to. There are certain people that believe Mass Effect 2 sacrificed too many RPG elements from its predecessor and became at best a fancy cover-shooter and at worst, a Gears of War rip-off. Hyperbole and enraged, impotent screaming aside, is there any merit what-so-ever to these accusations? Let’s take a look at the so-called ‘RPG elements’ of the original Mass Effect

This is the internet, put down your weapon and come out of that convenient piece of cover immediately!

The concept of the RPG genre is in a constant state of flux so it’s a little difficult to pin down precisely. At its core, role-playing games are about playing a role, yet this covers almost every game ever made, so the net is cast too wide. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that RPGs involve slaying bad guys, earning experience points, completing quests and gaining levels and loot, as well as having conversations with people. RPGs over the last five years have often incorporated a morality system of some sort, with basic good and evil responses to certain situations and dialogues. RPGs also tend to involve inventory management, deciding which items within your burgeoning loot sack to sell or dispose of and which to use. Stats come into play at this point, affecting your choice of gear as well as the effectiveness of your skills. Ahh yes, skills, often taking the form of special attacks tied into cooldown or resource based costs, sometimes both. Am I getting close to a definition of the modern RPG?

Mass Effect meets all of these requirements. Killing bad guys and completing quests earns you experience points which in turn level up your character. Levels lead to enhanced skills and progress through the game leads to better gear. There is, of course, a morality system, though it isn’t as black and white as previous Bioware titles, providing the nebulous concepts of paragon and renegade as opposed to good and evil. Skills take the form of special attacks tied to lengthy cooldowns, which are affected by your stats and advance as you level up. Add in some extensive dialogue and you’ve got all the elements of a modern RPG. Mass Effect tried to be more than that however, adding a cover mechanic and demanding that the player aim and shoot as opposed to simply click a button. While the combat is more simplistic than a pure third person shooter, it isn’t standard RPG fare either.

The consternation arises from the changes made in Mass Effect 2. Firstly, the inventory system is gone. As opposed to carrying around hundreds of items, you are asked to choose a loadout before going into a mission. Each member of the three-man squad can carry 2 weapons and Shepherd gets an extra heavy weapons slot on top of that. Weapon mods no longer exist, though weapons can be upgraded en-masse via the research system and special ammo types are available as specific skills tied to certain characters. Stores no longer buy items from you and sell a much smaller selection overall. The number of items that can be picked up is vastly decreased. You won’t find crates and lockers full of guns anymore, only the occasional ammo clip, credit cache, ship resources and research data. The method of gathering some of these items is also different. Hacking is no longer tied into your stats, now success is determined entirely on the basis of a couple of mini-games. In terms of levelling, the number of skills available has decreased quite dramatically, though each skill takes much longer to master, unless you choose to do so at the expense of the others. Maxing out a particular skill results in a divergence in which you are asked to choose between 2 variants of the skill.

But I wanted an extra 1% damage on this Cryoshot! MY PRECIOUS RPG ELEMENTS!

The illusion of choice?

At first glance, many of these changes can be seen as deviance from the modern RPG formula but there is a method to the madness. I finished a play-through of Mass Effect 1 a couple of days before Mass Effect 2 came out, so I remember vividly what the game was like, as opposed to viewing it through rose-tinted spectacles. To see exactly why the inventory system went the way of the dodo, one has to look at how awful it is in the original. It’s little more than a huge, disorganised list which went on and on with no space limit what-so-ever or categories to help manage it. While equipping items is easy enough, selling them is a different matter entirely. I recall visiting a store after a particularly long mission and spending twenty minutes trying to sort through the seemingly endless sack of junk that my kleptomaniac Shepherd had picked up. Fifteen, yes fifteen versions of the same type of ammo and that was just a tiny fraction of my inventory. I could have opened my own outlet, an Interstellar Cash-and-Carry, a Sam’s Club in Space, buy ten polonium ammo upgrades and get a free milkshake.

It’s not just a case of quantity, but of redundancy. While it sounds great to have a large number of ammo types and then ten marks of each, granting a gradual increase in effectiveness, it’s pointless if the vast majority of those ammo types are worthless. Even on the harder difficulties, there is little reason to use anything other than armour piercing and anti-personnel rounds, bearing in mind that covers almost all of the enemies you’ll face in the game. A flat increase in damage, while boring, is always more effective. Weapons and armour also have a vast selection of manufacturers to choose from but the choice is little more than a phantom. The equipment is so similar in terms of stats and benefits, that most of it ends up being flat-out worse than your current gear in every respect. There is no choice to be made there, it’s just a case of using the best item you have access to at the time. A wider range of stats would have made a world of difference, for example, a high damage but low accuracy weapon, or a weapon that could fire for a great length of time without overheating, yet lacked stopping power. This isn’t the case unfortunately, so all that variety is for nought.

OH PLEASE BRING BACK THESE KIND OF RPG ELEMENTS

Mass Effect 2 contains far fewer weapons and armour choices, but each one is distinctly different from the last. The often garishly coloured armoured suits are replaced with a modular design which can be retrofitted with different parts. Colours are fully customisable, as are patterns, materials and a variety of other cosmetic features. In terms of the weapons, a prime example is the vast difference between the two games comes with the first two heavy pistols you acquire early on. The initial pistol has a reasonable rate of fire and stopping power plus features a moderately sized clip. The second pistol on the other hand is a big, heavy, 6-shot magnum called the Carnifex Handcannon which excels at headshots and punching through heavy armour-plating but suffers from massive recoil and slow firing speed. Ammo capacity can also be an issue for this gun because hey, ammo is now an issue in Mass Effect 2. It’s easy to forget that the original Mass Effect had ‘hundreds of weapons’, yet only 4 types and a handful of graphical models.

This phantom variety rears its ugly head once more in terms of the skills available in the original Mass Effect. The vast majority of skill-ups simply add stats which is a particularly boring way to progress. Skill redundancy was also a huge issue with heavy overlap between Shepherd and his squad-mates. Several classes were also crippled by a lack of weapon choice, my engineer for instance could only use pistols which I was getting sick of the sight of by the end of the game. My engineer in Mass Effect 2 can use heavy pistols, sub-machine pistols and a variety of heavy weapons. Combine that with the fact that different guns feel, sound and fire differently in Mass Effect 2 and an extremely important element of RPGs comes into play, choice.

Walking in the shadow of titans

Here’s the rub, RPGs should not be so rigidly defined. In reality, an RPG is about playing a role and making choices. The very best RPGs have given the player the opportunity to make choices which have a great impact on their game experience. One of the finest RPG experiences on the PC was not strictly an RPG at all, it was a hybrid title. That game is of course Deus Ex, masterfully melding the FPS and RPG genres as well as giving unprecedented choice and freedom to the player. Mass Effect 2 is an example of an extremely small but ever-evolving genre of RPG-hybrid titles which grasp the core elements of the RPG as a concept and combine them with a style of game-play that feels genuine as opposed to tacked on. Mass Effect suffered from a clunky combat system that was held back by the trapping of so-called modern RPGs. It focussed too much on stats and inventory management and not enough on what really mattered, choice. As great a game as Mass Effect was, Mass Effect 2 is a leaner, meaner package that exemplifies what made such platform classics as Deus Ex and STALKER great, reminding us that RPGs are not just about sacks of loot and min-maxing your numbers, but about becoming immersed in a role and making real, game-changing choices. If that’s the way that some RPGs are going then sign me up, there is plenty of room for both schools of thought as we’ve seen by the exceptional sales of both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, polar opposites in terms of gameplay but both sharing the same emphasis on personal choice and character interaction.

Gaming Express 2nd Feb 2010

CynicalBrit — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:20:26 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp020210.mp3)

Today on Gaming Express!

Analyist claims the PS3 will see best year on year growth – http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ps3-to-see-best-growth-in-january-as-wii-suffers-meaningful-shortages-says-analyst/

Alien vs Predator multiplayer modes detailed - http://blogs.sega.com/europe/2010/02/01/aliens-vs-predator-multiplayer-modes-dissected/

THQ wants to earn your trust - http://www.destructoid.com/thq-doesn-t-care-about-sequels-but-won-t-turn-em-down–162214.phtml

Info on Crysis 2 posted in a German Gaming Magazine - http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2010/02/01/crysis-2-among-the-best-looking-games-on-any-platform-first-details-arrive/

New Trailer for The Behemoth’s new game - http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/02/the-behemoths-third-game-officially-titled-battleblock-features-smashing-top-hat-action/

EA claims that hardcore focus is paying off for Visceral - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/hardcore-focus-pays-off-for-visceral

Ex-Ensemble developer working on Settlers 7 – http://bit.ly/avNOev

Digital Distribution Deals

Splosion Man 50% off (400 Microsoft Points)

Dawn of War Gold 50% off – £4.95

Podcast Feed | Downloads | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Gaming Express 1st Feb 2010

CynicalBrit — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:10:06 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (gxp010210.mp3)

Gaming Express 1^st Feb 2010

Steam has experienced amazing growth in 2009 -http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/steam-user-base-grows-25-percent-in-2009

Kojima is beating himself up over the release date slip of MGS: Peacewalker - http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/01/kojima-there-is-no-greater-crime-then-delaying-a-game/

God of War 3 creator has no regrets and may or may not be making a new Twisted Metal game -http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2010/01/ares-give-me-cherry-coke-slurpee-and-my.html

Command and Conquer 4 is now in open beta -http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/01/command-conquer-4-beta-is-open/

Mass Effect 2 tops the UK charts -http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mass-effect-2-tops-uk-charts

EA announced FIFA Online and social gaming acquisitions – http://bit.ly/cZtYYy

New Trailer for Dragon Age Awakening – Return to Ostagar finally released on PC - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RockPaperShotgun/~3/QL0VRkrpVpc/

Final Fantasy 13 will be PS3 only in Asian territories - http://digital.asiaone.com/Digital/News/Story/A1Story20100131-195514.html

Release list - http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62169

Digital Distribution Deals :- Red Faction Guerilla

Red Faction: Guerrilla (US) – $9.99 — $4.95
Red Faction: Guerrilla (UK) – £34.95 — £8.95
Red Faction: Guerrilla (EU) – 49,95€ — 12,50€

Issues with PC port, uses GFWL, can be a little awkward to update. Sometimes bad framerate, particularly during explosions can be solved by running the game in a window.

Season 1 of Sam and Max for $5 - http://www.robothobo.com/ddd/?p=2756

Toki Tori – $3.75/£2.62

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Blue Plz! – Season 3 – Episode 59 – Finale

CynicalBrit — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:15:47 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (blueplz300110.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

The show brings the end of an era as WoW Radio closes it’s doors, capping off Season 3 of Blue Plz! and introducing Season 4, beginning next week. It’s a time for memories both good and bad and the promise of a great number of fantastic productions in the future.

In the mailbag, TotalBiscuit is quizzed on the issue of tanking in random heroics and the behaviour of some players towards tanks who they perceive as having ‘too little health’. Advice is also given out on how best to cope with random heroics as a newer player.

This evening’s first topic concerns an anonymous applicant to a ‘casual’ guild, who proceeds to get horribly defensive when called out on his poor quality application. The idea that casual guilds are extremely lax in their recruitment standards and that they, in fact, should be ‘nice and forgiving to everyone’ is a myth, as this not-so-plucky applicant soon discovers.

In our second segment, TotalBiscuit shares some memories of the past 5 years, recounting elements of WoW Radio history both familiar and obscure, inviting emails from the listenerbase.

As the show comes to a close, the US forums claim that Blizzard ‘hates’ 10 man guilds on the basis of the Invincible mount. TotalBiscuit, as an exclusively 10-man raider with an extensive background in 25 and 40 man encounters, tells it like it is, as you would expect.

To cap off the show, more of the listener’s favourite memories and an ear-bleeding live performance of TotalBiscuit’s parody track, Tribute Run.

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Gaming the System – 26th January 2010

CynicalBrit — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:37:36 +0000

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System, wherein TotalBiscuit and SWAG confuse the hell out of each other!

If you enjoy this show, feel free to leave a tip if you’d like, using the Paypal link below.

Download audio file (wow-gts-01-26-10.mp3)

As always we start off the show by asking what we’ve been playing this week. Civilisation 4 is the order of the day as TotalBiscuit details his conquest of the world and Ghandi’s sizeable nuclear arsenal

Music Break – Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasuko Yamada – Contradiction at the Crime Scene (Ace Attorney Investigations)

This week in gaming (00:18:05)

Squad Rush mode in Bad Company 2, only available for Gamestop pre-order customers in the first month – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62076

Capcom Release datess – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/26/capcom-x-microsoft-everything-in-one-place/

AvP and Napolean Total War to use Steamworks – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62085

This week’s releases http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62069

This week in horrible shovelware – Fast Food Panic

Squad Rush mode in Bad Company 2, only available for Gamestop pre-order customers in the first month – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62076
Capcom Release datess – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/26/capcom-x-microsoft-everything-in-one-place/
AvP and Napolean Total War to use Steamworks – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62085
This week’s releases – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62069
This week in horrible shovelware – Fast Food Panic

Music Break – Jack Wall – The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2)

The Gaming Garage (00:42:48)

This week in the Gaming Garage, DirectX11 is discussed. What will it bring to the table, is it worth upgrading to a DX11 complaint video-card? What is all this jargon about multi-threading and tessellation? TB and SWAG try to jargon bust and explain why DX11 is already looking like a big step up from DX10. As promised, the Crysis configuration tool which allows most of the DX10 effects to be enabled in Windows XP can be found here.

The following article was referred to in this segment – “Why we should get excited about DX11“

You can find a list of current and upcoming DX11 games here

Music Break – Jeremy Soule – Brutal Battle (Total Annihilation)

Sacred Cows (01:01:44)

With Mass Effect 2 out this week and TB barely able to contain him excitement, the duo take a retrospective look at Mass Effect 1, picking it apart and dissecting it’s issues. Discussed are the infamous Mako, infinite adventures in identical warehouses and the divisive issue of the dialogue system.

Music Break - Jack Wall - The Normandy Reborn (Mass Effect 2)

TB’s Top Tens (01:19:16)

Firstly please accept our apologies for the screw up in this segment. We had several revisions of the list and got a few of the entries jumbled up. What follows is the correct list.

This week in the Top Ten we count down 10 hidden gems for your Playstation 2.

10. Grim Grimoire

9. Genji

8. Star Trek Conquest

7. The Red Star

6. Urban Reign

5. Warship Gunner 2

4. King of Fighters 2005

3. Urban Chaos – Riot Response

2. Ico

1. Godhand

Music Break - Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasuko Yamada – Objection! 2009 (Ace Attorney Investigations)

Why this and not that? (1:39:00)

A return of an experimental feature, we ask you why you bought these games, as opposed to those games? This week, why Gears of War and Shadow Complex, but not Unreal Tournament 3? TB and SWAG go at it on the pros and cons of Epic’s latest iteration of the Unreal franchise. We invite you to leave a comment on this website as to why you did, or did not buy UT3.

Music Finale - Jeremy Soule – Licking Wounds (Total Annihilation)

RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Blue Plz! – Season 3 – Episode 58 – Zero effort edition

CynicalBrit — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:28:22 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-01-23-10.mp3)

Right click and save as to download this episode

This week on Blue Plz!

In the mailbag, a moral dilemma explored, some info about The Cynical Brit and are the new armoury additions an invasion of privacy?

The bulk of today’s show is taken up with the Twitter Developer Chat. You can read along here. I’ve tried my best to skip class-specific questions.

In the illusion of choice, we bring back an old favourite in the form of Imbecile of the Week. An entitled casual cries on the US forums and gets what he deserves.

[paypal-donation]

Gaming the System – 19th January 2010

CynicalBrit — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:30:41 +0000

Show notes

What have we been playing this week? – Mass Effect. Dark Void demo.

Tenpei Sato – Disgaea (Disgaea)

This week in gaming 00:16:45

Nintendo details European releases for Q1 – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/19/nintendo-details-spring-line-up/

Lost Planet 2 coming to PC – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/19/esrb-outs-lost-planet-2-pc/

ESRB details Heavy Rain’s adult content – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/18/esrb-details-heavy-rain-sex-scenes-intense-violent-scene-described/

This weeks releases http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61969

Jack Wall – The Attack (Mass Effect 2)

Gaming Garage – DLC (including recent Dragon Age Origins debacle) 00:45:50

Hiroshi Okubo – Weapons of Mass Destruction (Ace Combat 6)

Sacred Cows – Alien vs Predator 1:06:15

Shinji Hosoe – Planet Zelard (Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrangements)

TB’s Top Tens :- The Top Ten Time-Vampires 1:26:26

10) Dragon Quest VIII

9) Plants vs Zombies

Diablo 2

7) Transport Tycoon Deluxe

6) Disgaea 2

5) Dwarf Fortress

4) Dragon Age

3) X3

2) Puzzle Quest

1) Civilisation 4

Christopher Tin – Baba Yetu – (Civilisation 4)

Experimental Feature – Why this and not that? 1:49:45

KOTOR1? KOTOR 2?

Koh Ohtani – Revived Power (Shadow of the Collosus)

Welcome to this week’s Gaming the System! There were some sound issues resulting from teething problems with our new setup. We apologise for this and hope to have it resolved by next week.

Listen to this episode here :- Download audio file (wow-gts-01-19-10.mp3)

As always, we start off the show with what we’ve been playing this week? SWAG’s been sneaking about in Assassin’s Creed 2 while TotalBiscuit setup his perfect saved file for Mass Effect 2, due out next week.

Music Break – Tenpei Sato – Disgaea (Disgaea)

This week in gaming (00:16:45)

This week’s news comes courtesy of VG247.

Nintendo details European releases for Q1 – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/19/nintendo-details-spring-line-up/

Lost Planet 2 coming to PC – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/19/esrb-outs-lost-planet-2-pc/

ESRB details Heavy Rain’s adult content – http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/18/esrb-details-heavy-rain-sex-scenes-intense-violent-scene-described/

This weeks releases – http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61969

Music Break – Jack Wall – The Attack (Mass Effect 2)

Gaming Garage – DLC (00:45:50)

TotalBiscuit and SWAG delve into the murky world of DLC including Bioware’s unfortunate history and the recent Return to Ostagar debacle. Is DLC finding it’s feet as a worthy successor to the expansion pack?

Hiroshi Okubo – Weapons of Mass Destruction (Ace Combat 6)

Sacred Cows – Alien vs Predator (1:06:15)

With the latest Alien vs Predator game from Rebellion on the horizon, TB and SWAG take a look back at AvP1 and 2. Alien vs Predator Classic 2000 is now available on Steam for the low price of $5, listen to find out why you should buy it.

Music Break – Shinji Hosoe – Planet Zelard (Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrangements)

TB’s Top Tens :- The Top Ten Time-Vampires (1:26:26)

So you want to waste your life? Here’s 10 great ways to do it.

10. Dragon Quest VIII

9. Plants vs Zombies

8. Diablo 2

7. Transport Tycoon Deluxe

6. Disgaea 2

5. Dwarf Fortress

4. Dragon Age

3. X3 – Terran Conflict

2. Puzzle Quest

1. Civilisation 4

Music Break – Christopher Tin – Baba Yetu – (Civilisation 4)

Experimental Feature – Why this and not that? (1:49:45)

TB and SWAG throwdown. 2 games enter, 1 game leaves! TB loves Knights of the Old Republic 2, yet SWAG adores Knights of the Old Republic 1. Which will triumph?

Music Finale Koh Ohtani – Revived Power (Shadow of the Colossus)

Blue Plz! – Season 3 – Episode 57 – Moving the Goalposts

CynicalBrit — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:01:18 +0000

This is a test post to ensure that everything is fine and dandy for the February 1st launch of cynicalbrit.com – This is how you will see episodes on the site from here on in. Those using iTunes will notice no difference, things will work the same as they always did once the site launches. Because the CMS (content management system) of cynicalbrit.com is better than that of WoW Radio’s, I can provide far more detailed show notes and commentary on each episode. Thanks to the new comment system, you can also leave your comments and feedback on a per-episode basis. There will also be a tip-jar button on the page for future episodes, if you want to throw a couple of dollars my way to show appreciation for the free content. I view this as performance-related pay and a barometer of how well I’m doing. Added bonus is it helps pay for the site and new features. However this week, it’s vastly more important that people donate to the Haiti Appeal and help those in desperate need of aid.

Thanks to Spiritwolf (Tom Fullerton) for the new Blue Plz! graphics.

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-01-15-10.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz! The Cynical Brit takes great pleasure in laughing at the self-inflicted misfortunes of WoW.com after their ‘announcement’ as to the launch date of the Friends and Family Alpha for World of Warcraft : Cataclysm, is revealed to be bogus. Cheaters and liars never prosper folks. The mailbag covers the touchy subject of gearscore and the far superior system, Elitist Group. Should 10 mans have access to legendary items asks one listener?

This episodes first discussion topic is that of Professor Putricide’s recent fix and The Cynical Brit’s disturbing manlove for Blizzard Lead World Designer Valnoth. A US forum poster believes that the fix constitutes a stealth buff and is unfair to some raiders. Valnoth responds with a detailed rationale as to why this is not the case and The Cynical Brit follows up with some scathing commentary on the childish attitudes of entitled players.

This episode’s second topic follows up on the mention of a raid-wide buff to help players defeat Icecrown content, once The Lich King encounter becomes available. The Cynical Brit explains why this is a terrible idea, explaining the concept of ‘moving the goalposts’ as opposed to allowing players to get better through practice and experience.

The third topic segues continues on the subject of the raid-wide buff with the announcement by Valnoth that it will be optional. This raises an interesting topic, as to whether or not you and your guild should disable the buff, if there is no tangible benefit to doing so. A conflict arises between the opposing ideologies of ‘optimal raiding’ and ‘looking for a challenge’, can a balance be struck between the two? Which side will you and your guild support? Why don’t you let everyone know by leaving a comment?

Rounding off the show with a great Illusion of Choice from Bunkerface, what kind of impact is the rebuilding of the stats system in Cataclysm going to have? Does it have the potential to create a better, more varied system from the ground up or is this another example of Blizzard dumbing the game down for poor players?

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 56

CynicalBrit — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:15:16 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-01-08-10.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

WoW Radio prepares it’s final goodbyes, but this is not the end! Find out about my brand new projects and all sorts of exciting news. Plus WoW Insider lies through it’s teeth, Blue Plz! drops a truth bomb on their latest sensationalist article. And Putricide needs a nerf? Not according to Blizzard it doesn’t.

Good blogs -

Razer Naga Review

CynicalBrit — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:44:12 +0000

After the Official ‘World of Warcraft’ mouse turned out to be a disastrous lemon, it was only a matter of time before another company stepped in to exploit the emerging niche-market of MMO powergamers. These are the kind of people that bought Z-boards back in the day, with the promise that such a miracle product would improve their DPS or make them more potent PvPers. The effectiveness of such products is questionable at best, but there’s no denying the demand for them.

Enter the Razer Naga, one of the most unusual mouse designs I’ve ever had the experience of using. The one thing which immediately sticks out, both figuratively and literally, is a 12 button keypad on the left hand side of the device. Designed to be easily accessible with the thumb, this keypad’s goal is to put a much larger selection of hotkeys within reach. While a player with an average handspan could perhaps comfortably reach 7-8 on the top of the keyboard while moving with the W A S and D keys, the Naga adds a further 12 to your arsenal. Since this is the showcase feature of the device, we’ll go into that first.

The Thumbpad

As an MMO mouse at heart, the obvious port of call in which to test the device is World of Warcraft. Razer provides WoW support out of the box with a World of Warcraft add-on. Those players who already use add-ons may find that they don’t need it at all, since Bartender4 supports the Naga by default. Binding your preferred hotkeys to the Naga’s keypad is as easy as placing them on the appropriate bar, they will function instantly and without any fiddling about. It definitely takes some getting used to as you might imagine and I frequently ended up pressing the wrong buttons during my first hour or so of use. There are a couple of handy features which help ease the transition. Firstly, the number 5 has a slightly raised bump for reference, which helps you memorise the relative positions of each button. Secondly, Razer has included a training card, with various exercises to practice. Personally I found this unnecessary, but it’s a nice thought. The buttons are rugged and require a little pressure to activate, which prevents the user accidently pressing them. The pad seems to be positioned very well, as long as you are holding the mouse in the way it’s ergonomically designed for. My fears of thumb cramp from extended use were unfounded.

The thumbpad works as advertised and I did not encounter any technical issues while using it, but the more pertinent question is, do you actually need it? I can only offer my perspective as a primarily PvE-focussed mage player. Personally while I found it completely usable, it was also a little redundant. With a hand-span that can comfortably reach “9” with my index finger while moving with my ring finger, there aren’t really any other buttons that I would use on a regular basis while in a PvE encounter, particularly since my last couple of useful buttons such as counterspell and mana shield are already bound to user-friendly keys. I did not wish to retrain my muscle memory in order to transfer those functions to the thumbpad. At the end of the day, your mileage may vary. There are other classes that use a larger variety of abilities in PvE combat that would definitely benefit from this feature and that’s not to mention PvP combat, where I would assume the thumbpad would get the most use. If you indulge in arena play at all, then the Naga should be on your radar as a possible upgrade on the strength of the thumbpad alone.

Ergonomics and non-MMO titles

Razer are usually pretty good on the ergonomic front, though I personally found their older Copperhead and Diamondback mice to be a little small for my hands. I admit that my first impressions of its unusual design concerned me. How could something that looks like this possibly be comfortable, I asked myself. My concerns melted away once I started using it. Razer claims the device was designed for extended play sessions and it they’re clearly not just making that up. The mouse is extremely comfortable, with a welcome groove on the right hand side of the device to on which to rest your ring finger. This is not common in my experience and it’s much better than having your ring finger waving around in thin air, which can cause discomfort after a while. I have subjected the mouse to extended play sessions, including raids and the twin time-vampires of Kings Bounty and Civilisation 4 and can confirm that it’s very comfortable.

The build quality of the device is top notch, with satisfying and crisp response on the main buttons and scroll wheel. It does not feel cheap or thrown-together, it’s a solid piece of hardware that both looks and feels like a premium mouse. I do take issue with the placement of the 2 smaller buttons on the top left of the device. Usually found on the left hand side of most multi-button mice, it is difficult to get used to their positioning on the Naga and they can be awkward to use. I don’t know why Razer couldn’t have placed them on the side of the mouse, there is plenty of unused space above the thumbpad that could have accommodated them.

The Naga features a 5600dpi laser, though very few players are going to want to configure it that high. On my 30” widescreen monitor at 2560×1600, I found around 2800dpi to be comfortable and accurate. It comes down to personal preference, so I’m glad the option is there. Do not mistake this as a mouse for MMOs alone, FPS and RTS were both an absolute joy to play with the Naga as well and there are no disadvantages to using it in non-MMO titles.

There is one minor issue that I came across during the first few hours of use. If you do not hold the mouse in the way it is designed you may find that the cursor moves upwards slightly upon click, which can be infuriating. I have missed an icon on the desktop more than once due to this issue. It seems to be a result of the high sensitivity combined with the Naga’s very specific ergonomic design and does not occur if your hand is correctly following the contours of the mouse, with your ring finger resting on the right groove.

Conclusion

The Naga is undoubtedly designed with a great understanding of what MMO gamers want, but without compromising the usability of the mouse if you want to play non-MMO titles as well. It’s comfortable, accurate and comes with the kind of premium build quality you’d expect from Razer products. While I am cautious to recommend it solely on the basis of the thumbpad alone, that really isn’t all it’s got going for it and it is a fine mouse on its own merits. At the time of writing, it can be purchased for around $79.99 in the US and £59.99 in the UK, which may deter some potential buyers. Unsurprisingly, the decision on whether or not to purchase lays squarely on the thumbpad. If you play MMO games frequently, particularly in high APM PvP environments, the Naga will benefit you without question. If you don’t, there are cheaper alternatives that provide the functionality you need, such as Razer’s own Imperator, an extremely similar mouse in terms of design, minus the thumb-pad. At the end of the day, it’s a niche product and a very good one. You’re not going to be disappointed if you buy it.

Pros :

+ Comfort

+ Accuracy

+ Thumbpad functionality works very well

+ Exceptional build quality

+ Add-ons and preconfigured setups for popular MMOs

Cons :

- Placement of buttons which are usually found on the left hand side, on the top left next to the left mouse button.

- Thumbpad may be redundant for some players

- The cursor can jerk upward slightly upon clicks if the mouse is not being held correctly.

- Price may be prohibitive for some

The Bottom Line – A worthy buy for MMO gamers looking for a mouse that combines innovation with comfort and style.

Listen to this entry here! :- Download audio file (nagareview.mp3)

The Thumbpad

This side view shows the thumbpad in all it's glory.

Ergonomics and non-MMO titles

In this image you can clearly see the ring finger groove as well as the oddly placed buttons on the top left

Conclusion

Pros :

+ Comfort

+ Accuracy

+ Thumbpad functionality works very well

+ Exceptional build quality

+ Add-ons and preconfigured setups for popular MMOs

Cons :

- Placement of buttons which are usually found on the left hand side, on the top left next to the left mouse button.

- Thumbpad may be redundant for some players

- The cursor can jerk upward slightly upon clicks if the mouse is not being held correctly.

- Price may be prohibitive for some

The Bottom Line – A worthy buy for MMO gamers looking for a mouse that combines innovation with comfort and style.

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 55

CynicalBrit — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:12:32 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-01-01-10.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

Players on a raiding IV! Do you like being drip-fed your content? Plus looking for group, should it be more strict? We take your emails on awful PUG experiences. Featuring Nubcake News and Ask the Murloc!

RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 54

CynicalBrit — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:07:03 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-12-18-09.mp3)

This week on Blue Plz!

3.3 hits! Just how good is that new Mage Armour icon? Plus the first wing of the ICC raid examined, is it up to snuff? Are you looking for a group? Then we’ve got the tool for you! And are ICC 5-mans the greatest of all time? We investigate.

RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 53

CynicalBrit — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:38 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-11-09-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

This week on Blue Plz! – Well I would tell you, you see, but you’ll need to use our microtransaction service. The Blizzard Pet Store, the worst thing ever? An objective analysis. Plus how to fix the entire badge problems using heirlooms, yet more suggestions from the WoW Radio Think Tank.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 52

CynicalBrit — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:57:23 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-10-31-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

This week on Blue Plz! Are you a social outcast? Can’t get into a group for love nor money? Then don’t worry, the new cross-realm LFG system is here to help! Plus Race Change, the biggest cash-grab ever? We investigate. Also what better way to cap off a halloween show by talking about a SCARY GHOOOOOST. Shade of Aran, best fight, or bestest fight?

RSS Feed | Episodes | Show Email | Subscribe in iTunes

Happiness is a pipebomb and a room full of zombies.

CynicalBrit — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:47:11 +0000

Listen to this article here! :- Download audio file (cynicalbit3.mp3)

Left4Dead easily ranks in my Top 5 gaming disappointments of 2008, battling for top spot against such disasters as Spore. It wasn’t inherently a bad game in and of itself, indeed, it earned almost universal acclaim from press and gamer alike with its unique brand of survival action. I was excited to pick up the game on release, eventually struggling through the lengthy install brought on by a non-functional boxed copy. 7 gigabytes seems like an eternity when you’re desperate to join in the fun and in the case of many British internet connections, eternity is not far from the truth. I must confess, my exposure to the game prior to release was limited to previews. I had not taken part in the beta nor jumped in to take advantage of the 4-pack deal, pre-ordering my copy as an afterthought, from Amazon instead. The main reason the game was taking up a spot on my radar, aside from the obvious desire to purchase anything and everything Valve released, was the excitement of WoW Radio’s gaming community. Those who have been a part of it can attest the friendly peer pressure that’s involved in upcoming releases, the desire to play with people that we know can be relied upon not to suck and/or annoy is an extremely strong pull and can give greater purchase incentive to those who might be on the fence. Left4Dead was just such a game, interesting but not a guaranteed day one purchase, that is until various ventrillo voices shouted in unison from the murky depths of the beta ‘get this now!’. I was convinced.

These 4 people represent the 4 people who didn't like Left4Dead. I get to be the chick, right?

Unfortunately, there are times when one should not pay any attention to what his peers are squawking. Left4Dead was simply not my thing. What other way is there to describe it? After all, it’s a universally acclaimed cooperative multiplayer experience that I didn’t enjoy, therefore must surely be a case of personal preference getting in the way of my enjoyment. I haven’t touched Left4Dead in over 8 months, so let me delve into the recesses of my game-addled mind in order to recall the details of my dislike. The first gripe to be dredged up has got to be the sheer lack of enemy variety. Hordes of fast moving zombies are interspersed with a spattering of so-called ‘special’ infected, with 5 types in total. Only 3 of these types are a constant threat, appearing with reasonable frequency to harry the survivors as they make their way through whatever infested hellhole they’ve managed to find themselves in this time. The Tank and Witch are reserved for special occasions, dire threats if not dealt with properly. The special infected vary in terms of their actual threat value. Hunters and Smokers exist solely to punish players who wander off on their own and bring down the guillotine on disorganised teams, posing little threat otherwise.

This lack of variety continued into the weapon selection, a paltry offering totalling just 6 firearms. I could have forgiven this were Valve obviously trying to portray a pseudo-realistic survival horror, where supplies were scarce and survivors had to improvise to stay alive. This is not the case however, as Left4Dead is part of the ever-growing survival action genre that Resident Evil 4 began, pitting you against hordes of horrors with plenty of ammo to spare. The horrifically generic weapon selection and the metric ton of ammo available for each made the game feel like a fast-paced shooting gallery and I soon tired of it. There is a lot to admire about the game, including the impressively sized hordes, innovative death mechanics which are now being ripped off piecemeal for titles such as Modern Warfare 2, astonishing character design and top-notch voice-acting, to name but a few. Left4Dead had all the polish one would expect from a Valve title but unfortunately, in this player’s view, none of the substance. It felt light-weight and flimsy, from the lack of variety to the tinny gun-shots and lack of punch to the weapons. I found it lacklustre, unable to quench my now growing thirst for zombie genocide and for a time, that thirst would have to wait.

On May 14th 2009, Tripwire Interactive released their budget-priced zombie shoot-a-thon Killing Floor. You may be familiar with it if you followed the Unreal Tournament 2004 modding scene, since that’s where the original version first let loose its ravening hordes upon an unsuspecting world. The story behind its development as a fully-fledged commercial title is short, but one of those heart warming tales that indie development is known for. Tripwire had previously released a rather hardcore online shooter by the name of Red Orchestra, touting realistic weapons, 50 person battles and a variety of World War 2 era vehicles. What they had also done is endorse a mod for their own game by the name of Mare Nostrum, certifying it and releasing it through Steam as a free download for all Red Orchestra owners. Alex Quick, the mod team leader for Killing Floor, contacted Tripwire about porting the mod over to Red Orchestra and, as the story goes, Tripwire liked the mod so much they offered to create a full, commercial release. It’s all rather fitting when you think about it, Tripwire was created by the team behind an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod (also named Red Orchestra) and now its next title would come from the same source.

The original Killing floor mod, a truly great piece of work.

I hadn’t even read a single preview for this game when I pre-purchased it, I had no idea what to expect. It is testament to the power of budget-pricing, particularly since it was 25% off for pre-order customers, that I was able to purchase it without blinking. Hey, it’s £11, what could possibly go wrong? It’s surprising that I still fall into that particular trap, having been burned several times on budget price titles which sported good concepts but thoroughly awful execution. I can overlook budget-related issues such as voice-acting, sound-design and graphics but if I’m unable to play your game because of your hamfisted approach to whatever original concept you’ve dreamed up, expect very little sympathy from yours truly. Tripwire’s previous effort, Red Orchestra, at least gave me some confidence that I wasn’t about to walk into a disaster area with a slightly dented wallet.

This time it was my turn to apply peer pressure onto my fellow WoW Radio gamers with relative success. When the game launched, we were able to deploy full squads of 6 to commit Killing Floor’s particular brand of zombicide. What followed was joy. Sheer, visceral, bloody-spattered joy. You see, Killing Floor has a simple premise. England has been taken over by hordes of bio-experiments known as Specimens or ‘Zeds’. Your mission? Kill as many of them as possible and hope to survive long enough to engage the Patriach, a bio-engineered monstrosity armed with miniguns, rocket launchers, a cloaking device and a thoroughly unpleasant temperament. Your team is dropped into the level, often with no rhyme or reason and expected to slaughter several, increasingly difficult waves of specimens. The maps are rather open ended, allowing you to choose where you wish to engage the hordes, causing them to spawn accordingly, depending on your position.

From the outset it became clear that this was not the run and gun experience of Left4Dead. Enemies move far slower and more deliberately, approaching in groups from every conceivable angle. Careful shots are the order of the day, as in typical Red Orchestra fashion, there are no crosshairs to be seen. Right Click allows you to look down your gun’s iron sights. I’ve always been a fan of iron sights, not for the sake of realism, but for the trade-off one must usually make in order to use them. Killing Floor allows you to trade mobility for accuracy and a somewhat reduced field of vision. While it might seem insignificant at first glance, Killing Floor’s iron-sights add to the game in two very vital respects. Firstly, the use of iron-sights introduces a sense of tension. Will you stand your ground in the face of enemy and unleash a fusillade of hot lead into their fetid brain-pans, or will you cut and run, relocating to a new position? Having to make that choice is important in any survival horror game, reminding you that this is not your typical shooter and that you are always vulnerable, all of the time.

The second advantage that iron sights possess is the ability to give your firearms a real, weighty and satisfying feel. Assuming it hasn’t faded from your mind, you will remember my earlier remarks regarding.Left4Dead’s lightweight, unsatisfying weaponry. Killing Floor is just the opposite and gloriously so. Weapons feel powerful and relatively realistic and it’s not just how they handle, but how they sound. Tripwire did a fantastic job sourcing the perfect audio assets for these weapons, each one is meaty and packs a real aural punch. Combine this with the iron sights, recoil and exceptional enemy feedback, as specimens stagger or are simply dismembered and decapitated with satisfying graphical and aural displays and you have a recipe for thoroughly enjoyable gunplay. Just to add the icing on the cake, occasional ‘zed-time’ slow-motion effects, resulting from particularly stylish or gory kills add a precious few seconds of breathing room, allowing players to line up their shots, as well as the added bonus of looking cool. If the Matrix taught us anything, then it’s that everything is better with bullet-time.

Everything is also better with akimbo pistols.

While we’re on the subject of my Left4Dead gripes, allow me to point out two areas where Killing Floor equally trounces it. The first is weapon variety, which just this past week received a very generous boost. Killing Floor launched with an impressive arsenal of weapons, ranging from the simple, yet brutally effective combat knife, to the hefty LAW Rocket Launcher. The game launched with 13 weapons in total, not including the dual-wield option for both the 9mm and handcannon pistols as well as the obligatory grenades. Since launch a further 9 weapons have been added, bringing the total to 22. This number includes several melee weapons which, rather than backups to be used in a pinch, form the foundation of the ‘Berserker’ perk, a melee-centric class with several, powerful benefits. I started off as a Berserker but found myself disappointed that the meaty visual and aural production of the firearms was not replicated in the melee weapons. Often it feels like you’re flailing at the air, with very few sound effects and little confirmation that you’ve hit anything. I consider this a big oversight that I hope is rectified by Tripwire in a future update. The guns on the other hand are outstanding and each one feels unique. Various ‘perks’, the game’s classes, favour different types of weapon but any class can use anything, provided they have the money and carrying capacity to do so. Progression from the humble pistol to the most powerful weapons such as the SCAR battle rifle and M32 grenade launcher is well paced and buying that shiny new weapon after saving up sufficient ‘dosh’ to do so never fails to excite. It is also important to note that there is no ‘best’ weapon. Even the game’s BFG equivalent, the LAW, is extremely impractical in many situations and has very limited ammunition. A mix of weapons and perks amongst your team is always the best way to stay alive and it is good to see players assuming various roles.

Killing Floor also has a greater variety of enemies. Where Left4Dead has 6 types in total, Killing Floor has 10 and has no qualms about mixing it up to force you to deal with a variety of threats. Even the humble Clot, the game’s basic, shambling zombie type, can grab and immobilise the player, quickly tearing them apart. Each enemy type has several distinct attributes and knowing how to take down each one is rather important. Sure, apply gun to head works, most of the time, but you’re also dealing with enemies of various different speeds, movement styles and occasionally, invisibility. Enemies like the Scrake and Fleshpound rival Left4Dead’s tank in terms of toughness and appear a lot more frequently, requiring some seriously focussed fire to take down. In the case of the Fleshpound, a precise alpha-strike is the preferred method because attempting to simply whittle him down will cause him to enrage, charging your squad and slaughtering everything he can get his hands on… well, whatever they are, pounders I guess, the Fleshpound doesn’t really have hands per say.

Care to place a wager?

Left4Dead took a lot of its ideas from the original Killing Floor mod but they are both very different styles of game. Left4Dead requires the players to stay on the move, whereas Killing Floor favours setting up in a well-defended location in order to survive. Thankfully the maps are designed with this in mind and with one notable exception which I’m sure all Killing Floor players are familiar with, there are no universally safe locations. Literally every place you could possibly decide to make your stand in has multiple entrances, along with sneaky entrances for the insidious crawlers to spew from. Doors can be welded shut but this is a temporary measure that requires the constant attention of at least 1 player and stronger creatures like the Fleshpound can smash their way through regardless. Such camping style gameplay could be considered tedious at first glance, but the game presents a constant challenge and threat to your defences, particularly as ammunition can become scarce on harder difficulty levels and running off on one’s own to find more can be a very risky prospect, as can moving the entire team. One mistake, one nasty specimen let through the defensive lines can spell quick death for your team. Even the basic Clots can do heavy damage that puts Left4Dead’s infected to shame, not to mention their ability to immobilise you. This, in essence, is what allows Killing Floor to straddle the line between survival horror and survival action. You may be a heavily armed, wise-cracking paramilitary force, but your carefully laid defensive plan can turn into complete chaos with the slightest mis-step. The adrenaline-laced panic as your former fortress is overrun, leaving your team firing wildly as they attempt to retreat to a safer location, only to find the way crawling with specimens, never gets old and that’s where the game’s true strength lies. Under the persistent levelling and class system and the myriad of different weapons to choose from, Killing Floor is a simple game with a simple idea, slaughtering zombie hordes with your mates is fun, if done right. While a decidedly B-movie affair with an old graphics engine, spotty voice-acting reminiscent of Dog Soldiers and a cheesy metal/industrial soundtrack, Killing Floor is a blood-soaked riot that can and will justify the asking price.

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 51

CynicalBrit — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:54:33 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-10-23-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

This week on Blue Plz! Blizzard decides the best way to deal with it’s community is to answer everything in very short, easy to understand sentences and what better medium to do so than on Twitter. TotalBiscuit dissects their first Twitter Dev Chat mercilessly. Plus Nubcake News takes on Arthas’ corporate advances and The Murloc escapes for 6 minutes of live, unscripted mayhem.

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Tales from Firstlook – New Super Mario Bros for Wii

CynicalBrit — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:35:56 +0000

Listen to this article! :- Download audio file (cynicalbit2.mp3)

When it comes to cynicism, there are few targets more tempting than Nintendo. Over the last couple of years they’ve provided more rage-fodder for angry internet men such as myself than anyone else, but now that Activision has safely stolen that crown it is perhaps time we talk about one of their new products which is actually a game as opposed to a work-out machine. Nintendo’s display at the First Look Expo in Amsterdam was surprisingly muted. There were 2 titles on display, one of which was the forthcoming DS Zelda title Spirit Tracks, which appeared to contain trains and also Link. I like trains, but I don’t like Link, conundrum! Instead of fighting this particular battle myself and my colleagues decided to take a look at the other title on offer, New Super Mario Brothers for Wii. In an uncharacteristically sensible move, Nintendo provided each pod with 4 controllers and a knowledgeable rep to talk us through some of the basic concepts, though it did not take us long to realise what was going on. Selecting either Mario, luigi, yellow mushroom guy or purple mushroom guy, we had access to all of the levels in World 1 and started to make our way through.

Initially it played as one would expect. The controllers were held sideways in the classic NES style, no nunchuck in sight and thanks to the excellent d-pad and well spaced buttons the game handled perfectly. The graphics were colourful and polished, making the already impressive DS version look very dated in comparison. All of the sound assets one expects and is perhaps sick of by this point were present, which is sure to please traditionalists. Soon enough however, it became abundantly clear that none of that mattered, as great as it was, because we were rapidly discovering just how many opportunities one had to be an obnoxious bastard to your fellow players.

You may see challenges, I see opportunity to screw with people.

New Super Mario brothers for Wii features 4-player “co-op” and the use of inverted airquotes there is well justified. At first glance is appears to be par the course, with up to 4 players running the level alongside each other, able to cooperate to kill enemies and bounce on each other’s heads to reach otherwise unreachable items and platforms. The death mechanic also requires the assistance of other players, since upon losing a life, a player will return in a bubble which must be popped by another, living player. So why do I use those airquotes so readily? Well the answer is, that the game also counts up your points at the end of each level and ranks you depending on how well you did against the other players. This score is dependent on several factors including the number of lives you have left and how many coins, mushrooms and other such things you managed to collect during the level. By introducing this competitive aspect to the co-op, it flips the entire experience on its head and turns it into a contest where the most ruthless player wins. There are several examples of this in action.

Firstly, the vast majority of power-ups in the game come in packs of 4, so that’s one for each player, right? Wrong. While you could share and give a power-up to everyone, you can also steal as many of the power-ups as you can get your hands on. Red mushrooms for instance give you 1000 points per pickup if you already have one. The scramble for these power-ups particularly as the screen continues to move if a player reaches the front edge of it, is fast and intense. This pilfering however is only the tip of the iceberg. The death mechanic can also be exploited to cause problems for your fellow players, since popping the bubble over a pit or deathtrap will result in yet another life lost. By far the most fiendish thing we found to inflict upon our bitter rivals was Yoshi’s ability to eat other players and then spit them out into pits or enemies. The howls of anguish were frequent as was the raucous laughter.

One might think that we were, to use the phrase, ‘doing it wrong’, playing the game in a manner which was not intended. I would dispute this, based on several factors. Firstly, rather than disapproving looks and attempts to get us to play the game one particular way, the rep was laughing along with us as we gleefully screwed each other over at every possible opportunity. It was clear that this playstyle had been going on all day and that the game facilitated it, glorified it even in places. If you recall Nintendo’s otherwise lacklustre E3 presentation, you will also remember the competitive aspect being discussed at length. This deliberate design choice recognises the desire for a new kind of cooperative experience, that of competitive co-op which is equal parts helping your fellow players as hindering them. In a social environment with 3 other players in your sitting room, the fun factor and lure of such a title is obvious. Some games have touched on this before, such as Castle Crasher’s princess-kissing sections, where players who were otherwise working together, must fight to the death for the right to kiss the damsel in distress, but none has yet come close to capturing what this new style of play could become, as New Super Mario Brothers for Wii. It’s a truly joyful experience, where your fellow players are just as much of a threat, if not more so, than the enemies and pitfalls of each level. Any questions about the difficulty level of this title, particularly with the introduction of ‘Play it for me’ mode, or ‘Super-guide’ as Nintendo likes to call it, should be tempered with the knowledge that constantly having to watch your back makes things an awful lot more interesting.

Tales from Firstlook – Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2

CynicalBrit — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:53:55 +0000

Listen to this blog entry! :- Download audio file (cynicalbit1.mp3)

This is the first in a series of articles about some of the upcoming titles I had the chance to play at the Firstlook Expo in Amsterdam. I wouldn’t consider these reviews, since the time I had with each game is limited, but they should hopefully provide some insight into the games in question. Let’s start with the self-proclaimed big-hitter, Modern Warfare 2.

Upon walking into the expo, a quick glance to the left unveiled a towering black structure with green waveforms painted on it. Flatscreens with pulsing green graphics and the release date for Modern Warfare 2 adorned the outside walls. We were able to enter the expo a few hours before the general public, which gained us two important things. Firstly, a delicious breakfast of stereotypical dutch cuisine (ham and cheese). After eating our fill we took full advantage of the other benefit of press access, early access to the pods. After a thorough session with Bayonetta, which I will talk about in a future article, we decided that it would be best to approach the MW2 ‘booth’, which is hereby referred to as The Dark Tower. Queueing for The Dark Tower was almost as surreal as walking into it. Burly and slightly psychotic looking bodyguards flanked the entrances, along with a slick PR guy who was doing a solid job of talking up the game to various inquisitive press. He visibly glowered as myself and my colleague cracked jokes about what might be inside The Dark Tower. A new price-hike perhaps? Bobby Kotick himself, there to devour our souls? After all, we were sure we’d seen less people walking out than going in. The humour was a mere mask for the terror in my heart, OH GOD, MODERN WARFARE 2 IS GOING TO FLAY ME ALIVE.

We entered The Dark Tower in a group of 6. Lead by the most psychotic of the bodyguards, we were instructed to stand on a series of X marks on the floor. Fully expecting an anvil to drop at any moment, we adorned the surprisingly shoddy headphones that hung from the ceiling and stared blankly at a concave projection screen, which one presumes was setup to make sneaky photography and filming difficult. The next couple of minutes consisted of a trailer which used the in-game engine, but didn’t actually show any game-play. Having played, but not entirely finished (or indeed paid much attention) to the single-player story of the original Modern Warfare, I can safely say I didn’t really understand what was going on. Things exploded, people talked about more things exploding. Bullets flew all over the place, various locales were shown. I must say the usually stellar audio production was notably absent from this demonstration, perhaps due to the inferior quality of the headphones. In a futile gesture of immersion which would not be out of place in a school theatre production, air was blown in our face at various intervals and bursts of smoke shot into the viewing room. We had to stifle a chortle at the absurdity of this half-arsed attempt to impress, lest The Dark Tower’s bodyguard crush the life out of us with his bare hands. He looked capable.

There was not enough of this...

As the presentation ended with a rather unimpressive climax, we were asked to stand there for a minute or so and then lead into a room with demonstration pods. We were told that we had 5 minutes and that we were to share a pod between two. While this sounds odd at first, you should bear in mind that the pods were set up to show off the ‘new’ Spec Ops mode, Infinity Ward’s replacement for the promised co-op which was cut at the last minute. We played on standard Xbox 360 pods, which aren’t ideal for split-screen setups due to their small displays. At least the high resolution capability ensured the visuals were sharp and crisp.

The demo allowed us to play a Spec Ops mission on a hard difficulty setting which I assume must be Veteran, involving the two of us using a breaching charge to penetrate an enemy stronghold and clear out those inside. A surprising and thoroughly inappropriate bullet-time segment followed the breach, allowing us to gun down a shocking number of enemies before they were able to mount a reasonable defence.

This initial triumph was short-lived as it became abundantly clear just how unfair this particular mission was going to be. Large groups of laser-sighted gunmen appeared on expansive balconies either side of us and proceeded to rain bullets and grenades down on our position. Dashing from cover to cover was the best option and I equipped myself with a shotgun to clear the room as my partner picked off the gunmen on the balconies with his own laser-sighted rifle. More and more enemies flooded in and I was eventually overwhelmed while reloading, taking 4 or 5 hits before falling to the ground. It was at this point that we experienced the truly bizarre nature of the death mechanics in co-op. I was able to pull out a pistol, Left4Dead style and gun down a couple of opponents, before starting to crawl back to my partner, with a lengthy ‘bleed-out’ timer emblazoned on the screen. The enemies quite literally ignored me as I crawled in front of them and eventually, I made it back to my partner’s position who with a simply press of the B button, laid hands upon me and filled me with the power of the Holy Spirit. I assume that’s what happened, nothing else makes sense since the healing was so incredibly fast. There was literally almost no risk involved in getting me back on my feet. No dressing of the wounds, no temporary vulnerability as he heaved my hefty, bullet-ridden carcass back onto its feet. It seemed cheap, reminding me of the bro-slap system of Gears of War, which effectively involved insulting your partner and calling him a fa***t for going down to a mere 20 bullets to the face. It was an immersion-shattering experience. As someone who has real difficulty dealing with regenerating health as a mechanic, finding the concept of hiding behind a pillar for a few seconds to pick the bullets out of your face truly alien and more than a little stupid, this blatant arcade-y nonsense did absolutely nothing for me. The enemies eventually overwhelmed us and we attempted the mission a couple more times, to no avail. At least my concerns about difficulty were without merit, it was balls-to-the-wall hard. So why, pray-tell, could the entire game not be this challenging and therefore, by Infinity Ward’s flimsy justification, have co-op mode? Forgive me for my scepticism of IW’s reasoning after being presenting with their own demonstration material which appears to contradict their statement.

Forget riot shields, we needed a riot igloo.

In terms of production values, it’s hard to judge how impressive the game is by a demo inside what is effectively a warehouse. Sound assets seem on par with the previous titles and I saw little upgrade in terms of visuals from the original Modern Warfare. It was a good looking game to begin with so that’s not a big issue. Gunplay was also almost identical so if you liked Modern Warfare’s gunplay I see no reason why you wouldn’t like this. It’s also rather hard to judge enemy AI in such an enclosed space. The snipers on the balconies did what snipers do, snipe. Picking them off wasn’t exactly difficult considering they had virtually no cover, so it was a shooting gallery for my rifle-toting partner. It was rather hard to tell if we’d been flanked at any point since we were dodging bullets from all sides to begin with, but I didn’t get the impression that the AI was stupid, beyond their insistence on piling into the room through a chokepoint which I riddled with buckshot at every possible opportunity.

The overall impression I was left with upon exiting The Dark Tower with my complimentary t-shirt is of a game and a publisher with delusions of grandeur. This is not the ultimate evolution of FPS, it is merely competent and overly reliant on it’s monstrous budget. It does not, judging by the limited playtime I had with the title, do anything to justify the price-hike beyond having spent too much money during the development cycle and on pre-release marketing. The recent Kotick-driven decisions have done nothing to warm me to the game and while console players might be limited in terms of their FPS back catalogue, PC gamers are not and do not desperately need this title to round off their 2009. I somehow doubt that those who enjoyed Modern Warfare will pass up this title on consoles, though the recent snub of PC players in the form of an unmoddable game and no dedicated servers may send some the way of the pirate and/or boycott. For me, as someone who found Modern Warfare inexplicably over-hyped and thoroughly lacklustre in many respects, my hands-on of Modern Warfare 2 has done nothing to change my opinion and it will not be getting shelf-space in my collection.

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 50

CynicalBrit — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:50:33 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-10-16-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

This week, TotalBiscuit is on holiday, but in his infinite benevolence, gives you a show anyway, which you people will no doubt not appreciate at all. HEATHENS. Bunkerface, the token Dutch guy joins us for a run through of your topics, including the Top 10 worst mistake Blizzard has ever made in WoW and much more besides.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 49

CynicalBrit — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:46:10 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-10-09-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

We didn’t want your fansite program anyway. Plus why rubber-banding is not suitable for an RPG and the damage the flattening of the progression curve could cause. Also TotalBiscuit’s 10 man guild project, is it possible to salvage enjoyment from the ruins of Wrath raiding? Nubcake News and Ask the Murloc are both featured and we read your emails on what you would put into Room 101.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 48

CynicalBrit — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:41:15 +0000

Listen to this episode here! :- Download audio file (wow-bp-10-02-09.mp3)

This week in Blue Plz!

The stupidity is palpable and thick, you could cut it with a knife. I choose a butcher’s cleaver. Plus Arthas a 5-man boss? Why this could be a blessing in disguise, let’s see if Blizzard is smart enough to realise it. Also Blizzard not smart enough to realise that their badge system is stupid, don’t worry folks, it’s about to descend to a new level of utter awful in patch 3.3. And Onyxia, you suck and you make other people suck, but Yogg-Saron on the other hand, what an amazing fight.

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Game Review: Demigod

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:42:54 +0000

Demigod – Demigame

It was with excitement that I read the first previews of Demigod over a year ago and eagerly placed my pre-order. As a long time tower-push player, specifically DoTA, I was happy to see the genre finally recreated in an engine designed for it and hoped for much in the way of innovation and technical feats. Demigod was finally released yesterday and after many long hours of intensive play I feel I am now ready to tell you why Demigod, is the biggest disappointment for hardcore gamers since Spore.

For those who are not aware, Demigod is based on the concept of the ‘tower push’ map. Tower pushes are custom maps, most commonly found as part of Warcraft 3. They consist of 2 or more opposing bases, which regularly spawn waves of ‘creeps’ (computer controlled cannon fodder with limited AI) who battle against each other ad infinitum. The players take control of a powerful hero, who fights alongside these creeps, levels up, buys items, kills opposing heroes and attempts to lead his side to victory against the other by destroying the opposing base. It’s a simple enough concept, but one that’s proved very popular for the last 6 or so years with many variants being created and played by millions. To say that Demigod is based on this concept would be a fallacy. Demigod is this concept, in every respect. It is the first attempt to monetise this fledgling genre and for those who have enjoyed DoTA and other such tower-push maps in the past, it’s going to be extremely hard to look at this game objectively. Indeed perhaps the question should be, should it be looked at objectively? Asking gamers to purchase what they have previously been able to play for free is a hard sell and as such, we expect more for our money. Does Demigod deliver?

The short answer is no, it does not. The long answer, well you’re about to get it. Tower pushing is a pretty simple concept and one that has the potential to be extremely boring if not properly executed. Tower push games are almost exclusively multiplayer and as such, rely on the ability to bring players back for one more game. As opposed to FPS, the game itself is not so reliant on twitch or individual skill. Damage done is determined by stats, which are affected by items and levels. Special skills and abilities are hotkeyed and produce a canned result, similar to RPGs. The variety comes from selecting different items and skills as your character levels up which, in combination with your chosen character class, will produce an effective result. Such combinations are called ‘builds’ and a good tower-push map has truckloads of them, which in turn encourages variety and ensures each game is different to the last, which keeps players coming back. I mentioned earlier it was going to be hard to view Demigod objectively and here’s why.

Demigod is lacking in all of the above, in comparison to custom-maps for Warcraft 3, some of which are 6 years old. In comparison to say DoTA, which has around 90 character classes, it has just 8, which are further subdivided into Assassins and Generals, or ‘characters which fight alone’ and ‘characters which can summon minions’. Each of these characters has a large skill tree and a level cap of 20, meaning you can only choose 20 skills max. You cannot take all of your skills and must choose to either specialise, or be a jack of all trades. While this does add some variety to the game, with several viable skill builds per character, you will very quickly start to see characters and builds repeated. Naturally over the course of several weeks and particularly if this game ever manages to build a tournament scene, you will see certain builds become predominant and more common, reducing the potential variety of each game even further. Where Demigod really falls down in the variety stakes is in its selection of items. They are simply appalling in their design, apparently thrown together haphazardly. Most items in each slot are simply linear progressions from the cheaper ones at the top of the buy menu. When items do have secondary effects, they are often generic in nature, offering very little in the way of specialisation. It seems to me that the items were designed by a different group of people than the character classes and there is almost no synergy between the two. This lack of synergy makes purchasing items more of a ‘what can I afford at the moment?’ kind of deal, as opposed to players having a specific build idea in mind that complements the strengths of their chosen class.

What Demigod does do, is provide a selection of persistent items that can be permanently purchased with so-called ‘favour’ (achievement) points. These items take up a separate slot in your character’s inventory and can provide various benefits. While it is a nifty feature, some of the more expensive items are extremely powerful and serve to merely further unbalance the game depending on how long the players have spent playing it. Persistent items in games such as these are always a double-edged sword and I don’t honestly believe they have a place in tower-push tournament style games. No doubt if this game ever forms a tournament scene, persistent items will be switched off. I shudder to think about the cries of anguish that will ensue later on when players start to blame their loss on the fact that their opponent has some expensive favour item and they don’t.

The classes themselves are quite clearly designed to hard-counter each other. In 4v4 games upwards this works relatively well, though the imbalances in smaller games become extremely obvious. Since you can see what class your opponent’s team is picking before the game even launches, I predict extreme issues as players constantly switch it before the match. There is no random select mode and none of the sublime tournament-style modes that push-maps like DoTA offer in this respect. The characters are suitably varied in terms of aesthetic and skills and clearly a lot of attention has been given to ensuring that each class is distinct in this regard. This is certainly an advantage to having a smaller roster but I sincerely hope to see many more classes brought in, hopefully soon, since the small roster could cause the game to become prematurely stale. The lack of a proper single player mode as well as a seemingly arbitrary and lacklustre set of game-modes does not do the game any favours in the longevity stakes either and I do hope that something is done about that very soon indeed in the form of post-release content updates or micro-expansions, though I must say, I would be loath to pay even small amounts of money for such things.

Demigod, unlike most push-maps, features multiple arenas in which to do battle. All of these arenas are aesthetically pleasing, but sadly do not feature any diversity in setup. Exactly the same features, such as flags, citadels, towers and gold mines exist on each map and it would have been nice to see each map provide some kind of variety in that regard. Unfortunately, while there are several maps to choose from, they are not all well designed. Prison for instance, is nothing more than an open field, resulting in a strategy-void zergfest, a victory in which feels entirely hollow. Some maps like Cataract clearly try and emulate the lane-based gameplay of DoTA but the issue is that DoTA’s map has been refined for years and features many different nuances, tricks and strategies. It is sublimely designed to be a part of the game, whereas Demigod’s maps just play like simplistic mazes, serving to truncate the art of manoeuvre and flanking, rather than encourage it.

For all the negativity, Demigod does have some strengths. It is an accessible title that seems to be aimed at those unfamiliar with the push-map style of play. While it offers very little new to advanced players, I do have to commend GPG for their team-upgrades system, which allows players to purchase various upgrades from their citadel including new creep spawns, experience bonuses and defensive forts. This does bring an element of strategy and team-work to a game that otherwise suffers from having very little of either. Graphically it is impressive, particularly the arenas themselves and the character design of the minions reminds me of weird and wonderful titles such as Sacrifice. For all its flaws, the game does have character, without a doubt and its production values are solid. Its sound assets are particularly strong with great and often amusing voice-acting as well as a wonderful cheesy announcer. The animations of the demigods could be a little better and more varied, but they are certainly not awful in any respect.

Unfortunately, Demigod is full of irritating flaws which should simply not exist in a title that borrows so heavily from push-maps. The mini-map simply serves to show you what’s happening on the field within your line of sight. While that’s fine in itself, you cannot snap to a spot on the field with a click of the mini-map, like you can in other games, it simply doesn’t do anything. Worse still, the use of teleport scrolls (more commonly known as Scrolls of Town Portal to you Warcraft 3 players), only function if you click directly on the building you wish to teleport to, as opposed to just clicking on or near said building on your mini-map. This is a thoroughly clunky omission from the UI that would be forgivable were it a free, user-created map, yet is close to farcical in a full-priced commercial title by a developer who should know better. Various other problems exist such as the awkward control of minions, who often do not respond to your commands on first attempt and the total lack of a unit frame to keep track of how many minions you have summoned at any given time and where they are. This is particularly important with the Queen of Thorns, who has an ability which interacts with a particular summoned minion called the Shambler. In the chaos of battle, using this ability proves troublesome since there is no way to directly locate or monitor your active Shamblers, so attempting to play this character can be an exercise in frustration, particularly in larger fights.

It seems to me that Demigod is a missed opportunity doomed to failure. The development of any kind of tournament scene is extremely unlikely, due to a lack of spectator and replay features. The game does not run as well as it should and the matchmaking and lobby systems are extremely slow and unresponsive. The game is prone to crashing and some players are reporting the inability to alt-tab without receiving a fatal error. I can see what this game is trying to do, it’s trying to bring in a new audience to the genre and grab a slice of this nascent pie before other titles such as League of Legends come along to try and gobble it up for themselves. Demigod could have attempted to court existing push-map players, of which there are millions, by providing a more refined, balanced and technical system, based on an engine truly designed for this type of game, as opposed to less suitable engines like Warcraft 3. It didn’t and to be honest, I don’t know if it’s even salvageable. The game could potentially develop into something ok, not great, not even good, but ok, passable, par the course. That is assuming that Stardock is able to force GPG to do the one thing it’s been very reluctant to do in the past and that is provide support for a title post-launch. That is sadly, a very big if.

I cannot, in all good conscience, recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of DoTA or push-maps in general. Those free modifications for games such as Warcraft 3 offer more than Demigod with no money down. They have well developed tournament scenes and far more diversity and variety as well as a higher ceiling for potential player skill and teamwork. Demigod would be a good game, still not great, but good, if DoTA and it’s ilk had never existed, but it’s not and they do. As an introductory title to the genre it is functional, but is it worth the asking price? Not really. Demigod really is, I am sad to say, DoTA for Dummies.

Game Review: Dungeons & Dragons Online

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:41:33 +0000

I have a problem. See, I like MMOs as a concept. I enjoy the idea that I can work on a character for years, progress it to the highest echelons of power and in doing so, acquire a rich and varied history for the character. I get very easily attached to my character, it becomes a possession with sentimental value. It’s not as odd as it might sound, just like a normal, everyday object might acquire a history if you travel with it a lot, ‘I took this bag everywhere, it was with me at the Eiffel Tower, it was with me in Hong Kong’ etc etc, so does a character if you’ve had memorable times playing it. Unlike single-player titles, you could potentially be using the same character for years, so you’d better get used to it and like it.

So what’s my problem? Well so far, with only one exception, I have absolutely despised levelling a character in an MMO. The grindy, treadmill nonsense gets to me far too easily, as does the obvious lack of challenge. I’m not someone who thinks that the flimsy excuse for ‘storyline’ behind every quest in WoW somehow absolves it from being one of the same 8 tasks over and over again (destroy, discover, deliver, drop, defend, plus the 3 TBC/Wrath ones, bombing run, magic wand and vehicular). This applies to any game that tries this trick. Released post-WoW always try and do this to no avail and I must admit that the thin varnish covering what it otherwise a grind wore away before I even hit 60. I had to be coaxed back into the game and pushed to 60 with the promises of cool end-game stuff and big, epic battles. Levelling was a chore that just had to be done in order to get to the good stuff. It made me wonder why, why exactly hadn’t Blizzard, the innovators, polishers and borrowers of good ideas from other games done something about this MMO stigma? They had taken a step in the right direction, away from meaningless grind to stealth-grind with drip-fed rewards, but that was not enough for me.

Remember I said one game managed to break that mold for me? That was Planetside, because in Planetside, levelling is not one’s primary motivation. The acquisition of loot isn’t either, the point of the game Planetside is to play the game Planetside, because the game itself stands up on its own merits. I’ve said it before, no doubt I’ll say it again in future, as a general rule, MMORPGs put too much weight on the MMO and not enough on the RPG. They rely on the large worlds and the seamless interaction with tons of other people in order to get around the fact that they’re mostly just dry, dull treadmills. As I mentioned yesterday to a guy on vent defending WoW’s levelling, who brought up the point that WoW is fun when you level with friends, almost anything is fun when you do it with friends. Watching paint dry is more fun with friends than it is on your own, it’s almost a universal constant. That doesn’t make WoW levelling any good, quite the opposite. If you need friends to mitigate the fact that it’s boring as sin then something is wrong. WoW levelling does not need friends, you can do 1-80 solo. They are there to stop you from getting bored, not because it benefits you in any significant respect bar protection from ganking and the ability to do 5 man dungeons, which are also, not required to level. I think we have to face facts that, while some may enjoy WoW’s levelling, the actual system itself is mechanically over-simplistic and in terms of gameplay, horribly repetitive.

Enter DDO, a game that I initially had no interest in what-so-ever. Bogged down by a troubled launch and lack of initial content, DDO stumbled where other Turbine products such as Lord of the Rings Online have acquired a strong playerbase. An apparently lack of marketing behind the title as well as the fact that the WoW juggernaut was at full speed around the time of it’s launch ensured it’s quick demise. However, unlike many MMOs, it didn’t simply get shut down and written off as a loss. Turbine continued to quietly develop the game, fixing many of the issues and ensuring more and more content got added. A recent announcement that the game was going down a free2play route, with microtransactions and an optional subscription which would give you access to everything gave me reason to take a second look. It was a time when WoW was at it’s low point for me, indeed, it still is, my interest in playing the lacklustre 3.2 content is next to none and Cataclysm is a distant light at the end of a thoroughly dark tunnel. But could I face levelling up another character when I’d barely managed it in WoW?

Then I made a shocking discovery. DDO doesn’t do it like WoW, indeed, it doesn’t do it like anything else. The closest omparison would be Guild Wars, whose quests are instanced. In this case, Dungeons and Dragons Online benefits more so than anything from a design philosophy inspired by it’s very name.

Dungeons and dragons. That’s what it is, dungeons and dragons, DDO is a huge selection of hand-crafted dungeons along with the occasional large, outdoor area, which often serves as a hub for other dungeon adventures. What makes this such a big deal is the how similar in basic concept DDO’s quests are to WoW’s and most other MMOs and yet how many different elements the enclosed space of a dangerous dungeon can throw into the mix. It’s no secret that I think WoW’s great strength is it’s instance design, so imagine my delight when I discovered that every quest in DDO is it’s own instance. It sounds initially like a bit of a cop-out. After all, what’s the use of a Massively Multiplayer world when you’re shut off from the other players for 90% of the time? Here’s the rub, with a few notable exceptions such as EvE and Planetside, that’s what MMOs end up doing anyway. The best content, is these days, most often instanced, whether it be battlegrounds style PvP or raids and dungeons, WoW players in particular spend most of their time in an instance if they want to do anything meaningful. That’s where the best loot is, that’s where the best content is and that’s where the biggest challenges are. So where’s the harm in going one step further and instancing the quest content? That’s the question DDO asks and it’s answer was rather stunning. Imagine every quest was a multi-staged challenge, full of capable monsters to fight, traps to avoid, secrets to discover, bosses to defeat, chests to loot and puzzles to solve. Then consider that these quests by default have 4 levels of difficulty, from Solo all the way to Elite which provides a much greater group challenge and increased rewards. Factor in, if you will, rewards for exploration, for finding everything in the dungeon and for not dying. Now consider that the only reliable way to level up is not only to complete quests (you do not get direct XP for just killing everyday mobs) but to complete them WELL, for bonuses and get a big list of rewards which generally has something for everyone at the end.

That’s DDO’s levelling system in a nutshell and the reason it succeeds is because it takes what made the pen and paper DND great, translated it into videogame form and then applies the design philosophy used to make great singleplayer RPGs, into a massively multiplayer format. Quests feel like actual quests, rather than chores, because they are hand crafted to be an adventure in their own right. That’s what DnD is all about right? Having adventures. Even the most basic, short quest is a mini-adventure in and of itself. A trip into one of the basic starting quest in the first zone tasked me with retrieving a scroll. In WoW, such a quest would either involve killing a certain number of mobs until the scroll dropped and then taking it back, or camping various spawn points until the scroll spawned and then retrieving it. In DDO, I must enter a storehouse. Upon doing so, I find the door to the scroll’s storage chamber locked. I search for the key, smashing open crates and barrels looking for it, all the while battling some large brown spiders who seem none to pleased with my intrusion into their habitat. At last, the key (did I mention I was rewarded with various degrees of bonus XP for smashing everything up? A ransack bonus they call it, so even breaking stuff is not wasted time) but what’s this? A secret door opens to reveal a hidden passage, inside a lethal-looking reptilian man who demands the key from me. A trap! I rush into battle, dispatching my foe and exploring the previously secret passage wherein a find an altar to his foul god and a chest containing some tasty loot. Now, time to get that scroll! I battle my way back to the door and open it with the silver key, only to see the scroll secured inside a magical field. A curious tile-puzzle sits on the ground, requiring me to solve it in order to unlock the magical field and retrieve the scroll. After kicking my addled brain into gear I solve the puzzle, retrieve the scroll and exit the dungeon, the entire time being egged on by the atmospheric voice of a virtual Dungeonmaster. I wish, for the sake of WoW’s pride, that I could say I was using a bit of creative license there, fudging the details and making it sound better than it actually is, but it speaks volumes that a quest in as mundane a place as a storehouse can rival some of WoW’s more epic raid encounters in terms of enjoyment. There is a genuine understanding here of what makes RPGs and DnD fun and Turbine have gone out of their way to make this game appeal to people like me. It has it’s flaws, without a doubt and due to the nature of the content, some repetition is involved (ie. you should really do the quests on multiple difficulty settings to get enough XP to advance), but the difficulty ramps up so much and the change from solo-friendly to party-essential is such a paradigm shift that the dungeon feels and plays different the second and even third and forth times.

As well as being essential for most Hard and Elite mode dungeons, grouping up in DDO really does reap rewards, both tangibly and in terms of player enjoyment. The combat system in which collision detection both exists and plays a major role, makes the role of the tank that much more important. Not only that, but the need to aim your spells and arrows as well as the genuine benefits to flanking and getting up behind the enemy make for a much more dynamic and enjoyable experience. As much as it often involves holding the button down to auto-attack, there is a genre of RPG that did very well on that basis, that of the hack-and-slash. DDO combines meaty ‘bone-crunching’ hack and slash, backed up by great feedback and strong sound assets with the hot-key activated abilities of more traditional MMOs and other PC-based RPGs. Add in the genuine danger that the harder modes offer and the drive to stay alive so as not to for-go your persistance XP bonus (which you get for not dying) and you have a game where players really must work as a team. It’s not just the combat, DnD wouldn’t be DnD without traps and secret doors, both of which are there in abundance. Even though they’re always in the same place every run, traps can be deadly and secret doors often yield hidden mini-bosses and chests of loot. Caution and exploration are paramount and bringing a rogue along for the ride doesn’t hurt either. Quests also have various ‘checks’ which favour particular classes, so don’t expect a party of stringy wizards to be lifting huge boulders, nor barbarians deciphering mystic runes. It all comes together in a stellar realisation of cooperative roleplaying for the modern gaming scene, capturing the glory and essence of what makes RPGs enjoyable while dodging the arbitrary grind that other MMOs seem to feel the need to impose on you. The mark of a truly great MMO, in this writer’s view, is the ability to play it solo and have it hold it’s own against single-player games. That means when you add other players into the mix, you’re genuinely multiplying the enjoyment of an already good experience, as opposed to mitigating the boredom by surrounding yourself with friendly voices. DDO achieves what so few other games have managed in this regard and breaks the mold in terms of what an MMO can achieve in terms of gameplay.

You really could do worse than giving this game a try. It’s Free2Play incarnation launches in 2 days and those of us who subscribed are getting to enjoy it right now. There is an awful lot to like about this game. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some kobolds to slay.

POD:U – Old Media vs. New Media

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:39:10 +0000

This is less of a tutorial and how-to post and more of a ‘this is what I think about the state of the medium right now’. Please by all means feel free not to read it if this is not what you’re looking for.

I have a bone to pick. When don’t I have a bone to pick? Today’s bone is with people who see New Media as an opportunity to throw away the rulebook and start over without one. It’s an understandable attraction, tech-savvy members of this generation have attached a very large and unpleasant stigma to Old Media. By Old Media I’m talking about newspapers, movie studios, television companies, commercial radio and in many ways the music industry. They have a point and I share those feelings to a certain degree, in that Old Media is not about taking risks anymore, it’s about appeasing an already dependent audience with the ‘stuff they like and have always liked’. It’s not about challenging convention or innovating, nor is it necessarily about telling the truth, it is an industry that puts out a product and that product has to make money otherwise it’ll be replaced with a different, more profitable product. Objecting to this kind of thing is fine but there are those who take it too far and reject everything Old Media stands for, no matter whether or not Old Media has good things going for it.

Here’s the thing guys, there is only one real difference between Old Media and New Media. Want to know what that difference is? Sure you do, you’ve got this far right? The difference….. wait for it….. is money. Shocking right? That’s all it comes down to, but to say that’s ‘all’ is to not give enough credit to just how complex the introduction of money into the equation can be. Money is what causes Old Media to be as corrupt as it is right now, but money is also what’s keeping guys like you and me out of Old Media, in one way or the other. We can’t afford a television studio or printing press, we can’t get a broadcast license, its out of our price range. New media becomes the great equaliser on one basis and one basis alone, money. New media allows a wider range of people to compete with Old Media because the financial barrier has been broken down. They are able to innovate because they don’t have millions of dollars riding on the success or failure of the product. That fear of losing money, which drives Old Media to creating what they think their captive audience is comfortable with, as opposed to trying something new, does not exist with New Media. You can make an interesting documentary, drama or sketch with a $500 camcorder if you know what you’re doing, you can produce an online radio show with a $100 microphone and some free multi-track audio software. You can write a blog that’s read by thousands without paying a penny in printing and distribution costs.

TotalBiscuit singing the praises of New Media? Surely not, a travesty, a heresy you might claim! Not exactly. New Media is indeed the great equaliser and put me in a position where I could produce popular shows for a large audience without having to get a broadcast license or job in an actual radio station, which would be more than a little resistant to the idea of a show about videogames. Remember what I said about innovation earlier? Well videogames are a risky prospect, still viewed by the Old Media as the new ‘Devils Music’, a passing fad and they won’t invest money into producing programming based around it. We know better however, so New Media steps in to fill that gap. So you could say that I like New Media as a concept. What I don’t like, is everything else that comes with it. Remember what I said, money is the ONLY difference between Old and New Media. So why then, the rejection of everything else that comes with Old Media? The extensive training, the quality assurance, the nurturing of the very best talent, the professionalism, the exceptional level of research, the conventions and standards that ensure everything, no matter how trashy the subject matter may be, comes out looking and smelling great? To be a New Media type, do we also need to abandon those things? Do we need to throw away a rulebook that’s been a century in the making, indeed in the case of newspapers, longer still? The answer is no, we really do not. The only difference is money. That means no, you cannot afford a $2000 broadcast microphone, a $10,000 mixing desk and a sound-proofed studio environment, but if you think that’s all broadcast radio has going for it you’re living in a dream-world. Professional radio hosts will sound a mile better than you and me on a $5 Walmart headset. Why? Because they have learned exactly what sounds good and what does not, they know how to speak to an audience, how to deliver their content in a manner that’s entertaining and easy to understand, they do not go off on wild tangents, they keep their thoughts ordered and structured, which carries over to their show. They deliver their message in confident tones and do not make frequent mistakes or pepper their broadcasts with umms and arrs as they stumble to find the words. They ensure that they have everything they need before they start the show and don’t get caught flatfooted as a result. I could go on and on, but the simple message is this. Just because you have removed the financial barrier of entry, does not mean you get to throw away the rulebook. These principles exist for a reason, each has a specific purpose. Some people are bothered more by lapses in these principles than others, but I doubt you’ll find many that actively dislike professionalism.

More than a few people have called me arrogant in the past for blasting certain podcasts, videos, blogs, you name it for their lack of professionalism. The irony is that it takes a real towering pillar of arrogance to reject the wisdom of a century’s worth of work by seasoned professionals. Who are you, the random blogger? Who are you, the gaming podcaster? Who are you, the budding machinimator? Who are you, the fan-fiction author? Who are you, the novice musician? Who are you to simply abandon all of these principles? Sure, question them, ask why each exists but simply ignoring them because you’re a ‘New Media type’? I cannot ever imagine being that arrogant and we all know how arrogant I can be. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. These guys made the same mistakes you’re making now, the difference is they did it way, way before you did. Whereas they were breaking new ground in terms of technology and a new medium we are simply doing the same thing from our bedrooms and basements, thanks to cheaper technology and a greater understanding of it. It is not ‘innovation’ to reject the lessons of the past, it is ignorance, self-inflicted ignorance. Often it merely comes down to laziness on the part of the people in question. They don’t want to apply standards or quality assurance because it takes too long, or it’s too hard. They don’t want to spend time editing their productions and learning the tricks of the trade because they can’t be bothered. As vomit-worthy as that position is, it’s not quite as bad as those who actively reject the principles of good media because they’re ‘above’ them, they’re too good to be held by the chains of Old Media. Bollocks. For all it’s flaws in terms of the lack of innovation, risk-taking and worship of the almighty dollar, Old Media knows how to present it’s content and that didn’t come about by spending a lot of money, that came about through talent and rational thought, logically working out what works and what doesn’t, partially through trial and error, partially with common sense and then building a set of rules upon which every piece of professional media is produced.

Adhering to standards costs nothing. Nobody can reasonably expect a podcaster just starting out to spend a ton of money on equipment. Heck there’s no need to anymore, a Samson CO1U or Alesis Podcasting Kit will set you back a mere $100, not a lot of money to invest in a hobby. Even some of the cheaper headsets will give you serviceable, if not great quality. However, you can’t blame a bad mic on your umms and arrs, your frequent mistakes, your lack of research or structure, your dead air. All of these are problems easily fixed for the low low price of nothing at all. Don’t blame your mic for background hiss when a music bed or noise-reduction filter could eliminate that. The only good reason for not using either of those things is laziness. Don’t like how your podcasts sounds with a music bed? Ok, use noise-reduction then. Don’t like how your voice sounds with some of the frequencies cut out? Ok, use a music-bed. Don’t want to use either, but don’t want to invest in a better mic? Then you suck, pure and simple. You’re actively choosing not to improve your own work for whatever god-forsaken reason and that’s something I cannot stand.

Worse still are those who will defend this kind of behaviour simply because that’s what they’re come to expect. That right there is the reason podcasting will never gain the respect it deserves, because of a lack of adherence to standards. Podcasts in general, are viewed as the domain of rank amateurs, regardless of the fact that there are plenty that are really great. Problem is that they are islands among an ocean of laziness and failure, a vast ocean. Instead of encouraging their favourite podcasts to get better and offering constructive criticism and feedback, many podcast listeners are sycophants, defending their chosen shows to the hilt, regardless of how valid the criticism they are ‘bravely’ deflecting is. These white-knights are in fact the poison in the chalice of New Media, they enable a lax attitude, encourage bad behaviour. If anything these are the people I hate the most, because I am incapable of fathoming why anyone would actively go out of their way to stop a show they like from improving. It is so inconceivable because it is so irrational, it is a truly bizarre cognitive dissonance and indeed madness, that I personally cannot understand.

Is there a solution to this situation? Not an easy one, that’s for sure. I honestly think a lot of it comes down to the inability to deal with criticism in any of its forms. Podcasters in particular, are expecting almost by some hidden code, to walk on egg-shells around other podcasters, for fear of hurting their feelings. Well I must have missed that memo because I didn’t sign up to any code that told me to lie just so I don’t hurt some bleeding-heart’s feelings. Learning from your betters is the way any craft works. Very few people manage to forge their way ahead independently without any outside influence, indeed, do any? Doubtful. Accept that Old Media for all its flaws does a ton of things right and you are not enough of a master of your craft to simply abandon what they learned over the course of a century or more and you’ll be well on your way to turning out something that is truly great. Many podcasters could do with taking a good long look at themselves and figuring out why it is they get so out of sorts when their product is criticised. White-knight listeners doubly so, because you’re hurting the very people and product you like listening to. Simply put, you ain’t helpin’.

Thread-Killers: Make Leveling Hard Again

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:37:42 +0000

My aim when posting on the forums is to kill a stupid thread with something so irrefutable that there is no possibly come-back. It’s a pipedream, it rarely ever happens, for reasons that should be obvious, however every now and again, we get some success.

“Ok, so some people for some ridiculous reason believe that levelling was at one point hard. I can only assume that they never levelled back on launch, or are deliberately donning their rose-tinted goggles. From a day 1 player, let me just make this clear.

LEVELLING WAS NEVER HARD.

Why do you think the game got so popular in the first place? MMORPGs, before WoW, had a stigma attached to them. They were hardcore time-vampires that would drop you in a world with little to no idea of where to go, or what to do, and leave you to your own devices. That’s a big turn off to an awful lot of players, including myself. Before WoW, the only MMO I’d ever played with gusto was Planetside and hey, that game was so different to other MMOs, that the usual rules did not apply.

The press picked up on this, as demonstrated by these quotes.

“It’s incredibly friendly to the solo gamer, allowing players not only to gain Levels 1 to 60 without ever grouping with someone else if they prefer, but also to earn the same or more experience playing that way. That means the solo gamer can level nearly as quickly as a group of power gamers playing together.” – Detroit Free Press

“They’ve just cleaned up your standard Dungeons and Dragons style online RPG and made it super fun, extremely refined, and exceedingly accessible to gamers of all levels.” – Just Adventure

“What’s different about it is that Blizzard has made the game very accessible and really put together an amazing system of quests that aren’t just part of the depth, but actually a tutorial.” – Firing Squad

“WoW has been described widely as a “newbie-friendly” game, but after playing since the closed beta phase that started back in Spring of this year, I can honestly say that WoW is friendly to everybody.” – IGN

I could go on and on, because basically every review says this. The point? These are all reviews from launch, all praising how easy it is to get into, how simple levelling is and how quests lead you by the nose and teach you the game. That has not changed, not one bit. Here’s why.

Questing all the way through to the end of TBC content, consists of the 5 Ds.

Deliver, Destroy, Defend, Drop, Discover.

To elaborate on that concept, you must either deliver an item to a destination, destroy a certain enemy, multiple enemies or objects, defend a particular objective (usually a person), acquire a certain number of drops or discover a specific area of the game world. These 5 Ds are repeated, ad infinitum, up to Level 70, when Wrath of the Lich King and the later TBC content added 3 new questing types, (I wish I had some Ds for them too, but I don’t), bombing run, vehicular and magic wand. Bombing run should be obvious, you saw them at the end of TBC and they exist in Wrath too, they involve riding a flying creature or vehicle on rails, while dropping bombs on targets, or flying your own flying mount and dropping bombs from there. Vehicular quests behave slightly differently, they put you either on a vehicle, or in control of a creature and you must use the abilities of that creature or vehicle to achieve the objective, which is almost always, destroy a target or targets. The final type, magic wand, consists of using an item to achieve an otherwise impossible task. It gets its name from the Howling Fjord quest where you must use a modified ice-wand to bring down a flying protodrake and destroy it.

So let’s think about this rationally, now that all those facts are on the table. Since level 1-68 or so consists of repeating the 5 D’s over and over again, one can assume that, if player is to learn his class doing those 5 Ds, he’s not going to have to do them a thousand times in order to do so. Indeed, he will learn how to achieve the 5 Ds very early on. And yet, there are claims that reducing the number of Ds that have to be completed by 20% or so, is going to make the difference between a good player and a bad player? Like doing 1600 quests is somehow going to make you a worse player than a guy who did 2000 quests? That is the logic the OP is attempting to espouse, correct? I would suggest that the OP is deluded. One can only learn one’s class to a basic level by doing quests. This has always been the case. Questing is solo friendly, always has been. You learn very little of the group dynamic while questing and end-game content consists almost exclusively of playing in groups. You learn more from running instances as you level up. Speeding up the levelling process does not preclude doing instances, far from it. Instance quests are good way to earn experience as well as long-lasting, high quality rewards. The questing system encourages you to visit instances by linking quest-chains into them as well as offering stand-alone quests with tempting rewards and large chunks of XP.

The reason players do not visit instances as much as they used to while levelling has nothing to do with speeding up the levelling process, it’s to do with the fact that the majority of players are level capped. This issue has existed since vanilla. Levelling was a long process then, but still, after a while, players ended up at cap and only new players and existing alts were levelling. Compound the issue with the fact that instances have a very specific level range at which they should be attempted and you have a recipe for disaster, with very few players being in the appropriate bracket. This has nothing to do with speeding up the levelling process, this happened in vanilla and has continued to happen ever since. It demonstrates a rather fundamental problem with the game that other games have resolved via the introduction of a mentoring system, where a higher level player may reduce himself to the level of a lowbie in order to help a friend or new player and is rewarded for doing so. There is no such system here so we are left with nothing more than boosting, which does not teach a lowbie how to play in a group environment.

In conclusion, the very idea that levelling used to be hard is ridiculous. Doing the same 5 things over and over again cannot be considered difficult in any respect. Levelling at launch only taught you how to play to a very basic level and levelling now continues to do that. Speeding up the levelling process has had no impact what-so-ever on the overall knowledge and competency of the playerbase and to claim otherwise is a logical fallacy. Please stop posting these silly threads. “

Ulduar Bosses Visual Graph

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:35:07 +0000

The purpose of this graph? Just something I came up with which gives you a visual idea of the difficulty of Ulduar bosses, vs the percentage of active raiding guilds who have downed them. Bosses are rated from 1 to 10 in difficulty, 1 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest. There is no ratio, 4 is not twice as hard as 2 for instance, it’s just a subjective idea of what’s easy and what isn’t. These numbers are from http://wow.guildprogress.com

POD:U – What NOT To Do

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:33:48 +0000

Let’s face it, outside of individual organisations, there are no hard and fast rules for good broadcasting. Shame, broadcasting would benefit from that quite a bit. There are some things however, that you simply just do not do, here are just a few of them.

1) Nobody cares about you

This is specifically true of new listeners. So many times have I tried out a show for the first time, only for the first 15-30 minutes to be about what the hosts did that week, or how their families were, or what had been going on at work. Is your show about any of these things? No? Then shut up about it. I was recommended CAGcast recently and me being the picky sort but wanting to expand my weekly listening, went and downloaded their latest episode. 10 minutes later, I’ve turned it off. Why? Because for the first 5 minutes I hear nothing but these two guys shooting the breeze about holes in their underwear, then the next 5 minutes about one of the host’s toddlers learning to walk.

I
DON’T
CARE

And neither will any other new listeners who are looking for gaming discussion. I have no idea who you guys are, yet I know your podcast is about gaming, so I had a listen and I heard no gaming, nothing. Not a jot in the first 10 minutes. As such, that’s it, you’re not getting me as a listener. Why? My time is limited, I listen to podcasts on my commute, that is the only time I have for them and my commute is finite in length. I can only listen to a handful of podcasts every week and I want to make sure I’m hearing what I want to hear when it comes to the subject matter. Am I the only one? Hell no, according to WoW Radio’s demographic survey, that’s over half our listener-base right there. If you are doing a gaming show, a car show, a political show or whatever, if I do not hear some content in the first 10 minutes, I’m switching right off. If you grab me as a regular listener then maybe I’ll care about how your family is doing, but not before that. If you’re going to talk about your life, at least link it in somehow to your subject matter in a way that’s entertaining and/or informative. Anecdotes are awesome, when relevant to the type of show you’re doing. If I want to hear some guy I don’t care about talk about his life, I’ll read his Livejournal or listen to any number of dull people talking loudly on their cellphones as they walk past me in the street.

It might sound mean (like I care if your feelings are hurt by a guy on the internet), but first impressions are everything in this medium and I’m not going to waste my time on something that doesn’t immediately grab me, when there are thousands of other podcasts that might. Sorry guys, and anyone else that does this, but you aren’t that good, or charismatic, to make me care. Neither am I, I might add, which is why I don’t talk about it on air, and save my stupid irrelevant crap for a medium where it belongs, like Twitter.

2) Tangents and not going off on them

Tangents are an often misunderstood term when it comes to presentation. In reality, there are two types, the incidental tangent and the irrelevant tangent. One of these you can get away with, the other you can’t, can you guess which? The best way to avoid an irrelevant tangent is to pick a subject for whatever segment you happen to be doing and stick to it. Sounds obvious, but it goes a little further than that. If you are coming up with subjects for segments that are too specific, then you may find yourself either running out of content before the segment ends, or going off on an irrelevant tangent. Something, after all, has to fill the void and some broadcasters seem to think that they can fill that void with utter bollocks. They can’t and you sound stupid if you do. Anyone can do stream of consciousness bullshit, it’s easy, all you do is open your mouth and keep yammering away with whatever comes to mind. That’s not presentation, that’s verbal diarrhoea and it ain’t pretty. Listeners expect better (and if they don’t they should). Broadcasting is little more than public speaking without the limitation of proximity. If it doesn’t work in public speaking, it sure as hell won’t work in broadcasting where your words are even more important due to lack of visual stimuli (body language etc.).

The way to dodge the bullet? Well there are a few.

Firstly, make sure your topic is general enough that you have the freedom to move about within it, dealing with various sub-topics. These are effectively incidental tangents, but you’re still staying on topic. Be careful not to be too general though, it’s easy to get lost within a huge area and not come out of the segment having said anything remotely important. There are plenty of podcasts that do just that, aim for the barn door and end up barely scratching the surface of the topic in question. Nothing worse than a shallow discussion to this listener’s ears. I’m looking for content, as a listener. I want the full dissection of the subject, blood, guts and all. I don’t want you to draw me a picture of the subject in crayon and then conclude you know everything about it.

Secondly, plot a course before-hand. The best way to plot a course, is to have a beginning and an end. How you get from A to B is really up to you. You could take the scenic route, visiting different areas along the way. You could cut to the chase and take the most efficient route possible. Just as long as you avoid pot-holes and traffic jams, the listener isn’t going to care how you got to your destination. Start with your proposition and conclusion, then find your way there.

Lastly, if you are still having trouble, then make use of bullet points as markers for your journey. It’s pretty difficult to get off track if you know you have to hit 8 points in 15 minutes and you’re constantly watching the clock.

3) In-jokes

This comes back to the first point and covers the subject of new listeners. It is important to make sure a listener feels like they belong while listening to your show. Among the various ways to accomplish this, including but not exclusively, presenting your content in a clear and understandable manner, making yourself approachable to the listener demographic you’re shooting for and not leaping from topic to topic in a manner that the listener can’t easily follow. One of the biggest mistakes some broadcasters make, is that of the in-joke. In-jokes are particularly bad for driving off new listeners, why? Because they feel like they’re not part of the inner-circle. In-joke? Short for internal joke. If your listener feels like they’re outside the window looking in, rather than there in the room with you, they’re going to feel left out and disenfranchised.

Here’s a rule of thumb for you when dealing with running jokes. A new listener should always be able to ‘get it’ straight away. Drop-ins are an example of potential in-jokes and they run the gamut from funny for everyone to ‘I need to know the entire history of the show to find this funny’. Drop-ins that are funny for everyone can add value to the show. Example, ‘Epic’. It has no past history that a new listener needs to know, it’s just a word and the word is self-explanatory. It’s always used in a specific manner but knowing what that specific manner and context is, isn’t important for the new listener. They’ll learn that as they go along, but the drop-in is immediately accessible. Now since I’ve blown my own trumpet, let me smack myself over the head with it too. An example of a bad drop-in, ‘Anything by Doctor Thrax from Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour’. To me, that’s funny, because some of the WoW Radio gaming group that hangs around on vent used to make jokes and quote Doctor Thrax all the time. Guess what, they’re the tiny minority of the listener base. All using those drop-ins is going to get me are some confused looks and alienated listeners. To use those drop-ins (they were used on 1 show, never again) was a personal indulgence and should never have happened. They added nothing to the show and served only to confuse people.

The temptation to use drop-ins is difficult to resist. Just be careful about which ones you use and make sure they’re immediately funny or their purpose is obvious from the outset.

4) BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Right, this is one on the technical side of things. If the first thing I hear when I start listening to your show, is mic-hiss, electrical buzz, air-conditioners in the background, dogs barking, bombs going off, then you’ve immediately put me in a mindset, as a listener, that I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear. Why? Well remember when I said first impressions mattered? The last thing I want piped into my eardrums at the expense of every other sound around me, is what sounds like some guy with a $5 Walmart headset on Vent. I hear enough of that while gaming, but at least I have the noise of the game to cover up some of that horror. But no, on my commute, with my big-ass headphones on, I cannot escape from your horrid microphones or the ear-bleeding torture they will eventually cause.

There’s a reason why most folks who do home broadcasting as a hobby do podcasts and not live radio. The standard of equipment required for live streaming where you cannot post-produce or edit out mistakes is higher, as is the standard of talent and ability required to do it well. Podcasts are easier, you can spend as much time as you want getting them right, re-takes if necessary, noise-reduction, the removal of dead-air. You name it.

SO WHY DON’T YOU JACKASSES DO IT?

Here’s a tip, if you have a crappy mic, then get a better one. If I want to listen to some guy on Vent, I can just log-on to Vent, why would I want to listen to a one way Vent diatribe with no way of telling the idiot to shut up? I dunno, maybe if I were the much sort after masochist demographic… Oh and for god’s sake, if you’re buying, buy desktop and buy USB. Traditional soundcards and analogue mics are a thing of the past for podcasters and there is no reason for you to use them unless you absolutely know what you’re doing. The Alesis Podcasting Kit and the Samson C01U are both good plug and play options which provide good sound quality at just under $100. You will not find a headset capable of that level of quality for that price, so don’t bother looking. Good headset mics run closer to $200-400.

There are a number of ways you can make yourself not sound like canned ass. Firstly, learn what your tools actually do. Audacity is a popular multi-track editor used for creating podcasts. Why? Because it’s free obviously, but lord knows there are a huge number of people that don’t understand how it works properly. Am I going to give you advice on it? No, because I don’t use Audacity, I use Audition, but there’s plenty of documentation and help available for those that do. I can give you a couple of pointers though.

a) Noise Reduction – Your program will have some kind of noise reduction functionality. What does it do? It cuts out the frequencies most commonly associated with electrical buzz, mic hiss etc. Here’s the problem, it does not discriminate between your voice and everything else, so can, if you use it incorrectly, make you sound like a tone-less robot. If you already do, this should not be a problem for you (but it’s a problem for me, so stop doing shows if you sound like that), but otherwise you’ll want to tweak the settings. Good audio programs like Audition can take a sample of an area of the audio that you select and create a noise reduction profile based on that. How do you create such a profile? Simple, look for an area of dead air and profile that. The program will then know exactly what it’s looking for and will remove the background noise better without gutting your vocal frequencies as well. Again, it’s not an exact science, particularly not on consumer-grade audio editors, so subscribe to the glorious school of thought known as ‘trial and error’.

b) Square-wave bad – Getting the basic gist of what your audio is going to sound-like by looking at the waveform is a skill you should learn early. It’s not all that hard and the one thing you want to avoid, is a solid block of sound, areas of the waveform that look square or rectangular in shape. This is a sign that your audio is ‘clipping’, ie. the input is too loud and has lost quality in the process. You cannot fully fix clipped audio, so avoid it all together by sound-checking before you start recording. A good volume level to shoot for on the meters is -2db at max, that gives you a little room to play with and ensures that you’re not too quiet. Being too quiet can be as bad as being too loud, since amplifying that tiny voice of yours is also going to amplify everything that was going on in the background.

c) Compression and You – Again, I’m not familiar with Audacity, but I’d imagine it has some form of Dynamics Control/Compression. In simple terms, compression is cutting the peaks off a waveform and bringing the rest of the audio up so it all sounds about the same volume level. It’s great and awesome and you should learn how to do it. Look up some guides. There is a science to compression, but trial and error is your friend if you’re not familiar with it (and if you were, you wouldn’t be reading this anyway). A consistent volume level makes sure your listener doesn’t have to keep adjusting the volume on their end and they can always hear what you’re saying.

d) If in doubt, hide it – Home recording without a studio is fraught with issues and sometimes you just can’t fix background noise no matter how hard you try. The solution is simple, hide it behind something else. A music bed does wonders to disguise mic-hiss, electrical buzz and other, constant low-level background noise. Find some suitable, vocal-free tracks, make sure they don’t have a huge dynamic range, string em all together, compress them to even out the variances in volume and slap it underneath your vocals in a separate track. Lower the volume so that the music bed is present, but never intrusive and there you go. There are tons of royalty-free tracks you can use on various sites or you could just compose them yourself, or have a talented friend do it for you. For WoW podcasters, your last ditch can always be to use Blizzard music. They don’t mind as long as you’re not selling it. There are not many WoW podcasts outside of WoW Radio that use bed music and I can tell you for a fact, some of them REALLY need to.

e) Don’t eat the mic – You do not need to be right up against the mic as you speak and doing so causes all manner of issues. Projecting one’s voice is yet another public speaking skill that you can learn over time and it applies to broadcasting work, although not to the same extent. You don’t need to hit the back of a hall, you need to be projecting into the mic from a distance, usually of at least a couple of feet. Naturally you don’t want to be too far out, but being too close will lower your quality too. A pop-shield (which you can mic with a pair of pantyhose and wire-coathanger, or buy if you’re feeling lazy) will help you stay away from the mic and does a good job of absorbing bursts of air such as sudden exhalation or ‘PFFF’ noises caused by the use of the letter P.

5) Quit apologising.

So many podcasters these days seem too quick to apologise for everything or lambast themselves in front of their listeners for little mistakes or what have you. Don’t, why? Because you just drew attention to it bonehead! Listeners are simple creatures and generally if you don’t hold up a huge sign that says ‘I JUST MADE A MISTAKE, LOOK AT THIS MISTAKE’, they will ignore it or just not even notice to begin with. You are the one providing the entertainment, they are the ones listening. They are getting something for nothing, so don’t make them feel like you’re not worth their time by constantly bashing yourself. Trust me, if you want someone to bash your podcast, send me an email, don’t do it yourself. Being too apologetic is indicative of a lack of confidence and if you lack confidence, broadcasting is probably not something you should be attempting at this immediate moment. Glossing over errors is a skill in and of itself, you’ll learn it over time but the best thing you can do up until then is not to do the exact opposite. Let’s be honest, if you’re doing a podcast, you shouldn’t be making mistakes worthy of apology, since you can retake or edit them out. Knowing this, don’t apologise, the listener should never hear the error to begin with.

The Burning Crusade: Better Structure than WOTLK

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:32:29 +0000

Why TBC was better structured than Wrath in terms of progression.

It’s very easy for one to don their rose-tinted glasses and fawn over the ‘good old days’, because everything was better back then. Well, it wasn’t and as a result of the over-eagerness to wax lyrical about the old content, while ignoring all of its flaws, we also tend to ignore the lessons that can be learned from previous expansions and the way things were done back then.

I would like to present a proposition. The Burning Crusade, in terms of progression, was structured better than vanilla and Wrath. The following is a justification of this statement.

A couple of months ago, I found myself puzzled and perplexed. I’ve been raiding since the Molten Core days and it’s always been my chosen pastime when it comes to WoW, at the expense of almost everything else. If I wasn’t raiding, I wasn’t playing. I enjoyed both vanilla and TBC raid content and initially, Wrath content as well until I, along with so many other players and guilds, burned out on the recycled, dumbed-down Naxxfarmus and stopped raiding to await the next challenge. When Ulduar came around it seemed like our salvation was at hand and we raided with gusto, however, it soon became apparent that I wasn’t having as much fun as I used to and raiding had quickly become a chore. Not being the kind of person that pays to do what feels like work, and starting to resent even a couple of my evenings being sucked up with raiding, I stopped, put myself on casual status within the guild and haven’t logged in since.

The question is why? For what reason did I burn out on Ulduar so quickly, as opposed to say TBC content? It wasn’t due to a lack of challenge, Ulduar has plenty of that. We hadn’t cleared the instance, indeed, we were on Yogg Saron when I stopped. Ulduar isn’t a bad instance either, it’s well designed and the bosses are fun and varied. So what’s the explanation? Well the answer came in the form of an email to my show last Friday, where a listener asked me if I preferred the way TBC content was tiered and structured, or the way Wrath content was tiered and structured. A realisation struck, TBC’s structure was just plain better.

To understand why TBC’s structure and progression path was superior to Wrath, you have to look at the effect that Wrath’s progression path has had on many raiders. Naxxfarmus could now be considered to be one of the most reviled, as opposed to revered instances. Why? 2 reasons. Lack of challenge and the lack of anything else to raid for 6 months. By the time Ulduar hit, the average raiding guild had everything they needed to leave the accursed necropolis and never look back. Good right? Not necessarily. While Ulduar does provide a challenge, it is now the only place the average guild is raiding. They don’t need to return to Naxx and indeed, why would they want to, having been subjected to it for so long? Ulduar has become the sole place to sink one’s time and due to its size and challenge, that’s a lot of time being sunk. I found myself resenting the instance, hating the sight of it because that’s all there was to do. It becomes oppressive, bleak, boring.

What you have to understand about Wrath raid progression is that at present, and in the near future (with 3.2), there is only a single major dungeon on each tier. While Tier 7 can be likened to Tier 4 (containing 1 major instance and 3 minor bosses), Tier 8 is Ulduar and Ulduar alone (let’s not count Emalon, he isn’t really a boss and doesn’t drop any unique loot besides a mount anyway). Compare Tier 8 to Tier 5 and you have a couple of obvious differences. Tier 5 contained 2 instances. Granted, they were not anywhere near as large as Ulduar. SSC contained 6 bosses, TK 4. Later on we also got Zul Aman, which straddled the line between Tier 4 and Tier 5 content, providing a sturdier bridge between the two for less experienced raiders, as well as an optional speed run to reward experienced players. What is the difference you might ask? Surely, Ulduar with its 14 bosses is superior to Tier 5’s 10. Well, you need to look at the whole picture.

TBC launched with 2 Tiers of content available from the start. Granted, Tier 5 was buggy and elements of Tier 4 were overtuned, but it was there, and it could be raided. Raiders would start with Karazhan and begin to gear up there, all the while attempting and eventually defeating Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon. They would then progress onto SSC and TK, whichever took their fancy, cherry-picking the easier bosses such as Lurker Below and Voidreaver, all the while continuing to pick up gear from Karazhan, Gruul and Magtheridon. Tier 6 launched with 2 instances as well, initially these were only accessible once guilds had beaten the entirety of Tier 5, but that restriction was soon removed. Even before it was removed, it gave guilds a choice of where they could raid and raid schedules were generally full and varied. SSC and TK were both relatively short instances, as was MH, so the eventual progression through Black Temple was broken up with MH, SSC, TK and eventually ZA runs. The monotony was reduced by this variety of places to raid, a variety that was in the expansion from launch and as a result, provided an expansive choice to the average raider, who still had plenty of different instances ahead of him to raid. It was an exciting time to be a raider.

What I am suggesting is, that regardless of the size and design prowess of Ulduar, the fact that it is the one and only instance in Tier 8 is having a negative psychological effect on a substantial chunk of the raiding playerbase. Checking the calendar to see nothing but Ulduar as far as the eye can see is depressing. Going to the same place night in and night out (with Ulduar 10 on off-days, oh joy) gets really old, really fast. TBC dodged this bullet well by ensuring at least 2 major instances on each Tier of content (if we count ZA as Tier 4.5) and plenty of content ahead of the average guild to look forward to. By the time SWP hit, we had a staggering 7 major raid instances and 3 minor bosses spread across 3 tiers, all completely different, in varied locales with completely different boss encounters, themes and background lore. Can we expect the same number to eventually appear in Wrath? No, not at the current pace of development, and that’s what worries me.

To suggest that 10/25 mans are separate instances is fallacious as is the difference between normal/hard (heroic) modes. Playing the same game on a higher difficulty does not make it a substantially different game. Any gamer will tell you that a title based around preset content that goes the same way every time, only has a limited shelf-life. You can put in achievements, additional difficulty levels, but you’re delaying the inevitable. Many gamers don’t even bother with a second playthrough on a higher difficulty after they’ve beaten a game, nor do they bother hunting for all those hard to get achievements. One need only look at the average 360 owner’s gamerscore to see how few of them actually play through a single-player game multiple times and then it’s generally those games which offer a substantially different experience thanks to the choices the player has made (Oblivion, Fable 2, Fallout 3 etc).

While these harder modes of difficulty have a purpose and we are better off with them than without them, having to deal with 2 major instances at this stage of the game, where 6 months down the line in TBC we had 5, is too high a price to pay. The raid variety of TBC served to delay the inevitable burnout that all raiders eventually face, by making sure you never spent too long in the same dungeon. In the Black Temple days, my raid calendar was varied and sprinkled with SSC, TK and MH runs, soon to be joined by ZA after its implementation. I never resented Black Temple, because even though we dedicated the lion’s share of our time to it, we still got to visit other instances that continued to be challenging and enjoyable even after we’d put them firmly on farm status. This level of choice in what one could do is what kept raiders like me going all the way to SWP, I could have easily seen myself continuing to raid all the way up until Wrath launch, had my guild not collapsed in unavoidable circumstances earlier that year. As for Wrath? Well I stopped raiding 2 months after release, came back for Ulduar, then stopped again a couple of months after that. Maybe it’s just me, just growing out of raiding of whatever, but I honestly believe that Wrath’s progression path is vastly inferior to TBC and that’s what is causing early burnout among so many raiders and guilds. Blizzard ought to take a long, hard look at how they structured TBC and not simply abandon the lessons they learned there, because I don’t know about you, but I never want to step foot in Ulduar again.

Movie Review: Blood-The Last Vampire

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:31:15 +0000

Those who aren’t aware, I go to the movies every week, thanks to Cineworld’s Unlimited Card I get to watch as many movies as I want for a paltry £11.99 a month. Compared to similar movie rental programs, this is ridiculously good value and I am fortunate to have a cinema nearby that is clean, hi-tech and the audience usually well behaved. Indeed, I have yet to have a problem with noisy folks in the cinema, the staff enforce the rules well and noisy kids usually get threatened with a swift beat-down by burly, customers with biceps like treetrunks if they don’t keep their damn mouths shut. The system works well.

Having an Unlimited card makes me less picky about the films I go to see, as one might expect. It also allows you to take the ‘was this worth the money?’ factor out of the equation and judge the film a little more objectively. As a result of the card I’ve seen gems like Red Cliff, which I otherwise wouldn’t have taken the risk on. This week however, the chosen film was far from a gem. An adaptation of the manga Blood : The Last Vampire, in live action, directed by the same guy who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A director of reasonable pedigree one might think, even if the source material isn’t that great, surely it’ll be a good hour and a halfs worth of high-action fight scenes, right?

Wrong. This film has almost no redeeming factors of any kind. The female lead portrays the part of the conflicted half-demon demon-slayer as wooden and lifeless. The other characters don’t fair any better. We have a selection of characters who seem to be trying to force American accents but keep failing to do so. One of these folks of indistinguishable origin sounds like a 10th rate Qui-Gon Jinn. I could go on and on about how terrible all of the actors in this movie are but it’s easier just to say, they suck, every last one of them, without exception or reservation. It’s ok though right, because this movie is not about the acting, but about the fighting!

Which also sucks… One could describe it as stale to start with, but the real issue is with the way it is filmed. From what I could tell, they deliberately skipped frames which made the fights look stilted and weird. The blood splatters were almost comically fake in nature, done no favours by the occasionally slow-motion shot which clearly shows the cheesy CG nature of it. Indeed, the fights lacked any sense of spark, with the one redeeming scene being over-shadowed by the almost comical removal of a character’s hands, spraying fake-blood all over the place as his mismatched facial expressions did nothing to convey the fact that he’d just had his frigging hands cut off! Oh, and he’d been stabbed in the gut several times before that and was impaled in several places on spiked chains, let’s not forget that. The CG demons don’t fare any better, their movements badly animated, particularly while in flight. One would expect production values higher than 1st season Buffy the Vampire Slayer when dealing with a movie in this day and age, but alas, not in this case.

The plot is a confusing mess with a simple enough premise. Demon lord kills hero’s father, hero trains, gets powerful, hunts Demon lord. So how they managed to fill such a simple plot with ridiculous holes I will never imagine. The main character (Saya) is saved from death by another character (Alice) giving Saya some of her blood, yet at no point in the movie does Alice ever see Saya drinking blood, or is told or given any indication as to what Saya actually is. This nonsensical plot device serves only to clumsily solve the ‘how does she get out of this one?’ quandary and does so very badly. Let’s not forget of course that one point, Saya and Alice fall down a damn ravine which looks several hundred feet deep and yet inexplicably survive with barely a scratch. The fact that Alice didn’t break her neck straight away as the truck they were driving plunged at least a hundred feet down before violently getting wedged between the sides of the ravine was ridiculous enough. Just bear in mind, before you jump on me for saying ‘it’s an action movie with vampires and shizz’, Alice is a normal teenage girl and has no superpowers to speak of. Indeed, she also somehow survives a colossal frigging explosion that she is at the epicentre of, with minor burns. The mind boggles.

I cannot imagine what they were attempting to go for with this movie, other than the unwary wallet. It is low budget, B-movie drivel without a hint of irony. It would hardly be the first time that a manga or anime has been adapted into something terrible and I doubt it will be the last.

An Alternative to Badge Changes

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:29:54 +0000

How to get people back into old content without making everything mindnumbingly easy.
Allow me to preface this post by saying it’s rough around the edges. This is a collection of notes I’ve put together to try and figure some things out for the show this evening, it is not a complete, fleshed out idea, it could use some tuning. It is in regard to Blizzard’s ’solution’ to the growing gear gap and lack of players going through the entry-level WOTLK raid content.

Firstly, accept that people actually don’t want to go back to Naxx, not in a million years. They are still not going to WANT to after this change goes through, they just may HAVE to. Coercing your players to go and do content they don’t want to do is dumb, it will piss them off, they will unsubscribe. However, the problem remains.

Let’s assume, for a moment that your aim here was not to give bad players free epics for doing easy content, let’s just assume that for one second. That means you’re looking to close the gear gap between current raiders and those who want to get into raiding but don’t meet the gear requirements to get into raiding guilds.

This has always been a problem and yes, it is understandable that you would want to help these guys out, but it is not acceptable for that to be at the cost of proper progression.

The solution! There is no easy solution, this is a hole of Blizzard’s own making. They’ve been making raids for years and surely, they must have seen this situation coming. By making raids easier and more accessible, they allowed players to blitz the initial content and now new or returning players entering the raiding scene have nobody to raid with. This is a direct result of dumbing the content down.

How does one fix it? Tune the content back up again. Naxxramus needs a heroic mode. If you want players to go back in there, then you need to return Naxx to what it once was, hard. If you actually want guilds to take people back in and veterans to willingly re-enter Naxxramus, you need to introduce gear that’s worth having as well as challenges in order to get them. Tune the content back up. Make failing on Heigan a death-sentence, better yet, make the player explode and damage/kill other people around him. Make failing on Thaddius a death sentence. Tune Maexnna back up to take into account the new heals over time, buff the spider adds. Make the Kel’Thuzad gauntlet actually mean something again as opposed to 3 minutes of boredom. Now, combo this with an iLevel detection system. We already know it’s in the game, (see Realm First Alganon 10-man achievement). Detect whether or not you have players with low overall iLevel upon kills and reward extra loot, gold, badges etc, plus titles and achievements. But what about guilds that deliberately down-rank their gear for extra loot? Well good for them, if they’re good enough to beat the tougher content wearing crappy gear then they deserve everything they get. You wanted people to see the content that they missed in vanilla. Ok, they’ve seen it, done. Bad players can still PUG, or form guilds with other bad players and play badly. Getting bad players into raid content should not be a priority. They are bad not because they haven’t had enough practice, they are bad because they suck at the game. You CANNOT fix that by giving them a bunch of gear, you have to make them aspire to greatness, not give them second-hand greatness on a silver platter. Rewarding bad behaviour is the worst possible teaching method there is, any parent worth their salt will tell you that.

But new raiders won’t be able to do this content, you cry! That depends. They will if they don’t suck, as well older raiders who are just lagging behind in gear. All the hard modes need to be balanced around difficulty, NOT just how much extra dps and healing you can bring to the table. That means the abilities that would otherwise damage the raid need to be deadly in nature. The idea is you punish people HARD for making avoidable mistakes, you do not punish raiders for being undergeared. In theory, a raid full of heroic geared guys should be able to down Heroic Naxx content as long as they don’t suck at the game.

Upgrade the trash to where it’s dangerous again, as opposed to merely AOEable, don’t add extra (in fact, maybe take a little out in the DK wing, there’s too much of it).

You’re looking at providing an upgraded version of Naxx which is on a par with Ulduar Vanilla in difficulty, yet is only difficult due to the way the fights are designed, not due to any specific dps, healing or tanking requirement. If you want new players to gear up and close the gear gap faster, you need to make them work for it and prove that they deserve that level of gear. You can increase the number of raiders willing to go back to Naxx without wanting to blow their brains out, by spicing Naxx up. You also enable alts who know what they’re doing to gear up faster and undergeared, but skilled players to not only get into guilds, but actually benefit the guild they are in DUE to their bad gear, not in spite of it.

This post is a little bit haphazard, it’s mainly just a way of gathering my thoughts for the show. I love designing systems, I love coming up with ideas, I don’t for a second believe Blizzard will actually implement them, but that’s not the point. The enjoyment in my case, is in creating these things, if they get implemented, that’s a bonus.

The New Leveling Experience

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:28:27 +0000

The New Levelling Experience – A manifesto for the feasible updating of old levelling content.

With the various changes being made to pre-wrath levelling content, I think it’s safe to say that Blizzard realises not all is well with the old zones. What was once a wonderful and mysterious land that us nubs explored over 4 years ago, has become dry and dreary in comparison to that which came after it. It’s not entirely surprising, had Blizzard not advanced their ability to make interesting quests and areas, they wouldn’t be particularly good developers. Excluding the unlikely possibility of a full overhaul of old-school quest content, the future looks somewhat bleak for the 1-60 grind. Many simply elect to skip it entirely and roll a DK, understandable, but unfortunate. The suggestion that other classes should be allowed to start at 55 if you already have a level 80 has been made several times, but will most likely never happen. The reason for that is that while the DK was designed to give you a crash-course over a smaller period of time and introduce you to your abilities at an accelerated pace, other classes were not designed in this manner. Starting at 55 would most likely result in a glut of clueless players bashing away at classes they don’t understand, not exactly a preferable option. Furthermore the already underpopulated 1-60 range would seem even more dead than it already is and as a result, newer players may feel lonely and less willing to play.

So what is the solution? We’ve already seen several moves made to accelerate the levelling process, which to me, is an admission that it’s just not all that fun anymore. There are only so many fedex, drop, kill and escort quests you can do before your brain tries to escape the torture through any possible orifice it can. I propose a set of changes designed to make levelling alts a little more palatable, as well as give greater options to new players. The MMO has advanced in the last 5 years and questing till your eyes bleed simply doesn’t cut it anymore.

Levelling via PvP

This first possibility is hotly debated. Not surprising, the low level twinks represent a dedicated portion of the playerbase, whether you like what they do or not. Making PvP yield experience would kill twinking as we know it and killing off a playstyle that is entirely legitimate is an excessive response to an unrelated problem. The simple solution to this would be to allow players the choice of whether or not they wish to gain XP in BGs. A simple confirmation box at the start of a battleground, with ‘remember this option’ functionality would do the job. A /command similar to flagging oneself on PvE servers would also work. Experience in PvP should be given on the basis of several factors.

1) Damage done
2) Healing done to injured targets (with variables to yield bonuses based on how low health the target is)
3) Objectives (and the protection of objectives from the opposing team)
4) Kills and Kill/Death ratio.
5) Level and iLevel difference between yourself and the target

I would also suggest the introduction of further BG repeatable quests that can be picked up before entering BGs, as well as the expansion of existing PvP gear rewards to allow levelling players to keep up their gear without having to do PvE content in order to get it. PvP is a valid playstyle and one which players will no doubt be seeing an awful lot of come level cap, if that’s their thing, there is little reason to force them to do PvE content that they do not wish to. Other MMOs including WAR have integrated PvP combat extremely well into the levelling process, I see no reason why WoW could not do the same.

The twink ‘problem’ will decrease as more lower level players engage in PvP. The twink population is finite and easily diluted.

I would also suggest the introduction of the original version of Alterac Valley at lower levels, with appropriately scaled NPCs and the return of many of the quests which peppered the original version. The reason for this is simple, more quests in a PvP environment = more ways to earn experience and level up. If one is to have a PvE/PvP hybrid BG, then you might as well embrace the fact that some people may wish to level in it. Chances are AV would function significantly better in this regard, particularly with the re-introduction of properly scaled raid-style bosses at lower levels. It is a PvE/PvP hybrid zone, it should be treated as such.

Levelling via dungeons

Dungeons are fun, let’s face it, dungeon-crawling is the foundation of RPGs in their current form and WoW is no exception. Problem is, getting a group for an old-school dungeon is difficult. The question that must be asked is why? Well lack of players levelling would be a start (something these suggestions aim to solve), another would be lack of incentive. Items gained in old-school dungeons are often poorly itemised and don’t last very long, so that sweet new sword you just got might end up being replaced a few levels down the line by some green drop or whatever. I would suggest a series of changes to make dungeon-crawling a more popular and viable way of levelling one’s character.

1) Increase XP gain from mob kills across the board.

2) Introduce a series of new low-level achievements to encourage veterans to re-enter instances at the appropriate level (bind these to item level in the same way that the realm first 10-man Alganon achievement works, to stop Level 80s simply blitzing the content for achievement points). Group these into meta-achievements with appropriate rewards such as titles, gold, unique mounts, recipes and new items. Also give XP bonuses for achievements and a large amount of XP for finishing an instance.

3) Introduce new quests including a lengthy, over-arching ‘epic’ questline which ties the instances together in some sort of meaningful fashion. This would assist dungeon-crawlers by guiding them from instance to instance as well as giving them appropriate rewards.

4) Re-itemise drops so they actually make sense and are desirable vs quest items.

Levelling via old-school raid content

Levelling in raids is a tricky one, since the content gets gradually more trivial as one goes along. There are various issues with old school raid content that makes it less enjoyable than one might hope. The acquisition of epic items that are replaced by greens at Level 61-62 is undesirable at best and kills any hope of levelling through raid content. I propose a series of changes to make raid content a viable levelling option.

1) Re-tune vanilla item drops to be significantly better than outlands questing greens and outstrip dungeon blues until later through the 60s. The ‘item reset’ serves no practical purpose now anyway.

2) Gut dull instances such as Molten Core and remove some of the trash.

3) Tweak boss health and abilities to take into account Wrath talents.

4) Increase XP gain from mob and boss kills across the board

5) Add a series of quests that expand on the background lore of the raid instances as well as provide XP, gold and item incentives. Tie the raid instances together with a series of epic quests.

6) Increase the number of items dropped by each boss to take into account the fact that players will level past the content sooner or later and should not have to spend 6 months getting the item they want when by that time they’ll probably be 10 levels higher than it.

7) Increase reputation gain across the board for raid related factions.

Make all bosses and mobs drop more gold for players who are level appropriate for the instance (to discourage Level 80 farming).

9) Add new achievements to encourage more raid participation.

Levelling via Achievements and Exploration

Other MMOs such as WAR and LOTRO reward players for discovering different aspects of the lore and the world around them. While WoW does not have anything as advanced as WAR’s bestiary, exploration should play a part in levelling one’s character, more-so than it does right now. This could be achieved in several ways.

1) Increase XP gain for discovering new areas, across the board.

2) Add new achievements for exploration, including the discovery of various land-marks throughout the world and completing series of quests which reveal important parts of the storyline. More achievements surrounding the reading of books within the world. Give appropriate rewards for these achievements such as recipes, titles, items, mounts, gold and experience.

3) Add new rare spawns within the world and reward those who discover them with powerful items and plenty of XP.

Levelling via Professions

It seems reasonable, considering the ways that an adventurer can gain XP, that one should also be able to gain XP through one’s hard work and craftsmanship. Following the theme of everything else I’ve said so far, I’d like to propose a series of changes to allow players to gain experience via crafting.

1) Reward experience for successful gathering of materials, based on the level of the materials in question (most XP for orange, least XP for grey).

2) Reward experience for successful crafting of items, again, based on the level of the item in question. If possible, reward bonus experience for crafting using your own materials (to promote, gathering/crafting synergy).

3) Expand crafting with a set of achievement-based masteries (make 500 copper bombs, get the recipe for a master-crafted copper bomb etc) which reward XP and give new recipes.

4) Gain bonus experience while earning XP, wearing items which you have crafted for yourself (think of them as minature heirloom items that don’t scale, but give a small, stackable XP bonus).

5) Take another look at the more bizarrely itemised craftable items and rework them in such as way so that they are both useful and desirable once again.

6) Add a new set of crafting quests which reward unique, craftable BoP items and XP. Have them require some BoP materials acquirable in PvE and PvP content.

That’s just a set of suggestions from myself, I’m sure there are many more, feasible ideas which could work when it comes to spicing up and varying the way we level. The conclusion is quite simple. Questing is great, but gets samey. Old school quests are inferior to TBC and Wrath content, yet updating these quests would consume an inordinate amount of development time. Instead of doing so, the emphasis should be on providing different ways to level that break up, or in the case of particularly dedicated players, replace entirely, the need to quest or grind for experience. Everything the player does within the world as he levels up should feel like he is proceeding towards his ultimate goal of max level and no one play-style should be considered any more or less viable than another, regardless of whether or not you are level capped. Making these kind of changes to levelling would give veteran players more reason to level alts, increasing the population of players in old-school content, making it more enjoyable for new players (and keeping them subscribed) as well as ensure that there is always something to do in WoW, while new content is being developed.

Perhaps it is time the game began at Level 1, as opposed to Level 80.

POD:U – Building from the Ground Up

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:27:07 +0000

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to the concept of ‘new media’, is producing something for the sake of it, as opposed to for any other (good) reason. I blame this on Youtube and similar sites, who have made uploading content so easy and effortless, that people simply can’t help themselves. They HAVE to upload something, because everyone else is doing it, they feel the need to contribute. Problem is, they don’t contribute anything other than noise, terabytes upon terabytes of pointless blogging about nothing in particular, videos of them sitting in their rooms talking about things nobody actually cares about, you name it. The problem with this culture of ‘I’m a star and nobody can tell me otherwise’ lunacy is aptly demonstrated by the rash of Let’s Play videos on Youtube. Let’s Play, a concept started on the Something Awful forums, consists of playing through a game and showing it off to others in a suitably amusing or informative way. Let’s Play’s come in all shapes and sizes and generally the best come from the SA forums themselves, where the wealth of information, tutorials and honest-to-god brutal critique ensures the highest possible quality of production. As generally happens with such things, Let’s Playing (or LPing) spread beyond the SA forums and was taken up by various other sites, some who do better than others. The absolute worst of the lot, are the Youtube LPers, who vomit forth unimaginably bad videos for no good reason what-so-ever without regard to quality or purpose. So bad are these videos that they have spawned a channel called Retsuprae dedicated solely to mocking these people and their awful creations. Without fail, everytime a mockery video is posted, a few errant fanbois will come along to try and white-knight the creator, only to fail horribly in doing so.

The point, which I am so laboriously getting to here, is that most of these LPs do not need to exist. It’s not just that they’re bad (and they are), it’s that they’re irrelevant and utterly redundant. They’re of games that have been done 50 times before, or games that are just not even fun to watch. Go search for LP’s of Kaizo Mario World (an uber-difficult romhack) on Youtube, or I Wanna be the Guy, how many do you find? Hundreds? Thousands? How many of them are any good? A handful, if that? These LPs do not need to exist and do so solely by the grace of their creator’s misguided belief that someone gives a damn. These people put out content without any thought what-so-ever, they’re usually not even any good at the games in question and constantly reload save-states, WHILE RECORDING THE VIDEO NO LESS. Why, why put this kind of thing out? What possible motivation could you have?

Here is your first lesson. Are you thinking about putting together a podcast? Before you do ANYTHING else, think about why. Can you provide something sufficiently unique, with it’s own niche and format that will be worth listening to? Do you have specific in-depth knowledge on a particular subject that you feel should be shared with others? Are you passionate beyond the usual and can convey that on the air? Are you funny? Can you entertain? What makes your show stand out among a million and one other shows that are probably trying to do exactly the same thing? If you can’t honestly say yes to any of the above, don’t go any further. What you produce will be awful, it will be a waste of your time and a waste of anyone unfortunate enough to be tricked into listening to whatever it is you excrete onto the internet.

Ok, let’s break this down a little. There are three elements to any piece of media that make up the whole. At least one of these elements must excel, or alternatively, the three elements must work sufficiently well together as to produce a product greater than the sum of its parts. The three elements are as follows.

1) Cast

2) Content

3) Format

Firstly, the cast. Who is responsible for the media? Who is producing it/writing it/hosting it/acting in it/singing it etc etc. Cast is simply the generic term for the person communicating the content. A television show can succeed or fail based on it’s cast, a book can be consigned to the bargain bin due to a bad writer and in the case of a podcast, the host (that’s probably you btw) is the one who must deliver the content and follow the format. If you cannot do that in a way that keeps the listener coming back for more, then you might want to consider a different hobby.

Next the content. It’s all well and good being entertaining, but if you have nothing to say, then all you’re doing is opening and closing your mouth. Some shows can succeed regardless of having an entertaining host, on the basis of gripping content. How many movies have you seen with sub-par actors, but a great story? Podcasts can work the same way.

And now the format, this is the way in which you deliver the content, what ties the whole show together. It’s all very well being entertaining and having a ton of things to talk about, but if you can’t structure your thoughts and deliver that content in a way that makes sense, you’re going to end up with a lot of confused and bored listeners. I recall when I was putting together the format for TB’s Show about Videogames, I created a format that was rigid and strict, with modular segments that could be swapped around at will without harming the show in any way. The reason I did so was because I know an awful lot about videogames and without a line to keep my feet firmly on the ground, I would end up suffering a case of ‘oh god stop talking’ syndrome. Some aspiring podcasters fail on the basis that they don’t know when to shut up, and can’t stay on a topic for more than a couple of minutes before shooting onto their next, without having actually covered their previous topic in any detail at all. I can think of plenty of shows right now that suffer that same dilemma and while some people are ok with that kind of thing, anyone with any discretion should be wondering why exactly they’re listening to a couple of guys in a room who can’t stay on topic. They might as well be listening to a conversation in the pub, not a podcast.

Today I’m going to talk in detail about the content and format. Delivering the two is going to be the subject of many more articles on various aspects of presentation and I also feel that you need to lay the groundwork before you even open your mouth.

Building a Framework

Before you put your meat on the bones, you first need a skeleton. The skeleton is the structure of your show, and it’s something you have to stick to on a week to week basis. Consistency is vital for building a regular listener base, they come to expect certain things because that’s what they’ve learned to like and if you don’t provide it to them, you will lose them by the truckload. Initially, you need to think about how long a show you want to do. Some people go overboard initially and claim they’re going to put out 3 hours a week. Good luck with that, chances are you’ll burnout in a month. There are only two things you need to consider when determining the appropriate length and those are

1) How much content are you trying to deliver each episode?

2) How much content are you COMFORTABLE delivering each episode?

The second one is the most important. If you don’t think you can talk for 3 hours each week for X number of months, then for god’s sake don’t try. Cutting the length of your show down mid-season is a sure-fire way to piss off a bunch of your listeners. It’s all about expectations, if your listenerbase expects a 1 and a half hour show, they’ll be happy getting that. If you’ve lead them to expect a 3 hour show and you cut it down in length after a few episodes, they will be disappointed, because you lead them to believe they’d get a 3 hour show every week. You also need to concern yourself with the finite nature of content. Is there going to be enough content to do Y number of hours a week of it without repeating yourself? I would never recommend anyone does say, a 3 hour show a week about WoW, you’d have to be extremely general in the nature of your content and cover a very wide area. In my experience, nobody can successful pull that off because they lack the requisite knowledge to do so. Players tend to specialise in some way or another and all have different interests. If I tried to do a big, long show every week and cover a lot of bases, I’d find myself failing to uphold standards on subjects I wasn’t so knowledgeable about, say RP or healing classes. Stick to what you know and always shoot for quality over quantity.

Ok, you’ve decided on your length, what about how you divide up your show? As a rule of thumb, you should always be trying to keep each section of your show clear and defined. Once a topic is done, it’s done, you should leave it and move on. There are exceptions of course, some shows have a running topic throughout the show that they revisit for whatever reason, particularly if they’re soliciting email responses from listeners. This can work, though I’ve seen it executed very badly. For an aspiring podcasters, I would suggest you stick to the rule of ‘one topic per segment’. This isn’t the only format out there, but it ensures that your listeners know exactly what they’re going to be getting for the next Z number of minutes and are in the mindset to absorb your content. Your segment should look something like this

Introduction to the Topic

Discussion of the Topic

Conclusion to the Topic

Your segment should be able to function as a stand-alone piece, self-sufficient and self-contained.

The length of your segment is really up to you. Bear in mind that different people have different attention spans and in my experience, the best length to shoot for in a segment is 15 minutes. That’s just inside the window in which human concentration is at its peak, after that, the attention tends to wane and the mind starts to wander. Again, not a universal rule, by any stretch, but a good general one to shoot for, and it certainly does no harm either way. Whatever the case, consistency is the key. Pick a time and stick to it. Naturally, variation will occur, but try to keep it to a minimum. Here’s a tip, keep your music beds to the length you want your segments to be. If your music is running out, it’s time to wrap it up. Further information on bed music and timing can be found in my Podcast 101 tutorial.

Featuring… Features!

Features, aka. sticky content, can be the lynchpin of your show’s popularity. They do often take a disproportionate amount of work in comparison to the amount of content they produce, but they are extremely useful for differentiating your show from the rest of the rabble. Features come in all shapes and sizes, from reviews to comedy skits, to radio plays, to original songs, whatever, the important thing is that they happen and happen regularly. Features become showcase parts of your show, they help break up the potential monotony of constant talking and serve as an additional reason to come back week to week to listen to your show. Features also help forge a brand and identity for your show. Launching a show with a set of features from the outset is a great way to quickly build your brand and get people listening. They will be assured that this is not must another mug with a mic talking for 2 hours and they will be given a reason to care from the outset. Do not fall into the trap however, of creating features for the sake of having them. The best features are simply good ideas that grow into fully-fledged weekly content and keep people coming back for more. That’s their purpose.

Be aware of just how long your feature takes to create each week to avoid burnout and scheduling issues. Nubcake News, an extremely popular feature of mine, has not aired lately due to burnout, effectively the same as writer’s block. While no doubt it will return, you must be careful not to overreach and create something that’s just too much work to handle. Doing so can compromise the time you spend preparing each show as well as ruin your enthusiasm for doing it week in week out.

Add flesh to the bones

Now that you have a structure, it’s time to apply the meat. This is where you find out whether or not your structure works. If you’re having issues fitting your chosen content into the structure then feel free to miss about with it. Is your topic too general to fit into a segment? Then narrow your focus, take one particular facet or aspect of that topic and concentrate on that for 15 minutes. There’s no point blowing through huge amounts of content in a single show, you won’t have anything to say in a month’s time. Likewise there is no point trying to accommodate too much content and compromising the structure and format of your show for the sake of doing so. The structure, while appearing restrictive, actually helps you come up with content on a week by week basis, because it trains you to think and orate in 15-20 minute chunks, and dissect a topic down to its individual elements.

That’s it for today, next time I’ll be talking about knowing your target audience, and how best to appeal to them with your cast, content and format.

POD:U – Shouting into the Void

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:06:31 +0000

This is the first of several articles providing advice and different perspectives on the art of podcasting.

A couple of years ago I put together a ‘money where my mouth is’ kind of deal with the Podcast 101 audio presentation, the idea behind which was to be a learning aid to those trying to learn how to do good spoken word content. The resources available telling you ‘how to podcast’ are two a penny, but it has to be said that they amount to trying to teach someone how to drive by explaining that in order to do so they’ll have to turn the wheel and using the pedals. The technical aspects of podcast production are easily learned, though often ignored for various reasons which I won’t go into here. Learning how to orate on the other hand, present your arguments and content in a way that is enjoyable, informative and gripping to your audience, is a different matter entirely and the ‘shouting into the void’ style of oration is not something that is commonly discussed or written about. Let’s talk about that for a moment

Those of you who keep up with the popular web and cable TV animation ‘Super News’ will remember a sketch about Twitter, where the main character stated unequivocally that you ‘don’t communicate with friends by just shouting into the void’. Correct, you don’t. The error that some podcasters make is to treat their audience as if they were somehow their friends and try to connect with them on that kind of level. This is a mistake and can lead to a dilution of your message in favour of pandering to your audience, as well as driving away new listeners who may not necessarily feel part of your little family of regulars. Your listeners are consumers, they consume your product. They don’t pay for it, but none the less they spend time listening. If your product is good, they may tell their friends about it and are more likely to keep listening, if it isn’t, they will view listening to you as a waste of time and stop.

Some listeners may feel like they know the host because of how much they’ve listened to them talk. This is not the case, they are not your friends and you are not theirs. Shouting into the void can be best described as doing public speaking whilst wearing a blindfold. You know the audience is there, you may even be able to guess how many, but you can’t see them, can’t make eye contact, don’t know who they are or what they do and do not want to hear. Because of this, one should attempt to avoid trying to be all things to all men, and pander to the listenerbase. Having a definitive style and a strong set of opinions is more important than making people like you on a personal level. One would never say they liked a bar of soap on a personal level, remember that they are consumers and you produce a product. You want them to like the product, that should be your primary focus. Having them like you is a nice bonus, but not a prerequisite to success. Whether they like you is ultimately irrelevant as long as they continue to listen, indeed, ‘love to hate’ represents a significant portion of modern broadcasters, with shock-jocks and blowhards continuing to pull in the big numbers. All too many times I have seen shows, perhaps adversely affected by criticism, simply bow to the whims of a listener or listener group and in doing so, sacrifice their objectivity in favour of pandering. Pandering does not work, you cannot build respect that way. Some people are not going to like your show, period. In fact, when it comes to WoW podcasting, the vast majority of people are not going to like your show. Even the most popular WoW podcasts are only listened to be the tiniest of fractions of the WoW playerbase (try 1-2% max if you want a ballpark figure), the important thing is to carve out your niche quickly and stick to it. It is better to have a small piece of territory to call your own, than become a transient.

Let’s talk about technique. There is a difference between talking at your audience and talking to your audience. Talking to your audience implies that you are expecting some kind of reaction. Think about television news, are the presenters talking to you, or at you? The answer is of course, at you. They are not expecting a response, nor are they asking for one, they are presenting the facts to you as they interpret them and simply expect you to accept that. Is that an unreasonable expectation?

Not really. Interactivity has become a buzzword over the past decade, yet hasn’t honestly added much to the medium of content presentation. In my experience, any interaction with your audience should be done in a manner that is compartmentalised and kept away from the rest of your material. Failing to do this brings with it the risk that you start trying to engage with individual members of your audience on a personal level, talking to them through the medium of a radio broadcast. Yeah well guess what, while it might be a thrill for the person in question, you’ve got everyone else to worry about. Emails, IRC messages, tweets etc are nice ways to pad out a show, they do not form the basis of one nor are they a solid foundation on which to build.

As a presenter, you require the confidence in your own ability to talk at your audience, to present content in a vacuum, that does not rely on listener input. After all, if you are merely a mouthpiece for listener views, then why would listeners listen? They can read this kind of thing on any number of forums, or just talk to their friends on Ventrilo if they want to hear just any old opinion. They listen to your show because you provide something slick, entertaining and opinionated. Shouting into the void is a gutsy thing to do particularly when you know that an indeterminate number of people could be listening at any given time, and with podcasting I really do mean ANY given time. Your show is not a conversation, it’s not even a one-way conversation. It is a presentation. Think about doing presentations at school, what was your goal? Your goal was to present an argument in such a way as to be irrefutable and convincing. This isn’t all that hard, but remember when shouting into the void you are doing so with another purpose, to entertain. The manner in which you present that information is extremely important. Some things are universal, like presenting the content confidently and clearly, avoiding unnecessary hesitation and keeping your mouth the hell away from your mic (you really don’t need to eat it guys, seriously), but the rest of it really is up to you. Crafting your on air persona is vital to forging an identity for your show, so learn to shout into the void and you’ll be well on your way towards becoming memorable and listened to.

Achievements : Faux Content

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:04:30 +0000

The addition of Achievements to Wrath of the Lich King caused something of a stir. The popular feature ‘borrowed’ (and by borrowed, I really mean plagiarised line for line) from the Xbox 360, was hailed by some as an exciting new way to the play the game, giving the equivalent of merit badges to people for accomplishing various tasks, badges which could be seen by other players, should they care to check. Others were concerned about the introduction of Achievements, claiming that they would be used as a construct to dodge the need to develop as much content to keep people busy.

In this writers opinion, the latter is true, and has always been true. I was one of those who disliked the Achievement system from the start. I own an Xbox 360, and my Gamerscore is not my concern. I play games to beat them, and then will continue to play them as long as they interest me and have the replay value to justify it, via additional modes, unlockable content and online multiplayer. Regardless, games have finite entertainment value and as a gamer, I accept that from the outset. I don’t believe I have all 50 achievements in any game, and those that I do have, I acquired by accident in the course of play. As much as I’d like to kid myself that I got my money’s worth if I were to spend X number of laborious collecting 1000 rubber ducks, or completing every trial with an A+++ WILL TRADE AGAIN, that simply isn’t the case and in my limited time, I will get the enjoyment that I can out of the title, and then either shelve it, or sell it in favour of something else. A prime example of this ‘faux-content’ can be found in the recent release, Mirror’s Edge, which was decried by critics for being far too short, clocking in at under 6 hours of gameplay for the average player. Its defenders went out of their way to point out that the game had time trials and achievements, which justified the asking price because you could, should you choose to, partake in these activities. I was, again, on the side of those that pointed out ‘it’s 6 hours of gameplay, playing it again and trying to do it faster is the domain of speedrunners, and not average gamers. Seeing and doing the same stuff more than once only serves any purpose if it was incredibly fun to begin with and bore repeating, or was sufficiently different the second time around as to justify another play-through’. RPGs such as Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and The Witcher understood this concept, and allowed sufficiently different choices and playstyles as to warrant more than one playthrough. Having been gaming now 21 years, I can appreciate titles which provide this kind of replayability, and have watched with concern and voted with my feet and wallet, when big-budget releases have failed to meet my standards of depth and length of content.

So do these principles apply to World of Warcraft? I’ve been raiding a long time now, and have seen and played the various success stories and failures when it comes to Blizzard’s raiding content. I remember the boredom of Molten Core, the bugs of Blackwing Lair, the cockblocks of AQ40. I remember the race for Kel Thuzad, the trash of Karazhan, the over-tuned Gruul. I remember accidently double-clicking blocks on Magtheridon, and the controversy over Vashj’s World First Kill. I remember the ’24 hour downing’ of Illidan and the brick wall of difficulty that was Pre-nerf Muru. I remember the 30% nerf, the BT level items for doing heroics and I remember the one particular modus operandi of those times. ‘Kill bosses, get loot’.

Amusingly enough, the idea behind achievement-based kills has been in-game for a lot longer than you think. I recall the controversy behind the ‘world-first’ kill of Vashj, and then the other ‘world-first’ kill of Vashj. I also recall the first C’thun kill being marred by scepticism due to the use of World Buffs of all things. People’s definition of ‘World First’ seemed to shift as time went on, and inspired by this, I created a satirical radio-play, part of the Kungen Trilogy series of Nubcake News. Perhaps you’ve heard it, if not, you can listen here (http://media.wcradio.com/archive/blueplz/worldfirst.mp3). Do you remember the various announcements that Onyxia had been killed with X number of players less than last time? What about Gruul? All of this stuff formed an amusing sideshow that can be only accurately described as ‘meta’.

Never until now, was this meta aspect of raiding ever considered to be actual content. It was just something people did to muck about or show off. The concept of killing a boss with all raiders up, or not dispelling a particular debuff, was alien. It served no purpose. Most World First kills happened with raiders down, because the content was difficult and tended to kill people, regardless of how good they were. The most thrilling kills in my memory consisted of desperate situations that could so easily have been wipes were they not saved by the ingenuity and quick thinking of the remains of the raid. I recall watching a single paladin, bubble and kill Vaelstratz, as the rest of his raid lay dead, as the Superman theme-tune played in the background on the Youtube video, and hearing the screams of triumph on Vent. Such moments were what made raiding all worthwhile. Now anything less than a clean kill, standing on one’s head, with one arm tied behind your back is considered ‘scrubby’. Failing achievements which in reality seem incredibly arbitrary, is a cause for drama and condemnation within the raid. Raids are split between those who wish to do achievements, and those who do not, often resulting in conflict between the two. It seems to me that with content being tuned so low, some players will go to any lengths to at least try and make it challenging in some form. Unfortunately, achievements are a poor substitute for solid, challenging encounters.

Vital to the concept of raiding, is the concept of progress. The tracking of progress is something that various services provide for. Indeed, achievements are a useful way of doing this in game, since they cannot be faked, and are easily accessible. However, progress has always been defined by ‘which boss/tier of raiding are you up to?’ rather than ‘have you killed Loatheb without spores yet?’. While this optional meta-content is ok in and of itself, because some people enjoy it, it should never be used as a substitute for real content. A sizeable group of people are now of the belief that you have no right to complain about the lack of content if you have not done all of the achievements, since they are ‘content’. I would put it to you that achievements are not raid content. Raid content is raid content. Bosses and items are raid content, new raids and dungeons are raid content, new factions associated with said raids and dungeons are raid content. New craftables and recipes from raid content are raid content. Achievements are not real raid content, because for the last 4 years we have been told the simple truth, that a kill is a kill is a kill. Killing the boss is the primary objective, in order to progress to the next one. Blizzard realised this in TBC and released an expansion with a lot of raid content in it from launch. Granted, some of it didn’t work and was not properly tuned, but it was there, and if you build it, they will come, and so they did. The relatively high amount of launch raid content in TBC demonstrates that Blizzard is capable of designing challenging raid encounters in large amounts. With Wrath clocking in only 1 full sized raid encounter, vs TBC’s 3 and 1 full-sized 10 man which was a slightly dumbed down clone of the 25 man version, vs Karazhan, which was exclusively 10 man content, it would be a bit of stretch to try and claim that Wrath provides for it’s raiding playerbase on the content front. The claim that this content is merely ‘raiding 101’ and experienced raiders can busy themselves with achievements until the Second Coming (aka Ulduar) arrives to deliver us from evil, is highly suspect, and what is more worrying is that it’s not merely coming from the playerbase, but from Blizzard themselves. Trying to tell raiders that this is the ‘new way’ and that they’ll just have to accept it, is going to be an awfully hard pill to swallow, especially when said pill is not going to do them any good.

It also seems as if Achievements, are now being used by the Armoury Police to judge whether or not a player is worthy of discussing a particular topic, and attacking his argument ad-hominem with such information, as opposed to actually dealing with the argument on it’s own merits. If I were a particularly paranoid individual, I might almost think that this kind of thing was a calculated move to keep the community at each others throats, while Blizzard was able to carry out their agenda of catering to bad, but none the less $15 a month players, for the great god of money. While this is something of a fanciful notion, what is true, is that one of the reasons the WoW community is so ineffectual at forcing an issue, is its inability to present a united front on anything. It is its own worst enemy, constantly chasing it’s own tale and biting it’s own ass in the process.

In this raider’s opinion, the state of Wrath raiding should serve as a warning to Blizzard against future attempts to fob raiders off with faux-content. They ain’t buying it, not even close. According to http://www.wowprogress.com 2% of active raiders have completed The Immortal, the achievement that is a challenging test of how reliable the servers and the raid’s ISPs are. Does that mean that 98% of the raiding community aren’t good enough to complete it, or that they simply don’t care enough to try? Difficult to make that call really. Let’s take a look at another achievement, Spore Loser, one that is not required for the Glory of the Raider meta-achievement and as such, has no motivation to complete it other than getting a pretty merit badge. This achievement arguably makes the fight slightly more difficult, if only from an endurance perspective, but since it is not particularly difficult to begin with, it simply makes the fight longer.

11.9% of 25 man raiders have done this achievement. That is how many people cared enough to spend the extra time. Failing to achieve Spore Loser? Nigh on impossible if you’re trying, yet apparently more almost 9 in every 10 raiders does not have it. 9 in every 10 raiders does not care enough to get it. 9 out of 10 raiders, are not partaking in the glorious acquisition of the fantasy equivalent of the Cub Scout merit badges. 9 out of 10 raiders, do not in fact buy the idea, that Achievements are meaningful content in any respect and have as such, abstained from doing so. Is that a stretch? Doesn’t seem so. Why would a guild miss out on an achievement that doesn’t make the fight any harder unless they simply did not care enough to bother jumping through the appropriate hoops in order to acquire it.

It is evident that Blizzard has realised all of this somewhat and while they continue with their implementation of new and amusing ways to waste people’s time, they have also built a dungeon with hard-modes. We can only hope that these hard-modes are sufficiently entertaining, and sufficiently rewarding to justify doing them. While Ulduar looks promising, one thing remains certain. Farming the same instance for 6 months is going to get boring, no matter how many merit badges, time trials and additional difficulty modes you put in it. Somewhere down the line, Blizzard have got to realise that a regular stream of new content, is what keeps players happy and interested, and while some will ‘make do’ with what they have, others will not, and will go off in search of warmer climbs. Gaming content is finite, no matter which game you happen to be playing and MMOs survive by providing regular updates of it, in return for monthly subscription fees.

As for me, I spend my time raiding old world content with 60s, reliving those various successes and failures, and polishing my new Harbinger in EvE Online, looking forward to Ulduar and hoping that it doesn’t fail to satisfy my craving to raid lots of challenging, new content again.

Troll-proofing your Posts

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:02:11 +0000

So you’ve managed to tick off all of these boxes? Great, that’s a start. But you’ve only taken one step closer, to the abyss! Now it’s time to talk about troll-proofing your posts. Here are a few things to bear in mind.

Bad spelling indicates a bad post – There are certain negative stereotypes surrounding those who don’t write particularly well, and they’re here to stay. You can avoid this by simply proof-reading your post before submitting it, and using a spell checker. This is particularly important if English is not your first language. If you use that as an excuse, and haven’t spellchecked your post, then expect to get trolled. If you are dyslexic or have another similar condition, again, use your spellchecker. Generally, you should be putting your original post together in a word processor like OpenOffice before hand. This will allow you to properly check your work and more importantly, if your browser crashes or the forums have one of their frequent server errors, you won’t lose all your work. I learned this the hard way.

Prove it Prove it Prove it – Many threads fixate on making a particular point. Some people may tell you that it’s just a forum, and you don’t have to back up anything you say. They would be horribly wrong. The worst thing, the absolute worst thing you can do, is to try and make a point without anything to back it up. There are some people on this forum who are very good debaters, they have a lot of experience in it and debating is an important skill in real life. They will obliterate you if you give them the chance, and rightly so. It is better to flatten somebody’s flimsy opinion early, than risk letting it take root and have it spread falsehoods to other community members. They won’t just ignore you, they will steamroll you. There are several forms of evidence you can provide to give your argument weight.

1) Facts – It’s shocking how many people forget to either check their facts, or just miss them out entirely. Facts are irrefutable, assuming they are correct. These are not to be mistaken for opinions presented as fact, more commonly known as ‘assertions’. Assertions suck, they are incredibly bad form in debates so avoid them. Generally speaking, commonly known facts are accepted by default, and do not require any sourcing or proof. Be wary of what you state as fact, because while something like ‘Hunters are a DPS class’ is a commonly accepted fact ‘Hunters are the best DPS class’ is an assertion if not properly supported by evidence.

2) Sourced material – This is a particularly strong form of evidence, since it comes from a third party source. Linking to a reputable site to reinforce your point is great way to strengthen your argument. Bear in mind your source, is it reputable? If it’s just some guy’s blog, then you might want to be wary about using it as a reliable source. Avoid just posting Wikipedia or WoWWiki links. These are easily doctored, often biased and frequently inaccurate. A good Wikipedia article will cite it’s sources, so try linking to the source material instead of the Wiki article.

3) Anecdotal Evidence – This is the experience of either yourself or somebody you know, presented as evidence. You should be wary when providing anecdotal evidence. Generally, anecdotal evidence should only be used to illustrate an already strong point, rather than to make it initially. Anecdotal evidence often doesn’t really prove anything on its own and is frequently taken out of context. Also it has the added handicap that it could easily be completely made-up, making it particularly flimsy. Anecdotal evidence’s weight and value can vary depending on its source. The anecdotal evidence of a High Warlord on the subject of PvP, could potentially carry more weight than that of a Private with no obvious PvP experience. Regardless, you should not fall into the trap of thinking this is the be all and end all of the argument. It helps, but anecdotal evidence can still be proved wrong by sourced material, logical constructs and facts. Anecdotal evidence from a position of authority, while sounding like a good idea, is often mis-used, for example, a High Warlord comes along and claims his opinion matters more than others on the subject of PvP because he is a High Warlord. In reality, while he may have more experience to draw from, what matters are his arguments and how well formulated they are.

4) The Logical Construct – Sometimes, there will not be sufficient evidence or facts to prove a point beyond the shadow of a doubt. In that case, creating a logical construct is often the best way to further your argument. As you might expect, logical constructs require a logical train of thought and should be very clearly laid out. You should always ensure that each point leads logically onto the next, until you reach your conclusion. Missing a step or getting too far ahead of yourself without properly justifying everything you’re saying, can lead to your construct falling down on your head like a house of cards. Constructs can turn into Logical Fallacies, if you end up missing or taking a logical step incorrectly. It doesn’t matter if your conclusion is correct, if you have supported it with a logical fallacy, then your entire argument can be demolished as soon as somebody points out the flaw in your logic.

In reality, most arguments will consist of a mixture of the above, preferably tied together by logic (ie. A = B because of C and D).

Passion in moderation – You should avoid appearing irrational by allowing too much emotion to show in your posts. Emotional posts are easily trolled and made fun of and the reason for that is that they allow emotion, rather than facts, to drive their argument. This works quite well in some mediums such as television or radio, where the strength of a person’s oration can bypass the need for pesky things like facts and truth, but viewed in the cold, hard light of the forums, this kind of thing does not stand up to scrutiny. Sure, by enthusiastic, be passionate, but temper both with cold, hard facts and good reasoning. Overtly emotional posters are tempted targets for trolls, because the results of antagonising them can be very entertaining.

What is whining, and what isn’t? – Whining is an over-used term on the forums and, similar to trolling, has lost its meaning somewhat. Whining is the act of incessantly complaining in an annoying tone. Threads perceived as whines are often the targets of trolls, who can smell the poster’s delicious tears from miles away. Whining can be driven by obvious emotion (ie. Blizzard hates my class, I hate Blizzard!) or simply an incessantly irritating complaint. It’s difficult to properly define a whine, but easier to define what is not a whine. Making a complaint is fine, if it’s set in a relatively calm and well structured manner, properly supported by evidence and reasoning. Complaints are often mistaken for whining on the basis that they are complaints. The best way to proof your posts against accusations of whining from anyone but the dumbest of forum posters is to say it out loud. Do you fall into a whiny, entitled tone at any point? Does it sound like it could be heard as a whine? If so, then go back to it and look out for the warning signs of sounding too emotional or entitled.

Ad Hominem – Ad hominem is the act of attacking the person, rather than the argument. It is considered bad form in debating and an act of desperation or indirect admittance of defeat. The classic example of Ad Hominem is quite simply ‘yo mama’. That kind of ad hominem is childish and the mark of a poor debater. However occasional insults and derogatory behaviour do not necessarily constitute Ad Hominem in its truest form, which is rightly reviled by anyone trying to have a civilised discussion. The best way to explain what is blatantly wrong and what is not when dealing with ad hominem is as follows.

You are wrong because you are stupid – True ad hominem

You are stupid because you are wrong – Pseudo ad hominem.

Technically, both of these are forms of ad hominem, but one can be seen as more justified than the other. Whereas True Ad Hominem often comes in the form of a logical fallacy, Pseudo ad hominem usually has basis in fact or solid reasoning behind it. ‘If you actually believe this then you must be a fool’, is an example of Pseudo ad hominem and if the reasoning behind it is properly illustrated or just so incredibly obvious that it doesn’t bare thorough explanation, then it can be an effective weapon in the arsenal of the forum poster. Pseudo ad hominem is often used by Trolls 3 and 4. I personally use it often, when dealing with a discussion, idea, complaint or topic that is particularly foolish. I will generally break out the Pseudo ad hominem when someone is being bull-headed and stubborn and refuses to listen to reason. Why? Remember when I said that some trolls are trying to beat common sense into you for your own good? Well, if we can’t convince you with facts and reasoning, simply because you’re too stupid to realise that you’re wrong or stubborn to admit it, then the next step is to ritually humiliate you in front of your peers in the hope that don’t do it again. No, it’s not very nice, never said it was, but it can be effective. Whereas True ad hominem can seriously harm your argument should you choose to use it (since it is generally seen as immature), Pseudo ad hominem can be an effective method of getting your message across when either the opponent refuses to be reasonable. Bleeding hearts may say that ad hominem in all its forms is always wrong, but they don’t seem to realise that not you, or anyone else for that matter, is obliged to put up with the same constant, irritating, stupid questions, complaints and ideas on a daily basis. You are not being paid for this crap, and you are not required to be nice. Sometimes a sharp smack with the stick, as opposed to the constant dangling of the carrot which the idiot in question never takes, is enough to knock some sense into the offending party. If it doesn’t, then at least you can laugh at the person and ensure that no-one aside from their own deluded mind, actually takes them seriously.

The Misbegotten Practice of White-Knighting

Originally, the term ‘white knight’ was used on forums and usenet to indicate the inevitable rush to ‘rescue’ a female poster from the clutches of trolls. A known female poster could expect better treatment from some, and worse from others. Some posters would consider it their duty to defend female posters publically and some did it in the vane hope that they would somehow woo the poster with their outstanding debating skills. Naturally, this was just stupid, yet it still goes on to this day. Now-a-days, white knighting as a term has diversified into the act of defending a person’s character against an opposing viewpoint on the forums, as opposed to simply debating the point. Most civilised forums consider this practice to be highly suspect at best and pathetic at worst. It can be described as a form of reverse ad-hominem, in which instead of simply arguing the point, the poster rushes to the defence of the ‘damsel in distress’s character and good name. The argument against white-knighting is that it tends to massively derail a thread and turn a debate from something civilised, into a flamewar. Disagreeing with someone’s point of view does not default to being an attack on their character and good name, therefore rushing to their defence is not required. If somebody is actually engaging in direct ad hominem, then think twice before trying to leap in and take the bullet unless asked to by the person under attack.

Arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics, even if you win, you’re still retarded – This mantra is bandied about by people who suck at arguing on the internet, as an excuse to avoid doing so. Contrary to dimwit belief, arguments can be easily won on the internet, regardless of whether or not the opponent realises they’ve lost. Convincing the other party that they are wrong is an admirable goal, but due to the nature of the internet, is also nigh on impossible. They do not have to back down, because they can simply stop posting in the thread, assume a new identity, or ignore you. The seasoned debater, knows that this is not the main goal of arguing on the internet, it’s to convince everyone ELSE that the opponent is wrong. That is easily done by following the rules above. Convincing 2 peers that you’re right, is way better than convincing your opponent that he is wrong. Why do you think Presidential debates happen? Do you really think the debaters are trying to convince each other that they’re right and their opponent is wrong? Hell no, that never ever happens. They’re trying to influence the people watching, and that too, is what you should be doing if you get into an argument on the internet. Follow this advice and use your head, and you might start swaying people to your side.

If you’re managed to read all of these pages, then sadly, you’re probably not the person who could benefit most from doing so. I do hope you’ve found it at least a little interesting though.

Signed

Your unfriendly neighbourhood troll.

Preparing to Post

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:00:57 +0000

So you got trolled… now what?

Sometimes, you’re just going to get trolled, it’s unavoidable. If it’s by Type 1 or 2, then simply report and move on. What if it’s not? Are you willing to perhaps try and improve your posting to ward off and combat trolling? If so, then read on.

You are not prepared

True story, you aren’t, let’s change that. So you have the burning desire to post a topic, an idea that everybody needs to hear, a debate so crucial that it HAS to happen right at this moment, and you must be the instigator. Well hold on for a second, there are a few things you should check first. You’d be surprised how many people miss these basic points, and end up getting trolled by Trolls 3 and 4. Before you post, check this handy list. Not managed to tick every box? Then don’t post until you can honestly say that you have.

1) Are you posting in the right forum? – This is such an easy one. See that list in the top left? Well chances are there’s a forum for whatever it is you’re posting. Class balance issue? Take it to the class forums. Raid topic? Raids and Dungeons. Specific to your realm? Then keep it in your realm forums. It’s pretty self explanatory really. The most common mistake made is posting a suggestion in General, as opposed to the Suggestions forums. I say mistake, in reality, this is often done deliberately since topics posted in the General forum get more views and replies than those in the Suggestions forum. This is counter-productive, since Blizzard also read the Suggestions forum, and are more likely to notice your suggestion there. If you are looking for attention, as opposed to actually delivering a suggestion to Blizzard, then you can expect to be trolled in some form. Attention-whores are easily spotted and can be made short work of.

2) Are you posting something that has already been posted in the last few weeks? – Generally speaking, you should be contributing to an existing thread over making a new one. Unless you have a particularly unique slant on the subject, that absolutely deserves its own thread, then don’t post one. Generally speaking, you might think your slant is unique, but it probably isn’t, at least, not unique enough. This should not be confused with posting threads on specific aspects of a more general topic that has been recently and/or frequently discussed.

3) Are you asking a question that could either be easily answered by Google, or has already been answered in a previous thread? – Forum posters are not your personal research team. While some may be willing to help out, you should not be surprised if you get bitten when asking a question that is easy to find the answer to. Asking for a Blue response when one has already been given in a previous thread is also not a particularly good idea. You can use the forum’s search feature, or alternatively, use the Bluetracker at http://blue.cardplace.com/ to find your answer. Requesting answers from Blues tends to result in additional trolling, because you end up looking like someone with an entitlement issue.

4) Does your thread title accurately describe your OP (original post)? – To prevent misconceptions and to help posters find your thread, you should ensure your thread title is accurate and to the point. If you are expressing a particular viewpoint, make it known from the outset to avoid accusations of bias or agenda. You should not title your thread ‘A discussion on Topic X’, if your entire OP consists of your opinion and your opinion alone, without mention or discussion of the opposing sides of the argument. Titling your thread with a statement that sums up your opinion such as ‘Catering to Casual Players is harming the raid-game’, can avoid any confusion and make it clear as to what your position is from the outset. You should try and avoid deliberately sensationalist thread titles such as ‘Casuals killed raiding, BLIZZ DO SOMETHING’. These are likely to make you appear overly emotional, as well as entitled and looking for attention. Not a good combination.

5) Are you avoiding the “deadhorse” subjects? – There are some topics that simply do not need to be posted. The reasons for these are many and varied and can incorporate any of the above points, but generally speaking, these subjects have been answered to the fullest, done to death or are simply not worth discussing. You will get trolled if you post these, without a doubt. Personally, I seek out threads like that, and I’m not the only one. They contribute negatively to the signal/noise ratio and as such, the gloves come off when a thread like that crops up. There is no definitive list of deadhorse subjects, but the following should give you an idea of threads simply not to post, and why.

Classic Realms (already been answered by Blizzard, never going to happen, should be in suggestions forum anyway)

This game is dying/dead (this has been posted since WoW’s launch. It has been proven to be 100% wrong, because the game is still going and has more players than ever)

Playing Housing (This should be in suggestions and has already been discussed to death and had several blue answers. There are no current plans for player housing, stop asking)

You know you’ve played too much WoW when… (This wasn’t really funny the first time, it certainly isn’t the 300^th)

I am doing a research project (WoW is a terrible subject to do school projects on and if you insist on doing it, for god’s sake don’t use the forum population for answers, you will get a grossly inaccurate set. Your data gathering methods probably suck, and you will get trolled if they do.)

WoW2 (how many times have we seen this? Seriously, no WoW2 discussions, it’s been done to death)

I will quit unless… (Blizzard doesn’t care. You’re 1 in 12 million. You could get your entire realm to quit and Blizzard wouldn’t even blink. Threatening Blizzard is a bad idea to begin with)

Pre-Wrath was better… (In many ways it wasn’t, and the raid discussions have already been done to death. Blizzard has clearly taken notice and responded with an instance full of challenging, hardmode encounters. What more do you want? Also Molten Core sucked, take off your rose-tinted specs).

I have a question about RAF (And it’s no doubt answered in the FAQ, go read that instead -http://eu.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=30562)

I want to recruit you as a friend, I won’t pay for your account (then why the hell are you asking if you’re not offering anything?)

Blizzard hates my country (No they don’t, they’re just hamstrung by your country’s laws. You should be asking your local government official to change those, not Blizzard. Blizzard doesn’t hate your money, it wants it)

Tournament Realms/Transfers/Other optional services should be free! (Yet people still pay for them, so there is no incentive for that to happen. You’re just going to get trolled for being cheap/not understanding the corporate attitude to service, so don’t bother)

I am addicted to WoW, help! (No you aren’t, go outside. WoW addiction isn’t a real condition. Even if it was, the last people you want help from are a bunch of subscribed WoW players).

I am a paying customer (So are the rest of us. Lord knows what would happen if we all posted threads about it).

Can I do X Y or Z with Bind on Account items? (No, because you can’t mail items cross-faction or server. Yes, that does still mean they’re Bind on Account, doesn’t mean you get to circumvent the game mechanics).

6) Are you familiar with the forum rules and does your post follow them? – This shouldn’t even need explaining but there are so many threads that get locked for not following the forum rules and plenty more that result in reposts saying ‘WHY DID I GET BANNED/LOCKED?!’. There is no excuse for this.

How to Win Threads & Influence People

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:59:55 +0000

The Forums – How to win Threads and Influence People.

I’d like to clear up a few misconceptions about the forums, as well as provide some advice to those willing to listen, about the construction and presentation of posts and threads. Naturally this post consists of my opinion and mine alone. You are free to disagree with it at your leisure and express such feelings in whatever way to see fit. Due to the size of this article (almost 5,000 words), I’ll be splitting it into several posts, one after another. Start from the bottom, and read upwards.

Trolling and You

Troll, like many such phrases, has lost both its lustre and meaning over the years. The term originated on BBS and Usenet, the precursors to the forums and chatrooms we have today. The classic definition of a troll is someone who posts deliberately controversial, inflammatory or irrelevant messages with the primary intent of provoking an emotional response from other users. Naturally, these kinds of people can be found all over the internet, anonymity gives strength that they otherwise would not have, and the courage to attack other users. However, the WoW forum definition of troll and its verb-form, trolling, seem to have taken on a much broader meaning. The term is bandied about and applied to a wide variety of people, without regard to intent. To assist in identifying a troll, these are some rough guidelines with which to follow.

1) This poster is posting in an inflammatory manner and has not addressed the discussion at hand in any way, shape or form.

2) The poster has not posted in an inflammatory manner, but is posting obvious nonsense.

3) The poster has posted in an inflammatory manner, but is on topic.

4) The poster has posted something controversial which is very likely to cause heated discussion.

Trolls 1 and 2 fit the classic definition of trolling. What they are doing is an obvious violation of the forum rules and will likely get them banned. Contrary to popular belief, at least in the General Forum, there are not many of these, since their sprees tend to be short lived. Classic trolls utilise the sledgehammer approach and as a result, tend to get caught and banned pretty fast.

Trolls 3 and 4 do not necessarily fit the classic definition. However, they do often fit the ‘WoW forums’ definition. Contrary to popular belief, posting controversial or inflammatory posts are not always against the WoW forum rules, though attacks on the person (ad hominem) are frowned upon in the forum guidelines. Depending on their severity and the content of the rest of the post, action can be taken against these posters, but it is far less clear cut than the classic troll. Trolls 3 and 4, differ from Trolls 1 and 2 in the manner of intent. While Trolls 1 and 2 intend to cause as much offense and havoc as possible, Trolls 3 and 4 may have a different agenda in mind. Naturally, it is possible that Trolls 3 and 4 are simply more subtle than Trolls 1 and 2, but it is also possible that you, the poster, may be mistaking Trolls 3 and 4, for Trolls 1 and 2. They must also not be confused with Troll 5

5) Somebody who disagrees with you or somebody you happen to agree with.

Troll 5 is not a real troll, please do not let him operate on you or your family, it could be hazardous to your health.

So the question has to be asked, why? Why do Trolls 3 and 4, ‘troll’, indeed, are they trolling at all? Well, let me make it clear from the outset. I have trolled in the past, in the classic sense. I now troll, in the ‘WoW forums’ sense, which isn’t necessarily trolling at all. I, along with others of my kind, use inflammatory or insulting language in our posts, when we deem it necessary or appropriate to do so. Why? Read on.

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child.

I’ve been around here for a long time, and received my fair share of bans, most of which were justified and proper. Over time, two things tend to develop in anyone who’s been around here for a while. One is cynicism, we tend to become very jaded and adopt a default position of negativity when reading posts and threads. The other is affection, we’ve become rather attached to these forums and even some of the people in them. We believe they have the potential to be a great breeding ground for ideas and intellectual debate, and wish to see that (pipe)dream realised. The combination of these two feelings produces the ‘compassionate troll’. I’m not saying that I, or others like me, hurt you because we like you, we don’t, we have a default negative view of you, you’re guilty until proven innocent. We insult you because we hope to bludgeon some common sense into you and in doing so, improve the overall quality of the forums. We wish to improve the…..

Signal/Noise ratio

Signal/Noise is a term that describes how much good quality content there is in comparison to how much repetition, poorly-reasoned arguments, meaningless ‘fluff’ and whiny, entitled drivel there is on the WoW forums. At present, the ratio could be generously described as ‘not great’. Improving the signal/noise ratio is important for any discussion forum to be worth visiting on a regular basis. It also assists the development team in picking out discussions that are worth taking into consideration and ideas that might be worth implementing. Forums like Elitist Jerks have very positive Signal/Noise ratios due to strict implementation of their rules. Many of their members are themselves, compassionate trolls, their allegiance lying with the forums they post on. They react harshly to any infringement of the rules or noise on their forums, to the point where they have a special forum to highlight the dumbest posts. The devs read and often post on these forums and they have significantly more clout than you might think.

Is Casual vs. Hardcore Obsolete?

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:58:07 +0000

This will no doubt be the first of many posts, the aim of which is to stimulate proper discussion on various topics. Whether or not that will happen is another matter entirely, but there’s a lot of downtime at my workplace right now, and there is little else to do. With Head Office cracking down on how much we use the internet, my trusty copy of Microsoft Word will suffice and these topics will be posted when I get home. If you do not enjoy lengthy posts, this is not going to change your mind. Press your back button now and enjoy your life.

This particular topic was inspired by a post from the US forums, a copy of which can be found in the ‘Hey, it’s ok to be casual’ thread. It got me thinking on the issue of casual vs hardcore and the validity of the above terms.

Wrath of the Lich King threw everything for a loop. Up until Wrath, it was commonly accepted that most raid instances were lengthy and required a degree of gear and coordination, as well as 24-39 other people to complete. Such was the dedication of time required to be competitive in the raiding scene, the term ‘hardcore’ arose, with ‘hardcore’ raiders generally being those who progressed the most on their particular server, and who dedicated a great deal of time to doing so. As to why they did this, it was usually due to the sheer number of instances to beat, epics to get and the length of the above. Even instances long since put on farm status had to be inserted into the raiding calendar to ensure that the raid was appropriately geared to take on future content. Consider the fact that MC bosses usually dropped 2 items (with a few exceptions) for a 40 man raid and that token loot did not exist and you’ll see why guilds continued to run Molten Core long past its expiry date.

Vanilla/TBC raiding generally involved farming those instances a tier below the current level of progression (those attempting to progress in BWL would be farming MC/ZG for items to do so. Those attempting AQ40 would be farming BWL, those attempting SSC/TK, Karazhan/Gruul/Mag etc etc). Vanilla and TBC content consisted of various relatively well defined tiers of difficulty. TBC in particular had a set of linear attunements, which clearly indicated in what order various instances should be attempted. This continued through until around the release of Sunwell, at which point attunements were stripped out. This muddled the tiers up a little, with guilds attempting lower-difficulty bosses from higher tier dungeons before defeating the end-tier boss of their currently level of progression, but this was a rather similar state of affairs to vanilla content, in which guilds attempted and defeated bosses such as Skeram, Anub-Rekhan and Razuvious, whose attunements were either non-linear, or non-existant.

With the above system in place, it is easy to see where the term ‘hardcore’ originated. To progress at any semblance of speed required several nights a week of raiding, preferably each consisting of a full clear. As more and more dungeons were piled onto the raiding tree, raiding schedules had to expand to keep up, with at least a couple of nights a week dedicated to ‘progress wipes’ and the rest aimed at gearing up the raid to make the next progress run that little bit easier. Poor itemisation in many cases perpetuated this, with gear often consisting of side-grades or items which were just plain out of sync with the surrounding instances. Other fingers can be pointed at guilds which had a revolving-door style of player turnover, in which players constantly left and new players were recruited to fill their spaces, who were often undergeared for the task at hand. Runs had to be organised to gear up those players, in instances the guild’s raiding core was probably glad to see the back of. Such a schism, the so-called ‘gear gap’, caused no end of drama and conflict within guilds. Generally speaking this was not the guild’s fault and was a byproduct of a system still going through growing pains, with various interest groups attempting to pull Blizzard every-which way on the issue.

Enter the casual player. The definition of this group is less precise and has in this poster’s view, shifted significantly since the launch of the game. Initial reviews of WoW after its launch praised its ‘casual-friendly’ approach to levelling. Questing and the lack of death penalty were two areas particularly highlighted by reviewers, and rightly so. Both of these aspects are staples of WoW’s success, liked by many, decried by few. It would be safe to say that the casual player did not exist until Level 60, just as the hardcore player did not exist. It was at end-game that this distinction was made and it generally consisted of ‘those who raid and shoot for grand marshal = hardcore. Those who do not = casual’. Casual-friendly end-game content was severely lacking around WoW’s launch. Perhaps Blizzard underestimated the speed at which its player-base would hit cap, indeed, the honour system was not even implemented until many months down the line, despite its mention in the game manual. Players suddenly found themselves with nothing to do and turned to what raid content existed at the time (which consisted of Onyxia and Molten Core). While Onyxia was and is a quick, 1-boss encounter, Molten Core was a trash-filled lengthy cave consisting of many bosses, whose mechanics were utterly alien to players at the time. Whereas MC, even at level-appropriate, is completely trivial to today’s playerbase, back then, it was unattainable for casuals, who could not dedicate the time to completing it. A non-winged design and trash respawns the likes of which would be decried as awful today, prevented splitting the instances into manageable chunks and as such, the casual player was kept out of raid content.

Fast forward to today, does the definition of casual from back then still hold true? The term has become significantly blurry of late. By the old standard, the number of casual players has waned significantly. Raid content is more accessible, less time-consuming and drops more epics. Epics in general are easier to acquire. Non-raiders are at a significantly lower figure than they were a few years ago. Yet so many still define themselves as ‘casual players’. Why? To what end, and what does being ‘casual’ consist of these days? The argument has been made, and I tend to agree with it, that casual players are those with so little regular time to dedicate to the game, that raiding never even crosses their minds. They are happy to complete a heroic or two on the weekends, do a daily quest, gain some reputation, earn money towards a crafted item etc. Since the threshold for entry to the raiding scene has lowered significantly, one can make the argument that the number of casual players able to raid has increased, at which point they cease to be ‘casual’ by the old definition.

So what of the hardcore playerbase? The impact of this ‘lowering of the threshold’ has, at the time of writing, made the term ‘hardcore’ irrelevant. The only way it is possible to spend several nights a week clearing all the content in Wrath at present is if you are unable to defeat it. Tens of thousands of guilds have cleared everything WoW has to offer and play significantly less than they used to. It is interesting to note that it seems the casual and hardcore playerbases are linked more-so than either would like to admit. As one wanes, so does the other.

Will the days of the hardcore player return? If Blizzard’s claims about Ulduar’s difficulty, particularly on hard-mode are to be believed, yes they will to some degree. Will it ever be to the degree of pre-Wrath? Not especially likely if the current speed of content delivery keeps up. Farming Naxx for Tier 7 is not going to happen anywhere near as much as farming lower-tier content did before, simply because there are more items, and those items are easier to get. Gearing up a player is nowhere near as hard as it used to be. That could be said to be a good thing, from a time perspective. But what of the casual? Does the definition have to change? Is a casual player now a player who merely does 10 mans? Doesn’t do hardmodes? What about just raiding Tier 7 level content as opposed to Tier 8? Or does the definition stay strictly centred on the ‘non-raider’?

Whatever the case, I feel that catering to either of these groups, particularly when it’s hard to even determine who and what they are, is a mistake. Attempting to cater to the ‘casual’ playerbase by introducing declawed content such as that in Wrath of the Lich King was an ideological error. Easier content won’t get these players to raid. If I understand it correctly, very little is going to get ‘true casuals’ to raid, because they are happy doing what they’re already doing. All lower difficulty raiding is going to do is allow ‘bad’ players to succeed in the raiding game where they would have previously failed. As much as ‘bad’ players are a section of the subscriber base, there are very few that would argue that those who play badly, should be rewarded for doing so. Whereas Wrath raiding content has disappointed and in some cases infuriated more experienced players, it has not succeeded in catering to the ‘casual’ playerbase, only the bad one.

So to conclude, whether or not casual and hardcore players actually exist in any remotely definable form is a matter for debate. What should not be a matter for debate, is the constant injection of new content that gives everybody who is willing to play well, something to do. Making content easier has not given bad players anything new to do. These players were attempting to raid anyway in Vanilla/TBC, failing to do so due to lack of ability and hiding behind a status of ‘casual player’ in order to push their agendas on the forums. The real casuals on the other hand, were in-game playing, or in IRL, doing other things, business as usual. The vast majority of them do not post on the forums, do not visit fansites, do not know that any of this discussion even exists. The only thing they care about, is whether or not there is something to do for them when they login on an evening or weekend. As they discover new things introduced in the patch, whose notes they do not read, they find enjoyment, and continue to pay their subscription. They are to some degree, blissfully ignorant of the constant sh*t-storm surrounding WoW’s development and its small minority of players who make up its ‘community’. There seems to be a lot of misdirected anger that is attributed to either the hardcore, or casual playerbases and yet from this poster’s perspective, one of them has a mouthpiece that they don’t even know about, pushing a so-called ‘casual’ agenda that actual casuals don’t even know about, let alone agree with. This all boils down to a very simple mantra that Blizzard should refer to before considering anything else, and that mantra is this.

Content for all, challenge for all.

A Dislocated Design Philosophy

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:56:42 +0000

Another day, another exercise in verbosity.

I found the idea of 10/25 man versions of each raid instance to be somewhat questionable from the outset. My personal belief, before WOTLK was launched, was that doing so would force the majority of raiding guilds to clear the 10 man versions of the dungeons, before they attempted to the 25 man. This would lead to a lot of mindless repetition of the same content, and for the first time, progression through bosses you’d already killed before, just with an ability or two and a few million hp tacked on.

As to whether or not that’s happened is debatable. One can argue that while that’s probably what would have happened what the content been challenging enough to warrant it, in reality, guilds were able to pick and choose since there was very little difference in difficulty between Naxx10 and Naxx25. VoA and Malygos also have similar difficulty levels, with only Sartharion+drakes being a more challenging encounter in 10 man than in 25. The difficulty was sufficiently low as to not require 10 man raid gear to beat 25 man content, though it certainly helped a lot and most guilds resorted to it anyway, to ease the process of progress.

The issue I am currently seeing with Blizzard’s decision to take the 10 and 25 man route, is a lack of consistency and an unclear design philosophy. There are two ways you can potentially take when dealing with 10/25 man content.

Route 1 – Separate but Equal – Attempt to balance 10/25 content to be equally difficult and provide similar rewards (only in the case of 10 man, fewer of them).

Route 2 – 10 man = standard 25 man = heroic – Deliberately tune 10 man content to a lower difficulty than 25 man, and provide rewards that are less powerful.

There is something of a debate as to which is the current route, and that’s what I’d like to happen today. The issue I have is that Blizzard doesn’t seem have chosen either yet.

Consider some of the following facts.

The Legendary Mace from Ulduar will only be available to 25 man raiders.
Sartharion + drakes is harder for a 10 man raid than it is for a 25 man.
The difference in difficulty between 10 and 25 man Naxx is minor at best, as is the difference in loot quality with the exception of a few choice best-in-slot pieces.
10 man raids provide less margin for error should a raid member die.
25 man raids provide more opportunities for a raid member to die.
10 and 25 man Glory of the Raider achievements provide separate, but equal rewards.

I personally lean towards the opinion that 10 man raiding should be a separate, but equal path. I do not subscribe to the theory, particularly with current content, that merely because getting 9 other people can potentially be easier than getting 24, that 10 man should naturally be viewed as easier as a result. My concern at this point is that this is not what’s happening. I refer to the Sarth+3 drakes encounter hard-mode. I asked this question on my show, as to whether or not anyone knew any 10-man exclusive guild, that had been able to kill Sarth 3-drakes using only 10man gear. Out of 50,000+ listeners, nobody knew a single guild that had managed it. Having been involved in attempts on S3D-10, I can see why. The dps requirements are astronomical and 10-man gear players could not accomplish that level of damage output. It seems to me that this is nothing to do with group skill, but simply a gear check that 10 man raid guilds cannot pass.

With this in mind, how many other hard-mode 10 mans can we expect to be unbeatable without25 man gear? I am not part of a 10 man guild, nor do I wish to be, but I accept that some players prefer to raid in smaller groups. An ex-hardcore raider that I used to live with is now part of a 10 man guild and says that he prefers the environment, with less drama, less competition over loot and the opportunity to raid with his friends, and only his friends, in a streamlined guild with less administration required. I’d imagine he’s not the only one and to me, that seems like a perfectly valid choice of playstyle. It’s a big change from pre-Wrath, in which there were very few smaller raid dungeons, most of which were only introduced later on and in response to the demanding nature of the larger raids at the time.

It seems unlikely that Blizzard could successfully balance 10 and 25 man raid encounters perfectly, but then, is there any need to? Some encounters will naturally be easier with smaller raids, some will naturally be harder, that we’ve already seen. Would a mix of the two give a broad balance, as opposed to an encounter by encounter comparison?

And what of gear? 10 man raiding guilds only need 25 man gear if they are going to be doing 25mans. This is a general rule, which falls flat when you look at Sarth 3D, and the possibility that similar gear-check encounters might occur in Ulduar. Exclusively 10-man guilds can deal with having less powerful gear, but only if that gear allows them to beat everything their particular size of raid has to offer, on their own merits as a raid, as opposed to whether or not they also have some 25 man gear.

So what’s it to be? Separate but equal? Or Standard and Heroic? Should exclusively 10-man guilds really have to go to 25 man content in order to beat 10-man hard-modes, or was Sarth 3D merely an example of a prototype for a much larger system, which when it comes into play, will be more refined and better tuned to the gear that Blizzard now know these guilds should have?

Discuss.

Blog Plz!

CynicalBrit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:48:15 +0000

Greetings, you are tuned into Blog Plz! here on CynicalBrit.com, with myself TotalBiscuit. Why is this page here? Well, there are some topics I feel that merit further discussion and structure beyond my usual 15 minute segments. I will be writing some extrapolations and further musings on particular topics here. They’ll also be posted on the EU forums for discussion. Simple as that really. There is no update schedule, I will write as and when I feel I have something to say.

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 47

Intricacy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:48:36 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! It’s the 100th episode, prepare yourself for the most intense and crazed World of Warcraft live experience you’ve ever heard. Nubcake News, Ask the Murloc and Rappin’ the Forums (live) all featured, a bit of a history lesson for all of you newer listeners. But would it be Blue Plz! without content? Heck no. Blizzard, MAKE YOUR HEROICS NOT SUCK, boredom in a box, Wrath’s heroics torn apart. Plus Onyxia returns, is it a big deal?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 46

Intricacy — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:47:23 +0000

The live broadcast returns, in more ways than one! Ghostcrawler claims raiding is harder than it’s ever been! I claim Ghostcrawler is crazier than he’s ever been. Plus EU doesn’t have developers posting on the forum, should they? And Goblin/Worgen racials, overpowered? Good! Nubcake News and a live Ask the Murloc with improv is featured, along with music by Frank Klepacki (http://www.frankklepacki.com)

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 45

Intricacy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:45:42 +0000

This week on this podcast-only version of Blue Plz, TotalBiscuit laments that his ISP is too terrible to allow live streaming today. Oh yes… content, there’s that too! We talk about why Rated Battlegrounds are the way forward, but the devil is in the details. Plus 3.2 hardmodes smashed into tiny pieces after only 1 day, we have statements from Ensidia and STARs on the matter. Also stats are getting changed in Cataclysm?! We let you hear about it in Blizzard’s own words, from our Blizzcon footage and then discuss the pros and cons. Ask the Murloc and Nubcake News are featured, as is some great music by composing legend Frank Klepacki.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 44

Intricacy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:44:40 +0000

Show tipjar – totalbiscuit@gmail.com via Paypal. This week on Blue Plz! World of Warcraft : Cataclysm is announced and it looks awesome. An entire show on why, covering levelling, rehashing content, raiding and the Path of the Titans. Also the overdue return of two features, Ask the Murloc and Nubcake News!

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 43

Intricacy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:43:41 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Our revised plans for Blizzcon and how it’s going to be even better than everyone else. Plus Cataclysm leaks? Quite possibly, we debate the rumours. And Onyxia, those million deaths were merely a setback in the mountains!

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 42

Intricacy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:42:29 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Exodus to pay $1,250 for a title?! The Aspergers Clinic would like a word with you. Plus Blizzard 180s in World of Warcraft, a history of forgetting exactly why you did something in the first place. Also Ulduar apparently has no difficulty curve! According to some genius on the forums. Finally your emails on patch 3.2 experiences.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 41

Intricacy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:41:30 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We interview the guild Premonition, US first killers of Yogg-Saron +0 about their strategies, their views on raiding and more. Plus Blizzard releases a new Q+A, just in time for the show! We don’t think they’ll be making that mistake again after TotalBiscuit is through with them.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 40

Intricacy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:40:21 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Everyone is ignorant! Don’t worry, we have a solution. Plus 2 races or 1 class? Why the hell is this even a discussion? Slap anyone who thinks this is a real debate. Why races are not real content and serve no practical purpose, yet suck up dev time like a blackhole of awful. Plus DDO is back and pretty good at that, what WoW could learn from the MMO-version of the Grand-daddy Dungeoncrawler.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 39

Intricacy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:39:12 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Drama on the forums, as some random poster aptly puts it ‘this will be remembered as the thread where TotalBiscuit pwned like 50 guys’. Why you should care about bad players and by care I mean humiliate. Plus Ghostcrawler says choice is scary! We take a look at talents. And not one, but four sets of Tier gear… one for each armour class? Why people are up in arms and why they sort of have a right to be.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 38

Intricacy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:37:56 +0000

This week on Blue Plz in the mountains! Does TotalBiscuit hate America? Is that why he’s hiding away in the mountains? Plus impossible encounter? Evidently not as STARS take down Yogg+0 world first and are classy about it. Also has Blizzard’s dumbing down of raiding totally failed? We look at the numbers and conclude, yeah, basically, people suck and you can’t fix that. And when is a game, not a game? When it’s a job. All this and much more, in the mountains.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 37

Intricacy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:36:08 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Exodus are a bunch of cheating scumbags! We analyse their ‘official statement’ and conclude they’re an even bigger PR disaster than I am! Plus faction-changes are coming, should we care? Not really. Also a full set of T9 from Utgarde Keep! I wish I was joking, why everyone is going to be special and as such, nobody is.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 36

Intricacy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:35:02 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We make the distinction between new, undergeared and bad raiders and provide a better solution to the badge problem. Plus, The Scourge Vent Recordings! Our newest radio play. Also, the new 3.2 raid, is it a slapdash job and do we care more about bosses than we do about having a dungeon to explore?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 35

Intricacy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:34:14 +0000

This week, we dispense with the pleasantries and deal with the stupidest change to ever hit WoW, the addition of Emblems of Conquest to every single instance from heroic 5-mans upwards. Do you want Tier 8.5 for running Utgarde Keep? Then look no further. On a more positive notice, PvP will now yield experience, why this is great but also should be expanded into other activities. And the new raid content of 3.2, we learn more about the trials and tribulations of the tribute system.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 34

Intricacy — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:33:24 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Hot off the presses news about the new battleground. Plus mount changes and why you’re all babies. Also do PUGs really exist anymore? How Wrath is killing the traditional PUG, and why that’s not a bad thing.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 33

Intricacy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:32:15 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! TotalBiscuit admits he’s sick of raiding. We look into why that would be. Also levelling is really dull, can we fix it? Of course! Plus we talk PvE/PvP, how can those concepts be expanded from what we’ve got now and is raiding simply doomed to repeat itself until players get sick of it? In addition, we’ve got an update on the DBM situation and news about our Blizzcon 2009 plans and what we’ll be providing.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 32

Intricacy — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:31:14 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We speak to Popcap’s T Carl Kwoh about the Peggle mod, add-on policy and the nature of casual gaming. Plus how does Ulduar stack up against previous raid dungeons on various criteria?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 31

Intricacy — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:30:00 +0000

UPDATE : The news broken on this show that Emperor had won the US Shoutcasting Contest but had the video attributed to someone else, has had a development. Apparently yes, Emperor did win the US Shoutcasting Contest, but the page that announced it was a leak and not supposed to be up yet. The name next to his video was a fake place-holder and we expect to hear an official announcement in the next few days. Until then, you heard it hear first, and congratulations to Emperor for his big win. This week on Blue Plz! we talk trashy little robot pets and why you guys can’t see the wood for the trees. Plus are you feeling the burn? We talk about raid burnout and how to take a break. Also new patchnotes, they’re all incredibly freaking dull! This show features music from Internal Conflict – http://www.myspace.com/internalconflict

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 30

Intricacy — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:29:07 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Does your guild have an identity crisis? You’re not alone, we talk about hard-modes vs progress, which should your guild choose? Plus XT002 is now a joke, we analyse the difference between a proper boss fight and a faceroll. And Blizzcon speculation, will we see another expansion announcement? All signs point to ‘possibly’.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 29

Intricacy — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:27:55 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We expose Pegglegate and the scandal of Blizzard’s addon policy double-standards as well as the Curse/WoWMatrix debacle. Also we interview top guild The Legacy about their experiences in Ulduar, as part of our series of ‘Evenings with Uberguilds’. Plus, Blizzard ruining their own raid content and the ever-growing gap between Normal and Hardmodes for the average majority guild.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 28

Intricacy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:26:22 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Entitled casuals cry about Ulduar! Is anyone surprised? Plus Algalol the Raid Destroyer, he has a schedule to keep! Also find out about the nerfs and buffs to Ulduar difficulty and the clear gap being created between normal and hardmode content and VOA isn’t so puggable anymore, why that’s hardly a bad thing. We also announce the winners to our Rewrite the lore contest.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 27

Intricacy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:24:32 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Ulduar has finally arrived, we dissect it in great detail. Hear why Flame Leviathan is what vehicles fights should be. Plus how difficult is Ulduar? Difficult enough, and I bet you’re all rusty as hell. And Ensidia kills everything… or did they?

Download audio file (wow-bp-04-17-09.mp3)

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 26

CynicalBrit — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:51:06 +0000

Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 26

Intricacy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:23:46 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! we interview Ben, the developer of Questhelper and ask for his views on Blizzard’s new add-on policy. Plus, your guild at each other’s throats? You’re not alone, how the lack of a challenging goal causes guilds to fracture and turn on each other. Also, the end bosses of Ulduar will not be tested on the PTR! An important nod to the raiding community.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 25

Intricacy — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:22:36 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Are we getting what we pay for? We take a look at the relative value of an MMO subscription, and the difference between playgrounds and themeparks. Plus P1mp my mount, an April Fools joke that accidently highlights just how cookie-cutter everyone is? And arenas as an e-sport, how to make it viable.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 24

Intricacy — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:21:39 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! The ethics of gold-buying, and the effects on the economy. Plus we interview Pixelsmith who has been documenting his tour across Europe to meet his guild mates. We talk about the media perception of WoW as anti-social, and his experiences in far-off lands. Also random loot is random? How random should the loot system be?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 23

Intricacy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:20:42 +0000

This week on Blue Plz!, add-on developers hamstrung? Where does Blizzard get off trying to punish the people who work to improve the game? Also Ghostcrawler promised me a pony, where’s my pony? Plus a Molten Core retrospective, why this instance should be rightly consigned to the scrap-heap and not viewed with rose-tinted glasses.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 22

Intricacy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:19:38 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Kill the boss while standing on your head, it’s the only way for a true world first! Why hard-modes and achievements are basically the same thing, and make little sense from a gameplay or immersion perspective. Also 95% of WoW is dead content, should it be resurrected in some form? And why not dcing from WoW is SKILL GAIS!

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 21

Intricacy — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:17:36 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Live play-by-play arena! Plus casuals don’t exist, should Blizzard add more badge loot and what is it’s role in Wrath of the Lich King? Also WoW addiction rear’s it’s ugly head, and promptly has it chopped off.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 20

Intricacy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:15:59 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Where is Blizzard going with 10/25 man? Without a clear mandate and purpose, can the dual-raiding system ever properly function? Also AQ20 restrospective, it’s surprising just how many modern mechanics can be found in this instance. Also why do tiny changes like Hearthstone cooldown cause such a storm? Is there a difference between happy and unhappy money?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 19

Intricacy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:14:52 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Ulduar is here, and it looks great. It bloody well better be. Also do you really have to do Sarth 3D before you can say Wrath content is too easy? Plus, a new world event announced, more please and the WoW Adventure Board-game, worth playing?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 18

Intricacy — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:14:03 +0000

This week we see the one-off return of an unexpected co-host!

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 17

Intricacy — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:13:02 +0000

This week, the rage is far from diluted. We talk about the EvE drama, and why it’s perhaps for the best that WoW is a carebear game. Also, VoA, everything that’s wrong with the Wrath raid philosophy, and why exactly did I have to leave my guild?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 16

Intricacy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:11:54 +0000

This week on Blue Plz, we delve back into the mists of time and talk about TBC, the lessons learned, and the way forward into the future.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 15

Intricacy — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:10:58 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We delve into the mailbag, as well as discovering why Molten Core HC is a really stupid idea that should never and will never happen. Also the rationale behind the revolving doors of WoW and why are their gold ads on the forum?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 14

Intricacy — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:09:09 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! TotalBiscuit is not the happiest person alive right now and wants you to know about it.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 13

Intricacy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:08:11 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Arcanist belt! The new classic raiding project. Is raiding for achievements a substitute for actual difficulty? Plus is WoW getting too violent and dark?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 12

Intricacy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:07:09 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Guilty loot, is VoA turning raiding into a joke? Plus news about Ulduar and the concept of scalable raid content. Also, how to make money via enchanting, and any other profession, and a review of the WoW minatures game.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 11

Intricacy — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:05:52 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! The trials and tribulations of a crafter, why enchanting is the worst thing to ever happen to anyone ever. Also, what are these slippery slopes, and where are they exactly?

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 10

Intricacy — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:04:53 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! THEY ARE GIVING EPIX FOR ACHIEVEMENTS! That’s ok by me. Plus the levelling tax, and why I won’t pay it. We also play a bit of name and shame in Imbecile of the Millenium and talk about the impact of vehicles on WoW.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 9

Intricacy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:03:57 +0000

This week on Blue Plz, we talk about Wrathgate, spoilers to be found within. Also, Nihilum clears everything, why this should worry you, and GM inconsistency? Plus Nubcake News and the usual banter.

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Epsiode 8

Intricacy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:02:52 +0000

Blue Plz! returns, with all the Wrath coverage you could possibly need. Ok, maybe that’s a lie, but it’s good anyway!

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Gaming the System Season 1 Finale – Angry Videogame Nerd Interview

CynicalBrit — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:08:55 +0000

This interview was supposed to be part of the final episode of Season 1 of Gaming the System (TB’s Show about Videogames). However, due to technical issues, the show was unable to air. The pre-recorded interview however was preserved and can be listened to here.

Part 1 :- Download audio file (avgninterviewpart1final.mp3)

Part 2 :- Download audio file (avgninterviewpart2final.mp3)

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 7

Intricacy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:01:37 +0000

This week in Blue Plz! TotalBiscuit vs the overly-defensive machinima commentator! Plus non-linear dynamic raid content, arenas for BG gear?! and much much more.

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 15

CynicalBrit — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:07:05 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 6

Intricacy — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:59:28 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Less music, more talking! We cover the introduction of vehicles in WOTLK and the possibilities therein, heirloom items and WoW’s new game-mode as well as the eternal balancing problem. Plus Nubcake News and new Captain Dan!

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 14

CynicalBrit — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:04:57 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 5

CynicalBrit — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:49:11 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We cast a critical eye over PVE vs PvP transfers and discuss the possibility that times may have changed. Plus WAR vs WoW, the definitive guide for WoW players, Nubcake News, the Illusion of Choice and much more.

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 13

CynicalBrit — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:03:06 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 4

CynicalBrit — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:47:52 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We give a full broadside to blog commentators and Blizzard on the issue of feats of strength. Plus, an in-depth report on how Recruit-a-friend works in practical play. Also we announce the winner of the Design-a-Contest Contest

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 12

CynicalBrit — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:59:53 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 3

CynicalBrit — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:46:37 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We look into Blizzard’s recruit-a-friend program and discover their hidden agenda! Also, Wintergrasp, will it shake up the PvP world as we know it, and is ‘Zone-PvP’ the new ‘World-PvP?’. Plus Nubcake News and much more!

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 11

CynicalBrit — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:43:39 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 2

CynicalBrit — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:44:40 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We dive into the mailbag for some ‘choice’ moments from the listeners, and Blizzard gets stuck in a ticket debacle! Plus we talk to Gamespy’s Fargo about his Flintlocke comic series and announce the winners of our big contest.

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 10

CynicalBrit — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:39:44 +0000

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Blue Plz! Season 3: Episode 1

CynicalBrit — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:42:42 +0000

The season 3 premiere of Blue Plz! featuring the reasons why Deathknights aren’t hero classes, why Wrath is the same as TBC, and why that’s a good thing. Plus Nubcake News and much more!

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 9

CynicalBrit — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:36:32 +0000

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 7

CynicalBrit — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:39:32 +0000

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 6

CynicalBrit — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:35:39 +0000

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 5

CynicalBrit — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:27:03 +0000

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 8

CynicalBrit — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:34:44 +0000

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 4

Intricacy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:06:23 +0000

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Intro, Welcome to the Show, what I’ve been playing this week and why. – Good shit coming out this week includes Metal Gear 4 and pretty much nothing else. Been playing Company of Heroes.

Music : Dawn of War OST

This week in Gaming. – General news and comment.

New TF2 weapon revealed! At this rate, Valve will have a complete game in about 3 years.- http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53041
360 doesn’t get blu-ray but gets.. motion controls? – http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/880/880138p1.html
Duke nukem Forever! – http://games.slashdot.org/games/08/06/05/2155230.shtml

Music : Dragonquest Tokyo Brass Quintet

Gaming Garage – Save systems

Music : Battlefield Pirates soundtrack

Review – Ninja Gaiden 2

Music : Waverace 64

This is why we can’t have nice things – Godhand/Clover studios

Music : Dragonquest Tokyo Brass Quintet

Listener question/topic of the week, wrap-up. Woefully ignored genres. Which ones would you like to see revitalized, and why?

Music : UT3

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 3

Intricacy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:04:04 +0000

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Intro, Welcome to the Show, what I’ve been playing this week and why. – Good shit coming out this week includes Ninja Gaiden 2 RACE DRIVER GRID, Lego Indiana Jones, Stronghold Crusader Extreme.

Music : Warcraft 2 – Human Theme 1

This week in Gaming. – General news and comment.

Konami doesn’t want you to know about the length of the cutscenes, or install time? – http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/05/30/possible-mgs4-review-limits/ – http://kotaku.com/5012146/egm-refuse-to-review-mgs4-because-konami-imposed-limitations (EGM refusing to review)
Still a significant market for single-player? – http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=143870&page=2
Farcry 2’s going to be… 100 hours long? – http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/30/far-cry-2-single-player-could-last-25-hours-no-50-no-100/

Music : Planetside, New Conglomerate Sanctuary, Temperature Conflict

Listener questions, round up of emails from last week. – Self explanatory.

Music : Rollcage Stage 2 – Flytronix – Imaginary Forces

Review – Mass Effect PC

Music : Warcraft 2 – Orc Theme

Sacred Cows : The Wii

Music : Ace Combat Zero – VS Stage 01, Briefing 3, Sortie 3

Listener question/topic of the week, wrap-up. Western RPGs vs jRPGs.

Shadow of the Collosus – Roar of Earth stuff. Commandment, Black Blood, Prohibited Art

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 2

Intricacy — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:58:39 +0000

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Intro, Welcome to the Show, what I’ve been playing this week and why. – Good stuff coming out this week includes Stronghold Crusader, Mass Effect PC

Music : Phoenix Wright orchestral Ace Attorney – Court

This week in Gaming. – General news and comment.

In-game advertising not very effective – http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/in-game-ads-not-very-effective-says-st-john
Microsoft delisting games. – http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/876/876799p1.html
Guitar hero 4 is Rock Band, go figure – http://www.gamespot.com/news/6191026.html

Music : Total Annihilation OST – Brutal Battle, Forest Green

Listener questions, round up of emails from last week. – Self explanatory, you people are terrible.

Music : Wipeout – Cold Storage – Cairodrome

Review – Kane and Lynch

Music : UT2K4 – KR-Assault, CBP2 Gazpacho

This is why we can’t have nice things – A retrospective look at a woefully ignored classic. – Sacrifice – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_%28computer_game%29 for more info.

Music : Total Annihilation – Fire and Ice, Sivak Drac – Deus Ex Piano arrangements, Hong Kong Sonata

Listener question/topic of the week, wrap-up. Are PC and Console games divided and distinctive as a result of more than just their user interfaces?

GODHAND – GOD TRACKS – Tracks 1 and 2, no, I can’t read kanji

Review points to make.

Developers of Hitman, cerebral, hard.

Gameplay – Shallow

Gunplay – WTF?!

Storyline, interaction between Kane and Lynch – Positive. Deep and unusual characters. Not just anti-heroes, these guys are villains, pure and simple.

Co-op, superflous, no online?! Online mode, limited.

Stupid damn GFW online thing.

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Gaming the System Season 1 – Episode 1

Intricacy — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:55:56 +0000

The pilot episode of TB’s Show about Video-games. Including Not your Average Assassin’s Creed review, this week in gaming news and comment and much more.

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Blue Plz! Special Anniversary Edition 2007

Intricacy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 14:40:11 +0000

Blue Plz! returns for a one-off special on the momentous 24/7 Launch event. Featuring Nubcake News, Rappin’ the Forums and tons of PvP-centric ranting and the idea of ‘more is better’ when it comes to item availability.

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 22

CynicalBrit — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:38:57 +0000

This is it, the final Blue Plz! Titan is coming folks, thanks for the support.

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 21

CynicalBrit — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:37:32 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Support trees, a myth? Have Blizzard got things about right with talent balance and making raid instances casual friendly without nerfing content? We talk lockout timers. Plus why you can’t have nice things + usual features.

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 20

CynicalBrit — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:36:15 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Second Wind takes on Crafting. A swing and a miss? is it simply too complex an issue to fix in one go? Plus we take a look at enchanting gone bad and jewelcrafting gone mad. Plus, crossing the ocean?

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 19

CynicalBrit — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:34:58 +0000

Blue Plz! returns after a week’s absence. We sincerely apologise for Turpster’s abomination the week previously..

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 18

CynicalBrit — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:33:32 +0000

TB has left to the greatest darn country in the whole of America, that’s right, he’s gone to America! It was down to the brave and noble Turpster to come to the rescue and remind the fans of Blue Plz what Win (and Rapping) was really made of. ~Turps

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 17

CynicalBrit — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:32:31 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! A huge announcement! Second wind takes on ‘What comes after Black Temple’?. Indepth itemisation discussion. PvP gear replacing PvE gear in raids? What about the time and effort taken to acquire gear in general?

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 16

CynicalBrit — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:31:30 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! we take your opinions on attunements with surprising results. Plus Tigole speaks on raid pacing, our analysis and speculation. And why do we care about world firsts? Here’s why, a justification. What’s next? You tell US.

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 15

CynicalBrit — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:30:11 +0000

This week on Broke Plz! Everything breaks! TB’s computer dies a horrible death but nothing can stop the live radio behemoth, as all features are performed for the first time, completely live with a copious dose of Ad-Lib. Plus attunements.

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 14

CynicalBrit — Sun, 27 May 2007 14:28:34 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! OMG STARCRAFT 2! No… just.. no… We hear words from the mouth of an MVP, a unique perspective on the forum community. Plus, raid progression, nerfed a little too far? Casuals found swimming in their own tears!

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 13

CynicalBrit — Sun, 13 May 2007 14:27:12 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! PTR next to useless? Your views! And the main event for this evening. An exclusive interview with the guild Method, discussing the controversy surrounding their World Second/World First Legit Vashj kill, covering all the drama,…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 12

CynicalBrit — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:26:17 +0000

This week on a bumper Blue Plz! (why do they call it bumper anyway?). Class/Race racials, the why’s and wherefores and would they ever work outside of the priest class? Plus Vashj World Second, or was it? A full statement from Method, and strong crit…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 11

CynicalBrit — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:24:05 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! The true impact of the new races, the community answers. The forums, and the community as a whole. MvPs nothing more than pandering fanbois? Plus Heroics, the rights and wrongs and priest racials, why priests and the effects of…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 10

CynicalBrit — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:22:49 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Why Jack Thompson needs pushing down a well filled with angry mice. Plus Design-a-Boss, just how hard can Black Temple be anyway? Also, why WoW is the best you’re gonna get in this particular genre, were those new races the che…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 9

CynicalBrit — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:18:52 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! So just how sustainable is Blizzard’s end-game model? Plus we discuss the ‘Silithus Equation’ and it’s relation to the new ‘mini’ endgame zones. Plus, nerf the bloody legacy zones to stop gold-farmers, and enhance their questin…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 8

CynicalBrit — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:12:57 +0000

Welcome to Gold Plz! IGE’s latest gold-farming show! Ok yeah, April fool and such. In this week’s show, I really hate gold-farmers, no really I do. Also, the trials and tribulations of rep-grinds, a neccessary evil? Plus Vashj down, what are the impl…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 7

CynicalBrit — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:11:43 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! Building a better mouse-trap, how to beat WoW in the MMORPG genre. Keying up, attunements, useful roadmarkers or a way to hide unfinished content? Plus hybrid classes, how it was done right. Next’s week’s Second Wind asks ‘How …

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 6

CynicalBrit — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:08:16 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We investigate Hello Kitty Adventure Island! Ok maybe not… but still! Crafting, the ins and outs, and are Endgame guilds being used as beta-testing monkeys? Plus EvE vs WoW, a comparison and conclusion and in this week’s Sec…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 5

CynicalBrit — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:04:59 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! We round up our topic of the difficulty of TBC raid content in “Second Wind”. Plus the abandonment of legacy raid content, the impact that is having on bridging the difficulty gap and a solution of recycling content. Plus, GMs,

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 4

CynicalBrit — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:03:45 +0000

This week in Blue Plz! we interview Spiritwolf, Australian WoW comic legend and also a very special announcement about a future interview! Also, Second Wind concludes on the subject of whether or not we’ve now reached PVE Endgame Mk2 and whether or n…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 3

CynicalBrit — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:01:32 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! we interview Oxhorn, celebrated machinima artist. We announce the winners of the [EPIC] giveaway and discuss the Black Temple, can it possibly be as ‘non-linear’ as Blizzard claim or is it more of the same? Plus, class nerfs an…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 2

CynicalBrit — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 13:58:20 +0000

This week on Blue Plz! How do you kill that which has no life? Just how much of a meta-game is PvP and will it ever be as relevant or epic as endgame raid content? What’s the deal with the arenas and is Blizzard indeed attempting to reinvent PvP, and…

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Blue Plz! Season 2: Episode 1

CynicalBrit — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 13:54:59 +0000

The dramatic return of Blue Plz! sees a record breaking show! Blizzard EU vs WoW Radio! Did the stealth reset really happen? Gear discussion and instance design. Plus the return of the features! Rawr!…

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 23

CynicalBrit — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 13:42:24 +0000

Open Plz! returns with more of your user-submitted topics including Casual vs Hardcore, Guild Wars vs WoW and character progression, plus all the usual features….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 22

CynicalBrit — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 13:41:13 +0000

The Yule Plz! christmas spectacular, with an EPIC giveaway, a brand new intro, a drunken murloc and much intoxicated drivel. RAWR! …

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 21

CynicalBrit — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 13:39:16 +0000

Slanik has now broken Totalbiscuits show…

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 20

CynicalBrit — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 13:38:23 +0000

This week, Patch 1.9, Mages are fine and Paladins whine? Plus all the usual features….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 19

CynicalBrit — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 13:37:29 +0000

Controversy abound as the issues of WoW-related addiction and deaths are tackled head-on. Plus Tier 2 armour sets….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 18

CynicalBrit — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 13:36:20 +0000

This week, Blizzcon and the expansion are the subjects of discussion. Increased level cap, new areas, what the players want and Blood Elves are all on the agenda in an uncompromising look at Blizzard and its latest effort….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 17

CynicalBrit — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 13:33:19 +0000

On this weeks show, Level caps, new races and rumours abound. Fear the motorcycles of doom….

Download audio file (wow-bp-10-23-05.mp3)

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 16

CynicalBrit — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 13:23:39 +0000

In this weeks show, just how good is Silithus? Game immersion questioned, Nefarion down, what the hell next? Plus all the usual features and shock-horror, TB singing….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 15

CynicalBrit — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:22:11 +0000

This week, topics include the fake expansion details, more Arathi Basin cowardice, the future of instancing plus all the usual features….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 14

CynicalBrit — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 13:21:08 +0000

A Mini Plz! due to a sore throat (blame Dragonforce). Discussing 1.8 patch notes, instant-attack changes and 4 big stompy dragons….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 13

CynicalBrit — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:19:42 +0000

Patch goodness with in-depth Zul Gurub and Arathi Basin discussion, including the future of instancing, plus all the usual features including Ask the Murloc and Nubcake News….

Download audio file (wow-bp-09-18-05.mp3)

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 12

CynicalBrit — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 12:59:10 +0000

This week, WoW Radio comes under attack by the RP community. We discuss roleplayings place in World of Warcraft and whether or not WoW works against it. Also dynamic event content and more battlegrounds discussion, plus all the usual features. …

Download audio file (wow-bp-09-11-05.mp3)

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 11

CynicalBrit — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:56:34 +0000

The last Blue Plz! at an “American” time. Discussion of yet more idiocy, who knows best for WoW, how could casters evolve through items, plus all the usual features….

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Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 10

CynicalBrit — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:51:50 +0000

Covered in this show, Blizzcon stupidity, Arathi Basin, Adapt or Perish and WoW/WC3 Hybrid speculation. Plus all the usual features and an epic rap battle between TB and The Murloc….

Download audio file (wow-bp-08-22-05.mp3)

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 9

CynicalBrit — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 12:47:40 +0000

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Leto and Lad fill in for TB again… I cannot for the life of me remember what was going on at that time. Possibly finals.

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 8

CynicalBrit — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 12:42:22 +0000

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Leto and Lad filled in for TB again, the horror.

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 7

CynicalBrit — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 12:35:01 +0000

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This weeks show contains an interview with Daryl “The Ganker” Brewer, winner of WoW Idol 2005 and a special Blue Plz! exclusive version of “The Ganker” song. Discussion ranges from the new battlegrounds, to why videogames are evil…

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 6

CynicalBrit — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 12:28:17 +0000

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Discussed this week, Hero Classes (again), Hardcore content, Fanbois vs Trolls, The Test Server and Dishonour, plus all the usual features.

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 5

CynicalBrit — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 12:26:49 +0000

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Ex. WoW Radio staffers Lad and Leto subbed for TB…. the result is as bad as you’d expect.

Blue Plz! Season 1: Episode 4

CynicalBrit — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:26:01 +0000

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Issues discussed this week include RP/PVP servers, drops vs crafted items, how to improve spirit and how not to be an arsehole on the internet. Plus all the usual features with Ask the Murloc, Rappin the Forums, Imbecile of the Week and Nubcake News.