Joe_McCallister

I'm with the "it was good" crowd here - I didn't finish it entirely but put a lot of time into it on 360. I bought it on PC and was baffled by the poor port and hoped this news was going to be with tweaks to that version but no dice. I'd welcome another entry here, and I hope it signals they might return to something like it because it was cool as a change of pace. I still want to see a remaster of RDR and it come to PC but I think the ship has sailed there, unless it's well under way and releasing just a few months before RDR2, we won't get it. RDR actually runs well on the Xbox One via Backwards Compatibility and I picked up a digital copy so maybe when Destiny 2 finally sours on me I can go back to the west.

My thoughts exactly. I view Bioshock and Infinite (to a lesser extent 2) as pretty hallowed stuff - when a game like Prey gives me flashes of "Bioshockness" I love it - but I don't want another. I don't think it could deliver on what made the games great to me. I'd much rather just play back through them with the "oh yeah this part" feeling. The thing I hope we don't see is every developer making something that is relatively out there in a narrative sense saying it was inspired by Bioshock, if that's the case you'll have to show it in the game.

I respect your opinion but having not been around GB from the beginning (I only started frequently visiting just a few years ago) I like what I saw then, and what I see now. I kind of miss Patrick and Austin's written content from time to time, but find the audio/video content in other realms just as entertaining. I think the Bombcast for me has become interesting because Jeff has a little bit of a picture to the "why" of decisions or at least likes to really think about that stuff. Why were the changes in Destiny 2 made the way they were, why clickers and COD play on reward feedback - I like his analytical mind, and his flashes of cynicism are typically measured and when he's wrong he owns it. I appreciate that instead of the hype-casts or the bummer-casts I've heard from other outlets. It seems like a lot of content is either super up or super down on the entire medium and the Bombcast does veer off the rails from time to time, but I still think the meat of the cast is definitely the discussion. Just listening to the latest today on my commute their chat about Destiny 2 was on point and even Jason going off about MVC and Monster Hunter was interesting if they're not games that I'm going to pursue.

I'm 31 and in tech and very interested in business in general so I'd love to see some deep dives into that side - I'd love to hear Dave Lang come on and talk about the challenges and energy he gets from being a CEO, or (doubt this ever happens) but have Sean Murray come in with a post mortem on year 1 of No Man's Sky and just talk about where it is and where it was. My favorite content of the past few years have actually been the sit-downs at E3 with Phil Spencer. I can't get that anywhere else and Jeff truly is a great interviewer (honorable mention to Ryan at IGN who has a few good chats with him but also doesn't pander too much). Overall I think you're going through a phase I did when getting deep into the content where I started to get really bummed out by Alex and Jeff in particular, and felt they were cynical about everything. I don't know what changed but I still see flashes of it but I think my approach to consuming their content is just different now because I kind of understand their perspective a bit better.

@grizzlybutts: I appreciate your refining the argument, because that does make a lot of sense and makes me think if it quite a bit differently. Well said.

Brink was "fine" and I kind of like Dirty Bomb even though it's basically the same thing.

Brink is an interesting case study as it's a parallel to your Battleborn story for me - I bought it thinking team-based shooters were a no-brainer and that the tech they were using for things like traversal and moving objectives were the future. It's really surreal to think of Brink at the core being an Overwatch competitor and it was just missing some key pieces like discernible heroes instead of non-descript (albeit super customizable) characters, progression, and maybe even those damn loot boxes.

I had a bunch of paragraphs typed up but it turned out being a critique on the blog itself. Overall I appreciate your thoughts on this @grizzlybutts Let me just say I agree preorders have bred a poor environment, but face facts - they're not going away and you're not going to convince people to stop preordering. There's no need to, sure - but when a game sells millions of copies, you can bet that the people preordering aren't the same here in GB forums or even on Gamespot. I've found that the more I concern myself with others and telling them they're doing it wrong, the more pissed off I get and I'd honestly just rather do the Nightfall and get my Exotics. My personal game purchase pace is way down but I completely disagree that it's the worst time to play games, I think there are plenty of developers that truly do stand by their products, and I'm just curious - do you think that tweaks and changes are truly an example of a developer bending and compromising their vision? Sure it's probably happened but I can't believe that tweaking a game or adding in DLC is really compromising the integrity of a project because the fans and players say they want something.

This paragraph was particularly telling;
"Would you pay $59.99 for a Beta of an unfinished game with the hopes it’ll be supported by players long enough to finish development? I paid $59.99 for a copy of Battleborn, how did that work out for me? At this point developers and publishers have become heinously and blatantly anti-consumer in their desperate and greedy practices. Publishers have no trust in their artists and developers, they’re so risk averse to investment that they’ll only stay on board if they’re funding micro-transaction flooded monstrosities of deception and exploitation. You are being exploited as a consumer, if you haven’t read the word exploitation enough. You fools! Ehh, us fools! Dedicated gamers are being lied to, scammed into paying for unfinished products with no guarantee that they’ll ever get the finished product."

First off why'd you buy it? did you read reviews, previews, or any impressions from your personal trusted sources? In the next sentence you say that publishers are anti-consumer and risk averse when you just mentioned a brand new IP from a historically (financially) successful developer in Gearbox. I think you're really seeing what you want to find, and that's ok - but just remember that for every case of the bullshit, there's a shining example as well. No one is getting scammed without their individual conviction to do so - no one makes you hit that "pledge" button, and no one is taking the money from your wallet - you're the one typing the digits and pressing "buy now" and you alone bear the responsibility to own the decision. I bought Brink. There I said it. I kickstarted games that still aren't out 3 years later. I've learned my lesson - and others will learn theirs all the same.

The Last Of Us, Uncharted Director Bruce Straley Leaves Naughty Dog

Bruce Straley, one of the most prominent individuals at Uncharted and The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog, has announced he is leaving the studio. He had been working there for almost two decades.

Curious to see what's next!

Link to his statement: A message from Bruce Straley

I've never been a huge concert person but moving to Colorado and having Red Rocks right there is tough to argue with going to a few. I was really surprised how much I liked seeing Jack Johnson, but recently seeing Joywave open for Cold War Kids then Young The Giant was actually incredible. YtG songs never really grabbed me but those guys put on a super high-energy show. Sad that I missed Tribe Called Quest at Red Rocks since it might've been their last show but I highly encourage any and everyone to catch almost any show at that venue.

Titan punch.

Echoing the limit screen time or cut them out after a certain time thing. If you've got a favorite series see if they've got extended universe or novelizations, or try to find a game you love and find the designers inspirations. You'll probably find a lot of games you like were influenced by books, or for example if you're really into God of War, read something like the old myths, or American Gods.

If you're set on playing a game, I've finally come around to CCG's and surprisingly I really enjoy the Elder Scrolls one on iOS. It's pretty laid back and I don't get overworked thinking about what's going on. I'm sure there's more to it but it's good for now. I've also taken back to No Man's Sky after the updates and there's no denying that game has a chill vibe, you just have to be sure you don't succumb to the "one more planet" syndrome.

If you're working on getting healthier, before you either pick up your game or book, bust out as many push ups as you can, or crunches - or even just pick a number and say before I do this, I have to do 20 push ups. It'll help fatigue a little, and it'll be 20 more pushups than you were going to do anyway. I started jogging after work as a way to get in shape, but I don't let myself listen to one of my gaming podcasts unless I'm on a run - so if I know I want to listen to it, it's going to be on a run. Incentives work for my dumb brain, even if it's me rewarding myself.

@notnert427: lol yeah I think I'll be juuuuuuuust fine. That amount of Porsche is great too - still need to pick up that DLC for FH3 but between Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, and I weirdly really enjoy BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi in these games quite a bit - but not too concerned about it, still look forward to seeing how it looks and plays. Did they confirm this is play anywhere as well?