Giant Bombcast 496: SiN Is My Half-Life

That was fast. How does this happen?

And there the Photoshop is, as promised. Thanks for not letting me down.

Rabbids.... getting kinky?

This should be interesting.

Looks like Bob and I had almost the same idea.

Rabbids are a scourge upon the earth.

Good luck commander........................Mario.

Hey, I made that thumbnail! Thanks for using it Brad!

@lunardroid: We've all seen Space Jam.

That title... perfect.

Hoping for the best, Jeff.

Loving Mario + Rabbids, beyond all expectation!

@jeff: Hope your wife is okay. Best wishes to both of you!

Best wishes to Jeff's wife hope everything is going to be ok.

Hahahah

Great work duder!

@Bob

Rabbids > Minions

Path of Exile? Does that mean Rorie? Hot dog!

they should make a half life 3

I'm horribly sorry, Jeff, and I hope everything works out.

SiN is way better than Half Life

I really hope the first content with the new producer that they explain what XLR means.

SiN came out the same week as Half Life and it made me so sad. I thought half life ruined what I found fun in first person shooters since I didn't care about a narrative and I am from the Doom/Quake era and I don't need a g'damn story or motivation to gib monsters and save the Universe. I really really enjoyed SiN though and was hoping it was more successful. I still remember the early days of modding and people trying to get map editors to work with it since WorldCraft was available I believe but didn't have SiN support or something like that. I remember following the mod scene hoping it would blow up or they would give us the tools to make the game what it COULD have been, but nope they just completely blew it and episode 1 was all we got. I wanted so much more from the SiN franchise and I thought the characters, enemies, guns, environments, and little things like how weapons did minor damage to the environment (mostly bullet holes, but still a new concept at the time) and players took location based damage similar to Soldier of Fortune (please give us a 2016 Doom style bad ass SoF SOMEONE) which was awesome to blow off arms with shotguns and see people riddled with bullet holes. It was literally a blast.

I haven't listened to this but it just makes me sad. I was huge into that game and one of the biggest fans. It never saw the success it deserved. I thought Half Life had and continues to have some of the worst net code in the world even when we would play it at a LAN it felt incredibly laggy compared to Quake 3 and even Quake 2 on a LAN felt better. We could never get into Half Life over other games of the time when having choices like Unreal Tournament and Quake there was just no reason to play Half Life. Regardless Half Life turned into the juggernaut it is because of mod support which Quake pioneered in terms of full blown team mods since most Doom mods of that era were single player and things like Threewave CTF, Team Fortress paved the way for every time you step into a team match in a video game and have an objective. Valve was smart and others in the industry just were not with giving players so much flexibility with the game. Quake had Team Fortress before Half Life did and it was the best years of my life was playing QWTF and once SiN came along I was really hoping TF would be adopted to that game. SiN had great multiplayer and I played so much of it it had a vicious ass sniper rifle that rivaled one of the other best sniper rifles in gaming - Red Factions Rail Driver. Can't wait to hear what they have to say about this since I am sure lots of people feel the same way I do about the game.

Listening to the audio version on my phone but the webpage for the audio version is being real funky so I'm coming here to say: Jeff's Luigi made me lose my shit in a way this podcast hasn't in years, and the porn radio discussion was equally good.

I really hope everything goes well for Jeff's wife this week, and by extension Jeff himself, because 2017 has been a really good year for him professionally and I want that hot streak to keep building and spread to his home life. Great podcast guys, kiss on the cheek to all!

Also, @jeff and @benpack, the baseball player nicknames were all submitted by the players and the whole thing is just a weekend-long stunt to promote the Little League and all the players' memories of their time being kids playing baseball. I thought it was a lot of fun in that context, especially when you realized some people refused to submit a nickname or didn't have a nickname better than their first name so they just submitted that.

For example, Kyle Seager is a player for the Seattle Mariners who is arguably more famous but inarguably less successful or expected to be great than his younger brother Corey, so his jersey said "Corey's Brother". Meanwhile, Corey Seager's jersey just said "Seager," leading the bored and curious baseball fan (and aren't all baseball fans that, if nothing else?) to wonder if Kyle is the funny one in the family and Corey is no fun, thus a better prospect as a baseball player? It was also fun finding all the Spanish players that nearly snuck slang and dick jokes onto their shirts.

fingers crossed for you and yours, Jeff.

Oh rabbids & bidet goombas

Best wishes to you and your wife Jeff. I know exactly how you feel right now having experienced the same thing with my loved ones. It's impossible to focus on and maintain life's simplest tasks while something like that is on you mind. Stay positive and try to focus on the things you can control, support, encourage and spend time with her. Hopefully everything turns out well.

Best of luck to you this week @jeff. Fingers crossed for good news.

Hey Jeff hope everything turns out alright. Thoughts are w/ you and your wife.

Brad looks kinda sun burnt lol, a rare look for him!!!

And best of luck to Jeff, here hoping for good news...

Hope your wife the best Jeff

Positive vibes for Jeff's wife!

XCOM 2 is amazing and the game never had remotely the performance issues talked about.

I hope Jeff's wife is alright.

Jeez, that's rough @jeff.

Good luck to you and your wife. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

That's the most Jeff Gerstmann-ass title imaginable.

@steveurkel: While I agree with you on the Red Faction rail driver I don't think I can follow you for the rest of your argument. Half-Life is a far superior game to SiN and I am very thankful it was far more successful and influential as well.

Probably the greatest modding period in video game history as well.

.

@nickfoley:

sending all my good vibes to Mrs. Gerstmann my mom went though a scare like that a few weeks ago and as a loved one who likes to google I was not having fun worrying whether or not my mom potentially has cancer I cant imagine how you both of you are felling right now. whishing you guys the best.

Hoping all is well, Jeff. Happy to hear all is well, Jason.

That's horrible Jeff, really hope everything works out for your wife.

id be interested in seeing someone on the site play whatever SiN is because ive never heard of it

Guys! Path of Exile is completely free to play! It is zero pay to win. You cannot purchase respec points with any sort of real money, only through playing the game. In game microtransactions are purely cosmetic. The only thing sold besides that is a stash expansion, which only adds space to store more items you find. Its really fun and anyone who likes ARPGs like Diablo II should go for it, full stop. Its free.

PS. Best wishes to Jeff and his wife

1:56:35, Jeff's all-too-brief Luigi impression has left me wanting more.

Nothing but love for you and your wife, Jeff. She's lucky to have you in her corner.

A lymph node in my neck swelled up a few weeks ago, I mistakenly googled it, and found out that it could be cancer, but I dismissed it. Then, a week later, I was out of state and got bit by a bunch of mosquitoes, and the bites swelled up to ridiculous sizes, one pussing up and oozing all over the place. I went to bed almost convinced I had cancer. But after sleeping about 10 hours, the lymph nodes reduced to normal sizes, and the mosquito bites too. A few days later is was like nothing ever happened. It was pretty scary at the time, but nothing good sleep couldn't handle. It was most likely caused by excessive drinking and sleep deprivation. Yay summer band following!

Best of luck, Jeff!

Hoping for the best on your end @jeff. Stay strong.

@samcb: In the world of SiN that's probably true.

Best wishes to Jeff's family.

@jeff: That sucks to hear. Take care, Jeff!

Bowser wears a spiked collar. I'm not ready to deal with the implications of that.

Hope it's nothing, best wishes for the Gerstmann family.

Hoping for the best on your wife's test @jeff

Best wishes to Jeff.