Gaming 25 - Hegway Seaven
Posted on 1st May 2011 at 10:28 by Podcast with 14 comments
It's only a short week this week what with all the bank holidays and such like but Paul, Joe and Clive still managed to find time to sit down and mull over some of the goings on in the gaming world.
First up, predictably, is the current situation with Sony's PlayStation Network. The service is currently down due to a hacking attack and Sony are currently rushing to rebuild the network from the ground up. This is little comfort to the 75 million PSN users though who have been told that the hackers made off with their personal details and possibly their credit card details too.
We then move on to discuss Portal 2 and what we thought of one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the last 12 months. There is no doubt that the game is great fun, but there are a few niggles in there too.
Finally up for debate is Nintendo's announcement that it's working on the successor to it's immensely popular Wii console. The console is currently titled Project Cafe and there are only a few shaky details about the specifications of it but it's interesting to see Nintendo setting out its stall relatively early on in the next-gen console wars.
As always, we've also set up our weekly competition too, the lucky winner of which will walk away with a Speedlink Strike FX wireless gamepad. This game pad is compatible with both the PC and PlayStation 3, and functions at distances of up to 10m.
As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.
First up, predictably, is the current situation with Sony's PlayStation Network. The service is currently down due to a hacking attack and Sony are currently rushing to rebuild the network from the ground up. This is little comfort to the 75 million PSN users though who have been told that the hackers made off with their personal details and possibly their credit card details too.
We then move on to discuss Portal 2 and what we thought of one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the last 12 months. There is no doubt that the game is great fun, but there are a few niggles in there too.
Finally up for debate is Nintendo's announcement that it's working on the successor to it's immensely popular Wii console. The console is currently titled Project Cafe and there are only a few shaky details about the specifications of it but it's interesting to see Nintendo setting out its stall relatively early on in the next-gen console wars.
As always, we've also set up our weekly competition too, the lucky winner of which will walk away with a Speedlink Strike FX wireless gamepad. This game pad is compatible with both the PC and PlayStation 3, and functions at distances of up to 10m.
As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.
14 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyOn developer commentary, Valve's is brilliant. Its interesting to see how their minds work and gives helpful tips into how to think about different ways to "control" the user without using old handles like "playing the game for them" or just using "cutscenes". In the likes of hitman I've been caught as the splitscreen comes up leaving me with an awkward view trying to concentrate on the guy drilling me or civilian fleeing rather than the target using a frying pan etc. FEAR also had ghosts appearing usually introduced by flickering hub, but I've still often missed them by being distracted by a health pick up. Valve have created Alyx to help the player and the commentary give good insight how they make her seem normal without having her do all the work for the player, or without being a distraction be getting into trouble, ie. constantly having to go rescue her.
Interesting to hear the point of view about Steven Merchant playing Wheatley, I've never actually seen or heard of him before as I have never been a particularly big Gervais fan so didn't have the problem you guys had. Also I guess this would not have been an issue for the majority of players from USA and Europe either.
Oh, and yeah I agree the game was too easy and I felt more like a tourist playing it then challenged. But rumors are that there is FREE DLC coming this summer that will add challenge maps, which I always expected and I'm happy to wait for.
Just saying.
It's a though, it'd make my life easier when it came to editing them certainly. I think we made a choice a while back to keep them clean though and doing so means we get the 'clean' tag on iTunes which should help broaden the appeal of the cast.
Slip of the tongue when I was trying to say segue heaven - I'm aware it's spelt wrong but it's done now and changing it would break the URL so I'll just have to live with it.
Re: swearing. I don't mind it and bleeping out the 2 or 3 swear words sounds a bit ridiculous. Having said that, I am a bit worried that if the reins are loosened then we will end up with a torrent of swear words. There are podcasts, (mainly gaming sites) that have potentially interesting content, but they are just irritating to listen to when you have to wade through so many f***s etc. I guess you know for yourselves how you talk off air.
I'll look into whether there is an appetite within the office for slackening the rules off slightly. My perception is that Alex was pretty certain he wanted the casts to be clean but James may have a different take on it now he's editor.