Gaming 29 - The Post-Pub Podcast
Posted on 17th Jul 2011 at 08:23 by Podcast with 14 comments
Custom PC veteran Phil Hartup and PC Pro's Mike Jennings join Joe and Paul for a late-night, post-pint rant. This episode of the podcast, perhaps because it's sponsored by alcohol, stumbles along with vague coherency through topics such as BioShock Infinite and Just Cause 2.
Mass Effect 2 is obligatorily drawn into the discussion too, as is tradition.
Boozy fumes aren't enough to stop us tackling the thorny issues, however - Phil explains why he expects Battlefield 3 will be a shoddy console port, while Joe shoots down the defence that 64-player multiplayer is something to be proud of.
*hic*
On top of that, Phil brings us a report on how APB: Reloaded is faring after being brought back from the dead, while Joe orates further on his favourite topic of the moment; Frozen Synapse.
As always, we've also got our weekly competition, which this time gives you a chance to win yourself a copy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on the PC and Raving Rabbids on the Nintendo 3DS. You can also find out who won the last competition and bagged themselves a Roccat Vire Gaming Headset.
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.
Mass Effect 2 is obligatorily drawn into the discussion too, as is tradition.
Boozy fumes aren't enough to stop us tackling the thorny issues, however - Phil explains why he expects Battlefield 3 will be a shoddy console port, while Joe shoots down the defence that 64-player multiplayer is something to be proud of.
*hic*
On top of that, Phil brings us a report on how APB: Reloaded is faring after being brought back from the dead, while Joe orates further on his favourite topic of the moment; Frozen Synapse.
As always, we've also got our weekly competition, which this time gives you a chance to win yourself a copy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on the PC and Raving Rabbids on the Nintendo 3DS. You can also find out who won the last competition and bagged themselves a Roccat Vire Gaming Headset.
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 ReplyTerrible and unresponsive combat just ruined it for me, to me it was almost crying out to just adopt the Assassins creed style of fighting. And it has some of the worst boss fights I've ever encountered. Roll > stab > roll away > roll > stab > repeat.
And the dam wait times before combat and looting, and you lose half your potion times due to those lengthy drinking and standing animations. Just to name a few.
Probably just being abit critical as I generally really liked the game.
My hat goes off to Paul for reading it out without any hiccups (no pun intended!)
BF3: How many hours do you have to gain overpowered perks? That I'm a touch concerned about. 64 players? So what, we did that on the Nexus servers with RTCW: Enemy Territory. Fun? Yes. Carnage? Oh Yes!
@Joe: Punkbuster isn't the enemy, the need for it is. As far as an anti cheat system is concerned it's just a touch ahead of VAC. I've not seen anything else that provides the same function without a bigger downside.
@Everyone with respect to Witcher 2: It's so much better than anything else at the moment. Too short though, less than 60 hours for an RPG? Not optimum. You can't honestly compare it to Mass Effect 2 as that's a tactical shooter with RPG elements. A totally different kettle of fish.
@Crysis and Crysis 2: Didn't care then, don't care now. A N other FPS corridor shooter - whoop-de-****ing-doo! It looks pretty? Oh wow, let me go mortgage my soul for a system that'll hit 40 FPS if I'm lucky. Not happening. I've never been a fan of overly hyped, under optimised game engines. "But will it run Crysis?" is a meme that needs to be taken outside, shot repeatedly from the kneecaps upwards and then napalmed, just to make sure. WRT Crysis 2 - seen, not played but it gets an overall score of "Meh!"
I will now go and dig myself a bunker that I hope Gunsmith can't find me in.
A premium account, that's fine. Less grind, more money, what's not to like about that. The premium guns are the issue. And I'm sure you're great, and you don't afraid of anything. But me? I like a fair fight. I don't like the idea that the devs took a bung from some joker who didn't think he'd be able to beat me fair. Win or lose it's the principle. Life is not fair, games are fair. Or they should be.
I play APB, I said it in the podcast, and I stand by it. A paid for gun in APB is a huge edge. It has to be. Nobody would pay £5 a month or make a ~£20 purchase for a weapon that wasn't a killer. I don't like it.
But I'm torn. They need to get paid after all, to run the game. I do worry though that when a game is as directly competitive as APB it shoots itself in the foot by letting the vulgar business of getting paid involve itself in the battles.
I just picked up the OCA Whisper this week because i wanted to grind my pathetically low Pointman role and in one of the first matches i played with it, i consistently got torn to bits by a 3 slot customizable OCA.
APB has a much steeper learning curve than most shooters, it's an unfriendly dog eat dog experience with an incredibly hostile community that's ready to pull out every cheap tactic, it's always been this way. And what i'm trying to get to with this, is that the game can be bloody frustrating, and blaming a loss on something can ease that frustration. Everyone does it, i do it.
Back in the RTW version of the game, if you had an upgraded weapon you were called a no-lifer. Now if you have a premium gun you're a P2W noob. If you don't have either and still win, then you're obviously a hacker.
You're preaching to the choir about the dog eat dog nature of the game though, I've clocked about three hundred hours on APB over the various beta and live stages of its life and, though the modern version is by far the kindest, it's still a painful experience, especially if you're losing a lot.
The most popular weapons only really need an orange mod to be beastly, maybe a red one to better suit your play style, and anything after that is down to preference (and IMO provides diminishing returns)
For instance, now that mods have downsides i find that either of the blue ones hurt me more than they help.
You don't actually need to unlock the upgrades either, i got all of mine early from the player auction house.