2P START! Live!: The Long Winter Edition
January 26th, 2009
Tim and Ray discuss the state of mature titles on the Wii along with other segments including Musical Misfits, Black Doom Award, a special Remix, and… Internal Server Error?
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Nice music. I will definitely download all of those at some point in time.
I think the game looked relatively solid. The survival horror genre is an enjoyable one and I would probably enjoy this more than half of the ‘hardcore’ games that come out on the Wii. Ooh, and Mad World is intriguing. I doubt it will sell well, but it has potential. However, I think that The Conduit will have fairly succesful sales.
I think the comic would have worked with or without the first panel. It did make it clearer, but I think a majority of people could have figured it out. Either way I enjoyed it.
Nice sketch there. I thought there was a banana instead of a mouth. And everyone can interpret art their own way. Don’t take it too hard!!
Oh man, what a bummer with the server error. And I wrote a sticky note above my computer to not go on the site in that time. But if you’re 9 hours off, then it’s odd hours for me.
I actually love the Black Doom Award segment. But I hate Black Doom (except that he looks decent in the CG segment at the beginning of Shadow).
And honestly, Nathan Drake is a man, and Lara Croft is a woman. Men play video games and (for the most part) like woman. Transitive property means that men will play Lara Croft more. Or something like that.
Why did you get it on XBox Live? The DS version is superior because the D-Pad works. Oh, the style? I think simplicity is what they were going for. And considering it was $20 for the DS, a Flash game graphics works. But whatever you prefer.
Eesh. Even as I try to post this, errors are everywhere.
I agree that Wii has a hard time getting mature titles, but I really do hope they’re not just going to give up on it.
On the other hand… Maturity rarely defines a game, so should it even matter?
I’ve got several other Musical Misfits up my sleeve, but I don’t want to try my luck suggesting ones several weeks in a row. I’ll save them for next week, or later.
Yeah, i saved myself the MS points and played the flash game online. I hate when flash games get on consoles and they do nothing to improve on the concept visually(but i guess thats what they where going for). Thats what a lot of XLA games don’t take advantage of improving their games most seem like a straight up port of a game that came out years back, but i’m paying more for what? the convenience of not having to play it some were else( geez i sound like a cheep a**)? I agree with Tacos, Lara Croft is a woman, it seems she will always have a boost in sales for that reason. Also thanks for the shout out!
1.) Cock-a-doodle-do?
2.) Metroid Metal HELLS YES! I’m so going to download this.
3.) Mature… Wii… Game… I so want to sign that petition. I hope that it does get made, and, even though I agree that it looked like crap, I am so tired of all mini-games. And I’d put my 50 bucks into it.
4.) You and your Wii need to get a room Ray…
5.) I see your side guys, coming from someone who just got a Wii, I really almost feel overwhelmed with all the games.
6.) Comic Talk… You said everything.
7.) PRETTY SKETCH!!!
8.) I had a ISE while trying to get on to listen to the podcast.
9.) N+ Black Doom Award… meh…
And… I can’t log in for some reason… HELP!
Wait, did my comment just vanish? Or did it just log me out? I’m so confused…
Ok, gonna go out on a limb (and most likely take crap from some people) and say that I like Metroid Metal more than the actual soundtrack.
during, the topic of the week segment, that music really creeped me out. it reminds me of….wait is that a remix or the standard version of the giygas battle from earthbound?
sweet cotw again!
Well, I’m not going through the trouble of typing that comment up again, so I’ll just say Nice Podcast Guys!
Hearing about Winter made me decide to go check it out. I’ll admit it, the video made me jump a few times, which is rare for me. It also turns out that they made that demo in three weeks. If they can improve upon what was in that demo, I’d gladly pay 50 bucks for it.
Meta,
Apologies for the problems you’ve been running into. The good news is I think we’re really close to fixing the Server Error problem once and for all, so hang in there a little longer!
So Ray….who would you kill for tickets?
Okay note time:
1. Gotta say, I prefer the K.K. Safari intro to whatever that was. XD
2. Metroid Metal is pretty spiffy, but IMO, the Phendrana Drifts remix (the most important one) sounds nothing like the original. I guess it’s hard to translate and icy sounding song into metal.
3. Please tell me that was a remix of the Brinstar theme and I’m not losing my mind.
4. Yeah, I don’t have much interest in Winter. Survival horror is definitely not my thing.
5. Well, perhaps The Conduit is that title we’re looking for…
6. Tim, I don’t blame you for having 60 stars in Galaxy. I’m shocked I have 90. The game is no where near as amazing as everyone claims.
7. If I didn’t have a 360, I’d probably be playing de Blob, but as it stands now, I’d much rather be playing Castle Crashers, which by the way, I HIGHLY recommend that anyone who’s reading this trys the game. I’m freaking addicted to the game right now and it may be my sixth favorite game of all time.
8. The background music for Comic Talk was played in Smash Bros. right? Because I recognize it and I’ve never played a DK game.
9. Doesn’t Mario Party translate for DK (and the chain chomps)? You could’ve done that. XD
10. I happened to like Peppy’s panel. I didn’t get the joke until it was too late, but whatever.
11. The “How dare they” sounded kinda forced. XD But no surprise as we were expecting it and it was forced. XD
12. Tim, when you got that 500 Internal Server Error, I started cracking up. That has got to be one of the funniest moments on the show for me, if you do the same thing you did last season with people giving their favorite moments from the season, that’s my pick.
13. Pfft. Drake one of the best characters? Random Castle Crasher Knight is better than he is. XD
14. Yeah, Ray, I know about N+ because every time you log on, that’s what your playing. XD But same applies to me with Castle Crashers.
15. Alien Hominid is practically a flash game, it looks fine…
16. To be honest, that screen shot of N+ looks like someone took a blank picture in Paint Shop Pro 7, colored in various shades of grey, and messed around with the kaleidoscope effect. XD
17. What the heck?! Every time I suggest a Musical Misfit, you guys just pick one of your own and the one time I don’t you actually picked a viewer suggested one. 😛 I’m recommending this song this time: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/117474 it’s the Snow Level from Castle Crashers.
18. Though I will admit the chosen music was pretty good, though that speech in the middle was kinda weird.
Well that is it for now. 🙂
so, did anyone else hear the giygas theme in the background of the totw, or was it just me?
Well, I think the reason Ray doesn’t know what Nathan Drake looks like is because he doesn’t like the PS3, I am glad to own one, and I love the site, but I get the feeling you guys hate the PS3, I was pissed about how during one podcast, you mentioned how the 360 only shows a picture of the game currently in the system if you’re connected to Xbox Live, while you said it’s better how the Wii has the Picture no matter what, yet you didn’t mention the PS3 which does the same thing. Come on guys, if you’re going to talk about the flaws and shines of consoles, don’t neglect to even MENTION the PS3, just give it a chance. BTW, Uncharted is probably one of the best games I’ve ever played.
^Well it’d be pretty hard to talk about a system they don’t have. That’s just the way it is. And I heard that Uncharted was good, but it brought nothing new to the table…
By some people I assume you mean me. You’d be right. XD Trust me, replacing Metal Phendrana Drifts with the real Phendrana Drifts would be the stupidest choice ever. I would track Tim or Ray down to get on the podcast just so I could give that a Black Doom Award (obviously I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea). Phendrana Drifts is supposed to convey a feeling of an icy environment. The Metroid Metal does not convey that in anyway shape or form. Though I’m listening to it right now and about a minute in, it actually starts to sound like Phendrana Drifts and then at about 1:25 it all goes out the window again.
Now, I do understand that you are saying that if you were to take one out of the game and listen to it by itself, then I can see that you’d like some of the others better, Brinstar is a good example, but Phendrana Drifts remix does not even come CLOSE to the awesomeness of the original IMO. But opinions, opinions.
Tim better hope his boss doesn’t listen to these podcasts…
I meant to comment on this before, but forgot and can’t edit. So:
Did they mention de Blob? I must have missed that. Either way, I just finished it 100%, and I loved it. I would say anybody with a Wii should at least rent it if not buy it. I’m just glad THQ said there’s going to be a sequel eventually.
And Galaxy was great, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Definitely up there in my favorite Mario games, probably right behind Super Mario World at #1.
(Wow, I rambled on longer than I thought. Sorry for the scrolling.)
I don’t know what it is, but I don’t agree with most people’s “dust off Wii” sentiments. Maybe I’m just more easily amused, or I just have less time, but I’ve played my Wii probably 4+ times a week on average since I got it. A lot of it was stuff like Brawl–the daily stuff was a good way to get in some quick play time–but there’s a lot of games I still haven’t gotten around to beating. Also, things like Rock Band/Guitar Hero can last for a while because there’s so many songs and it can take a while since you can’t just zip through something like you could an adventure game.
Do most people just get bored before beating their games? I have a lot of games I would like to beat, I just don’t have time to play them all. Stuff like Mario Kart Wii, Wario Land: Shake It!, Lego Batman (just beat Star Wars 100% the other day), Chrono Trigger DS, and even stuff like getting through RB2/GH setlists. That’s not even counting the 2 Fire Emblems I picked up a couple months back (I want to beat the GameCube one before starting the Wii one, it just takes too long). Then add to that stuff like AC:CF (and even WW when I have downtime at school), and I just don’t have time for everything. For me, it’s not a matter of dusting off my Wii, it’s finding time to actually use it.
I’m curious, for the people who have to “dust off” your Wiis, do you just not beat the games you have, or do you beat them to the bare minimum (as I assume Tim did with SMG since you need 60 to face Bowser), or do you just have so much time that you play it to completion and are done with it?
Okay, yeah, I can definitely see why everyone thinks that Galaxy is good, but for me, platformers will never be fun until they remove the lives system, that is the thing that completely kills all platformers for me. Super Mario Galaxy was fun, but it was really frustrating at points, while Mirror’s Edge, while I admit could also be frustrating (though for different reasons), was more enjoyable because I could die as many times as I wanted without fear of having wasted the last 30 minutes. To be honest, Sonic Unleashed would be on my list of games to buy, but the lives system is turning me away. That is really the only thing keeping me from buying it (well aside from the lack of money XD).
I see your point, and yeah the lives system isn’t really necessary anymore, but I really don’t think that ever mattered for me in Galaxy. I might have gotten close to running out during some of the harder (is this still considered a ****SPOILER****?)Luigi levels, or the one-heart challenge against whatever that rock ghost guy was, but overall, it wasn’t even an issue for me. Plus Peach sent you 5 or 10 or whatever every time you started the game. But yeah, while it never mattered for me, it still is pretty pointless. I don’t think it’s anything to hate the game for, though.
And I felt that overall, Galaxy never got past the point of frustration where I lost enjoyment. Some stages might have been a little too hard (I hate the freaking second trash cleanup one…took me forever), but overall, I don’t think it ever detracted from the game. That could just be me, though.
And instead of buying Unleashed (when you get money), get de Blob instead, since you already mentioned wanting it. I loved it, and while I don’t have Unleashed, from Ray’s opinion I think it’s safe to say de Blob is the better choice (although Ray can chime in with his own opinion since he has both). Or even try something like Boom Blox, which is pretty cheap most places nowadays.
I have de Blob. I’ve been playing it….when not playing Castle Crashers. XD
For those of you worried about the “Cock-a-doodle-do” at the beginning… fear not. There will be something different every week, but still unique and odd every week. So… maybe you should be fearful?
Between De Blob and Sonic Unleashed – Choice is clear: De Blob. It’s simply a fun game at its core. I meant to write a review but got backed up on multiple reviews and never got around to it….
Roadjcat – I think you’re looking at some of these songs from Metroid Metal the wrong way. When Stemage first started making these, he pretty much went down the line of the original Metroid game finding songs that would be interpreted best through a Metal/Rock sound. So songs like The Theme, Brinstar, Kraid, and Ridley make perfect sense.
Over time, and through gaining enough fans, he was encouraged to keep branching out and continue doing more songs. From there it went from “obviously perfect as a metal song” to “wouldn’t it be cool if I reinvented some songs for metal even though they shouldn’t necessarily replace the songs in the game.” Phendrana Drifts, is an example of that. So you shouldn’t get angry about it… just enjoy the songs as metal remakes, not replacements.
Essentially Ray hit the money. Also, as much as video game music can create a great atmosphere, sometimes I turn down the TV and let “Led Zeppelin” or “Miles Davis” play in the background instead. Just how I am. So when there are metally versions of video game songs, it all works perfectly.
Also, these would be perfect for Brawl.
Yes, I completely see what you are saying, I guess my post was just a roundabout way of saying that I prefer the original Phendrana Drifts. I just think that it doesn’t do well as a metal remix and perhaps he should’ve gone with different songs unless someone really wanted Phendrana Drifts. I’ve listened to some of the remixes before the podcast and I do like them, some of the song are really great, but it’s just Phendrana Drifts that bugs me. I guess maybe it’s that the calmness of Phendran Drifts contrasts a bit too much with metal so it changed the song a bit too much in my eyes. Like you said, Brinstar cane easily be remixed that way while still sounding like the original. It’s something really odd to get so touchy about, I admit that, but I have to say Phendrana Drifts is probably my favorite video game song.
And Tacos, if you like playing your own music, you should get Endless Ocean. XD
I’m actually on the site right now and I’ve listened to a few new ones…the vs. Space Pirate them is good though it takes way too long to actually get to the main part…in fact I’ve actually heard the song before…I think GT used it in their Retrospective.
The Metroid Prime Main Menu sounds okay. It’s remixed well (as all are), but without the kinda (for lack of a better term) Metroid-y sound effects in the background, it loses a lot for me.
The Torvus Bog one…well I don’t really know Torvus Bog that well, so dunno. I know Bryyo a bit better, and from what I do know, it didn’t really sound like it…but meh. It definitely looks as if battle themes are remixed better and for some reason the older songs are also remixed better.
Also going back to Phendrana Drifts, I understand if they want to do some from Metroid Prime, but I think things like Magmoor Caverns (which as I type that I see they have Lower Norfair, which is the same, never mind XD) and Vs. Metroid Prime…maybe Vs. Omega Pirate…dunno. I’d be curious to see if he could pull off Tallon Overworld though I think I’d probably feel the same way I do about Phendrana Drifts on that one.
As for the Magmoor Caverns one, it sounds like it and it’s good, but again, could never replace the original ingame, but I don’t think these were ever intended to, so it’s fine, but if you asked me which version I’d prefer to listen to by itself, it’d be the original.
Maybe I just don’t really like remixes, because I think that the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra tracks are really well done, but I just don’t like them near as much as the original Ace Attorney songs…dunno.
Finally some metal in the podcast! \m/
I would replace the OST with these covers because it fits in the game at most parts. But not every place of course. It depends on the game. For instance metal’s good for Brawl and Guilty Gear.
Driving while under the influence of this podcast is dangerous for your health. Wanting to see the screenshots at the same time is bad too…
I guess I’ll just re-listen to it. That’s how much I like you guys.
Gotta say I somewhat agree with SuperSonic24. But mainly on the Nathan Drake thing. Let’s just put it this way. Is this the heyday of Lara? Well, no. Not even by a long shot. Frankly most of her appeal came from being a set of boobs. Sorry guys, but even the Tomb Raider creator said that he ditched the male for a large breasted female for two reasons. The first was to avoid a lawsuit over the Indiana Jones copying (which in turn copied Pulp Fiction novels from 40-50s and TV serials) and the second so he could sell copies to horny young men. The creator then went on to create Galleon but regardless. Lara never had personality until just recently and even then it’s very, very shallow.
Drake, on the hand, was a BIG talk among developers and gamers alike because he wasn’t the typical game hero. Take for a fact that N’Gai Croal said the half untucked shirt of Uncharted was one of the more interesting character design choices of the given year. Drake isn’t an invincible superhero. He isn’t a space marine. Basically he’s a glib John McClaine which gaming, frankly, rarely sees. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. So in many regards while Tomb Raider gets ready to try it’s fifth reboot (Tomb Raider Revelations, Tomb Raider Chronicles, Tomb Raider: Dark Angel, Tomb Raider Legends, and the new reboot for whoever has the misfortune of taking on this series next under Eidos’s unrealistic demands), Nathan Drake already has a ton of personality and a huge cult following.
Also, just for the record, these models don’t spontaneously dress up as Lara. They’re hired to dress up as Lara. An attempt on the side of Eidos to try and recapture the former glory of a series they’ve all but destroyed every shred of integrity from. And yes, this comes from a Tomb Raider fan. Also, as said above, you should really TRY a PS3 on occassion. Tomb Raider being like Uncharted is about as accurate as me saying Sonic games are just like Mario.
Hi its me, just not logged in. I just wanted to say that as a veteran of N, I was not impressed with N+ for any system. I’ve had N 1.4 on my mac since 2005 and i had N 1.3 for a year or two before that. The system games are NOt free, level packs. With an unlimioted amount of levels that can be downloaded online, it just doesn’t seem worth it to me. Also, the poof of dust/smoke was there in V1.4
That’s cool! I wasn’t logged in, but it copied over my avatar from my email/username i guess. Cool. (i would have posted this above, but i can’t edit anymore.)
well this weeks podcast was great as always, but this is one that i won’t be listening to again. the music choices were just great, but im still confused and a bit creeped out at the topic of the week’s first song. otherwise, npg!
:O I was mentioned on a podcast! 😀
And I was actually kidding about the shirt thing, but if you want to make it a shirt, I think it would be awesome. I really only made it because you already had the “This is how I roll” shirt, and I thought it would be funny. I would probably buy it if you did make it, though.
I have to add something here, what with the Nathan Drake stuff and Lara Croft, I think it is just rumors, but there are some articles out there about new Lara movies in the making.
It’s kinda late now, but I’ve been slacking:
Rouge