Well it’s our one-year anniversary of the Benheck.com podcast, and I didn’t get around to creating a cool intro! Sorry. Seriously I’m out of ideas. Anyway, today’s topics include:
- Videogames as Art? Some say they are, some say they aren’t… What do WE say? Warning: contains more thrashing of Hollywood.
- PC gaming VS Console gaming. Ben bought Bioshock for PC, Jones for 360, so this topic seemed appropriate. Is having a high-tech video card and processor worth it just for mouse controls?
- Fanboy/girl/person-ism! We talk briefly about this amazing phenomenon and how it relates to the working man.
So have a listen and see what you think!
On the podcast you where mentioning your ghost going back like vwoooooooooooooooooooooooooo on the pc version and you didnt think that it does on the 360. it does do it too on the 360 version
Just to let you know it has been discovered that Bioshock for the PC installs a root kit. Enjoy.
Anyone else have Mister Bubble when they were young?
@Gary
Yeah, I was playing it last night after doing the podcast and noticed that this does happen in the 360 as well. It happens so damn fast that I barely even notice. I barely noticed when Ben showed me it on the PC too.
Good catch though!
Why don’t you have your podcast in iTunes?! I see that you’ve already set it up for the iTunes store, but you don’t have any shows loaded….
Sad…
Oh well, my iPod will still accept your podcast, even if it has to be horribly filed under ‘Music’ instead of ‘Podcasts’….
Its funny, you spend half the pod cast discussing how theres no exclusive titles for the PS3, , and then whine and moan that you think the movie studios should let the consumers decide when it comes to HD-DVD vs BlueRay
Why do we expect this exclusivity for games, but not for video titles?
@Brandon
I honestly don’t think we spent half the podcast on the PS3 not having exclusives. I think it was mentioned “off the cuff” a few times. LOL
Anyway, you make an interesting point, but there is a key difference.
In a perfect world this would be the case. That perfect world would probably contain a couple of competing game consoles from hardware manufacturers like let’s say Dell, HP, and (heaven forbid) Apple for argument’s sake. This would leave all game developers free to release their software on all hardware, as there would be a solid divide between hardware and software. Hardware vendors make hardware. Software vendors make software.
In the reality of the gaming industry though we have Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony duking out. All three of these companies are in both the software and hardware business which leads to conflict of interest. Of course Nintendo wants to keep Mario, Link and the gang exclusive. That’s a key draw for people to buy their hardware. Likewise Microsoft would not want to have the Master Chief ambling onto Nintendo’s hardware anytime soon, nor would Sony want Kratos showing up on the Xbox 360. There is no mutual exclusivity between hardware and software.
On the Blu-ray/HD DVD side of the coin the only spot where we run into a similar phenomena is with Sony. They are heavily invested in the success of Blu-ray so no movie from Sony Pictures or Columbia Tri-star will be showing up on HD DVD anytime soon. This is because they have created the Blu-ray standard and also own the rights to a large catalog of films. Again a conflict of interest arises.
As far as movies go I see no reason why all studios don’t have their product available in both formats with the exception of the aforementioned Sony/Columbia. There’s no reason for Disney and Fox to side with Blu-ray just like there is no reason for Paramount and Universal to side with HD DVD. It would be much better if all the studios took the warner Bros. route and made their libraries available for both formats.
To make a fair comparison between the film and video game markets just think if each film studio made their own format and sold their own player. So if you wanted to watch Warner Bros. films you would have to buy a Warner Bros. player, for Paramount films a Paramount player, and so on and so forth. Let’s say Disney decides not to make hardware though and focus on distributing their content instead. They choose to only release Snow White on Sony’s player, but then put out Bambi on both the Sony and Warner Bros. players. Then you would have an accurate comparison between the industries. as they are today there are vast differences.
So hopefully that answers your question effectively. It all boils down to mutual exclusivity. It is non-existent in the video game industry and until recently was the modus operandi for film distribution.
Awesome podcast! You guys are really talented. I laughed out loud several times.
I found the site by looking for homemade portable systems. I have put your RSS feed in my list.
I think that Blu-Ray should be the disk of choice. I’ll wait the market out until everyone, including Paramount, figures it out. More space, its a no brainer. If I have to buy something new, I want the highest technology and the most space for the money. I like my Toshiba DVD recorder, but I’m not going to back Toshiba’s bid to hold us 3/4 down the technology ladder.
I own a Wii. I’m not a Nintendo fanboy, but I must say, its made me discover the Gamecube’s back library.
7.50 for Metroid Prime from Gamestop is cheap for a good FPS.
Elebits is a really cool Wii game. Silly backstory, but excellent play.
We are still into PC gaming, but the Wii lets us play with people who don’t usually play games.
Thanks for the great show!
Aw maaan, you guys totally ruined that “body in the locker” part for me. Though, those white… things in Fort Frolic completely made up for it.
There’s something to be said for a game that not only allows you to set a dead cat aflame, but then lets you lob said flaming feline at your assailants… with your mind. We’ve got a winner.
@Richard
Oh no! Sorry we ruined that for you. 🙁 I tried to be stealthy about it by just saying a body fell out at one point, but of course the discussion got more detailed unfortunately.
Flaming cats rule though! 🙂
Heh, ‘salright. I guess the moment wasn’t so much ruined as just altered. Instead of jumping in fear, I nudged my girlfriend and said “Hey look, it’s THAT part!” and we started laughing, remembering what you fellas said. So yeah… in an roundabout sorta way, you and Mr. Heckendorn managed to make death funny. X)
Hey guys, great podcast as usual. Believe it or not, this is the only podcast I listen to on a regular basis. Well, this and Hack A Day if Will would ever get around to making more.
A suggestion for the podcast: Have a short segment about what games you both have spent time playing since the last podcast. I think it’s akin to asking a musician, “What’s in your CD player?”
An Oblivion intro for the next podcast is a must.
Awesome Podcast as allways. I love bioshock, Brilliant game. Lol MR. Bubble is a Bubblegum flavoured ice cream in the UK.
Next podcast discuss what you’ve been eating since the last podcast and how many times you’ve thought about Bruce Campbell. Please rant on how Coca-cola pisses all over pepsi. You could segway this into you’re podcast as there is a game for the Atari 2600 called Coke Wins. I’m sure you can track it down. It’s a poor Space Invaders rip off made by Coke at the time. You have three minutes to shoot the pepsi and after the time is up “Coke Wins” appears on the screen. Quite funny really.
I finally got around to listening to the latest podcast. As usual, it was quite entertaining and interesting. Much like a previous poster, I laughed out loud several times while listening.
I was wonder about the SNES vs. Genesis thing, though. I wonder if Sega’s dominance was regional. I live in the southeastern US, and I remember more of my friends around the early nineties having the SNES than the Genesis.
However, there are a couple of other things that may have made a difference. I was still in elementary school at the time, so Nintendo’s “Seal of Quality” may have been a factor in which games parents allowed their young children to play. Also, I went to a private, Christian school at the time. This could factor in with the “Seal of Quality” issue.
Maybe we should do a Food topic for next time (especially since Jones has been on vacation and we have no topics picked) I can’t speak for Jones, but I only eat about 5 different things total, not sure how interesting that is!
I actually laughed when you guys were talking about that movie you want to make at the end where Arnold would say “I had a wife once, SHES DEAD!” Good stuff.
Here is a topic you could use.
Why dont you talk about the uprising of modding and modders for PCs and consoles, this was going to be a topic for my first podcast but, everything is going wrong so it had to be put off (For a while).
Great podcast anyway and the food topic sounds great.
I second Tom’s post. The release of modding tools, especially for the Elder Scrolls series and the source engine, is something that contributes years to a game’s longevity, and is really one of the huge things that is keeping the PC as a strong gaming platform. When you consider the advantages of a console (generally) in terms of stability and performance, why use a custom built rig with possible compatibility issues, which can cost much more than a console?
Well, one of my most-played games of all time was Morrowind. After I played through it once un-modded, I began to explore the massive community sites out there. With mods like better bodies, better heads, and numerous others, modders would take the construction set, and turn out content that was superior to the original release, and thus, the game is granted extra playability that the downloadable content some console games offer could only dream of.
My most played multi-player game is Dystopia, a mod using the source engine, featuring competitive, team based gaming, with dual-layered maps (use of an in-game cyberspace to affect the meatspace world). Shameless promo. http://www.dystopia-game.com.
The ability for gamers to have that much of an impact over the games that they play is one of the major draws of PC gaming.