Diecast #347: E3 Approaches
Like I said on the show, E3 kinda snuck up on me this year. It had barely started when we recorded this podcast, but it’ll be basically over by the time this goes live. Whatever. I doubt people come to my site because my coverage is timely.
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Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast347
Link (YouTube)
Show notes:
00:00 E3 Coverage – Ubisoft and the Cavalcade of Cringe
I’ll have a proper show-by-show breakdown of E3 later this week.
07:34 Anacrusis – Left 4 Dead Writer Chet Falizek
Having seen Back 4 Blood now, I have to say Anacrusis feels like a bedroom indie project, while B4B feels like a proper mid-budget successor.
14:32 Dorf Romantik: Singleplayer hex-grid Carcassonne
Link (YouTube)
I bought this during the show, and it won me over in a couple of minutes. I love it. Check it out. I find it deeply hypnotic.
Although, I don’t get the title. Dorf? Romantik? The author is not a native English speaker[1] and I can’t escape the notion that something is getting lost in translation. There’s probably a joke or pun I’m not getting.
20:50 Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Link (YouTube)
Will this be a return to the best part of the Borderlands series, or will this be another disappointment like Borderlands 3?
28:00 Goonswarm visits the Diecast
Here’s the link, although I sort of use this topic as an excuse to gush about how crazy their foray into EVE Online was. This discussion is a response to Diecast #324, which is still one of my favorite episodes of the show.
34:23 Hackers breach Electronic Arts
Hackers breach Electronic Arts, stealing game source code and tools
Those that do not learn from incredibly recent history are doomed to repeat it.
46:57 Two Point Hospital is charming and silly.
Yes, I’m discovering this game two years late.
52:40 Mailbag: Survive the Hunt
Dear DiceCasters,
In the beginning of 2020, you put up an analysis of Failrace’s Survive the Hunt, with a link to Episode #12. Since then, they’ve reached 35 episodes with a few one-off spinoffs or specials.
I’ve been watching ever since your analysis. The Failrace guys have updated their rules over time, to acknowledge some imbalances and make their game “better”. In particular, they’ve changed the number of air vehicles allowed, made a rule that high-end supercars were off-limits to hunters unless the prey is caught driving in one (making taking a fast car an important choice with risk-vs.-reward elements), and had a few one-off special rules or scenarios, with the last episode involving an “Escape the country via plane” escape sequence involving a partner in a plane, as part of their 10 year anniversary of the site.
Are you still keeping up with the series? Are there any other games you Diecasters can think of where a healthy dose of setting changes and honor system rules can create a new fun “game mode” that isn’t being captured by the gaming community at large? One of the best parts of the Survive the Hunt format is that it is “video gamer agnostic” – you don’t need to be a gamer or even know GTA5 to understand what the prey’s goal is or what might be a good or bad strategy. Are there any games out there with a similar ease of understanding that might make them particularly suited for recording and viewing or the YouTube environment?
— Nick
I never understood sports fans shouting coaching advice to their televisions until I watched this series.
“GO! Just GO. Do something unexpected! Shoot at some NPCs to make them drive crazy and throw off the hunters. Go over a jump, drive fast, steal a box truck, bail out, try to blow up some target cars, whatever! Just… do ANYTHING but sit at a fucking traffic light for three minutes, arguing with yourself over whether you should have turned right at the last intersection.”
Fail Race is actually a cool channel and I love their antics, but the hunted guy really does need a dose of courage before the game starts. Dude, we’re not here to see you win, we just want to see cool shit happen!