Diecast – Twenty Sided

We spend most of the show talking about game demos and trailers. Which means the show notes are going to be a big wall of embedded videos. I realize this isn’t super-useful to those of you who read in an environment where you can’t watch videos, but this is what happens when you do an entire show about three-minute video game commercials.

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Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast348

Link (YouTube)
Show notes:

00:00 E3 Wrap-up
E3 is over, but Steam NEXT Fest is still going on. And EA is doing some sort of non-E3 showcase in the next couple of weeks.

This is good. We’re spreading things out. In my ideal setup, the overwhelming and expensive germ-spreading convention would be retired. Instead, each major publisher would just pick a week during the summer to show off their stuff. We’re not quite there yet, but this is a step in the right direction.

02:44 Outer Worlds 2 trailer

Link (YouTube)

03:45 Steam NEXT Fest: Game Demos?
It’s amazing. Finally computers are powerful enough that we can try software before we buy it. If only we could have developed this technology sooner.

05:17 They Always Run

Link (YouTube)
The main character looks like a badass in the trailer, but you’re going to need to practice if you want to pull off those moves.

09:48 Road 96

Link (YouTube)

14:03 Lifeslide

Link (YouTube)

14:32 Nuke Zone

Link (YouTube)

15:24 Industria

Link (YouTube)

The developer makes it clear that the game is inspired by Half-Life 2. In terms of art style, I think they nailed it. The art is incredibly strong.

In terms of gameplay… well, you can tell this is the work of a small team. I played the demo, which is both far too short and yet still managed to show off a lot of general awkwardness. It’s a shame – the art and level design are so good they create unfortunate expectations of AAA quality, which you can’t hope to meet with a small team.

Still, there’s no denying that this is really amazing work.

18:42 Minecraft Dungeons

Link (YouTube)

I can’t say for sure that this game will be a flop, but nobody asked for this. “Hey what if we made a Minecraft-branded game that contains none of the elements that made Minecraft so popular?”

I guess Microsoft wants to justify the billions they paid for Minecraft?

21:58 Minecraft Update
Man, I need to get back into the game. As soon as I’m done with this E3 stuff. And when Steam NEXT Fest is over. And I’m done with my Prey retrospective.

23:12 Dorf Romantik is amazing!
I love this game.

25:52 Hardspace: Shipbreaker
I don’t have anything to add to what we said on the show. I liked this thing in concept, but it’s very difficult to capture the dull grind of a hopeless job without the experience becoming a dull grind in a hopeless job.

37:47 Mailbag: Culture Blind

Dear Diecast,

An interesting reason that some people have unique perspectives on games may be that they were hidden behind a “culture blind”. They were unaware and thus unaffected by the reaction by peers, media, and marketers to the product. They have a self-formed opinion.

In 2011 I was immersed into World of Warcraft so completely that I had no awareness of the wider gaming community. I didn’t know that Mass Effect 2 existed, the Wii U was a touch screen peripheral for the Wii (though this misconception was wider spread), Skyrim brushed against my awareness, and I didn’t know about Dragon Age 2.

When I got around to playing Dragon Age 2 in 2014 I adored it. My two complaints were the consolized combat system which removed the companion tactics queue and the cave aesthetic which got a bit old.

My perspective formed without preconceptions due to my WoW culture blind. When I now read reviews of 2011-2013 games I more often than usual strongly disagree with points made. It makes me think that there is an immense effect exerted upon us by culture and that this effect informs our opinions more than we realize.

Do you have games that you played with minimal preconceptions? How do you think marketing, peers, and reviews alter our opinions?

-Chris P.

49:36 Mailbag: Bethesda Quest Mods

Dear Diecast

Speaking of Bethesda games, have you guys ever tried out Skyrim and Fallout quest mods? If so, which have you played and which was your favorite?

From Donkey

54:15 Mailbag: Virtual Consoles

Hi guys,

While it was no fun for 13Window, erm I mean Shamus to be in the hospital, special shoutout to Paul for the Shamusless diecast ; it was fun & refreshing hearing all your memories about gaming with your SO, made me reminisce about mine :)

– in the last diecast someone mentioned programming for dead consoles ; it made me think, have you tried virtual consoles such as Pico8, and what’s your thoughts on that? I plan on trying it out, because the “philosophy” of having a set of hard limitations… seems kinda… I’d say creatively interesting.

Here is the site for the Pico8. So charming.

1:02:37 Mailbag: Sticking with Bad Games
(Question continued from previous email.)

– Why do you think, a few years ago (I’d say mid-90’s cause i was young and naive), there’s this impression that we (at least, I) bought less games, but played them to death, even not very good games ? and I remember having a good time even if I knew it wasn’t great. I propose a few theories : less games availables, or media was still evolving (we didn’t knew better), or we were less spoiled so less demanding, or is it rose-tinted nostalgia blurring our vision ?

Take care everyone !

Cheers

Earlack