Topic: PODCAST: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 119

[Jonnyboy117]

James Charlton joins us from the Land of Nippon for a review of all the Wii and DS goodness at TGS 2008.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=17041

 Also starring... Shane and Garnett?  



 Episode 119: The Other Briton    

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Newb alert!  Our intrepid Japan Correspondent, James Charlton, joins the show for the first time to review his game impressions and other stories from the Tokyo Games Show.  Unfortunately, Greg couldn't be on this episode, but you'll still get a dose of the Queen's English, as James C. also hails from those parts.  With two Jameses on the show, we had to resort to initials to keep them straight!    

After an update of our New Business and DLC Mondays segments, "J.C." pulls out a list of games from TGS and schools us on everything from Monster Hunter 3 to Let's Tap and Gardening Mama.  He even recounts his meetings with various gaming celebrities from other podcasts, throwing Jonny into at least one fit of jealousy.    

Next week, Greg returns along with Karl for a Listener Mail renaissance and a feature segment on gaming hype.    

Credits:    

This podcast was edited by James Jones.    

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their new album, Rocket Number 9, directly from the record label, or download it from iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!

[Jonnyboy117]

Ooh, looks like Talkback has returned.

[DmentD]

The achievement that you and Jon got for "killing a rockstar dev" is actually a "virus" achievement...where if you kill a rockstar dev then you carry the virus and if anyone kills you they get the virus and so on.  Untill everyone in GTA has it.  So most likely it wasn't actually a dev you killed.  When I first got GTA IV i also thought this would be one of the achievements i would NEVER get, until i got it the first time I played online and then found out what exactly it was about.

[NWR_insanolord]

The best part of this episode was the description of Little Big Planet that made me want it less and thus made me a feel a lot better about choosing a 360 over a PS3.

[ShyGuy]

How did this sneak in?

[GoldenPhoenix]

The fakest British accent EVER.

[NWR_Lindy]

Ah, so THAT's what that achievement is about.  I didn't think it was actually a Rockstar developer; it was just some dude.

As for LBP, I probably didn't get it across very well.  LBP is like New Super Mario Bros. With a foreground, middle ground, and background.  It's a little awkward to move between the different planes, but it's really fun.     The editor is really powerful, but it can be intimidating.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Lindy hasn't said anything that has made me mad in the podcasts for at LEAST two episodes. AMAZING

[Crimm]

Lindy hasn't said anything that has made me mad in the podcasts for at LEAST two episodes. AMAZING

Don't listen to 120.

[NWR_insanolord]

Ah, so THAT's what that achievement is about.  I didn't think it was actually a Rockstar developer; it was just some dude.

As for LBP, I probably didn't get it across very well.  LBP is like New Super Mario Bros. With a foreground, middle ground, and background.  It's a little awkward to move between the different planes, but it's really fun.     The editor is really powerful, but it can be intimidating.

Yeah, the whole foreground-middle-background thing was what made me not want it as much anymore. And since you mentioned it, Crimm, when can we expect 120? We're still more than a week behind.

[NWR_Lindy]

Don't listen to 120.

Was it something I said?  Oh, wait...yes it was.  TWO-PODCAST STREAK BROKEN

[GoldenPhoenix]

I really don't think LBP will sell that well in Japan, maybe 300k if that.

[Jonnyboy117]

I think people will hate me a lot more than Lindy after hearing 120, because of the things I say about Miyamoto.

[ShyGuy]

I'm already mad about the things I'm imagining that Jonny says about Miyamoto. Where does he get off?

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Well, Jonny, if your comments are along the lines of how fans (and then Nintendo too)  put him on a pedestal...well, that HAS belittled the others who worked on incredible "Miyamoto titles" over the years.

No idea if that's what you talk about on 120, though. I guess I'll have to wait and see!

[GoldenPhoenix]

Miyamoto is perfect, he has no flaws so in turn any criticism of him is flawed by its very nature.

[NWR_insanolord]

I was just saying the other day that there are very few people that I could ever forgive for saying something bad about Miyamoto as opposed to being filled with a violent hatred towards them for the rest of my life.

[ShyGuy]

Certain people achieve so much in their field that I place them above trolling.

"Thomas Jefferson is okay I guess, but the Declaration of Independence isn't all that."
"Tiger woods is overrated as a golfer. Their are tons of people who are better."

[Jonnyboy117]

It's not a criticism of Miyamoto but rather of the skewed perception of his role at Nintendo.  I compared him to Tom Clancy, which is exaggerated and probably unfortunate, but you get the idea.  He is a supervisor, not an auteur (anymore).  I don't think Miyamoto has directed a game since Pikmin or maybe even back to Super Mario 64.

[ShyGuy]

Okay, well that's fair.

[NWR_insanolord]

He may not have directed a game in a while but he has been pretty hands-on with games since then, a good example being Super Mario Galaxy.

[ShyGuy]

I think Miyamoto is in a position now where he just gets to do the parts of game creation that he likes to do, the "fun parts" he comes up with the idea, has a team put it together, plays it, tweaks it, and injects his ideas, let's them build it and then he gets to go promote it.

[Jonnyboy117]

He may not have directed a game in a while but he has been pretty hands-on with games since then, a good example being Super Mario Galaxy.

Is that actual fact, or just the outside perception?  I haven't read all the "Iwata Asks" features, but Galaxy was developed halfway across the country from Miyamoto.  And what does "pretty hands-on" really mean?  That he plays the game every week and makes some comments and suggestions?  Spielberg probably did that much on Boom Blox.  Shaun White probably did that much on his snowboarding game.  I would vastly prefer Miyamoto's input over theirs, but if all he is providing is input, I wouldn't consider that a very hands-on approach.  Like I said, maybe his involvement went deeper than that and I'm just not aware of it.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

I do think Miyamoto was more hands-on with Galaxy than other recent Nintendo titles. But it wasn't the day-to-day input he gave way back when when was Director. He had been kicking around the basis of Galaxy's concept for a long time (Mario 128)--the Tokyo team was handed the project after the concept had been fleshed out.

The Iwata asks parts also suggest Miyamoto played a greater role than usual (for these days) on the development approach, as well as things like music direction. The asks article has an interesting discussion with the primary composer of Galaxy, who wrestled with Kondo and Miyamoto when settling on the game's musical feel. Unsurprisingly, Miyamoto sided with Kondo on the epic, non-cutesy style, but the new guy succeeded with his pro-orchestrated agenda!