Topic: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 197

[Jonnyboy117]

Already feeling E3 coverage fatigue? Take a break with this classic-format episode of RFN. We'll get back to unfounded predictions next week!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=23200

 Episode 197: Temporarily Unprophetic    

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Lindy Toggle: On    

Sandwiched between our two E3 prediction shows is this fresh slice of regular RFN lunchmeat, featuring New Business and Listener Mail segments. The game discussions kick off with Jon's highly anticipated, minimally informed impressions of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Greg has the scoop on a Japanese demo of Ghost Trick, and he catches up with Kojima's overlooked DS game, Lunar Knights. James has a pair of Eastern-style games with Disgaea DS and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Jonny caps the segment with the final week of his PS3 monopoly, with muted praise for Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time and first thoughts on God of War III.    

What's the best Castlevania game for series newcomers? This seemingly simple question is debated with the usual aplomb and long-windedness, along with your queries re: Fragile Dreams, the downside of knowing too much about the gaming business, and the differences between Yamauchi and Iwata. (It would have been much quicker to discuss their similarities.) Be sure to listen all the way through for details on our new contest related to the mysterious post-Drunkcast incident!    

We're always looking for great Listener Mail to read and discuss on the show, so please send your questions or comments! (We really love seeing your praise and feedback regarding the show itself; however, in the interest of time, we may edit your letter to be read on the podcast.)      Credits:    

This podcast was edited by Greg Leahy.    

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon.com, or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!    

Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo, and is included under fair use protection.  

[ShyGuy]

You guys need to double check the Lindy toggle before you start from now on.

[happyastoria]

Jonny: It's funny you mentioned the Filmspotting podcast because I unsubscribe to them today. I cant stand their pretentious, elitist views on film. Actually, my negative review on itunes was mentioned on their podcast three or four episodes ago. You mention how you're open minded to a wide rage of films: from mainstream (Iron Man, A-Team) to small indie films (Moon, Salo or 120 Days of Sodom - I am kinda interested to hear their opinions on that film.) The problem with Filmspotting is that they only like "indie" films. They spit at anything that is mainstream. A good film is a good film. Like you said, "You should be able to like something on just an enjoyable level." Well, it was something like that. I'm listening right now as I'm writing this and I don't want to go back to hear what you exactly said lol.

[Shaymin]

So I've already passed Lindeman in my Mario Galaxy 1 party? AWESOME!

Though I can see why he jumped out at 15 stars - I nearly quit after the first surfing and ball rolling sequences. I think now that I'm through the first 3rd of the game it's picking up now. (I meant to play through 1 before playing 2 but somehow managed to lose my copy and wasn't able to find it until after 2 launched).

The Now Playing segment wasn't that bad, unless I missed something.

I'm also one of the people who sides with Rock Band in the plastic instrument arms race, but that's largely because I'm looking for a straight music game, with none of the boss battle stuff Guitar Hero introduced after Harmonix jumped and seems to be bringing back for Warriors of Rock. That and Raining Blood. **** that song.

Rock Band did put out track packs, but with the exception of the AC/DC one they were all compilations of DLC and - most importantly - $20. Any urge I had to get back into Guitar Hero was lost when they launched Aerosmith at full price - same reason why I'm not buying Green Day until it gets to $15 on Amazon. And yes, Lego Rock Band was a WTF moment, but the Lego part was kinda fun and it had The Final Countdown.

Edit: I just want to make sure the rules for the contest are right.
The Noodle Incident recently bleeped involved the following: Jonny, Karl, Mike, Neal, Lauren, and Jon finished the Drunkcast, some indy developer gave the group a gift related to a game discussed with Karl recently and a catchphrase discussed in the same episode. Whoever comes up with Greg's favourite story that explains the Noodle Incident and e-mails it to rfn@nintendoworldreport.com gets an autographed-by-James copy of King of Clubs, and the incident is un-Noodled assuming a sufficient number of entries.

[Crimm]

I think judging is either the "best" or the "most accurate."

And yes, that's pretty much the scope of the contest.


As for the new playing, I assume Greg edited it.  It was a disaster when we recorded.

[Kytim89]

Who keeps saying "Lords of THunder" in a deep voice on this show?
 
As for Rockband and Guitar Hero, I have never been able to get into those games very well because I do very bad with them even in the lowest difficulty setting. I have never been very comfortable forking over $150 for a game and a bunch of goofy plastic perepherals. I have actually seen several Raockband drum sets at a couple of thrift stores for like ten dollars. Although I would be interested in playing DJ Hero if I had the chance.
 
Jon, as for God of War 3, this game is so massive and kicks so much ass. I played the first two games, but the third is by far the most visually breath taking of the series. One question, is there anything that Zelda wii can borrow from such a game as God of War 3?
 
Does the RFN crew ever think that mature third party games will ever be able to flourish on the wii, or any future Nintendo home console? All the mature games that have been released so far have been fairly good and yes, even Madworld was good despite its flaws.

[Crimm]

I don't remember anyone saying "Lords of Thunder."  I'd say it's either Jon or myself, and I don't remember doing it...so

[Kytim89]

I don't remember anyone saying "Lords of Thunder."  I'd say it's either Jon or myself, and I don't remember doing it...so

I believe that it is Jon Metts that does it and I have heared it several times and never had the chance to ask until now.

[Crimm]

Oh, well we've all done it at some point.

[broodwars]

I have to disagree with you, Jonny, about the visual quality of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.  Sure, it doesn't look as good as God of War 3, but many games can say as much and still look just fine.  IMO, the game sports excellent art design and runs incredibly well at 60 FPS despite a lot of stuff happening on-screen (mobs of enemies, hundreds of bolts flying through the air, etc.).  The game looks as good to me as that art style can look before going into cel shading.
 
I do agree with you on the writing, though.  Outside some humorous lines by Captain Quark and Dr. Nefarious, it does often feel like the game is trying too hard to force a laugh.  You might want to keep an ear tuned to your ship's radio as you fly around the outer space overworld, though.  There's some good material in the various "news reports" and "commercials".

[Yoshidious]

Regarding the story contest for Ep200: Shaymin has everything just about right, though to be clear, the bit of indie game swag involved in the story was received by someone among the NWR party during PAX East but before the post-Drunkcast chaos, and it then played a pivotal role in that soon-to-be-infamous tale. The "catchphrase" that punctuates the story can indeed be found towards the end of this episode that we recorded with Karl, while the indie game itself has been referenced on RFN a few times in the past, but not specifically in that show. Hope this helps, but once again, accuracy is not a prerequisite for achieving victory in this contest! 
 
Oh and about Now Playing -- there's about three times more audio from the Now Playing recording in the stinger than there is in the segment itself, ergo it most definitely is the worst Now Playing ever from the editor's point of view!

[Crimm]

I'm not sure if I want to hear it now. My mistaken linking together of words without thought ended in disaster.

[ShyGuy]

Has Jonny ever in the history of the show enjoyed the humor of a video game?

[Crimm]

Lords of Thunder

[Jonnyboy117]

I think we can all agree that funny games are rare at best. But yes, I have enjoyed some games' humor: Portal, Mad World, WarioWare (various), Secret of Monkey Island, Retro Game Challenge, to name just a few. It's just that I have extremely low tolerance for Disney Channel-style humor like that in Ratchet & Clank.

As for Filmspotting, they certainly do focus on smaller films and are often disappointed by blockbuster releases, when they do review them. I don't think they are averse to mainstream films, however, and could give you a laundry list of huge movies that they enjoyed or even loved. If they crapped on recent movies like Robin Hood, Iron Man 2, and Prince of Persia, maybe it's because those films aren't very good? Even when I disagree with them (and they openly court dissenting opinions), I like hearing their arguments and getting a different perspective. If you don't like the show, don't listen to it. But if you are generally upset by opinions that don't match yours, consider why that is the case, and what harm there can really be in polite disagreement and contrasting viewpoints.

[happyastoria]

I agree with you, but they make an effort to dislike mainstream films. Have you heard their revew on District 9 and Avatar? It's cringe worthy. Not every film has to have deep meaning!!!!!! some are just for fun, and that is something Filmspotting does not understand! Why do you think they get so much hate mail? They go into a film like Avatar and can't enjoy it for what it is. Yet, they praise a crap film like The Fountain or Elephant! Who likes Elephant? That film is horrible, it's a fact! I do like that they sometimes read hate mail, but their still a bunch of elitist snobs! Go to the IMDB boards, and if someone hates an "artsy" film and they explaine why they hate it. What is the response? "Go see Transformers" or "you just don't get it." That's what they are, they judge you by the films you like.
 
Elitist snobs should get no respect!

[ShyGuy]

Elitist snobs should get no respect!

That reminds me, is Evan going to make an appearance in episode 200?
http://instantrimshot.com/

[Crimm]

BUUUUUUUURN!

[broodwars]

Damn it...John wasn't a big fan of the first Galaxy (like me, he found the opening galaxies to be tedious), but really likes this one.  James, too.  I may have to look into Galaxy 2 if it really improves upon the first Galaxy so much.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

I love Galaxy 2. However, nearing the end, I feel like too many of the stars feel TOO short. Dont't get me wrong--I believe in focused game and level design over superfluous padding. But I've garnered more than a few stars in; like, a minute on my first try. It's just a little weird, that's all.

[NWR_Neal]

Contest is wrong. Lauren wasn't a part of said event. She stayed in the room because she was tired. Everyone else was probably too ripped to notice.

[greybrick]

I love Galaxy 2. However, nearing the end, I feel like too many of the stars feel TOO short. Dont't get me wrong--I believe in focused game and level design over superfluous padding. But I've garnered more than a few stars in; like, a minute on my first try. It's just a little weird, that's all.

You'll get used to it.

[Crimm]

I just finished the episode. My God the stinger stuff.

[TJ Spyke]

I was glad you guys pointed out that Rock Band is not from some mom and pop game. Harmonix is owned by National Amusements (it's a long chain, Harmonix is part of MTV Games, which is owned by Viacom, which is owned by National Amusements). National Amusements is far bigger than Activision Blizzard. As for The Beatles: Rock Band, they probably did lose money. The MINIMUM in royalties that MTV Games had to pay was $10 million (with that amount increasing up to $40 million based on how well it sold). Add in the development cost, advertising costs, etc., and there is a good chance they did not sell enough to make a profit (and why they stopped with DLC, maybe they weren't selling enough DLC to justify the costs to make it).

[Plugabugz]

*continues waiting*

It was mentioned before Vudu comes in here and sulks. The pledge requires me to.