Posted at 10am? How did i miss this?!!!?

i loved the discussion of the keyboard gamecube controller. i saw the picture and laughed . I would love to bring to a smash brothers fight  ;D

Hurrah, you've returned! This episode really shows how much can happen in a fortnight - New Business was filled to the brim this week, and I really liked hearing your perspective on the news, even the not-so-recent stories.

The thing about Scribblenauts is that I heard in one of the early fact-sheets that the stages worked on a medal system. To earn a gold medal, you had to complete the level three times, but the condition was that with each successive playthrough, you couldn't use anything you had used in previous plays of said level. That's where I feel the creativity would really shine, though from the sound of the reviews so far, it appears not many people took that route. I guess they wanted to blast through the game once so they could get the review out quickly. If I buy Scribblenauts, which I think I'm likely to when it is released over here, I'd quite like to challenge my imagination more by going for the golds.

As far as the WiiWare announcements go, this episode's discussion and the coverage on Nintendo Life has really made it apparent that the service is flourishing. There's a decently library of great games at this point (I have a good number of them myself), and there's about 5 or 6 upcoming titles in the 'Maybe' pile between now and the end of the year that I might download. In fact, I've already put 3000 Points on my Shop Channel, despite that I don't know precisely what it will ultimately be spent on.

Final comment: LOL @ Jon's comment on The Beatles. In fairness, I'm pretty indifferent about them; their music is tolerable but very bland, in my opinion. Nobody yell at me please.

This episode took us FOREVER to record.  We had different people with different technical difficulties throughout, so it was a four-hour marathon.

I like to stir the pot when it comes to The Beatles, because their fans are usually so passionate and easy to bait.  I don't hate them like I let on (that's just for dramatic effect), but I'm not a fan of their music either.

You can use your keyboard in the shop channel....

I agree, I'm not a big beatles fan either.

I had a feeling that James would agree with me on my shout-out for Baten Kaitos Origins.  ^_-  In defense of Kaitos Origins, yes the combat is very simplified from the first game and you have 3 characters instead of 6.  However, the trade-off for that simplification is that the game has an energy and momentum in combat that the first game just didn't have with its turn-based "poker"-esque system.  Combos actually look like combos; special attacks actually look as spectacular as they should; and the battle is always moving.  Also, as James mentioned the focus on 3 characters this time around means the story is very focused and doesn't meander as much as the first game did, and there's actually the time and development to make me care about these characters.  A lot of RPGs seem to think that just adding more and more characters and sidequests, etc. is the way to go, to the detriment of the individual piece.  Lately, though, I've been finding these smaller, character-oriented games to suit my tastes much more.

Incidentally, Sakuraba should be a little ashamed of himself when it comes to his score for both games.  No, the music itself is fine but he practically lifted the OSTs for both games for his Eternal Sonata score.  I guess he figured that so few people played either game that he could get away with it and few people would notice.

On the whole "importance of art direction" topic, I haven't really noticed a decline in art direction over the years so much as a change of focus.  As noted in the podcast, just because something doesn't look appealing, that doesn't mean it doesn't have great art direction.  Take Fallout 3 for example.  That world is extremely striking and consistent, but as a 50s-style post-apocalyptic hell-hole it's not a place I would want to even visit.  I think the true judge of a game's art direction is that you can put a game down; pick it up years later after technology has advanced significantly; and yet the game still looks good.  Frankly, very few games in general can boast such things and the Metroid Prime series is one of those.

I always knew why Jonny was my favorite member of the podcast. The Beatles ROCK!

Jonny appeals to the podcast masses with his pop sensibilities and sing-songy vocals.  I'm for those with more refined podcast palates.

As John was talking about Dirt2 for Wii he mentioned how it was weird that Dirt2 had no music while racing (comparing to DS racing games where u just hear the engine)  Funny thing is the DS version of Dirt2 actually has music while racing....very crappy sound quality but its there.  LOL  If they could throw some music on the DS version why not the Wii version too?  Oh well I doubt I will EVER touch this game on Wii.

Greg was on fire.... especially for someone awake at 3am.

It was just past 6am for Greg by the time we finished recording. He is a trooper!

Jon, stop blowing up my twitter feed with your street lyrics.

By the way, Prototype is a pretty damn awesome game in a similar vein as Infamous except it's more about melee combat and casts you more as a monster (even moves like CG monsters in movies) than a superhero.

Yo John L, you should download the Dirt 2 demo on 360 or PS3.  The Wii version was farmed out to a crappy developer just like the critically bombed Fuel.  Any racer Codemasters develops them selves is gold.  For me, its the perfect blend of sim and arcade.

I did not like Dirt 1 which I played on PS3 (In fact I think I own it, got it for cheap), too  simmish for me.

GP, what your PS3 name? I'm JonnyNWR.

Dirt 2 is this weird blend of sim elements and off-road elements.  It does neither well, and the controls are terrible.

I'm sure it's good on 360/PS3 though.

James, you need a little hood influence. I mean, aside from Little Red Riding Hood or Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

One has to to wonder... Was Lindy always so hood? Or was it the tough, ghetto streets of Hotlanta that changed him into the cold-ass thug he be currently? One pictures a bright-eyed, smiling-wide boy from rural Canada twisted and abused into becoming a urban force of nature.

He's been breaking blocks down on the streets.  ;)

You're acting as if some sort of magical mystery tour came to take him away.

Atlanta? Oh dear.

Southern hospitality baby.

I appreciated the discussion about art direction, guys, but how could you talk about art direction for like thirty minutes but NOT mention Bioshock?

Yeah, duh.  Bioshock has amazing art direction.