It's nice to finally hear something other than the damn Wii Shop music for your "this is the stuff up on the site this week" segment, as well as hearing more of a discussion rather than just segmented audio snippets from the various RFN crew.

Regarding Batman, I never found the selection of enemies all that repetitive.  I had more of an issue with the number of times (including boss encounters) where you basically had to beat up a room full of goons while dodging and fighting one of those Brute-type enemies.  Other than that, I found the game to be phenomenal and definitely worthy of my Game of the Year honors (slightly beating out Uncharted 2).

Regarding the Games of the Decade feature, I can see what you guys are going for but with how segmented that feature is right now it just killed my interest rather quickly.  I would have preferred you doing what Giant Bomb did on their podcast and just taking a list of "Best" games and just whittling them down over the course of several weeks, and then having that big discussion.  Melee and Pikmin are fine choices, though.  I never saw the big deal in Beyond Good & Evil or any of the modern Pokemon games.

Did you, you know, PLAY BG&E? :-)

Yeah, I did on the GameCube and found it good but not particularly great at anything.  There was also a pretty clear-cut "good" and "evil" for a game called "Beyond Good & Evil."  :P: :

I think Pokemon Gold/Silver is probably the weakest game being considered for Game of the Decade, but then I have never been a huge Pokemon fan (despite playing three different generations of the franchise).

i nominate Resident Evil 4 (Wii Edition) for GOTD '00s .

Awesome to hear your thoughts on Ico, Jonny.  After you finish the game, I'll be curious to hear your closing thoughts on the game. 

Listening to the show now, always a good time.

I think the game of the decde should probably be Wii sports since it turned Nintendo from a diminishing underdog that everybody says will go third party into a behemoth that the sore analysts still claim is doomed.

I don't think the game of the decade should necessarily be the one that's regarded as the most "important" because that's a boring, and easy choice.  I think it should be the one that succeeds in the most possible ways, relevance only being one of those categories.

I think everybody is going to pick some obscure (overrated? certainly with BG&E) niche games while nobody will really give Wii sports any props.

I think there are many categories in which BG&E is a far superior game to Wii Sports. 

We're not taking anymore nominations for GotD, but RE4 (GameCube) and Wii Sports are definitely both on the list. Whether they are included in the feature depends on whether any staff member chooses to showcase them.

I liked hearing from Kairon.

ICO predated PoP: The Sands of Time by a couple of years.  I recall an interview with either Jordan Mechner or a game developer citing the dynamic between Ico and Yorda as at least a visual inspiration.  The developers of the more recent Prince of Persia game also listed both ICO and SotC as influences, although I would say that the character interaction isn't really the same in PoP.

I'm looking forward seeing more of The Last Guardian.  That game could be the game that finally convinces me to break down and buy a PS3.

Somebody had better nominate Resident Evil 4. Or else*...

And while I know I've just made a lifelong enemy, I have to agree that Beyond Good and Evil is way overrated. It's fun and good and all, but it didn't deserve to be nominated for GotY the year of its release. There's a reason that even word-of-mouth didn't foster too much interest outside the internet.

And regarding the new music for the "What's new" segment: I liked the music well enough, but it seemed somewhat out of place for that section.

Just my two cents!


*No actual consequences attach to this threat.

Beyond Good and Evil is awesome! Very Charming world, great graphics, fun exploration. I actually enjoyed the vehicle segments and I usually dislike those.

A GiantBombesque hacking out the games of the decade live to a podcast would be great.  Oh that fireworks that would ensure (From James and Lindy of course).

Yay! A fan! ^_^

Oh no, I'm still mad that you chose to focus on your career rather than contribute to NWR for like 9 months, but Lindy still didn't fire you.

Oh... T_T

Kairon sets 'em up, then ya knock 'em down! Seriously, he needs to be a guest on another podcast soon.

My former News Editor is always welcome on Newscast.

Speaking of gifts, what's James's Wii number? I want to gift him the WiiWare Mystery Dungeon games when they come out here.

Kai's wide-eyed innocence and genuine love of cheerleading simulators makes him a difficult guy to fire.

I JUST CAN'T QUIT YOU

One other note: I used to wonder at the Mystery Dungeon hate on the podcast, since I played and loved Shiren the Wanderer. Then I played the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games...

James, I now feel for you, you poor, poor bastard...

Not to digress too much on the subject, but I went into that fateful Pokemon Mystery Dungeon review (my first review copy EVAR) kind of excited. On paper, mystery dungeon games used to intrigue me, but they always lost me if/when I played then, with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon being the final straw.

After working on the Shiren Wii Preview from a month back, I'm interested again, though this time in nothing more than a review copy if I'm lucky (unlucky?) enough to review it. Shiren Wii looks to not be as fucking terrible as other Mystery Dungeon games, and for that, I'm interested.

The most likely situation is that I'll play it and hate it, but since Luke left, I don't think there are any Mystery Dungeon fans on the site.

Since you mentioned Jason Ricci and New Blood, I'd like to suggest that you switch back to "I'm a New Man" for the show opening. Don't get me wrong, I like "Done With the Devil," just not as much. Also, find some way to work "Down at the Juke" into the mix.

EDIT: After going back and listening to his music again, I have to say that the beginning of "I Turned Into a Martian" could be a pretty cool podcast opener.

I made a clip of "I Turned Into a Martian" that we never ended up using. However, I have some ideas for using a bit of Jason's music that we haven't played on the show before. ("Down at the Juke"? I don't even know that song, and I've seen over a dozen New Blood live concerts. I prefer the stuff that isn't hardcore, traditional blues.)

I don't know if it was this podcast that claimed there was no gold box for Wind Waker but my PAL limited edition version of WW has a gold box.

My NA version of Wind Waker has a gold box, too.

I can confirm you didn't hear that from this podcast.

If we had said that I would have cut that person off, since I know for a fact there is a gold box.

All I know of his music is the albums he has on iTunes (he actually came to my town within two weeks of me discovering his music, but it was so short notice that I'd already made plans for that night) and "Down at the Juke" is on Blood on the Road. It's more of a traditional blues song than some of his stuff, but is really excellent.