Apologies in advance for the rather muffled quality of my personal vocal track this week. Unfortunately, the charger for my laptop that I normally use for recording has broken, so I had to record on a netbook for this week's episode, and it has an inferior mic input that makes the audio quality suffer when using the same headset. This should be resolved for next week's episode, hopefully you can bear with it for this week.

From your dangerously high standards i'm sure this is just a minor slip to "extremely good" ;)

Still better than 95% of podcast! Listening right now!

Jonny, I think your lieing that you put Mass Effect 2 in for 5 minutes and stopped it. Just from what happens in the first 30 minutes of that game that absolutely blow your mind I think it's impossible to stop it that soon.

As always great show, thanks for yet another entertaining episode!

I don't appreciate the complete dismissal of an entire genre whenever roguelikes are brought up on the podcast. I am glad that Jonny is willing to try one, and it appears that James may be playing up how he feels about these games for entertainment's sake. Still, those that enjoy them aren't necessarily idiots for liking them and don't need to sustain monk-like lifestyles to do so.

With regards to Dragon Age, I know that James played the 360 version and I can't attest to its quality. From what I have read the 360 version tries to make you play it out like an action game which is simply isn't. On the PC version that I enjoyed, the party members' behaviors were highly customizable and it was simple to control them so that you didn't have to depend on their AI if you did not want to. I found that the game required quite a bit of tactical thought, and while it wasn't dependent on mechanical skills it did challenge the player intellectually. (I suppose this is the response that Jonny predicted in the podcast)

The new business did get me interested in Raiden IV, I am going to try and pick up a copy of that.

Raiden IV is great.  Just a straight-up vertical-scrolling shooter with big explosions and tons of enemies.

Good show guys, just two things I gotta say though.  First off I really wish you guys wouldn't eat on mic, I know it's a nitpicky thing and I'm sorry but it's gross as hell to hear someone try to talk with a mouth full.  Second (for James specifically) Dragon Age is a PC game, the console versions are sloppy ports. On the PC the AI is much better to say nothing of the controls.  However if the console versions are your only option I recommend you spend a lot of time setting up your combat tactics as that will fix most of your problems.  Still though the game was meant to be played on a PC where you can pause the action and manually cue up attacks and spells.

Keep up the great work guys!

I never noticed them eating.... lol

They are just doing this for our enjoyment and the quality is leagues above any other podcast that I think they should eat as often as they want.

The music in Brütal Legend gets worse later on but it makes sense in the context. The game is basically a battle of the metal genres where the noble humans represent classic heavy metal, the human traitors hair metal, the undead goth metal and the demons nu metal (or something). You hear the enemy's songs during the battles against them so the more evil a genre is the more annoying the music during their battles. I hate bands like Cradle of Filth so destroying their legions of emo zombies is even more satisfying.

What I found strange is that I ddn't see Manowar's Fighting The World in the soundtrack since that includes the line "the enemy is a metal we can't forgive!" so it'd be a fitting song for a battle of the metals.

I highly recommend Brutal Legend to any current or lapsed metal fan.

I liked the music but the game was kinda weak so I'm not sure about recommending it.

Wasn't Band Brothers localized as Jam Sessions?

I've been playing Shiren on Ds too. It's an acquired taste of course but I've been quite addicted to it. It's great in short session and don't focus on actually finishing it.
Spelunky on pc is a great twist on the rogue genre.
http://www.spelunkyworld.com/
It's a 8-bit style side-scrolling action game with great interaction between items and enemies. Quite worth playing.

In term of music games. I was hoping for Nintendo to do a sort of Electroplankton wiiware game. There was 2 or 3 concepts in there the i could create some quite interesting ambient stuff. I don't really care for the karaoke, repeat the patterns, type games.

I was shoving tacos in my face during the first half of this podcast, and I apologize for that.  However, I got home from work late and pretty much jumped straight on the headset, so I had no choice but to eat during recording.  I'm usually more discreet, but this time I was so hungry I just didn't care.

Really? That's your excuse! I pay good money to listen to thi.... oh wait. John eat all you want, I didn't even notice and if I had who cares?

I don't want to sound like I am giving you permission to eat, it is your show and this shouldn't be an issue at all. Doesn't anyone here go out and talk to people while they are eating? It happens, people eat.

Instead of making Wii Music +, Nintendo should update Mario Paint-style game, include an updated Mario Composer, as well as a pared-down Wii Music implementation into that disc instead.

No, Band Bros. is totally different from Jam Session.

You're right about the Brutal Legend soundtrack getting worse over time, due to the structure of the game. I think they should have used dynamic mixing for stage battles, so that your side's music would get louder in the mix based on how you are doing in the battle.

Great show as always, gents! I turned off Brutal Legend after the first RTS segment and haven't looked back. It was such a clusterf*ck that it totally ruined the game for me. Jonny's right--I have very little control over what's going on. The interface is too simplistic, and it takes too long to do anything.

It's also hard to tell who YOUR guys are and who the ENEMIES are, because they all look the same, with different color swaps! WTF?!?

Hell yes, Bleach: Dark Souls! I love that little game.

I picked it up new knowing virtually nothing about the manga/anime; which is problematic, since in the story mode there's a clever triva contest. The "floor" of the dojo is divided into two tiles (true or false), and you have seconds to fight your way to the correct tile after being asked a question; wherever your body lands when the buzzer sounds, that's your answer. There are also nifty "decks" you can create to assist you. For example, you can tap a card to prevent the opponent from swapping between the two planes, or tap another card to stop the timer.

I'm now a total Bleach-head, but you don't have to be to appreciate the game.

P.S. I didn't know what a Rogue-like was when I purchased Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, but once I wrapped my head around the concept, damn, I really enjoyed it. That is, until my cartridge died. That's right: usually in a Rogue-like you die and lose all your items; me, I got to the bonus dungeon at the end, and then my cartridge died and I really did lose everything.

Aha, I heard Johnny eating at one point but didn't notice anyone else doing it. That must've been some pretty stealthy snacking Jon! Anyway I don't think it's bad at all, eat all you like as far as I'm concerned (so long as it doesn't interfere with speech, like it does with me when I eat flapjack at work and end up coughing down the phone, unable to speak). Does the person who was disgusted never eat meals with other people?

Fine, fine, I'll stuff my face every episode then.  It'll be my schtick.

You guys are crazy, or maybe you just don't like metal.  As a blue ocean metal fan myself, I'd say they captured the spirit of the sound over the decades.  Especially with that menu, wow, so slick.

As I said on the show, I do not like metal in general. The early stuff in Brutal Legend is at least more grounded in classic rock and is often melodic (more or less), so it's a lot easier for me to tolerate and occasionally enjoy.

Well if you like Melodic metal you would enjoy Dark Tranquillity's "Haven" album and In flame's "The Jester Race" or even Winstersun's self-named album! Although, I am guessing you didn't mean melodic death metal  ;D
As a metal fan, I was disappointed with the selection in Brutal Legend but mostly because I like that niche subgenre of melodic death metal. I know they did put Dark Tranquillity in there, but in their promo video they classified it as black metal which showed that they really didn't think it through that much (I know, splitting hairs, but its like saying Mario is the same as Mega Man). When I'm not listening to metal I am listening to string quartets by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and the like because I find that they are very similar to what I enjoy in my metal.

My idea of good metal is probably Black Sabbath and very limited portions of Umphree's McGee (usually tucked away in decidedly non-metal songs).

Understandable, most metal goes out of its way to be outright unpleasant.

(added) I just got some Best Buy coupons in the mail and I could get a DSi XL for the same price as a regular DSi. I am so tempted now!

Well done, as always. One thing I'd like to note: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom still has the mini-games in it: just collect all the yellow letters in the credits to unlock them (it's easiest with Roll).

While I agree, in James' defense his experience seems to be primarily/exclusively based on the Pokemon games. Those were terrible roguelikes.

I like heavy metal. Not that screamer bullshit they make these days. Proper heavy metal.

noname2200, TvC only has one mini-game, while the original release had multiple. Supposedly they were gimmicky, though.

Bah! Swedish metal FTW!!!  ;D

On the topic of the GBA Micro, I bought one right before I joined the staff (in early 2008) at a flea market for $25 that came with an in-box copy of Pokemon Leaf Green. I mainly got it because it came with Leaf Green, or rather Leaf Green came with a GBA Micro.

I used it for Leaf Green, and really enjoyed it. The screen's awesome, and the buttons, while occasionally cramping, were fine.

I've been using it again with Metroid Zero Mission and WarioWare Twisted!, which I recently picked up for cheap. It's still awesome, and it was totally worth the price.

Wouldn't it be so cool if Nintendo made a device about that size that could play VC games? (as well as handheld VC games). I would take that with me everywhere!

Also, a while back Jonny predicted that Netflix will be coming to the DS. Kotaku just posted an article that supports that theory... while I think the PSP would be a better candidate hardware-wise, it certainly is an interesting idea.

There's no way the current DS could handle Netflix. I was speaking about the next real handheld from Nintendo.

By the way, I wanted to have a place for roguelike talk that won't scroll away so soon:

Shiren the Wanderer DS Thread of Helping Jonny Not Give Up
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=30823.0

@Jonny

The article I read points to an official Netflix survey about putting its service on the DS via wifi. In the past, every Netflix survey about coming to a gaming console has come true, so there is a chance that this will pan out. One can only speculate about the quality of the streaming, but it does mention specifics such as loading times.

First thought on the Micro discussion actually springs from the fact that I'm archive binging on RFN right now: "How many of those 200,000 GBAs are Micros?"

For what it's worth, I actually found a very helpful community for the game over on the Penny-Arcade forums.  The Wii game, I mean.  There might also be a thread for the DS game, as there seemed to be a pretty active interest in the Wii game.

Aw, the good old times of RFN.....

Oh man, I love my GBA Micro to death.  I picked up the anniversary edition one with the gold/maroon color scheme of the Japanese NES.  It's AWESOME I love it and hug it every night and the screen looks AMAZING.

I do this as well.

I am SHOCKED that James and Jonny talked about using Beyonce in/for a Wii Music game and there's absolutely no mention of Beyonce's Bootylicious Dance Mix.

*continues waiting*

micromance

/headdesk

From time to time, I've thought about picking up Brutal Legend just because the demo was pretty humorous.  Thing is, I despise Heavy Metal music...maybe even more than Rap music.  For the life of me I don't know who Tim Schaffer thought he was making this game for, especially since EA hyped the game as something it wasn't (a God of War-style action game, rather than an RTS).  Maybe I'll pick it up sometime when I finish this nice glut of good games I'm playing right now (Star Ocean 4, FF XIII, Heavy Rain, maybe Resonance of Fate, etc.).  I can only really tolerate 1-2 open world games a year, and I suppose Brutal Legend would make for a decent one.

Ah, I stand corrected then!

I have breaking news: In RFN 187 I talk about another RPG.

You're welcome.

Also 188.
Probably 189.
190...191...192...

James Jones, RPG Correspondent and RPG Features Editor.  And Chocobo cosplayer.

Jon Lindemann, Muscle March Curious

Thanks Cthulhu that Greg builds chapter breaks into each person's New Business. "Oh, James is talking about another RPG." *skip ahead* LOL

Jon Lindemann, Polar Bearrorist

I have a similar affection for my DSi.