EDG Podcast Ep. #156

MUSIC

Intro – Theme to Killer Instinct

Break – “Deathwish” by Blessed by a Broken Heart

Outro – “Shut Up And Rock” by Blessed By a Broken Heart

TIMESTAMPS

Weeks in Review – 4:42

Coop Part 1 – 38:44

Week in Review Revisit – 1:03:47

Coop Part 2 – 1:08:15

Twitter – 1:52:34

Mass Effect 3

WARNING: This podcast contains spoilers for the entire Mass Effect Series.

MUSIC

Intro – “Leaving Earth” by Clint Mansell

Break – “Stand Strong, Stand Together” by Christopher Lennertz

Outro – “Das Malefitz” by Faunts

All songs taken from the Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack.

EDG Podcast Ep. #155

MUSIC

Intro – “Tank” by Yoko Kanno, from Cowboy Bebop

Break – “No Plan B” by Manafest

Outro – “Avalanche” by Manafest

TIMESTAMPS

Weeks in Review – 5:58

What We’ve Been Playing -  31:51

Twitter -  1:23:16

I’m serious. We live in one of the best if not the best time to be involved in this hobby. More people are gaming than ever, more great games are available than we could ever imagine and competition both among game companies and retail is driving prices down faster than ever.

Multiplayer games are reaching al new heights. Battlefield 3 is an example, Hey Dez, C4!

So why is it so many gamers can do nothing except point out the negatives? Don’t get me wrong; I am very aware of the problems which currently exist within this pastime of mine. I just think many gamers have gotten so jaded they cannot see just how good we have it. A few weeks ago, while reading yet another comment on Twitter about how some issue was ruining gaming, I decided enough was enough. I felt it was time to remind gamers just how great a time it is to be a gamer. This series was born out of that frustration.

So sit back as over the next few weeks I explain why we live in a Prime Time for gaming.

The Misconceptions

So just where has this idea that everything is horrible for gamers get started? That’s a difficult question to answer. A couple years back, it seemed that the industry could do no wrong. The consoles were selling, games were breaking sales records all over and it seemed gaming was almost immune to the recession.

Somewhere in this time of gaming explosion, however, something happened. Studios began closing. Online passes started to creep in to the gaming community, going from being something a couple of publishers were doing to the norm for multiplayer games. Core gamers began to see the rise of casual and social gaming as a threat instead of more people being introduced to this hobby we all love. Slowly, gamers went from being excited to share their interests with others to being jaded, and they took to the Internet by force to start decrying the death of gaming as we know it.

Gunstringer proves Kinect could really provide some unique experiences.

Is gaming dead? Far from it, yet it seems that many people want to convince you of this. If you read Twitter, forum posts, comments on gaming sites and even some opinions from well known gaming writers, you would begin to think it was. Every change to what we have come to know as gaming is being viewed with cynicism if not outright criticism. Many have treated Kinect as the end of core gaming. When Double Fine turned to Kickstarter for funding, many people freaked out over how it was unfair for an established company to use that service. EA chose to release an indie bundle on Steam, and all many gamers could mention was how EA had no clue what the phrase indie meant as opposed to just being happy EA was bringing attention to some good games. While I am not trying to say there are no issues surrounding these examples, the response from the gaming community has been blown severely out of proportion. The game industry is still alive and well, and it is not going anywhere.

Why This Is Prime Time

I understand there is a big difference between realizing gaming is not dead and actually stating we are in possibly the best time to be a gamer. I don’t just expect you to agree with me without some evidence. Over the next few articles, I will be covering many of the reasons why I think we live in a Prime Time for gaming, but the following is an overview of just a few of the reasons:

• There are more people gaming than ever before.
• There are more unique gaming experiences than ever before.
• Gamers can take their gaming experience anywhere they go.
• Gamers have the ability to track down games thanks to various sources including the internet which were not available even just a few years ago.
• Steam, Amazon and other forms of digital distribution have made games both cheaper and more readily available.
• Retail competition has truly put the power in the hands of gamers.

The Vita is making gaming portable like never before.

These are only a few of reasons why I would argue we live in the best time to be calling ourselves gamers. There are many others, and over the next several articles in this series, I will look at many of them in much greater detail.

So just what is the point of this series? Why am I taking the time to write about something we as gamers should already understand? I think it is time we as gamers stopped just complaining about everything and realize just how good we have it. No, we should not turn a blind eye to some of the concerns we have in regards to what is happening to our favorite pastime, but we also should not automatically jump to the worst case scenario once something happens, even if it is a negative. If we can learn to appreciate just how good we have it, we not only will enjoy gaming a whole lot more, but we may just find creative ways to deal with the problems within the industry.

It’s a great time to be a gamer. It’s about time we took the time to realize that.

EDG Podcast Ep. #154

MUSIC

Intro – Theme from Killer Instinct

Break – “I Get Wicked” by Thousand Foot Krutch

Outro – “The End Is Where We Begin” by Thousand Foot Krutch

TIMESTAMPS

Intro and Weeks in Review – 3:40

Game Franchises in Different Hands – 51:08

Twitter – 1:37:48

Closing – 2:00:11

Subscibe to us in Google Currents here: http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAowupl3/everyday_gamers

Push Play Ep. #4

TIMESTAMPS

“Long Dream” – 4:09

“Calling” – 7:23

“Hybrid” – 9:49

“Give Me All Your Love” – 12:04

“Someday” 15:20

“Satisfy” – 17:47

Medley of “Amnesia,” “Foreboding,” “Despair” and “It Is Fashionable” – 20:24

“Calling” (reprise) – 24:47

OTHER MUSIC

Intro – “Twiter”

Background – “It’s So Wonderful,” “Underground,” “Fighting for Freedom” and “Psychedelic”

The Story So Far

In Mass Effect 3, you once again take on the role of Commander Shepard. The threat you have been trying to warn the entire galaxy about is now here. The Reapers have taken Earth, and much of the rest of the galaxy is under heavy attack. You must rally the various races together to beat back this seemingly unstoppable foe, getting them to set aside their own differences in the process. Let’s just say this is a bit of a tall order. BioWare is a master of storytelling, and Mass Effect 3shows this in spades. From the very beginning, you are faced with just how desperate the situation is. Earth barely puts up a fight against the Reapers, and the rest of the galaxy is not doing much better. As you work to try and unite the various factions against what should be a common foe, you are constantly reminded of just how desperate this battle is. You find yourself in the middle of intense negotiations between species who have been enemies for years, and it will take more than just some well chosen words to bring them together. Add to that the herds of displaced refugees, the overflowing hospitals, the snatches of conversation you hear as you explore, and you come to realize just how much time and attention the developers paid to making the reality of this war come to life.

Joker and the crew of the Normandy are back, and the stakes have never been higher.

Returning players are also given a chance to interact with former team members, even from the first game. Some will join you on the Normandy, pitching their lot in with yours to stop this threat once and for all. Others will fight this war elsewhere, but their interactions with you can affect just how much good they can do. As someone who has been playing my version of Shepard since the very first game, it felt great to get to work with the people I have come to know as my friends and comrades. BioWare has done a great job of building a rapport with the characters of the game, and that is even more evident in this final installment of the trilogy. While many of the storytelling devices, including choosing the tone of what you will say instead of the exact words, will be very familiar to veterans of the series, one thing really stood out. In previous games, the choice between Paragon and Renegade was very well defined. Paragon was obviously the “good guy” choice, while Renegade was definitely the “bad guy” option. As EDG writer Jordan de Boer once put it, your choices were along the lines of “Throw the puppy in the furnace or turn off the furnace.” That is not nearly as true in Mass Effect 3. The Paragon choice is often the idealistic response, the one chosen by someone trying to save everyone. The Renegade is the realist, understanding it is not possible to save everyone. When in past games it was obvious to me which choice I was going to make for most situations, I often found myself contemplating which would be better this time. This added a weight to your decisions, making the story truly come alive. At various times in this story, I found myself screaming in anger, laughing out loud and nearly driven to tears. This game drew me in emotionally in a way few games have, causing me on more than one occasion to have to step back from it and process just what had occurred. Stories of this quality are rare in any form of media; they are especially rare in games.

Refining the Fight (Mostly)

While the combat in Mass Effect 2was greatly improved from that of the first game, many complained the actual RPG elements were removed. This one brings many of those back. The power up options feel more like true level ups, with the latter choices making players really consider which option would be better for their style of gameplay. On top of that, you will find many different weapons and weapon mods throughout the game, and how you manage these can be crucial. While heavier weapons may do more damage in a firefight, carrying extra weight slows down your biotic cool down time, making your choices of weapons critical. As I was using a Sentinel and really wanted his biotics to be available for use quickly, I often would carry a heavy pistol and a sub-maching gun into battle; I was willing to trade the lower damage for a much faster recharge time.

The Omniblade adds a new dimension to melee combact.

Movement in combat has also been improved. You have better control over your characters while running now, allowing you to actually dodge attacks. You also have a side dodge and forward roll, both of which can save your life in the heat of battle. You can also transition from cover to cover in this game, and you no longer have to pop into cover before vaulting over something; a quick double tap of the cover button (A on the 360 controller) allows you to do just that. You also will find yourself less likely to stick to the wrong cover this time, something which was a major issue in part 2. There is also a heavy melee attack which does massive damage to enemies and, if used when in cover against enemies immediately on the other side of said cover becomes a one hit kill. That is extremely useful. There is one major problem with the combat, however. Just like Gears of War, all the major movements are mapped to your cover button. This includes dodging, running, forward rolling… any of the major actions. The designers even added the ability to revive a fallen comrade by walking up to them and holding that same button, allowing you to save medigels for times you cannot get to them or need healing yourself. Unlike Gears of War, Mass Effect 3 does not handle having everything mapped to one button well. I lost track of the number of times I dove forward when I was trying to take cover, something which proved fatal on more than one occasion. I also tended to find myself taking cover instead of reviving someone. We will revisit this particular problem when we get to the multiplayer. That issue aside, the overall gameplay of Mass Effect 3is extremely enjoyable, even if there are a couple of times where your team will be facing insane odds. One segment in particular was really annoying me until I found some weapons which would have made the battle that much easier. And then there is the one major change to the gameplay: 4 player coop.

This Is How You Add Multiplayer to Mass Effect

When BioWare announced there would be four player coop in Mass Effect 3, the response was lukewarm at best. Many people were ready to write it off as something EA was forcing them to add so they could have something to put behind the gate of the Online Pass. I was actually looking forward to it, and the more I heard about it, the more excited I became. Well, if the shear number of people I see playing it is any indication, the criticisms were wrong. In multilayer, you and up to 3 other people put together teams of N7 Special Ops soldiers to take on a hoard-style mission. The ultimate objective is to make sure everyone reaches extraction, the point after facing all 10 waves of enemies where the team is picked up via shuttle and taken to safety. I am sure this all seems pretty basic so far, right? Well, it gets better. You can choose to play as any of the classes within the Mass Effectuniverse, giving you a great opportunity to try each class out. Ever wondered what it would be like to charge an enemy as a Vanguard but don’t want to switch from your Sentinel class? Choose a Vanguard in the multilayer and rush into danger as much as you like. You level each class up by playing as that class, getting experience by killing enemies, achieving goals like melee or biotic kills, reaching extraction and completing mission objectives.

Who would have thought multiplayer would be this addictive?

What are mission objectives you ask? As opposed to just trying to survive 10 waves of increasingly greater strength, on waves 3, 6 and 10 you are given a timed mission you need to accomplish. These missions can range from killing high profile targets to hacking databases. If you complete the mission in time, you are awarded with credits which can be redeemed for bonus packs. Failure means failure to advance to the next wave. Getting back to those credits, you use them to buy packs from the store between missions. The more expensive the pack, the better the chance you have of getting rare items. You can even unlock alien races for the various classes, each bringing a different set of powers to the class. In other words, a Quarian engineer has different abilities and plays completely differently than the human or Salarian engineer, and don’t even get me started on how different the Krogan is. If you find yourself wanting to experience these new races and weapons but not having the time to spend accumulating the credits, you have the ability to buy packs with Microsoft points. This is completely optional, and yes, I have done it a few times. After each mission, you are awarded with the credits and your experience. As with the main story, you choose how to level up your character’s abilities. The level cap for each class is 20; once you reach that, you have the option of promoting that class into your single player game, adding it to your war assets. If you do this, all of your characters in that class will drop to level 1, but any races you have unlocked will still be available. There are a couple of issues with the multiplayer. Remember what I said earlier about the battles getting frustrating because so many actions are mapped to the same button, which is the A button on the 360 controller? This really becomes an annoyance in the multiplayer. You will often find yourself taking cover while trying to revive teammates, diving forward when trying to take cover and at various points cursing the fact that no one has been able to master the “one button handles all movement” other that Epic with Gears of War. The other issue is there is a major jump in difficulty based on the level of challenge you choose. While higher level characters will often skate through a Bronze Challenge with relative ease, the same characters may barely be able to complete a Silver and have absolutely no chance to taking on Gold. You’ve heard the phrase “The difficulty ramps up?” Well, in Mass Effect 3, the jump in difficulty is more akin to going from relatively normal speeds to escape velocity. While this does encourage teamwork, it can also make even experienced players think twice before selecting the higher difficulties. Still, there is something about the multiplayer that keeps me coming back, and it is not just the various missions BioWare keeps running. It is a great example of what you can do when you set out to create a tight coop experience which can be enjoyed in bite sized chunks, as most Bronze matches will only take experienced players around 20 minutes. I would love to see BioWare expand upon this framework in future Mass Effectgames. So, engaging story, overall improved gameplay and great multiplayer. Everything you need for a great game. The 360 version, however, has one added bit of functionality.

Kinecting With the Game

Mass Effect 3 has a small blurb on the front of the box stating “Better with Kinect.” This phrase has started appearing on many games, and many gamers have questioned whether adding Kinect functionality to core games like Mass Effect 3really improves them. Well, I for one feel this game is improved by Microsoft’s latest toy. The Kinect adds two things to the 360 version of the game. The first is the ability to control combat without constantly having to pause the game to select squad powers or biotics you do not have on the hot buttons through voice commands. For example, if I need to activate Overload, I can just say “Overload,” and Shepard will hit the area I am currently targeting with one. I can call out commands like “Follow Me,” “Attack” and “Liara, Singularity” and have my teammates react as if I had just given them the orders. This is very useful, and while there will be times it does not work perfectly, it really does help to be able to give commands on the fly when necessary. As impressive as the voice commands for combat may be, it is the other functionality of Kinect which really drew me in. I remember watching the demo at E3 where the player was speaking Shepard’s dialogue suggestions and thinking “Why would I want to say something just to have Shepard say something else?” Still, I decided to give it a chance, and it did not take long for me to realize this was adding a whole new level of interaction to the game for me. I truly became Shepard, even if what my Shepard said was not exactly what I was saying. Even more impressive was I did not have to say the lines in “voice recognition speak.” You know what I mean. If I was reading the line “Don’t ever do that again,” I did not have to say that over-enunciated so Kinect could understand. I could even practically snarl that line with the venom I felt Shepard would have at that time, and that allowed me to role play within the game in a whole new way. I thought this was going to just be some throw away idea BioWare added as they were already using the voice recognition, but it became so much more than that for me. Now there have been arguments that all of this could have been done with the 360 headset or that these do not really add that much to the game. All I will say is Kinect made my experience with the game better.

A Fitting End to the Story

Before the game was released, BioWare had confirmed Mass Effect 3was going to be the end of Shepard’s storyline. Many gamers were wondering just how they were going to tie up all the various loose ends which could be created by the various choices you made throughout the games into an ending that would appease the fans. Well, unless you have been living under a rock, you know many fans were not pleased with the way BioWare chose to end the game, and the outcry was loud enough BioWare is actually working on an extended cut of the ending which the company says will fill in the gaps. While many gamers may decide to revisit their thoughts about the game after the extended ending releases this summer, I do not need to wait. I loved the ending.

Just a hint of what the ending has for you. I think it is excellent.

So why did I like it when many other gamers did not? Well, I think the way they chose to end it puts you as a gamer in the position of having to decide if you are going to betray the way you played Shepard for three games. I do not want to spoil anything (you can read my spoiler-filled commentary on it here), but I thought the ending was just about perfect, and it is an experience which still sticks with me. A fantastic story, excellent gameplay, phenomenal addition of multiplayer and an ending which has affected me in a way few endings have. Gee, guess what score I am giving Mass Effect 3? For cementing the series as my all time favorite in all of my years of gaming, Mass Effect 3 gets a 10 out of 10.

EDG Podcast Ep. #153

MUSIC

Intro – “Mega Man” by the Video Games Live Orchestra

First Break – “We Are” by Thousand Foot Krutch

Second Break – “Courtesy Call” by Thousand Foot Krutch

Outro – “War for Change” by Thousand Foot Krutch

TIMESTAMPS

Weeks in Review – 7:30

What We’ve Been Playing – 27:50

Guest Segment – 1:45:33

Twitter – 2:16:53

Closing – 2:46:43

Links to Guest’s Videos:

http://youtu.be/h-B3BVWFj-M

http://youtu.be/f-vprAYD-cw

http://youtu.be/W1VAucuanl0

Link to get the Bulletstorm soundtrack:

http://epicgames.com/community/2011/04/fan-freebies-get-the-bulletstorm-soundtrack/

EDG Podcast Ep. #152

MUSIC

Intro – “Mega Man” by the Video Games Live Orchestra

Break – “Man Up” by 116 Clique

Outro – “Authority” by 116 Clique

TIMESTAMPS

Weeks in Review – 6:12

Reality Checks – 44:23

Twitter – 1:50:47

Email and Closing – 2:13:25

Push Play Ep. #3

TIMESTAMPS

Main Theme – 2:03:06

Encounter – 3:53:25

Mantis’ Hymn – 6:15

Duel – 9:51

Hind D – 13:32

Rex’s Lair – 16:01

Escape – 19:14

End Title/The Best Is Yet to Come – 22:08

The music playing in the background of segments includes “Discovery,” “Intruder (1-3)” and the Main Theme.

EDG Podcast Ep. #151

You can listen to Xeserox on the Just Press Start Podcast and catch his writing on JustPressStart.net.

MUSIC

Intro – “Go” by Andy Hunter

Break – “Question” by Broken Chainz Band

Outro – “Broken Glass” by Broken Chainz Band

TIMESTAMPS

Weeks in Review – 9:29

Quick Hits – 31:35

PAX East – 1:07:10

Twitter – 1:49:07

Email – 1:58:22

Closing – 2:13:00

This episode features music by the Broken Chainz Band. Check them out at http://www.reverbnation.com/brokenchainzband.