Easy Allies Podcast #129 - 9/12/18

I totally missed him saying that! The idea of a surgeon going to town on a patient with a knife and fork is just too funny...

James McCoy

I typed out a long comment before, but it’s apparently been chewed up and eaten by Patreon, so I’m going to try again. Apologies if this ends up being a double post as a result! Also, apologies for the super long comment! I found the conversation about whether knowing too much about a game’s development hinders the enjoyment of that game really interesting as it made me think about my own situation. I have a very specific job in the industry which means I have a very small amount of involvement with a very large number of games. Sometimes that involvement will mean that I’m directly working on the source code of a game and communicating with the developers online about it. Occasionally it means I’ll visit various studios in person to meet with the development team. Very rarely I’ll spend between a day and a couple of weeks actually working on the game directly with the team. When I get home from work, I enjoy playing games to relax. The sort of thing that will pull me out of the experience will be suddenly coming across a level or area in the game that I know presented a particular technical challenge (“[name of programmer] had to spend a couple of days changing from algorithm X to algorithm Y in order to avoid big CPU spikes we were seeing here” and so on). What I generally find though is that for strongly written narrative games it’s easy to separate any knowledge of shaders and algorithms and the underlying engine implementation from the story being presented to me. For that reason I’m a lot more picky about the games and the types of games that I play: a good story is almost always essential to my enjoyment nowadays! My favourite gaming memory is finally getting to the end of a game that I really adored (and still do), and while reflecting on what I’d played through while the credits rolled I suddenly, and completely unexpectedly saw my own name appear under “Special Thanks”. Best feeling ever. I have a related story, as told to me by a software engineer from [well-known studio] who was on the core engine team for [very highly reviewed AAA game from within the last couple of years]. He made a conscious choice from the start of the development process to essentially go on media blackout. He obviously knew all of the world geometry and character models from working on this game every day of his life for a number of years, but he somehow managed to avoid having to know anything about the characters themselves or the story of the world that they were inhabiting. After the game finally went gold, and the first pressed disks arrived, he took his copy home, turned off his phone, pulled the curtains and played his game that he’d poured his heart and soul into through for the first time, going into it completely fresh. He said that until that point he hadn’t realised just how special what they’d made was, and he was able to enjoy it as if it wasn’t his game, so it can be done!

Greg

Correction: I normally don't submit corrections but this one I couldn't let slip since I'm a surgeon. Surgeons use surgical "instruments" Kyle, not "utensils." Cue curmudgeony grumble grumble.

it's a spider not an insect

LeeLore

Why didn't you talk about the Cy Games thing? Project Awakening

You guys talked about how the VR place in Tokyo wouldn't be a thing in the states, but there's a place called VR World in NYC that is exactly what you described.

Kyle, Brandon... if the place that Kyle's friend went to last year was VR Zone in Shinjuku, Tokyo... then I can tell you that the line for the asylum game was EASILY the longest line there almost daily.

D-Up Gaming

Hey Kyle, you can't just call an insect "daddy long legs" and then not explain! That is simply too weird a name! I first thought it was a weird 'hurt me daddy' bit, but it turns out to be an insect...?

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Great show guys! 1. Where do you guys got that Hollow Knight plush? :o 2. Kyle looks destroyed :(. 3. I feel SNK fighting games are a huge deal in Latin America and pro players. It's a great opportunity for them. 4. Belgium has already shutted down Overwatch lootboxes and NBA 2K18 microtransactions.

Leo S. Luna

I have to know what Brad is talking about now

Jason Rumsey

Thanks Kyle, now I HAVE to pet five llamas. . . .

Felt like the podcast first half was mostly Kyle speaking and commenting the news than other people participating. Everyone looks really tired too (probably cause you record the podcast at the end of the day ?). Hope you get more rest next week !

Térence Caron

Yes, DP show fan since 2008. Thank you for the correction. Fitzy LOL

ssnake24

I'm from Belgium, but i don't play any loot box games; so in don't know for sure, but either in Belgium or Netherlands (because Netherlands is taking steps too); you can buy the lootboxes but you can see what will be inside them in advance, before paying. So there is no gambling involved. But Brandon is probably right that it's just a political grandstand. The fun thing i remeber from Kingdom of Amalur Reckoning is that it felt like an offline WOW game, i loved that. Just one last thing; every time you guys say "we don't want to do this" or "deal with that" or "don"t feel like it" or "keep it short"; like the extra paragraphs Jones writes; i feel you're not being fair to Patreons and yourself; those are the things that can make you better as EZA and get you more subs. it's official; Brad's final word was the best ever !

Randy Verschueren

Looking like he's straight out of Spider-Man 3, emo Tobey Maguire vibes.

Chris H.

Is Kyle alright? He kinda looks a little rough this week.

:o holy cow! I listen to The Dan Patrick Show on the morning car ride to school every day! I've listened to that show for over 7 years :D I love it that Kyle listens to it. But yes, they raise their hand in order to speak (per their TV simulcast). CORRECTION: It's Fritzy, not Fitzy. Emphasize that r sound, Kyle

jif52

Watched this while I was painting the walls in my grandmas new house made that much more fun! L&R

Megan Linart

The juicy cliffhanger ending

Takuya Kimura was also the lead in Blade of the Immortal.

oh boy... Takuya Kimura is probably higher than Keanu-level in Japan... Dude is BIG TIME over there.

D-Up Gaming

I have to correct you on this. Belgium isn’t looking to sue, it’s looking to prosecute. You don’t sue a drug dealer over the noise it makes at night. You prosecute a criminal case to get a conviction.