Zero Punctuation: The E3 Trailer Park

[Pastey Old Greg]

I think people are missing out on Yahtzee's message in this episode. I've been watching the G4 coverage of E3 on my OnDemand network, and it made me sick. It's like that one Penny Arcade strip making fun of previewers ("How awesome is it?", "So Awesome") following it almost completely. There seems to be no skepticism in the games journalism industry these days (especially if you consider ad-space).

I remember reading glowing previews of Drake of the 99 Dragons in every magazine and site several years ago. I was ready for the game to be a ton of fun, only to watch them pull out their 1.005040334 out of 10 reviews when it came out. Everybody thought Killzone 2 was going to be the damned second coming when we saw that pre-rendered cutscene a few years back, and from what I saw it looks like any other Aliens space marine shooter that's released twice a month now. It just doesn't hurt to have a previewer say "Hey, let's not cut off our hair and ghoulies to worship this game over a pre-rendered CG cutscene or the announcement of one new gun quite yet."

I think that's why a lot of these newer original games like Portal get the raving reviews they do. Since they don't have arena-sized development studios, they can't get IGN.com to pull of a weekly developer's journal or some crap, so when they do come out there's no lofty expectation to meet, so we're taken aback by how good they are. I think once Spore comes out, it will be pretty damned fun, but I'm going to follow Molyneux's law which says that not everything promised week one will be there on release date (i.e. don't expect it to be all that and the whole damned Frito-Lay's factory).

 

[Yechezkel]

Spore won fucking "Game of Show". Doing a rundown of a convention without even mentioning the supposed best game there doesn't seem like much thought went into the review.
It was more like an argument for pessimism than anything else. Wait the video was about E3?

Unless Spore comes with an express ticket to the Garden of Eden, it won't live up to its hype.

 

[Slacker2000]

Gears of war 2 is probably the only game with a chance to satisfy me. Thanks Yahtzee! Very funny.

 

[TOGSolid]

The fact that Spore is a Molyneux game is reason enough for me to not expect anything out of it. The man may have once been a gaming god, but I really feel he's getting a bit too full of himself. Fable 1 was really not that good, and Black and White 2 was a stripped down piece of crap. Some of his comments in past articles are also showing signs that he really doesn't think that he can do any wrong.

Needless to say, this is definitely a try before I buy title.

 

[derpa]

Oh, except that the Fallout 3 feature he talked about is something you can choose to turn on or off. Turn it on and its evocative of a turn-based combat system from the original two games. Turn it off and it's like any other FPS. No cutscenes necessary.

It's a FPS with a gimmick, got it.

Outside of NMA you mean? Because outside of "ABANDON ALL HOPE!" Yahtzee-man, non-NMA Fallout fans are pretty much looking forward to this game.

Nice way to make a assumption for everyone.....

The fallout 3 awesome camera angle thing is only when you use VATS. So its optional, and I think it should get boring after the 20th or so time, cause I think VATS is a lame add-on that no self respecting FPS gamer will ever use short of being surrounded, having 2 health and only having the fatman, a gun that you NEVER want to fuck up a shot with

Thanks for proving the point that Fallout 3 is really just a FPS.

...It's not an FPS. It's an RPG and a system for targeting specific body parts was in both originals so it's not really an add on.

Seems your delusional, since Fallout 3 (Oblivion with guns) with some RPG elements thrown in.

I think there are a lot of people disappointed that they took the FPS/OTS (over the shoulder) style approach, and implemented a VATs system that really isn't like a turn based combat mechanic.

It's all very different, and IMO, shouldn't be called Fallout 3. It should really either be a remake of Fallout 1, or called something like, a Boy and His Dog, the video game...

I agree it shouldn't be called Fallout 3.

Hm.. yeah, Yahtzee mentioned fallout once in his Bioshock review, but besides that I guess if he did play it he didn't find to to be the creme de creme of western rpgs that many, many people have, or he'd bring it up more. Although, he's stated he only plays an rpg when effect by space radiation or something or other.

Fallout 3, having played both games long after they where released and really loving them, I think the sense of humor and xx content along with the killing kids thing could've been kept in had it been isometric. I mean, nobody complained about killing kids in Warcraft 3, cause they looked like deformed hobbits, but turn it into first person, make them realistic, and bingo, you've got something that will land you an OA rating.

So, rather than get creative, Bethsda said, lets just use this as grounds for tweaking the Elder Scrolls engine and do whatever the hell we want. Apparently what they loved about the game was all the violence, so keeping that in and putting that on display prominently was the number one priority, seeing from that's what they talk most about.

So tired of the cope out AO rating shit.....there is no proof that it would give them one and ALSO then why not release a special AO edition version on the PC. Also the WC3 thrown in is bullshit.

Indeed, Oblivion is a good example of action/combat game that they tried to toss off as a amazing RPG.

 

[ajk_1989]

Here's my thought on fallout 3. The character from fallout is male, a boy - thus making him a fallout boy. which is shit. now going on the nature of "the industry" (be that video games, porn, music, porn music, or small yellow porcupines wearing shirts that say "Want a poke?") someone will catch on to this lucky connection and do some last minute redesign of mr. fallout boy. so it'll be a man in grey metal armour with a dodgey moustache and a gigantic great emo fringe crying about all the zombies and mean people. either that or fallout boy will start getting interesting...

oh, nice hat by the way.

 

[Bowstring]

The fact that Spore is a Molyneux game is reason enough for me to not expect anything out of it. The man may have once been a gaming god, but I really feel he's getting a bit too full of himself. Fable 1 was really not that good, and Black and White 2 was a stripped down piece of crap. Some of his comments in past articles are also showing signs that he really doesn't think that he can do any wrong.

Needless to say, this is definitely a try before I buy title.

You must be a tad mixed up sir. Molyneux has nothing to do with Spore, he's developing Fable 2. Will Wright is the chief designer behind Spore.

Also, to the guy above this post: He's not a boy, he's a fully grown adult. "Fallout Boy" was originally a superhero who dealt with radiation in the Simpsons, not the modern band that everyone loves to hate. So even if the connection were made, that's the reasoning I'd fall back on.

Also: Cocks.

 

[Jumplion]

CLAP CLAP

OI!

haha, nice.

Great video Yahtzee, can't wait for next weeks.

 

[Castar]

Queer (as in "strange", you censoring ******** ;-)) ... I really thought Yahtzee would have liked the new PoP. OK so it's cel-shaded and there's a lot of bling in the art, but an action adventure game where you control two people as if they were one character actually sounds pretty snazzy and clever to me. For someone who seems to like some Cool New Idea(tm) now and then it's surprising that he'd seemingly rather have just a high-def remake of the sands of time series...

Oh and is his oppinion of the whole FF series based on anything more than the first disc of FF VII? =)

 

[Meneguzzi]

Let me just complement your complementation of Yahtzee's point. Being pessimist is a win-win position, because if you are right that the games will suck, you get the rewarding feeling of being able to say "Aha! I told you so!", and if they don't suck, you get the good games and have fun, and nobody will remember your pessimistic assessment. Unless, of course, you made your pessimist assessment into a video, but fuck that! You get the games!

 

[Nerdfury]

I get excited about games. I just don't let myself be disappointed if they happen to suck.

 

[MikePhilbin]

laughing my f***ing English ass off, fella.

PoP - did anyhone else spot the blatant Sonic3D rip-off?
FF#n - yeah, cinematics hide turn-based gameplay, right?
GoW2 - heathen!



now to the grim bit - sequelism. I know that many a 3D game now knows how to render stuff in 3D. It's a tried and trusted technology. What isn't so tried and tested is 'what a 3D game actually is'. Do you now realise, Yahtzee, that R.E.5 (and that's not a religious education revision) has won the coveted Gametrailers Game of the Show award? Anyway, cheese-riddled narrative aside, the art of what a 3D game might be is slowly but surely being understood, right? It's like all the previous 3D games since DOOM have been prototypical demos the publishers should have canned pre-release-mania leading up to the gameplay greatness hinted at by R.E.5. Ahum.

Anyway, here's some apocalyptic news about GLOBAL 3D TELEVISION [http://mikephilbin.blogspot.com/2008/07/3d-sky-tv-for-every-nation.html].

 

[Uszi]

Mmmh.
Celestial Lads.

 

[romitelli]

Microsoft really hammered one into the ps3's coffin with the fxii announcement.


Shameful.

 

[goodman528]

Good vid. Originality is taking too much risk these days, and that goes for both games and movies. Better to stick to what's proven to work, ie "a man in grey metal armour with a dodgey moustache and a gigantic great emo fringe crying about all the zombies and mean people" and sticking to the whole sci-fi shooter genre, with greyscale graphics.

 

[Alstan]

Last E3 was horrible with those casual Nintendo "games" and add-ons. M$ tried ripping off Miis, Sing Star, Eye toy and Final Fantasy XIII, and Sony shows the same games year after year.

I really missed a reference about Fable 2 but I guess you'll do it when it comes out.

About the Watchmen video... Awesome, but not for the same reason.

 

[FangsFirst]

I am mystified by the positivity surrounding that abysmal trailer for Watchmen. It looks like Snyder will continue his running habit of turning everything into a an action-cliché-infested cgi-fest that sort of seems like it's paying homage or respecting its source material, but this illusion disappears when words like "depth," "character," and "meaning" rear their ugly heads.

Seriously, how can you screw up the near-caveman simplicity of characters in 300? How did Leonidas become a wussy lover of his wife like that...while the line of dialogue from the book which is IN THE SCENE talks about how Sparta has no room for softness?!

 

[Anaphyis]

Yahtzee definitely jumped the shark, just pointless rambling I completely agree with. This was the best video ever but I like the older ones better and I hate the new cool Intro.

Moan.

 

[Meet_Your_Doom]

Brilliant as usual, but I agree that the "new cool intro" isn't as good as it used to be