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Gaming Steve Episode 41 - 03.07.2006
This week I provide the second part of my hands-on preview of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, talk about some of the changes on the site and podcast after one year, and a new person joins the Gaming Steve forums. You might know him, he goes by the name Will Wright and made a game called The Sims or something.... Enjoy!
Gaming Steve Episode 41 Program
- 00:07:02 Game News:
- Sony sells the Metreon.
- Red 5 Studios and Webzen sign a deal.
- Dungeons & Dragons Online launches.
- World of Warcraft hits 6 million and adds the Spanish language.
- Live Arcade gets five more.
- Microsoft to start $10 Greatest Hits program.
- Oblivion is done, all hail Oblivion.
- What the heck is this Microsoft Origami project?
- Another analysts predicts PS3 delay.
- Rockstar Games serves up ... Table Tennis?
- 00:30:37 SporeTalk: Spore to evolve onto handhelds? And when is a game "leak" really a "leak"?
- 00:38:36 Game Preview: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360 and PC, part two.
- 01:14:15 RetroReview: Planescape: Torment for the PC.
- 01:26:55 “Name That Game!” contest winner from last week, a new clip, and a very cool prize!
- 01:30:32 Show Mail: I answer your text and Oblivion questions.
- 01:58:03 Final Thoughts: What should I do next week for my one year anniversary show? And what to expect from my reports at the Game Developers Conference 2006 and I-Con appearances.
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Yay! Thanks a lot Gaming Steve you've made my day!
BTW who is Will Wright? ;)
Posted by Rob (aquaman) at March 7, 2006 4:08 PMThank you thank you thank you!!!
Posted by PatMan33 at March 7, 2006 4:12 PMI like your take on games. "Reviews" but for me it doesn't need to be a full blown review. Just your take on the particular game. Your insight even if you don't take 40 hours to play to the end credits is what is different and valuable to me as a listener.
Posted by Shoki at March 7, 2006 4:33 PMCool new graphic Steve!
Oh, and about your answer to the "gone gold" question, my Game and Simulation Professor, with 17 years of industry experience, agree's with you. It also says that in our textbook, so I think you are 100% correct!
Posted by Mr. Wizard at March 7, 2006 4:48 PMNice one, I'll listen to it now :) Thanks!
Posted by Brutus at March 7, 2006 4:50 PMNOOO!! I was one of the people that correctly answered the Name That Game correctly last show!
*sniff*
Well, what happened before is in the past. Have to learn the lesson (although there is no real lesson here) and move on. There's always next time.
Posted by Shadowcreep at March 7, 2006 6:34 PMRadient AI...
I know its not quite the same but in harvest moon you saw everyone walk away from there shops after closing. Also im not sure but i think zelda might of had this aswell... but im not sure
Proud to say I've never played a Sims game, ever. Why am I proud of that?
Sure, they might actually be great games, but as I see it, the Sims has become an easy way for EA to rake in cash by the armfuls that they do not deserve in the slightest. How many different Sims add-ons have there been over the years anyway?! That's why I refuse to play them.
I've also never played WoW. Not that I haven't got a bunch of friends who do. I've watched them play it, and I've also watched them pass on doing stuff with me and other buddies to play WoW because they're needed for some raid or yet another trip to Molten Core, and to be honest I don't have the time for a game that requires hours and hours and hours of slogging just to get a shiney new piece of special armour. I'm not saying it isn't a great game, but if like me you'd rather invest that time doing something else (or playing numerous other games in that same space of time), it just isn't worth the effort, or the monthly subscription fee.
Posted by GunForHire at March 7, 2006 6:59 PMOmg Steve, that was a doozy. Two hours... you gotta cut it down a but. Its all grand stuff but it was just so long. Why not maybe do one hour, twice a week? Break the podcast up?
Posted by OmniOck at March 7, 2006 7:00 PMGreat show steve, these popcasts are the highlight of the week. I agree though, mabey cutting back a little bit on the time of the popcasts duration, and increasing their quantity.
Posted by Evil Lil Spore at March 7, 2006 7:44 PMI have been listening to ExtraLife Radio for a while now. Good stuff, always funny to listen to.
As for people not noticeing the changes to the font, etc. to the website. That must have been at the same time that I upgraded to Internet Explorer 7. For people that use it as well, some sites will look a little different or very different. I just figured that it was Internet Explorer 7 making things look different.
Posted by Sudoh Kyoichi at March 7, 2006 7:52 PMHi Steve,
A few questions about Oblivion...
How exactly does leveling up work? More specifically, how do stat multipliers work?
In Morrowind, if you increased three skills with seperate base stats by 10 points each, when you leveled, each respective base stat would have a x5 multiplier applied to it. This allowed you to train way past your level requirement (30 skill-ups, when only 10 are needed to level), gaining yourself three x5 multipliers EVERY LEVEL; basically becoming god by level 15 (with the added frustration that level numbers were completely meaningless as skills could range dozens of points different at the same level depending on how aggressively you played the system).
This was always extremely disapointing to me, as I would much rather have had a 10 skill-up maximum each level, with a curve, where say the most leveled skill got a x5, the next a x3, and the last a x2, with any unused skills unchanged at x1. I've heard mention of a skill-up cap per level in Oblivion. Is this anything like how it works? Do extra skill-ups then carry over between levels?
I've also read wildly differing reports about the load time between zones on the 360. You mentioned that they were hardly worth mentioning (woot!), and were very similar to the PC, which I assume was a monster gaming rig. I was wondering if you could post your estimates in seconds, and how frequently they appear? I've also read reports claiming that lengthy load walls are crossed approximately every 10 seconds while riding horses. Any truth to this?
Also, how difficult is it to aim ranged attacks with the 360 gamepad? Is there any sort of auto-aiming system, ala Halo?
Sorry for all the Xbox questions. With my first child on the way, and no money to speak of, my top-of-the-line-in-2001 computer isn't getting upgraded any time soon. But after the 200+ hours I spent in Morrowind, it's hard to describe just how excited I am for this game (already ordered my CE copy!). I'm just curious, and waiting very impatiently for March 21st. :)
nice graphic, it has Donkey Kong & Mario, and then... what are the other two characters supposed to be? anyone know?
Posted by Deep Lee at March 7, 2006 9:52 PMCrazy! I just started playing planescape again. I love that game. Can't wait to hear the retro-review. What are the chances?
Posted by Spencer Reeve at March 7, 2006 10:31 PMThe brown guy with the nose is Q-Bert, but I have no idea who the doctor with the weird tentacle head is...
Posted by I am always right. at March 8, 2006 12:11 AMUh... that'd be Gordon Freeman with a headcrab attached.
Posted by GolemCC at March 8, 2006 1:08 AMnoob
Posted by Jones at March 8, 2006 1:27 AMWhere's that Will Wright post? I can't find it =)
Posted by Jecrell at March 8, 2006 2:43 AMStrange, iTunes download only a part of the podcast. It cuts of at 58 minutes.
Hope the mp3 is complete.
Posted by DoggySpew at March 8, 2006 4:23 AMMind you first, I still didn't listen to the very end of the podcast, but so far so good.
In your review about Oblivion, you talk about the instant-travel wonder (GuildWars like, it seems) and how nice it is, then you say it makes sense to walk out a cleared dungeon? How does that makes any sense at all?
Didn't make sense to me ...
Posted by Jorge Salvador Caffarena at March 8, 2006 8:06 AMTo find Will's posts, go to the bottom of the forums front page and click on "Member List", then click on the leter "S", from there look for Spore_Will, once in his profile click on latest posts and read away.
Loved the 2nd half of the Oblivion preview, loved the rest of the show too.
Posted by TheShark at March 8, 2006 10:06 AMI think I'm beccoming addicted to your show, don't know if that's a good thing though ;)
Posted by Pedro at March 8, 2006 10:51 AMI like how you think Sheena Easton is an impressive voice talent. She should stick to playing drums.
Posted by Sworn at March 8, 2006 11:41 AMGaaaaaaminnnnnnng Steveeeeeeeee.. Gaaaaaaaaammming Steve.
Who is da man with da game infoooooorrrrrmatttttttiooooon.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmminnnnnnng Steve!
Posted by JImmy Beano at March 8, 2006 2:01 PMCRAB BATTLE!
Posted by w0rf at March 8, 2006 2:22 PMHey Gaming Steve When is the new Sony Terrorist "Cell" getting activated>?
Hey Stephen, for some reason your podcast on iTunes only makes it to the 1:15:17 mark for me. I thought it was just me, but someone else mentioned it above as well. Maybe it is a bandwidth problem? I'm not sure....but I thought you should know about it. Thanks again for the stamps btw!
Posted by Dorian at March 8, 2006 4:24 PMWhy is your podcast so long and drawn out? I swear I was listening to the part wher eyou describe where the term "Gone Gold" comes from.. I listened for like 5 mins then got a call so I took my headphones off but forgot to pause. 5 mins later I put them back on and you had just got to the point of saying that the term comes from burning the gold master copy. Holy crap! It shouldn't take that long to describe a simple thing!
Posted by JImmy Beano at March 8, 2006 4:41 PMSometimes iTunes just sort of stops for no reason (or the connection could have been lost in the middle of the download). I have seen this before, but it is fairly rare. Multiple connections shouldn't be a problem at all as the site is on a killer dedicated server.
If worst comes to worst you can download the podcast from this site (just right-click) and then drag and drop into iTunes. But it downloaded fine for me. Sorry to hear that you had problems downloading!
Posted by Gaming Steve at March 8, 2006 5:01 PM"How exactly does leveling up work? More specifically, how do stat multipliers work?"
It's extremely complex actually, but here is a general overview:
Suppose you wanted to advance a skill from 15 to 16.
Major, within class specialization: 6.76 uses
Major, non-specialization: 9.02 uses
Minor, within class specialization: 11.27 uses
Minor, non-specialization: 15.03 uses
And those numbers get higher and higher in an exponential curve with higher skill levels.
The amount you get for using a skill depends on the skill. For athletics, for example, you get a VERY small skill usage for every second you run. Magic skills give you a usage either when you cast or when you find a target, depending on the school.
"I've also read wildly differing reports about the load time between zones on the 360."
It wasn't that bad to me, but my horse wasn't all that fast. The load times were so fast that it didn't bother me much.
"Also, how difficult is it to aim ranged attacks with the 360 gamepad? Is there any sort of auto-aiming system, ala Halo?"
It was tricky using the 360 controller, especially when trying to hit a moving target. The mouse was much, much easier to use. Not sure if there is auto-aiming, I sure hope so!
Posted by Gaming Steve at March 8, 2006 5:07 PMYou are correct abiyt gold masters and glass masters - Cheers!
Posted by Mesklinite at March 8, 2006 5:42 PMHey Steve - could you give us an idea of what the specs were on the PC you used to demo the game? I'm assuming it was a monster rig but I'd like to know what kind of rig the developers were using to display the game for review. Thanks.
Posted by jiveon at March 9, 2006 11:30 AMConcerning the review-section:
Honestly, i really don't care too much what the game actually is; there are thousands of sites dedicated to that. What is really important to me is your opinion; i don't care in which world the game is set and how cool the installer was. Skip the info we can get everywhere and give us the thing we come here for: your opinion as a gamer/game designer.
I think you could add more retroviews. I really love to be reminded of the "old" (Planescape Torment happend almost yesterday ;-) ) games. I just fired up Planescape torment and must say that i won't get much sleep tonight, because i have to find a way to die.
Posted by Alphager at March 9, 2006 3:34 PMGreat podcast yet again! Thank you!
Posted by Necros at March 9, 2006 6:06 PMThanks for talking about [b]Planescape: Torment[/b]; it's such an amazing game I haven't played for a few years, and hearing about now just really made we want to play it over again -- which I think I'll do tomorrow. Too bad it failed commercially. Thanks again.
Posted by Inglorion at March 9, 2006 7:54 PMAbout reviews: They are my favorite part of your podcast, but if you don't have the time to do them you don't have to do them in my opinion. Or only do one of them each week. Either a retro review or a normal review.
Posted by Sagan at March 10, 2006 8:18 AMAbout the NPC citizens who maintain a daily routine in Oblivion, it's not exactly new. Origin was doing this with Ultima VII way back in 1992. Shop owners would close up their businesses and head home to bed, city guards would light street lamps in the evening and extinquish them in the morning, etc. Good times.
Posted by mjs at March 10, 2006 11:11 AMi have never played World Of Warcraft
Posted by Brian at March 10, 2006 3:58 PMNice podcast keep it up.
Don't listen to people who say the show is too long! It is too short in my opinion! Can't get enough of you Steve :)
Oh and by the way, I think you should answer more questions, as this is the bit where i look forward to the most, since you always have that bit of insider knowledge that you can't read about just anywhere on the net.
Sonic The Hedgehog(next-gen) is also slated to come out on the PS3. You didn't mention that. :P
Posted by Nathan at March 13, 2006 12:50 AM"And there was the heir to the throne played by Michael Biehn, who played that boromir character from LOTR"
Funny I wasn't aware Michael Biehn did voice work for oblivion :P
Michael Bien the great actor from Terminator, Aliens, etc
I think he meant "Sean" bean lol
Great podcast as always
Posted by Commentfox at March 15, 2006 10:26 AMWith regards World of Warcraft and all the other online only games. They are helping the PC gaming hobby die, as you now see hardly any PC games in retailers any more compared with a couple years ago. They are helping AI in single gaming improve a lot more slowly, again meaning more dumb games that turn pc gamers (expecially) off and also, because they are online, there is no independent system to check any of the numbers given out and no online gaming media (or print media) have ever had an 'investigating' arm. Just a printing of publisher Press Releases tweaked to look like editorial. Practically all other media investigate and understand there is always going to be something shady going on, but in video gaming the media are just not willing to say anyhting bad about anybody except for the odd low budget game (that could be brilliant) that they can still slag off because it's a small publisher who doesn't 'matter'.
So when we have independent proof of how well these online games are doing (Do you know for example, a website or online game can offer a 'money back guarantee' as long as you cancel within 30 days, but they will still count you as a subscriber for the next year whether you cancel or not?!), and when we see what it is doing to the hobby, I am not so sure we should be so cock-a-hoop about them, whether we play them or not.
Posted by John at August 4, 2006 2:21 PMPlease keep your comments relevant to this entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.