Comments on: PC Gamer Podcast: The Future’s Dim

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:42:34 +0000

Obviously you’d have to buy our exciting new issue to find out for sure. It’s not that one, but it’s ‘related’.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:24:40 +0000

As best I can tell, the RCT Coaster Carnage video is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQrC_C6SexI If so, it was better in the telling.

By: HoW Jones [J-Server Wannabee]

HoW Jones [J-Server Wannabee] — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:46:28 +0000

The future is dim, if the future’s Rachel Penny, Adam Oxford and Rich Stanton. Why don’t you and Tim write reviews any more?

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:34:27 +0000

Not quite the same thing, but Robin’s words when first explaining Payload to us were, roughly, “This is what came out of us thinking about the Hunted. The highs were very high in that mode, but the lows were very low, so we wondered if we could keep those highs but also get rid of some of the lows.” I asked what lows, he said the rounds when the person playing VIP doesn’t know what they’re doing. They didn’t want the quality of the whole team’s experience to hinge on the skill of one player.

They’ve also said Payload wouldn’t preclude them from revisiting the Hunted, though I can’t remember if that was to me or if I just read it.

Mysterious scraps found in Valve’s code are more often remnants of the past than portents of the future. There’s a whole territorial control mode in the CS:S code that someone dug up about a year ago. I asked Robin about it, and it was just something they tried out briefly years ago, which didn’t work out. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was just a leftover from when they were trying the Hunted before they honed it down to Payload – it references the exact mechanic that they cited as their dissatisfaction with the old game mode.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:13:14 +0000

Ask roburky, unless he's just passing on what he heard. The closest I can find is this Gamespy thing and a couple of references to the TF2 commentary tracks, which may explain why it's not readily available as text. There's also the Payload page itself which ties it to Hunted in less final language.

By: Cheeetar

Cheeetar — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:46:32 +0000

Where did they say Payload was meant to replace Hunted?

By: Jason L

Jason L — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:26:53 +0000

Maybe, but people thought the same thing after the VIP appeared in Meet the Sniper. People more knowledgeable than I am say that Valve’s explicitly defined Payload as the improved successor to VIP.

By: Cheeetar

Cheeetar — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:15:03 +0000

According to the people who play the Dutch version of TF2, The VIP game mode is next, based on a loading screen tip which featured the civilian:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770609

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:43:47 +0000

That was epic, Zom, nice work. I’m going to be putting up a few of my own GTA IV shorts soon, I can’t stop tinkering with the editor. You and I have similar taste in ending humour, as you’ll see.

By: Roadrunner

Roadrunner — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:00:02 +0000

Also, Valve cleverly broke the Gibs in the latest TF2 update.
I was having a sniper war with someone across the balconies of 2fort, and everytime I got him his body would explode into gibs. This was funny, but wore thin, because Rockets, Stickies and pipe bombs don’t make gibs half the time now, and send you flying like the physics in L4D where you shoot a hunter at close range with a hunting rifle.

By: Roadrunner

Roadrunner — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:55:55 +0000

I wish there were more satirical topical slices of wit in the podcast, for example you could of atleast thrown a shoe or something.

By: ZomBuster

ZomBuster — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:04:12 +0000

Craig is wrong about GTA 4 tough, it’s actually really easy to circumvent the Live protection.

See this video of me for a good example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44TelUnJYk

By: RC-1290'Dreadnought'

RC-1290'Dreadnought' — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:46:33 +0000

I never played the RCT sequels, did they really cut out the drowning?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:20:11 +0000

You could kill people in RC Tycoon by making the car go too fast and fly off the tracks. Sometimes this happened accidentally, and your day got ruined.

By: Roadrunner

Roadrunner — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:46:51 +0000

Wow you guys speak in a monotonous stammery drone like me too! But what your podcast really needs is a catchy jingle at the beginning annoucing the podcast, instead of someone going “Hello this is the PC Gamer podcast!” Three suggestions I could think of …
A gospel choir singing “PEE-SEE GAMEERRR!!”
A cool DJ scratchy effect with PC Gamer overlayed in.
A Bunch of Valve sound effects saying “PC Gamer Podcast.” For example the heavy going “Dun dun dun dun dun, PC Gamer Podcast! For BABIES!” “Yo, its da PC Gamer podcast! Boink!”

Actually the last one sucks. But to save money you can get all the PC gamer staff to sing gospel-style.

By: ZomBuster

ZomBuster — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:06:58 +0000

This is the best snow script I have ever seen!

By: Rei Onryou

Rei Onryou — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:56:47 +0000

The podcast wins big points for stories such as the Rollercoaster one (link to vid would be appreciated) that just wouldn’t work as well in print as they do with Tom telling the story. From what I remember, you could kill people in RCT1. A rollercoaster with no end and a big drop would kill people, as well as dropping them in a lake and watching them drown. Of course, these could just be perverse dreams of what RCT should have been. *cough*

By: Lack_26

Lack_26 — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:53:47 +0000

I went to sleep listening to this, the tone of Steve’s voice lulled me into a deep sleep. Then I woke up and listened to the rest.

Good work with the podcasts, now, I’ll set my robots on you all if you don’t step up production so the magazine arrives in double size every 48 hours and the podcasts once every 12 hours.

By: J-Man

J-Man — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:17:42 +0000

@Pentadact

Yeah, snow’s working fine now.

By: LaZodiac

LaZodiac — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:54:04 +0000

@Gryphon: Awesome.

@Pentadact: If you were trying to make it so the snow piles up on the bottom of the screen, then yes, mission complete!

If not, oops. I almost spelt you name as Pendatact for absolutly no reason.

I talk to much.

By: Gryphon

Gryphon — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 04:11:36 +0000

One thing that wasn’t mentioned is that the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 actually changes the Main Quest so that the game doesn’t end when you finish it.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:09:28 +0000

High five, Pod! I was wondering if anyone would pick me up on that.

Regarding temporarily square snow: that was me tinkering with it to fix the horizontal scrollbar issue. Seems to have worked?

By: LaZodiac

LaZodiac — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:25:41 +0000

Ohhh, I didn’t know they were just MP3 files.

Now I feel dumb.

@J-Man: Don’t worry man, I hate iPod’s. I see no use in them.

By: Pod

Pod — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:21:09 +0000

JUST COMING!
I get the podcast via RSS. I’m only 5 second in or so, I heard that STEPHEN and I hunted down the site to exorcise the STEPHEN! side me.

Also: Lovin’ the snow, lad.

By: Roadrunner

Roadrunner — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:59:16 +0000

You know in that movie Blades of Glory, Jon Heder’s characters biggest fan?
That appears to be J-Man.

By: Tentaculat

Tentaculat — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:35:06 +0000

For those who find roller coaster violence amusing (who doesn’t?) be sure to check out the excellent roller coaster death scene from Final Destination 3. Here’s a link if you’re too lazy/busy/broke to watch the film:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqYlxS_bLeE

Though it is 6 minutes long… *shivers excitedly*

By: J-Man

J-Man — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:28:05 +0000

On a side note, I freaking hate how everyone thinks an iPod is some glorious technological advancement that revolutionised the way we lived. Bottom line; it’s an mp3 player with a screen.

By: Simpunzle

Simpunzle — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:21:59 +0000

LaZodiac – podcasts do not require an iPod, iTunes, a Mac or any other Apple product.

It’s an MP3 file.

By: Cpt.Muffin

Cpt.Muffin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:39:02 +0000

Did Steve steal his voice from Jack Dee?

By: Dave_C

Dave_C — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:24:13 +0000

Fantastic stuff. I’d dearly like to see that RollerCoaster Tycoon Youtube video. That outline you gave was hilarious. Had a look, but couldn’t find it. Lots of people seem to enjoy making rollercoaster disaster scenarios. I did enjoy doing that with the RCT games of old.

By: J-Man

J-Man — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:50:36 +0000

I think you guys need more guest speakers. Or maybe up the amount of people in the podcast to 5. I can’t go without the smooth, deep and relaxing tones of Mr. Walker.

By: Jimmay

Jimmay — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:28:37 +0000

My, you’re British.

I just found it really amusing because as I read your work, I automatically hear it as Americanized English, since, you know, being an American, that’s how I perceive the English language. Even when you throw in a “bloody” or a “wanker”, I still hear it as American, since my friends and I will ironically throw those into conversations, much as I’m sure you’d throw in a stereotyped “god damnit” or “sonofabitch”.

It just made me laugh on a really shitty morning in Chicago. Thanks, Tom!

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:24:48 +0000

You are too slow for Pentadact's ninja repair skills, LaZodiac; he fixed it in the time it took me to drive to work. That's customer(?) service! I actually found the alpha-blended missing-image icon snowstorm pleasantly surreal, at least in that small dose.

By: LaZodiac

LaZodiac — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:13:50 +0000

I don’t understand you guys. That stuff is round, to be sure.

Changes direction when on the post page, but whatever.

On topic! I don’t have an I Pod. No podcast for me.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:26:23 +0000

Clarification: Snowstorm works properly on the front page, loses its image on post pages. Probability of relative-URL problem: .999

By: Jazmeister

Jazmeister — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:25:52 +0000

@Dreadnought That’s exactly the converse of my situation; when I’m writing something or reading something, I can’t listen to podcats because I end up writing whatever I’m listening to.

Hey, what is this, falling squares land? Eh? Eh fellas?

By: TooNu

TooNu — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:59:11 +0000

Your man Steve there is quite funny :) Craig sounds like an old school mate of mine called Peter, he was also a smug git.

By: RC-1290'Dreadnought'

RC-1290'Dreadnought' — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:58:50 +0000

This stuff is very enjoyable, especially when I’m photo-shopping.

By: J-Man

J-Man — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:17:29 +0000

yyyyaaayyyy ppoooddddccaaasssstttt!!!

sorry, but this is usually the highlight of my month. Oh, and the snowstorm appears to be malfunctioning, blowing little squares instead of snow.

By: Nonomu198

Nonomu198 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:12:14 +0000

…malprobable!

By: Jesse

Jesse — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:12:37 +0000

BUT HOW?? :/

By: NikoPSK

NikoPSK — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:22:09 +0000

L4D sequel? :|