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Easy Allies |OT3| "That sounds like the GameTrailers guy!"

luchadork

Member
A little different but I have a friend who works at Lucasfilm (she works on Star Wars stuff) and she eats all three meals a day at work and only goes home to sleep. What's the point of working somewhere cool if all you do is work? I only get to see her once a year when she comes out of the cave, and she can't even talk to anyone about what she does. I used to want to work in the movie business but not anymore, not after seeing her lifestyle.

some people really fucking like working and their jobs. like their whole existence revolves around their work. i know. its disgusting. but it doesnt seem like that much of a stretch to imagine some of those people ending up at the places that make star wars or uncharted.
 

MrMette

Member
he said it near the beginning of the Slime Rancher stream

Oh ok, strange I missed it as I watched that one as well (although I was playing a game at the same time, so probably missed it because of that).

I have never played Yakuza 2 myself (only played 4 and 0 and will play Kiwami 2 when it comes out (and Kiwami 1 in some months most likely)), but in the Yakuza Kiwami review thread there were a lot of "rank the yakuza games" lists and either 2 or 0 were most people's favorite as far as I could see. So somewhat strange.
 

dickroach

Member
so I was watching some show on MTV.com, and they still have a commercial playing on their media player for the GT App on Xbox360 with Kyle, Ian, and Elyse in it haha. wtf is Viacom even doing
 

IanHinck

Neo Member
so I was watching some show on MTV.com, and they still have a commercial playing on their media player for the GT App on Xbox360 with Kyle, Ian, and Elyse in it haha. wtf is Viacom even doing

Lol I'm standing in Viacom right now doing some editing for the VMAs, I showed your post to some of the people who also worked here in the GT days and we all had a good laugh. We all hope it just keeps playing in there forever haha.
 

Deimo5

Member
I often find it harder to follow these supernatural fiascos, seems like it almost always ends up there though. It can still be good without aliens and time travel and stuff. At least I don't remember Regina's Wedding going there and it feels like a popular one. Otherwise it's like they are channelling David Cage in a lot of cases.
 

UrbanRats

Member
I often find it harder to follow these supernatural fiascos, seems like it almost always ends up there though. It can still be good without aliens and time travel and stuff. At least I don't remember Regina's Wedding going there and it feels like a popular one. Otherwise it's like they are channelling David Cage in a lot of cases.

I like both, but their best one doesn't, indeed, include supernatural (the heist one).

Jones was great in this one though, even if the story didn't quite come together, probably because playing in 3 threw them off, as they had 4 scenes less than usual.
 

Auctopus

Member
I often find it harder to follow these supernatural fiascos, seems like it almost always ends up there though. It can still be good without aliens and time travel and stuff. At least I don't remember Regina's Wedding going there and it feels like a popular one. Otherwise it's like they are channelling David Cage in a lot of cases.

It nearly always ends up with a female character being able to manipulate the time space continuum or something similar.

They are definitely hard to follow sometimes though, I completely gave up on the superhero one as I got so lost.

The more grounded ones are some of their best content though.
 

Mista Koo

Member
Really liked Taxman's question on the podcast. I agree that standardization of controllers and control layout is often limiting. Unfortunately the 3DS killed stylus gaming, and the last great innovation was wasted on the Vita (back touch).
That's not to say that controllers' R&D is dead. The Joy-con brought back the Wiimote's motion and added the HD Rumble (it's weird how both the question asker and the panel totally ignored the Switch's default controller). The Dualshock 4 added the amazing share button and the clumsily big button in the middle of the controller.

Also the thing they said about having an analog stick for the character and another for the camera, that doesn't need to be a standard for 3rd person non-shooters. Having to use two thumbs just to move is not very accessible. When did games decide that the user should do the camera work rather than the game??

Re: latest Fiasco supernatural twist, guess what theme I was going to make a playset about :(

I do partially agree with Kyle about Shadow of the Colossus.

Not Ian, it's not a cash-grab. I think it's a passion project but I don't know if that'll be enough. Especially made me think when Kyle said "What's the motive of this being made?"
It's a cash grab. It's a game that was already remastered 6 years ago.

Cash grabs can still be passion projects. I'm pretty sure there are people who work on the annual Maddens, Fifas, ACs, and CoDs that are very passionate about them, doesn't make them any less of cash grabs.
 
It's a cash grab. It's a game that was already remastered 6 years ago.

Cash grabs can still be passion projects. I'm pretty sure there are people who work on the annual Maddens, Fifas, ACs, and CoDs that are very passionate about them, doesn't make them any less of cash grabs.

I mean... there's very few things in gaming that aren't a crash grab. And this SotC is a remake and that was one a remaster.
 

Auctopus

Member
It's a cash grab. It's a game that was already remastered 6 years ago.

Cash grabs can still be passion projects. I'm pretty sure there are people who work on the annual Maddens, Fifas, ACs, and CoDs that are very passionate about them, doesn't make them any less of cash grabs.

Well, with that perspective you might as well call everything a cash-grab. Everything's a product to sell to someone so everything's a cash-grab.
 

Mista Koo

Member
Well, with that perspective you might as well call everything a cash-grab. Everything's a product to sell to someone so everything's a cash-grab.
I wasn't trying to be controversial or edgy. But if you don't consider annual release cash grabs you probably wouldn't consider any game a cash grab ¯_(ツ)_/¯
 

Karu

Member
Around 6 hours til Kiwami time.. I'm gonna flip!

Won't wati for Kiwami 2, though before 6 comes out and start with 3, 4 and 5 right after. (Have to get a copy of 3 though, first. Around 25€ on amazon)
 
It's a cash grab. It's a game that was already remastered 6 years ago.

Cash grabs can still be passion projects. I'm pretty sure there are people who work on the annual Maddens, Fifas, ACs, and CoDs that are very passionate about them, doesn't make them any less of cash grabs.

What does being remastered 6 years ago have to do with anything? This remake is no more a cash grab than that remaster was. They're both bringing an old game to a modern system.

TBH, I think the "cash grab" thing is pretty ridiculous. To use a recent example, I didn't hear Mario Kart 8 Deluxe being called a cash grab, even though it was far more blatant than this. The reality is, if Shu were only interested in money, he would've cancelled TLG years before its release, never given Bluepoint a budget to completely remake SotC and forgotten Team Ico even existed. Those projects (including the remasters and remakes) aren't just cash grabs, they're passion projects, particularly for Shu because Team Ico was his team for so long.

Around 6 hours til Kiwami time.. I'm gonna flip!

Won't wati for Kiwami 2, though before 6 comes out and start with 3, 4 and 5 right after. (Have to get a copy of 3 though, first. Around 25€ on amazon)

The good news is Yakuza 3 actually has a comprehensive summary of 2, so you can get caught up on what happened. It'll spoil a lot of what you'll eventually see in Kiwami 2 but a lot of that was going to happen anyway if you're playing through 3-6 anyway.

So I just caught up on the latest Easy Update and that was awesome. Even though I was aware of the game, the title still flew way over my head right up until it started. Great to see Observer get some coverage.
 
What's the difference? A)It's still the same game. B)They are both attempts to make the game more palatable on the latest console, just on a different scale and budget.

What's the difference between a remaster and a remake? I think that's fairly self evident when you look at a title like SotC or the recent Crash trilogy.

And to echo some of what LiquidSolid is saying, to call remasters and remakes of Team Ico games cash-grabs is a bit out there. Those games have never had good sales, especially compared to the rest of the Sony stable.

If anything, this is probably a prime example of a remake being greenlit due to the prestige of the tile rather than a sales/profit projection.
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
What does being remastered 6 years ago have to do with anything? This remake is no more a cash grab than that remaster was. They're both bringing an old game to a modern system.

TBH, I think the "cash grab" thing is pretty ridiculous. To use a recent example, I didn't hear Mario Kart 8 Deluxe being called a cash grab, even though it was far more blatant than this. The reality is, if Shu were only interested in money, he would've cancelled TLG years before its release, never given Bluepoint a budget to completely remake SotC and forgotten Team Ico even existed. Those projects (including the remasters and remakes) aren't just cash grabs, they're passion projects, particularly for Shu because Team Ico was his team for so long.

No artist I've ever encountered in my life has a "passion" for doing busywork on a carbon copy of somebody else's ideas.

I'll agree that I think it would be a stretch to call it a cash grab, though. There are easier ways for a publisher to make money, surely. It's more of a branding thing. A "get Shadow of the Colossus on three straight consoles because it's a legendary title that we should be able to continue to take advantage of without making a straight up sequel" kind of thing.
 
No artist I've ever encountered in my life has a "passion" for doing busywork on a carbon copy of somebody else's ideas.

I'll agree that I think it would be a stretch to call it a cash grab, though. There are easier ways for a publisher to make money, surely. It's more of a branding thing. A "get Shadow of the Colossus on three straight consoles because it's a legendary title that we should be able to continue to take advantage of without making a straight up sequel" kind of thing.

I said it was a passion project of Sony/Shu's, not the developers. But having said that, who're you to say it isn't a passion project for Bluepoint either? I find it hard to believe they don't have any passion for what they do when their output is so consistently excellent.

TBH, I would consider a Shadow of the Colossus 2 far more of a cash grab than a remake. That's a game that SHOULD be standalone, not a franchise or anything like that. The SotC Sackboys in LBP are about as much as I'll tolerate with crossovers too.
 

PepperedHam

Member
This is a very common sentiment but god damn I love the Gundam streams. Seriously some of their best content, so many great conversations flow out of them and it's such a chill laid back style. A lot of people will put twitch streams on because they like to feel like they're chilling with their favorite creator, that and the group stream achieve that goal 1000000%.

Never stop building Gundams.
 
i'd argue that the creative process is hard to plan out accurately. some level of crunch is necessary if you're determined to make great pieces of art while also trying to meet the financial realities of making said art.

[...]

sometimes the vision you had in your head doesnt work out and you need to rework it. so youre either going to a) make something subpar that hits budget and timeline, b) something that is good but costs more than budgeted which can often result in less future funding, or c) you work harder for a period of time to hit budget/timeline/standards. its just a reality.


I disagree on everything you said, point by point, but it would be petulant to write a long-winded rebuttal. I'll just note a couple of things:

- crunch is bad for the industry and men and women that work in our favourite studios.

- no crunch does not mean "no deadlines"

- high quality output and no crunch are compatible.

- a last push for the last month of development, properly regulated and compensated is not optimal but could be ok. It's difficult to draw a line tough. We hear horror stories of never ending months of crunch. Let's just agree that crunch is bad.

- we heard those naughty dog stories between 2 and 3. Have you seen the credits for 4 and lost legacy? They have outsourced their assets to dozens of external studios. They clearly changed their development plan for the better, and they have clearly steered in another direction. They know crunch is bad and they don't want to bleed their talent away.

- if after the hundreds of testimonies of people in this industry telling us that crunch is bad, and makes projects worse, that pushes talents away, you still need sources and citations, I don't know what to tell you. There's plenty of proof out there, I'm sure you can find it easily.

- I hope you're not crunching yourself, because that's what usually happens to people under that kind of stress, they justify it instead of taking a step back and doing the right thing. I can tell you that I crunched hard for my work this summer and I regret it, it was wrong and I should have done differently.

- did I already tell you that crunch is bad?
 

farisr

Member
No artist I've ever encountered in my life has a "passion" for doing busywork on a carbon copy of somebody else's ideas.
We live in a world where we get fan mods that are strictly about improving visuals in a game, and are offered up for free. That doesn't happen without passion, and does involve a ton of busywork. Unless you don't consider them artists for whatever reason.

It wouldn't surprise me if Bluepoint, with their history of projects, has attracted and gathered many people who do have a similar passion for remaking and getting classic games looking the best they can with current tech.

A personal anecdote, not game development, but I remember when I was younger (around 9-10), I'd get DBZ character portraits/images that were scanned from magazines, that didn't have images available anywhere else on the net, and would basically end up recreating those (1:1) in vector format, so they were available in the highest quality possible on PC. That was my passion at the time. Recreating artwork in digital format just so it'd be out there in higher quality, I spent dozens of hours getting it just right (as I was recreating line work basically).
 
Excellent Friend Code, moving up the ranks of best shows from EZA and Fiasco was hilarious although the dynamics of just 3 means it was lacking as much variety as previous eps. Jone dodging those easy cues Ian and Kyle were dangling was superb.
 

muteki

Member
I went out to see the one of the Ghibli films they are running through theaters now (Casle in the Sky) and I was surprised to see a Easy Allies logo included in a sponsor/ad list before the movie. Back door Ghibli deals?
 
I went out to see the one of the Ghibli films they are running through theaters now (Casle in the Sky) and I was surprised to see a Easy Allies logo included in a sponsor/ad list before the movie. Back door Ghibli deals?
Yea for at least two movies Damiani has given out movie passes during the group streams
 

farisr

Member
So I need to discuss something important with one of the allies, and this would have to be someone involved in administration. Who should I contact and and how.

I know email is going to be recommended way of contacting, but I really need to know who and the exact email address, as last time I emailed about something important, and spent some time in formulating the email, I didn't get a reply for whatever reason (maybe I had the wrong email address, maybe my email got lost in the numerous emails they get, I don't know). But I really don't want my time & effort to go to waste again.
 
So I need to discuss something important with one of the allies, and this would have to be someone involved in administration. Who should I contact and and how.

I know email is going to be recommended way of contacting, but I really need to know who and the exact email address, as last time I emailed about something important, and spent some time in formulating the email, I didn't get a reply for whatever reason (maybe I had the wrong email address, maybe my email got lost in the numerous emails they get, I don't know). But I really don't want my time & effort to go to waste again.
PM me at the Easy Allies Twitter account and I can at least get you pointed in the right direction.
 

Bahorel

Member
Yay for the Rabbids review. Think I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow, although I've never played XCOM. I'm a little bit nervous about whether the gameplay will click with me but the the visuals are so beautiful I want to give it a try. My strategy game of choice is Civ and so this is very different from my standard fare
 

dickroach

Member
Yay for the Rabbids review. Think I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow, although I've never played XCOM. I'm a little bit nervous about whether the gameplay will click with me

regardless of the "it's a more intricate and complicated game then you'd think" notion that's been in every review, it's a game starring Mario and the Rabbids. you'll be fine
 
Oh wow, that was the first Best of I've watched. Nice. Great ending. Also, Crash looks pretty damn good visually.

Man, it's getting hard to keep caught up on stuff besides Frame Trap and the podcast now that I'm going through a lot of old GT Full Playthrough Fridays.

Speaking of, did they accidentally ship Code Veronica X with the blooper reel version of the cutscenes? Motherfuckin' Steve Burnside...
 
Oh wow, that was the first Best of I've watched. Nice. Great ending. Also, Crash looks pretty damn good visually.

Man, it's getting hard to keep caught up on stuff besides Frame Trap and the podcast now that I'm going through a lot of old GT Full Playthrough Fridays.

Speaking of, did they accidentally ship Code Veronica X with the blooper reel version of the cutscenes? Motherfuckin' Steve Burnside...

NTC0394!
 
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