Live from E3 2009!
Produced 2009.06.07
This extended podcast includes our first week of “Summer of IX” footage, a roundup of the hottest E3 news, and our from-the-floor footage, recorded live: an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto!
MAP Episode 17: E3 2009 Extravaganza
Produced 2009.06.07
Lusipurr
Bup
Ginia
Lane
Eric J
Jenifer
2009.06.08 at 05:07
Best. Podcast. Ever.
2009.06.08 at 10:40
Great to have Ethos on, since he doesn’t often make the podcast.
And Nate is right to point out that foot hygine is of paramount importance.
2009.06.08 at 11:02
Hey can anyone remember the part in FFIX where Vivi posts song lyrics as his Facebook status update?……….no wait, that was Oliver.
2009.06.08 at 11:09
Oliver not liking children, that’s not ironic.
2009.06.08 at 11:34
I have to say I’m fairly satisfied with this podcast.
It’s nice to get an interview with such an important figure, have lots of news to report, get exclusive hands-on footage, cover a site feature, and have the original MAP crew all together in a single podcast.
Not too shabby, if you ask me.
2009.06.08 at 12:06
Actually there was one very noticeable difference between the two versions of FFXIII, on the 360 version Lightning’s hair looks awful. It’s kind of hard to explain but the footage showed a sort of tranparent layer of hair over her hair which just looked wrong. Other than that though they look pretty much identical.
-360 DVD’s have about 6.7 GB after copyprotection. The 360 version probably won’t have to accomadate all the data from the PS3 version though, since the PS3 version will likely have to duplicate assets if they want to have it running from the disc like in the demo, rather than a mandatory install.
2009.06.08 at 13:30
-Hahahaha your Miyamoto interview was masterful Guv’nor.
-I can vouch for Nate’s impression of Infamous, that game’s fucking awesome! It’s equal measures Assassin’s Creed and GTA4, the story’s interesting and you get to wreak so much destruction.
-Oliver calling Vivi emo is like the pot calling the kettle black, Vivi’s like a kid who doesn’t know who or what he is, and doesn’t have anybody to look after him. What’s your excuse Oliver?
-I’m with Lusipurr on Zidane’s womanizing, I thought it contributed substantially to his rogueish character(and was also very funny), and to the best of my recollections it’s something which slowly goes away over the course of the game, as his character develops. Not everyone will like it, granted, but I don’t think it can be said that it doesn’t fit into the context of the game.
2009.06.08 at 13:33
Oliver’s excuses are:
1) He is two years old.
2) Ethan Pipher, Canadian and Noted Homosexualist, is his best friend and confidant.
3) He, like Vivi, is a soulless automaton.
2009.06.08 at 14:04
XD
-About your PSP GO conversation, I don’t see why shops would even bother stocking it, since it will not stimulate any further retail sales. Expect for it to be kept out back for people who ask for it by name. I imagine shelf space will be reserved for the PSP 3000 since stores are in the habit of selling games, and will likely be fiercely protective of their used game trade.
2009.06.08 at 14:47
@Nate, I do not wash my feet ever.
I have servants to attend to such mundane tasks.
2009.06.08 at 15:02
Prior to the podcast, we briefly discussed how many times we each wash our feet each day.
It turns out that I am the only person to wash his feet at least twice a day (and occasionally thrice).
Just a fun fact, there.
2009.06.08 at 15:12
Great podcast, I liked the extra length this week. :)
2009.06.08 at 15:21
Thanks for the feedback, n00b!
And Oliver DID pull off a great interview, I’m STILL jealous I didn’t get to put in an extra question or two.
@Lusipurr – I can’t even get mad because this is too hilarious: “Ethan Pipher, Canadian and Noted Homosexualist”
2009.06.08 at 15:26
You could put it on a business card.
2009.06.08 at 15:33
I can’t even bring myself to laugh. I’m just sad for you, Ethan. What does Nintendo need to DO before you realize they’re not the company we grew up with? I honestly think it goes beyond fanboyism with you. You seriously sound like someone exalting a deity even as said deity betrays him. Your hope has moved beyond the realm of any reality whatsoever into this strange fantasy that everyone but you realizes is ridiculous.
2009.06.08 at 15:38
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Nintendo fanboys resemble nothing so much as battered housewives who try to defend and justify the actions of an abusive husband no matter how reprehensible.
2009.06.08 at 15:46
Dear fucking god. I defend the Zelda series emotionally and you all go off.
I honestly don’t feel like it’s accurate or fair. I’m the one who is usually called out as the skeptic and the one who is too harsh on Nintendo, but if I’m going to be writing articles for a website, or be on a podcast, I prefer to be generally positive because I LIKE GAMES, so I’d rather think that a game will be good even if I know the odds are bad.
So. Seriously. Cut me some slack, I’m no longer amused.
2009.06.08 at 15:51
Since when are you the one who is too harsh on Nintendo?
Imo in the interests of objectivity the tone for Nintendo coverage should be set by MasterCheif.
2009.06.08 at 15:58
Objectivity? Did you read that post he just made?
And I’m not really on here, NooB. I don’t want to be the overbearingly negative voice. We have enough of that.
Objective gives both sides, and I have constantly talked about the current state of Nintendo.
That consistently is ignored, and the few times I’m optimistic is magnified, and cut down in almost some sort of sermon that MC conjures.
If anything, I act MORE optimistic to counter the tones that MC sets.
Lusipurr is by far the most objective one. And when he goes on rants, he’s not nearly as serious.
I’m not going to show my perpetually jaded side to the readers and listeners so much because I really like the industry, and I don’t see how too much of that perspective is helpful.
It’s not.
You’re a co-worker, MC. Show some respect please.
2009.06.08 at 16:14
“Objectivity? Did you read that post he just made?”
That was intended as a joke, too subtle?
Perhaps you feel that you are jaded and that your opinions are misunderstood, but when I read your Nintendo articles the one overwhelming impression that I come away with is your unjustified positivity toward Nintendo. There’s just no getting away from that, people read your article and then categorize it in relation to predominant schools of thought, and many would reach the conclusion that you are very pro-Nintendo. Just don’t let it get to you, you should continue to write however is most comfortable for you.
2009.06.08 at 16:25
Settle down, chill’uns!
Ethos is right in his appreciation that we shouldn’t judge any game until we have seen something substantial and worth judging. Nintendo has a right to presumption of innocence if we’re going to put their games on trial. Generally, I see nothing wrong with being optimistic about future endeavours as it can’t really be harmful. After all, Ethan can’t sell copies of an unreleased game based on optimism alone. If the title was out, bad, and he was still championing it, it would be a different story.
I’ve never known Ethan to champion genuinely bad titles (Majora’s Mask excluded ;) ), and I think anyone calling him a fanboy in anything but jest should think carefully about whether or not Ethan really deserves that pejorative appellation. It is true that he cuts Nintendo a lot of slack about upcoming titles, but when they make shit, he calls them out on it.
At any rate, let’s all calm down and take a step back from the matter for a moment. The fact is that we don’t know enough about Zelda 2010 to say it’s going to suck, nor do we know enough about the implementation of Wii Motion Plus, either in Zelda or in anything else. My fears that it will be implemented badly (i.e. like the current waggle controls) may be completely unfounded.
I will say that, in my personal opinion, consistently giving Nintendo the benefit of the doubt is probably no longer a good idea given their recent track record–it is high time they start delivering results before I start believing their promises again. But of course, this is a matter of personal taste and is not really something which someone can be legitimately attacked for. If Ethan wants to be optimistic, there’s nothing wrong with it, so long as he calls a spade a spade when the evidence is there to be judged.
2009.06.08 at 16:38
“If the title was out, bad, and he was still championing it, it would be a different story.”
You mean like Majora’s Mask?
“I’ve never known Ethan to champion genuinely bad titles (Majora’s Mask excluded ;) )”
Baaaaaaah, you beat me to it. ;)
“I will say that, in my personal opinion, consistently giving Nintendo the benefit of the doubt is probably no longer a good idea given their recent track record–it is high time they start delivering results before I start believing their promises again.”
That’s all I’m saying. Optimism is fine, but I’d like to know the basis of anyone’s optimism, because it’s weird to me.
2009.06.08 at 16:48
Wish I could be optimistic like that. I would like nothing more than for the MGS games announced at E3 to be awesome like MGS3, but I’m utterly convinced that they will be piles of feculent refuse like MGS4. Much of my negativity probably isn’t entirely justified, yet it means that when I’m wrong about a game the risk is usually to the upside.
2009.06.08 at 16:57
The fact remains that there are quite a few people who (inexplicably!) like Majora’s Mask. They certainly are not a majority, but we’re not talking about a game which is so bad that everyone agrees it is awful on the order of Deadly Towers or somesuch.
As for optimism, Ethan doesn’t have to really justify the basis of it to you or anyone else. His hopes for future products, about which virtually nothing is known, lie squarely in the realm of speculative opinion and are not subject to evaluative investigations of validity.
To wit, right now, the information we have on WM+ and Zelda 2010 is practically nonexistant apart from the uber-positive PR line. Ethan has chosen to believe what Nintendo is promising, and that is his right, whatever the root cause of it may be. Giving them the benefit of the doubt is a decent thing to do, and even if he is ultimately disappointed, he has hurt no one but himself. It is certainly not contingent on fanboyism. One can give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, when no other information is known, without being a fanboy.
So, the point I am making is that the charge of ‘fanboyism’ is outrageous in this case. Ethan is not championing a Nintendo product which is known to be rubbish. Neither is he making grand claims in the face of adverse evidence. Indeed, there is no substantial evidence at this time, so I really don’t see why you guys are all over him in such a serious way. It’s one thing to poke at him a bit for tongue-in-cheek Nintendo love, and quite another to seriously contend with vehement argumentation that he is unabashedly pro-Nintendo or biased in some regard.
After studying philosophy at one of the country’s foremost seminaries, I became a very good judge of argumentation and logic, even if I do say so myself. If I thought Ethan was unreasonably biased for or against any developer, he wouldn’t be working here.
It is worth noting that he does work here.
2009.06.08 at 17:16
“so I really don’t see why you guys are all over him in such a serious way”
I’m not all over him in a serious way, I may sometimes think his optimism is a little ill-placed, but I certainly don’t see anything wrong with it.
2009.06.08 at 17:23
Either way, in more important news, we should all celebrate the great achievement that was our e3 coverage! Three cheers to a bottomless tab and endless Japanese business gentlemen!
…I mean booth babes.
2009.06.08 at 17:27
Nintendo to me at least is where SE seems to be headed. Used to be amazing. Now mostly rehashing garbage that I don’t particularly care for.
I don’t see a problem with being excited about an unreleased game by Nintendo though.
2009.06.08 at 17:31
@Ethos: What do you mean a ‘bottomless’ tab?
2009.06.08 at 17:32
Yeah I used to see SE as an amazing developer/publisher, now days however I view them as a mediocre developer/publisher (with an identity crisis), which just so happens to have a couple of very talented dev teams under their roof.
2009.06.08 at 17:35
@Lusi- Surely ‘bottomless tab’ refers to the cut of trousers one wears when escorting business men?
2009.06.08 at 17:37
Oh yes…that. Definitely NOT needless expenses.
p.s. no need to check your credit card bills this month.
2009.06.08 at 18:39
@Oliver & Ethan: All of this is being taken out of your pay.
And I now own you, your souls, your possessions, and your immediate family members.
I expect to be paid back, IN FULL, in July, Gentlemen!
2009.06.08 at 21:10
@Lusipurr: Why stop at immediate family members? I’m sure they have some cousins or aunts or something they wouldn’t miss. Take them for everything they’re worth!
@SN: I don’t think you can really blame SE for trying to branch out a bit. Granted, the results have been a bit mixed, to say the least, but I think their top-tier stuff is still among the best out there. In that sense, I’d agree they’re the same as Nintendo (or any other company, for that matter) in that you just need to know how to avoid the crap.
2009.06.08 at 21:34
I’m with Darth on this one. SE makes pretty solid games most of the time, and really excellent games with dependable frequency. There are some disappointments, but ‘you can’t win them all’ is true in video games just like in the rest of the world.
On a strict hits to misses ratio, SE is far more dependable than most publishers, and this is more remarkable–not less–given the sheer volume of production.
2009.06.08 at 23:26
I guess I’m not as optimistic as you guys. I agree that their top shelf stuff is fantastic (and said as much a few posts back), but the more mediocre developers they buy out and bring under their roof, the more their quality titles are being outweighed by shite. Their aquisition of Eidos alone added a truckload of awfulness to their stables (though I am curious about how new Theif and Deus Ex will turn out). Do you want more Kane & Lynch? SE have you covered.
2009.06.09 at 00:26
Yeah, I mean I wouldn’t be suprised if that happens, but I’m under no contractual obligation to buy everything SE puts out. If they make another K&L, I won’t buy that one, either. On the other hand, if they DO make Deus Ex 3 and add the extra layer of polish that series deserves, I’ll probably pick it up on day one.
I think the thing I’m most intrigued (not necessarily excited, but definitely intrigued) about with SE’s recent branching out is Supreme Commander 2. No idea how much influence they’ll have, since they’re just publishing, but it’s definitely something I’m going to be keeping an eye on.
2009.06.10 at 12:47
@Ethos
As an audio engineer, I’m curious if you use the pro tools video feature for your work. I’m trying to find out if the software really dominates the industry like they would lead you to believe.
2009.06.10 at 12:53
@El_Hefe – I actually still use Adobe Premiere. I actually wouldn’t really endorse it. It’s entirely functional and even good for short works, but the export options can be deceptively limited (even in CS3), and once you get to making a feature, you will find yourself wanting to find the Adobe headquarters and burn it to the ground.
Final Cut Pro and Avid dominate the industry, so if that’s what you’re talking about, then it’s true.
I use Cubase for my sample-triggered-by-midi orchestration work, and I would recommend that software a lot more readily. I forgot the exact name of the company who makes the samples, but they’re loaded in a separate program. [email protected] if you wanted to talk further about it!