CO-OP 0107 -- Mother Mission's Fruits -- Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, GTA: Chinatown Wars, iPhone Favorites
matt chandronaitWe’ve been wanting to cover iPhone games every since we started CO-OP. The problem with that is that there just isn’t any way to capture video save by pointing a camera over someone’s shoulder. So, at last, we just gave in and did exactly that. Tell us what you think! If you’re not too annoyed by the off-screen footage this could give us a quick-n-dirty way of covering iPhone games going forward. More after the show:
I was really happy to finally get to play The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena since it included Butcher Bay—a game I missed the first time ‘round. Definitely the best movie-to-game license that I know about and I think the people we had talking in the segment on Dark Athena this week would most likely agree. Speaking of guests, Brad Shoemaker makes his first ever CO-OP appearance, Philip Kollar dropped by as well and then Cesar, Ryan, and I filled out the rest of the peeps for that segment. <raises beer> Here’s to hoping that Starbreeze Studios continues to make interresting, first-person experiences that blend genres like no one else!
It’s a pretty amazing to us just how good the DS version of Grand Theft Auto is. I know that I felt like Chinatown Wars was going to simply be a return-to-form of the 2D glory days of GTAs I and II, but not so! While the game’s story and characters fall short of the DS version’s bigger brothers, myself, John Davison, Sterling McGarvey, and Ray Barnholt still found quite a bit to love.
And, as mentioned above, iPhone games! The platform is clearly shaping up to be a major contender for your gaming dollars and we’re tickled peach (we can’t go full pink. Never go full pink) to finally be able to share some of our favorites with you all! We give some brief looks into Karma Star, geoDefense, Topple 2, Drop7, Eliss, and Field Runners.
And yes, we’re poor, but that doesn’t stop us from needing to do a few things. Like eat. While Rob insists that a $.99 value meal is the way to go, we’re in The Mission District of San Francisco! This place is the queen of quality, cheap eats and we go on a quest to prove it!
Reader Comments (52)
I thought the IPhone segments were awesome! And I especially like how you got the footage and Ryan talking about the game at the same time...works good over the shoulder!
GTA: Chinatown Wars is awesome, am also playing it now on my DS, and I'll have to get Dark Athena after watching this, at least for the Butcher Bay part of it...
Awesome episode as always!
"And I especially like how you got the footage and Ryan talking about the game at the same time...works good over the shoulder!"
Well, actually we faked that. It was shot at a totally different time and place. There is one part when I'm talking about Drop7, and I mention that I have a "6" and I'm gonna "drop it in this column." I actually use it to complete the row, not the column. That will always drive me crazy, because I do actually know the difference between a row and a column. But that was the only footage I had of a "6" dropping in place to complete the line.
Anyway, hopefully nobody will notice. :)
Yeah, watched that part again, and realised that it was faked, but still looks good! Even the part in the Ngmoco game where you're trying to hold the tower up even though it's tilting and about to fall, that you did that part again is awesome...
I downloaded the blocks game and its free now. It also shows a second game coming out. Its not bad but since you have to move the blocks around with your finger and spin them with another finger it makes it tough. I have such fat fingers that i cannot see how the piece is positioned to fall.
Also liked the china town wars stuff. I didn't know you could get the lines on the road for where you needed to go. I'll have to do that.
Is there a way to subscribe to this and have it downloaded automatically in the MP4 HD setting?
Thanks guys for providing great gaming information with fantastic production work.
Best gaming coverage on the net.Looking forward to next week already.
The iphone games were nice. I liked that you didn't explain the last game you just showed it and that was enough. I gussed the iphone screens were shot at a different time, but the screens are clear and I'm sure the results were better than getting it while standing on the street. The narrative from this episode is the best yet.
"A bunch of rich babies!" lol Great show!
I look forward to this show every week. I love to hear what you guys have to say about current and older games.
It's too bad you can do some type of profit sharing with the iPhone games you mention. I bought Eliss after watching the show.
Can't wait till next week.
Can't wait to watch the show when I get home. You guys should cover Demigod in next week's episode. It looks really fun. I just found it on Amazon for $35 new (no shipping, no tax). I'd like to hear your opinions on it.
Seems like you guys are slowly amassing quite a few sponsors. :p
Posting here because no one has put the GAF thread up yet.
Great episode. The game stuff is always top notch, though in the Chinatown Wars part the video seemed to drop in quality. I especially like how you guys cover stuff that might have slid under my radar, like with the indie games, Love last week and the iPhone games this week. I also think the skits/story/whatever have been way more entertaining than it had ever been on the 1UP Show and the ads are fucking hilarious.
Keep up the great work!
Dugg for Great Justice
Love the show, but something is wrong with the player on the site (area5.tv). My cursor keeps flickering - I removed the revision player using firebug and the cursor flickering stops. (Picky.. I know, but it's annoying).
Love it!
The IPhone games? FUN to have seen. Usually I'm sick and tired of hearing people talk about the IPhone games, especially when John is involved. But something about seeing them in action actually clicks with me.
Just to be a nagger... (hmm...) could you guys keep all the opening ads at the very beginning, before any show content? See the beginning of the Mother Mission tangent and then have a Squarespace ad smack into my face really threw me off the ball and kinda irked me (:p) ! Not that I don't mind the ads, I know you guys need them, it'd just be awsome to have them all bundled in their groups so they don't pop up so annoyingly as that ad did!
Keep it up guys!
The iPhone footage was perfectly fine, so please do go ahead and include more of that in the future. Great discussion of Riddick too.
I've got to say though, your coverage of Chinatown Wars was far below your normal standards. By the end of the segment I was genuinely disappointed in you guys, both for the discussion, and for the footage used. Dealing with the gameplay video first, I can't understand why you chose such bland stuff to show us. The only gun you get to see being used is a pistol, and this is in a game where there are miniguns and flamethrowers and chainsaws, which GTA IV didn't even have. You show a car driving around the city ... and well, that's not interesting. It would have been a very simple task to get into a 3 star chase with the cops and show the new "smash the cop cars to escape" mechanic (which incidentally wasn't even talked about at all). I've got to say that with the mission replay option, and the GPS to visit specific rampage points, you have no excuse for not picking out something exciting to show us, instead a large proportion of the footage was just of the player walking around the street doing nothing. How about showing the burning petrol tanker? How about showing police helicopters swooping overhead while racing down alleyways? How about just leaping a car through one of the billboards? Showing someone driving slowly around in one of the shittiest cars in the game (and not even carjacking it first) is not how a GTA game is played. This game should have been renamed GTA: Let's Shit on Fire as it offers so many ways to kill people with fire. You can shoot them with a taser until they burn, you can hit them with a flamethrower, or a molotov cocktail, you can leap out of a speeding car and automatically target the petrol tank so it becomes a giant flying firebomb ... hell, you can even burn out your tires and the burning tracks of fire will set people alight. All of this is more interesting than walking down the road doing nothing. Bad choices guys, bad choices.
As for the discussion, that was surprisingly lacklustre too. What normally is the case, as you can see in the rest of the show, is that at least someone present is really into the game and demonstrates and enthusiasm for it. I'm assuming this is always part of your criteria for choosing which games to feature. This time nobody seemed to be interested in championing the game, and nobody really had anything they really wanted to say about it. I have literally never seen a CO-OP/1UP Show discussion where less was said about the game in question.
I'll declare an interest in the fact that I've recently finished Chinatown Wars and I'm a huge fan of it. From the first couple of hours playing, right through to the end, I've been emailing friends or heading to messageboard to talk about the latest cool thing I got to do in the game, There is such a huge variety of game content in this, and when Jon Davidson (who I really like and respect) said the missions were all "go here and kill someone, making it perfect for 5 minute play" he was doing a massive disservice to the game. GTA IV was pretty much all "go here and kill someone", which was why it became so repetitive for many. Chinatown Wars has more than just the drug dealing element, it has the return of courier missions, rampages, timed challenges, the shooting gallery, interesting vehicles, properties ... none of this was discussed at all. The mission variety alone needed championing as that is the bulk of the gameplay of a GTA title, and even in the first hour of the game you get missions that make you go "crap, why didn't GTA IV have stuff like this?" and you didn't touch on that at all. Things like your first race mission, instead of the usual "hey player, why don't you drive for me" setup, you have to steal a car and ram the other racers off of the road so the wannabe gangster who gave you the mission can win the race. Or stealing a car, smashing up the engine, and then having to drive the now almost uncontrollable vehicle back to its owner before he misses it (and making sure not to damage it on the way).
Sorry guys, I hope you know I love your work, but you failed to show off Chinatown Wars in the way it deserves. If this was the only footage that anyone had seen of the game it would be unlikely to encourage anyone to buy or play it. I honestly don't even know if you guys liked the game or not. Your section on Riddick was brilliant, I've only ever heard talk of that game before and now it's on my list of games that I need to play because you did such a good job of showing me what it is all about. Your section on Chinatown Wars was a textbook example of how not to do it in every way.
I'm not sure how much I like the shtick with the dunce and the game educator. Feels fake. If it's not fake, maybe try faking it more. If it is fake, maybe try more a more realistic approach. I loved the eating stuff, but somehow I can't believe that people didn't know about tacoshacks. Naw meen?
See, I really like the "let me teach you about this game" setup. That works really well, and is a nice change of tack from the round table discussions which is a bunch of people that all know the game sharing their thoughts. In a "two man" section, having one person asking questions on behalf of the viewer is a solid technique. Works for me at least.
Props to another good episode. Some of the iphone shots were more successful then others (i.e the screenie above = good qual, but when matt is playing karma star, quite a few times I got uber glare)
DS GTA games looks interesting, def reminds me of old school GTA... just seems like its got a more "live" feeling ..
And may I ask who's place you did that shot @? There is a wicked globe on the table.
that guy playing the iPhone he doesn't eat meat?? .... that taco looked delicious
The iPhone footage worked very well. I thought the over-the-shoulder shot had the advantage of showing how the touchscreen controls worked. This is usually missing from screen-cap video for the DS and Wii.
Overall, the episode was awesome. It's always great to see guests from other gaming websites. I'll keep watching as long as you keep making the show. I'm finding the iTunes video podcast and your own site are the best ways to watch. I'm still subscribed to your YouTube channel, but I figured the Rev3 hits are better for you guys. Keep up the good work.
dude...the show rocks, been a follower from the 1up days but i feel the need to tell you guys now (feel like a douche for taking so long) that you're making a kick ass show.
i sincerely wish you guys the best. loved the "food" segment (with it you guys won over my gf as she's impressed with the production values that the show "shows"), if you guys ever come to puerto rico i'll hook you up with the best food-places to go in the island. awesome that giantbomb's brad showed up, they're the shit. éxito always!
@Sky_D ... that was actually true to life. Most of the iPhone segments were people showing off games they enjoyed that the others of us hadn't yet seen.
@Method ... that was My, Ryan, & Jay's apartment. We live in the Mission with several other roommates and the rest of the A5 guys come over daily to work on the show here.
@shinakuma ... yeah, I don't eat most meat. Seafood, yes, other stuff, nope :)
@procrasturbate ... oo! Puerto Rico! Man, I wish!
@parkingtigers ... the issues with the footage is mostly due to the fact that DS footage is insanely hard for us to capture. It's not like other systems where all you need is a capture card in a PC/Mac and some cables, you have to have a special kit directly from Nintendo which they only dole out to the most prominent of gaming sites/magazines. They are extremely rare to come by, but we're fortunate enough to have a few friends, locally, that we can occasionally borrow one from, but in the Chinatown Wars case we had to send someone out to go use one at a friend's office, meaning they didn't have the piece in front of them and it wasn't one of the people who had been playing the game and knew all the ins and outs. Your critiques are mostly on point in regards to the game footage, but I'd caution you against phrases like "a textbook example of how not to do it in every way."
I thought the over the shoulder views were great ! Just in case though I thought that I would tell you guys that if you jailbreak your iphone there are 2 apps that I know work extremely well. One is called "screen splitter" and the other is called "demo god" just thought id let you guys know. Keep up the great work I look forward to watching every week.
I just want to say that I have been fans since 1up and been watching/following you (not in a "i'm stalking you" kinda way) since what happened. This is my first comment to the site but I have to say... keep up the great work.
You guys got me to in one week go from not having an ipod (since rock the 1st gen ipod for 2001 ... ) to getting a 32gig touch and a iphone in 1 week. Just your little iphone "chats" and stuff in your episodes made me do it and this little bit in this episode just showed me more cool things about it all.
Now to put down my Nokia N82 in my nokia graveyard and watch some more co-op on the way home.
Again ... you guys ROCK! and keep up all the great work you guys do!
Wanna try the BEST food in the world? Go Peruvian! I'm sure there's at least one restaurant in SanFran where you can try delicious treats from Peru. But I too miss the bacon-wrapped hot dogs from outside the E3 venues :(
The iPhone segments were fine. Maybe next time use a thin stylus instead of your fingers to get a better picture. Either that or Fresh's "lady fingers". Man, he looks tiny! :)
Best! Peru hearts CO-OP!!!
Oo! Peruvian!! I know there HAS to be some in our 'hood! I'm glad Peru <3 CO-OP! We <3 you back! Tragically I've never been there :( ... if we can be rich and famous some day, maybe we can take CO-OP on the road and visit all these places where people watch our show!
Love the show guys. Thanks, but maybe you should give the whiners their money back. Keep it up!
Will you guys be at ComicCon?
Sorry for the triple post, but I just tried to search CO-OP in iTunes and it's filed under Games&Hobbies as opposed to Video Games. Is this intentional? I was just thinking from the perspective of someone whose never heard of the show but looking for video game related shows, in which case I might never find CO-OP unless I go seven pages deep into the search results.
I'm so happy you guys brought back the idea of the narratives running through the game discussion. There were times on 1up where those were my favourite parts of shows. Also, iPhone reviews are a great idea. It's a fantastic app for games, and it's good to see you're quite ahead of the curve (in terms of game sites) in covering them.
Keep it up, y'all.
I concur with those who say the off-screen iphone shots work. The advantage of the over the shoulder iphone shots is that we're able to see fingers giving the screen some multi-touch love.
I've been watching since the 1up show days. I'm glad to see ya'll back at it and I'm looking forward to subsequent installments, plus seeing the team take over the world, one taco stand at a time.
Great show as always.
If anyone without an iPhone wants to check out Drop7, Chain Factor is the exact same game played in a web browser.
That SquareSpace ad was amazing. Ive never been happier about watching an ad.
I really love what you're doing with these videos. I watched a few of your shows when you were covering the IGF back in 2008, and they were good, but this is much better.
The format you have going on here is brilliant, and very watchable. I like the whole "game educator" thing, and I also didn't know about tacoshacks or anything of the kind, being from the UK. I plan to visit Frisco sometime in the next couple of years, so I'll be sure to check out the Mission district!
Anyway, keep it up. It's all awesome. You convinced me to buy Eliss (which is fantastic), and you've even enthused me on the subject of Riddick - no mean feat, since I tend to find the mainstream industry incredibly boring as a rule, these days.
The only thing I'm not keen on is the ads (obviously) but, if that's what you need to do to keep going, I think I can handle it.
"We're sorry, there was an error while trying to load your video. If you are watching a video embedded on a site other than Revision3.com, try contacting the owner and letting them know. If you are on Revision3.com, hang tight and we'll be right back!"
For some reason, I always think your guys' show come out on friday. I guess I'm just so used to it from the 1UP Show.
I think the way you captured the iPhone game-play footage really worked well! Don't change it because it looks fantastic. Also, I think the way you linked the iPhone game reviews up in this episode with the naritive was very well done. It gave the viewer something different than naritive... ad... game review... cut to black... naritive etc. Agian, another awesome episode of Co-op which made me spend money on GTA china town wars and them god dam GoDaddy domain names. Just ashame Im in the UK or I would of got a GameFly account too!
Keep up the awesome work!
Welcome back guys!!
I'll admit it's a little late but thanks to Giantbomb I found you guys again. Always been a big fan of 1UP show. Right now I'm catching up on the missed episodes.
I love how you guys have kept the show in the same format. It'll take some time for the new intro theme to grow on me though, no offense :).
Anyway...keep up the amazing work. Looking forward for more from you all.
Hey guys,
I thought the iPhone stuff was fine. By the way, if you want screen shots of what is on your iPhone screen, press the sleep and home button at the same time. The screen should flash, and whatever was on your screen at the time should show up in your photos app.
Amazing cheap food! well the second spot doesn't seem really "safe" but i would love to be able to eat for 1€50 in Paris!!
Guys just want to say that, I absolutely love the show thus far, the production quality, the editing and the music is exceptional. The unconventional round table discussions you have about the games in question and how that round table translates into a review genius. None the less I’ve watched the mother mission episode 3 times all ready and can’t get enough of it. Once again great job keep it up and ill definitely will be watching more episodes on ITunes.
Do you plan on creating some banners so we can promote CO-OP on our websites?
I LOVED the iPhone game talks! I bough Karmastar after watching this!!! Please, please, please continue doing segments on fun iPhone games. PLEASE!
Love it. Hope to see many more of your fantistic show. Nice to see Brad Shoemaker from Giant Bomb on the show.
The theme song is great. Im humming it at work constantly. Powerful stuff
Good to see you guys taking advantage of the sunny weather in the city, but then I guess the mission is always sunny. Don't get out there too often and I sometimes forget how nice it is. Loved the GameFly commercial, keep up the great work.
Seriously guys I've been watching your work for the past couple of years, and have always loved the work but I feel now you guys are putting too much attention into the "story" you guys want to convey and not the games. At times I feel like I'm watching 70% sitcom and 30% game news/reviews.
But I'll still keep coming for sure!!!
Why did I have to go to the Revision site to get the latest ep (Season 1, Ep 8)?
Just wanted to let you know that I am really loving COOP. The only 1UP content I ever consumed was Yours, so this video stuff is new to me and you guys do an incredible job. It has that vibe of hanging our with friends talking games and I love that. Keep up the great work.
I have one *tiny* complaint. I hate the audio track that has the reverbing of the guy saying "Music... music... music." it has been used in just about every podcast at some point and it is time for retirement. ;)
I finally joined the masses and broke down and actually bought a couple of apps for my iphone. Of course, my first two purchases were games. After CO-OP's review of karmastar and Drop7 I decided to pick it up. Drop7 is sick bro. Karmastar is fun and simple. Haven't had a chance to play anyone on wifi yet. It would be awesome if we could play through the network. Keep 'em coming CO-OP. I was seriously sad when 1 up went down. Im so glad you guys are back.