CO-OP 0214 -- S.F.C.U. -- Halo 3: ODST, Beatles Rock Band, and XNA indie games
matt chandronaitYou may have heard about the PAX 2009, confirmed case of Swine Flu. A few of our friends got it. We didn’t. Of course the part of the Area 5 crew that stayed at home didn’t know that. More after the show:
Could the latest HALO be the best HALO? If you listen to Anthony Gallegos and I, it may very well be. Sacrilege? Perhaps! Rob is jealous of our trip through HALO 3: ODST as we got to play it at a review event about two weeks prior to the game’s release, but he got to play Firefight like a month before we did. So screw him! But the story-driven parts of the game as well as the new Firefight mode offer some fantastic new twists on the solid game design of it’s predecessors though there are some minor gripes that we go into.
If you know us, you know that we don’t go to an event without spending quality time with indie games and PAX was no exception. Jason and I had a chance to play a bunch of games from XNA’s Dream Build Play contest, among others, and interview Microsoft’s Kathleen Sanders. Quite a few of the games stood out and so we took their newly acquired free-time to reflect back on better times. What games? Dust, Kaleidoscope, Max Balstronaut, Hurricane X2, Sol Survivor (which can be bought here), Hot Potato Online (which can be bought here), and Rotorscope. When these become available on Xbox Live, you should really try out the demos and see if they’re your thing. They’re pretty bad ass and some rival full retail releases even though they’re priced as indies!
Not surprisingly, a bunch of people wanted to come over to join us in playing Beatles Rock Band. It’s a loving tribute to an iconic bands with lots of great music. Dan ‘Shoe’ Hsu, Raychul Moore, Justin Haywald, and Jade Kraus rock out with Ryan and Jason and hang out to talk, and sometimes argue, about the pros and cons.
Reader Comments (30)
After watching the XNA segment, I feel much better about my game not being a finalist in Dream-Build-Play. Awesome job to all those teams, they put my work to shame. I'll have a lot of polishing to do for next year.
Another wonderful episode. I'm loving the balance between high-profile releases and more exotic fare. Keep up the great work.
great episode guys! loved what S.F.C.U. stood for :-D
Great episode guys!
My sister has been nagging at me for a while to buy The Beatles Rock Band. I don't play music games a lot, so I don't know if Guitar Hero 5 or if the upcoming DJ Hero are better. What do you guys think I should go with?
I was wondering what happened to Kathleen Sanders. Great to see she is doing well. It was like a 1up Show reunion. (...sniffle)
Great narrative guys, I think it's my favorite so far.
Seeing Kathleen, who I remember from the 1up show as a keen games critic, now working for Microsoft made me think of something. I've always wondered how it is that game journalists, or critics, or arbiters of the medium, whatever you call yourselves, deal with the reality that many of your colleagues move into the business side of the industry at some point. Is it difficult watching your friends, with whom you used to make a lifestyle out of dissecting the good and bad of each product that came out, become representatives of that self-interested, profit-driven world?
For instance: one recent game I've been very curious about is Muramasa for the Wii. I wondered if you guys might do a segment on it; is the reason you haven't because your old co-worker Shane Bettenhausen works for the developer, and it would be awkward if you criticized it?
Another great episode guys! I look forward to this show all week. Anyways, is there a way that I can digg each individual episode? Since I dugg one, all the episodes are now considered dugg when I go to the confirmation page. Maybe because the site considers this all one blog? If there is anyway around this I will be more than happy to go to all previous episodes and hit the button, and I am sure there are more would love to do the same.... unless I am the only who this is happening to?
Excellent show, as usual. Does Matt really not like Jason very much :( haha
Holy crapper...you killed Jason off in this show! How do you plan on getting him back from the dead?
Great show this week! I loved the narrative, nice to see you got some ad money from Microsoft too.
I was wondering if you guys would consider doing some shows on MMORPGs? Not WoW, for the love of god not WoW :P but other games like Eve, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Darkfall. Basically the ones that have interesting player interactions. I don't know, but you might even find they are willing to advertise for you. CCP has a big marketing budget and I believe the creators of Pirates are beginning an advertising push for their new expansion pack.
Wait, Radiohead Rockband?
Think U2 more like - now that would be huge.
Wow, some of those XNA games look amazing, Dust is surely a buy for me, and maybe that Kung Fu one as well. Good job on another cool episode! Wonder when those games will be hitting Live...
I want a Prince Rockband.
@Daniel ... Yeah, those are some great games, to be sure, but I think the even bigger story is just how MANY of you are working on games for the service. Best of luck to you, man :)
@Sune ... I would say Rock Band or Beatles Rock Band are your best bet. Like we said, with Beatles you can have a bunch of people involved 'cause of the harmonizing. GH5 is also a good bet. DJ Hero I think is the least "Accessible" of the options available if you're looking to provide an easy, jump-in experience to your sister and friends/family.
@ER ... yeah man, that's the exact reason we haven't done a segment on Muramasa. We don't feel we can approach a game from an authentic standpoint if we're getting contract work from them. As for people like Kathleen moving over to "the other side"--more power to 'em! People have to make decisions for their careers and dreams that outweigh, sometimes, what others want from them. Meaning, I guess, that I miss the contributions that people like Kathleen, Che, Shane, Shawn Elliot, Jeff Green, etc., made to the journalism/enthusiast/critical side of the industry and that it always saddens me when another, acclaimed voice is silenced. But, on the other hand, I know they're out there adding their intimate knowledge of gaming to create something special and we can't help but benefit from that :)
@Peter ... actually, yeah, I would like to do more MMO coverage. The problem is you need people that play MMOs :) -- for most game reviewers the MMO is a toughie. Unless you're dedicated to that genre alone on staff, you're very likely to not have the time available to cover them adequately. We'll probably cover the WoW expansion when it comes out (please don't hate us too much ;) ) because I actually play WoW. I would love to play other MMOs, but I don't have the time for more than one in my life and I'm already invested too much in it to switch. That may change, but for now MMO coverage on CO-OP is going to be few and far between unless we can get an all-guest cast to cover a game--and, for MMOs, that's harder than it may seem!
@Spiro K ... Both would be incredibly huge! I can imagine that Rocka Band and Guitar Hero are both competing fiercely to acquire the rights to acts like those and others.
@Eduardo ... some of them have already, there aren't too many release dates available for the others. Still, when they do, they're gonna be rad :) -- I've been playing Dust ever since we got the build of it and HurricaneX2 is so much fun that I enjoy just replaying it.
its great seeing Kathleen. I miss that ninja harlot's voice chiming in on various podcasts..but I really like Indie games on a major platform. Anything that lets me discover new experiences and fosters dreams is good. Especially on the cheap so i like the community rating and sorting.
I did not know Jason was a Jain.
Bonus points to those who get that.
Poor Jason! I can't believe he is dead. I like the new direction tho. Finally! Real drama :P ! I just hope your not going to end the season with the whole "It was all a dream!" senario like J.R. on Dallas. "What's Family Guy?" :)
I can't wait for Dust and HurricaneX2. It's good to see XNA has gotten more broad in it's scope of variety and I can see much more differentiating imagination between developpers now. As everybody has said it is awesome to see Kathleen again. I hope she is having a great time with XNA and look forward to some of the content she pushes through(if she has power to).
@ER and Matt I understand what you are talking about. As some one who works with a publisher I wondered the same thing when I started. I have a lot of old friends from EB that grill me on my preferences now and I always try to be honest about what I think. If I'm honest I will always get good feedback that can be used to make better experiences for everybody. Sometimes some of the best critics are your friends. Plus I think it would be awesome to get some more old faces to come by once in a while. Couldn't you have them by to do preview content?
Another great show guys! Thanks.
Hey guys, i've just made a co-op like show, just to practice on video editing, i've catch some fo your advices over pax panel, Sorry for the language, am from Argentina, there's a growing fast gamer community here, ok, here's the video hope you like it:
http://www.vimeo.com/6669077
thanks for you inspiration!
The section on XNA indie games was really interesting, some of those games look more interesting than most of the releases on Xbox Arcade. The art style I had a look at a few of the community games about a year ago and was underwhelmed by what was on offer. Looks like it could be time to have another look.
Been enjoying Halo ODST this week (especially Firefight), but I feel the Halo series now need a big shake up. They are beginning to look and feel a bit dated. Hopefully Halo Reach next year will advance the series.
Regards
Al
Another great show, guys. I chuckled. Wish I could be as positive about ODST as you guys were, though. I got right to the end -- first it released -- and still haven't finished it. My mind wandered onto other things.
Speaking of which: Jay, you need to read the new Dan Brown book -- if you haven't already. It's a delicious slice of "fuck yeah" in between two epic pieces of "win".
LOL
Silly ending.
Great ep., guys. Thanks
Hey Matt, this is Dean Dodrill, creator of Dust: An Elysian Tail. I'd love to chat if you are free. I haven't been able to find a way to contact you though.
Really enjoyed the Beatles segment. Just wanted to add that I'm not sure Thom Yorke would support a Radiohead Rock Band given the huge amount of plastic instruments required to play the game. I mean he said they wouldn't play Glastonbury music festival because he doesn't feel the transport options are green enough for bands and festival goers. They actually have a second tour kit in the US on backup to save them flying their European kit across the Atlantic.
I know Harmonix does their best to make it work with any instruments but they're not really like helping the planet with the plastic instrument arms race. But even so I'd totally love that.
Keep up the good work!
Great Episode!
I think you have a bigger chance of getting the regular flu than SWINE FLU!!!!!!
@Matt You guys should really do the DS episode
Come on I know you want to.......
Kingdom Hearts 358/2
Scribblenauts
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Nathan Fillion = god's only son. He should really be in every sci-fi game ever, now. I just need to hear him lip off a snarky one-liner every time he blows a guy away/throws him into a jet engine.
Wonderful Episode! Really great. Thanks for the good post! Keep up the good work!
Poor Jason.
The Beatles Rock Band segment was really nicely done! And I loved its ending. :)
I tried to make a game using XNA. It's a great setup by Microsoft.
if you haven't already. It's a delicious slice of "fuck yeah" in between two epic pieces of "win".