CO-OP 0301 -- An Age of Wonder -- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Bit.Trip Void
matt chandronait
Arcades still exist, particularly if you’re willing to expand your definition a bit. The Musée Mécanique is a remnant of a San Francisco past steeped in amusements for the emergent middle class of the late 19th and early 20th century. Within are some of the oldest coin-op amusements to be found anywhere. We take a trip down memory lane (not our own memories, mind you, I’m not that old) with some true cultural predecessors to our favorite form of media. More after the show:
What do you do when Nintendo invites you out to get a quick look-see at New Super Mario Bros. Wii? You say YES! Cesar, Matt, and JayFresh give a quick look at some of the new hotness coming to classic franchise.
Gigantic thanks to the cool guys over at Gaijin Games for letting us come down to Santa Cruz and invade their palatial studios! A pool, a conference room, a kitchen, even a classic game room! Who knew indie developers had it so good? The developers of the deliciously retro Bit.Trip series for WiiWare give us a quick look at their next game in the series: Void. The off-screen footage does a poor result of conveying the scintillating colors inherent in this game, so just take our word for it that it looks awesome!
The superlatives used to describe Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are largely correct. We use many of them in this segment. This should surprise no one. The game has been almost unanimously received positively and we are no exception. This is also the longest segment in CO-OP’s short history, but the game gives so much to discuss that Matt, Ryan, and GameSpy’s and Eat. Sleep. Game.’s Anthony Gallegos can’t help but go on at length about it.
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Reader Comments (41)
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Wow the season opener was a doozy guys. I loved the Uncharted 2 segment, and the vintage arcade was a nice touch. To tell you the truth I feel bad because I'm subscribed to the uber-HD version on iTunes and I feel like the ~600MB file has got to cost you guys a ton in bandwidth charges. Oh, but the video quality is so glorious. I made a donation but I don't want to be a break-even customer.
One question: during the Uncharted 2 segment, when Ryan says "It's a pretty darn good shooting game, and it's pretty ...", does he say "immature" after that?
great show Area5!!!!
I'm getting Uncharted 2 very soon!
I love arcades and all but recently I checked out the pinball museum and that was awesome!!!
Next week:
Please do Lostwinds 2, and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time!!!!!!
Also just for kicks you guys should rent Call of Duty: World at War for the WIi and the play the multiplayer, you'll be surprised......
@Matt Cooper ... hahaha! No, he says "mature" :) -- also, we'd rather people see everything in as high-quality as possible. Yes, Revision3 does pass bandwidth charges on to us, but our income really wouldn't be changed by very much even if people only downloaded the lowest-quality one. So enjoy it in full HD, I say! I wish people could see the show the way we see it, actually. If we could upload the DVCPRO version of it we probably would ;)
@Novato ... we definitely need to check out that pinball museum!
Now this is interesting narrative :).
Very much looking forward to watching it this weekend, downloading it now. Sent you guys a little bit of cash and hope to do that again soon at some point to help you guys out.
How are things going at the moment anyway.
Great show guys!
Uncharted 2 segment has tipped me over the edge to buying it now rather than holding off.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves looks so good, will prob have to wait till next pay day though. It is going to be an expensive few months, with Uncharted 2, Borderlands, Dragon Age, MC2, GTA Eps all looking great.
You guys must be sick of people asking what games you are going to cover. But are you going to cover Demon's Souls ;)
Regards
Al
What happened to demons souls???
Hello Gentlemen,
Love the show! I have been watching since the early 1UP days. Thank you for continuing the tradition!
I just finished the last two episodes, and I could not help but wonder if Matt looked a bit thinner than usual, Are (I know old school Ebglish says don't start sentences with the letter "A") the AREA5 guys eating OK? Do you need more donations? Please know that your community is here to help. Logically, it was the camera angle and the natural lighting; however, I hope you are able to satisfy your basic needs. I want to thank you all for all of the hard work and dedication to the industry that notoriously chews up and spits out the idealistic 20 something. If you've gained nothing else from your time at 1UP and AREA5, then please remember this: there are many people who exist vicariously through the dream you get to live each and everyday. We appreciate every bit of production value you put into your submissions!
Thank you,
Soulmanim3
great episode, as usual. I enjoyed the lengthy Uncharted 2 segment, would like to see more of that type in the future.
The absolute fog of irony during the Gaijin Studios tour segment was hilarious and seeing their creative processes is inspiring. Like others have said, the Uncharted 2 segment was very good! What wasn't so good was Jolly Jack. I'll hear that laugh in my nightmares, thanks.
I enjoyed this episode. One question though...
Early in the Uncharted 2 review, Ryan said that he didnt like how Uncharted 1/2 was filled with wave after wave of enemies coming when he thought he was done in a area. My question is that if this a complaint about the game? My reasoning is that I remember the Gears of War 2 where Ryan said that "Gears of War 2's only problem is that it is too good". (I'll admit that I spit out my drink when he said that lol)
The thing is that obviously Gears 2 was a very good game, so why is it a problem in the Uncharted series? I like both series, but I prefer Uncharted 2's gameplay because of the mobility and vertical gameplay. Personally, I dont see a problem in the game being a big time shooter. I love the platforming levels, but I also enjoy the combat system.
I do think that it is unfair to compare this game to Tomb Raider though. I see the glaring similarities, but I dont think you can say "I want Uncharted to be a Tomb Raider with a guy and better story". I look at it as a shooter with mobile gameplay and platforming. Just my opinion.
Overall, very entertaining episode guys. Cant wait to see what you have in store for the other big fall releases
after playing Borderlands for 4 hours straight tonight, I'd love to see you guys talk about that.
Good stuff. I was missing you guys. Also, Matt's an Autechre fan? hardcore. that's baby making music for robots.
Fun opener for the new season.
The Gaijin office tour was hilarious! Can't wait for their next game...
I´m not sure I like the graphics in New SMB, I kinda wish they'd do some high res 2-D instead of the same presentation from the DS game.
I totally, positively, have to get a PS3 next year to play Uncharted 2. And MGS 4. Can't forget about MGS 4. SPOILERS! NOOOOOO!
Oh and Jay don't give up! You'll get there, keep pumping those quarters in! :D
Sounds like you might just be onto something here!
RT
www.anonymous.ua.tc
Great show guys!
Speaking with some friends and watching this really has me curious about how tight U2 is, particularly in comparison with U1. The stealth portion is specifically interesting to me because the mechanics can be used throughout the game to great effect from what I hear (and what you guys went over as well). It looks like Naughty Dog made some subtle tweaks that went a much longer distance than people were expecting. Then again, I'll be intrigued to see how the hype dies down throughout the holidays too...
Either way, enjoyed both the U2 segment and the Gaijin office peek.
~sLs~
wow, when i went on holiday to california we went to san francisco for 3 days, and upon walking towards pier 69 or whichever one has sealions, we stumbled across the old style arcade and spent a good 20 mins in there just looking around at the soft porn film reels and the keggling. thnx for bringing back good memories. ps. me, my bro and my dad could best the arm restling machine. yay!
This reminds me of the movie big with tom hanks and he wishes on the weird fortune telling machine. Man i wish i was big.
Uncharted 2 has aim assist, but I think it only comes into play when you play the game on very easy. I think it was just a design decision by Naughty Dog. Make enemies so you don't need aim assist. Not sure if it's in multi-player, but on very easy there is definitely some aim assist going on.
Just to make sure I checked Normal difficulty and the aim assist seems to be there, try swinging your cursor left and right past an enemy and you'll notice the cursor slow down when you past the enemy; its there, its just hard to notice. Maybe that's why enemies are easier to hit on Uncharted 2 as Anthony Gallegos was saying. I know it isn't a huge deal, just had to point it out.
Aw man, I should definitely buy Uncharted 2, but I have to worry about finishing Okami and buying Tekken 6 (which is coming in like... 7 days?)
Gaijin Game's studio looks cool, when I grow up, I'd like to be game developers like them.
And finally, that old arcade is hella rad! Great episode CO-OP!
Jolly Jack at the end was really creepy.
Also, really loved the Gaijin Games segment. I always find it interesting to see an inside look at how game developers do their work. Great episode guys.
Excellent show, I loved every minute of it. The laughing guy at the end was fantastic, and having it play right through was sexellent. The narrative was enjoyable as well, those are the ones I really like, just... natural narrative. Great stuff, guys.
Gaijin Studios tour is Huge! Eat your heart out Bungie!
Love the Uncharted 2 Segment, by the Time I saw it I had already completed the game on normal (Playing through it now on Hard)
The Start is so great, you just sit and stare at the screen the first couple minutes
I tried to be patient, with the game, to make it last longer but it was so hard to put down, and I ended up completing a game in about two days, which has never happend for me before.
I agree with Ryan about the strong Womens in the game, especially Elena although she is still kinda too bright/shiny in her skin in the cutscenes, or maybe that's just me 8-)
Oh and the end fight disapointing...
I really hate that specific type of "challenge"
I will never sleep again thanks to Jolly Jack. Thanks guys, great show.
Man I'm glad I found you guys. Thanks to Digg. The arcade museum was the first placed I went when I moved to the bay area over a year ago. Awesome. I felt exactly the same about Uncharted and look forward to Uncharted 2 based on what you guys were saying. Thanks.
PLEASE GOD ALL I WANT YOU GUYS TO COVER IS DEMONS SOULS!!!!
you guys aren't pussies. right?
Love the show guys keep up the good work
Alex Neuse kinda looks like Matt's long lost brother. I really really wish the bit.trip games would come to PSN. I'm not buying a Wii until Wii HD.
threw down some coin to keep the lights on
we need some DEMONS SOULS :p
Shweet to pay some attention to Dead Space: Extraction. It was a bit like being thrown in the deep end of a pool at the start when I played it over the weekend for quite a bit but once I (we, actually, co-op multiplies the fun) got to grips with the concepts of combat. Though we still have no real idea how the more esoteric half of the arsenal works and is supposed to be used.
Best bit though turned out to be how unpredictable the story sequence turned out to be.
And how a lot of flaws of the original (monster closets) aren't an issue at all in this genre.
But there was mentioning of unfamiliarity with the other light gun evolution goodness on the Wii.
Any chance of a co-op special on the already out but hardly covered by most game media games lResident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, House of the Dead: Overkill and the upcoming RE: Darkside Chronicles?
(though probably only once we're in calmer game release waters once more)
Love the show Guys but can you talk about Demon Souls???
The FCUK are you guys doing??? Discuss Demons SOuls on the next episode!!!!
Guy's,
They said on twitter Demon Souls will be on this weeks show.
Oh my GOD, the end segment had me cracking up haha.
The Gaijin Games studio tour was brilliant, I really do love your choice of coverage in games and developers.
Keep it up!
Hey guys I put up this video on N4G.com. It's currently under the pending news channel. Approve it so it can hit the front page. That will really get the exposure they need.
I�d be hung up on to informer that too!