The HotSpot - 10/19/11 - The HotSpot Rides Again

Really like the new set up, was very fun!

@everyone Links seem to be a bit borked right now, but here's a link to the gamespot video podcast page for the latest episode: http://www.gamespot.com/events/the-hotspot/story.html?sid=6342573

Yay Brendan is back!

Worth the wait

should just keep the audio edition.. it's longer it's less a retarded hybrid it's less painful to wait for

@Everyone chill out. I'm assuming most of you are getting this podcast for free, correct? Well, you can't complain when you get what you paid for; Be grateful for getting an hour's worth of content for having to look (peripherally) at just a dozen ads. Of course, paid subscribers (ehem, ehem) can remain pissy about the whole thing. @TomM_GScom Are you 100% about the live thing? I mean, we're getting some apparently major issues on just getting decent quality content available for download post-production - how much crap are we all (yourself included) going to have to deal with with a live episode?

Just so you know Tom, the date on today's podcast says 9/21/2011.

Yay Brendan is back!!! Yes I couldn't wait for the video

why can't you make the audio on a podcast like it was?

Keeping with industry standards, Gamespot will be issuing a large patch for Hotspot 2.0 to fix incredibly long load times.

@TomM_GScom did you mean to leave the "horsesh*t" in at 18:48? Not that I mind, but usually the edits over the swearing make me laugh, and I'm sure someone's going to be up in arms about it. Love the podcast though, new format is pretty cool, keep up the good work!

Those interested in the audio, it's available here: http://soundcloud.com/gamespot/the-hotspot-09-21-11-charting Soundcloud audio is what you expect from The HotSpot. Video is still going to be a bit, and the audio quality on it will suck big time.

We're looking at around 9:30 PST.

Dudes, I'm working on it, but it's going to be a while.

Maybe we should just go for 10 am on Thursdays?

@featheon It's right on the front page under 'the calendar" Currently set for 6pm PT. 6:11 now... So late for the third time? [edit] lol, now it's set for an 8pm release.

@featheon Its also under the culture tab, right below SoundByte

How do you get to this page other than Brendon's comment?

late again? i wouldn't ever expect it before evening

Late... for the second time today.

4:59 it can't come soon enough

Where do I download the audio only version? Edit: found it. There is a small downward pointing arrow that you click on. Edit #2: I just downloaded last week's podcast.

@TomM-GScom Live? Do you do a live show or do you just mean the pre-recorded episode will be uploaded and available?

@everyone We may have forgotten to update the calendar on the main page. Show should go live around 5 pm PST.

when is the show going to start?

@Kevin-v hahah, I do love ninja Gaiden so I won't argue there. I also never attacked him. I guess it's cool to make fun of someones reading skills. At this point I believe he needs a hug :)

Add the Sound effects back...

will there be a show today ???

@TomM_GScom just FYI, the RSS feed you directed us to is kind of borked. The old RSS feed link (http://www.gamespot.com/misc/podcast/podcast.xml) can probably be just as viable as any new ones. It's probably just up to your tech people to figure out how to jam it in there.

Totally sweet video show. Funny faces are good!!!

Kevin wins

yo yo yo... who's talking bad about kratos? he will invade your dreams i kid you not, don't mock the man.... he has a temper... :P

@FreedomPrime - Yeah Dante has a story with depth, but the presentation does not. Can't you read? Probably not, hey you can barely write, I would be surprise if you could read that well, the fact that you cannot see how DMC is superficial in its presentation is all the proof I need. You say Dante is cool and charming and I'm the one having a crush here? Not surprising you do a lot of projection. GOW Fanboy? Nah, Assassin's Creed, Diablo and Gran Turismo sure, but not GOW.

@destroyeur Dante must decide weather to kill his brother, his own flesh and blood, if he doesn't then he will destroy the world. Dante hunts and kills the very thing that made him. Are you saying that a character like that is "one dimensional"!? Kratos= god makes me angry grrrrrrrrrrr. Kratos kills innocents, screams at everyone lol and is a total ass to everything. yeah, great character development lol. I'm done with this conversation GOW fan boy. Go play some GOW and think about your crush on kratos.

@destroyeur My point is god of wars game play is shallow, very, very shallow. DMC's is not, it is far complex then any of the gow games. and as far as Dante vs Kratos, he is just as shallow as the game he is in. His motivation is that the gods killed his family so he must get his revenge......that is it, nothing more. Dante has a purpose, you would know this if you actually played the game. He is a devil hunter who's father was also a devil, his mother was human and because of dant's rebellion against the demon's, his mother was killed. This is his motivation, to kill all of the demons that threaten our world. he also has a twin brother, named vergil, Who he cares about but, he is going down the path of darkness. Dante also has a love interest which also adds depth to his character. Dante is soo cool no one compares to him so yeah, that part of him makes him hard to relate too, but that is just face value. If you actually knew the character you would see that he does have depth and there is a lot to relate with him. unlike kratos.

@FreedomPrime - While playing Kratos you witness what he does AND most importantly why. The game does a superb job of communicating his persona, uni dimensional or not is secondary, he reach his audience and from there his story has the potential to be compelling. Sure gaming is first and foremost about fun, but it can be as much art as it is entertainment, like cinema and literature, games are story-driven and experienced through a protagonist(s). Games that do both (entertainment and art) are richer. Being fun is easy, making you think, moving you, is an accomplishment.

@FreedomPrime - When you play DMC, you see Dante's actions, but the game poorly conveys the why, his purpose. If he has no emotional connection to his world expect the player to feel the same. Dante might be an interesting characters on paper, but Dante's presentation in the game is narrow, and since you rarely stop to wonder if whether the writing or story telling is incomplete and at fault, then while I play my intuition is that Dante lacks personal experiences and is juvenile. As an adult he has little to say, hence it's a one dimensional experience; beating sh*t up. The characters, sounds, world and gameplay lack weight, depth, it's uneventful, nothing collides. It's a cool flashy arcade game for the "cool kids" that operates on the surface. Dante has the potential to be as interesting as Hellsing is. DMC is an idea that as yet to fulfill itself while struggling to communicate its sensibility to the world, an adolescent of a game.

@FreedomPrime - I fully agree with you, gameplay is of the most importance in a game, and DMC does a super job of control and combat, unfortunately that wasn't your original claim, be clearer and use the right words next time, we might avoid wasting our time. I agree with you gameplay can make or break a game, but as important as it can be it is only one aspect of a game, presentation is everything else, a genre isn't defined by its core gameplay alone even though we use specific terms to differentiate each one, you shouldn't have mentioned the "genre". By the way, saying that gameplay is important is not a very good argument since both game have excellent gameplay, first. Second, arguing that gameplay is more important than presentation is a straw man, I do not hold the opposite position. Am I a real gamer? Like you said, I don't know you, so... who's asking?

It might now be Mark Hamill's last time to do the Joker, he is maybe going to do the joker in The Dark Knight Returns, and probably in The Killing Joke since he has wanted to do Joker in those movie forever. And the only reason he says he is quiting is because he want's to quite on top, but if they make a script with a good Joker, he is probably not gonna say no.

Can anyone tell me if the hotspot video version is on itunes and where exactly is? Thank you

@destroyeur And shame on you for saying that "In games, I'm more interested in the presentation than the challenge, if you on the other hand like the effort of [a] number two, that's up to you, but it's not representative of the general human experience." How can you call yourself a true gamer. A real gamer is someone who enjoys game play at the forefront and not Graphics. Games like terraria are perfect examples of a game who's basic game play mechanics overshadow the games lack of presentation. Presentation is a nice bonus if it is Great, but it is the game play that is the most important part of any game. other games that lack great presentation but excel at game play are, mine craft, mega man 9, super meat boy are just some of the games that validate my argument.

@destroyeur You just said "Dante must die isn't that insanely difficult either, you can get hit more than 2-3 times, enemies don't attack that often or that fast, you can still combo/juggle lock everything, boss fights are short." Then like I said, Make a video of you playing DMC on normal and we will See how well you far :P. You also said That devil may cry never improved on itself, that is false, DMC 3 was a hug improvement over the original, the only complaint that the majority of reviewer's found with the game was it's difficulty. The games creator, shinji mikami perfected his mechanics with bayonnetta and vanquish. Remember, there are a lot of games that he made/produced that are still based also off the DMC formula, air combos, flash, style, these games are all amazing, veiwtiful Joe, god hand, bayonetta and vanquish are the most obvious. God of war really hasn't influence anyone, The only game that comes to mind is Dante's inferno, and we all know how bad that was :( Granted a lot of games use quick time event's but that is such a bad thing these day. I play games to play them, not to watch them. That is the legacy that God of war will leave when everything is all said and done.

@Viiper The inimitable Brendan Sinclair will be joining us this week.

Woot new show soon :D

@RealHarry This is a thing that will happen.

@jeremiah06 Currently, yes. You are screwed. We are working on getting the iTunes situation fixed, but it's going to be a couple of weeks. Essentially, we need to reupload all of the old HotSpots to get everything to be copacetic on iTunes, and it's going to take a while.

So... Is a guy who gets his hotspots via mp3 from his phone screwed?

@FreedomPrime - First I want to say you brought God of War to begin with, that's why I used it, because personaly it is not the only game setting the standards, Assassin's Creed is also improving and pushing the envelope to what they brought to gaming with Prince or Persia and Splinter Cell. It's good to have a well written story and characters, but the story telling is far more important. Kratos may be uni dimensional, maybe not, but his relation to the world is what matters, how the game "communicate" with its audience. Dante is disconnected, like you said he is so cool, too cool to be emotionally involved, it feels bland to play, you could swap him with a guy name Nero and the "game wouldn't notice", the world remains the same. Hell the two most uni-dimensional characters of Batman Arkham, Joker and Harley Quinn, are the most interesting one to follow and interact with. Greek mythology can be an interesting setup, a lot more than the overused Japanese castle horror theme. Kratos falls into hell and swim Styx river, that's interesting, Dante's adventures have yet to surprise me in any way.

@FreedomPrime - About difficulty, it has nothing to do with anything, you said the combat was mind numbing simple in God of War, I just said on the hardest difficulty it's challenging, for someone who accuse me of putting words into his mouth you sure do so yourself, by the way it's easy to make a game difficult, it has no merit, making it more challenging requires work. Dante must die isn't that insanely difficult either, you can get hit more than 2-3 times, enemies don't attack that often or that fast, you can still combo/juggle lock everything, boss fights are short. DMC hasn't perfected the genre and the HotSpot said it like it is; not worth commemorating. A good combat system in an empty shell. DMC might show how 3rd person action can be done well, but it didn't show how it should be done, it initiated something but never perfected the genre afterwards. The industry haven't used DMC combat system much, that's how influential it is, everything else had already been done better in other games (all genres), so there you have it, a formula that is rarely emulated because simpler is often better up to a certain point. If Bayonetta doesn't nail the combat system it's an abysmal experience like Bloodrayne, that's what DMC did, it alienated this specific style of combat game from other important game elements, without the combat there is no reason to stay. In games, I'm more interested in the presentation than the challenge, if you on the other hand like the effort of [a] number two, that's up to you, but it's not representative of the general human experience.