Podcast 9-8: La Dolce Vita?

Photo of Robert Allen Robert AllenJanuary 25, 2012
96 2,027 1 minute read


With less than a month from the U.S. launch, the crew spearheads a Sony Vita roundtable, offering a hands-on analysis of the hardware and launch line-up. Additionally, the team offers impressions of Pushmo, Zen Pinball 3D, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD, StarHawk, Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Vs. Darkdeath Evilman as well as Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for the 3DS. Before venturing off for our customary dosage of game trivia and answers to reader mail, we also sit down with inXile Entertainment’s Jairo Silva to discuss Choplifter HD’s expedition onto now-gen consoles.

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Photo of Robert Allen Robert AllenJanuary 25, 2012
96 2,027 1 minute read
Photo of Robert Allen

Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

96 Comments

  2. So the message your saying is Vita is best at playing artsy french films and the launch library is just PS3 titles?

    That’s my guess before listening to the show.

    1. La Dulce Vita is a 1960 Italian film, not French. But points for referring to it as a “film” and not a “movie”. 😉

      1. I’m curious as to who decided on that image. Too tasteful for Deagle and maybe Blue. A little too obscure for NOLA, maybe.

        Must be Sage.

          3. Wait, really?

            That kinds of explains a lot if true. But he’s really a comm/film prof why the hell does he have an interest in running a game blog?

          4. I think the guy wrote about mise en scene (I might have spelled that wrong) in a review. The only other person who I have ever heard use that term was my film prof. Makes sense.

      2. It makes sense. Watched this movie as my pretentious film friends said it was “soooo good.”

        The movie is filled with these good looking but weird acting and ditzy women which now I think about it, reminds me of an anime, JRPG…

        I have solved the puzzle!

  3. …Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Vs. Darkdeath Evilman…

    Just how much does NIS pay you to CONSTANTLY plug their games?

    1. They don’t (have you picked up Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten) pay me much at (ClaDun 2- get it!) all! lol.

        1. I was seriously considering getting the digital versions of both Disgaea one (for the third time) and two (for the first). The problem is that the two would have completely filled my 2GB Memory Stick. The money I’d save on the digital versions would end up going right out the window due to having to buy a larger Memory Stick. >_<

          2. First Sage complaining about her mic, then Blue 2GB memory stick, Deagle need to stop being a slave driver!

          3. @Strongman22: I’m just picky like that. If I buy something digitally, it needs to be there at a moment’s notice. If I get a hankering to play Disgaea 2 out of the blue, the last thing I want to do is spend time clearing out space and then re-downloading it. With my attention span, I’d lose interest in playing it before even deleting anything. XD

            8GBs for $17? That’s not bad at all. I’ll remember that when it comes time to upgrade. Thanks! 😀

            @Abbazabba: LOL! If he was a slave driver, my last classic game column wouldn’t have cobwebs on it. XD

            Speaking of which, my next column will be up in a couple of days. 😀

  4. Much better sound than last week. My only complaint is that Sage sounds a bit “tinny”. Maybe she’s robotic.

  5. I like the way NOLA listens to feedback and pounds a RedBull for the show. Sacrifice the body for the art!

  6. Deagle, you nailed it with the VITA roundtable. Great job. Sage you did a great job hosting. And Sean and Blue, excellent as always (though no Tablet/WWE talk????)

    2. Thank you very much! 😀

      You’ll be happy to know that I’ll be talking about WWE ’12 again, specifically the Create A Story Mode, on episode 9-9. My custom story involves Ricardo Rodriguez, Yoshi Tatsu, WWE Divas, and “Tentacle DVD’s”.

        1. SPOILERS FOR MY WWE ’12 CREATE A STORY: Ricardo steals Yoshi’s “special movies”/tentacle DVD’s in order to get Yoshi to help him with his “quest”.

          1. Blue, too bad THQ is hurting right now. They should hire you to write WWE ’12 storylines.

          2. 😀 Thank you very much!

            THQ, WWE, if either of you are listening, I have story ideas, both with and without tentacles. Call me!

  7. From what I listened to so far, it seems like you guys took all the criticisms last week to heart and really stepped the show up.

    Hats off guys. Especially Deagle. For not being the host, you’re heading up the Vita talk in a big way. Very fair, just what I wanted to hear from at least one podcast.

  12. You guys COULD have called the show, “VITA Dead Before it Lands” and got a gazillion hits, instead you kept it classy and honest.

    Keep that up and you’ll never be as popular as Kotaku.

    1. I’m waiting for the Kotaku headline that says, “Sony is pro choice, decides to abort Vita in US”

    2. If anyone wins a PS Vita from Taco Bell and doesn’t want it, can I have it? I promise I’ll talk about it on the podcast! XD

  13. You’re forgetting: for people who didn’t own a PS3, the Vita’s library is full of great games. If people can shake their Xbox love for a bit, they’ll enjoy the most powerful portable the world has ever seen.

  14. Thanks for the straight Vita talk that doesn’t reek of Fox news slanting.

    Great show. Keep it up!

  15. All-around great show but I still want to know why Sage’s sound quality is the lowest. NM internet is tin cans and string or what?

        1. I believe she said she was on a different computer. Not sure is she was using a different/built-in mic or not, but I noticed the improvement immediately.

          1. It was a different computer + I was in a different house. not sure which part made more difference. Truth is I don’t have a mic cuz I am very broke.

  16. LOLed at the Sony circle jerk remark.

    My Vita is preordered and almost paid off. I can’t wait until 2/22/12.

  17. I saw this on N4G earlier today and its rating was 180. A few hours later I went back to find it and it dropped to 140. I didn’t things dropped in rating, I thought they went up.

    1. If you’re reading N4G that might be the problem there.

      Seriously, the mods push their own sites and if another outside site is getting too hot, they put the ice of them. Dirty, dirty stuff.

  18. The wind-down stage? Does that mean Sean has to leave?

    I want to know what got cut from this week’s show!

    1. Not much was cut. We did have a discussion on how in the world this girl evaded Sean’s charms:

      1. After the laughs from when you talked about your VG crushes, how about admitting your internet crushes.

        As for me, I’m sorry Sean, this women is spoken for. I will propose tonight.

        BTW- Anyone know her name? Haha

  19. Thanks for the support for my hosting, all! Very Sorry about the sound quality; I’ve complained to the NM sound board and tin-can commission. I’ll try to do something about the sound quality.
    ~S

  22. Man, those BK games sucked. Who was the developer? I hope their out of business and not filthy rich.

    1. Blitz Games is alive and well, turning out treasures like Michael Phelps: Push the Limit and Bratz Girlz Really Rock.

  24. Your Vita discussion did not disappoint, but I did notice some similarities to the CAGcast (going over the names of all the launch titles, saying it’s PS3 ports, etc).

    Sean, I could have used a deeper Blitz discussion from you.

  25. I’m not in love with Pushmo the way the rest of the world is.

    It’s a novel idea, it’s fun, and well thought out (you can skip levels you’re stuck on) but it just doesn’t require really creative thinking. I dunno, maybe Portal 2 spoiled me. I have a hard time enjoying puzzle games based on a single hook now.

  27. Agree with both of you guys. No UMD program is going to happen at this point. We are almost two weeks before launch and no mention of it (or PS1 BC) makes me feel this isn’t going to happen.

    Deagle’s right though- Sony’s first purchasers are the hardcore who read about what going on in Japan and know what’s going on. Really bad handling of this.

    You have to wonder in all the Vita hate is Sony’s own fault.

  28. Ok, here’s my ultimatum. Get TideGear on within the next month, or I will stop listening.

    This is not a threat. (well, not too much)

  30. For the next show, I’d like to hear NOLA’s thoughts on what comic properties would make good games.

  31. So what you you think about the entire IGN and G4 staff making an appearance in the next Dragon Age?

    1. I’d expect Deagle to raise a fuss, but he’d be the first to sell out if he was in a Disgaea or Harvest Moon game. NOLA would do frontflips to be in Monster Hunter.

      Still, I think the worry here is that Jessica Chobot wrote the ME3 preview for IGN and just now we hear she’s in the game. They couldn’t get someone else to do it and avoid the whole “conflict of interest” backlash?

      1. This give me hope that Jeff Gerstman, Ryan Davis, and Jim Sterling will be cast in the Three Dirty Dwarves remake.

      1. Someone need to photoshop Hitman, Sailor Blue-Mercuty, anime Sage, and Capt. NOLAmerica togther. STAT!

    1. Yep, a new one would be appreciated.

      Has the show gone biweekly?

      “You can’t just go bi and not tell anyone!”

  34. Question for next show:

    Bot AI can be though of on a scale from zero to human. (in simulating lifelike decisions)

    When do you think games will be able to have intelligence and behavior that is indistinguishable from humans for their drones?

    1. My Question-

      Everywhere I look I’m seeing Mass Effect 3 promotion, news, and nonsense. It’s all over twitter, facebook, news sites are lit up with Chobot talk. At what point does media saturation occur? Can you think of any other campaigns that were this annoying?

  35. OMG. Just heard CheapyD say he was coming on the show. Where the hell is this episode?

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