NQcast48 – Relationship Status With PC Gaming: It’s Complicated

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While there are plenty of console games discussed this episode (including Tomb Raider, Mass Effect 3 Citadel, Far Cry 3, Dead Space 3, Defiance Beta and more), we continue our love/hate relationship with PC gaming. This month, Harlo re-enters the world and has more success than BJ did last month. Titles include SimCity, The Showdown Effect, FTL, Arma III, Planetside 2 and so many others. 3D gaming is pretty great too, but you gotta pay for it. You don’t have to pay for this podcast though, so get to listenin’.

NQcast48 – Relationship Status With PC Gaming: It’s Complicated

First half!

  • 1:27 Tomb Raider (Bad jokes about the name aside, it’s a really good game! Might be too gory for it’s own good but it’s still worth playing!)
  • 24:24 SimCity (More like SimNeighborhood Can’t Connect To Server AMIRITE?)
  • 39:18 The Showdown Effect (The follow-up to NQ favorite Magicka isn’t quite what Harlo wanted. Also, multiplayer only, so buyer beware!)
  • 45:57 Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC (This is what would happen if Mass Effect 3 was made into a 5-jox ‘80s movie. Chuck and Maki recommend it as highly as they possibly can.)
  • 59:11 Dead Space 3 Awakened DLC (Maki says it’s more Dead Space 3. If you liked DS3, you’ll like it! If you didn’t, well… You’re probably not playing it anyway, right?)
  • 1:01:12 Dead Space 3 (Chuck beats it and ends up hating it by the end of the game. Sad face.)
  • 1:07:25 Far Cry 3 (BJ beats a video game and loves it! If you hated the ending, you probably played it wrong. Real talk, people.)

Second Half! (1:21:57)

  • 1:22:20 Halo 4 (Maki plays Spartan Ops. Even he doesn’t know why. )
  • 1:27:05 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (BJ experiences the joys of a 3DTV but it doesn’t make him enjoy playing the game or the ADHD storyline.)
  • 1:35:26 Bioshock & Bioshock 2 (It’s better than Maki said it was last month, but it’s still not great. Especially the last few levels. Bioshock 2 is more of the same. Great, huh.)
  • 1:39:35 Innovation In Games (A question from Greencapt leads to a discussion about innovation vs. iteration this generation, along with a whole bunch of other issues.)
  • 2:03:11 PC Gaming on a 3DTV (Harlo pays $40 to get new Nvidia drivers to render games on his 3DTV in 3D. Well worth the $40.)
  • 2:11:15 Arma III Alpha (Harlo declares this one of the most beautiful games he’s ever seen. And it’s still in alpha!)
  • 2:15:41 FTL (None of us have beaten it. Still. Yet Harlo is still addicted to it.)
  • 2:18:41 Torchlight 2 (It’s more Torchlight! Except this time with honey badgers.)
  • 2:20:34 Planetside 2 (FTPMMOFPS! Harlo likes it so far!)
  • 2:23:15 Star Control 2 (Harlo and Chuck love going back to the past and playing this space sim that was way ahead of its time.)
  • 2:29:48 Batman Arkham Asylum PC (Maki gets disoriented by playing this game at 60fps and with hi-res textures. And he loves it.)
  • 2:37:40 Pinball Corner!
    • 2:37:40 Pinball FX2: Star Wars tables (Maki loves Empire Strikes Back, everyone else likes it. Clone Wars is ok, Boba Fett? Meh.)
    • 2:40:17 Pinball Arcade: Star Trek Next Generation (Harlo redeems it for PSN and feels like he’d be a master of the real version now!)
  • 2:41:34 Playstation Plus Corner!
    • 2:41:34 Closure (Dark and light makes us wonder how programmers figure this stuff out.)
    • 2:44:27 Defiance Beta (Harlo tries out this MMO tie-in to a new TV show and recommends it. Especially since it has /dance in it.)
    • 2:47:37 Lumines: Electronic Symphony (Maki finally has a copy that doesn’t need to keep it in the Vita drive anymore.)
  • 2:48:20 Mobile Corner! (description)
    • 2:48:20 Mortal Kombat Vita (Well worth it, and there’s a LOT to do.)
    • 2:48:39 4 Pics 1 Word & Iconmania (Harlo likes both these free games, as long as they don’t get pushy with the ads!)
    • 2:50:02 Bloons TD5 (Engineers with turrets!)

Listener Mail! (2:45:51)

  • Josh from Corpus Cristi wants to know why gamers think so many bad games are the WORST GAME EVAR and not just average. (This leads to us talking about reviewers we trust, binariness and mob mentality on the internet and a bunch of other stuff.)

Music