Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 26] : BigBallz McNuttersquash

BigBallz McNuttersquash

This week, our off-topic conversation is fast and furious, as we get into 21st Century laundry rooms and compare socks. But that’s just the appetizer. There’s very little time to dilly-dally, either, because the main course is blasting its way onto your proverbial plate; we’re talking about the Internet’s outrage toward Star Wars Battlefront.

And that, dear friends, leads us down the dark path of online multiplayer. Scathing words are said about Metacritic, arguments are exchanged over reddit, memories are shared of unpleasant online experiences, and fun is poked at terrible GamerTags. Also, we talk about how Valve uses psychology to manipulate its player base (for more on that, check out this piece on Valve’s Experimental Psychologist). It’s not all gloom and frowny faces, though, we also talk about making friends in MMOs and using online video games as a way to nurture long-distance relationships. Awwwwww.

chewbacca bigballz

And Josh closes the whole thing down with more impassioned ranting about Star Wars Battlefront.

It’s 2016, folks, which means it’s time to kick off Season 2 of the Half-Glass Gaming podcast. Enjoy!

Here’s a full list of games mentioned in this episode:

  • Star Wars Battlefront
  • Call of Duty (series)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops (series)
  • Resistance (series)
  • Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
  • Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
  • Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
  • The Last of Us
  • Ratchet & Clank (series)
  • Fuse
  • The Elder Scrolls Online
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  • Grand Theft Auto Online
  • Star Trek Online
  • Aliens: Colonial Marines
  • Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
  • Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
  • World of Warcraft
  • Gears of War 3
  • League of Legends
  • Dota 2
  • Kingdom of Loathing
  • Call of Duty (2003)
  • Rocket League
  • Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars
  • Star Wars: Battlefront (series)
  • Star Wars: Battlefront
  • Star Wars: Battlefront II
  • Battlefield (series)
  • Starhawk
  • Warhawk (2007)
  • Warhawk (1995)
  • Just Cause 3
  • Hitman (2016)
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Jimmy Mamatas
Jimmy Mamatas
8 years ago

I enjoyed season one of the podcast very much and I’m looking forward to hearing season two. I just hope you go back to discussing retro games in future episodes. I understand that there isn’t really a retro viewpoint for online multiplayer games, of course. I’m just old and set in my ways.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Jimmy Mamatas

Online multiplayer is a fairly new thing, so this episode was definitely light on retro gaming discussion. Don’t take that as an indication of our direction for “Season 2.” In fact, next week, we’ll be talking about classic arcades, and we’ve got some more great stuff planned for the future.

I hope you love it, Jimmy!

Jimmy Mamatas
Jimmy Mamatas
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

Thank you for responding! Next week’s episode has me excited already. I hope I didn’t come off as rude or as though I didn’t enjoy the episode. You always do great work. It was simply a humble request for more of the content I enjoy the most.

Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
8 years ago
Reply to  Jimmy Mamatas

Hey, you’re a major part of our fan base, Jimmy. When you request things, we listen 😛

– The Reverend

paladin007
paladin007
8 years ago

It sounds like Rev never even played ESO or even watched gameplay of it. They have instanced dungeons just for your group and even story delves that only you can go into. Stealth is crazy OP and you can go 100% invisible so other players can’t see you. ESO isn’t perfect but don’t spread lies about it.

Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
8 years ago
Reply to  paladin007

When last I looked into ESO, the things I said about it were completely true and backed up by the people playing and reviewing it. That was a number of months ago (might have even been a year ago?), and so if they have changed things, then so be it. Or, alternatively, if they had always planned it to be that way, but it hadn’t originally been working quite right and now they’ve got it to work.

– The Reverend

paladin007
paladin007
8 years ago

Why are you talking about it on a podcast if you didn’t play it. Stupid. You don’t have to like it but you shouldn’t say things about it just based on what you heard other people said. They have group dungeons and story dungeons that are instanced to you. They’re part of the main story of the game. Next time just say you didn’t play it.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  paladin007

Apologies!

We’re very careful about making sure the information we share on the podcast is as accurate as possible, and we’ll even go so far as to completely re-record segments when we find factual inaccuracies. This one slipped through the cracks and made it to the final cut, and it shouldn’t have (I make all the edits myself).

This group has collectively played a ridiculous amount of games, but I don’t think any of us have actually played ESO (I saw some demos of it at E3 back in the day, but that’s it.) You’re correct that we shouldn’t have mentioned ESO if none of us have played it, and it’s a thing I should have caught while editing.

Sorry to let you down, and we’ll be more careful about things like this in the future.

Thief921
Thief921
8 years ago

Too bad Sony won’t let you change your PSN name. BigBallzMcNuttersquash is classic!

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Thief921

I’m wondering how long it will be before someone grabs that tag now that we’ve coined the term.

Jelly Genesis
Jelly Genesis
8 years ago

I tried multiplayer in TLOU but I kept getting matched up against high-rank players was just getting dominated. It seems like it would be much better if you had a group of friends to play with.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Jelly Genesis

The TLOU online community has a Facebook group (which I am a part of), and they mostly just share posts and smack talk, but it seems like they’ll also help you group up with some skilled players if you’re looking to get some help. Nice bunch of folks over there.

mrmario7502
mrmario7502
8 years ago

Agreed, Bill Paxton is the best part of Aliens.

Mandi Odoerfer
8 years ago
Reply to  mrmario7502

Yes! He’s got some of the best dialogue in the film, but he also takes some pretty basic lines and makes them shine. What an awesome guy!

mako33
mako33
8 years ago

Surprised you didn’t talk about fighting games. Online has completely changed the genre.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

That’s a good point. I think we might do a full episode on fighting games in the future, and that’s a thing we can definitely touch upon.

Thanks for the comment!

mako33
mako33
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

I would love it if you guys did a fighting games episode.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

I think it could be fun. None of us are the frame-counting, hardcore fighting game crowd, but I have a great story to tell about how freaking awesome Katsuhiro Harada is.

JulianWhatThe
8 years ago

Ahh.. I love the smell of comments in the morning.. Also, I made this HGG/MGS V GZ homage/spoof while bored at work. Sorry, I didn’t have any pictures of Mandi so you’ll have to settle for my ugly mug.

mrmario7502
mrmario7502
8 years ago
Reply to  JulianWhatThe

Half Glass Gaming III: Remake Needer?
Half Glass Gaming II: Puns, A Liturgy?

… Uncharted: Nate’s 4Chan?

JulianWhatThe
8 years ago
Reply to  mrmario7502

Oh man – Puns, A Liturgy.. that is fantastic. Well done.

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