Welcome back to the Arcadian Rhythms podcast, the great excuse to drink and talk games feature so fun we do it regularly.
- 00.50 – We drop the mic, literally
- 01.30 – Borderlands 2
- 10:00 – Debates about going Commando
- 14.00 – Midgets are discussed
- 17:00 – Praise is heaped on Amy Hennig and AR’s Kevin Smale
- 18:00 – Anthony Burch of Hey Ash Watcha Playin’ becomes the topic
- 20:00 – Pooping on Joss Whedon (spoilers for Doctor Horrible’s Sing-along Blog and Borderlands 2 ensue)
- 23:30 – Spoilers end
- 26:00 – Gender and sexual politics
- 33:30 – Shaun likes big rebuts and he cannot lie
- 36:00 – White male privilege aside we still feel a little weird about parts of Borderlands 2 but not as weird as with Resident Evil 5‘s overt racism
- 45:18 – Carrier Command: Gaea Mission
Addendum 1: Amber Nash did not do Ellie’s voice in Borderlands 2 no matter how much AJ might insist.
Addendum 2: AJ referred to Resident Evil 6 “sucking balls”, which is not intended as a slight on anyone who enjoys indulging in this practice. It was meant as a humorous throwaway line, but should instead serve as insight into how ingrained in our culture this kind of negative reinforcement is: that we can spend time breaking down such attitudes in someone else’s work and then almost immediately insert it into our own. On that note, we apologise.
Addendum 3: after recording the ‘cast we played more Resident Evil 6 and it got a bit better. Thanks, beer!
Games discussed:
- Duke Nukem series
- Borderlands 1 & 2
- Resident Evil 5
- Carrier Command Gaea Mission
- Jet Set Radio
The podcast can be subscribed to on iTunes via this link. Alternatively you can still listen to it using the player below.
This cast should be mostly free of distracting background noise, although we did manage to work some inexplicable volume lurches in there. Stay tuned for AR Podcast #6, in which we figure out how to not do that!
Comments
7 responses to “AR Podcast #5: Drop the Mic”
RAAARRRR! HULK SMASH!! BLOOD!!! DEATH!!!! Oohh, Shiney!
If you want misogynistic then you should check out the side quests available to help the people with skull shivers in overlook. Most amusing!
You also didn’t cover my main problem with this game: You can’t loot while you are in fight for your life mode.
And Shaun, after playing the commando on my own I think I know your critical flaw (I even mentioned this while playing). You haven’t got your turrets to fire rockets. When I was playing him, that one single point talent beat everything else combined. 22 rockets per salvo.
Finally, I think the new class is out now.
That was ignored as it isn't a legitimate complaint. Unlike your fat arse being in the way.
Heh, I found that mission after we recorded this. Good call.
My "problem" with rockets is that circa level <25 (where we were when this was recorded), you need to heavily specialise in one skill tree to get them. I was specialising in a different tree because the amazing class mod I had found gave me massive bonuses there, but I only benefited from them if I had at least one point in the boosted skills.
I did consider going all-out badass turret but I don't think I ever found a mod could enough to justify the switch and respec. I could do so now that I've finished the game though, and experiment. Say, are we ever going to try and hit level 50 and take on Terramorphous?
(My friend Pete has utterly rinsed the game and can kill him in under a minute (he does 6,000,000 DPS!!!). I'm kind of in awe of that.)
We should definitely give it a stab as there is new DLC out already and tons of missions still to complete. Not to mention those bandit waves to murder.
I am all about XCOM this weekend but I could be convinced to play some Borderlands 2 and maybe some Lost Planet 2 as well.
The comparison between Portal 2 and Borderlands 2 doesn't quite work as a gay slur is more likely to be a preface to violence than a fat joke is. Ingame they're both generic insults, but they're potentially bringing up very different feelings for the player. I haven't heard of anyone being triggered, but it's not like the insult's serving any unique purpose, so it might as well have been cut? Not that far in myself, so all I know regarding sexism is hearsay: http://i-hear-a-new-world.tumblr.com/post/3349081…
It's hard not to become jaded about this shit in games that aren't egregiously offensive; thanks for discussing it.
I was trying to make the point that maybe, maybe the insult was meant to be 'I am sinking to your level to insult you' kind of approach. It was a fumbling attempt to justify the humour and I agree my devil's advocate approach didn't really work.
Thanks for the link I found the humour for the second mission (I don't recall playing the first) really jarring; the 'punchline' being a bit of a 'errr, okay.' moment. In looking back on that side mission actually reflects really badly on the game.
Yeah, that's a good and important point. Not all insults are intended equally. The context in which they're both used and received is very different.
In general terms I'm really happy to see this sort of thing being discussed more widely in videogames – and elsewhere in fact. Social justice topics were not discussed on anywhere near as public a level five years ago. So even though it's still tough and depressing, it's exciting to see underway the precursor to widespread change – widespread discussion.
I hope to participate as best I can and not put my foot in my mouth despite the position of privilege I'm personally coming from…
Anyway thanks for saying this, really heartening to hear that you appreciated our discussion.
And Jesus. I didn't do either of Scooter's quests. Those sound pretty awful. The quest Madd mentions above goes some small way toward balancing them out (a female NPC "accidentally" has you drop a mortar shell on an abusive and misogynistic male NPC's house and knock it off a cliff, which is hilarious) but as with the first part of your comment, these are not stories with equivocal real-world contexts.