Author: stevenAdmin

THIS WEEK IN THE BASEMENT: It’s true-confession time as Vic comes clean about the fact that he was unable to get past “The Trials of Archimedes” portion in God Of War: Ascension. Yes, Vic’s gaming skills were apparently not up to snuff when it comes to this controversial section of the game. Scott, on the other hand, HAD NO PROBLEM GETTING THROUGH IT WHATSOEVER. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE. Ahem. Anyway, this is the jumping-off point for a conversation about difficulty in videogames, and how sometimes this can both help and hinder one’s enjoyment. Games that are invoked include Driver 2, Ninja Gaiden Black, and Devil May Cry 3, among others. Also, Vic and Scott discuss the viability of sequels, including God Of War, Gears Of War (lots of war this month), and BioShock: Infinite. Do we all need these damn things? And what’s the point of them, besides, you know, making some cold, hard cash? Vic and Scott offer an answer—sort of—on today’s show. Also: Scott makes it weird at the end.

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Today on The Basement: Vic and Scott discuss the Marchvalanche of games. Or, as Vic calls it, Marvember. (Since Revengeance, the boys have been more disposed to portmanteaus than they used to be. Also: “portmanteau” is the word of the day.) Vic and Scott offer their pro tips for surviving the deluge of upcoming games. Also: Vic rants about SimCity while Scott dozes off. Then Vic and Scott get a surprise visit from Syd Bolton. He’s owner and curator of the PC Museum in Brantford, Ontario. He is also the world’s most serious collector of videogames. Seriously, it’s nuts what this guy has collected. Oh, and the museum has a Star Wars room. And one more “oh”: Syd is in a relationship with a living, breathing woman. Anyway, Syd’s an amazing guy, as you’ll discover when you listen to this week’s episode of The Basement.

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Today on The Basement: Vic returns from New York and Scott thanks him for the postcard (which only just arrived today—THANKS FOR NOTHING, VIC). Scott and Vic discuss the Oscars, including the fact that their favorite movie of the year, Looper, WAS NOT NOMINATED FOR ONE DAMN THING. NOT ONE. WHICH IS A HUGE OVERSIGHT ON THE ACADEMY’S PART. Ahem. Sorry. Then Vic spends an inordinate amount of time explaining his dislike for Ben Affleck—which is the only thing that Vic has ever disliked, ever, pretty much. After this, the boys discuss something known as “The Binge.” It’s when you consume an entire game or an entire season of a TV in one or two sittings. Why do we do this? Are we so entertainment-starved and weak-willed that we can’t tear ourselves away, even from the most mediocre of entertainments? Vic and Scott offer and answer—sort of—on The Basement.

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Episode 33: PS4 Welcomes Developers in the Door

Today on The Basement: Vic is on the road, so Scott has The Basement all to himself. Naturally, the first thing he does is call Vic, who delivers a full report from the PlayStation 4 press conference in a very frigid New York City. Vic talks about his deli experiences in New York—apparently, all they serve is corned beef topped with more corned beef—as well as his big night on the town with Kanye. (Hint: He doesn’t really ever have a big night on the town with Kanye.) So did Sony knock it out of the proverbial park with their PS4 presser? And, more importantly, what movie is Scott taking Vic’s mom to tonight? (Hint 2: It’s an Oscar-contender.) Listen to the podcast, and *wizard motion with our wands* you’ll have all the answers.

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Vic and Scott order more pancakes—or, as Vic calls them, “flapjacks”—from Vic’s mom. Then Scott discusses the recent trip he took to go look at a game only to eventually deduce that there was no game to actually see. So, instead of describing the game that wasn’t there, Scott describes the nuances of the “low flow” toilet in his hotel room. If you don’t like toilet humor, or poop, or any references to poop and toilets and toilet paper and things of that nature, be sure to skip over this part of the podcast. Also: Vic and Scott talk about the debacle of Aliens: Colonial Marines. So, what the hell happened? And, more importantly, how is Randy Pitchford feeling about the whole thing? Are the game makers, after being locked away in a game-making vacuum for months or even years at a time, shocked to learn that their game is terrible? Scott and Vic plumb the depths of this argument. Finally, things get weird at the end thanks to Victor and not Scott this time. Also: If you’ve read this far into the podcast description, you are probably someone who is easily hypnotized. So, congratulations—you’ve learned something new about yourself today.

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This week down in The Basement: Vic and Scott discuss David Cage’s recent controversial D.I.C.E. talk, “The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry That Refused To Grow Up,” in which Cage ticks off a list of nine things that the videogame industry can (and should) do in order to evolve. Cage is, in many ways, spot on. As a medium, we’re still much too in love with guns and what they can do; we still dress women in tiny bikinis and give them amnesia. “It’s time to assess who we are, and what we are doing,” Cage said. Vic and Scott reflect on many of Cage’s sobering claims. Then someone farts and Scott blames Vic and Vic blames Scott. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

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Special guest Lorne Lanning joins Vic and Scott down in The Basement this week. Lanning, as you no doubt know, is the creator of the Oddworld series of videogames, which includes one of Scott’s all-time favorites, Stranger’s Wrath. So what has Lanning been up to lately? To find out, Scott and Vic put Lanning through The Basement equivalent of waterboarding, which is different from traditional waterboarding in the sense that The Basement’s style of waterboarding involves action figures and several delicious cakes. Also: Vic and Scott discuss what they’re playing, which includes Vic’s digression on his recent “Mr. Mom” day. And finally, as always, Scott makes it weird at the end by eating a banana on air in total silence.

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LIVE ON TAPE FROM L.A. Vic and Scott leave the basement behind this week and take a trip to a surprisingly dreary Los Angeles, where they set up a makeshift basement in Vic’s hotel room. Topics of conversation this week: THQ’s everything-must-go sale; Atari’s bankruptcy declaration (yes, again); the possible death of triple-A games; and Westjet airplanes, which do not feature any sort of TV or movie screen for bored passengers to fool around with, but instead have all the magazines you could ever want or need. Also: Shortly after this podcast was recorded, Vic’s hotel room toilet mysteriously malfunctioned. Scott would like the record to show that he had absolutely nothing to do with that. Now, stop reading this, hit play, and listen to the 100-Percent-California-Fresh episode of The Basement.

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SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for Dishonored sneak up on you in this episode. Watch out!

Vic and Scott get another surprise visitor—hey, are they really surprises anymore?—down in The Basement. Today it’s legendary developer Harvey Smith, one of the visionaries/creators behind Dishonored which, in case your memory is failing you, won our Rocket & Raygun Game of the Year award. Harvey has plenty of behind-the-scenes stories and revealing anecdotes about the making of the game. If you’re a fan of Dishonored, this episode of the The Basement qualifies as a must-listen. Also, if you’re wondering about upcoming DLC for Dishonored and Dishonored 2, Harvey has no information to share with Vic and Scott on either front. (Though he does admit that there will be some Daud-centric DLC sometime this year.) Also: Vic waxes poetic about the Metroid Prime Trilogy, which he is currently playing, even though he should be playing other things. This is Vic’s symbolic way of saying goodbye to his old friend, the Wii. Raunchy, crass, informative—hey, that’s The Basement.

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Today on The Basement: Vic asks Scott why he has decided to grow a mustache. Then he implores him to do the world a favor and shave it off. Also, Scott rediscovers his love of videogames, thanks in no small part to the upcoming Devil May Cry reboot. Speaking of Devil May Cry, or DmC as it is now known as, Alex Jones (no relation to Scott) drops by The Basement. Alex is the Senior Producer on DmC. Vic and Scott ask Alex why Capcom, for the first time ever, decided to take the series out of Japan and let U.K.-based developer Ninja Theory build the game. Also: Scott asks Alex why they decided, when rebooting the series, to make Dante a huge jerk. Also: Vic and Scott ask Alex if Kratos or Dante engages in the greatest number of threesomes. That’s right: it’s another PG-13-rated episode of VB.

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