Asking Sterling (A Patreodcast) #10

In jolly old England, I'm also known as the Yorkshire Slasher, is that why my name gave you pause?

Yes, that is correct.

St.Balderdash

I take it that this is just a continuation of questions he hasn't yet answered in his previous one? So in that case, I guess I'll have to wait for a post by Jim about asking new questions before I can ask mine?

Is there RSS for this podcast?

Armas

Thanks for taking the time to answer, Jim. I guess one reason I felt a need to ask about a reviewer's responsibilities is a distant memory of Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman beginning his review of the original movie of "The Handmaid's Tale" by calling the book "Margaret Atwood's paranoid feminist 1984." Even at the time- I had to be in my teens- I remember thinking, "maybe if that's your *starting point* on a fairly well-known book, you should have recused yourself from reviewing this one?" ...I guess with regard to games, something similar comes to mind; maybe someone who has never enjoyed a soccer game in their life shouldn't actually *avoid* reviewing one, but they should still be aware that their view isn't necessarily that of their audience and perhaps make them aware that failing to break the trend isn't necessarily to the game's discredit.

Kraken

Great episode. I too have a tree-nut allergy and had a particularly bad experience with curry years ago. So when I say I understand...I really understand your perspective on trying new things.

Bernard Saturday

Thanks for the answers, Jim. No worries about having trouble coming up with examples for my question; I'm the same way, where I know I have dozens of examples of something but as soon as I have to recall them I'm drawing a blank.

Ben L.

Jim, thanks for answering our questions! Hope I didn't misrepresent your position by saying you were unhappy with how Epic has approached taking on Steam. I think that's the take I got from your video about Exodus, but thinking about it more, I understand that's not really what you were saying. I'm pretty eager to hear your thoughts on the upcoming launcher wars and will stay tuned!

On a slightly different tangent to what you are referring to, one can definitely see the "moralizing" of different beings and species in fantasy and sci-fi genres. The way "good" and "bad" aliens races look (just in terms of physical appearance alone) in franchises like _Star Trek_ and _Star Wars_ is depressingly prevalent, and I love both of those! I also find it hella boring how humans are so often the dominant or otherwise influential species in a given setting. I've always wanted to see a far-future science-fiction universe focusing on ordinary people (human or otherwise) living together in communities brought about by one or more interplanetary coalitions, especially if humans are simply another cultural facet and member species of that community/coalition. Humanity could even be in a relatively impoverished position, existing in a state of diaspora due to Earth no longer being a viable home for any number of undisclosed reasons. Instead of being (at least directly) about important individuals interactions with one another, galactic wars, paradigm shifting events and mind-bending anomalies, etc - i.e. like 99% of sci-fi plots - it would instead follow the lives, interactions between and relationships formed between different individuals and families of varying species. Almost like a sci-fi soap! Maybe a "future-set drama" would be a better term, but why is it I can't think of a single example of a science-fiction setting taking place amongst "normal" alien lives, instead of everything being epic sagas involving rescuing the universe from the clutches of ineffable evil?

Freakish Uproar

<i>"I like MOST of your work."</i> - <b>The average Jim Sterling fan, during Aura Phase</b> In regards to the very first question asked by Jamie C (sp?) I honestly think the major companies aren't interested in money from (on average) older gamers because we tend to be more cautious in our spending habits. When I first heard Jim describe the AAA industry lingo about whales, dolphins, etc - I couldn't help thinking that I was the equivalent of a sea cucumber, in terms of my consumption and purchasing of games. I know it may be a cheap shot to say "young people don't know no better", but I don't think it's controversial to say that a significant number of younger gamers who may not recall the way things were done in the early console days - heck, even the PS2 to early PS2 days! - may splash their cash a lot more readily than burnt-wicked depressed folks in our thirties and ongoing. EDIT: I'm pleased you mentioned <i>Silent Hill: Downpour</i>! I hated that game when I played it, and the disappointment possibly coloured my reception of it and my memory of finishing the game. I did however watch GG Gab's playthrough of it recently, and if you ignore the highly unimaginative (arguably goofy looking/sounding) monster design and awful combat mechanics, there was actually some marvelously dynamic and surreal environmental design. The plot also had potential if the acting wasn't so hammy and rife with bad stereotypes. ADD. EDIT: Black pudding <i><b>is the heart and soul</b></i> of a fry-up. I'll die on that hill defending it... ;p

Freakish Uproar

No idea where you got that from, but no, GOG is not owned by WB. It is and has always been owned by CD Projekt.

Hansbert Emmer

Thanks again Jim, I sound like a broken record but "I really enjoyed this"

Dane

The sole reason I've never watched "Orange is the New Black" is that it's done by the same folks that did "Weeds". I'm certain that the first season is epic, the second is really, really good, then the slope just drops it into buh? wha? territory.

Just to reinforce the recommendation on Black Lagoon. I've read everything that was released (in my country at least) and loved it. I think you might like it as well, as far as I know it's not too long.

batmabel

Endorse Bernie Sanders Jim, he will fix capitalism.

I've always been interested in how a lot of tropes and coding people take for granted when making art can be based in negative stereotypes like how ugly = evil or how a composer will use "tribal" drums to try and get across that the setting is exotic regardless of how accurate it is to the culture or place. I don't guess all coding is bad, I mean you're always going to bring your own views and biases into your work, but I do love the idea of just being creative with subverting every trope and turning stereotypes on their head. Also Hilda is amazing and she reminded me of Laura too. But it is a kids show, there's not much deeper their for adults unless you just want a cute, harmless show.

Cool video!)))

Thanks for this. I don't usually listen to podcasts but I think I should as it is a quieter form of entertainment. Anyway hope this is a good one. PS: Hoping in the future that I could support you better and wish I could buy from the store but damn the shipping cost. Hopefully the Canadian dollar gets better soon so I can afford it somewhat more. In regards to the talk in the podcast .... Best of luck surviving tax season. Yes! 28 Days Later is a classic for horror. Sad to hear Sterdust is going away but hopefully not forever. : S Jim! Do not crap on Making A Murderer! It has been amazing and watch it all. To each his own though but to me it made me think they were innocent. The second part definitely does give you more information and gets into of course updating all that is the case. As for you talking about The Jimquisition if you needed to take a 2 week vacation from it eh do it. People deserve a vacation and generally we see the so called regular people take a 2 week vacation as that pretty much is the most they can get saving up sick days or whatever. Anyway if you don't want to do that well it is your life. : ) In regards to the 3DS you said you would just be happy to have them on the Nintendo *itch eh so I guess you did not care about the 3D side of things? I really wish I could have kept mine but at the time my no ex-fiancee wanted it as a present for whatever and I gave it up. I really wish I didn't for many reasons now. Also I believe the original had a better screen. Am I wrong on this? Finally in getting games for it eh they are still quite pricey used even like some Wii U games so yeah before I go getting it again I got to take a look at what the used games would cost. Glad what you said about EPIC and what they should do for people who want an alternative to Steam. Personally I think the perfect thing would be GOG improving things adding a truly great community system and continuing to add way more games somehow to make the storefront more interesting. Thing is though GOG improving would be unexpected as are they not now owned by WB? (Made it to the end and thoroughly enjoyed this and so yeah looking forward to more Patreodcasts ... and got to catch up on them too if possible here.)

Sean DeMarco