The Texture Pop: Episode 48: The Magical Mind of Yoko Taro

0:00:00 Gaming News
Destiny/Red Bull crossover codes being guessed.
This story could have been infinitely worse, but it's still just more and more bad news for Destiny.

Warner Bros. knew of Arkham Knight's bad PC performance months before
(Link to Shamus Young's article on porting.)
I hope this teaches WB a lesson on why it's important to take care of your customers.

Ubisoft learned from their mistakes with Watch_Dogs
(Interactive Friction talks over the Watch_Dogs trailer.)
I can't add anything here that I didn't already say in either the podcast or during Interactive Friction. You know my thoughts on Watch_Dogs by now.



0:16:06 Chris plays more Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
And we discuss the pitfalls of the overuse and abuse of collectibles in both the Assassin's Creed franchise and the Batman: Arkham franchise.



0:24:29 Chris and I have each been playing Nier, from Yoko Taro.
If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know about our collective fandom of Yoko Taro. This is a more tempered conversation of his works, but still a bit on the gushy side.



0:48:50 I played Paranautical Activity
Again, it is not a bad game, but it just doesn't compare to The Binding of Issac, which does the same thing but better.



0:50:41 I played Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
This time, I used Lady/Trish. I talk about how interesting it is to use a ranged character in a game with so many melee-focused characters.



0:56:30 Sam played Batman: Arkham Knight while his PC was getting fixed.
(Spoilers from 0:58:10 to 1:10:20)
This was a bit of a continuation of the conversation we had on the last podcast. We also take the time to discuss the potential future for Rocksteady.



1:19:25 Sam played more Weeaboo Anime Trash.
Y'know how it is with Sam. He plays something anime-related, and I crack a few jokes about it. I don't hate anime, but I can't resist.



1:28:45 Wrapping Up
Interactive Friction might come off hiatus soon.

The Texture Pop: Episode 47: Yaoi Fangirls Rejoice!

0:00:30 Gaming News
Arkham Knight pulled from Steam
Given what we were saying last week, this comes as no surprise.

Red Bull-exclusive quest in Destiny
It's just... I mean.... why?



0:14:30 Garrett returns to the cast!
(Note: From 0:17:20 until 0:22:20, we get into a very spoiler-heavy discussion about Among the Sleep)
It's good to have Garrett back on the show. He's been busy as hell lately, so it's sometimes hard for him to find the time.



0:24:35 Chris played Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
A pirate's life for him.



0:35:05 Chris played J-Stars Victory VS+
Anyone who is a big fan of anime would be well served by buying this game.
I should point out that is was pretty irresponsible of me to say that implementing Cross-Save is "easy". Even without knowing the particulars of their code bases for each version, which would be a huge factor in how difficult it would be, I have no idea how complex the act of changing a save file from a PS3 or PS4-compatible format to a PS Vita compatible format would be or vice-versa. It could honestly be very complicated.
Cross-Play is also another really interesting, and difficult, programming challenge. Given the decidedly low-budget given to this game, I can totally understand why it wouldn't get implemented. I imagine that relative to Cross-Play, Cross-Save is easier to implement, but I should acknowledge that both are probably a lot harder than I am giving them credit for in the podcast.




0:51:00 Chris saw the movie Inside Out
As with most movies, I will get this on DVD/Blu-Ray when it comes out. I can't wait until then.



0:55:00 I played Batman: Arkham Knight
(Note: This section contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the game's story.)
Arkham Knight isn't a bad game, but there a lot of things I wish they did better. It has some really noticeable flaws.



1:16:45 I played Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
Since I just played the first three games, this was the perfect time for them to release the Special Edition of DMC4, at least for me. I'm really happy with the game.



1:29:35 Wrapping Up
Garrett's Twitch Channel
Interactive Friction Plays Watch_Dogs
My article on Dante from Devil May Cry