I think it’s time for me to dramatically reduce the number of gaming podcasts I listen to, because it’s getting to the point where I can’t stand hearing certain topics anymore.

I was listening to NWR’s Radio Trivia podcast, in which they play three tunes from a game and then have some banter about it. In the latest episode, they chose Metroid: Other M, and of course, when discussing it they made fun of the dialogue and the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby...

Over 12 months after the fact, the same tired jokes and complains won’t stop! And while I respect the podcaster’s right to express himself, it’s not as if he said anything new. And I think that’s my main problem: the discourse from the media or internet commentators for certain games or systems changes, it’s wearisome as heck. So why even say it at that point, when all of your audience is very, very, very familiar with all of the points that you are going to raise, or the rant you are about to launch into?

Is it just me who is having a problem with this because of over-exposure to gaming podcasts?

I’m particularly proud that in the NW podcast, we haven’t spent a single minute mocking the Wii U name, or ranting about the 3DS’ “frankenstick”. I’d rather hear talk about Dog Football any day of the week.

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I'm tired of hearing about how iPhone is going to kill Nintendo's handheld division.

Oh geez, yes to both: Other M complaints and the iPhone games vs Nintendo.

Other M complaints in particular are becoming more and more grating to me. I guess it's sort of frustrating anytime you enjoy something (relatively) and everyone else seems to hate it...but with Other M, it's a combination of a few more things. Personally, I liked it well enough, even if it is probably my least-favorite Metroid. But you can't "sort of like" or even "be kind of disappointed with" something on the internet. It's got to be the worst thing ever, or the best thing ever. And the hate for Other M--especially aspects I feel are completely overblown, like the supposed "sexism"--often feels bandwagon-y to me in the worst way.

Hoo, sorry. Guess it's one of those things that just gets to me...and I'm not really crazy about the game or anything. I can only imagine what big fans of Other M feel about it being the most internet-reviled Nintendo-published game since Wii Music.

@New Forms

Pretty much what you said, because it won't.

@TriforceBun

This too, because I actually enjoyed Other M a good bit. It's no Prime (in my opinion), but it was a breath of fresh air, and I like how it gave Samus an actual backstory as opposed to just the Space Pirates and such.

And Gui, the Dog Football topic was pretty epic. I'm actually curious to try it out.

@New Forms

I know, the truth hurts, trollololol. I kid.

Back on topic? Online and outside of this place? Just about everything. Nintendo's online sucks, friend codes suck, the Wii is dead, the 3DS battery life blows, Adam Malkovich is the worst thing to happen to gaming since horse armor (okay, I'm the only one that says that. but it's TRUE)... I know. So I suppose my answer is the general Nintendo zeitgeist. Everyone knows the limitations of the other systems, but they're generally accepted and the horse's corpse isn't dragged out for public flogging all the fucking time.

EDIT - the thing that kills me about this mode is the extent to which its masturbatory nature prevents actual discussion from taking place regarding Nintendo's ACTUAL problems. It's 2011 and it's still a pain in the ass for Nintendo to patch games. That's ridiculous! My copies of Prime 2 and Twilight Princess will forever have save killing bugs, and I can make my copy of Metroid Prime crash on demand in two places I can think of.

Nintendo also leaves their online gaming "communities" to die. As soon as stuff is glitched or hacked, you're better off playing with friends.

3DS conversation is often difficult for me to get involved in because I can't see in 3D, so I can't even offer any input. I won't lie, it actually makes me hope that 3D doesn't become essential to gameplay (not that I think it will). I do get a little tired of hearing about ideas about 3D impacting gameplay, because as someone who can't see 3D, it is a moot point, and I'd rather Nintendo focus on other things that don't seem so arbitrarily implemented (for instance, platforming sections that are optical illusions in 2D, but make sense in 3D). I like the idea of 3D enhancing games like Star Fox (since it's basically going through a tunnel the entire game), but it's hard for me to make sense of or get involved about 3D being anymore than a superficial enhancement.

Also, I think some people are unnecessarily harsh on Other M because I think at its core, it had some great gameplay mechanics...But I was still disappointed with the game, so I never get too offended when I hear people ragging on it. I still feel a bit of a sting from that game having being elated by that initial trailer, and then being let down by the final result.

So many dogs. So many tails.

No, I agree. It's also boring to hear about the same damned games on every podcast (and hear the same opinions espoused). That's why I like the 'alternative' ones, like Warning! A Huge Podcast.

That iPhone/iPad comparison that ALWAYS COMES UP is super-annoying. Talk of 'gaming narrative' gets weary, as well. And so does the self-important babbling about, like, gaming journalism.

I also don't care for the uses of the words 'casual', 'hardcore', or 'epic'. And hearing people summarize iPhone games at length is agonizing.

@TriforceBun
I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of Other M haters have never even tried the game for themselves, which is pretty much my biggest pet peeve. If you're going to authoritatively badmouth something, fucking try it out for yourself. Otherwise, what are you adding to the discourse?

@Anand What do you mean by 'gaming narrative'?

@New Forms
@Kal-El814

Yeah, I'm pretty much tired of the "Nintendo is Doooooooooooooooomed!!!!1111!!!!111eleventy-one!!!1!!" attitude that is so pervasive almost everywhere I go. It seems like every time I turn around, a decent discussion gets derailed into "lol waggle", "haha casualz", "Nintendo's going 3rd party", "iPhone is going to kill Nintendo", ad nauseam.

3DS doom and gloom is pretty annoying. People ignore that it's doing better than the DS did in a similar time frame.

@Simbabbad

SAMUS, Y U NO ACTIVE VARIA WHEN IT'S HOTT

Anand said:

I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of Other M haters have never even tried the game for themselves, which is pretty much my biggest pet peeve. If you're going to authoritatively badmouth something, fucking try it out for yourself. Otherwise, what are you adding to the discourse?

That goes for every unsuccessful game that has become for some reason a punching bag on the Internet. When someone brings up a game's metacritic rating as "proof" that you're wrong for enjoying a game or recommending it to like-minded people, they can fuck right off.

@Simbabbad

The game exposed itself to that by taking a cinematic approach and having unskippable cutscenes, but I agree. At a certain point people should perhaps pay more attention to the "game" part of it.

@Simbabbad

Indeed.

@New Forms

This times 10 billion. Ugh, I can't stand it anymore, and it's to the point now where I just skip over topics like that entirely, regardless of the medium they're delivered in.

Not that I want to turn this thread into an Other M thread...but I don't know...When a game has a flaw or seems illogical (breaking a suspense of disbelief if you will), it IS part of the game. You can't just act like it doesn't exist. I mean, Metroid Prime 2 had a horrible multiplayer mode. It's on the disc. You can't really just ignore the fact that it's there when you're reviewing the game, especially if there's a chance it took away from other aspects of the single player game. Regarding Other M, for me personally, the bad cutscenes and (IMO) badly constructed story did take away from the game, and aren't irrelevant at all.

The problem people on message boards is that they take the flaws of Other M and act like their first born was murdered.

Oh, here's one. Smash Bros. Melee vs. Brawl. And this is coming from someone who definitely, 100% prefers the gameplay in Melee (excluding "advanced" techniques like wavedashing and animation cancelling). I can't STAND it when someone mentions Smash Bros, and then a Melee zealot will come in, write a BOOK about how Melee is better than Brawl, even if it is COMPLETELY unrelated to the conversation. It's like, give it a rest. Yeah, I wish Brawl was faster. I wish it wasn't as floaty, and I wish there wasn't any tripping and that you could combo moves more...but you can't. Whatever! The game is still really fun.

How Nintendo (the market leader) is always doomed.

New Forms said:

I'm tired of hearing about how iPhone is going to kill Nintendo's handheld division.

And how investors are rallying to get Nintendo into the iPhone and Android App Market.

@PogueSquadron - I had fun with MP2's multiplayer mode.

But, yeah, most of what's already been mentioned does it for me. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head except perhaps Nintendo being constantly accused of simply rehashing its games. Even after all the new material we've seen in Skyward Sword trailers so far, people still talk about how it supposedly looks like every other Zelda game ever...

My wife and I were actually listening to the Other M 'rant' on Radio Trivia yesterday, so I know where you're coming from, Guillaume. Though honestly, I didn't find the host berating the game that much. I've heard much worse.

Keep in mind the format of the Radio Trivia podcast. They're going to cover games old and new, and they can't help that particular games have already been discussed ad nauseum on other podcasts. The Radio Trivia host (and guest host) usually have a lot of flexibility about what aspects of the game they want to discuss, though I do think it should focus a bit more on the music since that is the whole point of the show. But I think it's only fair for them to share their opinions, whether I agree with them or not.

Sorry, going off a bit on a tangent there. But back to the topic at hand: Personally, I have significantly cut down on the amount of gaming podcasts I listen to. (I don't know if this is just a temporary thing or not). I can't list anything specific off the top of my head, but it does wear me down a lot listening to certain complaints or topics over and over again about numerous things, some of which have been mentioned in this thread already. I think that, for my own satisfaction, I reached a point of too much information, to the point where I was not really enjoying gaming as much.

For now all I listen to is Negative World (but of course!) and Radio Trivia, which is not even a weekly thing. Of course, I'm not saying for you to do the same, but it works for me, and I'm happy.

EDIT: (As a podcast host yourself, though, I can completely understand the desire to stay on top of other gaming podcasts, so you know what's being discussed, etc. I do apreciate how you've kept the NW podcast different and more upbeat than anything else I've listened to).

V_s said:

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head except perhaps Nintendo being constantly accused of simply rehashing its games. Even after all the new material we've seen in Skyward Sword trailers so far, people still talk about how it supposedly looks like every other Zelda game ever...

This. I hear it all the time on podcasts, and it gets annoying. I mean, it's true to a certain degree (I'd assume that we're all in agreement that Animal Crossing could use some new ideas), but all companies do this! So why pick on Nintendo?

@canonj

In fairness, I think EVERY big is getting picked on for this right now, and I don't think that Nintendo is anywhere near isolated in being criticized for it. Fair or not, I think they probably take more heat for the "lacking" innovation between games since their core releases are less frequent. But Nintendo is absolutely NOT the only company that takes heat for it, at all.

roykoopa64 said:

EDIT: (As a podcast host yourself, though, I can completely understand the desire to stay on top of other gaming podcasts, so you know what's being discussed, etc. I do apreciate how you've kept the NW podcast different and more upbeat than anything else I've listened to).

Thanks! But surprising, considering the number of times I've said I wasn't a big fan of a franchise/game or my whole "what are games good for" existential crisis, haha.

But yeah, without being Nintendo cheerleaders, I do try to avoid having too many rants or too negative a voice, because unless you can be funny doing it (and most people can't, they just rehash the same obvious comments everyone on the internet has already made), you are just being whiny and annoying.

I could have ranted about Yoshi's Island DS in the next podcast, but went with Kirby's Mass Attack. Because few people are talking about it, and because who wants to hear someone whine about YIDS's bad design, especially years after the fact?