Spoiler Warning: Scribblenauts

By Shamus Posted Friday Jul 5, 2013

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 129 comments


Link (YouTube)

I wasn’t involved in the making of this episode. I didn’t know they would be playing this game. In fact, I haven’t even watched the episode yet. So we’ll be watching it together.

I am so afraid.

 


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129 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning: Scribblenauts

  1. Zagzag says:

    This is certainly going to be a voyage of discovery, and going off the first couple of minutes, also Tacos for some strange reason.

  2. Duhad says:

    And yet no Nuclear Dragon… Just seemed like the next logical step to me.

  3. Tony Kebell says:

    I’m soooooo glad this happened! As soon as you mentioned it in the Podcast I knew this would happen.

    I refuse to purchase Nintendo products, so this, being the first on the PC, will probably be the only I’d even consider playing, now that Spoiler Warning has brought it to my attention that It even exists.

    1. Tony Kebell says:

      13:40~ Rutskarn: “No one likes a yeasty…” I see what you did there Buttkarn.

      30:00 The sentient teepee! HAHA!

      I would definitely like to see more =)

      (It’d be a nice break rom all of the rather serious games, maybe if done like HL2 in s1 or 2 part special in between series?)

    2. impassiveimperfect says:

      Curious as to why you refuse to buy Nintendo products?

      This isn’t out of fanboy flame war-inciting spite or anything, just…well, curious.

      1. Ryan says:

        I don’t know if this is Tony’s reason, but I’m averse to buying them because Nintendo is really nonspecific (read: shady) about how it works to keep conflict minerals out of its factories.

      2. Tony Kebell says:

        Because I do not have the nostalgic attachment that causes other to buy them. (PS1, PS2, 360 have been my consoles) Since I see oh, a new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Smash Bros and Mario Karting… and think, wow, these are the same as the last. Whilst others are like: “INNOVATION!!!!!!! Unlike CoD, AMIRITE OR WAT” since Ninty and Activision/Infinity-Ward re-releasing the same thing over and over.

        Also their consoles the last console that I felt was competitive was the Gamecube since it was at least event to the PS2, whilst the Wii was underpowered compared to 360 and PS3 and the WiiU seem to be underpowered compared to the Xbox One and PS4, that and the gimmicks look less easy to ignore.

        Not that I’m against their games, they ARE fun, it’s just that they get the underpowered ports of multiplatform releases, their exclusive 3rd party titles are underwhelming and Nintendo games arent enough by themselves to convince me to buy a gamesconsole…would very much love to see them go the way of sega to be honest, so I can get their games on other consoles, but they wont, they’re to well supported by the nostalgia sales.

        1. Dreadjaws says:

          I’m sorry, but as politely as your comment is written, it still screams of fanboyism. How can you know all these games are the same if you don’t play them? Really, go play Super Mario Bros, then Super Mario World then Super Mario Galaxy and dare to tell me they’re the same. The latest Call of Duty games are all the same genre with minimal changes, on one of the most common genres in existence. Now the Metroid and Zelda games have shifted genre a couple of times and they always bring new ideas to the table. Not to mention those games are LONG.

          Also, how do you know people buy their consoles by nostalgia instead of because the fact they simply want to buy them? The Nintendo Wii sold to millions of people worldwide. It was the biggest-selling console of the last generation. A great number of those buyers haven’t played on a Nintendo console before. Heck, an amazingly big number had never played a videogame before. Nostalgia can’t possibly be a factor there.

          That “underpowered” claim also screams of usual fanboy rant. Yes, their latest consoles have less graphic capability than their competition, but they compensate for that with several other features. Graphics are not the measurement for quality on games.

          Plus, your notion of “innovation” doesn’t seem to make sense. The Wii was definitely innovative, to the point that the competition decided to copy its features. The N64 brought the analog controller to 3D games, despite the fact that the Playstation loves to pretend they came up with it. All of Nintendo’s portable consoles have brought something new to the market, while the competition always focus in, you guessed it, graphic capability.

          1. Syal says:

            I'm sorry, but as politely as your comment is written, it still screams of fanboyism

            It’s not fanboyism to dislike something. It is fanboyism to attack someone solely for saying they dislike something.

            1. Retsam says:

              If anything; I think sometimes these opinions are more reactions to fanboyism, than fanboyism itself.

            2. Dreadjaws says:

              You are right about that, of course. But, if you take a moment to read both comments, you’ll realize that’s not what I’m doing at all. I’m not “attacking him solely for saying he dislikes something”. I’m merely pointing out his reasons for disliking Nintendo consoles are suspect.

              I mean, I refuse to purchase an Xbox 360. Why? Simple: I have no interest in any of its exclusives. That’s what I consider a good reason. Other people would say “The console is a haven for 13-year-old trolls” or “It’s a console that only has FPSs and Bro shooters”, and I’d disagree with those people as well.

              1. Syal says:

                I'm merely pointing out his reasons for disliking Nintendo consoles are suspect.

                Rudely, in a tone that suggests you’re trying less to make points and more to discredit him for the crowd.

                1. Dreadjaws says:

                  I’m sorry, but I don’t feel I’m being rude. Though I feel he is using a condescending, passive-aggressive tone in order to be rude without sounding like it. Really, take the time to actually read and analyze what each of us is writing.

                  1. Syal says:

                    I'm sorry, but I don't feel I'm being rude.

                    Really, take the time to actually read and analyze what each of us is writing.

                    Is that so.

                    I don’t have to wade through offensive phrasing under any circumstances; any valid points you have will be repeated more pleasantly by other people.

                  2. Steve C says:

                    It’s text. People shouldn’t read too much into subtext that isn’t there. Read what is written.

              2. Trix2000 says:

                To be fair, he said almost the same thing – he doesn’t buy Nintendo because he’s not interested in its exclusives. Just with more words.

                Judging people by what games they like/play is not good in any form, in my opinion. No matter what they might be ‘missing out on’.

                1. Dreadjaws says:

                  Not really. He claimed the Nintendo consoles are terrible. He didn’t just say he didn’t like them. That would have been fine. He went out of his way to point out they are bad things, which implies people who like them are wrong.

                  As I said before, that’s using a calm tone to showcase aggression. Which I found more annoying than plain aggression, to be fair. But that’s me.

          2. Khizan says:

            The Wii was definitely underpowered compared to the 360/PS3. This is not a thing that can be questioned, and it is not a ‘fanboy opinion’. The stats are out there to be examined, and their effect on games is more than just graphics, because it limits what you can do. Smaller worlds. Fewer things in them. Etc, etc, etc.

            1. Tony Kebell says:

              Also yeah, people equate more power to more graphics, no this is wrong, more power = more stuff in general, the fact that they use the “stuff” for graphics is a social problem, not a hardware one, Nintendo developers aren’t making games with “several over feature” games cause they have less graphics, it’s cause they are making that specific game, if they’d made for PC it could have had those features as well as look awesome (budget permitting)

              1. Trix2000 says:

                Whenever I see people talk about ‘such and such is underpowered’ I want to point to the success of many many indie titles that don’t have much in terms of graphics. Not saying it isn’t a valid thing to base a purchase on, but something to consider in terms of what games you’ll play.

                1. Tony Kebell says:

                  Yeah, that’s what I mean by budget permitting, art and sound direction seem to be the most expensive parts of game development (other than advertising, but that is strictly part of the development) and big budget titles see this and go “wow, we’ve got enough money to hire 10 more artists and pump out more beautiful graphics before launch” because you cant say “wow, we’ve got loads of money, lets pump money into coders and improving the imagination of our current devs, to make a more mechanically interesting game with the same, O.K graphics we have now”

            2. Deadpool says:

              Yeah, but are those differences meaningful. I mean, the worlds are smaller sure, but Xenoblade Chronicles is MASSIVE. Sure, you could make it even bigger in a 360 but how would that improve the game?

              We’ve gotten to a point where the cost of improving the tech is giving diminishing returns… The whole “underpowered” thing matter little.

              As I recall it, the Gamecube was actually the most powerful system in its generation and it failed horribly… Not as monumentally as the N64 did(which I think also had better specs than the competition) but it failed.

              1. Tony Kebell says:

                Wasn’t the Sega Genises the Most powerful console, that failed horribly, round about the N64s time?

                1. Alexander The 1st says:

                  Dreamcast, actually.

                  Genesis was around the era of SNES.

                  Though, as I understand, the Sega CD was a mid generation between, attached to the Genesis?

                  It certainly explained why Sega failed with the Dreamcast; they ran out of money chasing after Call of Duty – sorry, World of Warcraft – sorry, The Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

                  I kind of wished the industry would learn from history.

            3. Theminimanx says:

              If underpowered machines (which the Wii is, I’ll admit) result in smalller worlds, than why is it that levels from Deus Ex, which can run on much worse hardware than a modern console, are bigger than levels from modern AAA games?
              In other words, since the PS2, the power of your console has nothing to do with the type of games you can make for it. (I went with the PS2 there because older gen games tended to use 2d backgrounds to get more detail, which would require a fixed camera angle.

              1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                “If underpowered machines (which the Wii is, I'll admit) result in smalller worlds, than why is it that levels from Deus Ex, which can run on much worse hardware than a modern console, are bigger than levels from modern AAA games?”

                Level of detail.Compare a level in deus ex 1 to a level in human revolution.The first has huge levels,but when you enter,for example,an office,youll find a plant,a desk with a couple of drawers(not always openable),a computer and thats it.The second has smaller levels,but when you enter an office,its an office,with desks,pencils and paper on them,computer,paperclips,bunch of stuff in drawers,etc,etc.Weve sacrificed one quantity for another.

                1. Theminimanx says:

                  True, but the level size has an effect on gameplay, whereas level of detail is there purely for decoration purposes. If a guard spots you in the original Deus Ex, it will chase you around the entire area. In Human Revolution, if you go through a door which seperates one level from another, the guard will stop chasing you, even though it’s possible all you did in reality was exit a building to get out on the street.
                  In the end it’s a matter of how developers use the hardware, and they’ve shown a tendency to use it for graphics, and better graphics don’t result in new gameplay possibilities anymore.
                  On an only mildly related note, I’d really like to see someone mod Morrowind in such a way that every area in the game, both indoors and outdoors, is being processed and rendered at the same time. Could a programmer explain if this would be possible?

          3. Tony Kebell says:

            “I'm sorry, but as politely as your comment is written, it still screams of fanboyism.”

            Nope, I just don’t get the Nintendo hype. I have PS1+2, Xbox 360 and PC, there has been little drawing me to nintendo (except Metal /gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, for gamecube, which made me consider a Wii for like, 30 minutes)

            ” How can you know all these games are the same if you don't play them? Really, go play Super Mario Bros, then Super Mario World then Super Mario Galaxy and dare to tell me they're the same.”

            Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros 2 functionally the same, Mario 64 is the only true change in the games mechanics, but ever 3d games has been the same, plus different modifiers, like: “is in space”, “is in space again” & “has a weird fire hose” etc. The same basic IPs being peddles, ad nauseam foe 10 years.

            Metroid and Zelda, have had the most changes I’ll give you that one.

            “Also, how do you know people buy their consoles by nostalgia instead of because the fact they simply want to buy them? The Nintendo Wii sold to millions of people worldwide. It was the biggest-selling console of the last generation. A great number of those buyers haven't played on a Nintendo console before. Heck, an amazingly big number had never played a videogame before. Nostalgia can't possibly be a factor there.”

            This, supposition of mine is that, the nostalgia thing is an additional selling point of the Nintendo boxes, as it’ll come with plenty of peoples childhood franchises, it’s a flimsy additional selling point but it’s there.

            “That “underpowered” claim also screams of usual fanboy rant.”

            This one is a fact and doesn’t need rebuttal, it IS less powerful over all, that is all.

            “Plus, your notion of “innovation” doesn't seem to make sense.”

            Software innovation, I don’t want wacky peripherals, at all, the only reason the Kinect doesn’t offend me is that it doesn’t do much, whilst the Wiimotes intentions is to drastically change the way EVERY Wii game is played. Whilst Kinect games are more niche.

            Also the portables are a joke, I just want a large-ish screen, buttons and power simular to a PS2, which most PHONES can do. What I also want, is for them to be controller shaped, the industry settled on general controller design that was functional and comfortable and then desided that when everyone was out and about, that, suddenly, none of thatr mattered and all the buttons would be tiny, too close together and on a small brick that no-one could grip.

            1. Decius says:

              >Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros 2 functionally the same

              If all platformers are “functionally the same”, then all shooters are “functionally the same”.

              1. Tony Kebell says:

                O.K, by functionally the same I mean, practically identical. To be more clear.

                1. Dreadjaws says:

                  No, I’m sorry, but you’re not making any sense, even when you change the meaning of what I said. As platformers go, SMB and SMB2 are as different as ice cream and cookies. And you seem to be ignoring that the comparison goes both ways. You seem to imply it’s just a Nintendo thing, while it happens everywhere. Pry tell me with all possible honesty what’s the difference between, say, Call of Duty: MW3 and Battlefield 3. And I mean palpable differences, not something that only can be seen with a microscope. People can easily tell one Mario game from another from a single screenshot of each. Almost no one will have any luck with those two other games.

                  “Also the portables are a joke” Really? Are you telling me that you are right and everyone else is wrong? Because Nintendo’s portables are some of the best-selling consoles in existence. If the consoles sell it’s because people are entertained by them, which, by the way, is the only purpose of consoles. Are you saying all those people are having fun wrong?

                  And again, I’m sorry, but you keep sounding like a fanboy. “Wacky peripherals”? How about “innovative design that brings videogames to all kinds of people”? Why is it so bad to try new things in hardware but good when it’s done in software? And in the case of lack of innovation in software, why do you blame Nintendo for something that’s a problem in the entire industry?

                  And yes, I know the Wii and Wii U are underpowered compared to the competition. I didn’t say it wasn’t. I just mentioned that only fanboys complain about such a thing. It doesn’t matter that graphics aren’t the only thing that can be improved with more power, because you know very well (and if you don’t you’re fooling yourself) that when consoles have more power developers still spend it all in graphics.

                  1. Tony Kebell says:

                    O.K, the portable and peripherals thing is my opinion, which is admittedly, quite askew from the mainstream thinking and whilst I admit that the Wii brought gaming to many many ‘CASUALS’ but It did very little to entice me, a very ‘core’ gamer.

                    (Also, I’d like to point out at this point, that I avoid CoD, for the same reason I avoid Nintendo consoles, but whilst the 360 and PS3 have game series that just rinse,wash and repeat the same game on a yearly basis, they have other games to interest me, whilst the Nintendo boxes MAIN DRAW are the IPs that are rinse, washed and repeated on a yearly/bi-yearly basis and other developers games for the system are usually watered down ports)

                    Now, Modern warfare v Battlefield is a different can of worms, that goes a little like this;

                    Art Direction
                    Both are Modern day, military shooters with a focus on looking realistic, the character and map designs are very conceivable as real people and places. (their posy processing filters that make everything gray-brown are stupid though…) So they both, LOOK the same, they’re quite functionally different and their itents are different.

                    Gameplay
                    CoD is fast paced, action orientated and focuses on an Individuals loadout which is highly customizable to allow for anyone player to full a variety of combat roles.

                    BF3 is slower paced, objective orientated and it’s player-level focus is on a class based system, where a persons class determines his role, this has both combat and non-combat implications.

                    Gameplay Intent
                    CoD want’s you to feel like the terminator, you, in a good match, will kill 10 times as many people as your deaths and will fight in a battleground full of spectacle, snipers will jump of of baloconies, spinn in the air and try to shoot you, tomahawks will be thrown at you, an RC car will explode and you’ll knife that sum’bitch sniper.

                    BF3, expects a good game to run like a well oiled machine, in a good game your team will breach a room together, you’ll take out the Russians before stopping to fix your wounds and rearming, your scout will set up a UAV and notice enemy reinforcements, a tank and a gaggle of troops, to which your support will prop his LMG up in the window and lay down suppressing fire whilst the Engineer and Assault flank the sqaud and tank, before disposing of them and destroying the tank with an RPG and you’ll walk into capture zone and hoist that flag high.

                    1. Dreadjaws says:

                      Well, you are doing precisely what I told you not to do. You are actively looking for very small differences and using different words to make them sound distinct. These are differences that a veteran would find, but show both games to someone who hasn’t played them and they’ll have a hard time finding a real difference.

                      This is the problem I have: I really think you’re being absolutely unfair with Nintendo. You refuse to give it a chance based on misguided preconceptions, personal preferences that you seem to think should guide every gamer and not just you and accussing the company of problems that are rampant in the entire industry, most of the time in even worse ways.

                      If you don’t want to play in their consoles, that’s fine, I’m not going to force you or anything like that. But I’d like it if you stopped pretending that because you feel this way everyone should.

                    2. Tony Kebell says:

                      *replying to self, since thread is full, can’t reply to Dreadjaws.

                      __

                      Well of course when I give observations that are ‘veteran’ since It’s from my experiences, THESE ARE THE DIFFERENCES, that I’ve observed. Also your counter argument to my argument being paper-thin, is yo use paper-thin reasoning against me?

                      Welp.

                      Also I’m being completly fair, FROM MY EXPERIENCE, Nintendo has the same issues as everyone else…has been my argument the WHOLE time.

                      This though skews their entire console, IN MY EYES, rather than just their game series.
                      Because: Their games, are the majority of the draw of their console, so the majority of the their consoles draw, suffers from the worst issue in the industry, creative bankruptcy.

                2. Daniel says:

                  Are you talking about the first 2 games that came out for the original Nintendo? If so, I wonder if you have ever actually played them. They are no where near “functionally the same” unless you say that all side scrolling platformers are “functionally the same”.

                  Super Mario Bros. 2 was another game (Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic) originally in Japan and was reskinned to become the version that was released in the USA.

                  If you are talking about the Japanese versions, then yes. I totally agree with you.

                  1. Tony Kebell says:

                    I was talking about the Japanese releases sequel, that was too hard for Americans, completely forgot about the doki doki panic reskin to be honest.

            2. Peter H. Coffin says:

              “That “underpowered” claim also screams of usual fanboy rant.”

              This one is a fact and doesn't need rebuttal, it IS less powerful over all, that is all.

              Okay but…

              I don’t understand *why* that would be important. In the PC world, sure, it may well be important to have some relative and absolute measures of “power”, but PC setups vary A LOT, person to person, even for what would count as “new” by any un-savvy consumer’s definition. Wal*Store is selling, right now as older new stock, a “HP Black DX7300 Desktop PC with Intel Pentium D Processor, 2GB Memory, 80GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Home Premium (Monitor Not Included)” for $150. That’s not going to run a lot of this year’s games really well. If at all.

              But in the console world, you don’t get that kind of variation. A PS3 or xbox might come with a varying amount of storage, but almost no games require more than comes with the absolute bottom. The rest of the hardware is exactly the same across the line: they *all* have the same amount of RAM, the same graphics chips, the same CPU(s) running at the same clock speed. And the games have to be largely rewritten to run on a different one. So how is a Wii “underpowered” compared to another console when you can’t even compare them? Even where there’s title overlap, they’re not really running the same software.

              Sure, you can make comparisons between the different processors and point to things like “this one’s FSB is faster” or “that console has a 3-core processor, each with two threads, but that one has six cores for use” and make a judgement about “better”, but the “rubber meets the road” circumstance is “does it play the games written for it?” And the answer to that is always yes.

              1. Trix2000 says:

                People always want reasons to say ‘my purchase was better than yours!’, meaningless or not. Get whatever floats your boat, and move on.

              2. Shivoa says:

                Let me put it another way, how to Nintendo justify the price of the 3DS (find a $40 Android stick, the SoC is probably better in every way to the 3DS) vs the Vita (which has a reasonable SoC, doubling up the cutting edge mobile processors of the release window and so still being current when we look at today’s $600+ phones) or the Wii U vs the PS4? The answer is that the base cost of putting together these boxes isn’t cheap and they have their unique factor (very cheap tablet in controller, parallax barrier on top of less low-res top screen) so when they spend only 1/3rd of the transistor budget on the SoC and RAM then they’re not nearly capable of cutting the price to reflect the power (performance is cheaper and cheaper the less of it you buy due to the other costs not scaling).

                Less performance means less potential to show what those expensive artists were paid to create and less potential to use real-time calculations for interesting or cost-cutting purposes. And that does come at a saving when buying the hardware. But you pay for it in every game you play. This is not to say the games are not great or that visuals are a requirement (as that argument leads to looking at Moore’s law and deciding each years’ games must be better than the last year) and that art direction isn’t massively important. But more power means you can do everything the less powerful machine can do, and more stuff beside. Nintendo have been trying to lessen this with unique selling points that make their platforms capable of things no others can (which then ends up with PS Move, PCs with Bluetooth and Wiimotes, SmartGlass, etc to re-level that playing field).

                But I’d like to make the case for performance as a positive, even if only used to increase the work done during a render. One of the strange things about the ever-increasing performance we have available is the art is constrained by the real-time constraints of rendering a reactive environment. Outside of those constraints then things look better and stuff like aliasing (static, ie lack of sub-pixel accuracy, and temporal, ie lack of consistency of render in flickering/strobing of some elements) is the price we pay for cheap silicon (the cost of buying something that totally eliminates it, even at only 1080p, would be well beyond most gamers so we’re talking how far can we push these limitations down, not removal). We’re already paying for the assets to be made using (at the AAA+ end) man-millennia of work per title so the question is about the sweet-spot for buying hardware that can do their best to give us the real-time images without breaking the bank. Nintendo set that slider at a very different point than the rest of the industry players.

                I’ve been playing Persona 3 FES recently, at 1080p+ with AA (in 4:3 but I believe there is a hack for a 16:9 correct aspect render if I was prepared to poke the ISO of the disc I own). Even for this PS2 title that is not trying to push visuals to sell units then almost all of the assets that were created can take advantage of 1080p to look much nicer. We have the technology, the artists are already spending the time making great looking stuff, the coders are (usually) writing stuff that scales up with rendering performance. I’d like to buy that technology, not the stuff from 5 years ago or the budget-end of today, and look at something a bit closer to the ideal version of the interactive world that was created. I’ll take the hit for buying a copy of that A2 photograph print rather than saving money buying an A6 cheapo inkjet printout of it. It doesn’t mean an artist can’t create something unique and compelling with an A6 bit of paper and a home inkject, but I’d rather not see that added limitation applied to all of the stuff I can consume.

                1. Dreadjaws says:

                  I’ve seen many people like you make the case that a console’s power is not limited to graphics and it can be used for many more things, like the number of objects on the screen and such.

                  And that’s fine, and it’s a perfectly logical thing to think, but you seem to forget or ignore the fact that… it just doesn’t happen. Whenever a more powerful console comes along most developers still focus on the graphics first and the rest of the content later.

                  Why? It’s quite obvious. They want an inmediate visual cue that this console is more powerful than the last one, in order to provide an instant reason for people to decide to fork money for it. If you make a PS4 game that looks just like a PS3 game but can have 200 enemies on the screen instead of 20, people are still going to notice it looks just like the PS3 game and reason “Well, this looks no different than before, why should I spend money on a new console that can do no better?”.

                  I don’t say all people think like that, but many will. And that’s how developers think. People who actually follow consoles specs and can tell / care what processing power can do are actually a small fraction of the console users. Mostly they want a palpable difference. And a visual reminder is the easiest one. How do you think you’re going to convince people more easily? By showing a video of a game that looks just the same and then explain in a conference how the world is much bigger and how many things you can do or by showing a video of a game that looks ten times more realistic?

                  Whatever the reasoning is, you simply can’t deny that when a console has more power the focus for it goes to the graphics most of the time, so the power for the rest is static. Compare Deus Ex: Human Revolution with the original Deus Ex. The new game has a huge world with four or five different ways to do each mission. The original had a similar or bigger world with dozens of ways to do each mission. Why? Because if they were to release a much bigger game with a world ten times as big and hundreds of ways to do each mission they’d need to keep the graphical level of the original, and they’d be laughed out of the room as soon as they proposed such a thing.

                  Now, if you keep the graphic at a level that people are comfortable working with because they’ve been doing it for several years but you augment the power slightly, you’ll now have people who know they can focus on the gameplay since they know the graphics are not going to need any change. Now you have people who can focus on making interesting games.

                  1. Tony Kebell says:

                    more power can equate to many things, we hope more power will feature bigger, better games, not just more graphics, but the MOAR GRAPHICSZ! is a social issue, you hit the nail on the head in your comment, but the reason i always stick to the most powerful is the hope that at least some of the developers for the system will pull their finger out of their arse and make good game, rather than just a shiny one.

          4. Tever says:

            I like Nintendo, and I like Mario. That said, Mario 64, Galaxy, and Sunshine are all the same. They have a gimmick to set them apart, and it’s not a very good one. The Mario Party games are all identical to each other. The Smash Bros games are all identical to each other, although all fighting games are the same way, really.

            Zelda is getting to be the same way. Nintendo is just churning them out because it knows they will make money.

            1. Deadpool says:

              I don’t think he’s arguing that they aren’t connected. I think he is arguing that this is the way of sequels.

              I mean, when you play a sequel you generally want “same as the last one, but better” right? That’s sort of the point, isn’t it?

              Man’s got a point, as far as long running IPs go, Nintendo’s are probably more innovative than most. They’re not as innovative as brand new IPs go, but compare, for example, any four Assassin’s Creed games. They’re pretty much the same game with progressively dumber plots aren’t they?

              Which isn’t to say that Nintendo IPs are BETTER, or that you must get them. He’s just saying when someone goes “Nintendo IPs don’t change over time” you kinda gotta wonder what they’re comparing this to…

              1. Tever says:

                I’m not saying anything about them being connected. I’m saying they’re the exact same game.

                1. Trix2000 says:

                  There is an argument to be made for ‘if it worked so well before, let’s make more!’ One plus about many Nintendo series is that you know what you’re getting into, and can usually be sure of at least a decent gameplay experience, if not a great one (that is, assuming you liked the previous one(s)).

                  But obviously, not everyone likes the same things nor has the same opinions about it. Sorta like why we have a lot of different genres of games and different consoles in the first place. Obviously enough people like it all to keep things rolling.

              2. Tony Kebell says:

                ~This is sort of what I was thinking at the beggining.

                Sequals are nearly always, more of the same, since, mostly, that’s what you’d want from them, I want more Ass Creed, oh, Ass Creed 2 is out, it’s better be the same as the original with the rough parts smoothed out.

                Which is what Ninty has been doing with their Ips since their inception (other than the money grabbing 80s spin offs), bar the transition from 2d to 3d. Which is O.K, but (going back to my most original point) since their 1st party titles are the main draw of the Wii/WiiU nothing has drawn me to them, since I know what I’ll be getting and It’s not what i want. (It also annoys me on lots of forums where people call Nintendo innovators for doing Mario over and over and chastise EA and activision for BF and CoD, since their birds of a feather, software development wise)

                1. Zukhramm says:

                  Not buying things you don’t want is just common sense. “Refusing” to me at least, implies some reasoning outside of the product itself (For example, I refuse to buy Scribblenauts Unlimited for not releasing in Europe on time), which is what had me confused about this thread.

                  1. Tony Kebell says:

                    I supposed I’m a litter pissed at the gaming ‘community’ with their whole PS4, Wii and WiiU for me, holier than thou attitude after the announcement of The Xbox One, people all saying xbox owners should sell up and purchase a better console, like the Wii, etc.

                    Many people have told me to get a Wii, i refuse to listen to their arguements, since i’ve long since weighed up my options, as i will in december when buying my Next-Gen console, though so-far it’s looking to be the Xbox One.

                    1. Deadpool says:

                      See now, you could argue that Nintendo has a weaker system devoted to the style of games you don’t like, and that’s okay.

                      But why the XboxOne over PS4?

                      No joke here, I really cannot think of a single thing the Xbox has over the PS4 right now. I can see why someone would buy both, but JUST the Xbox?

                      Is it for the community?

            2. anaphysik says:

              “The Smash Bros games are all identical to each other, although all fighting games are the same way, really.”

              I have to take significant issue with that. Smash Bros uses a wildly different paradigm from most fighting games – they’re more like platformer beat-em-ups than ‘normal’ fighting games (you jump around a lot (and vertical position REALLY matters), the stage plays a constant, major role, and you have a set of standardized controls (with the more weirdly-acting moves falling under the standard 3-4 special controls) as opposed to a list of moves/combos). Also, the three games do have very different flows to them; the original has a stick-and-flow feel to it, wherein you’re always trying to avoid getting caught in the slight lag after you roll/attack/jump/land (and likewise you’re constantly trying to catch your opponent with /their/ pants down); Melee is extremely fast-paced, and quickly closing (or escaping and returning) before your opponent realizes is key; and Brawl has a much slower and even pace that seems like it devalues taking advantage of opportunities SUCKS.

              Now, you could certainly question whether they need to keep making Smash Bros games, but that’s a different topic.

            3. Cybron says:

              If Mario Sunshine and Mario Galaxy are the same game, I’d like to see your definition of a new game. It appears that any two games that belong to the same genre must be the same, by yours.

              “The Smash Bros games are all identical to each other”
              This is just COMPLETELY wrong-

              “although all fighting games are the same way, really.”
              …well, never mind. I guess your definition of ‘not the same’ really IS ‘in a different genre’.

  4. LunaticFringe says:

    I like to think that all the random sentient objects Josh made are trying to scream but have no mouth.

  5. Zerotime says:

    No, Josh, don’t give him a tiny violinist. A ten-inch pianist would make him much happier.

    1. John the Savage says:

      I’m pretty sure that joke is the only reason why concert pianists are now insisting that you accent the second syllable of “pianist” (pee-ANN-ist).

      1. Humanoid says:

        Or they can switch to a different instrument that’s less suggestive. For instance, instead of the piano they might switch to playing with their organ.

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          And then they can join the army and shoot their organ guns.

          1. Nick says:

            Or just just switch to a much less suggestive instrument.

            Y’know, like the guitar

            1. Syal says:

              So instead of shooting their organ guns they can finger their instrument.

            2. some random dood says:

              I was waiting for the nuclear guitar…
              And that episode was awesome! The erudition of the cast plus Josh’ genius at destruction made for something truly… special.
              Think this needs to become an irregular series like the crew did for Half Life 2.

  6. noahpocalypse says:

    I like Cthulhu, hydra, ogre, and Death. Also: “lethal apple”. Also time machine. Also Starite.

  7. impassiveimperfect says:

    “The lesson here is ‘Don’t ever give Josh god-like powers’.”

    Yes. So very yes.

    1. Trix2000 says:

      A lesson would assume we didn’t already know the answer.

  8. Zombie says:

    Classic Reginald. “I just burned the boardwalk to the ground, murdering everyone and anything in my wa……. CARNIVAL GAMES! Wait, I have to knock some bottles over? NUCLEAR WEAPONS! That didn’t work? RIDE A DRAGON TO VICTORY! I AM NOT A MERCENARY!”

  9. I like the prefix pregnant. After a bit the object spawns a tiny version of itself. and you can get everything pregnant no mater whether it is a fireman or a volcano.

    1. RedSun says:

      I’d be disgusted, but literally the first thing I thought of when I heard you could attach adjectives to yourself was “pregnant”.

      Do monsters not attack you when you’re pregnant? Cause if so, that’s what I’d always use. Just make myself pregnant and walk past monsters who are all too polite to attack me.

      1. el_b says:

        I’m pretty sure you can add tame to the beginning of the name, Making yourself immortal will actually work as well. try making him super fast and flying as well, it really makes getting around a lot easier. If that doesn’t work use a jet pack.

        There is a little more fun you can have with a cockroach, create another one and they multiply so hard that the game will start freaking out If you just leave them forever.

        Husky actually did a short run through On his second channel, before He gave up with it. you might want to check it out for some idea of what you can do on the game.

        I’m a little disappointed that the character Wasn’t edited to Look like Reginald.

        1. Entropy says:

          It’s possible you can drown the city in an infinite army of reproducing firebreathing cockroaches.

          But what kind of sick person would do that?

  10. guy says:

    I need to buy this game.

    I kept waiting for Josh to give the street musician a flaming electric guitar, but nooooo.

    1. Syal says:

      Well, a kazoo and an eclair are a pretty good replacement.

    2. The Rocketeer says:

      In related news, The Burned King would be an incredible name for a band. I am taking applicants now. We already have a kazooist but we are having trouble acquiring a teepee that can mosh.

  11. Astrolounge says:

    Scribblenauts, available in 1080p.

  12. sheer_falacy says:

    This was a great ad for scribblenauts. Amazing the number of things you can do.

  13. Sabredance (MatthewH) says:

    So… how did flaming guitars not make an appearance?

  14. aldowyn says:

    It’s totally Jennifer Hale, at least according to giantbomb (IMDB has no clue what scribblenauts is, apparenty). I noticed before you guys mentioned it and looked it up.

    Also: This should be amazing.

    *edit* And confirmed by @Jhaletweets herself on twitter. :D

    1. Deadpool says:

      Her wonderful job as the Asshole FemShep that everyone’s forgotten her range…

      She also did Fall-From-Grace, about as far removed from FemShep as possible…

      1. Gruhunchously says:

        I always knew her as Bastila; I was more than a little blown away when I learned that she was also FemShep.

      2. StashAugustine says:

        The best parts of The Old Republic are Renegade, shoot-’em-in-the-face Jennifer Hale as the Trooper talking to calm, collected British accent Jennifer Hale as Satele Shan.

        1. Aldowyn says:

          I can’t play the Trooper, she sounds too much like Femshep and it really drags me out of the game.

      3. burningdragoon says:

        She’s also the voice of Emma Emerich in MGS2 for another very not Femshep voice.

  15. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Oh man,that was awesome!This needs to happen more often.

  16. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Wow,that cane has more hitpoints than granny.

  17. Daemian Lucifer says:

    A serious question(imagine that):
    Would “Nuke shooting bazooka” spawn what Josh had in mind,or would the game interpret that in some other wild way?

    1. Aldowyn says:

      I’m wondering what would happen if you said ‘nuke launcher’ or something to that effect instead of ‘nuclear’ whatever

      1. Steve C says:

        He needed a Nuclear Hand Grenade. Then it wouldn’t have exploded next to him. (BTW that was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever written.)

    2. X2-Eliah says:

      I think it only parses single-word adjectives, so “nuke shooting” would force the game to attempt to make an adjective of “nuke” (failing, suggesting nuclear) and “shooting” (presumably failing too).

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        So what does it do with multi word things,like holy water,or red colored thingamajig?

        Hmmm…Maybe I should get it myself and try.It does seem much more fun than I thought it would be.

        1. Bryan says:

          I suspect “holy water” is the noun “water” with the adjective “holy” applied to it. Or at least, it looked like it was trying to parse Josh’s random insanity that way.

          “red coloured thingamajig” is harder to figure out. Unless it parses it as the noun “thingamajig”, with two adjectives, “coloured” and “red”? (That is, “red, coloured thingamajig”. It would give you pretty much exactly what was intended, I think, even if it parses wrong.) Not sure if in that setup it treats “coloured” as a second adjective, or as an adverb applying to the adjective “red”…

          1. Uristqwerty says:

            There are a few two word phrases it recognises, such as dragon wings, but unless they have changed something for unlimited, adjectives are all considered separately, so you probably can’t specify that your gun shoots nuclear hydras.

            Now, if each object was actually a tree of components (physical ones such as limbs, as well as projectiles and stuff that doesn’t currently exist), and you could select which one you were editing…

  18. Syal says:

    So, does giving someone a “different dream” work to get past people?

    Or a “different goal”, or any permutation of “wants to do something other than what they were asking you to do for them.”

    1. Mersadeon says:

      Short answer: no.

      Long answer: No, but there wouldn’t really be a way to phrase it for the book anyway. Also, some other “cheap” solutions don’t work – there is a guy who wants something exciting to happen. Adding the adjective “excited” to him does not solve the quest.

  19. Small Ivory Knight says:

    I’m pretty sure I heard Mumbles make a Lost Skeleton of Cadavra reference.

    Josh: “I wonder…”
    Mumbles: “I also wonder.”

  20. BeamSplashX says:

    Hug is totally an adjective! As in, “Assassins Creed II is a hug festival. It’s so god damn hug, you couldn’t motherhugging believe it.”

    And Mumbles, I once suggested to a guy in high school writing a male-male-female love triangle play that he call it “Baroqueback Mountain”.

  21. Phrozenflame500 says:

    An unplanned, blind recording of a game with no direction from Shamus? With Mumbles?

    Oh Lord.

    1. Neruz says:

      It goes exactly as well as you would expect really.

  22. Cuthalion says:

    I normally don’t watch Spoiler Warning.

    But when I do, it’s Scribblenauts.

    This was hilarious.

  23. The Rocketeer says:

    Has anyone noticed that Josh has a certain… signature style?

    What could Mumbles and Rutskarn possibly have expected? Has anyone, anyone at all reading this, ever witnessed an indication that this wouldn’t happen?

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      What I am surprised by is the lack of bugs.

      Also,Josh wasnt always like that.Its the lovable Randy influence.

      1. Ofermod says:

        Well, that’s what the giant cockroach was for. Just to make sure it still had that special Josh touch. Even if it is on the literal side this time around.

  24. JPH says:

    I heard “we have two CS majors” and thought, “You can get a degree in Counter-Strike now?!”

    1. Syal says:

      And I thought “How odd that this show has two chefs on it.”

  25. Volfram says:

    YAY MUMBLES!

    “Josh, is there anything that could help him rock better?”

    So Scribblenauts seems like completely the opposite of the kind of game I would like. Unlimited possibilities, but you must solve the puzzle EXACTLY EIN WAY!

    1. guy says:

      Josh very nearly solved the Carnival game by summoning a dragon and having it breathe fire.

    2. Aldowyn says:

      I remember the original as being way more open-ended, and this one probably is too, they just.. didn’t get that far.

      1. Thomas says:

        According to reviews the sequels were much less open ended in their challenges than the original. I think they were trying to circumvent the problem that basically all the challenges in the first could be solved by the same handful of techniques. It’s hard to design a puzzle that actually really makes you think when your toolkit is everything, but if you try to restrict it, it’s a) less fun and b) will leave lots of gaping unprogrammed holes, like Mumbles was complaining about. They still need to find more of a balance to give the game some real longevity.

        1. Aldowyn says:

          mm, I see what you mean. In the original wings and/or jetpacks could get you through just about everything.

  26. Spammy says:

    I only ever got Super Scribblenauts because I saw it used at a Gamestop and thought, “Sure why not.” And then it turns out that Scribblenauts is amazing. I am sad that I am broke and haven’t been able to get Scribblenauts Unlimited yet, because I love me some Scribblenauts.

    You know how people will put self-imposed challenges on themselves like pacifist runs and gravity-gun only runs? Scribblenauts is the king of that because you can create any kind of solution. Try a run where you solve every problem with a dinosaur.

    Scribblenauts is amazing.

    1. Decius says:

      Challenge mode: Try a run in which you solve every problem without using a dinosaur or theropod.

      1. anaphysik says:

        “without using a dinosaur or theropod”

        <_< That’s like “without using a primate or monkey” or (sorta like) “without using an insect or grasshopper”

  27. Gruhunchously says:

    It’s funny, but every episode without Shamus feels like the kids are sneaking out at night and wreaking havoc on the town while Dad is asleep.

    1. Trix2000 says:

      Because that is exactly what is happening, obviously.

  28. Ardis Meade says:

    I call shenanigans! Flamethrowers aren’t for burning things. They’re for carrying around all season and then getting blown up during a boss fight

  29. krellen says:

    I have decided that Josh should not be allowed to play video games.

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Without uploading it for all of us to laugh at,at least.

  30. Humanoid says:

    If this were to turn into a series, it’d be fun for the crew to pass the savegame amongst themselves and take turns, one per episode, at driving.

    Although I imagine Mumbles is holding off for the upcoming sequel.

  31. Weimer says:

    A game like this and you can’t summon zombie Lenin? Bah.

    Scribblenauts is a fun diversion. But in the end it works much like Garry’s mod: If you have access to everything from the get go, you’ll either become paralyzed by indecision or build everything you want in few seconds and become quickly bored due to the lack of effort.

    It does have legs as a mobile game, but as a PC game? Ehhh.

  32. Daemian Lucifer says:

    So I got it,and it is pretty fun,despite some weird stuff(typing in motor oil gives you just some oil,without the container,but typing in pepper gives you pepper in a shaker).

    One really amusing incident:A guy asked me to help him get a tan,so I created sun near him.He then reddened(gave me the reward for the quest),then exploded into leather and jerky.

  33. Andy L says:

    This is a great episode.

    Collaboration is probably the most fun way this game could be played.

  34. Wintermood says:

    Gods… “try huge”, “try huge wings” … Thanks game. Try “creativity”.
    I do not know why, but I thought scribblenauts would not be this idiotic restricting. Thanks for opening my eyes, I hate games like this.

    1. Halceon says:

      It’s the tutorial. What manner of freedom are you expecting from it? Besides, it accepts different things as well, as long as they are attachable (to demonstrate the attaching mechanic) and provide flight (to fit with the story).

  35. anaphysik says:

    At 28:14, “skarn” appears in the adjectives list!

  36. Den says:

    More Scribblenauts episodes please :)
    it should make a good diversion for when you guys are too tired to do the regular “high-brow” stuff

    because we all know how high brow that is :ppp

  37. Here are the things you need for maximum problem solving and badness:

    Railgun
    Excalibur (you can make it poisonous, giant, or what not)
    Mech
    Cthulhu
    Ninja
    Invulnerable (adjective)
    Cupid

    You’re welcome.

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Why is excalibur allowed,but merlin(wizard)and arthur(king)are not?They are all proper names.

      1. I don’t know or care. Cthulhu’s allowed too, and it’s a proper name. IIRC, Zeus produces a God just like God does. Not Marduk and Enlil and so forth, though.

        I think that the reason for that is mostly that Merlin and Arthur would just be generic Wizard and King, basically, but Cthulhu and Excalibur actually have different properties.

  38. Zak McKracken says:

    LOL!

    Thank you very much, I haven’t laughed tears in quite a while!
    Would love to see the Mumbles, Rutskarn and Chris version of this. And Shamus!
    Would it be possible to set it up so that Josh doesn’t have to play?

    1. Humanoid says:

      As far as I’m aware, we’ve seen every host except Mumbles (and Jarenth, sort of) play on Spoiler Warning, so yeah, fully possible ….once Chris gifts copies of it to everyone.

      Shamus: Trainz with a Zed, Deus Ex (sort of)
      Rutskarn: Hitmas, Batman: London City
      Chris: Hitmas: Modern Warfare
      Randy: Mass Effect

      1. Zak McKracken says:

        Okay, I’m clearly not paying enough attention…

  39. topazwolf says:

    Really? Nobody in the comments noted Rutskarn’s reference to Psychonauts? “Run away from the circus and learn to throw fireballs.”

  40. Austin says:

    We need another one.

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