Pickups(?) #52: Final pre-Crimbo pickups and about 15mins of waffle!

[lakepalmer]

Watch bus driver salutes mate. Like the odds at the horse racing. I like the pencil Owen. Is it relevant? I remember that sitcom, it was shite! It got binned off sharpish. I think Robert "Power to the People!" Lindsay was in it. That game is pronounced Exenoblade Ch-ronicles actually. Did you ever draw a small face on the end of the pencil rubber and do a little voice for it? I never. (coughs)

[LeBossu77]

@lakepalmer Is that what it is? Is it part of a hidden code used by a sub culture that I wouldn't want to be a part of? Pencil? It's a safety net, a comfort blanket if you will, a conduit to channel the nervous tension, and I always have one handy so that I can show the ladies my 'rubber pencil' magic trick. They love it! I did used to draw faces on my pencils, yes, and I also used to break pencils with my head, it made me feel alive.

[gavsabbath]

charlie brooker is awesome cant wait for hes review of the year on friday!

[LeBossu77]

@gavsabbath Yeah, his reviews of the year are always good value, I heard they're doing another series of Thursday Night Live as well. So far I think I've liked everything he's done, I miss his Screen Burn column though.

[kazxena]

A Merry Christmas to you, have a good one. Haha I know exactly what you mean when you get all cross with someone and then they are so nice, you can't help it but go all soft and go "thats Ok". "Any randoms don't even bother" funny guy. I've well missed the boat on that game. The wii game looks interesting, I don't really buy what you call proper games for my wii, maybe I should change that. Noooo Dick van Dyke the worst cockney accent ever.

[LeBossu77]

@kazxena I just wanted to stick by my guns but my resolve crumbled when they started being sympathetic and irritatingly helpful! Damn you Amazon! I ended up getting a second package through the post but they send you an email a few weeks later to test your honesty and make you feel a foot tall.

I didn't want to say randoms but it's happened before, I offered up a game and all of these mystery chaps came out of the woodwork looking for free stuff!

That will be my first and last go at DVD

[AIRWLOF]

cool pick ups have cool xmas..from jason

[LeBossu77]

@AIRWLOF Cheers Jason, I'm glad you liked the vid mate. Yep, and yourself, have a great Xmas, I hope you get plenty of gaming goodies.

[TENNESSEETITAN72]

Hahaha I laughed so much when you said "I won't do that again don't worry"

[LeBossu77]

@TENNESSEETITAN72 I played it over in my head and thought 'This is a brilliant idea!' But then it took two goes to realise that it wasn't, I'm thinking I should've probably had a trial run first, save myself the shame. And I'm too lazy to try a second take...

Merry Xmas mate, have a good one.

[TENNESSEETITAN72]

@LeBossu77 Hahahaha that part made the video for me it's something exactly what I would do. Awesome video again Owen, also have a cracking Christmas yourself.

[tootyuk]

Hey Owen keep the package from amazon lol they wont miss the £, have cracking xmas and new year mate.

oh and your "trade mark" i think is either the pen/pencil twiddle or the cheesy grin/smile mate ;)

[LeBossu77]

@tootyuk Cheers mate. Yep, the duplicate package turned up today but I was out so I had to trudge through the rain and Xmas shopper loonies to go and get it, I've just read the info and I shouldn't have bothered because now I've got to return it myself! They've demanded an email reply or it looks like the f**kers might try and charge me twice!

Cheesy grin/pen twiddle you say? I was going to try finger triggers but I don't think I'll bother now!

Merry Xmas mate, have a good one!

[amurphy245]

Bloody hell your good at waffling lol its always interesting though.

[LeBossu77]

@amurphy245 Everyday I'm waffling! That's what I try to pass off as content when I have none, as long as I've got something to moan about I should be okay.

[TheFatalHybrid]

i picked up xenoblade chronicles myself yesterday, only 7.98 in the GAME sale in-store. Pre-owned but a minter though. i briefly gave the game a play when it originally came out via a dodgy illegal copy lol, but had to get a legit one finally cos its a great game...

i actually like the cockney accents, maybe i'm just weird!

have a good xmas!

[LeBossu77]

@TheFatalHybrid £7.98!? That's not too shabby, the price keeps fluctuating on Amazon so it looks like GAME and Gamestation are the places to go. It should hold it's price as well, £7.98 is looking like a steal! I can understand trying before you buy, makes perfect sense! haha

Coming from North London as you do, doesn't it feel a bit close to home with the accents? I like a bit of otherworldliness with my RPGs, they could be a load of blokes from my local pub! haha

[DotCGames]

This is England was ace, just too short :-( Can't wait for this is England '90. Gotta agree with the comments above, woody loosing it was some of the best acting I've seen in a long time. I've bought the kids a Wii for Xmas because our so I'll have to take a look at that game, seems like there's a pile of shovel-ware to get through to find the gems on Wii.

[LeBossu77]

@DotCGames Yeah, 3 episodes wasn't anywhere near enough, and 4 episodes wasn't enough for '86 either. I'm guessing it's pretty stressful filming some of the scenes though, even with the laughs he drops into the mix. I'm interested to see what he does for '90, I'm expecting the World Cup to be going on in the background somewhere.

Yeah, there's plenty of duffers to avoid on the Wii,but plenty of quality as well and a lot of titles for the core gamers that aren't mini game compilations.

[bluetonic78]

If in doubt do the salute! With all that said you could opt for some originality by doing a forward roll....or a backward roll - either way, that would be a spectacular intro despite the chances being high that you'll potentially put your back out for a while.

Xenoblade Chronicles is due out over here next year so it will be interesting to see if they keep the old Cockney accents in or ditch them in favour of your run of the mill generic American accent. I hope it's the former! :)

[LeBossu77]

@bluetonic78 Salutes are good but then you have to decide what sort to do, and how many fingers to use(!), it's a minefield! I'm thinking of going with finger triggers, they're criminally underutilised. A forward roll is okay but there are too many variables with it's backwards brother. If I was on my game I'd bust out the breaking moves.

A Cockney RPG is a bit close to home, like it could be going on just down the road. I'm guessing focus groups have been consulted on the matter.

[darrenwalshsock]

People on Ebay can be a right pain in the arse,the only option i offer buyers is Paypal because there are far too many messers in this world.

Unfortunately i don't have a TV licence but i will look out for these programmes on the internet over the break because they sound really interesting.I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year mate :)

[LeBossu77]

@darrenwalshsock Yeah, I've been tempted to do that but I've had people take the piss with paypal as well. I don't mind as long as they get in touch, it's the f**kers that don't who wind me up!

I think both Black Mirror and This Is England '88 were Channel 4 productions so you should be able to find then on 4oD and maybe here on YouTube. Both are definitely worth the hunt if you can track them down, nice and bleak seasonal telly! haha

[adfot1]

i enjoy your waffling its insightful the lack of beard and cardigan talk is worrying but i am confident of the future.... of course i would love Jedi as i am star wars obsessed but i am sure there are needy people out there... i had fluid back in the day it was rather awesome back in the day the sort of game you would show your granny and she would be amazed at the technology in the world ..... then sip tea and look pissed off.... merry x mas dude

[LeBossu77]

@adfot1 It's a semi-beard, about a weeks worth of growth so we've got a way to go yet, should be just about there just in time for Christmas though. The cardigans are on hiatus until I can get a few more, the old ones are showing their age a bit, they're looking all saggy and limp.

You're welcome to have Jedi Academy, it's still up for grabs and it'll sit well with all of your other Star Wars stuff!

That's interesting you say that about Fluid, I've got my old Nan here at the moment!

[izaurralde]

I see your point, some ppl love hearing the Japanese and some only want to hear the English; some English dubs are horrendous (like in SoulCalibur + Final Fantasy, yecch), but in general i prefer English over the cookiness that is the Japanese - it's quite a dilemma!

=\

Have a Great Xmass too, my bro

--brian

[LeBossu77]

@izaurralde I don't mind English voice overs if the dub is good, but so often it's not. It's the same with Anime, the English language acting just doesn't always suit the material. I did like Tales From Earthsea though, a lot of it was so understated it was almost whispered. I have to agree about the Final Fantasy voice overs, I'm guessing it's not the easiest thing to get right.

Yeah, Merry Xmas mate, have a good one!

[CC10Gaming]

Xenoblade Chronicles wasn't even intended for a US release and was only recently announced which makes me very happy. I've heart great things about the game, and the English accents wouldn't bother me so I dunno what took them so long lol. Never heard of fluid, perhaps something to check out. Have a Merry Christmas Owen, looking forward to a visit from Santa! Santa's video last year was fantastic, so I would be quite dismayed should he not show up!

[LeBossu77]

@CC10Gaming I never understand why games don't get US releases, especially with a user base as big as it is. I know in the UK we've never been the biggest RPG market so I understand why we've missed out over the years. Everybody speaks with the Xenoblade accent where I live, it's given the game an odd local feel, but I'll get over it!

Santa filmed his Christmas message earlier today, he was slightly delayed because he was having beard problems.

[Zephieish]

Why do people want to pay by Postal Order ?

They have to pay the Post Office for the privilege of obtaining one and use a stamp to send it to you!

Stuff like that always confuses me lol

[LeBossu77]

@Zephieish I think the first person was a kid who didn't have a bank account or a paypal account, I wasn't confident that everything would go well when he couldn't tell my name from the first line of my address. He was legit though so it was okay, the second person was just a piss taker, I suspect they chose the Postal Order option because they knew I'd have to hang around waiting for it.

[Bantam80]

Black Mirror was excellent. Charlie Brooker is great at making incredibly inciteful observations and making you think a little bit, which is why I love his Guardian articles and 'Wipe' series. I actually found the first Black Mirror quite moving. After the initial shock factor to put Daily Mail readers' backs up, it's probably the first TV program that has made me feel pity for one of the characters.

The second episode was really interesting too. Especially apt for us gamers.

[LeBossu77]

@Bantam80 Yeah, I miss Charlie Brookers Screen Burn column from the Guardian, it was always good for a laugh. I enjoyed Dead Set as well, it felt liked he'd got that George Romero idea of a Zombie film with a point to make.

The first Black Mirror wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before so it took a while for me to get my head around it, I think the set up needed to be outlandish to emphasise the comment on social networking and public opinion, I felt slightly under scrutiny as well.

[kdyer1968]

Merry Christmas to you as well!!!

[LeBossu77]

@kdyer1968 Many thanks. Merry Xmas, hope you have a good one, and a top notch New Year as well!

[MrMcoleman28]

Hey Owen.

Sounds like you've had alot of bad luck......

Anyway,i enjoyed the vid as usual.

Hav a gr8 Xmas

All the best for 2012

Michael....

[LeBossu77]

@MrMcoleman28 Cheers Michael. I think I over exaggerated, I've not really lost out after all, just slightly inconvenienced, and I can relist the ebay stuff after Christmas. And the Amazon reorder turned up earlier so now I've got doubles! It'll be going back though, it's not mine to keep....

Glad you enjoyed the vid mate, Merry Xmas!

[ibbotson22]

Merry Christmas to you too !

Choosing the cheapo postage option at Christmas is always going to cause problems lol.

Xenoblade looks to be a good game, I bought a copy a while back but have not played it yet. You will have to give your thoughts on it if you do play it. I think you should film an intro for you videos .. similar to Eastenders maybe ! a slow zoom out from a game box ( like the Thames in Eastenders !) Then as the video starts you could call someone a slag off camera and then start

[LeBossu77]

@ibbotson22 Cheers mate, Merry Christmas!

I thought of an upgrade for another parcel that I ordered but all it did was add an extra 2 days to the wait, from 19 to 21! An extra 2 days for an extra £1.93! I ticked the gift wrap box last year and all I got was a bit of cheapo wrapping for £3!

I'm going to give Xenoblade a go when I've waded through Dark Souls or when it gets the better of me.

I like that idea, it might just use it, especially the bit where someone shouts slag!

[Snestastic]

lol 15 mins of waffle was well worth the watch Owen :) Round the box is the Bluetonic lol. The Charlie Brooker series is called Black Mirror, i'm sure you asked while I was in the kitchen getting some cereal lol.

[LeBossu77]

@Snestastic Cheers Pete, I'm glad you enjoyed it, I was struggling for content! ha ha Yep, I remember now, 'round the box' is Alex's, I remember you saying you'd do a 'Bluetonic' when you were showing off an N64 game.

Yeah, Black Mirror, did you watch it? I think the second one was particularly relevant to our community of gamers but they were all quality productions. The plots of the 2nd and 3rd felt totally plausible as Sci Fi, quite scary if I'm honest.

[Snestastic]

@LeBossu77 No probs Owen :) I haven't watched it yet dude, have to say though Charlie still gets the jammy bastard award for snagging Konnie :)

[LeBossu77]

@Snestastic They're definitely worth catching Pete, you might even be able to watch them on 4oD on Youtube. I think he co-wrote the second one with Konnie, I didn't know she was into her screen writing as well, not bad for a first try if that's what it is.

[roleplayerthegamer]

good show, you should do more vlogging. xenoblade is a huge game, you may want to beat some games before getting into it. i have the emulated version and i like the brittish accents. i heard that europe got the games first because of some kind of romanticism thing pertaining to this, last story and pandora's tower. i hope aqll 3 get english releases and if i can i'll buy them too.

[LeBossu77]

@roleplayerthegamer Cheers dude. Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing some more, I always enjoy other peoples vlogs, if I ever get off my ass to fix my camera then I'll be onto it.

The UK accents stand out because they're unexpected, especially being cockney. Everybody speaks like that where I live and it gives the game more of a 'domestic' feel which you don't expect from RPGs. I've only just heard of Last Story, it's looking good. I'd be surprised if the games didn't come your way.

[roleplayerthegamer]

@LeBossu77 i don't think you'd enjoy my vlogs but that's okay...

the little bit i played of xenoblade i really liked because the accents, i hate the NA group of shite actors that voice every dub, i'm sure you can't stand those idiots either. i prefer the japanese but in the end i read the text faster than the delivery so i doesn't matter what the voices are as long as there are subs.

[LeBossu77]

@roleplayerthegamer Yeah, they should mix it up with the voice artists, I've noticed the same voices appearing time and time again and a lot of the time they really jar, especially the voices for the younger characters. I prefer the Japanese originals as well, if I'm going to read the text anyway then why not.

[theretrogamesnews]

Hellllooooooooooo - Haha, I actually like when you do your hello thing at the begining, that should be your trademark, although it does sound a lot like my wife because she's Chinese! Mate, I was laughing out loud when you did your Dick Van Dyke impression, well funny. Re Xenoblades, I saw Michael Smith (retro games reviews) picked that up recently, lots of people raving about it, so I'm gonna have to look into that, although probably have enough on my plate with Santa bringing me Skyrim!

[LeBossu77]

@theretrogamesnews Yeah, I think you're right, I've not got much else in my locker after all. It does seem vaguely familiar though, I've got a sneaking feeling that I'm ripping off some cheesy 80's comedian and I don't even know it! haha As for my 'impression'...

Yeah, Xenoblade had some great reviews but it looks to have flown under the radar slightly. The sense of spectacle seems to be a large part of the game, there's an image on the reverse of the sleeve that says it all.

[timeteam1982]

I never played that star wars but the gameplay looks nice . And I never watch those programmes are theu being shown again .

[LeBossu77]

@timeteam1982 I highly recommend the game, it feels almost like an arcade version of Knights of the Old Republic, you can choose what side of the force you're going to favour so that each play through will be different from the next. The TV programmes should be on 4oD, they might even be on YouTube because I think they're all Channel 4 productions. They're all definitely worth tracking down.

[timeteam1982]

@LeBossu77 cheers I wil look and I going out tommorow I see if I can find the game .

[SeanSidious]

If it wasn't for This Is England & The Walking Dead, I wouldn't watch any TV at all. The scene where Woody went off on one was TV at its finest, I couldn't take my eyes off the TV. I definitely agree, Shane Meadows is the man. Dead Mans Shoes is one of my favourite British movies!

[LeBossu77]

@SeanSidious Yeah, The Walking Dead is great as well, I'm hoping Channel 5 will show the second series eventually, the first series didn't last long enough.

Yeah, the Woody scene was spot on, I can't disagree. They nail the acting across the board, I liked the scene where Lol talks to the nurse about her Dad, no fuss just straight up acting. I like how he hits you with some tragedy and then drops in a laugh straight after. If you can find them the Shanes World shorts are great.