The Xbox 1 on Xbox One at 1:00 2

Rorie you're the fricking best.

Mercenaries is still fun to play after all these years. Certain things haven't aged well, but the core loop still works for me.

@cheetoman: And I don't find any of what Rorie does annoying. Regardless if you think your best way to get the staff to know you are dissatisfied with the product is by calling one of their coworkers annoying in the comments, I would look for another method. It just makes you sound like a jerk, and on top of that, it's literally the same complaint that the same small minority of people bring every time, in this case, Rorie is on a video and it doesn't appear to be working because he keeps appearing on videos.

Lots of people like it. Myself included. Either way, when you come into the comments to single out a staff member it ALWAYS sounds rude and mean, and never is the constructive criticism that you think it is.

Maybe Rorie was a bit overly caffeinated.

Hey bud, you're annoying. I'd like to see less of you. Hope this was helpful, thanks

Knights of the old republic is my favorite.

Is there an archive of the GB Divinity 2 module playthrough anywhere?

I realize that lots of folks enjoy Rorie’s contributions to the site videos, and I’m sure he is a very genuine and nice person in real life, but I have a hard time with his on-camera presence. He appears to have strong opinions about matters he is not always well-informed about, and is quick to form these opinions, as well; for me, that combination of strong takes and incomplete context comes off as judgey in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. Also, this behavior combined with his general laconic-seeming demeanor makes his opinions sound smug or know-it-allish, likely in a way that he doesn’t intend, but I still have a rough time with. Folks around here seem to like it, and I want to make sure my opinions don’t come off as critical of Rorie as a human being or anything, but his persona in videos is like cilantro for me: enjoy by lots of people, but very abrasive for me, personally.

Crackdown is my favorite original Xbox game.

Wow that's like the definition of entitlement.

god i love rorie.

the skate. demo was huge, spent a lot of time playing that one.

that park is still one of the best locations in all three games.

I just want Mercenaries on PC.

Yikes had to turn this off, Rorie just talks way too much during this.

This was a pretty disappointing look at the new BC original Xbox games. They skipped a lot of them and spent way too much time on 360 and Nintendo stuff.

#TEAMRORIE

All dissidents will fall.

@johnymyko: Same here. Jeff spent so much time building it, it'd be a waste to not go through and have a proper look at everything.

I do wonder if there's a commonality with VR here though, in that it's physically exhausting to use which makes it way harder to do other stuff at the same time (ex. talking with people, presenting a show, etc.)

Gears of War had terrible checkpoints. There was one where you had to defend a house from invasion and if you died it sent you back to the very beginning.

@wemibelle: Does it improve after the intro? I tried it when I got an OG Xbox a couple years back but couldn't handle the pacing and incredibly tanky enemies. I think I got up to the point where a desert hallucination happens.

"I'm gonna keep on talking until you guys say something..."

Rorie, you're great and I love seeing you in content but this isn't always necessary. I know there is pressure to keep the stream entertaining but it's okay to let the games speak for themselves sometimes. Gaps/pauses in conversation are natural and leave room for thought. Not all silence is uncomfortable.

I think this a balanced take. Especially the Rorie on Morrowind part. That segment was really not very useful in terms of actually seeing the game, or in terms of providing accurate statements. Saying things like 'hasn't aged well' or 'you can avoid' are pretty definitive things to say when you've only spent 8 mins looking at something as massive and deep as Morrowind!

Overall though, I think the problem might have been that there were so many titles to look at (which is a commendable thing as far as microsoft is concerned). As you say, if they'd looked at every single one, then they'd all have had as much screen time as Morrowind did. I like that GB are doing these but definitely would prefer taking some time to look at titles and getting some info on what has been updated about them on the One X versions.

Only if episode one is Rorie doing the Morrowind speed run.

@rocketraccooncmro: Wow and you're forced to watch and comment on every one! That sounds like absolute torture, I feel awful for you.

It was funny to see Brad and Ben blame Breakdown instead of Brad's inability to play correctly. Even as a child I've never died during the tutorial—and I'm not humble bragging, that's the expected result.

Very much enjoy Rorie.

Matt's Elder Scrolls opinions did trigger me, if I am being honest. He doesn't know crud about why people like Morrowind.

Edit: Rorie's the kinda guy who would let the aspect-ratio get in the way of enjoying The Wire?? wtf

I love Rorie, and I didn't have many issues with his strange behavior in this stream. That said, yea, it is a bit disappointing when people on this site don't seem to go through the nuance that I would hope they would offer to these things. I thought the stream was a good mix of "No, you wouldn't want to play any of these games" and "But.. they are still kinda cool..". Thus, the Morrowwind shut down felt extra undeserved and premature, which is a shame because I wanted to see it (never played it before on anything). (I find it weird and disquieting when I feel like I'm getting the most nuanced/balanced/professional(?) coverage from IGN of all places).

Generally, I don't really have that problem with Rorie. Jeff Bakalar, on the other hand, (and sometimes Ben, though I love him as well) has a gift for making very, very definitive statements and being completely wrong about them. He can be insultingly dismissive of things that people like, using outdated facts or uselessly hazy memories to justify his position. He can be effusive in praise at stuff and condescendingly dismissive of dissent. I'm like 65% sure that it's all just a bit, but it's not fun to listen to (unless you agree with his sentiments and don't care how he gets there).

From the relatively dismissive tone of much of the coverage on this site so far, I don't expect we'll see more BC stuff. But, I'd like to be proved wrong. Dan and Abby seem to want to try SSX3, and I'd have loved to see them play through the "good" Battlefronts or Republic Commando. Just things to wish for and probably not get. Oh well.

@jeff rocking the Nike PG2 Playstation shoes... how did you manage to get them!

How did people communicate their dissonance with something before the internet? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that criticism is bad. "I wish they showed more OG xbox games" is way different than "X talks too much". I am just so over short from, immediate, public communication. But I guess that explains why I never got into social media besides "hey I have that service, and I know you IRL, here is an invite, *never meaningfully use service again except to add another person a year later*

I do follow people on twitter for video game deals, though.

Unpopular opinion: I loved Mercenaries 2. Granted, I think part of it was because of all the B-game jank (I have a well-documented love for shabby games).

@quantris: Hm. I recognize I am being paraphrased, though I’m not sure if I follow the intent; I don’t usually comment on videos, though I have largely enjoyed Giant Bomb since I started subscribing to watch Metal Gear Scanlon. That said, I am open to constructive criticism, as I’m not super well-versed in comment threads or message boards. Do you have any advice on how I can improve my comments and feedback?

@iamaparade: I won't speak to that poster's point, but I found your post fine as far as critical takes of individuals go, I just don't really think that there is much value in them at all. As I've stated, the staff isn't going to fire someone over someone disliking them on a stream, and so your best case scenario is often just sounding like a jerk. You sounded nicer than others, but you were still just kind of laying into him for just being who he is. If you don't like Rorie, you don't like Rorie, but I struggle to see the value in mentioning it in the comments other than it just probably hurting Rorie's feelings a little bit.

I do think more worthwhile criticism is more overall content focused like "why so mucb Labo and 360 on the OG Xbox stream?" (although I liked the UPF nature of it myself) and the bonus with that kind of constructive criticism is that no one is getting needlessly torn down.

@sethmode: I suppose that’s fair. I do want to clarify that I do not wish for my comment to adversely affect Rorie’s employment status; I believe he does lots of great work for the site overall, and he definitely deserves his spot on the site. I was hoping to offer some feedback about the way I view his contributions to video and podcast content; I will admit that I did not offer many solution-oriented suggestions, and instead limited myself to how I feel. It’s not my intent to make him feel bad, or anything like that; I simply hoped to offer my personal reaction, in the hopes that it would be more constructive than some of the glib and reductive comments that I’ve seen toward Rorie so far. If one of the site personality’s actions in a particular video causes my to feel lousy and not want to consume that content, is it okay for me to mention it?

@hkabaran:

@gribblejoseph:

Wonderfully, respectfully put, my man.

@iamaparade: You can do whatever you like, man. I'm just telling you putting it in the comments probably isn't going to do much. Have you thought of reaching out to Rorie via DM if he bothers you so much? Or, if you really want to go all in with it, Jeff? My entire point is that I just don't see the value in the comments sections because it NEVER sounds as "constructive" as people think it does.

@tomac: Him and Jeff do that all the time, it gets really annoying.

Can't believe how good some of these old Xbox games look with the resolution boost. Blinx could pass for a mid-era 360 game...and be one of the better looking ones.

Would have liked it more if they actually played most/all of the Xbox games and saved the playing with cardboard and 360 stuff for the Friday show or something.

The "Premium Gentleman from Ireland"? I mean you can just call him Danny O'Dwyer like the rest of us, Rorie. (Rorie is great)

Jeff Gerstmann is featured on Honest Game Trailers with NINTENDO LABO :)

I remember staying up all night to complete Mercenaries, it really resonated with my young teenage self.

[Has no fun building Labo robot for 4 hours -- plays 12 minutes and is done...] That's about how I thought that would go.

I was expecting, "Oh its neat" -- like the above "Honest Trailer" says, thats what people say when they see Labo. "Its kind of neat?". Its also $80.

Kinect was kind of neat. Move was kind of neat. Playstation VR is kind of neat. Labo robot? My 9 year old niece won't want to build that or think its neat at all... I might try the variety pack myself though if I ever see it on sale...

I thought kiwico.com subscription boxes (advertised on facebook is where I saw it Ill admit) looked "kind of neat", but like many subscription boxes I think its overpriced

Also - Winter Soldier is so good and feels so different -- because its just the Dark Knight movies.
Literally many themes and even direct scenes are right out of the Dark Knight movies. (Batman becomes the "villain" hunted by Gotham PD, cant trust anyone; etc). Just look at the Joker walking down the street shooting at batman vs Bucky walking down the street shooting at Sam Jackson. Its the same exact scene.

@rocketraccooncmro: Just go away. You have no value here, unlike Rorie who made me laugh dozens of times throughout this stream.

I know the video and comment are almost a month old but I just want to say that I also loved Mercenaries 2. It was my favorite game for a good long while mostly because it was a sequel to the first game. I was (and still am) destroyed that EA killed off Pandemic. I wanted (and still want) to play a third one so much.

Also thanks to this video I just now found out that Mercs 1 is backwards compatible so I'm going to have to get that next time I get to my X1.

Brad Shoemaker talking about Breakdown in 2004: