Van Hemlock.com

My question is open ended. Warhammer 40K: The MMO, The Movie, The kids that play it and the lonely adults we become.

Shit, did I say "we"?

I want to know if Jon sings in the shower!

OK here's my question:

http://www.vanhemlock.com/forum/post/1045855

:-D

Throwaway question if you're just reading these during the show: What's the most tedious thing you've ever done just for an achievement, and how did you feel afterwards?

Alternatively, if you've a bit more time, what did you think of "Digital: a love story"? This is mostly just a way of saying you should play digital, but phrasing it as a question, it's free, short and wonderful enough that a little game made by one person in their spare time was keeping me from playing games with budgets of millions and armies of staff.

http://www.scoutshonour.com/digital/

Since you say the Guild Wars has been getting a bit samey, do you have any news, opinions, rants on the direction Guild Wars 2 is going? Since I mostly lost interest in Virgin Worlds, I do actually get most of my MMO news from you guys (shocking I know!)

Is there anything alse away from gaming that you'd like to do a podcast "special" about? I loved the Eurovision Song Contest commentary idea, but there must be other areas of interest.

Eurovision commentary would be ace if you were able to find a way to live stream it (and drink heavily. I miss Terry.)

Actually, there was something I have been wondering about for a while now - not sure if it would make an interesting question for the podcast, but for what it's worth, here it is:

Van Hemlock has mentioned a couple of times that these days, he's playing MMO's to hang out with friends, and doesn't really care what game that happens in. While I very much agree with the general tenor of that sentiment, it seems to me a bit off in one respect. When you're going to the pub with friends, you're of course doing it for the friends, not for the pub - but still, it does make a difference whether the pub you meet in is a nice and cozy place that has great beer, or whether it's some gaudily decorated, overlit hole that serves nothing but various versions of (pardon my English) horse piss.

So, I have been wondering (finally, the question!) whether there isn't something analogous to a cozy atmosphere and good beer in MMO's - are there any features in a game that would encourage socialising (and I don't just mean grouping rather than soloing - rushing through a mission as fast and effectively as possible isn't the same as hanging out with others), and if so, what would those be?

(Umm, and my apologies for being so long-winded.)

(Oh, and I'm very much in favour of the European song contest commentary. Even though I had to look up who Terry Wogan is.)

(And yes, I'll stop now.)

(Really.)

How many nuns would a nunchuck chuck if a nunchuck could chuck nuns?

(Follow up: how many if it wasn't a nunchuck but a "Sony PlayStation Move Motion Controller Sub-Control Unit Item"?)

On last week's grumpy show - burnout happens to us all at one time or another. Frankly with SWTOR being the only interesting mmo on the horizon it is easy to be blah about it all.

I wanted to say "good show" on finally voicing concerns with the decline of Virgin worlds many of us out here have been wondering and have gotten to the point of using it as a leaping off point to find where our favorite shows have for all intents moved to.
Personal opinion - once it became more monetized the writing was on the wall; the enjoyment he was getting from doing it had already begun to fade.

Now for my question; Which is more important and can hold up the other end better? Good game play or good story?

HERE IS MY QUESTION: How many different games do you play at a time? & Which game held your attention the longest? (Which was your favorite game)

Prolly too late but my question is:

Please can I have a job sir? XD

Yeaaah, I can't think of anything to ask. I just bask in your aural awesomeness (the spelling is important :P)

If I remember rightly from the e-mail I sent you two the other day:

1) Would you consider doing the occasional special podcast on non-games topics?

2) Will you have a party for all your fans to mark podcast #100? :-)

3) I also like the idea of the live Eurovision special. How about one for the election as well?

FotL

PS: instead of a live podcast, how about a mass Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak session?

I thought this was a good podcast. I wonder if it couldn't be a regular section on the topic show.
Anyway, in case you do another "Ask Us Things" in the near future:
Q1. What other podcasts do you listen to? (Or even: would you consider doing reviews of the other gaming podcasts? I expect you are far too British to gossip about other podcasters/bloggers. But Brent and Brendon did it once and everyone loves those guys!)
Q2. (Why) Is there a percentage of people that don't play MMOs but find them totally fascinating enough to listen and read about?
Q3. Classic games. People of our age (30+x) will always have memories of the old great games. Even that young whipper-snapper Yahtzee loves his Dizzy (not the original I notice). IIRC the Spectrum was more prevalent on our side of the Atlantic. But what were the best games for you two back then? Have you ever gone back? Only to disappointment? I was a little startled that replaying Monkey Island wasn't as ballbreakingly entertaining as I remembered it.

Ummm that will do for now.

"My enemies flee at the mere sight of me!"
"Is that after they smell your breath?"

Is your weekly EVE thing going to become a feature? I recently resubscribed and am looking for something to do.

In case this thread is still active...

I can't remember if you guys talked about a horror setting in MMO's. Personally I find it doubtful it would work. But it would be interesting hearing you guys have a long nerd out about such a setting.

Could it work?
How would suspense be maintained?
Setting(s)?
Is Cthulhu really that scary?

A couple of questions to throw into the mix...

Which MMO do you feel had the worst launch ever?

with the relative success of DDO, are there any other RPG franchises/systems that you would love to see as an MMO? (Shadowrun, RIFTS or Battletech perhaps?)

Another related question: Which MMO's have made the best recovery from disaster? DDO and Eve leap to mind, any others?