News: New TotalBiscuit Video talks Biolabs and Towers

[Blackwolf]

Originally Posted by Sick Boy

yeah it does sound good, as long as there's still these awesome long fights over a base

Judging by the beta footage, some of those bases are incredibly difficult to take just because of where they are situated.

They did an excellent job of mucking up the terrain to allow for better infantry cover. I recall planetside being mostly flat and well made for vehicle travel and that's not how terrain usually is.

[Toppopia]

Originally Posted by Blackwolf

Judging by the beta footage, some of those bases are incredibly difficult to take just because of where they are situated.

They did an excellent job of mucking up the terrain to allow for better infantry cover. I recall planetside being mostly flat and well made for vehicle travel and that's not how terrain usually is.

I do remember watching Higbys NC stream and seeing them pinned behind a rock by like 5 enemies. 20 being pinned by 5. That sounds like a very good defensible position, too bad Higby had no air/tank support though, so at that time Higby should have summoned more people to attack by using global chat

[Electrofreak]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

Brain... read... as... "TotalBiscuit blabs about towers"... Not sure why, cause I love this guy! /brohug

The reason why TotalBiscuit does so well in these videos is because he was a huge fan of PS back in the day before he became an internet celebrity.

I was a staff member of PlanetSide Radio, PSR, back in the day, and TotalBiscuit was one of our DJs; arguably the most popular. He already had a bit of radio experience and was good at keeping the crowd (all 20 or so of them usually ) entertained.

After PSR fell apart (declining listener base, a large part because of eclectic tastes on the part of our DJs), TotalBiscuit went on to become a well-known figure at WoW Radio and then found his way to become full-blown game critic.

TB is pretty busy these days but some time I'd like to catch a few minutes of his times and talk about the PSR days... they were a lot of fun.

[PoisonTaco]

I'm Commander Shepard and the Biolab is my favorite store on the Citadel.

[TotalBiscuit]

Originally Posted by Electrofreak

The reason why TotalBiscuit does so well in these videos is because he was a huge fan of PS back in the day before he became an internet celebrity.

I was a staff member of PlanetSide Radio, PSR, back in the day, and TotalBiscuit was one of our DJs; arguably the most popular. He already had a bit of radio experience and was good at keeping the crowd (all 20 or so of them usually ) entertained.

After PSR fell apart (declining listener base, a large part because of eclectic tastes on the part of our DJs), TotalBiscuit went on to become a well-known figure at WoW Radio and then found his way to become full-blown game critic.

TB is pretty busy these days but some time I'd like to catch a few minutes of his times and talk about the PSR days... they were a lot of fun.

PSR, good times.

[Electrofreak]

Originally Posted by TotalBiscuit

PSR, good times.

There he is! We never seem to see you post here anymore.

Yeah they were fun, but we were a disorganized train wreck too.

[Nigh]

Who is this TotalBiscuit and why am I aroused by the sound of his voice?

[Tatwi]

Originally Posted by Electrofreak

There he is! We never seem to see you post here anymore.

Yeah they were fun, but we were a disorganized train wreck too.

Have you seen his youtube channel? I was thinking whilst in the crapper (where all great thoughts are born) today about just how busy he must be! How one finds the time and enthusiasm to not only produce all of that content, but to actually know enough about the subject matter to be interesting is honestly beyond me.

What had me thinking about this was Smed's comment the other day, essentially saying that people will watch anything. It's true. I personally loathe all of those reality TV shows, but millions of other people like them. And when Smed said that he envisioned people watching others actually play Planetside 2, rather than some team death match scenario based on PS2, I got to thinking that I'd probably watch that. Especially if it was my outfit in conjunction with the tablet app, when I wasn't able to (or in the mood to) play the game proper. And that led me to think about the commentators I've listened to over the years.

I grew up with my dad who used to listen to CFRB talk radio in Toronto, especially on Sunday when they had Mark Cullen on to talk about gardening. It was an enjoyable, informative show and it was something that my father and I did together. We also watched Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC and many of their commentators throughout the 1980s and 1990s had a certain mannerism and focus that was enjoyable to listen to. Since that time, I haven't really followed any sports or news or media beyond reading web forums, chatting with friends in games, and watching the occasional MMO Report. But somewhere in there I heard about this TotalBiscuit person and when I watched an interview he did with someone about a game, I was impressed with how it didn't make me feel like I was watching something or wasting my time. It was a lot like listening to CFRB with my dad: interesting, informative, not full of "umms", and "ahhs", and utter bullshit. It was just "real" and "professional" and I liked it.

Since then, I've watched many "WTF is" shows and "The Mailbox" shows, largely at the expense of actually doing something with my spare time. And this only goes to prove Smed's point that people will watch (or participate in) things they find interesting, even if it may not be something generally interesting to others.

But yeah, TB I'm astounded not just by the sheer volume of content you're able to produce, but by the fact that the content isn't just a bunch of crap. That's impressive and worthy of note. Also, it's admirable that people like TB "stick to things" long enough to accomplish something. I find that's been my biggest issue, something will rub me the wrong way and then I'll pop off to another one of my million interests. I learned that mistake the hard way with Star Wars Galaxies. If I had that time to do it all again, I'd "shoutcast" my crafting and Beast Master experiences, because it was something that I could talk about, with sincere enthusiasm, for hours. I just never figured anyone out there would have been interested in listening, because pretty well everyone I knew IRL sure as hell wasn't.

With that in mind, I hope that Planetside 2 gives rise to more enthusiastic, interesting public figures like TotalBiscuit (and Hamma as well as others, of course), because there will be people interested in tuning in. The best part is, SOE will be giving us the tools to make it happen right there in the game itself - you won't need to research how to do, it'll just be right there. It seems that in a lot of ways, Planetside 2 is being designed to break down the barriers to entry into not only the game, but also to the community and the experience as whole. And that's an amazing thing to do for a game where 100% of the content is player generated.

Will I shoutcast PS2? Probably not. Most probably, because it would be more of me shouting at my three wonderful children to get off Daddy's lap than casting any sort of useful commentary. But you will likely see my bullet riddled carcass make a cameo on other people's streams from time to time. I've always been The Great Gonzo at heart.

Ps. I have no idea what inspired me to write all of this. It just "happened".... IDukeNukeml's "enthusiasm" or Malorn's "brevity" may have rubbed off on me a little.

[Boone]

I like TotalBiscuit. Is he still in the NC area? Should try and take him out for a beer.

I watched some of his TGS Podcast for a little while depending on the topics. However, this Jesse Cox person is the reason I don't watch anymore. Throughout the whole stream it looks like he's going to explode with either excitement/"witty" remark. He's just annoying and just comes off negative %90 of the time.

ps - they fucked up your fried twinkie

[Morsong]

Like all other videos, this one just hyped me up even more. I haven't played PS in years, and I mean years. In fact, I haven't played any game since May so I'm really itchy right now.

I have always preferred the smaller, less chaotic fights (64vs64 perhaps in PS), and loved capturing towers in PS. That's just me, but I am getting really excited more about being in a small band and capturing territory outside of the large battles. In case we lose a big one then my faction will hopefully be able to spawn closer to it rather than if we hadn't captured said facility.

That's just my play style though. I like to feel like I'm part of the "Inglorious Basterds" gang.

[sisu]

There is definitely going to be a larger mix of the combat here in PS2--prolonged sieges, shorter base captures and everything in between. For those thinking that since the larger bases like the biolab have one or two points outside and thus shorten the length of the siege think of it in reverse; there are four or five points inside! Having one or two points outside just makes the battles a little more dynamic, but in no way gives any sort of advantage to the attacker, since they have to divert forces from the main base assault (a small squad of defenders could easily recap those points if the attackers get sloppy) and remember those points are already in your possession as the defenders. All in all it PS2 just seems to be getting things right, and the diversity and dynamic nature of the combat they are building is going to favor teamwork over anything. The only problem I see is that if you don't join an outfit, then your're pretty much going to get pwnd (but hey, who wouldn't want to join an outfit?)

[Kipper]

* Edit * Deleted post, starting it as a separate thread

[Thorne Abrams]

I like his videos and with his voice, he could be a Speaker of documentaries.

[Blackwolf]

Originally Posted by Toppopia

I do remember watching Higbys NC stream and seeing them pinned behind a rock by like 5 enemies. 20 being pinned by 5. That sounds like a very good defensible position, too bad Higby had no air/tank support though, so at that time Higby should have summoned more people to attack by using global chat

I saw him pull one air craft and was shot down so fast it wasn't even worth the effort. And the same for the tank that rolled up, blew up before anything was even done.

I think that situation was all but hopeless unless you rolled up with 5+ fully manned AI tanks and kept moving through the passage without stopping. A Sunderer might have helped out a lot too.

[thegreekboy]

Originally Posted by Blackwolf

I saw him pull one air craft and was shot down so fast it wasn't even worth the effort. And the same for the tank that rolled up, blew up before anything was even done.

I think that situation was all but hopeless unless you rolled up with 5+ fully manned AI tanks and kept moving through the passage without stopping. A Sunderer might have helped out a lot too.

My personal suggestion on what to do is fly a galaxy high overhead and drop a full payload of soldiers on the base behind them. Once the VS would have seen the base being captured, they would have either retreated to to base to kick the NC outta there, or lost the base. Either way, they get overwhelmed and lose.