The Urban Symphony of Grand Theft Auto | Game/Show | PBS Digital Studios

[@PhilthyFork]

I love the analyses you do of specific games and their defining features (like this video) but also more generalized videos, like one focused on just sound effects or just music, etc.

[@pbsgameshow]

+Philthy Fork Thanks!

[@sushisushi5862]

Oh. I'm early. Time to make a joke. How did the hipster burn his tongue? He drank coffee before it was cool

[@leidenfrost3821]

Woosh

[@colintotallyrealname3490]

+Gandalf the Grey Huh? Everyone's acting like it's real!

[@rasen84]

+Gandalf the Grey bad XKCD application.

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

Funny, but how long has it been cool?

[@SticktheFigure]

As a musician, composer, and someone hoping to work in game sound this is undoubtedly my absolute favorite video you guys have made.

[@sunny_ua]

I remember the combination of sounds and music atop a tower in Mass Effect 2 Thane recruit mission. It mesmerised me.

[@LOVER_LINK]

Such an underrated channel.

[@MagusMarquillin]

Maybe you should guest star on Mike Rugnetta's Reasonably Sound podcast, this topic seems up his alley.

[@MCRedThree]

The sound design of Alien: Isolation goes a long, long way to adding to my sense of fear and anxiety walking through. The whoosh of the doors or the vents opening, pipes clanging somewhere in the ceiling or in the distance, et cetera...all made me paranoid the alien was nearby, even in sections where the alien never shows up!

[@pbsgameshow]

+MCRedThree Thanks for the rec but I'm way too jumpy to play this game. I've heard it's intense -jj

[@Zerepzerreitug]

in the last question of the survey, it asks us to select all the PBS channels we watch, and yet, it only lets me choose one :(

[@enFUSIED]

+Arturo Gutierrez Glad to see I'm not the only one.

[@pbsvoices]

+Arturo Gutierrez Thanks for the heads up! We've updated the survey so now you can select all of our shows.

[@agent42q]

+Arturo Gutierrez i didn't know there were that many.

[@huwguyver4208]

I love hearing the distant crackle of gunfire in Fallout 4 and knowing that there is an actual battle going on somewhere that I can join if I wish, watch play out, or ignore. It really helpd make the Commonwealth feel like an active combat zone. The fact that this ambience is not ruined by intrusive pop-ups overtly telling me to jump in and help (I'm looking at you Far Cry 4) is great too. It's just part of the environment you are going through. It's particularly cool in the built up areas the way it echoes around the buildings.

[@cmckee42]

Contrary to what you said, portal fails the Bectal test. Chell never talks, and to my knowledge is never actually named in game. In fairness, it also fails the reverse Bectal test as well.

[@BlueBD]

nope her name is never said i game. Instead its seems more like all referanc are made to the stubborn, Determined Lab-Rat of a player then it does relate to chell herself.

[@The_Hanged_Man_Arcana]

The turret opera mentions her by name.

[@BlueBD]

+Dale MacKinnon in the second game. chell never had anything more then a body and name but even the name was never mentioned ingame. Most of chells personality and character was given outside of the first game.

[@cmckee42]

Dale MacKinnon Well, she still never talks, so the Bectal test still fails. That being said, the movie Mulan fails the Bectal test, so the test definitely isn't perfect measure of feminism.

[@BlueBD]

+Blue★ wait no there isnt any clones.

[@elronman]

A good example is Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Those guys didn't have that much tech/money to work with, just the soundscapes from source. The thing is that they used music to create an ambiance. They had these slow and dark toned songs that set their own mood. The small noises like screams and wind chimes punctuated it. Just listen to the games soundtrack and you'll understand, and any indie dev that want's a strong dark mood in their game NEEDS to listen. It's a smart quick fix that can make as much of an impact as a fully 3D sound environment.

[@MrTizzay]

As a young sound designer for games this is an amazing video! I'd love to see more technical stuff like this!

[@RedM00n1]

The Crypt of the Necrodancer was a game that really stuck out to me with sound design. It seems obvious, since the game is entirely based around its music, but that wasn't the end of it. You are paying close attention to the song, as you move on every single beat, but that made me pay even closer attention to the tiny sounds that were littered through the game. It made it much easier to hear a far off shopkeeper singing, or the breaking of dirt across the floor as a dragon approaches. And most enemies have either a small, half beat length audio or visual queue as to what the enemy you are fighting is going to do. Whenever I play that game I forget the world exists, more than most games do for me.

[@Egawill]

This topic is really interesting. I get the importance of the sound design on a real ish world like GTA, but what about other games that present surreal landscapes and worlds, like Mass Effect or Dragon Age? Does the sound have to be different to drives us into this worlds, and when is too similar to the real world that ultimately breaks the fantasy created by the visuals and story?

[@elronman]

+EgaWill Well a rule is to have 50% of the game be relatable and 50% be unique. So in a game like mass effect or dragon age you want birds chirping (space birds) grass sounds and insects and all that. But in dragon age you could add the sound of distance monster roars and in mass effect maybe have like a planetary specific features like an ice planet have cracking glaciers or a gaseous planet have geysers or bubbles. That actually sounds like it would be a pretty interesting way to build the world without showing a lot of it. Just through sound.

[@Egawill]

+elronman Oh, that makes sense. So kinda the same that designers usualle make on horror games with the uncanny monsters or enviroments . Thanks for the answer! ^^

[@pbsgameshow]

+elronman Where's that rule from? Curious!

[@elronman]

+PBS Game/Show Look up "How to choose a theme for your game" its a GDC and they cover 4 basic rules to choose a theme for your game. The fourth one is familiarity and novelty. Basically easing someone into a new idea.

[@Niarro]

The older RTS Total Annihilation's sound design is what had me fall in love with it as hard as I did, I think. Specifically, in this case, their use of the background music. You started a game with a generally cold and mechanical orchestral theme playing as you started with just one unit and had to build up from there. But what I thought was brilliant about it, is that they had these rousing tracks come on whenever battle began. So you'd be playing, and suddenly hear and/or see some explosions blossoming around your forces, and the fight or siege would be announced with a wonderful flare of trumpets or strings. And the tracks would play until things stopped shooting and dying, and would return to the more sedate 'building' music.

[@jonathannielson4406]

Love love love this episode. Very few fans and even critics seem to care about this incredibly important aspect of design. It's my favorite aspect of game design.

[@hypersapien]

The game that jumps to my mind when I think about memorable audio is Mirror's Edge. In particular, I remember the sound of wind rushing past my ears followed by my crumpling bones after falling off a sky scraper. The sound of falling into the underground sewers was also terrifying. This use of audio was my primary incentive to not fall off levels in that game, it was just so dang visceral.

[@BenVisness]

A little thing for me was the thunder at the end of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. It actually sounded like real thunder, and it happened with a delay after the lightning that caused it. Just like real thunder. That was super important, too, because it was happening during one of the most emotionally moving moments of the game.

[@MathAndComputers]

This is a bit of a meta answer to the question, but the game that had sound design that moved me the most was Auditorium. Auditorium is a puzzle game in which you move around items that direct sound toward sensors, at which point, the game will start playing the musical part whose sound you directed there, with a volume proportional to the amount of sound you directed there. It's quite a fun game, and well designed!

[@ancatdubh43]

I personally love how you could hear muffled radios from cars driving past.

[@JosephHitchcock]

This was really interesting and gave me a newfound appreciation for videogame sound design. Will definitely keep watching!

[@agent42q]

Love it when you guys talk about actual Game Papers acediamia or just out there and well written. Something this show does that few others do.

[@Defiler86]

A game with a sound design that stuck with me: Shadow of the Colossus. It's vast and expansive, and while traveling you often only have the clopping of Argo's hooves and the rustling of leaves and wildlife. It works best with the loneliness as you are a single person in a huge isolated area.

[@MihaiKrieger]

The technology has allowed developers to create games like this. This attention to detail is needed in every game, but very few take advantage of it. GTAV, Witcher 3, The last of us are a few examples. Just think of Eurotruck Simulator 2 for example :D you can hear a zone's specific sound.

[@leidenfrost3821]

I just loooooove the dungeon music in The Legend Of Zelda, it gets me every time. It just brings up so many childhood memories.

[@MrFair]

Great video, very interesting. Love this stuff and would certainly like to learn more about sound, sound design and music in games!

[@TheMisteroMikey]

I'd have to say FTL had amazing sound design, it completely had me from the main menu thinking I was commanding my own star ship.

[@jamescorrall6535]

I think it's important to highlight the difference between "real" sounds and "expected" sounds. Gunfire is a good example as most microphones will just register a gunshot as a clicking noise due to the shockwave triggering an overload or cut-out. If you could record it the sound of a real AK47 without ear plugs would drown out everything else in the game so a fictional sound is used instead. This is the same with reload sounds, doors, footsteps etc but gunfire is the most pronounced. Foley has trained us to hear the world as a series of interlocking sound bites where everything can be separately identified.

[@pebui]

I remember Operation Flashpoint on the PC back in the late 90's simulated the speed of sound when stuff happened in the distance. You could be in a tank firing shells at a distant target. The sound of the cannon firing from your tank is immediate is loud, then when the target explodes in the distance you see it before the sound of the explosion arrives though not as loud but loud enough that you know it was loud if you were closer. That was a cool thing for a game to simulate.

[@dmcm2567]

they need to be longer like this I usual pop a soda and get involved when I use KZbin and never watch something under 10 mins.

[@DocAlexandrite]

I was just admiring this earlier! I got a new headset, and I had the game sound playing through them. As Trevor, I crashed a plane in the countryside, near the Rebel Radio station; and I just sat back and heard the world go by (sirens included)

[@ISawABear]

I first really noticed sound design in battlefield bad company, explosion aside gunshots outside and inside a building sounded like 2 completely different beasts. More recently Rainbow Six Siege with its emphasis on close quarters combat has actually gotten me to listen more than watch what's on screen and with headphone I've been able to pinpoint enemy locations in relation to my own and track there movement without ever seeing them. Its great.

[@tj_kendon]

The biggest thing I've noticed about GTA5's sound design is the spots where they break it. I'm thinking of the points where you're picking up people on the side of the road, you can hear them even though you're far away and in a car. I think that's interesting because a) it shows how good the rest of the sound design is, that it stands out, and b) it gives them an extra tool to grab the player's attention.

[@aliencentipede9357]

not only does the attention to sound in this game impress me, but also the attention to the ambient music. It changes along with the stuff you do in the game for intense get's heavy"r with the action happening in game. just like in Red Dead Redemption

[@DoctorDex]

I love this episode, very informative. Personally I really like the sound design in Left 4 Dead. Almost every random event in L4D, like a horde closing in or a nearby witch has a unique sound cue. Not only does it warn the player of imminent danger, but it gives each encounter a distinctive feel.

[@amcaesar]

Wow, right on, Jamin. Excellent analysis -- it makes me want to play the game right now. Also, I kinda wish we had seen the deleted scene we shot of Rusty trying to pull the car away from the curb.

[@mcbain3764]

Excellent video analysis. Im glad you pointed out Red Dead, because thats one of the few games that really stood out to me for its amazing audio design. Not only is the score perfect, but the ambient and natural sounds from being outdoors are just incredible. I have booted up the game on occasion just to hear the audio while watching the sunset over the prairie. Virtual vacation. And peaceful too (until a mountain lion gets you!)

[@Antmandominguez]

I wasn't expecting the small nod to nuclear throne's very talented sound designer. Personally I believe that it is sound design that makes using new weapons so compelling and enjoyable in Nuclear Throne.

[@ZechsMerquise73]

hotwiring a car in the intro? best pbs show host ever.

[@Staymare]

I think I've been playing this game too much if at 4:53 my first thought was "inner city Rancho is Southeast of that hospital, that is clearly Rockford Hills."

[@BasementMinions]

Super cool! Loved this episode.

[@Mito771]

That really goes on to show how we can sometimes don't appreciate things that are in reality... done right. I mean, good sound design isn't even going to be noticed until you "inspect" it closer and bad sound design will stand out.

[@Coinbop64]

I think sound can also surprise a gamer when they hear a familiar tunes or unusual sounds.

[@PatrickHogan]

The sounds of Bioshock.

[@epicalex95official]

Interesting. I recently read the first chapter of the Higurashi visual novel (which technically still counts as a video game for some reason), but the game doesn't refer to itself as a visual novel, it refers to itself as a sound novel (However, it still counts as a visual novel). By calling itself a sound novel, it made me pay attention more to the sound design in the game. While I can't say that the soundtrack was amazing, I found it quite effective in helping portraying tone. In the light-hearted parts of the game, the music was light-hearted. In the more darker, creepier parts of the game the music reflected that tone as well. It may sound obvious that music would reflect the tone of what's going on, however, I never actually thought that much about it. The game reminded me of how important sound can be when immersing a player in a universe. I remember a part in the game where I heard a doorbell go off, and it startled me. I could tell that the main character was ignoring the doorbell sound initially, and after reading a bit and hearing it go off a few times, the character realized he was ignoring the doorbell. I thought that was a pretty cool way of immersing the player in the "game".

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

The sound in GTA V truly is amazing, too bad it always feels like I am driving an RC car...

[@litcrit1624]

Coming in 2017: GTA 4'33" ! The total immersive experience!

[@progtentious]

Rainbow Six Siege has excellent sound design and using it to your advantage is frequently the deciding factor in a match

[@lillyandrews8879]

I'd love a video on Fallout 4. Thank you for the amazing content!

[@kida026]

I know EA and Dice get a lot of crap, but Dice games have some of the best sound design I have heard. Battlefield games just sound great. The resonance of the gunfire and the thundering explosions fit together perfectly and create an atmosphere of beautiful chaos. Even Star Wars Battlefront sounds amazing. They nailed all the classic Star Wars sounds and it really gives the player the feeling of being immersed in the world. Even if you don't play online shooters ever, I would highly recommend playing one of the Battlefield games (going back as far as Bad Company) and really listening to all the little nuance in their sound design. It's great.

[@MonkeyPantsFace]

That's probably the most forward of a comment response that I've seen from you... I kinda liked it

[@TheAdmiester]

I like how one of the GTA 4 clips was a modded clip where the world was struggling to load, lol.

[@shriganeshbollakpalli]

I'd have to go with Bio-Shock as one of my best audio experiences in a game. My fear, anxiety and curiosity was constantly stimulated from both the eerie sounds of new environments and those whispers and howls of the splicers. I must say, Bioshock truly took it to the next level!!

[@SendyTheEndless]

I've never played any of the GTA games though I think they are a technical marvel. My favourite sound design game at the moment is Playdead's Inside. All of the sound in that game just blows me away, or anchors me in the world. The gameplay itself is quite simplistic, there's a lot of running to the right, but the way the sound is synched with the visuals and "worldized" is mesmerising, almost hypnogogic.

[@kirpal755]

Best thing PBS makes

[@RintarouOkabeUnsheathed]

One question about the survey... Why isn't Extra Credits under the KZbinrs list? Since this channel is about gaming, I'd figure they'd at least qualify as well. I mean...we have Jenna Marbles, and her channel isn't primarily about gaming. No offense meant, just something I noticed.

[@fangeared]

I would guess because they are trying to get a broad sense of what else viewers are watching in general. Not necessarily just other gaming content.

[@BLACKDISC]

I found this channel through Extra Credits honestly

[@upublic]

+Rintarou Okabe "no offense" my ass. You fkn PC spawn are going crazy with apologizing

[@benhoff901]

I had never thought about those poor poor foley artists involved in open world games such as GTA. In film you only need to record sound effects for what is being presented on screen, which is probably 2 hours at most, but the sheer scope of recording sounds of every nook and cranny of a game is staggering! Like was pointed out in the video everything from the environment, to cars, to guns to footfalls in different locations to how the reverb changes depending where your character is, just amazing. It would be interesting to see this concept of auditory realism applied to games that were set in space. I would imagine that it would be too boring or even unsettling to be able to hear explosions, or spacecraft engines or laser blasts or whatever even though sound waves can't travel through space.

[@6zwbob]

I love the sound design in bastion.

[@LudwigVanKinder]

it is not the AI the one changing the volume levels of the sounds in a game, it is the Sound Engine, which could technically be called an AI, but since in games AI is most used to refer NPC characters, Sound Engine is more correct :b & it does more than just adjusting the volume . It also adjustes the panning (left or right), the Equalization, randomization (not only playing different sounds but randomizing some parameters to make each sound more unique) & other things... As a sound designer & music producer, i would love more videos about audio & music in videogames... c:

[@majoratom1137]

My pick's more of a recent example of exquisite, immersive sound design; but Bloodborne. The sound design behind the creatures really add elements of horror and foreboding to an already visually striking world. Mixed together with an excellent orchestral score, that really strikes up during boss fights, and it helps to make for a truly unforgettable gaming experience. Even though at the time of typing, I'm still stuck on the 3rd boss (Blood Starved Beast).

[@AlbinoTanuki]

In GTA 4 when you turn on the radio in your car, you can hear the soundtrack of the movie "Koyaniisqatsi" which, in Hopi, the title translates to "Life out of Balance", which for the world of GTA where you play a thug breaking the law, seems to fit the narrative by having that music.

[@ErroneousPower]

Best opening ever! hahahaha

[@doppleflanger2633]

Another great episode. I love the focus on immersion through sound design, and would like to see more videos about the more subtle aspects of game design like lighting, color scheme, etc. ALSO, can you please do a show about Destiny? I have a very serious love/hate relationship with the game, as i feel many players do. The game lets us down over and over with half realized promises, hidden lore, and constant changes to gameplay (which i actually really like). Bungie has created this weird collaborative and ever changing world with its players, and I'm really interested to see your take on why this works and why we continue to play.

[@TheNameJohnny]

awesome video brah keep it up with the great videos.

[@kaiju_exe4106]

ty the Tasmanian tigers sound track got me into making music, that sound track is amazing.

[@ceulgai2817]

The survey has an error. On the last question, you should be able to click multiple selections, but can only make one.

[@ManwithoutfearJDK]

Demographic info: Straight, cis, hetero, white, bloke. Despite that, (because waaayy too many blerking many people I share those demos with are so very small minded) I really enjoy your intersectional feminist topics. Some episodes I really loved were the one on Game of Thrones' game design. Is Portal a Feminist Masterpiece. The evolution of controllers. I just really enjoy seeing behind the layers and seeing what goes into a game. The various elements of games. As well as their cultural impact and how that's changing as the nature of gamers is changing.

[@emmey8865]

Saying that replacing chell with a tree/cat or whatever is the same as saying male characters are "worthless" like other inanimate characters. Replace chell with a dude. Maybe even replace Glados with a dude. Now you have something about a father/son relationship. If you complain about gender roles yourself then why are you forcing them onto the story to begin with? Oh thats right. Cause you do care about it. That's why you make people talk about this.

[@626F62]

Papa Sangri, an It's game u play with ur eyes closed.. awesome world brought to life with sound and imagination..

[@laughingfurry]

I always knew sound dynamics were important to gaming since the 16 bit era. Best example I can provide is with Super Mario World. Just the sound effect of the jump alone and how it echoes in certain areas, along with other sounds shifting, made the game more dynamic. If all Nintendo did with Super Mario World was merely pallet swapped overground images with underground images, it wouldn't have felt as dynamic. It wouldn't feel like a completely different environment without the changes in the sound.

[@Cuix]

Really dig the outfit you're sporting!

[@MaffewSpeaks]

Another good episode.

[@revoltingsimp]

Valve is not a paragon of game design. There. I said it.

[@whym6438]

The whole time you were talking, my brain was going, "yeah, but how much money and dev time does all this take?" It's really cool that GTA can do all that with their sound design, but I don't think we'll be seeing this kind of thing outside of triple-A games anytime soon.

[@pbsgameshow]

+Whym Well....that soundscapes approach is actually similar to the one used in Proteus! So small games can totally use parts of this.

[@ZechsMerquise73]

+Whym Overgrowth has a similar sound implementation. What could make this pricey is hiring a whole sound design team, making sure they have all the best equipment, and then making a very big game which needs a LOT of that. But for an individual, sound design is basically free, though quality will suffer without the best equipment and someone who knows what they're doing. The thing about indie games is they usually don't have a deadline. This is more of a weakness for small budget titles working with publishers or who are relying on that game for income.

[@JoshuaChowabc]

This is exciting!

[@CharcharoExplorer]

Ohh STALKER's sound effects

[@Anoctopusinlove]

Battlefield 3 or 4 has the best sound design. And all the sounds come from other players which is impressive

[@gluebits3562]

Portal 2. That's all I have to say about ambient sound.

[@hyperspacey]

This article on Dead Space is still one of my go-to reads on game audio design. www.originalsoundversion.com/dead-space-sound-design-in-space-no-one-can-hear-interns-scream-they-are-dead-interview/ Those "fear emitters" are a work of evil genius.

[@thedavischanger]

Nice skit at the intro.

[@IsiahGames]

I think you're nitpicking with the "wouldn't be the same with two dudes" thing around 9:20-ish. What I think the commenter was saying was that, the characters are written in such a way that changing their gender wouldn't change their fundamental character. A mother-daughter relationship would become a father-son relationship but the dynamic wouldn't be functionally different. And this is good writing. The same way The Last of Us designed characters in a way that you could replace the man with a woman or the girl with a boy. They aren't written to be a specific gender, which means they aren't stereotypes. In that way, Portal both is and isn't a feminist game, because what makes the game a feminist game IS the fact that every character's gender is irrelevant. And what you say immediately after, the reason the "big reveal" about Chell being female works is that it isn't a big reveal like Metroid NES, but it's just kind of a thing that is true. The player's surprise says more about the player. By treating Chell's female-ness like it's unimportant, it is a "feminist" game. It's not making a statement, and THAT'S how it makes a statement.

[@seraph_77]

Just to let you know, the last question on your survey is set up wrong. it asks to check all that apply yet you can only check one option.

[@Scaredycat1963]

I'd like to see what sound design would be like with a truly Artifically intelligent algorithm. Or better, how a video game would work after the technological singularity.

[@nickvu5360]

As much as I like GTA's sound design, I think I like its sister game's Red Dead Redemption in this regard. I think it's just a preference but hearing not only the sound design but also how the soundtrack is interwoven with your actions (for example stems play when you get on/off your horse) makes you feel like you're actually in a Western movie.

[@pbsgameshow]

+Nick Vu You're right. RDR sounds amazing. But then again, GTA radio -jj

[@robertskitch]

The Bechdel-Wallace test is more about measuring the levels of female representation and not about whether that representation is good or bad or if a specific title passes as feminist.

[@gamenation9485]

But the real imenisty is in the seamless processing power like you mentioned everthing fits together to create one the best playgrounds for open world mayhem any online game can offer to this date.

[@openmoose]

"Oh, hey, didn't hear you there" he said to the camera, delivering his very best Fourth Wall Greeting. tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWallGreeting?from=Main.OhHiTHere

[@VodKaVK]

THE CAT!!!!!

[@gamenation9485]

of course the sound design will improve even more in GTA games, but the ambience never broke my immersion so there's clearly enough at the moment.

[@MrFair]

Litte comment for the survey: The last question seems to be broken, you can't choose multiple PBS shows, althought the question asks to mark all that applies.

[@TheSBled]

You could change the gender of the characters and have the same situation play out. It's not that the characters are bad, It's just that gender isn't relevant to the story or the gameplay. The character of Chell is supposed to be a blank slate that players project themselves on to, much like other characters such as Link or the protagonist from Pokemon games. I'm personally not convinced by the mother-daughter rhetoric, but if this theoretical relationship was true I'd rather classify it as a mother-child thing. Child includes dudes :P Also, playing as a female might have been a surprise at the start of video games, but at this point we have so many female leads that It's not anymore (bayonetta, samus, lara croft...). This gender bias in gaming thing is not something I've experienced beyond a few rare and specific cases so I'd like a citation if you don't mind. Really liked the GTA episode. Keep up the good work.

[@laughingman4402]

last of us clicker sound, Silent Hills 2 radio sound!

[@Thursday04]

+PBS Game/Show Hello Jamin I love the show, could you do a video on how accurate the game Oregon Trail and how to pass the game without dying of dysentery like with your pass video with Street Fighter.

[@Skylos]

9:35 I have played portal and portal 2 a few times, and I have honestly never seen it as a mother/daughter relationship. Also, you example of "could you replace them all with sweaters" and so on was unnecesary and beside the point. It felt like you were trying to make the idea of that you can replace all characters with dudes more extreme by using those examples, which is btw a logical fallacy. (Strawman Fallacy I believe) And even if there is a mother and daughter relationship between Chel and Glados, so can you still replace them all with guys. It would still be the same except that it would be more of a father and son relationship. I think that the point he/she wanted to make was that the genders of the characters never made an impact in the game, so trying to cathegotizing it under Feminism felt a bit unnecesary, even if there are a few Feministic elements you can analyze from the game.

[@Antenox]

+Skylos Reviews *And even if there is a mother and daughter relationship between Chel and Glados, so can you still replace them all with guys. It would still be the same except that it would be more of a father and son relationship.* I completely disagree. I think that audiences are much more likely to perceive a traditional adversarial relationship rather than a father-son relationship if Chell and Glados has been male. For what it's worth, I didn't feel a mother/daughter relationship between Chell and Glados, either. But if others did, then I don't think making Chell and Glados male would have necessarily led to them perceiving a father/son relationship. *I think that the point he/she wanted to make was that the genders of the characters never made an impact in the game, so trying to cathegotizing it under Feminism felt a bit unnecesary, even if there are a few Feministic elements you can analyze from the game.* Again, disagree. On paper, yes, the genders of the characters don't make a significant impact on the game, but that by itself is feministic because Portal is one of the few games that presents the female gender in a completely equal manner to the male gender. Most other games go out of their way to call attention to how their female protagonists are feminine, either by sexualizing them (e.g. most Japanese games), or by highlighting their perceived vulnerability (e.g. Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot). Portal doesn't do that at all. Portal doesn't even bother to make Chell particularly attractive. And because of they are doing something that is unexpected and non-traditional, Portal stands out from the pack for its treatment of its female characters

[@quepacho64]

I've never be en so early

[@cmckee42]

There was no place in the survey for miscellaneous comments, so I thought I would put it here. I enjoy the episodes about table top games, but the games you have chosen so far, are the board game equivalents of pong and tetris; Important to the history of the industry, but is it too much to ask for an episode about a board game that has come out since I was born?

[@cmckee42]

+Christopher McKee Also, the last question of the survey says check all that apply, but it is a radio button.

[@doppleflanger2633]

+Christopher McKee I havn't seen these episodes, do you remember their titles?

[@cmckee42]

Calvin Swinea One about Scrabble and one about Monopoly.

[@stephenrodriguez3022]

Do the magic circle

[@iiropeltonen]

Portal 1&2 end songs.

[@matthewqualls1060]

Anybody else feel like that skyrim was modded

[@voiceofreason467]

You know, there are games out there that are not only present the pinnacle of sound design, but are also majorly important to the overall gameplay and aesthetics of the game. GTA is not one of those, the original Thief trilogy on the other hand is. Should have used that instead.

[@voiceofreason467]

Mark Donald Yes, but sound design as a part of gameplay is something that seems to have only been done in Splinter Cell and Thief.

[@voiceofreason467]

Mark Donald I don't play GTA Online that much, so I wasn't aware of that.

[@HT0o0]

+Devan Evans (voiceofreason467) In terms of depth and complexity, GTAV is a mighty achievment, both aesthetically and technically, considering the last-gen hardware. www.gdcvault.com/play/1020587/The-Sound-of-Grand-Theft the lead programmer gives a detailed account here and it's quite the feat

[@voiceofreason467]

***** Yes, but when it comes to adding to the overall gameplay... it doesn't really do much.

[@voiceofreason467]

+shino7311 WTF does that have to do with anything.