This week we’re talking about some gaming news, TV and media, flashing back to Marble Madness and looking at the historical development career of one Mark Cerny. Here are this weeks news links:
Not only do we hate Halloween, but we’re asking another question of the week: what game are you looking forward to for the holidays?
This week’s episode was delayed in publication thanks to real life intruding on the videogame podcast.
The week’s news items include:
All that and listener feedback.
Baldur’s Gate isn’t too old, it was released in November of 1998, but that’s still a bit dated now. The gaming industry isn’t friendly to the years, often working in what seems to be accelerated “dog years” in terms of technological advancements. It figured this was worth covering because it’s one of the best selling and considered a top tier single-player RPG by most accounts.
It was also developed by BioWare, who, at the time, only had one other game under their belt from two years before called Shattered Steel.
The story begins just after a devastating event in the Forgotten Realms D&D campaign called the “Time of Troubles.” This was a great twist in the standard D&D campaign, it caused all curative magic (clerics) to lose their ability to heal unless near their deity, magic didn’t function correctly (I believe this is where the Wild Mage came from) and was unpredictable and gods walked the earth as mortals which caused magic to, in effect, die while the gods were away. Since the storyline starts slightly after this event, the game contains healing and magic but the storyline is impacted by prior events of course, people have trust issues.
The game was made great because it held “mostly true” to the 2nd Edition D&D roots so the learning curve for D&D player’s wasn’t so rough; some things were adjusted to handle the real-time effect of a video game RPG. You could party with up to six Non-Player-Characters (NPC’s) whom would swap in and out of your active party over time as part of the storyline (something also implemented by the US release of Final Fantasy 2).
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Jonah’s heading off to cover PAX Unplugged on Thursday morning, so this week’s podcast has been a quick, sub-40 minute show, even with a Gaming Flashback of Infamous 2, a game that former co-host Jordan Lund is probably far more familiar with.
This week’s news includes:
Let us know what you think.
GameStop did NOT sell “reserved copies”. They were selling it to everyone. The Herald Square GameStop in NYC had a BARKER telling all passerby, “We’re selling Modern Warfare 2 NOW! Come in and buy it!” like one of those peep show barkers.
Also, it wasn’t because of Best Buy. It was because of “mom and pop” sellers (non-chain stores) were breaking the street day days earlier than GameStop.
GameStop did NOT sell “reserved copies”. They were selling it to everyone. The Herald Square GameStop in NYC had a BARKER telling all passerby, “We’re selling Modern Warfare 2 NOW! Come in and buy it!” like one of those peep show barkers.
Also, it wasn’t because of Best Buy. It was because of “mom and pop” sellers (non-chain stores) were breaking the street day days earlier than GameStop.
One more comment: I played the original Marble Madness in the arcade, and it… was…. HARD. I never got past the second level, with those stupid air vents that pushed your marble around.
There was in the first level a shortcut with extremely thin paths and steep curves. Tried it once, couldn’t do it.
You also never mention the acid pools, the way a little broom would come and sweep away your shattered ball when you fell too high, the oscillator your ball rode, and so forth.
Still and all, it’s the best game I don’t like playing.
One more comment: I played the original Marble Madness in the arcade, and it… was…. HARD. I never got past the second level, with those stupid air vents that pushed your marble around.
There was in the first level a shortcut with extremely thin paths and steep curves. Tried it once, couldn’t do it.
You also never mention the acid pools, the way a little broom would come and sweep away your shattered ball when you fell too high, the oscillator your ball rode, and so forth.
Still and all, it’s the best game I don’t like playing.
The New super Mario Brothers Wii, which i have and love!
The New super Mario Brothers Wii, which i have and love!