It’s the Smurfiest post-Fourth of July podcast ever, as Jonah Falcon and Jordan Lund look back at the ColecoVision classic Smurfs: Rescue from Gargamel’s Castle, probably the easiest videogame ever Smurfed.
If that weren’t Smurfy enough, Jonah and Jordan, working without Paul S. Nowak this week, also check out this week’s Smurfy news:
- Xbox 720 with Halo 4 launch in 2012?
- PS4 also in 2012, with embedded Kinect-like motion control?
- Crytek says Kinect development is “really, really easy.”
- Sony working on new PSN redesign?
- Questions over alleged early close of Sony’s Welcome Back offer.
This week has a ton of Smurfy reader feedback, as well as reaction to Sony’s crackdown of Star Wars Galaxies shutdown petitioners. If that weren’t Smurfy enough, the Question of the Week is pretty Smurfy as well, as readers are asked, “What game that you can’t find anywhere anymore do you wish you could play again?”
As usual, hit us up on iTunes and leave some comments!
Imagine a life without a cable box or Tivo and you’re probably envisioning Sony’s road map for a media distribution empire. First, remove Tivo from the situation with a DVR style box using their 
This leaves Sony with some hard decisions. Restructuring can mean drastic changes that effect all their product lines. The PlayStation 3 isn’t currently a shining example of high profit margins. The console needs time to reduce its overall cost, chip sizes and bring profitability. Is it in danger?
@ Paul not being available:
I think it is because nobody sent any hate mail 🙂
@Xbox 720 with Halo 4 launch in 2012:
I’m a bit confused. Won’t this cut down sales for the existing 360-Kinect combo? I mean I understand that Kinect is a peripheral, but still, the 360 was not yet milked up dry.
But then again, we’re talking about end 2012; hardware did evolve (heck, we’re at DX11 now), and it would be a pity to just let it go and not use it in a console.
Jordan, don’t get me wrong, the article does sound as fanboy-ism, but it makes a bit of sense.
It could be that while 360 remains a DX9 machine, the 720 would be DX11 or higher.
@ PS4 also in 2012, with embedded Kinect-like motion control?
Now this makes sense on its own: PS3 hacked, Sony getting sued over it. Thing is, it also makes it more likely for the XBox 720 to come out around the same time. Somehow, these two pieces of news support each other …
@Crytek says Kinect development is “really, really easy.”:
😀 Sooo, Microsoft is really good in terms of exposing something as a framework to develop upon … who would expect that from a company that does operating systems for a living 🙂 …
@Sony working on new PSN redesign?
… really? They’re redesigning the network just to enhance the looks of it?
@Questions over alleged early close of Sony’s Welcome Back offer
Bwa ha ha ha ha :))
Please tell me this is just a rumor, and Sony is not closing the offer earlier than they announced 🙂
Jordan, I did get my hands on those kind of crackers, that come in pairs and some chocolate cream in between. Half of a pack would last me until noon 🙂
Jonah, to me the 360 is just a “consolized” PC. The hardware abstraction layer (sets of functions being called by the game software) for both of the consoles should be the same, minus the differences in DirectX versions. So I can see the 720 playing 360 games easy.
Plus, Microsoft (until windows Vista at least) was very, very big on backwards compatibility.
Jonah, closed MMO is not the way, in the eyes of Lucas Arts. It will create a precedent: sanctioning a (now) fan based game as being OK to use one of the best selling IPs.
IPs are expensive assets. You don’t just give them away.
QOTW:
Ah … dunno …
I don’t have a long online history, so all the games that I liked to play can still be played.
There are a bunch of NES games (two player games) that I’d like to play with my brothers, but then again, the latest emulators allow network play.
I must be quite lucky … or young :P.
@outtakes:
Jonah, speak slower … no need to rush 🙂
btw, you’ll love this:
http://www.moddb.com/members/henley/blogs/oh-my-my-accent-is-sexy
Press play, and hear Dave working his way around coop 🙂
Hey guys, just wanted to say before I respond, thanks for the copy of Duke Nukem, can’t wait to see if this thing lives up to all the negative hype.
Xbox 720 w/ Halo 4 – Seems very soon to be launching another console. I expect them to tell about it at E3 next year, but probably bring it out at E3 2013 and release it later that year.
PS4 2012 – I would say the same thing for the PS4 as I did for the Xbox720, talked about next E3, shown the year after and released then. Also, when they say built in Kinect-like motion control, could that be the Move. I haven’t seen anything on the Move since it came out so I don’t really know if it is up to par with the Kinect.
PSN Redesign – Don’t really see the need for one. That’s all I really have to say. Unless they have something amazing, they should focus on some other things…like security maybe. Just an idea. Actually one more thing, Jordan commented on how cluttered the menu system for the PS3 was, but I think that they did a pretty good job compared to Microsoft. The dashboard is nearly filled with advertisements as soon as you log on.
Welcome Back – Like Jordan said, why would you wait the whole month to try and redeem. If you were actually into gaming enough to know about this, or to even own a PS3, I would think that you would attempt to redeem your “free crap” as soon as possible. But, the blame cannot be put on the consumer, Sony screws up, again.
They did however fix their mistake, something that they are getting better at doing.
QOTW – Man, I honestly cannot think of a game other than this one computer game that I played when I was like four. It was something about like sorting socks, and now that I actually remember what the game entails, I’m not too sure I want to play it. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back to shooting people.
Also, those outtakes were hilarious. “Jonah, don’t hurt yourself.” Oh, the frustration that must of been felt.
Hello Fellas,
In regards to the question of the week, I was madly in love with an old game based in DOS by Sierra. I would play it on my uncle’s shiny-new-“speedy” 486 PC. It was Disney’s The Black Cauldron (based upon the animated movie of the same name). The game came on several big 5.25″ floppies, slow to load, but to a 9 year old boy was awwwwesome. Ahh, the halcyon days of youth.
@Paul,
Hope you get better. It’s hard to send hate-mail to you when you’re so darn likeable (via another Nintendo fan-boy). BTW… has anyone else noticed how much Paul sounds like Andy Bowman from the OXM podcast? It’s uncanny!
@Will, regarding outtakes
Well, if you ask me, Jonah shouldn’t rush it. The show is recorded as an mp3, a few seconds more will not mean any kind of penalty.
Jonah, or who ever gets to read my comments, feel free to trim them a bit. I think I got carried away with the one for this episode at least.
Ya, wasn’t really telling him to rush it, just thought it was funny. I think it would be kind of cool to hear the outtakes from the show. I know its already a relaxed show, but I think that throwing them in wouldn’t harm the show.
Also, I just re-listened to the podcast and I realized that I mis-quoted Jordan. I thought he said the XMB was cluttered when he actually was talking about the PSN, which I will not disagree with at all.
Hey guys,I was just listening to the podcast from July 3d and was pleasantly surprised to hear my own name being read up and subsequent comment..I had to rewind that just to see if I had heard right:P As to the 360/PC compability,I was mainly referring to most games coming to PC being console ports these days and thus having their native 360 gamepad controls intact with it..an example of this is FIFA 11 where me and my brother can use both of my 360 gamepads to play 2 player game..as for the WOW counterpoint..touche..but there are ways around that as well,namely Xpadder where you can plot the keys into Xbox/gamepad button counterparts so you can play WoW with it.
However most of the PC games coming out now are console ports and does support especially the 360 pad in particular,what sparked my previous comment was when you were bringing up the conviviality of not having to sit in front of a 15 inch screen..i was just trying to make a counterpoint saying that you for the most part dont have to…sorry for the rant and thank you for including me into a great podcast:)
sorry July 6th*