Episode 229: Jonah Versus Paul

It’s another brief episode as frictions rise between New Yorkers Jonah Falcon and Paul S. Nowak, while Washington State native Jordan Lund looks on. This week’s gaming flashback in the Nintendo 64’s The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, as well as the following news items:

  • GameStop pulls PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution off the shelves
  • Penny Arcade Adventures returns
  • Epic Mickey 2 leaked
  • Electronic Arts rewords controversial Origin EULA

This week’s Question of the Week: Are you interested in Epic Mickey 2?

0 thoughts on “Episode 229: Jonah Versus Paul”

  1. @GameStop vs. Deus Ex
    Paul, Deus Ex are two separate words.
    As for the news item itself, well, we talked already in the forums. Just one thing I want to say: they should have pulled the game from the shelves right at the beginning, instead of taking out the coupon.
    That’s tampering with a product, so I agree with Paul.

    @Origin EULA:
    Jonah pointed it clearly, the new formulation says absolutely nothing of what they will or will not do.
    If this is not an excuse for pirates, then I don’t know what is …
    Paul, the question is, once you have the power to access a lot of customer information, what will enforce a corporation to only do “the good thing”?

    Yes Jordan, you can call me Mr. Alien.

    And Jonah, the reason my sister liked UT is because of the flak cannon: she loved shredding enemies to pieces with it.

    @Are you interested in Epic Mickey 2?
    No. Sorry, just can’t see myself jumping from STALKER/Doom 3 and the likes to Epic Mickey 1, 2, 3 or 999.

    Paul, Jonah doesn’t dismiss your opinions. He dismisses any opinion that doesn’t fit with his. So yeah, he’s a bit of a bully.
    Still, while he doesn’t agree with some of the stuff that I write, he still gives voice to my comments (although now it seems to be Jordan).

    Jordan was right, this kind of conflicts do give the show some charm.

  2. @ Flop vs. Failure:

    The two terms are interchangeable when it comes to the subject at hand. Heck, one of Miriam-Websters’ definitions of flop is “To fail completely.”

    @ Who has one console?

    If you count current-gen consoles, I only have one. If not, then I still only have two, the other being a PS2. The Wii never managed to grab my interest outside of its initial scavenger hunt craze to find one. (Which I didn’t.) The PS3 was out of my price range long enough for me to skip over it, and the bulk of the people I play with are either mainly or only 360 owners, as well.

    @ Episode 227’s Question:

    I used to dream of DDR, and still see stepcharts in my head while listening to music daily. Now that I’ve been watching some MLG videos, I’m dreaming about being there and wondering what the heck I’m doing.

    @ Epic Mickey 2:

    Possibly, as the first seemed to have interesting concepts, but I never got to play it, as I don’t own a Wii. I would think about picking up a sequel if it comes out for the platform I own.

    (And, yes, I know that askewed isn’t a proper conjugation of the word, that’s kind of the point.)

  3. Is this where I send my hate mail for VGRT?

    haha.
    not sure what that was about…
    Paul sounded like he was PMS-ing pretty bad…
    get that guy a Midol! stat!

    funny show, with lots of good info, and, though
    I hate to admit it, the arguing makes it even more entertaining…
    He’s like your Bababooey or something.

    anyway, thanks for the info & laughs!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Konami Owns Musical Rhythm-Matching Game Patents?Konami Owns Musical Rhythm-Matching Game Patents?

Apparently Konami just realized Harmonix, MTV Networks and Viacom have made some game called Rock Band and want to take legal action. Konami has created some Japanese games involving karaoke called Karaoke Revolution. Why take legal action now?

Probably because Konami is working towards Rock Revolution, a title which puts together drums, vocals and guitar. How odd, don’t we have a game called Rock Band which has done that for awhile now? It’s much easier to be competitive in the market if you can squeeze your opponent out of the market by telling them you hold a patent on the entire concept…which you let slide for a year.

It seems a bit convenient to force a lawsuit, now, after Rock Band is proven successful and before you launch your own “clone.”

Its suit claims that Rock Band violates a series of US Patents registered in 2002 and 2003 relating to “simulated musical instruments” and “musical rhythm-matching game.” (gamespot)

Although the developers of Rock Band should have gone through some patents on the topic prior to make it (or maybe they did?), it seems a bit out of place to patent such a generic concept. As far as I know, Musical Chairs is also a musical rhythm-matching game but nobody put up any stink when Konami filed a patent for the same concept…

Tales of Vesperia: Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In JapanTales of Vesperia: Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In Japan

Sony’s been talking about how they’ve overtaken the Xbox 360 here in the States, perhaps this is because Microsoft shifted their attention to pwning them in Japan? Xbox 360 sold 25,000 units to PlayStation 3‘s minor 9,673 units according to Edge Online, that’s 2.5 times more if you’re into that math thing.

Seriously though, Microsoft didn’t really shift any effort, they just got a Japanese style game called Tales of Vesperia from Namco Bandai. Go figure, when a Japanese focused game arrives for a console Japanese gamer will go out and buy it.

The big barrier to the 360 in Japan is the games and their contents. Microsoft is in tune with the needs and demands of the United States gamers, it usually involves FPS titles and excessive killing. Japanese gamers are not exactly huge FPS fans, we’ve seen the Asian community dominate in RTS style games (Starcraft is a great example) and they’ve always had interest in MMO’s, especially micro-transaction based games and we all know that’s the land of Final Fantasy. Is it so surprising the Xbox 360 moves off Japanese shelves when they have a game or two the gamers actually want to play?

This is only partly Microsoft’s fault, Microsoft doesn’t specialize in Japanese games anymore than Square Enix excels at western style games. The big difference? Square Enix doesn’t manufacturer its own console hardware. It is Microsoft’s console and they should have an interest in making games the Japanese people will like, thankfully Namco Bandai came through for them this time!

Gaming Podcast 168: Sixteen Dollar IncrementsGaming Podcast 168: Sixteen Dollar Increments

We’re back this week, and we’re busting through some news articles dealing with Electronic Arts, Activision, Warhammer and more. Community comments, feedback, flashback and game history. The news articles include:

Gaming flashback is R-Type, game history is Irem and the question of the week: Will the iPad steal market share from the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS product lines? Or mobile gaming in general?