Episode 251: The New Crew Returns

After last week’s special appearance by Derrick and Jennifer Schommer along with Don Dunn, the regular crew of Jonah Falcon, Jordan Lund and Paul S. Nowak return, and they find themselves with some fascinating news items.

The news items include:

  • Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard
  • Sony passed on Demon’s Souls because it was “crap
  • Sony credit rating downgraded, “strong recovery in earnings unlikely”
  • Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game
  • Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime

Paul is also running a contest to earn “Pixie Diamonds” currency for Disney’s Pixie Hollow social networking MMO, with the prize going to the person who can answer, “Who is your favorite Disney Prince or Hero, and why?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 251: The New Crew Returns”

  1. 😛 You can do a flashback for AvP2, it was launched in late 2001.

    @Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard:
    Hey, as long as the difficulty can be selected, sure, go apeshit.
    I used to play games on the highest difficulty, because I liked the challenge, so I can understand people wanting more difficult games.
    I will repeat myself: as long as the user can select it, it’s fine.

    @Sony passed on Demon’s Souls because it was “crap“:
    😀 Erm, I see a pattern here in decision making … Cure: change the decision maker.

    @Sony credit rating downgraded:
    Congrats to the podcast crew for the selection of news items. It is a true lecture on the principle of cause and effect.
    Granted, turning down a game is only one cause that triggered the effect of Sony’s credit rating downgrade.

    @Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game:
    I think this is also due to the name (thanks for confirming that later in the show).

    @Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime
    Moore’s law might change. Ok, you can estimate how many penta flops are required in order to generate visuals. These estimates are ok and valid (the human eye won’t change in time, at least not in the next 1000 years).
    But to assume that the rate of growth in computers will not change, well, as you already realized, that’s an ASSUMPTION.
    If I were Tim I would limit the range (in time) for my predictions.

    Regarding the 6 people on the show, well, taking turns/directing the podcast is … meh. I’ll take surprises and improvisation any time.

    @QOTW:
    Erm … Scrooge McDuck? 🙂
    Ok, not quite a prince or hero, but I liked the cartoon. The NES games only made it even more charming.
    I think the fact that he was quite determined (in the cartoon at least) in finding what was at the root of the episode’s mystery that made him my favorite.

  2. @Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard: To me, they can make as many ultra-hard difficulties as they want, as long as they make a normal difficulty.

    @Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game: This may be good news for Tim Schafer, but it’s not good news for any of the other developers. Like so many other sites highlighted, this only happened because Schafer is well-known and almost universally loved as the underdog of the industry.

    @Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime: I’m not much of a graphic whore, but better graphics definitely make me appreciate the game more and maybe even enjoy it more.

    @QOTW: I don’t care much for Pixie Dust, but I would guess Paul’s to be Peter Pan?

  3. @sony credit rating downgraded
    I don’t really know if sony gets most of its sales from gaming but they sure are failing when it comes to gaming this year
    @ lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime
    Well I’m mostly appreciating the graphics we have today and besides lifelike graphics is equal to more expensive hardware ,…. At least that’s what I think
    @qotw
    I would say peter pan coz he’s like immortal and he never grows up and he treats everything childsplay and he could fly whenever he wants to. Maybe I could play pixie hollow and get addicted I dunno but I could use the prize If I ever get addicted or I could just use cheat engine.. 🙂

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Episode 340: Pennsylvania PolkaEpisode 340: Pennsylvania Polka

Paul is back for this episode, as this week actually has a Gaming Flashback and a Game History, the former being Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and the latter being Black Isle Studios.

The news this week includes:

  • Followup: PS Vita Slim to launch in UK
  • Reports: Microsoft plans cheaper, disc-free, white Xbox Ones in 2014
  • Nintendo cuts overheard on executive salaries
  • Square Enix responds to Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III launch rumor
  • Razer to give Xbox One gamers more peripheral options

The Question of the Week, “What was the best game you played that you felt was unfinished?”

Australian PSN Restoration DelayedAustralian PSN Restoration Delayed

The Japanese government has not allowed PlayStation Network to be activated for Japanese gamers yet due to security concerns, and now an expert is advising Australia to follow suit.

Professor Bill Caelli told newspaper The Australian, “Why is it that in the IT industry enterprises certify themselves?” said Caelli, noting that PSN didn’t have the same restrictions, and added that the public has “no way of assessing the assurances given by the owners of the (PSN) system themselves”.

Reportedly, Australian privacy commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has been in contact with Sony, and has not judged yet whether Sony has given them enough information to restore PSN. His investigation will be an ongoing one as well, even after PSN is restored.

When it was discovered user information had been stolen during the PSN breach, the Australian federal government announced plans for a law forcing companies to disclose privacy breaches, although it was unclear when it might come into effect. Privacy minister Brendan O’Connor had stated:

“Sony isn’t alone. We’ve seen serious privacy-related incidents in recent months involving other large companies. All companies that collect customers’ personal information must ensure that the information is safe and secure from misuse.”

We’ll stay on this story as it develops.

Episode 293: Master of the HouseEpisode 293: Master of the House

This week sees the return of Paul Nowak from his holiday vacation. There’s plenty of news items and some reader feedback, but also the return of Gaming History as the crew checks out the failed portable console, the Game.com.

The news for this week includes:

  • Age of Empires Online won’t be seeing any more content
  • Sony patents tech to stop used games and rentals
  • Major Nelson posts countdown to E3 Expo 2013
  • PvP mode for Diablo III delayed yet again
  • Telltale is in the very early stages of The Walking Dead Season 2

Finally, the Question of the Week is simple: “What did you do on your holiday break?”