Episode 285: Surviving Sandy

The podcast is back this week after being knocked out by Hurricane Sandy hitting New York City hard. As the Kickstarter continues to struggle to find donors, Jordan discusses his hands-on experience with the new Microsoft tablet, the Surface, in lieu of a Gaming Flashback.

This week’s news items include:

  • Civilization MMO being developed in Asia
  • Yoshida: PlayStation Vita sales are below expectations
  • DICE giving away Battlefield 1942 for free on Origin
  • Redding: “lower-case aaa” games where the industry should be heading
  • Microsoft and 343 Industries taking hard stance on sexism

All that and Reader Feedback. This week’s Question of the Week, “What do you do for fun when you can’t access the internet?”

Help the TD Gaming Podcast with its Kickstarter fundraising.

0 thoughts on “Episode 285: Surviving Sandy”

  1. If youtube would have an easy way to get to the mp4 file they host, I could whip out some hosting/customized audio player/podcast feed thingies.
    I mean they [youtube] do provide a good API for their player, I can do an app that you’d just right click on an MP3 and say “Publish”. But when it comes to doing a podcast feed, I’d need to link to the mp4 file, and that is not yet allowed by them.

    @Yoshida: PlayStation Vita sales are below expectations
    Erm, did you really expect something else? Not enough devs, you say? Really? Here’s my thought:

    “And what do we have here? A PS Vita? It has a game pad, a back touch screen and a price that is too damn high”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHZWdFVyyQ

    Yessir …

    @DICE giving away Battlefield 1942 for free on Origin
    I did play BF1942.
    Funny how a simple thing, such as password recovery page can have quite an impact on the number of customers. So yeah, bad web programmer, no twinkie.

    — edited —
    Their password recovery system is working ok now. He he he, forget what I said.
    —————

    Jordan, you do recall it right, but I think it was 1943, for BF3 (thanks Jonah for confirming).

    @“lower-case aaa” games where the industry should be heading
    You know, I am starting to hate the use of financial rating system with games. What would be rated as a Baa game?
    As for ‘async MP as a core component’ … I think the writer went a bit outside of what was sane advice: “cut the costs and make good games”. Leave the game design decision to the game makers, please.

    @Microsoft and 343 Industries taking hard stance on sexism
    Really? Ban players for sexism? And you think that THAT will stop it? Really? On planet Earth?
    Oh, and did I mention about this automatic censoring system that censored “glass” because of the “ass” part?
    The same person who’s a sexist is not sexist just in Halo 4. Fix the bigger problem, with the real world, and the little one will not exist.

    @QOTW:
    Plenty of SP games that can be played. Plenty of software development that can be done without Internet. Most likely pull apart my for-repairing-and experimenting-with binoculars, see if I can’t do anything to improve it.

  2. @Yoshida: PlayStation Vita sales are below expectations:
    orly? is that so? perhaps one of the main reasons is, i dont know, YOU ARE STILL GIVING FULL SUPPORT FOR THE PSP?
    seriously?

    @DICE giving away Battlefield 1942 for free on Origin:
    seen it, got it, played it, AWESOME.
    even for 2002 graphics, the intro still gives me the chills. the gameplay is fantastic, simpler and still giver dozens of ways to play the game your way (i know it is a slower paced than now-a-days shooters, but who cares?) the sad thing is, in the first day there were thousands of players. today there were only about 300. the game is good, it was a great deal by EA, but unfortunatelly, is dying soon.

    @Microsoft and 343 Industries taking hard stance on sexism:
    sexism, racism, and anti-gay…ism are very real issues and deserve to be treated like so. i’m glad she (whoose name had escaped my mind right now) is taking the 1st strike against such issues online game wise, even if it is, officially, only on sexism.

    @QOTW:
    when the power is out i spend most of my hours trying the lights on my house *click* *click* *click* *click* until the power comes back, and when i have no connection i do what any sane person would do: SPAM F5

    so, seriously, out of power, i TRY to do something productive, always fail. always end up on some kind of deppressive state of “what should i do now”?
    no internetzz: i play single player games, or campaign mode or watch some series/movies i have on my external HD, while spamming F5 each 5 or 10 minuter appart.

  3. @Asian Civilizations

    Haven’t played Civ since 3 so this won’t affect me. It makes sense to release games aimed at the eastern audience. The East has a very different culture from the West. If something gets popular, pretty much everyone gets involved. Lots of dosh to be made there. But it doesn’t make sense to bar the rest of the world from it. I hate it when I can’t play a game cause my eyes are too big.

    @DICE free Battlefield

    Got it. Played it. Dated but still fun.

    @Microsoft, 343 Industries and all that

    The man behind Halo 4 was a woman?!!! Despicable!!! I will take out my frustration by traveling to the Large Hardon Collider to smash my copy of Halo 4 into a copy of Call of Duty to merge them. Oh no. Wait. 343 Industries already done that for me. Still can’t believe that the assault rifle I used for the past 10 years now sounds like an M60 machine gun. And “press B to crouch”. Seriously? This is why we can’t have women do man things.

    On a more serious note, I tend to play on-line games with my friends in a private party chat. I dislike joining game chat parties because I hate trash talk. And singing 10 year olds. That’s my advice to anyone. You don’t want to be subject to abuse – don’t expose yourself to the low intelligent common rabble. If you find yourself forced to mingle with the simpletons (i.e. no party chat in Counter Strike: GO), just ignore them. Remember: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

    @QOTW

    I read books. A book is an object which is imprinted with letters that form words that form sentences which form Harry Potter. It causes no strain on your eyes and has a positive side effect of raising your intelligence, granted you are not reading Twilight (in which case you are a lost cause and should DIE). I always have a book around. It’s a great way to pass time while my brain is rebooting for some more gaming action.

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Episode 361: Dev StoriesEpisode 361: Dev Stories

This week is slow in terms of videogame industry news, but rich on developer stories told by Paul, so be prepared for a lot of advice for the kid who wants to make games instead of just play them.

The news includes:

  • Report: Microsoft to buy Mojang
  • Destiny day-one shipments top $500 million
  • Dan Adelman: “Good games are worth paying for”
  • Video game degrees in the US increase by 50% in five years
  • European Women in Games Hall of Fame adds new members

All this and Listener Feedback, with the Question of the Week: “Have you ever created your own content with a game’s editor?”

Episode 483: Rolling OnesEpisode 483: Rolling Ones

This week’s podcast has been seriously delayed due to Jonah’s computer going belly up, then having to deal with reinstalling everything. Not to worry, however, since everything on the old hard drive was saved, learn more at desky.com.au. If that weren’t enough, Jonah is enjoying his new Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition.

The news of the week includes:

  • EA responds to community criticism of Battlefront 2 unlock system
  • L.A. Noire remaster requires 29GB, forcing Switch version to require MicroSD card
  • Physical media still “nation’s format of choice” for video games, says eBay
  • Xbox One S available for lowest price yet

If that weren’t enough, there’s about 30 minutes of outtakes we’re saving for the future as the gang talks about 2018. But that’s for an Outtakes episode.

id Software Interested in Nintendo’s Wiiid Software Interested in Nintendo’s Wii

Nintendo is seeing some great successes with their console — duh. What is the best way to provide evidence that Nintendo has a hit with their new little white console? Perhaps the bright blue eyes of id Software? Originally, it was said that id Software wasn’t really interested in developing games for the Wii, perhaps because it goes against all that id Software has developed their company towards since 1991?

keenid Software has always leaned toward bleeding edge content, pushing hardware to its limits and utilizing technology that has just hit the market. Nobody is surprised when they’re forced to upgrade their computers to play the latest id Software creation to its fullest extent. This is the price for being top dog in graphic engines, but now they’re changing their tune a bit.

Okay, it has to be said, is id Software contemplating a Wii game simply because of Nintendo’s success with the console? The core id Software audience isn’t grandma and grampa or the 10-year old kid next door. But, money talks. We’re not saying id Software is hurting for money although we’re not sure what keeps them floating given their last major title was yet another Quake game launched in 2005 with 2004’s DOOM 3 looking like an old man by now. Everyone is waiting on Rage which was announced in 2007 and still hasn’t been given a release date.

Perhaps id Software could use a little Wii to get their name back in the press, get bloggers talking and net them some fresh cash from a large pool of Wii owners looking for their next tennis game. Okay, nobody is going to believe they’d work on a silly Wii Sports clone but they’ve not announced, yet, what this “exclusive Wii” game will be. Carmack did say the Wii is “out of sync with the developments that are currently going on at id,” which suggests they’re going to be working on a new property or perhaps bring back an old property… Wolfenstein 3D, Commander Keen or maybe some Heretic action?

We’ll assume this upcoming id Software title won’t be 100% kid friendly even targeting a Wii platform. Are they going to develop a title for the Wii simply because they know it will be launched on a console with the largest install base in the world? Or, perhaps its a new found passion that Carmack has developed from sharing the Wii experience with his four-year old boy?

(Thanks, 1up)