Episode 287: Dead Cats

This week’s Gaming Podcast is chock full of news and reader feedback. Rather than do a Gaming Flashback, a conversation about the middling sales of the PlayStation Vita is discussed, while Paul is anxiously looking for a black Wii U so he can play Epic Mickey 2. We also hand out the indie game prizes to our two winners.

This week’s news includes:

  • Star Citizen hits $4.5M stretch goal, biggest crowd fundraiser ever
  • Black Ops 2 1.03 patch doesn’t fix server issues
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution film director tabbed
  • Spector: Epic Mickey 2 takes “choice and consequence to new levels

This week’s Question of the Week: What was the best game you ever played that cost less than $5?

In addition, this is the two days of Kickstarter funding. Help the TD Gaming Podcast with its Kickstarter fundraising.

0 thoughts on “Episode 287: Dead Cats”

  1. @Deus Ex: Human Revolution film director tabbed:
    “I didn’t ask for this” – Deus Ex guy (sue me, i forgot the guy’s name)
    “But i’ll take it… gladly” – Me

    @QOTW:
    I have a list…
    Cthulhu Saves the world (epic fun awesome RPG)
    Terraria (bought for 2.50)
    Space Pirates and Zombies (2.50 as well – all hail Ganben)
    I could go on, but these are the high awesomeness ones!

  2. Have not yet listened to the podcast, but I thank you very much for the games. Made my crappy day a lot better =D.

  3. Jordan, glad to hear about the job.

    @Star Citizen hits $4.5M stretch goal
    Jonah, good point on stretch goals. If I ever ever come up with a project that requires funding, and if I put it on Kickstarter, it’ll have all the requirements mentioned, no stretch goals.

    @Black Ops 2 1.03 patch doesn’t fix server issues
    Ah, EA’s way of pushing Origin … just kidding!
    Still, gotta hand it to them the way they do their testing :P. You can test for server outages, bad network conditions, you can test that.
    What can I say, COD lost me at Modern Warfare 2. It became just waay too action movie like. Now, Medal Of Honor, that’s a modern warfare game that I liked!

    @Deus Ex: Human Revolution film director tabbed
    Meh … i liked Mortal Kombat, but that’s pretty much it on games turned into movies.

    @QOTW:
    Ib. Free game, no microtransactions. It went waaay above my expectations, becoming a point of reference for “story and characters beat graphics”.

  4. @Deus Ex: Human Revolution film director tabbed: Seriously, how many video game movies have been announced and then they run into problems? Just wait until you actually have finished something, and just announce it with a trailer because I’m getting sick of this. Halo, Uncharted, God of War, Castlevania, World of Warcraft, Devil May Cry, Shadow of the Colossus, Bioshock and Gears of War are just a few of the many that will probably never see the light of day.

    @Epic Mickey 2: Seeing as the sequel got pretty much the same reviews as the 1st one which I loved, I will probably end up playing this. Would be pretty excited to play it if I hadn’t like 6 new games which I would like to play.

  5. @Kickstarting the Party

    As fun as Kickstarter sounds, I stay away from it. I am very conservative about how my games are made and frown upon the Rise of Communism in gaming. I still think that Kickstarter is just a passing fad and will eventually wither away.

    @Patchy Black Ops

    Haven’t played multiplayer. Although I own the Xbox 360 version so I should be safe. People expect Xbox games to run well on-line because we pay the Gold Tax and are entitled on it. Maybe PS3 should have had a payed subscription. It’s on-line is a mess compared to Xbox 360. It’s not just Black Ops that runs bad.

    @Deus Ex

    At least it wasn’t Uwe Boll…

    @Taking the Mickey

    Jonah’s right. Epic Mickey 2 is taking a critical beating. It doesn’t matter how many endings you have if your AI partner puts all effort ensuring that you never make it to the end.

    @QOTW

    GunZ Online. I played it back in 2006 before it went freemium. Back then there weren’t that many free on-line games. Especially action games that weren’t MMORPGs. That made GunZ stand out and I sunk a good few life-times into that game. Occasionally I come back there but the smell of nostalgia is not enough to keep me interested for long. Better games to play these days.

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Activision has decided to take Guitar Hero to the next level: Action Figures. This is a great move for the company, striking the iron while it’s hot! The Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises are growing in intensity while big blockbuster titles like GTA IV are waning in sales and profit.

Pretty soon you and your children can purchase action figures in the liking of Guitar Hero, would you consider this or is it just a gimmick?

McFARLANE TOYS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH ACTIVISION
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TEMPE, Ariz. ~ McFarlane Toys announces a partnership with Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) to produce action figures from the hit video game franchise, Guitar Hero®. The first line is expected to hit store shelves this fall.

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Represented in the first line of action figures are four of the Guitar Hero game’s most popular characters:

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“We have very recently begun creating toys based on video games,” says McFarlane Toys CEO Todd McFarlane. “With Activision, we get to work on arguably one of the biggest video game franchises out there, and capitalize on the wide-ranging demographic that encompasses this game.”

Each figure has 15-18 moving parts. Additionally, a unique guitar is included with each character that is removable and interchangeable with the other figures. Each figure also comes with a sculpted Guitar Hero logo base.

McFarlane Toys’ 6-inch action figures retail for $10-$15.

Visit www.SPAWN.com for updates and the all the latest and to-the-minute news.

About McFarlane Toys
Grammy-and Emmy-winning producer/director Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and the founder of  SPAWN.com, is the force behind McFarlane Toys, one of America’s top action figure manufacturers. With an eclectic array of movie, TV and music licensing tie-ins – as well as the officially licensed teams of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, McFarlane Toys has become a leader and redefined the standards within the action figure industry. For complete information on this pop-culture powerhouse, visit SPAWN.com.

About Activision, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.  Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $2.9 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea.  More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

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