The regular podcast is back, after the Dr. Who outtakes podcast last week. The show runs a little long but it’s full of insight and wonderfulness. Mostly. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the classic arcade motorcycle racer Hang-On.
The podcast also has two week’s worth of news items, including:
- Next-gen Xbox formally being unveiled on 21st May in Redmond, WA
- Rumor: Next-gen Microsoft console will have DVR feature
- Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded out in June, “re-made, expanded and enhanced”
- BioShock Infinite, Xbox 360 lead March 2013 US sales according to NPD
- Nintendo bowing out of E3 Keynote
- Microsoft turned profit in fiscal 3rd quarter
- Batman: Arkham Origins inspired by Legends of the Dark Knight
Plenty of Listener Feedback, but no Question of the Week – just ask us anything.
The game industry, like other entertainment avenues, is a risky business in which publishers have to pick titles they “predict” will do well in the market while passing on other “risky” propositions. While a the good ol’ shooter title will break sales records, the market cannot rely on one genre to carry the business especially considering many of these titles are forgotten within two months from launch. Publishers are going to be forced in expanding their reach to “family games” in order to finance new blockbuster titles.
The idea of designing a “family” game isn’t new to our industry, as a matter of fact, it’s one of the oldest cornerstones of video game entertainment. Pong, Centipede, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and many other classic titles were no doubt playable by the entire family, but things have changed. We’ve evolved from hit titles like Donkey Kong to hit titles like Halo. We migrated from 2D gaming to full 3D adventures and pixel graphics to pixel shaders, but where do we go next?
@Name pronunciation butchering – Actually, Jonah is pronouncing my name right, Paul. It’s a flat ‘d’ with the accent on the first syllable 😉
@Machinarium – been there, done that. I just forgot to mention it in my last comment. It’s a great game and I really enjoyed it but it’s still not Broken Sword…
@XBOX unveiling & DVR functionality – I will most likely own only one next-gen console and it will be the PS4. I don’t want to lose my trophy progress and I am a PSPlus subscriber so Sony got me. It will be interesting to see, however, if the PS4 and the next XBOX will differ fundamentally in what they offer. From what I see Sony is really focusing more on the gaming side of things and I’m all for that. Microsoft seems to want the XBOX to be the only box you need near your TV so get rid of your cable set-top box, your TiVo and whatnot. I’ll be interested to hear what they have to say on May 21st.
@Jonah’s Anti-Playstation propaganda 😉 – You are for sure more in the know as far as the game developer industry is concerned but is Sony really lying about the progress they’ve made with the developers with the new Playstation and the developer-friendly approach they say they have? Even with the awkward PS3 architecture there weren’t many XBOX exclusive titles and most of the PS3 versions of games were as good as the XBOX/PC ones (*cough* Skyrim *cough*). The launch or close-to-launch list of games Sony showed looks impressive and the list of 3rd party devs they got support from is also something that makes me wait with excitement and anticipation for the end of the year. Granted, I will not get the hardware day 1 as there’s still a backlog of PS3 games for me but I hope to get the 2nd iteration of the PS4 hardware and be happy with it.
@Leisure Suit Larry – well doesn’t this fit right into the adventure-game void I’ve mentioned before? I haven’t really played the first LSL game so this is something I’m really looking forward to. I hope it has close to none hardware requirements and will run on my laptop. I’m not investing in a gaming rig just to play a 2D adventure game.
@Nintendo strategy – There is no discussion that the majority of the games nowadays are much easier and streamlined than what we saw some 20 years ago. Do you remember Super Mario Bros. : The Lost Levels? The game that was initially released only in Japan because it was thought to be too hard for us Westerners? I played it on an emulator some years ago and I don’t think I would have beaten it without the save/load options on real hardware.
I haven’t played any of the latest Mario or Zelda games myself but from what I’ve heard and seen in gameplay youtube videos, the freedom of the player and the difficulty level have increased a lot since the (S)NES games I had played years ago. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Nintendo to focus on younger players who should not be playing Mass Effects or CoDs but that doesn’t mean that the games should play themselves. Kids have short enough attention span as it is without the games having to reinforce it. Force them to play the same level or platforming stage over and over again rather than show 10 minutes of cutscenes every 2 minutes of gamplay. When they finally succeed after two hours they will feel that they accomplished something difficult and that feeling is most rewarding.
@’Buy a Wii U’ – The Vita is enough for now, thanks. On top of that, I haven’t really seen Wii Us (how do you even spell that?) in the Best Buys of Poland. Not that I’ve been looking hard but PS3s and XBOXes are everywhere and can’t be missed. The Nintendo consoles? Not so much.
For the sake of Paul’s vocal chords this 28-year-old ‘kid’ will try to limit the length of his comments… maybe next time… 😉
@Rumour: Next Gen Xbox may actually play video games
Including DVR sounds like an interesting idea. The ability to record snippets of gameplay and share it with your friends could make for some good times. On the other hand, from personal experience, that feature only works in Halo games. Recording TV sounds like a good idea too. If only Microsoft could improve the quality of contemporary television that would be great. Recording crap programmes still makes for a crap experience.
@Leisure Suit Larry
I played Magna Cum Laude on the PC. Made the mistake of removing censorship. Seeing Larry’s 3 inch weiner was a traumatising experience. Not so interested in this remake. The whole idea of a horny video game is lost on me since I am an anime fan. I am conditioned to softcore pornography so this game will be like a pointless point and click adventure.
@Wii U!!!??? Where are U???!!!
I don’t have a problem with Nintendo bowing out of E3. The problem is that this decision sends a bad message that Nintendo has simply nothing to show. This won’t help Nintendo to shift those console units. I understand that E3 is a media event aimed at investors and journalists. But to a gamer E3 is an important event about celebrating the upcoming releases. It’s like gaming New Year. The fact that it will be a 1/3rd to short will make for a disappointing event.
@QOTW
What was your Golden Age of gaming? For me it was the later years of the sixth generation and the first few years of the DS. Back then I used to care and anticipate new game releases. Each game somehow felt fresh and new. Nowadays they all seem the same. After I got over the whole console online multiplayer thing it kind of went downhill for me. Apart from occasional Skyrim, nothing else lights my fire anymore.