Episode 319: Someone Is Butt-Hurt About Microsoft

There’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there is a crapton of news this week on TD Gaming Podcast, which Jonah Falcon and Jordan Lund eagerly read.

That, and Jordan really wants to know what you have been playing.

The news this week includes:

  • Microsoft officially announces indie self-publishing, to be unveiled at GamesCom 2013
  • Phil Fish explodes on Twitter, cancels Fez II in a huff
  • Shadow of the Eternals back on Kickstarter, no longer episodic
  • Neil Gaiman has announced his first videogame, Wayward Manor
  • Lanning: Nintendo will be around for “100 years,” but probably not Zynga or Microsoft
  • Activision-Blizzard buys out $8.2B of its own stock from Vivendi
  • Paid subscribership of World of Warcraft down to 7.7M

All this and Listener feedback.

0 thoughts on “Episode 319: Someone Is Butt-Hurt About Microsoft”

  1. Good show guys but I’m missing Paul and Dan.

    I heard you mention your playing Shadowrun Returns Jonah, how are you liking the game? I’ve gotten it myself and it seems to have a short campaign seeming to rely on the community to create campaigns themselves like with the Neverwinter games.

    Speaking of Sierra Online and Kickstarter, Hero-U being made by the Coreys was mentioning the various other creative leads also kickstarting their old franchises as well. Although changed since they don’t own the original IP like (Space Quest = Space Venture).

    As for what I’m playing I’m playing Civ V BNW, Minecraft and Jade Empire. It’s my first time playing JE and I got it off GoG and I can see why it got the reviews it did, it is a well deserved reputation. Good atmosphere and challenge in the fights, at least for me since I’m not a great action game player.

  2. @Getting old
    Happy Birthday Jonah. Congratulations on getting one year closer to death. On the bright side, your mid-life crisis is just about over. Roll on arthritis, weak knees and a man-sized diaper.

    @Phil Fish is no longer aPHILiated with FISHy gaming business (damn I’m punny)

    Man. That sounds so childish. But it would have a better effect if FEZ would be Halo or Mass Effect. Personally, I never heard of FEZ until he started making all that racket. In fact , this could have a good post-mortem marketing effect.

    @Shadow of the Eternals back from the dead (again)

    It’s funny how the game is already f**king with you. And it’s not even out yet. I really want to see it released. It will be a nice £5 title, considering that It will sell next to no copies on the Wii U. Although I am afraid that this project will not see the light of day regardless of how many times they put it on Kickstarter. Not until Silicone Knights sell off the IP

    @Neil Gaiman making games

    That sounds terrific. Neil Gaiman is a talented writer, so the story is bound to be good. Lets hope the game can keep up with him. I read a number of his books. Enjoyed all of them. Looking forward to this game.

    @The worldwide Internet sensation

    I played WoW for the first time a few month ago and was very disappointed. It did not live up to my expectations. But that is most likely because I played a lot of WoW clones for the past few years and I am fed up with the genre. I found WoW to be very basic compared to its clones. I am sure it is a good game, but I just have to much of a life to waste my time on this.

    Ps: I haven’t played Walking Dead past episode 1 yet, so I didn’t listen to the last podcast discussion to avoid spoilers. Thought I was successful, but did not expect Jordan’s stealthy revelation about Lee. For the future, it would be nice if you could maybe mention that spoilers will follow or put it in the podcast description, that would be nice.

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Rock Band 2 Trailer – Foo FightersRock Band 2 Trailer – Foo Fighters

If you’re a rock band fan, you’ll want to checkout their new hype wagon trailer. Nothing new here, really, looks like they’ve added some “70’s style” effects to the character animations on certain areas. The Rock Band 2 title seems to adopt much from its original game in terms of graphics, rendering and overall design.

Notice the fret board looks the same, they’re sticking with the “square” pattern matching boxes for playing specific notes/beats. Some folks prefer the Guitar Hero “circle” patterns but so be it, they’re sticking with their current design. Hopefully, they’ll glow the hammer-ons or make them a bit more apprant because many Guitar Hero folks have a steep learning curve with the smaller notes for hammer-ons.

Episode 355: E3 Swag Bag Part 3Episode 355: E3 Swag Bag Part 3

This is the final week of the E3 Swag Bag giveaway, which includes a The Sims 4 bag, a The Sims 4 T-shirt, The Sims 4 sunglasses, and some other goodies like a Dragon Age: Inquisition T-shirt, a Farming Simulation 2014 cow, and so on. Paul is unavailable this week but Jordan’s wife Jennifer guest hosts, with the famed Kingdom Hearts being the Gaming Flashback.

This episode also includes the following news items:

  • Report: PS Vita no longer available at major retailers
  • No women allowed at upcoming Hearthstone tournament
  • Lindsay Lohan files suit over GTA V allegedly using her likeness
  • Sources: Crytek UK’s staff no longer going to work
  • Riot closing League Of Legends’ public chat

And once again, the Question of the Week: “What was your biggest takeaway from E3?”

Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?

The same company that brought us the NES Advantage has proven the Wii control scheme isn’t as bad as critics speculated. The beauty of adding the “waggle” technology is limiting your button count to a reasonable level without overwhelming gamers.

We’re seeing casual gaming on the rise both in the press and in the public. Yet, each “next generation” console brings new features and functionality to the consoles, games and accessories. Since NES birthed the SNES we’ve seen button count increase on controllers.

Nintendo has usually been conservative on buttons, trying to work “shape” over sheer volume of buttons, barring the C button count on the N64 controller. Nintendo controllers change shape with each generation and they’ve evolved, not innovated, their way around with the Wii control scheme. Each function of the controller exists, on its own, in other products but nobody has built a fully functional controller in such a way for a game console until now.

Sony took pieces of this concept in their PS3 controller and its ability to detect “tilt.” Xbox 360 stuck with the beefy controller with lots of buttons and analog sticks. Not just a D-Pad but two analog sticks and a ton of buttons to press, some pressure sensitive as well. What of our next-generation console? Maybe a few new buttons?

Or, maybe a few new motions? Wii evolved the control scheme and Sony validated their decision, what’s next? Are the controllers just too damn complicated in today’s world? Or, perhaps limiting the buttons brings in more gamers, like Grandma and Grandpa, to play your console as well.

(more…)