The podcast is back as Paul S. Nowak is back from his vacation, and he brought back a new co-host with him. Devin Grimes, who once upon a time wrote for GameStooge, is now a part of the team. This week’s podcast also includes a new Gaming History, discussing the Nintendo DS.
The news items include:
- Ebola scare drives sharp rise in Plague Inc. downloads
- Twitch bans ‘sexually suggestive clothing’ in new terms
- Dying Light cancelled for PS3 and 360
- Xbox One available for $349 Starting November 2
- Sony apologizes for Driveclub‘s ongoing launch woes
No Listener Feedback, but a new Question of the Week: “When did you first start listening to this podcast?”
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?
I started listening to your podcasts in June of this year. I think you are doing a great job. I want to also thank you guys for the items I received for winning the contest back in July. They are awesome. I especially love the Sims t-shirt. Keep up the good work!!!
I hope you guys saw the South Park episode “Freeium isn’t Free”, pretty much why I stopped playing all Facebook and Mobile IOS app games.
As for the QofW, I started when Dan joined your Podcast and have enjoyed it thus far. Welcome to Devin and I look forward to more episodes from you three.