Episode 369: Dragon Age MMO-Style

This week’s episode has Jonah annoyed at the gameplay decisions for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Paul discusses passwords, while the Gaming History is the cartoon Captain N: The Game Master.

This week’s news includes:

  • Valve lays out new rules and guidelines for Early Access developers
  • Xbox One console exclusive Ori and The Blind Forest delayed into 2015
  • Hackers claim to have raided PSN, 2K, Origin, Windows Live mail
  • GameStop & Nintendo: Game devaluation must stop

All this plus Listener Feedback and the Question of the Week: “What video game licensed cartoons have you enjoyed most, if any?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 369: Dragon Age MMO-Style”

  1. Hey guys great episode, lots to respond to, I agree with you Jonah on the perspective of those that way to hire people already working. It does make a person seem very disloyal but that doesn’t seem to be a valued thing anymore.

    @Returns: I have no problem admitting to making bad choices so I don’t make up excuses either when returning something. Though most of the time it’s a faulty product for whatever reason. I think I’ve gotten myself to the point where I am very careful about impulse buying without ensuring I like or really need this. With Games I’m always trying to do the Demo or watch YouTube videos of a game, but I have had games bought that I wanted to return and now I even have some on my steam list. I may have to do some trading to clean that list up a bit.

    @Gameplay versus Story: This seems a balancing act at times; there are games that had great story but painful gameplay (Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver). Then games with great game mechanic but weird story like Eternal Sonata. It’s great when a game has both, I think story is the bitch as Paul said as so many a lot of times skip or ignore to get back to playing the game.

    @Valve: I am glad they are doing this to help clean out some of the crap that seems to get through, in complete games and games that just should never have been started; I’m looking at goat Simulator there. I agree that you shouldn’t have to pay to beta test something. I do feel like this whole early access and beta testing is getting abused and allowing lazy game developing to happen. Beta testing is a skill set because you need people that are not only willing but actively look for ways to break a game or do things the game designers didn’t intend to happen.

    @Sony getting hacked: On one hand I do want these companies to have better security for their customers but on the other it really isn’t right for hackers to be giving out password information either. I don’t trust these hackers motives either, and I am experiencing similar password changing/managing exhaustion as you guys as well.

    http://www.geek.com/news/sony-just-got-hacked-doxxed-and-shut-down-1610274/
    (I like the idea of a Pastabin, let’s do a Kickstarter for it)

    @Game Devaluation: I wonder if Beyond Earth is considered a AAA game or not, since I got it digitally it was $54, nowhere near 35 much less 22. I think they’ve only recently been put on sale for lower prices for Black Friday, and of course it’s priced differently US, UK, EU and Aus all have different prices for said game. I do expect digital games to be cheaper than physical copies of the game. This also reminds me of an article where we maybe don’t value games as much as we used to due to very cheap prices and how easy it is to have a collection of a 100 games on your steam list and you’ve maybe only played a handful. That when we were children it was much harder to get a game, often you’d only have one and you played it bugs and all because that was your game. I’ve gotten a few of these bundled games and I have to admit I don’t feel the huge desire to play them much if at all. I don’t feel that same desire I did as a child when I would do extra chores and save up money just to buy ONE game.

    @QotW: I would have to say my favorite Game based Cartoon would be “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego”. I loved that she wasn’t a typical Villain, she seemed to encourage the kids to try and catch her and you were learning stuff about the world as well as being entertained. I also hated the way they depicted Simon in Captain N, I think I found the “Icky” Pit and “Mega” to everything very annoying, it could be that I was slightly older at the time 8-10 so I think that act was wearing thin. I did love the Zelda Cartoon but vote goes to Carmen for helping me learn more about the world around me.

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Episode 277: Win Borderlands 2 ContestEpisode 277: Win Borderlands 2 Contest

This week’s Gaming Podcast is exciting as we’re giving away a copy of the Xbox 360 version of Borderlands 2, which Jordan Lund drools over, while Jonah Falcon urges players to check out Kerbal Space Program. The Gaming Flashback is none other than the classic The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

As far as game news:

  • Guild Wars 2 suffering serious issues during Headstart
  • Ex-IGDA chair frustrated with post-launch monetization
  • DICE quadruples Battlefield 3 servers for 360, PS
  • Peter Moore sez DLC backlash is from older gamers

Finally, the Question of the Week is, “What is your favorite game from the decade of the 2000’s”. For some help, check out this article.

MGS4 Quickly Falls of Top Titles, NCAA Football 09 Takes LeadMGS4 Quickly Falls of Top Titles, NCAA Football 09 Takes Lead

The month, June 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 takes number one on the NDP figures with 774,600 individual units (over 1-million if you include bundles), in July… they didn’t even make the top ten figure. What the heck?

NCAA Football 09 for the Xbox 360 took number one with 397,600 games sold, nothing close to MGS4’s figures form last month but still took the first position. Wii Fit took number two position, up from its fourth position in June showing lasting appeal or the ability for gamers to purchase the rare to find game set.

Wii Play still sits in the top ten titles along with Mario Kart and Rock Band (for the Wii). As a matter of fact, four out of the top ten titles are Wii games. One for DS (Guitar Hero: On Tour), two for Xbox 360 and two for PlayStation 3.

How is it possible for Wii Play and Wii Fit to hold top positions for so long while a game like MGS4 dies off so rapidly? More than likely this is the impact from having such great console sales that even a low attach rate (games to consoles) is significant enough when millions upon millions of consoles have been sold.

If the PlayStation 3 had more units in the hands of gamers, would their top tier titles like MGS4 hold top spot for more months? Presumably yes, another negative impact from being third in the race it seems.

(Thanks, 1up)

Episode 588: Microsoft Buys ZeniMaxEpisode 588: Microsoft Buys ZeniMax

So, a day before the Xbox Series X preorder launch (which after the podcast was a complete shitshow), Microsoft drops the mic by announcing they just essentially purchased The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Prey, DOOM, and other major properties. Not much else to talk about, really.

The game news includes:

  • Microsoft purchases ZeniMax for $7.5B
  • Bethesda’s overhauling its engine for Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6
  • Former Skullgirls developers have launched a new studio called Future Club
  • Hades has sold 1m copies
  • Blizzard confirms BlizzCon 2021 dates

Let us know what you think.