Episode 390: Counting Down

As Paul’s departure as a regular host is in 10 episodes, Jonah rants about the Batmobile in Batman: Arkham Knight and talks about the painlessness of Fallout Shelter‘s micro-transactions. The other part of the podcast is them talking Heroes of Might & Magic II, and discussing what makes a good expansion.

The news items include:

  • Lack of female character choice in The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes explained
  • Australian government bans hundreds of mobile and Web-based games
  • Nintendo has no problems changing franchises, despite fan outcry
  • Apple pulls games with Confederate flag imagery

All this plus Listener Feedback and Paul’s indignation.

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Eidos and Square Enix Birth Great ThingsEidos and Square Enix Birth Great Things

tombraiderEidos was founded in 1990 and has been the king of its own destiny since its inception. As part of Square-Enix, Eidos and its destiny were called into question, would they continue to run the show or would they become one with Square-Enix. Square-Enix has come out to say they’ll be leaving Eidos to themselves and allow creativity to flow between the companies.

“This is an exciting beginning to what I believe will be an incredible journey. I am very happy that Phil Rogers has agreed to lead Eidos in what I see as an international marriage between our two companies, a marriage that will give birth to great things. Eidos is a content rich company and a culturally significant business to the Square Enix group.” (kotaku)

Square-Enix is playing it safe with this acquisition because this isn’t a great enviroment for shaking things up internally within a development studio. Eidos is well known for Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief and many other great projects and have built a solid foundation for the future.

A mind-share between these two groups is a powerful enemy to the competitors if they’re able to open a good dialog between the two companies and share resources, tools and engines. In a world of cost savings and salary cuts, leaning on each others resources to build a better product is a win.

At least we won’t have to call them Square-Enix-Edios because that’s just a mouthful!

Episode 494: Power OutageEpisode 494: Power Outage

This episode’s release was delayed by Spectrum internet problems which can be sorted with a VPN like cubik thanks to rain caused by El NiƱo, but that didn’t stop Jonah from enjoying the Turtles. The news was slow this week, so there’s a lot of banter about why Gaming Flashback title Grand Theft Auto IV was one of the best reviewed games of all-time, and how the crew thought it sucked. Maybe it was because of Roman constantly asking them if they’d like to go bowling or something.

This week’s news includes:

  • CD Projekt touts Cyberpunk 2077 as a “blockbuster franchise”
  • Minecraft Chemistry update goes live
  • Bandai Namco outlines plans to address Dragon Ball FighterZ online issues

Let us know what you thought of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Little Big Planet – Release Date: October 21Little Big Planet – Release Date: October 21

If there is one time this year to pickup a PlayStation 3, it’s going ot be on October 21st when Sackboy jumps onto the scene with Little Big Planet. You don’t have to be a casual gamer to have a desire to play Little Big Planet and we’re sure to see that in upcoming reviews.

The question really comes down to, will Little Big Planet move consoles off the shelf? In theory, had the console been more reasonably price, you’d probably get a huge pop in sales. As it stands, you’re asking customers to spend above and beyond on a console just to play a 2D-Style platformer. No matter how fun the product is, and it will probably be fun in epic proportions, John Q. Public isn’t going to run out and drop large bills for the game.

Proof of that can be seen in the huge sales increase when Microsoft dropped their pricing structure. Gamers who were not current generation compatible ran out to pickup the console and the shelves went empty. No doubt Little Big Planet will move a few consoles, for those on the edge of PS3 readiness… but it won’t be long lived and it won’t be as epic as this title will.