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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Related Post

Episode 305: Duct TapeEpisode 305: Duct Tape

Paul and Jordan realize the brilliance of duct taping a flashlight to a gun barrel, while more Doctor Who fodder was recorded for a future outtakes episode. Jonah and Paul also express amazement there’s no Sugar Race racing based on the arcade title found in Wreck-It Ralph. Finally, the podcast eulogizes Roger Ebert.

The news for the week includes:

  • Disney shuts down LucasArts, cancels Star Wars 1313, Star Wars: First Assault
  • Thief to feature “classic mode”, removing all assists
  • Microsoft has a clear path to developing Killer Instinct after an agreement with Fox
  • The Witcher 3 confirmed to be DRM-free
  • Bethesda confirms “new version of Doom 4” being worked on, Rage 2 cancelled

There’s also Listener Feedback, and the Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm contest is still open – a winner will be announced next week.

Microsoft Avatar’s and DashboardMicrosoft Avatar’s and Dashboard

Microsoft has come out and validated some earlier rumors about Xbox 360 Avatar’s and their 3D dashboard design. Apparently, this is to build more of a community and bring a bit of the Mii-like influence from the Nintendo Wii to the 360 hardware.

It seems Microsoft is taking some of the concepts from the Nintendo Wii which were poorly implemented due to the lack of any real network community and bring them to live with a more integrated useful system. This proves Nintendo was on the right track but shows off their lack of integration and fear of bringing people together.

“Create, share, and have fun with all of your friends… but avatars are just the beginning. The new Xbox is tailored for the living room. Here we are at the community channel — instead of a list of friends, you actually see them.” (joystiq)

Nintendo’s cute little idea of Mii’s and sharing them with friends was fantastic, a great bullet list feature, but rather useless. Typing in friends codes gets old way too fast and there really isn’t anyway to vocally chat with people on your friends list anyway, so who cares?

Microsoft has proven to know a bit about the community space, has parental controls and a fairly reliable LIVE system for making it all happen. Although Nintendo should look at this with a bit of pride, given duplication is the best form of flattery, they could learn a few things about how to work a community into your console too!