Episode 417: One In, One Out

March 16, 2016| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:03 pm

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This week is a celebration of the 250th episode of the Videogame Roundtable, and Dan Quick is back for the special edition, joining fellow PolyCaster Scott Dirk. However, TJ Denzer was at the bowling alley, so he wasn’t available. There’s a lot of Cards Against Humanity and Town of Salem talk, as well as a lot of long-missed byplay between Dan and Jonah Falcon. Unfortunately, Paul Nowak couldn’t make it.

The news this week includes:

Bethesda working on a “bleeding-edge” RPG
Diablo II gets first official patch since 2011
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex won’t crossplay with Xbox One version
Nintendo explains why only the New 3DS plays SNES games
U.S. DoJ increases hostility towards Apple in latest court filing

Let us know what you think.

Episode 504: Very Very LateEpisode 504: Very Very Late

This week’s episode is very late thanks to Jonah having to prep for E3, which much of the podcast focuses on. There’s even a massive argument between Jonah and TJ about which film was better: Tron or Tron: Legacy, while Tron 2.0 gets its love as well. This week’s Gaming Flashback is Microsoft’s most popular JRPG, Blue Dragon.

The news items include:

Capcom registers Devil May Cry 5 site, fueling E3 2018 rumors
Ubisoft confirms E3 reveal of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Rumor: Microsoft to reveal three Gears of War games at E3
Rumor: Rocksteady to announce a Superman game at E3

What do you expect from E3? Let us know.

Will Xbox Live Survive 2008 Holiday Stress?Will Xbox Live Survive 2008 Holiday Stress?

This year many gamers will open new consoles for the holidays and many of those same gamers are going bring their console “live” on Xbox Live the same day. Traditionally we’ve found Xbox Live falls under the weight of the holiday rush much like Apple’s iTunes. Will we repeat history again?

Although a fully loaded Xbox Live service is money in the bank, how much money will Microsoft lose when gamers login for the first time to a service in a state of destruction? People say first impressions are extremely important, but Microsoft makes a poor first impression every holiday. Xbox Live’s Jerry Johnson told Eurogamer:

“I can tell you that when Robbie Bach is on the phone on Christmas Day calling people asking what the hell is going on, and that’s coming down from Steve Ballmer… that’s the kind of attention it got last holiday.

Many things have changed since then, and we realised [sic] the kind of growth trajectory we were on and had to prepare for it.” (Kotaku)

It’s obvious the top executives at Microsoft want to give customers a great first impression and, after a few repeated holiday down times, this year is the chance to change it all. By now, Microsoft should be fully aware of the holiday flash crowd and have a system ready to cover the load.

Plenty of gamers login because their console automatically signs in on startup, but a handful of those gameres will be shopping for Xbox Live Arcade games to see what Microsoft is now offering them and their new console. Many XBLA games the current 360 crowd is bored of will be fresh and new to holiday adopters so it’s very important to keep the system online.

Much like Amazon, sales will decrease when the service is busy or under heavy load. Hopefully Microsoft is ready to make a great first impression to new buyers and give them the option to buy high valued (high markup) electronic downloads.

Episode 536: Even More Audio IssuesEpisode 536: Even More Audio Issues

This podcast is plagued with audio issues, unfortunately, as it returns from a week’s hiatus to check out the new games and controversies, as well as Gaming Flashback for one of the greatest superhero games of all time, Batman: Arkham Asylum.