Paul returns to the show to drown his sorrows in the discontinuation of a game series he loved, and the podcast ran so long it has to be split into two parts.
The first half of this podcast includes the following news items:
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Episode 425: Paul’s Return Part 1
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Episode 334: Droning OnEpisode 334: Droning On
Despite the title of the podcast episode this week, nothing is boring. Rather, there’s a ton of banter between Jonah, Paul and Jordan, as they discuss next-gen console gaming.
This week’s news items include:
- Amazon testing package delivery by drone
- Microsoft advises gamers against turning the Xbox One into a dev kit
- There’s “no lack of ideas” at DICE, CEO ponders local weather for Battlefield
- Xbox One beats PS4 sales at Walmart, Target
- Epic: “We’ve yet to see the real value of the second screen”
- Sega: Shenmue 3 trademark listing a hoax
All this and some Listener Feedback.
Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?
The same company that brought us the NES Advantage has proven the Wii control scheme isn’t as bad as critics speculated. The beauty of adding the “waggle” technology is limiting your button count to a reasonable level without overwhelming gamers.
We’re seeing casual gaming on the rise both in the press and in the public. Yet, each “next generation” console brings new features and functionality to the consoles, games and accessories. Since NES birthed the SNES we’ve seen button count increase on controllers.
Nintendo has usually been conservative on buttons, trying to work “shape” over sheer volume of buttons, barring the C button count on the N64 controller. Nintendo controllers change shape with each generation and they’ve evolved, not innovated, their way around with the Wii control scheme. Each function of the controller exists, on its own, in other products but nobody has built a fully functional controller in such a way for a game console until now.
Sony took pieces of this concept in their PS3 controller and its ability to detect “tilt.” Xbox 360 stuck with the beefy controller with lots of buttons and analog sticks. Not just a D-Pad but two analog sticks and a ton of buttons to press, some pressure sensitive as well. What of our next-generation console? Maybe a few new buttons?
Or, maybe a few new motions? Wii evolved the control scheme and Sony validated their decision, what’s next? Are the controllers just too damn complicated in today’s world? Or, perhaps limiting the buttons brings in more gamers, like Grandma and Grandpa, to play your console as well.
Episode 288: Wii U-tiful PodcastEpisode 288: Wii U-tiful Podcast
This week’s episode is short due to Jonah Falcon’s impending trip to San Francisco to cover a preview event of Company of Heroes 2, while Paul Nowak gets irritated at the complaints coming out of the Wii U launch.
The news items include:
- Wii U’s launch day update reportedly causing major problems
- Nintendo DRM traps $400 of downloaded games
- GTA: Vice Cityremoved from Steam over music licensing
- Report: Next-gen Xbox TV device coming in 2013
- Sony: Our iPhone and Galaxy S3 challenger is coming
The Question of the Week: “Do you play real-time strategy games. If so, what is your favorite. If not, why not?”