This week’s episode was delayed due to serious Windows issues this past week. The episode was saved, however, and is 90 minutes full of discussion. The podcast deals with a lot of console hardware rumors.
The news items include:
All this and Listener Feedback.
The current rumor is “later this month” Microsoft will announce a 60GB model of the Xbox 360 and phase out the old 20GB product line. This was intercepted (read: leaked) from an e-mail Microsoft sent to gamestop and Blockbuster, so you can only take it as “rumor” until a real announcement.
This new SKU would make the gap between 20GB (small) and the 120GB (big) smaller, allowing for consumers to pick a product in the middle without spending needless cash on the 120GB version. The larger disk is great for media downloads, movie rentals on Xbox Live, but for the typical gamer it might be a bit over-done. However, with Rock Band and Guitar Hero having downloadable content (DLC) having 20GB is getting harder each month.
The e-mail went on to say that stand-alone purchase of the 60GB hard disk would retail for $99.99. Great news, unless you recently purchased a full priced 20GB disk. The 120GB disk would also reduce by $30.00 in response.
Believe it or not, it’s a rumor that continues to flow from multiple sources. Undoubtedly Microsoft is going to deny anything about it until they actually want to announce it.
(Thanks, 1up)
(Review written by Scott Dirk.)
Yonder is an open world exploration game that really delivers on its premise. You begin your journey on a ship your parents have sent you away on in an attempt to keep you safe from danger. After talking to the crew, a storm rolls in and the ship is quickly struck by lightning. A Sprite then intercedes and makes a deal with you to help you if you help the spirit find its children. These Sprites help you to combat the Murk that is littered across the land in which you are now stranded.
The game has a relaxed atmosphere of letting you explore your surroundings with childlike wonder without fear of monsters or traps. The game has a lot to explore, from huge plains, forests, and towns for trading and quests. Once you obtain tools, you’ll be able to collect various resources which you can use for crafting. The main mission is to restore the land from the infection of the Murk, but you do so at your own pace. The game gives you a lot of side quests to do as well as having farms and ranching.
The graphics in the game are very lush, but are not too demanding. The landscape is very enjoyable to look at while traveling between locations, and you can get lost in simply exploring what is around you. The world music is relaxed, but cycles between varied motifs, so it’s not just one tune set repetitively. There is also a day-night cycle which seems to have little effect other than the wild animals sleeping; the NPCs seem to be night owls.
The mechanic I enjoyed most was fishing, where you cast your line and use WASD keys to move the bobber. Once a fish bites, you then pull in the opposite direction of the fish. There is an arrow to help you with the direction, which made me feel like I was pulling in the fish. The fishing mechanic does seem better suited to a controller with thumb sticks but combing WASD keys worked well; you can also customize the key bind commands.
This is one of those expansive games that may take players a while to complete depending on how they pace themselves during gameplay. I think it’s worth the time to explore Yonder in this world.
Yonder is available on PC and PlayStation 4.
In this long episode of Gaming Podcast, the show runs long because of the tons of entries made to win a Steam code of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Paul gets upset at Jonah for a topic about the Wii U, while Dan is delighted to say the F-word again. The latest Gaming Flashback is about the oldest coin-op arcade game from 1971, Galaxy Game.
The news includes the following items:
Finally, Paul eulogizes Nintendo Power, which is closing its doors after 24 years.
I liked the auction house in Diablo 3 because it allowed for more gear homogenization; if my character got an item that did not help that specific class as much as another item, I could possibly auction that loot and buy a better suited one.
The 6 TFLOPS available on Scorpio make it comparable to an overclocked RX 480, so it might be capable of running Doom without dynamic resolution scaling, and consoles use low-level APIs similar to Vulkan, but we don’t know the CPU specifications.
Thank you for mentioning me!