Episode 550: Kowtowing to China

October 11, 2019| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 12:00 am

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Blizzard finds itself in hot water as it finds itself having to explain its actions in pleasing the Chinese government, in news that’s still hot and doesn’t look like it’s going to cool down anytime soon. It’s enough to overshadow even an official console announcement from Sony. There’s a Gaming Flashback, the embarrassingly bad FMV game Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties.

The news this week includes:

Blizzard is facing a boycott after removing a Hearthstone Grandmaster
PlayStation 5 launches Holiday 2020
Doom Eternal delayed until March 2020, Doom 64 goes multiformat

Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Episode 550: Kowtowing to China”

Kamil Trzybulski says:

November 14, 2019 at 8:00 pm

Hello, how can i contacted with you ?

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Episode 249: Milestone LoomingEpisode 249: Milestone Looming

For those of you good at math, you might notice that the TD Gaming Podcast is one episode away from a special number. While we have a surprise in store for loyal listeners, there’s still this week’s news to discuss. For starters, the classic Silent Hill 2 is the subject of the Gaming Flashback, even though none of the podcasters have gotten a chance to actually play it.

There’s also some interesting news to discuss, including:

Christian group accuses The Old Republic of “warping kids” with pro-gay message
Rumor: Next Harmonix project being released on XBLA, PSN, and Facebook
EA Sports: SSX will bring extreme sports videogames back to prominence
Xbox 720 rumors springing up like wildfire
PS Vita continues to struggle in Japan
SNK brings Neo*Geo back as a handheld

There’s plenty of Reader Feedback, but there’s no Question of the Week, because there’s a special episode coming up. Ooooh, what could it possibly be?

Achievement Unlocked: Diablo III and Starcraft 2’s New GoalsAchievement Unlocked: Diablo III and Starcraft 2’s New Goals

Microsoft has proven the achievement system is one of the best ways to add replay value to a title and inspire players to overachieve in every game title, no matter how obscure. Now, Blizzard joins the battle for achievements by bringing them to the Blizzard franchises.

As of now, they’re talking Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 enabled achievements to reward players for exploring, leveling and, of course, doing the impossible. Jeff Kaplan, World of Warcraft lead designer, spoke with MTV Multiplayer blog at length about some of the topics on achievements. The future holds an Xbox 360 style achievement system across all Blizzard properties such as WoW, Starcraft and Diablo allowing people to see how you play at “Blizzard games.”

Today, we’re able to compare a gamers score on the Xbox 360 from games like GTA IV and Halo 3 down to titles like Texas Hold’em and Geometry Wars. Imagine being able to compare a players Diablo 3 skills combined with their Starcraft 2 techniques as compared to their epic World of Warcraft battles.

Will it work? Microsoft has proven the achievements drive more players interests but do we need this in a title like Diablo 3? Of course, people overachieve in all Blizzard games because their all so great while some 360 games are only beaten for the achievements (i.e. Madden NFL 06, GUN, etc.)

The end result, value add to a game you’re going to buy anyway. Can anyone really complain?

(Thanks, 1up)

Episode 601: Street Fightin’Episode 601: Street Fightin’

A lot of this episode revolves around the 30th anniversary of the classic fighting game in this week’s Gaming Flashback, Street Fighter II. The episode also looks at a lot of the hot news around the industry.

The news includes:

Microsoft plans to merge ZeniMax into a new Subsidiary called ‘Vault’
Electronic Arts to decide fate of Anthem
Terraria creator cancels Stadia port after being locked out of Google account
MP bill takes aim at PlayStation 5 price scalping