Episode 559: Welcome to 2020

Welcome to the future, as Jonah, Scott and TJ ring in the new year, as this week’s Gaming Flashback reminds Jonah of what his favorite game of the decade was. (Spoiler: Mass Effect 2.) In fact, the game is so good Jonah and TJ talk about it for an hour before discussing the week’s generally weak news.

This week’s topics include:

  • Report: New Switch model launching in 2020
  • The Ni No Kuni movie is coming to Netflix
  • Silent Hill Art Director Masahiro Ito announces a new video game
  • Vice City: Remastered for Grand Theft Auto 5 mod released

Was 2010 the best year for games in the 2010’s? Let us know.

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The Beatle’s Change Wii Price Point, Rock Band StyleThe Beatle’s Change Wii Price Point, Rock Band Style

By now everyone is used to paying more for Rock Band than meets the eye. The game disc is usually packed in several bundles for guitars, drums and, of course, stand alone. With The Beatles: Rock Band, MTV Games plans to release one product SKU, a game only disc. That game only disc, on the Wii is going to cost the same as other consoles: $59.99.

beatlesYou remember when Wii games were $49.99 and everyone made titles that hit this price point or lower? MTV isn’t going to stick to this standard, regardless of “last gen graphics” because you’ll buy it anyway, right? Rock Band is one of those games that has hit huge strides in the market over the last few years as people buy big plastic instruments to rock their house.

Now we’re going to see if those same people willing to pay $10.00 more than normal in order to play The Beatles songs. The Wii has a large audience of gamers but they’re the style of gamer that wants a good value for their product, after all, the Wii is cheaper than every other console and the games probably should match its differences compared to games for the other consoles.

This is an interesting decision, as the market plunges into despair MTV gouges games for $10.00 more because “The Beatles” happens to be in the title. Are you going to pay more for the Beatles? Not us.

(Thanks, 1up)

XBLA’s Braid Needs More SalesXBLA’s Braid Needs More Sales

XBLA offers great opportunities for the indy developer but everything comes at a price. Over the last three years Braid‘s developer Jonathan Blow spent a reported $180,000 to create the popular Braid title on Xbox Live. He’s going to need a lot more sales before he can celebrate the highly valued, highly reviewed title.

The Independent Games Festival was kind to him, giving him the “Innovation in Game Design” back in 2006, since then he’s put his money where is mouth is; his own money. There are good times and bad times when you’re discovering your dreams. The reviews surely made him feel great about the work he has done over the last three years but a review won’t pay the bills.

It may be a hard road ahead for Jonathan, hopefully at least breaking even on the project. Although he may not look back at the game as a financial success we can only imagine he’ll have a lot easier time getting funding or publishing for his next title, if that’s the path he chooses.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

Episode 639: Live Games ServiceEpisode 639: Live Games Service

The crew gets excited about the announcement of The Wolf Among Us 2, although it won’t be out for a while, and bemoan the infestation of live service games everywhere these days in videogames.

The news includes:

  • PlatinumGames pivoting to live service games
  • Rockstar announces Grand Theft Auto 6 in a tweet
  • Tim Schafer doesn’t want Psychonauts or any other Double Fine game turned into a movie

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