Episode 564: Sony’s Pricing Problem

This week’s episode talks about Sony having issues, and that’s not even taking into account their pulling out of a convention due to the coronavirus scare. This week’s Gaming Flashback looks at the classic dark puzzle platformer Limbo.

As for the news:

  • Sony breaks PS5 pricing tradition for Xbox Series X launch
  • Next in No Man’s Sky: an organic spaceship you can grow from an egg
  • Xbox Game Pass for PC will get Yakuza 0, Two Point Hospital, and more soon (from PC Gamer)

This week’s Question of the Week: “What is your favorite videogame commercial or trailer?”

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Diablo 3 Content Creation PhaseDiablo 3 Content Creation Phase

Now that Blizzard feels their engine is solid, it’s time to move on to creating content for the full game. Jay Wilson, Diablo 3‘s lead designer, says the game engine is in an advance stage of completion and much of the art team has moved onto Act 2. Don’t read into that, he said game engine.

Blizzard is obviously not hurting for money, given the success of World of Warcraft and they’ve always taken their time with projects to make them solid products. Blizzard’s name is on the line and they’re brand consists of three major franchises: Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. When you produce so few games you’re expected to do them perfectly.

How do they do it? As Wilson says, “If we haven’t rebuilt something five times it really doesn’t deserve to be shipped. That’s pretty much our policy.” (eurogamer) While a game engine is the foundation for a great game experience, the content is king. Blizzard is deep in the mire of content production so, although the engine might be solid, the final product is probably still far from complete.

End result, expect a high quality product once again from Blizzard.

Retro FlashBack: DragonFire (Atari 2600)Retro FlashBack: DragonFire (Atari 2600)

Now here is another interesting video game for the Atari 2600, the game Dragon Fire consisted of two game screens, one which you ran across a bridge while fireballs were shot at you, you had to duck or jump over the fireball. This screen was a side-scroller style screen (although it doesn’t actually scroll), at the other end of the bridge was a castle door which you’d enter to get to the next screen.

The second screen was more classic “overhead but not really” screen where you ran around this black screen picking up treasures while a dragon at the bottom shot fire at you from below.

As the game increased in level jumping fireballs became more challenging (on the first screen) as you ran because they would come quicker, more often. The second screen would get very difficult very quickly as the dragon would increase in speed and fireball spitting. You could tell how hard the dragon would be as it would change colors from lighter to darker black as you progress stages.

When you finished collecting all the treasure an exit would pop up in the corner and you had to run to it without being burned by the fireballs, that dragon would turn from left to right nearly instantly too! Then, you’d jump into the exit and be back on the bridge again, but this time it was harder. You could die up to 7 times before the game was over (just to show you how hard it is, they gave you a bunch of lives).

The game was tough, frustrating, hard to replay because you were just so nervous and jittery from the last attempt. Graphics were “okay,” nothing to rave at but it was, after all, the 2600.

You can hear all we had to say about DragonFire for the Atari 2600 on Episode 79 of the TD Gaming Podcast!

Episode 294: Naked BribingEpisode 294: Naked Bribing

This week has a full crew again with Jordan, Jonah, Paul and Dan, and even though there’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, there’s a ton of news to pour over.

This week’s news includes:

  • Jay Wilson steps down from Diablo III stewardship
  • The Secret World sees ‘400% increase in activity’ after December relaunch
  • Mojang: Minecraft XBLA outsold Minecraft PC in 2012
  • Gas Powered Games confirms major layoffs
  • Sony settles lawsuit with Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert
  • Pachter: Nintendo is “a few years late” in everything they do

On a sadder note, Dan announced a day after the podcast recording that he will be employed full-time and no longer have the time to be a regular member of the podcast.

This week’s Question of the Week: “What game do you want to see a sequel to the most?”