This week’s episode is light on news but heavy on features, as the Gaming Flashback checks in on the coin-op arcade classic I, Robot, while the Gaming History takes a look at the career of Danielle Bunten Berry.
As for the news, the gang comments on the following items:
This week’s Question of the Week: What board games, if any, do you love to play? Let us know!
The Steam Deck has been released, and TJ and Scott are just excited about it. They’re able to play indie games on a Switch-like device even though many of the same games on the Switch. Jonah already has Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and therefore already plays games with a controller on his cellphone.
This week’s news includes:
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This week we almost forgot about the episode due to Labor Day! We thought we had a day off, but alas, no! Here is the news of the week, community comments and a complete gaming history and flashback. Today’s industry news included:
This week we’re starting our first round of questions for episode 200, a trivia quiz for Derrick and Don. Please send your trivia questions to Jennifer (e-mail in show).
This week we’re learning a bit about Donkey Kong Junior as well as listening to Don convince Derrick that the second stage in Donkey Kong was in Donkey Kong Junior. We’re also looking back to Billy Mitchell, a Guinness Book World Record holder for video games. This week, news was a bit light but we managed to cover:
Xbox 360 Most Satisfying Console in Japan?We also tackle the incoming comments answering our question of the week about TSR and Wizards of the Coast. This week, we’re asking people if Don is wierd for replaying video games right after he beats them. Does anyone else do that?
@New Mass Effect 3 multiplayer rumors arise:
Jonah, I see what you mean. Co-op is the better kind of MP for a game that is thick on story. The alternative would be an MMO, but I believe that will require a lot more time to wrap up.
@Bethesda says Xbox 720 three years away:
Dunno. From a technical point of view, the components to make it already exist. So I am siding with Jonah, and say 2012.
Another reason for delays is shipping Windows 8. If MSFT wants to ship both Win 8 and the new console, then I can see the console being delayed by Win 8.
@QOTW:
Don’t think they qualify as board games, but: backgammon, remi.
I just wanted to weigh in on the console launch argument. Firstly, the N64 launched at $200, not $150. Secondly, I don’t believe inflation adjustment is a useful concept when thinking of the historic nature of console launches because the prices are fairly similar across time (for example the Atari 2600 was $200 in 1977 – same as the N64 nearly 20 years later).
Of course, historically, there have been expensive game consoles such as the Neo-Geo or the 3DO, but these were more boutique, high end machines. I think it is useful to compare the launch of the PS3 to these consoles. This was the mistake Sony made with the machine’s launch: They tried to sell a high end machine to a mass market that wasn’t willing to pay the high cost. I for one waited 3 years until it was finally at the same price the PS2 launched at. I considered that the effective launch of the console.
As with any piece of technology (unless it’s made by Apple) one can wait a certain amount of time for the product to come down in price to where the consumer is comfortable with the cost. Expecting a console to launch at $100, however, is unreasonable. This has not ever happened with the launch of any home console that I am aware of and certainly could not be done without a severe loss to the manufacturer on each unit. That being said, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a new console to launch at $200-$300 dollars, even in the HD/3D/recession era we live in now.
Regarding the possibility of an Xbox 360 successor in 2012: I believe this is highly possible. I hardly think it would be “too soon” at that point considering the console will have been out for 7 years. In historic terms, this would be considered a long cycle. I think Microsoft may be weary of putting out a console too hastily considering that the 360 came out only 4 years after the original Xbox, and they really seem to be pushing their Kinect as an extension of the lifespan of the console, but a 7 year run seems quite reasonable to me. Also, it would be a prime opportunity to sucker punch the Nintendo Wii U and possibly get an early lead on the next console war.