Episode 298: Fireside Podcast

This week’s podcast is rife with arguing between Jonah, Jordan and Paul regarding computer science in schools and have a long discussion about the future of the Wii U. In this episode, the earliest MMOFPS PlanetSide gets a Gaming Flashback.

As far as the news items for the week:

  • Obama: Games innovate technology, interest children in computer science
  • Destiny preorders at Best Buy reveal info about Bungie’s upcoming game
  • Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta begins the 25th February
  • Rumor: Sony will use Gaikai to stream PS3 games in PS4
  • Wii U sold around 50,000 units in US in January
  • Take 2 confirms acquiring WWE license

All this and Reader Feedback as well as the Question of the Week: “How important is backwards compatibility to you?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 298: Fireside Podcast”

  1. @Planetside

    Always wanted to play it but back then it had a ridiculous subscription fee. Once it went free to play Planetside 2 was out. And my laptop can’t run it. Sux to be a student. I just stick to Battlefied.

    @Obama: unconstitutional lack of liberty in choice of educational subjects

    When I was in Russia, we had to do IT in Year 8. Up until then I have never touched a computer in my entire life. They made me do HTML programming. I didn’t even know how to switch the thing on. Good times…

    @Wii U-U-U??? Where are U?

    I agree practically with everything said here. As a Wii U owner, I believe that the hardware has potential given it’s properly exploited. Which it isn’t. I am yet to play a game that properly uses the gamepad. And I can’t see anything in the pipeline (minus Monster Hunter Tri which is hardcore oriented). All of the games I see are “ultimate” editions of Xbox 360 games. Which I can buy for the Xbox for half the price.

    @QOTW

    I agree with Jordan. No point in having backwards compatible console if you keep your old consoles around. Just bumps up the price of the new consoles. Once new hardware comes out, old consoles crash in price so even if it breaks you can just replace it for a relatively small fee. Backwards compatibility is a neat feature if done right. I for one could not move my save games from Xbox to Xbox 360, meaning that I had no reason to play them on the 360. You can apparently do it on the Wii U although I am yet to try it.

  2. @Obama: Games innovate technology, interest children in computer science
    No. I think one should not make programming mandatory; a choice, yes. No, I don’t have any arguments to support my position.

    On the other hand, school was always intended to shape kids into future labor force. A lot of labor is done in IT, so …

    Jordan does make a good point. I wrote my first Basic program way before doing anything formal in school, out of necessity. Kids today do have exposure to the tool (computer). It now all boils down to identify a need that can be solved by writing a program.

    @Rumor: Sony will use Gaikai to stream PS3 games in PS4
    Hmm … short term gains ….
    I’ve seen this strategy, applied to nation-wide economics. Didn’t turn out well.

    @Wii U sold around 50,000 units in US in January
    Make it easy for devs to make games for the platform. That’s the key. Microsoft figured it out. I’m not a hardware dev, but I figured it out.
    If Paul is right, then the WiiU is in trouble.

    @Take 2 confirms acquiring WWE license
    I hope they didn’t have to pay too much on it … I only play those games on a SEGA Genesis emulator.

    @How important is backwards compatibility to you?
    Quite important, to be honest. I’m quite the nostalgic guy, so I want to be able to play older games. Heck, I would still fire up ye old Gradius for the NES. Using an emulator, unfortunately, my brother gave away the NES clone …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Castlevania Goes 3D on the Wii?Castlevania Goes 3D on the Wii?

The next big Wii title will be Castlevania and it’s going to be a 3D fighting game. Stop laughing, it’s not a joke, it’s what Nintendo Power is saying. Picture Street Fighter but with classic Castlevania characters and lots of smashing and bashing for victory.

“GoNintendo’s report from the mag hints at appearances from characters like Simon Belmont and Alucard, the use of sub-weapons like holy water and boomerangs, and (surprise!) motion controls.” (kotaku)

This is a creative direction for Konami to take, given their very inexperienced with fighting style games. They could build a team of experienced fighting style game developers, but why? What’s wrong with a classic side-scrolling style game using the WiiWare system like Mega Man 9?

Hopefully, Konami can pull off this fighter in a world where people do not seem to be as enthusiastic about fighting games especially on a system with the graphical power of the Wii. Well, it is rumored to have “motion controls.”

I’d love to see a remake of Simons Quest.

TD Gaming Podcast 76: GamingPodcast.netTD Gaming Podcast 76: GamingPodcast.net

Welcome to the TD Gaming Podcast! This week we discussed:

  • Microsoft releases Xbox 360 before everyone else, will they do it again? (1up)
  • Ubisoft’s Play Zone label/division for Wii mini-games (next-gen)
  • Guitar Hero World Tour Rumors (gamespot)
  • Atari’s Hunts Negative Alone in the Dark Reviews (shacknews)

We take a walk down memory lane with Baldur’s Gate as this weeks Gaming Flashback, take a deeper look into RPG’s and “Devil Worshiping” and we’ll also read a great listener comment regarding video game mascots, what mascots did you enjoy?

Episode 624: Sound IssuesEpisode 624: Sound Issues

This episode has some white noise during it, so please don’t listen to it wearing headphones. The mic that was used is dying, so I purchased a new mic which will be used for Episode 626.

Til then, the news includes:

Let us know what you think.