Episode 367: A New Beginning

The podcast is back as Paul S. Nowak is back from his vacation, and he brought back a new co-host with him. Devin Grimes, who once upon a time wrote for GameStooge, is now a part of the team. This week’s podcast also includes a new Gaming History, discussing the Nintendo DS.

The news items include:

  • Ebola scare drives sharp rise in Plague Inc. downloads
  • Twitch bans ‘sexually suggestive clothing’ in new terms
  • Dying Light cancelled for PS3 and 360
  • Xbox One available for $349 Starting November 2
  • Sony apologizes for Driveclub‘s ongoing launch woes

No Listener Feedback, but a new Question of the Week: “When did you first start listening to this podcast?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 367: A New Beginning”

  1. I started listening to your podcasts in June of this year. I think you are doing a great job. I want to also thank you guys for the items I received for winning the contest back in July. They are awesome. I especially love the Sims t-shirt. Keep up the good work!!!

  2. I hope you guys saw the South Park episode “Freeium isn’t Free”, pretty much why I stopped playing all Facebook and Mobile IOS app games.

    As for the QofW, I started when Dan joined your Podcast and have enjoyed it thus far. Welcome to Devin and I look forward to more episodes from you three.

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If you’re looking to see what the next greatest DS hand-held will look like, plan to wait until Nintendo starts to see declining sales trends for their current DS hardware. Sensible from Nintendo’s standpoint, but a major bummer for those hand-held gamers who want to see something new and cool out of the Nintendo camp.

While the DS sells great, many of us tech fans would love to see what a new generation of DS would look like. Perhaps something closer to the iPod touch in screen size and touch-abilities with real WiFi capabilities connecting to the Internet? Wouldn’t it be neat if they added GPS location and tilt abilities much akin to the iPhone or iPod Touch?

Personally, I envision a system where you are in total control of your character from leaning, to sliding, to moving your fingers around the screen and communicating over the Internet sharing high scores, drop-in drop-out multiplayer titles with complete voice communications.

Alas, Nintendo tends to gimp most of their hardware from hot innovation such as Internet communication, much like the Wii. While Nintendo has the next-generation capabilities now for Internet communication they’ve constantly opted to have a more useless version of connectivity to “protect the consumer.”

We need a DS store, much like the Xbox Live Marketplace for downloading DS casual games, considering DS game size is much smaller than a PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 title. We need a smaller form factor mimicking the iPod in thickness and durability with a larger screen or unfolding dual screen to double the size of an iPod style play area.

Hardware innovation seems to be more acceptable to Sony and their PSP product while Nintendo always opts for something more simple. Unfortunately, the PSP cannot compete against the DS which will leave them in the lead with very little desire to re-up their hardware with new capabilities and sexy new designs.

Oddly enough, the DS is the perfect device for the mass market which means they’re not going to be forced to innovate beyond its current capabilities for now. Apparently people don’t desire huge leaps in technology, screen size and speed, or we’d would probably see a decline or dis-interest in the DS hardware, thus forcing Nintendo to re-innovate and evolve.

The day will come, but probably not for a long time.