Episode 411: We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

January 28, 2016| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:38 pm

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This podcast is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, but there’s plenty of banter between Jonah and Scott, and 30 minutes of the podcast were removed to be aired as an outtakes at some point. Oh, and there’s plenty of cursing and NSFW content in this particular podcast, so be warned.

The news includes:

Starbreeze announces it’ll build a VR arcade venue in Los Angeles
Mighty No. 9 unexpectedly delayed by Comcept
Nintendo NX set to be new face of Nintendo with busy 2016 planned
Five Nights at Freddy’s World pulled from Steam

Let us know what you think.

Episode 382: Late But Not Too LateEpisode 382: Late But Not Too Late

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this episode was recorded on Monday, but despite the lateness, it’s full of rich news items, including some very disturbing trends in videogames, as well as a question by a listener that got mental juices flowing. This week’s Gaming Flashback is Professor Pac-Man.

The news items include:

Headteachers in UK threaten to report parents who let their children play 18-rated games
Star Citizen‘s Vanguard “concept” fighter costs a cool $250
PC version of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round launches on Steam without key features
Zelda delay could ruin Nintendo’s 2015
New Jersey game store “swatting” takes an uglier turn

This week’s Question of the Week: “What do you think is the future of older games?”

Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?

The same company that brought us the NES Advantage has proven the Wii control scheme isn’t as bad as critics speculated. The beauty of adding the “waggle” technology is limiting your button count to a reasonable level without overwhelming gamers.

We’re seeing casual gaming on the rise both in the press and in the public. Yet, each “next generation” console brings new features and functionality to the consoles, games and accessories. Since NES birthed the SNES we’ve seen button count increase on controllers.

Nintendo has usually been conservative on buttons, trying to work “shape” over sheer volume of buttons, barring the C button count on the N64 controller. Nintendo controllers change shape with each generation and they’ve evolved, not innovated, their way around with the Wii control scheme. Each function of the controller exists, on its own, in other products but nobody has built a fully functional controller in such a way for a game console until now.

Sony took pieces of this concept in their PS3 controller and its ability to detect “tilt.” Xbox 360 stuck with the beefy controller with lots of buttons and analog sticks. Not just a D-Pad but two analog sticks and a ton of buttons to press, some pressure sensitive as well. What of our next-generation console? Maybe a few new buttons?

Or, maybe a few new motions? Wii evolved the control scheme and Sony validated their decision, what’s next? Are the controllers just too damn complicated in today’s world? Or, perhaps limiting the buttons brings in more gamers, like Grandma and Grandpa, to play your console as well.

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Episode 705: Commercial BlissEpisode 705: Commercial Bliss

The first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer dropped, and it has been viewed well over 110M times since. There is much more news post-Game Awards, including Vampire Survivors, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and a ton of demos dropping on Xbox.