This week’s a lot of discussion of comic book movies, including the upcoming “Captain America: Civil War”. In fact, it dominates most of the podcast. However, there is some discussion of video games.
This week’s news includes:
Free money suddenly showed up in some people’s Steam accounts
“Obviously there’s going to be another Borderlands,” says Gearbox
Rumor: Nintendo NX to be officially revealed this or next week
Rumor: Xbox One upgrade under development at Microsoft
Question of the Week: “Would you buy a updated console like the PlayStation 4.5 or Xbox One and a Half?”
Only one more episode til the landmark episode that will see Paul ending his tenure as a regular podcast host in this lengthy episode after the week off. The banter is so off the charts, over an hour had to be cut and will be available in a future outtakes episode – as Paul and Scott agree to do a special Dr. Who episode in the near future too. Oh, and Jonah lost his day job.
The news this week includes:
Nintendo names a new leader after sudden death of CEO
Nintendo partners with Niantic Labs for Pokemon on mobile
Hi-Rez Studios: Players make the content everyone is trying to monetise
Frostbite: the PS3 CELL retarded the industry significantly
It’s the fabulous 250th Episode milestone, and this particular podcast features a major surprise for longtime listeners. Not only is this one of the funniest podcasts in a long while, but there’s plenty of show to go around, too. First, the Gaming Flashback checks out the classic shooter No One Lives Forever, while the Gaming History examines the infamous Gizmondo handheld gaming console.
Yo! Noid was a commercial opportunity for Domino’s Pizza developed by Capcom. This retro style game revolved around Domino’s Pizza claymation style mascot, the Noid, as he adventures through fourteen stages of side scrolling action.
The game sound was much like any other 8-bit action platformer. It reminded me of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, not the cool arcade one. Minus the turtles, Yo! Noid is a battle against Mr. Green, the Noids evil duplicate, a concept used in so many games; remember Shadow Link?
Unlike Link, Noid lost a life when he hit an enemy similar to the Super Mario Bros. style platformer but with a Yo Yo weapon. You could also gather smart-bomb type scrolls to clear the screen of all enemies, another classic side scroller arcade recipe. Yo! Noid brought nothing to the table in terms of uniqueness and relied on the standard recipe of side scrolling conflict.
This retro game may be one of the first true “total conversion mods.” Later we’d see Counter Strike born out of the Half-Life engine and way before that, Noah’s Ark 3D built out of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. Yo! Noid was a re-creation of the game Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru. Oddly enough, Yo! Noid was probably more well known than its forefather game because Capcom didn’t release Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru in the United States. Instead, we got Yo! Noid and a $1.00 off coupon on the back of the manual so we can get ourselives some Domino’s Pizza.
Although a few of us may recall Yo! Noid from our childhood, the title really didn’t create any huge waves in the game industry. Yo! Noid did show developers that a brand named product could be used as a marketing and brand awareness strategy, something we’d later see Burger King try on the Xbox 360 and find some success.
Can you tell the difference between Yo! Noid and Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru?