The gang discusses the just-released Captain America: Civil War as well as mention the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse film, but they also do get into this week’s news, which is heavy on the Nintendo side.
The news includes:
This week’s Question of the Week is “What era war would you like to see in a shooter?”
Midway’s been around the industry for years, has decided to lay off up to 90 people and cut the Criminal project from their lineup. This is a long term plan of cost reduction by the board of directors to get down costs and keep the company running smoothly.
Their plan seems to be to develop games intelligently, by costing out each project and building what’s needed to make the company profitable without excessive cost. A company always runs best when it’s doing it wisely and looking to reduce overhead, unfortunately a company in a bit of trouble has to let go of employees to get their.
While this was a very difficult decision, we feel it was the right thing to do for the future of Midway,” said Matt Booty, interim CEO and president of Midway Games Inc.. “We view every game as an investment that must meet certain standards for quality, scheduling, and profitability. Midway remains committed to producing the highest quality entertainment, as evidenced by our strong holiday line-up which includes TNA iMPACT!, Blitz: The League II, and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe starring a team of MK characters and some of the most recognizable DC Comics personalities such as Batman, The Joker, and Superman.” (kotaku)
Hopefully this allows them some breathing room to get out of this sticky situation, we hate to see old names go down in history as failed.
Microsoft finally showed off Starfield in a 15 minute demo of various aspects of the game. Is it worth the excitement? Was there anything else notable at the Microsoft/Bethesda Showcase?
If that weren’t enough, the guys also talked about the Devolver Digital showcase with such games as Card Shark and Anger Foot, the PC Gaming Show with such titles as Agent 64: Spies Never Die and Tactical Breach Wizards, and Capcom’s showcase including Resident Evil, Resident Evil and more Resident Evil (and Exoprimal).
Let us know what you think.
Once upon a time Rare though they had a winner; a game which would end all the confusion between a hardcore console and a kiddie console. Viva Piñata was supposed to change the way we think about Xbox 360 gaming by showing off a title that would make children feel more inclined to game on a “big boys console.”
Unfortunately, execution of Rare’s new franchise title came with a few rough patches, namely Gears of War. Earlier on they had press releases and conferences about how this game was going to interact with users, inspire them to watch Viva Piñata the cartoon to get new recipes for the game which would allow you to create new breeds of Piñata. There were a few flaws in the plan. They didn’t hype the game enough prior to the release and then they decided to launch the game during the over-hyped Gears of War title.
Oddly enough my children (two and four years of age) would rather watch Sponge Bob and Dora reruns than a single episode of Viva Piñata. I thought the show was cute and the bright colors and crazy creatures would draw children like moths to a flame, but they just didn’t care.
My children were too young to play the first Viva Piñata and it didn’t provide enough interest for them to watch me play it and invest the hours. I found the game to be creative and fun… for awhile. Once my happy little Piñatas started eating each other and fighting constantly I realized the joy was gone. If I want to listen to screaming and fighting I’ve got my own children, babysitting Piñatas in a fake garden just wasn’t doing it for me.
Now, Viva Piñata: Trouble in paradise has been given a date of September by Eurogamer. Rare is stating we’ll have 30 new Piñata’s to play with along with new environments, co-op play and other cute options. Admittingly, Drop-in/Drop-out co-op play does sound kind of neat but my emotional scares from the first title have not healed yet.
I was told there would be a great deal of downloadable content (DLC) for Viva Piñata. but found nothing available after I purchased the game and, if content exists now, I’ve long since lost interest in the game. The idea was solid, the demographic was available but the execution went flat. You cannot expect older gamers with children to believe Microsoft or Rare are planning to give us real kids games when you release a single title and show us no other kids games for two years.
At this point, if you’re looking for a console with more kid-friendly gaming you’re going to buy a Wii every single time. Titles on the Wii work for both young adults, teenagers, kids and older grandparents while the 360 goes strong with the 18-34 year-old male demographic.
If you want to be serious about bringing kids on board, Viva Piñata is going to need some friends not just a single sequel. Otherwise, you’re going to find out quick that the 18-34 demographic will simply nod politely and move on to their next great fix… Gears of War 2 perhaps (November, 2008).
If the upcoming Viva Piñata franchise executes like its prior title there will definitely be some trouble in paradise.
