Episode 443: Nintendo Pulls a Switch

So, this episode covers that fact that Nintendo is about to announce their next device, which they did earlier today: the Nintendo NX is now called the Nintendo Switch. The official Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer was also unveiled today too, and the multiplayer aspect is discussed. Jonah advises TJ and Scott to try The Stanley Parable as well.

This week’s news includes:

  • Dishonored dev’s The Crossing, put on hold in 2009, gets a new trademark filing
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 announced for Xbox One and PS4, but not PC
  • Voice actors threaten strike against EA, Activision, and nine other companies
  • Grand Theft Auto 5‘s exploding Note 7 mod video yanked from YouTube by Samsung

All this and two Questions of the Week!

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Episode 279: Wii YouEpisode 279: Wii You

This week’s Gaming Podcast once again lacks Paul S. Nowak, which is a shame since the price for the Wii U has been released. Paul as the resident Nintendo representative would have been nice to have in the episode to give his views.

This week’s podcast includes the following news items:

  • Wii U priced at $300 for basic, $350 for deluxe
  • Dragon Age III: Inquisition officially announced
  • Obsidian unveils Kickstarter title Project Eternity, raise $1M in 24 hours
  • Cliff Bleszinski wants to see “no disc based games” next-gen
  • Guild Wars 2 surpasses 2 million units

We also announce the winner of the Borderlands 2 contest. This week’s Question of the Week, “What game(s) have you been playing this week?”

Xbox 360’s Fable 2: No Online Co-Op In BoxXbox 360’s Fable 2: No Online Co-Op In Box

Much like Kameo: Elements of Power, Fable 2 ships without online co-op mode on day-one. However, Kameo didn’t promise the co-op mode prior to the games release, or talk about it in their presentations and hype machine conferences.

How does that happen? It’s easy to promise a feature but words do not make games true. More than likely the online co-op was a bit more complicated or had some bugs that needed to be shaken out prior to shipping. Microsoft is talking about releasing a patch for the new co-op play on the first week or so of the game release.

There are two options: ship a product that’s buggy and deal with the online PR nightmare with bugs and day-one patches, or, ship it without the feature and promise it early in the launch phase of the game. Once the code is complete, game software has to go through the packing, duplication and shipping phase. A lot of last minute testing can get done in the time it takes to produce the boxed product.

Hopefully Microsoft is doing some last minute testing to make a more reliable presentation of online co-op which everyone can use. However if it releases with a bunch of bugs…

(Thanks, GameSpot)

Episode 459: This Week and LastEpisode 459: This Week and Last

So, thanks to an untimely computer breakdown, last week’s episode could not be run in a timely manner. So, this double-length episode features an off-the-cuff discussion of videogames with no notes, with last week’s episode tacked on. There’s not much editing in the episode, due to the fact Jonah has to rush off to Boston to attend PAX East over the weekend.

Last week’s “news” includes:

  • Middle Earth: Shadow of War leaked then announced
  • Microsoft announces Netflix-style gaming for the Xbox One
  • Videogame industry lobbying to maintain “repair monopoly”
  • Microsoft plans to bring mixed reality to the Xbox in 2018

All this and some Listener Feedback