Episode 458: Dark Souls the Board Game

This week’s episode features a report by Jonah Falcon from Toy Fair NY, raving about the co-op board gane version of Dark Souls. T.J. continues to rave about Nioh and Scott texted while the podcast was going on, but you’ll have to wait for an outtakes episode to hear that story.

This week’s news includes:

  • Square Enix may have accidentally announced NieR: Automata‘s PC release date
  • Ed Boon would entertain the possibility of Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat crossover
  • Dragon Quest Heroes I and II too big for Switch drive

Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Episode 458: Dark Souls the Board Game”

  1. Wow, I wish I knew about the Kickstarter for Dark Souls! This podcast was the first I heard of it, so I checked it out and I’m amazed. It’s well worth the $120, and I know what I’ll be spending my birthday credit card on!

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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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