Episode 467: Reunion Extravanganza

The landmark episode was recorded two weeks ago, but the audio was absolutely terrible, with over a half-an-hour having to be excised. It’s a pity, because it featured both Videogame Roundtable originals Paul Nowak and Jordan Lund guest-hosting for a massive (for this podcast) five-man crew.

To make up for it, Jonah and T.J. recorded a half-hour discussion of upcoming games that they might check out at E3.

There won’t be a podcast for another 3 weeks, until E3 is over, so for now. Enjoy the podcast, and sorry for the middle hour — the audio cleans up in the last part.

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Episode 222: Gorilla LoveEpisode 222: Gorilla Love

This week is a big episode, as it is chock full of surprising news this week, as well as some long, long reader mail. If that weren’t enough, we take a look back at the IntelliVision game Maze-a-Tron, deal with too much love for Paul, and the mystery that is the popularity of gorillas.

This week’s news includes:

  • Electronic Arts buys Popcap Games
  • Microsoft: Only Master Chief in Halo from now on
  • PlayStation Vita dev costs closer to PSP
  • Netflix takes aim at usage based billing
  • Expert glitcher hired to clean up Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer
  • Skyrim ‘less confusing’, not ‘more accessible

There’s no Gaming History this week, but the Question of the Week is: “What old game do you most want to see remade?” There’s no contest behind it, but you can always take heart in the fact that your question was probably the most awesome.

Starcraft 2 Part Eins, Zwei and DreiStarcraft 2 Part Eins, Zwei and Drei

Nobody is perfect. When it comes to creating an epic story arc, awesome pre-rendered movies and a fully fleshed campaign Blizzard has done well. Now, Blizzard speaks of Starcraft 2 and the world shuts their mouth and listens to each and every word. What’s the word?

A Trilogy.

We’re not talking about the Lord of The Rings style trilogy, but three games with full stories which all end with the gamer being satisfied at the closure, not cliffhangers.

The three standalone games will be (says GameStooge):

  • Terrans – Wings of Liberty
  • Zerg – Heart of the Swarm
  • Protoss – Legacy of the Void

Gamers are probably thinking, “so, I can play multiplayer with only one race?” No! The campaign is split into three separete games, not the races and multiplayer features. Although, each title is sure to introduce something new to the game engine, Blizzard has said:

“Nothing changes for multiplayer or skirmish mode. All three races are fully implemented from the get go. Each campaign will feel like an epic story – not a cliffhanger into the next one. They will each have separate arcs that have a clear start, middle, end – and you will feel like you’ve really finished *something* at the end of each game. More content than we’d previously planned – many more Movies, Missions, etc.” (games.on.net)

From our perspective, it seems Blizzard is itching to release the multiplayer system to the world sooner than later, considering some countries use Starcraft as a professional league, but they don’t want to rush out fast to market campaigns just to satisfy this multiplayer desire.

Instead, they’re going to take their time, in usual Blizzard style, by releasing the game as they finish it… per races story. This should give us a less watered down storyline or having one or two races with a piss poor storyline while another has a kick ass storyline because it was done first.

End result? Multiplayer gamers will be happy in the end while those that play Starcraft for the story will need to wait for each game to be completed. We know Blizzards release schedule is “when it’s ready” so we can only imagine how long it will take to reach that third game in the trilogy.

Little Big Planet – Release Date: October 21Little Big Planet – Release Date: October 21

If there is one time this year to pickup a PlayStation 3, it’s going ot be on October 21st when Sackboy jumps onto the scene with Little Big Planet. You don’t have to be a casual gamer to have a desire to play Little Big Planet and we’re sure to see that in upcoming reviews.

The question really comes down to, will Little Big Planet move consoles off the shelf? In theory, had the console been more reasonably price, you’d probably get a huge pop in sales. As it stands, you’re asking customers to spend above and beyond on a console just to play a 2D-Style platformer. No matter how fun the product is, and it will probably be fun in epic proportions, John Q. Public isn’t going to run out and drop large bills for the game.

Proof of that can be seen in the huge sales increase when Microsoft dropped their pricing structure. Gamers who were not current generation compatible ran out to pickup the console and the shelves went empty. No doubt Little Big Planet will move a few consoles, for those on the edge of PS3 readiness… but it won’t be long lived and it won’t be as epic as this title will.