Episode 514: Red Dead Anticipation

This week the guys have gotten back to talking about games from the past, as this week the Gaming Flashback is 2008’s Braid, Jonathan Blow’s influential indie game, which was followed by The Witness, which was… less influential. The guys also keep drooling over Red Dead Redemption 2.

The news items include:

  • Forza Horizon devs recruit staff for unannounced RPG
  • Hollow Knight comes to PS4 and Xbox One on September 25
  • Rumor: Halo 5: Guardians coming to PC
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 leaks tease Battle Royale mode

Let us know what you think.

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Episode 695: Attack of the VCEpisode 695: Attack of the VC

Life By You looks promising, Armored Core 6 is kicking all sorts of butt, and NBA 2K24 gets more and more predatory and dismaying.

The news this week includes:

  • NBA 2K24 players say new badge regression system feels like a “second job”
  • Nintendo reportedly gave private Switch 2 demos to developers
  • Atari acquires massive Atari archive after revealing a new 2600 that takes cartridges
  • Starfield mod tools are coming in 2024

Let us know what you think.

Konami Owns Musical Rhythm-Matching Game Patents?Konami Owns Musical Rhythm-Matching Game Patents?

Apparently Konami just realized Harmonix, MTV Networks and Viacom have made some game called Rock Band and want to take legal action. Konami has created some Japanese games involving karaoke called Karaoke Revolution. Why take legal action now?

Probably because Konami is working towards Rock Revolution, a title which puts together drums, vocals and guitar. How odd, don’t we have a game called Rock Band which has done that for awhile now? It’s much easier to be competitive in the market if you can squeeze your opponent out of the market by telling them you hold a patent on the entire concept…which you let slide for a year.

It seems a bit convenient to force a lawsuit, now, after Rock Band is proven successful and before you launch your own “clone.”

Its suit claims that Rock Band violates a series of US Patents registered in 2002 and 2003 relating to “simulated musical instruments” and “musical rhythm-matching game.” (gamespot)

Although the developers of Rock Band should have gone through some patents on the topic prior to make it (or maybe they did?), it seems a bit out of place to patent such a generic concept. As far as I know, Musical Chairs is also a musical rhythm-matching game but nobody put up any stink when Konami filed a patent for the same concept…

PlayStation 3’s Wireless Keyboard AttachmentPlayStation 3’s Wireless Keyboard Attachment

This is a prototype of the keypadSony’s done it, they’ve announced a wireless keyboard adapter to plug onto the stock PlayStation 3 controller. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of this, Microsoft pushed out a keyboard for their Xbox 360 controller last year to provide faster chat abilities and, overall, smooth the interface when needing to type.

Now, Sony’s following up with a few more advancements, “the wireless keyboard also features a touchpad mode to allow for mouse input. David Reeves, president of SCEE, said that this touchpad control mode may be used in future game development.” (kotaku)

Is there any chance our next-generation consoles will be more “PC like” out of the box? With these complex user interfaces featuring web browsers, online marketplaces and areas to enter your credit card information (and addresses) you’re really heading towards needing this type of interface. Now, they’re all starting to include chat and messenger services making it more important… if it catches on.

Perhaps the next console hitting the market will come with a keyboard as an in-the-box solution. Please note, the above image is Sony’s prototype image.