This week’s episode is kind of short because there’s really nothing big to discuss. There is news, however, which includes:
Let us know what you think.
This week is a little special as Jonah, Jordan and Paul discuss some of the things that were common in the golden age of 1990’s consoles that are no longer around.
In addition, the news includes:
The Question of the Week: “What gaming activities do you no longer do?”
Bethesda Softworks vice president of marketing Pete Hines is critzing publishers and developers who shoehorn multiplayer into their games that doing such a thing is “a waste of time” and advises, “Just drop it, don’t bother…it’ll make for a worse game.”
In an interview with Next Gen BIZ, Hines states that using online multiplayer as a tool to prevent used game trade-ins and rental simply doesn’t work, and robs developers of valuable man-hours.
Hines stated:
“(People ask us) for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn’t it have multiplayer? Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you’re doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?
“If you’re doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don’t bother, it’s a waste of time, a giant distraction and it’ll make for a worse overall game.
“We want the best game possible. If that’s a singleplayer game that’s 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don’t waste your time on features that don’t make the game better.”
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Prey 2 are two Bethesda properties that will lack multiplayer, but one of the tools to encourage games to keep both games will be downlodable content and, even more important, good communications with the game communities and nurturing the fandom for both games.
For those that haven’t posted on the forum or send us an e-mail about our Peggle Nights contest, it’s time to get in the action! The free Peggle Nights game giveaway will expire soon and we want as many contestants as possible.
We’ve got many great entries, we’ll be reading off some of the e-mails we received about our podcast contest this week along with some of the great forum posts. Those that love Peggle have a passion and desire for the title, so the next one is sure to be a hit.
For those that have already written in, sent e-mails or otherwise contacted us, we appreciate your efforts. Make sure you listen to the gaming podcast for all the details on the contest.
