Episode 566: NBA 2K20 Is Awful

Jonah goes off on a virulent rant about NBA 2K20 and the decline of the series as a whole, while offering milder criticism of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. There’s no Gaming Flashbacks, but plenty of news.

The news items include:

  • Another leak points to new Tony Hawk game arriving later this year
  • Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC this summer
  • 2K returns to making NFL video games, but not a Madden competitor

Let us know what you think.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Last Day for 3DS AmbassadorsLast Day for 3DS Ambassadors

Today is the last day for Nintendo 3DS users to sign up as a 3DS Ambassador to qualify for 20 free games.

From Nintendo:

Today (Aug. 11) is the last day for current Nintendo 3DS owners to register for the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. Just connect your Nintendo 3DS to the Nintendo eShop by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time to receive 20 free downloadable games.

The offer is due to the recent price slash of the 3DS.

Bethesda’s Hines: Don’t Shoehorn MultiplayerBethesda’s Hines: Don’t Shoehorn Multiplayer

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.

Episode 647: AdvertisingEpisode 647: Advertising

[This episode has been re-uploaded due to technical issues]

This week’s is pretty short, featuring a Sonic the Hedgehog and Halo discussion before delving into what’s okay and what’s not okay with in-game advertisements. The Gaming Flashback for this episode is the tripping Journey.

The news includes:

  • PlayStation wants ads in its games, too
  • Bugsnax leads late April Xbox Game Pass line-up
  • Amy Hennig is taking another shot at making a Star Wars game

Let us know what you think.