Episode 570: Fallout: New Vegas Redux

April 24, 2020| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 11:50 pm

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This week’s Gaming Flashback, Fallout: New Vegas, sets the crew on a long discussion of what made New Vegas good and Fallout 4 a failed sequel, and the inherent problems of the mainline Bethesda games as opposed to Obsidian’s take.

This week’s news includes:

Nintendo “investigating” reports of accounts being breached
Nintendo gearing up for increased Switch production following global shortages
COVID-19 lockdowns have led to surges in popularity for survival and sports games
Animal Crossing trading is being ruined by absurd trader fees

Let us know if you, too, are obsessing over the latest Animal Crossing.

0 thoughts on “Episode 570: Fallout: New Vegas Redux”

Ralf says:

May 14, 2020 at 10:29 am

Hi guys.
Sorry for not writing a comment for such a long time 🙁 I am listening nearly to every episode, but really forget to write you a line .. sorry for that!
Regarding the topics in this episode:
Best Gamepad for me is the PS4 Gamepad. I have small Hands, so thats fine for me to handle it. The Switch Pro COntroller is nice as well, but after playing some hours, i feel some pain in my hands which i dont have playing with the ps4 Controller. The xbox Controller is a little bit too clunky to play with it for hours imho. The bigger size is not the problem, i think for me its the orientation of the buttons, especially the ones on the backside.
I am playing much WOW right now … i am not able to play Magic with real cards so WOW is a welcome time killer 🙂 In addition i am playing the new Ori Game, the new Doom and i want to start the FF7 Remake.
Regaridng Fall Out New Vegas: cant tell anything about it .. never played it .. should I ?
People are really playing more survival games during this Covid Period? Oh my god 😀 they should watch Walking dead instead .. haha 🙂
Regarding the grinding discussion: i play WOW and i played it 15 years ago so i know grinding very good 🙂 But at least if you are in Discord with some friends, talking and maybe watching som tv shows on a second screen, its not that hard and boring. But sure its sad, that you you have to grind at some points to get some good rewards 🙁
Thanks again for the nice and entertaining episode. Keep on guys and stay healthy 🙂
greetings from germany,
Ralf

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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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Episode 572: RemasterationEpisode 572: Remasteration

This week’s episode is full of news that aren’t described below, as the games the guys have played get a lot of analysis.

The news, incidentally, includes:

Rumor: Diablo 2 remaster coming this year
Mafia Twitter account awakens after 2 years to say “Family”
Destiny 2 is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X

Let us know what you think.

MGS4 Pushes PS3 Up 300%MGS4 Pushes PS3 Up 300%

Metal Gear Solid 4 was a solid release for the PlayStation 3, the exclusive title that gives Sony an edge over the competition. This was Sony’s Halo 3 title and it needed to be a big success in order to keep gamers confident in the Sony brand.

Sony is reporting a 300% increase in PlayStation 3 sales over last month, mainly due to the desire for people to own Metal Gear Solid 4. Remember, this isn’t an increase in game sales, this is an increase in console unit sales, providing evidence that MGS4 sold consoles.

While Grand Theft Auto 4 seemed to sell a few consoles but, overall, didn’t impact console statistics during its release, this exclusive PS3 title has done just the opposite. Perhaps because of its exclusivity? Xbox 360 consoles have been in the hands of the consumer for a few years now, most of those consumers actually purchased GTA IV (as expected and reflected in sales) but not a lot went out to purchase the console. They already had it or didn’t care to own it for a game like GTA IV.

While many people purchased Metal Gear Solid 4 because it’s “Metal Gear,” you can see from the trailers that the game looked impressive, felt complete and contained a lot of great action. You’ll get a great sales pop the first few days on a title with a huge fan base but to sustain the growth and sell consoles you’ve got to provide a well known title that doesn’t suck.

MGS4 doesn’t suck by any reviewers score; it’s not perfect, but what game is? MGS4 delivered what it was said to deliver with very few bad experiences and that’s all you can ask for a console moving title.

So, what next? Sony has promised us that MGS4 is just the first of many titles to blow our minds. Resistance 2, Little Big Planet and what of that MAG game they showed off at E3? 256 players? We won’t hold our breath for that title, but Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet, combined, may move a few more units.

It may not be about the games today that move the next round of PlayStation 3 consoles, it’s about the promise of the games tomorrow with titles like MGS4 to hold us over until then.