Gaming Podcast’s Jonah Falcon and Shack News’ T.J. Denzer do a totally-not-ripping-off-Zero-Punctuation’s-Let’s-Drown-Out video of the former playing Gears Tactics as they discuss some of the news of the day.
VIDEO: GamingPodcast Plays Gears Tactics
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Episode 398: Only Two MoreEpisode 398: Only Two More
Two more episodes, and Paul is no longer a regular podcast host. On a side note, there will be no podcast next week due to scheduling conflicts.
This week’s news:
- The Pokémon Company shuts down PAX party with lawsuit
- 881 E.T. cartridges buried in New Mexico desert sell for over $100K
- The smaller new 3DS is coming to the US on September 25
- How GOG rescued 13 Forgotten Realms games from licensing hell
All this and Listener Feedback.
Episode 358: ChangesEpisode 358: Changes
The Gaming Podcast is back after three weeks of a forced hiatus as one former host has left the podcast for good. Otherwise, some of the news items are old, some are new, in this long episode.
There’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but plenty of news, including:
- Activision won’t launch an EA Access-style program anytime soon
- Disney Interactive revenue up 45% in Q3
- Sony agrees to $15M settlement in 2011 data breach class action
- Yogscast: We have ‘no obligation’ to cancelled adventure game Kickstarter
- Warner Bros. nabs Space Invaders film rights
- Report: PC and console market will decline
There’s also some Listener Feedback. The Question of the Week: “Do you think consoles will start doing early access on games?”
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.