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 Viscera Cleanup Detail as they discuss how depressing the announcement of the Electronic Arts/NFL exclusive license extension is, promising more awful Madden titles.
VIDEO: GamingPodcast Plays Viscera Cleanup Detail
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Viva Piñata: Trouble in ParadiseViva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Once upon a time Rare though they had a winner; a game which would end all the confusion between a hardcore console and a kiddie console. Viva Piñata was supposed to change the way we think about Xbox 360 gaming by showing off a title that would make children feel more inclined to game on a “big boys console.”
Unfortunately, execution of Rare’s new franchise title came with a few rough patches, namely Gears of War. Earlier on they had press releases and conferences about how this game was going to interact with users, inspire them to watch Viva Piñata the cartoon to get new recipes for the game which would allow you to create new breeds of Piñata. There were a few flaws in the plan. They didn’t hype the game enough prior to the release and then they decided to launch the game during the over-hyped Gears of War title.
Oddly enough my children (two and four years of age) would rather watch Sponge Bob and Dora reruns than a single episode of Viva Piñata. I thought the show was cute and the bright colors and crazy creatures would draw children like moths to a flame, but they just didn’t care.
My children were too young to play the first Viva Piñata and it didn’t provide enough interest for them to watch me play it and invest the hours. I found the game to be creative and fun… for awhile. Once my happy little Piñatas started eating each other and fighting constantly I realized the joy was gone. If I want to listen to screaming and fighting I’ve got my own children, babysitting Piñatas in a fake garden just wasn’t doing it for me.
Now, Viva Piñata: Trouble in paradise has been given a date of September by Eurogamer. Rare is stating we’ll have 30 new Piñata’s to play with along with new environments, co-op play and other cute options. Admittingly, Drop-in/Drop-out co-op play does sound kind of neat but my emotional scares from the first title have not healed yet.
I was told there would be a great deal of downloadable content (DLC) for Viva Piñata. but found nothing available after I purchased the game and, if content exists now, I’ve long since lost interest in the game. The idea was solid, the demographic was available but the execution went flat. You cannot expect older gamers with children to believe Microsoft or Rare are planning to give us real kids games when you release a single title and show us no other kids games for two years.
At this point, if you’re looking for a console with more kid-friendly gaming you’re going to buy a Wii every single time. Titles on the Wii work for both young adults, teenagers, kids and older grandparents while the 360 goes strong with the 18-34 year-old male demographic.
If you want to be serious about bringing kids on board, Viva Piñata is going to need some friends not just a single sequel. Otherwise, you’re going to find out quick that the 18-34 demographic will simply nod politely and move on to their next great fix… Gears of War 2 perhaps (November, 2008).
If the upcoming Viva Piñata franchise executes like its prior title there will definitely be some trouble in paradise.
Episode 573: A Very Special Returning GuestEpisode 573: A Very Special Returning Guest
This week, Paul fills in for Scott, who has more pressing issues than discussing videogames, though some very serious topics about them do pop up, such as how misogyny became pronounced in the hobby. The Gaming Flashback is one of the legendarily panned titles, Bomberman Act:Zero.
The news for this week includes:
- Video game spending reaches record high during pandemic
- Epic Games Store keyless integration with other digital stores announced
- Minecraft sales now exceed 200 million (from PC Gamer)
- Star Citizen will hold a free fly event starting this week
There’s also some Listener Feedback from longtime fan Ralf from Germany.
Episode 322: Xbox One, PS4 Launch LineupsEpisode 322: Xbox One, PS4 Launch Lineups
This week’s episode as a guest in the form of Jordan Lund’s wife Jennifer. There was to be a Gaming History, but it’ll be used next week when there’s more time.
This week’s news includes:
- Microsoft Points transformed into cash
- Gamers can return digital titles on Origin after a week
- Bungie feels Destiny can be bigger than Halo, as big as Star Wars
- Borderlands 2 coming to PlayStation Vita
- Sony announces 33 “launch” titles for PlayStation 4
- Microsoft announces launch titles for Xbox One
- The Sims 4 emotional gameplay revealed at GamesCom 2013
All this and Listener Feedback, with the same “console or PC gamer?” question from last week.