Episode 603: Blizz Connection

This month seems to be full of conferences, as Nintendo Direct was streamed the previous week, BlizzCon 2021 aired this week, and Sony’s State of Play is due next week. The announcement of Diablo II Remastered was only the highlight of the BlizzCon show.

The news this week includes:

  • BlizzCon 2021 announcements
  • Xbox will reportedly hold an event related to Bethesda next month
  • Skullgirls 2nd Encore’s new fighter Annie out in March
  • Stardew Valley: The Board Game sells out in one day
  • Watch Dogs: Legion‘s online mode is coming in March
  • Minecraft Dungeons ‘Flames of the Nether’ arrives alongside a free endgame update

All this plus Listener Feedback. Let us know what you think at the Facebook page.

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Episode 353: E3 Swag BagEpisode 353: E3 Swag Bag

Jonah returns from attending E3 last week, as Jordan is a sick latecomer into the podcast. Jonah and Paul relate his near-disaster loss of his iPad Air, while Jordan does his best Don LaFontaine impressions in this episode which is 50% longer than normal.

The news discussed includes:

  • Hirshberg: Console transition pains not a bad problem to have
  • Destiny may possibly come to Windows PC
  • Nintendo’s top designer has “uneasiness” about virtual reality
  • How the Xbox One’s 10% GPU increase works without Kinect
  • PS4, Xbox One seeing much higher digital download attach rates

In addition to the news, there’s Listener feedback, and even better, a new contest to win an E3 Swag Bag – listen in to find out how to win (US listeners only, sorry.)

Starcraft 2 Part Eins, Zwei and DreiStarcraft 2 Part Eins, Zwei and Drei

Nobody is perfect. When it comes to creating an epic story arc, awesome pre-rendered movies and a fully fleshed campaign Blizzard has done well. Now, Blizzard speaks of Starcraft 2 and the world shuts their mouth and listens to each and every word. What’s the word?

A Trilogy.

We’re not talking about the Lord of The Rings style trilogy, but three games with full stories which all end with the gamer being satisfied at the closure, not cliffhangers.

The three standalone games will be (says GameStooge):

  • Terrans – Wings of Liberty
  • Zerg – Heart of the Swarm
  • Protoss – Legacy of the Void

Gamers are probably thinking, “so, I can play multiplayer with only one race?” No! The campaign is split into three separete games, not the races and multiplayer features. Although, each title is sure to introduce something new to the game engine, Blizzard has said:

“Nothing changes for multiplayer or skirmish mode. All three races are fully implemented from the get go. Each campaign will feel like an epic story – not a cliffhanger into the next one. They will each have separate arcs that have a clear start, middle, end – and you will feel like you’ve really finished *something* at the end of each game. More content than we’d previously planned – many more Movies, Missions, etc.” (games.on.net)

From our perspective, it seems Blizzard is itching to release the multiplayer system to the world sooner than later, considering some countries use Starcraft as a professional league, but they don’t want to rush out fast to market campaigns just to satisfy this multiplayer desire.

Instead, they’re going to take their time, in usual Blizzard style, by releasing the game as they finish it… per races story. This should give us a less watered down storyline or having one or two races with a piss poor storyline while another has a kick ass storyline because it was done first.

End result? Multiplayer gamers will be happy in the end while those that play Starcraft for the story will need to wait for each game to be completed. We know Blizzards release schedule is “when it’s ready” so we can only imagine how long it will take to reach that third game in the trilogy.

Episode 361: Dev StoriesEpisode 361: Dev Stories

This week is slow in terms of videogame industry news, but rich on developer stories told by Paul, so be prepared for a lot of advice for the kid who wants to make games instead of just play them.

The news includes:

  • Report: Microsoft to buy Mojang
  • Destiny day-one shipments top $500 million
  • Dan Adelman: “Good games are worth paying for”
  • Video game degrees in the US increase by 50% in five years
  • European Women in Games Hall of Fame adds new members

All this and Listener Feedback, with the Question of the Week: “Have you ever created your own content with a game’s editor?”