Episode 650: Walking Simulators

This week’s episode looks at the progenitor of all walking simulator games, Dear Esther, in this week’s Gaming Flashback. They also discuss the upcoming Game Pass games for May as well as voice masking on the Playstation 3 and Xbox. In addition, Scott discusses Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, the spinoff of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes that was crowdfunded on Kickstarter.

The news includes:

  • EA Sports officially ends FIFA partnership after 30 years of games
  • Starfield and Redfall have been delayed
  • Sony reportedly “will not approve any statements” from PlayStation studios on reproductive rights
  • Alan Wake developer Remedy provides update on five projects in pipeline

Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Episode 650: Walking Simulators”

  1. Hi guys.
    As always: thank you very much for the episode 🙂

    I am playing not that much at the moment, but some rounds of Magic the Gathering Arena and some rounds of WoW are always there 🙂 I also started playing Itorah, which is a very nice Metroidvania game.

    Regarding your topics:
    Walking Simulators: I really like those games. For me games like “Life is strange” , “Journey”, “Heavy Rain” or “Detroid become human” were awesome and i played all of them. Most of them have a fantastic atmosphere, good story, awesome music and i did not get bored or it feels repetitive.

    Fifa:
    I cant describe how less i care about that 😀
    I never played any Fifa since i had one about 20 years ago for the PS1. The best soccer game of all time still is “World Cup” for NES oder GameBoy 🙂

    Starfield:
    It seems that i am the only person who is not hyped for that game … nearly all my friends are waiting for it since it was announced.

    All the other topics:
    Cant say anything useful or interesting about them… sorry 🙂

    Keep healthy and keep on with the good work guys.

    Greetings from germany,
    Ralf

  2. I’m hoping to see Starfield footage at the Microsoft/Bethesda show in June, even if the game is delayed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Related Post

Guitar Hero: On Tour – 300K Units SoldGuitar Hero: On Tour – 300K Units Sold

The little DS title Guitar Hero: On Tour arrived with a hand-held attachment for playing guitar on the go. Some reviewers found it cramped, annoying and too damn small to really feel any comfort. Other reviews found it exciting, fresh and a break from standard DS games.

Reviews aside, 300,000 people are willing to bet money that the DS title was going to rock the house. The concept hit the mark for the DS because the game system is for on the go “touch and feel” style games; Guitar Hero: On Tour is definitely a touch and feel game.

Although we’ve not played it, we’re not too surprised that 300k people purchased the title, considering the install base for the Nintendo DS device itself. With such a large install base, even if only 25% of the target audience buys into the product they’ll be rolling in the dough.

Will this inspire a Rock Band style ‘drum game’ for the future from the Activision competitors or was this nothing but a fluke?

(Thanks, GameSpot)

Gaming Podcast 113: How Do You Say Gyro?Gaming Podcast 113: How Do You Say Gyro?

This week we’re overwhelmed with awesome listener comments, including new ones from folks we’ve never heard from on the show. We’re also taking a flashback look at the original Diablo and some of the sequels that followed it. This weeks gaming news includes:

We’re also reviewing the downloadable content for GTA IV known as “Lost and the Damned.” Learn why Derrick is afraid of Motorcycles.

Final Fantasy XIII Not Simultanious EverywhereFinal Fantasy XIII Not Simultanious Everywhere

It seems the promise of Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360 is a big “work in progress” as it’s not actually under development yet. Square Enix is fully ready to commit on a simultaneous release for Europe and North America but not every territory around the globe.

The reason is simple: there are just too many countries to perform language translations in the time of a release window. Final Fantasy, as many know, is very text heavy in terms of dialog and storyline. We’ve spoke at length about that in the gaming podcast which helps explain why certain countries get some releases of Final Fantasy at different times and why some sequels never make it out of Japan.

“We’re ready to start developing FFXIII for 360,” said Square Enix’s Shinji Hashimoto. “First, we will complete the game for PS3 in Japan, then begin localization for America and Europe while developing the 360 version simultaneously. The PS3 and 360 versions will be released at the same time outside of Japan — although, due to language and other conditions, the game may not be released simultaneously across territories.” (1up)

Their plan of attack seems solid and gives the PlayStation 3 a bit of an advantage in the Japanese market, but considering the lack of 360 presence in the land of the rising sun, this isn’t too surprising. What is surprising, still, is the concept of Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360 at all!

When it comes to E3 announcements, letting the crowd know Final Fantasy XIII was arriving on Microsoft’s console was a positive shock to the system. It may not be simply because yet another Final Fantasy game is in the works but to prepare gamers for the idea that they don’t have to run out and invest in a PlayStation 3 just to play the next big RPG.

The value to the Xbox 360 is growing and the need to collect all the consoles is fading. End of an era?