This is the last podcast of 2023, as the gang just talks about the year that was and the upcoming 2024 in a long, unscripted episode.
Episode 707: Goodbye 2023
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Episode 251: The New Crew ReturnsEpisode 251: The New Crew Returns
After last week’s special appearance by Derrick and Jennifer Schommer along with Don Dunn, the regular crew of Jonah Falcon, Jordan Lund and Paul S. Nowak return, and they find themselves with some fascinating news items.
The news items include:
- Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard
- Sony passed on Demon’s Souls because it was “crap“
- Sony credit rating downgraded, “strong recovery in earnings unlikely”
- Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game
- Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime
Paul is also running a contest to earn “Pixie Diamonds” currency for Disney’s Pixie Hollow social networking MMO, with the prize going to the person who can answer, “Who is your favorite Disney Prince or Hero, and why?”
Wii Takes US Lead In Console WarWii Takes US Lead In Console War
Just in case people were actually thinking the Xbox 360 was going to hold out against a viral console, Nintendo is now the best selling console in the United States. Anyone really surprised?
This months sales figures for consoles broke down something like this:
- Nintendo DS: 783,000
- Wii: 666,700
- PlayStation 3: 405,500
- PSP: 337,400
- Xbox 360: 219,800
- PlayStation 2: 188,800
Barring the crazy hand held sales of the Nintendo DS, you can clearly see Nintendo holds top-spot yet again, but this month Sony’s PlayStation 3 followed right behind. Although there was a good 200,000 difference, Sony didn’t do so bad; imagine if Nintendo had an MGS4 killer app?
Metal Gear Solid 4 sold 871,300 copies, individually, and roughly 1-million if you include those bundled with the PlayStation 3. The question is clearly answered, MGS4 helped sell Sony’s consoles. The new question will be: Can Sony keep the 2nd place rank against Xbox 360?
Until Gears of War 2, there isn’t a killer game for the Xbox 360 and GoW2 probably won’t move any consoles, those that love the series bought their console when Gears of War arrived. The next big console mover may, in fact, be Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 as it’s no longer exclusive to Sony and the 360 is a more cost effective way to get into the game.
How does Nintendo continue to keep the pace? Perhaps because their games are still in top positions with Wii Fit in 4th place, Wii Play in 5th place and Wii Kart in 7th on the June 2008 software charts.
(Thanks, 1up)
Episode 370: Excuse Me, Paul!Episode 370: Excuse Me, Paul!
This week is shortened due to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but there’s still some fun to be had, especially when the Gaming History is about The Legend of Zelda cartoon series.
The news:
- Nintendo patents Game Boy emulation for use in mobile devices
- EA named one of the best places for LGBT equality
- Sony settles over misleading Vita ads
The Question of the Week: “When do you start your holiday shopping?”
