The first episode of 2014 is now out, as Jonah Falcon, Jordan Lund and Dan Quick recap the major news of 2014.
The news includes:
Also, some Listener Feedback, and the Questions of the Week, “What was the biggest event of 2013? What was your favorite game?”
As the podcast approaches the magic 250th episode, Paul, Jordan and Jonah check out some of the big news that hit this week in the land of videogames, and in the Gaming Flashback, looked back at an all-time worst game, Superman 64.
This week’s news includes:
All this and Reader Feedback, as well as the Question of the Week, “What do you look for in a sequel?”
Yo! Noid was a commercial opportunity for Domino’s Pizza developed by Capcom. This retro style game revolved around Domino’s Pizza claymation style mascot, the Noid, as he adventures through fourteen stages of side scrolling action.
The game sound was much like any other 8-bit action platformer. It reminded me of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, not the cool arcade one. Minus the turtles, Yo! Noid is a battle against Mr. Green, the Noids evil duplicate, a concept used in so many games; remember Shadow Link?
Unlike Link, Noid lost a life when he hit an enemy similar to the Super Mario Bros. style platformer but with a Yo Yo weapon. You could also gather smart-bomb type scrolls to clear the screen of all enemies, another classic side scroller arcade recipe. Yo! Noid brought nothing to the table in terms of uniqueness and relied on the standard recipe of side scrolling conflict.
This retro game may be one of the first true “total conversion mods.” Later we’d see Counter Strike born out of the Half-Life engine and way before that, Noah’s Ark 3D built out of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. Yo! Noid was a re-creation of the game Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru. Oddly enough, Yo! Noid was probably more well known than its forefather game because Capcom didn’t release Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru in the United States. Instead, we got Yo! Noid and a $1.00 off coupon on the back of the manual so we can get ourselives some Domino’s Pizza.
Although a few of us may recall Yo! Noid from our childhood, the title really didn’t create any huge waves in the game industry. Yo! Noid did show developers that a brand named product could be used as a marketing and brand awareness strategy, something we’d later see Burger King try on the Xbox 360 and find some success.
Can you tell the difference between Yo! Noid and Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru?
This week the gang covers the Xbox Partner Preview, while also discussing the closing of Rooster Teeth.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
Great Episode guys, sorry to hear you had laryngitis your a real trooper for going on with the show. Hope you got plenty of rest and hot tea after the show.
I bought quite a lot of games from both GoG and Steam Christmas sale and I really should get to playing them. Like Dan I have been mostly playing minecraft and Civ 5. However my wife got me the Zelda: A link between worlds special edition 3ds so I have been playing the hell out of that.
Have to admit the bosses are a bit easy and that’s probably due to the “haven’t we done this already?” I mean it’s the same exact place as A Link to the Past. The only only difference is a merging into the walls mechanic and the Roovio giving you all the major tools in the begining of the game (he rents them and sells them later, but still you get them all.) That does take away from the exploring and the thrill of finding these tools. Much like you wold in the past Zelda games and even Metroid as well. The feel of building your character up is always something I’ve loved.
My family has also been collectively playing the Animal Crossing New Leaf together. Since I bought it for my wife she’s the mayor. It is a fun game to play together building and affecting the town together. So I’m pretty happy with our choice to get 3DS systems.
I have to admit that I’m surprised EA would donate all proceeds to charity and give them credit for doing something good.
I never understand the definition that is being used to say PC Gaming is dead. To me dead is something NO ONE is using anymore, not just a niche or minority, of which I don’t even think is really the case. I am grateful to the success that has been happening thanks to Kickstarter Games. Clearly it shows that there is still a demand and PC gaming, and other Genre’s of games are not in fact dead. Stuff like zip drives are dead not PC gaming.
I think people need a better term like PC gaming being in a slump but not dead. I have voted with my wallet as Dan mentioned, I’ve backed games on their not just for the games themselves but for the principle message of that I am tired of these AAA FPS games. Clearly not buying them was not enough and going to Kickstarter I can get the games *I* want to play. Like Pillar’s of Eternity, Shadow Run returns, Shadowgate, Project Phoenix, Obduction, Space Venture, Hero-U, the new Ultima game, Tides of Numerra, and so on.
That’s what’s been dissapointing when I would look on PSN or Xbox Live and the majority of choices are just FPS, sports and a few “adventure” games. I waited YEARS for Sony to make GOOD RPG games. There hasn’t been a really good Final Fantasy game since FF9.
As for Microsoft’s token RPG, the Fable series is to me what Mystic quest is to the Final Fantasy series. I’m a hardcore RPG gamer and I feel like I’ve been scorned by all three of the Major console companies.
*gets off soapbox*
Speaking of stagnant Nintendo, they should have worked more on some of their underused IPs like more Icarus games.
@QOTW: I would have to say the SimCity fiasco was the biggest event. My favorite 2013 game would have to be GTA V. It was a great story and fun game play. 2014 though I know will be a different story as Pillar’s of Eternity should be coming out this year.