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?”
Twitter continues to be a tire fire, as does cryptocurrency. One wonders when either one will shuffle off the stage and fade into obscurity. Both seem to have become synonymous with chaos and instability, and it feels like there’s a new scandal or controversy every week. Twitter, under Elon Musk’s leadership, has faced constant changes in policy, mass layoffs, and a significant dip in user trust, making it increasingly difficult to see a clear path forward for the platform. Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, seems to have become more about speculation and volatility than about real-world utility or widespread adoption. While the promise of decentralized finance and digital currencies seemed promising, the market’s swings, coupled with major scandals like the collapse of FTX, have left many questioning whether crypto will ever truly deliver on its early hype. Secure Cryptocurrency Trading platforms provides secure environments for users to trade and manage their digital assets. It feels like both industries are desperately clinging to relevance, hoping to regain their former glory, but with each new misstep, they drift further from the ideals they once espoused. Anyway, lots of news this week, along with a Gaming Flashback of Dishonored.
News includes:
Let us know what you think.
When you hear the word Wolfenstein what game do you think of? Constantly, I recall Wolfenstein 3D and all the memorable times I had building my first person shooter fingers. From a new-generation FPS perspective, Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the PC back in 2001 was my last touch on a Wolfenstein game series. I enjoyed it a great deal and would love to see more out of the game series.
It seems Activision and Raven Software are working on a PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, currently titled Wolfenstein set to be released “when it is done.” The game follows the same concepts as most of the Wolfenstein titles of the past, a bit of dark science fiction and undead matched with World War II settings with Nazi’s and the main character BJ Blazkowicz.
This series seems to be full of re-hash and repeat with plots, characters and overall feel. Developers seem to favor re-makes over sequels to the famous franchise, eventually putting out one or two sequels of their re-make hits well with customers.
Is this the correct direction for the Wolfenstein franchise? In my humble opinion, it doesn’t really matter to me because I’m such a fan of the series. Perhaps they will continue to re-make the game until the larger demographic screams “Not again!”
(Thanks, Eurogamer)
The previous two podcasts got corrupted on upload, and now I have to reedit them completely. Be patient.
This week’s there’s a bunch of minor news items, covering things like Sony’s lawsuit, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 and the Ukraine invasion, Minecraft frogs, various remasters, and the gang talk briefly about the newly released Tunic.
The main news items include:
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.