Episode 644: Nintendo At It Again

Jonah considers Elden Ring too grind-y, and talks about the name of an infamous handheld console.

News items include:

  • PlayStation 5 owners report online issues following system update
  • Mass Effect Trilogy co-creator returning to science fiction
  • Bungie says last week’s Destiny 2 video takedowns were ‘fraudulent
  • Nintendo takes down scans of 1996 Super Mario 64 Strategy Guide

Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Episode 644: Nintendo At It Again”

  1. Hi guys.

    As usual: thanks a lot for your effort and work to bring us this and every other episode 🙂

    I am not able to say so much to this episode because I don’t know all the games you talked about ?
    I played a lot of Magic Arena as usual, some WoW and since it is released some days ago: Itorah, a hand drawn Meteoidvania Indie Game.
    But some things I can say sth about:
    Dorfromantik: I own this game and it is really relaxing and I can play it over and over again. You can’t loose in some way so it’s not frustrating 🙂 I really recommend it 🙂
    PS5: I am happy i gut a PS5 some months ago, but sadly I did not play so much with it. I only played some hours God of War with the 4K HDR Upgrade.
    Gizmondo: I owned this console and yes it had a SIM card in it 🙂 I never played with it, it was only a nice upgrade for my retro gaming collection. I sold
    It for way to much money in my opinion, but because of the fact that it is rare and I owned the packaging box, manual and all that stuff it was a nice catch when I bought it 🙂
    Super Mario Guide: why is this a topic? Such an old game and now it is a topic? ? but I think some collectors or hardcore fans are really interested in this thing. The game is still played a lot by speedrunners, afaik?
    Switch Topic: I really love my switch. It doesn’t need any upgrade, because the games for this console should not be such graphical monster games in 4K HDR… I like it for the simplicity. You can play the games even if you don’t have that much time, they are easy to understand, easy to solve or finish and you can can get back to them after weeks and are in to it after some minutes. No need for an epic storyline which is hard to follow. But for sure that’s my opinion and I understand every person who wants complex storys, hardcore mode and complicated as hell 🙂

    Sorry for late commenting, but I wanted to drop the lines to make you know, that I am still a listener and follower even if I don’t comment every episode 🙂

    Guys, that’s all from my side. Please keep on the good work, stay healthy and enjoy whatever you do 🙂

    Greetings from Germany,
    Ralf

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Episode 482: NaptimeEpisode 482: Naptime

This particular episode becomes a little sleepy as one host actually falls asleep during recording. Guess which one. After last week’s episode only partially uploaded, the Gaming Flashback for Okami is actually an insert, too.

The news items include:

  • It’s a big week for new game releases on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC
  • Lego Dimensions comes to an early end after two years
  • Why Xbox One backward compatibility took so long
  • Ex-BioWare says Anthem is an example of EA’s monetization plans

Let us know what you think — without falling asleep first.

Episode 672: Ukrainian DevsEpisode 672: Ukrainian Devs

The first episode of 2023 discusses some of the events going on in the Ukraine, as well as the continued modding of Skyrim and new Game Pass games.

  • ZeniMax employees vote to form the biggest videogame union in the US
  • Cult of the Lamb’s first big update will bring new attacks for every weapon
  • Payday 3 lands the first new game announcement of 2023
  • System Shock remake’s March release locked in

Let us know what you think.

Bejeweled Twist Launched, Casualites RejoiceBejeweled Twist Launched, Casualites Rejoice

After four years of development, Popcap lit up Seattle Monday night with the launch of Bejeweled Twist sparing no expense to show off their new casual game. It took four years to complete but Popcap isn’t going to release a game until it’s perfect. You won’t play it until they believe it is a game their mom would love.

“Popcap builds games for people, not demographics,” says CEO David Roberts. At the launch the founders, John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka talked about the casual game market while the “Gem Girls” walked around looking sexy and flashy. Roberts talked about the casual game industry and forecasts it growing to become an $8 billion market — not too shabby for USD $19.99 games.

Downloads of Bejeweled, of course, show no signs of stopping and Popcap explained that 40% of their revenue comes from the old concepts of “Diamond Mine.” Phil Spencer, Microsoft Game Studios’ General Manager, hopped on stage and explained how Microsoft saw Popcap’s vision in their Diamond Mine flash game and suggested a rename to Bejeweled, the founders hated the name but took the big companies suggestion on the change.

Since then, we’ve had many folks attempt to clone and replicate the success in Popcap’s flagship product. Complete with open bar, Gem Girls, camera flashes and glitter this game launch shows the growing casual games industry the great power and momentum of “simple” casual games.

Nothing about Bejeweled Twist is simple. The game play of Bejeweled Twist aggregates all the knowledge Popcap has acquired over the last seven years to design one blockbuster title. From classic Bejeweled to Chuzzle to Peggle, the game takes pieces of each successful title and combines the game play, sounds, graphics and modes into a product that will bring casual gaming to a new level. Bejeweled Twist is going to be the new bar to reach in the industry in terms of addictive game play and a unified casual vision.

Stay tuned for the full review as we get deep into the full features of Bejeweled Twist. Special thanks to Dale North from Destructoid for hanging out for some drinks during the after party.