Author: Jonah Falcon

Star Wars Galaxies Shutdown BacklashStar Wars Galaxies Shutdown Backlash

June 30, 2011June 30, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 6:41 pm

Despite the announced shutdown of Star Wars: Galaxies and the approaching new Star Wars-based MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, loyal subscribers don’t want Galaxies to end. They’ve begun a petition to try to convince Sony to let the MMO live on as a free-to-play MMO.

The petition asks Sony to convert the game to a ‘freemium’, microtransaction-based MMO, and that Sony consolidate players onto a smaller number of servers and facilitate character transfer to reduce operational costs in order to keep the game running. The petition has already gotten thousands signatures in a few days.

One of the petition leaders posted:

We are not your typical gamers.

We are not a commodity.

But if you look at the recent decision by Lucasarts to shut down Star Wars Galaxies, you might be inclined to think we are both of those things. Lucasarts thinks that we are a non-perishable commodity that can be shoved into a shipping crate and moved down the road to their next project. That is not the case. Not even close.

We are a vibrant community. We have seen our ups and downs, but we are only stronger because of it. We have endured all manner of broken promises and misleading “improvements” to this game, and throughout all of it, we have continued to build our community, and show support and loyalty to this great game. But we didn’t do it because of a game. We did it because of our community here.

(more…)

Read MoreRead More

Episode 220: Professional Butt BitingEpisode 220: Professional Butt Biting

June 29, 2011June 29, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:08 pm

This week is a short podcast, since there’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there was some important news in the past few days that caught our eyes. We’re also giving away a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360.

The news items include:

How can you win a copy of Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360? Answer the Question of the Week, What kind of food and drink to you eat while gaming? US residents eligible only.

Read MoreRead More

Rumor: EA Buying Popcap?Rumor: EA Buying Popcap?

June 23, 2011June 23, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:08 am

Tech Cruch is reporting that Electronic Arts is about to acquire casual games giant Popcap Games for a cool $1 billion, which would exceed EA’s market cap by over 13%. If true, this would be EA’s definitive entry into the casual games market, a field they broke into 7 years ago.

Despite consuming a significant chunk of EA’s reserves. buying Popcap would bring them IPs such as Bejeweled, Plants Vs. Zombies, Peggle, Zuma and Bookworm.

We’ll keep an eye on this deal as it happens.

Read MoreRead More

Gaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision RulesGaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision Rules

June 21, 2011June 21, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:52 pm

Paul crows about Nintendo’s dominance over the ColecoVision and Dreamcast, while Jonah and Jordan reminisce about this week’s Gaming Flashback, Electronic Arts’ Barnstorming for the Atari 2600.

The news also includes the following topics:

  • Duke Nukem Forever review fiasco
  • Harrison: Apple will be the games industry in 10 years
  • Tretton: No need for PS4, PS3 now hitting its stride
  • Slimmer PS3 coming?

This week’s Gaming History looks at the husband-and-wife developing team Freefall Associates, while the Question of the Week is: How much weight do you give the score of a review? Let us know what you think.

Read MoreRead More

E3 2011 Preview SummariesE3 2011 Preview Summaries

June 19, 2011June 19, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 4:45 pm

You might notice that I’ve been pretty silent on E3 2011 previews, despite hustling around the entire time. That is because I’ve been writing almost all of them for Strategy Informer.

So, those of you who are regulars at Gaming Podcast – and judging by hits, there are tons of you – here are excerpts of the previews I’ve written for Strategy Informer for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles, plus a link to the full article.

UbiSoft’s Pre-E3 Briefing:

At the briefing, they showed off the following games: Rayman Origins, Driver: San Francisco, Far Cry 3, Brothers In Arms: The Furious Four, The Adventures of Tintin, Ghost Recon: Future Warrior, Trackmania 2, Raving Rabbids: Alive & Kicking, Just Dance 3, Rocksmith, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. (Read more…)

Dead Island (PC, PS3, 360):

Getting back to the mood of the game, missions are similarly realistic and grim. Nothing in the game seems artificially tacked on; the flow and the suspension of disbelief are extremely well done. During a mission, sometimes you’ll rescue another survivor and they will have a mission for you to do right there in the middle of your current quest. You can opt to help them, ignore them, or even screw them by driving them off in their vehicle. This is survival, and sometimes, jjust sometimes, you may give in to temptations to make choices that will make you normally wince. It’s a zombie dog eats zombie dog world and in the middle of an apocalypse, sometimes you have to fortify your own safety at the expense of another. (Read more…)

(more…)

Read MoreRead More

Gaming Podcast Episode 218: Introducing PaulGaming Podcast Episode 218: Introducing Paul

June 15, 2011June 15, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 1:19 pm

The listeners of Gaming Podcast finally get introduced to the third member of the Videogame Roundtable podcast team, Paul S. Nowak, who only desires hate mail and more time playing Dungeon Overlord on Facebook. This week, the Gaming Flashback looks back at the Gamecube title mentioned by Jordan Lund last week, Eternal Darkness, and the guys respond to the reader mail from episode 217, and if you’re interested in other types of games such as escape rooms you can visit the Room escape games in Portland Oregon just for this.

The trio also discuss the following news items:

  • Microsoft: Halo won’t be a yearly franchise
  • Analyst: Kinect appealed to “more hardcore” than expected
  • 2M users sign up for COD: Elite beta
  • Wizardry Online announced, will feature permadeath

This week’s Question of the Week: How much do you think the Wii U will cost? All this and more in this delightful podcast that will have you begging for more.

Read MoreRead More

2M Users Sign Up for COD: Elite Beta2M Users Sign Up for COD: Elite Beta

June 14, 2011June 14, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 1:12 am

Activision’s Dan Amrich posted in his One of Swords blog that two million users have signed up Call of Duty: Elite‘s beta, who said the number “blew his mind” when “they hit that number in less than two weeks. That should give the dev team at Beachhead plenty to work with to kick off the beta, which officially starts July 14.”

“The official start of the beta is a month away, so there’s still plenty of time for you to sign up. When the studio head at Beachhead said this would be a live beta, he was not kidding — your participation really can make a difference in how Elite evolves,” added Amrich, “And don’t be discouraged by the big number, thinking you shouldn’t bother because they already have enough people — two million volunteers among 30 million Call of Duty players is a small amount. More would be even better. Once you’ve signed up, just watch your email inbox for an invite.”

The 2M beta applications aren’t necessarily an endorsement for Elite. Rather, users are probably curious to see the beta and if it pleases them. The paid subscription portion reportedly only represents 10% of Elite, anyway, and is aimed at more “professional” and “hardcore” gamers, aka clans.

Users can apply for the beta here.

Read MoreRead More

VGRT Gaming Podcast 217: Pre-E3 ShowVGRT Gaming Podcast 217: Pre-E3 Show

June 5, 2011June 5, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 6:57 pm

The TD Gaming Podcast and Videogame Roundtable merge, as Jonah Falcon introduces VGRT regular Jordan Lund to his new listeners, as the VGRT Gaming Podcast is born.

The podcast is a little rushed, however, as E3 approaches, giving the duo only some time to discuss the eventful past week, which includes the following news:

For this podcast, this Question of the Week is, “What game do you want to learn about the most at E3” Of course, by the time the next podcast is launched, that question will probably be satisfied. As for Reader Feedback, we didn’t have time to answer it, but we will respond to it next week!

Read MoreRead More

Gaming Podcast Episode 216: Goodbye, Farewell, and AmenGaming Podcast Episode 216: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 11:58 pm

The TD Gaming Podcast heads to an uncertain future, as the TD Gaming Podcast will be closing its run with this cast. Derrick Schommer explains the reason that he and Jennifer will no longer be able to support the podcast, and thank the fans for their devoted support.

So, for old time’s sake, Derrick and Jonah Falcon cover the past week’s news:

  • Firelands is now live on World of Warcraft‘s Public Test Realm
  • New R18+ guidelines drawn up
  • Kojima: This year has become meaningless
  • Chinese labour camp prisoners forced to play MMOs

We also cover the reader feedback over the past couple of weeks, and the Question of the Week is: what would you like to see happen to the podcast?

If this is the truly the last Gaming Podcast, thanks for your support and praise.

Read MoreRead More

Sony to Testify In Person Re: PSN OutageSony to Testify In Person Re: PSN Outage

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011| Jonah FalconJonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 5:15 pm

Sony will finally be sending a high-level executive to testify before the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade on the three week outage of PlayStation Network and Sony’s slowness in informing its customers on the compromising of personal and credit card data.

Ken Johnson, an aide to subcommittee chairwoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), told The Atlantic Magazine that Tim Schaff, president of Sony Network Entertainment, would testify before the subcommittee next week:

“While Chairman Bono Mack remains critical of Sony’s initial handling of the data breaches, she also is appreciative that the company has now agreed to testify. The Chairman firmly believes that the lessons learned from…the Sony…experiences can be instructive and guide us as we develop comprehensive data protection legislation. We expect to introduce that legislation, which will provide new safeguards for American consumers, in the next few weeks.”

Previously, Sony’s Kaz Hirai had only sent his testimony in a letter to the Committee.

Read MoreRead More