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Episode 224: October Xmas DecorationsEpisode 224: October Xmas Decorations

July 25, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:55 pm

This week, we are running an outtakes episode, part of it long conversations that were cut from previous episodes, while others are just bloopers.

In fact, the first thirty-five minutes or so of the outtakes is Jonah and Jordan discussing news items waiting for Paul to login that didn’t make the cut for the podcast. Other interesting bits is Jonah and Paul talking about pen and paper RPGs and how badly the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons stinks, and Paul and Jordan berating stores that put up their Christmas decorations a few months early.

Next week, we’ll have a regular podcast, but this week, enjoy the outtakes.

Bethesda’s Hines: Don’t Shoehorn MultiplayerBethesda’s Hines: Don’t Shoehorn Multiplayer

July 23, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 12:00 pm

Bethesda Softworks vice president of marketing Pete Hines is critzing publishers and developers who shoehorn multiplayer into their games that doing such a thing is “a waste of time” and advises, “Just drop it, don’t bother…it’ll make for a worse game.”

In an interview with Next Gen BIZ, Hines states that using online multiplayer as a tool to prevent used game trade-ins and rental simply doesn’t work, and robs developers of valuable man-hours.

Hines stated:

“(People ask us) for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn’t it have multiplayer? Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you’re doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?

“If you’re doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don’t bother, it’s a waste of time, a giant distraction and it’ll make for a worse overall game.

“We want the best game possible. If that’s a singleplayer game that’s 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don’t waste your time on features that don’t make the game better.”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Prey 2 are two Bethesda properties that will lack multiplayer, but one of the tools to encourage games to keep both games will be downlodable content and, even more important, good communications with the game communities and nurturing the fandom for both games.

Episode 223: Snake FlingingEpisode 223: Snake Flinging

July 20, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:32 pm

This week is a strange one, as snakes are flung at horses to turn them into unicorns, and Paul keeps finding videogame soulmates from the reader feedback. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the Amiga classic Shadow of the Beast, while the Gaming History takes a look back at the Apple Pippin.

This week’s news items include:

Survey: Female gamers enjoy gaming more than sex
June 2011 NPD sales figures released
Publishers spend XBLA budgets, expect retail content
Gamestop thinks next gen consoles will hit in 2014
Zynga offered $1B for Popcap
Ubisoft confirms multiplayer pass system to combat used game sales

Finally, the Question of the Week is “What games do you play in bed?” Yes, it’s been a weird week.

Episode 222: Gorilla LoveEpisode 222: Gorilla Love

July 13, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:44 pm

This week is a big episode, as it is chock full of surprising news this week, as well as some long, long reader mail. If that weren’t enough, we take a look back at the IntelliVision game Maze-a-Tron, deal with too much love for Paul, and the mystery that is the popularity of gorillas.

This week’s news includes:

Electronic Arts buys Popcap Games
Microsoft: Only Master Chief in Halo from now on
PlayStation Vita dev costs closer to PSP
Netflix takes aim at usage based billing
Expert glitcher hired to clean up Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer
Skyrim ‘less confusing’, not ‘more accessible‘

There’s no Gaming History this week, but the Question of the Week is: “What old game do you most want to see remade?” There’s no contest behind it, but you can always take heart in the fact that your question was probably the most awesome.

Episode 221: FireworksEpisode 221: Fireworks

July 6, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:08 pm

It’s the Smurfiest post-Fourth of July podcast ever, as Jonah Falcon and Jordan Lund look back at the ColecoVision classic Smurfs: Rescue from Gargamel’s Castle, probably the easiest videogame ever Smurfed.

If that weren’t Smurfy enough, Jonah and Jordan, working without Paul S. Nowak this week, also check out this week’s Smurfy news:

Xbox 720 with Halo 4 launch in 2012?
PS4 also in 2012, with embedded Kinect-like motion control?
Crytek says Kinect development is “really, really easy.”
Sony working on new PSN redesign?
Questions over alleged early close of Sony’s Welcome Back offer.

This week has a ton of Smurfy reader feedback, as well as reaction to Sony’s crackdown of Star Wars Galaxies shutdown petitioners. If that weren’t Smurfy enough, the Question of the Week is pretty Smurfy as well, as readers are asked, “What game that you can’t find anywhere anymore do you wish you could play again?”

As usual, hit us up on iTunes and leave some comments!

Star Wars Galaxies Shutdown BacklashStar Wars Galaxies Shutdown Backlash

June 30, 2011| Jonah 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.

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Episode 220: Professional Butt BitingEpisode 220: Professional Butt Biting

June 29, 2011| Jonah 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:

California videogame law ruled unconstitutional
LulzSec ends its hacking spree
Molyneux: We didn’t have enough time for Fable 3
Star Wars Galaxies shutting down in December
Duke Nukem will continue
Microsoft says Xbox 360 halfway through lifecycle, Kinect added adrenaline

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.

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

June 23, 2011| Jonah 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.

Gaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision RulesGaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision Rules

June 21, 2011| Jonah 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.

E3 2011 Preview SummariesE3 2011 Preview Summaries

June 19, 2011| Jonah 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…)

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