Casual Games -

Episode 341: Friggin’ KerfuffleEpisode 341: Friggin’ Kerfuffle

February 12, 2014| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:28 pm

Paul, Jordan and Jonah continue to rock on, as they discuss the bizarre circumstance of the iOS app Flappy Bird, while Paul deals with Pinsanity issues (behind the scenes). They also discuss the classic The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay in the Gaming Flashback.

This week’s news includes:

Watch Dogs release coming in April, May, or June
Slim Vita is coming To North America with Borderlands 2 in tow
Nutjitsu and Worms among first Xbox One ID@Xbox games
Pachter: Sony can’t afford to pay for streamed content like Netflix does
Gamestop advertising a layaway program for the Xbox One

There’s Listener Feedback with a new Question of the Week: “Did you introduce a non-gamer to gaming?”

Episode 316: Talkin’ About Candleja–Episode 316: Talkin’ About Candleja–

July 10, 2013| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 9:09 pm

Jonah is getting ready for Vegas this weekend, so you know that whatever he does there will probably stay there. On the other hand, Jordan’s just beginning to check out State of Decay, while the winner of the T-shirt contest is announced. Also, for the first time in a long while, there’s a Gaming History – this one on the PlayStation 2.

This week’s news:

UbiSoft: Xbox One version of Watch Dogs more dynamic than PS4 and current-gen versions
Microsoft prez Don Mattrick leaves to be Zynga CEO
Sony: DualShock 4 controller’s light bar cannot be turned off
Indian PC gamers upset at Origin price increases

This week’s Question of the Week, “What’s your favorite indie game released in the last year?”

Episode 276: Covered in ConcreteEpisode 276: Covered in Concrete

August 22, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:00 pm

Paul is not in the podcast, and will be out for the next couple of weeks as he recovers from major surgery. In the meantime, the podcast chugs on with three podcasters, as Jordan relays what he thought of the Sony Gamescom 2012 press conference.

In the meantime, the news items include:

Diablo III‘s Wilson on former Diablo dev’s mixed feelings on game: “F— that loser”
Guild Wars 2 headstart begins in five days
C&C: Generals 2 will be multiplayer-only at launch
Prey 2 vanishing from Bethesda’s website explained
Plants vs Zombies 2 shuffling towards 2013 release

All that plus Reader Feedback wishing Paul well (sorry, Kizer, we didn’t moderate your message til after recording), as well as this week’s Question of the Week, “When is the right time to cut the price of a console?”

Episode 261: Where in the World is Gaming Podcast?Episode 261: Where in the World is Gaming Podcast?

April 25, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:11 pm

This week is another bountiful podcast as the crew has a surprisingly long discussion about this week’s Gaming Flashback, Make Trax. The guys also discuss 1990’s kids shows like Reading Rainbow and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? The contest winner for a copy of Magicka is also revealed, as some magical books are discussed.

In the news:

Rumor: Wii U will cost Nintendo $180 and retail for $300
Online petition calls for end to Tera ‘censorship’ in EU
Videogame-only Kickstarter alternative debuting at E3 2012
NPD: 40% of freemium players pay for in-game upgrades

Interestingly enough, the day after the podcast was recorded, the gore slider issue was resolved.

We also have some great Reader Feedback, but no contest or question this week. Sorry, folks!

Episode 255: The Darkness II ContestEpisode 255: The Darkness II Contest

March 15, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 12:01 pm

Dan Quick returns again to cover for Paul Nowak, and this week, the Gaming Podcast is offering free copies of The Darkness II Limited Edition, which comes with the main game and some free DLC. The guys are giving away an Xbox 360 version and a PlayStation 3 version. To win, just listen to the podcast and post what your favorite scary movie is.

The game news this week includes:

Ex-SCEE senior VP Phil Harrison joins Microsoft’s European team
DOOM developer John Romero has “plans” for “old school” shooter
EA defends Mass Effect 3 From Ashes DLC data being on disc
Notch settles with Bethesda over “Scrolls” trademark
DICE: 2GB RAM won’t be enough for next gen consoles
Angry Birds theme park to open in Finland
GAME puts itself up for sale, GameStop interested
Diablo III release date announcement “in a few days“, no PvP in launch version

And yes, they know that the announcement was just made today – May 15th release date for Diablo III.

The contest to win either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version of The Darkness II will run this and next week, with the winners announced in Episode 257.

Episode 230: Zombie Nazi MonkeysEpisode 230: Zombie Nazi Monkeys

September 7, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:23 pm

This week, Jonah Falcon rants about the bosses in Deus Ex: Human Revolution while Jordan Lund expresses a desire for cold, rainy weather. This week’s Gaming Flashback is The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, with the following news items:

Lord British wants to make another Ultima, EA not so much
Crytek rebukes “unlawful layoff” claims
Gabe Newell wants Steam on Xbox Live Marketplace
DICE addresses console “limitations” in Battlefield 3
Black Ops map packs hit 18 million sold
Sony targets teens with new PSP
Angry Birds PS Mini problems

The guys also read more reader mail, and pose this week’s Question of the Week: What was the worst game mechanic you ever dealt with in a game you liked?

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.

Gaming Podcast 214: A Fully PAXed EpisodeGaming Podcast 214: A Fully PAXed Episode

March 16, 2011| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:04 am

We review our experiences of PAX East in this podcast and the second half is full of gaming news and community comments. Derrick reflects at his fun experience of Orcs Must Die while Jonah spent some time with LA Noire and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The news highlights include:

PSP Go Price Goes Back to $200 After 3 Days
Phil Harrison Sez Industry Struggling With Casual and Mobile Game Market
Angry Birds Hits 100 Million Downloads
Bioware Talks Jade Empire Again
Gamer Loses $1800 In Games from Steam

This week’s question of the week: Which convention would you want to attend most: E3, PAX or Comic Con?

Gaming Podcast 140: Cookie CutterGaming Podcast 140: Cookie Cutter

September 22, 2009| schommer| 0 Comment| 8:32 pm

This week we’re pulling a 2-person shift while Don is away being sick and tired. We substituted his astute comments with extra epic insight… okay, we just did as best as we could without him. We flash back to Venture, we do an audio review of Zuma’s Revenge and we kicked it free style with some news:

Halo: ODST Reviews are in
Turbine working on an MMO for the console
Price Cuts boost sales, initially, but not over the long term
Infinity Ward Responds to Gearbox … sort of
Red Octane considering Natal controls

This week’s question of the week, can big companies still innovate with new games?

EA Listens To The Public: No SecuROM In The Sims 3!EA Listens To The Public: No SecuROM In The Sims 3!

March 29, 2009| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:57 am

sims It seems Spore was the staging point for the SecuROM revolt and the massive amazon 1-star reviews and backlash have not gone on deaf ears. Electronic Arts has opted to leave SecuROM out of The Sims 3, an upcoming release for just that reason.

“We have heard your requests over the past months and here is our plan for The Sims 3,” Sims development head Rod Humble stated on the official website. “The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a serial code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed. (casualgaming.biz)

We wonder, did they do this primarily because of the Spore revolt or because the demographic for The Sims is even more casual than that of Spore? Casual gamers expect a casual experience from install to un-install because they don’t want to be hassled with silly copy protection. Or, perhaps casual games like The Sims is less likely to be hacked because it’s not a “hardcore” game?

We’re sticking with the thinking that this is a “good faith” jesture to the gamers for how they “rocked the vote” on the last title as The Sims is one of the best selling series on the PC gaming platform. Lots of sales with lots of fans, why interrupt that momentum with ugly DRM whiplash?