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Episode 300: The Third CenturyEpisode 300: The Third Century

March 5, 2013| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 9:51 pm

The landmark 300th episode is here, and while we only got one special guest, Dan Quick, it’s still a jam-packed episode. In this episode, Jordan continues to pine for Half-Life 3, male full frontal nudity gets discussed, and Paul claims he invented the term “Whosphere”. This weeks’ Gaming Flashback is Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

The news items include:

The Last of Us features Naughty Dog’s “longest ever” campaign
Sony confirms 4K movie service for PS4
BioShock Infinite‘s ending may cause controversy
Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

There’s a ton of Listener Feedback as well as the Question of the Week, “What was your favorite moment in the TD Gaming Podcast over the years?”

Episode 273: Flinging GutsEpisode 273: Flinging Guts

August 1, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:46 pm

This week’s Gaming Podcast is a fairly routine one, with no Gaming Flashback or even a Question of the Week. However, this week features a ton of great news and industry discussion. Paul also announces that he will be unable to do the podcast in a few weeks for an extended period of time due to surgery.

The news items for the week includes:

Yoshida admits absence of Vita at E3 was a mistake
Irrational Games now includes 85+ Metacritic game requirement for employment
UbiSoft patches UPlay rootkit issue
Paradox Interactive announces dungeon builder Impire
EA: Current CEO John Riccitiello’s job is secure

All that plus Reader Feedback, check it out.

Episode 272: Whinny 8Episode 272: Whinny 8

July 25, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 9:27 pm

This week’s Gaming Podcast deals with Jordan Lund discussing how much negative flak Windows 8 has been getting, Daniel Quick being his usual Canadian self, Paul Nowak returning triumphantly, and Jonah Falcon just taking infamy in stride. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the derided Super Pitfall! for the NES.

As far as the news:

“Super-slim” PS3 will be a no-show at Gamescom
UbiSoft claims lack of new consoles penalizes creativity
Diablo III ‘God mode’ exploit for Wizard discovered
EA: Nintendo “on track to become primarily a software company”
Electronic Arts settles in Madden and NCAA monopoly suit

There is no Question of the Week – rather, the crew is waiting to hear your questions for them instead.

Episode 266: Get That E3 KickEpisode 266: Get That E3 Kick

June 13, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:16 pm

Jonah Falcon and Paul S. Nowak return from the magical E3 2012 videogame convention and everyone has their own opinions on what they thought were the highlights and lowlights of E3. They also make their own predictions, as Dan Quick contemplates writing hate mail to Jonah for having access to SimCity and Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

The podcast also features some great news, including:

THQ closes their San Diego Studio, sells the UFC license
Ubisoft states annual Assassin’s Creed releases funded AC3
Vivendi may sell Activision-Blizzard

There’s also some Reader Feedback, as well as the new Question of the Week, “What did you take away from E3?”

Episode 241: Air QuotesEpisode 241: Air Quotes

November 30, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 9:48 pm

This week features a long podcast, as there’s a ton of news to report. Jonah tries air quotes on a pure audio podcast, while Paul refuses to believe The Legend of Zelda: Skyword Sword failed to hit the top 10 in software sales.

In addition, the Gaming Flashback checks out the JRPG Ys.

This week’s news includes:

Ubisoft polling gamers for next Assassin’s Creed setting
Electronic Arts bans a user for saying “badass”
Newell: Piracy is “almost always a service problem” and not price, DRM agitates
Christwire makes mock petition asking Pres. Obama ban Skyrim
Holiday shopping madness sees woman pepper spraying for 360
Microsoft refunds victims of Marketplace phishing scam

All this, and a bunch of reader feedback, as well as the Question of the Week: “Did you buy videogames as holiday gifts for friends and family?” Let us know.

Asassin’s Creed 2, Ubisoft’s Future ProjectAsassin’s Creed 2, Ubisoft’s Future Project

November 29, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 3:14 pm

We received a new franchise in 2007 called Assassin’s Creed, it was way hyped and released with mixed success, you either love it or you were bored to tears. We loved it, but many were bored to tears. Many assume Ubisoft learned a lot from their first release and will fix some of the repetition from the initial game with Assassin’s Creed 2 if one were to be created.

Ubisoft was asked by gamespot if they’d release a date or confirm the 2010 release of Assassin’s Creed 2 and Ubisoft had a very simple answer: “we’re not answering that question” and “what we just can say is that we are working hard on the product.”

They won’t promise a date for Asassin’s Creed 2 but this at least gives us an indication that they’re working on a game to follow up the initial release. There are plenty of creative concepts that can be done even better in a second game release including branching out the quests to make them a bit less tedious and repeating. The graphics were stunning, the moves were fluid and the battles were a dance of blades.

We’re waiting. Bring it on Ubisoft.

Sony Should Buy Ubisoft and Here is WhySony Should Buy Ubisoft and Here is Why

October 9, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:58 am

Sony’s been putting a lot of effort (read: money) into the PlayStation 3 product line with very little impact in the market. They’ve got this “10 year plan” but haven’t really executed a strong plan for their first two years of said plan. Sony’s plan seems to be “outlive the competition’s technology” while all of its competition stomps on their sales and market share with older and a bit “outdated” products.

Thus far there have been five spins of the PlayStation 3 hardware with price cuts only coming as a result of a “fire sale” of old hardware revisions. Sony, like many, believes the Nintendo Wii isn’t a direct competitor in their space; the outstanding sales of the Wii probably haven’t impacted the PlayStation 3 sales too much. The Xbox 360, however, has definitely cut them deep in all regions of sales.

Microsoft has built some unexpected momentum in Japan with Square-Enix making them a few console seller titles and the price cuts in Europe boosted sales over 200% all while the US continues to buy into the 360 hardware despite its most obvious red-ringing flaws. Microsoft has great partnerships with some fabulous companies, Bungie and Epic for instance, to build them exclusives that move even more 360 units.

Motorstorm is one of the PlayStation 3’s best games, selling over 3-million copies. While, as of January 2008, Halo 3 sold 8.1 million units for the Xbox 360. Now, Metal Gear Solid 4 has sold roughly 3.94 million copies since August of 2008 yet unsubstantiated rumors exist stating MGS4 could make its way to the 360. Combined awesome titles for the PlayStation 3 may not even exceed one of the competitors best selling products; where is the PS3 excitement?

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Ubisoft Sues After Assassin’s Creed LeaksUbisoft Sues After Assassin’s Creed Leaks

August 7, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 7:04 pm

It was April of 2008 when we saw Assassin’s Creed show up on the PC, however in early February the game appeared on Internet pirate sites causing an estimated 700,000 downloads of the pirated copy of the game. The disc-copy manufacturer has assumed responsibility of the issue after finding an employee in possession of one of their copies of Assassin’s Creed at their home.

First, the disc-copy firm has said they haven’t enforced their high level of security needed to keep copies of the game in their possession. The earliest leaks of the pirated Assassin’s Creed was traced to an employees house, leading Ubisoft to assume “gross negligence” on the part of the manufacturer, inspiring the lawsuit.

To top off matters, pre-release copies of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed contained a hidden bug to crash the game mid-way through, which makes their title look bad when sent to the mass market pirating audience (do they really need to impress pirates?)

This isn’t the first time copies of a game, music or movies have made their pre-release debut on torrents and pirate sites. As for us, we find it odd that someone who managed to sneak out the game early wouldn’t have simply enjoyed it in the comfort of their own home choosing to pirate it and hurt the industry instead. Hopefully they’ve been given their pink slip for being irrisponsible and hurting everyones reputation. Hope they really feel like a liberated hero now.

(Thanks, gamespot)

Red Steel 2 and Wii Motion PlusRed Steel 2 and Wii Motion Plus

July 28, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 3:02 pm

In an “unexpected” move, Ubisoft has opted to utilize the 1:1 accuracy of the Wii Motion Plus add-on device for the Wii remote in their next Red Steel sequel, currently called Red Steel 2. It may be most gamers consider this an unexpected move because they thought the series would be dead after the first launch title.

Red Steel was plagued with motion issues, making it a very unexceptable demonstration of the Wii control scheme. Luckily other titles arrived to show off how the controls were supposed to work; Ubisoft tried to make a hit FPS title using innovative control methods but came up a bit short.

This time, they’re hoping to redeem themselves by having the additional resolution of the new controller device, risking their reputation for a second time on Nintendo’s hardware.

“What was missing was the preciseness of the sabre,” Corre said of the first game, “and with this new device, I think it will change the experience.” (1up)

Although many gamers missed the first Red Steel experience because word about the horrid controls hit the streets quickly, this might be a chance to try the series one final time before giving up on it. In Ubisoft’s defense, the US market is very finicky about their first person shooters which helps explain higher reviews in Europe for the original title.

The games controls were tweaked after E3 2006 when people found it lack luster in performance and ability to mimick the users real moves when sword fighting. Ubisoft said it was because they received the Wii controller prototypes one month before the expo.

Will Ubisoft get the Wii Motion Plus in time to put out a highly polished game showing off Nintendo’s new hardware or will this be a second strike against the franchise? Only time will tell.