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Episode 303: BioShock Infinite Giveaway TimeEpisode 303: BioShock Infinite Giveaway Time

March 26, 2013| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:06 pm

This week we’re giving away a free copy of BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360! How do you win? Well, simply post a good comment! The contest winner will be announced two weeks from now.

In the meantime, the Gaming Flashback this time is the PlayStation One classic Chrono Cross, while Paul tries desperately to avoid listening to BioShock Infinite spoilers.

This week’s news includes:

THQ’s UDraw failure “invalidated” Saints Row: The Third‘s success
Levine: BioShock Infinite cost $100M to develop, and $100M to market
American McGee doesn’t “see anything meaningful” in the PS4, SimCity players “need to relax”
Schafer’s Double Fine Adventure project from Kickstarter is now Broken Age
Capcom announces DuckTales Remastered, developed by WayForward

All this and some Reader Feedback.

Episode 296: Still Need a NurseEpisode 296: Still Need a Nurse

February 5, 2013| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 2:58 pm

Jonah is still plagued, though this time he’s suffering laryngitis that accompanied the flu. However, even without Dan or a Gaming Flashback, there’s a ton of news to pour over.

This week’s news items include:

Notch earned $101M in 2012, may buy car
Sony teases “See the Future” event on 20th February
Rumor: PS4 hitting Europe in 2014, will have 8GB GDDR5
Feedback leads Kawata to “slightly revise” opinions on Resident Evil
Take-Two delays Grand Theft Auto V to September 17th
Source Code director signs on for Legendary Pictures’ Warcraft adaptation
Controversial torture interrogation from Splinter Cell: Black List removed
Rumor: Halo 3 finally hitting PC – on Steam?

All that plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week: “What remake would you like to see done?”

Gaming Podcast 170: If Hacker’s Could SpellGaming Podcast 170: If Hacker’s Could Spell

April 27, 2010| schommer| 0 Comment| 9:32 pm

This week’s gaming podcast we’re answering some community feedback, hitting some new DRM issues and tackling some popular news stories including but not limited to:

Capcom implementing always connect DRM in PS3 games
Ubisoft’s DRM cracked for good?
Blizzard appealing the AO Starcraft II rating
First PS3 3D games will not have as good graphics as the 2D version

The question of the week, would you rather have an inferior bleeding edge technology (PS3 3D Gaming for instance) or a higher end more current technology? Do you feel Sony’s trying to break new innovative barriers or move more high tech gear?

TD Gaming Podcast 104: Happy New YearTD Gaming Podcast 104: Happy New Year

January 6, 2009| schommer| 0 Comment| 8:46 pm

The gaming podcast crew takes a look back at Ultima Online and a bit of history on Kirby, that crazy pink mascot. This weeks gaming news includes:

PS2 the most played console of 2008
Best Buy Vending machines
GamerDNA and Massively look back at the MMO year in review
Capcom concerned about Western Developers

This weeks soap box we’re talking about gaming in the workplace, wouldn’t you want a Rock Band tournament? Also, ton of user comments this week — keep them coming!

Retro Gaming: Mega Man 9 Get’s Flicker and BugsRetro Gaming: Mega Man 9 Get’s Flicker and Bugs

August 7, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 2:17 pm

Capcom isn’t fooling around, they know their market for Mega Man 9 on Xbox Live, WiiWare and PSN and its nostalgic gamers with a desire to be a kid again. Any retro gamer will tell you the old school experience must include some pixel flickers, slow down and 8-bit style bugs.

They have decided to include an optional feature to enable old school bugs on purpose. The limitations of early hardware like the NES caused situations where you would only see a limited number of creatures on the screen at any one time else things slowed down, flickered and got undesirable fast. What used to be undesired is now nostalgic!

“Yeah, there were some things, like you couldn’t have more than three enemies on the screen at once, so we had to make sure that that’s how it stayed in our game. In the part with the dragon with the flame, [there should be] flickering, and whatnot,” noted the game’s producer. “In the options of this game, you can adjust that, unlike the old games. We purposely put some of those old-school bugs into this game, so it does recreate that feel.” (joystiq)

Luckily these options are disabled and can be enabled to get a bit of old world feel if your little heart desires. For most of us, we should have moved on from the old times and are ready to play old school games on new school hardware to show off a bit more fluid 8-bit logic. Not so for everyone, which is why the feature was added as an optional one.

Staying true to old school computing in an emulator is extremely important when playing old ROM games because the game was coded with a certain speed and understanding of the hardware. Change the hardware without updating the game can lead to an unusable product. Mega Man 9, however, is a new game so it doesn’t have to adhere to old standards. But, it’s funny to see it try.

Are You An Okami Fan?Are You An Okami Fan?

July 30, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:46 am

PlayStation 2 fans may recall a little title called Okami, it’s an action adventure game developed by Clover Studios and published by Capcom. The original Okami title received fairly high reviews by many popular game sites, although there were a few flaws, the receiption seemed well received.

Clover Studios was closed after the release and all the intellectual properties went back to Capcom, the company that funded the studio, leaving Capcom responsible for future sequels.

Christian “Sven” Svensson said “I think we need a lot more people buying the current version before we seriously consider a sequel”. A harsh statement on the game’s combined sales figures, perhaps, but also probably an accurate one. (Kotaku)

This is the sound of a developer not so happy with prior performance and finding it too risky to try for a second title. Although many sequels outshine their parents there is some truth to the fact that slow selling parents will create slow selling sequels, there is something to be said about learning form past experiences.

The game had good reviews, isn’t it worth trying to make a second game based on that? Maybe people just aren’t jazzed about Japaense folklore, myths and legends as the basis for a game.

Mega Man 9, WiiWare, Retro Gamers Rejoyce!Mega Man 9, WiiWare, Retro Gamers Rejoyce!

June 29, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:30 am

It’s been confirmed, in Nintendo Power at least, that Mega Man 9 is officially going to be something you can download on the Wii console. The game is being developed by Ini Creates, a company of ex-capcom folks who are also responsible for Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series.

Of course, this is a Capcom published game and is said to also be ‘multi-platform’ with an appearance being made on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

At first, there was a fear the game would go “new school” and take advantage of all the Wii has to offer, but with the Virtual Console and all of its retro appeal they’ve decided to stick with an old school feel to the game. This is by far the best move we’ve heard, as a retro gamer at the target demographic age, I’m thrilled.

Mega Man 9 is going to reflect the older games, without an 8-bit graphical look of course, using the Wii remote sideways (presumably also using the retro classic controller) and is not said to use any of the motion sensing abilities of the Wii.

This will be the first title in the Mega Man series to offer a female robot opponent. Mega Man 9 will provide a new host of baddies, including:

Magma Man
Galaxy Man
Jewel Man
Concrete Man
Hornet Man
Plug Man
Tornado Man
Splash Woman

The inclusion of a female robot may be playing to the casual game demographic which is popular with the Wii and casual games in general. Or, they’re just looking for variety. End result is still retro awesomeness.

(Thanks, 1up)