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Episode 280: Episode 280: Full of Drugs and an XCOM ContestEpisode 280: Episode 280: Full of Drugs and an XCOM Contest

September 26, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:38 pm

Jordan Lund can’t make Episode 280, but fortunately, Paul S. Nowak makes his triumphant return, albeit pumped full of medication. Enjoy his drug-fueled babbling as he waxes poetic on the virtues of playing social networking games while high.

He was lucid enough to discuss the following news items with the gang, however:

Cryptic calls for new MMO review system
BioWare Mythic “can’t make all Ultima fans happy” but hope they “enjoy nostalgia”
PS3 version of Black Ops 2 includes optional hi-res texture install
Wii U gamepad won’t be sold separately at launch

Gaming Podcast is also running a new contest to win a free Steam code for the hotly anticipated XCOM: Enemy Unknown remake. All listeners have to do is answer the Question of the Week in the comments section, “What is your favorite game from the 1990’s?”

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.

Mass Effect 3: What REALLY Went Wrong, And How To Fix ItMass Effect 3: What REALLY Went Wrong, And How To Fix It

March 22, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 11:11 am

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES THE ENDING AND EVENTS OF MASS EFFECT 3. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WISH THE GAME TO BE SPOILED FOR YOU.

In this day and age, one learns to take internet outrage with a heavy dollop of salt. The videogame community tends to be reactionary in the worst way, for a few reasons: they tend to be young, they tend to express their immediate feelings almost as a stream of consciousness, and let’s face it, the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory comes into play as well.

When it comes to game endings, when I hear that the community is upset about a game’s ending, I almost always take that as a good sign that the ending is daring and provocative. For example, there was an outcry over the abruptness of the ending of Halo 2, which had the nerve to conclude with a cliffhanger. The 2009 Prince of Persia reboot ended with the player undoing all of the work to free an ancient evil god they’d just imprisoned.

So when I heard that there was a growing outcry about the endings of Mass Effect 3, my interest peaked, because invariably, that meant the story was provocative and daring, instead of predictable and boring.

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Episode 253: Future GenerationEpisode 253: Future Generation

February 29, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 6:20 pm

This week, Paul is still not available, which is unfortunate, since the Gaming Flashback is the classic DuckTales for the NES. There’s also a bunch of scintillating news items including:

Pachter: Nintendo “Blew It” With Wii U, “In Disarray”
Bethesda hiring talent for Xbox 720, PlayStation 4 game
EA reveals Mass Effect 3 preorders well ahead of Mass Effect 2‘s
Pachter: Next generation Sony and Microsoft consoles will have 4GB SKU
Sony filed patent For Kinect-like motion device
PSN Minis not working on Vita

We also reveal the winner of the Pixie Diamonds contest.

Episode 242: All Nude PodcastEpisode 242: All Nude Podcast

December 7, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 12:00 pm

Since Paul is not in this week’s episode, Jonah and Jordan do the podcast completely nude, to help boost ratings. While being naked, rather than a Gaming Flashback, this week is a Gaming Preview, and Jonah and Jordan discuss the recently announced South Park: The Game, developed by Obsidian.

The other news covered includes:

Electronic Arts responds to expiring Online Pass issues
Bethesda: Divided memory pool causes lag for Skyrim PS3
Sony claims Uncharted series has 13M sales lifetime
Skyrim Creation Kit landing in January
Sony: PlayStation Network now has as high a “world-leading security system” there is

There’s also some Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week is “Have you ever taken a console with you on vacation (not handheld)?”

Episode 239: This Episode is DRM-freeEpisode 239: This Episode is DRM-free

November 16, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 3:32 pm

This week, Paul is too busy unpacking in his new home in California, so it’s just Jonah and Jordan, as the news mainly deals with DRM. The Gaming Flashback this week is the Activision racer The Great American Cross-Country Road Race, while this week’s Gaming History doesn’t focus on a video game company or developer, but a fictional character instead, Mario’s favorite mount, Yoshi.

The news this week includes:

EA forum bans cause game bans
Research film states piracy’s up 20% in past 5 years
GOG sez customers hate DRM
Steam user database cracked
Uncharted 3 launches with 1.1M sold in first week

All that plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What DRM would you tolerate?”

Episode 236: Now With PandasEpisode 236: Now With Pandas

October 26, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:57 pm

This week, Paul is not around, as Jonah Falcon and Jordan Lund discuss the latest news, which includes pandas. Lots and lots of pandas. That, and a Gaming History profile on David Crane.

The news this week includes:

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria announced
Sony: April PSN outage has resulted in improved service
Deep Silver: “There is a clear technology gap“
Starcraft II DOTA mod will remain free but monetized
“Literally, there’s three of us” on console Diablo III
Minecraft dev wins interim injunction over Scrolls name

With that is Reader Mail and the Queston of the Week: What was your favorite Atari 2600 game?

Episode 232: Remember Pong?Episode 232: Remember Pong?

September 21, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:44 pm

This week, there’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there is a ton of news and Reader Feedback as Paul is finally present to react to some hate mail.

The news includes some huge items, like:

No PSN unless you waive lawsuit
Netflix adds game rentals to Qwikster
DC Universe Online goes free-to-play
Xbox Live officially a part of Windows 8
Microsoft: Xbox TV this Fall
Rogers Cable ordered to stop throttling gamers
Nintendo and Valve say no to smartphone games

The Question of the Week: What was the very first home videogame you ever played?

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!

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

June 14, 2011| Jonah 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.