Ep 17: Widest Killed Snort

Another hot week! The show is a little slimmer but no less, um, meat… Andy, Mike and Russell dive right into the gaming news and the new releases, as usual. Is Comcast looking to make the GDC Awards their own? Listen in and find out!

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Ep 17: Widest Killed Snort [ 1:45:01 ] Play Now | Download

This Week In Gaming

• (Terminal Gamer) Project $10 dollar, good or bad. Its the future.
• (TG) Social Networking has invaded your games: Sam Fisher has a twitter account.
• (TG) Swiss move to ban violent video games, Australia sees new hope.
• (Onlive Site)http://blog.onlive.com/2010/03/10/onlive-coming-to-a-screen-near-you/:
  Onlive finally announces a release date of June 17, 2010.  It will be a subscription based service of $14.95/month
• (Joystiq) http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/22/square-enix-ceo-were-going-to-explore-the-possibility-of-ffv/:
  Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada finally admitted that they are “exploring the possibility of remaking Final Fantasy 7.  The huge success of the release of FF7 on the PSN and fan outcry has prompted the decision.
• (g4tv) http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703379/Australian-Attorney-General-Resigns-Mature-Game-Rating-Finally-On-The-Way.html:
  

  The Australian gaming landscape could be in for a big change soon thanks to the recently announced resignation of South Australia’s Attorney-General, die-hard anti-violent video game advocate, Michael Atkinson.
  As the Sydney Morning Herald (via Shacknews) reports, the adoption of an R18+ rating must be unanimously approved by the country’s attorneys-general. So it remains to be seen if Atkinson’s replacement will supply the last remaining vote needed to approve the new rating, but the opportunity has never been better for Australia to correct this longstanding issue that has kept adult gamers in the country from having their morals and personal beliefs torn asunder by the Hell-wrath of violent video games.

  The majority of Australia’s violent video game drama can be traced directly to Atkinson’s office, since his sole dissenting voice has prevented the Australian government from adopting a Mature (R18+) rating for video games. This obstruction has led to the banning and/or severe editing of such high profile titles as Left 4 Dead 2 and Fallout 3, and created major tensions to arise between gamers and the government.

• (Gamespy) Chinese Gamer Stabbed in Head for Wall-Hack
• (Gamespy) Report: USB Storage Coming to Xbox 360
  The system update, coming this spring, will make it possible for up to two USB storage devices of up to 16 GB each to be used to store saves, digital media, and even full disc-based games. (Originally From Joystiq)
• (VoodooExtreme 3d) Final Fantasy XIII The Fastest Selling Final Fantasy Ever
  Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that FINAL FANTASY XIII has recorded the largest first-week sales in franchise history. Launched on March 9, 2010 for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, FINAL FANTASY XIII has sold more than one million units in North America over the first five days.

Rumor Mill

Before being frozen in carbonite for transport to Jabba the Hutt, I was told that:

“In Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic your starting zone will be determined by which class you choose. The 4 starting planets are Tython(Jedi Knight & Jedi Consular), Korriban(Sith Warrior & Sith Inquisitor), Hutta(Bounty Hunter & Imperial Agent), and Ord Mantell(Trooper & Smuggler). While the planets are shared the quests are not, although some of their themes do cross paths(for example: the Imperial Agent will have a quest in which they plant evidence incriminating Guy X leading the Hutts to put a bounty on the head of Guy X which is a Bounty Hunter quest). Also the starter planets are considered the smaller planets with planets like Taris being twice their size. And to give a perspective of “size”, Ord Mantell is about as big as World of Warcraft’s Elwyn, Duskwood, Redridge, Westfall, Swamp of Sorrows, and Stranglethorn Vale put together.”

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. UncleVic.com cuts prices on select refurbished video game consoles, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii. With shipping starting around $14, each is at or near the lowest total price we could find. Plus, coupon code “DEALNEWS20″ takes an extra $20 off orders of $400 or more. A 120-day warranty is also provided with each console
2. Microsoft offers new Xbox LIVE subscribers 48-hour access to Xbox LIVE Gold (including online play) for free via code “mapathy”.
3. Microsoft Store takes 40% off a selection of Xbox 360 games via coupon code “CLR-MSFT-Games-40%”. Shipping starts at $4.99. Ghostbusters for $11, Elderscrolls Oblivion for $17.97
4. Valve offers downloads of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Squad Pack for Windows for $149.97 via its Steam service. At $37.49 per copy of the game (there are four copies), grab a game and 3 friends and play till next Friday
5. Amazon.com offers Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo DS for $25. With free shipping,

Twitter Question of the Week

If you could go out on a date with a video game character, which one and why? (yeah, we’re going there)

• theloug: Sonia belmont.. she’s a Belmont dude!
• jayesh: Miranda from me2. Perfect in. Every respect
• honorshammer: man, Bastilla Shan or Imoen. Tough call.
• Eadams2010: After the last podcast (27) sounds like a question for Brigwyn! Pixelatwd women and all..
• cereal_killar: Oh come on is there really a debate here? It’s gotta be Lara Croft! Just try and get Angelina outta yet head now! Yummy!
• TwilliK: You mean I have to pick /just one/? This is going to take some thinking about.
• Ravonbrand: The girls from Playboy Mansion Xbox.. OMG
• Miskieratboi: does it have to be a main character? Can i go on a date with a monster or summon? Bahamut, ffx. if it has to be a main character, either ratchet or fox mccloud.
• Ninthbatter:  I’d go on a date with Tali from ME2, she has a great personality and with her insecurity about her bio suit it’ll be easy to mask my commitment issues.
• Deaf_Marty: I’d go out with Mrs. Pacman…….I have my reasons.
• Bryterside: I’d have to go with Donkey Kong in a dress cause… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4he79krseU
• David_Carroll: I’d date Samus, she should be used to sequence breaking her way to the Screw Attack by now.

Email

Hey guys, been loving the interviews.  Finding them very interesting, though I wish you’d ask more follow up questions instead of just going to the next one on the sheet.

Anyway, I was mailing you to suggest you try and get an interview with Tarn Adams (aka Toady One), creator of the brilliant Dwarf Fortress (http://bay12games.com/dwarves/).

If you haven’t had the chance to to try it out, it’s an incredible complex game that takes a few tries to understand.  I suggest reading a tutorial: http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/

Anyway, Toady One has been developing this game since 2002 by himself, with releases coming since 2006.  His brother helps with some testing and business side things.

I think this would be a really unique look into an indy game developer’s point of view.  If nothing else I think you should give the game a try because “losing is fun,” and it’s worth your attention.

-Jace