Gaming Steve Episode 49 - 04.25.2006

It seems like E3 is just a few weeks away ... oh wait. It is just a few weeks away! So what surprises await the gaming masses at this year's E3? PS3, Revolution, Halo 3, Spore, what news is going to make the big headlines in a few weeks? This week I take a look to E3 and what we should expect to hear.

Also big news as I join forces with Xfire and their 4 million users to bring you all my E3 coverage this year. Four million people .. that is a lot of new people to the site. Enjoy the show!

Gaming Steve Episode 49 Program

• 00:02:45 Game News:
• Disciples III reborn.
• Guitar Hero gets an encore.
• Command & Conquer 3 coming.
• Sony shaves $20 off the cost of PS2.
• Heroes of Might and Magic strikes gold.
• Guild Wars characters for sale.
• Xbox 360 getting new CPU.
• Play Dungeons & Dragons Online free for a week.
• Yet more downloadable content available for Oblivion.
• Silent Hill scares up $20 million.
• Viacom to acquire Xfire.
• 00:32:30 E3 Preview: What are the hottest games going to be at E3 this year?
• 00:41:32 RetroReview: Caesar III for the PC.
• 00:47:07 Game Review: Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for Nintendo DS.
• 00:52:48 “Name That Game!” contest winner from last week, a new clip, and the always cool prize!
• 00:54:48 Show Mail: I answer your audio and email questions.
• 01:29:10 Final Thoughts: Gaming Steve and Xfire? And what to expect at E3?

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Posted by Gaming Steve at 5:00 PM | Comments (28) | Posted to Podcast | Preview | Review |      

Massive Battlegrounds Enhancements Incoming!

It's been a few months since any really good World of Warcraft gossip was leaked so I figured start-up the rumor mill once again.

Sure WoW might not have the best PvP system out there, but more times than not I have a blast playing Battlegrounds. The only problem is the wait -- the oh so long wait -- to get into a match. Often I have to wait hours to get into a match, especially if I want to play Alterac Valley, and then once I’m in I usually end up playing against the same old players time after time after time.

Well good news is coming to all you Battlegrounds veterans out there … and a lot sooner than you think! Blizzard is hard at work right now creating new enhanced Battlegrounds servers. These servers will no longer be regulated to a single realm, but cross-linked across Realms to create an diverse PvP experience! Right now they are planning on linking 16 realms together per Battleground server for massive PvP action. You could imagine how this can really help out the Battlegrounds situation, not only will the queues go much faster but you'll finally get a chance to fight across Realms.

And the best part? This enhancement is going to be released very shortly; most likely by patch 1.12 or 1.13 at the latest. But to be honest that’s nothing compared to what they're planning for the future.

Imagine the features of Battle.net combined into the world of Battlegrounds: Worldwide rankings, tournaments, ladders, and more, only for the entire world of Battlegrounds. Yes, Battlegrounds will undergo its most radical change during the release of Burning Crusade expansion with Battlegrounds becoming a true worldwide tournament! Of course with The Burning Crusade slated for release at the end of this year, if not next year, this is still a long way off. But at least the interim patch should greatly increase the Battlegrounds experience.

With Blizzard finally getting around to linking the Realms up to each other does that mean that we might actually start to see more cross-realm game features? Who's to know, but Blizzard sure didn't buy 1500 new servers just for fun!

Posted by Gaming Steve at 1:00 PM | Posted to MMORPG |      

Gaming Steve Episode 48 - 04.18.2006

Today I have a real treat as I finally managed to figure out a way to mix boardgames with video games as I got a chance to sit down and chat with Mark Kaufmann, Vice-President of Days of Wonder and makers of several successful boardgames as well as the new the Ticket to Ride: The Computer Game.

Mark and I talk about how he got into this business, what it takes to startup a boardgame company in North America, why they're jumping into the computer game market, as well as much more. Enjoy!

Gaming Steve Episode 48 Program

• 00:04:57 Interview with Mark Kaufmann from Days of Wonder, makers of many boardgames as well as the Ticket to Ride: The Computer Game.
• 00:50:43 It's the same old story ... so many games, so little time.

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Posted by Gaming Steve at 4:00 PM | Comments (19) | Posted to Interview | Podcast |      

Gaming Steve Episode 47 - 04.10.2006

Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the delay, but I think you'll enjoy the several treats I have in this episode.

Not only do I finally reveal some new Spore info but I interview Greg Canessa the Group Manager for crazy popular Xbox Live Arcade. Enjoy!

Gaming Steve Episode 47 Program

• 00:06:30 Game News:
• Wal-Mart quitting UMD movies?
• Mario stamps Japan.
• More Oblivion content coming.
• Nintendo is raking in the Yen.
• Telltale Games lowers episodic prices.
• SiN Episode 1 heading to retail.
• Capcom music hits Japan's iTunes.
• Apple software boots Windows.
• Lionhead joins Microsoft.
• Twenty titles at Revolution launch?
• Oblivion obliterates sales charts.
• 00:39:12 SporeTalk: What new information did I learn at GDC?
• 00:47:20 Interview with Greg Canessa the Group Manager for Xbox Live Arcade.
• 01:32:12 “Name That Game!” contest winner from last week, a new clip, and the always cool prize!
• 01:35:06 Show Mail: I answer your audio questions.
• 01:56:56 Final Thoughts: Oblivion is taking over the world! And there are just too many good games out right now. What to do ... what to do?

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Posted by Gaming Steve at 5:00 PM | Comments (26) | Posted to Interview | Podcast | Spore |