Topic: Episode 35 Posted

[Danzik]

Great episode.  I knew the xbox didn't do well in Japan but, not even in the top 100...

Let's definatly get this MKDS tourney going.  I've added everyone here on the Friend code thread and will try to leave the DS on more often.

[Aybraus]

A winner is me!  I will email you soon, Steve!

[LadyM]

Is anyone else having trouble getting the episode off of itunes? It's not showing up in the list 

iTunes only updates its list once every 24 hours, so it's not showing up just yet. But I actually changed this for the future so that it should show up on iTunes within one hour after I publish a new podcast.

You need to listen to it LadyM, I mention you several times!

I finally listened this morning    Yeah, I'd be glad to help with any DS tournaments or gameplay and while I'm not good at Mario Kart, I do give it my best try.

[Jutendouji]

Awwwww, shucks, I didn't win T________T Ho well, B.L.T.!!!

Great show as usual Steve, and you know, maybe this the wrong place to make a suggestion but you keep bringing up the topic about how Japanese gamers are different than the US and European gamers, and boy are you RIGHT! So maybe you could make a GameTalk one of these days regarding this subject? I'm very much a japanese gamer or so to speak, because I consume that kind of gaming daily, so if you need some insights into the japanese mindset, or something like that, let me know! I still think it'd be a very interesting GameTalk. But it's just a thought!

Keep up the good work, Steve!

[Atari Man]

?? I swear I posted in here already??

Anyways awsome episode! I wonder how many times someone has said that? Maybe we should keep a tally?

[Leng]

i think kagan is right though.  repetitive gameplay is the bane of the artform, and steve loves it.  remember ConfQuest?  that live action version of a MMORPG they had at GDC that steve talked about in his very first podcasts?  they would have people walking around with a button that said "monster", and they had ranks of monsters.  and you faught them by saying "hey let's fight" and then standing around pulling cards out of a bag for a couple minutes.  and then you would get a loot card and have to go to a special place and wait in line for half an hour to exchange the card for another card that said specifically what loot you got.. and then you waited in line to fight the higher level monsters (who were guys standing around with "monster" tags).  to get another card with ""mephisto sword" or some thing written on it in permanent marker.  Steve liked that.

honestly it has to be the hollow appeal of loot and advancement that draws people to online RPG's, because there's simply no game involved.  the fact that people will pay "real" money to get "fake" money in WOW or guildwars is really telling about our capitalist society.

[Gaming Steve]

i think kagan is right though.  repetitive gameplay is the bane of the artform, and steve loves it.

Wow, normally I wouldn't even respond to something like this, but you could not be more wrong Leng. I positively hate repetitive gameplay and if you listen to my podcasts I gave WoW one of the lowest ratings of all my reviews. I don't know what gave you that impression but repetitive gameplay is the bane of my existence.

I DO enjoy the social aspects of MMOs, which was ConfQuest was all about. It was a great way to meet and talk to people using a social game methodology. Sorry you misunderstood the point of that in my podcast Leng.

[Leng]

hmm, i guess i got the wrong impression.  the real problem i had was with the popular clique bashing the outside agitator.  i agree you should ignore him, but more because he's entitled to his opinion than from a "don't feed the troll" attitude.

[SurfMurph]

Well, I finally got to listen to this episode. So many podcasts, so little time. 

Steve, you didn't cover all of the subject of a standardized gaming platform in your reply to one of the Q&As. With the 3DO you had various hardware manufacturers producing 3DO. If I remember correctly you could buy a 3DO console from either Sanyo, Goldstar, or Panasonic. And Creative even came out with an ISA card that you could add to a CD-ROM equipped PC and play 3DO games. I think it was called the 3DO Blaster.

The GameBoy was never a standard in this same sense. Yes, it was a de facto standard for handhelds in the 90s, only because the competing products never gained significant market share. However, you never saw a GameBoy made by Panasonic, Philips, etc. That's a key difference and is what I thought the person asking the question was trying to get at.

Will we ever see, for example, Sony licensing the Playstation 2 technology to another electronics manufacturer, such as Samsung? Or would Microsoft sell the Xbox technology to LG for inclusion in a DVR/DVD combo unit? I don't see Sony doing this as they are a consumer electronics company. Why sell their IP to another consumer electronics company when they can make any form factor Playstation they want themselves.

However, I don't think its as far-fetched an idea with Microsoft. They are primarily a software company. They license their technologies to all kinds of computer and electronics manufacturers. Could we ever see, for example, a future Creative Zen device that plays Xbox games that you download from the web? I don't think so, but crazier things have happened in this industry.

Now on to episode 36 on my drive home from work. 

[T-BirD]

There's one exception - Panasonic made a DVD/Gamecube combo.  It's called the Panasonic Q, and it's nice and shiny and says "hello" and "goodbye" on its LCD screen

[Djfinny]

Great show Steve, I've had Baldurs Gate 2 sitting in a box at home - I got it as a gift several years ago and never bothers to play it.  I'm going to give it a try - thanks for the review.

DJ