Game Night (11/10/13)
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Game Night | 1 Comment
Update: Game Night is now over!
Game Night will begin at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT. Two items are attached to this page. First, above, is our official Twitch account. Any Wii U games played during Game Night will be streamed, and will eventually be posted to our official YouTube channel.
Below is what we’ll use to communicate with each other. You don’t need to sign up with any sort of service to join, and you don’t have to be playing to chat with us. Just enter any name you desire and you’ll be good to go.
What is Game Night? You can find details right here.
[Feature] Stop with the cat-suits and spin moves: The dramatic presentation of non-difficulty and how it relates to modern Mario
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Gaming, General Nintendo | 41 Comments
Austin note: This thing is not meant to be viewed as a criticism of a game that is not out yet (SM3DW) that I have only played twice before. It is also not meant to be a criticism solely of the Mario franchise. It is, as I hope is clear, a discussion and analysis of gameplay motifs and design philosophies for many kinds of games.
Kenta Motokura is co-director of the upcoming game-that-you’ve-all-heard-of, Super Mario 3D World. In a recent IGN article he said the following regarding the development of the game:
“Going off of our monitor tests, we wanted to see what beginners thought was difficult about the game, and also what was fun about the game. We learned from those tests is that if you were a beginning player, when you come to a cliff, you might stop, think about jumping, then jump and maybe not make it and drop. But what if we added this element of sticking to the wall so you could prevent yourself from dropping down?”
So he brings up this simple question: What if you added an element that prevented less experienced players from falling down?
[Review] Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Features, Reviews | 5 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 25th, 2013
Developer: Armature Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Author: Austin
“Hi, I’m Batman, and here’s uh… here’s my next game thing.”
Batman has been on a real kick lately, courtesy of the The Dark Knight trilogy of movies (which in turn, I understand, are courtesy of some graphic novels), and some of his most critically acclaimed recent appearances have been in videogames. This trend– on its fourth year– continues with the release of Batman: Arkham Origins and its sister game Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The latter of the two is the one that will be discussed here.
Here’s a Podcast – Episode 65!
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 7 Comments
Twelve hours after finishing our Extra Life 24-hour live stream, we record another podcast! We discuss Batman (aka Austin excessively criticizes it), Mario Sunshine, Mario Galaxy 2, and 3D platforming, Wind Waker vs. Skyward Sword (and other Zeldas), the PS1 game ‘LSD’, as well as some great listener mail and a bit of news. This episode was way too long though. We’re working on that.
This Week’s Podcast Crew: Austin, Jack, and Laura
Download this episode (click this link)
Subscribe via iTunes by clicking this thing!
Subscribe with Google by clicking this thing!
Subscribe with Yahoo something-or-other by clicking this thing!
More: highlight
Game Night notice: November 10
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Game Night, Site updates | 5 Comments
I was originally hoping to host November’s Game Night today, but with Austin’s Extra Life craziness and some personal things on my end, I figured it’d be best to reschedule. We’re now set for November 10 at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT. Mark your calenders!
Unaware as to what Game Night is? Check out this post for lots of handy details.
Extra Life 2013 is over! Final details on the streaming schedule, prizes, events, and more
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Eggbusters, Features, Uncategorized | 7 Comments
Catch the stream here (8AM central time, November 2nd)
Hey guys! We’re just three days away from this year’s Extra Life 2013 gaming marathon for charity, and we have one last (okay, maybe the second to last) update for you on what we’re doing, when we’re doing it, and why you should consider participating. If you have no idea what Extra Life 2013 is, please check out this post.
The final schedule for the event has been worked out, and you can view it after the break. It includes things like video game jeopardy (where we ask the questions and you guys answer them), Ask Seaman Anything (a Skype call-in segment), The Walking Dead LIVE! (yet another call-in segment), and much more. Please take a look at it after the break.
Oh, and we have PRIZES FOR YOU. That’s right: You can win prizes by donating or participating in the event in a very intuitive way thought up by Jack. Here’s how it’s going to work:
For every dollar you donate to the cause, you’ll get one pretend digital raffle ticket.
For every Jeopardy question you answer correctly, you’ll get one pretend digital raffle ticket
For every time you call in to the show, you’ll get one pretend digital raffle ticket
We’ll also be giving away raffle tickets to people that we consider outstanding participants. So if you do something cool or you make us laugh or whatever, we’ll give you extra raffle tickets!
When all is said and done, all of the raffle tickets will be bundled up and we’ll do drawings for fabulous prizes. Most (if not all) of the prizes are game download codes for Wii U, 3DS, PS3, Steam, etc etc. I can’t promise that we’ll give away anything crazy (no game systems or huge retail games or anything), but hopefully the ability to win some neato games will be enticing enough to get you to participate. More details to come on the day of.
More: extra life, highlight
Here’s a Podcast – Episode 64!
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 5 Comments
The 64th episode means a tribute to Nintendo’s 64-bit console is in order! Aside from that we talk a lot about Pokémon X and Y, Wind Waker HD (and how it holds up), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, answer a lot of listener mail, and go over your news. In addition, we’ve got into about our Extra Life 25-hour marathon here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kusOu1k72hs
This Week’s Podcast Crew: Austin, Jack, and Laura
Download this episode (click this link)
Subscribe via iTunes by clicking this thing!
Subscribe with Google by clicking this thing!
Subscribe with Yahoo something-or-other by clicking this thing!
[Review] Pokémon X & Y
Posted on 11 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 3 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 12th, 2013
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
Author: Patrick
By this point I shouldn’t have to explain what this long-running RPG series is about. The coming of age story of an adventurous kid and their menagerie of bizarre monsters has been constantly repeated over the last fifteen years with a very gradual evolution in the gameplay. While I enjoyed Pokémon Black, White and their sequels, the lack of meaningful mechanical changes that came with staying on one console for too long started to set in and I was hopeful that X & Y would breath new life into some of the staler aspects of the series. Now that the series finally makes the jump to the 3DS, does it manage to revitalise the franchise with new features while still capturing the same je ne sais quoi as the other titles? Well I think it does, at least.
[Feature] Eggbusters – Kirby’s Adventure
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Eggbusters, Features | 0 comments
This is another episode of this show. Next week is a season finale of sorts, so we’ll be taking a short break before the next season starts up!
More: eggbusters, famicom, highlight, kirby's adventure, nes
[Interview] VD-Dev talks IronFall – StreetPass support, tech details, and lots more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Interviews, Wii U | 7 Comments
Despite only releasing a single off-screen image from the project thus far, VD-Dev is already turning heads with IronFall. The new 3DS eShop game, a brand new third-person shooter with Gears of War-styled gameplay, has caught the attention of many for its seemingly-impressive visuals. The attention thus far is deserved – VD-Dev is the same team which managed to bring a full open world to the DS (see C.O.P. The Recruit).
We recently caught up with VD-Dev co-founder Fernando Velez to learn more about IronFall. For our full interview, read on below.
