New threads (with text)

So what's going on at Giant Bomb?

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:43:37 +0000

I've never been to the site nor listened to a podcast of there's, but the Twitters is fired up about this.

Apparently their bombcast is getting split in half. Paying members get the second hour the week of, everyone else gets it the following week. I dont know how this is even possible in iTunes.

The GB crew has been damage controling and talking about how they need to do this to stay afloat. If thats the way they are going to stay afloat, then they better just shut down now. They cite man hours as why the bombcast has been a problem. They should have either cut it down or offered a video version to paying members.

They should know better than to expect people that are relatively cheap with everything digital to be okay with essentially paying for a podcast.

Canadian "Xbox News" Dashboard App

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:34:33 +0000

Have any of you Canucks been checking out the Xbox News app at all? When it first launched a few weeks ago I watched a few episodes and basically wrote it off as another half-baked app for the 360. The format was horrible and the news stories were pretty lame.

Then I watched it yesterday and was treated to footage of a Covenant attack. That broadcast ended with the "station" being invaded and the signal going dead. Today was a distorted colour bar with the news anchor's voice begging that someone come find her and rescue her.

I've gotta hand it to Microsoft. I didn't see that coming.

Xbox Live Indie Games

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:44:53 +0000

So I did the rare thing of plugging my original Xbox's ethernet cable into my 360, just to browse what downloadable games are out there, hoping I'd see something that would catch my eye. I noticed the indie game section, something I've heard about, but never really looked into.

I'm sorry if there's already a topic on indie games, but yeah. I'm blind to any and all indie games. What are the best ones do you guys think? Is there a site you guys would recommend reading indie game reviews? A few looked kind of interesting, but I'd still like to know more before I pay even the 80 allards it would cost.

iPhone Game Center IDs

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:47:12 +0000

edit - see thread in video games - mods please close
Not sure if there are any games out there yet but if there are feel free to add me to your friends

id = lactose

Apple Gamecenter is Live

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:03:56 +0000

Mine is of course:

LevityNYC

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:03:51 +0000

So, did anyone/is anyone picking this game up?

Surprisingly enough, it's gotten some solid reviews from a few places so far.

IGN- 8.0
Game Informer- 8.5
Gamepro- 4.5/5

For those interested, you can read my initial impressions of the game here (after an hour and a half of playtime).

PS: So for those keeping score, according to Game Informer, this game is significantly better than Metroid: Other M. LOL

And there goes Xbox #3

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:08:45 +0000

Luckily the old standby is still here.

Help me finish ODST

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:43:31 +0000

This game is pissing me off. I'm on the second mission in the game, playing on the normal difficulty setting, and for some reason I no longer have any soldiers with me and I've got shit for weapons, but I'm expected to take on an army of enemies like this. WTF? Did the game glitch out or something? Am I supposed to have more help here? This game is effing hard.

I just want to finish up the campaign for this game before Reach next week.

Episode 202 (09/06/10) - PAX 2010

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:45:52 +0000

This week! CJ is live from Penny Arcade Expo 2010 with guests Justin McElroy (of Joystiq), Chris Baker (of Marvel Entertainment), John Ricciardi (of 8-4) and Shane Bettenhausen (of Ignition Entertainment).

Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We've got an app for that--the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you'll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.

Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!

Running time: 1:13:32

This week's links:
Joystiq.com
My Brother My Brother and Me
Marvel Entertainment
8-4
Ignition Entertainment
@cbake76 Twitter
@johntv Twitter
@justinmcelroy Twitter
@shanewatch Twitter

Direct download: 09_06_10-Episode202.mp3

Game Reproductions

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:03:57 +0000

For those who don't know, game reproductions are cartridge games that are opened up and had their EEPROM chips reburned and replaced with the game data of something else. Doing this allows you to play a completely different game on the original hardware it was intended for. While it is possible to reproduce other commercial games in this way, nearly all reproduction sellers will refuse to do this on moral grounds.

Instead, game reproductioners produce real, playable cartridges out of games that were finished/near finished but never released, fan translations, or ROM hacks. In these cases, were and are not available for purchase, so nobody is losing money over reproductions. It is also extremely unlikely the original companies will ever provide them for sale again in the future.

While game reproductions achieve the same goal as emulation, there's just something great about owning a real cartridge and playing it as it was meant to but didn't quite end up happening for one reason or another.

Since it is extremely unlikely that companies today will choose to put out unreleased games, their own translations of decades old Japanese-only games or god forbid, ROM hacks, I'm a very strong supporter of reproductions. If any game repro were to come out in some digital service, I would buy it right away to show support, but again, this is very unlikely to happen.

The reason I thought to start this topic here was because I finally got my copy of Megaman The Wily Wars in the mail. It is a reproduction of the North American version only available on the short-lived Sega Channel. It works perfectly on all US models of the Genesis (even the Nomad!) and has a working battery for saving and approaching that all-awesome Wily Tower.

I also have Earthbound, Mother 1, for the NES. It was finished but unreleased. I would still buy this game if it were ever to come out on the VC. It's a true gem.

Another cool repro I've got is Star Fox 2, similarly finished yet unreleased. It's a great half way point between the original Star Fox and 64. I'm happy to own it.

Next is Seiken Densetsu 3, a fan translation of this epic RPG that will probably never see the light of day in North America. Every bit as timeless a classic as Chrono Trigger, and worth every penny I spent on it.

Rounding out my reproductions is my English copy of Phoenix Wright style text-adventure game Famicom Detective Club Part 2: The Girl in Back. This was a custom reproduction made by a friend of a friend out of an old copy of Equinox. To my knowledge, this is the only reproduction of that Japanese-only Nintendo Power game.

My only future goal is to find someone who can flash GBA games and get Mother 3's fan translation on my Japanese Mother 3 cartridge.

So now I put it to you guys. So game reproductions. Who here has any? What ones? Recommended sellers? Thoughts? Sorry for a somewhat long post. Just wanted to get it out in one sitting.