In the latest episode of Played, we kick off with discussion of Nintendo’s ban on designer Shigeru Miyamoto discussing his personal hobbies, then launch straight into what we’re playing.
Xbox Live Arcade is a big theme, with Chris and Mark playing Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (and making unsolicited comparisons to Everyday Shooter) and Chris taking on Braid. Liz has been into Soul Calibur IV, but less into its absurd achievements.
Finally, Mark has returned to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune again, and he finally finished The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess almost two years after its release.
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Played - Episode 44: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (101)
Played - Episode 44 [48:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (585)
Amazingly, we’re already back, the week after our previous episode. This time, Chris covers the San Diego Comic-Con and tacks on a bit of residual E3 discussion, including High Voltage’s impressive Wii shooter The Conduit, Lionhead’s Fable 2, and Bethesda’s Fallout 3.
As we move on to what we’ve been playing, Mark revisits Mass Effect and BioShock yet again, and seeths with anger over Siren: Blood Curse’s terrible installation. Elizabeth admits to boss battle brutality in Space Invaders: Extreme, and Chris has been playing a trio of turn-based titles on Xbox 360: Civilization Revolution, Ticket to Ride, and Catan.
Finally, we address the reactions of two successful musicians, Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and John Mayer of John Mayer, to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Chris rebuts. Plus: Everday Shooter! It’s still awesome!
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We’ve got a lot to talk about now that E3 has come and gone, but first we revel in the excitement of Blizzard’s recent Diablo III announcement! Then Elizabeth forces Chris to explain how he got Nintendo to inadvertently announce Pikmin 3 at this years E3. Then we move on to the games, including: Left 4 Dead, Mirror’s Edge, Dragon Age: Origins, Rage, GTA:Chinatown Wars, Microsoft’s new Dashboard design, Too Human, and much more!
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The Played crew kicks off this episode with ill-advised conspiratorial rantings about what Blizzard will announce during its Paris Worldwide Invitational this Saturday. We’re hoping and praying for Diablo III. We expect to be crushingly disappointed.
After that, it’s straight on to what we’ve been playing, with the lion’s share of discussion devoted to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. We follow up last week’s Demiurge Studios interview with some more discussion about the PC version of Mass Effect, then talk about Space Invaders Extreme and LEGO Indiana Jones.
Oh–there’s an introduction by David Hayter too!
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The bulk of this week’s show is spent with Albert Reed, studio manager of Massachusetts-based Demiurge Studios. Demiurge just shipped its PC version of BioWare’s acclaimed Mass Effect–and polished out the game’s edges in the process. Reed discusses his studio’s formation and experience, and its plans to launch its own original titles.
We wrap up the episode with Mark discussing GRID and Age of Conan–which Elizabeth has not played, to her dismay–while Chris touches on a recent visit to Valve, which saw the venerable developer make its case for the PC platform.
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As the Played crew slowly approaches something more closely resembling a regular schedule, we discuss the announcement of Guitar Hero World Tour and three games from the ex-Clover folks at PlatinumGames. Elsewhere in the news is a raising of the Xbox Live Arcade game size cap to 350MB, LucasArts dropping out of the ESA, and Microsoft getting a little overzealous in its attempt to cleanse Live of signs of homosexuality.
Mark speaks about Boom Blox on Wii and Echochrome on PlayStation Network, while Chris and Liz have mainly (and shamefully) been playing Scrabulous. Chris, however, has also checked out some real games: Rock Rock Revolution, Alone in the Dark, and N-Gage relaunch flagship title Reset Generation.
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We’re back, and only a week late this time! This episode kicks off with discussion of Playstation 3’s impressive install base in Europe, several publishers pulling out of this year’s E3 and one out of the ESA trade organization, and the controversial DRM solution announced for Spore and the upcoming PC version of Mass Effect.
We follow up those news briefs with a lengthy discussion of what we’ve been playing, the game that we haven’t been able to stop playing for days on end: Catan.
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For some reason, Mark kicks off this week’s month’s episode with a protracted story about his recent laser eye surgery. That strange escapade is followed by discussion of the recent Nintendo-dominated NPD sales figures for the US, the closure of long-time PC gaming mag Games for Windows (formerly Computer Gaming World), and the latest delay of PlayStation 3’s upcoming Home virtual world.
Chris reports on a recent Nintendo summit; Mark discusses God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP), Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (NDS), and Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (PS3); and Elizabeth has only been playing web games.
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