Inside The Console: 2010

Featured Discussion: Valve and Changing the World

I have said many times that I am a PC gamer but really, I should be saying I am now a Valve gamer, and the definitive versions of their games happen to be on the PC; everything else is just overlap. One might even go so far to say that I’m a fanboy, but an absolutely necessary part of being a Valve devotee is complaining very loudly when they make any sort of misstep, they listen to and even encourage such behavior, such feedback from the community strongly influences updates for their games. Valve also freely gives away their SDK (to anyone that buys one of their Source based games) and portions of their games’ source code so that if someone has a great idea for a mod, they can make it; if Valve particularly likes your mod (Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, Garry’s Mod) they will hire you and make your mod into a retail game. This does have actual bearing on consoles as Valve has fully supported the Xbox 360 with their last two games, Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 step for step with the PC version so they seem to be a genuine console developer now. The reason I am talking about Valve so much is not just because I adore their games and how they support them post-release (I do) but because they are one of the few (only, as far as I can tell) developers that are expanding their games and services onto more platforms, and those platforms are equal in their eyes, you don’t own TF2 for PC, you own TF2. What brought this thought was this piece of news:
[Link], shocking, no?

A week ago I got a message on Facebook the other day from my cousin Nick. He wanted to know if we could hook up our Wiis to play some online games. I don't know too many people who play online games on the Wii, so I thought it was a great idea. Since then it has been an absolute mess to try and connect our Wiis online. I had to find my console's friend code number thing, and send it to Nick over email. He had to do the same for me, and after we had both punched our Wii numbers in we wanted to get down to some game playing. Trouble is, he has several games but none are online enabled. I have a few games, but only one, Mario Kart, is online enabled. Even if he did have Mario Kart, we would have to exchange another series of friend codes, and then we would be able to play but not chat or interact in any way except if we both called each other on the phone while we played. In short, Nintendo's online strategy is a disaster from top to bottom.

This one takes us back to the good old days of the N64 again, to a game that was one of my personal favorites at the time. Though nearly impossible, in fact I never beat the game without cheat codes, launching dead bodies in the air with a grenade launcher was a great time.

So in preparation for my first featured post I did all sorts of research. Yet no matter how much I looked I couldn’t find anywhere in either the original ADA or any of its more recent iterations that covered gaming. Lots of stuff about ramps, buildings, hiring practices… But nothing about gaming.

Continuing our greatest series of all time is the second part in our three-part set of episodes on the evolution of controllers. John and I, coupled with some of our first-ever voicemails, had a great discussion on the then-current generation of controllers.

So it may not be completely related to gaming, but who doesn't love some Pixar? My lovely wife graced me with an Xbox Live subscription, and we immediately used it to watch Monsters Inc. thanks to Netflix.

It was announced this past week by Activision that they closed Red Octane, the studio responsible for the original Guitar Hero concept. Among other closings and layoffs, most of the staff at Red Octane has been let go.

John comes through with flying colors yet again in his quest to mix Mountain Dew and booze in every possible way. This week we're using the delicious Livewire variety for our Alcoholic Drink of the Week.

After last week's discussion on the iPad and how it may impact portable gaming, I felt that a talk about the future of portable gaming as a whole needed to happen. Ever since the iPhone came out coming up on three years ago, followed by the App Store one year later, the talks and rumors have gone so far as to claim that the iPhone platform is the future and that Apple is going to enter the gaming arena themselves. I think this is a little far-fetched, but let's take a look at the current state of the handheld, and imagine what the future might hold.

When Fil and I set out to do this podcast oh so many years ago we didn't really know what to expect. Honestly I think either of us would have been shocked if it took off and became huge. The more we got going though the more we thought it could be good. This episode was probably the first that really made us sit up and think.

There's still a ton of stuff in the ITC Swag Bin for us to give away, so we're going for an easier trivia this week. I know I saw an Xbox 360 towel in there (no it's not pink), and some Xbox 360 eye black stickers. We'll even make it a three-part trivia, so click through and show us what you know.

For every man, woman, child and not-that-into-football husbands who married into football crazy families and are doing their best, who were rooting for the Indianapolis Colts, this candle is for you.

So I've finally ran out of my bargain-bin energy drinks and terrible excuses for drinks for the game, and with that in mind, it's with delight that I return to our old staple, Drinks Mixer for today's Non-Alcoholic Drink of the Week...

With the introduction of the Apple iPad, the technology community has been abuzz with commentary: what is it? What is it for? Will it replace Netbooks? And while I'm not sure I have a good answer to any of these questions, or even anything useful to add to the overall iPad dialogue, I do have to wonder how it will affect the state of handheld gaming. And my answer? Significantly.

Hoth. That is all.

It must be back-in-time week here at ITC. The last time we mentioned the Intellivision was probably on our "history of consoles" episodes, and maybe on our three-part "evolution of controllers" series. Anyhow, this trivia goes way back in time to before video games had voice-acting.

Some may not believe it, and it's kind of hard to believe myself, but it is in fact true. After settling into parenthood and the routines and little free time that come along with it, I have finally put an end to my long-running, not-entirely-on-purpose...

The recent release of Capcom's retro-styled Mega Man 9 for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 had us reliving our youthful adventures with Mega Man, Dr. Light, and all of their friends. One that we've long been fond of is Rush, the robotic dog that can change into a spring, a surfboard, or even a jet. This week we bring to you...

A while back, I purchased WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 09 for the Xbox 360. I’m a wrestling fan, and it’s been a while since I played a wrestling game, that, and I got it cheap. The set up in game is similar to the real thing; your guy comes into the arena to theme music, walks to the ring while doing whatever poses you select for him to do, then he waits for his opponent, who does the same.

I find it funny to think back now and realize that the concept of in game advertising was new and different to us. At that time there was so much going on that brought it to the forefront of our minds. Whether it was the advertising in Madden or Burnout or just the chances of advertising in less traditional methods.

We all know that Yoshi has been around since the days of Super Mario World, and (hopefully) we've all seen and have on DVD the epic Super Mario Bros. film. If you don't, well, we need to talk. Our question this week is this: Who designed the robotic Yoshi used in the film? Our prize? A mini, squishy Xbox 360 football.

Again with the lameness this week (see the "non-alcoholic" drink), but nobody answered last week's trivia question, so it's still there. And it's sad, there's a prize and everything. C'mon people, a little Google, a little Wikipedia, it can't be too hard.

What does Cranky Kong drink to keep himself going when he's doing whatever it is that he does? Truth is, nobody really knows. What we do know, is that there's never anything that isn't good enough for a promotional item, so this week, our 8-Bit Style drink brings you...

In some ways I feel a little bit like Rip Van Winkle or Han Solo after being released from his Carbonite chamber. In college I was an avid video gamer, and even though I mostly owned Nintendo consoles and Macintosh computers, I managed to stay fairly current with a lot of the games and gaming trends. After graduating, moving to Minnesota, and starting my career as a teacher, I found that video games took a back seat to lots of other things. My job kept me so busy that when I had time to play video games, I rarely did as I didn't really find them to be relaxing or even enjoyable (levels I could not beat only frustrated me, since I didn't have much time to devote to a game in the first place). We did get a Wii, though, and I did enjoy playing (dare I say it?) casual games with my wife and our friends, but it was never the same as the late nights spent playing Halo or Resident Evil in college. And to be honest, I just didn't play video games all that much.

Thinking back four years ago, it's hard to imagine the Xbox Live Marketplace even existing. Heck, it's hard to even imagine Xbox Live existing in any form, let alone like it exists today. Microsoft really changed the game by giving gamers a centralized place right on their consoles to purchase "arcade" games, DLC for their disc-based games, wallpapers, and a whole lot more.

This week our candle takes a more serious turn. We light it in memory of all the lives lost and lives affected because of the earthquake that struck Haiti last week. Please pray for those who have lost loved ones, homes, and everything else they hold dear. If you haven't already, please donate to the Red Cross to aid in their relief effort.

I have had a love/hate relationship with coffee over the years. Firstly, I can hardly stand the way it tastes black, or even marginally close to black. It has to be masked with enough cream, sugar, chocolate, mint, or whatever else to make you forget what you're really drinking. So this week I present my current personal coffee drink.

Where do you see gaming going in 2010? This was actually the discussion topic of ITC's 149th episode, which was lost to the abyss, so we're going to start off our new site with this topic since it's fresh in our minds. 2010 promises a lot of interesting changes to the world of gaming, and we want to explore the possibilities and hedge our bets on what we think we'll be seeing in gaming in the coming year. Some things of interest are Sony's as-of-yet unnamed motion controller, as well as Microsoft's still-codenamed Project Natal. We are also curious to see if Nintendo will do anything new to push the Wii even harder.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, God said, "Let there be Lips!"...

You read that right folks. Of course, anyone who's been listening to ITC for a while has known about this for a few months, but the regularly-scheduled episodes of Inside The Console will no longer happen. We light this week's candle for ourselves, and the last four years of awesome podcasting.

How many letter O's are there in the title of the famous N64 Kid video on YouTube? You know the one I'm talking about, don't you? The prize? A five-pack of randomly-colored DS Lite Styli. Styluses? PDA-inspired "writing" utensils? Yeah, those things.

So, as some things change, others stay the same. Continuing with the years-long Mountain Dew trend, this week's Inside The Console Drinking Game Drink of the Week Alcoholic Style is...

The relaunch of Inside The Console is happening on January 12th, not January 11th as planned. In the spirit of the show, there have been some technical difficulties that set us back a bit. Check back then for a brand new Featured Discussion, as well as throwbacks to the ITC Podcast which include re-airing of our original episodes, Trivia, Candle topics and, of course, the Drinking Game. See you soon.

Featured Discussion: Valve and Changing the World

Featured Discussion: Does Nintendo Care?

Trivia: It's In The Fog

Featured Discussion: Gaming Covered Under the ADA?

Retro: Controllers in the Present

Trivia: Monsters Inc.

Candle: Red Octane

Drinking Game: Livewire

Featured Discussion: The Future of the Handheld

Retro: Controllers in the Past

Trivia: Drinks All Around

Candle: Soopah Bowl

Drinking Game: Cheesecake

Featured Discussion: iPadding

Retro: Star Wars

Trivia: Intellivision?

Candle: I'm Gaming Again

Drinking Game - Mega Man 9

Featured Discussion: Advertising Revisited

Retro: In-Game Advertising

Trivia: Yoshi Again?

Candle: Unanswered Trivia

Drinking Game: Donkey Kong is Here!

Featured Discussion: Gaming Awakening

Retro: Xbox Live Marketplace

Trivia: Yoshi!

Candle: Haiti Earthquake

Drinking Game: Coffee

Featured Discussion: Gaming in 2010

Retro: The Very First ITC

Candle: The Next Generation

Trivia: Nintendo Sixty Four!

Drinking Game: Princess Peach?

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