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.
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. Click through for last week's answer...
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.