RPGCast - Episode 160: "Technical Issues"

[sabin1001]

RPGCast - Episode 160: "Technical Issues"

A short news week leads to a lot of wondering about what Nintendo's thinking with its new system's battery life. But don't despair, RPGs are still in the mix as we have a ton of details about Skyrim and then try to figure out Oblivion's leveling system.

You can find the links to all our stories on delicious: http://delicious.com/rpgamer/160

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The next show should be Saturday, January 22st at 9AM Pacific/Noon Eastern

[Rosestorm]

Today's show came out kind of buggy. Sorry i couldn't be on, I had to work.

[Shaymin]

Ah Xbox Live - a curious game. The only winning move is not to play.

The 3DS battery life doesn't bother me because I'll be playing with the wireless stuff turned off so I should be able to get a full day on the bus + a few hours at night and just cram it in the cradle. It's no worse than my cell phone in that regard.

[solo]

The solution to Oblivion's broken leveling system is twofold. Step 1: play on PC, use a leveling overhaul mod. If that fails, use Step 2: break the game in a different way! I used chameleon. There's also a whole page on the wiki on 100% chameleon, which I ended up going through most of the game using. No one can see you. Ever. The entire game becomes hilarious!

[caddyalan]

Hopefully this message isn't TL;DR...

I'm not sure how I feel about the 3DS at the moment. There's a lot of worrying factors:

* The system itself will be expensive, and may not include bundled software or accessories. It's tough to justify paying the full price for any console at launch, since there's always the chance it will fail, there will be a price drop, or an improved version will be made.

* Retail games will probably cost more than current DS games. And since there's some rather impressive games on mobile devices that only cost a dollar or two, that could make it tougher to justify purchasing 3DS games.

* I've heard that DSiWare can be transferred to the 3DS, but I don't know if DSiWare can be purchased with a 3DS.

* Can we expect significant improvement with 3DSWare or portable Virtual Console? Will the current trend of maybe one game per format per week continue?

* I don't know if it will be easy or reasonable to publish niche untranslated DS games on the 3DS. If that's possible, and publishers feel it's profitable, then fans will have a much better chance at seeing English versions of Ninokuni, or 7th Dragon, or Solatorobo, or any number of other games that don't sell bazillions.

* Limited battery life suggests it might not be very portable.

* This article -- http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comm...igue-dizziness -- states that a few people who tried the 3DS felt vaguely sick.

* The ability to use 3D images on one screen should theoretically make the system tougher to emulate. I don't know how long it will take before someone makes flash carts for the system. (Publishers have been fuming about DS game piracy. I suspect that one reason why so many DS games in the last few years are for kids and parents is that their demographic is more likely to buy actual game carts.)

* My biggest concern -- right now, the planned 3DS software library includes a lot of sequels, remakes, and spinoffs. I don't mind a well-made game in any of these categories. But in order to sell a system, it helps to have at least as many quality original games. That's what I liked about the original DS. After a year of glorified tech demos and gimmicky games, a lot of high quality unique games were published. And that's what surprised me about the PSP. There was a lot of early hype with the PSP, but after a few months, most of its games were sequels, remakes, and spinoffs.

I don't want to be negative, but unless I see a few really compelling 3DS games, I probably will wait to purchase the system.

[7thCircle]

As I said on the Best of 2010 cast, I don't see adult gamers having any reason to buy a 3DS early, and I don't think Nintendo is aiming for that demographic out the gate. It'll eventually be a must-own system like all Nintendo handhelds, but there's no reason to buy one right away unless you have children or you're addicted to having the latest techno-shiny, in which case things like battery life and launch titles don't matter anyway.

[EmeraldSuzaku]

One of my biggest concerns is the possibility of region locking. The DSI is already capable of it, though there aren't too many titles using it yet, but I rather like being able to play domestics and imports on the same handheld.

[Quin]

Possibility? I believe the 3DS has already been confirmed to be region locked.

[risingsun]

The solution to Oblivion's broken leveling system is twofold. Step 1: play on PC, use a leveling overhaul mod. If that fails, use Step 2: break the game in a different way! I used chameleon. There's also a whole page on the wiki on 100% chameleon, which I ended up going through most of the game using. No one can see you. Ever. The entire game becomes hilarious!

100% Chameleon you say? I just might have to do that. The funny thing is that playing on a PC and using a Mod is the solution to all of the problems in Bethesda games.

[sabin1001]

Next podcast will actually be Saturday, not Friday.

[Xybec Katta]

Sorry my question broke the podcast. Another great show despite the lack of news.

[silktail]

I watched the feed for the Game of the year podcast.
Admittedly not at the time though (I couldn't just get up 3 hours before work to watch it, sorry), but a couple of days later on catch up tv.
That said, I'm usually playing a game while I "watch" the podcast (they're hardly Starcraft!), so was only half heartedly watching it.


Are the Dragon Age scenes a lot like that scene in Team America? Oh and I thought Manny was trying to say American teen, makes more sense this way!

[caddyalan]

Possibility? I believe the 3DS has already been confirmed to be region locked.

And that's especially annoying when you realize how much the 3DS system will cost in the UK. (Granted, there's a long history of video game price differences in different regions of the world... but the high cost of owning the system might cause potential customers to be disinterested, import from the US, or wait for emulation and flash carts.)

A lot of 3DS news has just been announced on other sites. But an interesting article which I found thanks to Destructoid states that the 3DS will be triumphant over the next Sony portable system, even though the "PSP2" is still a mystery! (worksafe article at http://www.incgamers.com/News/26640/...ld-console-war )

[Ocelot]

Oh, that's just Pachter. He's not a particularly accurate analyst, though he seems to get a lot of press. I do think that the next generation handheld battle is Nintendo's to lose, though. If the 3D works as advertised and they can build a good software library, they've pretty much got it in the bag. I just don't see Sony being able to pull out anything that can beat them, though I do hope Sony learned some lessons from this gen. The PSP deserved more attention than it got.

[MasterChief]

Well, OF COURSE the 3DS will sell more hardware units worldwide. Pokemon alone will have scores of people buying multiple units to trade the newer kennel (Mike Vick's favorite game, maybe?), and of course the various iterations that people will buy every single one of because that's what they do. Seriously though, the handheld arena outside of Japan skews younger and in Japan, SE's apparently keeping Dragon Quest with Nintendo, so unless Sony can somehow pull a Mario out of their hats, it's not gonna happen for them.

That being said, one doesn't have to be the top selling console evar to be a profitable venture. This "console war" nonsense is a silly contrivance created by the media and fanned by idiot fanboys. The PSP sold great during its time, and would have had software sales to match if it weren't for the rampant piracy. If Sony can somehow make piracy a huge hassle on the PSP2, it's set to become a very, VERY satisfactory venture for them.

[CipherinthesnoW]

Hey guys, glad to see you survived the technical difficulties. XD

3DS: While I'm excited about it, I won't be buying it on launch. Pretty sure there will be a better version down the road, plus better titles.

TES Skyrim: It looks beautiful! I've read the article in Game Informer, and have seen the screenshots. I'd like to see it in action now. ^^

See ya next time.

[hoktomaster]

What time is it the podcast gonna be on this week?

[sabin1001]

What time is it the podcast gonna be on this week?

RPGCast streams live every Saturday at 9 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern.