Game Buoy Podcast Episode 23 - The Always-On Paradigm

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Ahoy, mateys, and welcome to the Game Buoy podcast – your twice monthly port of call for gaming news and views that maybe aren’t on your radar, but most positively should be! On this episode, recorded Sunday, March 17, 2013, Captain Spike and his first mate, Slagkick, discuss the “always-on” paradigm in gaming in the wake of the SimCity kerfuffle.

FOLLOWING UP

– Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has been confirmed for PS4 release.

– Suda51 is “horny” for PS4 possibilities.

– Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey finished its Kickstarter campaign with $1.5 million.

– The Ouya will not have online chat, friends lists, or achievements at launch.

– Kingdom Hearts X[chi] will be a card-based game.

– The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages will hit the eShop before summer.

– Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D hits the NA and EU regions on May 24.

– The last episode of Retronauts has gone up.

– The Pikachu 3DS XL will hit March 24 alongside Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.

OMG NEWS

– Crysis 3 was ready to launch on Wii U, but Nintendo and EA couldn’t strike a deal.

– Dark Horse announced Mass Effect: Foundation, a new comic book mini-series, at Emerald City Comic Con.

– Tecmo Koei Canada is closing.

– SEGA has released Sonic Dash, an iOS endless runner.

– Lost Planet 3 will be released on June 25 in North America, with the European release three days later.

– Liberation Maiden has been ported to iOS.

– Dance Central DLC will be coming to an end.

– Drakengard 3 is coming to Japanese PS3s this year and will reuinite members of the original Cavia team.

– Pokémon Rumble U will use the Wii U GamePad’s NFC technology with Skylanders-like toys.

– Here’s the first look at the adorable Rumble U figures!

– Japanese dating sim Sentimental Graffiti is among the PSOne Imports that hit PSN.

– Ron Gilbert has parted ways with Double Fine Productions.

– The arcade game F-Zero AX has been discovered, in its entirety, on the F-Zero GX GameCube disc.

– The ESRB has changed the marketing rules for Rated M for Mature games.

– Level-5 may be bringing Guild02 games Bugs vs. Tanks and The Starship Damrey overseas.

– The credits for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX contain clips from Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth By Sleep, and coded.

– Saints Row 4 will be out on August 20.

– A new Civilization V expansion, Brave New World, hits this summer.

– Capcom is porting arcade classics Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara and Tower of Doom to PSN and Xbox Live Aracde.

– Doug TenNapel, creator of The Neverhood, has a new clay adventure game in the works for PC and Mac.

– Capcom and Valve have teamed up for a Resident Evil 6 x Left 4 Dead 2 crossover.

– Cyberpunk 2077 will have multiplayer, according to CD Projekt Red.

DISCUSSION TOPIC

This week, Captain Spike and First Mate Slagkick take a look at the always-on paradigm in gaming. They start by looking at three motivations for always-on connections: DRM motivated, design motivated, and marketing motivated. In this context, they explore Ubisoft’s shaky history with DRM and the issues surrounding Diablo III.

The main point of discussion, of course, is the recent SimCity debacle. EA and Maxis claim that the game cannot run offline and was designed as a multiplayer game, but how much truth is there to that? Modders and gaming enthusiasts suggest otherwise. Have EA and Maxis been lying to their customers while struggling to keep a game running and stripping it of features? How will this affect always-on features in future games, and what does this mean for EA and Maxis? All these topics and more are explored in the discussion of the week: The Always-On Paradigm.

Game Buoy Podcast Episode 23 – The Always-On Paradigm