PPR 39

We return to our normal broadcasting schedule this week with Episode 39 of Press Pause Radio. On this episode we announce that we have a new member to the team, the lovely and talented Catie a.k.a Squid_inator. She apparently really loves squids and camaros (that's a car, right?) and will now be a regular contributor to the site and podcast. We discuss recent news with Nintendo's next console, and painfully remember embarassing moments in gaming. The crew then weighs in on the evolution and future of narrative in video games. With so much interactive storytelling in games today, are linear stories no longer a worthwhile experience? Or can both forms co-exist in gaming harmony? That question and many more will be answered in this lengthy episode. Thanks for listening and be sure to rate and review us on iTunes and Zune, so you can be as cool as this guy.

PPR Episode 39

Sony and the Future of Digital Distribution

Members of the gaming community are well aware of the recent events surrounding Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) and its failure to protect consumer data. Because of this, the public might become a little more wary of digital transactions.

In the past decade, more companies have shifted towards digital distribution. It makes your favorite games easier to buy, while offering opportunities for smaller developers to also publish games. Services like Steam -- possibly the best example of "correct" digital distribution to date -- also allow online shoppers to receive great discounts on many popular titles. Unfortunately, in other cases, it's also giving some publishers and developers more control than most consumers want them to have. Some of the personal requirements are also ridiculous, making it mandatory for users to input vital information if they wish to obtain and download software. 

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New Shirt to help Japan is available for Pre-order!

With the natural disasters that have occurred recently within Japan, it's not just a matter of assisting a nation that has had such an impact on the industry we cherish, but to come together and help our fellow man. 

Press Pause Radio has taken the initiative to create a new shirt within it's store line-up that was created for that very sole purpose of gathering any money that we can to assist our friends in the east. The shirt as you can see, carries a bold statement, but it is a statement that speaks volumes towards a sentiment of proving that our culture is much more than an oblivious bunch too concerned withing the scope of their own "first-world problems."

Pre-orders are available now by visiting our store at presspauseradio.com or you can click here. The shirts with shipping included are $20 total and will shipped out no later than May 19th, 2011. We encourage all of our fans to join up in arms and pledge any help we can towards the land of the rising sun with a bitchin' shirt to spread the message!

Fire Fall Multiplayer Impressions: Three Reasons to Get Involved

Whether you're a hardcore gamer or casual player, it's not hard to spot that the gaming medium has an abundance of military shooters, new and old alike. Same weapons most of the time, same options and always the exact same desert like scenery, always meant to reflect the stages of modern warfare (no reference intended) we find ourselves involved with as a planet. These repeated combat scenarios -- though still highly entertaining to most -- still leave many of us to ask, where has the classic futuristic shooter gone?

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Quarter Circle Forward: Painting the Town with De Blob 2

Recently, I have desired a break from my typical slew of Action Adventure, story based, RPG element assimilated games. A much needed breather from difficult moral decisions and complicated characterizations for a simpler means of fun. So I picked up De Blob 2 for the Xbox360 and I was pleasantly surprised, but then the true disappointment hit me.

On the exterior, De Blob 2 is a platformer with a twist. Instead of simply getting from point A to point B, you have to paint things along the way to advance. It is mostly 3D, but it throws in a couple sections of 2D platforming in each stage to be trendy, and there are power ups that can be leveled up to add extra gameplay “depth.”

But buried beneath the mostly cookie cutter gameplay of De Blob 2, is an incredibly addictive musical feature. Each color in De Blob has a different distinct “sound” or instrument giving the game a brilliant synesthesia experience. As you traverse the environments and paint the town red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and brown each instrument joins into the melody resulting in the gradual composition of a funky tune. For example, painting a bench the color red will create a groovy trumpet solo over the underlying melody. Or splattering a building with brown produces a cool DJ record scratch. It is simple, yet addicting. You begin with a quiet and empty black and white city canvas and slowly, everything you touch is brought to life with color and sound.

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Games Club: Ikaruga & Contest

 

We wanted to announce that upon our return and the insane prediction that Serraxor made with Ikaruga being the final game of the PAX EAST 2011 Omegathon, we chose it to be our next Games Club! To commemorate our most recent Games Club with Ikaruga, we have decided to present you guys with a pretty rad contest. The rules are simple, each of us from Press Pause Radio that took part in the Games Club will take a picture of our top score for stage 1 of Ikaruga. We'll post the pictures via the Forum thread for our website forum. Where do you come in? The first one of you to take picture of your own score that beats all of our scores (individual scores, not a totaled amount) will win the contest, well what the fuck is exactly that you win? Glad you asked.

The winner will be able to take home the prize of codes that we would message you. One code is for a shiny Microsoft points card worth 1600 points, and the other is a code that will give you the chance to download the new digital record "Where The Air Is Thin" by our very own Serraxor.

So what are you guys waiting for? Go the fuck at it! Also make sure to tune into to the latest Games Club episode, it's a killer.

Games Club: Ikaruga

Quarter Circle Forward PAX East 2011 Edition: Swarm

There is a certain charm behind the age old phrase of "no pain, no gain". Enter the epidemic that is Swarm. A score chaser down to its very core, Swarm doesn't pull any punches it what can simply be compared to a Modern day Pac-man like experience with some Chinese water torture thrown in for good measure. 

 

 

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tagged PAX East 2011, Quarter Circle Forward Review | in Articles

Quarter Circle Forward: Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D

A logo shouting “DINOSAURS” caught my eye initially. The little kid inside me gave those puppy dog eyes and said, “BUY IT!” with a curled lip. Thirty seconds later forty bucks was deducted from my account and I was off with my first Nintendo 3DS game purchase.

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