Podcast 12-1: I Can’t Remember Squirtman

Tech-Gaming Podcast 12-1This week the Tech-Gaming crew offers an extended analysis of the Wii U’s launch, examining both the system hardware, as well as titles such as NintendoLand, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed. Owners of other platforms will be happy to know that other hardware doesn’t get neglected, as we discuss Gravity Rush, Jet Set Radio, Planets Under Attack, and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend. Naturally, we offer game trivia and responses to listener questions, as well.

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About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

71 comments

  1. Oh, Jesus. I can see the joke “coming”.

  2. I’m excited to listen because I remember no one was too hot for the Wii U a few weeks ago. Now, I’ll see if anyone changed their mind.

    • I think I’m still in the same boat as before. What I’ve played is fun. I’ll get one eventually. The system does have a few technical hitches, but Nintendo is definitely not alone in that.

      My policy on new game platforms is is: Money permitting, if you EVER plan to adopt, you may as well adopt early.

      • Why’s that?

        Seems like yes, you get to play early and experience the launch hype, but you also have to pay a premium and deals with glitches and bugs.

        • Well, I suppose I’ve decided that the amount of time you have to wait for a “legit” price drop is just not worth the experiences you may be missing out on, or perhaps never have if you are forced to go back to it.

          Launch hype is probably the least attractive thing about it to me. Mostly it’s the option of getting in on the ground floor and making the most of the time and available software. A backlog is cheap to accumulate, except for the time.

          I’d still make sure to wait for bargains on the software itself though. A full-priced game here and there, if it’s really something special.

  3. Download the whole show while I stream.

    If the site crashes, then I am part of the problem. 😉

  4. Now all you guys have to do it change the top header to “Wii U” and you’ll be current to last month 😉

  5. No Sean or Sage? Nooooooooooo!

    Sean or Rob- did either of you know any of the Machinima staff that was laid off? Another blow to gaming journalism….

    • My take on the whole Machinima thing:

      I’m sorry to hear about good people losing their jobs, but this seemed to be inevitable. Machinima used to put out quality entertainment. Now, almost anyone who applied is accepted into their Youtube channel. Too much crap and not enough quality is what is killing the company.

      But again, that’s just the fault of the people in editorial. Not to sound like a dick or anything.

      • To me the handling feels weird. They just had an awards show which must have cost money (guys, probably not a good idea to have it so close to the VGAs, just saying) and then to announce openings the same day people got canned. Tacky.

    • Sean didn’t bring his ‘insider’ VGA talk. What the hell, man?

  6. SW The Old Republican

    Robert, so glad to hear you say good things about the Wii U. Maybe you can write an article in defense of the system and have it published at Kotaku.

    Seems like all they can do is rip on the system. Over and over.

  7. Looks like someone flipflopped on the Wii U.

    Just like every other journalist who said ME3 was GOTY, Game of the Decade, Second coming when it came out then never brought up the game at the end of the year. hypocrites.

  8. Glad to heard that Wii U upscaling looks good. I think you’re one of the few podcasts to give the system a fair shake. 99% of people are dooming it to failure.

    • My biggest problem with the Wii U has been that every time I come across a demo unit in stores, it only has videos. The one time I found a kiosk with the Rayman demo, the TV wasn’t working. Nintendo failed miserably with the Wii U’s store displays. There should have been a New Super Mario Bros. U and/or Nintendoland demo on every single one.

      I’ll tease the Wii U until the cows come home, but I don’t doubt its potential.

      • “There should have been a New Super Mario Bros. U and/or Nintendoland demo on every single one.”

        QFT.

        WTF was Nintendo thinking. I played around with the demo unit, say a bunch of videos and didn’t even notice the demo. What a clusterf**k.

  9. The Wii U could use a fair shake, but Robert didn’t seem to like NintendoLand too much. From what I plated I can see why. There’s almost no long term depth. It DOES look pretty though.

  10. No VGA talk? At least no one mentioned Tetris duing the Tech-Playing segment.

    • You know, we probably should have at least mentioned it.

      I like the VGAs, generally. But more to the point, I hate hearing people gripe about the VGAs. :p

  11. Yeah! I got my question answered. Too bad you don’t give prizes for them. 😉

  12. Squirtman does exist. He just hasn’t been in a Mega Man game to my knowledge.

  13. Walker, Texas Badguy

    Great trivia this week. Don’t listen to Jeremy, Robert.

    Oh and GalCon is awesome. Love those kind of games.

    • No, listen to me!

      Haha, nah, you all know I’m just kidding. Nobody else in the podcasting world puts the kind of effort into their show like DEagle does with his trivia. <3

  14. Speaking of PSASBR, has Sony ever said why Crash and Spyro didn’t make the cut?

    • Maybe Activion wanted too much money.

      BTW Hudson did get bought by Konami.

    • If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on DLC. Er, so to speak.

      Assuming they make enough money to even bother.

      • I’m hoping that PSASBR does well enough to get a sequel. What do you

        • A sequel would be pretty sweet, but if enough interest picks up, this game could have some pretty long legs by itself. I’d sorta prefer that, for a while. For the rest of this generation, even.

          • Hows the Vita version? Have any of you played it? Does the screen size hurt the experience?

          • I play the Vita version much more than the console version. I played it today during a lunch break, in fact! It’s just so quick to boot into it.

            It holds up really well, a direct translation with only a couple of exceptions. I mention in the show about the “touch to Item” control being kind of sketchy, but apart from that, it’s way gud.

          • Crap. I missed gamestop $20 sale. Hopefully the PS3 version will drop quick. It’s not exactly setting the sales charts afire.

  15. Good show this week, I liked the trio.

  16. Just finished listening. Good show, energy and great trivia. I’m a Blue Bomber fan.

  17. I liked the game discussions, but the Mega Man trivia was pure gold. One question Desert, why no interviews the last few shows?

  18. I might have to pick up Sonic Transformed. Are you guys planning a full review?

    • I didn’t know this was $40 until I heard you. Checked it out, and sure enough- you’re right.

      Picking up soon.

  19. So the F-Zero part of Nintendoland is not good? Shit,this is what I was looking forward to the most.

  20. BTW- Hanukkah and “The Family” aren’t mutually exclusive.

  21. Downloading now. I need something to listening to while I’m trying to find mall parking. May listen to the whole two hour show.

  22. I got to admit I like the triple team of Jer, Rob, and Blue. For the money, it may be the best lineup.

  23. I just might have to pull the trigger on Planets Under Attack. I like those kind of abstract RTS games.

    • It’s a pretty neat genre, and I remember being really impressed with Auralux when I first came across it. (It was called “Aurora” at the time.) They build some mechanics on top of this, so it’s not TOTALLY the distilled little RTS experience, but it’s still pretty cool, and it does its own thing.

  24. Have you guys ever sid why the podcast is biweekly? Is it Des’s schedule?

    I ask becuase I’d love a weekly show.

    • Yep, seconded.

    • Several schedules changed at the same time, if I remember correctly. Honestly, having two weeks between shows enables us to move on to different games more comfortably or at our own pace. There’s no mid-week rush to play something different just to have something new to talk about on the show. I guess you could say that it allows for a better snapshot into our individual gaming habits. I miss the weekly shows, too, but I think the current podcast schedule is for the best.

  25. Not a bad show this week.

  26. Every show needs a break to talk about musicals. Ive been listing to the bombcast for years and they haven’t given me that. 😉

    • Speaking of musicals, I forgot to mention that I watched the Radio City Christmas Special starring the Rockettes on Netflix last week. It was a lot of fun… doing a running commentary throughout the entire show.

      “C’mon high kicks!”

      We should do a spin-off podcast where we watch musicals and crack jokes at what’s happening, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style.

  27. Downloading now. I wish the eStore had more games like this.

  28. Not sure if serious face occurred when you guys were talking about musicals.

    Halo: The Musical. Who’s with me?