After a long two-week absence, Shane Patterson rejoins the crew just in time to celebrate TalkRadar’s 18th birthday. With our podcast finally old enough to vote, buy cigarettes and go to the mall by itself, we briefly put aside our usual yammering for a weirdly serious talk about the ethics of software piracy.
The Tokyo Game Show used to be filled with eccentric Japanese titles, destined to be locked away from all but the most hardcore collectors. Those days are over. Almost every major upcoming title on show this year was confirmed for release outside of Japan.
The buddy format: maybe it’s two mismatched cops, butting heads as they crack a tough case. Maybe it’s a feisty animal and his wiseass, backpack-dwelling chum, venturing out of a grass-green hub-world. Wherever it crops up, the formula of “two stalwart friends off on a whirlwind adventure” is the basis for good times. But for every half-dozen Samwises and Chewbaccas, you’re bound to get a Dan Quayle or two.
Numbers. Man, there must be millions of ‘em. Seems like every other game on the shelf has a number in it. Boy, I bet you could count to a hundred using just videogame titles and related items. Let’s see if I’m right.
Islands are the biggest 'get-out-of-jail-free' cards in videogame design. Firstly, they allow developers to create a defined perimeter without having to explain away invisible walls with forcefields or malaria. It also gives them license to plausibly fill said island with anything from dinosaurs to trifle. It's an island – it can be anything it needs to be.
It was playing Treasure Island Dizzy recently that became the basis for this list. The excitement of an uncharted island to explore may not have changed over the years, but its execution certainly has. Where we used to play on islands of treasure or rainbows, we now face convicts, pimps and ninjas. Both kinds have their merits, but which is best? Let's find out...
Earlier this year we deduced that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder II – The Legend of Darkmoon is the longest game name out there. Reader comments quickly proved there were a few names out there just as long or even longer, but will you be able to find a name that’s shorter than those on this list?
Collected here are the simplest, monosyllabic game names we could dig up