Insert Coin Theater

We discuss what we’re playing and what’s coming up. Namely, more Fallout 4, Guild Wars 2, ESO, and the R6 Siege beta, and the upcoming Just Cause 3. Then we play a new game called Quotation Conundrum, a game where a quote is said and the players (Jorge and Reki and you, the audience) determine […]

(http://www.insertcointheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Episode-40-1024x576.png) The amazing chiptune artist & musician Josh Zimmerman joins us for some rousing games discussion, covering game consoles as we know them, exclusives, Nintendo, No Man's Sky and much more. Josh also releases his new album, Interstellar Pen Pals, on the show! Check out Interstellar Pen Pals at http://joshzimmerman1.bandcamp.com and pick up a copy! It's super awesome! Thanks to Josh for joining us for this episode! Watch live on Twitch at 6:30 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater Visit our website at http://www.insertcointheater.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qswprYoAZvQ

(http://www.insertcointheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Episode-39-1024x576.png) Tim, Jorge and Reki are discussing game clones (such as WoW clones, Diablo-likes, and the new wave of Hearthstone duplicates), user reviews versus critic reviews, DLC hate and Amiibo love, and more! Watch live on Twitch at 6:30 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater Visit our website at http://www.insertcointheater.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5Jo54p_WQ

(http://www.insertcointheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Episode-38-1024x576.png) Ben Burnes joins us once again for an awesome talk about some of his newer works! He shares some music from indie game projects he's worked on, such as Magbot and The Maker's Eden: Act 2. We discuss exclusives, nostalgia, games as art, and much more in this fantastic episode. Check out the amazing Ben Burnes at http://www.abstractionmusic.com - visit his Bandcamp and get his music for a donation of your choice! Check out Magbot: http://gordgames.itch.io/magbot Check out The Maker's Eden: http://makerseden.screwylightbulb.com/ Watch live on Twitch at 6:30 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater Visit our website at http://www.insertcointheater.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xj7F2g39jI

(http://www.insertcointheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Episode-37-1024x576.png) Jorge, Tim and Reki discuss gaming genres, themes, and mechanics, as well as the future of gaming (the far future) and some games we can't wait for. Also, Reki joins us for the full episode! Watch live on Twitch starting at 6:30 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater Visit our site at http://www.insertcointheater.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-4O-KXvkJA

We have a moment of silence for the fallen mighty, Mr. Iwata, CEO of Nintendo. He will be missed by gamers the world over. We also talk about what we've been playing and some of our favorites and why. We then dig into a delicious (and not-so-delicious) box of sweets from Japan Crate! Hope you enjoy this extra-long episode of the show this week!

(http://www.insertcointheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Episode-35.png) We're wrapping up our E3 2015 coverage a week late as we review our most exciting moments from E3 and what we're most looking forward to in the next couple years of gaming. Final Fantasy VII Remake? Check. Fallout 4? Check. The Last Guardian? Check. It's all here. Let's review. Watch it on YouTube here! (https://youtu.be/ybCjlsMV4to)

Jorge and Tim discuss E3 so far and what the press conferences had to offer. Some good stuff crammed in that we weren't expecting at all! Bethesda, EA and Microsoft's conferences covered in this episode. Watch live at 6:30 PM EST on http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater

Tim and Jorge discuss E3 2015 expectations and predictions (and some of our dreams too). We go panel by panel and give our thoughts and hopes for the show - Bethesda, Sony, Nintendo, EA and more! Watch live every Monday at 6:30 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater (http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater)!

Tim and Jorge discuss remaking retro games, either as HD remakes or from the ground up. We also take some viewer discussion points and meander into the world of cutscenes and quicktime events. Music by the always awesome Zigauche. Check him out at employ his services at http://danielstoker.jimdo.com. Watch live at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater Mondays from 6:30 PM EST. Check us out at http://www.insertcointheater.com.

Episode 29 is here! Tim and Jorge are talking one of their favorite topics: co-op gaming! We discuss the definition of co-op, as well as the pet peeves, games we think should have co-op, and our fondest co-op memories. Plus, some viewer questions! Music is Generate the World by Zimbolt. http://www.soundcloud.com/zimbolt Watch live at http://www.twitch.tv/insertcointheater @ 6:30 PM EST on Mondays Check out our site at http://www.insertcointheater.com for our Facebook, Twitter, and more!

We've got our special guest Josh Zimmerman this episode! Check him out at https://soundcloud.com/jz88k and http://joshzimmerman1.bandcamp.com. Thanks so much for joining us. We hear his song Jim, Joan And Their 2.5 Children which is an amazing chiptune. We talk about just about everything, from Quidditch, movies (???), beta vs. demo, early access, HD re-releases and much more. This episode dedicated to the William & Mary Quidditch Team!

Sorry for getting this out so late this evening. Working on a ton of stuff right now and I got distracted.

Episode 15 is flying off the shelves! Who're we kidding - we're not on any shelves. We have music from the ineffable Kawfy - check out Kawfy's Bandcamp at http://kawfy.bandcamp.com. Get the album Longcat Central - it's free, but you should add on a couple dollars when you get it because it's AWESOME. We also have music from Borderlands by Jesper Kyd, Gratuitous Space Battles by Jesse Hopkins, and Monster Party by Masaki Hashimoto. Thanks for being awesome! A huge array of topics are covered, but mainly we (tried) to focus on whether broken games could be avoided or if the complexity of said games and the ready availability of patching is a crutch; The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited; the effect of YouTube and Twitch streams on game quality and attention for games; whether cinematic playthroughs are piracy; and if the 10% off from Sony for the PSN downtime around Christmas was ample.   Music Borderlands - Welcome to Fyrestone By Jesper Kyd The game was originally advertised to have "87 Bazillion" types of guns (Obviously a fictional number). The actual amount is 16,164,886. Gearbox's Randy Pitchford had previously stated the number was around 17,750,000, somewhat close to the actual gun count. Monster Party (NES) - Level 1 World of Horror By Masaki Hashimoto This was a request from Misha. This game is interesting, because prototype images released in Japan before release in the US showed a much darker and more graphically complex version. Interestingly, the game was allowed to retain large amounts of blood and the use of the word “hell.” This is interesting mainly because Nintendo was extremely strict in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s with regards to censorship. Strangely enough, the game was never released in Japan. Tegaki By Kawfy Kawfy is a Caffeine Powered Robot from central CA. Working on a few albums and will continue to release singles both included and separate from the albums. Check out and support on bandcamp. His very first album, Longcat Central is available for free download or your choice price. http://kawfy.bandcamp.com Gratuitous Space Battles - Alliance Battle By Jesse Hopkins GSB got its start as a “dictator simulation” in the same vein as Kudos and Democracy which are games by the same developer, eventually finding its roots as the 2D space warfare simulation we find today. Topics DEFINITELY: Elder Scrolls Online re-launching as The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. It won’t be fully free-to-play, as you still need to buy the game to play, similar to Guild Wars 2. However, you can subscribe for 30, 90, or 180 day durations to ESO Plus, which gives access to all DLC released during that time. Along with that, ESO Plus members get character progression bonuses and a monthly allotment of purchasable currency much like SW:TOR does. MAYBE: Broken games on release - are developers and publishers relying too much on patching and DLC? IGN put out a good article covering how back in the olden days of gaming, once a game was released that was it - no patching, no DLC, no content updates. It was released and it had to work. Nowadays we have games that have portions that don’t work for days and in some cases weeks at a time. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/19/how-you-can-help-put-a-stop-to-broken-games From Ben Burnes: What do you think the effect has been that YouTube Let’s Plays and Twitch gaming streaming has had on the market of games in general? Do you think it has helped keep poorly created games out of the spotlight since it is so easy to access reviews and playthroughs? Also from Ben: Should watching playthroughs showing off cinematics (ie Cinematic Playthroughs) be considered pirating the game, as you see the entirety of the game without paying for it? Ben says he utilizes these sorts of things to help him know a game when he doesn’t have time to play it. Does this damage the industry as a whole or is it free advertising about the game quality?

This 14th episode of Insert Coin Theater features a very special guest: Ben Burnes of abstractionmusic.com! He brings his own POV on games and joins in our discussion to bring some much-needed class to the show. Music from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Koji Kondo), Uniracers (Colin Anderson) and of course, The Maker's Eden, Act I (Ben Burnes)! We discuss games as art, what makes classic games timeless, and potential resurgence of Rare titles from Microsoft. We talk a bit about No Man's Sky (no surprise there), and also talk with Ben Burnes and learn a bit about him, his experience, and what makes him tick. Also we get to meet Trey, our newest addition to ICT, as Managing Editor. Please visit Ben's site at http://www.abstractionmusic.com and follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ben_burnes. Video games as art topic came from http://www.lookingoutmyownwindow.com - thanks for sharing, and giving us the opportunity to  explore such a diverse and varied topic. What makes classic games timeless topic was from Xenotechie on http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming. The No Man's Sky soundtrack article Ben mentioned can be found here: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/22/creating-the-infinite-soundtrack-of-no-man-s-sky.aspx. The speed-run from AGDQ 2014 he mentioned can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU0fEc2PeSI The rest of the show notes are after the break! Music The Maker’s Eden, Act 1 - A Lost Soul By Ben Burnes Ben introduces this. The Maker’s Eden is a game available on Steam and the first official soundtrack he completed. He is working on act 2 right now (which is set to be released in a few months, hopefully!) The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask - Deku Palace By Koji Kondo Majora's Mask has the least number of dungeons of any game in the Zelda series, containing only four on the main world. While there are technically four more on the moon, they are small, contain no bosses, and are completely optional, requiring a set number of happy masks to access each one. Uniracers - 1st Race By Colin Anderson Uniracers, which is called Unirally in the EU, is a Super NES game centered around riding unicycles around a 2D track. It was developed by DMA Designs, which later became Rockstar, developers of Grand Theft Auto and the Red Dead series. DMA Designs was sued by Pixar shortly after game launch as the unicycle allegedly copied the design from their 1987 short Red’s Dream. Pixar won, and the game was pulled from shelves by Nintendo after only shipping 300,000 copies. Chiptune: Abstraction - Sanctuary By Ben Burnes Ben introduces this. Discussion Topics Talk to Ben a bit about himself, his works, favorite shade of blue (just kidding!), etc. Another interesting topic from Lookingoutmyownwindow.com discussing video games as art. Some games, it happens naturally, and is widely imitated: Zelda, GTA, Halo are some examples. Sometimes, it’s a unique one-off: Okami and Rez come to mind. Others, it’s forced and trite, and is unappreciated: can’t really think of an example here. Finally, there are some poorly designed in all and not necessarily forced, but rushed and it shows: Shadow the Hedgehog, the original ending to Mass Effect 3, the new SimCity. So, what makes a game art and what makes it not? Once more on the nostalgia train, Xenotechie on reddit asked the question: what makes a classic game timeless? When revisiting some games, we get that sinking feeling that we could be playing something better. Is this a product of “nostalgia goggles” or is it something else? Gamespot says that Microsoft has renewed the trademark on Rare titles such as Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and others will return in the near- and long-term future. This not only means those games will come back, but we may see Viva Pinata, Blast Corps, and Battletoads return as well. Is this positive or negative?