Welcome to 2P START’s, ‘Name That Game’. This is something I thought up recently and I hope you enjoy it. If you all like it well enough, I may make it a regular occurring blog post here. So here’s how it works: Above, you’ll see a small portion of a much larger picture. This picture is some sort of official artwork for a videogame. It could be a screenshot, or box art, or a flyer, or anything the publisher put out related to the game. Your challenge is to figure out which game it’s from. If no one guesses correctly in a reasonable amount of time, I’ll expand the window a bit and let you see a little more. This is a ‘just for fun’ contest, but I may include winner’s names and past contests in our Contest section alongside the Trivia for You winners from the podcast. So without further ado, can you Name That Game?

[Update]: It is indeed Pac-Man! The artwork is from the side of the cabinet from the original arcade version of the game. Great job Jared (and the others who guessed right)! I’ll have another up in a day or so, so check back soon!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to record the podcast last night because my Vista laptop has gone haywire. I’m not sure what the problem is or how to fix it, but hopefully tonight we have a workaround and you’ll have your podcast tomorrow, just in time for April Fool’s Day! Sorry about the delay, but I’ll make it up to you with a fun post later today.

We’ve gotten lots of comments this week saying the podcast is too short. Ray and I have always tried to make it short because we feel most podcasts are too long. But maybe we’re off, maybe you like the sound of our voices more than we do! Here’s your chance to set us straight once and for all. Please vote in the poll if you have listened to our podcast in the past and have an opinion as to how long it should be. Also, feel free to leave comments below giving suggestions for more segments or topic ideas (if we make it longer, we’ll need more to talk about!).

In this edition, Tim and Ray go back to their roots with a short and sweet podcast weighing in at about 15 minutes! Kind of like how Sonic Unleashed may go back to Sonic’s 2-D roots (not holding our breath). Check it out!
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 Ep. 22: Sonic Cash-In [15:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Ep. 22: Sonic Cash-In [15:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

With the release of Sega Superstars Tennis this week, we got much of the same from Sega: a missed opportunity. While not the worst Sega game in recent memory, I read many reviews saying things like: “lack of online is an insult to Wii gamers”, “untapped potential”, “passable”, and “lacking any staying power”. While some reviewers enjoyed the game, I found few people saying it was great. This brought a bigger question to mind. What was the last GREAT Sega title we saw? How often DOES Sega go the extra mile? I decided to look at all Sega games in the last couple years on MetaCritic to get the answers to those questions. Here are my results:

The average score for a title with Sonic in it is 66.5, LOWER than the average score for all their games.

To compare, I looked at the last 20 U.S. Nintendo releases:

The average score for a title with Mario in it is 85.75, MUCH HIGHER than the average score for all their games.

I think this says a lot about both companies. While Nintendo is capable of some duds, their best games are much better than Sega’s best. Even if you take out both company’s best and worst 3, Nintendo still trumps Sega by 10 points (78 to 68). So the average Nintendo game is of much better quality than the average Sega game. Also, they clearly treat their most prized franchise better than Sega does. Here’s more proof of that: The best Sonic game was made by Nintendo (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) and the worst Mario game was made by Sega (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games).

What do you guys think? Is this merely intriguing or is it a must-buy? I have no doubt Guitar Hero: On Tour will sell millions, and that attachment looks pretty cool, but for me, Guitar Hero is about holding a Guitar, blaring high quality sound through your home entertainment system, and rocking out with your friends. I can’t imagine you’d feel like a rock star holding a DS, with mediocre sound, by yourself. If you watch the little commercial on the IGN page, I think you’ll know what I’m talking about. When they show the kids playing the DS with the touch screen strumming, it just looks a little weak. That’s not to say it won’t be fun, and I know it’ll be much better than the hot-selling cell phone version of the game, but it still won’t be the same. It does look like there will be some extra features like blowing out fires from pyrotechnics gone wrong by blowing into the DS mic, or signing autographs on the touch screen for raving fans. We’ll see if those add to the fun or take away from the action. And there will be some nice multiplayer action too, which is a must. I will say that this is a no-brainer for Activision and I’m glad to see they’re putting the effort in to make this a quality release.

This week Tim and Ray discuss the science of comic-making and what goes on behind the scenes of 2P START! While the process isn’t really that interesting, hopefully this podcast is, so check it out!
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 Ep. 21: Comic Talk [31:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Ep. 21: Comic Talk [31:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download