GenGAMEcast 019: Gangsters in Space
If you didn’t see us live on Tuesday night at the GenGAME Live channel, check out the recording of our show! Subscribe to the GenGAMEcast in iTunes in either Audio or Video.
This show was recorded live on December 28th 2011.
Xbox Live Marketplace Deal of the Week: Jan 3rd
This week’s Deal has 2 games for it. This Deal is good through Jan 9th and available for Xbox Live Gold Members. There are also 4 new games being added to the On-Demand library.
Deal of the Week
| Title | Original | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| Uno | 400 MSPoints | 200 MSPoints |
| Dance Central – “I Gottta Feeling” – The Black Eyed Peas | 240 MSPoints | 160 MSPoints |
On-Demand
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
| Record of Agarest War Zero | $29.99 |
| Super Street Figher IV | $29.99 |
| Backbreaker | $19.99 |
| Naughty Bear | $19.99 |
3DS Hits Four Million Mark in the US
Nintendo has been pushing it’s three fronted sale this holiday season with the 3DS, Wii, and DS.
Nintendo sold over 12 million hardware units in 2011 which has been a streak for 5 years now. This is just 2011′s numbers and 2012 looks to be more promising with a slew of new titles. It was a rocky start for the 3DS with the $250 price tag, but with the price drop, bundles, and releases like Mario Kart 7, Ocarina of Time 3D, Starfox 3D, and Super Mario 3D Land the 3DS picked up in sales to reach the 4 million mark.
2011 Sales:
-4.5 million Wii units
-4 million 3DS systems
-~3.4 million DS systems
Nintendo’s full statement from January 3rd is as follows:
Driven by Fast-Selling Software Nintendo 3DS Sells More in Its First Nine Months Than Wii Did
REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 3, 2012 – Whether they were on the go or at home, whether they played in 2D on the TV or in glasses-free 3D in their hands, gamers of all ages celebrated the holidays with Mario™ and Zelda™. Super Mario 3D Land™ and Mario Kart™ 7 for the Nintendo 3DS™ system not only became the fastest-selling titles in the history of their respective franchises when they launched, but they are now also the first Nintendo 3DS titles to sell 1 million units each in the United States. On the console side, The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword, which also broke launch records, became the 45th Wii™ title to sell more than 1 million units in the United States.
“One of the strongest software lineups in our history helped Nintendo have a great holiday season and to close 2011 with a full head of steam,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Not only have the new Mario and Zelda titles already broken records, but with strong reviews and satisfied customers sharing their positive experiences, all three are also shaping up to be the latest long-tail titles from Nintendo. Couple that with a massive first- and third party lineup in the first part of the year and the prospects for 2012 are extremely promising.”
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Minecraft Mod of the Week: BuildCraft
Are you getting tired of the old medieval Minecraft? Well now you can take Minecraft into the industrial age with the BuildCraft mod by Space Toad. You can use this mod to make automatic factories that will produce anything you want, or mine away massive holes in the ground for building materials. This mod will add many things to your boring old Minecraft world. For example it makes it so that oil will spawn when the world generates. Now oil does not have that many uses in the mod yet, but you are able to pump it into tanks to store or take it to a refinery to be turned into gasoline. You are also able to pump lava and water but don’t get confused and accidently place down normal pipes instead of waterproof ones. Some of the pipes that are available to use in this mod are:
- Gold pipe- Put a redstone torch by it and it will speed up anything that passes through it
- Obsidian pipe- Want to make an automatic reed farm? Put these under the water on the farm and anything that falls on them is collected
- Waterproof pipe- Used for transporting liquids
- Cobblestone, wood, stone, iron transport pipes- Used for transportation of blocks from quarries or chests
- Power pipe- Used for transporting power
A lot of these different pipes will come in handy when building your industrial work force. This mod also adds a lot of different machines that you can use:
- Automatic crafting table- Will automatically craft the thing you want when it gets the supplies
- Mining well- Mines straight down collecting materials until it hits bedrock
- Quarry- A very large mining site that will mine in the framed area until it has reached bedrock or lava(takes a lot of diamonds to make)
- Tank- Used for storing liquids
- Pump- Used to pump lava, water, and oil
- Refinery- Turns oil into fuel
- Filler- Will fill or clear areas
- Engines- You will need these to activate certain machines
These are just some of the many things you can do with this mod. If you would like to learn more follow this link here and check it out.
Recipes-http://www.mod-buildcraft.com/documentation/recipes/
Kevin’s Reflection: Mario Kart
The Mario franchise started off huge on the NES early in it’s run. While Mario Kart didn’t come around until the SNES, Nintendo’s red and blue garbed plumber was an instant hit in his platformer games. It wasn’t long until the cast of Mario characters expanded and we saw these colorful characters in games that weren’t the classic platformers. I’m talking Super Mario Kart here. Many other titles that have been successful like Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and other ‘spin-off’ titles but Mario Kart is one that is the most recognized. The main one we’ll focus on here is Mario Kart which was one of the earlier ‘spin-off’ Mario titles on the Super Nintendo.
Long before the 64 bit era with 3D graphics we had the first Mario Kart title which used Mode 7 graphics that were heavily utilized in various titles on the Super Nintendo. Games like R-Type, and F-Zero in particular. F-Zero was a launch title for the SNES, but compared to Mario Kart it sadly pales in comparison. Despite F-Zero being a great game, Mario Kart offered up colorful levels, beautiful graphics, great controls, fun items to use, and of course everyones favorite characters. Without getting into a comparison chart here, let’s just say that Mario Kart for the SNES was simply a fun game to play. I personally remember playing two player battle mode against friends, my sisters, and cousins for hours as we passed the controllers around to whoever’s turn it was. This type of racing game had yet to be so successful because it was so unique.
The Mario Kart formula continued when Nintendo entered the 64-bit era with Mario Kart 64. A 3D racer which stuck to what was already there on the Super Nintendo. The cast of characters changed with Koopa being switched out with a newer character Wario, and Donkey Kong Jr. being switched out with Donkey Kong who had been more established with Rare’s Donkey Kong titles. When it came to the Nintendo 64 it was either Mario Kart 64 or Diddy Kong Racing. I luckily got both experiences but never owned Diddy Kong Racing, so I’m more partial to Mario Kart. The big thing here for me was multiplayer. 4 players could race at once which was something that the Super Nintendo didn’t have. Sadly Super Mario Kart didn’t support multitap so we didn’t see 4 player races until Mario Kart 64. The Nintendo 64′s 4 controller ports made this game last for ages, and to this day I still play this game. Of course with every update we see new items, characters, and levels but the true blue mold for the Mario Kart genre in my opinion started with Super Mario Kart, and was tailored with Mario Kart 64 to a fine point.
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