A great idea draws near! Command?

Hopefully you cast “Read On,” because it sounds like NEStalgia creator, Ben Mallahan, has made something really special. Described as “Dragon Warrior 3 meets World of Warcraft,” NEStalgia combines all the charm of 8bit RPGs with the MMO genre.

More than just a superficial hybrid, the game also brings the turn based mechanics of old school RPGs into an MMO setting. You can team up with a party of other players across one of the available small scale servers or fight each other in some PvP battles. There’s even an auction house where you can trade your epic loot between other players. (more…)

"Every goblins crazy 'bout a sharp dressed goblin."

There was a lot of hoopla this week with the release of Blizzard’s newest expansion for their massively successful MMORPG, World of Warcraft Cataclysm. This time around, it’s not just about adding new races and end-game content. Blizzard went so far as to rework the entire “old world” (the content from the base game) as well. The good news is that even if you only have the main game with no expansions you get a ton of updates.

First off, I should say that while I have spent a decent amount of time with World of Warcraft, I am not a hardcore player. I don’t know the nitty gritty of how to be awesome at fishing, for example. Heck, my highest ever character is only in the level 40 range (there are now 85 levels for those that need more context). I am what’s known as an “altaholic”. I enjoy creating new characters and trying out different race/class combinations.

But that aside, there are quite a few things in this expansion that benefit even the most casual of WoW players.

(more…)

On a very special ninety-fifth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we find our heroes facing off against the worst thing that could ever happen to the audio format: Sound Killers. Oh sure, they sound like a crappy heavy-metal band, but they are out to end all sound as we know it.

This week, the guys talk about a wide variety of games, including The Secret of Monkey Island, World of Warcraft, Donkey Kong Country Returns, VVVVVV, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, Puzzle Agent, Sonic Colors, and Pac-Man CE DX.

We also discuss the news (meager as it is) and the new games coming out this week.

Download

RSS

iTunes (Subscribe and Rate the show!)

On a very special twenty-sixth episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast”, the Gregory clan takes on the touchy subject of in-game advertising when they “talk about stuff”.

In “What We’ve Been Playing”, Jesse has taken advantage of the recent Steam independent game sales so he has been playing through the entire CHRONOTORIOUS album in “AudioSurf”. He then goes on to discuss the album and why you should go pre-order it right now.

(more…)

by Russ Walsh

On a very special episode of Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast, Jonah has finally finished playing Mass Effect. Welcome to 2008, ass!

Jesse is still trying to finish Sir Togsef, the off-the-wall juggle-combo-tastic RPG for the DS. Wesley, once again guest hosting, has been fending off zombies invading his garden in Popcaps’ new “Plants VS Zombies”. It turns out those guys know how to make an addictive game. Meanwhile Brittany has picked up Personal Cooking Trainer on the DS, which is an electronic cook book, and not a game at all! She also started playing Odin Sphere again.

(more…)

The Internet is credited and accused of many things, almost all of which are true. The flow of information has become almost instantaneous among the more developed nations allowing soldiers in Iraq to talk to loved ones at home, businessmen to converse between Turkey and Hawaii, and news to be spread and accessed by millions of people before it can even be verified. For the generation that came after the Baby Boomers and who grew up with computers being fairly commonplace by the time most of them were old enough to care, the Internet has arguably done more to shape the world as they understand it than any other singular entity.

(more…)

On a very special eleventh episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse and Jonah tells us the wonders of “Excite Bots: Trick Racing” for the Wii. It’s not just racing, it’s sandwich making. “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time” turns out not to just have a ludicrously long title, but to be the FFCC game we’ve been waiting for. As it turns out “Rock Revolution” is not worth the $10 price point it has been discounted to. Orange Box and Steam are both awesome, but you already knew that, and it turns out we like the PSP… in theory.

(more…)