Torchlight, a game from the team who brought us the ill-received Hellgate: London is the focus of the discussion at the beginning here. Although Hellgate: London was not a huge successe for Flagship Studios and they were forced to disband, many of the main team members have gone on to pursue another game in the Diablo-style click and collect RPG genre. In a surprisingly short time span they have delivered a $20, back-to-basics take on the genre. Platforms are yet to be announced, but XBLA and PSN are targerts for the game’s release.
John continues to pour the love on the mobile platforms with mentions of Soul Caliber: Broken Destiny, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge and others. This leads into a discussion about racing games and how sim-style games seem to have a monopoly on the market this year. Everyone laments the demise of Ridge Racer, yet the way that Need for Speed: Shift seems to be shifting peoples’ attention to the simulation racing genre, sim and arcade racer fans alike.
Listen UP seems to be one of the last popular game podcasts around that can get away with deep analyzing of NPDs in light of the current sales market for games. The guys spend a good 30 minutes talking about sales figures, and this certainly isn’t a bad thing. We like analytical conversation around here and you can be sure that we will have a lot to say about the current games climate in this week’s CM Podcast coming next Monday.
Covered games and topics: Torchlight, Shank, Soul Caliber: Broken Destiny PSP, NFS: Shift, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, The Beatles: Rock Band, Batman, NPDs
With David catching the PAX flu and Sam away in NYC John and Garnett tackle a massive show with the aid of Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt. In a wide ranging Whatcha Been Playin they get into Osmos, Torchlight, Need for Speed Shift, Motorstorm Arctic Edge, Soul Calibur Broken Destiny, Batman Arkham Asylum, and more. The second segment keeps up the pace beginning with a recap of the August NPD sales stats hot off the presses and afterward including Apple calling out the DS and PSP for a handheld console war, the announcement of a new 2D Sonic headed our way in 2010, and Left 4 Dead 2 Boycotters changing their minds after a trip to Valve.
Runtime – 1:39:25
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