With a bulk of the games industry embedded in the GDC trenches last weekend, Shoe manages to nab a couple of ex-EGM veterans and Gaijin Games’ Alex Neuse (of Bit.Trip fame) for this week’s Mobcast.  Appropriate to the venue, the show kicks off with impressions of the Playstation Move.  They take no time to criticize the hardware’s terrible title, though Alex does shine a little bit of light on the straightforward approach to the name.  However, the crew is in full agreement over the distasteful copying of the Wii experience, with Shoe specifically pointing out that he’s now anticipating Natal more as a gamer who wants something new.

The next topic asks why lots of modern games feel very similar, which leads to the almost unanimous decision that higher priced, AAA games practically require safe choices along the development route.  With Shane’s involvement in the business side of Ignition Entertainment, he has a unique perspective on the issue considering he has a place determining where that publisher money actually goes.

Mark’s topic digs up some bad games that are worth playing for reasons that aren’t easy to understand.  The show closes out with the almost obligatory discussion of Japanese games when Mark or Shane is on a show, but there are some fresh opinions considering the recent release of Final Fantasy XIII.

Former EGMers Shane Bettenhausen and Mark MacDonald join Gaijin Games‘ Alex Neuse and Bitmob’s Dan Hsu on this week’s episode of the Mobcast.

In this episode the guys relive past arguments, debate the state of Japanese game development, predict the success of the PlayStation Move, share mediocre game recommendations, and wonder why so many current games feel the same.

Runtime – 1:28:22

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