Additional Pylons Cody Kloock & Steve Knuaer

This week: Marketing! Assassin's Creed! More marketing! But first, Cody and Steve cover some other things...

LIKE ASSASSIN'S CREED!
This week saw the release of Assassin's Creed Syndicate and it (much to our surprise) received pretty stellar reviews. Reviews good enough to warrant Cody deciding to go out and pick it up. And he was not disappointed. The change of setting and the much appreciated re-focus on the single player portion of the game (they completely removed the multiplayer aspect) makes this one fantastic. Keep an eye out for a Let's Play or streaming or a review in the near future.

Then we're joined by Sean Burke to discuss video game marketing. Video game marketing is in a bit of a discovery phase, where some companies are spending too much and overloading consumers with footage, both real and rendered, of games that they they so desperately need you to buy. And then there are other companies, ones that don't spend nearly enough on a marketing budget, mostly because they are smaller studios with smaller budgets.

But that really brings up more questions, which we discuss in the episode, like if there is really a need for this much marketing when it comes to entertainment. Our weirdest finding, however, is that Assassin's Creed Syndicate got, what seems to be, the least amount of marketing of any other Assassin's Creed game and it ended up being one of the best games in the series in years.

Then we finish off the episode by talking to Sean about the games he is most excited about. The obvious answer is Fallout 4...but we think Sean's was something else.

What are your thoughts on video game marketing? 
Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play and Trylons on YouTube! If you’re feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

 

(Music: Halloween Panic by Barzoom , Flames Inside by Lethalix , Dancing Naked by TheFatRat / Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image: GameSpot ) 

We're back! We're both back! Steve and Cody make a valiant return after missing each other terribly. So they cover a little bit of everything.


Steve talks about some of the things Whitney and Cody talked about during their talk about sequels a few weeks ago (which you can find right here!)
Nintendo: Last week, Nintendo revealed a little bit of information about their yet unannounced but still upcoming platform, the NX, which is some type of console/handheld hybrid thing. Color us excited. [via Kotaku]

Then we're joined by Jordan Coombs from Warballoon to discuss Star Command Galaxies, a procedurally-generated space exploration game where you get to take your crew on crazy space adventures! They talk about how great the game is going to be once all of the modules are updated and added via monthly updates. Which brought the gang to their next topic: Early Access and how the majority of people don't quite understand the concept anymore. Is it because demos ruined us all as kids? Is it because we don't understand what "early access" means? Or is it because there is just too much out there for us to choose between that when something isn't perfect we lose our minds? Maybe all three? Maybe none of them? Who knows? What do you think?

You can buy Star Command Galaxies on Steam for $19.99! You can follow them on Twitter @StarCommandGame and on Facebook here.

 

What are your thoughts on Early Access games on Steam?
Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play and Trylons on YouTube! If you’re feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

 

(Music: Calculator City by Jusu-Tengu , Dream Came True by SpeTheof , Energy by DJStriden / Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image: Reddit ) 

Cody and Steve have decided that occasionally they are going to look back and repost an episode that they think is particularly good. One of their favorites. This is the first episode we've decided to do and it features one of our dear friends, Tobias, as our guest to talk about Star Wars video games! 

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Cody and Steve talk a little bit of news,

This week in news:


Mortal Kombat is glorious and amazing and brutal and you can't tell me otherwise [via Kotaku]
Say goodbye to any shred of productivity because  now you can play Hearthstone on your Android and Apple devices [viaPolygon]
OH MY GOD STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT IS HAPPENING! IT'S REAL YOU GUYS! [via GameSpot]

Then they sit down with resident Star Wars enthusiast Tobias Ellis to talk about the recent Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars Battlefront trailers. They talk about all of the good times they've had playing Knights of the Old Republic and the X-Wing games.

They also talk, extensively, about how amazing the Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to be and speculate on what the trailer might mean for the series. Watch the trailer. Go do it now. [via YouTube]

There have been a lot of great Star Wars games and a few not so great ones. What's your favorite Star Wars game?

Tobias Ellis is the co-host of the always informative, always interesting, always fantastic Block Bluster! You can find him on Twitter@callmetobias and @blockblusterpod!

*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT*

In the spirit of Star Wars, the Alien Angel Podcast Network will be hosting a special May the 4th Be With You event at Dave & Busters in Virginia Beach, VA. The event will be on May 4, 2015. Be sure to RSVP on Facebook to keep up to date on any details.

Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play on YouTube! If you're feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

(Music: Club Cantina by Genraltweet, Mire by Conal, Star Wars Theme Remix by SargeantJohnson. Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image:Imgur)

This week, Steve is sick. There appears to be some sort of weird pattern. Maybe next week. we'll both be sick. Anyway! Whitney is filling in for Steve this week because she is a good dude.

Whitney and Cody talk about a local Nintendo-themed burlesque show that Whitney went to and then they talk about some news.


The Assassin's Creed Film is Coming: The cast of the Assassin's Creed movie just got even more impressive with the addition of Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson to the cast. They are joining Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard to play their respective fathers. [via GameSpot]

Then we decided to tackle the age old question of: are sequels as important as we're making them out to be? The answer is a little bit more complicated than we originally thought. Obviously, it's always exciting when developers decide to further a beloved series (looking at you Bethesda) but sometimes it's really refreshing to see an all new idea make it big. Even Call of Duty was an original thought at one point instead of the yearly release of sequel after sequel.

What are your thoughts on sequels? Tell us below in the comments!
Big thanks to everyone who answered our Facebook question about sequels. We appreciated all of your answers and we've chosen and announced our winners in the episode! Thanks for playing and be on the lookout for future giveaways!

Have an idea for a future episode of Additional Pylons? Want to be a guest on the show? Want to tell us we’re super handsome? Shoot us an email at additionalpylonspodcast@gmail.com!

Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play and Trylons on YouTube! If you’re feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

(Music: Glitch Chase by Kolter , Clockwork Calamity by stratkat , -Sunwalker- by Waterflame / Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image: Amazon ) 

This week, Cody is sick. So they talk about that. And then they talk about about news!


Black Ops 3: Steve wrote an article over at GameZone about some upcoming eSports stuff with the upcoming Call of Duty installment. Also, Black Ops 3 won't have a campaign on last-gen consoles (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3). [via Polygon]
The Dwarves: An indie developer is on Kickstarter to get some funding for their upcoming game exploring the lore and culture of dwarves. The game looks exciting. Go throw some money at it. [via Kickstarter]
Rainbow Six: Siege: The upcoming installment in the Rainbow Six series won't have a single-player campaign because...why would anything have single-player anymore, right? [via Polygon]

Then the gang sits down to discuss the death of the JRPG. JRPGs were in their prime in the early 90s throught the middle of the 2000s and then...something just kind of happened and they suddenly became less of the dominating culture force that they were. In the United States, at least. With the rise of first person shooters and the increasing quality of Western RPGs (Skyrim, Dragon Age, Fallout), the JRPG sort of fell of the radar for a lot of gamers. Now there are even Japanese companies, known for their own RPG styles that have started creating Western RPGs (Dragons Dogma, Bloodborne) that have found tremendous success in the US market.

Do you think JRPGs are a dying breed in the US? Can they rise back to dominance? What is your favorite JRPG? 

Have an idea for a future episode of Additional Pylons? Want to be a guest on the show? Want to tell us we’re super handsome? Shoot us an email at additionalpylonspodcast@gmail.com!

Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play and Trylons on YouTube! If you’re feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

(Music: Nitrogen (MD2015) by Djjaner , Final Fantasy Victory Theme WITH LYRICS by brentalfloss , Xtrullor - Ichor by Xtrullor  / Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image: pixgood )

We did it! Wow! 50 episodes of your favorite video game podcast!

This week, Steve and Cody talk about their favorite episodes of the show over the past year. Some of those favorites included:


Episode 6: The Fallout After the Fallout Debate with Patrick McCoy
Any of of our Indie Spotlight episodes

Children of Morta with Amir Fassihi
Reflections with Tristan Moore
Dropsy the Clown with Jay Tholen


Episode 21: Video Game Movies and Shovelware with Tobias Ellis

Then we're joined by our long-lost-friend-of-the-show Whitney Brundage to talk about our favorite games of all time. Cody gets sad about his favorite series. Steve's favorite series doesn't surprise anyone at all. And Whitney's favorite game is super obvious. What are our favorite games? What are our favorite series? The answers might surprise you...probably not. But maybe! We also talk about our fan submissions and about the games that they chose as their favorites.  

Thanks to everyone who submitted an answer! 

*THANKS*
We just want to take a moment and thank everyone who has been a guest on the show over the last year. Talking about gaming and the industry and everything in between. We've had a lot of fun over the last 50 episodes and we're excited to do it for 50 more.

Have an idea for a future episode of Additional Pylons? Want to be a guest on the show? Want to tell us we’re super handsome? Shoot us an email at additionalpylonspodcast@gmail.com!

Like Additional Pylons on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @AddPylons! Follow Cody @IndieLumberjack and Steven @ActuallyAkiba! Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes! Check out Pylons Play and Trylons on YouTube! If you’re feeling generous, donate to our Patreon!

(Music: Super Mario 3 World 1 by KHMS , Star Ocean 2 - Bunny hop by Chronamut , Persona4 Heartbeat Cover by AEPfx ,LastTowers - Great Job! by sonicsneakers

 / Intro: Blackout City by Anamanaguchi. Image: Eskipaper )