Option Menu Crew Podcast

*Note, this episode was recorded before the reveal of the Nintendo Switch OLED Model*

This episode kicks off our mini-series of discussions focusing on the major gaming platforms. We start with Nintendo. We give a little personal history with the consoles and games. Taking into account what was announced at E3 2021, we share our thoughts and feelings of where we would like to see Nintendo go in the future.

Next episode is Playstation!

Nintendo finally announces the next model of Switch and...well...it's not quite what we expected/suspected/hoped. Rumors of the Switch Pro have led to this moment and we felt strong enough about the reveal of Nintendo Switch (OLED model) to do another React episode.

We look at the E3 news, decide what we care about and what we don't, and go over how this full-digital E3 faired in our enthusiast opinions. It was certainly an interesting year for video games, but there were definitely pleasant surprises.

On this episode, we discuss Difficulty settings in videos. All the different types out there, the various assistive modes and customizable variables that help players choose what kind of experience they want in the game.

We discuss video game reviews - How we feel about review scores versus no scores, what is and isn't useful information, how Game-as-Service models and DLC should factor into reviews, and much more.

This week's episode is another in the monetization series. We discuss what the base price of games should be, what currently goes into the pricing, and how we think and feel about how the various aspects of modern games (DLC, microtransactions, etc.) could or should affect the base price of games.

We realize this is a huge topic and this will not be the last time we talk about this. Look forward to more facets of video game monetization being discussed and/or revisited in future episodes!

On this episode, we each pretend to take over complete creative control of one of our favorite video game franchises, taking over directing duties for all future game developments. We go over what new kinds of games we would create, how we would treat the historical entries of the series, and more.

This week, we discuss video game controllers. The history of their designs, what features we like, what we don't, and how we want them to evolve going forward. We get into the different console controllers of Xbox, Nintendo, and Playstation, along with third-party controllers, premium controllers, and the experimental like the Steam controller.

On this episode we talk about video game merchandise. The items we have, the types we like and want to see more of, topping it all off with merch that doesn't exist yet. This includes special and collector's edition items along with plenty of standalone items. Of course, amiibo come up a lot for us but Playstation and Xbox merch are definitely in the mix.  We only touch on a fraction of possible items so feel free to mention others in the comments. We'll probably do another episode on this topic in the future.

On this episode, we have some fun and imagine we get to make video game themed wishes from a magical genie. We discuss our individual 3 wishes, and then come to a consensus on one set, along with a bonus wish with a Monkey's Paw style drawback.  As always with Genie wishes, there are rules. These were ours: 

1. You can't wish for more wishes or do-overs. 

2. You can't wish for every to be free. 

3. You can't wish for a real person to die (video games characters are allowed).