The Arcade

Nintendo News:

* Switch Officially Surpasses Wii U Lifetime Sales

* SNES Classic Edition Sales Hit 4 Million Units

* Nintendo Earns Buttload Of Money In Latest Earnings Report

* Switch Online Service Coming In September

* Nintendo Announces Mario Kart Coming To Smartphones

* Deal Announced For Mario Movie Made By Minions Studio

* Nintendo Labo Allows Users To Program Their Own Creations

EA News:

* Madden 18 Prediction Of Super Bowl LII Less Than Accurate

* EA Says Battlefront II Missed Sales Expectations, Microtransactions Returning In Months Ahead

* New Battlefield Game Coming In 2018, Anthem Officially Announced For 2019 Release

Miscellaneous News:

* Red Dead Redemption 2 Delayed Again, Now Coming In October

* Eurogamer Confirms 2018 Call Of Duty Game To Be Black Ops IV

* Facebook Announces Pilot Program For Game Streaming

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who can’t wait to see everyone feign interest for the next two weeks in Speed Skating, Luge, and Nordic Combined and then forget about them for the next four years.

Blast From The Past:

* Van Halen – Van Halen (Album / Feb. 10, 1978)

* Judas Priest – Stained Class (Album / Feb. 10, 1978)

* Strapping Young Lad – Strapping Young Lad (Album / Feb. 11, 2003)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Awesome Games Done Quick Raises Over $2.2 Million For Second Consecutive Year

* PUBG Developer Donating Up To $2 Million To Gaming Charities

News of the Week:

* Nintendo Announces Nintendo Labo

(learn more about Labo here, and watch the announcement here)

* Hyperkin Planning To Release A Game Boy Handheld This Summer

* Overwatch League Adds Toyota As New Sponsor

* Facebook Signs Deal To Become Sole Stream Provider For CS: GO, ESL One Leagues

* New God Of War Slated For April 20th Release

(watch the new trailer for it here)

* New Scribblenauts Game Announced, Coming To Consoles In March

(see the new Scribblenauts game in action here)

* RollerCoaster Tycoon Seeks Crowdfunding For Switch Version

(visit the crowdfunding page here and watch the sales pitch video here)

* Sega Announces Spiritual Successor To Theme Hospital

(watch the first trailer here)

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who curses his yearly flu shot for not working this year

Blast From The Past:

* No More Heroes (Wii / Jan. 22, 2008)

* MythBusters (TV Series / Jan. 23, 2003 – March 5, 2016)

Friends, this week The Arcade continues its look back on the past year with part two of our 2017 Year In Review.  On this episode, we’ll focus our attention on some of the ludicrous speedrunning and gaming accomplishments from the past year, stories involving crazy amounts of money, as well as a recap of the year in eSports.  We’ll also take a look ahead to the upcoming year in games, and what we can expect to see from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and some third-party companies.

What was discussed:

* The world of eSports in 2017

* Ludicrous speedrunning and gaming accomplishments in 2017

* Crazy amounts of money in 2017

* A look ahead to the games of 2018

Dennis’ Nickname:

The Reformed Caffeine Addict

Greetings friends, and welcome to 2018!  Hopefully, all of you out there survived the roller-coaster ride that was 2017, and we here at The Arcade are glad to be getting back into the swing of things after an enjoyable holiday break.  This week, we’ll take a look back at some of the bigger stories that played out last year for part one of our 2017 Year In Review.

The Big Topics of 2017:

* Nintendo: What A Difference A Year Can Make

* Microsoft Tries To Play Catch Up w/ Xbox One… Doesn’t Quite Get There

* PlayStation 4 Plays It Steady

* Loot Boxes: The Insidious New Way Game Companies Try To Get At Your Money

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man whose first nickname of 2018 is elaborate and expansive, much like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – a game he has been playing a lot of recently.

Friends, the holiday season is now upon and what better way to celebrate than with our 11th annual Christmas Music Special.  It’s easy to get bored and tired of the same Christmas songs year in and year out, which why we’ve have our noses to the grindstone working hard to dig up some rare gems you won’t hear anywhere else.

On this year’s program, we turn to the world of video games for the first-time ever for some new seasonal favorites from Nights into Dreams, Super Mario 3D World, Blue Stinger, Sonic 3D Blast, Mario Kart 8, and Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday.  Yes, you read that right, music from a Parasite Eve game has found its way onto one of our Christmas specials.  From the new, modern art form of video games, we pivot and dabble in the art form of classic comedy from the National Lampoon.  After starting life as a successful comedy publication, the National Lampoon branched out and began a syndicated radio show in the 1970’s.  During its brief run, the National Lampoon Radio Hour gave us two Christmas specials, which we’ll share some of the best clips from.  Cold winter weather got you down?  Don’t frown, because we’ll be giving you warm vibes with a few reggae holiday songs from Yellowman.  Rounding out this year’s program, we turn the show into a drag queen Christmas, because yes, that’s totally a thing.  If you’ve watched any of RuPaul’s Drag Race, you’re likely already familiar with names such as Jackie Beat, Jinkx Monsoon, and Bob the Drag Queen.  But did you know a number of contestants from past seasons of Drag Race have come together to form the Christmas Queens?  And they have released a few, highly entertaining Christmas albums?  Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in on all that you’ve been missing.

As always, we encourage you to follow the iTunes links below to purchase these songs for yourself and add them to your collection.  We hope you this show as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together, and we wish all of you out there a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

What Was Played:

(click on the links to buy!)

* Nights into Dreams – Spring Valley Christmas (Dream Bells)

* Sonic 3D Blast – Diamond Dust, Act 1

* Super Mario 3D World – Snowball Park

* Mario Kart 8 – Animal Crossing (Winter)

* Blue Stinger – Merry Christmas

* Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday – Come Again to Christmas

* National Lampoon – The Littlest Christmas Tree

* National Lampoon – Santa Claus’ Warning to Bad Little Kids

*

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Ryan Reynolds To Voice Pikachu In Great Detective Pikachu Movie

* Pikachu Named Ambassador Of Osaka, Japan

News of the Week:

* Niantic Updating Pokémon Go With Dynamic Weather, Gen 3 Creatures

(watch the announcement trailer here)

* Nintendo Brings Wii, GameCube Titles To Nvidia Shield In China

(see the first glimpse of the games in action here)

* Yooka-Laylee Coming To Switch On Dec. 14

* Capcom Finally Announces A New Mega Man Game

(see what the return of Mega Man looks like here)

* Capcom Releasing Mega Man X Titles On Current Consoles Next Year

* Valve Says Bitcoin No Longer Accepted On Steam

* New Portal Game Coming As An Expansion To Bridge Constructor

(watch GLaDOS torment a new game here)

* Overwatch League Pre-Season Gets Underway

* Sony Launches In-Home PlayStation VR Trial Program

* Secret Of Mana PS4 Remake To Get Limited Physical Release

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who is on team Danny DeVito

Blast From The Past:

* Airplane II: The Sequel (Movie / Dec. 10, 1982)

* Darkwing Duck (TV Series / Sept. 8, 1991 – Dec. 5, 1992)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Japanese Company Will Pay Employees Extra Money If They’re Married To 2D Characters

* Epic Games Sues 14-Year Old Over Cheating In Fortnite

News of the Week:

* British Gaming Commission Clarifies Stance On Loot Boxes

* CD Projekt Red Says Cyberpunk 2077 Will Be No BS Story-Driven RPG

(read their official stance here)

* Star Citizen To Offer Land Purchases In Game

(watch the announcement video here, and read the FAQ here)

* Super Mario Cereal Soon To Be Hitting Store Shelves

(check out the front of the box here and the back of the box here)

* Demon’s Souls Servers Set To Shut Down In Feb. 2018

* Two New Pokemon Released After Global Catch Event, Only Available For One Day

Dennis’ Nickname:

The brownest of the brown liquors

Blast From The Past:

* Pong (Arcade / Nov. 29, 1972)

* Michael Jackson – Thriller (Album / Nov. 30, 1982)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Amon Amarth Release Mobile Game

(watch the announcement trailer for the game here)

* Axiom Verge Publisher Donating Majority Of Its Share To Developer’s Son’s Healthcare

News of the Week:

* State Of Hawaii To Investigate EA For Predatory Practices

(watch highlights of the press conference here, if that’s your thing)

* Belgian Gaming Commission Declares Lootboxes To Be Gambling

(read the source Belgian report here)

* Battlefront II Microtransactions Controversy Draws Response From Disney

* EA Stock Price Drops After Battlefront II Microtransactions Removal

* Niantic Launches New Worldwide Event To Catch Previously Region-Locked Pokémon

(watch the announcement trailer for the event here)

* Gwent Single Player Campaign Delayed Until 2018

* Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics, Switch Cross-Play Delayed

* Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis Coming To Tekken 7

(watch Noctis in action in Tekken 7 here)

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who wishes that more yule logs are like the Old Spice yule log

(see the exploding yule of madness for yourself!)

Blast From The Past:

* Rock Band (PS3, Xbox 360 / Nov. 20, 2007)

* Beavis and Butt-Head (TV Series / March 8, 1993 – Nov. 28, 1997)

Ludicrous Leadoff:

* Scientists Testing DNA Editing Within The Human Body For First Time

News of the Week:

* Nominees Announced For 2017 Game Awards

* GameStop Suddenly Halts Used Game Rental Service

* EA Buys Respawn For $455 Million, New Titanfall Game Confirmed

* Warner Bros. Announces Harry Potter-Specific Game Division

* Niantic Developing Harry Potter AR Mobile Game

* Deal Reportedly Close For New Super Mario Bros. Animated Movie

* Nintendo Planning For Big Increase To Switch Production

* Switch Gets Its First Video Streaming App

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who still finds Wikipedia’s “Random Article” button amusing.

Blast From The Past:

* Assassin’s Creed (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 / Nov. 13, 2007)

* Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PlayStation 3 / Nov. 19, 2007)

Ludicrous Leadoff:

* New Version Of AlphaGo Obliterates Old Version Of AlphaGo

(read the research paper here)

News of the Week:

* Blizzard Announces World of Warcraft Classic

(see the announcement trailer here)

* New World of Warcraft Expansion Revealed During BlizzCon

(watch the features trailer here)

* StarCraft Soon Receiving A Free-To-Play Campaign

* Sony Launches Program To Turn PlayStation Trophies Into Real Cash Money

* GameStop To Start Offering Game Rental Service In US

* Surgeon Simulator Studio Announces Ultimatum For Next Game

(watch the announcement video here and visit the Steam page here)

* ToeJam & Earl Kickstarter Game Delayed Until 2018

(watch the “overly cinematic” trailer here)

* Indiegogo Campaign For Nintendo Switch Video Projector Surpasses Goal In 24 Hours

(see a demo video here)

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who is shamelessly promoting the first Dissolution show in a while

Blast From The Past:

* Super Mario Galaxy (Wii / Nov. 12, 2007)

* Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii / Nov. 6, 2007)