The Arcade

Hi folks,

If you’re seeing this, it’s probably because you came here looking for a new episode of The Arcade.  Unfortunately, we’re off this week because work-related travel plans have made it impossible to find a time to record the show.  Don’t worry, we’ll be back with a brand-new episode for you next week.  In the meantime, you can get your fill of us by visiting our pages on iTunes and the Google Play podcast section to check out a great selection of past shows.  Hey, why not subscribe to us while you’re there?  That way, you can get all of our new shows delivered right to you.

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Devoted Nintendo Wii Fan Collects All 1,262 Released Wii Games

(check out photos of the complete collection here)

* Modders Make 60-Hour Pokémon Game In Minecraft

(watch a walkthrough of it here and download the official map here)

News of the Week:

* E3 Allowing Public Attendees Into Event For First-Time Ever In 2017

(watch the announcement here and bookmark the official site here)

* Castlevania Show Announced For Netflix

* Recap Of Madden NFL 17’s Prediction Of Super Bowl LI

(compare the prediction to the results)

* Psychonauts 2 Coming In 2018 After Double Fine Reaches Funding Deal

* World of Warcraft Raises $2.5 Million For Make-A-Wish Foundation

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who is free of Final Fantasy XV’s curse

Blast From The Past:

* Mr. Dressup (TV Series / Feb. 13, 1967 – Feb. 14, 1996)

* Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (TV Series / Feb. 11, 2007 – May 2, 2010)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Swiss Scientists Able To Communicate With Completely Locked-In Patients

(read the research paper here)

News of the Week:

* EA Predicts Super Bowl LI

(watch the prediction video here)

* Nintendo To Have An Ad During Super Bowl LI

(watch the official spot here, and the extended cut here)

* Nintendo Sells 1.5 Million NES Classic Editions Worldwide

* Super Mario Run Surpasses 75 Million Downloads

* Nintendo Aims To Release 2-3 Mobile Games Every Year

* Animal Crossing For Smartphones Delayed

* Indie Game Devs Fight Trump Immigration Ban By Donating Sales To ACLU

* Creator Of Pac-Man Passes Away At Age 91

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who wishes that Biff Tannen never acquired the Sports Almanac

Blast From The Past:

* Late Night with David Letterman (TV Series / Feb. 1, 1982 – June 25, 1993)

* The Sarah Silverman Program (TV Series / Feb. 1, 2007 – April 15, 2010)

* The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (TV Series / Feb. 5, 1967 – June 8, 1969)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Speedrunner Beats Every Boss In Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past While Blindfolded

* Plans Announced To Make Video Game Based On Apocalypse Now

News of the Week:

* US Video Game Sales Reached $30.4 Billion in 2016, Up From 2015

* Square Enix Announces Deal To Make Marvel Games

* Square Enix Confirms I Am Setsuna For Switch Launch Day

* Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Goes Up For Pre-Sale, Sells Out In 30 Minutes

* 20th Century Fox Creates Gaming Division

* Micro Machines Set To Return On PS4, Xbox One, PC

* Bandai Namco Announces Release Date For Tekken 7 On PS4, Xbox One

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who can’t sleep because this damned doomsday clock is keeping him up

Blast From The Past:

* Pink Floyd – Animals (Album / Jan. 23, 1977)

* Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Album / Jan. 29, 2002)

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Awesome Games Done Quick 2017 Raises $2.2 Million

* UCLA Researchers Now Able To Sequence DNA Using A Smartphone

(read the original study here)

News of the Week:

Nintendo Switch Recap:

* Nintendo Switch Price and Release Date Revealed

* Joy-Con Controllers Feature Motion Controls, IR Camera

* Switch Controllers Get Prices

* Nintendo Switch Will Be Region-Free

* Nintendo Switch Battery Life and Play Modes Confirmed

* Switch To Have Touchscreen Controls, 8-Player Multiplayer

* Nintendo Switch Getting Paid Online Service

* Switch Online Service Slightly Detailed

* Switch Getting Party Game 1-2 Switch At Launch

* Splatoon 2 Announced, Coming In Summer 2017

* Next Major Super Mario Game Announced

* Switch Launch Games List

* Reggie Fils-Amie Downplays Lack Of Switch Launch Titles

* Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Confirmed for Switch, Coming April 27

* Nintendo Switch Exclusive ARMS Won’t Require Motion Controls

* Nintendo Stock Price Drops After Switch Reveal

* GameStop Sells Through Initial Nintendo Switch Stock

* Capcom Announces Ultra Street Fighter II For Switch

* Ubisoft Bringing Steep and Rayman Legends To Switch

*

Friends, this week The Arcade continues its look back on the past year with part two of our 2016 Year In Review.  On this episode, we’ll focus our attention on lighthearted topics from the last 12 months with a discussion on the ludicrous topics we saw come up during the year.

The Ludicrous Topics of 2016:

* 2016 Brings Us Closer To The Robot Apocalypse

* Completely Unnecessary Kickstarter Campaigns

* Out Of Control Price Tags In The Video Game World

* Both Silly & Impressive Video Game Accomplishments

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who thinks the first workout is why most workouts don’t work out.

Blast From The Past:

* WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii / Jan. 15, 2007)

* King of the Hill (TV Series / Jan. 12, 1997 – May 6, 2010)

Greetings friends, and welcome to 2017!  We here at The Arcade are getting back in 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 2016 Year In Review.

The Big Topics of 2016:

* Nintendo: Steady Newsmaker of the Year… Again

* Pokémon Go: Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time

* PlayStation 4 & Xbox One Have A Mid-Life Crisis, Buy A Sports Car

* Virtual Reality: It Has Begun

* No Man’s Sky or: How I Learned The Importance Of Having Professional PR People

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who never thought he would enjoy driving around as a boy band as much as he is.

Around this time of year, everybody has certain traditions that they look forward to and we here at The Arcade are no different, which is why we’re proud to present to you our 10th Annual Christmas Music Special.  Yes, you read that correctly, this is our tenth time doing a special show for the holidays and in all that time, our goal of bringing you Christmas music you’ve never heard before has never changed.  If anything, we’ve learned in these past ten years that the world of Christmas music is almost endless, and the amount we get exposed to each season represents only a small fraction of what’s out there.

As tradition dictates on these shows, we start off with the Ludicrous Leadoffs, those Christmas songs that are just an extra kind of special, and this year, we have Bill Murray and George Clooney crooning, a song about a zombie Christmas, and a ridiculous parody of the overplayed song Do They Know It’s Christmas.  From there, we go to a totally unique genre with dubstep covers of classic Christmas music, before showcasing something special for our friends of the Jewish faith with a collection of songs all about Hanukkah. We end off this year’s program by bookending our Halloween music show.  If you recall, that episode began with silly hip-hop songs which were lacking in street cred.  Well, on this show, we present seasonally-appropriate songs from hip-hop artists with immense street cred, such as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and even Eazy-E himself.  Yes, Eazy-E did a Christmas song, and yes, it’s every bit as explicit as you think it might be.  You’ve been warned.

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!)

* King Diamond – No Presents For Christmas

* Bill Murray (feat. George Clooney) – Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’

* Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler – Zombie Christmas

* The Boy Least Likely To – George and Andrew

* My Dick – Do They Know It’s My Dick?

* Rednek – Nek The Halls

* A Heart Of Black And White – Carol of the Dubs

* PatrickReza – Rockin Around The Christmas Tree

* Arion – The Nutcracker

* Anvil – Hanukkah! Hanukkah!

* The LeeVees – How Do You Spell Channukkahh?

* Shira Kline – Chanukah Bamba

* Gefilte Joe and The Fish – Hanukkah Rocks

*

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Working Atari 2600 Emulator Built In Minecraft

(watch the description video here)

* New Hotline Lets You Pay Money To Talk To Game Developers

(visit the official site here)

News of the Week:

* Winners Announced For The 2016 Game Awards

* Kojima Reveals Bizarre New Trailer For Death Stranding

(be baffled by the trailer here)

* Shovel Knight Prequel Announced By Yacht Club Games

(see the announcement trailer here)

* Telltale Games Officially Announces Guardians of the Galaxy Series

(get a glimpse of the brief teaser video here)

* Sony Reveals The Last of Us: Part II

(watch the full trailer here)

* New Marvel vs. Capcom Game Announced

(see the first footage here)

* Crash Bandicoot Remasters Announced

* Sony Upgrading WipeOut and PaRappa The Rappa

* Windjammers Returning To PlayStation 4 And PS Vita

(see the new game in action here)

* Nintendo Switch Reportedly Will Support GameCube Games

* Nintendo Partners With HackerOne To Offer Bounties For Finding Vulnerabilities

* MechWarrior Series Returning In 2018

* Akuma Coming To Street Fighter V In New Season Pass

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who misses having all-wheel drive

Blast From The Past:

* The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube / Dec. 11, 2006)

* Beetlejuice (TV Series / Sept. 9, 1989 – Dec. 6,

Ludicrous Leadoffs:

* Dead Rising 4 Gets Promotional Holiday Fire Log Video

(watch the fire log video here)

* Internet Archive Wants To Build Servers In Canada, Because Trump

News of the Week:

* Ubisoft Announces VR Games To Get Multi-Platform Multiplayer

* Rovio Launching Netflix-Inspired Service For Mobile Games

(learn more at the official site here)

* Halo 5 Getting Own Reality Competition Series

* Hello Games Announces Big Update For No Man’s Sky

(watch the announcement trailer here)

* Stardew Valley Coming To Consoles In December, Also Coming For Switch

* Steam Winter Sale Starting December 22nd

(read the original NeoGAF post here)

Dennis’ Nickname:

The man who succumb to the sweet siren song of a Black Friday sale

Blast From The Past:

* Rocky (Movie / Dec. 3, 1976)

* Pikmin (Gamecube / Dec. 2, 2001)