Gaming News, Reviews, Podcasts, And More
This week’s episode of Molehill Mountain is chock full of political goodness. Or badness.
Uh… We talk politics!
25:33 – What does a tariff on imported goods mean to gamers?
43:36 – What does getting rid of net neutrality mean to gamers?
55:55 – Brad Bushman study gets trashed
1:03:40 – Capcom, Sherlock Holmes and the Public Domain
1:18:05 – More Nintendo Switch stuff
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One of President Trump’s promises leading up to taking his oath of office was to put “America First”. By this, he means rewarding American companies that keep or bring back manufacturing to the US, by providing tax incentives and other benefits, and punishing non-compliant companies, by imposing heavy tariffs on imported goods. While most of his focus has been on auto manufacturers so far, that won’t be the end of his efforts.
One potential target of Trump’s wrath will be the video game industry. All three of the major console companies manufacture their consoles in Asia, predominantly China. The same is true for most computers and computer components, as well as mobile phones and tablets. Not even your TV and Blu-ray player is safe from these potential tariffs.
2 CommentsAnother week, another podcast. Here’s what EZK and Andrew discussed this time:
14:44 – We try and fail to keep straight all the new Fire Emblem games
36:25 – Nintendo has released a few more interesting Switch details
53:58 – New survey examines the percentage of female gamers by genre
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Coming out of the Switch Event from last Thursday night, I have some additional thoughts about the Switch. I shared my first impressions back in October after the switch teaser trailer. My initial impression was that while I liked the system idea in general, I found it hard to think of ways its unique feature set fit into my lifestyle. Now that we have more details on the system and the games, I am still slightly cool on it. Andrew and I talked about the Switch at considerable length on our Molehill Mountain podcast this past Saturday. However, I want to share my own thoughts in a nice bite sized article for you. Let’s break it down to the good, bad, and ugly of the system.
Last week, Nintendo spent an hour telling us all about its upcoming portable console, the Nintendo Switch. So naturally, EZK and Andrew spend two and a half hours talking about Nintendo talking about the Nintendo Switch!
I don’t know if we were speaking the truth or speaking bollocks but somehow we attracted a lot more live viewers than usual. Hope to see all our new friends next week!
No topic time stamps this time but we do talk about the new Switch info in the same order it was presented during Nintendo’s event.
1 CommentAndrew and EZK are back to talk about all the awesome games they played over the holiday break. Buckle down for an extra heaping helping of podcast goodness because they go on for a solid two hours.
20:37 – Ico
32:48 – Lost Odyssey
45:31 – We talk about games we can play one-handed. What? Get your mind out of the gutter!
49:37 – Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
1:04:10 – Final Fantasy 4
1:13:39 – Super Mario 3D Land
1:21:06 – Grandia
1:30:37 – Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
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For all of us in the United States, January 1st is just New Year’s day. The day the calendar ticks another year. But for people who live outside the US in Canada, Europe and elsewhere, January 1st means something else entirely. It means today is the day that new works enter the Public Domain. This is the day that more of our culture becomes free to distribute, free to build upon , and free to do whatever we want with. Yet, because of terrible copyright laws in the US, we miss out on all this.
Prior to 1978, copyrights lasted only 28 years, with the option to renew them a single time for an additional 28 years. Then in 1978, Congress, under the guidance of companies such as Disney, extended copyrights to last the life of the author plus 50 years. That is what the rest of the world has today. But in 1998, Congress once again, at the bidding of companies like Disney, extend copyrights to last life plus 70 years for human authors and 95 years for corporate owned copyrights. This pushed the US out of line with much of the world and works in the US won’t start entering the Public Domain until 2019.
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