THE RUNDOWN

• Mass Effect 3 deal from Origin (any platform) includes an exclusive AT12 Raider Shotgun –Large pellet spread ensures maximum coverage for close-range targets. Designed for superior rapid fire, optimizing the recovery time between shots.
• Planning to buy a PS Vita? Best Buy has games, accessories and bundles including the First Edition Bundle available on Feb 15 — a week before the official release. Check out all their Vita items at tiny.cc/tfsvita.
• Plus, we talk about what we’re playing, take your calls, read your e-mails and more!

THE BIG TALK

• Zynga copies Tiny Tower and everyone flips out… is this really anything new?
• Sony plans on $2.9 billion loss for the year.
• Email Topic – Would companies ever consider releasing “light” versions of games for the PC?
• Email Topic – What game console and three games would you carry with you to a desert island for a year?

OLD SCHOOL

• Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage – SNES
• “Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage is a scrolling fighting game for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, developed by Software Creations and published by LJN (a subsidiary of Acclaim) in 1994. The game, based on a sprawling comic book story arc of the same name, featured numerous heroes, including Spider-Man, Venom, and their allies from the Marvel Comics fictional universe like Captain America, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Cloak and Dagger, Deathlok, Morbius, the Living Vampire, and Firestar, all teaming up to battle an onslaught of villains led by Carnage, including Shriek, Doppelganger, Demogoblin, and Carrion.
  The game featured a colored cartridge. Both the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo versions were red. They were later released in the normal cartridge colors (black for Genesis, gray for SNES).

  The game was followed up by a sequel called Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety.
  In this single-player side-scrolling beat ‘em up (with a format similar to Final Fight, and Streets of Rage) the player controls Spider-Man and Venom through various levels to stop the supervillain Carnage and his gang, as well as hundreds of criminals they inspire in their wake, from taking over the city. The two 16-bit versions are virtually identical, aside from the quality of the sound and music.

  Other Marvel heroes can be summoned by collecting appropriate items hidden within certain levels. Their effects vary greatly, and some of them have different effects depending on who the player is. Of note is the rarity and set locations of the power-ups necessary to summon aid, and that each character has a unique set of music to accompany their appearance. In order of appearance: Cloak, Black Cat, Dagger, Firestar, Spider-Man/Venom (depending on the player character), Morbius, Deathlok, Iron Fist, and Captain America.”

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THE RUNDOWN

• Microsoft going away from space points, Mass Effect 3 has a new trailer multiplayer available to watch, some good points about bandwidth in a digital word, BlizzCon not happening in 2012, and finally a look back at Paper Mario!
• Plus, we talk about what we’re playing, take your calls, and more!

THE BIG TALK

• Are Microsoft Points going away by the end of the year?
• Mass Effect 3: Special Forces Trailer (Multiplayer mode)
• What sort of impact will bandwidth restrictions on ISP’s have in the new digital only world?
• There will be no BlizzCon in 2012. However, Nerdtacular is still happening!!

OLD SCHOOL

• Paper Mario – Nintendo 64
• “Paper Mario, known in Japan as Mario Story, (originally known as Super Mario RPG 2) is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001. Paper Mario was re-released for Nintendo’s Virtual Console in 2007.
  Paper Mario is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. To do so, he must locate seven “Star Spirits” to negate the effects of the captured Star Rod, which grants invincibility to Bowser. The player controls Mario and a number of partners to solve puzzles in the game’s overworld and defeat enemies in a turn-based battle system. The battles are unique in that the player can influence the effectiveness of attacks by performing required controller inputs known as “action commands”.
  Paper Mario is the first installment for the Paper Mario series and is the predecessor to the GameCube game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the Wii game Super Paper Mario, and the upcoming 3DS game Paper Mario. The game received a positive reaction from the media, attaining an aggregate score of 88% from Game Rankings and 93% from Metacritic. It was rated the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Power’s “Top 200 Games” list in 2006.
  It was first of the post-SNES Mario games not to feature the voice-acting of Charles Martinet.”

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THE RUNDOWN

• Great interview with Curt Schilling of 38 Studios on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning at the end of the episode!
  Wanna play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? The demo is available NOW for PC, X360, and PS3… go get it now.
  Ready to pre-order Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? Use the link tiny.cc/reckoning to pre-order from Origin to support the show AND get 9 “Fate-Touched” weapons!
• Plus, we talk about what we’re playing, take your calls, and more!

THE BIG TALK

• Thoughts on game patching with next-gen consoles…
• ESA withdraws support for SOPA…
• Resident Evil 6 announced… are you excited?

OLD SCHOOL

• Battletoads – NES
• “Battletoads is a platformer video game created by Tim and Chris Stamper and developed by Rare. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions (Rash, Zitz and Pimple), the game was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.
  The first game was developed by Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. It was subsequently ported by Mindscape to the Amiga in 1992, by Arc System Works to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Game Gear both in 1993, by Rare to the Game Boy in 1993 retitled as Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World, and by Mindscape to the Amiga CD32 in 1994. Ports for IBM PC and Atari ST were planned by Mindscape but never released.
  It is arguably one of the most graphically advanced video games ever released for the NES, at a time when the video game market was turning to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game became famous for its extreme difficulty and humorous ways of beating enemies, as during finishing attacks, the character’s body parts transform into gigantic, exaggerated appendages for devastating attacks and comic effect.”

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THE BIG TALK

• Valve reports seventh year of 100% sales growth on Steam.
• Kuma / War designer sentenced to death in Iran on propaganda charges.
• Speculation: New consoles from Sony and Microsoft this year at E3?

OLD SCHOOL

• Super Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi – SNES
• “Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi follows closely the standard set by the first two Super Star Wars games, with the return of selectable characters (on specific levels), multiple playable characters and Mode 7 quasi-3D vehicle sequences. The controls are identical to the second game, and this installment also includes its predecessor’s password save option.
  It loosely follows the plot of Return of the Jedi, although some of the levels aren’t seen in the film at all, such as Luke Skywalker having to fight through the Death Star to get to Emperor Palpatine. In addition to the standard Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, new playable characters include Princess Leia Organa (in Boushh, Slave, and Rebel uniforms) and Wicket the Ewok. Bosses include the Jabba the Hutt’s Palace door droid, the Rancor beast, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Vehicle sequences include the Endor speeder bike chase, and a cruise in the Millennium Falcon.
  Luke Skywalker no longer has 9 Force Powers to work with but 5 and it is easier for him to “recharge” his abilities. He also cannot use any variation of the blaster in this game. Interestingly, Darth Vader is far easier to beat in this game than in Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The final boss in the game is Emperor Palpatine, who is unforgivingly difficult as he is able to levitate and shoots lighting all over the throne room, annihilating platforms and walkways. The final levels detail the attack on the Second Death Star’s main reactor.”

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HEADLINES

• The Final Score has NOT died or gone away, we’re just taking a little break to re-tool and re-organize the show.
• Here is a synopsis of what’s going on, but please download this episode and listen to the full details. Now, the short version: When Nicole had Mateo about a month early, we took the time to ask ourselves if we wanted to continue the curent format of The Final Score. We really love doing the show, but we feel that we can make the show more unique and give it a voice of its own. We are taking some time over the holidays to chill and let things simmer while we discuss and figure out what new direction the show will take.
• In the meantime, Scott will pop in here and there to give a mini-review for a game that he’s been playing (and the first one’s below).

Mini-Review: Super Mario 3D Land

• An amazing gaming experience with a great soundtrack and fantastic graphics. Excellent use of 3D integration in gameplay with a great blend of 2D traditional platforming Mario. Listen on for the full review…

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