Nick McDonnell of Melbourne's Samurai Punk joins us this week to talk all about his game Screencheat, where split-screen cheating is the name of the game.
This week on the show we look at the obsessive nature of collecting games. Do you have a giant steam library? Do you scour the online stores for old cartridges and consoles. We talk about what it is that makes us collect, and sometimes never play. You can check out the value of your steam library, and how little of it you’ve actually played on Steam Gauge.
I spent many hours playing split-screen Halo on the original Xbox, and there was always the accusation of “screening” between me and my brothers when someone got a particularly good kill. As part of the Global Game Jam in 2014 Melbourne developers Samurai Punk created their game Screencheat where you need to look at other players screens to win. Mitch and Gianni spoke to Nick McDonnell about bringing their game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, lessons learnt and gamer entitlement. Screencheat is available on Playstation 4 and Xbox One on the 1st of March 2016.
Finally this week we explore whether a game can be “awards bait” or designed to win awards or accolades. Reddit user spunk_monk posed this question this week after playing the anticipated Firewatch. Can we explore games and critical acclaim without drawing on other forms of media? Is there value in a “Game of the Year” award if every man and his dog gives out one?
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