Did creativity, innovation, and overall quality peak in the 20th century? Or are today's games truly better than ever? We try to free ourselves from the haze of nostalgia and find a definitive answer. Plus: Super Mario Galaxy 2! Monster Hunter Tri! And stay after the credits as we tear apart the Prince of Persia movie and puzzle over Ben Kingsley's resume. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim "Works Every Time" Spaeth.
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Topics discussed:
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Monster Hunter Tri
- Final Fantasy series
Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.
Cleveland native Tim Spaeth grew up in a happy household – a household with a father whose major client happened to be an Atari games distributor. This led directly to Tim's first nickname: "The kid who got Atari games before anyone else." Indeed, he knew Pac-Man and E.T. were colossal bombs weeks before the rest of the world, and the resulting celebrity brought him great pleasure.
Through the years every aspect of Tim's life has been touched by gaming. He mastered typing thanks to Space Quest, honed his poker skills on The Sierra Network, and learned to hate after a particularly traumatic game of Tecmo Super Bowl.
Today, Tim lives in Chicago with his three kids and strives to find that perfect balance between family, career, and Warcraft. He enjoys broadcasting, martial arts, rock and roll, growing and shaving his beard, singing show tunes to the homeless, and losing at Mario Kart to his lovely, talented, and amazing girlfriend.
In late 2008, Tim became the producer and host of the GameCritics.com Podcast, and he's thrilled to be bringing GameCritics' unique editorial voice to a brand new medium.
Through the years every aspect of Tim's life has been touched by gaming. He mastered typing thanks to Space Quest, honed his poker skills on The Sierra Network, and learned to hate after a particularly traumatic game of Tecmo Super Bowl.
Today, Tim lives in Chicago with his three kids and strives to find that perfect balance between family, career, and Warcraft. He enjoys broadcasting, martial arts, rock and roll, growing and shaving his beard, singing show tunes to the homeless, and losing at Mario Kart to his lovely, talented, and amazing girlfriend.
In late 2008, Tim became the producer and host of the GameCritics.com Podcast, and he's thrilled to be bringing GameCritics' unique editorial voice to a brand new medium.
Latest posts by Tim Spaeth (see all)
- GameCritics.com Radio 2018 GOTY Celebration - January 12, 2019
- GameCritics.com Radio 2017 Holiday Awards Spectacular - January 13, 2018
- GameCritics.com Radio Episode 5: The Switch and Zelda - April 7, 2017
[quote=aHei]2/ You guys tend to talk more about consoles than PC (except often recurring Wing Commander). Is it intentional or are you generally just not as knowledgeable/interested in PC?[/quote] I use to play many PC games and there are PC games in my top 10 all-time list. Part of the reason I don’t play any PC games today is time. We’re all very busy and I find the process of installing and patching games to be way too time consuming.
[quote=Tim Spaeth]But I think Richard is the biggest PC guy on staff, and it’s always a treat to have him on, despite is woeful and disgraceful misunderstanding of the rules of Card Sharks.[/quote]
Whatever. You know Press Your Luck ate Card Sharks for breakfast, lunch, and bonus round.
Great great podcast as usual. The main reason why I love your podcasts is because of the topics you choose. On this one, I also like how you guys have different views on which era has better games, even if you all followed the evolution of video games from the start. I personally gotta agree with Brad but that’s probably because I’m relatively young. Have a few questions: 1/ Could give a 5-person panel? I thought Richard’s appearance gave a nice contribution as well in the way he explains why some games are interesting (i.e. Dragon Age, Batman). 2/ You… Read more »
Really regretting not being able to do the live show that wasn’t. First, Super Mario RPG has a 3/4 top-down perspective, but that was hardly the same game as the Galaxies. Just had to mention SMRPG there. Also, it was a while ago but I’d classify the Pikmin franchise as something new that Nintendo has brought to the table. Very unique and very good. My favorite eras are the 16-bit and the current/previous(PS3/PS2, etc.) one. The 16-bit for the reasons Mike mentioned, but this one and the one right before it because of the huge expansion of online play. It… Read more »
evil mario is great. at least those and some of the 100 coin collecting challenges were harder. I dislike the underwater segments more. 1up is tradition i want Nintendo games to have. There is no need to collect any, i sometimes forgot there are lives because it was impossible to lose all. But do we really want e.g. to see Mario without his beard, shaved? So why bother that they keep the 1ups? It won’t be an utterly brilliant innovation to dismiss them. You already can run on all four walls in sidescroll style in Galaxy 1. At least once… Read more »
[quote=aHei]Have a few questions: 1/ Could give a 5-person panel? I thought Richard’s appearance gave a nice contribution as well in the way he explains why some games are interesting (i.e. Dragon Age, Batman).[/quote] More often than not it’s simply scheduling logistics that prevent us from inviting a fifth chair. It’s always good to mix up the cast though, and GameCritics is fortunate to have a deep bench of insightful minds to call upon. We will be five-manning our E3 show this weekend…although not with a GameCritic. Tune in to find out who joins us! [quote]2/ You guys tend to… Read more »