Giant Bombcast 445: Irish Tax Loophole

In response to the email about the Bally Astrocade and the TI-99/4A; I have no idea why (or how) his parents would've bought an Astrocade, as I never saw one in the wild either.

However, the TI-99/4A is a bit easier to understand; while it was priced high initially, TI slashed it dramatically to compete with the Commodore Vic-20.

It had a faster CPU, more RAM, and was more expandable than the Vic-20, so at the time it was seen as a pretty good bargain. A couple of my local schools set up labs with several TIs for the same price as one or two Apple IIs. So there may have been the educational element at play as well.

Of course, TI took a huge financial hit by trying to compete with Commodore, and once the Commodore 64 started gaining traction, it was game over for the 99/4A.

Hearing Jeff exclaim that 2016 has been a great year for video games has led me to the conclusion that maybe I just don't like video games as much as I used to because 2016 has been very underwhelming to me.

At around this point in the life cycle of the old consoles we had Gears of War, Bioshock, COD4, Mass Effect, and Assassin's Creed. All huge new franchises that defined those consoles. (Yes I'm counting Modern Warfare as the beginning of a new franchise).

Here we are three years into these new consoles and they have yet to deliver anything like those old consoles. Yes there are some good games out for the PS4 and Xbox One but there's no equivalent of Bioshock, or Mass Effect, or Modern Warfare. I feel like I'm still waiting for this generation to start.

You guys missed the most mind blowing news which is that Nuclear Throne's broke ass console version finally got patched after nine months of being not patched. I get that news outlets are all buddy buddy with the guys at Vlambeer so they likely don't want to throw any shade at that studio. However letting people know that the console version of their game is no longer fucked would probably help them out in the long run. I may never buy another one of their games again but NT is pretty fantastic and will certainly be among my top ten games this year.

The more I hear about Mrs. Jeff's taste in games the more I like her, and I barely play RPGs anymore. I like that there's a tinge of disgust in Jeff's voice as he lists off the games she's into. It feels like we haven't had an update about Jeff's cat named "Cat" in forever and I imagine it's getting up there in years. I'm somewhat moved that he would go so far for the health of a pet that he's likely indifferent about. Hang in there Cat! Thanks for the podcast duders and keep up the great work.

The EB games at the mall near me had this policy where you can trade in ANY game for full price up to 10 days after purchase. So, you could buy a game, beat it, and then return it for another game.

I did this maybe 5 times in a row before they stopped the program.

I somehow ended up owning a TI 99 in the fucking early 90s, after my mum swapped with her uncle for a dog we had and didn't like. It was an epically bad deal, real piece of shit computer, and it eventually shorted out my TV.

@liestochildren: Thats a real talent you have there man, being able to read people's minds. What I want to know is, why are you wasting your time here instead of out in the world, fighting crime?! Go! Society needs you!!!

Wait, what am I saying? You couldn't possibly know that 'he knew'.

Wise the bap.

Peanut butter jar.

What's wrong with it? I've been a member of GB since day one and I still can't figure what has changed. Is it just the font? If so, that's nothing to get butthurt about. :P

That freaks me out on a weekly basis, as if everyone just stopped listening all at once, even though I know why it's actually happening.

@brad said:

Have you ever talked to the engineers about somehow crossposting all the comments sections for each Bombcast to all versions of that Bombcast, now that it's available as a podcast, an ad-free podcast, a video, and an ad-free video? It really fragments the discussion for the users that there are 4 different pages people are discussing the same bit of site content.

Hulk Hogan is a scumbag, but he's somehow less of a scumbag than Gawker and it's surrogate sites like Kotaku. Quite the feat.

Why skip over the release of Planet Coaster? That thing seems pretty dope.

You know - the folks who preorder games certainly don't deserve any pity, but man - the lengths to which GB and the community are going to defend Hello Games is mind-boggling.

Yeah, this needs to happen somehow. The fragmentation is insane.

@sravankb: upfront I will say that i like the game and I have fun with it. That said the level of hatred and anger that is directed towards the game and the creator is way over the top. It makes no sense to me that some people seem to treat this video game like it's an affront to humanity. Its a video game. It's $60. The anger is disproportionate.

Listening to them go over upcoming releases made me wish Alexa was on this week instead :x

Agreed. The amount of hate is disproportionate. However, there are several problems with the game, and I've seen the crew rip apart better games than this. It's kinda surprising to me, that's all.

You're not too far out of the loop! The Dan thing was news to me as well and only happened last Saturday apparently.

Just heard Danny is leaving Game Spot on September 9. Good luck Danny!

I was quite disappointed it wasn't wingdings....that would be a Jeff thing to do.

@jeff If your wife is looking for something to play, I'll suggest checking out the much overlooked Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.

• You can play as a male or female protagonist
• Unlike Pokemon it's not just a pointless grind with no story. It's closer to a Persona style mystery and actually interesting.
• Since it's Digimon and supposed to be a bit more family friendly, it's not lewd like all those other current JRPGs on the Vita and PS4.

I feel like the part about "Did Sean Murray lie?"which relies on the premise of "well that's a bad way to run a business" completely ignores the fact that people like Randy Pitchford exist and that the video game industry uses things like hype to brush away controversies like this.

Wow, I did not know the bit about why Polyphony cancelled the GT beta. "It will help us bring out the game on time". Correct me if I'm wrong, but betas used to be about bugfixing and were basically public QAs. You know, things that HELP with finishing a game sooner.

Don't trash talk Legend of Heroes! I'd put the series right up there with Persona as far as modern JRPGs go!

Don't trash talk Legend of Heroes! It's awesome and I'd put the series right up there with Persona on my favorites list as far as JRPGs go!

Danny : "I come in 9-5, work life balance".
What!? That's not even 8 hours!!! (lunch taken out).

Im super happy for you guys, but I am sooooo jealous of your jobs and want to work with you.

I can tell you, salary work at most big companies (I work for Warren Buffet, so its pretty average id think?), is 10 hours a day minimum, mandatory, (Office Space is not lying!!). You guys seem to get so much more holiday time, vacation time, sick time, get to dress down, get swag, covering a hobby you like....
-- I'm always sad working on Christmas Eve going into my 1 day off for Christmas hoping for new content but you guys are off for 2 weeks headed home.
This is not a negative on you, this is me being jealous, realizing cool jobs exist... You guys are lucky! You made it work. I am happy for you!!! You make me realize my job makes me sad hahaha :)

You will never see this but Persona, Withcer 2 (if not three), and I would say Metal Gear 3-5. Edit for your wife. Man sigh the anime hate getting old but Psycho Pass is AWESOME. Great stuff about VR and what a world obsessed with VR might look like and says some great things about human nature and computers. Really Really good.

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