23: A Journey of Character
First Wall Rebate‘s Shawn Rider is the solo guest for this episode, but that doesn’t stop he, Sinan Kubba, and Joe DeLia wandering off into tangents sans care as they discuss gaming protagonists and everything but.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:48:03 — 49.5MB)
Great episode, guys. Didn’t even notice it was double the length of your usual eps because the discussion was that damn good.
To comment briefly on your final topic, I don’t believe we’ll see any new mainstream mascots until we see new players in the games industry (if we ever do). Mario and Sonic were developed as the faces of Nintendo and Sega – it’s how they are best known. If you see merchandise with either of them on, both the character and the company come to mind. Same goes for Disney and the rodent.
As Sony and Microsoft established themselves in the industry, they focused on pushing the hardware and the brand rather than any particular character. In a way, the green X and the PS logo are their mascots.
I believe the only way we’ll see a new mascot rise up is if a new company enters the games industry and creates a character to herald its arrival.
Apple iDude confirmed. Look out for it in 2015. I think you’re quite right, and I do think it’s an important point you made re: the Sony and Microsoft logos, although I’d argue Sony have more brand familiarity through their square circle, triangle cross thang for PlayStation than they do for anything else associated with that system. Addendum: And thank you for the kind words, glad we didn’t bore you despite the length!