Selling a “lite” version of games can be quite effective if it’s done right. Unfortunately, the only time I ever felt that was ever done well was with Sonic 3 & Knuckles for the Sega Genesis. Think about it: it was originally conceived as a single massive game before they decided to turn it into a 2-part epic. The end result was two separate games that were completely independent on their own. Each one had their perks (Sonic 3 had co-op and VS; S&K let you play as Knuckles), but if you had both, you could play the full game in its entirety as intended. As an added bonus, you could link up S&K with virtually any other game for extra content (Sonic 2 feat. Knuckles, Blue Sphere bonus games, etc.).
If I recall correctly, EA has dabbled in the sale of “lite” games recently with their Fight Night games. Pay a bit for the Single Player, pay a lot to enable multiplayer. The problem doing it THIS way is that the buyer may feel like their being cheated out of their money. We tend to hear that people buy games like Call of Duty for the multiplayer. That may be true in the long run (or not, depending on the genre), but that doesn’t mean you should start chopping up your games into bits just to make them “cheaper”.

In regards to the “New Age of Heroes” that made up a fair amount of the show, riddle me this: at what point in time did the creators realize that they were making something big? When did it dawn on Bob Kane (and others) that Batman would become such an icon back when he roamed the night with his glider-like “cape” and classic Undertaker gloves (yes, Batman wore some fugly purple gloves)? When did Shigeru Miyamoto realize that Jumpman would become something more than some portly construction worker saving his girlfriend(?) from a giant ape?

Who decides what icons or characters recieve the level of fame that’s reserved for legends?

I don’t know. History is very fickle and what may work for one generation may not work for another. Given the fact that historically-iconic characters like Batman are over 40 years old, we may never know for sure if the icons of today will survive the test of time. If anything else, if it can remain in the mainstream’s memory for more than 20-30 years, they’re well on their way to becoming “legends” in the public eye.

There is a New Age of Heroes out there, Boomzies. You only need to seek them out and spread the word.

Now that I got that out of my system, let me say that it was refreshing to have a non-gaming topic as the main theme for this episode. It was a nice change of pace. With some luck, we might even get to an anime topic someday! XD

Keep up the good work and I’ll see you next week.