Episode 254: Mass Effect Trio

This week, the full man crew is back, and incredibly deep-voiced as they proclaim themselves the Protectors of Humanity™, as Mass Effect 3 launches today. The Gaming Flashback is a Gaming Preview of Assassin’s Creed 3.

This week’s news includes:

  • Microsoft: Xbox Live Arcade will be phased out eventually
  • Leaked images “nothing to do with” Doom 4, fans will “see awesome”
  • SimCity 5 coming in 2013
  • GAME drops 5% in shares after Mass Effect 3 no-show
  • Rumor: PlayStation 4 ditches Cell processor tech

This, and the most contentious Reader Feedback ever.

0 thoughts on “Episode 254: Mass Effect Trio”

  1. Erm, it’s a … different … intro 🙂
    I guess this is due to Mass Effect?

    In the hospital?! Diabetes?! Man … Jonah, I think you’re now avoiding the doctor just so that you don’t get diagnosed with God knows what.

    @Microsoft: Xbox Live Arcade will be phased out eventually
    Erm, dunno. I don’t think that an established digital distribution channel will be removed on a whim. You don’t back out from a market unless it generates losses, and I doubt this is the case for XBLA.
    Ok, change the name, don’t care. But I think Microsoft will keep providing the service.

    @Leaked images “nothing to do with” Doom 4
    Doom 2 was set on Earth however. Dunno. From my point of view, anything goes.
    The engine is idTech 5, that powered the Rage game.

    @SimCity 5 coming in 2013:
    never played, never cared.

    @GAME drops 5% in shares after Mass Effect 3 no-show
    Tough times for retailers. A lot of publishers either use Steam, or have developed their own digital distribution channels. So now they can afford to place heavier conditions to the retailers.
    Now if you also add bad management in the mix, well, that’s a recipe for bankruptcy.

    @Rumor: PlayStation 4 ditches Cell processor tech
    To be honest, as long as you manage to create a nice API for the game developer, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a cell processor or 2-4 80×86 compatible cores.
    I still can’t forget what they said at one point, that the cell processor was intentionally made hard to work with, so that the PS3 has a longer life.
    Who thinks like that?!

  2. Thanks Paul for sending my PD, my lil 5 yo bro will love this game (i’m 21 btw)
    jordan, watch out for that C6H12O6!!! they are evil! deliciously evil!
    paul, bronkitis sucks, i have it too.
    jonah, go get a check up ASAP!
    i hope you know that i am very glad all 3 of you are fine =]

    @xbla no more eventually
    it is a money maker, they will not give that away, its a name change for sure.

    @sim city 5 comming 2013
    meh… never liked the sims series very much (all sims, not only THE sims). i like destruction games more.

    @ps4 changes processor
    as long as it works with quality, I mean, as long as sony doesn’t screw up more stuff ¬¬

    get well guys (be careful jonah, u might be next)
    mwa hahahahaha (evil laugh if u dont get it)

    take care

  3. Can you guys make it a bit shorter? Some guys like me don’t have internet at home so we download it thru a phone. I can’t download it when its over 50M. I hope you take it to your attention, Cheers!

  4. My god, that was the best intro ever! I’m pretty busy right now with my pre-GCSE exams, so don’t expect any long comments for now. You should be honored that you’re one of the things I will still be doing between studying.

  5. Oh and Paul, I never got to hear your thoughts on Skyward Sword. Have you finished it, and if so, what did you think?

  6. Hey guys, first time listener. I enjoyed the show, but I cringed at the narration of the news headlines. I’m by no means a good public reader, so I know how hard it is to vocally string together a poorly written sentence. Slow it down a little and you should be just fine.
    Keep up the good work, and thanks for the listen!

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O’Connor’s draft claims that the R18+ rating will allow “virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes”, and violence in games “except where it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be classified.” As far as sex, the draft says, “Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is ‘simulation, yes – the real thing, no'”.

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“The Gillard government wants to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that and will also bring Australia into line with comparable nations. This issue has been on the table for many years, without the necessary progress to make a change. We’ve recently seen several states publicly express their support for an adult only rating for games and I’m keen to reach a unanimous decision at the July meeting.”

Rather than banning games, why not punish stores for selling mature games to underage children? Or put the onus of raising children on the parents?