This week’s episode is short due to Jonah Falcon’s impending trip to San Francisco to cover a preview event of Company of Heroes 2, while Paul Nowak gets irritated at the complaints coming out of the Wii U launch.
The news items include:
- Wii U’s launch day update reportedly causing major problems
- Nintendo DRM traps $400 of downloaded games
- GTA: Vice Cityremoved from Steam over music licensing
- Report: Next-gen Xbox TV device coming in 2013
- Sony: Our iPhone and Galaxy S3 challenger is coming
The Question of the Week: “Do you play real-time strategy games. If so, what is your favorite. If not, why not?”
If you’re in the New York area, you’ll have a chance to meet CEO Mike Morhaime and executive VP of product development Frank Pearce. They’ll be a New York Best Buy signing copies of the title if you’re lucky to be in the area and plan to go out at midnight to get it. We’re not that lucky, but we’re also not standing in line this year for an event.
If you’ve ever been through an acquisition or merger you’d have expected this news to come, but for those new to the concept it’s simple: you can’t keep everyone. After a complete merger you end up with two sales departments, two IT departments, etc.
Yoichi Wada of Square Enix has let the cat out of the bag. The cat is Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 and it will be simultaneously released with the PlayStation 3 version. This may be an end to an exclusive era for Sony as all their big brands jump to non-exclusion.
@Wii U’s launch day update
Oh my … so lemme guess, for a device that has no backup battery to keep the device on, you start delivering hours long updates? Really?
If you have no power backup, then how about delivering smaller, incremental patches, so that there are less chances of a power failure/connection failure during the patching.
@Nintendo DRM traps $400 of downloaded games
😀 … yay, go DRM go!
I think there’s a lesson to be learned here, but hey, I also though that there was a lesson also in the Ubisoft DRM servers going down – yet we have Diablo III and Starcraft II …
@GTA: Vice City removed from Steam over music licensing
This is weird. I’m pretty sure the same music was present also on the retail version of the game, yet the issue triggered pulling off the Steam version of the game.
I guess that the developers or original publishers struck a deal with the music industry, and some details of that deal don’t fit with Steam’s digital distribution system?
Unless we get to see the papers behind the deal between the devs and the music industry, we can only speculate.
I guess Valve’s lawyers should have looked better, but then again, the publisher is more interested in selling games; if nobody catches up to the obscure IP issue, then why not?
@Report: Next-gen Xbox TV device coming in 2013
Not sure what to say about this. There’s always a chance of not being able to handle multiple devices – the old 360, the new 720/infinity, and now the TV box.
Microsoft, be careful.
@Sony: Our iPhone and Galaxy S3 challenger is coming
Well, I won’t bother delivering the same warning as above to Sony. What amuses me is the hype that Sony tries to build: “Our iPhone and Galaxy S3 challenger”! Ha! If it costs 1000 USD, then even Apple can afford to not worry.
@QOTW
Yes! Played the first Starcaft, then Warcraft III, then C&C Generals. I played also the Red Alerts (until RA3), but the game that stuck was … C&C Generals.
While I did play skirmishes on Starcraft, it was the GLA units that tilted the scale for Generals. I mean they are the most charming villains that I’ve seen so far 🙂 …
@WiiU launch issues. If you’re dumb enough to shut your system off during a firmware update you deserve to have
it bricked.
@Over 400 bucks of games trapped in limbo. Being denied one game you purchased and having to pay to get it back because of a old and failing DRM system is one too many. I was really hoping for the WiiU Nintendo would do a across platform account for it’s DRM like everyone else does. That would solve tons of issues. I think the rest of the world including myself is wondering why they arn’t doing something like that yet.
@Nintendo Land. I’ve primarily a PC gamer although I own and play on every console except the Wii. I also hate motion controls. But upon my purchase of the WiiU I’ve really liked playing Nintendo Land with friends. Its still some what “tech demoish” but the games are ones that anyone that enjoys Nintendo titles and playing mini games with friends will like. But I’m not sure how it will stand up playing alone to the average gamer. This next year will be really telling on how the WiiU makes it mark, if and when Nintendo announces its first part titles for the system.
No one “deserves” to be bricked, number one. And just so you know, you lose a customer like that, you lose them for life. That statement is also elitist, since you’re saying people who either can’t afford or can’t get a high speed connection “deserve” to have their console bricked.
There’s an old law: the customer is always right.
There’s another issue: the Wii U will go into sleep mode without warning and it doesn’t “sleep” – it SHUTS OFF. Not to mention the controller has a short battery life and from what I understand, it doesn’t charge while playing.
@Shooting Wii U out of a canon
Although Paul makes a reasonable point that Xbox 360 launch was bad; that was in 2006. Microsoft had to rush the Xbox because it was a dawn of a new gaming era. Even HD-TVs were rare back then. Currently, Nintendo is releasing a console based on 6 year old tech. The launch should be spotless. But the whole thing feels unnecessarily rushed.
I am tempted to get the Wii U because it’s new tech. However, since I will most likely import from Japan (for half the price of a local Wii U)I don’t want to end up trying to sort out a bricked/busted unit with a supplier from another hemisphere.
@Nintendo DMR
Sometimes I think that Nintendo leaves their product development to wise old men on Mt Fuji who are cut of from society. Welcome to Nintendo 2013: resisting efficient change with tooth and claw.
@State of the gaming world: Xbox 360 is ploughing ahead but branching out all over the place and starting to forget that it is a gaming console. Wii U still thinks that it’s 2006. And Sony is one step behind of everything. Where did the simple times go?
@QOTW
Dune II: the Battle for Arakis on Mega Drive. I still love that game. So simple but so addictive. That and Red Alert 2. Unlike other strategy games, those 2 don’t need complicated base building and don’t have 100s of units to choose from. That allows you to concentrate on actual battle strategy.
as i’m studying for the finals, i have only time for the QOTW:
Currently i am not playing any RTS, but I had my days of AoE, Starcraft the 1st and my 1st one, the great and powerful TOTAL ANNIHILATION (points for paul if he got the reference).
@last week’s QOTW: i was a little bit inhibriated so i misspeled Gaben, from Gabe Newell.
idk if you might know him, here is a pic of him leading the PC master race against the dirty console users
http://i.imgur.com/Ytl7W.jpg
The WiiU prompts you to adjust the sleep mode timer before the update begins.
I wasn’t trying to say if you have bad internet and so on then you deserve to have it bricked. I was saying that if you knowingly shut it off then thats a mistake. If youre connection cuts out its not going to brick the system. If its installing it and the system is then shut off then you’re in trouble. This I thought has been common knowledge since firmware has been around. I didn’t mean to come off like a dick. So I’m sorry for that. I was merely trying to say, that shutting off your system while installing, not downloading, is dumb.
@HanzKrebs
😛 All hail Gaben!