Episode 315: Titanfall T-Shirt Contest Continues

This week’s podcast is fairly heavy on the Xbox One news, but at least it makes for a themed podcast. Jordan expresses his fears at controllers that look at you, while QWOP and Surgeon Simulator 2013 are discussed.

This week’s news includes:

  • PS4 did have always on DRM, camera, but Sony changed it at E3
  • Report: Xbox One’s capabilities better than Microsoft expected
  • Report: Xbox One will be able to run Windows 8 apps
  • Xbox One getting Unity support to aid indie developers
  • Half-Life 3 rumors squashed by Surgeon Simulator 2013 dev
  • Star Citizen asset cost for ships “anywhere from $35,000 to $150,000”

The “Win a Titanfall T-shirt” contest continues. Merely answer, “What game at E3 impressed you the most?” to enter to win a large size tee.

0 thoughts on “Episode 315: Titanfall T-Shirt Contest Continues”

  1. @PS4 did have always on DRM, camera, but Sony changed it at E3
    ๐Ÿ˜€ If this is true, then damn it, the customer still has some power. I guess not being the first to present the product is not entirely bad.

    @ Xbox Oneโ€™s capabilities
    It’s easy to mess up specs. I mean the sales guy don’t know tech mumbo jumbo. So yeah …
    Now, I’d go and say that even at the initial estimated bandwidth the difference should not be that big.
    Read – write simultaneously? That’s a pretty good thing. In theory that can double the effectiveness of the hardware (at least in some instances), as opposed when having to do them sequentially.
    Still … PS4 looks a bit more attractive. Dunno why, maybe because of the initial fiasco of the XBox one.
    Now, on compatibility: wasn’t supposed Win 8 to play also XBox 360 games? Does this mean that XBOne will play 360 games?

    @Xbox One getting Unity support to aid indie developers
    Hmm … interesting. Still, XBLA was not all sunshine and rainbows:
    http://www.xblafans.com/jon-blow-and-team-meat-done-with-xbox-64672.html
    So what gives? Ok, the link above is from March, but still. If this isn’t confusing, I don’t know what is. Team Meat? Your reply on this recent development?

    @Star Citizen asset cost for ships “anywhere from $35,000 to $150,000”
    Holly f*ckin’ shit! No, just … no. Jonah has a very good point, it could be that those polygons won’t be visible at lower settings.
    Further more, I think that in the heat of the action, you probably won’t notice the extra details anyway.

  2. Hey! I missed last week’s episode so let’s get going now!

    First of all, Insomniac did not develop Infamous. It was Sucker Punch and they’re also doing Infamous: Second Son now. They’re still with Sony.

    @PS4 DRM – This is highly doubtful to me. Am I supposed to believe that a multi-billion dollar company changes their policy and the entire E3 presentation within a couple of hours because of what the competitor did? No way. Jack Tretton of Sony was a guest on Up At Noon on IGN this week and that’s basically what he said. That the presentation we saw at E3 was what it was always supposed to be. There were no changes made after Microsoft’s conference. The game sharing Youtube video, that’s a different story ๐Ÿ˜‰

    @XBone capabilities – that’s a funny mistake to made but still might have happened. I don’t think all the technical stuff really matters to an ordinary customer. I still believe that the price and the unfavorable media coverage that Microsoft got after E3 will be the deciding factor. Those people who show more interest, like you and me, already decided which console they will go with. I’m not starting my Xbox adventure with this one.

    @XBone running Win8 apps – I wonder how long this will hold up. I can see people developing apps that somehow hack the console the way people accessed the OS on PS3 in the early days. The more closed the system is, the safer it is. That’s why I’m not a huge fan of all the social interaction that the new generation brings. We’ll see how this develops.

    @QWOP – Jonah! Play QWOP now! This game is what hell is all about. This could be an instrument of torture – “if you don’t run at least 10 meters you’re not getting your food!”. Parenting tip #436

    @E3 impressions – I’ve been going through the list of games and it’s really hard to choose. I’m going to focus on Sony games, since that’s the console I’m going for. Can I still say The Last of Us? ๐Ÿ™‚ Technically, it was release AFTER E3 so it should count. I love this game and I’m afraid to read Jordan’s review… You OBVIOUSLY don’t get it ๐Ÿ˜›

    If I have to choose something in the future, I’m still very intrigued by Beyond: Two Souls. They showed some new stuff about this game and now I have no idea how it will pan out. I’m a little worried that Mr. Cage & co. want to do too much with this title. I loved Heavy Rain and I want to go back to this game some day and if the storytelling is as good in Beyond, it will be amazing.

    Most intriguing next-gen game? I think I’ll go for Infamous: Second Son. I really enjoyed the first two games, I platinumed both of them and it’s going to be interesting do see what they do with the franchise post-Cole.

    And also, in case you missed it, Jordan especially, since he has a Vita, Dead Nation is coming to the handheld! The game was an amazing PSN title. Sure, it’s another zombie apocalypse game, but it was so much fun. It had a co-op mode and you could go through the whole game in 2-3 hours if you made a speed run. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

    Now I’m wondering whether I should cash in my Bioshock Infinite contest victory to get a T-shirt or should I wait for some next-gen games since they will be region-free… ๐Ÿ˜‰

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Final Fantasy XIII Demo For PS3 AnnouncedFinal Fantasy XIII Demo For PS3 Announced

The first demo for Final Fantasy XIII has been announced, but, it will only be available (right now) on the PlayStation 3. It will arrive as “bonus material” when you purchase Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete because the game arrives on Blu-Ray and there is plenty of room for this additional content.

The game is scheduled to be released in March of 2009 in Japan, so the United States and other territories may not get an early demo of FFXIII. Does this give everyone a reason to purchase a PlayStation 3? Nothing says it won’t be available as a downloadable Demo on Xbox Live… because nobody’s really talked to that topic at all yet.

Square Enix has publically stated they’ll start the Final Fantasy XIII port to the Xbox 360 once it’s finished on the PlayStation 3, so presumably we won’t see a demo (or a final game) for some time to come. The end result, demo or no demo, is the same: a dual release on two of the big colorful platforms in the way of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Tales of Vesperia: Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In JapanTales of Vesperia: Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In Japan

Sony’s been talking about how they’ve overtaken the Xbox 360 here in the States, perhaps this is because Microsoft shifted their attention to pwning them in Japan? Xbox 360 sold 25,000 units to PlayStation 3‘s minor 9,673 units according to Edge Online, that’s 2.5 times more if you’re into that math thing.

Seriously though, Microsoft didn’t really shift any effort, they just got a Japanese style game called Tales of Vesperia from Namco Bandai. Go figure, when a Japanese focused game arrives for a console Japanese gamer will go out and buy it.

The big barrier to the 360 in Japan is the games and their contents. Microsoft is in tune with the needs and demands of the United States gamers, it usually involves FPS titles and excessive killing. Japanese gamers are not exactly huge FPS fans, we’ve seen the Asian community dominate in RTS style games (Starcraft is a great example) and they’ve always had interest in MMO’s, especially micro-transaction based games and we all know that’s the land of Final Fantasy. Is it so surprising the Xbox 360 moves off Japanese shelves when they have a game or two the gamers actually want to play?

This is only partly Microsoft’s fault, Microsoft doesn’t specialize in Japanese games anymore than Square Enix excels at western style games. The big difference? Square Enix doesn’t manufacturer its own console hardware. It is Microsoft’s console and they should have an interest in making games the Japanese people will like, thankfully Namco Bandai came through for them this time!

Gaming Flashback: Lode RunnerGaming Flashback: Lode Runner

Lode Runner, a game many of us logged hundreds of hours upon. Lode Runner has a great deal of replay value thanks to its great map editor. The game was first published by Broderbund in 1983, but was first prototyped by Douglas Smith, an architecture student at the University of Washington.

The Lode Runner prototype was called Kong and was originally written for a Prime Computer 550 minicomputer on campus, but shortly after it was ported to the VAX minicomputer. Originally programmed in FORTRAN and utilized only ASCII character graphics (the most basic of characters).

In September of 1982 Smith was able to port it to the Apple II+ (in assembly language) and renamed it to Miner. In October of that same year he submitted a rough copy to Broderbund and he’s said to have received a one-line rejection letter, “Sorry, your game doesn’t fit into our product line; please feel free to submit future products.”

The original title had no joystick support and was developed in full black and white…not exactly exciting. So, Smith then borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game, now renamed Lode Runner, to four publishers and quickly received offers from all four: Sierra, Sirius, Synergistic, and Brรธderbund.

(more…)