Episode 416: Blowing Winds

Unfortunately, we had to skip a week despite recording a good podcast thanks to technical difficulties – don’t worry, we’ll air it at some point in the near future. It was a good episode. This episode had its own issues, as Jonah was unable to record the podcast at home, so he was outside in the New York City night air podcasting with TJ and Scott.

This week’s news includes:

  • Microsoft cancels Fable Legends, closes Press Play Studios, considers shuttering Lionhead Studios UK
  • Report: SpinTires developer sabotaged his own game
  • 10 months later, MAME finishes its transition to open source
  • Valve announces The Lab, a compilation of free VR “experiments”

Let us know what you think.

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Episode 611: Not So Legendary Mass EffectEpisode 611: Not So Legendary Mass Effect

This week’s edition has Jonah being really down on the Legendary Edition of the Mass Effect Trilogy, and it has nothing to do with any sort of bugs. TJ empathizes, recalling his frustration with the remaster of Demon’s Souls.

In other news:

  • Civilization devs have “several” games in development that will be revealed “this year”
  • The Apple vs. Epic lawsuit has sparked ‘Xbox Game Pass on Switch’ rumors again
  • No Hollow Knight: Silksong news at E3

Let us know what you think at the Facebook page.

PlayStation 3’s Wireless Keyboard AttachmentPlayStation 3’s Wireless Keyboard Attachment

This is a prototype of the keypadSony’s done it, they’ve announced a wireless keyboard adapter to plug onto the stock PlayStation 3 controller. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of this, Microsoft pushed out a keyboard for their Xbox 360 controller last year to provide faster chat abilities and, overall, smooth the interface when needing to type.

Now, Sony’s following up with a few more advancements, “the wireless keyboard also features a touchpad mode to allow for mouse input. David Reeves, president of SCEE, said that this touchpad control mode may be used in future game development.” (kotaku)

Is there any chance our next-generation consoles will be more “PC like” out of the box? With these complex user interfaces featuring web browsers, online marketplaces and areas to enter your credit card information (and addresses) you’re really heading towards needing this type of interface. Now, they’re all starting to include chat and messenger services making it more important… if it catches on.

Perhaps the next console hitting the market will come with a keyboard as an in-the-box solution. Please note, the above image is Sony’s prototype image.

Broken RockBand 2 Drum Pads, Best Buy RetardedBroken RockBand 2 Drum Pads, Best Buy Retarded

We purchased Rock Band 2 and the Drum Kit on the week of launch, having played on the drums for about a month we’ve already broke them. This time, however, it’s not the foot pedal, but the blue and yellow drum heads, now having smashed little holes in the center.

It’s not abuse when the object of the game is to hit the pads with sticks, right? Hopefully not, as we’re not the first to beat the pads to the breaking point using standard pressure and part-time play. In the full month we’ve had little time to really rock out with Rock Band 2 but we play when we can. It seems a bit early to already have blown out the pads.

The issue is simple: the blue and yellow pads have a dent/hole under the rubber surface, pressing down on the pad allows you to easily feel the plastic “button” which executes the hit. The middle of these two pads can be seen sunk in while the red pads center is popping up as if the rubber has let go from the surface and risen. Needless to say, the “bounce back” on the pads was gone.

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