Jonah Falcon is finally back from PAX East 2017, and related his experiences at the convention. Somehow, T.J.’s musings on Dune and the origins of Mini-Me come up during the discussion. Among the games discussed are Snake Pass, Earthfall, Dauntless, and Yonder.
There’s also some news discussed:
Let us know what you think and post in the comments!
Halloween is a scary time of year, no less when you’re posting a $310 million net loss. EA CEO John Riccitiello sees “weakness” at retail in October and we’re betting this isn’t the end of the road of sorrow for game publishers around the globe.
Electronic Arts isn’t unfamiliar with bad times and we’re sure to see them make constant adjustments to their headcount, game releases and press as the economy goes into a bit of a slump. Although the game industry won’t see as big a hit as the financial market, everyone is going to watch their spending during slower economic times.
That slowness is a red flag for the mega-publisher, which says it’s “proactively making cost adjustments now.” One of those adjustments is the axing of some 600 EA employees across the globe. (Kotaku)
Last year Electronic Arts lost a “small” $195 million during the same time, not exactly a gold star on the financial records but it sure looks better than this loss. A few games may crumble under the economic pressures, Tiberium for example, but let us not forget the good times! EA posted some nice figures for Spore, Madden NFL 09, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
So, they mixed a few sequels with a few new franchise hits and gave gamers some pretty hot titles for the year. Of course, hot titles in our hand do not always translate to positive revenue in theirs.
One of the great places to find news on upcoming games is the ESRB‘s website. They typically rate their games and post the ratings on their site to be helpful to concerned citizens looking to purchase upcoming titles.
Of course, the ESRB gets their titles prior to the game release so posting the rating on their website gives away the names and potential timing for soon-to-be game releases. Dates aren’t required for blogs and news sites to glean an idea of a release and the official title name.
Now, the ESRB might be under the same embargo restrictions game review/preview sites are held to, by not posting game ratings until 30 days after it has been rated, says 1up.com.
What’s this mean for bloggers? You’ll need to look harder for dark corners of the Internet to get your rumors and “official” statements.
Paul is not in the podcast, and will be out for the next couple of weeks as he recovers from major surgery. In the meantime, the podcast chugs on with three podcasters, as Jordan relays what he thought of the Sony Gamescom 2012 press conference.
In the meantime, the news items include:
All that plus Reader Feedback wishing Paul well (sorry, Kizer, we didn’t moderate your message til after recording), as well as this week’s Question of the Week, “When is the right time to cut the price of a console?”
