TJ announces his nuptials the previous week, finally marrying his live-in girlfriend of 10 years. All that, and many parables that had to be cut from the podcast lest it last 90 minutes.
That said, there’s plenty of news this week:
Let us know if you spent $50,000 on a virtual spaceship.
The gaming podcast crew takes a look back at Ultima Online and a bit of history on Kirby, that crazy pink mascot. This weeks gaming news includes:
PS2 the most played console of 2008This weeks soap box we’re talking about gaming in the workplace, wouldn’t you want a Rock Band tournament? Also, ton of user comments this week — keep them coming!
Ensemble Studios, owned and operated by Microsoft or, Microsoft Games Studios, has been targed to be dissolved. All employees will find new homes, a large quantity will start a new studio and continue maintaining the later released Halo Wars franchise.
Microsoft has chosen to close the studio as part of their growth plan of Microsoft Games Studios much like FASA was closed in the past. The difference, there is a new landing point for Halo Wars unlike the uncertain future of Shadowrun.
Commenting on the reason for the closure, Microsoft said, “This was a fiscally rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.” (gamespot)
Ensemble Studio’s folks will continue to work with Microsoft and will continue to support Halo Wars after its launch. It is important to stress their statement of continuing to support Halo Wars, there is no need to think the project will be done half-assed or without pride as the project will live on with a different studio name.
The only question is… what is causing Microsoft to close down studios with actively working real franchise projects? FASA went down, Bungie was let go on their own and now Ensemble Studios? There has to be something going on here… idea?
The guys discuss a ton of topics off the cuff. They talk about the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct airing on April 2, the PSN crash, lots of negative Civilization 7 reactions, Phasmophobia hitting 22m total sales, PlayStation and Steam quietly removing shovelware, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake selling and Dragon Quest 12 confirmed to still be in development.
Let us know what you think.
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Congratulations TJ!