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.
For those that are Facebook junkies, playing their hearts out of Scrabulous, you’re going to be hit with some reality: it’s not real scrabble. Hasbro has attempted to pull the Scrabulous game off of Facebook because they’re not licensing it from the owner, but it’s still there. Is Hasbro’s “real” Scrabble going to sway addicted Scrabulous players?
Now, Hasbro is launching the real Scrabble game on pogo.com and on Facebook for social networking purposes. Our own Casual Gamer Chick, Jennifer, will be reviewing the upcoming Facebook app later this week (once we get her to sign up for Facebook!)
This will be Hasbro’s first go at social networking, given their trying to beat out Scrabulous, it’s going to be a tough battle, let’s see how they do!
Last week’s episode was delayed by Jonah producing a new show (The Jonah Falcon Show), then by the tragedy on Sunday, August 26. Now, the podcast recorded last week and the one recorded this week have been merged into one big 2+ hour show.
Last week’s news items included:
This past week’s news was simple:
To be fair, the crew ended up talking about other stuff going on during the week, including the the E3 demo for Cyberpunk 2077 that was finally released to the general public. Gaming still brings smiles to people’s faces.
It’s amazing to think we’re in our third year of “next generation” console bliss. Three years have passed since the first Xbox 360 shipped, for good or bad, and it’s time to start thinking about the future.
Or is it?
Bobbie Bach, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices president, seems to believe this generation of consoles will expand out further than the typical four-year release cycle. Perhaps because the console developers have invested so much money in defeating each other in the market and making their console “number one” in the eyes of their investors.
Bach does not believe we’re cresting on the current generation, that is for certain, and we’ve yet to hear any hype over a new next-generation console from Microsoft. They were the first to market so, theoretically, they should be the first in the next-generation as well, right?
Their move to be number one was really a strategic attack which has paid out well, leading them above the past domination of Sony and Nintendo before it. However, they are holding strong with the Xbox 360 and there might be cause to sit tight and let this generation playout before bringing in another piece of hardware.
Bach stated that he believes consoles today are competing at different levels than ten years ago. There isn’t one clear winner, there isn’t one dominating console. There will be victors in different areas of the industry; casual consoles, top game sellers, best graphics and others. It’s not about sheer “units sold” it’s more about being profitable and building a community around your hardware, see Xbox Live as a great example.
Next generation will be full of fantastic new features, ways to connect and crazy hardware specifications, no doubt, but… for many of us, it will take years before we forget the pain and suffering we paid shipping our dead Xbox 360’s back to Microsoft for repairs. Would you be willing to buy into their next generation as their first customer?
(Thanks, 1up)
Congratulations TJ!