Episode 231: Plus One Paul

Paul has some angry comments, Jonah has some angry comments, while Jordan just chuckles and makes a Freudian mistake. In between complaints, the Gaming Flashback looks at the Amiga classic Syndicate, and the following news items:

  • The Lund Report: August 2011 NPD
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 PC controversy rages
  • THQ: Next-gen consoles will be discless
  • Quantic Dreams claims they lost 10M euro on used games
  • 3DS sales jump 260% following price drop
  • Syndicate reboot finally confirmed and unveiled by EA

Finally, the Question of the Week: What was the most disappointing remake or reboot of a game you’ve played? All that and Reader Feedback, too.

0 thoughts on “Episode 231: Plus One Paul”

  1. @Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 PC controversy rages
    Having an MMO as the multiplayer component of a game is actually a good idea. The problem is the ‘only 3 months free’. I mean in such cases you’d better add a free-mium MMO.

    @THQ: Next-gen consoles will be discless:
    That will make it easier to distribute games, in areas with good bandwidth.
    Question is: if the costs of the physical medium is removed, why won’t the price of the games go down?
    As for Steam, do you know that you can back up your games on a separate storage media?

    @Quantic Dreams claims they lost 10M euro on used games
    Gah! You can’t lose something you never had.
    Make the product more attractive new. Dunno, add multi-player validated by the CD key.

    @3DS sales jump 260% following price drop
    The big question is, does this cover the costs? Otherwise, 260% or not, they’re still at loss.

    @Syndicate reboot finally confirmed and unveiled by EA
    So, this will become something like DeusEx mixed up with E.Y.E. . Quite original 😛
    I guess that if it is well polished, it might become a multi player hit.

    As for hate mail Paul, make sure you’re on the show.
    “I hope you die”? Really? Here’s a news flash: everybody dies.

    @QOTW: I can’t really remember any remakes; on the other hand I became a PC gamer in 2001, so that’s one possible explanation.
    And while Doom 3 can be considered a remake of the first Doom, I didn’t play the first one so I can’t compare the two.

  2. @QOTW: but! If UT 2003 can be considered a reboot of the UT franchise, then yes, UT2003 was a bitter disappointment: the flak cannon – turned a bit lame. No sniper rifle. No assault game mode.

  3. Tiger Woods PGA PC – I honestly can’t believe that people play golf games in general, let alone the PC. I can’t see how swinging a mouse forward and back could be interesting to anyone. EA is probably thinking that if you’re dumb enough to buy this shit, you don’t deserve a full game.

    Next Gen Discless – Nope. In no way would I see that working out. Like Jordan said, look what happened to Patapon 2. Or just look at the PSP Go, that didn’t work out nearly as well as they thought.

    Losing Money on Used Games – I’m sure that they did loose a lot of money on used games, but nowhere near the amount that they claimed. There are various other reasons why there are more people playing than copies sold.

    3DS Sales Jump – That doesn’t mean much at this point. Like Herr Alien said, they are still in the negative, as they were when they first launched it at the price of $250. They could mark them down to a dollar and I’m sure the sales would jump enormously, but it wouldn’t be covering the money that they had to spend to get the product to the consumer.

    QOTW – Bionic Commando was pretty bad, but that is the only one that I can think of. Wasn’t ever a big fan of Duke Nukem, so that doesn’t apply to me, but I’m sure it does to millions of others.

    Now, the hate mail. Paul, possibly being my favorite on the show, is going to be hard to hurt in fear of him calling me a “Loser.” The mere fact that you are asking for hate mail signifies that your bloated ego needs something to take it down a peg, only so that it may rise and be a more cocky, douchey version of the one left behind. No one leaves you hate mail because you are simply undeserving. I care more about the gum cemented into the sidewalk than I do the hopefully fictitious character known as “Paul”. You are the cancer of the earth and may God have mercy on your soul.

    Alright. Is that good for Paul. It is out of love that I do this, not hate. Hope to hear back on the next show. 😀

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In a letter addressed to PlayStation executive deputy Kaz Hirai, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade has prepared a list of questions related to the intrusion; the list can be downloaded from the New York Times here. The letter asks several questions that Sony has not disclosed to the public, such as:

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Why release a single block buster game with a two week pop when you can simply lower the price of your console and boost sales by 100%? That’s a question Sony may be asking themselves right now, as Metal Gear Solid 4‘s hype may have lasted years but the sales and console unit sale boots lasted a month.

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Microsoft could have kept the savings of manufacturing costs to themselves but they chose to pass savings onto the consumers. The increase in unit sales means more households own the product and newly released games will probably see larger spikes now that people have invested in the 360 console.

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(Thanks, gamasutra)