It’s the episode just before Thanksgiving, and both Jordan and Paul have new jobs, as the latter settles into his new Los Angeles home. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the Atari 2600 game Kaboom!
The guys also discuss the following news items:
- EA targeted for class action suit over Battlefield 3 PS3 bait and switch
- Modern Warfare 3 makes $775M in 5 days
- Square-Enix officially opens Montreal studio
- Blockbuster has “ramped up the rental” of games, getting an “awful lot of support”
- Rockstar eager to return to Bully IP
The question of the week: “How do you buy games most often these days: retail, online retailer, or digital distributor?”
Most folks in the game industry are already writing off E3 as an actual event to be attending. Even Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is calling it “virtually useless” for both retail and investors. The writing is on the wall and the reasons are obvious.
… what’s with the disclaimer?
@BF1943 bait and switch
Well, it is a bait and switch move alright, regardless of the EULA. There is no contract that can have clauses that justify wrongdoing. Those clauses would be deemed illegal.
Jonah, EA would have to pay the 15 USD AND the costs for all legal actions. It’s not just 15 USD.
@Modern Warfare 3 makes $775M
You know what’s weird? One host of another podcast (yeah, I do listen around :P) called it a glorified MP map pack. The person was not pleased with the 6 hours short SP campaign, and the fact that the engine was not a leap forward as BF3 is.
Still, it sold 3/4 billion dollars.
Jonah, I played the first MW. It was new, and nice. My brother played MW2. To me, it felt the same like MW, and I lost interest. MW3 to me is a “meh …”.
@Square-Enix officially opens Montreal studio
(tongue in cheek): I think the US administration will notice the revenue from games (see MW3) and decide to increase taxes on game developers.
@QOTW:
My last purchases were done via Steam. So, despite the fact that I like having the disk, it’s digital distribution for me.
Sorry about replying with ‘No DRM’ last week, because honestly I’ve hated every type of DRM that I’ve encountered. I don’t know if it counts as a type of DRM, but a few days ago I received Skyward Sword in the mail and it had a mandatory update for the Wii before I could play it (It warned that it would brick my Wii if it was modded). Not only was it very short, but it also updated my Wii to the latest version without having to connect it to the Internet. I think I could tolerate this kind of DRM, it doesn’t require you to do anything and most importantly it doesn’t get in the way.
@EA targeted for class action suit over Battlefield 3 PS3 bait and switch: That’s just wrong. This shouldn’t ever have happened and I would be angry if this ever happened to me. Pre-order bonuses are almost void in value, and now we have to be careful about stuff like this?
@Modern Warfare 3 makes $775M in 5 days: I both love and hate these figures. I love them because it shows the entertainment business that gaming is a big deal and I hate them because it shows that you can earn lots of money just by adding a few things to a game and releasing it year after year. I think we need more innovations in video games (and not just in the indie market).
@QOTW: As I have previously stated, I buy all my games as physical copies over the Internet. Firstly, it is the cheapest option for me (I can get almost half the price of Steam on release day), and secondly because I love having the boxes, even just to have them there so I can look at them.
Well, today EA made it a happy ending by giving away Battlefield 1943 after all.
As for the disclaimer, Paul now works for Disney Interactive, so he has to make that disclaimer.
Hey fellas,hows it hanging?
@MW3..yes that game is very much overhyped fluff,I cant see any qualities warranting this to be called any more a sequel to modern warfare 2 then “united offensive” was a sequel to the original “call of duty”
I got the game for free,have played it some online,but thinks its kind of sad that Activsion actually gets rewarded for pursuing this sloppy business model.
@EA/BF 1943 : well this got a happy ending of the time of writing so yay..I guess(still pretty lame that EA puts “no sue-sies” in the “nobody reads this anyway” agreement.
@QTOTW Most of my games on PC I buy on steam,same as I prefer to download games on XBL as well,im lazy when im gaming so I dont want to be changing discs or even handling them constantly..UNLESS theres an added bonus for doing just that..e.g:pauls gold remote..(im so getting the version with that thing nowxD)
PS so Paul is working for Disney now?..can you get Donald Ducks autograph for me?
or do the mickey mouse voice and say “HAHHA Im the mascot of a big evil corporation!”:P
Until next time guys,i am listening to every show,just haven’t had the time to comment as im in the middle of moving myself..
@Paul working for Disney, I want to know why they decided to ditch Split / Second, and when will we have another Duck Tales game, since that has to be the best franchise, with Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers a close 2nd. (Flashback on the NES game please???)
@Jordan’s awful Monty Python attempt – as a Brit, all I can say is “never again, please”.
@QotW – The Uncharted 3 game I bought last week (from a store), which I subsequently resold and picked of Arkham City (from a store) are probably the last games I intend to actually purchase. I signed up for the LoveFilm service in UK, for which I pay £14.99, and get unlimited streaming to pc and PS3, as well as unlimited rentals of games and movies, including Blu-Ray, with 3 discs being sent to me at any one time. This allows me to have 1, or sometimes 2, main games to work on, with a 3rd disc being shipped back every couple of days. Since signing up, I have completed well over £100 worth of games, not to mention the films I also caught up on.
If I do like any rental enough that I never want to send it back, I can keep it indefinitely until i see the price fall on ebay/store to a satisfactory price.
@Zelda gold Wiimote – I bought my Wii with Sports and Sports Resort bundled, so had a motion plus from day 1 (albeit the plug rather than integrated). I considered buying the new Zelda for the gold Wiimote, but found I was asking myself, when has my Wii EVER had more than just me playing it, so why would I need a 2nd controller? I’m still tempted, because it’s shiny, but I managed to pass the opportunity of the Tri-Force logo GameBoy Advance SP, so I imagine this will fade to a distant memory soon enough.