Episode 276: Covered in Concrete

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?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 276: Covered in Concrete”

  1. @Diablo III‘s Wilson on former Diablo dev’s mixed feelings on game: “F- that loser”
    The criticism sounds fair. I’m with Jonah on this subject, Diablo 3 didn’t do as good as expected, so it could be that the current team ended up venting some of their frustrations.
    I’ll stick with how I feel about Blizzard after opting for all time Internet connection DRM: f*ck Blizzard.
    I like what Brevik said:
    “so I am happy that it has come to light that how talented that group was and how unique and special that group was. I am hoping that, as this happens very often in the industry, you see it with Call of Duty and things like that , when the people leave the game changes and it shows how critical people are in this industry.”

    @C&C: Generals 2 will be multiplayer-only at launch
    🙁 … why … I liked the story mode in Generals …
    If however they release also modding tools for it, I can see fan made stories.
    Thing is, if the game is MP only, I can see it forcing you to play with a constant online internet connection, no modding tools available.
    Hmm ….
    Jordan does have a point, to me the story sold the game. I did play MP and lots of skirmish, but it was the story that hooked me.
    I will give it a play though, who knows …

    @QOTW: I guess 2-3 months before announcing the next generation.

    What happened to the “There’s a zombie on your lawn” song?

  2. It’s good to hear that Paul is all right. We really need that “Paul touch” he adds to the podcast. I already miss his emotionally spurred illogical arguments. Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend.

    @Diablo 3 bitching

    It’s easy to see why Blizzard gets so emotional about that comment. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop a game. When someone criticises your work, you are bound to lash out. But if you do it on twitter and it makes into the news then you are daft and should probably go back to school. Next time just break into the guys house and discreetly take a shit on his carpet.
    In reality, Diablo II was better and more successful then it’s sequel. That is a fact for many. But that was a long time ago. Blizzard attempted to modernise III to contemporary standard. This may have been a mistake. Poor fan service. Still, the game is out and nothing will change that.

    @Guildwars

    Wanted to play the original but never had an opportunity. For me there was always a barrier to playing MMOs. As I am a student, I am forced to own a laptop rather than a desktop. That means I can play an hour of an MMO at most before the thing goes into a critical meltdown. Recently I got a PS3 and downloaded DC Universe. I played the game before on my laptop but had to quit because of heating and lag problems. With the PS3 that problem is gone and I am actually enjoying myself. Wish they would release more MMOs on consoles. I am actually looking forward to FFXIV.

    @Command and Conquer

    The series is just not the same after Westwood fell apart. I enjoyed Red Alert 1 and 2. Played C&C 3 and wanted to kill something. That game was cancer. I still prefer to stick to Red Alert 2. Believe it or not, but there are still a 100 or so people hanging out on the on-line servers there.

    @Prey’s great escape

    Prey was a launch title for Xbox360 as far as I remember. Wouldn’t surprise me if they made Prey 2 for the next gen launch. A bit too risky to release games at the moment, unless they start with Halo, Assasins or Call.

    @QOTW

    Depends on the popularity of the console and the economic situation. In standard cases, you should cut the price a year or so after the release. By then most of those interested in shelling out full price for the console probably bough it. Others need an incentive and the price cut will do the trick. In special cases like PSVita, you should cut the price preferably before the sales figures go into negative numbers. With cases like PSP GO you shouldn’t make the console in the first place.

  3. PS: I was enraged when BBC NEWS spent most of it’s report on Brevik’s conviction talking about how he played WOW and COD. Cause obviously all mass killers are influenced by video games. Should make a decent QOTW: does playing games make you want to pick up a gun and massacre people?

  4. Greetings from Portugal!

    Can’t wait to get a chance to play Guild Wars 2. I’ve already got enough games for now. If it receives enough praise by the end of this year, I’ll probably buy it. I’m also mildly excited for Plants vs Zombies 2, the original was great.

    @QOTW: I think that any time hardware is not coming close to target sales, that should be the time that the company considers a price cut.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Podcast DelayPodcast Delay

We just found out that my recording of Podcast #283 didn’t take on my end. However, there is a backup, so all that means is that you’ll have to wait til tomorrow for the next podcast. Sorry for the delay.

Xbox 360 Price Cut Leads To 100-Percent Sales IncreaseXbox 360 Price Cut Leads To 100-Percent Sales Increase

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.

Gamers show how they feel about costly consoles with their wallet. With 100% increases in sales, it’s clear that many gamers have been holding out from the “next-generation” of consoles because the price was too high. Now, Microsoft can report huge sales numbers this quarter with a special thanks to their price cut. Imagine the sales boost the PlayStation 3 would have if it was competitive in price?

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.

End result, developers will want to produce games for the Xbox 360 because they’ve got a larger audience and publishers will be less likely to pick Sony as an exclusive because the 360‘s got sway in the market. It might not be a Wii in total sales records but it’s not half bad!

(Thanks, gamasutra)

Episode 419: Virtual RealityEpisode 419: Virtual Reality

This week’s episode is full of pop culture… well, most of it got sliced off as outtakes, but there’s still plenty of pop culture. What there is a lot of these days is virtual reality, and none of it even involves the Virtual Boy. Jonah, Scott and T.J. discuss some of the rumors going on as well.

The news this week includes:

  • Fallout 4’s Far Harbor will be bigger than any previous Bethesda expansion
  • Outer Rim DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront still having issues
  • Sony hints PlayStation VR may come to PC

Let us know what you think.