Episode 298: Fireside Podcast

This week’s podcast is rife with arguing between Jonah, Jordan and Paul regarding computer science in schools and have a long discussion about the future of the Wii U. In this episode, the earliest MMOFPS PlanetSide gets a Gaming Flashback.

As far as the news items for the week:

  • Obama: Games innovate technology, interest children in computer science
  • Destiny preorders at Best Buy reveal info about Bungie’s upcoming game
  • Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta begins the 25th February
  • Rumor: Sony will use Gaikai to stream PS3 games in PS4
  • Wii U sold around 50,000 units in US in January
  • Take 2 confirms acquiring WWE license

All this and Reader Feedback as well as the Question of the Week: “How important is backwards compatibility to you?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 298: Fireside Podcast”

  1. @Planetside

    Always wanted to play it but back then it had a ridiculous subscription fee. Once it went free to play Planetside 2 was out. And my laptop can’t run it. Sux to be a student. I just stick to Battlefied.

    @Obama: unconstitutional lack of liberty in choice of educational subjects

    When I was in Russia, we had to do IT in Year 8. Up until then I have never touched a computer in my entire life. They made me do HTML programming. I didn’t even know how to switch the thing on. Good times…

    @Wii U-U-U??? Where are U?

    I agree practically with everything said here. As a Wii U owner, I believe that the hardware has potential given it’s properly exploited. Which it isn’t. I am yet to play a game that properly uses the gamepad. And I can’t see anything in the pipeline (minus Monster Hunter Tri which is hardcore oriented). All of the games I see are “ultimate” editions of Xbox 360 games. Which I can buy for the Xbox for half the price.

    @QOTW

    I agree with Jordan. No point in having backwards compatible console if you keep your old consoles around. Just bumps up the price of the new consoles. Once new hardware comes out, old consoles crash in price so even if it breaks you can just replace it for a relatively small fee. Backwards compatibility is a neat feature if done right. I for one could not move my save games from Xbox to Xbox 360, meaning that I had no reason to play them on the 360. You can apparently do it on the Wii U although I am yet to try it.

  2. @Obama: Games innovate technology, interest children in computer science
    No. I think one should not make programming mandatory; a choice, yes. No, I don’t have any arguments to support my position.

    On the other hand, school was always intended to shape kids into future labor force. A lot of labor is done in IT, so …

    Jordan does make a good point. I wrote my first Basic program way before doing anything formal in school, out of necessity. Kids today do have exposure to the tool (computer). It now all boils down to identify a need that can be solved by writing a program.

    @Rumor: Sony will use Gaikai to stream PS3 games in PS4
    Hmm … short term gains ….
    I’ve seen this strategy, applied to nation-wide economics. Didn’t turn out well.

    @Wii U sold around 50,000 units in US in January
    Make it easy for devs to make games for the platform. That’s the key. Microsoft figured it out. I’m not a hardware dev, but I figured it out.
    If Paul is right, then the WiiU is in trouble.

    @Take 2 confirms acquiring WWE license
    I hope they didn’t have to pay too much on it … I only play those games on a SEGA Genesis emulator.

    @How important is backwards compatibility to you?
    Quite important, to be honest. I’m quite the nostalgic guy, so I want to be able to play older games. Heck, I would still fire up ye old Gradius for the NES. Using an emulator, unfortunately, my brother gave away the NES clone …

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Press can be a great thing when you have numbers to play with and figures to skew. Oddly enough, if some of us are any indication, we’ve purchased multiple Xbox 360’s because of dead systems. Sure, we’re stupid for actually doing it, but those figures will work into the total units sold for the Xbox 360 hardware sales. Imagine, their failing systems may have actually boosted sales figures a bit; probably not statistically significant but funny non-the-less.

We can’t wait to see what type of numbers Sony and Nintendo are going to fling out. If we ask each competitor, we’re sure they’ll say we’re going to win the console war. Nintendo may just ask, “what console war? We just make game hardware” and you can’t fault them there!

Call of Duty: World at War Beta – Coming SoonCall of Duty: World at War Beta – Coming Soon

I don’t know anyone that can’t pass up a good beta, Call of Duty: World at War is no exception to the rule, especially for those gamers that pre-ordered the title already. It’s a great opportunity when you’re able to buy a game ahead of time because you’re a fan and get into the beta early.

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The Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer betas will provide players with an opportunity to play as U.S. Marines, German Wehrmacht, Japanese Imperial Army and Russian Red Army factions in a variety of game types (Team Death Match, Free-For-All, Capture the Flag and War), across three different maps:

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The betas will last for a few weeks; however, the full battle will commence on November 11, 2008 when Call of Duty: World at War is released to retailers nationwide.

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For more information and exclusive updates about Call of Duty: World at War, visit www.callofduty.com

About Activision Publishing, Inc.
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As the podcast approaches the magic 250th episode, Paul, Jordan and Jonah check out some of the big news that hit this week in the land of videogames, and in the Gaming Flashback, looked back at an all-time worst game, Superman 64.

This week’s news includes:

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  • Vita sales continue to freefall in Japan
  • Guild Wars 2 open beta this Spring, launching in 2012
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All this and Reader Feedback, as well as the Question of the Week, “What do you look for in a sequel?”