Episode 315: Titanfall T-Shirt Contest Continues

This week’s podcast is fairly heavy on the Xbox One news, but at least it makes for a themed podcast. Jordan expresses his fears at controllers that look at you, while QWOP and Surgeon Simulator 2013 are discussed.

This week’s news includes:

  • PS4 did have always on DRM, camera, but Sony changed it at E3
  • Report: Xbox One’s capabilities better than Microsoft expected
  • Report: Xbox One will be able to run Windows 8 apps
  • Xbox One getting Unity support to aid indie developers
  • Half-Life 3 rumors squashed by Surgeon Simulator 2013 dev
  • Star Citizen asset cost for ships “anywhere from $35,000 to $150,000”

The “Win a Titanfall T-shirt” contest continues. Merely answer, “What game at E3 impressed you the most?” to enter to win a large size tee.

0 thoughts on “Episode 315: Titanfall T-Shirt Contest Continues”

  1. @PS4 did have always on DRM, camera, but Sony changed it at E3
    πŸ˜€ If this is true, then damn it, the customer still has some power. I guess not being the first to present the product is not entirely bad.

    @ Xbox One’s capabilities
    It’s easy to mess up specs. I mean the sales guy don’t know tech mumbo jumbo. So yeah …
    Now, I’d go and say that even at the initial estimated bandwidth the difference should not be that big.
    Read – write simultaneously? That’s a pretty good thing. In theory that can double the effectiveness of the hardware (at least in some instances), as opposed when having to do them sequentially.
    Still … PS4 looks a bit more attractive. Dunno why, maybe because of the initial fiasco of the XBox one.
    Now, on compatibility: wasn’t supposed Win 8 to play also XBox 360 games? Does this mean that XBOne will play 360 games?

    @Xbox One getting Unity support to aid indie developers
    Hmm … interesting. Still, XBLA was not all sunshine and rainbows:
    http://www.xblafans.com/jon-blow-and-team-meat-done-with-xbox-64672.html
    So what gives? Ok, the link above is from March, but still. If this isn’t confusing, I don’t know what is. Team Meat? Your reply on this recent development?

    @Star Citizen asset cost for ships “anywhere from $35,000 to $150,000”
    Holly f*ckin’ shit! No, just … no. Jonah has a very good point, it could be that those polygons won’t be visible at lower settings.
    Further more, I think that in the heat of the action, you probably won’t notice the extra details anyway.

  2. Hey! I missed last week’s episode so let’s get going now!

    First of all, Insomniac did not develop Infamous. It was Sucker Punch and they’re also doing Infamous: Second Son now. They’re still with Sony.

    @PS4 DRM – This is highly doubtful to me. Am I supposed to believe that a multi-billion dollar company changes their policy and the entire E3 presentation within a couple of hours because of what the competitor did? No way. Jack Tretton of Sony was a guest on Up At Noon on IGN this week and that’s basically what he said. That the presentation we saw at E3 was what it was always supposed to be. There were no changes made after Microsoft’s conference. The game sharing Youtube video, that’s a different story πŸ˜‰

    @XBone capabilities – that’s a funny mistake to made but still might have happened. I don’t think all the technical stuff really matters to an ordinary customer. I still believe that the price and the unfavorable media coverage that Microsoft got after E3 will be the deciding factor. Those people who show more interest, like you and me, already decided which console they will go with. I’m not starting my Xbox adventure with this one.

    @XBone running Win8 apps – I wonder how long this will hold up. I can see people developing apps that somehow hack the console the way people accessed the OS on PS3 in the early days. The more closed the system is, the safer it is. That’s why I’m not a huge fan of all the social interaction that the new generation brings. We’ll see how this develops.

    @QWOP – Jonah! Play QWOP now! This game is what hell is all about. This could be an instrument of torture – “if you don’t run at least 10 meters you’re not getting your food!”. Parenting tip #436

    @E3 impressions – I’ve been going through the list of games and it’s really hard to choose. I’m going to focus on Sony games, since that’s the console I’m going for. Can I still say The Last of Us? πŸ™‚ Technically, it was release AFTER E3 so it should count. I love this game and I’m afraid to read Jordan’s review… You OBVIOUSLY don’t get it πŸ˜›

    If I have to choose something in the future, I’m still very intrigued by Beyond: Two Souls. They showed some new stuff about this game and now I have no idea how it will pan out. I’m a little worried that Mr. Cage & co. want to do too much with this title. I loved Heavy Rain and I want to go back to this game some day and if the storytelling is as good in Beyond, it will be amazing.

    Most intriguing next-gen game? I think I’ll go for Infamous: Second Son. I really enjoyed the first two games, I platinumed both of them and it’s going to be interesting do see what they do with the franchise post-Cole.

    And also, in case you missed it, Jordan especially, since he has a Vita, Dead Nation is coming to the handheld! The game was an amazing PSN title. Sure, it’s another zombie apocalypse game, but it was so much fun. It had a co-op mode and you could go through the whole game in 2-3 hours if you made a speed run. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

    Now I’m wondering whether I should cash in my Bioshock Infinite contest victory to get a T-shirt or should I wait for some next-gen games since they will be region-free… πŸ˜‰

Leave a Reply

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

Related Post

Yet Another PSP Re-Design?Yet Another PSP Re-Design?

It seems as if this is the third time, but SCEE has announced a new PSP design with eight different bundles being offered. This fall we should see the PSP-3000, which sounds much like a fake Acme cartoon toy, but it’s for reals.

This version will have a built-in microphone, a redesigned (brighter) LCD screen with out-of-the-box Skype abilities. The Swiss Army knife of hand-helds will keep the current outward design with inner tweaks and each bundle will cause 199 Euro.

Is the market really looking for a re-design with these features or is this Sony’s way of competing with “color DS lite” designs. Nintendo re-releases the same product with brighter colors a few years after its release while Sony seems to push a few new hardware features or enhancements.

The end result, DS still beats all expectations in unit sales month after month.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

DRM Free Spore Steams Forward!DRM Free Spore Steams Forward!

Gamers get upset when developers sneak ugly hacks onto their computers when they just want to play video games. Although gamers really only revolt when they know their being exploited, Spore is a fine example of how not to lock down a video game. Using SecuROM was a bad decision on the part of Electronic Arts, no matter what their PR spin tries to tell us.

Imagine a world of DRM free spore and you may be imagining reality using the Valve’s Steam software download architecture.

“The moderator specifically mentioned Spore but it’s possible this extends to other EA games that used SecuROM as well (like Mass Effect). If a game on Steam uses third-party DRM, it’s supposed to be mentioned on the product page.” (cinemablend)

We’ve been complaining about the Spore DRM for month snow on the gaming podcast, perhaps we’ll have to shut our mouths soon enough.

(Thanks, GameStooge)

Will Sony Reduce Prices and Heat with 45nm Chips?Will Sony Reduce Prices and Heat with 45nm Chips?

Reportedly we’re going to see smaller 45 nanometer cell processors in 2009 which leads to similar cost savings as we saw in the Xbox 360 hardware. Cost savings appear on the manufacturing side, of course, along with less power consumed by the processor leading to less heat generated by the console.

The Xbox 360 was able to benefit from chip reduction when for stability and overall heat issues, although the stability is still out for debate at the moment. The concept is fairly simple to understand; heat causes problems in closed systems with few fans and a high degree of complex components. Reduce the heat means reducing the overall need to cool and get air flow into the hot little box.

Console hardware is owned by a broad audience, not all of which understand technology and its ability to boil an egg. Consumers toss consoles and their power supplies in closed cases within their entertainment system and restrict air flow further. Any reduction in heat is a good thing for the console developer.

(more…)