Episode 349: Better Late

In this episode, Paul arrives in time for the letters, with some audio issues on his phone.

In the meantime, Jordan and Jonah cover some of the week’s news including:

  • Nintendo skipping E3 media briefing again
  • E.T. cartridges unearthed in New Mexico
  • Sony Online Entertainment rolls out All Access Program
  • Star Wars: Episode VII cast announced
  • Skype group calls now free on Xbox One & PC
  • Analyst: PC gaming now brings in more money than console gaming

All this and Listener Feedback.

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The news items include:

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Paul is also running a contest to earn “Pixie Diamonds” currency for Disney’s Pixie Hollow social networking MMO, with the prize going to the person who can answer, “Who is your favorite Disney Prince or Hero, and why?”

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In an interview with Next Gen BIZ, Hines states that using online multiplayer as a tool to prevent used game trade-ins and rental simply doesn’t work, and robs developers of valuable man-hours.

Hines stated:

“(People ask us) for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn’t it have multiplayer? Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you’re doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?

“If you’re doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don’t bother, it’s a waste of time, a giant distraction and it’ll make for a worse overall game.

“We want the best game possible. If that’s a singleplayer game that’s 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don’t waste your time on features that don’t make the game better.”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Prey 2 are two Bethesda properties that will lack multiplayer, but one of the tools to encourage games to keep both games will be downlodable content and, even more important, good communications with the game communities and nurturing the fandom for both games.

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Let us know what you think.