Episode 364: Ello, Facebook

October 3, 2014| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 8:09 pm

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This week’s episode has a lot of tangential videogame news, but the discussions turn in interesting directions. No Gaming Flashback or Gaming History unfortunately.

The news includes:

Microsoft announces Windows 10
Ms Pac-Man joins the fight against breast cancer
Facebook apologizes to LGBTQ users, plans “substantive changes”
PS Vita firmware 3.30 launches soon, brings theme support
The Sims 4 free content updates to include pools, Star Wars costumes

No Question of the Week either – just ask us anything.

0 thoughts on “Episode 364: Ello, Facebook”

Pawel Predki says:

October 5, 2014 at 1:43 am

Hey guys,
I haven’t written in for a while because you failed to speak bad of Vita all these weeks 🙂 the moment I heard Jonah flip flop on what media devices the Vita uses I knew I had to straighten it out (too bad about Jordan). Oh, there’s also work but I guess that’s a minor thing 🙂

The Vita uses cards and is still a great platforms with many great games. I just got the platinum trophy in Velocity 2X, which is just an amazing shoot’em up/platformer game. I wonder if it could break your dislike of the device…

I also haven’t been writing in because I didn’t feel I had much to add on the subject of the recent news items. However, the Windows 10 news is quite interesting. The reason they gave for skipping a number is great. Way to go with consistent naming, Microsoft! I’ve been using Windows since Win95 and they pretty much stick to the pattern of having every second system be terrible, as if they had two dev teams and one of them had no idea what they were doing. I bought a Win8.1 laptop recently (no touch) and I found it very hard to navigate through my apps. The Metro design sucks for mouse-operated devices and it’s not that intuitive for touch either.

Let me end with a little ‘about me’ section so that maybe Paul remembers me next time. We share the first name, after all 🙂 I’m 29, fonished college years ago and I’m trying to do a PhD in electronics/computer science. I also work for a startup which will one day be sold for… ONE MILLION DOLLARS (puts pinky in mouth).

Coming back to tje topic of Vita, my question to you guys. Which handhelds have you owned / do you own and enjoy a lot? Explain why 3DS is better than the Vita without using the words or phrases Link, Zelda, ‘the legend of’, ocarina 🙂

Cheers,
Pawel

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PS3 and 360 Price Cuts, Before Holidays EndPS3 and 360 Price Cuts, Before Holidays End

A lot of people have purchased the Xbox 360 and a growing number have had new interests in the PlayStation 3. The summer time is winding to an end and fall will bring us a new host of video games and reasons to keep playing our current generation consoles. Many analysts and industry leaders believe the 360 and PlayStation 3 will undergo a USD $50.00 price cut before the Holidays begin.

With holiday madness comes momentum and sales, a USD $50.00 price cut would help bring new momentum to both consoles, especially with Nintendo lapping them in sales. Nobody has considered the direction of the Wii as it doesn’t need to be priced competitively given this is going to be the third year it’s impossible to find in stores.

Do the consoles really need a price cut? It’s hard to argue the PlayStation 3‘s dire need for cutting in price given its already outrageous costs for a console with the least amount of desired titles. The Xbox 360, for most, has the best lineup of titles with a strong fall series of games. The Wii… well, titles don’t really matter just yet because people still buy the console upon sight. The PlayStation 3 is showing off some impressive graphics for this fall and early next year, it may almost be time to invest in the product.

The fall games will keep hardcore gamers buying titles but it will do little to inspire new console sales. If GTA IV, Halo 3, Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid 4 couldn’t drag a gamer to buy, what fall titles will do so this year? Probably very few.

It’s time for the big console vendors to broaden their audience by opening the console to a demographic of gamers that just can’t afford the higher graphic consoles. No, USD $50.00 won’t bring in everyone but it may inspire those on the fringe of consideration to change their minds. With their new consoles in hand they can use their USD $50.00 savings to purchase a new holiday release title.

Would You Buy An Apple-Based Console?Would You Buy An Apple-Based Console?

Does the console market need any more competitors? We’ve seen record sales in the game industry for titles like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV along with huge expectations for Resistance 2 and some new Sony PlayStation 3 projects. Yet, the tiny little Wii product holds best sales records around the world as the heavy hitter, Microsoft and Sony, compete for the most awesome spectacle show of graphics.

Competition is a great way to drive down costs, drive up expectations and give consumers new innovative products with better quality. Imagine if Apple got into console development and produced a new highly sexy product with the hype and consumer desire of the iPhone or iPod.

“Apple has the infrastructure in place through iTunes to create a real value proposition for those that want to extend the capability of their console beyond gaming and has the cash — about $20 billion — to not only invest in the best components on the market, but in an online gaming experience that could rival Xbox Live.” (kotaku)

Apple’s showing a huge surge in recognition and sales thanks to the iPod and growing desire for Apple hardware competing against Microsoft’s Vista operating system. As more consumers turn to Apple for their music and mobile gaming needs, Apple must see windows of exploiting the gaming market further.

More importantly, nobody can pull off digital rights management (DRM) and locking consumers into a product line like Apple all while they beg for more. Consoles are little boxes of DRM waiting for happy consumers to buy into the concept all while avoiding the hacking and bittorrenting like you’ve been seeing on Spore in the last few weeks. Had Spore been released on a console this DRM fiasco would have been avoided because gamers don’t even realize (or care) that a console locks them into playing and, more importantly, buying the game for the hardware.

(more…)

The American Entertainment Industry is Contributing to Global Piracy!The American Entertainment Industry is Contributing to Global Piracy!

Believe it or not, there are many gamers that live outside the United States. Those of us that do not live in Japan and the US aren’t always a first priority for the entertainment industry when it comes to hot new releases, yet everyone feels the power of the marketing dollar… we’re just not all “privileged” enough to experience it on day one… or year one. Here is one such story, written by rover on of our forum posters, explaining how this leads to piracy in our global economy…

Let us pretend for a moment the best motion picture of the year ranked 10 out of 10 stars on imdb.com and was released in November 18th 2007. While the United States had access to the movie all year, distributors announced a European premiere on June 16th 2008. Months after North American the release, Europe may see this blockbuster movie in its region, leaving everyone to ask themselves, “how do I see this wonderful film now?”

The world isn’t as it once was. Years ago we found ourselves lining up on an early Saturday morning in the freezing rain just to buy a new CD or rent the latest movie on VHS. Today, people expect to get what thy want NOW. We see a spot during a commercial on TV for a new CD, movie or perhaps a TV show which spark our interest and what do we do? We can wait six days to watch the next hit TV show prime time episode or line up at CD MegaWorld Monday morning at 7am to buy the CD, or we do something entirely different: we go online. Most of us would go to amazon.com to find that excellent new artist, or perhaps itunes.com to find the latest episode of our favorite TV show.

Online is the way to go. We don’t mind paying for quality entertainment; the only thing we ask is to get some flexibility to our time schedule. Some of us may watch our hit prime time TV show at 1 AM or listening to our favorite music on the bus at 5 AM. The question is “can I?” and the answer is, “yes you can!”

Now here’s where problems arise. The “yes you can” statement only applies to one group of people, specifically the North Americans. You watched this seasons first episode of “Lost” on TV, you can go online and find out there are three full seasons of 22 episodes already aired. Great! Now all I must do is pay up roughly USD $1 per episode and I’ve got the ability to download all episodes and watch them at my own leisure… right?