Part of this long episode was recorded live from the LA Convention Center floor at E3 2015, where Jonah and Paul were fresh off waiting in line for Disney amibos. There were some news items covered there, while a few more news items were recorded here.
Rather than list all of the news items, we’ll just relay the Question of the Week: “If Nintendo isn’t revealing a new console, should they skip E3 altogether in 2016?”
All this and listener feedback, too.
In this episode we’ve got a lot of MMO-style content and news. Although we’re not reviewing Wrath of the Lich King yet, we’ve got other subscription based news. This weeks gaming flashback is Defender and this weeks news includes:
This week we’re taking a look back at William Higinbotham, the man who created the first video game by accident but wants to be known for his nuclear nonproliferation work. This weeks podcast continues the contest to give away two copies of Bejeweled Twist on the gaming podcast and another two copies in our gaming podcast forums.
If you’ve got an Xbox 360 arcade edition or an older console without a hard disk, you’ll want to clear up at least 128MB of your flash card before powering on your console after the fall update hits. Wait, you’re flash disk isn’t 128MB in size? Oh oh.
Latest reports are stating that consumers that own a 360 without a hard disk, albeit a small group, will not be able to simply install the fall update as the rest of us because they don’t have enough disk capacity. What is Microsoft doing about that? Microsoft’s Larry Hryb says saying they will be “offering storage solutions” for such customers.
We’re wondering, are they going to actually ship people free hard disks? Perhaps a coupon for a larger flash card? Interesting indeed!
“The new Xbox experience will require 128MB of free space. A hard drive is recommended for the optimal experience, to take advantage of some new features, and to be able to enjoy the great movies, TV shows and games available on Xbox LIVE. While we expect the majority of consumers to download the New Xbox Experience without a problem, a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners do not have enough memory to accommodate the update. To help ensure all Xbox LIVE members are able to download the New Xbox Experience and enjoy its new features, Microsoft will be offering storage solutions to the Xbox LIVE community. We are not sharing details of this offering yet. Be sure to check xbox.com for more details in the coming weeks.” (1up)
It was really only a matter of time before the Xbox 360 out grew the fact that they allow consumers to roll with a diskless console. No other console limits you by having both a disk and diskless option; we know why they did it, but now it would seem their having some growing pains.
No doubt, the next Xbox 360 console will come complete with hard disk! Hopefully you were wise and got the bigger console complete with disk.
In 1995 Ensemble Studios formed as an independent studio and kicked out a little game franchise known as Age of Empires. The title has received many accolades from the first in the franchise extended out to all the Age of Empires releases and spin-offs, all-in-all selling millions of copies.
Ensemble Studios had a mission “to create great games and a great place to work,” says Bruce Shelley from Ensemble Studios. Bruce Shelley also helped design Sid Meier’s Civilization and Railroad Tycoon with MicroProse prior to his work at Ensemble Studios. Now, however, he’s a bit upset at the closing of Ensemble Studios because they were profitable, created top-quality titles and had a great working environment.
Ensemble Studios, from his perspective at least, was a place you’d go to work and be happy with what you’re doing. When you’re working along nicely and become blind-sided by the news, it’s not surprising he didn’t take it lightly.
“Everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen. I believe we thought we were immune to shut-down talk because our published games have done so well and have been so profitable. Plus we felt we had built a really stable (low-turnover), talented, hard-working, and creative team, which is not easy to do. We thought we were among the best studios in the world, and that may be true, but we don’t fit in the future plans of MGS as an internal studio so we’re out.” (ensemblestudios.com)
What’s the future plans for Ensemble Studios? As we’ve stated before, they plan to live on in spirit, within the bounds of a new name and a new game plan. “I believe the spirit and mission of ES will be carried forward in this new company if enough of the key leaders agree to take part, which I expect to happen. There has been no announcement about what the new studio will be working on when it gets going,” says Shelley.
This is a horrible way to have to launch a hot new intellectual property. Usually creating a new title with a building fanbase would lead to excitement, parties and high hopes for the future of the franchise. Instead, people will be dusting off their resume in hopes to continue a life of game development.
Hopefully the leaders will indeed form a brand new company and build brand new hot products with their entire staff intact. Then, take their titles to a different publisher (besides Microsoft) and make some money and fans.
Paul should stay because he loves Amibos and there’s nothing like collecting them. Can’t wait for Disney Infinity 3.0 and please, please, please stay, Paul. We need you!
Great long episode with many topics to respond to!
@Gamergate at E3: I agree with Paul women have been in gaming since their was video games. I’ve grown up with Rosella of Daventry, Laura Bow (From Dagger of Amon Ra and Colonel’s Bequest), Final Fantasy 6’s Terra and Celese, Crono Trigger’s Luca, Ayla and Nadia/Marle, Jill of the Jungle, Chell from Portal, etc. The list of characters goes on and there are many of those available online, not to mention all the games that allow you to choose your gender. So really there shouldn’t be any of this “worry” or “hesitation” when games with female leads do fine.
Also in Fallout 3 you can play female, here’s my daughter’s character Stella:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=469288564
I made an error on last episodes comments I meant that Fallout4’s Boston will be 2x the size of Skyrim and was commenting on Jonah’s feeling burned out on huge Open world games.
While still on the topic of Fallout Paul I’m sorry if you feel snubbed but you made your disdain of the series pretty clear, I didn’t think you would be interested at all.
I’ve never liked this mentality and have rebelled against the idea that hardware should be replaced after 2 years. I know my Nes and Super Nes lasted MUCH longer than 2 years.
@QotW: I think Nintendo should represent it’s self, I would still want to know what games they are working on for current hardware.
Great and entertaining episode guys!
This is the first time I’ve written in, and I just have to ask this of Paul: which are you more into, Disney or My Little Pony?