Episode 444: Civilization Sexy

The new episode was recorded last Wednesday but only posted now due to server issues. In this edition, Jonah, T.J., and Scott all geek out about Civilization VI. They also weigh in fully about the newly revealed Nintendo Switch, and speculate on whether it’s going to be a purchase. (Short answer: depends on how much it costs.)

This week’s news items include:

  • Bethesda says “no more” to advance game reviews
  • Nintendo pins financial hopes on selling 2 million Switch consoles at launch
  • Microsoft announces a VR headset for $299

This week’s Question of the Week: “Are you ready for VR?”

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Electronic Arts Issues 1,000 Pink SlipsElectronic Arts Issues 1,000 Pink Slips

Electronic Arts is planning to lay off 1,000 employees, approximately 10% of their employees. In this layoff their also consolidating EA Black Box back into EA Canada. EA Black Box was spun off as a studio outside of EA Canada to work on such titles as Need for Speed but, with the layoffs arriving, they’re going to be merging the remainder of EA Black Box into EA Canada by June 2009. The remaining EA Black Box employees will continue working on Skate 2.

The pink slips should be issued by March 31, 2009 and we’re hoping the folks that have lost their jobs will find new jobs as soon as possible. An Electronic Arts representative said:

“This does not mean that the Black Box studio is closing. The studio is moving to our Burnaby campus to share the facility with EAC and other EA teams that operate out of our state-of-the-art facility. We will operate two distinct studios, each with their own distinct culture and teams, out of our Burnaby facility.” (gamespot)

EA hasn’t mentioned any specific franchise cancellation but we’re going to assume something is going to slip, it’s hard to imagine a company can lose 1,000 employees without impacting business operations. If EA was able to layoff 1,000 people without impacting day-to-day business, then they’re definitely hurting in the management department because that would be a ton of waste.

Big companies may cut costs during hard times but they said they’re, “implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.”

We’re curious just how much EA is willing to risk on “creative” endevours considering publishers are already hesitant to break new ground. The next few years should yield great opportunities for smaller developers to put on their creative hat and open new doors and opportunities for themselves.

Episode 276: Covered in ConcreteEpisode 276: Covered in Concrete

Paul is not in the podcast, and will be out for the next couple of weeks as he recovers from major surgery. In the meantime, the podcast chugs on with three podcasters, as Jordan relays what he thought of the Sony Gamescom 2012 press conference.

In the meantime, the news items include:

All that plus Reader Feedback wishing Paul well (sorry, Kizer, we didn’t moderate your message til after recording), as well as this week’s Question of the Week, “When is the right time to cut the price of a console?”

Episode 739: Jordan’s BackEpisode 739: Jordan’s Back

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Jordan’s back, as the four of us discuss topics like the fact No Man’s Sky has reached a Very Positive rating on Steam, Russian disinformation is trying to spark a boycott of Stalker 2 by claiming it’s going to draft you into the war in Ukraine somehow, a new Pokémon project in the works with Wallace and Gromit maker Aardman and Sony confirms interest in buying FromSoftware.

In other news:

  • Vision of Mana director quits NetEase to join Square Enix
  • Intel CEO resigns after a disastrous tenure
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 will add cross-play and 12 new subclasses in 2025
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s final expansion originally forced you to blow up Skyhold

Let us know what you think.

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