Last week’s podcast couldn’t be uploaded thanks to some good old-fashioned California power outages. This week’s episode is full of snark — enjoy.
The news items include:
Let us know what you think.
Some folks over at Kotaku ran into problems at the Penny Arcade Expo, it was packed with people and complications. Apparently the rooms are cramped with humans and bad acoustics, leaving some wondering what was going on at the Harmonix demonstration. Others sat in long lines, way ahead of time, to see games like Fallout but were turned away after a long wait.
It seems the lack of fans at E3 has caused people to go elsewhere, PAX for instance, to get their demo gaming fix. There is obviously a demand for this type of expo, if people could figure out how to balance the costs associated with holding such an event. Despite cramped space, long lands and epic disappointments being turned away, will people refuse to go next year?
Probably not. Perhaps they’ll expand to a bigger venue, eventually to be the new “E3” expo?
Much like Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony is looking for LittleBigPlanet to move consoles from the shelves because all types of gamers are going to want this title. Personally, the desire to want and the stronger feeling of need are two separate problems; everyone will want the game but many will need to buy a PlayStation 3 for MSRP.
Although the prices are slowly dropping for a PS3 unit, hardcore gamers are the ones that will rush out and spend a bundle of money for a console just to play one game. If not hardcore gamers, fans of the franchise (MGS4 for example) and LittleBigPlanet is still working on building a fan base for their new franchise.
The platformer LittleBigPlanet, for many, isn’t worth $399 plus the price of the game. That’s asking a lot, but Sony still thinks it can happen:
It’s going to be a hardware seller. Not only do you have the platforming experience that a lot of other games will have, you have this creativity that really is exclusive to LittleBigPlanet. (kotaku)
Would you run out and get a PS3 for LittleBigPlanet? I’m tempted, but that $399 barrier is truly a large obstacle to clear.
Capcom has finally come out and stated Mega Man 9 will indeed be available on the PlayStation 3 (PSN) and Xbox 360 (Xbox Live). Capcom may be making a great move by providing everyone the ability to play their new retro title in download form. The game is definitely going to be a smaller title with a niche appeal, you really want to gain as much access to gamers as possible.
Although WiiWare is a great staging point for a new/old franchise there is absolutely nothing wrong with expanding it to the other consoles, even the PlayStation 3, giving all gamers the choice of which platform to purchase the title for.
In many ways, a console gamer with all consoles can chose the version of Mega Man 9 which will provide them the best “controller” experience. You want to play on an Xbox 360 controller? Great! Perhaps the Wii classic controller is more your style? Fine! Wanna stick with the proven PlayStation controller? Excellent!
Hopefully we’ll get a sense of which console moves the most downloads for Mega Man 9, as this will define who gets great gaming DLC in the future. Oddly enough, it might be the Xbox 360 because of its console sales count and total attach rate, even though the Wii has huge volume of users they don’t purchase very many games (if any).
(Thanks, Kotaku)
