This week’s episode is kind of short because there’s really nothing big to discuss. There is news, however, which includes:
Let us know what you think.
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:
This week’s Question of the Week: “Are you ready for VR?”
Most folks in the game industry are already writing off E3 as an actual event to be attending. Even Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is calling it “virtually useless” for both retail and investors. The writing is on the wall and the reasons are obvious.
Publishers and developers didn’t want to invest the millions of dollars to make E3 a glamour show of epic proportions anymore. The lights, camera and action are all what the industry is about; the hype wagon in full steam. Gamers eat up the hype, bloggers and journalist rely on the hype and action to build readership and keep them coming back for more and retail uses it to gauge new releases and get a grip of the future.
Without the entertainment value of E3 nobody seems to care anymore. Large scale gaming entertainment is reflected in the large scale events and, at the end of the day, we want our conferences and shows to reflect the emotion and exciting of the industry.
“E3 had much more of an impact when it was a show,” comments IGN.com vice president of games content Tal Blevins. “The video game industry is about fun and entertainment, and we should have a show that reflects it.” (gamasutra)
Everyone is sad to see the state of E3, it’s like a cancer patient waiting for their final diagnosis. It’s unfortunate, it’s going to get worse and life will go on without it. In its wake, new shows will crop up while old shows increase in audience, excitement, intensity and cost.
As one show begins to fade others will grow to replace it and developers will yet again find themselves spending millions of dollars to be the best of show.
Jordan is back, and even though he’s not 100%, he’s still well enough to do the podcast. He and Jonah discuss what things make them stop playing a game, while the rest of the podcast is all about Grand Theft Auto V. They also get into discussions about laserdisc players.
The news includes:
All this and Listener Feedback, as well as the Question of the Week, “When will the current generation of consoles discontinue?”
