Episode 688: July Is Coming

The gang talks about Cities: Skylines 2, Microsoft and the FTC, and Biden’s high speed internet bill, as well as the following news:

  • Baldur’s Gate 3 promises level 12 cap, new races, 22 new subclasses
  • Minecraft’s devs exit Reddit
  • Bobby Kotick says Switch successor will be closer to Xbox One & PS4 performance
  • New Resident Evil 4 achievements spark speculation about upcoming DLC

All that and listener feedback.

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Titanfall 2 announced by Electronic ArtsTitanfall 2 announced by Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts has officially announced Titanfall 2, releasing a teaser trailer showing a Titan approaching a drop pod and unleashing a sword, bringing the series closer to Pacific Rim.

The publisher was pretty brief in its press release, simply announcing:

“From Respawn Entertainment, the studio that brought you the award-winning Titanfall, comes Titanfall 2. Check out the teaser trailer at Titanfall.com and get a glimpse of what awaits you on the Frontier.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the worldwide debut of Titanfall 2 at 1pm PT on Sunday, June 12 at EA PLAY.”

We’ll be at E3 2016, so when the show comes around, we’ll have all the info for you. It must be noted that EA won’t be on the show floor itself, however.

Play Zone: Wii + Drunk = Party!!Play Zone: Wii + Drunk = Party!!

When you’ve had a bit too much to drink, there are two choices: move on to tequila shots or… Mario Party for the Wii! Mario Party is amazingly fun when you’ve had a few too many drinks while sober it’s mearly “meh.”

Now, Ubisoft is trying to capture the drinking demographic, or more appropriately, the party crowd. The goal is to create a mini-game set created for partying and having fun with your Nintendo console. Enter, Play Zone, a new mini-game collection for the Wii.

Do we need yet more mini-game collections for the Wii?

“With our new Play Zone party titles, the Wii gamers who like to spend time with friends and family will have fun with the Wii through innovative and involving mini-games,” said John Parkes, Ubisoft’s EMEA marketing director. (next-gen)

Again, more “innovative mini-games” in our future? Ubisoft knows how to make a quick buck on casual games, no doubt, with their Petz franchise doing a killing for very simplistic games (which my daughter finds extremely fun).

The idea of more mini-games is slightly cringing but we do so enjoy a drunk game of Mario Party… maybe this is a good move.

Will Sony Reduce Prices and Heat with 45nm Chips?Will Sony Reduce Prices and Heat with 45nm Chips?

Reportedly we’re going to see smaller 45 nanometer cell processors in 2009 which leads to similar cost savings as we saw in the Xbox 360 hardware. Cost savings appear on the manufacturing side, of course, along with less power consumed by the processor leading to less heat generated by the console.

The Xbox 360 was able to benefit from chip reduction when for stability and overall heat issues, although the stability is still out for debate at the moment. The concept is fairly simple to understand; heat causes problems in closed systems with few fans and a high degree of complex components. Reduce the heat means reducing the overall need to cool and get air flow into the hot little box.

Console hardware is owned by a broad audience, not all of which understand technology and its ability to boil an egg. Consumers toss consoles and their power supplies in closed cases within their entertainment system and restrict air flow further. Any reduction in heat is a good thing for the console developer.

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