Episode 693: Madden Still Sucks

This week, the guys discuss Madden NFL 24 being a buggy mess, the Xbox 360 Store closure in 2024, Ubisoft still trying to make Skull & Bones work, and Starfield going gold.

The news includes:

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s big reveal brings campaign and multiplayer details, gameplay trailer
  • EA won’t contest £9k FIFA Ultimate Team fine in Austria
  • Nightdive Studios lead reaffirms that they’d love tackle an Unreal remaster
  • Creator of AI-Powered GTA 5 Story Mode mod unlikely to fight back against Take-Two after shutdown

Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Episode 693: Madden Still Sucks”

  1. Hi guys.
    Thanks for the episode 🙂

    Even if I don’t play that much since my partner died, I still like to Listen to your podcast. I hope that’s ok for you if I comment anyway, even if I can’t say that much to the topics you talk about.

    I still played a lot Pokémon go and tried the new TCG Lorcana. It’s really fun and I did not know that poGo is that complex!

    Do you guys know more mobile games like ingress and Pokémon go? Does anyone of you play one of these both?

    Besides these I don’t play that much mobile games, so I sonst care about Apple Arcade being shut down 🙂 (I know there are games not only for mobile, but for me it feels that way).
    I still plan to play BG3 when it gets a little bit cheaper and I feel like playing such a massive game 🙂
    I am really looking forward Silksong which hopefully will be released this year!

    Stay healthy guys and keep on the good work.
    Greetings,
    Ralf

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The first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer dropped, and it has been viewed well over 110M times since. There is much more news post-Game Awards, including Vampire Survivors, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and a ton of demos dropping on Xbox.

The news includes:

  • Stormgate launches Kickstarter campaign
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  • GTA 6 will release on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 in 2025
  • Report: Embattled Bungie management insist fans ‘still like us’

Let us know what you think.

Rhythm Gaming Saturation Point?Rhythm Gaming Saturation Point?

Rhythm Gaming is all the rage, or is it? Turns out Guitar Hero: World Tour didn’t meet or exceed the figures they hit with Guitar Hero III. Where GH3 brought in $115 million in the first week, GHWT brought in $67 million in the same time frame.

Why?

There are plenty of factors that could cut down the sales units, considering those that can purchase Guitar Hero World Tour don’t have to purchase additional instruments to play the game like they played GH3.

  • Rock Band 2: This game arrived before Guitar Hero 3 and folks went for this game instead because it was first to launch. Some gamers have to make a choice on which to purchase because they can’t buy both.
  • Hot Games: Although Rhythm gaming can be fun, a lot of great games are arriving this season so gamers have to make some big decisions.
  • Economics: The economy isn’t exactly thriving right now and retail outlets are already predicting less than stellar numbers.
  • Saturation: Since the original Guitar Hero game, we’ve had a number of titles from Activision including their Aerosmith edition and Harmonix pulling out Rock Band and Rock Band 2. There is talk of a Hendrix version and a Metallic release – how much is too much?

We know people love charts, so here is another to toss at you via Kotaku:

Guitar Hero World Tour Sales, via Kotaku

The break down from Guitar Hero 3 to World Tour is obvious, also apparent is the shift in console when buying into the rhythm gaming franchises. The Wii has started taking more market share, odd considering the DLC isn’t there, and the PS3 is showing its lackluster sales of the console by growing in proportion but not excelling to grab huge share (PS3 fanboys attack!). Sony kicked ass by taking control of the share using their PlayStation 2 with Guitar Hero 3, but has lost that lead for the World Tour.

Will these lower sales figure change the future roadmap for Activision in their Guitar Hero franchise or are they satisfied taking home $67 million in the first week of the launch. That is still a lot of money and probably doesn’t even consider any money they could (or will) potentially make on the World Tour hardware.

Luckily, the rhythm gaming content doesn’t get old with age, it just gets more classic. No doubt Guitar Hero World Tour will be landing in homes over the holidays and into 2009.

Episode 338: Movie TalkEpisode 338: Movie Talk

Sorry for the delay – last week Jordan had a medical emergency, but he’s all better now. In this episode, he and Jonah get sidetracked at one point talking about movies and the film At World’s End.

The actual videogame news they discuss include:

  • Nintendo evaluating new business, “studying” smart devices
  • Microsoft paying YouTubers for Xbox One mentions
  • Star Wars 1313 trademark abandoned
  • Sony creating new PS3 hardware for PS Now

This and a little Listener Feedback. This week, we’re looking for you to ask us questions.