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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A new draft of the R18+ classification has been released by home minister Brendan O’Connor through the Australian Federal Government. The new guidelines closely match those in place for Australia’s film industry. The new R18+ rating removes restrictions on bad language, drug use and nudity; in contrast, the current guidelines forbade the classification of any adult-themed games.

O’Connor’s draft claims that the R18+ rating will allow “virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes”, and violence in games “except where it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be classified.” As far as sex, the draft says, “Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is ‘simulation, yes – the real thing, no'”.

Of course, “standards of morality, decency and propriety” is still troublesomely subjective, while “simulation, yes, the real thing, no” is comicly inept for videogames, where everything is simulation. You may be able to tell when live actors are actually performing sexual acts, but when can you tell a videogame character is actually having sex?

O’Connor stated:

“The Gillard government wants to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that and will also bring Australia into line with comparable nations. This issue has been on the table for many years, without the necessary progress to make a change. We’ve recently seen several states publicly express their support for an adult only rating for games and I’m keen to reach a unanimous decision at the July meeting.”

Rather than banning games, why not punish stores for selling mature games to underage children? Or put the onus of raising children on the parents?

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It’s amazing to think we’re in our third year of “next generation” console bliss. Three years have passed since the first Xbox 360 shipped, for good or bad, and it’s time to start thinking about the future.

Or is it?

Bobbie Bach, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices president, seems to believe this generation of consoles will expand out further than the typical four-year release cycle. Perhaps because the console developers have invested so much money in defeating each other in the market and making their console “number one” in the eyes of their investors.

Bach does not believe we’re cresting on the current generation, that is for certain, and we’ve yet to hear any hype over a new next-generation console from Microsoft. They were the first to market so, theoretically, they should be the first in the next-generation as well, right?

Their move to be number one was really a strategic attack which has paid out well, leading them above the past domination of Sony and Nintendo before it. However, they are holding strong with the Xbox 360 and there might be cause to sit tight and let this generation playout before bringing in another piece of hardware.

Bach stated that he believes consoles today are competing at different levels than ten years ago. There isn’t one clear winner, there isn’t one dominating console. There will be victors in different areas of the industry; casual consoles, top game sellers, best graphics and others. It’s not about sheer “units sold” it’s more about being profitable and building a community around your hardware, see Xbox Live as a great example.

Next generation will be full of fantastic new features, ways to connect and crazy hardware specifications, no doubt, but… for many of us, it will take years before we forget the pain and suffering we paid shipping our dead Xbox 360’s back to Microsoft for repairs. Would you be willing to buy into their next generation as their first customer?

(Thanks, 1up)

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The news this week includes:

  • EA splits from Tiger Woods
  • Rumor: Xbox One SDK plagued by eleventh hours bugs
  • Apple sells 33.8m iPhones, 14.1m iPads in September quarter
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No Question of the Week this week – just looking for Listener feedback.