Episode 704: Pointless Awards

This week, we discuss the Videogame Awards and Destiny 2‘s final DLC The Final Shape being delayed, as well as the following news items:

  • Mario Kart X out in 2025 claims leaker
  • Pony-inspired fighting game Them’s Fightin’ Herds abandons its unfinished story mode
  • Nier: Automata sequel is coming – but not just yet
  • Former Xbox employee reveals game EA made them cancel

Let us know what you think.

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Electronic Arts Issues 1,000 Pink SlipsElectronic Arts Issues 1,000 Pink Slips

Electronic Arts is planning to lay off 1,000 employees, approximately 10% of their employees. In this layoff their also consolidating EA Black Box back into EA Canada. EA Black Box was spun off as a studio outside of EA Canada to work on such titles as Need for Speed but, with the layoffs arriving, they’re going to be merging the remainder of EA Black Box into EA Canada by June 2009. The remaining EA Black Box employees will continue working on Skate 2.

The pink slips should be issued by March 31, 2009 and we’re hoping the folks that have lost their jobs will find new jobs as soon as possible. An Electronic Arts representative said:

“This does not mean that the Black Box studio is closing. The studio is moving to our Burnaby campus to share the facility with EAC and other EA teams that operate out of our state-of-the-art facility. We will operate two distinct studios, each with their own distinct culture and teams, out of our Burnaby facility.” (gamespot)

EA hasn’t mentioned any specific franchise cancellation but we’re going to assume something is going to slip, it’s hard to imagine a company can lose 1,000 employees without impacting business operations. If EA was able to layoff 1,000 people without impacting day-to-day business, then they’re definitely hurting in the management department because that would be a ton of waste.

Big companies may cut costs during hard times but they said they’re, “implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.”

We’re curious just how much EA is willing to risk on “creative” endevours considering publishers are already hesitant to break new ground. The next few years should yield great opportunities for smaller developers to put on their creative hat and open new doors and opportunities for themselves.

Episode 509: Heatwave LAEpisode 509: Heatwave LA

This week was a hot time for Jonah — really hot time as Los Angeles was sweltering and the Arctic was literally on fire. However, that didn’t stop the crew from doing the podcast (albeit a day late), though the news was a bit thin again.

The news items for the week include:

  • The C64 Mini is coming to North America on October 9
  • Datamined logo offers more evidence Taiko Drum Master for Switch is coming West
  • Next Xbox will focus on “XCloud” game streaming
  • GOG: Classic console games “might be possible”

The Question of the Week: “What little known game did you love?”

Gaming Podcast 172: Heaps of MatesGaming Podcast 172: Heaps of Mates

We’re bringing a new gaming podcast to our heaps of mates, the listeners. We’re discussing some good community feedback while hitting a few key news article for this week. This weeks industry gaming news includes:

  • Codemasters and Playground battling it out
  • GamesWorkshop Sues WarhammerAliance.com
  • StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Hits retail shelves July 27
  • Nintendo to crack down on piracy with the Nintendo 3DS
  • Sony confirms Little Big Planet 2

This weeks question, can a user-generated content create a game that extends far behind its own life cycle? Or, do we really rely on the developers to extend it?