Episode 708: Hello 2024

The first episode of 2024 is a short one, though the guys discuss the original Mickey Mouse hitting the public domain, Square Enix declaring it will be “aggressive in applying AI”, CD Projekt RED staying independent, and Valve ending all support for CSGO in favor of Counter-Strike 2.

The news includes:

  • Activision Blizzard workers speak out after Bobby Kotick’s CEO exit
  • Star Wars Outlaws releasing “late” 2024
  • Studio behind PlayStation Firewall games shuts down due to “lack of support” for VR within industry

Let us know how your 2023 went.

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tombraiderEidos was founded in 1990 and has been the king of its own destiny since its inception. As part of Square-Enix, Eidos and its destiny were called into question, would they continue to run the show or would they become one with Square-Enix. Square-Enix has come out to say they’ll be leaving Eidos to themselves and allow creativity to flow between the companies.

“This is an exciting beginning to what I believe will be an incredible journey. I am very happy that Phil Rogers has agreed to lead Eidos in what I see as an international marriage between our two companies, a marriage that will give birth to great things. Eidos is a content rich company and a culturally significant business to the Square Enix group.” (kotaku)

Square-Enix is playing it safe with this acquisition because this isn’t a great enviroment for shaking things up internally within a development studio. Eidos is well known for Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief and many other great projects and have built a solid foundation for the future.

A mind-share between these two groups is a powerful enemy to the competitors if they’re able to open a good dialog between the two companies and share resources, tools and engines. In a world of cost savings and salary cuts, leaning on each others resources to build a better product is a win.

At least we won’t have to call them Square-Enix-Edios because that’s just a mouthful!

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The news for the week includes:

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  • Microsoft has a clear path to developing Killer Instinct after an agreement with Fox
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  • Bethesda confirms “new version of Doom 4” being worked on, Rage 2 cancelled

There’s also Listener Feedback, and the Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm contest is still open – a winner will be announced next week.

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This week’s episode is short due to Jonah Falcon’s impending trip to San Francisco to cover a preview event of Company of Heroes 2, while Paul Nowak gets irritated at the complaints coming out of the Wii U launch.

The news items include:

  • Wii U’s launch day update reportedly causing major problems
  • Nintendo DRM traps $400 of downloaded games
  • GTA: Vice Cityremoved from Steam over music licensing
  • Report: Next-gen Xbox TV device coming in 2013
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The Question of the Week: “Do you play real-time strategy games. If so, what is your favorite. If not, why not?”