There’s no podcast notes this week because, well, nothing was going on. Enjoy your hot, hot, HOT summer.
The post Episode 729: Just Chattin’ ‘Bout Games first appeared on Gaming Podcast.
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Episode 729: Just Chattin’ ‘Bout Games
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Diablo 3 Content Creation PhaseDiablo 3 Content Creation Phase
Now that Blizzard feels their engine is solid, it’s time to move on to creating content for the full game. Jay Wilson, Diablo 3‘s lead designer, says the game engine is in an advance stage of completion and much of the art team has moved onto Act 2. Don’t read into that, he said game engine.
Blizzard is obviously not hurting for money, given the success of World of Warcraft and they’ve always taken their time with projects to make them solid products. Blizzard’s name is on the line and they’re brand consists of three major franchises: Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. When you produce so few games you’re expected to do them perfectly.
How do they do it? As Wilson says, “If we haven’t rebuilt something five times it really doesn’t deserve to be shipped. That’s pretty much our policy.” (eurogamer) While a game engine is the foundation for a great game experience, the content is king. Blizzard is deep in the mire of content production so, although the engine might be solid, the final product is probably still far from complete.
End result, expect a high quality product once again from Blizzard.
Michael Pachter Says Wii HD Will LaunchMichael Pachter Says Wii HD Will Launch
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter is “absolutely convinced” we’ll see a Nintendo Wii HD by 2011. What makes him so sure? In short, Nintendo will start to look bad if their console is said to be “for your mom” instead of for gamers.
What they’ve done, so far, is show the industry there is more market than just hardcore gamers. They’ve also convinced many of us that only hardcore gamers actually buy games. Nintendo says they’re selling games, we’ve just not seen any real evidence of that outside of their own first party titles.
“Nintendo has to overcome that [lack of graphics power],” said Pachter. “A Wii HD would really position Nintendo well, which is why I’m absolutely convinced there is a Wii HD coming. Businesswise, they can’t have people saying that their machine is a toy for my mom.” (gamedaily)
Nintendo obviously doesn’t to be the focus of a “your mom” joke outside of being able to boast huge sales figures. Selling the console into homes has definitely raised the awareness of their brand to gamers and non-gamers alike. Now, it seems, Nintendo is going to have to “grow up” and get with the high definition graphics crowd… by 2011.
Would you re-buy a Wii if it was in HD? It’s also important to note Prachter believed Take-Two would become EA and was “convinced” of it. That didn’t happen. Will this?
Gaming Podcast 150: FPS ClanGaming Podcast 150: FPS Clan
This week’s gaming podcast brings back the old game Lemmings in our flashback while covering the history of DMA Designs. We’re also going to explain to you why we’d never make an FPS clan. This weeks news includes:
- Xbox Live iPhone App
- Microsoft thinking about bringing Natal to TVs
- Santa Claus coming to PlayStation Home
- Puzzle Quest 2 Coming in the Spring
- Valve and Steam don’t mix
- Blizzard: Don’t bother cloning WoW
This week’s question of the week, would you rather have the “Swiss army knife” of gaming hand-held systems that does it all, but features must be turned off to conserve battery life or a more focused hand-held platform that does just what’s needed with no additional bells and whistles?