So Max and I have start to podcast again. We are both in different parts of the country so we talk via skype. We just finished our first podcast. I have rebuilt the podcast feed and storage; so you may have to resubscribe via iTunes. Our goal is to do a show every other week and then on big occasions, like E3, PAX, etc.
If there is something you would like covered, please let us know. If there is something we can fix, please let us know.
Thanks again for listening,
Brad
What the what!? I thought this feed was dead.
This week the guys make their return. Using a little technology they plan on making this a regular thing again. This is the first attempt at this setup. Please let us know how you think it works.
This week they talk about the following:
XBOX One
Injustice
Bioshock Infinite
Comics Code Authority and some general Comic book gibberish
I have graduated, so the school crunch is over. This means I have the free time to record and edit once again. Max and I will be returning next week with an all new show!
I hope you did not miss us that much.
Brad
Well, it is that time of year again. The beginning of September for me starts the beginning of the campaign drive for more recruits and drumming up supporters for me. Extra Life this year is on October 15, 2011. For those of you that do not know, Extra Life is a 24 hour gaming marathon. Get people to pledge you money for every hour you play. You do not have to play video games, any game counts – play scrabble with the family, have a afternoon football game, that counts to – even naked twister if that’s what you like. Have fun and raise money for your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. If you are concerned you cannot play 24 hours in one day, break it up in two. Anything goes. Participate in the community get friends and family to sign-up. Have Fun, Heal Kids, Make Friends.
This year Extra Life is a little different there are two membership levels. The basic in which all participants start in at and the Platinum level. Basic is free, you are eligible for some prizes, but none of the big ones; Platinum costs 15 dollars and makes you eligible for bigger prizes, like a new XBOX360, and the yearly t-shirt. The current prize, the XBOX competition runs through September 12. The way to win works like this, raise money, the more money you raise the more entries you get in the drawing. So if you raise $1200 before September 12, then you get 1,200 entries into the drawing; simple right? Great – So get out there and start raising some money. You can register at the all new website - www.extra-life.org. You will notice that this year has a big sponsor - Microsoft. They are responsible for the XBOX and a whole bunch of 12 Month Gold subscriptions.
With Extra Life being on October 15th – there are plenty of new games to play, let me break down a quick list from now to Oct 15 -
September -
Well today present a whole host of pressers from Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony. The day started off with the Microsoft stage show. This could easily be summed up with one picture, in motion form:
Compliments of @JensDietrich
Aside from Kinect, Kinect, Kinect Rail Shooter, Another Rail shooter for Kinect; there were a few key announcements pertaining to media content. This included the addition of live streaming TV. Although there were no specifics related to fees, carriers, or date. UFC will also be offering Pay Per View via XBOX360. This will integrate some of the features of ESPN 3, like winner, victory type, historical information. This is a very interesting move in the way that MS plans to replace cable and provide competition to a direct competitor just recently made available, HULU Plus. There were two additional announcements related to HALO – the first being the HALO Anniversary title. Which is a remastered version of the first HALO done in the reach engine. The second is that they announced HALO 4, 5, and 6. Well technically it was just HALO 4, however they did say it was the beginning of a new trilogy so the extrapolation was easy enough. There it is a hour and thirty minute press conference summed up in one paragraph. All in all it was not all that impressive. There were some key movements with some neat features, however it seemed to be lacking some flair.
Next up was the EA press conference. They announced a few titles, nothing that was unexpected or already known about. There was Need for Speed: The Run, Battlefield 3 – Which featured a tank battle and looked very well put together. They teased all the Star Wars and MMO fans out there with another CG trailer, but again, there was no launch or open beta date. Which honestly is extremely disappointing. EA also pimped their new online portal called www.origin.com. This has some exclusive trailers. They also showed more Mass Effect 3, which looks more and more impressive. They also tagged its release date as March 3, 2012. There was some Madden, FIFA, a really big Curt Schilling (like I’m one to talk). Again, there was nothing here we had not seen or known about before. SSX was also shown again, this time much more care-free and fun like the original, rather then that pseudo military snowboarding game shown at the VGA’s. Aside from Battlefield and Mass Effect, there was little here to be excited about – SSX does make me smile though.
The day continued with the UbiSoft Presser. That started out with a big smile. They introduced a simple traditional two player plat-former - Rayman 4. This brings a smile to anyone new or old that likes a good side scroller. There was a fun augmented reality Raving Rabbits game. The MC then went a little off the rails. There was a demo of Ghost Recon, which with all honesty looked pretty boring. There was some Driver: San Francisco, then a mostly expletive demo of Far Cry 3. The Inglorious Bastards made an appearance in Brother in Arms: Furious Four. There were some other less memorable announcements. Although it ended with the coup de grace – Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Which was epic. It definitely looks better. There are some new take downs and it all looks real good. I found somethings I was impressed with, like Rayman, AC, Raving Rabbits, however there was one missing item, Beyond Good and Evil 2.
The long day of talking ended with Sony. Normally, they are the first real day of E3, this year though they made a change. Jack Trenton took the stage and apologized for the PSN outage and security breach. He asked those who have given up on Sony to please stick around and listen to the future they have planned for their platform(s) in the future. There was more move this and move that. A untimely trailer for a game coming out tomorrow. Seemed like a waste of a few minutes. There was the attempt to bring more 3d home, which includes a Sony PS branded TV that does 3D. There was an amazing game play footage trailer of Bioshock Infinite, along with a weird announcement of a non-descript NGP title. Kobe Bryant was on stage, looking really out of place trying to play a basket ball game. Uncharted 3 was shown and looked as expected – polished, beautiful, and full of Nolan North. We finally got some announcements for the HD remake of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Added to that was the PSP God of War ports to HD ion the PS3. Both of which are due out in September. There were a bunch of exclusives that seemed wedged in, or back room deals made because they are so odd. Like Bioshock be packed with Bioshock Infinite and Star Trek having a downloadable prequel, then the 1943 pack-in with Battlefield 3; all PS3 exclusives. Some dungeon running social game called Ruin. Looked like everything else dungeon crawler out there, except other people build the dungeon you invade. There was some mention of a unified experience across the PS3 and NGP version. I also forgot to mention, they announced the NGP, officially named the PSVita; I’m just going to stick with the NGP though. There will be two versions, a WI-Fi version and a Wi-Fi/3G version, powered by ATT (the crowed had boos and mocking laughter at this moment. The wi-fi only version will be $250, the 3g version $300. Which honestly seems reasonable. They mentioned something called Playstation Suite, which aside from the Xperia, no one seems to know anything about. All in all it was another forced presentation. Aside from Uncharted 3, NGP price point, and the BioShock tailer it was another flat conference.
Microsoft unfortunately announced somethings in their press release that should have been mentioned in the press conference – Cloud and ID saved to cloud for a truly portable XBOX live experience. This is huge. Sony has had this feature for Plus users since the Summer, so this is a competing feature. One thing to take away from this is again, they seem to be leaving their core gamers in the dust, pushing peripherals. It seems Microsoft wants everyone to use the Kinect, Sony wants everyone to have a 3D TV, so I wonder what Nintendo be pushing tomorrow. I am hoping the floor shows and private demos have more to offer. Right now the start seems pretty flat. There are some shining surprises, Rayman and Raving Rabbits to start, but there was little from the big two to start the show. Luckily we know that there are plenty of good games on the horizon this year and next. I look forward to seeing those and Nintendo tomorrow and how innovative their new console will be.
