This week’s episode kicks off with Casey Hudson’s many appearances on podcasts last week. We then move on to the NPD Group’s top 10 best selling games of all time. Wii Play– disqualified. Mass Effect 2′s Cerberus Network strikes us as a good way to combat used game sales in a way that is inoffensive and fair to consumers.
Get ready for a lengthy 20 minute discussion of the tablet that is expected to be announced at the Apple event on Wednesday, January 27th at 10am PST. Jon and I try to contain our excitement as Erik tries to stoke his own. We have a lot of theories and we don’t hold back. Jon covers The Book of Eli to close the show.
Also, we forgot to mention it in the show, but check out the IGN For Haiti Charity Event and help if you are so inclined.
Covered topics and games: Casey Hudson, NPD top 10 list, Mass Effect 2 Cerberus Network, Apple Tablet, Book of Eli
Runtime – 33:30
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I don't understand what makes Cerebus remarkable. Is its only selling point that it allows you to get DLC in game without having to exit to the dashboard?
That's a part of it, but it's more interesting because it's a channel for free DLC that you can only get through Cerberus, so it encourages new games sales for the code that gives you access to it, or you pay an extra $15 for a separate code if you buy the game used (I'm not sure how I feel about that extra fee, though. Seems a little high).
Aside from the cool name, I'm not sure there is really all that much of really unique value to Cerberus, it's just apparently integrated well into the game. It's probably gotten too much coverage, but given how much advertising and PR BioWare has been doing this past week, it's not surprising.
They even had full launch ads during the Vikings/Saints game last night.
I guess I missed the part about the fee for people who buy the game used. Tha'ts pretty sweet if you ask me. Gamestop's used game business really bothers me so I'm very happy to see a developer come up with such an practical solution. $15 doesn't sound too high at all if you think about the fact that tomorrow there will be used copies of ME2 on EB shelves that are only $5 less than the original price. This system shouldn't upset Gamestop either because most people probably won't know about it or care enough about the free DLC until they're well into the game and realize how awesome it is so it shouldn't turn people off from buying the used copy.
I agree that it's a great idea, but $15 still seems high to me. I don't really have much of an argument here, I just think that $10 is a more reasonable price and $15 seems almost punitive to people trying buy used. I hate Gamestop and the way they take advantage of their customers, but I can never fault a consumer looking to try to save some money by buying used.
Regardless, it's still an elegant solution. And I'm going to be buying my new copy from Gamestop using store credit, so I don't really have much of a leg to stand on anyway.
I was hoping for more. I feel like there needed to be something new in there regarding the way it handles media access. Some sort of Lala type integration would have been great.
Also, the gaming side of things is still unclear. I would like to know the true capabilities of that hardware, but I'm sure details about that will be coming.
I am going to buy one. This will probably be a replacement for almost everything I do outside of the house using an internet device. In fact, with the keyboard dock, it looks like it will be able to do almost everything I do on a day to day basis outside of website development and podcast stuff.
As I said on the podcast, I think we will see some VERY interesting things in coming software revisions. Lala-type cloud-based stuff has to be coming, and there is a lot of potential in a device of this form factor and performance.
Why not website development and podcast stuff?
I'm still excited, though I can totally understand the skepticism out there. Multitasking, lack of Flash support, and several other things trouble me slightly, but I still find myself attracted to this product.
This is the truth of the matter for me. My netbook serves little more purpose than acting as a web browsing device and occasional social networking tool. Every once in a while, I use it to write posts for CastMedium. Furthermore, I have a real 3G lust that my wallet simply can't satiate.
No contract, $15 capped/$30 uncapped 3G is extremely attractive. The web browsing interface looks very, very slick. A large, horizontal soft keyboard will be more than sufficient for 200 word blog posts and brief notes, and the new iLife suite looks both cheap and effective.
Those big selling points are compounded by a number of other small factors, namely the possibility of decent gaming on the device, an excellent PMP device for movies and TV shows, very thin and light design, casual eBook reading, and compatibility with iPhone apps that I already own make it seem worthwhile to me.
And the biggest selling point? $640 for a 3G capable, Apple experience. I can actually afford that. Unlike any tablet that someone might want to sell me on, I can actually afford this one.
Hope you guys don't mind if I jump in here.
I'm kind of on the same page as Jon. I should preface this by saying that I'm not an Apple fiend; I don't own and Apple products, as a matter of fact. I completely understand the skepticism surrounding this product. I'm really disappointed there's no flash support, but who knows what's going on with the politics between Apple and Adobe (I don't really know enough about the matter to even speculate, so I'll leave that matter alone). But for me, the eBook reading and the "magazine" or "newspaper" browsing looks really appealing. Since I don't have an iPod Touch or an iPhone, this might be the thing I get.
And it's perfect for older generations, too. It's got a massive screen. I know it's a gift I'll probably get my parents sooner or later. My mother's obsessed with the family photos, and laments the fact that she can't see digital camera photos outside of the computer. Digital photo frames aren't really feasible – too small; not high enough quality. As a digital "photo album", this thing is perfect. As a result, I think this is the first Apple thing I'll purchase, though I certainly won't be using it for games, I can tell you that. Check out Jeff's article on the gaming side: http://www.giantbomb.com/news/apples-ipad-still-n…
Why is it so hard for mobile devices to support flash?
From what I understand, Flash is pretty resource intensive and I imagine it's not easy to optimize for a device with such limited resources. And plus, Jobs has something against Adobe for some reason.
I would say "for a good reason."