It’s episode 50(!), so get ready for an EPIC-ly normal show. Notable mentions in the podcast section start with news of the Bethesda Podcast (featuring Nick Breckon), the last The Idle Thumbs Podcast, and the addition of Alice Liang on The Geekbox.
The games section has Jon talking about his disappointing time with Kane & Lynch 2, and better time with the well-realized world of Mafia II. We also hit the Xbox Live price hike, which garners some wildly differing opinions.
It’s a big week in tech with Apple’s annual iPod event looming. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is grabbing some attention and the Kindle 3 is REALLY small. A few words about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the Netflix iPhone app, and the new CM visual refresh close-out the show.
Covered topics and games: Bethesda Podcast, the last The Idle Thumbs Podcast, Alice Liang on The Geekbox, Kane & Lynch 2, Mafia II, Xbox Live price hike, Sept. 1st Apple announcement, Galaxy Tab, Kindle 3, Scott Pilgrim, Netflix iPhone app, site visual refresh
Follow us:
- Jonathan Downin – @jonathandownin
- Jon Cole – @jonathanacole
- Derek Lavigne – @eternalbeta
- Ross Adams – @randomlyrossy
- Alex Martin – @ADewiM
- Peter Barta – @pbarta
Runtime – 38:26
Links → mp3 | iTunes | Zune | rss
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Weekend Confirmed isn't up yet, so I'll put this post here in anticipation of their conversation about the Xbox Live price increase, which we touched upon to a degree. There is an aspect where I suspect Garnett gets his subscription for free and find his firm stance annoying, but listening to his argument made me think of a couple things:
1) Ryan Davis' idea that gamers have an unjustified sense of entitlement (this concept can stand alone, and I don't want to take credit for his idea), and,
2) We are all still early adopters to gaming, especially online gaming, and the financial landscape is far more dynamic than we want to believe
Idea 2 has a lot of implications, touching also on prior conversations about pricing for downloadable content; but I think it serves as an umbrella for a lot of the conversations that spawn from gaming and online gaming. To a certain degree we like to think our gaming landscape is defined, in terms of services and pricing; but we forget that really, we are still in the Wild West of capabilities and cost for services we already take for granted. The image comes to mind of Pony Express riders following the first telecommunication lines to the west, being led by the totems of their obsolescence (please note that I've been drinking rum and playing Shank, both of which inform that metaphor).
Ultimately, I think the XBL price increase is trivial compared to its service (unlimited, instantaneous, worldwide communication is a vastly powerful tool), but mostly…I find Garnett to be incredibly annoying when he gets on a soapbox.
"You can hear the Thumb inside him" made me snicker.. Breckon on the new Bethesda cast makes me hope Remo will involve himself with the Irrational casts? Please?! You guys are right that there is no substitute for Idle Thumbs — it'd be good hear those dude's voices on other shows, at least.
Erik your comment was absolutely keen — it is funny how much the gaming pricing landscape is still chaos. Fluid is probably a better word than chaos because it will always be a changing market; the only consistency will be companies always overpricing The Newest Bestest Thing (PSP Go; Kinect; 20 years ago when Phantasy Star and Virtua Racer were $90 per on the damn Sega Genesis) and there will always be immediate negative backlash to price hikes. Business law never changes and gamers are like every other kind of consumer.. The battle of company vs. consumer never ends and always comes down to value, how much is an individual willing to pay for goods and services. If $10 more for XBL is too much for someone they simply won't pay it — the difference with gamers and gaming podcasts is there is the ridiculous degree of posting and talking about it.
ps. love the site redesign guys