A couple days before E3 Nick, Kaz and Justin got together to talk about the week’s news and to give some predictions about E3. If your name is Justin you should go see Transformers. Throw grammar to the wind and enjoy this pre-E3 podcast post-E3. Timely as always.
Episode 3: The calm before the storm
About the Author
This podcast is a celebration of the social aspects of gaming. We were “smash brothers” long before we became the ‘Pack, and we continue to game with each other on a regular basis. If you look beyond all of the media sensationalism and message board wankery, you’ll discover that video games can help form bonds that will last forever. We’re living proof of that – we’re not jaded journalists (not yet, at least), we’re not tournament players and we’re certainly not fanboys. We’re just folks who love to play and discuss games with each other, and we hope to extend this friendship to our listeners with every installment. 
Some Thoughts:
*Transformers is a bad movie. It’s just more proof that Bay is a crappy director.
*In my opinion, Nintendo believes they have no choice in catering to a different audience. The “hardcore” (hate that word) gamers and 3rd party developers have already rejected Nintendo and have proven that a “normal” console path is not an option. They could have easily made an Xbox360 style system with a big hard drive and all the bells and whistles to go on sale for $400 and repeat the gamecube situation all over again. Heck it might still turn out that way for Nintendo anyway, with Wii sales topping out at about 20 million and 3rd parties dropping in response. The only thing that gives me real hope for the Wii’s future is the DS, which has proven that hardcore games (Etrian Odyssey) and casual games (Brain Age) can coexsist on the same system.
*Sony has forced my hand with their non price drop. The fact that they are dropping the system with the built in backwards compatibility means I have no choice but to be an early adopter. My collection of unplayed PS1 and PS2 games is way too big for me to worry about compatibility lists and updates. The 360 JUST added Morrowind to their list after almost 2 years! Once again sony screws its fanbase…
*As for E3, it looks like 1st person shooter fans are going to be real happy with the next year. Me? Not so much.