Games Industry Podcast - Episode 12

[Ashlann]

In this Episode: Halloween on TF2, Mesar talks Aion, Jakob talks CoD:MW2.

[Ashlann]

Recorded: Thursday, November 5th 2009

Episode 12: Get it on iTunes now!

In This Episode:

• It was a very Happy Halloween from the folk at Team Fortress 2
• We talk to two guests, Mesar & Jakob_Pavlov (thanks guys!)
• Jakob takes a look at CoD:MW2 - what is going on with multi-player? Why?
• Mesar talks with us about Aion and the MMO world in general.

Direct Link:
Download here (31M mp3 - Right Click, Save As - PC)

Credits:
A huge thank you to Mesar & Jakob for your time guys.

Notes from Father and Ashlann

We'd like to again encourage all our listeners to send in their feedback to us on our email address:



Feel free to send in audio questions for us to play on future casts as well

Regards,

Ashlann & Father

[Atrayo]

Hello Ashlann & Father,

One of the items i came away with regarding the lengthy discussion of Infinity Ward and of MW2. Was what Father (Stefaan) stated that Infinity Ward / Activision won't be hurt by how they treated the PC platform. Due to the phenomenal success with the game consoles of Xbox & PS3.

One thing Infinity Ward and/or Activision may lose is the Trust of its PC Customers. Losing a customer no matter the outlet be it retail product or service. It is always twice as hard to regain such a former customer that has lost faith in you.

If Infinity Ward / Activision were candid with the PC users that they chose not to give dedicated support to the platform for reasons X, Y, Z. This bitter pill they gave us wouldn't have been swallowed so painfully. However they chose rather to "cover their ass" and play (pun intended) it down as a no biggie.

Cally of Duty 4, was the first ever product of the franchise I have ever bought. By the looks of it by Infinity Ward's (Activision biz suits) conduct this may very well be my last purchase of a "Call of Duty" product line.

[Ashlann]

Some very valid points, Atrayo. Thanks

[Jakob_Pavlov]

Another great podcast guys (although that English guy with the cold, the dodgy microphone, and the moaning about a game not even released at that point (!) was a bit of a downer! ).

It was great to be able to listen to all of Mesar's section as I obviously missed that first time around, with my cable dropping out!

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and would love to do it again at some point in the future!

Pav

P.S. Atrayo, very good point mate; although I am sure that Infinity Ward and Activision will explain any drop in custom from the PC market resultant of this as being more sales lost to piracy. (<- I never used to be that cynical before this debacle! )

[Atrayo]

Hi Guys,

The Wired website is reporting that the boxed sales of MW2 for November on the PC platform is 170,000 units. (not including downloads) Compare that to the 6 million units sold for November on the consoles.

Link

The author to the article Gus Mastrapa does get snippy against PC gamers.

[Snott]

Heres (one of) the TOG Aion Vid. I'm in the 'O' (unsubbed atm though as am bit busy IRL)

Recommend clicking here for HD Wide version

[Ashlann]

Thanks Snott

[Mesar]

I had a blast being interviewed.

Would highly recommend the experience for any TOGger!

[Ned]

Thanks Jakob and Mesar for your comments and input



Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I've said this more than once... In my opinion Call of Duty peaked at CoD: United Offensive, it all went down hill from there

Jakob, with regard to your comments on MW2 multiplayer.. your idea of a "Quick Game" button for newbies to jump into a game easily and an option for others to view a server list is... ummm... common sense ? Apparently not It certainly makes sense to me, you and probably millions of others!



MMO discussion

Thanks for posting the TOG Aion Vid Snott, I was going to ask for a link to that

I have no real idea regerding MMOs. I did read an article on World of Warcraft though that was very well written for the non-MMO person. It helped me understand why such games are so popular. It was written by TOG Wiz_74
World of Warcraft - A Noob’s Journey PC Review | TOG - The Older Gamers

A couple of quotes from the review I noted:

• I quickly realised that it was made to run on almost any computer and scaled up and down an incredible amount
• It’s easy to play and anyone can jump in and within a few minutes be running around killing and questing to their hearts content while at the same time, it caters for the hardcore gamer very well.


^^^ just that alone is close to a winning formula in my opinion.


I have plans to thorougly test out the Torchlight demo. More than one website has mentioned it would be a great place for a MMO newbie to start. TOG public forum discussion about the game here..
Torchlight | The Steam Room | TOG - The Older Gamers

After that I'll look around for a multiplayer MMO to have a run with.




cheers
nedd