Now that Jason has arrived in LA and has had the opportunity to stop by the convention center, he lends some commentary on all of the banners. He splits his thoughts between each of the publishers represented and offers some ideas of what everyone can expect from each. Some of his expectations are driven by last year's showings, while others are based on his best intuition. His introduction to the article is available below, so check that out and click through to each page for the rest! Also, be sure to check out all of the banners here!
Jason traveled to LA today and took a bunch of pictures while he traveled. Upon arriving he grabbed some shots inside the convention center, so be sure to check them all out!
In this exciting new issue of PB & Jason, many things of an incredible nature are revealed!
Last night's podcast recording was doomed before it even began. After an hour and a half of complete and utter chaos, we were left with an unsalvageable mess that had to be scrapped as the official 33rd episode of PixlTalk. Instead, Nick and Chessa take a calm, rested, and sober approach for a much more organized and discussion-oriented recording.
There are two terms I see all too often whenever people have a differing opinion about a game. When it's a popular title, it's labeled as “overrated,” and if it's a largely unknown game, then it becomes “underrated.” At first glance, these words appear harmless, simply statements that reflect how one's own rating of a game differs from its median score. However, there's a certain elitist undertone to these terms, one that implies the general opinion of a game is wrong.
In this week's all-new PB & Jason see topics several topics of discussion!
Based on a PR email I just received from the University of Missouri, they have finally proven the link between violent video games and an increase in aggressive behavior. The study performed was a fairly simple one. A group of 70 participating children were each randomly assigned a violent or non-violent video game to play for 25 minutes. Immediately after, each of the participants were given the ability to give an opponent a blast of loud noise. The level of the noise blast was used as a gauge of aggression. As you might expect, the findings have indicated that those who played the violent game were more "aggressive" than those who did not. I don't want to get too in-depth, but I find these claims dubious, to say the least.
A few months ago, Viacom sold off rhythm game developer Harmonix for a reported amount of fifty dollars. The most shocking aspect of this trade is that Viacom originally bought Harmonix for $175 million. Apparently the trade gives Viacom about $150 million in tax benefits, which is quite a hefty number, itself, but still, it seems like this is a major failure on Viacom's part, which reflects as a failure on the part of Harmonix, itself. A little while later, Activision reported that they will not publish a new Guitar Hero or DJ Hero game in 2011 after disappointing sales of the previous entry, simultaneously halting future DLC for the two franchises. The once-popular music gaming genre appears to have come to a screeching halt after oversaturation and the companies' failure to understand the market.
The third part of this week's special, three-part podcast introduces Bradley Osburn, Kyle Charizanis, and Matt McLennan to the mic. Along with those three are Jason Ross and Chris Mabrey.
Volume 3 of the Spectacular PB & Jason hits shelves this week with a variety of discussion topics!
The answer is pretty simple, actually. See if you can spot the trend in the listing of titles below:
In the second part of our PixlTalk 2.0 launch series, Nate hosts with Matt R, Stanton and Jason H sitting in for a talk concerning modern gaming.
Last weekend I attended a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). It’s certainly not my first one, but it’s the first since I’ve joined PixlBit. Despite being pretty small (the largest I’ve been to had around 243 entrants for Melee and around the same for Brawl), it was a lot of fun, and I got to hang out with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in far too long. I’ve been playing the game competitively for years now, and with all the people I’ve met and the stuff we’ve done, I don’t see any reason to stop. Also, insert something sappy about friends and making memories .
What the hell happened to Star Fox? Despite Nintendo being famous for developing and publishing high quality games, the Star Fox series has taken a nosedive. I loved both Star Fox on the SNES, its unreleased sequel for the same system and Star Fox 64, one of the best Nintendo 64 games ever.
As you can plainly see, PixlBit 2.0 is now alive and well. To celebrate its launch, we went on podcasting overdrive last week, producing three distinct episodes, each of which feature different members from the PixlBit staff.
It’s hard to believe, but PixlBit has been around for almost two years at this point. Having just released the second version of the site, I can’t help but get nostalgic and look back on our beginnings and just how far we’ve come.
In this episode of PixlTalk, Staff noob JD gets a warm introduction to the team.
With PixlBit 2.0 somewhere on the horizon, it's time to put Season 2 of PB & Jason to rest. That's right. Season 2 is over. Over the hill, too. Join us sometime next week for the start of Season 3, which means absolutely nothing. Except PB & Jason might not be appearing on Wednesdays, anymore.
This week's PB & Jason consists of a bit of rage, really. Expect to hear disappointment in Nintendo's latest Wii console and software discounts, particularly sentiments resembling "Too little, too late."
Nate and Stanton hold the fort down this week. First on the agenda is a conversation about Portal 2 and the 'Potato Sack'. Indie developers were given unprecedented full use of Valve IP that will hopefully set a standard for future projects across the industry.
This week Nate fills in for Jason. First matter of business is what is on the forefront of many gamers minds this week: identity theft due to the Sony network compromise. Tune in to hear a few tips on watching your back online to ensure you don't suffer a financial disaster.
I have a secret. I believe something about the Wii no one else is talking about. Everyone is busy buzzing about the next Nintendo console. All anyone has to do is mention a “Wiiii,” “Stream,” or even just the “Wii HD,” and people go absolutely crazy over controller designs, console designs, rumored upcoming titles, rumored developers, and all of that. My secret is different. See, I believe we're going to see a Wii-make of the Wii pretty soon. And yes, that's the last time I'll use the “Wii-make” pun.
Now that the Project Cafe rumor has been given some solid footing, it's worth taking a look at the origin of the leak and what else has been said about Nintendo's upcoming system. 01net.com was the original source on the story and with the release of the name, they also announced a variety of other details, some of which are already lining up with Nintendo's official investor release.