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[Conscience Falls]

Love the show, been listening to Greg podcast since 2008 or so. However, I'm beginning to feel that the show needs an intermediary, an "ever-rotating third-chair", if you will. I realize that is a difficult request considering they are a staff of five at the moment.

 

[Dangansona]

Love the show, been listening to Greg podcast since 2008 or so. However, I'm beginning to feel that the show needs an intermediary, an "ever-rotating third-chair", if you will. I realize that is a difficult request considering they are a staff of five at the moment.

Kind of what I was suggesting in my post.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

People who wants every game to be open world drive me crazy. Open world is the fps of this generation.

Somewhat, but we don't have this irrational lust to turn current franchises into FPS like some people are with open world this gen.

Mid-range pricing definitely needs to be explored more. Not every game needs to be a 20+ hour affair that justifies the 60 bucks. Infamous: Second Son is a prime example - cut the price to 40 and cut the game in half and it's probably going to be paced right and priced right too.

SS is a poor example, that's a 60$ game. A better example would be Knack.

 

[Macadinho94]

If the industry was more consumer driven we could demand this pricing structure but most publishers are public trading companies so the shareholders have the final say. At the moment despite what a games budget is no publisher will push past the $60 price model as consumers will cause uproar. But if as Colin says a game would cost how big it is/length etc. It would be a positive move overall for gamers

 

[Massa]

SS is a poor example, that's a 60$ game. A better example would be Knack.

But Knack was a million seller, it was the correct business decision to start at $60.

 

[Conscience Falls]

Kind of what I was suggesting in my post.

Hadn't refreshed the page after loading it, haha.

 

[Dangansona]

Also it bums me out to hear Colin tell those of us who like physical games to suck it up because the "digital future" is coming. Think it's hilarious that he thinks the internet infrastructure problems will be fixed in 10 years. You have too much faith in that free market of yours Colin. The Cable Companies in this country are an oligopoly who are uninterested in trying to compete in areas that aren't San Francisco, so in rural areas of the country you have one option and the internet speed is mind-blowingly slow.

And for me it goes beyond that. Again, to those of us who don't live in SF we have the space for game boxes, vinyl collections, and physical Blu Rays and I enjoy the tangibility of it all. Having a physical version makes it feel more like a piece of art to me.

Hadn't refreshed the page after loading it, haha.

No problem! I just meant you more clearly articulated what I was trying to say, so props for that.

 

[VanCityGamer]

In terms of physical vs. digital: also don't forget the importance of used games. I sell quite a few of my games and make at least 75% of the cost back. I'm not interested in losing that capability at all. No thanks, digital-only future. Add in the bandwidth requirements of going digital and I'll pass. Smaller size/indie games are primarily when I go digital.

 

[Bolivar687]

Physical games are better for the consumer and better for the publishers. On our end, it's nice being able to get value out of games we will never play again. I didn't vibe with this year's Call of Duty and it stings knowing I have a worthless $60 purchase on my account. At the same time, the option to trade in is conducive for an industry that wants to constantly funnel consumers towards new releases and annual franchises.

I also think games are going to continue getting bigger, and the convenience factor of installing from a disc and keeping it as a back up is just too much of a perk in an era of 20-50GB+ games.

 

[Goose_Se7en]

Also it bums me out to hear Colin tell those of us who like physical games to suck it up because the "digital future" is coming. Think it's hilarious that he thinks the internet infrastructure problems will be fixed in 10 years. You have too much faith in that free market of yours Colin. The Cable Companies in this country are an oligopoly who are uninterested in trying to compete in areas that aren't San Francisco, so in rural areas of the country you have one option and the internet speed is mind-blowingly slow.

And for me it goes beyond that. Again, to those of us who don't live in SF we have the space for game boxes, vinyl collections, and physical Blu Rays and I enjoy the tangibility of it all. Having a physical version makes it feel more like a piece of art to me.

Well said Dangansona.

I like Colin and I've been listening to podcast beyond since before Greg was in it when it was Dunham. I get the Roper references, Zombie blognak and Jeff pee's his pants stuff. I'm proud of being an OG fan but you're right on in that I guess Colin should temper his talk about an all digital future.

All digital may very well be the future but I doubt it's going to happen anytime soon. Besides some folks -like myself - prefer having physical copies.

 

[darthsontin]

These are the things that need to happen for an all-digital future:
*Significantly larger HD space across the board
*ISP bandwidth limitations/data caps removed
*Better bandwidth in rural areas
*PSN needs 100% up-time (something Colin oddly said he doesn't care about or think is important)
*Significantly faster PSN download speeds
*More competitive digital pricing (10% off new games would still pale in comparison to BB offering new physical games for $48 with GCU that can be traded for $35-$40 a few weeks later).
*Digital refunds and digital pre-order cancellation (beyond once per account which seems to be Sony's currently policy)
*Better PSN account security. Too many horror stories of people losing access for 6 months because their PSN got hacked and Sony didn't care.
*Ability to transfer/share digital games (they started with Share Play, but it isn't fully-featured. MS almost had this in 2013). This is especially true for multi-console households who would be screwed based on the current policy.

That still seems like too many hurdles to clear in the near future. They could do it in 5-10 years, but I don't see Sony feeling it's worth the investment given that they still need retail partners.

 

[GreyOcelot]

Physical games are better for the consumer and better for the publishers. On our end, it's nice being able to get value out of games we will never play again. I didn't vibe with this year's Call of Duty and it stings knowing I have a worthless $60 purchase on my account. At the same time, the option to trade in is conducive for an industry that wants to constantly funnel consumers towards new releases and annual franchises.

I also think games are going to continue getting bigger, and the convenience factor of installing from a disc and keeping it as a back up is just too much of a perk in an era of 20-50GB+ games.

uhhh...wut. physical games and resales are absolutely not good for the publishers at all. your ability to resell costs them money. think about. say 2 million copies of a game are sold through at retail. how many get sold back through the system? sometimes over and over again? one could certainly argue that a $40 or $50 cost through the digital market would recoup the lost $10-20 by removing the option to resell. and this is coming from someone who buys 75-80% of games physical, because i can resell them.

 

[Dangansona]

These are the things that need to happen for an all-digital future:
*Significantly larger HD space across the board
*ISP bandwidth limitations/data caps removed
*Better bandwidth in rural areas
*PSN needs 100% up-time (something Colin oddly said he doesn't care about or think is important)
*Significantly faster PSN download speeds
*More competitive digital pricing (10% off new games would still pale in comparison to BB offering new physical games for $48 with GCU that can be traded for $35-$40 a few weeks later).
*Digital refunds and digital pre-order cancellation (beyond once per account which seems to be Sony's currently policy)
*Better PSN account security. Too many horror stories of people losing access for 6 months because their PSN got hacked and Sony didn't care.
*Ability to transfer/share digital games (they started with Share Play, but it isn't fully-featured. MS almost had this in 2013). This is especially true for multi-console households who would be screwed based on the current policy.

That still seems like too many hurdles to clear in the near future. They could do it in 5-10 years, but I don't see Sony feeling it's worth the investment given that they still need retail partners.

A couple of those hadn't even occurred to me. Well put. That's quite the mountain to climb, and I feel like you should add a shift in how ownership of digital games is treated. I don't like the idea that a game can be pulled from our libraries if the publisher chooses. And that brings up another point that was even addressed on this show: what happens to preservation in the "digital future" (I can't help but put quotes around it because I hate the name)?

 

[Real_Madrid]

Love the show, been listening to Greg podcast since 2008 or so. However, I'm beginning to feel that the show needs an intermediary, an "ever-rotating third-chair", if you will. I realize that is a difficult request considering they are a staff of five at the moment.

Yup, I like the last few PS podcasts however. I don't care that much about trophies, but I like to listen to people talking about them and what the new trophies are for games and what they got in the past week. Hopefully they cover the big games in that new segment, I play most games on Steam so I don't care that much, but if they say for example that Uncharted 4 is an easy platinum I can see myself getting that.

And I agree they could use someone extra sometimes. A Jared Petty for example would fit perfectly.

Also, I could be mistaken because I skipped some segments in past podcasts, but did they talk about the Kojima/Cerny thing? I was wandering what their opinion was about the Kojima 10 day tech research.

 

[Real_Madrid]

These are the things that need to happen for an all-digital future:
*Significantly larger HD space across the board
*ISP bandwidth limitations/data caps removed
*Better bandwidth in rural areas
*PSN needs 100% up-time (something Colin oddly said he doesn't care about or think is important)
*Significantly faster PSN download speeds
*More competitive digital pricing (10% off new games would still pale in comparison to BB offering new physical games for $48 with GCU that can be traded for $35-$40 a few weeks later).
*Digital refunds and digital pre-order cancellation (beyond once per account which seems to be Sony's currently policy)
*Better PSN account security. Too many horror stories of people losing access for 6 months because their PSN got hacked and Sony didn't care.
*Ability to transfer/share digital games (they started with Share Play, but it isn't fully-featured. MS almost had this in 2013). This is especially true for multi-console households who would be screwed based on the current policy.

That still seems like too many hurdles to clear in the near future. They could do it in 5-10 years, but I don't see Sony feeling it's worth the investment given that they still need retail partners.

I agree, in Belgium no one I know buys new games digitally. In stores a new PS4 game costs around 55 euro, while on the PSN store it's more like 70 euro. And we have a very healthy second hand market, if I buy Uncharted 4 for 55 euro, I can sell it after a week for +-45 euro, so it's a no brainer imo.
The PS5 will have a disk tray, they would be stupid to ignore the physical market. Even if it's shrinking. The big thing why Steam works, is that the games are cheaper and they allow developers to sell Steam keys on sites like Humble Bundle.

Also I feel PSN is still not that good, in a future where digital is going to be more important, they should invest more in it. The download speeds are just ridiculous and the downtime is inexcusable. Steam is much faster and is almost always online and has a site that's functional and clean.
The PSN site is slow and not that good to be honest. They should also add user reviews, because that would help the unknown good games. Now every time I see a game on the PSN store that I don't know, I need to go online and read the metacritic etc.
They should announce a PSN 2.0 on E3, where they fix the long time problems.

 

[GOOCHY]

SS is a poor example, that's a 60$ game. A better example would be Knack.

SS is a perfect example - it's full to the brim with collect-a-thon filler.

 

[0OoO0]

I'm pissed off that they spoiled The Last of Us in the latest podcast

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

SS is a perfect example - it's full to the brim with collect-a-thon filler.

The game is big enough that it deserves the 60$. Fantastic graphics, a game that covers an entire city, several powers, and good/evil. The collec-a-thon are side missions.

 

[killroy87]

Yeah the all-digital future might be coming at some point, but it's a loooooong way off. Up here in Canada we have bandwidth caps, and that alone fucks everything up.

 

[LiK]

first time listener and the episode with Dan Ryckert is great so far.

 

[EdReedFan20]

first time listener and the episode with Dan Ryckert is great so far.

Welcome!

 

[zarnold56]

Have they mentioned anywhere why this new episode is not on soundcloud yet?

 

[Bolivar687]

uhhh...wut. physical games and resales are absolutely not good for the publishers at all. your ability to resell costs them money. think about. say 2 million copies of a game are sold through at retail. how many get sold back through the system? sometimes over and over again? one could certainly argue that a $40 or $50 cost through the digital market would recoup the lost $10-20 by removing the option to resell. and this is coming from someone who buys 75-80% of games physical, because i can resell them.

Physical games are better for publishers because gamers use that resell money to preorder new games. It allows more gamers to participate in the cycle of keeping up with the latest releases than there otherwise would be in an all digital scenario..

I don't follow your point about recouping "the lost $10-20." Are you under the impression that publishers lose money when players trade in games?

 

[Omlagus]

I'm pissed off that they spoiled The Last of Us in the latest podcast

Really? Where does this happen? I just made it to the topic of the show and haven't heard anything so far. I've just picked up TLOU again after too long a break, and I'd hate to have it spoiled for me after this long. I know when the game has come up in previous episodes that they've been pretty good about not saying too much in terms of specifics.

So if it's later in this episode maybe I'll just stop listening here.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

I'm pissed off that they spoiled The Last of Us in the latest podcast

I feel like the statute of limitations on TLoU spoilers is up.

 

[ChaosZeroX]

I feel like the statute of limitations on TLoU spoilers is up.

I agree. The game was released almost 3 years ago now.

 

[bananafactory]

Have they mentioned anywhere why this new episode is not on soundcloud yet?

They said they had a problem uploading it and that iTunes users had to unsubscribe and resubscribe go get the new episode to show up. I tried that on Soundcloud but it didn't work so I have no idea how to get it

 

[Darryl M R]

I haven't watched the latest episode (yet) but I started feeling that Colin has been acting "cold" recently. I hope he is at a good place right now and if not I at least hope he has great people around him.

Listening to PS, I Love You is a great way to push out 1.5-2 hours at the gym.

 

[Spukc]

I agree. The game was released almost 3 years ago now.

what germany lost the second world war ?

 

[killroy87]

I feel like the statute of limitations on TLoU spoilers is up.

YUP.

Spoiler culture has gotten out of hand. Not everyone can cater to everyone's desire for secrecy for a game they may or may not play at some point in time (they've already had three years)

The sensitivity towards spoilers that has come forward in the past few years is one of my all time biggest pet peeves.

 

[GreyOcelot]

Physical games are better for publishers because gamers use that resell money to preorder new games. It allows more gamers to participate in the cycle of keeping up with the latest releases than there otherwise would be in an all digital scenario..

I don't follow your point about recouping "the lost $10-20." Are you under the impression that publishers lose money when players trade in games?

of course they do, every last used game sold is a potential sale. your logic is extremely flawed. i buy my games for $50 at best buy, play them, and then sell them on amazon for $40-45. combine that with rewards and $10 certs and i'm basically playing brand new games for free. you honestly believe this benefits the publisher? you seriously believe that publishers somehow make more money because there is a used games market? i've officially heard it all

 

[GOOCHY]

If a game has a physical and a digital release then the digital copy needs to be cheaper. If the publisher's cost is less then mine should be too.

 

[Spizz]

If a game has a physical and a digital release then the digital copy needs to be cheaper. If the publisher's cost is less then mine should be too.

Agreed, but as Colin said, they can't afford to upset the middle man like GameStop yet. As there are (I imagine) a significant portion of PS4's sold through them.

 

[killroy87]

Agreed, but as Colin said, they can't afford to upset the middle man like GameStop yet. As there are (I imagine) a significant portion of PS4's sold through them.

That seems to be a common thought, but really, Gamestop needs them more than they need Gamrestop. If I were Sony, I'd be more worried of chains like Wal-mart refusing to sell my product than Gamestop. Gamestop does themselves no favors by refusing to sell the products they specialize in.

 

[thekiddfran]

I'm pissed off that they spoiled The Last of Us in the latest podcast

Really?

The game has been released on two hardware generations and you are pissed about spoilers?

Really?

 

[Bolivar687]

of course they do, every last used game sold is a potential sale. your logic is extremely flawed. i buy my games for $50 at best buy, play them, and then sell them on amazon for $40-45. combine that with rewards and $10 certs and i'm basically playing brand new games for free. you honestly believe this benefits the publisher? you seriously believe that publishers somehow make more money because there is a used games market? i've officially heard it all

I might be wrong but when you buy a new game, the publisher gets their cut, period. Whatever discounts you net from rewards, certs, GCU, or trade-ins is between you and Best Buy. And publishers love that system because you wouldn't otherwise be buying so many of their new games, correct?

Not every used game is a lost sale, as you're discounting those who wouldn't otherwise buy the game unless there was a cheaper used copy. But even if you were right, the lost sale months down the line, when the game is $30, is inconsequential compared to its debut, when the game is $60+. Video game sales are generally frontloaded - they earn more revenue in their first month at retail than they will over the course of the next 12 months. Publishers are willing to live with the used games system so long as it benefits the preorders for their next game. Which it does. I'm sure you've noticed extra trade in promotions tied to pre-orders, such as for Destiny The Taken King.

I apologize for the misunderstanding but I don't think it's that controversial of a concept - trade-ins subsidize purchases of new games. Day one sales are the lion's share of every game's revenue, and they would not be as high without the trade-in cycle. This can't be the first time you've heard this.

 

[Past]

Is it just me or does it seem like Colin has been depressed lately? He sounds unhappy and goes on rants about little things at the drop of a hat.

I do agree with him that publishers should explore the middle range of game pricing more. It'd be nice to see the full spectrum used. I am totally expecting No Man's Sky to be a full $60 game with how long it's been hyped.

He recently broke up with his longtime gf, Cheryl. That's probably the reason why he seems depressed and pretty much hates everything these days.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Did Colin say Battlefront was not a game that sold well? Huh?

Or was he just getting ahead of himself as far as a game marketed for children?

 

[Bolivar687]

Did Colin say Battlefront was not a game that sold well? Huh?

Or was he just getting ahead of himself as far as a game marketed for children?

I heard that at first but I think he acknowledged that it did sell well, it just wasn't aimed at everyone, as not every family/casual can jump in and play a modern FPS game.

I was confused by that though, didn't they have a big Disney Infinity expansion which they promoted with the PS4 bundle?

 

[DeepEnigma]

I heard that at first but I think he acknowledged that it did sell well, it just wasn't aimed at everyone, as not every family/casual can jump in and play a modern FPS game.

I was confused by that though, didn't they have a big Disney Infinity expansion which they promoted with the PS4 bundle?

Gotcha.

Yes they did. Star Wars and Disney are two IPs that always sell. So it does not matter when they sell it. Add another selling IP with LEGO, and it will do just fine. Then the marketing hype picks up for the Rogue One movie the end of this year.

 

[jayu26]

He recently broke up with his longtime gf, Cheryl. That's probably the reason why he seems depressed and pretty much hates everything these days.

Wait what!? Last I heard she was doing her pHD or something. This reaffirms my belief that long distance relationships never work out.

 

[EdReedFan20]

Wait what!? Last I heard she was doing her pHD or something. This reaffirms my belief that long distance relationships never work out.

Don't worry, he seems much happier with his new girlfriend, Erin, who he's known since his college days at Northeastern University in Boston. He seems to be always going down to San Diego to see her. Obviously I don't know him personally, but Colin seems to to be more talkative about Erin than he was with his previous girlfriend. Also, she seems much more invested in Kinda Funny. She's the one who had them play Twister. And he must really like her, if her being a New England Patriots fan is not a turn off for him.

 

[DeepEnigma]

he must really like her, if her being a New England Patriots fan is not a turn off for him.

Sometimes that is more of a turn on. Especially all the Yankee fan's I dated as a Red Sox fan.

Opposites attract.

Catching up to some old eps and at first I thought Colin sounded like an asshole but I've come around to him. I like his opinions cuz he's pretty blunt about stuff. Turns out he sounds like me haha

He talks pretty much like me, so I understood him within an episode or two, lol.

 

[LiK]

Catching up to some old eps and at first I thought Colin sounded like an asshole but I've come around to him. I like his opinions cuz he's pretty blunt about stuff. Turns out he sounds like me haha

 

[EdReedFan20]

Catching up to some old eps and at first I thought Colin sounded like an asshole but I've come around to him. I like his opinions cuz he's pretty blunt about stuff. Turns out he sounds like me haha

If you want to read great in-depth stuff of his, you should read his "History of..." series back from when he worked at IGN. He chronicled the history of studios historically associated with PlayStation. He's done ones for Sony Bend (http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/08/from-syphon-filter-to-uncharted-sony-bends-story), Sony Santa Monica (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/21/the-house-that-god-of-war-built-sony-santa-monica), Insomniac (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/28/always-independent-the-story-of-insomniac-games), and his crown jewel piece, Naughty Dog (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/rising-to-greatness-the-history-of-naughty-dog). The Naughty Dog one is tragic, in a way, because he was able to get up to the release of the Uncharted games, but then got busy (probably due to the then upcoming PS4 launch) to proceed further. The behind the scenes drama that happened at Naughty Dog, coupled with Kinda Funny launching, rendered the Naughty Dog piece as perpetually unfinished.

 

[DeepEnigma]

If you want to read great in-depth stuff of his, you should read his "History of..." series back from when he worked at IGN. He chronicled the history of studios historically associated with PlayStation. He's done ones for Sony Bend (http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/08/from-syphon-filter-to-uncharted-sony-bends-story), Sony Santa Monica (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/21/the-house-that-god-of-war-built-sony-santa-monica), Insomniac (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/28/always-independent-the-story-of-insomniac-games), and his crown jewel piece, Naughty Dog (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/rising-to-greatness-the-history-of-naughty-dog). The Naughty Dog one is tragic, in a way, because he was able to get up to the release of the Uncharted games, but then got busy (probably due to the then upcoming PS4 launch) to proceed further. The behind the scenes drama that happened at Naughty Dog, coupled with Kinda Funny launching, rendered the Naughty Dog piece as perpetually unfinished.

Nice, I will give these a read. Thanks!

 

[Lord of Ostia]

If you want to read great in-depth stuff of his, you should read his "History of..." series back from when he worked at IGN. He chronicled the history of studios historically associated with PlayStation. He's done ones for Sony Bend (http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/08/from-syphon-filter-to-uncharted-sony-bends-story), Sony Santa Monica (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/21/the-house-that-god-of-war-built-sony-santa-monica), Insomniac (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/28/always-independent-the-story-of-insomniac-games), and his crown jewel piece, Naughty Dog (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/rising-to-greatness-the-history-of-naughty-dog). The Naughty Dog one is tragic, in a way, because he was able to get up to the release of the Uncharted games, but then got busy (probably due to the then upcoming PS4 launch) to proceed further. The behind the scenes drama that happened at Naughty Dog, coupled with Kinda Funny launching, rendered the Naughty Dog piece as perpetually unfinished.

I realize that long-form, written content isn't really Kinda Funny's model, but I would love to see Colin go back to doing this sort of work. These types of articles and his written reviews were always my favorite part of IGN, and by far the best of his output. He has an entertaining personality and is great on their podcasts, but imo writing is his true calling.

 

[EdReedFan20]

I realize that long-form, written content isn't really Kinda Funny's model, but I would love to see Colin go back to doing this sort of work. These types of articles and his written reviews were always my favorite part of IGN, and by far the best of his output. He has an entertaining personality and is great on their podcasts, but imo writing is his true calling.

I don't think it's about the model, per se, but rather their lack of time/energy to do something like that. They seem to be 100% swamped with their current slate. I wonder, provided they ever get big and are able to hire more on-screen talent, if Colin will begin writing again. In the early days of Kinda Funny (specifically after they left IGN), Colin did some freelance stuff for IGN, but they were all too busy to continue anything like that. How Greg found the time to write that Huffington Post article, I have no clue.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

WTF it's been a week already and they still haven't posted Episode 22 on SoundCloud (my only way of listening to this at work).

 

[Arzehn]

WTF it's been a week already and they still haven't posted Episode 22 on SoundCloud (my only way of listening to this at work).

See:

Doesn't soundcloud go up before youtube normally? I need my mp3.

Edit: Nevermind, it's under Tracks, and not All for some reason.