TCPS 23: Microsoft E3 2013 Wrap Up

Here is epidose 23! It's back the podcast is back! And we're kicking off with E3 and the Press Conference from Microsoft. Did they go a good job? Did they miss the mark? What about the Xbox One? We talk about all that and more!

  

Did You Know That...?!

Fans of Bill Nye the Science will appreciate the title, but I digress. I named it that because I was wondering if you all knew of some cool things that happened recently, like several hours ago. Ever wanted to play Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game? Well you can play it for free, but only for the next 36 hours! (From the time of this post, of course.) If you go to GOG.com you can get the whole game, DRM-free, plus extras! What kind of extras you're asking? Extras like wallpapers, a manual, Fallout bible, avatars, artworks, and a soundtrack! For free! Again, Free. Who doesn't like getting things for free? I've picked up my copy. GOG.com is also releasing more games, DRM-free, like Assassin's Creed, with many many extras! Soundtracks, art books, manuals, all those things you would expect in a collector's edition, for free!

But there's more!

Earlier today was the CD Projekt RED Group 2012 Spring Conference, (which you can go and watch the recorded video here.) Don't recognize that name? The Witcher. 'Nuff said. Haven't played it? Why not? I haven't, but I'm rectifying that as we speak. And now they've made it easier for you to play! It's coming to the Xbox360! Not just a port either, they've built it from the ground up for ultimate immersion. 'But, Megara, that game isn't new!' I hear you say. Well no, in fact last year The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings came out, but later this month, April 17th, the Enhanced Edition will be coming out! Already own the game? Don't worry, all the additions and new features will come to you in the form of a Free update! And you can pre-download starting the 11th of April. You're not going to have to purchase the game again, seriously, what a great company.

But you want to play The Witcher before you play the Enhanced Edition? Good idea, friend. You can buy it on Steam for only $9.99, for either PC or Mac! That's right, they've released a Mac version of it. It's a Hybrid version, meaning that if you have on your PC then you can play it on your Mac! Like me. That's right, I own a PC and a Mac, I don't take sides. You also don't need the newest Mac product to play it, it'll work on that iMac you bought three years ago!

There's also a contest like opportunity! The follows at CD Projeckt Red really value the input of the fans, and they want to send out 1000 review copies of The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition for the Xbox360 out to the fans. That's right, you can write/record a review for them. Post the review on their Facebook wall, record it for your YouTube channel, post it up on your blog, however you want to get it our there, they want it. How do you enter for this chance? Go to TheWitcher.com/Review and fill out the short form with a few sentences about why they should send a copy to you. All you have to do it give them your name, and tell them a little about your gaming past, which can be really hard to cum up when Games are one of your passions, trust me. But you only have until the 9th of April! That's Monday! You don't have long! They're going to respond to every person who enters, just to let you know if you've been picked or not. How thoughtful.

Don't worry readers, even if we don't get the game from CD Projeckt Red to review, the game will be getting a review. That's how excited Antonio is for the Enhanced Edition, he already planned the review. Keep an eye out for him, for he shall soon be doing a game review overload of all the games he's played in the past two months. I'm not even ready for that. We've got things planned for the immediate future, including some TCPS podcast extras (some NSFW), and some Halo: Reach goodies. This should be exciting because we're getting in a pro player, and one that can't aim to save her life, and Antonio. Seriously, you're gonna wanna watch it, it's gonna be so stupid it's funny. Check it!

Gamers are Awesome, not Lazy

That's right, Parents, Grandparents, bosses, I said it. We're not lazy, or anit-social, well most of us anyway. "But, Megan, what proof do you have to back this up?" I hear you non believers ask. First, I've been told that you should start a sentence with but, but I do it all the time, (you also shouldn't start a sentence with And, but I'm about to do it.) And, I can't give you numbers, or science, but I can give you personal experience, and what I have observed. When I'm not working with video games as part of my job, (how I wish I actually played them for a living) I am at home playing them, or even watching them. I'm active on YouTube, checking my subscription box regularly, and most of them are of people playing the games that I don't like, or won't get for a while.

There are a lot of people on the internet that record themselves playing games, and I'm one of the people who watches them. Some of these commentators actually make a living off of making these videos, off of playing video games, and in turn they get to hear and talk to a lot of fans who watch their videos and find enjoyment and entertainment from them. For the most part, most of these commentators love their fans, and read every single comment and message they get from the fans, and listen to them. Not Anti-Social. Let me give you another example. Minecraft. Yes, I said it. Love it or hate it, it's gotten a lot of attention. Enough that a Minecraft convention, Minecon, is happening this weekend in Las Vegas. And a good number of YouTube commentators will be going there to meet their fans, along with have fun. And they are amazingly excited for it. See, not anti-social. They see day light, gamers that is.

Gamers are also not lazy, we cultivate talents without knowing it sometimes. We're constantly thinking when playing a game, looking for the best tactic, or the best way to befriends someone, or sneak behind their back to steal from them. Through my own personal experience I've found that recently when playing Dragon Age 2 I've found that I've been working on multi-tasking. Killing my enemies of giant spiders with no mercy is my main task, but I have to make sure that my character doesn't die, and the lives of my companions. All the while checking on their tactics and that my mage will actually heal someone when they start to die because I've used the potion and it hasn't had enough time to cool down. All those FPS games, those take thinkin', tactics, game plans. Call of Duties, Battlefields, Halo, even Gears of War, even those little Final Fantasy games take some planning when it comes to your characters.

I was in Voice/Keyboard for five years in Middle/High School. I sang in a choir and I took daily keyboard lessons, learning on my own and from the teachers. You would think that in all those years I'd be able to play some moderate stuff, right? At least something out of the level 4 piano book. Wrong. My left hand doesn't like to be independent a lot of the time. If my right hand is doing something simple, then yeah my left hand will go off on it's own, but if, say for chance, my right hand were playing the melody of a song, like the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, my left hand cannot play the accompanying chords for the song. It refuses to be simple, and wants to do what my right hand is doing. Now, what was the point of my telling you this? What relevance does it have to gamers? When I am playing Left 4 Dead, of Dragon Age 2 like earlier this week, my hands are all over the place. They know what they have to do to kill the undead and to keep myself, and maybe others (Antonio not included, you coward) alive throughout the game. When I was playing Guild Wars I had two computers up so I could play on one and look up anything about the game on the other simultaneously. My left hand had no trouble doing that. Playing all these games is actually training my hands, and in turn it's making my typing speed faster also. Not particularly more accurate, but, faster.

So, as I was taught in school, here is my conclusion. Gamers are in fact not lazy, or anti-social, in fact they can be quite social, funny, who actually know how to speak proper English, and game speak, meet people in real life, and are actually training their brains and hands, and their body if they use any of the motion "controllers". I may not have used science, but I used my own personal experiences and first hand observations. Thank you for your time. *bows*

TCPS 12: E3 Special - Microsoft

We watched the press conferences, we took notes, and now we talk about it. We cover Microsoft in this special podcast, talking about what they announced, and how we feel about it.