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February 20, 2008 12:59 pm
Right now, I’m sitting in the press room of GDC.
Let me give you a mental image of what it was like leaving this morning’s Microsoft keynote presentation.
Remember in the movie "Airplane!" when all the reporters run into the bank of payphones?
Yeah. Like that.
Bottom line: It’s a very good time to be a 360 owner right now.
If you haven’t already heard, MS has some big news for the next year. First and foremost, XNA is going to finally completely open up to the little people. Games will soon be easily accessible to homebrew developers like you and me, and they will be downloadable to not only the XBox, but also the Zune. All you will need is a peer-review process to give it a thumbs-up and it goes on Live to download it. Theoretically, there are four games up right now for you to download.
And no, Hawkes, there was no mention of how developers will get paid, how much MS will keep or any monitization info. That will apparently be filled in later.
Second, yes…. Ninja Gaiden II looks freaking amazing. Although I see a potential problem with it. And I will go into that in detail on my special GameHounds episode tonight. Yes. Tonight.
Third, the interwebs sometimes do not lie. Gears of War 2 coming November 2008 as an XBox exclusive. Cliffy B. said nothing else, and although there was a trailer, I really don’t put much credence behind trailers. I can make a trailer of my mom’s cellulite thighs and make it look good. Doesn’t mean I want to play with them.
Fourth, looks like you’ll be playing Fable2 a couple of weeks before the game comes out. The gambling mini-game, which allows you to increase your wealth in-game, is actually a separate XBox Live game and your coin is migrated into your Fable2 world. Peter "I Love You, You Crazy Bastard" Molyneux announced that the mini-game will be released to the XBox Live Marketplace a few weeks before Fable2 comes out, so be ready to start the game day one and find everyone is richer than you and completely tricked out in super-leet gear. Groan.
Keep yourself tuned today to GH, as I will be uploading a discussion between me and Joe Chagan of SPOnG talking about what happened this morning with Microsoft.
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February 19, 2008 1:18 pm
Good news, hound dogs!
GameHounds is officially up and running on iTunes. You can find our podcast at by clicking here.
If you haven’t subscribed, you can easily do so now, as well as write stellar, awesome, fawning reviews of our great podcast.
Please, don’t hold back your adulation and unyielding love for the Edie and the Hawkes. Don’t be shy. Love us!
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February 19, 2008 12:39 pm
I wanted to drop you all a quick bit about GDC day one.
The first day at GDC is pretty much like the first day of Burning Man. Most of the cool stuff is half built (the booths aren’t even up and equipment to show demos aren’t even plugged in yet), everyone’s not quite in the swing of things. There’s a few events going on, but the major stuff is due later in the week.
And, most importantly, nobody really gets in the mood until the first night of heavy-duty partying.
Yesterday, until about 4 p.m., things were pretty useless. Then the first official GDC free-booze-and-food-a-thon began, courtesy of Zeemote.
Now I make it sound like all we did (and by “we” I mean me and my trusty sidekick, Joe from SPOnG) was get hammered, puke in someone’s lap and wander off.
In truth, we were some of the few journos who actually hunted down the Zeemote girl to ask her about the product.
While you’d think Zeemote would make sure the actual star of the Zeemote party would be, well… the Zeemote. But, in true GDC fashion, in fact the party’s grande dame was a 3-foot-tall ice sculpture with the word “Zeemote” frozen inside and a tube down the center through which one could pour drinks. The drink of the night was Zeemotinis — a wicked concoction of rum, cranberry juice and fairy dust.
Or so I was told.
Conveniently enough, once we had a good heater on, we wandered right next door to the Microsoft Casual Games party, which had almost exactly the same hors d’oeuvres and…
… a big ice sculpture with a big “Microsoft Casual Games” frozen in the center with a tube down the center, etc., etc., etc.
THIS frozen ice sculpture, however, dispensed vodka, Red Bull, and cranberry juice.
How trendsetting!!
The night finally ended with Joe dragging me probably 75 or 80 blocks (or at least that’s what it felt like after six or eight drinks) to The Cellar, a classic, shabby-chic underground dive bar, for the Telltale Games party. Of course, it was by far the coolest. Zombie themed. Disco balls. And guess what? No ice sculpture! Score one to Telltale for breaking refusing to follow the pack!
Joystiq was at the Telltale thing as well, and took a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment. None of me getting sloppy with Joe, Chad from Destructoid, and a few others of the DToid team over at the Cool Kidz Bar, as we liked to call it.
Yes, I have photos, and I’ll upload them later for your amusement.
Okay, back off to the Moscone Center. More later.
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February 18, 2008 1:07 pm
Now that Hawkes and I are back “on the virtual air,” as it were, we’ve reconnected with a lot of our old fans from the old days.
And it’s amazing how many of you are now doing your own podcasts!
How awesome is that. I feel like Betsy Ross or something!
If you’re a fan of the old Edie and Hawkes days and you now have your own podcast, let us know. I’d like to give shout-outs on our podcast to all the fans who listened to us and decided (wisely), “Hey, if these two jackasses can do it, anyone can!”
Don’t get me wrong. There’s a certain amount of “I’m not afraid to throw myself off the cliff” mentality needed to start a podcast, and I want to pay tribute to all of you who are egotistical and crazy enough to put your opinions and voices out on the interwebs.
Send us your website details, or at least where we can find your podcast, to GameHounds AT gmail.com.
Now, I’m off to GDC.
-Edie
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February 17, 2008 5:36 pm
This is why you don’t start a podcast during cold and flu season.
Hawkes was all ready to record Episode 3 and then came down with that horrible flu that no one is prepared for this winter.
He’s bundled up in the House of Hawkes with 103 degree fever, which goes nicely with the matching fevers his wife and son have.
I just got off the phone with him and he’s kinda delirious and sounds like ass.
So we’ll all just have to wait for Episode 3. On the plus side, it will contain the latest from GDC, which starts Monday.
Sorry for the delay. We’ll be back as soon as we can both stand up straight.
