Lloyd Hannesson

Apple held their annual Fall media summit yesterday. Announcements included a new iTunes, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle as well as a new Apple TV. Anthony and I get together to talk about the announcements and give you guys our take on what was hot and what was not. We hope you enjoy what turns out to be the third podcast this week… we are CRAZY! I mentioned it at the end of the podcast, but if you use iTunes to get this show and have it set to only download the latest episode, you may not get every podcast we post. Make sure to check the podcast section and “Get” any missing episodes that way.

If you want to download the Epic Citadel app that we talked about on the show you can find it in the App Store.

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Here is the second show for the week, your iPad show! please let us know what you think of this new format! In this episode we talk about John Carmack, cases with keyboards and FREE ePub creation in iWork and wrap it up with our reviews of The Incident and Archangel: Vengeance of the Makuzi Ascendancy!

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It’s been a while, and we have no good excuse. Work, real life and everything else has conspired against us, but we are back! IN this combined catch up show for both the WiiSpot and DS:Life Edgar and I talk about DS sales, Metroid: Other M, new peripherals, Epic Mickey and Street Fighter 4 on the 3DS. We hope that you enjoy this catchup episode, rest assured that we’ll be back with regular episodes of the podcasts form this point forward!

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It’s Gamescom mania in this episode of the XMBCast. If you don’t know what that conference is about, you will. We talk about all the big announcements, AeroShock, Mass Effect and a new Ratchet! For reals this time! So you get all of that and our stories from the halls of PS Home await you in this episode… YOU ARE WELCOME! Also, be sure to let us know if you want Joe’s little song in ringtone form!

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Show Notes

Coming soon!

We are trying something new on ToG this week, please be sure to let us know what you think! To better cover both the iPhone and iPad platforms we are going to try splitting the show. Each week we’ll try to produce both an iPhone and iPad episode. This will mean that you’ll get twice the podcasts, but each episoe will be shorten then the normal 1-1.5 hours we’ve been doing. Be sure to let us know what you think of this change, if too many people prefer the old format we’ll switch back!

In this episode we talk about all of the latest news and review Doodle God, Splode, Asphalt 5 and Archangel: Fate of the Galactic Commonwelth! Loads of content for you this week, let us know what you think of the show tweaks we;ve been doing.

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Shownotes

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In an awkwardly started show, Joe and I are here to talk about all of the games we’ve been playing on our PS3 and PSPs. Sam is on vacation this week, but will surely have loads to talk about next week! In this episode we talk about PS3 firmware updates, Madden NFL comine out, a duo of Square Enix titles that may be coming soon, and Ghost of Sparta on the PSP.

You’ll have to forgive the late posting of this episode that was recorded last Saturday. The server that VGPodcasts lives on was hacked and I had a lot of cleanup to do to get things back up and running. If you were receiving malware warning popups in the past I apologize and this has been corrected. Blankity blanken hackers :\

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Show Notes

Coming soon!

It’s an exciting episode of the ToG this week, with reviews of games and non games alike. To kick the episode off I review my brand spanking new Marware EcoVue iPad case and a GREAT iPhone video editing app, Video Edit. We are running a contest to give away a copy of the great Vide Edit. Shoot us an email to touchofgaming@gmail.com answering the following question “What video do you want to edit/create on YOUR iPhone?”. I’ll select an email at random on Friday the 13th/2010 from all submissions and give one of you a FREE US App Store copy of Video Edit!

If that wasn’t enough, we also give you four great reviews Fastar!, Osmos, Flipboard and Super 7.

It was a great episode, please enter the contest for Video Edit, and be sure to chime in on how you want us to cover sales in the future.

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Shownotes

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We have a great show for you this week. Topics this week include Red Dead burnout, DeathSpank, Metal Gear Solid and a new Ratchet and Clank series! Of course we have the normal newsy stuff with out talk about new games, Move bundles and more. We hope you enjoy the show, please let us know how you enjoyed it.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Audible.com – get a FREE audiobook download at audiblepodcast.com/vgpod. Over 75,000 titles to choose from for your iPod or mp3 player.

Subscribe via iTunes or directly: http://xmbcast.com/podcastfeed/. Follow me on Twitter.

Show Notes

Coming soon!

It’s a great time to be a iOS gamer! With titles coming out like Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night or Trundle HD, there really is something for every taste on the App Store! In this episode we run down the latest and greatest, let you in on a few great sales and give you all our reviews of We Farm, AirAttack and Helsing’s Fire!

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Shownotes

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Developer Gearbox and published 2k Games will be finally bringing the oft-cancelled, oft-worked on, and frequently derided Duke Nukem Forever to game shelves in 2011. The official announcement will come during this year’s Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) after an initial revealing in, of all things, The Wall Street Journal.

The game that most FPS players grew up on was one of the original Duke Nukem games and the fourth installment has seen more starts, stops, restarts and hiatuses than a high school relationship. After 10 years in development, 3D Realms, the studio behind the original games, announced it was shutting down in 2009. So where did that leave Duke? Nowhere.

Announced in April 1997, Duke Nukem Forever went through countless changes as 3D Realms tried to keep pace with new technology and gameplay innovations. As Scott Miller, former CEO of 3D Realms said, “We were probably too much of a perfectionist about the game.  When some other game had some great feature come out we wanted to match it.” They didn’t want it to be the next Daikatana after all.

Former 3D Realms employee and Duke Nukem Forever developer Randy Pitchford left the company to form Dallas-based Gearbox Software, developer of the Brothers in Arms and Borderlands series (as well still being linked to something Halo related). According to Pitchford, Gearbox began finishing Duke Nukem forever shortly after 3D Realms closed.

“Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created,” Pitchford told the Wall Street Journal. “The approach and investment and process at 3d Realms didn’t quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It’s the game it was meant to be.”

The game is expected to ship in 2011, with both single player and multiplayer components. Pitchford was not forthcoming on what platforms it would be available on, but given Gearbox and 3D Realms other releases an all-but-Nintendo release is likely.

The British Board of Film Classification have listings for an Ultimate Edition of Dragon Age: Origins which is set to include all DLC post-release.

Listed on their website is the Stone Prisoner, Warden’s Keep, Return to Ostagar, Feastday Combo pack, Darkspawn Chronicles, Leilana’s Song, The Golems of Amgarrak, Witch Hunt and the expansion pack Awakening to be included which is impressive considering Awakening is nearly a full game in its own right.

Gamestop listed the version last month with a speculative release date of October 12 and a price of $59.99 (£38.88). In any case, anyone who still doesn’t own DA should wait until the Ultimate Version awakens.

Just Add Water have revealed that they are remaking their previous classic, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, this time for the PS3 via the Playstation Network.

The developers have worked closely with Oddworld creators Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna to faithfully recreate the 2005 award winning hit.

Enhancements include 720p visuals, greater character details, re-mastered dialogue, self-shadowing and normal mapping, Playstation Move support as well as new bonus material that is yet to be revealed.

“Since word got out that we’ve been working with Oddworld Inhabitants there have been many rumours circulating about what we’re working on,” said Stewart Gilray, Managing Director of JAW.

“Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is the first project in what we believe will be a long and fruitful relationship. Having the chance to update this great title and release it on PS3 is just a brilliant opportunity, not least for us, but for the fans too.”

Sadly there is no word of an Xbox 360 release as of yet, ironic considering Stranger’s Wrath was a Xbox only exclusive. Still, Playstation owners better save up their hard earned moolah.

RZA, founder of Wu-Tang Clan and world famous DJ, will lend his appearance and a couple of mixes in DJ Hero 2.

He’ll join other DJ ‘heroes’ appearing in the game such as Deadmau5, David Guetta, DJ Qbert and Tiësto when it comes out on October 22.

He brings two exclusive tracks:  LL Cool J “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” mixed with Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five “The Message” and the other track being a mix of Damian Marley’s “Welcome To Jamrock” with Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven.”

“As both a DJ and gamer from an early age, the game combines two of my passions,” said RZA. “I loved working with the team and am excited for the fans to hear the two brand-new mixes I put together just for this game. Bong bong!”

Blizzard have announced that over three million fans ‘zerged’ to buy Starcraft II within a month of its release, making it one of the fastest selling Real Time Strategy games of all time and the best selling PC games in 2010.

This large number of sales is helped by its simultaneous worldwide release in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27.

Of these sales, one million were made on the first day, with more than 1.5 million after 48 hours.

“We appreciate all the enthusiasm that players around the world have shown for StarCraft II,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “It was important to us to deliver an overall gameplay experience that was accessible, balanced, and fun, and it’s been gratifying to see how strongly the global community has already embraced the game.”

This is also just the first of three games, with the Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void expansions still to come. Looks like Blizzard have got a profitable few years to face.

Microsoft have unveiled the new design for the 360 pad which should solve the D-pad problem.

Despite taking them around five years, the new feature allows users to twist the D-pad to turn it from a disc shape to a plus shape. The pad might be chunky still, but at least now you can actually select the right spell on Oblivion without accidentally downing all your potions. 

Sitting with a sleek, dystopian style, the new grey shaded buttons and chrome finish are perfect for fans of Orwell or film noir or those lacking oppression in their lives.

The new pad comes bundled with a charge kit and should be available worldwide by the beginning of 2011, though North America can get a hold of it from as early as November 9 for $64.99.

If you were planning on going out to pick up a DSi or DSi XL for back to school, WAIT!  Nintendo announced that they will be cutting the price of the DSi to $129 (currently $149) and the DSi XL to $169 (currently $189).  This is likely being done to anticipate the release of the 3DS.  Most of us will probably just keep waiting for the the 3DS though.  Of course the other side to this is you may want to go ahead and sell that system you have just been thinking about getting rid of for the past month before prices are reduced!

Rockstar Games have revealed more about the up-and-coming ’Liars & Cheats’ and ‘Undead Nightmare’ packs for Red Dead Redemption today.

The Liars & Cheats pack is set for a September 21 release date and is to incorporate new free roam and competitive multiplayer elements. First off, there is multiplayer gambling in the form of poker and liars’ dice games, which is a most requested feature by fans and should be fairly addictive.

Along with that is multiplayer horse racing which allows mounted combat against the opposition and to help there is a new gun, the Explosive Rifle, a useful tool for destruction in single and multiplayer.

For multiplayer free roam there are seven new gang hideouts to storm and four new hunting grounds that are said to have ‘some of the most action-packed wildlife hunting yet.’

On top of that there is a stronghold competitive multiplayer mode where teams take it in turns to attack and defend. All of this is complimented with leaderboards to help compare stats and 15 additional multiplayer characters from the main story to use online.

So for all you drunks and gamblers this will cost you £7.99 on PS3 or 800 MSP for Xbox 360.

That, however, is not all. More information has risen (mind the pun) about the Undead Nightmare pack which is to appear sometime in Autumn. This piece of DLC will be single player orientated with a new story campaign. In it, John Marston is on a quest for the cure to an infectious zombie plague that is spread across the frontier.

Additionally, new weapons, zombified animals, mythical creatures, secret locations and some new multiplayer modes are to be expected as part of the pack. The price so far has been marked as the usual £7.99/800 MSP pack price. Zombies always make for a good gameplay mechanic.

Game developer Valve today released an updated set of usage statistics, including those for its Steam for Mac digital distribution platform. There’s diamonds and lead depending on your point of view.

Bad news first, of course. Mac usage of the gaming service has dropped off since the big debut a few months ago. Originally around 8 percent, Mac usage has fallen down to about 5 percent of the total Steam audience.

Good news! Five percent of Steam’s 25 million users is still a significant audience. Add this to EA and Blizzard’s growing support for native Mac games – those developed in-house simultaneously with the PC version, rather than transcribed by a third party like Aspyr.

Apple seems to be taking notice, too. The recent Snow Leopard Graphics Update was tuned to clear up issues that Valve reported, so that’s definitely good.

More detail analysis after the break.

Now let’s put all that in perspective. The service kicked off with a free copy of Portal and a good amount of publicity. Many of those initial users might have been console gamers who computed on Macs and wanted to “represent” (note: Guilty party writing) and interest fell off.

Likewise, Steam has a global audience and 5 percent of the Steam audience falls pretty nicely in line with the overall Mac usage statistic (about 8 percent in the US and a little more than 6 percent worldwide)

The majority of them are playing on a MacBook Pro, although model year and the like aren’t quite broken down as much as we’d like. iMacs are the next biggest model on the list, but represent 25 percent of Mac users as opposed to the MBP’s forty-nine percent.

Judging by the “most used” displays and graphics cards, it would appear that the previous (mid-2009) batch of 13-inch MacBook Pros are the most popular devices. The cheaper end of the MacBook Pro spectrum and certainly not the optimum machine for some tasks.

Mac gaming still has a long way to go, but this is definitely a good sign. John Carmack’s QuakeCon keynote address touched on how much he liked Apple’s approach – the hardware/software control level makes it possible to do all sorts of cool things you can’t do on a PC.

When Apple switched to Intel chips, most people said it wouldn’t increase the software for Mac. Just four years later you’re looking at only a few niche and proprietary programs being Mac only and many really awesome ones that are ONLY for Mac.

Valve has done the same thing. Steam for Mac simply existing means that gaming on the Mac will improve, exponentially.

If you build it, they will come. Check the read link for full statistics.