Hi folks, Cooper Hawkes here, and boy am I pissed. The sword is sharpened, the flames are lit, so sit back, group a smoke, or a scotch, or a Red Bull, or whatever your poison is, and read on.
When I first wanted to get into writing, I remember something that Stephen King once said in an interview, which was that if you want to write, you have to read. You have to read as much as you can so you know the right way, and the wrong way to do things. Smart advice. So when I started doing podcasts I took that advice to heart, and I try to listen to as many different podcasts as I can in a given week. I sometimes miss one or two, but on a whole, I’m pretty consistent with my listening habits. Today, for example, I listened to the OPM and OXM podcast for my drive home.
In comedy, whether it’s movies or television, there’s a term called the “spit-take”, this consists of an unsuspecting individual finding out, or seeing something so shocking, that whatever beverage they were drinking at the time, they will immediately spit out faster than a sneeze. Hilarity ensues.
As I was listening to the OPM podcast, the group was talking about the recent Sony announcements, and how the PSP is going to (eventually) allow you to have your PS3 download things to it from ANYWHERE you can get a WiFi signal on your PSP.
Neat stuff, agreed, until one of the boneheads on the show decided to point out that this was something about Xbox Live that annoys him, and how it’s something Microsoft doesn’t have.
SPIT TAKE.
Diet Coke, (I was driving after all) all over my windshield, not easy to clean off mind you. Anyway I started screaming to no one in particular, the words went something like this:
“You complete ASSHOLE, you MORON, Yeah Microsoft doesn’t have EXACTLY this, because with LIVE ANYWHERE you’ll be able to do it from ANY PC with an INTERNET CONNECTION come January and forward!!”
I understand that official (insert console name here) podcasts have to tout the company line, but to completely disregard something that was ANNOUNCED AT E3 2006 is just inexcusable.
I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I stopped listening, cleaned my windshield off, and put on the OXM Podcast. On this particular episode, they were interviewing a gentleman from Bethesda talking about the upcoming “Knights of the Nine” expansion for Oblivion that will be on Xbox Live on November 21st, and will be included with the PS3 version on day 1.
As I’m listening, the Bethesda rep, (who to his credit sounded quite hesitant) revealed that the “Knights of the Nine” expansion would be about 20 hours. (Nice) it will be out on November 21st. (Excellent!) And it will be 800 MS Points. (WTF?!?!?)
I listened, and I waited, and waited, and waited for the two dingle berries running the podcast to ask the follow-up question, which should have been:
“Wait, Xbox fans have sold your game, bought your previous add-ons, and now you’re going to charge them for something you’re going to give to PS3 gamers for free?!?!”
But it didn’t happen. The interview ended.
SPIT TAKE
You stupid frakers, you dolts, you ignoramuses. You’re supposed to be the ones ASKING these questions for the sake of the MANY FANS. The really SAD part was hearing the guy doing the interview, and it sounded like he WANTED to ask the question, but he couldn’t.
This my readers, is EXACTLY why sites like Gamer Andy are necessary, because we need to ask these questions, we need to know why PSM would give out such misinformation, why OXM would let Bethesda slide on what should have been an obvious journalistic question.
Mostly, I want every single person that reads this article to be as angry as I. These people are supposed to be our first line of defense from the Marketing departments of these companies, and they are simply marching in step and saluting.
Frak them, frak them all to HELL!
Semper Fi!
UPDATE: Because as JazzMX5 pointed out, it's the OPM not the PSM podcast.
I didn't listen to the PSM pod, but that really sucks butt mud. I did listen to the OXM pod though, and they either didn't spark their pee size brains to come up with a question, or they shriveled up with the fear that the rep from Bethesda would get upset.
Who the hell cares if a rep gets upset. I'm a rep for an icecream company, and I have to deal with grumpy managers all the time. I can't let any bull get to me because its my job to sell product. Thats the job of the rep from Bethesda, and he will be back. I'm sure he will have more games to sell in the future, and the word needs to get out about his products just as I need to flap my trap about my cold sweet cream.
Good catch Hawkes!!!!!
Hawkes needs to lure a Bethesda rep onto GA Live and hit him with that one.
You rep an icecream company?
Oh, hook a brother up!
Firstly, Hawkes, You have been watching toooo much battlestar for your own good. Saying frak this and frak that is a sign of a hardcore addict, I should know as I said it in regular speech and get asked what it means on WoW.
But..... what the FUCK is Bethesda thinking???
They GAVE AWAy Morrowind stuff for FREEEEEE!!!
They have sold out, like bungie, they are no longer deserving of adoration.
They have defected to the corparate side under the thumb of the dark lord Kutaragi.
I think that was the OPM podcast, not the PSM one. Still, damn fine catches, Hawkes. Go back a few weeks on the OPM podcast (dated 9/21, I believe) to hear one of their editors vigorously defending the multi-hundred-dollar total of 'a la carte' Gran Turismo HD. It'd be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Hopefully you guy's own (awesome) podcast will resume soon. I need my fix, guys.
*twitch*
Oh, and I love Oblivion, but Bethesda can take that 800 points - ten bucks - and... yeah, you can guess the rest.
I agree that charging for the add on is fairly bad,when ps3 gets it for free. but a 20 hour addon to 800 points thats not too bad.
At least they are not charging you for cheats , or content that they left out on purpose... ie godfather , by EA (Emoney-grabing arseholes)
shame cos godfather is such a good game, now if they made a millers cossing mod , that I'd pay for.
And remember always put one in the brain.
See... that's the great thing about downloadable content... in its infancy, companies are trying to see what they can get away with charging, and see how the consumers respond.... conversely, if we act now by not downloading content we think is overpriced, it will lead to better pricing schemes in the future.
It has only hit Microsoft so far, because they're the only company with a DLC system in place. But Soon PS3 and Wii owners will be going through these same issues.
As a side note... I don't think that the Wii or PS3 online experience will be as good as the XBL experience... but how is it that Nintendo looks like it's going to have a better system than Sony for online play and DLC? Strange times.
These are indeed strange times.
It's kinda sad that the nicest thing we can say about Bethesda regarding this is "well, at least they aren't EA".
I think back to the day when a game would come out later for a different console and they would get new content and the gamers who had bought it before on the first console got nothing. I could see if these game only came out a couple weeks apart or at the same time but this just seems like whining because the PS3 got something the 360 didn't. I don't see the PC community up in arms because Half-Life 2 will be coming to the 360 with episodes 1 and 2 included.
what happen to the Gamerandy Podcast please speak about that? I need to know.
"I wonder if Phil Harrison will buy my PS3 off eBay"
I hear ya hawks.
DLC prices are getting way out of hand.
Remember XBLA on the old xbox? It never caught on because games were way to expensive and most xbox users didn't bother.
The launch of the 360 re-energized the arcade because (due to a lack luster launch line up) early adopters of the system wanted to play as much as they could right away. If geometry wars evolved and hexic were out before the 360 launch on the old xbox nobody would have even noticed.
We all want DLC. We love the idea of getting more out of our games. It's just sad that companies plan all the DLC ahead of time. They leave out content that should have been sold with the game inthe first place just to make a few more dollars. It's a very bad move.
I wish companies would just concentrate on making a great game.
Halo 2 map packs, PGR cars and tracks. These are examples of great extra content. But cheat codes, picture packs, themes and contumes? Come on! this crap should be free and companies know it.
Well said Hawkes. With the other Oblivion DLC selling like hotcakes, I'm sure it was nearly impossible for Bethesda to pass-up the opportunity to make some additional cash from Xbox owners.
Doesn't matter much to me as I traded Oblivion and a few other things in to help me get the funds I need for the collectors Ed. of Gears of War.
Nice to know theres another hardcore BSG fan out there. Last Saturday's ep was to put it in 1 word only, GODLY! Adama is THE MAN (Picard, you suck ballz by comparison).
800 is pretty bad, but not the worst attempt at money grabbing on XLM
I'm talking about the videos you have to pay to download for Madden 07 that apparently teach you how to do things well, such as passing and running
I did a spit take when I saw those
Its not that 800 points for 20 hours play is the issue. Its 800 points for something included free in another version that is the Bullshite.
The insult on top of this is you are charging the extra $10 to the people who made your game successful enough for you to know you can successfully port it to another console.
Agreed Maj,
Here's the kicker. See if they had reduced the price of Xbox 360's Oblivion to say 39.99 I probably would be still pissed, though not as much. Put it this way. Say you haven't purchased the game yet, and you (somehow) own BOTH consoles. Which version will you buy? The $59.99 PS3 version that has everything? Or the Gimped Xbox 360 version for $59.99?
"You rep an icecream company?"
"Oh, hook a brother up!" Andy
What do you like brother?
I have all kinds of good stuff.
I think you have some valid points Hawks but perhaps you was overlooking the obvious. Perhaps the reason the the crew on the podcast didn't mention the obvious regarding Oblivions expansion being free for the PS3 is; either they were told not to mention this fact or, they're a bunch of arse kissers who don't want to be excluded from any future free games reviews.
dave19711998,
Yes that thought had occured to me.
Dear Hawkes
thank you for letting us know how big of a fucking idiot you are.
-Anon
Dear Hawkes
please kill yourself.
-Anon
LOL U FUCKING GEEK
tl;dr
hope you choke on your diet coke next time you sad piece of shit
We need to keep fucktard like you out of the industry
thank god you'll never reach anything other than "angry blog poster" status.
go die or something
fag
SO I HEAR U LIEK MUDKIPS MR.HAWKES....
but theyr posting muddy dicks
dats no mud....
You have angered the people of /v/! ATONE YOURSELF!
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I love stirring debate. I love opposing viewpoints, especially when they are ALL from the same IP address. Someone really had nothing better to do other than try and spam the site.
Anyhoot, if you want to chat this out, either online or in person, (Ha-ha, like you would ever meet me in real life you spineless whimp) you just let me know ok?
Oh and PS? It's Diet Dr. Pepper I prefer spaz boy. If you're gonna flame, at least attack with proper tools jackoff.
Wow, 4Chan got to GamerAndy.
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