U.Gamers Podcast #111: E3 2015 recap, Steam Summer Sale




Game/Life Balance U.S. show

Summary: Jon recaps E3 2015, including press conferences from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, and he and Cody discuss their reactions to various announcements. Plus, hear what games Cody has purchased so far in the 2015 Steam Summer Sale!<br> Show Notes:<br> <br> * Jon and Cody brace for a podcast with some vicious technical difficulties, and this time it’s actually Jon’s fault<br> * As they postulate which Elder God they angered to bring about their horrible luck with computers recently, Cody and Jon debate about how to pronounce the name of H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional character Cthulu<br> * Cody is sitting in a chair that is over 35 years old, and he is fine with that<br> * Which of the “big three” (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) WON E3 and is objectively better than literally every other one? Cody asks Jon for his input<br> * In Jon’s estimation, Sony and Microsoft held very similar press conferences based on their major focus on games and rapid-fire game trailers; however, most of Microsoft’s games are coming this year, whereas Sony talked about a lot of things coming in 2016<br> * Microsoft’s press conference:<br> <br> * Microsoft announced Gears of War 4, which looks like it will have more of a horror/thriller element than the previous installations in the series<br> * Microsoft also talked Halo 5, but neither Jon nor Cody are the target audience for that game… or for Forza Motorsport, because they don’t “do” racing games<br> * Rare came out and announced a huge Rare collection, featuring a bunch of their games from the Nintendo 64 era onward, including Blast Corps, Banjo Kazooie, and more<br> <br> * Rare also announced an open world adventure game that looks like a pirate-based multiplayer game, which got Jon very excited<br> <br> <br> * The new Tomb Raider looks ridiculously gorgeous, and looks like it will be less focused on combat, which Jon supports<br> * Dark Souls 3, which will be the last game in the series, should also be pretty good, even though they only showed a teaser trailer<br> * Jon goes into detail describing Microsoft’s Hololens, and the Minecraft demo they performed on-stage, which was ridiculous<br> * Cody saw some negative reactions after Microsoft announced that they are going to make the Xbox One compatible with Xbox 360 games, but Jon doesn’t think that’s a valid thing to be upset about<br> * Jon and Cody discuss the pros and cons of backwards compatibility: it’s not good for everyone, but there are definitely situations where it can be an issue<br> <br> <br> * Sony’s press conference:<br> <br> * Jon explains the back story behind The Last Guardian, made by <a title="Fumito Ueda" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumito_Ueda">Fumito Ueda</a>, the same guy who made Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, which was the game that kicked off Sony’s press conference with a gameplay demo on the PlayStation 4<br> * Both Cody and Jon are hot for Horizon, the second game Sony showed off during its press conference, because it is basically the most beautiful game ever and features tribes hunting robot dinosaurs… and as a PS4 exclusive, it could be a system seller<br> * Sony somehow nabbed Street Fighter V exclusivity, which will help sell some PS4 consoles<br> * An on-stage demo of No Man’s Sky got Cody even more hype for the game, and Jon describes why he’s so amazed by it<br> * Jon tells Cody why he should know Media Molecule, and why people were excited for the extremely bizarre game “Dreams,” which they then try to describe<br> * FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT GET HYPE #HYPE #FFVIIREMAKE #GETOUT<br> <br> * Jon explains why it’s such a big deal, but let’s face it, we all know already<br> <br> <br> * Jon is actually pretty excited about PlayStation View,