Welcome to the new This is Xbox Podcast.
Join Damien Ashley and Adrian Garlike for a new episode of the This is Xbox Podcast.
In this episode Damien and Adrian put the high street retailer Game on trial, discussing their business practices, their relevance and what the future may hold for the retailer.
https://soundcloud.com/thisisxboxpodcast/tix-podcast-s1e3-game-on-trial
Podcast music by Bangmaid
Produced by James Gill
www.mixcloud.com/bangmaid
One of the minds behind Limbo and Inside has announced the formation of a new Guildford based studio: Jumpship. Their debut project is Somerville, a “sci-fi action adventure” telling the stories of people caught up in the midst of a catastrophe spanning the entire planet.
Beyond that, we don’t know much else yet. Jumpship has shared an initial teaser trailer for the game and its moody, mysterious setting, underpinned by a composition from Virginia composer Lyndon Holland.
Director Chris Olsen had been working on the project since 2014 until subsequently collaborating with Dino Patti, the ex-CEO of Playdead who left the company last year.
Playdead, meanwhile, are currently hard at work on their next major project following the launch of Inside.
Thanks for your warm reception of INSIDE. Since release, Playdead founder Arnt Jensen and the team have been working on the next adventure. pic.twitter.com/RfejnH39mR
— Playdead (@Playdead) 20 January 2017
No word yet on platforms or a release schedule for Somerville, although the studio very much seems to be in the early stages of the game’s development. We’re intrigued to see more when they’re ready!
UK retailer Game are currently cancelling some pre-orders of the collectable Resident Evil 7 plantation statue. This is due to the replica statues arriving damaged from the manufacturer.
As a result, Game are sending emails out to affected customers as we speak, apologising for the cancellation and offering a full refund and £10 credit on Game reward cards as compensation. Obviously for collectors this is going to be a disappointment that a £10 gift can’t solve.
With very little option on the high street to spend your hard earned cash on Video Games, we all tend head online, but i for one love a browse. We all have our own opinion about GAME, but it seems they are going to be branching out as soon you’ll find their concession stands inside WHSmiths.
GAME Retail is rolling out a small number of concessions as part of an ongoing trial across WHSmith stores in 2016.
Alongside our 300 high street stores it means easier access to top video games, accessories and merchandise for our community of gamers nationwide.
If anything it will make my shopping trips slightly more exciting…
Ubisoft, makers of the extreme mountain sport game Slope have announced that they are partnering with Game to bring the STEEP Moonlight Pack. This pack is an exclusive to Game in the UK and will be available to anyone who pre-orders the STEEP Special Edition.
Available to pre-order right now, the STEEP Moonlight Pack Special Edition allows players to take their night riding experiences to the next level with an array of exclusive content including new challenges and specialist equipment. Included in the Moonlight Pack is the following:
STEEP is the next game to be developed by Ubisoft Annecy and drops players on to the ALPS to take part in four extreme mountain sports. Ski, wingsuit, snowboard or paraglide you way down and around the mountains taking part in various challenges on the way. Go solo or with friends, but capture and share every insane moment you have with everyone. Be challenged and challenge others to see who’s truly king of the mountains.
STEEP will be released for Xbox One and PC on the 2nd December. For further information check out the Official Website.
https://youtu.be/Ylu65o-Upj8
As far as I can remember, GAME have always been on hand to sell the latest games and preorders to those that attend EGX – now Amazon has muscled in on the action.
The show returns to the NEC in Birmingham this year, taking place between September 22-25 and rather than just sell punters a gaming fix, Amazon are helping to market EGX, pushing adverts via their website, app and social media.
The focus of their marketing push will be a central hub on the Amazon website, featuring twitch live-streams and information about all the games in attendance at the show – there’s also going to be monthly giveaways to win tickets to EGX.
Rupert Loman, CEO of EGX’s parent company Gamer Network commented:
We asked our community where they prefer to buy and pre-order their games and Amazon was overwhelmingly their number one choice. Their obsessive focus on customer experience fits perfectly with our attendees’ discerning taste. We’re extremely pleased to have the backing of another market-leading partner.
You can buy tickets for the show right now.
Who can recall back to February last year when we wrote about how Dying Light creators Techland had teamed up with Game to create the My Apocalypse edition. If you recall this edition came with some excellent goodies, plus your real own Zombie defense home and all for a mere £250,000. Well just when we thought it could never be beaten the teams have come back and done it again, but this time they have definitely upped the ante. Introducing Dying Light: The Following – The Spotlight Edition.
So what does it contain, well for a start you get 4 copies of the great game that is Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition, all signed by the dev team for the platform of your choice. This enhanced edition takes parkour-fueled zombie survival to a whole new level. introducing the brand-new Legend system, improved visuals, major gameplay enhancements, and more. As expected this version comes with all the available bonus content, including Be the Zombie, Cuisine & Cargo, Ultimate Survivor Bundle, and The Bozak Horde. Finally to top of the game content you can now travel beyond the walls of Harran to discover a vast, dangerous new region in Dying Light: The Following – a massive story-based expansion that brings mysterious characters, deadly new weapons, unexpected quests, and fully customizable and drivable dirt buggies. However as you can imagine it doesn’t stop there and this edition really rolls out the red carpet with the following;
However this all comes at a price and yep you got it, this ones a biggy. To experience the red carpet lifestyle and all the extras you can shake a stick at you are going to need to stump up a mere $10,000,000. So if you have a bit of spare change all you have to do is contact a Techland representative who will aid you in the legal steps required to complete the purchase, it’s as easy as that. I think I’ll have two please.
GAME is going back to the Stone Age this month as 49 stores kick-off 2016 in pre-historic style with a tour of Far Cry Primal sampling events. The special openings will give gamers a chance to get their hands on the much anticipated title a month before its release.
Should you be a fan of the series, heading over to www.game.co.uk/events and finding your nearest GAME store running the sample event will allow you to get hands on with the latest release ahead of the general launch date.
You can also pre-order the game in-store ahead of launch on 23rd February, including the GAME exclusive Legend of the Mammoth Special Edition. This edition includes 3 extra missions, the ability to drink from the shaman’s cup to play as the mighty mammoth, stomping enemies and defending herds against prehistoric peril.
Events will be taking place in store weekdays from 12-5pm and weekends 11–4pm.
Check out www.game.co.uk/events for further details on the GAME Far Cry Primal Tour taking place at a store near you.
Gamers must be 18 and ID will be required to take part and play.
It appears that many disgruntled customers still waiting for their Pip-Boy editions (myself included) will have to wait a littler longer…
After talking with someone on the GAME online chat this morning, I was informed that DPD, the courier service delivering the coveted collector’s edition to our doors, has misplaced a delivery batch which GAME sent on November 6. However, this vital information has not been made public, and I only know this by contacting GAME directly.
I was reassured that there are spare copies, which will be sent out as soon as possible, and I should be receiving my Pip-Boy by Monday November 16, nearly one whole week since the launch of Fallout 4.
You can view the full transcript below:
10:46:42 – Server said : Please wait. An operator will be with you shortly. If you are contacting us regarding an online order please have your order number ready.
10:46:42 – Crover Bluejay said : Hello Cat. My name is Crover Bluejay how can I help you?
10:46:51 – Cat said : Hi Crover
10:47:01 – Cat said : I would like to know where my Fallout 4 order is please
10:47:11 – Crover Bluejay said : of course. Have you got the order number for me?
10:47:24 – Cat said : Sure, it’s [removed]
10:51:15 – Cat said : Is that ok?
10:51:34 – Crover Bluejay said : ok I’ve just checked that for you
10:52:12 – Cat said : Great
10:52:19 – Crover Bluejay said : I’m really sorry we’ve discovered today that DPD has misplaced a delivery batch we sent on 06/11/15. I have sent a request for the stock to immediately resent (hopefully in todays post)
10:52:34 – Cat said : Right…
10:52:43 – Crover Bluejay said : We do have spares to allocate for this kind of situation and I have allocated one against your account
10:52:52 – Cat said : How long will this take?
10:52:52 – Crover Bluejay said : I’m so sorry for the delay with this
10:53:19 – Crover Bluejay said : If we can get that prepared for today’s collection it willl be with you either tomorrow or Saturday
10:53:28 – Cat said : Ok
10:53:30 – Crover Bluejay said : If it leaves us tomorrow either Saturday or Monday
10:53:36 – Crover Bluejay said : I’m so sorry I can’t speed this up
10:53:43 – Cat said : That’s ok, it’s not your fault
10:53:44 – Crover Bluejay said : This missing batch has been a bit of a nightmare!
10:53:49 – Cat said : I bet!
10:53:58 – Crover Bluejay said : anything else I can help with today>?
10:54:20 – Cat said : Will it be reposted to the original address?
10:54:55 – Crover Bluejay said : that’s right
10:55:33 – Cat said : Ok, great…
[UPDATE] My_Outer_Heaven, has posted on N4G in response to this that:
“More fuel for the fire: After being on hold for over an hour I just finally got in contact with someone via phone and I told them I have not received my order yet.
After some digging around the guy that was tracking my order down told me that DPD have lost a whole batch of orders. Lost huh?, more like stolen!
They gave me a choice of cancelling for a full refund or sending a replacement, I opted for the latter obviously. I preordered back in June during E3 2015.
It seems DPD or Game have some answering to do.. how does a whole batch of orders get lost?! Cancelling is one thing but losing a whole batch of dispatched orders is really strange!”
