I’ll be catching up with EEDAR director of analyst services Jesse Divnich this week to get his thoughts on the current state of the gaming industry. Also, I kind of just want to catch up with him and see how he’s doing because he’s a cool dude. Naturally, I want your questions! If you have anything you’d like Jesse to answer — preferably taking advantage of his experience as a gaming analyst and not as a former resident of a trailer park — please leave your questions in the comments section.
The National Labor Committee (NLC) posted an interesting report on a Chinese factory that makes several Microsoft products — including Xbox 360 controllers and remotes. As you can imagine, the factory’s conditions were deemed horrid. Children as young as 16 allegedly work shifts exceeding 15 hours in an extremely small space without air conditioning. The workers allegedly sleep 14 to a room and can only take sponge baths.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Sergio Martinez achieving boxing greatness at 35, the disgusting tale of Edwin Valero, or the first round of the NBA playoffs, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
The National Labor Committee (NLC) posted an interesting report on a Chinese factory that makes several Microsoft products — including Xbox 360 controllers and remotes. As you can imagine, the factory’s conditions were deemed horrid. Children as young as 16 allegedly work shifts exceeding 15 hours in an extremely small space without air conditioning. The workers allegedly sleep 14 to a room and can only take sponge baths.
Microsoft corporate vice president Brian Tobey claimed that Microsoft inspects the factory regularly. He recently stated on the company’s corporate blog that, “We take the allegations raised this week quite seriously. Another comprehensive on-site audit of the facility will be conducted next week, with a specific goal of investigating the allegations raised in the NLC report. In addition, we will have monitors on site pending the results of the inspection.”
There are loads of products we buy and use that are manufactured under harsh conditions like the ones pointed out by the NLC. My question for you today is this: If you were aware that a gaming product you want was built in a factory that exploited teenagers and had inhumane working conditions, would you still buy it?
RPadholic RRODisHere has stepped up his game and delivered the coolest RPad.tv magnet pic yet! Don’t get me wrong — I love them all, but this one is pretty frickin’ awesome. It captures our relationship by incorporating a game we both love. Well done sir!
Here’s a brief gameplay clip of the upcoming Pokemon Black/White from the Pokemon Sunday show in Japan. Zorua and Zoroark are shown after the clip. It gives you an idea of the how the new environments work…but more importantly, it gives me a new dream. I would love to work on a goofy-ass Pokemon show in America. Sadly, I don’t think it would play here. Ha!
This was a particularly fun episode of Reset to put together. The first clip features two of my closest friends in the business, the second clip has Zoe and me playing around in Vegas, and the last one is about Ultimate Spider-Man! Check yourself before your wreck yourself (I have no idea where that came from).
Part 1 — Here’s a roundtable discussion from a Konami event. While it wasn’t a drunken adventure like the Midway table of truth, there’s some good stuff here. Journalists Robert Workman, Christian Nutt, and Chris Kohler speak out on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare.
Part 2 — Zoe and I played in a Las Vegas poker tournament that promoted the game Stacked. She got to hang with poker pros Daniel Negreanu and Evelyn Ng (sexy!), while I hung out with poker…personality Bill Filmaff.
Part 3 — The last clip of this episode is all about Ultimate Spider-Man! I love the comic and enjoyed the game. Let’s take a look back at it before it was released.
Last week Engadget came across a phone that could possibly be a prototype for the next iPhone (4G?). Several tech enthusiasts were curious about its glass panel. While the enclosure would look sleek, it wouldn’t be the best for signal transmission. Daring Fireball received a note from its reader that suggests that it might be ceramic rather than glass:
But, reader Antoine Hebert emailed with this 2006 Apple patent, for high-durability ceramic enclosures. Glass-like appearance and feel but far stronger and more scratch resistant. And: radio transparent.
Apple has always been forward thinking with the materials it uses. So it wouldn’t be surprising if the company started a ceramic phone craze. Along with the other rumored specs, I’m pretty psyched for the next iPhone. Looks like it’s time to get rid of my 32GB 3GS!
I’m really hoping one of you is a NASA fanboy so that I can get a good reason why President Obama is determined to send astronauts to an asteroid (say that ten times fast!). According to The Associated Press:
Landing a man on the moon was a towering achievement. Now the president has given NASA an even harder job, one with a certain Hollywood quality: sending astronauts to an asteroid, a giant speeding rock, just 15 years from now.
Wow. Really?!? I realize there are longterm aspects to Obama’s job, but should he really be allocating millions of dollars to some silly venture when the country has so many problems? I’m totally not getting it. Did he watch Armageddon recently?!? (Though sending Ben Affleck to an asteroid in real life would be kind of cool.) I’m sure the project would lead to some impressive scientific discoveries, but the whole thing seems ridiculous to me when the employment rate is hovering around 10-frickin’ percent!
Keep me in check boys and girls. Am I overreacting? Perhaps I really hated Armageddon and the movie is clouding my judgement. Or maybe I’m angry about still being unemployed. *shrug*
It looks like the only interesting game being released this week is Capcom’s Monster Hunter Tri
Superheros, new consoles, and Konami — this episode of Reset has a lot going on! The second clip is particularly amusing when viewed through the retroscope; predicting PlayStation 3 factoids before launch is always good fun. Anyway, check it out!
Part 1 — I love X-Men Legends. Action-RPGs are some of my favorite games and I’m a comic-book nerd, so the game is perfect for me. Naturally, I was excited to check out X-Men Legends II at an Activision event.
Part 2 — Good friends EGM Mark and 1Up Jane return to talk about the PlayStation 3! It’s great hearing thoughts and predictions made before the systems launch, knowing how it eventually played out. See who was right and who was wrong in this Yahoo! Studios clip.
Part 3 — Kat Hunter gets the skinny on a slew of Konami games at a San Francisco press event. From Castlevania to Karaoke Revolution to Crime Life, there’s something for everyone in this clip.
