1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:09,159 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey there, 4 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. This is Jonathan Strickland, I'm 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: a writer for how Stuff Works, and with me is 6 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,959 Speaker 1: Chris Pollett, Editor extraordinaire either and we're gonna give you 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: a quick update on some of the video game systems 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: that are out right now. Because of the Electronic Entertainment 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: Expo that's going on, there's been a lot of announcements, 10 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: so we want to catch you up on what's going on. Yeah, 11 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: this year's E three is It's known is UH scaled 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: down a bit from years past where the public was invited. 13 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: It's more of a UM press and industry only event. 14 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: But this year's big story is that there's really no 15 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: big story. New new consoles to UH to announce, no 16 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: new game with some kind of massive new controller that 17 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: you have to buy. It seems like a lot of 18 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: things are improved UM Sony and UH and Mike Usoft 19 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: both announced larger hard drives in new models UM. But 20 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: other than that, the consoles seem to UH to have 21 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: legs they're they're going on the way they have been, 22 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: just with brand new titles and enhanced versions of older titles. Right, 23 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: It's it's really all about incremental improvement this year. Uh. 24 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: And of course, all three giants we're talking about, Microsoft, 25 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: Sony and Nintendo here are all claiming that they are 26 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: going to dominate this year. But I mean, what else 27 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: are you going to do at a press event? Of course, 28 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about some of these improvements. 29 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: So well, we'll start over with the Microsoft's Xbox, So 30 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: the Xbox three sixty. A lot of the improvements they mentioned, 31 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: uh refer back to Xbox Live, which is their online 32 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: portion of the their console system. Um. That includes things 33 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: like you can now go online using the web and 34 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: and shop at the Xbox Marketplace and buy games and 35 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: other applications and download them directly to your console. It's 36 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: kind of like a TiVo thing where you would log 37 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: in and and and shop around for for television shows 38 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: and tell your vote to record the same sort of thing. 39 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: You don't have to be at your Xbox to do 40 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: it anymore. Yeah, and um, now they have a partnership 41 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: with Netflix, So if you have an Xbox Live Gold membership. 42 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: You can stream movies directly through your Xbox three sixty, 43 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: which is a nice feature, although you can't you know, 44 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: download them directly to your hardware. That's true. Although there 45 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: is one other kind of cool feature. You can now 46 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: play games from your hard drive. You can actually uh 47 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: copy games onto the hard drive, which decreases load times. 48 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: You still have to have the disc in the in 49 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: the game system to play it, but it means that 50 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: your load times are much shorter. But let's let's move 51 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: on to one of the others. Let's talk about Nintendo 52 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: for a little bit. Yeah, Nintendo, of course has been 53 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: selling like hotcakes there. WE has been flying off the 54 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,399 Speaker 1: store shelves. You can them anywhere, you know. Now, they're 55 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: very very hard to find still and um, you know, 56 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: I think people expect them to come out with some 57 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: brand new uh feature or or device like the balance 58 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: board that came with WE Fit. But this year, um, 59 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: they're coming out with two new games. The announced WE 60 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: Sports Resort, which has a WE Motion plus plugs into 61 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: the back of the Wi Remote and gives it some 62 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: added functionality regarding motion and how it detects what you're doing. Um. 63 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: They also have WE Music with more than fifty instruments 64 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: that you can play. You know, the music games Rock 65 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: Band and Guitar Hero still very popular, so that's We's 66 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: unique entry into that market, right. And then there's also 67 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: the We Speak, which is a microphone application that will 68 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: specifically work with an animal crossing game that's coming out 69 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: for the Wei, but hopefully we'll be used in other 70 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: games and applications further down the road. And and just 71 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: for you guys to know, my most anticipated game announcement 72 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: is the Clone Wars because I want to play with lightsabers. 73 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: But let's move on to uh to the third biggie 74 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: Sony Now Sony. Sony's big announcement was mainly the the 75 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: new model that's going to replace the forty gigabyte model. 76 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: It's a it's an eighty gigabyte model, will cost about 77 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: four hundred dollars that will come out later this year. 78 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: But they had some other interesting information. Um, by the way, 79 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: people who are waiting for Sony Home, you're still going 80 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: to be waiting a while. We don't have any date 81 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: on when that's gonna come out, but it is still 82 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: in development, so it should be coming. I just hope 83 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: that the price decreases enough where I can buy a 84 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: PlayStation three and get a Blu ray Player and get 85 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: to play my Ratchet and Clank games that I used 86 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: to plan on. They announced a new Ratchet and Clank 87 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: title with a pirate theme, yes, Quest for Booty, So 88 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: I'm excited about that, right, And there's going to be 89 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: a whole slew of downloadable games. Actually, downloadable content is 90 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: gonna be big for PlayStation uh. They They are also 91 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: going to allow users to download movies and television shows 92 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: from a certain group of of providers and producers. Um, 93 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: but you get to actually download those, it's you get 94 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: to store them on your PlayStation and watch them whenever 95 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: you like. You can you can purchase movies and television shows, 96 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: unlike the Xbox version where you're dreaming. Yeah, I bet 97 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: the Sony fans were really excited about the new Final 98 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: Fantasy game. Oh, I'm sure they were, especially when they 99 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: heard it's also premiering on the Xbox. I hope you 100 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: guys can sleep at night. Well that about wraps it 101 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: up for this podcast. We have tons of video game 102 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 1: articles on the site, but to to get started, if 103 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:22,799 Speaker 1: you're really interested in learning more about some of these 104 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: consoles and games. You can read how video game systems work. 105 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: That's available right now at how stuff works dot com 106 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: for moral this, and thousands of other topics. Does it 107 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. 108 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. 109 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 110 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you