News General gaming stuff, random news etc

[Cyber_punk]

Hogwarts Legacy free on Epic games til the 18th.

Very good game. Recommend for anyone curious.

 

[RPCB]

Vince Zampella, ‘Call Of Duty’ Co-Creator, Dies In Car Crash

Vince Zampella, co-creator of Call of Duty, head of Respawn Entertainment and most recently the Battlefield franchise, has died at 55 in a car crash.

www.forbes.com

There is a video on YouTube of the crash. Speeding out of a tunnel and he crashed into a concrete barrier killing himself and his passenger. His vehicle caught fire. So unpleasant to watch and totally preventable.

 

[dexter_]

Absolute legend of game development. Seemed like a really fun dude as well, loved his appearances on the Giant Bomb couch during E3

 

[Ed_Gein]

Mum: What do you want for Xmas?
Me: Steam gift card

Brother: What do you want for Xmas?
Me: Steam gift card

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I have $150 worth myself, plus a $30 EB Gift Card

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Anyone got a R36s retro gaming handheld?

Got one for KK xmas, was only $50 and it’s a ripper, playing so many old games I grew up with. Been looking on YT on how to add more games on it.

 

[RPCB]

Anyone got a R36s retro gaming handheld?

Got one for KK xmas, was only $50 and it’s a ripper, playing so many old games I grew up with. Been looking on YT on how to add more games on it.

I didn’t when I read your post five minutes ago.

I do now.

 

[dwwaino]

I wonder how much this will impact next gen console prices too. RAM prices are starting to affect every corner of tech.

NVIDIA Pushing RTX 5090 Prices to $5000 in 2026, Rumor Claims

It has been claimed in a recent report that NVIDIA and AMD are preparing to launch unprecedented price hikes in the GPU space in 2026.

insider-gaming.com

 

[nummy217]

Half life 3 was supposed to be announced last month as a launch title for the steam box but got delayed because of this ai ram shit... hopefully they still bring it out soon its been 19 years.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

EB is pulling out of NZ.

I was my local the other day and they don’t even have an Xbox section. Interesting state of play for both brands.

 

[dwwaino]

EB is pulling out of NZ.

I was my local the other day and they don’t even have an Xbox section. Interesting state of play for both brands.

I went into EB last week to buy a Razer controller for my PC which was my first time in an EB in years. I actually couldn't believe the lack of games. It was entirely Zing and other junk with a corner dedicated to a few rows of Switch games on one side and PS games on the other. I really doubt their future.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I do like that they're selling retro games though. And for reasonable prices!

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

I went into EB last week to buy a Razer controller for my PC which was my first time in an EB in years. I actually couldn't believe the lack of games. It was entirely Zing and other junk with a corner dedicated to a few rows of Switch games on one side and PS games on the other. I really doubt their future.

They’re barely paying anything on trade ins. Even that mode has collapsed.

 

[Ed_Gein]

Massive shift towards digital sales over the last 5-10 years, I suppose. Can't help but think places like EB are hanging on but will end up the way of Blockbuster, Video Ezy et al at some point.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

The Xbox section in not only EB, but JB as well has been dead for a long time, do miss the times I’d go in during the 360-ps3 era and see both had huge sections of games.

I still visit my local EB regularly, has cool stuff there, but it is more a ZING store than video game store these days really.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Massive shift towards digital sales over the last 5-10 years, I suppose. Can't help but think places like EB are hanging on but will end up the way of Blockbuster, Video Ezy et al at some point.

Yep, and I don’t like it. It’s nice to have all these streaming services to watch shows and movies, but you don’t own them. Much like the gamepass subscription with Xbox, a massive catalog of games you can play but you don’t actually own and if you aren’t connected to the internet you can’t play them.

I still like buying physical copies of things as much as I can.

 

[dwwaino]

They’re barely paying anything on trade ins. Even that mode has collapsed.

Now that you mention it I didn't even see the pre-owned section. It was probably there but goes to show how it has shifted.

The same day I went to EB I also checked the JB in the same Westfield for the controller and while their gaming section was as big as it has always been I remember making a note to the wife how small the bluray movie section was now. Just another example of our shift to digital.

 

[SnakeMan86]

EB's biggest problem was they were always there games were always $20-$30 more expensive then JB amazon. They used to price match, then they'd only price match if the JB or Big W was in the same shopping centre.

 

[gaskin]

I think EB put too much emphasis on selling pre-owned games than brand new.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

EB's biggest problem was they were always there games were always $20-$30 more expensive then JB amazon. They used to price match, then they'd only price match if the JB or Big W was in the same shopping centre.

Luckily that's 99.99% of shopping centres

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Never had that happen before where a JB or Big W had to be in the same shopping centre, everytime I’ve asked for a price match they’ve done it just asking for proof.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Never had that happen before where a JB or Big W had to be in the same shopping centre, everytime I’ve asked for a price match they’ve done it just asking for proof.

Happened to me once, years ago with the Alan Wake Collector's Edition. They wanted me to walk to JB and take a photo of it. I told them to give me my preorder money back and I'll just buy it from JB instead. Silly kents.

Kinda happened with GTA5 (the original PS3/360 release). Me and two mates from the same workplace all wandered over to EB to pick it up (none of us had preordered this time), asked them to price match Target, the fat bastard tried to force us to provide proof, again we said we'll just buy it from Target instead, the other employee was just like ffs just give it to them at Target's price. Which he did.

With the collective savings from that one we could have bought a fourth copy :/

I am a massive supporter of physical media (just paid a premium to get the Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection on disc for Xbox, the Xbox version was a limited printing and has been sold out for months: https://limitedrungames.com/products/mortal-kombat-legacy-kollection-xbox. Preordered it in August as a Christmas present for myself, the physical version released on the 12th December, it just arrived this past week) The PS5 and Switch versions easily are available in stores. But EB just shoot themselves in the foot time after time.

Having said that I will repeat myself in that their retro push has been very good. Years ago EA used to do what Epic now do and give away free games (not weekly/daily like Epic, but still): https://www.eurogamer.net/eas-fantastic-origin-on-the-house-program-is-no-more, and one of the games was Dragon Age: Origins. I already owned it on 360 so sold that copy. Years later I got a hankering for Origins (I don't usually replay massive RPGs, my one playthrough is my canon) and then discovered what an absolute shitshow getting Origins to run on modern PCs is. Meh, my hankering wasn't that strong. But recently I saw a copy (and its expansion) at EB and picked it up. Was in perfect condition too, even had the Shale DLC card inside! Was very VERY reasonably priced too.

Learned a lesson that sometimes the console versions are better or at least easier to run when it comes to older games, and I will make sure to do my research before selling them off in the future. Also a shout out to Xbox's excellent backwards compatibility! It's such a shame the Xbox One launch was such a disaster, Xbox did so much right over the years.

So yes, EB dumb but their retro push has been very good so far. Hopefully they extend it to Gamecube which I never had but the Wii is backwards compaitible and there's a heap of Gamecube games I'd love, my white whale being Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes.

 

[Jatz]

Our local one just shut down last month.

Like others have said, the actual game section was anaemic compared to what it used to be.

In our biggest shopping centre close by, they have a Zing store and an EB store. The Zing one is always far more full.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

They were always going to go the way Video Ezy & Blockbuster went, which is quite sad.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Wonder if they ever considered offering competitive prices rather than building their business model around extorting Karens whose 14yo really wants the latest CoD and doesn't know any better