GameHounds Episode 27: The Second Trimester

Second trimester? Wait, who’s pregnant.

Nobody, but as we celebrate the six-month anniversary of the GameHounds Podcast, it occurs to us that this little baby of ours is entering it’s last three months before it becomes a human being.

In otherwords, this podcast spawn is almost ready to be considered “fully functioning.” Oh, let’s not kid ourselves, this thing will always be a little half-baked, and maybe it’s been dropped on its head a few times, too.

Anyway, this week Cooper Hawkes and Edie Sellers once again cover the week in gaming news, including games they’ve played and these hot topics.

Links and topics after the jump…

In this week’s podcast, Hawkes and Edie discuss:

• id Software’s John Carmack says that, due to royalty fees due Microsoft in order to give Rage a third disk, the company will have to squeeze it into two disks and the resulting game won’t look as good as what you’ll get on the Playstation 3. Of course, he also says he hearts the 360. We think this public airing of private laundry won’t work.
• Ars Technica’s inside source at Microsoft, the one who accurately predicted the new 60GB Xbox 360, says the prices for all the console’s SKUs will drop in “early September.” And we’re not talking little whimpy drops, either.
• Life with Playstation, the new Playstation Network functionality that adds Google and YouTube functionality, didn’t drop in July, and sources say to expect it this month instead. Bug-check twice, release once, we always say.
• Game Reviewers are “lazy” says Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin. While we agree in theory, it’s clear this guy has never actually done any game reviews or worked in the media. Get educated, then mouth off, jackass.
• EA is like a “petulant child instead of a professional market leader,” exclaims Sega of America predisent Simon Jeffery. He then proceeds to masturbate over the thought of Activision’s Bobby Kotick. God, maybe he’s angling for the rights to Brutal Legend?
• Beware! Sporn (ie: Spore + Porn) approaches! And parents afraid their kids will learn where babies come from are shielding their eyes and gnashing their teeth over the thought of their children be irrevocably scarred.
• If that wasn’t enough, hell has frozen over. Wait, no. That’s just a shortage of the Xbox 360 in Japan!
• Too Human goes gold. Cool!
• Activision’s boot of Vivendi titles not fatal to a few high profile games, including Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and the Bourne series. No word from smaller stuff, but we don’t have much hope for them.

Enjoy. And thanks for six months of fun! Looking forward to several more.