<p>Recorded on March 26th, 2013 with <a href="http://twitter.com/bdfife">Brian Fife,</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/jimfingal">James Fingal</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/twestberg">Thomas Westberg</a>. </p> <p>Now that video games are big business - perhaps bigger than movies - they have advertising and promotional budgets to match. It is common to see video games promoted in a way similar to other mass media - billboards and television ads. </p> <p>The group talks about the way they learn about games, keep up on game news (or at least <a href="http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2013/03/powering-down-google-reader.html">used to</a>) and the way game reviews and metacritic scores are handled. </p> <p>They also discuss their game buying strategy, when (if ever) to preorder, and how they track game sales. </p> <p>Referenced items:</p> <p><a href="http://east.paxsite.com/">PAX East 2013,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_2">Borderlands Two,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_(2013_video_game\)">Simcity (new),</a> <br /> <a href="http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-question-of-competence.html">A Question of Competence - Tobold,</a> <br /> <a href="http://kotaku.com/square-enixs-yoichi-wada-is-stepping-down-update-458811790">Square Enix CEO Stepping Down,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_Game:_The_Movie">Indie Game: The Movie,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Meat_Boy">Super Meat Boy,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOM:_Enemy_Unknown">X-Com Enemy Unknown,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite">Bioshock: Infinite,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_III">Diablo Three,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Wars_2">Guild Wars Two,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft">World of Warcraft,</a> <br /> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spaceteam/id570510529">Spaceteam,</a> <br /> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/super-bowl-plans-to-handle-30000-wi-fi-users-at-once-and-sniff-out-rogue-devices/">Rogue WiFi at Super Bowl - Ars,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim">Elder Scrolls: Skyrim,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez_(video_game\)">Fez,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft">Minecraft,</a> <br /> <a href="http://thecastledoctrine.net/">The Castle Doctrine,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Steam_Greenlight_games">Steam Greenlight,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpyParty">Spy Party,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter">Kickstarter,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Annihilation">Planetary Annihilation,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTL:_Faster_Than_Light">FTL,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment">Planescape Torment,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_War_(video_game\)">God of War,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War">Gears of War,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Bruckheimer">Jerry Bruckheimer,</a> <br /> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/04/how-early-reviews-hurt-sales-of-indie-games/">How Early Reviews Hurt Sales - Ars,</a> <br /> <a href="http://killscreendaily.com">Kill Screen Daily,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.gamespy.com/">GameSpy,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.ign.com">IGN,</a> <br /> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2010/05/game-reviews-on-metacritic-why-we-avoid-inclusion/">Why We Avoid Metacraitic - Ars,</a> <br /> <a href="http://theverge.com/">The Verge,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.engadget.com/">Engadget,</a> <br /> <a href="http://gizmodo.com/">Gizmodo,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.grantland.com/contributor/_/name/tom-bissell">Tom Bissell - Grantland,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_(video_game\)">Catherine,</a> <br /> <a href="http://daringfireball.net/">Daring Fireball,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/">Joystiq,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.kotaku.com">Kotaku,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.1up.com/">1up,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/news/411/">I’m sorry, Marcus - Quarter to Three,</a> <br /> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-mobile/id495369748">Steam Mobile,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Bundle">Humble Indie Bundle,</a> <br /> <a href="http://hbr.org/2013/04/when-ted-lost-control-of-its-crowd/">When TED Lost Control - HBR,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFF">EFF,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child's_Play_(charity\)">Child’s Play,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.shacknews.com/article/57308/valve-left-4-dead-half">Gabe Newell Left 4 Dead Sale- Shack News,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdoms_of_Amalur:_Reckoning">Kingdoms of Amalur,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King">Stephen King,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromehounds">Chromehounds,</a> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G4_(TV_channel\)">G4 Channel,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_sports">e-Sports,</a> <br /> <a href="http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/call-of-duty-is-making-us-dumb-how-modern-shooters-are-robbing-us-of-s">Call of Duty is Making Us Dumb - PAR,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling">Curling,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4">PS4 Video Sharing,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike">Counterstrike,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Legends">League of Legends,</a> <br /> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letterpress-word-game/id526619424">Letterpress,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_2070">Anno 2070,</a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption">Red Dead Redemption,</a> <br /> <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/why-i-played-bioshock-infinite-on-easy">Why I Played Bioshock on Easy - PAR,</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface">SLI Graphics.</a></p>