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Eurogamer.net Podcast #76

The future of gaming! Bomb dogs!

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Podcast by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief
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Hello! Welcome to episode 76 of the high-energy, high-minded, high-maintenance Eurogamer.net Podcast, where this week we dig into the future of gaming business models and accidentally accuse the RSPCA of terrorism.

This week's potential defendants include host Tom Bramwell (hello!) and Eurogamer.net's Robert Purchese and Martin Robinson.

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Last week it was the Develop Conference in Brighton, which brought together lots of developers and gave us an excuse to throw a wicked party. It was also a great platform for developers and execs to outline their visions for the future of whatever they happen to specialise in.

For Andrew Wilson, vice president of EA Sports, it was an opportunity to be harassed by Rob Purchese, who spoke to him about a possible future subscription service for his games. Wilson said it was "absolutely" something we'll see one day and it just depends on consumer trends continuing to head in that direction.

We obviously dig into that (it was not a popular view with you guys) and compare and contrast with former Sony exec Phil Harrison's assertion that gaming will continue towards a mixture of retail and online services and physical boxes like your PlayStation will become less relevant.

Another thing we learned at Develop was how PlayStation Vita's online services will work, or at least a section of them. Near, Party, LiveArea and Activities are all things that will become familiar to Vita owners whenever it comes out and we discuss similarities to (and, gasp, improvements on) 3DS' and Xbox Live ideas.

Then we have a chat about Modern Warfare 3, which it turns out several of us have now played, and the role of dogs with bombs strapped to them. This goes horribly wrong and we urge you all to turn off well beforehand.

Background reading!

The Eurogamer.net Podcast goes out every Tuesday at 5pm UK time.

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