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Gaming News
Topic Started: Aug 28 2011, 09:03 AM (32,870 Views)
Romanticide
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Life Against Death
Mar 22 2012, 11:16 AM
Looks like angry Mass Effect fans are getting their wish

Quote:
 
Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on this in April.  We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received.  This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue.

I smell DLC...

The only "right balance" is "not listening".

It's their story, not ours.
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Bigcalv2002
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Da resident crazy canuck!!
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^

Am I the only one whom is not pissed off about the ending of this game??
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failureatlife
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Indiscriminately discriminates
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Yes.
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Romanticide
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http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012...er-developments

I'll just pick on one quote, though pretty much all of them can be picked apart.

Quote:
 
I mean, the idea of a game selling out used to be a good thing, but nowadays, those people who buy it on day one may well finish it and return it.

That says two things for your game.

1) It was too short. This seems pretty obvious.

But *why* are there single player games that might last five or ten hours? Sometimes it's by design, and that's okay if you're telling a story that's meant to be short, or have a gameplay mechanic that might get old if abused. It's also accepted in genres that derive much of their replayability from multiplayer, though personally I find this usually is a nifty way to dodge making a worthwhile game for those who don't like multiplayer for whatever reason.

I can't prove it (or it might just require way too much research), but I'd wager a large amount of the development cost goes towards the graphics. You have to pay the artists for their labor, the tools likely cost a pretty penny, etcetera. Graphics take up a lot of space as well, and the Western audience pretty much demands full voice acting, which also takes up space (and necessitates simplistic dialog). I wouldn't find it surprising if these factors contributed to the short length of many games.

I know one of you chucklefucks is going to say "Skyrim", but games like that are the exception. They're well-received because they have insane replayability and amazing worlds to explore.

We need a John Carter-esque flop in this industry. Actually, probably multiple ones. Hollywood won't understand that graphics don't make the movie in spite of this latest failure. Maybe then the industry will get an idea that graphics and insane development costs don't make games any better.

Of course, gamers tend to have entirely too much time on their hands. 8-12 hour marathons on the weekend are *normal* for many of us. That problem is never going to be solved (unless we change "nerd culture", but that's lol-worthy), so if you want us to keep your game, MAKE IT FUN AND WORTH REPLAYING. Especially if it's a single player game.

2) Your game wasn't good enough to keep.

Another obvious concept. But how do you make a game good enough to keep? Well, you make it fun and give it an engaging story, along with replayability in whatever form you choose. DLC also helps, but it seems to be a double-edged sword. If your console is not always online and/or you're not paying attention to news on every game you own, you may very well not know the DLC exists. This is a failure on the part of the developers/publishers. More people would keep their single-player game instead of trading it in while its value is still high if they knew it was still going to be supported with new patches/content.

Personally I try to keep all the single player games I enjoy. I have a good idea of what I like and what I feel is worth spending $35-60 on, so it's pretty rare that I resell a modern game. The only reason I've sold many of my SNES games is because it's really easy to emulate that console on any PC.

EDIT: Veeeeeeeeeeery long read but quite enlightening.


http://www.the-ghetto.org/content/used-vid...software-piracy
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Volt
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Keep Moving Forward

Looks like the world is actually going to end this year.
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nascargo19
Still playing RB3 daily.
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I had that confirmed when I learned when Snookis bably is due.
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Granskjegg
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Eg e husfar.
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Not really news, but the newest patch for Battlefield 3 released for consoles today.

It's a huge list of fixes and changes.

I don't think it'll change too much for me personally, but it's always nice with patches.
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LifeAgainstDeath
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Sexual Orientation: Not Picky

Nintendo rep confirms that Xenoblade Chronicles is not a pre-order exclusive.
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Volt
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Keep Moving Forward

Playstation 4 rumored to lock out used games

All of this is a rumor, but still. If it turns out to be true, then this will seriously hurt the used games market.

The article also mentions that the PS4 will be called the "Orbis" and will ship December of 2013.
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Romanticide
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Volt
Mar 28 2012, 01:22 PM
Playstation 4 rumored to lock out used games

All of this is a rumor, but still. If it turns out to be true, then this will seriously hurt the used games market.

The article also mentions that the PS4 will be called the "Orbis" and will ship December of 2013.

If all these rumors are true, I'm pretty much done with trying to keep up with gaming. Why keep pouring money into a hobby that hates its customers? Can someone give me a good reason to do so?

No huge loss; there are thousands of old games that do not have bullshit.
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Snowman
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http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/28/simcity-...ection-to-play/

So I brought this up in the chat a few hours ago and LAD asked if we were just gonna hide it from Ro so I'm posting it here now.
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Romanticide
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I would have heard at some point.

Like everyone else, I don't want Origin. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't, well, EA. I don't trust that Origin has my best interests at heart. Why should I? This is a company that supports online passes and all that jazz.

I know Steam is tame DRM, but it's DRM that allows me to play offline and get games at insanely low prices. It's pretty much a glorified CD Key, oh noez.

As for the internet connection news, I don't like that either. My old man put it well when he was confused on how to start a PS3 game and said, "you have to be connected to the internet to play a game?" He was wrong in this instance, as I showed him, but if something doesn't pass the Mom or Dad Test, it's likely a really shitty idea.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be getting this legitimately, since there isn't any way I can get it used.
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Romanticide
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http://kotaku.com/5897180/five-reasons-a-w...t-not-be-so-bad

Not sure if Pollyanna or Devil's Advocate.

Anyway, breaking it down point-by-point this time.

"1. Everything's going digital anyway."
There is some truth to this. Digital sales of music increase each year, and why wouldn't they? People don't want to pay $15 for a disc with two or three good songs and ten filler songs. Also, Amazon and even iTunes are superior services to PSN or XBL. I don't want to gush about Amazon for entire paragraphs in a video game post, but suffice it to say that they do digital distribution the *right* way - Fair prices, free cloud storage, and no DRM. It also helps that I can back my music (or really any of my files) up on my own laptop/discs. Does the video game industry, outside of Steam, do any of this?

Currently the answer is no. I'll embrace all digital in this industry when it can do it right.

"2. The future could look a lot like Steam."
It *could*. The question is, "will it?" It's as if both the new XBox and Playstation are taking the worst parts of Steam and applying them to consoles. Where is the convenience of Steam? I can just download the client on any PC I own, sign into my account, and then download/play games. If whatever systems Sony/Microsoft propose are not that convenient (i.e. do not allow us to sign into a new system/a friend's system and insert a disc, then play), people will just not get the product.

We pay for convenience. It's a reason that Netflix is doing so damn well. It's a reason that people download Spotify instead of pirate music. I already have to sit through mandatory installs, enter codes for passes, and wait for games to load just to play a goddamn game. I can just sign into Netflix and watch anything in seconds. I can buy a game in seconds on Steam and then start the download. We are regressing, not progressing, in this area.

Also, Steam allows me to play older games that I missed out on. The new XBox or Playstation? Yeah, that's not happening. Part of this is due to the nature of the platforms, but it forces me to make a choice that I don't really want to make: Keep my old console and give up on the discount that I would get towards the new one, along with the games, or trade it and my games in? Yeah, it's a first world problem and all, but the store credit/cash people get from selling old stuff goes towards new product. We all know this economy sucks, too, so relief where we can get it is appreciated.

"3. Retailers will have to offer better deals."
I'd like to amend that to "Brick and mortar retailers". Even a year later, there are plenty of AAA games priced at $40-60 in physical stores.

I kind of agree with this point, but due to the existence of superior online alternatives, what will it change? Sure, the retailers might cut their prices in a more reasonable timeframe, only to be topped by sites like Amazon and Newegg once again. It's pretty rare that a retailer offers a superior deal to an online store, and the online store delivers even to my door in Bumfuck, Nowhere, so...

I suppose this is good for us if it comes to fruition, but I personally have my doubts. Take away a competing market and the industry has full control. If that happens, pricing will fall even slower than it does now. They're in the business of making money, not passing savings on to consumers. Who in the history of ever does that?

"4. Games could be significantly more affordable."
Yeah, no. See the last paragraph, really.

But to add to that, the development costs of today's AAA titles are already sky-high. They're in the tens of millions for an AAA title, if not pushing a hundred million. I'm having issues finding numbers that aren't pulled from someone's ass on games like Skyrim and MW3, but we all know these aren't cheap to make. Why? Graphics. Have to pay for the tech, the labor, etc. I'd suspect that with the next gen, these costs will take ANOTHER jump, and the price of games will go up along with it.

People say that graphics don't make the game. How many would put their money where their mouths are and buy something like TES6 or Black Ops 2 if it didn't have the highest-end graphics possible?

"5. Publishers might take more risks."
And I might grow wings. I mean, it theoretically could happen due to genetic engineering and all, but again I have my doubts.

The big names in most industries may have gotten there by taking risks, but when was the last time that an established titan of a given industry took a real risk that could capsize it if it failed? I can't think of anyone who has.

No, I expect more of the same, really. I expect shooters to dominate until they keep selling, Squeenix to keep pumping out Final Fantasies that fans whine about but purchase en masse anyway, Nintendo to keep on being Nintendo and not come up with a single new IP, and so on. Like I've said, they are in the business of making money, and right now, shooters/games with online multiplayer are raking it in hand over fist. Why change what's working?

The people who will take risks are the same as they are today: Mid-sized developers with a decent reputation. Think the Atluses of the world. They can afford to bring over games like Demon's Souls (and branch out to new genres, like WRPG with the Game of Thrones game) because they are well-regarded and have their own IPs that do pretty well for what they are.
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MrMarill
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DAT STORY TIEM

Completely agree with your post there, especially on taking risks. I guess the last big one was not putting HD on the Wii, and we all know how that went. Companies with those reputations will play safely and do the same thing they know earns them money. Again, going back to Nintendo, they made the 3DS and now the Wii U. The same names are a safe tactic to work... or so they thought, anyway, as people are prolly gonna be confused. It's the same reason the "Playstation Orbis" is a stupid name. PS1, PS2, PS3; it shows clear advancement in technology. Orbis? What the fuck?

The idea of the Orbis and used games being eradicated isn't taking a risk, it's simply seizing on the uninformed customer's ignorance, which will sadly work as most customers nowadays are the uninformed type. It's the same story as when GTA5 was announced and people instantly started pre-ordering, the PSVita was shown and people bought it without thinking. These things make sales because people are used to the brand name and come to expect a good product, but what if something like the Orbis happens to them? What if GTA5 tones down the violence, or does something else to mess it up?

Games won't be cheaper, gtfo, article.

Game stores are already dying (my nearest one closed indefinitely last week, actually), so switching to digital sounds good and all, but we all know that younger and older people alike bring a game round to their friends house and play for a while. I would bring Crash Team Racing to my friend's house all the time when we were little, and that was great fun. This entire idea promotes singularity and online multiplayer, not local. Local multiplayer is far more satisfying; in online, you can't unplug someone's controller when you're losing. Getting rid of the freedom to do more is a step backwards.
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LifeAgainstDeath
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MementoVivere
Mar 28 2012, 09:10 PM
Nintendo to keep on being Nintendo and not come up with a single new IP, and so on.

Hey, Nintendo created a new IP last year...it just...hasn't come to America. :P
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