Video Game Industry Thread: February's done, go to the new thread

Zephiran · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

Capt Howdy wrote: »

Has there been any good announcements about games at the GDC this year? Seems quiet for some reason.

Let's see, there's a new SimCity and something called Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/122/1220179p1.html

Is it just me or is that name hilarious? "Fight Night: Facepuncher!" "Need for Speed: Vehicledriver!"

The show opens up the doors for the plebeians today though, don't they? I wish I could watch some sort of livestream directly from the event, but I expect some of the coolest stuff from the show to come out today eventually no matter what.'

And yes, that is an awesome name.

Mario: Shroomhopper, and the mature sequel; Shitstomper
Assassin's Creed: Facestabber
God of War: Gutripper

Man, I could go on and on...

Mego Thor · March 2012

Rehab wrote: »

Nintendo, Sony, Capcom, Square Enix, and Namco will form a huge Voltron-like mech and a year from now we'll collectively realize that Fez still hasn't been released and no new developments have been had.

But who'll form the head?

EVOL · March 2012

Holy shit, I had that toy back in the day. So much nostalgia 8->

darleysam · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

Allforce · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

Meanwhile, anyone here heard of a Sega game called Binary Domain? Apparently it's a sci-fi shooter that's quite good.

...that they intentionally released the same day as Mass Effect 3. Sega, were you TRYING to make that game fail? Delaying it a month wouldn't have killed you.

It's been out for awhile in Japan I believe. I'm playing it now, it's pretty fantastic. Gears of Robot only with hilarious racism/nationalism.

Seriously the black guy is named BIG BO and only says "AIGHT" and "SHEEEEET". And the British guy continually refers to the "Japs" as the enemy (which technically, they are)

cloudeagle · March 2012

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

darleysam · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

cloudeagle · March 2012

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Glal · March 2012

darleysam wrote: »

Seems like the news is just breaking that Peter Molyneux is leaving Lionhead and Microsoft. I know everyone hates him, but this is sad news for me.

I love Pete. <3
And I'm glad he's leaving Lionhead, it means he won't be stuck in a company forced to churn out Fable sequel after Fable sequel.

Rehab · March 2012

I don't think it is too surprising for an incomplete Kinect game to not work completely well or at least be a little unintuitive. Might not be the case, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

What I'm wondering is if all you do is stare at a horses ass the whole time or if you ever get off the wagon (heh) and go out on your own.

Local H Jay · March 2012

well plus, after milo & me got shitcanned i'm sure he wasn't too happy. i hope he goes back to making something like black and white, or even B.C.

cloudeagle · March 2012

The crazy thing is that, according to Wired, the game doesn't have any sort of tutorial at all, by (Molyneux) design. You're supposed to just get in there and flail around until you get it. (And yes, the Wired guy struggled as well.)

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/03/fable-journey-fable-heroes/#more-43333

Mego Thor · March 2012

I'd guess that just from watching enough TV and movies, people would be able to control a video game horse. If you yell out "Hyaaaah!!!" does it go faster?

Brainiac 8 · March 2012

Zephiran wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Capt Howdy wrote: »

Has there been any good announcements about games at the GDC this year? Seems quiet for some reason.

Let's see, there's a new SimCity and something called Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/122/1220179p1.html

Is it just me or is that name hilarious? "Fight Night: Facepuncher!" "Need for Speed: Vehicledriver!"

The show opens up the doors for the plebeians today though, don't they? I wish I could watch some sort of livestream directly from the event, but I expect some of the coolest stuff from the show to come out today eventually no matter what.'

And yes, that is an awesome name.

Mario: Shroomhopper, and the mature sequel; Shitstomper
Assassin's Creed: Facestabber
God of War: Gutripper

Man, I could go on and on...

Guitar Hero: Franchisekiller

Robes · March 2012

considering the kinect audience is "just dance" players and little kids, i can see them having a very difficult time with this game.

Rehab · March 2012

I think we've all had that experience of commanding a wagon while casually throwing fireballs here and there. I remember my last arsonist happy wagon ride like it was yesterday.

chocobolicious · March 2012

Allforce wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Meanwhile, anyone here heard of a Sega game called Binary Domain? Apparently it's a sci-fi shooter that's quite good.

...that they intentionally released the same day as Mass Effect 3. Sega, were you TRYING to make that game fail? Delaying it a month wouldn't have killed you.

It's been out for awhile in Japan I believe. I'm playing it now, it's pretty fantastic. Gears of Robot only with hilarious racism/nationalism.

Seriously the black guy is named BIG BO and only says "AIGHT" and "SHEEEEET". And the British guy continually refers to the "Japs" as the enemy (which technically, they are)

Game came out a week ago, but the writing itself is pretty fantastic. At least in that 'Likeable misfit' kind of way.

SanderJK · March 2012

So 18B for the PC market?

chocobolicious wrote: »

So even including the giant profit monsters that are F2P and facebook social games and such, PC still doesn't reach last years console market of 28.1b. In fact, not even suggested to surpass it even up to 2015.

Not dead, no, but I do wonder how much actual money is made off of 'proper' game releases and such. That'd be a figure I'd be far more interested in seeing, if you could cut out the social stuff and such.

Zynga is the only big player in social games that I'm aware of and has a revenue of 1.4B / year at the moment. I can't find a market share number but I'd guess it's above 50%. I don't think F2P is a particularly huge market. Which are the big F2P games that are raking in mad cash? I can't think of many.

Also, comparing all the worlds consoles vs. the PC is pretty unfair. The PC certainly doesn't compete much with handhelds, and even the competition with many of the Wii and Kinect/Move titles is pretty small. The PC market is differentiating from the console market more and more, with the only overlapping field being shooters and RPGs. After those, on the PC come the RTS, the MMOs, the sims/strategy (and the Sims), where the consoles are the focus of Sports and Racing games.

WoW is pretty big distorting force of course, worth about 3-4% of the entire PC market year after year. But WoW only really competes with other PC products. (Or possibly with people not playing that kind of game at all)

Exact information is hard to find, but 1M in sales is certainly possible in the PC realm. SC II moved 4.5M so far, without ever being on serious sale. The Witcher 2 moved 1M while not being attached to a famous franchise or studio. And remember that if you sell a game on Steam, you get to hold 70% of the sale, a far better deal for devs/pubs than the brick & mortar stores, especially for consoles where MS/Nintendo/Sony grab a cut too. That's why you see sales there early and often.

Santa Claustrophobia · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

cloudeagle · March 2012

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

Santa Claustrophobia · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

And you know for a fact that the people who have actually interacted with the game aren't filtering their expectations?

I know I haven't played any of it. I sure as hell aren't going to take the first impression from a complete stranger as a concrete fact.

Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug.

subedii · March 2012

SanderJK wrote: »

So 18B for the PC market?

chocobolicious wrote: »

So even including the giant profit monsters that are F2P and facebook social games and such, PC still doesn't reach last years console market of 28.1b. In fact, not even suggested to surpass it even up to 2015.

Not dead, no, but I do wonder how much actual money is made off of 'proper' game releases and such. That'd be a figure I'd be far more interested in seeing, if you could cut out the social stuff and such.

Zynga is the only big player in social games that I'm aware of and has a revenue of 1.4B / year at the moment. I can't find a market share number but I'd guess it's above 50%. I don't think F2P is a particularly huge market. Which are the big F2P games that are raking in mad cash? I can't think of many.

Also, comparing all the worlds consoles vs. the PC is pretty unfair. The PC certainly doesn't compete much with handhelds, and even the competition with many of the Wii and Kinect/Move titles is pretty small. The PC market is differentiating from the console market more and more, with the only overlapping field being shooters and RPGs. After those, on the PC come the RTS, the MMOs, the sims/strategy (and the Sims), where the consoles are the focus of Sports and Racing games.

WoW is pretty big distorting force of course, worth about 3-4% of the entire PC market year after year. But WoW only really competes with other PC products. (Or possibly with people not playing that kind of game at all)

Exact information is hard to find, but 1M in sales is certainly possible in the PC realm. SC II moved 4.5M so far, without ever being on serious sale. The Witcher 2 moved 1M while not being attached to a famous franchise or studio. And remember that if you sell a game on Steam, you get to hold 70% of the sale, a far better deal for devs/pubs than the brick & mortar stores, especially for consoles where MS/Nintendo/Sony grab a cut too. That's why you see sales there early and often.

I think with regards to F2P games come in two general varieties (as far as gamers are concerned).

You've got the more casual Eastern MMO and facebook style games, which are often more along the lines of "Pay 2 Win".

The other is more recently developing, things like Tribes: Ascend and League of Legends, and different MMO structures like DC Universe Online and the upcoming Guild Wars 2. Games where the core game is already there, the gameplay is solid, and what you're paying for is either additional content or cosmetics, or both. In these games it's more cahracterised that you could happily play for free or minimal investment without losing to the "competition" just because they necessarily paid more.

Free to play games are still a structure that are in their infancy. Like a lot of people considered them to be pretty much a trash genre (if they could be called a genre), but they genuinely have started to develop to the point where the model is sustainable without forcing a pay-2-win mechanic, and where the actual gameplay is solid all on its own and doesn't create frustration purely because you aren't constantly paying $$$.

League of Legends is definitely raking in mad cash. I suspect Tribes will as well, especially if it becomes home to a staple competitive scene, and a lot of MMO's that went F2P reported seeing massive upticks in profitability.

Robes · March 2012

Does anyone here play Kinect games?

cloudeagle · March 2012

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

And you know for a fact that the people who have actually interacted with the game aren't filtering their expectations?

I know I haven't played any of it. I sure as hell aren't going to take the first impression from a complete stranger as a concrete fact.

Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug.

Then again, have you ever played many games where you're supposed to struggle with it? It's become part of the industry's nature to expect games to control well from minute one. This, apparently, doesn't.

If Molyneux said "you're supposed to wrestle with the controls for a while until you get used to it, like a real horse" that would be one thing. But he promised an intuitive experience that apparently isn't. It's not confirmation bias, it's setting unrealistic expectations.

Magic Pink · March 2012

Robes wrote: »

Does anyone here play Kinect games?

Just Fragglefart. :rotate:

We've been trying to get him to stop but he keeps sneaking back in the building.

Rehab · March 2012

Robes wrote: »

Does anyone here play Kinect games?

Fragglefart is the resident Kinect enthusiast. I'm sure there are a handful of other people that play Kinect games though.

SanderJK · March 2012

I'm fairly sure someone reported that most F2P MMOs see a temperary resurgence, not a permanent one, but I haven't tracked it terribly closely.

GW2 is not really Pay2Win as I understand it, it's in fact just about identical to a traditional game buy. $50 for the box, it's yours forever. The attached shop is cosmetic/early unlock/online expansion thing.

Looked at LoL, they reported $25M income in '10 which would be pretty damn profitable as far as the PC market goes though.

cloudeagle · March 2012

I technically own one, though I've only really played Kinect Adventures, Dance Central and Child of Eden. It worked fine in those games for me.

Oh, Sony would like to remind you that PlayStation Suite continues to exist:

PlayStation Suite is Sony's concept that "certified" PlayStation games will be available on Sony's mobile devices.

Today, Sony revealed that it "will offer a more streamlined content development environment for content developers—from large game development companies to small, independent shops."

A closed beta launched last fall, and the upcoming open beta will incorporate feedback to improve and enhance the development experience. It will also enable developers to easily release content created in the open and closed beta.

Later this year, Sony will release the official version of the PlayStation Suite development kit for US$99 annually.

http://kotaku.com/5891197/sony-ramping-up-playstation-suite

It would have been nice to have all that nailed down when Sony unveiled it nearly a year ago, but eh, details.

Robes · March 2012

I read that LoL is becoming pretty strong in the F2P market. Mainly because a china company bought Riot games and translated/localized the game for Chinese to play it.

agoaj · March 2012

That reminds me, I downloaded the Hole in the Wall demo, I should check that out.

Santa Claustrophobia · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

And you know for a fact that the people who have actually interacted with the game aren't filtering their expectations?

I know I haven't played any of it. I sure as hell aren't going to take the first impression from a complete stranger as a concrete fact.

Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug.

Then again, have you ever played many games where you're supposed to struggle with it? It's become part of the industry's nature to expect games to control well from minute one. This, apparently, doesn't.

If Molyneux said "you're supposed to wrestle with the controls for a while until you get used to it, like a real horse" that would be one thing. But he promised an intuitive experience that apparently isn't. It's not confirmation bias, it's setting unrealistic expectations.

And the only thing you have that proves Molyneux is full of shit is the complaints of one or two people interacting with a demo and being reported on by a third-party.

'Apparently'? This suddenly means Molyneux set unrealistic expectations? Way to go!

Automaticzen · March 2012

Dance Central 2. That's it.

Use it for my Netflix watching though. Wonderful thing it is.

mere_immortal · March 2012

Robes wrote: »

I read that LoL is becoming pretty strong in the F2P market. Mainly because a china company bought Riot games and translated/localized the game for Chinese to play it.

Riot has the best F2P model I've seen.

Everything that changes the mechanics of the game (characters, stat boosts) is available with currency you earn by playing. Obviously you can buy them with cash but the only thing that's locked into cash payments are character skins.

They rotate characters every week with a decent number of dudes to play too, so you're usually working up to a character you actually like rather than just a random chance of something that you might enjoy.

Allforce · March 2012

My wife plays Dance Central and Just Dance pretty much every night as part of her workout. I like Fruit Ninja. We used to use it with Netflix until Microsoft pulled some HDCP update and now it won't work anymore through HDMi

HallowedFaith · March 2012

Warfighter is the new "Soldier" or "Troop" for US Military. The Military (specifically the Army) is always changing their shit as if it mattered. I'm almost sure that it costs retarded amounts of money to constantly update the slogan on all that useless shit it's printed on.

Since Warfighter is designed to be less gender and task specific and relates to anyone actively serving in a wartime operation, maybe the game will contain other Military tasks besides killing and running. Let's look at our options shall we? In the new Medal of Honor: Warfighter you can now:

1) Work the Orderly rooms. All that battle has paperwork! Track personnel during battle, update their emergency family contact information, and make sure their PT scores are right!

2) Vehicle maintenance! Now you can sit around turning wrenches all day long! Never fear being shot or attacked while safely stored away and protected by Military grade plastic canvas that traps pockets of moist and hot air that helps to continue drawing the life out of your body while you're face first in sand and oil all day long!

3) Cook! Warfighters gotta eat! Thankfully Uncle Sam has shipped you off with the best food money can buy! Enjoy your unseasoned and overcooked chicken leg that contains large amounts of calcium! Yup calcium! And since 80% of the meal is a greasy bone you won't have to worry about burning off those extra calories running non-stop keeping and and dirt out of what is for some, their last meal.

4) Public Relations! Not a big fan of work? Don't like all those formations and training? Afraid to think for yourself? Now you can sit back in a nice air conditioned office and write lies about everything you see and hear! That isn't enough for you? How about travel privileged that place you in 5-star hotels all over the world as you follow your chain of command around, kiss their ass, and make them look to be far less retarded than they actually are!

5) Detail crew! All that landscaping and painting to make military posts look cool isn't gonna happen by itself! Daily details change at a moments notice! One minute you might be fighting off weeds, or pulling a security detail to watch a random place with no significant value at all!

DLC will include new cleaning supplies and pointless military forms that require filled out in black pen, 100 copies each.

Can't wait!

cloudeagle · March 2012

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

And you know for a fact that the people who have actually interacted with the game aren't filtering their expectations?

I know I haven't played any of it. I sure as hell aren't going to take the first impression from a complete stranger as a concrete fact.

Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug.

Then again, have you ever played many games where you're supposed to struggle with it? It's become part of the industry's nature to expect games to control well from minute one. This, apparently, doesn't.

If Molyneux said "you're supposed to wrestle with the controls for a while until you get used to it, like a real horse" that would be one thing. But he promised an intuitive experience that apparently isn't. It's not confirmation bias, it's setting unrealistic expectations.

And the only thing you have that proves Molyneux is full of shit is the complaints of one or two people interacting with a demo and being reported on by a third-party.

'Apparently'? This suddenly means Molyneux set unrealistic expectations? Way to go!

Um, no, the "third-party" was one of the people who had first-hand experiences playing the game and struggled with it. He was also the one who reported that Molyneux said the experience was set to be intuitive.

But if you want another person who struggled with it, here ya go.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/03/fable-journey-fable-heroes/

God forbid we falsely accuse the reigning king of setting unrealistic expectations with setting unrealistic expectations.

darleysam · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Gentlemen, I give you Fable: Staring at a Horse's Ass.

"Your horse pays the price for your mistakes," Peter Molyneux says during a demo for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's upcoming Kinect-powered spin-off. The Journey is centered around a young man and his trusty steed and sets out to forge a bond between the two, similar to the relationship players had with their dog in Fable 2.

Molyneux wants us to care about the animal throughout the gesture-based adventure. But unlike pet management games like Kinectimals, Lionhead's goal is to offer players a Kinect-enabled experience that features the same moral dilemmas Fable fans will recognize. Choices made in Fable: The Journey will affect the world and the disposition of your horse.

Molyneux expressed his usual level of enthusiasm during the demo, promising players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning. My experience did not go as advertised. Molyneux doesn't tell me exactly what to expect and all of a sudden I'm steering the carriage. Things quickly fall apart. The horse takes my gestures as suggestions, rather than orders. I wrestle with the reins, eventually easing into the experience and the demo ends.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

Atop my carriage, I took a brisk tour of the countryside. After, Molyneux jumped the demo forward to an on-foot segment, where I flicked my right hand to shoot fireballs at a group of seemingly harmless fairies. I mean, they didn't attack me; they were just kind of there. Depending on how animated I was with my right arm, the fireball would be larger or smaller, but tiny fairies aren't the best enemy to gauge how much more damage my stronger flailing is worth.

I also got a taste of the game's leash-like jellyfish thing, a sentient being Molyneux described as a smart whip -- you use it to grab enemies, fling them into the air, or interact with things in the environment. Eventually you can add tendrils to it as you upgrade it throughout the game. In the context of the one battle in this demo, I used it to pull down some stone columns onto a very agile Balverine. Molyneux tells me that overusing the leash mechanic will cause it to lock up, and the player will have to calm it down with soothing speech, though none of that was available in this demo.

The Balverine jumped around the screen while I flicked my right wrist a lot, spouting fireballs. It wasn't the most interesting tactic, but spamming the move was a viable option.

In the end, each portion of gameplay was around five minutes, lacking enough cohesion to give me any sense for how all of these things would come together in the final product. Molyneux promises that players will be able to control their steed with their voice too; again, this feature was not available during the demo.

Instead, the strongest feature was the Unreal Engine foundation of Fable: The Journey. Albion is a beautiful place to lazily navigate a horse-drawn carriage through, offering environments ranging from lush green fields to the craggy spires in the image above. The gameplay in my demo may have failed to enthrall me, but I certainly wouldn't mind taking a journey back to Albion to see its sights again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/fable-the-journey-dares-us-to-steer-a-relationship-in-the-right/

Potential tranwreck in the making.

It's true, if a games journalist is struggling to play a game within a few minutes of their first demonstration, the game is a trainwreck. Games journalists are notoriously talented gamers who learn mechanics very quickly.

True. Then again, games journalists tend to have more skill than the average gamer, and if they aren't getting it in five minutes, even when Molyneux flat-out says "players would instinctually understand how to command the mustang from the beginning," there's a problem.

If one guy is attempting to drive his horse like a bus? The problem is not with the game.

It was multiple guys.

In another demo later in the week, I saw one journalist struggle to grasp the concept. He kept trying to steer the carriage like he was holding a very large invisible steering wheel. This doesn't seem like what Lionhead has in mind.

The one writing it up just said it wasn't as sharp as he'd have liked, which could either be something they can tweak, or it's handling like a horse would. Because evolution hasn't installed rack and pinion yet.

He said he was "wrestling with the reigns."

Of course these could be two guys who just suck at playing. Then again, it's still not an encouraging sign for something designed to be an "intuitive" experience. Plus I've noticed that video game nerds tend to be overly harsh at game reviewers' playing ability.

Ever spend much time in an arcade and see a 'new' player at a game? There is at least a fifty percent chance the player will get pissed off their quarter (or whatever the shit costs now) didn't allow them to master the game in sixty seconds.

First impressions are still key, but raised expectations and preconceived notions don't help. If the first thing on your mind when a new 'Fable' game comes along is 'Molyneux is an idiot!' or 'Black and White ruined all games forever!' or whatever, then it's going to be pretty difficult dealing with whatever it is Lionhead is doing now.

My expectations were set by Molyneux saying "this is an intuitive experience." By all accounts I can see, it's not.

So really, this is yet another case of Molyneux talking up his game a wee bit too much.

And you know for a fact that the people who have actually interacted with the game aren't filtering their expectations?

I know I haven't played any of it. I sure as hell aren't going to take the first impression from a complete stranger as a concrete fact.

Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug.

Then again, have you ever played many games where you're supposed to struggle with it? It's become part of the industry's nature to expect games to control well from minute one. This, apparently, doesn't.

If Molyneux said "you're supposed to wrestle with the controls for a while until you get used to it, like a real horse" that would be one thing. But he promised an intuitive experience that apparently isn't. It's not confirmation bias, it's setting unrealistic expectations.

And the only thing you have that proves Molyneux is full of shit is the complaints of one or two people interacting with a demo and being reported on by a third-party.

'Apparently'? This suddenly means Molyneux set unrealistic expectations? Way to go!

Um, no, the "third-party" was one of the people who had first-hand experiences playing the game and struggled with it. He was also the one who reported that Molyneux said the experience was set to be intuitive.

But if you want another person who struggled with it, here ya go.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/03/fable-journey-fable-heroes/

God forbid we falsely accuse the reigning king of setting unrealistic expectations with setting unrealistic expectations.

During my hands-on time with Fable: The Journey, I initially struggled with not knowing how to play the game. Molyneux was standing right next to me, but didn’t provide any hints. But before long, I was guiding my horse and carriage through narrow pathways and avoiding hazards by gently grasping at imaginary reins with my hands in front of me.

At one point in my travels, enemies hiding on a nearby mountaintop began to shower us with arrows. After escaping from our attackers, I slowed down my horse and then used my hands to carefully pull each of the arrows out of its side. The horse whinnied plaintively if I wasn’t gentle enough while extracting the arrows.

Even though I only played Fable: The Journey for about 20 minutes, I already felt that I was starting to form an emotional bond with my horse. It felt a little more like a living companion than a transport vehicle.

Yup.

cloudeagle · March 2012

HallowedFaith wrote: »

Warfighter is the new "Soldier" or "Troop" for US Military. The Military (specifically the Army) is always changing their shit as if it mattered. I'm almost sure that it costs retarded amounts of money to constantly update the slogan on all that useless shit it's printed on.

Since Warfighter is designed to be less gender and task specific and relates to anyone actively serving in a wartime operation

"Soldier" or "servicemember" is gender and task specific? And what about all those support guys you listed who don't actually fight? Military jargon, oy.

At any rate, Apple's unveiled the top-selling iPhone apps of all time, and they're all pretty much games:

1. Angry Birds
2. Fruit Ninja
3. Doodle Jump
4. Cut The Rope
5. Angry Birds Seasons
6. Words With Friends
7. Tiny Wings
8. Angry Birds Rio
9. Pocket God
10. Camera+
11. The Moron Test
12. Plants vs. Zombies
13. Skee-Ball
14. The Game of Life
15. Scrabble
16. Monopoly
17. Fat Booth
18. WhatsApp
19. UNO
20. Color Splash
21. The Sims 3
22. Flight Control
23. MotionX GPS Drive
24. Where's Waldo
25. I Am T-Pain 2.0

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/164768/Angry_Birds_dominates_App_Store_alltime_download_lists.php

darleysam · March 2012

cloudeagle wrote: »

23. MotionX GPS Drive
24. Where's Waldo

Cheating.

Santa Claustrophobia · March 2012

God forbid we not jump to a pre-determined conclusion to match the expectations we have about Molyneux.

Hence, Confirmation Bias.

You want him to be full of shit, so anytime somebody says anything that apparently contradicts him, it's gospel and will spell doom for the future of a game.

Are you a games journalist?

Penny Arcade

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