Video Game Industry Thread: Master Chief -- script delivery boy

Archsorcerer

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I hope to see Angel Falls footage and their upoming projects. I think their jets and Comanche games were well liked in the PC gaming world.

agoaj

Henroid wrote: »

That Nintendo ad redeems Joel McHale from Ubisoft kinda ruining him.

What if he does the Nintendo keynote?

Mego Thor

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Just want to say that Xenoblade is by far the best JRPG this generation.

I'm having a hard time seeing the name Shulk, without thinking of...

TheSonicRetard

I'm conflicted on Xenoblade. I imported the euro copy, and liked the game... but not enough to buy it multiple times. However, the writing for the US release is on the wall - this is a game that is destined to become an extremely rare title, one of those titles you'll see people paying several hundreds of dollars for in the future.

Do I double dip on a game I have no intention on replaying, or do I just pass on what will undoubtedly become a good investment?

Zephiran

That one is completely unrelated, though.

Sadly.

TheSonicRetard

lol, "I'm going to come into your house and rip up all your X-MEN™"

oh how that little symbol has fucked up so many covers, along with it's partner in crime, ®.

Dragkonias

You mean like having Wolverine on the cover even though he has shit all to do with the issue?

Tommatt

maximumzero wrote: »

Wat, Nintendo.

That was pretty awesome. I love that guy.

And XBL/PS3 - I really like XBL and don't mind paying for it. It'd be nice if I didn't have to, but the Friends list, party system, voice chat for every game, and most importantly, cross game voice chat. It's kinda cool I can be online in a party with my buddy in Vegas, playing a different game, and just BS. I dont know why PS3 hasn't stolen this yet. The whole party system is pretty awesome.

Also, I feel kind of tied to my friends list. I have people on there I've played games with since the DC days and our NFL2K1 league. We went to xbox for NFL2K5 (? I believe) , and now still play on 360, and that's kinda cool.

ArcSyn

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

I'm conflicted on Xenoblade. I imported the euro copy, and liked the game... but not enough to buy it multiple times. However, the writing for the US release is on the wall - this is a game that is destined to become an extremely rare title, one of those titles you'll see people paying several hundreds of dollars for in the future.

Do I double dip on a game I have no intention on replaying, or do I just pass on what will undoubtedly become a good investment?

I'm just hoping I can still find a copy in June.

RobotSpammer

If demand is there in the short run, I cannot see why Nintendo would not print more. It's not like they are branding this as a limited release but more of a "only like 6 people are going to buy this...let's just print 9 for now" thing.

cloudeagle

Glad I'm not the only one who went there when I read "Shulk."

Meanwhile, some good thoughts from Gamasutra on the fate of THQ:

Zelnick is a smart businessman - and THQ's fate may, in fact, be ultimately terminal. But if it does call it quits or is forced under, it's not likely going to be within the next six months.

THQ has made a series of mistakes over the past few years. The company has been unfocused. It has made crucial business decisions years later than it should have. And it has undermined its successful properties with cheap stunts.

That said, the biggest threat THQ is facing right now is a delisting on Wall Street. (Company shares are still stuck under $1 - the cut-off point for exchanges to start the delisting process.) And it's not the first company to find itself in that position.

Two years ago Majesco received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, but avoided it on the strength of one good quarter. Today the company is hardly an industry powerhouse, but is still around - and has recently struck gold with its Zumba fitness games.

Even Take-Two faced delisting in 2006, after it failed to report earnings in a timely fashion amid an investigation into stock option grants.

The truth is we really don't know exactly how THQ plans to crawl out of this hole it has dug for itself. It has severed ties with its licensing partners for children's games. It has cut hundreds of jobs. And it has slashed executive salaries (well, for a year, at least). But as far as an action plan to move the company forward, there hasn't been anything concrete laid out. (The company's stated intention of "a realignment of the organizational structure" is as rehearsed as Zelnick's apology.)

The general public - and investors - will get its first hint as to whether the company is turning things around at E3 this year. A weak line-up of titles could be devastating to THQ, but if it shows one game that has solid hit potential, investors might be willing to give it some rope.

Couple that with a reverse stock split and the delisting threat will likely disappear, giving THQ some breathing room. The trick, from that point, is execution.

"Quality really, really, really matters," Zelnick mentioned in his comments Thursday. "THQ has had some good games, but their quality levels aren't even remotely...the quality hasn't measured up."

He's right. Games that should have been polished and AAA titles (like Homefront) have been mid-tier, and have hurt THQ badly. If the company can truly learn from those mistakes, though, Zelnick's six-month forecast will evaporate.

The question is: Has it learned? And does it have someone on staff that is qualified to act as an arbiter about game readiness? There is an opportunity at THQ for someone to step up and become a design leader at the publisher. If THQ is, in fact, going to survive - and thrive - the salvation isn't going to come from management. It's going to come from the creative side.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168169/Opinion_Despite_Zelnicks_prediction_THQ_not_quite_on_life_support.php

vagrant_winds

maximumzero wrote: »

<snip 'viral commercial'>

Wat, Nintendo.

Okay. That was actually hilarious. How did Nintendo's marketing become so good?
And why does Sony's blow chunks right now? They had a good thing going with the Kevin Butler stuff. Why did they regress?

TheSonicRetard

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/

damn...

Warlock82

vagrant_winds wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

<snip 'viral commercial'>

Wat, Nintendo.

Okay. That was actually hilarious. How did Nintendo's marketing become so good?
And why does Sony's blow chunks right now? They had a good thing going with the Kevin Butler stuff. Why did they regress?

I think Sony's instinct is that whenever they stumble on a good idea, they start running as far away from that idea as possible. Either that, or fiddle with it until it becomes the PSP Go

mrt144

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/

damn...

My Mom went to a seder where he was present a year or two ago.

Morninglord

The bit with the hairstylist cracked me up and then I was giggling for the rest of the video.

TheSonicRetard

mrt144 wrote: »

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/

damn...

My Mom went to a seder where he was present a year or two ago.

Jack was an interesting figure in gaming in that, in the european computer war, fanboys of both sides (atari and commodore) loved him and hated him at one point or another.

Rohan

RIP Jack Tramiel. Thank you for Commodore, and everything it gave us.

Warlock82

Commodore 64 was the best computer

LOAD "*.*",8,1

TheSonicRetard

Warlock82 wrote: »

Commodore 64 was the best computer

Amiga

Xenogears of Bore

I'd rather have an Apple IIe or any IBM clone over a Commiedore. Amiga's are pretty rad though.

Warlock82

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

Commodore 64 was the best computer

Amiga

C64 > Amiga

Birthplace of Maniac Mansion = wins by default

Cantido

Damn that sucks

cloudeagle

I didn't just have a Commodore 64... I had a Commodore 128, bitches! Woooo! Yeah!

Spoiler:

Not a damn thing came out for the Commodore 128.

Warlock82

I had the Ghostbusters game for C64. That was awesome. The NES version gives it a bad name because they added a bunch of crap to it which sucked (driving shit/impossible staircase button mashing were both additions to the NES version). Anything that sucks in the NES version doesn't exist in the C64 version. Also it had speech samples which was pretty awesome back in the 80s

Had a bunch of games for it really. It was my first computer back when I was 5. Loved it so much

Rohan

cloudeagle wrote: »

I didn't just have a Commodore 64... I had a Commodore 128, bitches! Woooo! Yeah!

Not a damn thing came out for the Commodore 128.

Had a C128 also... had two of them, in fact, and one is currently sitting on top of my wardrobe. It's a shame that it was never really supported all that well, but it's easy to see why.

Also, C64 > Amiga, but that's not to diminish the latter in any way. Will have my hands on my first Amiga in two weeks or so It's just that the C64 was a large part of my life for so very long.

TheSonicRetard

Warlock82 wrote: »

I had the Ghostbusters game for C64. That was awesome. The NES version gives it a bad name because they added a bunch of crap to it which sucked (driving shit/impossible staircase button mashing were both additions to the NES version). Anything that sucks in the NES version doesn't exist in the C64 version. Also it had speech samples which was pretty awesome back in the 80s

Had a bunch of games for it really. It was my first computer back when I was 5. Loved it so much

We are kin. I had the Sega Master System version. Awesome game. That shitty port combined with the AVGN has given it such a bad wrap. It's a great game if you know what you're doing and not playing the worst port possible (even the goddamn 2600 port is better!)

Rohan

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

I had the Ghostbusters game for C64. That was awesome. The NES version gives it a bad name because they added a bunch of crap to it which sucked (driving shit/impossible staircase button mashing were both additions to the NES version). Anything that sucks in the NES version doesn't exist in the C64 version. Also it had speech samples which was pretty awesome back in the 80s

Had a bunch of games for it really. It was my first computer back when I was 5. Loved it so much

We are kin. I had the Sega Master System version. Awesome game. That shitty port combined with the AVGN has given it such a bad wrap. It's a great game if you know what you're doing and not playing the worst port possible (even the goddamn 2600 port is better!)

Ghostbusters along with Yie Ar Kung Fu are the reason I got a C64 in the first place

Henroid

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I'd rather have an Apple IIe or any IBM clone over a Commiedore. Amiga's are pretty rad though.

Is that an actual thing people say?

Turkey

If they don't, they should.

Synthesis

Henroid wrote: »

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I'd rather have an Apple IIe or any IBM clone over a Commiedore. Amiga's are pretty rad though.

Is that an actual thing people say?

If they weren't mercifully killed off by the environment, they went on to use the term "M$."

cloudeagle

Alas, the dick jokes have come to an end.

A Bulletstorm follow-up was in the works before Epic Games moved Polish developer People Can Fly to a new project, president Mike Capps told GameSpot this weekend at PAX East.
Epic would

"We thought a lot about a sequel, and had done some initial development on it, but we found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly," he said. "We haven't announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon."

"I'd love to go back [to Bulletstorm]," he added. "I think there's more to do with Bulletstorm. Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I'd love to see another project, but right now we don't have anything to talk about."

Regarding the original Bulletstorm, Capps said the foul-mouthed first-person shooter didn't live up to publisher Electronic Arts' expectations.

"I think Bulletstorm was very critically successful, and I think a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing something new," he said. "From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we'd do better."

Capps also claimed that the PC version of Bulletstorm was hurt by piracy, but also admitted that it was a less than stellar port which may have hurt sales, too.

"We made a PC version of Bulletstorm, and it didn't do very well on PC and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. It wasn't the best PC port ever, sure, but also piracy was a pretty big problem."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

mrt144

cloudeagle wrote: »

Alas, the dick jokes have come to an end.

A Bulletstorm follow-up was in the works before Epic Games moved Polish developer People Can Fly to a new project, president Mike Capps told GameSpot this weekend at PAX East.
Epic would

"We thought a lot about a sequel, and had done some initial development on it, but we found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly," he said. "We haven't announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon."

"I'd love to go back [to Bulletstorm]," he added. "I think there's more to do with Bulletstorm. Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I'd love to see another project, but right now we don't have anything to talk about."

Regarding the original Bulletstorm, Capps said the foul-mouthed first-person shooter didn't live up to publisher Electronic Arts' expectations.

"I think Bulletstorm was very critically successful, and I think a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing something new," he said. "From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we'd do better."

Capps also claimed that the PC version of Bulletstorm was hurt by piracy, but also admitted that it was a less than stellar port which may have hurt sales, too.

"We made a PC version of Bulletstorm, and it didn't do very well on PC and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. It wasn't the best PC port ever, sure, but also piracy was a pretty big problem."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

STFU about piracy already.

Local H Jay

we made a bad version of the game, but people should have bought it anyways!
i know piracy is a big issue with these guys but man maybe if the port was good more people would have bought it

EVOL

Well, to be fair piracy is very much of a problem but I don't think people are going to take it very well if you make a shitty port and say stuff like that.

mrt144

EVOL wrote: »

Well, to be fair piracy is very much of a problem but I don't think people are going to take it very well if you make a shitty port and say stuff like that.

It's a problem like the price of tea in China is a problem for me.

Shadowfire

cloudeagle wrote: »

Alas, the dick jokes have come to an end.

A Bulletstorm follow-up was in the works before Epic Games moved Polish developer People Can Fly to a new project, president Mike Capps told GameSpot this weekend at PAX East.
Epic would

"We thought a lot about a sequel, and had done some initial development on it, but we found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly," he said. "We haven't announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon."

"I'd love to go back [to Bulletstorm]," he added. "I think there's more to do with Bulletstorm. Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I'd love to see another project, but right now we don't have anything to talk about."

Regarding the original Bulletstorm, Capps said the foul-mouthed first-person shooter didn't live up to publisher Electronic Arts' expectations.

"I think Bulletstorm was very critically successful, and I think a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing something new," he said. "From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we'd do better."

Capps also claimed that the PC version of Bulletstorm was hurt by piracy, but also admitted that it was a less than stellar port which may have hurt sales, too.

"We made a PC version of Bulletstorm, and it didn't do very well on PC and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. It wasn't the best PC port ever, sure, but also piracy was a pretty big problem."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

One of my favorite games of this generation, loved it enough to buy it both on 360 and PC. I'm genuinely bummed.

fragglefart

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/

damn...

Woah.

Salutes, dude.

Gaslight

mrt144 wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Alas, the dick jokes have come to an end.

A Bulletstorm follow-up was in the works before Epic Games moved Polish developer People Can Fly to a new project, president Mike Capps told GameSpot this weekend at PAX East.
Epic would

"We thought a lot about a sequel, and had done some initial development on it, but we found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly," he said. "We haven't announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon."

"I'd love to go back [to Bulletstorm]," he added. "I think there's more to do with Bulletstorm. Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I'd love to see another project, but right now we don't have anything to talk about."

Regarding the original Bulletstorm, Capps said the foul-mouthed first-person shooter didn't live up to publisher Electronic Arts' expectations.

"I think Bulletstorm was very critically successful, and I think a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing something new," he said. "From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we'd do better."

Capps also claimed that the PC version of Bulletstorm was hurt by piracy, but also admitted that it was a less than stellar port which may have hurt sales, too.

"We made a PC version of Bulletstorm, and it didn't do very well on PC and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. It wasn't the best PC port ever, sure, but also piracy was a pretty big problem."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

STFU about piracy already.

"It's not like we overly alienated PC gamers to the game before it ever came out by being douchebags or anything."

November Fifth

cloudeagle wrote: »

Alas, the dick jokes have come to an end.

Regarding the original Bulletstorm, Capps said the foul-mouthed first-person shooter didn't live up to publisher Electronic Arts' expectations.

"I think Bulletstorm was very critically successful, and I think a lot of folks really enjoyed seeing something new," he said. "From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we'd do better."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/epic-shelved-bulletstorm-sequel-6370603

I think the industry really underestimates the number of parents willing to buy the more mature shooters like Halo and CoD for adolescents and teens, but are going to draw the line at something like Bulletstorm.