Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) won a U.S. International Trade Commission judge’s ruling that bolsters its chances of blocking imports of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Xbox gaming system from the U.S.
Motorola Mobility contends that Microsoft is infringing two patents that cover aspects of an industry standard for video decoding, two for Wi-Fi technology and a fifth patent on a way that to establish communication between the Xbox and accessories. The second Wi-Fi patent wasn’t infringed, and one aspect of one of the video-coding patents was invalid, the judge said.
Stuff like this reminds me of the old Japanese stuff I played on the 16 and 32 bit consoles, heck even on ps2. I notice a lot of Japanese games just not selling as well, but I begin to think its just because they try to hard to appeal to western gamers. Simple point is, we have a ton of western developers.
So while grasshopper and suda51 and similar might not make record breaking sales, I know I'll usually pick up their games day 1 simply because its going to be something distinctly crazy Japan.
I think if you like what they're going for or not is a totally separate issue, but James Gunn is perfect for what they're going for. I consistently go back and forth between thinking he's cool for basically making millions off of never growing up beyond middle school, and hating everything he does.
I've found the older I've gotten the more attention I pay to development teams - years ago I couldn't tell you (or care) who made what, but now I've bought games without even seeing anything based simply on who's involved and if I like their stuff. Suda is one that is very hit or miss. While I still think No More Heroes is one of my favorite games of all time, and really enjoyed Shadows of the Damned, sometimes his whole grindhouse/rock star aesthetic really just wares on me.
That and Diabolical Pitch unfortunately got horrible reviews. I was looking forward to Suda + Kinect.
I'm curious to see how Lollipop Chainsaw actually plays.
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
And when it comes to marketing.... I was on YouTube the other day. Watched a Freddie Wong video, and so under related there was a picture of boob cleavage and it was titled "review of freddies video" I was curious. Think had about 300,000 hits, and it was her showing off cleavage and reviewing his later video.
I looked at her videos, it's what she does. Shows cleavage and reviews YouTube videos. There's tons of these chicks making 7 cents a view (something like that) wearing cleavage showing tops and reviewing other peoples videos.
Boobs sell. That reminds me, I need to play night trap someday.
Speaking again of marketing, I usually don't find myself consciously swayed by advertising of anything really, especially games, where Im up enough on the industry to know what I want without any ads.
Yesterday when looking around on YouTube I was hit with an ad that really hooked my for Witcher 2. It was crazy. Some party and then a guy threw an ice bomb thing and everyone froze and it was awesome. And I actively sat there and was like "WHAT IS THIS!? I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS IS BUT I WANT IT!"
So long story short, think I'm gonna have to pick up Witcher 2. The ad was fantastic.
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
That Prototype 2 live action trailer, the one with no gameplay, is the thing that got me interested in the game. :P
It's a good ad, I usually let it play when it pops up on youtube. Haven't seen it elsewhere or on UK tv at all.
I don't think it's gonna fly off shelves though, long run, most people seemed to drop the first game in favour of InFamous.
I really have my doubts about Prototype 2. Other commercials like that, like the ones for Gears of War and Dead Island, have really jaded me. They would advertise a game as having an emotional or thought provoking story but then it just turns out that the game is written like a generic action movie with no character development or interesting plot arcs.
eh, this one has much better written plot and motivations, though it still is a murderfest. the main character in this one is much easier to emphasize with, as opposed to alex mercer being literally a mindless killing machine.
the live trailer also shows the fucked up state of the city, which looked even more devastated in-game than in the previous game, and illustrates the conflict between heller and mercer pretty well.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Speaking again of marketing, I usually don't find myself consciously swayed by advertising of anything really, especially games, where Im up enough on the industry to know what I want without any ads.
Yesterday when looking around on YouTube I was hit with an ad that really hooked my for Witcher 2. It was crazy. Some party and then a guy threw an ice bomb thing and everyone froze and it was awesome. And I actively sat there and was like "WHAT IS THIS!? I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS IS BUT I WANT IT!"
So long story short, think I'm gonna have to pick up Witcher 2. The ad was fantastic.
That is actually the new intro to the game, and yes it is that awesome.
Lollipop Chainsaw looks like genius. A true validation that video games are art.
It'll probably sell miserably, like all the other art games.
Is that first sentence sarcastic, because I honestly cannot tell. It will probably sell poorly, but that is because I don't think other than the scantily clad protagonist that there's a lot of good looking gameplay there to actually sell it. Minding I could be wrong, but we'll find out soon as the game comes out eventually right.
I do believe that comedy is a good way for games to go. I think it was a recent article on Jonathan Blow that made a very important point about looking at upcoming releases in film and games, and how with films you at least have this broad variety of genre, but so many upcoming games revolve around how to kill men. 'Genre' quite often gets used just to describe the perspective or gameplay mechanics, but it's rarely about what kind of story content you can expect. Portal 2 wasn't just a funny game, it was a genuine comedy. I'd love to see more stuff like that.
The only time I've laughed out loud legitimately at a game's writing was Portal 2 and, believe it or not, Leisure Suit Larry for the XBox (Magna Cum Laude). For as bad as that mini-game collection was overall, that game's dialog system was absolutely hysterical, to the point where I'd fail on purpose just to go back through and choose different paths just to hear how insane that banter would get.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I do believe that comedy is a good way for games to go. I think it was a recent article on Jonathan Blow that made a very important point about looking at upcoming releases in film and games, and how with films you at least have this broad variety of genre, but so many upcoming games revolve around how to kill men. 'Genre' quite often gets used just to describe the perspective or gameplay mechanics, but it's rarely about what kind of story content you can expect. Portal 2 wasn't just a funny game, it was a genuine comedy. I'd love to see more stuff like that.
In fairness there aren't a lot of games that have pulled off humor successfully outside of a few examples like double fine and valve (portal series). I am not really sure how the remake of LSL is going to go really. It's one of the few old school game kickstarters I haven't had any interest in supporting.
Humour is one of the main things I was sad to see disappear between Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. There was a real charm about the characters on their inane venture in the first game, and then it all-but evaporated by the second, so they could go and save the world instead. But yeah, there's a fair few games that have somes jokes or a sense of humour, but there's not many that have clearly made comedy such an integral facet of their design. It's easy to write a few jokes into the dialogue, but a lot harder to sow it right the way through the entire project.
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mrt144King of the NumbernamesRegistered Userregular
Stuff like this reminds me of the old Japanese stuff I played on the 16 and 32 bit consoles, heck even on ps2. I notice a lot of Japanese games just not selling as well, but I begin to think its just because they try to hard to appeal to western gamers. Simple point is, we have a ton of western developers.
So while grasshopper and suda51 and similar might not make record breaking sales, I know I'll usually pick up their games day 1 simply because its going to be something distinctly crazy Japan.
Humour is one of the main things I was sad to see disappear between Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. There was a real charm about the characters on their inane venture in the first game, and then it all-but evaporated by the second, so they could go and save the world instead. But yeah, there's a fair few games that have somes jokes or a sense of humour, but there's not many that have clearly made comedy such an integral facet of their design. It's easy to write a few jokes into the dialogue, but a lot harder to sow it right the way through the entire project.
Bad Company 2 does have some silly jokes in it, but you have to stand around doing nothing for them to start talking.
Are you one of the non-existent few who wanted the Xperia Play, the PlayStation/phone hybrid, but couldn't tear yourself away from your phone that works better? Well guess what sports fans; according to PlayStation's latest press release, you can make video calls with your Vita via Skype as of today (or this evening, rather).
Skype video calling will be available for both Wi-Fi and 3G models sometime today, whenever the PlayStation Store updates. The app will run in the background, thereby allowing you to pause a game to answer a call and then return back to whatever you were playing. Skype will also support both the front and back cameras, so uh, take that as you will.
Encroaching more on the IPhone territory than that of the 3DS here for sure.
I wonder if they are combining that functionality with Near.
And when it comes to marketing.... I was on YouTube the other day. Watched a Freddie Wong video, and so under related there was a picture of boob cleavage and it was titled "review of freddies video" I was curious. Think had about 300,000 hits, and it was her showing off cleavage and reviewing his later video.
I looked at her videos, it's what she does. Shows cleavage and reviews YouTube videos. There's tons of these chicks making 7 cents a view (something like that) wearing cleavage showing tops and reviewing other peoples videos.
Boobs sell. That reminds me, I need to play night trap someday.
I'm not following this game, but given the sheer amount of fanfare there's seem to be about it, it seems like a pretty big damn deal in the US. I actually thought it was a US game before looking it up.
Then again, plenty of American gamers loved Bayonetta also--anyone complaining about Lollipop Chainsaw's dialog with have an anyuerism listening to Bayonetta's moaning and grunting and saxophone rift. I know I did, that's actually kept me from going any further than borrowing it once.
I guess a lot of people don't care, or enjoy it. Then again, when we've turned chainsawing people in half into an artform, complaining about cleavage does feel a little out of place. I suppose it's unfair to judge the game before we know how it actually plays--looking at Bayonetta, you could have very easily ignored that there was a good game underneath that.
tl;dr--Marketing is marketing? And they definitely tried in Bayonetta.
TL;DR - Zynga (and Facebook and Groupon) are engaged in a very Enron-esque relationship with their accounting audit firms. Zynga may be recording revenue that isn't really there and/or adjusting estimates to boost short term earnings.
Additionally, Zynga's revenue recognition is weird as hell.
Zynga was two types of goods: consumable and durable virtual goods. When they sell consumable virtual goods, they match the revenue when the good is used. But for durable virtual goods, they recognize revenue over the estimated life of playing period of paying players. You basically need to trust their numbers as a basis for revenue recognition - they can decide when and how to book the revenue just by changing the estimated lives on the revenue! That's just so god damn weird.
They use a lot of manipulative deferrals for it, and if you do some research, you can see that their bookings, which is revenue + current period deferred revenue, capture a better picture of their growth. But of course, this is too conservative, so Zynga reports it the wrong way, along with this adjusted EBITDA bullshit.
Also, for 2011, Zynga recorded a $113 million allowance against its deferred tax assets, basically wiping it out. A tax asset is basically your future expenses that will offset any future tax liability - it's like a gift card for taxes that you get now but give later when you're making money. In order to let a company assume they're gonna be profitable and therefore have this asset on their books, they need to make it net of an allowance account for an amount the company expects to actually use. Like, if you have a 30,000 tax asset on your books, but you only really see yourself paying taxes of like, 5,000, you have to book 25,000 on your allowance account. When Zynga booked theirs, it basically wiping out their deferred tax asset account means they don't anticipate much taxable profit in the coming years.
Seriously, everyones bad feelings about Zynga are pretty well founded.
Are you one of the non-existent few who wanted the Xperia Play, the PlayStation/phone hybrid, but couldn't tear yourself away from your phone that works better? Well guess what sports fans; according to PlayStation's latest press release, you can make video calls with your Vita via Skype as of today (or this evening, rather).
Skype video calling will be available for both Wi-Fi and 3G models sometime today, whenever the PlayStation Store updates. The app will run in the background, thereby allowing you to pause a game to answer a call and then return back to whatever you were playing. Skype will also support both the front and back cameras, so uh, take that as you will.
Encroaching more on the IPhone territory than that of the 3DS here for sure.
I wonder if they are combining that functionality with Near.
I was just about to post that. Very interesting that it's available on 3G, since 3G use was so restricted on, well, everything else on the Vita and Skype tends to be a bandwidth hog.
It's a very nice feature to have for Vita owners, but yeah, I'm wondering how much of an overall impact adding that kind of smartphone-esque feature will have.
As far as Prototype 2 goes... it's very telling that Metacritic has ZERO reviews for it at this point. Usually hyped games get sent out early to the review sites. And now that I think about it, there hasn't really been any previews of it recently, have there? Looks like Activision thinks this is a turkey and is hoping enough suckers buy it before the bad reviews hit, a la Silicon Knights' X-Men.
Skype has been owned by Microsoft since last year, right?
I guess Sony was able to make a deal? Good on them. But like Cloudeagle, I wonder about the use you'll get on 3G (maybe no video chat?).
Ha I forgot about that. That does make this really odd. You wouldn't think Sony would even be able to license it. Or maybe Microsoft takes some pleasure in knowing a little piece of Sony's money is going to them :P
Skype has been owned by Microsoft since last year, right?
I guess Sony was able to make a deal? Good on them. But like Cloudeagle, I wonder about the use you'll get on 3G (maybe no video chat?).
Ha I forgot about that. That does make this really odd. You wouldn't think Sony would even be able to license it. Or maybe Microsoft takes some pleasure in knowing a little piece of Sony's money is going to them :P
Sony computers run Windows. Just because they both have consoles and are "at war", doesn't mean the other divisions don't work with each other.
Skypeing is possible but not great on a 3G level connection. It might be a bit choppy at times but it'd still be a thousand times better then, let's say, a non turn based game.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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Mego Thor"I say thee...NAY!"Registered Userregular
PS Vita Skype will only work when the other person is "Near" you.
Are you one of the non-existent few who wanted the Xperia Play, the PlayStation/phone hybrid, but couldn't tear yourself away from your phone that works better? Well guess what sports fans; according to PlayStation's latest press release, you can make video calls with your Vita via Skype as of today (or this evening, rather).
Skype video calling will be available for both Wi-Fi and 3G models sometime today, whenever the PlayStation Store updates. The app will run in the background, thereby allowing you to pause a game to answer a call and then return back to whatever you were playing. Skype will also support both the front and back cameras, so uh, take that as you will.
Encroaching more on the IPhone territory than that of the 3DS here for sure.
I wonder if they are combining that functionality with Near.
I was just about to post that. Very interesting that it's available on 3G, since 3G use was so restricted on, well, everything else on the Vita and Skype tends to be a bandwidth hog.
It's a very nice feature to have for Vita owners, but yeah, I'm wondering how much of an overall impact adding that kind of smartphone-esque feature will have.
As far as Prototype 2 goes... it's very telling that Metacritic has ZERO reviews for it at this point. Usually hyped games get sent out early to the review sites. And now that I think about it, there hasn't really been any previews of it recently, have there? Looks like Activision thinks this is a turkey and is hoping enough suckers buy it before the bad reviews hit, a la Silicon Knights' X-Men.
Actually, Game Informer has a review for it up. It got a respectable 8.5 from them.
Posts
It's a good ad, I usually let it play when it pops up on youtube. Haven't seen it elsewhere or on UK tv at all.
I don't think it's gonna fly off shelves though, long run, most people seemed to drop the first game in favour of InFamous.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-23/motorola-mobility-wins-ruling-in-microsoft-xbox-patent-case.html
Because lawyers long ago figured out it made more money than ambulance chasing.
Just when I was going to import one too!
What the shitfuck did I just watch?
"She totally kicks zombie dicks"
"Me and my sisters, we wear our vaginas proudly"
Who writes this shit, and who is it marketed to?
It is marketed to me
Quite successfully, I might add
Both questions.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
It'll probably sell miserably, like all the other art games.
Hahahahaha, never change.
I think if you like what they're going for or not is a totally separate issue, but James Gunn is perfect for what they're going for. I consistently go back and forth between thinking he's cool for basically making millions off of never growing up beyond middle school, and hating everything he does.
I've found the older I've gotten the more attention I pay to development teams - years ago I couldn't tell you (or care) who made what, but now I've bought games without even seeing anything based simply on who's involved and if I like their stuff. Suda is one that is very hit or miss. While I still think No More Heroes is one of my favorite games of all time, and really enjoyed Shadows of the Damned, sometimes his whole grindhouse/rock star aesthetic really just wares on me.
That and Diabolical Pitch unfortunately got horrible reviews. I was looking forward to Suda + Kinect.
I'm curious to see how Lollipop Chainsaw actually plays.
And when it comes to marketing.... I was on YouTube the other day. Watched a Freddie Wong video, and so under related there was a picture of boob cleavage and it was titled "review of freddies video" I was curious. Think had about 300,000 hits, and it was her showing off cleavage and reviewing his later video.
I looked at her videos, it's what she does. Shows cleavage and reviews YouTube videos. There's tons of these chicks making 7 cents a view (something like that) wearing cleavage showing tops and reviewing other peoples videos.
Boobs sell. That reminds me, I need to play night trap someday.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
Yesterday when looking around on YouTube I was hit with an ad that really hooked my for Witcher 2. It was crazy. Some party and then a guy threw an ice bomb thing and everyone froze and it was awesome. And I actively sat there and was like "WHAT IS THIS!? I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS IS BUT I WANT IT!"
So long story short, think I'm gonna have to pick up Witcher 2. The ad was fantastic.
"And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt."
That one? Because I see it all the goddamn time on Twitch.tv streams (when the SC2 players run commercials).
I really have my doubts about Prototype 2. Other commercials like that, like the ones for Gears of War and Dead Island, have really jaded me. They would advertise a game as having an emotional or thought provoking story but then it just turns out that the game is written like a generic action movie with no character development or interesting plot arcs.
Journey is selling well though!
(I know you were mostly joking, but still)
the live trailer also shows the fucked up state of the city, which looked even more devastated in-game than in the previous game, and illustrates the conflict between heller and mercer pretty well.
That is actually the new intro to the game, and yes it is that awesome.
I gave up with the game after about 3 hours. There was just no fun to be had in it.
You have to really hate great dark fantasy RPGs with an incredibly deep and rewarding combat system then.
Is that first sentence sarcastic, because I honestly cannot tell. It will probably sell poorly, but that is because I don't think other than the scantily clad protagonist that there's a lot of good looking gameplay there to actually sell it. Minding I could be wrong, but we'll find out soon as the game comes out eventually right.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/al-lowe-kickstarter-leisure-suit-larry/
I do believe that comedy is a good way for games to go. I think it was a recent article on Jonathan Blow that made a very important point about looking at upcoming releases in film and games, and how with films you at least have this broad variety of genre, but so many upcoming games revolve around how to kill men. 'Genre' quite often gets used just to describe the perspective or gameplay mechanics, but it's rarely about what kind of story content you can expect. Portal 2 wasn't just a funny game, it was a genuine comedy. I'd love to see more stuff like that.
In fairness there aren't a lot of games that have pulled off humor successfully outside of a few examples like double fine and valve (portal series). I am not really sure how the remake of LSL is going to go really. It's one of the few old school game kickstarters I haven't had any interest in supporting.
Did you miss the "Let's talk Japan" thread?
Bad Company 2 does have some silly jokes in it, but you have to stand around doing nothing for them to start talking.
Skype Coming To A Vita Near You
Encroaching more on the IPhone territory than that of the 3DS here for sure.
I wonder if they are combining that functionality with Near.
That would be it. Apparently, it's prolific.
I'm not following this game, but given the sheer amount of fanfare there's seem to be about it, it seems like a pretty big damn deal in the US. I actually thought it was a US game before looking it up.
Then again, plenty of American gamers loved Bayonetta also--anyone complaining about Lollipop Chainsaw's dialog with have an anyuerism listening to Bayonetta's moaning and grunting and saxophone rift. I know I did, that's actually kept me from going any further than borrowing it once.
I guess a lot of people don't care, or enjoy it. Then again, when we've turned chainsawing people in half into an artform, complaining about cleavage does feel a little out of place. I suppose it's unfair to judge the game before we know how it actually plays--looking at Bayonetta, you could have very easily ignored that there was a good game underneath that.
tl;dr--Marketing is marketing? And they definitely tried in Bayonetta.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/francinemckenna/2012/04/23/how-zynga-facebook-and-groupons-go-to-auditor-rewrites-accounting-rules/
TL;DR - Zynga (and Facebook and Groupon) are engaged in a very Enron-esque relationship with their accounting audit firms. Zynga may be recording revenue that isn't really there and/or adjusting estimates to boost short term earnings.
Zynga was two types of goods: consumable and durable virtual goods. When they sell consumable virtual goods, they match the revenue when the good is used. But for durable virtual goods, they recognize revenue over the estimated life of playing period of paying players. You basically need to trust their numbers as a basis for revenue recognition - they can decide when and how to book the revenue just by changing the estimated lives on the revenue! That's just so god damn weird.
They use a lot of manipulative deferrals for it, and if you do some research, you can see that their bookings, which is revenue + current period deferred revenue, capture a better picture of their growth. But of course, this is too conservative, so Zynga reports it the wrong way, along with this adjusted EBITDA bullshit.
Also, for 2011, Zynga recorded a $113 million allowance against its deferred tax assets, basically wiping it out. A tax asset is basically your future expenses that will offset any future tax liability - it's like a gift card for taxes that you get now but give later when you're making money. In order to let a company assume they're gonna be profitable and therefore have this asset on their books, they need to make it net of an allowance account for an amount the company expects to actually use. Like, if you have a 30,000 tax asset on your books, but you only really see yourself paying taxes of like, 5,000, you have to book 25,000 on your allowance account. When Zynga booked theirs, it basically wiping out their deferred tax asset account means they don't anticipate much taxable profit in the coming years.
Seriously, everyones bad feelings about Zynga are pretty well founded.
I was just about to post that. Very interesting that it's available on 3G, since 3G use was so restricted on, well, everything else on the Vita and Skype tends to be a bandwidth hog.
It's a very nice feature to have for Vita owners, but yeah, I'm wondering how much of an overall impact adding that kind of smartphone-esque feature will have.
As far as Prototype 2 goes... it's very telling that Metacritic has ZERO reviews for it at this point. Usually hyped games get sent out early to the review sites. And now that I think about it, there hasn't really been any previews of it recently, have there? Looks like Activision thinks this is a turkey and is hoping enough suckers buy it before the bad reviews hit, a la Silicon Knights' X-Men.
I guess Sony was able to make a deal? Good on them. But like Cloudeagle, I wonder about the use you'll get on 3G (maybe no video chat?).
Ha I forgot about that. That does make this really odd. You wouldn't think Sony would even be able to license it. Or maybe Microsoft takes some pleasure in knowing a little piece of Sony's money is going to them :P
Sony computers run Windows. Just because they both have consoles and are "at war", doesn't mean the other divisions don't work with each other.
Actually, Game Informer has a review for it up. It got a respectable 8.5 from them.