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Video Game Industry Thread: June-July is done, go to the next thread

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    DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    I don't see why people are surprised, especially with how hard EA has been pushing Origin. I wouldn't be surprised if they do this for every EA title released so on.

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    SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote:
    I don't see why people are surprised, especially with how hard EA has been pushing Origin. I wouldn't be surprised if they do this for every EA title released so on.
    It's more the gamestop thing that's out there. Not being on steam was kinda expected

    steam_sig.png
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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I'm waiting for Activision to try and turn Battle.net into their own Origins.

    Shocked they've resisted the temptation, but Blizzard probably has a lot of clout in that regard.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Sign a 3 year contract and you get an iPhone 4 for "free"... at least here in Canada.

    Ahhh, I was wondering how they were going to deal with all the iPhone 4's they might have floating around, considering the rumour is that the next generation is due out this fall. "Giving them away" to entice customers into a 3 years plan just before the "iPhone 5" or "4GS" or whatever the hell they call it comes out puts them nicely into the update loop. Do they spring for a new generation phone, or suck it up and wait up to 36 months for their next hardware discount?

    I do love my 3GS, and as nice as the 4 is, I have a bit over a year left in my contract, and might move to a new provider when it finishes, so it's all academic to me. I'll be in on the 5GS or 6 or whatever they're calling the thing they'll surgically implant into my head at that point.

    Edit: I'm a huge whore for Steam, and EA's pushing of Origin isn't impressing me so far.

    Forar on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I'm actually quite suppprtive of competition for Steam, but NOT from the two bloated corporations in the industry. EA can fuck right off.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    BF3 being denied to Steam while being on every other platform ticks me off on principal.
    I'm not buying it. I would if EA wasn't pulling this shit.

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
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    LepwaveLepwave Registered User regular
    Granted it's a dick move by EA, I would end up getting BF3. Not from Origin or Impulse, because I've only heard bad things about Origin. Mayhaps off D2D.

    XBL/CoX tags - Lepwave/@Lepwave
    steam_sig.png
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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm waiting for Activision to try and turn Battle.net into their own Origins.

    Shocked they've resisted the temptation, but Blizzard probably has a lot of clout in that regard.
    I would think, or hope I guess, that Blizzard had the foresight to make sure the Battle.net brand remained theirs. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I think the only thing Blizzard "lost" was their say on how much they have to figure out to monetize. What they monetize I think is up to them still.

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    SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Activision is attempting to strong arm the ModernWarfare3.com domain.

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    AZChristopherAZChristopher Registered User regular
    Sheep wrote:
    Activision is attempting to strong arm the ModernWarfare3.com domain.

    Not really. The registrant fell into "Bad Faith" once they directed the domain name to B3.

    It is different in that Activision doesn't usually go after domain names but it was the registrant who was dumb and pointed it to a competitor.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Sheep wrote:
    Activision is attempting to strong arm the ModernWarfare3.com domain.

    Not really. The registrant fell into "Bad Faith" once they directed the domain name to B3.

    It is different in that Activision doesn't usually go after domain names but it was the registrant who was dumb and pointed it to a competitor.

    Is "bad faith" an actual legal precedent about website squatting? That actually kinda comforts me, even though I really enjoy this specific scenario. Good while it lasted I guess.

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    AZChristopherAZChristopher Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote:
    Sheep wrote:
    Activision is attempting to strong arm the ModernWarfare3.com domain.

    Not really. The registrant fell into "Bad Faith" once they directed the domain name to B3.

    It is different in that Activision doesn't usually go after domain names but it was the registrant who was dumb and pointed it to a competitor.

    Is "bad faith" an actual legal precedent about website squatting? That actually kinda comforts me, even though I really enjoy this specific scenario. Good while it lasted I guess.

    Yup. I'm on my phone or I'd link to it but search UDRP.

    Basically to win arbitration Activision has to prove the domain name includes the trademark, the registrant doesn't have rights to the domain name, and they registered it in bad faith.

    Forwarding it to an EA site means EA is/was getting traffic/money off of an Activision trademark which is bad faith.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Well yeah, it seems very damn obvious in this case. It's too bad a more clever troll didn't get ahold of it. Like the guy who did the "I can't prove that Glenn Beck didn't rape and murder an 8 year old in 1990," or however that went. It's really funny how very specific wording can go in your favor in this sorta thing.

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    AnteCantelopeAnteCantelope Registered User regular
    I'm not going to buy BF3 from Origin or Impulse, because it's just such a bad way to push their own store. They want us to buy from them, they should put it at a discount on their store. I've used the EA store before, and I've struggled with an EA account for a couple of games, and it's always just been such a hassle it's left a bad taste on the game I was trying to play.

    Besides, they want to turn BF into the CoD killer? Refusing to let the biggest online store stock it is an arse-backwards way to go about it.

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    harvestharvest By birthright, a stupendous badass.Registered User regular
    I've only used EA's store once, and that was to buy Spore (who other story there). Never again. I probably won't get BF3 ever because it's not on Steam, and these days I only buy from Steam and GOG.

    B6yM5w2.gif
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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    I'm not going to buy BF3 from Origin or Impulse, because it's just such a bad way to push their own store. They want us to buy from them, they should put it at a discount on their store. I've used the EA store before, and I've struggled with an EA account for a couple of games, and it's always just been such a hassle it's left a bad taste on the game I was trying to play.

    Besides, they want to turn BF into the CoD killer? Refusing to let the biggest online store stock it is an arse-backwards way to go about it.

    Aren't they changing the way the EA Store / Origin functions though? And I mean, it's not like the EA Store was some big thing they pushed on the common consumer. Folks like us, yeah, we know about it and its current functionality.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Steam has shitty DRM? That's news to me.

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    RakaiRakai Registered User regular
    I wonder if it's an issue of Steam's shitty DRM and how they handle DLC.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote:
    Steam has shitty DRM? That's news to me.
    Shitty from the point of view of the corporation.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote:
    Henroid wrote:
    Steam has shitty DRM? That's news to me.
    Shitty from the point of view of the corporation.

    Ah okay, when you put it like that the statement makes sense. Even though I disagree with it anyone. But what can I say, we live in a day and age where people are seeking the "perfect" DRM. Fuck my life. Fuck all our lives.

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    RakaiRakai Registered User regular
    Shitty in that it doesn't stop piracy and can stop games from working (like their offline mode being broken for years). As for the "perfect" DRM, GoG has it down pretty good.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Well nothing will stop piracy. And I hate to revisit an old, old, old argument, but I've never had problems with the offline mode myself.

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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    They mainly care about stopping the piracy in the first few days the game is out because that is when they sell most of their shit.

    The fact most of a game's sales come from the first few days probably isn't very healthy in that it prevents from from making money off of a single title for years like Nintendo and encourages constant sequels.

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    MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm actually quite suppprtive of competition for Steam, but NOT from the two bloated corporations in the industry. EA can fuck right off.

    This isn't actually competition for Steam though.

    Origin is kind of a shit program in terms of functionality, and it's solely for EA games.

    That would be like saying Battle.net is in competition with Steam.

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    RamiRami Registered User regular
    I expect EA will finally release BF3 to steam 4-8 months after release, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that become standard for all EA games.

    Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-15-epic-good-can-come-from-studio-closures
    Epic Games' European boss Mike Gamble has blamed the recent spate of high-profile triple-A game developer closures on "stupid acquisitions" made by publishers.

    Gamble highlighted Disney Interactive's purchase of Pure and Split/Second developer Black Rock, which recently closed down, as an example.

    "It's happened because of stupid acquisitions," he told Eurogamer at Epic Games' recent Unreal Engine University day in London.

    "This is a personal view. In my person opinion, yeah, there have been acquisitions by publishers of developers they really had no right – well, they had a right because they had the money - but what was the point of a well-known children's IP holder buying a hardcore racing studio? It doesn't make sense."

    Analysts suggested last week the closure of Black Rock had more to do with owner Disney's desire to get out of console game development than any deficiencies at the Brighton-based studio.

    Disney's decision followed Activision's shuttering of Blur and Project Gotham Racing developer Bizarre Creations after it failed to find a buyer.

    "A lot of the pain we've had in the last 18 months has been down to the economics of games development, which has changed," Gamble continued.

    "Big publishers have had to pull back in money wise and the casualties of that are the studios that haven't performed for them because the industry has changed."

    A number of small developers have formed from the ashes of both Bizarre and Black Rock.

    Bizarre has spawned a handful of studios, including Hogrocket and Lucid Games.

    Black Rock's death has led to the creation of three studios so far: Roundcube Entertainment, lead by Split/Second director Nick Baynes; ShortRound Games, formed by a quartet of previous Black Rock department directors; and BossAlien, fronted by Pure director Jason Avent.

    "It is sad," Gamble, who this week met with a number of start-ups to discuss the merits of Unreal Engine for game development, commented.

    "It's sad in a sense, but it's fantastic in a whole other way. Of course, a percentage of those people have left the industry. But most of them haven't. They're still in the industry. They're not just doing other cool stuff.

    "The games I'm seeing from indies and small developers are brilliant. I love it. Really interesting and creative. They're not ticking boxes for publishers that say, we've got this gap in the portfolio, and there's this demographic, so we need to create this.

    "They're playing with concepts, with how things are controlled. It's very creative."

    Overall, Gamble believes UK and European game development is in a healthy state.

    But, "It's healthy in a very different way than it has been. We've had Bizarre go pop. We've had Black Rock go pop. There's been a lot of bad news.

    "But the fallout from that has been that there's now a whole bunch of really interesting studios doing cool stuff. And they all have a really good shot at being successful. A lot of them are really focused on not becoming big studios.

    "They're focused on, we want to stay 12 guys doing cool stuff, we know there's a route to market, we can self publish, and we know we can make enough money to continue to do the good stuff we want to do.

    "There's a sea change in the European industry. People are not looking to create companies where they're going to buy Ferraris. They're looking to create companies where they're having a great time and making nice money, but really doing the cool stuff."

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    cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    The closure of Black Rock? Stupid acquisition. The closure of Bizarre? Stupid CEO.

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    http://www.examiner.com/game-news-in-national/amd-xbox-720-graphics-will-look-like-avatar
    Let the retarded and vague hype for a next generation that we don't know when it will occur begin!

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    reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    I still remember all those Toy Story quality graphics on the games we got on the PS2.

    I mean, I'm just assuming they were Toy Story quality graphics. The games were far too blurry and jaggy to be able to notice.

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    Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    reVerse wrote:
    I still remember all those Toy Story quality graphics on the games we got on the PS2.

    I mean, I'm just assuming they were Toy Story quality graphics. The games were far too blurry and jaggy to be able to notice.

    That was because your eyes weren't HD compatible yet.

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    cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote:
    http://www.examiner.com/game-news-in-national/amd-xbox-720-graphics-will-look-like-avatar
    Let the retarded and vague hype for a next generation that we don't know when it will occur begin!

    Hm, the next gen will look like Avatar?

    avatar-group-avatar-the-last-airbender-915863_1024_768.jpg

    I can dig that.

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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    amnesiasoftamnesiasoft Thick Creamy Furry Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote:
    Hm, the next gen will look like Avatar?

    avatar-group-avatar-the-last-airbender-915863_1024_768.jpg

    I can dig that.
    Then at the end of that generation, we'll all be complaining that there aren't enough single-color palette games

    steam_sig.png
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    CadeCade Eppur si muove.Registered User regular
    That needs more brown, more brown, MORE brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Oh and need another reason to not like EA's Origin DD service?
    5. Content and Entitlement Availability

    Entitlements may only be held in Accounts belonging to legal residents of countries where access to and use of Content and Entitlements is permitted. Entitlements may be purchased or acquired only from EA or an authorized retailer. EA reserves the right to refuse your request(s) to acquire Entitlements, and EA reserves the right to limit or block any request to acquire Entitlements for any reason.

    We do not guarantee that any Content or Entitlement will be available at all times or at any given time or that we will continue to offer particular Content or Entitlements for any particular length of time. We reserve the right to change and update Content and Entitlements without notice to you. If you have not used your Entitlements or Account for twenty four (24) months or more and your Account has associated Entitlements, your Entitlements will expire and your Account may be cancelled for non-use. Once you have redeemed your Entitlements, that content is not returnable, exchangeable, or refundable for other Entitlements or for cash, or other goods or services.

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    BarneyLBarneyL Registered User regular
    Cade wrote:
    5. Content and Entitlement Availability

    Entitlements may only be held in Accounts belonging to legal residents of countries where access to and use of Content and Entitlements is permitted. Entitlements may be purchased or acquired only from EA or an authorized retailer. EA reserves the right to refuse your request(s) to acquire Entitlements, and EA reserves the right to limit or block any request to acquire Entitlements for any reason.

    We do not guarantee that any Content or Entitlement will be available at all times or at any given time or that we will continue to offer particular Content or Entitlements for any particular length of time. We reserve the right to change and update Content and Entitlements without notice to you. If you have not used your Entitlements or Account for twenty four (24) months or more and your Account has associated Entitlements, your Entitlements will expire and your Account may be cancelled for non-use. Once you have redeemed your Entitlements, that content is not returnable, exchangeable, or refundable for other Entitlements or for cash, or other goods or services.

    To be fair the only difference between that and the Steam terms are that you get 24 months more guaranteed entitlement if you go with EA.

    steam_sig.png
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    Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    "I would ask you to go and look at some of your data, just to compare first party performance over the course of this lifecycle, because I think our first party performance in terms of quality bars and units per title this shift has been superior to our competition’s." - Xbox CFO Dennis Durkin

    http://www.industrygamers.com/news/xbox-360-first-party-has-been-superior-to-ps3-wii-says-microsoft/

    Um...really?

    Brainiac 8 on
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    PSN - Brainiac_8
    Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
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    RakaiRakai Registered User regular
    Is this international Xbox BS day or something? Did I miss Kim Jong Il being announced as the president of MS's game division?

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
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    Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    I was going to post that quote, but on a cursory check, I couldn't figure out what the guy being quoted actually does for Microsoft. I probably just missed it in the article, but he could very well be just some homeless bum who was wandering outside of MS HQ that they decided to interview. :D

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    AutomaticzenAutomaticzen Registered User regular
    CFO at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment and Product division. Xbox CFO is decent shorthand.

    http://www.usgamer.net/
    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
    I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
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    vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    What 1st party 360 games have been better than Uncharted, Infamous, and Little Big Planet series?
    Microsoft wins on the Third Person Shooter front. FPS is kinda a wash.
    Forza vs GT I'd probably give to Forza this gen.
    God of War isn't as good as the 3rd party Bayonetta or Devil May Cry so that's out of the running... but does Microsoft have an action series?

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
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    DarlanDarlan Registered User regular
    What 1st party 360 games have been better than Uncharted, Infamous, and Little Big Planet series?
    Microsoft wins on the Third Person Shooter front. FPS is kinda a wash.
    Forza vs GT I'd probably give to Forza this gen.
    God of War isn't as good as the 3rd party Bayonetta or Devil May Cry so that's out of the running... but does Microsoft have an action series?
    Fable is more or less an action series, I guess. God of War 3 was a step down from 2, but no where near Fable's quality plummet there. I also personally prefer Uncharted to Gears of War, but eh opinions.

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