The difference is that it's not nearly as expensive to re-skin Angry Birds every few weeks than it is to produce Guitar Hero. Practically anything they earn makes it profitable.
True, though I wonder how much appeal those re-skins even have. At least with Guitar Hero they were throwing in new songs that had potential to attract people who liked them. Do people really buy Rio because the bird is blue now or whatever?
Nah, it's because it's another pack of levels. So exactly like Guitar Hero. Only a lot cheaper.
That's weird, I actually think it's smart of them to keep milking Angry Birds. Because they're not likely to be able to make another hit like that. I thought we were discussing that in this very topic ages ago, saying things like "let me know when they come up with a second good original game." We decided a long time ago that they weren't catching lightning in a bottle again, so this is probably the soundest plan they can follow - ride the wave until it dies.
I just don't see who the WiiU is targeting. The controller doesn't have the wow factor that the Wii did for the casual gamers and I imagine most hardcore gamers are still wary of Nintendo and will just wait until the next Microsoft or Sony system comes out unless there's something amazing for the WiiU at or near launch..
How do you know this? Is it one of those blatantly obvious things or has there been some market research showing a dearth of interest in touch screens?
The Wii controller was something that was essentially brand new to the public when it came out. You had lots of people who were hailing the Wii as the closest thing to virtual reality they'd ever seen.
The WiiU controller is just a regular controller with a touch pad and screen in the middle. I just don't see people going crazy for an iPad with buttons that you use with your TV like they did for virtual reality.
EDIT: Or to put it another way, a touch screen is not a very big selling point these days. Just about everything has a touch screen now.
I just don't see who the WiiU is targeting. The controller doesn't have the wow factor that the Wii did for the casual gamers and I imagine most hardcore gamers are still wary of Nintendo and will just wait until the next Microsoft or Sony system comes out unless there's something amazing for the WiiU at or near launch..
How do you know this? Is it one of those blatantly obvious things or has there been some market research showing a dearth of interest in touch screens?
The Wii controller was something that was essentially brand new to the public when it came out. You had lots of people who were hailing the Wii as the closest thing to virtual reality they'd ever seen.
The WiiU controller is just a regular controller with a touch pad and screen in the middle. I just don't see people going crazy for an iPad with buttons that you use with your TV like they did for virtual reality.
This is true. But honestly I think Wii (and motion gaming in general) totally under-delivered. There's really only a few things you can actually do with that technology - most of which involve flailing your arms around. Which then left it as a clunky control method for the other games that really had no right using it to begin with (i.e. the games that really should have just used traditional controls but shoe-horned in motion because it was hip and pop and fresh).
I don't think the WiiPad has the wow factor that Wiimote did, but I think it has potential to actually do something interesting. Again, whether developers do more than show the map on the thing, we'll see. But look at some of the creative stuff that came out on DS - I think we could see things like that if developers put some thought into what they're making.
Edit: I'll caviat this in that everything I said doesn't necessarily have any bearing on sales. I still argue Kinect offers nothing really new, but the thing is flashy enough to sell gangbusters so who knows, maybe that's all you need.
The difference is that it's not nearly as expensive to re-skin Angry Birds every few weeks than it is to produce Guitar Hero. Practically anything they earn makes it profitable.
True, though I wonder how much appeal those re-skins even have. At least with Guitar Hero they were throwing in new songs that had potential to attract people who liked them. Do people really buy Rio because the bird is blue now or whatever?
Nah, it's because it's another pack of levels. So exactly like Guitar Hero. Only a lot cheaper.
The thing about Guitar Hero, though, is that you didn't really need to have a whole new disc just to release the new tracks. You needed the disc to improve on the game itself. Once Activision became the first full-band experience game, they basically stopped making many improvements to the game and instead stuck with the 'All New Songs!' method.
I just don't see who the WiiU is targeting. The controller doesn't have the wow factor that the Wii did for the casual gamers and I imagine most hardcore gamers are still wary of Nintendo and will just wait until the next Microsoft or Sony system comes out unless there's something amazing for the WiiU at or near launch..
How do you know this? Is it one of those blatantly obvious things or has there been some market research showing a dearth of interest in touch screens?
The Wii controller was something that was essentially brand new to the public when it came out. You had lots of people who were hailing the Wii as the closest thing to virtual reality they'd ever seen.
The WiiU controller is just a regular controller with a touch pad and screen in the middle. I just don't see people going crazy for an iPad with buttons that you use with your TV like they did for virtual reality.
EDIT: Or to put it another way, a touch screen is not a very big selling point these days. Just about everything has a touch screen now.
Touch screens are not often used for strictly gaming and nothing else, though; touch screens on GPSs are for navigation, touch screens at the checkout counter are for buying things, even on platforms like iPad it's a secondary function to more basic tasks like browsing media files, using the internet or typing.
And I can't think of any popular device other than the DS line that combines the touch screen with traditional buttons in a way that augments the traditional gaming experience well. When you think about it, it's sort of ingenious - one set of controls that gives you direct interaction with coordinates on the screen, and another set that lets you keep your hand stationary and gives immediate response without requiring as much focus. Until WiiU and Vita, no other device will have invested heavily in this dual control method. Incidentally I think both will do a better job at it than DS, since both appear to have more form-fitting grips for holding with one hand and touching with the other.
Adding touch screens to the console gaming space is going to provide a more novel experience than adding one to your car or your fridge, and I think people will recognize that. It won't sell as well as the Wii, but I see no reason for it to flop either (strictly on the basis of not being cool enough).
Of course speculation is pointless at this stage.
EDIT: I veered into "why it makes sense" rather than "why errybody will buy it." My main point is that a touch screen for pure gaming purposes is not common enough yet that it wouldn't be considered cool, especially in the home console space. If touch screen monitors for computers were standard by now, then yeah, it'd be nothing special, but as it is I think it's got a chance.
My concern is that we'll see ports the same way the Wii did: just stuff brought over from the previous generation.
Why buy a Wii U if you can get the same game on a 360 or PS3? And if the Wii U has to be competitive with its next-gen competition, or we'll see the same problem with the Wii when it comes to courting hobbyists.
If they are competent ports (unlike every port that has appeared on a Nintendo console since the N64) I for one welcome them. I'm one of those people who only shells out for one console and being a Nintendo fan I'm kinda defaulted into getting the Nintendo console. I'm overjoyed that I'll be able to play Arkham City without having to get one of the current HD consoles.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
I think you lot are getting caught up on the technological difference between the upcoming WiiU and the PS3/360, in regards to multiplatform games the additional power (if any) of the WiiU won't matter at all.
Pubs and devs will just treat it like another PS3/360. So expect maximum portage and very little innovation. It will just be one big platform.
So if the COD crowd can get the same experience on their existing 360, they have little reason to switch to a new platform. Add in gamerscore, achievements etc. and most importantly their existing friends who already own 360s then they will be a tough crowd to court. Getting people to move on from the 360 will be very difficult. Even for Microsoft. I wouldn't be surprised if the next gen is just a better designed 360. Much like how Apple upgrades their products.
I would think at the very least that developers could use their DS development experience when it comes to the WiiU. It's gotta be the same skillset, right? None of the Wii/Kinect issues of "What a cool and novel piece of tech! ......What the fuck can we use it for?!".
The Wolfman on
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
I would think at the very least that developers could use their DS development experience when it comes to the WiiU. It's gotta be the same skillset, right? None of the Wii/Kinect issues of "What a cool and novel piece of tech! ......What the fuck can we use it for?!".
And then we didn’t really take the time that we usually take to understand audience behavior. It was one of those things where we were resting on the idea that one of the essential fantasies of video games is to unleash your inner rock star. And it didn’t really matter how you did that, but as long as you were allowing people to unleash their inner rock star fantasies, you’d continue to be successful. So we went off on a passion project that had a point of differentiation –which is called DJ Hero.
And in hindsight, if you step back –and it really would have been a simple thing to do– we should have said, ‘Well, how many people really want to unleash their inner DJ?’ And then out of the people who do want to unleash their inner DJ, how many want to do it in the context of a game where you earn points, versus just taking a DJ deck or tools on their Macintosh and actually being a DJ? And it turns out it’s a very small market.
But we created this critically acclaimed, highly rated game –and these are the hardest failures, when you put your heart and soul into it and you deliver an extraordinarily well received game, and nobody shows up to buy it. So that’s what happened with DJ Hero. At the same time we were so excited about going down this new direction with DJ Hero, I think we abandoned a bit of the innovation that was required in the Guitar Hero franchise.
And so it was the double whammy of DJ Hero was unsuccessful, and then Guitar Hero became unsuccessful because it didn’t have any nourishment and care. So we made what I think was exactly the right decision last year. We said you know what, we need to regain our audience interest, and we really need to deliver inspired innovation. So we’re going to take the products out of the market, and we’re not going to tell anybody what we’re doing for awhile, but we’re going to stop selling Guitar Hero altogether. And then we’re going to go back to the studios and we’re going to use new studios and reinvent Guitar Hero. And so that’s what we’re doing with it now.
Rape franchise, fire developers, wait 2 years, resurrect franchise... profit?
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I haven't got much interest (actually zero) in the WiiU, despite the fact I would really like the next gen Nintendo Mario/Zelda etc. I'm not going to be silly enough to buy another Nintendo console before I see what Microsoft and Sony do. If the WiiU gets left behind again and 3rd party developers take no interest in it, I'm definitely not going to buy it. Especially if Nintendo insist on treating Australasia as it's general bitch and not release some of the better games here at all in the first place.
At this point we're faring better than NA. Add to that the fact you can play PAL games from Europe with no modding required at around 60% the cost of buying here and things are pretty good, availability-wise.
At this point we're faring better than NA. Add to that the fact you can play PAL games from Europe with no modding required at around 60% the cost of buying here and things are pretty good, availability-wise.
That is just buying new, with retail being much more competitive in the UK than Australia, the price of games often drop to less than $35 AUD within 1-3 months of release for many titles.
Good times, I swear though that if we end up in a separate region in the future I'll be importing a console from the UK/US.
Rape franchise, fire developers, wait 2 years, resurrect franchise... profit?
It's working for Call of Duty, so I guess the real secret is not having a bunch of plastic crap inflating the cost of your games.
Overpriced map packs are way more efficient.
I'm considering paying a little bit more that I would to import MW3 from the US rather than the Uk so I have the option of cheaper map packs through the US PSN. I refused to buy the $23 AUD ones here for Black Ops.
The difference is that it's not nearly as expensive to re-skin Angry Birds every few weeks than it is to produce Guitar Hero. Practically anything they earn makes it profitable.
True, though I wonder how much appeal those re-skins even have. At least with Guitar Hero they were throwing in new songs that had potential to attract people who liked them. Do people really buy Rio because the bird is blue now or whatever?
Nah, it's because it's another pack of levels. So exactly like Guitar Hero. Only a lot cheaper.
The thing about Guitar Hero, though, is that you didn't really need to have a whole new disc just to release the new tracks. You needed the disc to improve on the game itself. Once Activision became the first full-band experience game, they basically stopped making many improvements to the game and instead stuck with the 'All New Songs!' method.
It's hard to say that it worked out for them.
Eh? Guitar Hero 5 had loads of innovation such being able to change the difficulty mid song and allowing any combination of instruments along with the party mode. Guitar Hero 6 was also fairly different (but sucked). If anything I would say your analogy would apply to Rock Band far more.
There is clearly a demand for Angry Bird expansion packs out there and Rovio will keep making them for as long as that demand is high. The real question is what is going to happen to them once angry Birds is no longer popular.
Bob, we need to have a talk. 'Neglect', I'm not sure that word means what you think it means. For instance, telling the police that you 'neglected' all those prostitutes in the trunk of your car? They're not gonna buy it.
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
David Ewalt: What’s the most important thing that you do to encourage innovation at your company?
Bobby Kotick: The most important thing we do to encourage innovation is give people the freedom to fail. And I think you can articulate that and establish that as a value in a lot of different ways. I don’t want to say celebrate the failures, but in a lot of respects it’s sort of that.
We have what we call the post mortem process, really evaluating what is it that caused an outcome not to be aligned to the original expectation. And sometimes it’s not even like an abject failure, if the game just doesn’t sell, sometimes it’s a game that doesn’t sell as well as you would have expected, or in some cases more importantly, if it doesn’t feel like it meets the expectations of the audience.
The freedom to fail and get fired, apparently.
Do you have internal processes that encourage the development of innovative products?
We have a “green light process,” and it’s evolved over a very long period of time. But it’s a pretty exhaustive process, very milestone based, and there is a whole process of peer review where you’ll come in and show a prototype or a game concept. Now actually includes all the marketing, because the marketing is so integrated into the game experience. The green light process has evolved to include all the marketing materials, the marketing schedules, the marketing vehicles, to be creative.
That explains a lot.
Speaking of vaguely Activision-related stuff, Respawn is coming out with a game! Eventually!
Respawn's lead concept artist Ian McDaig has clarified a statement he made yesterday that the developer's first project might not see the light of day until as far off as 2015.
Speaking to GameSpot, McDaig has since said his comments were a "guess" rather than a concrete date on when the game will be released.
"2015 was just my wildest guess as to when I would be able to show my artwork, which is usually 12 months or more after release, "he said. "I have no real information on the release date of the game."
Even if the date was correct McDaig's statement suggests the game itself would show up in 2014, with his artwork released the following year.
Respawn has shown little in the way of their new game so far, aside from a very blurry screenshot. Fingers crossed it's not too much longer before we see something a little more clear.
Considering that they're essentially starting from scratch, assembling a team and working on something brand new, while trying to make that first game come anywhere near the hype and expectation that's already on them, I'm not even slightly surprised that they're giving themselves a few years to get it together.
Famed head of Grasshopper Manufacture, Suda 51, has detailed his latest project Lollipop Chainsaw to Japanese gaming mag Famitsu.
Suda describes Lollipop Chainsaw as a zombie game with a twist; instead of carving up the undead as a hardened protagonist, the main role goes to a skimpily-dressed cheerleader Juliet Starling.
The legendary developer behind the recent Shadows of the Damned expressed his desire to change the zombie genre forever with Chainsaw. Whereas recent Grasshoper games have been gruesome affairs, this latest game will focus on a more cutesy approach. Blood sprays will be replaced with pink rays of light (naturally) to give the game a pop feel.
Think Britney Spears meets Travis Touchdown.
Regular Grasshopper collaborator Akira Yamaoka has been confirmed to be working on the soundtrack, and Suda says the game is "around 70 percent complete". It has already found publishers for the US and EU, though they're yet to be revealed.
Lollipop Chainsaw is coming to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Has the last 5 pages really been nothing but judging the WiiU based upon the specs of which we have no idea?
Who says specs enter into it? This is solely 'what will third parties do with it?'.
Nope, there is rampant speculation that it will only be as powerful or slightly more powerful than PS3/360.
On another topic, the capcom europe twitter account is under attack ever since blaming the fans for megaman legends 3 being cancelled. And whoever is in charge is going crazy:
We cancelled the game because you weren't making it for us!
Eh? Guitar Hero 5 had loads of innovation such being able to change the difficulty mid song and allowing any combination of instruments along with the party mode. Guitar Hero 6 was also fairly different (but sucked). If anything I would say your analogy would apply to Rock Band far more.
This only shows that you literally have no idea what my 'analogy' is saying.
Eh? Guitar Hero 5 had loads of innovation such being able to change the difficulty mid song and allowing any combination of instruments along with the party mode. Guitar Hero 6 was also fairly different (but sucked). If anything I would say your analogy would apply to Rock Band far more.
This only shows that you literally have no idea what my 'analogy' is saying.
No, he had it right. The last Guitar Hero finally fixed a niggling problem with the franchise, namely lack of pigs.
Studios are noting that the latest Harry Potter sold a lot of 3D tickets. I wonder if it's because they actually wanted to see it in 3D, or if they bought them because they were the only tickets available.
Yay self-fulfilling prophecies!
Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
Cross-posting this from the Mega Man thread, because seriously, WTF Capcom?
the other difference between a uMote and a DS is that you don't look away from a main game on a big TV to use your touch controls with the DS - it's laid right over the screen. I suppose you could mirror the screen on the uMote given what they've shown....but then you're still going from a big TV to a handheld to use the touch control as a primary input.
Like most of these new fangled controls it'll probably be better used to accentuate more normal control systems, which it could be awesome at.
Posts
Nah, it's because it's another pack of levels. So exactly like Guitar Hero. Only a lot cheaper.
The Wii controller was something that was essentially brand new to the public when it came out. You had lots of people who were hailing the Wii as the closest thing to virtual reality they'd ever seen.
The WiiU controller is just a regular controller with a touch pad and screen in the middle. I just don't see people going crazy for an iPad with buttons that you use with your TV like they did for virtual reality.
EDIT: Or to put it another way, a touch screen is not a very big selling point these days. Just about everything has a touch screen now.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
This is true. But honestly I think Wii (and motion gaming in general) totally under-delivered. There's really only a few things you can actually do with that technology - most of which involve flailing your arms around. Which then left it as a clunky control method for the other games that really had no right using it to begin with (i.e. the games that really should have just used traditional controls but shoe-horned in motion because it was hip and pop and fresh).
I don't think the WiiPad has the wow factor that Wiimote did, but I think it has potential to actually do something interesting. Again, whether developers do more than show the map on the thing, we'll see. But look at some of the creative stuff that came out on DS - I think we could see things like that if developers put some thought into what they're making.
Edit: I'll caviat this in that everything I said doesn't necessarily have any bearing on sales. I still argue Kinect offers nothing really new, but the thing is flashy enough to sell gangbusters so who knows, maybe that's all you need.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
The thing about Guitar Hero, though, is that you didn't really need to have a whole new disc just to release the new tracks. You needed the disc to improve on the game itself. Once Activision became the first full-band experience game, they basically stopped making many improvements to the game and instead stuck with the 'All New Songs!' method.
It's hard to say that it worked out for them.
Touch screens are not often used for strictly gaming and nothing else, though; touch screens on GPSs are for navigation, touch screens at the checkout counter are for buying things, even on platforms like iPad it's a secondary function to more basic tasks like browsing media files, using the internet or typing.
And I can't think of any popular device other than the DS line that combines the touch screen with traditional buttons in a way that augments the traditional gaming experience well. When you think about it, it's sort of ingenious - one set of controls that gives you direct interaction with coordinates on the screen, and another set that lets you keep your hand stationary and gives immediate response without requiring as much focus. Until WiiU and Vita, no other device will have invested heavily in this dual control method. Incidentally I think both will do a better job at it than DS, since both appear to have more form-fitting grips for holding with one hand and touching with the other.
Adding touch screens to the console gaming space is going to provide a more novel experience than adding one to your car or your fridge, and I think people will recognize that. It won't sell as well as the Wii, but I see no reason for it to flop either (strictly on the basis of not being cool enough).
Of course speculation is pointless at this stage.
EDIT: I veered into "why it makes sense" rather than "why errybody will buy it." My main point is that a touch screen for pure gaming purposes is not common enough yet that it wouldn't be considered cool, especially in the home console space. If touch screen monitors for computers were standard by now, then yeah, it'd be nothing special, but as it is I think it's got a chance.
Why buy a Wii U if you can get the same game on a 360 or PS3? And if the Wii U has to be competitive with its next-gen competition, or we'll see the same problem with the Wii when it comes to courting hobbyists.
Pubs and devs will just treat it like another PS3/360. So expect maximum portage and very little innovation. It will just be one big platform.
So if the COD crowd can get the same experience on their existing 360, they have little reason to switch to a new platform. Add in gamerscore, achievements etc. and most importantly their existing friends who already own 360s then they will be a tough crowd to court. Getting people to move on from the 360 will be very difficult. Even for Microsoft. I wouldn't be surprised if the next gen is just a better designed 360. Much like how Apple upgrades their products.
Yes.
This has been another edition of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.
The WiiU tablet has the map for the game!
/done
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Nice theme you got going there Rosanne.
http://blogs.forbes.com/davidewalt/2011/07/20/activision-blizzard-bobby-kotick-innovation/ More in the link.
Rape franchise, fire developers, wait 2 years, resurrect franchise... profit?
Overpriced map packs are way more efficient.
That is just buying new, with retail being much more competitive in the UK than Australia, the price of games often drop to less than $35 AUD within 1-3 months of release for many titles.
Good times, I swear though that if we end up in a separate region in the future I'll be importing a console from the UK/US.
I'm considering paying a little bit more that I would to import MW3 from the US rather than the Uk so I have the option of cheaper map packs through the US PSN. I refused to buy the $23 AUD ones here for Black Ops.
Eh? Guitar Hero 5 had loads of innovation such being able to change the difficulty mid song and allowing any combination of instruments along with the party mode. Guitar Hero 6 was also fairly different (but sucked). If anything I would say your analogy would apply to Rock Band far more.
There is clearly a demand for Angry Bird expansion packs out there and Rovio will keep making them for as long as that demand is high. The real question is what is going to happen to them once angry Birds is no longer popular.
I will bet *so much money* the phrase "Reunion Tour" (or something very similar) appears somewhere in the title...
The freedom to fail and get fired, apparently.
That explains a lot.
Speaking of vaguely Activision-related stuff, Respawn is coming out with a game! Eventually!
http://pc.ign.com/articles/118/1183214p1.html
Who says specs enter into it? This is solely 'what will third parties do with it?'.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1182835p1.html
Nope, there is rampant speculation that it will only be as powerful or slightly more powerful than PS3/360.
On another topic, the capcom europe twitter account is under attack ever since blaming the fans for megaman legends 3 being cancelled. And whoever is in charge is going crazy:
We cancelled the game because you weren't making it for us!
This only shows that you literally have no idea what my 'analogy' is saying.
No, he had it right. The last Guitar Hero finally fixed a niggling problem with the franchise, namely lack of pigs.
I guess I wait for the DVD, now.
Thanks, everybody, for working so hard to push 3D!
Yay self-fulfilling prophecies!
So it's all our fault there is no Mega Man Legends 3.
I was more shocked when the fucker actually said they expected the fans to make the game for them.
Like most of these new fangled controls it'll probably be better used to accentuate more normal control systems, which it could be awesome at.