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Video Game Industry Thread: January's over, go to the new thread

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Posts

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I think there is definitely a distinct kind of action RPG that borrows from the Zelda framework.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • AdvocateAdvocate Registered User regular
    Isn't "Zelda" basically it's own genre these days?
    Case in point: Darksiders and Okami.

    Aren't all those adventure games?

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    How does Just Dance compare to Dance Central?

    I've only tried the JD demo but hey... lemme quickly fire it up and then tell you!

    Long and the short of it? DC is more accurate, JD is more fun.

    I want some good impressions, as it's somewhat multi-platform depending on the game for Wii/Move/Kinnect. And I haven't bought my own 360 yet for Dance Central myself (waiting on the next sale). :(

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    Advocate wrote:
    Isn't "Zelda" basically it's own genre these days?
    Case in point: Darksiders and Okami.

    Aren't all those adventure games?

    There's not enough making a fake mustache out of cat hair in any of those games for them to qualify as adventure games.

  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    Synthesis wrote:
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I also disagree that being sequelled to death is a recent thing. Mega Man was basically the Call of Duty of the 90s, and Capcom outdid themselves by not even making true sequels to Street Fighter and just crapping out re-releases. We've had annual Madden games since, what, the early 90s?

    The industry, like a lot of other industries, is also adverse to risks; sequels are just one of the more obvious low-risk investments.
    Zelda comes to mind. Over a decade and a half at that point.

    I'm not claiming they weren't good games (even if I don't like many of them personally). But, and this is the bitter reality for some people, sequels often have possible qualities versus their predecessors. Not always, but often, in a mulitfaceted game. Nintendo just happened to be remaking the same game, over and over, with different implementation each time.
    I am specifically referring to franchises that get sequels to the point of being farmed out. Nintendo, while relying heavily on sequels, at least restrains itself far more than any other publisher. We generally get one Mario game per console. It was a big deal to actually get two 3D Marios and a 2D sequel in one console's lifespan. I'm sure Nintendo could release a Mario Kart or Smash Bros. every year or two and make serious bank. Instead, it's been nearly four years since the Mario Kart before 7 and six years since the last portable Mario Kart since 7.

    Actually, Zelda and Mario sequels come out pretty regularly. It's just that they split them between home consoles & portable consoles so it feels like there's more space between them than there actually is.

    2005 = Minish Cap
    2006 = Twilight Princess
    2007 = Phantom Hourglass
    2009 = Spirit Tracks
    2011 = Skyward Sword

    2006 = New Super Mario DS
    2007 = Mario Galaxy
    2009 = New Super Mario Wii
    2010 = Mario Galaxy 2
    2011 = Mario 3D Land

  • Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    Whelp, this is interesting.
    What a difference six months makes. In June last year Sony boss Kaz Hirai proudly took to the stage at E3 to announce that the Vita would retail for $250 (or $299 for the 3G version) - a figure that was generally greeted with enthusiasm by both press and gamers alike. Meanwhile, the considerably less powerful 3DS was floundering at around the same price, just a few months after its launch.

    Fast forward to January 2012 and the 3DS is flying off shelves following an unprecedented pricing rethink while the Vita has got off to a miserable start in Japan, with numerous internet commentators already starting their 'cut the price' catcalls.

    So, one month ahead of the machine's global launch, we've enlisted the help of technical intelligence experts UBM TechInsights and taken a screwdriver to Sony's new portable in an attempt to divine two things - whether you're getting good value for money, and whether Sony has left itself any room for an emergency price drop should the Western launch belly-flop.

    UBM's VP of business intelligence, Jeffrey Brown, tells us that the total bill of materials for the 3G-enabled version of the system comes in at an estimated $159.10 - that's around £102.90. That figure breaks down as follows:

    Display and touchscreens: $50
    Battery: $3.60
    Cameras: $3.50
    Wi-Fi/BT/GPS: $3.50
    NAND: $6.00
    SDRAM: $9.25
    Processor: $16.00
    BB+XCR: $16.25
    Non-electronic: $11.00
    Other: $30.00
    Supporting materials: $10.00

    For more on UBM's findings, head on over to its official site.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-20-is-the-playstation-vita-worth-230

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  • AdvocateAdvocate Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    reVerse wrote:
    Advocate wrote:
    Isn't "Zelda" basically it's own genre these days?
    Case in point: Darksiders and Okami.

    Aren't all those adventure games?

    There's not enough making a fake mustache out of cat hair in any of those games for them to qualify as adventure games.

    Well I wouldn't call them action RPGs since the popular definition of RPG elements involves some sort of stats system.

    Advocate on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Brainiac 8 wrote:
    Whelp, this is interesting.
    What a difference six months makes. In June last year Sony boss Kaz Hirai proudly took to the stage at E3 to announce that the Vita would retail for $250 (or $299 for the 3G version) - a figure that was generally greeted with enthusiasm by both press and gamers alike. Meanwhile, the considerably less powerful 3DS was floundering at around the same price, just a few months after its launch.

    Fast forward to January 2012 and the 3DS is flying off shelves following an unprecedented pricing rethink while the Vita has got off to a miserable start in Japan, with numerous internet commentators already starting their 'cut the price' catcalls.

    So, one month ahead of the machine's global launch, we've enlisted the help of technical intelligence experts UBM TechInsights and taken a screwdriver to Sony's new portable in an attempt to divine two things - whether you're getting good value for money, and whether Sony has left itself any room for an emergency price drop should the Western launch belly-flop.

    UBM's VP of business intelligence, Jeffrey Brown, tells us that the total bill of materials for the 3G-enabled version of the system comes in at an estimated $159.10 - that's around £102.90. That figure breaks down as follows:

    Display and touchscreens: $50
    Battery: $3.60
    Cameras: $3.50
    Wi-Fi/BT/GPS: $3.50
    NAND: $6.00
    SDRAM: $9.25
    Processor: $16.00
    BB+XCR: $16.25
    Non-electronic: $11.00
    Other: $30.00
    Supporting materials: $10.00

    For more on UBM's findings, head on over to its official site.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-20-is-the-playstation-vita-worth-230

    The comparisons to the 3DS are some of the more important parts of this. The take-home after cost is relatively the same between the two, but Nintendo was willing to make the price dive down considerably. But if I remember right, some of the higher-ups at Nintendo took less pay to compensate (which I still consider a classy move). So unless Sony is willing to do the same to compensate, any price drop they could give on the Vita would be... hurting them. Again.

  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    If Sony ever came out to say that their execs are taking a pay cut to help out the Vita, then say your prayers and repent, for the Rapture and the End of Days are upon us.

    Seriously, I'd love it if somebody would suggest that to Kaz and then take a picture of his reaction.

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Actually, all the articles I'm seeing on estimated cost of 3DS parts put them at about $100 total. So the difference between part cost and price is about the same between the PS Vita now and the 3DS after the big price drop.

    If they dropped the price to $200, they'd probably be taking a loss on each system since that $160 isn't taking into account production costs, shipping costs, and retailer markup.

    RainbowDespair on
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    So how is 3G worth an extra fifty dollars on the system? Because this is 2012, not 2008. 3G may be fine for normal phone use, but it's not great for anything but some average web browsing. Does Japan have better 3G than the US or something like that?

  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    The whole "you can't die so it's got no failure state" myth about POP08 really amuses me.

    So...if you continually fail to acheive your objectives you get to progress with the game? No?
    Oh so it does have a failure state then. It's just seamlessly integrated with the game world.

    It didn't bother me at all.

    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    POP08 was a solid game, and I had no issue with the do-over mechanic. The platforming, however, felt a bit too automatic. It just didn't feel like it took as much effort as the original's platforming took. Made the game fairly easy for the most part. But that has nothing to do with the lack of dying.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    Yahtzee had a theory about no-death failure versus death failure. He opined something along the lines that the you not dying cheapens the narrative and failure becomes meaningless, whereas dying and immediately reloading makes your brain think that the cost of failure is death and thus failure is meaningful because death is the ultimate price. Even if the time between "rewind to before failure" and "quick load to before death" is exactly the same, dying always feels like a huge failure.

  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    So how is 3G worth an extra fifty dollars on the system? Because this is 2012, not 2008. 3G may be fine for normal phone use, but it's not great for anything but some average web browsing. Does Japan have better 3G than the US or something like that?

    Not really. Especially since AT&T's data costs are so insane. $15 for 200 MB, $25 for 2GB per month. Actually that may go up to $20 for 300 MB and $30 for 3GB since phone plans are moving up to that, but who knows. Plus you can't even download games on 3G.

    And even the Japanese aren't buying the 3G version.

    And yeah, I've heard that Nintendo was (at least initially) taking a slight financial hit on each 3DS sold at $170, so I'd be shocked if Sony had any room to budge without going into pain territory.

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    reVerse wrote:
    Yahtzee had a theory about no-death failure versus death failure. He opined something along the lines that the you not dying cheapens the narrative and failure becomes meaningless, whereas dying and immediately reloading makes your brain think that the cost of failure is death and thus failure is meaningful because death is the ultimate price. Even if the time between "rewind to before failure" and "quick load to before death" is exactly the same, dying always feels like a huge failure.

    I find death that requires reload from a black screen saying game over please retry is immersion breaking and offputting if the game is presenting the hero as strong or powerful. I preferred 08's model. I still failed. I still knew I failed. I wasn't moving forward. It was my mistake.

    On the other hand, demon souls or something it works pretty good. In that game your character is presented as fragile.

    It's really just a psychological trick. You can logic your way along the route, realise it's a silly trick you are playing on yourself, and ignore it as meaningless.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    So Giant Bomb is linking a LA Times report that TOR's cost was $200 million.

    We just have numbers ripely plucked from everyone's ass, don't we?

    YL9WnCY.png
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    So Giant Bomb is linking a LA Times report that TOR's cost was $200 million.

    We just have numbers ripely plucked from everyone's ass, don't we?

    Hm, the LA Times article doesn't source it.

    Still, it gives a good impression of just how ginormous a production it is:
    It may be the largest entertainment production in history. More than 800 people on four continents have spent six years and nearly $200 million creating it. The story runs 1,600 hours, with hundreds of additional hours still being written. Nearly 1,000 actors have recorded dialogue for 4,000 characters in three languages.

    The narrative is so huge that writers created a 1,000-page “bible” to keep the details straight, and the director recently asked a colleague not to spoil moments he hadn’t yet seen.

    ...

    At the Austin home office of game developer BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, more than 400 designers, programmers, writers and artists have immersed themselves in the imagined Star Wars universe, surrounded by maps of the ice planet Hoth, armor designs for bounty hunters and even a five-day weather forecast for Princess Leia’s home world of Alderaan.

    Art has been outsourced to Russia, Estonia and China. Motion capture filming is done in L.A. and Vancouver, Canada, with voices recorded in New York, London and Paris in English, French and German. Quality assurance testing takes place in Romania, Argentina and India, while technical operations are run out of Virginia and the customer service center operates in Ireland. A regular plane shuttles employees between Austin and Electronic Arts’ headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif.

    http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/01/20/star-wars-the-old-republic-the-story-behind-a-galactic-gamble/#/0

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    edited January 2012

    I find death that requires reload from a black screen saying game over please retry is immersion breaking and offputting if the game is presenting the hero as strong or powerful. I preferred 08's model. I still failed. I still knew I failed. I wasn't moving forward. It was my mistake.

    On the other hand, demon souls or something it works pretty good. In that game your character is presented as fragile.

    It's really just a psychological trick. You can logic your way along the route, realise it's a silly trick you are playing on yourself, and ignore it as meaningless.

    nah because, part of the fun and tension of scaling a huge wall/mountain/castle/sewer level is knowing at any moment i can plummet to my death and fuck it all up. but if i do fall and instantly appear on the ledge i was just on... it feels cheapened. i didn't earn anything. it's not a trick, it's how you feel accomplished. i don't really feel great about climbing round in PoP08 because i know i could have fallen 800 times and there's never any danger. it makes mistakes 'okay' to do because there's no reinforcement that you did bad.
    when i finished a room in sands of time, i felt like i just did something requiring skill, timing, and precision. making it to the end with a game holding my hand saying 'oh it's okay you didn't die see you are right over here!' does not achieve the same effect.
    (of course this is just me, i'm sure plenty of people enjoyed it fine. i think death as a mechanic is important though, to illustrate that you played the game wrong)

    Local H Jay on
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    PS - Local_H_Jay
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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote:
    And yeah, I've heard that Nintendo was (at least initially) taking a slight financial hit on each 3DS sold at $170, so I'd be shocked if Sony had any room to budge without going into pain territory.

    I wonder if people would find it psychologically easier if they dropped the price of the Vita by $50 and then doubled the price of all their memory cards.

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote:
    So how is 3G worth an extra fifty dollars on the system? Because this is 2012, not 2008. 3G may be fine for normal phone use, but it's not great for anything but some average web browsing. Does Japan have better 3G than the US or something like that?

    Not really. Especially since AT&T's data costs are so insane. $15 for 200 MB, $25 for 2GB per month. Actually that may go up to $20 for 300 MB and $30 for 3GB since phone plans are moving up to that, but who knows. Plus you can't even download games on 3G.

    And even the Japanese aren't buying the 3G version.

    And yeah, I've heard that Nintendo was (at least initially) taking a slight financial hit on each 3DS sold at $170, so I'd be shocked if Sony had any room to budge without going into pain territory.

    Holy crap, that's awful. I swapped plans from my old contract and got unlimited 4G as an access point, 5GB 4G for the phone, unlimited 3G, an Android phone, and my monthly bill went down. 25 bucks for 200 MB of data really is, well, insane like you said. I had no idea it was that awful.

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    The fact that I have to do that series of jumps again is plenty of punishment that I did bad.

    Limbo is similar in that everything is broken up into puzzles. If you die, you don't get sent back very far.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I'm really happy I got my grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 or so.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...
    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371684/
    looks like he did, only makes me want to play TOR that much more

    Xbox - Local H Jay
    PS - Local_H_Jay
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  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited January 2012

    I find death that requires reload from a black screen saying game over please retry is immersion breaking and offputting if the game is presenting the hero as strong or powerful. I preferred 08's model. I still failed. I still knew I failed. I wasn't moving forward. It was my mistake.

    On the other hand, demon souls or something it works pretty good. In that game your character is presented as fragile.

    It's really just a psychological trick. You can logic your way along the route, realise it's a silly trick you are playing on yourself, and ignore it as meaningless.

    nah because, part of the fun and tension of scaling a huge wall/mountain/castle/sewer level is knowing at any moment i can plummet to my death and fuck it all up. but if i do fall and instantly appear on the ledge i was just on... it feels cheapened. i didn't earn anything. it's not a trick, it's how you feel accomplished. i don't really feel great about climbing round in PoP08 because i know i could have fallen 800 times and there's never any danger. it makes mistakes 'okay' to do because there's no reinforcement that you did bad.
    when i finished a room in sands of time, i felt like i just did something requiring skill, timing, and precision. making it to the end with a game holding my hand saying 'oh it's okay you didn't die see you are right over here!' does not achieve the same effect.
    (of course this is just me, i'm sure plenty of people enjoyed it fine. i think death as a mechanic is important though, to illustrate that you played the game wrong)

    feelings don't stop it from being a trick. the trick is that you think you require death to have those feelings. you are depending on a fake visual to make you feel how you want to feel.
    yet you still failed every time you fell in 08. you failed just as badly as any other game. especially because it was easier. it was your fault, you messed up. this does not change. mistakes were mistakes. only for some reason you are depending on a visual illusion to tell you that you failed instead of realising it yourself.

    I'm with rorus ras. Having to retrace your steps is all the failure condition needed.
    Now if it popped you up on a ledge on the other side of the pit so you didn't actually need to do it, the idea of there being no failure would have a point. It doesn't do this.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm really happy I got my grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 or so.

    You should rent it out and retire on it.

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...
    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371684/
    looks like he did, only makes me want to play TOR that much more

    Sweet, he was on Major Dad also

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm really happy I got my grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 or so.

    You should rent it out and retire on it.

    I actually had a friend that had a grandfathered unlimited plan with AT&T... he watched a crapton of videos on his smarthphone, so AT&T kicked him off it.

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • L Ron HowardL Ron Howard The duck MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...

    He doesn't chew gravel while talking, so you might not be able to tell.
    I couldn't tell Nolan North was the voice of the male Jedi Consular because he had a surprising lack of gravel, and he was never talking with himself.

  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote:
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm really happy I got my grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 or so.

    You should rent it out and retire on it.

    I actually had a friend that had a grandfathered unlimited plan with AT&T... he watched a crapton of videos on his smarthphone, so AT&T kicked him off it.

    I was actually thinking something like that might happen if it was abused.

    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...

    Yes, The David Hayter. The Snake raspy, I just smoked a pack of Marlboro no filters, thing is something he actually has to do, that's not his normal voice. The JK is much more his normal voice.

    Sagroth wrote: »
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  • KurneaKurnea Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote:
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    I'm really happy I got my grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 or so.

    You should rent it out and retire on it.

    I actually had a friend that had a grandfathered unlimited plan with AT&T... he watched a crapton of videos on his smarthphone, so AT&T kicked him off it.

    I was actually thinking something like that might happen if it was abused.

    I'm guessing it would need to be a fair amount of data to kick him off. I still have my unlimited data plan from when I got my Iphone 3g, but I only stream Netflix on that occasionally.

  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice.

    It's almost as if he's an actor or something.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Skull2185 wrote:
    Speaking of TOR, the male Jedi Knight (I believe) is credited as "David Hayter"

    The David Hayter? I can't even detect a hint of Snake in that voice. My brother and I got into a pseudoarguement over it, and I forced him to play the credits. Longest credits... ever... For a game who's main draw is voice acting, they sure did bury the VA credits waaaaayyyyyyyyy down the list...

    Yes, The David Hayter. The Snake raspy, I just smoked a pack of Marlboro no filters, thing is something he actually has to do, that's not his normal voice. The JK is much more his normal voice.

    So, Hayter actually has to smoke cigarettes like Ledger and Nicholson had to cram painkillers?

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Brainiac 8 wrote:
    Whelp, this is interesting.
    What a difference six months makes.
    In June last year Sony boss Kaz Hirai proudly took to the stage at E3 to announce that the Vita would retail for $250 (or $299 for the 3G version) - a figure that was generally greeted with enthusiasm by both press and gamers alike. Meanwhile, the considerably less powerful 3DS was floundering at around the same price, just a few months after its launch.

    Fast forward to January 2012 and the 3DS is flying off shelves following an unprecedented pricing rethink while the Vita has got off to a miserable start in Japan, with numerous internet commentators already starting their 'cut the price' catcalls.

    So, one month ahead of the machine's global launch, we've enlisted the help of technical intelligence experts UBM TechInsights and taken a screwdriver to Sony's new portable in an attempt to divine two things - whether you're getting good value for money, and whether Sony has left itself any room for an emergency price drop should the Western launch belly-flop.

    UBM's VP of business intelligence, Jeffrey Brown, tells us that the total bill of materials for the 3G-enabled version of the system comes in at an estimated $159.10 - that's around £102.90. That figure breaks down as follows:

    Display and touchscreens: $50
    Battery: $3.60
    Cameras: $3.50
    Wi-Fi/BT/GPS: $3.50
    NAND: $6.00
    SDRAM: $9.25
    Processor: $16.00
    BB+XCR: $16.25
    Non-electronic: $11.00
    Other: $30.00
    Supporting materials: $10.00

    For more on UBM's findings, head on over to its official site.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-20-is-the-playstation-vita-worth-230

    And, since I got given shit for not being an equal-opportunity-reminderer on this front the last time we went around on this kind of story, I'll point it out here again:

    The sum of off-the-shelf component costs =/= all-in cost of a device.

    Or, as the linked article says, "Very substantial labour, R&D, marketing and distribution costs all need to be taken into account too."

    Elvenshae on
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular

    feelings don't stop it from being a trick. the trick is that you think you require death to have those feelings. you are depending on a fake visual to make you feel how you want to feel.
    yet you still failed every time you fell in 08. you failed just as badly as any other game. especially because it was easier. it was your fault, you messed up. this does not change. mistakes were mistakes. only for some reason you are depending on a visual illusion to tell you that you failed instead of realising it yourself.

    I'm with rorus ras. Having to retrace your steps is all the failure condition needed.
    Now if it popped you up on a ledge on the other side of the pit so you didn't actually need to do it, the idea of there being no failure would have a point. It doesn't do this.
    the 'some reason' is like this: if you steal and get caught, you're likely to correct that behavior yes? BUT if you steal and then get away with it, does that mean they never fix the behavior? if i fall and instantly get put back on the ledge, i never realize i fucked up. i never felt like i made a mistake, because they are impossible to make. it's as if you almost fell, and then a magic cloud came down and saved you awwww!
    i'm not saying it's a bad game for it, but i much prefer death to mean something than nothing. the game trivializes what should be a moment of learning (hey man, don't do that or you die) and just skips it assuming i'll reprimand myself which i don't

    Xbox - Local H Jay
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  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    cloudeagle wrote:
    Rorus Raz wrote:
    So Giant Bomb is linking a LA Times report that TOR's cost was $200 million.

    We just have numbers ripely plucked from everyone's ass, don't we?

    Hm, the LA Times article doesn't source it.

    Still, it gives a good impression of just how ginormous a production it is:
    It may be the largest entertainment production in history. More than 800 people on four continents have spent six years and nearly $200 million creating it. The story runs 1,600 hours, with hundreds of additional hours still being written. Nearly 1,000 actors have recorded dialogue for 4,000 characters in three languages.

    The narrative is so huge that writers created a 1,000-page “bible” to keep the details straight, and the director recently asked a colleague not to spoil moments he hadn’t yet seen.

    ...

    At the Austin home office of game developer BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, more than 400 designers, programmers, writers and artists have immersed themselves in the imagined Star Wars universe, surrounded by maps of the ice planet Hoth, armor designs for bounty hunters and even a five-day weather forecast for Princess Leia’s home world of Alderaan.

    Art has been outsourced to Russia, Estonia and China. Motion capture filming is done in L.A. and Vancouver, Canada, with voices recorded in New York, London and Paris in English, French and German. Quality assurance testing takes place in Romania, Argentina and India, while technical operations are run out of Virginia and the customer service center operates in Ireland. A regular plane shuttles employees between Austin and Electronic Arts’ headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif.

    http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/01/20/star-wars-the-old-republic-the-story-behind-a-galactic-gamble/#/0

    The $200m also hews a lot closer to prerelease comments that a long-term steady-state of 500k subscribers would result in profits, but nothing earth-shattering, and that 1M subscribers would make everyone involved pretty happy.

    Elvenshae on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    How does Just Dance compare to Dance Central?

    I've only tried the JD demo but hey... lemme quickly fire it up and then tell you!

    Long and the short of it? DC is more accurate, JD is more fun.
    Which is probably why it is kurbstomping DC.
    Bhatia was quick to point out, "That's our math; that's not what the company says." He also noted that this shows "a slowdown in social gaming in general... I don't think it's just Zynga."
    Yessssssssssss.

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    http://www.computerandvideogames.com/332888/resident-evil-attracting-cod-fans-the-dream-says-capcom-action-route-makes-sense/
    ...
    "We've seen the popularity of Resident Evil increase massively as the series became more action oriented - Resident Evil 5 is the biggest seller in the series. So, it makes sense for us to follow this action area more fully."

    He added of Operation Raccoon City: "The dream would be that the millions of Call of Duty fans that are enjoying these fast-paced online games are attracted to this Resident Evil."
    ...
    That is refreshingly honest. Call of Duty is going to be the rock that developers continually bash their heads against in order to try and compete with.

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