Looks like the "publish less titles, sell more of them" strategy isn't really working all that great, based on Cous' last quote.
Well no shit, the fact that any of the suits thought that this would be a good idea is very illustrative of the rampant stupidity in the publisher side of the video game industry. They're banking millions of dollars on just a few titles and hoping that they do well rather than diversifying their risk in a wider array of smaller games backed by one or two mostly guaranteed blockbusters like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Madden, etc. They're eating themselves alive with their piss poor business decisions and apparently are so god damn blinkered that their response is to make even FEWER games with even BIGGER budgets.
Ugh, that reminds me of another piece of the equation of shit: more development money per game, combined with less games overall, equaling roughly the same sales per game.
This industry, gah.
And yes, I should never doubt the power of Lego. :P
Dang Darley, I was just about to post that.
I contacted Microsoft and asked how much advertising revenue impacted the profitability of the Xbox 360. “We don’t share this information publicly but we can tell you that, since 2010, the advertising business has grown 142%,” I was told.
Yay I guess, but I wonder how much digital game sales have been impacted now that the ads have gone from showing games to showing random crap. Because after all, digital game sales increased quite a bit when Microsoft did the first dash revision.
This laser-like focus on advertising means that the space that used to be used to promote and share new games is gone. “Since the last big 360 Dashboard update, the presence of games, specifically unique XBLA has been severely demoted,” a developer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. “This ain’t really cool, because promoting XBLA games is really difficult. Your audience is people who own an Xbox AND have it connected to the internet AND realize there are unique downloadable games on there (i.e. isn’t not just an Netflix and Madden machine) AND jump through the hurdles of adding MS moonbucks to their account AND can find actually your game on the console.”
Trying to get someone to jump through all those hoops is proving difficult, and it’s directly impacting the money developers can make on the system. “Unless there’s a link to your game on the front page, which is both tremendously expensive and will rarely last even a week, actually finding the games is a nightmare,” the developer explained. “Currently, you have to navigate past Home ... Social ... TV ... Video ... and finally to Games. Under Games, you need to select Games Marketplace. From there, you have to completely ignore everything under ‘Spotlight’ (which quizzically includes Games Showcase, Express Yourself, Most Wanted and New In Fun Labs, plus a giant ad right in the middle, and good luck figuring out what any of those things mean) and select a completely different submenu called simply ‘Games’ and then either select New or A-Z.”
With revenue like this, it's no wonder that premium space is being allocated to adverts rather than things like XBLA or XBLIG. They can't compete with the cash tsunami they must have rolling in from advertisers. Although there'll come a point where that'll dry up, because the only reason people are seeing these adverts is because they're desperately looking for games (do you think they confused and lengthened the path to take you past as many ads as possible?), and at some point, they'll give up and go somewhere else, at which point you're just selling an ad-box, which.. serves no purpose.
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw advertising on TV for it. My girlfriend who's a huge TWD fan, but not much of a gamer, freaked out over it. If she owned a console, she would have ran out and bought it that night. Honestly, I want to play it but it's not for $59.99. I love action games like this, but they're always short and I know myself. I'll play once, maybe twice then shelve it forever.
Normally, I'd go out and rent a title like this but all the major video stores are closed now in Canada. There's nowhere to rent here. I guess I should look into one of those online rental services.
Much as I wish Microsoft would go back to advertising games, I don't really see this strategy backfiring... people really do seem to be consuming all kinds of non-game media on 360s.
Meanwhile, the UK's Independent interviewed Iwata. Long but interesting stuff. Some highlights:
--Earlier this year Nintendo recorded an operating loss for the first time in its history, what would you say the key reasons were for that and what have you been doing to react?
First of all it’s very unfortunate that we had to record a loss and I feel personally responsible for that. My goal is that this will be the only time we record a loss. I have to say, there are three factors that led to us recording this loss. First we were, in terms of the console lifecycle, in a console transition phase, so the fact that sales shrank during this period is actually quite normal.
The next factor is that when we launched the Nintendo 3DS last year it lost momentum after launch, so we had to take measures and cut the price in order to avoid a failure toward the end of the year, which meant we were selling Nintendo 3DS units at a loss; these two problems we will solve this year.
The third factor, which is actually outside of our range of influence, is that the global economy situation is unstable and the exchange rate is very disadvantageous for us with the Yen being so strong. Obviously we have no influence over this, so we need to find a set-up at our end that will still allow us to make profit under these circumstances.
--Do you feel that extra competition from the likes of Apple, with the iPad and iPhone, have also taken away from the handheld market that Nintendo, and perhaps Sony, have controlled for so long?
I don’t think this is a central factor, I think it’s much more about our lack of ability to release software in a timely matter that will motivate people to go out and buy our gaming hardware. But obviously smartphones and tablets have changed the environment that we operate in and we can no longer offer some kinds of games experiences that couldn’t also easily be offered on a smartphone, so we need to differentiate and offer something exclusive.
We’ve seen this in the past, as personal computers became cheaper people were saying ‘we don’t need more home consoles then do we?’ Then, with the advance of mobile phones, people were questioning the need for dedicated gaming machines and now with smartphones again. Under the conditions I mentioned earlier, I think if we can offer exclusive entertainment that cannot be replicated on other devices then we’ll have the chance to survive.
...
(question about whether he was surprised by the Wii's success)
I think that we could describe it as a "boom" which is not something that we could plan; if you have a way of planning a boom phenomenon than I would be very eager to learn from you (laughs).
...
--At the moment of the Wii U’s launch it’s likely that it will be most the powerful console on the market – Wii U being a much newer system than either PS3 or Xbxo 360. Are Nintendo looking to take this opportunity to release a game which takes advantage of this visual horse power?
I’m not against beautiful graphics, but my thinking is that unless the play experience is really rich the wonderful graphics won’t really help. I’m really looking forward to beautiful games coming out on Wii U though, with graphics that we couldn’t have done on the Wii.
There’s definitely the chance for not only graphics, but also other features that our competitor’s consoles don’t have. But I think it will become increasingly difficult from now on to compete over graphics. This is because that no matter how much we increase the number of polygons we can display and improve the shading it will become increasingly difficult to tell the difference.
Obviously people who are experts in the field will see these things and will look at some details and be enthusiastic about improvements in that field, but I don’t think that will be enough from the general consumer’s point of view, so I think when we look at the design of a new games console we need a structure and concept that offers more than just good graphics.
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw advertising on TV for it. My girlfriend who's a huge TWD fan, but not much of a gamer, freaked out over it. If she owned a console, she would have ran out and bought it that night. Honestly, I want to play it but it's not for $59.99. I love action games like this, but they're always short and I know myself. I'll play once, maybe twice then shelve it forever.
Normally, I'd go out and rent a title like this but all the major video stores are closed now in Canada. There's nowhere to rent here. I guess I should look into one of those online rental services.
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw advertising on TV for it. My girlfriend who's a huge TWD fan, but not much of a gamer, freaked out over it. If she owned a console, she would have ran out and bought it that night. Honestly, I want to play it but it's not for $59.99. I love action games like this, but they're always short and I know myself. I'll play once, maybe twice then shelve it forever.
Normally, I'd go out and rent a title like this but all the major video stores are closed now in Canada. There's nowhere to rent here. I guess I should look into one of those online rental services.
TWD?
The Walking Dead I'm guessing.
I personally saw multiple ads during Adult Swim, but being a Suda51 game probably didn't help.
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But we're discussing the Video Game Industry. And there are a lot of words that start with T, W and D. In short, there was no reason for it to be not clarified.
Steam: Litany || PSN: Litany- || Nintendo Network ID: Litany
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw plenty of adverts for it on Adult Swim.
Yeah but that's late night cable access. Network broadcast advertising makes a bigger impact. Adult Swim certainly fits the target demo of LC but I don't think... well no, maybe that is enough.
At any rate, the game doing well doesn't surprise me at all. Everything that makes things sell was included in that game. Plus, RD left out another factor and I hate to bring it up but it's probably true in some respect: bronies. A character's voice actor did the voice for the LC gal if I remember right. And bronies are all about consumerism.
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw plenty of adverts for it on Adult Swim.
Yeah but that's late night cable access. Network broadcast advertising makes a bigger impact. Adult Swim certainly fits the target demo of LC but I don't think... well no, maybe that is enough.
At any rate, the game doing well doesn't surprise me at all. Everything that makes things sell was included in that game. Plus, RD left out another factor and I hate to bring it up but it's probably true in some respect: bronies. A character's voice actor did the voice for the LC gal if I remember right. And bronies are all about consumerism.
...Tara Strong? I doubt that's a "bronie" influence considering she's in just about every animated thing ever and most videogame things ever.
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw plenty of adverts for it on Adult Swim.
Yeah but that's late night cable access. Network broadcast advertising makes a bigger impact. Adult Swim certainly fits the target demo of LC but I don't think... well no, maybe that is enough.
At any rate, the game doing well doesn't surprise me at all. Everything that makes things sell was included in that game. Plus, RD left out another factor and I hate to bring it up but it's probably true in some respect: bronies. A character's voice actor did the voice for the LC gal if I remember right. And bronies are all about consumerism.
...Tara Strong? I doubt that's a "bronie" influence considering she's in just about every animated thing ever and most videogame things ever.
You'd think so, but she's fielding an incredibly loyal brony legion on Twitter, and just having her mention something immediately sparks a decent sized buzz. Normally, the uses these powers for good, and points her followers in the direction of charities and the like, so it's mostly harmless. Sure, she's in everything but VA's generally never had massive fan followings until the pony craze hit.
LegendofLink on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw plenty of adverts for it on Adult Swim.
Yeah but that's late night cable access. Network broadcast advertising makes a bigger impact. Adult Swim certainly fits the target demo of LC but I don't think... well no, maybe that is enough.
At any rate, the game doing well doesn't surprise me at all. Everything that makes things sell was included in that game. Plus, RD left out another factor and I hate to bring it up but it's probably true in some respect: bronies. A character's voice actor did the voice for the LC gal if I remember right. And bronies are all about consumerism.
...Tara Strong? I doubt that's a "bronie" influence considering she's in just about every animated thing ever and most videogame things ever.
I wasn't implying bronies gave her the job. Only that they'll buy products she and other pony related people are involved in. And now we're swinging off the mark and that's my last word; to clarify what I meant.
Amazon must have a lot of free time for gaming during its summer vacation: just a day after unveiling GameCircle as a cloud infrastructure, it's trotting out Game Connect to make buying game content that much easier. Once it's integrated into a title, the new platform will let customers buy content in free-to-play games, or subscribe to massively multiplayer online games, directly from their Amazon accounts -- no copy-and-paste juggling involved, even if the game account has to be made on the spot. A handful of game developers have already lined up, including Super Monday Night Combat creator Uber Entertainment and World of Tanks' Wargaming.net. If you're engrossed in gaming enough that you'll need 1-Click to buy virtual goods and MMO renewals that much faster, Amazon has you covered... although you may also want to slow down and relax.
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Halo 4 is coming out on the 360? Props to MS for not pulling a Nintendo and just letting the console fester but this makes... five Halo games in four years? Come on. Maybe even Six if the Halo 2 remake comes out in the next year.
Sheep on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Amazon must have a lot of free time for gaming during its summer vacation: just a day after unveiling GameCircle as a cloud infrastructure, it's trotting out Game Connect to make buying game content that much easier. Once it's integrated into a title, the new platform will let customers buy content in free-to-play games, or subscribe to massively multiplayer online games, directly from their Amazon accounts -- no copy-and-paste juggling involved, even if the game account has to be made on the spot. A handful of game developers have already lined up, including Super Monday Night Combat creator Uber Entertainment and World of Tanks' Wargaming.net. If you're engrossed in gaming enough that you'll need 1-Click to buy virtual goods and MMO renewals that much faster, Amazon has you covered... although you may also want to slow down and relax.
You know this actually makes me nervous for some reason? And I buy micro-transaction shit regularly. I can't explain the nervousness.
Halo 4 is coming out on the 360? Props to MS for not pulling a Nintendo and just letting the console fester but this makes... five Halo games in four years? Come on. Maybe even Six if the Halo 2 remake comes out in the next year.
It's been a long console cycle. The gaps between Halo 1/2/3 were 3 years. 3->4 is 5 years, and if you kinda squint you can think of ODST/Reach as the midpoint.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
When Microsoft first announced the 2nd Halo Trilogy, they said that all 3 games would be coming out on the 360. I personally don't see that happening.. But yes, Halo is an annual franchise, and has been for a while now.
He/Him | "We who believe in freedom cannot rest." - Dr. Johnetta Cole, 7/22/2024
The Mortal Kombat guys just might be doing something different for their next game.
With the success of Mortal Kombat, it's hardly shocking that Ed Boon's NetherRealm Studios is already at work on another fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us. But Boon wouldn't mind getting away from the fighting game rigmarole, granted Injustice "does well."
"If it does well, we would like to see our next step be a non-fighting game, maybe something unique in its own right," Boon told PlayStation Blog. "This is our first step in that direction."
But this doesn't mean Boon's ready to look beyond Injustice just yet. There's a lot planned for the DC brawler, including a DLC character campaign comparable to what we saw in Mortal Kombat. "We'll definitely want to introduce unexpected characters [via DLC] to Injustice. That'll be our strategy. It's comparable to Mortal Kombat, but being really aggressive with our DLC characters."
With revenue like this, it's no wonder that premium space is being allocated to adverts rather than things like XBLA or XBLIG. They can't compete with the cash tsunami they must have rolling in from advertisers. Although there'll come a point where that'll dry up, because the only reason people are seeing these adverts is because they're desperately looking for games (do you think they confused and lengthened the path to take you past as many ads as possible?), and at some point, they'll give up and go somewhere else, at which point you're just selling an ad-box, which.. serves no purpose.
I remember wayyyy back when I was play sc1/bw, and foudn out that battle.net was making Blizzard *more* money than retail sales because of the advert banner at the top of their hacked up irc server...
People in the 3DS thread keep griping that Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is sold out. Either Squeenix only did a teensy print run or this thing is selling really well.
Oh, GAF is saying Vita sold 75,000 in June... though June was a five-week reporting period. Ouch.
Actually, the five week period pretty much shows that everything sold a lot slower than usual.
Maybe they ran out of oversized novelty stylusses and had to stop shipping the game?
Regarding the Ouya, Randy Pitchford (Gearbox) was asked what he thought of it:
"They asked for a million, so they must have planned this out. They were selling them to the people that were buying them through the Kickstarter for $99. Take a million divided by $99. That's 10k units. Let's imagine their margin on the hardware is $10, which I think is actually exaggerating, considering what's actually in this thing. $10 times 10k units, that's $100k. You can afford four guys for two months. That's not a business. Maybe this is just the thing to get what their business is off the ground, and they'll say whatever they need to say to get Kickstarter to work in their favor."
"If there's a machine that's capable, that people love using, and there's a lot of people consuming games on it, I'm going to be really excited to create content for it. What it actually is doesn't really matter to me. But it [the Kickstarter draw] is a really clever, interesting play."
Obviously given how the project has blown up the numbers doesn't quite apply to current circumstances, but yeah... how were they planning on shipping this thing if they had just barely scraped together $1M in funding? Definitely looks shaky. Perhaps they're working on some really optimistic models on how much they'll collect on their market margins...
People in the 3DS thread keep griping that Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is sold out. Either Squeenix only did a teensy print run or this thing is selling really well.
Oh, GAF is saying Vita sold 75,000 in June... though June was a five-week reporting period. Ouch.
Actually, the five week period pretty much shows that everything sold a lot slower than usual.
The first print run features the Theatrhythm stylus and sticker set. It's entirely possible that Square only did a moderate run with that fact at least partially in mind, and hasn't yet followed up that run with standard editions.
David Goldfarb, who worked at the EA-owned development house DICE as the lead designer of Battlefield Bad Company 2 and lead single-player designer on Battlefield 3, has left the Swedish mega-studio.
"It was time to move on for me," Goldfarb told Kotaku. But should Battlefield fans be concerned? "Fans have nothing to worry about."
An EA rep did not respond to a request for comment. If/when they do, it'll be added here.
Changeover at or near the top of a major gaming franchise is not unusual. The chief architects of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare were notoriously relieved of duty in 2010. That same year, the lead creator in charge of the couple-hundred people making Assassin's Creed games left that series after its first three hit console installments. Both series have continued under different creative leadership, for better or worse, depending on your taste in the subsequent games.
Battlefield 3 was EA's answer to Activision's Call of Duty juggernaut. The game is being expanded through multiple pieces of downloadable content this year, but won't see a new iteration in 2012, as EA's next Medal of Honor does the anti-CoD honors this year.
Goldfarb isn't sure where he'll land next, but he has been blogging about working on a film script, or maybe a novel he's drafted on and off since the late '90s: "Today and yesterday I worked on cleaning up and reframing chapter 1 and 2. Mostly what this was was coming to grips with the old style of the book, which is this thing a friend of mine called 'Biblepunk' for lack of a better word. Or Old Testament noir. Anyway. It's weird, and it's especially weird revisiting it as a writer and being like, how the hell am I going to get myself back in that creative headspace again."
Good luck, Goldfarb. Some of us would enjoy some Old Testament noir.
CORRECTION: This story originally ID'd Goldfarb as the lead game designer of Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2. While he had the overall lead role on BC2, he was the lead on the single-player portion of BF3. Apologies for any confusion.
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I'm surprised that people are surprised that Lollipop Chainsaw had decent sales. It's a simple formula; Scantily clad cheerleader + zombies + backing of a major company = decent sales.
you forgot no advertising + poor graphics + failure of last two titles = no sure thing
I saw plenty of adverts for it on Adult Swim.
Also I'm just about to finish it and I've no complaints over the graphics. It's an entertainingly scripted brawler with fun fighting mechanics. Grouping enemies together for combo finishers is entertaining. It's a great game.
For reference I hate pretty much every other Suda game.
The Mortal Kombat guys just might be doing something different for their next game.
With the success of Mortal Kombat, it's hardly shocking that Ed Boon's NetherRealm Studios is already at work on another fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us. But Boon wouldn't mind getting away from the fighting game rigmarole, granted Injustice "does well."
"If it does well, we would like to see our next step be a non-fighting game, maybe something unique in its own right," Boon told PlayStation Blog. "This is our first step in that direction."
But this doesn't mean Boon's ready to look beyond Injustice just yet. There's a lot planned for the DC brawler, including a DLC character campaign comparable to what we saw in Mortal Kombat. "We'll definitely want to introduce unexpected characters [via DLC] to Injustice. That'll be our strategy. It's comparable to Mortal Kombat, but being really aggressive with our DLC characters."
So they'll do a non-fighting game, assuming their latest fighting game does well. Oooookay.
Well there's nothing wrong with the idea of wanting to see if a new IP digs in and gains some heft before devoting any time to future development for it as a series. My problem is that "does well" is a vague term and given that a million or two copies sold doesn't equate to "doing well" lately, it might end up being a great IP that gets lost in the multi-million-dollar business shenanigans of the industry. Though really, the DC brand isn't that strong in this manner from my perspective.
Vivendi SA (VIV) Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou, looking for a buyer for the company’s $8.27 billion stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI), is finding little enthusiasm among potential suitors.
Fourtou, in an interview yesterday at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, said Vivendi may sell its 61 percent stake in Activision, the largest U.S. video-game publisher. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), maker of the Xbox console, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) and Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the world’s largest entertainment company, aren’t pursuing bids, people with knowledge of their plans said.
“It’s a possibility,” Fourtou said of a sale after walking with Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick. His comments marked the first public confirmation that the holding is on the block. Asked if he was trying to find a buyer at the event, Fourtou said: “We’re always
looking
at opportunities for all of our businesses.”
Just as Vivendi considers Activision a non-core asset, other media companies don’t see a strategic fit for the Santa Monica, California-based company, Pachter said.
For weeks, Paris-based Vivendi has canvassed possible buyers, people familiar with the matter have said.
Microsoft, while approached, isn’t actively considering a bid, according to one person. That could change, the person said. The software company, based in Redmond, Washington, would have to consider that buying Activision may jeopardize sales of the company’s “Call of Duty” games for rival consoles made by Sony Corp. (6758) and Nintendo Co.
Disney, based in Burbank, California, is unlikely to bid for Activision, according to a person with knowledge of the company’s plans.
Take-Two, the New York-based publisher of “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption, isn’t interested, a person with knowledge of the company’s plans said.
So Gears of War: Judgment is coming out March 2013. This strikes me as noteworthy because Microsoft forced Epic to delay Gears of War 3 from April of 2011 to September of that year, so that Microsoft would have a big triple A title for Fall (given the only Halo title coming out was a remake of Halo 1).
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
So Gears of War: Judgment is coming out March 2013. This strikes me as noteworthy because Microsoft forced Epic to delay Gears of War 3 from April of 2011 to September of that year, so that Microsoft would have a big triple A title for Fall (given the only Halo title coming out was a remake of Halo 1).
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
Thank you Michael Pachter.
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HAIL HYDRA
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Why is Vivendi shopping around Activision to companies that are SMALLER than Activision is? Well, okay, Microsoft and Disney are big media conglomerates, but on a pure business standpoint.. It just doesn't make sense.
And it's not like Activision can go independent, due to how mercenary this whole thing is...
He/Him | "We who believe in freedom cannot rest." - Dr. Johnetta Cole, 7/22/2024
So Gears of War: Judgment is coming out March 2013. This strikes me as noteworthy because Microsoft forced Epic to delay Gears of War 3 from April of 2011 to September of that year, so that Microsoft would have a big triple A title for Fall (given the only Halo title coming out was a remake of Halo 1).
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
Thank you Michael Pachter.
The Xbox 360 was revealed at E3 in the same year it released, so the rapid turnaround between announcement and launch isn't unprecedented.
Unless you're saying I'm being obvious, to which I'll say that I wouldn't be surprised to not see the 360's successor launched in 2013 either. This generation is crazy.
So Gears of War: Judgment is coming out March 2013. This strikes me as noteworthy because Microsoft forced Epic to delay Gears of War 3 from April of 2011 to September of that year, so that Microsoft would have a big triple A title for Fall (given the only Halo title coming out was a remake of Halo 1).
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
Thank you Michael Pachter.
The Xbox 360 was revealed at E3 in the same year it released, so the rapid turnaround between announcement and launch isn't unprecedented.
Unless you're saying I'm being obvious, to which I'll say that I wouldn't be surprised to not see the 360's successor launched in 2013 either. This generation is crazy.
The 360 launch was weird circumstances, though. Microsoft couldn't make any more Xboxes without shelling out a ton of money to the hardware vendors, so they wanted to replace it with their new console ASAP. Bit them in the ass, of course.
So Gears of War: Judgment is coming out March 2013. This strikes me as noteworthy because Microsoft forced Epic to delay Gears of War 3 from April of 2011 to September of that year, so that Microsoft would have a big triple A title for Fall (given the only Halo title coming out was a remake of Halo 1).
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
Thank you Michael Pachter.
The Xbox 360 was revealed at E3 in the same year it released, so the rapid turnaround between announcement and launch isn't unprecedented.
Unless you're saying I'm being obvious, to which I'll say that I wouldn't be surprised to not see the 360's successor launched in 2013 either. This generation is crazy.
It was a joke, since it sounds like something Michael Pachter would predict.
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With revenue like this, it's no wonder that premium space is being allocated to adverts rather than things like XBLA or XBLIG. They can't compete with the cash tsunami they must have rolling in from advertisers. Although there'll come a point where that'll dry up, because the only reason people are seeing these adverts is because they're desperately looking for games (do you think they confused and lengthened the path to take you past as many ads as possible?), and at some point, they'll give up and go somewhere else, at which point you're just selling an ad-box, which.. serves no purpose.
I saw advertising on TV for it. My girlfriend who's a huge TWD fan, but not much of a gamer, freaked out over it. If she owned a console, she would have ran out and bought it that night. Honestly, I want to play it but it's not for $59.99. I love action games like this, but they're always short and I know myself. I'll play once, maybe twice then shelve it forever.
Normally, I'd go out and rent a title like this but all the major video stores are closed now in Canada. There's nowhere to rent here. I guess I should look into one of those online rental services.
Meanwhile, the UK's Independent interviewed Iwata. Long but interesting stuff. Some highlights:
TWD?
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The Walking Dead I'm guessing.
I personally saw multiple ads during Adult Swim, but being a Suda51 game probably didn't help.
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// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I did that, but I didn't understand how Texting While Driving had anything to do Lollipop Princess.
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Yeah but that's late night cable access. Network broadcast advertising makes a bigger impact. Adult Swim certainly fits the target demo of LC but I don't think... well no, maybe that is enough.
At any rate, the game doing well doesn't surprise me at all. Everything that makes things sell was included in that game. Plus, RD left out another factor and I hate to bring it up but it's probably true in some respect: bronies. A character's voice actor did the voice for the LC gal if I remember right. And bronies are all about consumerism.
...Tara Strong? I doubt that's a "bronie" influence considering she's in just about every animated thing ever and most videogame things ever.
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You'd think so, but she's fielding an incredibly loyal brony legion on Twitter, and just having her mention something immediately sparks a decent sized buzz. Normally, the uses these powers for good, and points her followers in the direction of charities and the like, so it's mostly harmless. Sure, she's in everything but VA's generally never had massive fan followings until the pony craze hit.
I wasn't implying bronies gave her the job. Only that they'll buy products she and other pony related people are involved in. And now we're swinging off the mark and that's my last word; to clarify what I meant.
Amazon Game Connect links free-to-play, MMO games to store accounts, turns 1-Click into way too many
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Halo 4 is coming out on the 360? Props to MS for not pulling a Nintendo and just letting the console fester but this makes... five Halo games in four years? Come on. Maybe even Six if the Halo 2 remake comes out in the next year.
You know this actually makes me nervous for some reason? And I buy micro-transaction shit regularly. I can't explain the nervousness.
Sept. 2007 - Halo 3
Feb. 2009 - Halo Wars
Sept. 2009 - ODST
Sept. 2010 - Reach
Nov. 2011 - Halo Anniversary
Nov. 2012 - Halo 4
Nov. 2013? - Halo 2 Remake
Seven, if the Halo 2 remake comes to fruition.
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2007 Halo 3
2009 Halo ODST
2010 Halo Wars
2010 Halo Reach
2011 Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
2012 Halo 4
It's been a long console cycle. The gaps between Halo 1/2/3 were 3 years. 3->4 is 5 years, and if you kinda squint you can think of ODST/Reach as the midpoint.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/13/boon-hopes-injustice-gods-among-us-is-first-step-in-a-new-dir/
So they'll do a non-fighting game, assuming their latest fighting game does well. Oooookay.
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There have been at least 3 MK games that weren't fighting games: Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Special Forces and Shaolin Monks.
Would be interesting to see a more modern take though.
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Yeah but the less said about Mythologies and especially Special Forces the better.
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I remember wayyyy back when I was play sc1/bw, and foudn out that battle.net was making Blizzard *more* money than retail sales because of the advert banner at the top of their hacked up irc server...
Joe's Stream.
Oh, GAF is saying Vita sold 75,000 in June... though June was a five-week reporting period. Ouch.
Actually, the five week period pretty much shows that everything sold a lot slower than usual.
Regarding the Ouya, Randy Pitchford (Gearbox) was asked what he thought of it:
Obviously given how the project has blown up the numbers doesn't quite apply to current circumstances, but yeah... how were they planning on shipping this thing if they had just barely scraped together $1M in funding? Definitely looks shaky. Perhaps they're working on some really optimistic models on how much they'll collect on their market margins...
The first print run features the Theatrhythm stylus and sticker set. It's entirely possible that Square only did a moderate run with that fact at least partially in mind, and hasn't yet followed up that run with standard editions.
Pokémon Conquest was also victim to shortages.
Nope, best stylus ever and I'll fight to the death to defend it.
Anyway, in other news, David Goldfarb (lead designer of Battlefield 3) has left DICE.
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Feel sorry for the people who didn't buy the cool kids club version, then.
Also I'm just about to finish it and I've no complaints over the graphics. It's an entertainingly scripted brawler with fun fighting mechanics. Grouping enemies together for combo finishers is entertaining. It's a great game.
For reference I hate pretty much every other Suda game.
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Well there's nothing wrong with the idea of wanting to see if a new IP digs in and gains some heft before devoting any time to future development for it as a series. My problem is that "does well" is a vague term and given that a million or two copies sold doesn't equate to "doing well" lately, it might end up being a great IP that gets lost in the multi-million-dollar business shenanigans of the industry. Though really, the DC brand isn't that strong in this manner from my perspective.
Since Microsoft is letting Epic release Judgment in the begining of 2013 (Man, Q1/Q2 2013 is PACKED), and with no other announced project the size of a Gears or Halo for Fall of 2013, I have to wonder if this means Microsoft is gearing up to release their next console during that timeframe.
Thank you Michael Pachter.
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And it's not like Activision can go independent, due to how mercenary this whole thing is...
The Xbox 360 was revealed at E3 in the same year it released, so the rapid turnaround between announcement and launch isn't unprecedented.
Unless you're saying I'm being obvious, to which I'll say that I wouldn't be surprised to not see the 360's successor launched in 2013 either. This generation is crazy.
The 360 launch was weird circumstances, though. Microsoft couldn't make any more Xboxes without shelling out a ton of money to the hardware vendors, so they wanted to replace it with their new console ASAP. Bit them in the ass, of course.
It was a joke, since it sounds like something Michael Pachter would predict.
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