It's not that you can't make a good shooter on a handheld, I just don't understand why anybody would want to. The shooter market has evolved. It is now a primarily multiplayer domain, with friends using headsets to coordinate with each other and trash talk their opponents. All of which is perfectly serviceable on their 360 and big screen TV. Now you're going to shrink the screen, viewing area, and resolution down to a fraction of what it was, make the use of voice chat slightly cumbersome at best and non-existent at worst, and all for what? So they can have the feeling of pwning n00bs at the bus stop? It's already been established that most handheld gaming is done at home, and the smartphone market is taking up the bus stop time. And once you're in the home, you have a clearly inferior experience compared to the console.
I just don't know. Like I said, it's not that you couldn't make it the best game in the world, I just don't see there being a big market of people who want to play CoD while on the go. It would seem to me that your best bet for success is to go the singleplayer route, and try to hook the players interested in a good story. Except that A) Uncharted just tried that, and failed, and the upcoming CoD game is going multiplayer only.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
They were sitting on a huge pile of goodwill from the successes of the PS1/PS2 to absorb the bad years of the PS3 (which demolished every cent of profit they'd made on vidya game consoles up to that point). The Vita doesn't have that luxury.
Also, yeah, the Publisher Q&A on Kotaku is one of the few things that I'd really recommend going and reading on that site. In both his sessions he's given some pretty illuminating responses. Even brutally honest stuff like this:
Q: I'm a game tester and have worked for the big publishers and small developers. I know you big guys are trying to save a buck but why send all the tester job over seas?
A: Because we can save about 5 bucks an hour.
They can save $5 an hour and get abysmal QA. You get what you pay for.
And we can save 55 bucks by renting and buying used and get what someone ELSE paid for.
There's a Q&A with an anonymous publisher going on at Kotaku. Some interesting stuff is being discussed there.
Actually, my stance on Kickstarter has evolved. In the beginning of the boom (Doublefine, inXile, etc.), a lot of projects took what I believe to be an extremely negative stance toward publishers and how we do business. I'm not in every single pitch meeting, but I can promise you that our company never said no to a $300k Doublefine adventure game. The fact is, DF creates extremely high-quality games that just don't tend to sell, so when we see a multi-million dollar pitch from Tim Schaefer, we regretfully just have to pass. Wasteland came to us at a budget much MUCH higher than what they were looking for on Kickstarter, which is why we declined. Not because we're children behind a desk.
But now things have changed, and the pitches on Kickstarter are more realistic. Look at Project Eternity... Obsidian knows why we can't fund that game, and explained it very clearly in interviews (80k customers is not a successful model in publishing). It's allowing the "middle ground" of games to return, and I think that's a good thing. I've backed a few projects, and I'll continue to do so on interesting ideas that just aren't big enough for our model.
That's actually a very honest and reasonable stance.
Eh, he's basically saying if Doublefine had come to them with this last-ditch, super barebones plan, he would have totally been on board. Basically, I feel like he's saying "We totally would have hired you if we knew you'd work for chicken feed." Which ignores the fact that the only reason they were willing to work for chicken feed is because it meant they didn't have to deal with YOU.
There are rumblings that LightBox Interactive, the developer behind the PS3 exclusive Starhawk, will lay off most of its staff by Friday. 3D Realms founder (and previous layoff predictor) George Broussard tweets, "Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday."
Yesterday LightBox Interactive president Dylan Jobe sent out an ominous tweet, reading, "And yeah, its time for another drink...." LightBox artist Jonathan Lindblom tweeted early this morning, "I feel like my brain has been taken out and passed around, I can't think straight, everything is muddled." Associate producer and community manager Pete MacKay tweeted his thoughts today as well: "And so another chapter closes on my life. Let's see where I go next! (taking suggestions)."
We've contacted LightBox Interactive for clarification.
Nintendo Console Codes
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
Now you're going to shrink the screen, viewing area, and resolution down to a fraction of what it was, make the use of voice chat slightly cumbersome at best and non-existent at worst, and all for what?
Screen size maybe. Resolution? Not really. For example, the PS3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops had the exact same native resolution as the Vita's resolution.
I just don't know. Like I said, it's not that you couldn't make it the best game in the world, I just don't see there being a big market of people who want to play CoD while on the go. It would seem to me that your best bet for success is to go the singleplayer route, and try to hook the players interested in a good story. Except that A) Uncharted just tried that, and failed, and the upcoming CoD game is going multiplayer only.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss isn't really a good example of whether or not a singleplayer shooter could succeed on the Vita simply because it's not that good of a game. A portable game that's roughly on par with Uncharted 1 (and perhaps slightly worse) is not that enticing when Uncharted 2 & 3 are already out.
A good exclusive Resident Evil or Bioshock game on the Vita would be a perfect fit.
There are rumblings that LightBox Interactive, the developer behind the PS3 exclusive Starhawk, will lay off most of its staff by Friday. 3D Realms founder (and previous layoff predictor) George Broussard tweets, "Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday."
Yesterday LightBox Interactive president Dylan Jobe sent out an ominous tweet, reading, "And yeah, its time for another drink...." LightBox artist Jonathan Lindblom tweeted early this morning, "I feel like my brain has been taken out and passed around, I can't think straight, everything is muddled." Associate producer and community manager Pete MacKay tweeted his thoughts today as well: "And so another chapter closes on my life. Let's see where I go next! (taking suggestions)."
We've contacted LightBox Interactive for clarification.
Damnit. Starhawk was one of the games that made me really want a PS3. You know.. if it weren't for the high price of entry and my lack of a TV.
I don't get why it's hard to understand the appeal of being able to do a CoD multiplayer match during your lunch break at work or whatever.
Of course CoD Vita is looking like it's probably gonna suck so the point is moot on that one.
But, like, I don't know why the Vita is getting painted as somethinv that's trying to be a big shooter machine here. It has a few measly FPS games, some good some bad.
Speaking of COD Vita..... Nihilistic just announced that will be their final "physical" game. After that they''ll rename themselves and transition to iPhone games.
There are rumblings that LightBox Interactive, the developer behind the PS3 exclusive Starhawk, will lay off most of its staff by Friday. 3D Realms founder (and previous layoff predictor) George Broussard tweets, "Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday."
Yesterday LightBox Interactive president Dylan Jobe sent out an ominous tweet, reading, "And yeah, its time for another drink...." LightBox artist Jonathan Lindblom tweeted early this morning, "I feel like my brain has been taken out and passed around, I can't think straight, everything is muddled." Associate producer and community manager Pete MacKay tweeted his thoughts today as well: "And so another chapter closes on my life. Let's see where I go next! (taking suggestions)."
We've contacted LightBox Interactive for clarification.
Damnit. Starhawk was one of the games that made me really want a PS3. You know.. if it weren't for the high price of entry and my lack of a TV.
Michael McWhertor was mentioning on Twitter that the studio is moving to iOS development.
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
There are rumblings that LightBox Interactive, the developer behind the PS3 exclusive Starhawk, will lay off most of its staff by Friday. 3D Realms founder (and previous layoff predictor) George Broussard tweets, "Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday."
Yesterday LightBox Interactive president Dylan Jobe sent out an ominous tweet, reading, "And yeah, its time for another drink...." LightBox artist Jonathan Lindblom tweeted early this morning, "I feel like my brain has been taken out and passed around, I can't think straight, everything is muddled." Associate producer and community manager Pete MacKay tweeted his thoughts today as well: "And so another chapter closes on my life. Let's see where I go next! (taking suggestions)."
We've contacted LightBox Interactive for clarification.
Damnit. Starhawk was one of the games that made me really want a PS3. You know.. if it weren't for the high price of entry and my lack of a TV.
Michael McWhertor was mentioning on Twitter that the studio is moving to iOS development.
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
More that he was actually flat out saying things that I would hesitate to assume that publishers would be that coldhearted and calculating about
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
There's a Q&A with an anonymous publisher going on at Kotaku. Some interesting stuff is being discussed there.
Actually, my stance on Kickstarter has evolved. In the beginning of the boom (Doublefine, inXile, etc.), a lot of projects took what I believe to be an extremely negative stance toward publishers and how we do business. I'm not in every single pitch meeting, but I can promise you that our company never said no to a $300k Doublefine adventure game. The fact is, DF creates extremely high-quality games that just don't tend to sell, so when we see a multi-million dollar pitch from Tim Schaefer, we regretfully just have to pass. Wasteland came to us at a budget much MUCH higher than what they were looking for on Kickstarter, which is why we declined. Not because we're children behind a desk.
But now things have changed, and the pitches on Kickstarter are more realistic. Look at Project Eternity... Obsidian knows why we can't fund that game, and explained it very clearly in interviews (80k customers is not a successful model in publishing). It's allowing the "middle ground" of games to return, and I think that's a good thing. I've backed a few projects, and I'll continue to do so on interesting ideas that just aren't big enough for our model.
That's actually a very honest and reasonable stance.
Eh, he's basically saying if Doublefine had come to them with this last-ditch, super barebones plan, he would have totally been on board. Basically, I feel like he's saying "We totally would have hired you if we knew you'd work for chicken feed." Which ignores the fact that the only reason they were willing to work for chicken feed is because it meant they didn't have to deal with YOU.
And he's saying that isn't a bad thing well with Kickstarter being an option for midtier projects now.
No offense to Tim but he's right in saying most of the guys titles just have not been commericially viable. People do forget that there is risk involved on the publishing side too.
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
More that he was actually flat out saying things that I would hesitate to assume that publishers would be that coldhearted and calculating about
If the games are "extremely high quality" but don't tend to sell well then perhaps the issue isn't with the games, but with the publisher's marketing department.
If the games are "extremely high quality" but don't tend to sell well then perhaps the issue isn't with the games, but with the publisher's marketing department.
Or that there just isn't a market big enough to support them at a particular level.
I mean, you could make an absolutely amazing, say, first-person-perspective party-based dungeon-crawler with balls-hard enemies, but there's probably a limit to how much marketing is going to expand the purchase base - if not for the first one, the definitely for the sequel.
Yes, I do love Etrian Odyssey. Doesn't mean it's ever going to sell 3 million copies, though.
If the games are "extremely high quality" but don't tend to sell well then perhaps the issue isn't with the games, but with the publisher's marketing department.
Or that there just isn't a market big enough to support them at a particular level.
I mean, you could make an absolutely amazing, say, first-person-perspective party-based dungeon-crawler with balls-hard enemies, but there's probably a limit to how much marketing is going to expand the purchase base - if not for the first one, the definitely for the sequel.
Yes, I do love Etrian Odyssey. Doesn't mean it's ever going to sell 3 million copies, though.
What are you talking about Grimoire is gonna be a mega hit.
In a little under one year these Vita studios have died a miserable death.
BigBig - closed after Little Deviants
Zipper - closed after Unit 13
Studio Liverpool - closed after Wipeout 2048 + Vita DLC
Nihilistic - transitioning after COD Vita
Nihilistic isn't actually dead, just so ashamed of itself that it's abandoning its name and retreating to digital development.
Also in non Vita related deaths the makers of Starhawk have fired most of their staff and decided to reform making iOS games.
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
More that he was actually flat out saying things that I would hesitate to assume that publishers would be that coldhearted and calculating about
Welcome to running a successful business.
Well unless he works for Activision what are the chances that he works for a successful business?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
0
CokomonOur butts are worth fighting for!Registered Userregular
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
More that he was actually flat out saying things that I would hesitate to assume that publishers would be that coldhearted and calculating about
Welcome to running a successful business.
Well unless he works for Activision what are the chances that he works for a successful business?
Yeah wasn't the whole point that the AAA go big or go home doesn't work when you spend the money but your game isn't cod big?
Yep. If I ran a billion dollar corporation I wouldn't give even one shit about the little guy, and I AM that little guy in my corporation right now. We're replaceable and aren't worth caring about. Anti-corporation ranting is for another time, though...
I seriously hope we have another video game market crash. The industry was far better when the hobby was more niche. /hipster
Yep. If I ran a billion dollar corporation I wouldn't give even one shit about the little guy, and I AM that little guy in my corporation right now. We're replaceable and aren't worth caring about. Anti-corporation ranting is for another time, though...
I seriously hope we have another video game market crash. The industry was far better when the hobby was more niche. /hipster
I doubt that it'll crash, but I think what we're seeing is the big names reach the top and start to become too flabby and inefficient, feeling they have to keep escalating along the same path which will lead to their demise, while there's a new wave of independent studios springing up underneath, starting to fill out the large gulf being left in the market by those sitting on top. I wouldn't be surprised if some small studios start merging before too long to enable them to work on bigger projects, but I think due to much better options for self-publishing, things will evolve in a different direction now.
I've been keeping an eye on the Doom 3 BFG edition (I figure I'll eventually get it on Steam during a sale) and considered updating my Doom Mods & WADs thread I made at the beginning of the year since it comes with Ultimate Doom/Doom II, but reading some of the GAF thread brought up an interesting little bit of controversy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1snCRIl16ks
This is footage from the PC BFG Edition's version of the two secret levels in DOOM II, based off of early levels from Wolfenstein 3D. . . problem is the version in the BFG Edition is essentially the XBOX Live Arcade port (rather than the widely available Doom II IWAD) which takes out all the SS soldiers and all Nazi-related imagery (as well as other things like replacing the red cross on medkits with pill symbols). In other words, id didn't even bother putting their own versions of the original Doom games in their game, they put the ports developed by Nerve Software in there - which I can understand for the console versions, but not the PC version.
I honestly don't know what to say other than that's some pretty lazy stuff right there.
Unless they have a good reason for doing that, like wanting to have one copy that's easy to sell everywhere, instead of having one version for one audience, and another for the likes of Germany (Nazi imagery is censored, I believe) and I know the Red Cross have thrown a tantrum about using their logo on medkits.
In a little under one year these Vita studios have died a miserable death.
BigBig - closed after Little Deviants
Zipper - closed after Unit 13
Studio Liverpool - closed after Wipeout 2048 + Vita DLC
Nihilistic - transitioning after COD Vita
Nihilistic isn't actually dead, just so ashamed of itself that it's abandoning its name and retreating to digital development.
Also in non Vita related deaths the makers of Starhawk have fired most of their staff and decided to reform making iOS games.
On one hand, putting it like this is kind of a sad picture.
On the other, these were all terrible studios and needed to die. Except maybe the Wipeout guys, but didn't they get saved anyway?
If I remember right, Nazi imagery isn't censored in art (movies/tv shows/etc), but in Germany videogames aren't considered art, so that is why games in Germany can't have Swastikas and the like.
Kinda retarded of the German lawmakers to be afraid of historical events, but now we have the new Asscreed fiasco, so I don't know.
As for the red cross, fuck them, the red cross on white background has been the universal symbol of healing or health for decades.
SmokeStacks on
0
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
Unless they have a good reason for doing that, like wanting to have one copy that's easy to sell everywhere, instead of having one version for one audience, and another for the likes of Germany (Nazi imagery is censored, I believe) and I know the Red Cross have thrown a tantrum about using their logo on medkits.
Crosses that are colored red have been used as a symbol for first aid for many years before the Red Cross organization was formed. I can understand they might have a bit of a protest, but I don't think they would really have any claim.
Another strange thing about Doom 3 BFG, on the 360 at least: If you have the game installed to the HD, and you try to play Doom or Doom II a message will pop up telling you that in order to play those games you have to uninstall from the HD. Not a big deal, but it strikes me as odd.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
If I remember right, Nazi imagery isn't censored in art (movies/tv shows/etc), but in Germany videogames aren't considered art, so that is why games in Germany can't have Swastikas and the like.
Kinda retarded of the German lawmakers to be afraid of historical events, but now we have the new Asscreed fiasco, so I don't know.
As for the red cross, fuck them, the red cross on white background has been the universal symbol of healing or health for decades.
The red cross as a first aid identifier goes about about 150 years and was formed expressly for organizations that became the Red Cross. So like, if you know the history they kind of have a point.
Unless they have a good reason for doing that, like wanting to have one copy that's easy to sell everywhere, instead of having one version for one audience, and another for the likes of Germany (Nazi imagery is censored, I believe) and I know the Red Cross have thrown a tantrum about using their logo on medkits.
Crosses that are colored red have been used as a symbol for first aid for many years before the Red Cross organization was formed. I can understand they might have a bit of a protest, but I don't think they would really have any claim.
They have actually kicked up a fuss about it in the past. Again, I'm not saying "this is the reason why" and that iD are legally barred from doing such a thing, but if they have a version ready to go that has a couple of small cosmetic changes in one corner of one of the games there, that is able to be sold without hassle all around the world, it makes life a hell of a lot easier and cheaper for them just to go with that everywhere than to release multiple versions for different regions.
Wait, the Vita CoD/Resistance guys were Nihilistic? For some reason my brain assumed they were some newer studio in over their head. Either something really changed at the studio over the last few years or they were under some horrible deadlines.
Two more studios shifting over to iOS development... wow. Times, changing, etc.
So I guess it's safe to say that Sony isn't going to follow the Wii/360 price drop? Even though the vastly cheaper to make Superslim would make that easy? Dayum.
Unless they have a good reason for doing that, like wanting to have one copy that's easy to sell everywhere, instead of having one version for one audience, and another for the likes of Germany (Nazi imagery is censored, I believe) and I know the Red Cross have thrown a tantrum about using their logo on medkits.
Crosses that are colored red have been used as a symbol for first aid for many years before the Red Cross organization was formed. I can understand they might have a bit of a protest, but I don't think they would really have any claim.
The thing is, the uncensored original Ultimate Doom and Doom II IWADS are readily and widely available - I'm surprised that id didn't just include them in the PC version (or at least through digital distribution sites like Steam where they'be been on sale for the longest time now). I think that having these ports instead of the original IWADs also effectively disallows the use or modifications or user-created levels in any way with them; I'm not 100% sure, but that's also strange considering that the Doom community has been coming up with fresh and unique new material for the game going on twenty years now. It's all very strange, and while the above points are valid it doesn't make much sense all things considered.
0
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Shit, Doom censorship has been around since the very beginning, notably the modification to level geometry that formed a swastika in e1m4 in v1.4.
I'm honestly more bemused of the idea of selling Doom 3 for 30 bucks 8 years after the fact, especially when it doesn't have the coop from the Xbox port. I guess Oculus Rift support and some weirdly altered versions of D1 and 2 makes up for it?
Another strange thing about Doom 3 BFG, on the 360 at least: If you have the game installed to the HD, and you try to play Doom or Doom II a message will pop up telling you that in order to play those games you have to uninstall from the HD. Not a big deal, but it strikes me as odd.
I guess you can access them from outside the game in your Xbox menu. You just can't get to it through the game's menu. Which just makes it odder.
"Why on earth would we want to emulate a business that has seen a 75 percent decline in share price since their debut?"
- Kixeye chief executive Will Harbin lays into Zynga, after Zynga won a restraining order against his colleague Alan Patmore.
Zynga sued Patmore earlier this month over alleged theft of trade secrets, and this week Patmore was told to return all Zynga data to the company, and give Zynga access to his personal files.
Harbin isn't at all happy about it either, and has some strong words for Zynga.
"Given their financial situation it all feels pretty desperate," he said. "Our games have little in common with the ones that Zynga is known for. We make synchronous, combat strategy games. They make asynchronous cow clicking games."
He added, "According to their S1, their games average $.06 ARPDAU. Our games generate up to 20x that. You do the math."
It actually makes me giddy to see Zynga "win" these minor suits yet they'll still die and everyone will still hate them. Grasping for straws at it's finest. As always I feel bad for the innocent employees, but man I want to see the execs fail and then never succeed again ever.
Posts
I just don't know. Like I said, it's not that you couldn't make it the best game in the world, I just don't see there being a big market of people who want to play CoD while on the go. It would seem to me that your best bet for success is to go the singleplayer route, and try to hook the players interested in a good story. Except that A) Uncharted just tried that, and failed, and
And we can save 55 bucks by renting and buying used and get what someone ELSE paid for.
Eh, he's basically saying if Doublefine had come to them with this last-ditch, super barebones plan, he would have totally been on board. Basically, I feel like he's saying "We totally would have hired you if we knew you'd work for chicken feed." Which ignores the fact that the only reason they were willing to work for chicken feed is because it meant they didn't have to deal with YOU.
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
Screen size maybe. Resolution? Not really. For example, the PS3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops had the exact same native resolution as the Vita's resolution.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss isn't really a good example of whether or not a singleplayer shooter could succeed on the Vita simply because it's not that good of a game. A portable game that's roughly on par with Uncharted 1 (and perhaps slightly worse) is not that enticing when Uncharted 2 & 3 are already out.
A good exclusive Resident Evil or Bioshock game on the Vita would be a perfect fit.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Damnit. Starhawk was one of the games that made me really want a PS3. You know.. if it weren't for the high price of entry and my lack of a TV.
Of course CoD Vita is looking like it's probably gonna suck so the point is moot on that one.
But, like, I don't know why the Vita is getting painted as somethinv that's trying to be a big shooter machine here. It has a few measly FPS games, some good some bad.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
http://www.nihilistic.com/index.php/
COD Vita news gets worse every day. Sony must be pissed.
Michael McWhertor was mentioning on Twitter that the studio is moving to iOS development.
Edit: Klepek echoing that.
It was a good read, but I don't think a single answer suprised me. Most of it is stuff that's generally considered 'known', though I guess that depends on how much industry news you read.
I did think the answer on sending QA overseas was funny in a mean way though. But put between, say, hiring the kid down the block to do a half-ass job mowing my lawn, or hiring a lawn service with underpaid workers to come do it right for half the cost........well yeah. I can't honestly hate a corporation for acting the same way.
The only argument that you could really make against it is the idea that U.S. college kids are better at it than whatever pool India hires from (do they use college kids too? I don't know). But it'd have to be a damn good argument because I've seen plenty of good ol' americans provide piss poor quality assurance, though that's probably more of a general statement than software testing one.
Given that they've mostly worked on console and 'high end' games, does any of that translate well to iOS?
Or is the layoffs just a way to gut the studio but keep the management and name intact?
More that he was actually flat out saying things that I would hesitate to assume that publishers would be that coldhearted and calculating about
And he's saying that isn't a bad thing well with Kickstarter being an option for midtier projects now.
No offense to Tim but he's right in saying most of the guys titles just have not been commericially viable. People do forget that there is risk involved on the publishing side too.
Welcome to running a successful business.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Or that there just isn't a market big enough to support them at a particular level.
I mean, you could make an absolutely amazing, say, first-person-perspective party-based dungeon-crawler with balls-hard enemies, but there's probably a limit to how much marketing is going to expand the purchase base - if not for the first one, the definitely for the sequel.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
What are you talking about Grimoire is gonna be a mega hit.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
BigBig - closed after Little Deviants
Zipper - closed after Unit 13
Studio Liverpool - closed after Wipeout 2048 + Vita DLC
Nihilistic - transitioning after COD Vita
Nihilistic isn't actually dead, just so ashamed of itself that it's abandoning its name and retreating to digital development.
Also in non Vita related deaths the makers of Starhawk have fired most of their staff and decided to reform making iOS games.
Well unless he works for Activision what are the chances that he works for a successful business?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The real reason all those people keep leaving Irrational is because they found out they would be working on the Vita Bioshock after Infinite is done.
Twitter: Cokomon | dA: Cokomon | Tumblr: Cokomon-art | XBL / NNID / Steam: Cokomon
Yeah wasn't the whole point that the AAA go big or go home doesn't work when you spend the money but your game isn't cod big?
Yep. If I ran a billion dollar corporation I wouldn't give even one shit about the little guy, and I AM that little guy in my corporation right now. We're replaceable and aren't worth caring about. Anti-corporation ranting is for another time, though...
I seriously hope we have another video game market crash. The industry was far better when the hobby was more niche. /hipster
I doubt that it'll crash, but I think what we're seeing is the big names reach the top and start to become too flabby and inefficient, feeling they have to keep escalating along the same path which will lead to their demise, while there's a new wave of independent studios springing up underneath, starting to fill out the large gulf being left in the market by those sitting on top. I wouldn't be surprised if some small studios start merging before too long to enable them to work on bigger projects, but I think due to much better options for self-publishing, things will evolve in a different direction now.
Wii is dead, Jim.
Fun fact: The Wii's tie ration is now 8.0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1snCRIl16ks
This is footage from the PC BFG Edition's version of the two secret levels in DOOM II, based off of early levels from Wolfenstein 3D. . . problem is the version in the BFG Edition is essentially the XBOX Live Arcade port (rather than the widely available Doom II IWAD) which takes out all the SS soldiers and all Nazi-related imagery (as well as other things like replacing the red cross on medkits with pill symbols). In other words, id didn't even bother putting their own versions of the original Doom games in their game, they put the ports developed by Nerve Software in there - which I can understand for the console versions, but not the PC version.
I honestly don't know what to say other than that's some pretty lazy stuff right there.
On one hand, putting it like this is kind of a sad picture.
On the other, these were all terrible studios and needed to die. Except maybe the Wipeout guys, but didn't they get saved anyway?
Kinda retarded of the German lawmakers to be afraid of historical events, but now we have the new Asscreed fiasco, so I don't know.
As for the red cross, fuck them, the red cross on white background has been the universal symbol of healing or health for decades.
Crosses that are colored red have been used as a symbol for first aid for many years before the Red Cross organization was formed. I can understand they might have a bit of a protest, but I don't think they would really have any claim.
The red cross as a first aid identifier goes about about 150 years and was formed expressly for organizations that became the Red Cross. So like, if you know the history they kind of have a point.
http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=16637&tid=001
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=388d6b05-1e55-4fc6-8f73-6e822e3db23f&k=18344
They have actually kicked up a fuss about it in the past. Again, I'm not saying "this is the reason why" and that iD are legally barred from doing such a thing, but if they have a version ready to go that has a couple of small cosmetic changes in one corner of one of the games there, that is able to be sold without hassle all around the world, it makes life a hell of a lot easier and cheaper for them just to go with that everywhere than to release multiple versions for different regions.
Two more studios shifting over to iOS development... wow. Times, changing, etc.
So I guess it's safe to say that Sony isn't going to follow the Wii/360 price drop? Even though the vastly cheaper to make Superslim would make that easy? Dayum.
I'm honestly more bemused of the idea of selling Doom 3 for 30 bucks 8 years after the fact, especially when it doesn't have the coop from the Xbox port. I guess Oculus Rift support and some weirdly altered versions of D1 and 2 makes up for it?
I guess you can access them from outside the game in your Xbox menu. You just can't get to it through the game's menu. Which just makes it odder.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/179545/Kixeyes_Harbin_Why_would_we_want_to_steal_Zyngas_secrets.php#.UIAlJ2dR3To