[Industry Thread] I shall call him...Mini Wii.

Zephiran

UncleSporky wrote: »

Lanrutcon wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

Okay Helloween shared this from GAF:

Wii U CPU: 1.2GHz tri-core Memory: 2 GB Memory bandwidth: 12.8 GB/s GPU core: 550MHz
Xbox 360 CPU: 3.2GHz tri-core Memory: 512 MB Memory bandwidth: 22.4 GB/s GPU core: 500MHz
PS3 CPU: 3.2GHz single core + 6 SPUs Memory: 256 MB + 256 MB Memory bandwidth: 25.6 GB/s GPU Core: 550MHz

Helloween is astute though and adds,

But bare in mind that you cannot just compare the 3 machines number to number, it doesnt work

There's other things to take into account.

Ok, so we can't judge the WiiU on the performance of the games and we can't judge it based on comparison to other consoles?

I would say you can only judge it on the performance of the games, but the ones currently available still suffer from being ports and launch software and "gotta get it out day one" syndrome.

But otherwise yeah. Obviously you can't use the specs straight up. How in the world could the launch games be comparable to PS3 and 360 with half speed RAM and less than half speed CPU? It's either a massive technical achievement to get a game optimized for 3.2 GHz running at the same quality on 1.2 GHz, or we really can't compare on that basis.

I thought it was previously established that the RAM is a type of gDDR3 with a bandwidth of 17 GBPS? I mean, those specs could be bang-on, but I think those specs are coming from the same guy who claims the machine draws ~33 Watts at full load, when it should be more like ~40 Watts. I'm therefore not entirely sure his diagnostics are flawless.

Wyvern

The fact that THQ is doing this Humble Bundle thing now, with Steam's winter sale less than a month away (and Saints' Row all but guaranteed to be featured as a daily deal, and a few of these other games also having pretty good odds), strongly implies to me that they consider themselves literally weeks away from total destruction without some immediate cash flow. Otherwise they probably would have been better off putting this off until February or something and squeezing a few more dollars out of people who still might be willing to pay for this stuff individually..

I'm also half-surprised that the Humble Bundle people were willing to sell games with DRM, but I guess this would have been a tough opportunity to pass up.

SyphonBlue

SyphonBlue wrote: »

First person to PM me for the bundle gets the key for the bundle

First person to PM me for Saints Row gets the key for Saints Row

Please specify which you would like

Nobody wants either of these? Wow.

SyphonBlue

Saint's Row claimed by @sir_pinch-a-loaf

cloudeagle

Hah, that was quick.

SyphonBlue

Bundle claimed by @cloudeagle

sir_pinch-a-loaf

hehe, I saw that original post like 20 minutes after it went up and assumed it was already gone. Thanks again @SyphonBlue !

cloudeagle

Well I'll be damned, actual numbers from Sony.

Sony has revealed that 525,000 PlayStation 3 units were sold in the United States between November 18th and November 24th. “Black Friday bundle sales increased 15%, and total PS3 sales including hardware, software and peripherals, grew 9% over the same period last year,” according to Sony. In Latin America, which isn’t included in the sales figures provided, PlayStation 3 saw a staggering 200% year-over-year growth.

PlayStation Vita also enjoyed great sales in the US during the period ranging from November 18th to November 24th. 160,000 units were sold during that time period. Sony notes that Amazon in particular sold out of “specially priced [Vita] inventory” in under five hours.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/29/sony-reveals-playstation-3-vita-black-friday-sales

skeldare

cloudeagle wrote: »

Well I'll be damned, actual numbers from Sony.

Sony has revealed that 525,000 PlayStation 3 units were sold in the United States between November 18th and November 24th. “Black Friday bundle sales increased 15%, and total PS3 sales including hardware, software and peripherals, grew 9% over the same period last year,” according to Sony. In Latin America, which isn’t included in the sales figures provided, PlayStation 3 saw a staggering 200% year-over-year growth.

PlayStation Vita also enjoyed great sales in the US during the period ranging from November 18th to November 24th. 160,000 units were sold during that time period. Sony notes that Amazon in particular sold out of “specially priced [Vita] inventory” in under five hours.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/29/sony-reveals-playstation-3-vita-black-friday-sales

They probably just forgot the quotes. Should read "sold" and "sales".

Dehumanized

160k Vitas, eh? That's pretty good, maybe Sony should connect A to B on this one.

skeldare

Dehumanized wrote: »

160k Vitas, eh? That's pretty good, maybe Sony should connect A to B on this one.

Nah, it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the price it was selling for.

UncleSporky

Well it sure may have had something to do with the great PS+ deal they're running too.

SyphonBlue

UncleSporky wrote: »

Well it sure may have had something to do with the great PS+ deal they're running too.

The Amazon sale was well before the PS+ sale.

skeldare

SyphonBlue wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

Well it sure may have had something to do with the great PS+ deal they're running too.

The Amazon sale was well before the PS+ sale.

I think he means when they started offering PS+ for Vita with free Vita games, which was earlier in the week I believe.

UncleSporky

Yeah. I mean that alone isn't everything but it was a good combo.

Mego Thor

This exactly. AC III bundle and free Vita games for PS+ was too good a deal to pass up.

Kyougu

Yeah, too bad they're now doing the opposite with that 300 dollar bundle.

It may be a decent deal (The year of PS+ alone makes up the price) but 300 dollars is still a lot to throw at a Vita for a lot of people, regardless of value proposition.

cloudeagle

Kyougu wrote: »

Yeah, too bad they're now doing the opposite with that 300 dollar bundle.

It may be a decent deal (The year of PS+ alone makes up the price) but 300 dollars is still a lot to throw at a Vita for a lot of people, regardless of value proposition.

Especially when they're pretty much forced to buy a better memory card.

Warlock82

Wow, that is a good price for all those games. What is the current average you need to hit to get Saints Row?

Henroid

$5.30 for Saints Row 3.

How do you buy the bundle though? Does it have to be through the site or will it show up in Steam?

agoaj

Warlock82 wrote: »

Wow, that is a good price for all those games. What is the current average you need to hit to get Saints Row?

5.34

Stats right now
Total payments: $463,356.35
Purchases #: 86,760
Average purchase: $5.34

Dark Raven X

Henroid wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

$5.30 for Saints Row 3.

How do you buy the bundle though? Does it have to be through the site or will it show up in Steam?

Previous HIBs they emailed you a Steam redemption code for the lot (so you can't part out games you own to gift others)

This one though, no email showed up for me. I had to register an account on the HIB site and then the code showed up in that account.

SyphonBlue

agoaj wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

Wow, that is a good price for all those games. What is the current average you need to hit to get Saints Row?

5.34

Stats right now
Total payments: $463,356.35
Purchases #: 86,760
Average purchase: $5.34

half a mil already

damn

Henroid

Dark Raven X wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

$5.30 for Saints Row 3.

How do you buy the bundle though? Does it have to be through the site or will it show up in Steam?

Previous HIBs they emailed you a Steam redemption code for the lot (so you can't part out games you own to gift others)

This one though, no email showed up for me. I had to register an account on the HIB site and then the code showed up in that account.

That is too much trouble for me, even if I can get shit for a dollar.

slash000

You pay less than average and you get 1 code for all the games except for Saint's Row.

If you pay above average you get 1 code for all the games except Saint's Row and another separate code for Saint's Row.

Skull2185

SyphonBlue wrote: »

agoaj wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

Wow, that is a good price for all those games. What is the current average you need to hit to get Saints Row?

5.34

Stats right now
Total payments: $463,356.35
Purchases #: 86,760
Average purchase: $5.34

half a mil already

damn

I know right? With 13 days to go! I hope people are not being too stingy towards THQ though. Bought a bundle for my brother for Xmas with all the proceeds going to THQ, and another bundle tha I gave away on the forums using the default money dispersal option.

cloudeagle

Well, this is certainly a cultural milestone: the Museum of Modern Art in New York is putting together a permanent exhibit on interactive design in video games.

Antonelli went on to write that not only are video games art, “but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe.” The video games selected will fit in with the museum's already extensive collection of interactive design highlighting “one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity.”

The 14 titles already in the permanent exhibit are Pac-Man, Tetris, Another World, Myst, SimCity 2000, vib-ribbon, The Sims, Katamari Damacy, EVE Online, Dwarf Fortress, Portal, flOw, Passage, and Canabalt. There are also plans to add 26 additional games to its collection, including Spacewar!, Pong, Snake, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, M.U.L.E., Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter II, Chrono Trigger, Animal Crossing, and Minecraft. (At least MoMA has better taste than Time.) “Because of the tight filter we apply to any category of objects in MoMA's collection, our selection does not include some immensely popular video games that might have seemed like no-brainers to video game historians," wrote Antonelli.

The video games were chosen using four main criteria: The behavior designers prompt from the players, aesthetics, time spent in the game, and space, which is described as “an architecture that is planned, designed, and constructed according to a precise program, sometimes pushing technology to its limits in order to create brand new degrees of expressive and spatial freedom.”

MoMa's acquisition comes on the heels of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's six-month exhibit on “The Art of Video Games,” which included a few of the titles acquired by MoMa.

The display of the fist 14 video games will be ready in March 2013. MoMa will either create videos or “interactive experiences” or, if the game is short enough, allow patrons to play them in their entirety. So maybe arcades aren’t entirely a thing of the past—we’ll just have to visit museums to see them.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/29/moma_acquires_14_video_games_including_tetris_simcity_2000_and_more_for.html

Not to get into discussions of lists or anything, but that's a damned fine list of arty and interesting video games. If you're interested in their approach and methodology, go here:

http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

Elvenshae

Heh heh. Dwarf Fortress. If anything belongs on that list, it's DF.

Warlock82

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for

I don't even know what to say about this.... somehow this humble bundle is evil because it's Steam-only and not indie? What? /boggle

skeldare

Warlock82 wrote: »

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for

I don't even know what to say about this.... somehow this humble bundle is evil because it's Steam-only and not indie? What? /boggle

Are humble bundles required to be Indie games only or something?

Couscous

Dehumanized wrote: »

160k Vitas, eh? That's pretty good, maybe Sony should connect A to B on this one.

It was obviously bundles and not the price cut that increased sales from pathetic to OK!

Kryhs

Sounds like the writer has something against Steam specifically too. If I own a game for the PC it's either Blizzard made or on Steam. I want Steam for all of my HIB games, and it sounds like ~$500,000 agree with me.

urahonky

Yeah I bought 3 packs (all above average) and gave the money to THQ.

Henroid

cloudeagle wrote: »

Well, this is certainly a cultural milestone: the Museum of Modern Art in New York is putting together a permanent exhibit on interactive design in video games.

Antonelli went on to write that not only are video games art, “but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe.” The video games selected will fit in with the museum's already extensive collection of interactive design highlighting “one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity.”

The 14 titles already in the permanent exhibit are Pac-Man, Tetris, Another World, Myst, SimCity 2000, vib-ribbon, The Sims, Katamari Damacy, EVE Online, Dwarf Fortress, Portal, flOw, Passage, and Canabalt. There are also plans to add 26 additional games to its collection, including Spacewar!, Pong, Snake, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, M.U.L.E., Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter II, Chrono Trigger, Animal Crossing, and Minecraft. (At least MoMA has better taste than Time.) “Because of the tight filter we apply to any category of objects in MoMA's collection, our selection does not include some immensely popular video games that might have seemed like no-brainers to video game historians," wrote Antonelli.

The video games were chosen using four main criteria: The behavior designers prompt from the players, aesthetics, time spent in the game, and space, which is described as “an architecture that is planned, designed, and constructed according to a precise program, sometimes pushing technology to its limits in order to create brand new degrees of expressive and spatial freedom.”

MoMa's acquisition comes on the heels of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's six-month exhibit on “The Art of Video Games,” which included a few of the titles acquired by MoMa.

The display of the fist 14 video games will be ready in March 2013. MoMa will either create videos or “interactive experiences” or, if the game is short enough, allow patrons to play them in their entirety. So maybe arcades aren’t entirely a thing of the past—we’ll just have to visit museums to see them.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/29/moma_acquires_14_video_games_including_tetris_simcity_2000_and_more_for.html

Not to get into discussions of lists or anything, but that's a damned fine list of arty and interesting video games. If you're interested in their approach and methodology, go here:

http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/11/29/video-games-14-in-the-collection-for-starters/

That is the most thought-provoking list of video games I've seen ever. The initial 14 I mean. Well fucking done MOMA.

Warlock82

skeldare wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for

I don't even know what to say about this.... somehow this humble bundle is evil because it's Steam-only and not indie? What? /boggle

Are humble bundles required to be Indie games only or something?

I don't see why they would. It sounds to me like one of those "evil big corporate mega-games are evil and indie games are pure and good and the best thing ever" arguments.

Skull2185

Warlock82 wrote: »

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for

I don't even know what to say about this.... somehow this humble bundle is evil because it's Steam-only and not indie? What? /boggle

Ew... a little bit disappoint in Kuchera on that one. I like how he seems to take issue with this bundle, but says he's still going to buy it anyway.

Dark Raven X

Huh. I don't think I've ever disagreed with something Kuchera's written before. Dude generally seems to know what's up. His distaste for this bundle is perplexing.

Also dunno if any Vita doomsayers have mentioned yet;

The EU release schedule is

12/07 Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
02/22 Persona 4 Golden

Meanwhile in Japan

11/29 Aabs Animals
Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua]
Power Smash 4 (Sega the Best)
Samurai & Dragons
Totori no Atelier Plus: Arland
12/05 NAX Music Player
12/13 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2013
12/20 AKB1/149: Love Election
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
Spy Hunter
Suugaku Rikiou: Shokyuu Naka-1-
Suugaku Rikiou: Shokyuu Naka-2-
Suugaku Rikiou: Shokyuu Naka-3-
01/17 WRC 3
01/24 Demon Gaze
Genkai Totsuki Monster Monpiece
NextRev: Chuushoukigyou Shindan
NextRev: Chuushoukigyou Shindan
Sakura-Sou no Pet na Kanojo
01/31 PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

urahonky

That's how I feel about the 3DS here too. So many good games on the 3DS in Japan... But the US? We have a few.

lowlylowlycook

Kuchera often writes interesting stuff but I think there should be a 24 hour pause before his articles get posted so he can decide if he really wants to say some of these things after a good nights rest.

Also the average indie dev is probably in a better financial situation than THQ.

I needed anime to post.

Warlock82 wrote: »

skeldare wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for

I don't even know what to say about this.... somehow this humble bundle is evil because it's Steam-only and not indie? What? /boggle

Are humble bundles required to be Indie games only or something?

I don't see why they would. It sounds to me like one of those "evil big corporate mega-games are evil and indie games are pure and good and the best thing ever" arguments.

It feels like there's something ironic about taking a stance against corporations and talking about "damaging a brand" in the same breath.