As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Video Game Industry Thread: Master Chief -- script delivery boy

1666769717296

Posts

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    God damn look how beautiful this is:

    DSCF9199.jpg

    Jealousy... rising...

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Currently?

    I'm not counting previous failures.

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    God damn look how beautiful this is:

    DSCF9199.jpg

    Jealousy... rising...

    Sadly, Virtual On is nearly impossible to play without one of those or the Dreamcast version. I have Virtual On for the DC and it is is Godawful with a regular controller.

    It's a shame that, for all of its cutting edge features in other areas, the Dreamcast's controller was at best average for its time and at worst somewhat retrograde.

    Gaslight on
  • TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    God damn look how beautiful this is:

    DSCF9199.jpg

    Jealousy... rising...

    Sadly, Virtual On is nearly impossible to play without one of those or the Dreamcast version. I have Virtual On for the DC and it is is Godawful with a regular controller.

    It's a shame that, for all of its cutting edge features in other areas, the Dreamcast's controller was at best average for its time and at worst somewhat retrograde.

    I played the saturn version for years with a standard (model 2) saturn pad and never had a problem. The twin sticks are a huge upgrade, but I don't think the game is unplayable without them.

    As for the dreamcast controller, it basically was the Sega Saturn 3D pad:

    saturn_b.jpg

    dc.jpg

    They even have a detachable input port in the same spot, at the top of each (the controller cord detaches on the saturn version, revealing a VMU-looking slot). The saturn pad is better, though, except for the actual analog stick. The DC analog stick blows the saturn's away, which feels more like an analog nub attached to a self-centering trackball. Beyond that, every bit of the saturn pad feels better.

    On the subject of the twin sticks and virtual on, I always thought that a Dragonball Z game made using those controls would have been awesome. The way I play Virtual On basically looks like a dragonball Z fight anyways - lots of dashing left and right in the air, throwing rapid fire small fireballs on the go, stopping to unleash big charged fireballs, etc.

  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    Saturn 3D pad had six face buttons (as did quite a number of early 3rd party DC pads) so it wins outright.

    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    Saturn 3D pad had six face buttons (as did quite a number of early 3rd party DC pads) so it wins outright.

    Just like how the saturn SDK has always had support for 4 additional analog axises that didn't exist on the actual controller (until the 3D pad came about), the dreamcast SDK has support for 2 additional buttons not on the normal DC controller - Z and C. In fact, most 3rd party controllers mapped those 2 additional face buttons to Z and C, and some games, like Marvel vs Capcom, will even read those buttons normally (i.e. if you press a button mapped to Z on a controller, it'll read as Z on the options menu).

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    I have a Dreamcast fight pad like this one. It works well for its intended purpose, aside from feeling cheap and being a little too thick for my hand comfort. Six face buttons, obviously, but in exchange it has no triggers or shoulder buttons, and really won't work on anything except fighting games - the two additional face buttons aren't recognized at all in place of the missing triggers.

    The main problem with the Dreamcast pad is simply the fact it has only one stick. Sony set the new standard with the DualAnalog/first DualShock. After that, any controller without two sticks was obsolete, pure and simple. And all the other systems of the Dreamcast's generation came out with controllers that had two sticks.

    But yeah, a couple more face buttons wouldn't have hurt a bit, either. I also feel the triggers needed to be about half a inch farther toward the top of the controller as my hands start to cramp up, but that may be just me.

    Gaslight on
  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    This is why I hate Cliffy B. If I'm not mistaken, he's the guy who looked at Mirror's Edge when it was being previewed and said, "Where's the guns and combat? They need to show us more of that." Like he didn't understand that there's more to games than shooting shit and super high res graphics. What an annoying guy he is, I swear.

    Cliffy B: Video gaming's equivalent of Rob Liefield.

    With Love and Courage
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    The Ender wrote: »
    This is why I hate Cliffy B. If I'm not mistaken, he's the guy who looked at Mirror's Edge when it was being previewed and said, "Where's the guns and combat? They need to show us more of that." Like he didn't understand that there's more to games than shooting shit and super high res graphics. What an annoying guy he is, I swear.

    Cliffy B: Video gaming's equivalent of Rob Liefield.

    Heh, not even close. Epic can design feet and don't have an obsession with pouches. Plus, you know, that whole conistant artstyle thing.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I don't actively dislike Cliffy B, but I do blame him (perhaps inadvertently) stirring the whole "Consoles are killing gaming, man..." crowd--specifically, the faction that is angry at what they consider a lack of visual advancement. I personally call them the "Crysis Crowd"--since Crysis could negatively be called "overwhelming flash, very little substance" (that's unfair to the game, I acknowledge, even though I'd be very reluctant to give it much praise outside of the graphics and mod-friendliness departments).

    Ultra-high textures are a labor of love (and modders). Fix the other goddamn problems with your game. Mass Effect 3 could have had an engine that required twice the RAM our consoles, and had textures four times the size, but it wouldn't have fixed the fucking bugs, substandard animation work and bad design decisions. That has nothing to do with power (even the matter of animations) and is all your fault.

    Cliffy B is pretty typical of that problem, bah. Can't ratchet up visuals any further? Then fix the rest of your game's problems in the meantime!

    (Though, I suppose ironically, my experience with the GoW series has been largely bug-free.)
    The problem with the RAM isn't textures (though the textures and addition of AA did make mirror's edge practically a different game), it's level design and scale. To take one of the other games you mentioned, look at the 'evolution' of the level design from Mass Effect 1 to 2, and 3. The presidium was this great big open area in 1, with plenty of quests that didn't involve chest high walls. Then the city hubs become like a tenth the size, with twice the loading zones between them. And then in 3, you only have like 1 or two interactable NPCs per area, and they're smaller still.

    Also, you should feel bad about trolling with that the crysis gameplay comment when you know better

    Spoit on
    steam_sig.png
  • TDawgTDawg Registered User regular
    A sort of odd question that doesn't warrant its own topic, so I figured it belonged here the most:

    When games go on sale, how little money does the developer get? For example, I recently bought Solatorobo off of Amazon for ~$15, and it is really fun, but I have heard that there probably won't be a sequel due to poor sales in America, which really breaks my heart, and I am wondering if my contribution was actually much of a contribution at all? Or did the developer get nothing, while the retailer recoups their cost? I traditionally have held the opinion that, with games, I vote with my dollar, and when I am not buying my standard Mario/Zelda/Pokemon fare, I try to find developers that do interesting but less marketable games, so this is actually of some importance to me.

    NNID: ohnoTom || 3DS: 1762-3198-2019 || Steam || Take My Good Pokemon
    Let's Plays of Japanese Games
  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    I thought the dev gets their pay up front, when Amazon buys the bulk stock off them. How a retailer prices it from there makes no difference to em.

    Oh brilliant
  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    I always thought the developer gets paid X dollars by the publisher to make Game A, then whatever the publisher makes in selling Game A is theirs alone. Sometimes there are bonuses for the developers in place for positive review scores or high sales numbers.

    So the developers are paid no matter what the game sells, but any future games hinge on whether their games make the publisher any money.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    TDawg wrote: »
    A sort of odd question that doesn't warrant its own topic, so I figured it belonged here the most:

    When games go on sale, how little money does the developer get? For example, I recently bought Solatorobo off of Amazon for ~$15, and it is really fun, but I have heard that there probably won't be a sequel due to poor sales in America, which really breaks my heart, and I am wondering if my contribution was actually much of a contribution at all? Or did the developer get nothing, while the retailer recoups their cost? I traditionally have held the opinion that, with games, I vote with my dollar, and when I am not buying my standard Mario/Zelda/Pokemon fare, I try to find developers that do interesting but less marketable games, so this is actually of some importance to me.
    Retailers by the game at a merchant price, which they try to recoup + make profit by selling it for a retail (or higher) price. If the game doesn't sell, they'll start knocking the price down on it as SOME money made on the product is better than none. So to answer your question, the develooper already recieved as its cut of that copy you bought (if they get one at all, depending on what thier contract with thier publisher says) when the retailer bought it.

    While that means you buying it at a discount didn't hurt the company itself, the issue comes when the game doesn't sell enough that those copies sit on shelves long enough to be discounted to that level: a copy that isn't sold is a copy that isn't getting replaced by the retailer. Poor sales aren't about getting low returns on the games, it's mostly about not selling copies at all.

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Who is this Cliffy B person, and it's there a Cliffy A?

    steam_sig.png
  • TDawgTDawg Registered User regular
    Thanks for the insight, everyone. Still an issue, because the retailers won't be as willing to stock the merchandise, and probably more limited runs, but not impending doom.

    NNID: ohnoTom || 3DS: 1762-3198-2019 || Steam || Take My Good Pokemon
    Let's Plays of Japanese Games
  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    Who is this Cliffy B person, and it's there a Cliffy A?

    Cliffy A did artistic games and was very humble.

    Cliffy B shot him in the fucking face.

    Rehab on
    NNID: Rehab0
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Rehab wrote: »
    Cliffy A did artistic games and was very humble.

    Cliffy B shot him in the fucking face.

    Kindly edit your post and add in a quote of Smrtnik's insightfully lucid question so that I may report the exchange for awesome in a neat, self-contained package.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    Back on topic, Cliffy B unveils his inner Jack Black.
    Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski has sounded off concerning his hopes for future-generation consoles. Speaking with GameSpot at PAX East 2012 last week, the developer said he wants a leap in visual fidelity to be a big part of next-gen systems.

    "Face-melting graphics," he said. "I really want our next-generation consoles to pass what I call the 'Mom Test.' So that if you were to show this console and games to your mom, she would be like, 'Wow, that clearly looks better than your last console.' And it's an essential step that needs to be taken by both Sony and Microsoft."

    Bleszinski also noted that he hopes future-generation consoles require users to be constantly connected to the Internet.

    "Always-connected consoles that basically require an Internet connection. So that I can just wake up in the morning and say, 'Oh a new demo has been downloaded on my hard drive, so I can check it out.' As well as considering streaming gaming from the cloud, which would be very nice."

    Finally, Bleszinski noted his admiration for motion controls and reiterated a rumor that a future-generation Xbox could sport a built-in Kinect.

    "The other things I want to see are gesture-based controls," he said. "I think Kinect is quite cool, and I'm a big fan of using Kinect to control movies with Netflix. Maybe it will be built in [to a future generation Xbox], maybe it won't. We'll have to see what actually comes out of that."

    http://www.gamespot.com/news/face-melting-graphics-needed-for-next-gen-says-gears-of-war-dev-6371569

    Sounds like he's not too bitter about Gears of Kinect not working out.

    This is why I hate Cliffy B. If I'm not mistaken, he's the guy who looked at Mirror's Edge when it was being previewed and said, "Where's the guns and combat? They need to show us more of that." Like he didn't understand that there's more to games than shooting shit and super high res graphics. What an annoying guy he is, I swear.

    That sounds hilarious. Got a link?

    I don't sadly. I heard this from the Idle Thumbs podcast, it was either Nick or Chris who pointed it out, but they don't pull shit out of their ass with regard to quoting people. I'm still not sure if it was Cliffy B who said that of Mirror's Edge but it fits his M.O. He's like the college frat boy video game developer.

  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Cliffy B wrote:
    I think Mirror's Edge will be great, too, but they're showing me too much parkour, I want to see the gunplay. I hope it's not all just running and jumping. As long as there's something chasing me...even Mario had Goombas, you know?

    -SPI- on
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    Eh, that's not all that outrageous to say. He's right, if the game were just running and jumping with no pressure to move and to keep the flow going it wouldn't have mattered how pretty they made the parkour. Yeah, the comment about gunplay sounds silly knowing the theme of the game, but come on. If you showed a hunter or a gun nut a game about outdoor survival that didn't have guns, you couldn't really blame them for asking about it. It's kind of their wheelhouse and what they think of when they see something up their ally. He saw what was ostensibly an FPS, which has been his thing for ages; it makes sense he'd just immediately assume there was gunplay.

    Then again I actively dislike Mirror's Edge so whatever.

    It just seems pretty petty to point to a guy who is known to make a very specific type of game, and make it well, as "everything that is wrong with the industry". That's a load of crap. Just because you don't like his style or personal brand of gameplay, doesn't make him the epitome of problems in the industry.

    In fact he has little to do with the actual problems in the industry, that are more related to executive decisions than anything to do with an individual developers game designs. There's a reason some games are referred to as "gears of war clones" and whatnot. CliffyB didn't go and force everyone to copy what he did; what he did worked well enough to make other developers and companies try to copy his success.

    You might not like the constant hammering in of the buzz cut tough space marine; but apparently customers do, and its an easy go-to as a theme. This, as a problem, doesn't lie on him, and it's pretty petty to try to assign blame to him.

    It feels really weird defending cliffyb because I don't really care for the guy that much, but that is due to his massive ego and generally coming across as a douche. I just think that things being said are pretty unreasonable.

    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Rehab wrote: »
    Cliffy A did artistic games and was very humble.

    Cliffy B shot him in the fucking face.

    Kindly edit your post and add in a quote of Smrtnik's insightfully lucid question so that I may report the exchange for awesome in a neat, self-contained package.

    There you are sir, since you asked so politely.

    Rehab on
    NNID: Rehab0
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Huh....
    The Original Creators Of Space Quest Are Working On A New Sci-fi Adventure Game

    Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, the men behind the Space Quest adventure games, are getting back together to create a new game.

    That's about as far as they have gotten so far, deciding to make a game, but it's a start. Right now they're just looking for social media support by putting together a slightly unsettling video of them with pig noses talking about their history and their hopes for their next game.

    Check out the video below.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJZ40U5PSXw&feature=player_embedded#!

    Another old series coming back. Is this just a massive coattails thing? The Double Fine thing, Wasteland, Shadowrun... lots all at once. I worry about overloading these revivals enough that people stop caring.


    Although as much as I love Space Quest, I'd punch several babies for a new Quest for Glory so long as it allowed imported save games...

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    I love Mirror's Edge, but Cliff is right, it needed the chase sequences that it had

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    -SPI- wrote: »
    Cliffy B wrote:
    I think Mirror's Edge will be great, too, but they're showing me too much parkour, I want to see the gunplay. I hope it's not all just running and jumping. As long as there's something chasing me...even Mario had Goombas, you know?

    God I hate that man.

  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Huh....
    The Original Creators Of Space Quest Are Working On A New Sci-fi Adventure Game

    Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, the men behind the Space Quest adventure games, are getting back together to create a new game.

    That's about as far as they have gotten so far, deciding to make a game, but it's a start. Right now they're just looking for social media support by putting together a slightly unsettling video of them with pig noses talking about their history and their hopes for their next game.

    Check out the video below.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJZ40U5PSXw&feature=player_embedded#!

    Another old series coming back. Is this just a massive coattails thing? The Double Fine thing, Wasteland, Shadowrun... lots all at once. I worry about overloading these revivals enough that people stop caring.


    Although as much as I love Space Quest, I'd punch several babies for a new Quest for Glory so long as it allowed imported save games...

    It's not SpaceQuest (at the moment). They don't have the license yet and there seem to be other problems that came up judging from comments.

  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    Who is this Cliffy B person, and it's there a Cliffy A?

    This cheered me up.

    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • OptyOpty Registered User regular
    Allforce wrote: »
    I always thought the developer gets paid X dollars by the publisher to make Game A, then whatever the publisher makes in selling Game A is theirs alone. Sometimes there are bonuses for the developers in place for positive review scores or high sales numbers.

    So the developers are paid no matter what the game sells, but any future games hinge on whether their games make the publisher any money.
    Sometimes publishers require the game make back all of the publisher's money before the developer sees a cent.

  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Allforce wrote: »
    I always thought the developer gets paid X dollars by the publisher to make Game A, then whatever the publisher makes in selling Game A is theirs alone. Sometimes there are bonuses for the developers in place for positive review scores or high sales numbers.

    So the developers are paid no matter what the game sells, but any future games hinge on whether their games make the publisher any money.

    And this is important since usually devs don't actually have any other kind of income. So, if they don't have any other contract work as soon as the project ends they are basically screwed already, No safety net.

    C2B on
  • TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    i just bought a modded saturn off of ebay, along with shiningforce 3 sc 2 and 3. I usually refuse modded classic consoles, but this is an exception. now, over a decade after i got the original shining force 3 on discount at eb games, i'm gonna be able to play the rest of the story in english.

    I recently replayed sf3 after beating fft on my psp and i had forgotten how different the two srpgs are. i much prefer shining forces emphasis on grouping and positioning over fft's emphasis on stats and army building. i cant wait.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    -SPI- wrote: »
    Cliffy B wrote:
    I think Mirror's Edge will be great, too, but they're showing me too much parkour, I want to see the gunplay. I hope it's not all just running and jumping. As long as there's something chasing me...even Mario had Goombas, you know?

    God I hate that man.

    I dunno, chases are exciting. That's why playing chase is so fun when you're a kid.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • plufimplufim Dr Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    EA about to layoff 500-1000 employees.
    http://startupgrind.com/2012/04/exclusive-electronic-arts-set-to-lay-off-500-employees/
    Exclusive: I’ve confirmed from multiple sources within Electronic Arts that the company is planning to layoff 500-1,000 people as soon as this week. As of March 31 public numbers, that represents between 5%-11% of total company employees. The layoffs were originally set for last Monday (4/9), but they were pushed back and we’ve confirmed they’re coming very soon.
    Oh man, remember that brief period when everyone liked EA again?

    plufim on
    3DS 0302-0029-3193 NNID plufim steam plufim PSN plufim
    steam_sig.png
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    The gun combat was ironically the worst aspect of Mirrors Edge: The running and jumping stuff in time trial mode was basically the best part of the game.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    I don't think that's ironic. I think that was entirely the point.

    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • OptyOpty Registered User regular
    Yeah, the fighting really ruined the game for me. Every time combat happened the game screeched to a halt and you were forced to use a clumsy hand-to-hand system and/or crappy shooting. Most everyone who's sung its praises to me talked up the time trial mode which I assume has no enemies acting as brick walls so I can see how it'd be much more fun. Too bad after beating the single player I stopped wanting to play it (not being able to put it into windowed mode was the main culprit there though).

  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    plufim wrote: »
    EA about to layoff 500-1000 employees.
    http://startupgrind.com/2012/04/exclusive-electronic-arts-set-to-lay-off-500-employees/
    Exclusive: I’ve confirmed from multiple sources within Electronic Arts that the company is planning to layoff 500-1,000 people as soon as this week. As of March 31 public numbers, that represents between 5%-11% of total company employees. The layoffs were originally set for last Monday (4/9), but they were pushed back and we’ve confirmed they’re coming very soon.
    Oh man, remember that brief period when everyone liked EA again?

    Thats called PR

    Also
    After a brief resurgence, EA has had a rough year with Star Wars not matching lofty internal expectations, an expensive Popcap acquisition, a CFO departure, and being recently named the worst company in America.

    While it looked like a possible banner year, over stretching on several fronts led to a disappointing fiscal year. Estimates put Battlefield 3 sales around 13MM units, the company ‘chased’ the launch dumping an estimated $30MM into incremental marketing after the game launched according to one source within EA. The same thing was done for Star Wars to extend its run and try to improve sales. Star Wars sell through is estimated to now be around 3MM units, but the subscriptions which are needed for an MMO to payoff are already declining.

    I can't help but laugh. Then be sad. Then laugh again. Seriously what budget fuckery makes 13M sales of a full price game *disappointing*.

    EA: how to be successful and screw up at the same time.

    C2B on
  • EVOLEVOL Registered User regular
    Well, they spent $30m into marketing alone. That says a lot.

  • SigtyrSigtyr Registered User regular
    When you're trying to match cawadoody sales it's disappointing.

    It probably would have matched it if it didn't use Origin and was sold on Steam. But hey, it's not like activision uses steam to sell it's Call of Duty games, right?

  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    Would PC gamers really have made up the difference there? I find that very difficult to believe, given that the reason cowaduty sells gangbusters has nothing to do with the PC and everything to do with the Xbox crowd buying it year after year. Even so, I find it incredible that EA can remotely call a game that sells 13 million copies a failure: But they also regarded Medal of Honor (a second tier FPS game IMO) a failure for selling around 4 million dollars.

    Didn't Syndicate barely sell 200,000 copies or something similar? That's a failure. Selling 4 million plus units, that's not a failure unless you have seriously stupid expectations. Minding, this is EA.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • surrealitychecksurrealitycheck lonely, but not unloved dreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    the combat in mirrors edge is actually fine once you know whats going on, especially if you are willing to disarm the right enemies and shoot while moving/wallrunning/jumping

    you can basically matrix it up if you want to

    surrealitycheck on
    obF2Wuw.png
This discussion has been closed.