The Wii is doing what most systems do at the end of their life cycle. I never understand why analysts act all surprised about this. The very niche couple of RPGs will not have the power to give the Wii a huge final bump.
But yea, the gaming scene is pretty bad right now. Doom and all.
Sarcasm? PC gaming is having a blast right now.
I cant think of any PC game that came out recently, outside of CK2, that isn't just a console port. So what is this 'Blast' one speaks of?
Legend of Grimrock, an old-school dungeon blobber, is rocking out right now (sooo worth checking out!). The Witchiest Witcher just go a massive free update in the from an enhanced edition (CD Projekt are good to their peeps). The indie scene is making a good showing in general (Sword & Sworcery, Avernum:Escape from the Pit).
Near future: Dark Souls is getting a pc edition (this is a miracle in itself, who gives a shit about GFWL), Borderlands 2 is aiming to cater to the PC crowd in all forms, Diablo 3 is around the corner (I'm not personally a fan, but you have to admit it's going to be a bit of an event...Torchlight 2 will also be there for the rest of us), Risen 2 is on the horizon (took em long enough).
So yeah, as a pc gamer and an rpg fan I'm smiling all the way.
So a game that's been hugely represented on consoles/handhelds lately, witcher which got released on consoles the same time as the enhanced edition (It was, in fact, probably the point of it.), indie scene (Which are great, mind. Shame all the best ones like Journey dont come out on PC.) and a mobile game.
So, basically, yeah, nothing really super going on in PC land that isn't happening elsewhere. It's just we don't get to see PC sales oft times because they are mostly digital. I'd really love to see sale data on actual PC releases. I think it'd be enlightening.
Since ME, there just really hasnt been any decent releases. Even prior to that, there was nothing particularly huge. Slump period I guess.
Actually, the Shogun standalone expansion pack came out just last month and got really good reviews. Also, ME3 just came out in March so who care if there hasn't been any big releases since then - Diablo 3 comes out next month and that's as big as they come.
And seriously, you want to start an argument that the best indie games aren't on PC? Just off the top of my head, this year the PC has gotten Legend of Grimrock, Dear Esther, Dustforce, and Lone Survivor - all of which are critically acclaimed indie games. And if you want to get technical, Journey isn't even an indie game (it's published and funded by Sony).
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft--and Halo fans, myself included--dodged a tremendous landmine? Or at least a pretty big one?
I loved the promotion videos for 3 that came out of the Discovery Channel (I believe) but I'm left wondering if Microsoft inadvertently spared fans the displeasure of watching another video game genre get another shit treatment from a studio with very much its own plans in mind, the cool look of District 9 aside. Even if it was just their own inexperience with negotiating with Hollywood and their expectation of transparency that did it.
To quote Giantbomb, "NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE A GUY WHO WEARS A HELMET THE WHOLE TIME WITH NO EXPRESSION AS THE CENTRAL LEAD. THAT IS NOT A FILM. FIX IT!"
Synthesis on
0
Options
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Well, that's why they demanded full creative control over the project, which helped to to kill the deal to begin with.
Then maybe not so inadvertent. But still, better than the alternative, in my mind.
Or maybe I've just watched too many video game film adaptations that were total shit.
EDIT: @AZChristopher summed it up well too. Battleship is a thing. We're well past the point where Hollywood is fucking over too many video game adaptations. If anything, the number should be smaller. If they did it unintentionally, it's telling in its own way. But if it means they keep Halo from getting the Prince of Persia treatment, Microsoft absolutely did the right thing.
MS playing ball and saying, "Here's the IP. Do whatever the fuck you want with it, we're going to get shitfaced in the bar next door," is the bad outcome, even if it includes a film.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
The Wii is doing what most systems do at the end of their life cycle. I never understand why analysts act all surprised about this. The very niche couple of RPGs will not have the power to give the Wii a huge final bump.
But yea, the gaming scene is pretty bad right now. Doom and all.
Sarcasm? PC gaming is having a blast right now.
I cant think of any PC game that came out recently, outside of CK2, that isn't just a console port. So what is this 'Blast' one speaks of?
Legend of Grimrock, an old-school dungeon blobber, is rocking out right now (sooo worth checking out!). The Witchiest Witcher just go a massive free update in the from an enhanced edition (CD Projekt are good to their peeps). The indie scene is making a good showing in general (Sword & Sworcery, Avernum:Escape from the Pit).
Near future: Dark Souls is getting a pc edition (this is a miracle in itself, who gives a shit about GFWL), Borderlands 2 is aiming to cater to the PC crowd in all forms, Diablo 3 is around the corner (I'm not personally a fan, but you have to admit it's going to be a bit of an event...Torchlight 2 will also be there for the rest of us), Risen 2 is on the horizon (took em long enough).
So yeah, as a pc gamer and an rpg fan I'm smiling all the way.
So a game that's been hugely represented on consoles/handhelds lately, witcher which got released on consoles the same time as the enhanced edition (It was, in fact, probably the point of it.), indie scene (Which are great, mind. Shame all the best ones like Journey dont come out on PC.) and a mobile game.
So, basically, yeah, nothing really super going on in PC land that isn't happening elsewhere. It's just we don't get to see PC sales oft times because they are mostly digital. I'd really love to see sale data on actual PC releases. I think it'd be enlightening.
Since ME, there just really hasnt been any decent releases. Even prior to that, there was nothing particularly huge. Slump period I guess.
Actually, the Shogun standalone expansion pack came out just last month and got really good reviews. Also, ME3 just came out in March so who care if there hasn't been any big releases since then - Diablo 3 comes out next month and that's as big as they come.
And seriously, you want to start an argument that the best indie games aren't on PC? Just off the top of my head, this year the PC has gotten Legend of Grimrock, Dear Esther, Dustforce, and Lone Survivor - all of which are critically acclaimed indie games. And if you want to get technical, Journey isn't even an indie game (it's published and funded by Sony).
This generation of consoles has been all about ports really. Aside from the Wii, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are basically simplified proprietary PC machines. The technology in xbox, ps3, and pc are so similar that porting is easier than ever to accomplish. It's all just a matter of properly porting a game.
I get the feeling that Microsoft's experience with the Halo movie will pretty much keep them from trying again for a loooong time.
Does anyone know if the Halo animated thing sold worth a damn at all? I swear that thing just vanished without a trace. If it did, that's probably another nail in the coffin.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Silent Hill, the Mortal Kombats, Street Fighter, the Resident Evils. And of course all the random no-name games that Uwe Boll got his hands on.
We've yet to get a genuinely good video game movie. Which is part of why I'm excited about Wreck-It Ralph.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Also, DOOM. I liked it, the FPS sequence gave me a good chuckle.
Max Payne was a fucking travesty. I suppose Uwe Boll's abortions count as VG films...
I didn't know we were getting another Silent Hill movie, that's pretty cool. I thought the first one was good.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Just how many video game->movie adaptations have there even been? All I can think of is Super Mario Brothers (may it forever live on in infamy), Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia (which I heard wasn't awful, just mediocre).
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Max Payne was pretty decent, and for all the misgivings people have with Silent Hill, it absolutely nailed the aesthetic of the games. And again, if Jackson and Blomkamp had been allowed to produce/direct at will, Halo would've been sensational.
Then maybe not so inadvertent. But still, better than the alternative, in my mind.
Or maybe I've just watched too many video game film adaptations that were total shit.
EDIT: @AZChristopher summed it up well too. Battleship is a thing. We're well past the point where Hollywood is fucking over too many video game adaptations. If anything, the number should be smaller. If they did it unintentionally, it's telling in its own way. But if it means they keep Halo from getting the Prince of Persia treatment, Microsoft absolutely did the right thing.
MS playing ball and saying, "Here's the IP. Do whatever the fuck you want with it, we're going to get shitfaced in the bar next door," is the bad outcome, even if it includes a film.
Prince of Persia wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. Same with Silent Hill.
Hitman was direct-to-video material, but not the worse thing ever. Certainly no Street Fighter.
Hah, I checked Uwe Boll's Wikipedia page. Didn't he say he was done with video game movies? Well, he lied and he's doing another one. A movie for a game series with a reputation so gigantic, the fans have been constantly begging for a movie version. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
I get the feeling that Microsoft's experience with the Halo movie will pretty much keep them from trying again for a loooong time.
Does anyone know if the Halo animated thing sold worth a damn at all? I swear that thing just vanished without a trace. If it did, that's probably another nail in the coffin.
It sound decently well for being a bunch of separately-made animated shorts for a video game.
Which means it sold more then 10 copies, in all likelihood. I own it on BR, some are better than others, some boring ones and some very good ones.
Oh and those awesome gritty Halo 3 promotion videos? The articles says those were from the director making the movie.
So yeah for it being scrapped because Fox would have ruined it but all the great Halo live action trailers since seem to mirror the vision of what the Director wanted.
AZChristopher on
0
Options
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia has a more-or-less comprehensive list. Also not surprisingly are the Rottentomatoes scores for the big(ish) Hollywood releases (where the most critically successful film was the Final Fantasy movie). Japan does love all their OAVs and shit though.
Though, of all the videogame->film franchises, I would've never guessed Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil to go on for so long. They're releasing another movie, jesus.
Off the top of my head, only films produced in the Anglosphere:
Street Fighter*
Double Dragon
Super Mario Brothers
Alone in the Dark
Bloodrayne*
Tekken
The King of Fighters
Prince of Persia
Hitmjan
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Doom
Max Payne
*Multiple films based on the same IP, all horrible.
Those were all pretty terrible, right? Now, some exceptions: the Wing Commander movie wasn't horrible, right? The same could be said about Tomb Raider I guess--it's almost an exception in that it's not totally awful (or at least the first one wasn't). But that's mostly by comparison. Plus, it got Daniel Craig face time. And I think some of the Resident Evil films aren't absolutely godawful if you like Milla Jovovich?
Not terribly encouraging, I'd say. Now, I absolutely know someone is going to come out and tell me Street Fighter with Van Dam was actually a cinematic masterpiece, and they're entitled to that opinion.
(I'm limiting it to English-speaking studios, because that's what we'd be dealing with in Halo, and those produced in Japan (for Japanese games) are, while not good, significantly less horrible. Probably because the original writers and voice talent are almost always called in for this sort of thing, so it actually resembles the game somewhat, which is an idea too stupid to be adopted in the West--the Hitman movie comes to mind.)
Oh and those awesome gritty Halo 3 promotion videos? The articles says those were from the director making the movie.
So yeah for it being scrapped because Fox would have ruined it but all the great Halo live action trailers since seem to mirror the vision of what the Director wanted.
Yeah, they used the props and stuff that WETA had already made while in pre-production, turned out those shorts to promote Halo 3, then Peter Jackson gave him a $30m budget to make District 9.
UPDATE: Codemasters has been in touch to clarify its Codemasters Racing announcement.
Codemasters remains the name of the company. Codemasters Racing is a new label, which launches alongside DiRT Showdown, and will be the home of Codies' racing brands: DiRT, F1 and GRID.
ORIGINAL STORY: Codemasters is no more: meet Codemasters Racing.
The publisher has announced it will rebrand itself from May - and is now only developing racing games. Codemasters Racing is now hard at work on games in the popular F1, GRID and DiRT series.
What does this mean for the Operation Flashpoint and Bodycount series'? Codemasters told Eurogamer today it has no intention to continue with them.
"Racing is the absolute razor focus for all titles currently in development and those slated for future development across the studios in Warwickshire and Birmingham," a spokesperson said.
"The focus is an exclusive one, there are no other genre properties in development at this time; racing is everything. We are also increasing headcount across the operation, which currently employs around 700. We are expanding the teams by a further 100+ development positions, which are opening over the course of the year across the sites."
The move means Operation Flashpoint Red River, which launched on PC and consoles in April 2011, marks the end of the hardcore military shooter series - at least for now.
It's like they'd posted on their facebook page that they were finally admitting they're only doing racing games from now on, everyone went "oh awesome, we're really proud of you for being brave enough to announce this to everyone!" then Codies go "wait what? No, someone was on my page.. you all think we only do racing games?"
darleysam on
0
Options
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited April 2012
Prince of Persia was actually a pretty decent action movie.
Oh and those awesome gritty Halo 3 promotion videos? The articles says those were from the director making the movie.
So yeah for it being scrapped because Fox would have ruined it but all the great Halo live action trailers since seem to mirror the vision of what the Director wanted.
Yeah, they used the props and stuff that WETA had already made while in pre-production, turned out those shorts to promote Halo 3, then Peter Jackson gave him a $30m budget to make District 9.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the main character (or really, any characters--in the small roster of major characters in the first three games) are totally absent from those otherwise very good shorts.
Been a while since we've had the 360 Live sales chart, hasn't it?
LIVE Activity for week of April 9th
Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (based on UU’s)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
FIFA 12
Battlefield 3
Halo: Reach
Modern Warfare 2
Skyrim
Gears of War 3
NBA 2K12
Mass Effect 3
GTA IV
Forza Motorsport 4
NHL12
Madden NFL 12
Halo 3
Saints Row: The Third
Red Dead Redemption
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty: World at War
Sniper Elite V2 DEMO
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
Fez
Skullgirls
I Am Alive
Pinball FX2
Gotham City Impostors
Castle Crashers
Fruit Ninja Kinect
South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge
Trials HD
Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Dungeon Defenders
REAL STEEL
Pinball Arcade
Full House Poker
NBA JAM: On Fire Edition
Peggle
World Gone Sour
Rayman 3 HD
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
The Splatters
Wow, CODBLOPS is still that popular? Interestign to see stuff like GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption too.
Meanwhile Fez and Skullgirls are going like gangbusters. Castle Crashers will never, ever die.
The latest Soulcalibur isn't doing terribly well, I guess. Perhaps that's just the nature of the platform though.
I'm delighted Skullgirls is doing well. I just got Fez last night too. I don't fully get why Ps3 has more of a "fighting game culture" though. But the difference is there.
The Wii is doing what most systems do at the end of their life cycle. I never understand why analysts act all surprised about this. The very niche couple of RPGs will not have the power to give the Wii a huge final bump.
But yea, the gaming scene is pretty bad right now. Doom and all.
Sarcasm? PC gaming is having a blast right now.
As much as I love PC gaming, at least 75% (likely more; being generous) of PC games are console ports. I miss the days of PC exclusive titles like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Simcity. (Which, yes, I'm aware we're getting another one of.)
But the bigger problem is that PC gamers are the most fickle people ever. They bitch every time something isn't sold on or tied into Steam in some way, and even then will often spout off "Yeah, I'll wait for the Steam sale." Which is where they end up buying a game at like a 90% discount and then never end up booting it up anyway.
I can't imagine many developers surviving if their games only sell when they get to iOS-level prices.
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft--and Halo fans, myself included--dodged a tremendous landmine? Or at least a pretty big one?
I loved the promotion videos for 3 that came out of the Discovery Channel (I believe) but I'm left wondering if Microsoft inadvertently spared fans the displeasure of watching another video game genre get another shit treatment from a studio with very much its own plans in mind, the cool look of District 9 aside. Even if it was just their own inexperience with negotiating with Hollywood and their expectation of transparency that did it.
To quote Giantbomb, "NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE A GUY WHO WEARS A HELMET THE WHOLE TIME WITH NO EXPRESSION AS THE CENTRAL LEAD. THAT IS NOT A FILM. FIX IT!"
ODST would have made a fantastic film. A half-dozen interesting characters that like to crack wise and often take their helmets off, unlike Boring Chief and the "we have no personality" crew of Halo: Reach.
The Wii is doing what most systems do at the end of their life cycle. I never understand why analysts act all surprised about this. The very niche couple of RPGs will not have the power to give the Wii a huge final bump.
But yea, the gaming scene is pretty bad right now. Doom and all.
Sarcasm? PC gaming is having a blast right now.
As much as I love PC gaming, at least 75% (likely more; being generous) of PC games are console ports. I miss the days of PC exclusive titles like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Simcity. (Which, yes, I'm aware we're getting another one of.)
But the bigger problem is that PC gamers are the most fickle people ever. They bitch every time something isn't sold on or tied into Steam in some way, and even then will often spout off "Yeah, I'll wait for the Steam sale." Which is where they end up buying a game at like a 90% discount and then never end up booting it up anyway.
I can't imagine many developers surviving if their games only sell when they get to iOS-level prices.
You may not be able to imagine it, but it's still true regardless.
Steam sales are approved by the publishers/developers. Steam sales make more money for these people.
Also, PCs get tons of exclusives. You just need to look in the right genres.
That’s what I mean when I say that games cost too much. Yes, as some have pointed out, game prices have come down considerably since the days of ROM cartridges, when Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo cost $80 in 1994 money ($125 today). The difference is that you didn’t have a choice then. Today there are abundant, cheaper, low-cost alternatives; Steam and iOS have disrupted the market.
Ben Kuchera wrote this week at Penny Arcade about how Steam, the digital game shop for PCs, is fundamentally transforming the way developers think about buying and selling games. “If you launch a game at $20, and the price goes down to $5,” he writes, “you need to sell four times as many games to make the same money, right? Surprisingly, developers see sales an order of magnitude higher than they expected after severely cutting the price of the game after launch. They don’t just sell four times as many games, they may sell 20 times as many, or more.”
Cut out the publisher, cut out the retailer, cut out the hardware maker, make five times the cash.
Skullgirls was the top seller on XBLA last week. I wonder how it's doing on PSN, but it should be doing even better. Being a complete and balanced fighting game for online fifteen dollars might have something to do with it (that's specifically why I got it.) Also, tits.
I doubt Skullgirls is selling better on the PSN. At best, it's selling at parity which would still be impressive since most games on both platforms sell better on XBLA (since it's a more popular platform in general).
In general yes, but Skullgirls was the last straw for me: Fighting games are more popular on Ps3. Yesterday I (grudgingly) ordered a Kitty Board so I can Dual Mod my TE without any soldering and play it on PSN rather than Xbox Live. My brother got a Ps3 specifically for fighting game purposes yesterday as well.
They physically perform equally on both consoles, but it's way easier to get into a game on PSN than Live.
For the record, I didn't understand anything in this post.
The Wii is doing what most systems do at the end of their life cycle. I never understand why analysts act all surprised about this. The very niche couple of RPGs will not have the power to give the Wii a huge final bump.
But yea, the gaming scene is pretty bad right now. Doom and all.
Sarcasm? PC gaming is having a blast right now.
As much as I love PC gaming, at least 75% (likely more; being generous) of PC games are console ports. I miss the days of PC exclusive titles like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Simcity. (Which, yes, I'm aware we're getting another one of.)
But the bigger problem is that PC gamers are the most fickle people ever. They bitch every time something isn't sold on or tied into Steam in some way, and even then will often spout off "Yeah, I'll wait for the Steam sale." Which is where they end up buying a game at like a 90% discount and then never end up booting it up anyway.
I can't imagine many developers surviving if their games only sell when they get to iOS-level prices.
You may not be able to imagine it, but it's still true regardless.
Steam sales are approved by the publishers/developers. Steam sales make more money for these people.
Also, PCs get tons of exclusives. You just need to look in the right genres.
Did the Grimrock developer not state that he recouped his development costs "several times over"?
Making a good game means you will get paid.
The developers of Terraria stated they were a bit shy of doing the steam sale, but were glad they did as well.
I think Mr Zeboyd can say that his 2-game combo being on sale for $1.25 didn't hurt his bottom line either.
That’s what I mean when I say that games cost too much. Yes, as some have pointed out, game prices have come down considerably since the days of ROM cartridges, when Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo cost $80 in 1994 money ($125 today). The difference is that you didn’t have a choice then. Today there are abundant, cheaper, low-cost alternatives; Steam and iOS have disrupted the market.
Ben Kuchera wrote this week at Penny Arcade about how Steam, the digital game shop for PCs, is fundamentally transforming the way developers think about buying and selling games. “If you launch a game at $20, and the price goes down to $5,” he writes, “you need to sell four times as many games to make the same money, right? Surprisingly, developers see sales an order of magnitude higher than they expected after severely cutting the price of the game after launch. They don’t just sell four times as many games, they may sell 20 times as many, or more.”
Cut out the publisher, cut out the retailer, cut out the hardware maker, make five times the cash.
That’s what I mean when I say that games cost too much. Yes, as some have pointed out, game prices have come down considerably since the days of ROM cartridges, when Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo cost $80 in 1994 money ($125 today). The difference is that you didn’t have a choice then. Today there are abundant, cheaper, low-cost alternatives; Steam and iOS have disrupted the market.
Ben Kuchera wrote this week at Penny Arcade about how Steam, the digital game shop for PCs, is fundamentally transforming the way developers think about buying and selling games. “If you launch a game at $20, and the price goes down to $5,” he writes, “you need to sell four times as many games to make the same money, right? Surprisingly, developers see sales an order of magnitude higher than they expected after severely cutting the price of the game after launch. They don’t just sell four times as many games, they may sell 20 times as many, or more.”
Cut out the publisher, cut out the retailer, cut out the hardware maker, make five times the cash.
Why not price it at $5 from the getgo then?
Likely, the perceived impulse buy nature of a $20 game priced at $5, versus a game that's always $5. In the first case, you think you're getting an amazing deal, and in the second case, there's the perception that 'oh, that game's only worth $5, probably not that great'.
Ugh... so, I guess that shitlord who went on a killing spree in Norway a couple months ago is claiming he trained for his rampage by playing Modern Warfare 3 and World of Warcraft.
Greeeeat.
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
0
Options
MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
edited April 2012
Yeah, I mean it seems pretty obvious to me that slapping a big -75% tag onto a game for a limited time creates an impetus to purchase it all on its own because you feel like you're getting a deal.
Ugh... so, I guess that shitlord who went on a killing spree in Norway a couple months ago is claiming he trained for his rampage by playing Modern Warfare 3 and World of Warcraft.
That’s what I mean when I say that games cost too much. Yes, as some have pointed out, game prices have come down considerably since the days of ROM cartridges, when Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo cost $80 in 1994 money ($125 today). The difference is that you didn’t have a choice then. Today there are abundant, cheaper, low-cost alternatives; Steam and iOS have disrupted the market.
Ben Kuchera wrote this week at Penny Arcade about how Steam, the digital game shop for PCs, is fundamentally transforming the way developers think about buying and selling games. “If you launch a game at $20, and the price goes down to $5,” he writes, “you need to sell four times as many games to make the same money, right? Surprisingly, developers see sales an order of magnitude higher than they expected after severely cutting the price of the game after launch. They don’t just sell four times as many games, they may sell 20 times as many, or more.”
Cut out the publisher, cut out the retailer, cut out the hardware maker, make five times the cash.
Why not price it at $5 from the getgo then?
Because you maximize your potential profits. You get money from all the people willing to buy it at $20, then you get money from all the people willing to buy it at $5. I've bought a bunch of stuff on Steam I would have never bought if it hadn't gone on sale.
Skullgirls was the top seller on XBLA last week. I wonder how it's doing on PSN, but it should be doing even better. Being a complete and balanced fighting game for online fifteen dollars might have something to do with it (that's specifically why I got it.) Also, tits.
I doubt Skullgirls is selling better on the PSN. At best, it's selling at parity which would still be impressive since most games on both platforms sell better on XBLA (since it's a more popular platform in general).
In general yes, but Skullgirls was the last straw for me: Fighting games are more popular on Ps3. Yesterday I (grudgingly) ordered a Kitty Board so I can Dual Mod my TE without any soldering and play it on PSN rather than Xbox Live. My brother got a Ps3 specifically for fighting game purposes yesterday as well.
They physically perform equally on both consoles, but it's way easier to get into a game on PSN than Live.
For the record, I didn't understand anything in this post.
presumably you know what fighting games are
a kitty board is a pcb that allows one to make their existing joystick work on both sony and microsoft hardware (as well as other platforms, if desired)
That’s what I mean when I say that games cost too much. Yes, as some have pointed out, game prices have come down considerably since the days of ROM cartridges, when Final Fantasy III on Super Nintendo cost $80 in 1994 money ($125 today). The difference is that you didn’t have a choice then. Today there are abundant, cheaper, low-cost alternatives; Steam and iOS have disrupted the market.
Ben Kuchera wrote this week at Penny Arcade about how Steam, the digital game shop for PCs, is fundamentally transforming the way developers think about buying and selling games. “If you launch a game at $20, and the price goes down to $5,” he writes, “you need to sell four times as many games to make the same money, right? Surprisingly, developers see sales an order of magnitude higher than they expected after severely cutting the price of the game after launch. They don’t just sell four times as many games, they may sell 20 times as many, or more.”
Cut out the publisher, cut out the retailer, cut out the hardware maker, make five times the cash.
Why not price it at $5 from the getgo then?
Likely, the perceived impulse buy nature of a $20 game priced at $5, versus a game that's always $5. In the first case, you think you're getting an amazing deal, and in the second case, there's the perception that 'oh, that game's only worth $5, probably not that great'.
Yup. People love to be told they are getting a deal.
Pricing at $20 allows a company to make money on the consumer that has to have the game right away. Then it gives the company $20 worth of room to play with sale pricing.
Yeah, I mean it seems pretty obvious to me that slapping a big -75% tag onto a game for a limited time creates an impetus to purchase it all on its own because you feel like you're getting a deal.
Ugh... so, I guess that shitlord who went on a killing spree in Norway a couple months ago is claiming he trained for his rampage by playing Modern Warfare 3 and World of Warcraft.
Greeeeat.
Welcome to last year?
?
Didn't that happen in January or something?
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Having a good Steam sale is the best thing ever. I can't give specific number, but when we did a Daily Deal of our games on Steam earlier this month, our revenue for that 24-hour period jumped exponentially. Like we're talking something like x100 or more compared to a regular day. And this is revenue, not just number of sales (which was even higher to make up for the fact that less was made per copy sold).
Not only that, but when you have a big sale, you typically get a trail off effect where your sales after the actual sale continue to be better than an average day. Obviously, they're nowhere near as good as it was when it was actually on sale, but our games have been in the Top 10 Best Sellers for Under $5 on Steam for most of the time since we had our big sale this month. So not only do you get the huge boost of sales from the actual sale but it actually helps your long-term sales as well.
Posts
Actually, the Shogun standalone expansion pack came out just last month and got really good reviews. Also, ME3 just came out in March so who care if there hasn't been any big releases since then - Diablo 3 comes out next month and that's as big as they come.
And seriously, you want to start an argument that the best indie games aren't on PC? Just off the top of my head, this year the PC has gotten Legend of Grimrock, Dear Esther, Dustforce, and Lone Survivor - all of which are critically acclaimed indie games. And if you want to get technical, Journey isn't even an indie game (it's published and funded by Sony).
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
I loved the promotion videos for 3 that came out of the Discovery Channel (I believe) but I'm left wondering if Microsoft inadvertently spared fans the displeasure of watching another video game genre get another shit treatment from a studio with very much its own plans in mind, the cool look of District 9 aside. Even if it was just their own inexperience with negotiating with Hollywood and their expectation of transparency that did it.
To quote Giantbomb, "NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE A GUY WHO WEARS A HELMET THE WHOLE TIME WITH NO EXPRESSION AS THE CENTRAL LEAD. THAT IS NOT A FILM. FIX IT!"
Or maybe I've just watched too many video game film adaptations that were total shit.
EDIT: @AZChristopher summed it up well too. Battleship is a thing. We're well past the point where Hollywood is fucking over too many video game adaptations. If anything, the number should be smaller. If they did it unintentionally, it's telling in its own way. But if it means they keep Halo from getting the Prince of Persia treatment, Microsoft absolutely did the right thing.
MS playing ball and saying, "Here's the IP. Do whatever the fuck you want with it, we're going to get shitfaced in the bar next door," is the bad outcome, even if it includes a film.
This generation of consoles has been all about ports really. Aside from the Wii, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are basically simplified proprietary PC machines. The technology in xbox, ps3, and pc are so similar that porting is easier than ever to accomplish. It's all just a matter of properly porting a game.
Ports and ports everywhere. Big deal.
Does anyone know if the Halo animated thing sold worth a damn at all? I swear that thing just vanished without a trace. If it did, that's probably another nail in the coffin.
Max Payne, which I never saw. And Prince of Persia was closer to awful than mediocre.
Silent Hill, the Mortal Kombats, Street Fighter, the Resident Evils. And of course all the random no-name games that Uwe Boll got his hands on.
We've yet to get a genuinely good video game movie. Which is part of why I'm excited about Wreck-It Ralph.
Also, DOOM. I liked it, the FPS sequence gave me a good chuckle.
Max Payne was a fucking travesty. I suppose Uwe Boll's abortions count as VG films...
I didn't know we were getting another Silent Hill movie, that's pretty cool. I thought the first one was good.
Hitman. Which wasn't all too bad.
Max Payne was pretty decent, and for all the misgivings people have with Silent Hill, it absolutely nailed the aesthetic of the games. And again, if Jackson and Blomkamp had been allowed to produce/direct at will, Halo would've been sensational.
Prince of Persia wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. Same with Silent Hill.
Hitman was direct-to-video material, but not the worse thing ever. Certainly no Street Fighter.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uwe_boll
It sound decently well for being a bunch of separately-made animated shorts for a video game.
Which means it sold more then 10 copies, in all likelihood. I own it on BR, some are better than others, some boring ones and some very good ones.
Oh and those awesome gritty Halo 3 promotion videos? The articles says those were from the director making the movie.
So yeah for it being scrapped because Fox would have ruined it but all the great Halo live action trailers since seem to mirror the vision of what the Director wanted.
Though, of all the videogame->film franchises, I would've never guessed Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil to go on for so long. They're releasing another movie, jesus.
Street Fighter*
Double Dragon
Super Mario Brothers
Alone in the Dark
Bloodrayne*
Tekken
The King of Fighters
Prince of Persia
Hitmjan
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Doom
Max Payne
*Multiple films based on the same IP, all horrible.
Those were all pretty terrible, right? Now, some exceptions: the Wing Commander movie wasn't horrible, right? The same could be said about Tomb Raider I guess--it's almost an exception in that it's not totally awful (or at least the first one wasn't). But that's mostly by comparison. Plus, it got Daniel Craig face time. And I think some of the Resident Evil films aren't absolutely godawful if you like Milla Jovovich?
Not terribly encouraging, I'd say. Now, I absolutely know someone is going to come out and tell me Street Fighter with Van Dam was actually a cinematic masterpiece, and they're entitled to that opinion.
(I'm limiting it to English-speaking studios, because that's what we'd be dealing with in Halo, and those produced in Japan (for Japanese games) are, while not good, significantly less horrible. Probably because the original writers and voice talent are almost always called in for this sort of thing, so it actually resembles the game somewhat, which is an idea too stupid to be adopted in the West--the Hitman movie comes to mind.)
Yeah, they used the props and stuff that WETA had already made while in pre-production, turned out those shorts to promote Halo 3, then Peter Jackson gave him a $30m budget to make District 9.
edit: BUUUT by this point it's getting off the subject of video games and the industry and just talking about films. I imagine even games to films is a bit tenuous. So instead, let's look at something that's now looking pretty awkward:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-19-codemasters-is-no-more-meet-codemasters-racing
It's like they'd posted on their facebook page that they were finally admitting they're only doing racing games from now on, everyone went "oh awesome, we're really proud of you for being brave enough to announce this to everyone!" then Codies go "wait what? No, someone was on my page.. you all think we only do racing games?"
Preeeetty sure that, outside of the dev team, nobody is realy concerned about it...
I don't think it's a coincidence that the main character (or really, any characters--in the small roster of major characters in the first three games) are totally absent from those otherwise very good shorts.
I'm delighted Skullgirls is doing well. I just got Fez last night too. I don't fully get why Ps3 has more of a "fighting game culture" though. But the difference is there.
As much as I love PC gaming, at least 75% (likely more; being generous) of PC games are console ports. I miss the days of PC exclusive titles like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Simcity. (Which, yes, I'm aware we're getting another one of.)
But the bigger problem is that PC gamers are the most fickle people ever. They bitch every time something isn't sold on or tied into Steam in some way, and even then will often spout off "Yeah, I'll wait for the Steam sale." Which is where they end up buying a game at like a 90% discount and then never end up booting it up anyway.
I can't imagine many developers surviving if their games only sell when they get to iOS-level prices.
ODST would have made a fantastic film. A half-dozen interesting characters that like to crack wise and often take their helmets off, unlike Boring Chief and the "we have no personality" crew of Halo: Reach.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
You may not be able to imagine it, but it's still true regardless.
Steam sales are approved by the publishers/developers. Steam sales make more money for these people.
Also, PCs get tons of exclusives. You just need to look in the right genres.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/opinion_kohler-we-need-no-one/
For the record, I didn't understand anything in this post.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Did the Grimrock developer not state that he recouped his development costs "several times over"?
Making a good game means you will get paid.
The developers of Terraria stated they were a bit shy of doing the steam sale, but were glad they did as well.
I think Mr Zeboyd can say that his 2-game combo being on sale for $1.25 didn't hurt his bottom line either.
Why not price it at $5 from the getgo then?
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Likely, the perceived impulse buy nature of a $20 game priced at $5, versus a game that's always $5. In the first case, you think you're getting an amazing deal, and in the second case, there's the perception that 'oh, that game's only worth $5, probably not that great'.
Greeeeat.
Welcome to last year?
Because you maximize your potential profits. You get money from all the people willing to buy it at $20, then you get money from all the people willing to buy it at $5. I've bought a bunch of stuff on Steam I would have never bought if it hadn't gone on sale.
a kitty board is a pcb that allows one to make their existing joystick work on both sony and microsoft hardware (as well as other platforms, if desired)
additional information linked on this page
steam | xbox live: IGNORANT HARLOT | psn: MadRoll | nintendo network: spinach
3ds: 1504-5717-8252
Yup. People love to be told they are getting a deal.
Pricing at $20 allows a company to make money on the consumer that has to have the game right away. Then it gives the company $20 worth of room to play with sale pricing.
?
Didn't that happen in January or something?
Not only that, but when you have a big sale, you typically get a trail off effect where your sales after the actual sale continue to be better than an average day. Obviously, they're nowhere near as good as it was when it was actually on sale, but our games have been in the Top 10 Best Sellers for Under $5 on Steam for most of the time since we had our big sale this month. So not only do you get the huge boost of sales from the actual sale but it actually helps your long-term sales as well.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games