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Video Game Industry Thread: 300+ people lose their jobs. Curt Schilling still rich.

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Posts

  • YougottawannaYougottawanna Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    Speaking of MMOs, has anyone else been following the 'Burn Jita' escapades going on in EVE? Because I know it's boring as hell lol spreadsheets in space, but I love that, because of how it all works, you can get something truly awesome come out of it, and as long as it falls within the TOS, CCP will not only allow it, but help you if it's needed:

    http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=28640
    Things have been afoot in the Jita solar system recently...
    WHAT IS JITA?

    For quite some time, the Jita solar system has been the most populated solar system in EVE Online on a sustained basis, having organically risen as the main player trade hub in game due to its location and the basic human need to gather together and trade stuff.

    It's had a varied reputation as [wretched hive of scum, villainy and scammers], [representative product of EVE's emergent sandbox game design], [indefatigable cog of economic prosperity], and [rallying point for impassioned protestors].

    And, starting last Friday, it was on fire.

    Actually, Jita itself wasn't on fire, but thousands of players who normally find it a "safe" haven of trade and economic gameplay found their ships on fire - everything from a lonely hauler on up to the simply massive, highly-armored freighters moving thousands of USD equivalents of ships and goods.

    As you can see from the below "kill" heatmap of the EVE universe (where each dot is one of the 5,431 solar systems in EVE's known universe), it was a pretty big deal.

    cdn1.eveonline.com/www/newssystem/media/28130/1/jita-heatmap-large.png

    And it all happened because a few players wanted to make it happen and then, after convincing thousands of others to join them from around the world, they made it happen.

    "BURN JITA"

    For several months now, a coalition of thousands of players have been planning the "Burn Jita" event, aimed at disrupting the biggest trade hub in game in order to wreak some terrific, universe-wide changes by shaking the very pillars of EVE's economy at its metaphorical heart. Surely there was some sort of larger, meta-economic objective that likely would cause them great profit. This planning happened both in game and outside of game, via voice over IP chat, secret forums, Twitter and more. A sci-fi plot of the new information age if there ever was one.

    Using game mechanics and some very impressive logistics, the coalition, lead by a group known as Goonswarm, amassed a tremendous amount of manpower and ships in a concentrated effort that would probably make many real life military strategists jaw-drop. Bravado-saturated propaganda was also a pretty big part of their plot.

    Fast forward to Friday: Player fleets comprised of high-damage-dealing ships began to destroy high-value industrial ships during a sustained campaign with single, coordinated volleys, sacrificing themselves in waves because the in-game "police" warps in almost immediately with harsh, reprimanding justice.

    Amidst this orchestrated chaos, opportunistic salvagers profited from the wrecks left behind and EVE's deep, talented player community began blogging about, filming, screenshotting, livestreaming and celebrating/decrying the event. Some opposing fleets rose up to fight the invading hordes as well - to mixed success.

    All of it occured in the same framework of unrestricted player movement and limitless player choice in a single, shared game universe. As our senior producer put it "f*cking brilliant". As a participating player put it: "There’s just something special about building 15,000 spaceships and loading their guns with 1 round of ammo to shoot. And doing it right in front of the police."

    As developers we watched in awe at another amazing thing our players brought to the universe we created. Yet there was a lot more going on behind the scenes on our end besides popcorn and a comfy chair...
    It goes on with a bunch of the technical stuff they did to make it run. Basically, Goonswarm decided they wanted to cause a huge distruption in the trade hub of the entire game, a system called Jita. Jita is a policed system, so if you attack another ship, the in-game cops descend on you and blow your tits off before you can do anything. But Goonswarm decided to amass a ridiculous army of disposable ships and willing pilots, and organised a massive attack on the system to try and cause as much damage as possible. Realising this would probably nobble the server, CCP brought in extra hardware and went to work reconfiguring their 'Time Dilation' system (for managing large scale fights) to make the whole event go as smoothly as possible. Rather than shut it down because it was a Friday and they wanted to knock off early, they went to work to make it happen.

    Deserves a special recognition for how to run your MMO.

    That's incredible. The policed systems make you feel safe, and to take that away.... EVE continues to impress me. Makes me want to play again, until I realize it'd be months to years before I could actually enjoy any of these shenanigans.

    I have a different reading of this. Near as I can tell, Goonswarm is basically griefing for the sake of griefing. I have no problem with that - but what does it say about EVE's nullsec metagame if this is the most entertaining thing they can find to do?

    In EVE there's one resource - technetium - that's much more valuable than all the others, and Goonswarm basically has all of it that they need. So they have no real reason to try and conquer more space - and plenty of reason not to, because conquering space is a huge hassle full of busywork and shooting immobile structures for hours on end - and then once it's yours, you have to pay a ton of money to keep it.

    I get the impression that Goonswarm is burning Jita because they have nothing else to do. I don't fault them for it, but it's not exactly a compliment to EVE's pvp endgame that one of their most powerful alliances is spinning its wheels like this. (To me, it's more a testament of how a free-for-all approach to player behavior can make up for subpar game design....)

    Edit: as for months to years to enjoy the shenanigans, that's not really true, you can fly a rifter and help in your first day in the game. But I don't wanna turn this into an EVE thread.

    Yougottawanna on
  • RobesRobes Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    skeldare wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    skeldare wrote: »
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Notch needs to calm down.
    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/notch-ea-are-cynical-bastards-who-are-methodically-destroying-gam/095466
    Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has unleashed a vicious verbal assault on leading global publisher EA.

    He was seemingly provoked by EA’s new Indie Bundle on Steam which includes indie titles EA has previously digitally published such as Shank and DeathSpank.

    “EA releases an ‘indie bundle’? That's not how that works, EA,” he said.

    “Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards.

    “I don't even call Mojang indie any more. Vlambeer is indie. Polytron is indie. Stephen, Ed, Terry, Derek, Tommy and Chris are indie. Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it.”

    I think he knows that all the morons over at Reddit masturbate furiously to anything Notch related, so he's just giving his fans what they want.

    OMG Notch hates EA too! *SPLOOOGE*

    God I am so tired of Notch.

    ... Isn't this the guy who, instead of taking all the profits for himself, he shared the profits with his employees?

    SO SICK OF THAT NOTCH.

    I should clarify that I'm mostly tired of hearing about Notch.

    All of the posts he's making is on Twitter. He treats twitter the same way a teenager girl writes a blog or diary. It's not like he's calling up news sites and saying "I want to slam EA for making an indie game bundle".

    We are only tired of Notch because news sites are taking what he says on twitter and then headlining an article with his quotes.

    Social media ho! How many of you would know what he writes on twitter if it wasn't on a news site?

    Robes on
    "Wait" he says... do I look like a waiter?
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Robes wrote: »
    skeldare wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    skeldare wrote: »
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Notch needs to calm down.
    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/notch-ea-are-cynical-bastards-who-are-methodically-destroying-gam/095466
    Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has unleashed a vicious verbal assault on leading global publisher EA.

    He was seemingly provoked by EA’s new Indie Bundle on Steam which includes indie titles EA has previously digitally published such as Shank and DeathSpank.

    “EA releases an ‘indie bundle’? That's not how that works, EA,” he said.

    “Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards.

    “I don't even call Mojang indie any more. Vlambeer is indie. Polytron is indie. Stephen, Ed, Terry, Derek, Tommy and Chris are indie. Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it.”

    I think he knows that all the morons over at Reddit masturbate furiously to anything Notch related, so he's just giving his fans what they want.

    OMG Notch hates EA too! *SPLOOOGE*

    God I am so tired of Notch.

    ... Isn't this the guy who, instead of taking all the profits for himself, he shared the profits with his employees?

    SO SICK OF THAT NOTCH.

    I should clarify that I'm mostly tired of hearing about Notch.

    All of the posts he's making is on Twitter. He treats twitter the same way a teenager girl writes a blog or diary. It's not like he's calling up news sites and saying "I want to slam EA for making an indie game bundle".

    We are only tired of Notch because news sites are taking what he says on twitter and then headlining an article with his quotes.

    Social media ho!

    Exactly.

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  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    Robes wrote: »
    How many of you would know what he writes on twitter if it wasn't on a news site?

    679,467 of us apparently.

  • RobesRobes Registered User regular
    Robes wrote: »
    How many of you would know what he writes on twitter if it wasn't on a news site?

    679,467 of us apparently.

    XD I mean you as in like PA'ers. His tweets only show up in video game websites when they have slow news days, and today is a really slow news day.

    "Wait" he says... do I look like a waiter?
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Robes wrote: »
    Robes wrote: »
    How many of you would know what he writes on twitter if it wasn't on a news site?

    679,467 of us apparently.

    XD I mean you as in like PA'ers. His tweets only show up in video game websites when they have slow news days, and today is a really slow news day.

    Also, I follow hundreds of people on twitter. Doesn't mean that I'm going to see everything that everyone posts.

    Nintendo Console Codes
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  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Really, Notch just has to keep upping the tweet ante until no one runs his tweets.
    Then he can say all that racial stuff about the dutch.

    agoaj on
    ujav5b9gwj1s.png
  • RobesRobes Registered User regular
    Anyways, Mark Kern(ex-Blizzard WoW Team Lead), Red5 Studios CEO, is sounding off against publishers in general:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/03/red-5-studios-ceo-slams-publishers-consoles-says-free-to-play-is-the-future-of-gaming-industry/2/

    While I agree that the growing number of digital distribution platforms is taking away the power/hold publishers have on developers right now, I don't think console gaming is going anywhere. A console is pretty much the perfect thing to get for a family of 1+ kids.

    "Wait" he says... do I look like a waiter?
  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Robes wrote: »
    Anyways, Mark Kern(ex-Blizzard WoW Team Lead), Red5 Studios CEO, is sounding off against publishers in general:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/03/red-5-studios-ceo-slams-publishers-consoles-says-free-to-play-is-the-future-of-gaming-industry/2/

    While I agree that the growing number of digital distribution platforms is taking away the power/hold publishers have on developers right now, I don't think console gaming is going anywhere. A console is pretty much the perfect thing to get for a family of 1+ kids.

    Yeah; unless the Wii-U hits the market and simply refuses to move off of shelves, I imagine consoles will remain a big force in gaming for the foreseeable future. As of right now, you just can't get the same experience from a smartphone as you can with a console.

    The market for phones is much bigger than the market for gaming consoles, and that (I imagine) is what is creating the larger demand for phone games versus console games.

    The Ender on
    With Love and Courage
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Rakai wrote: »
    Yeah, this is Notch being retarded. His issue seems to be with what falls under Valve's "Indie" category and puts all the blame on EA because it's cool to blame EA for everything.

    The way I understand his position is that EA is bundling and slapping their label all up on indie games. Rather than pushing the indie games out on their own, as they possible have their own merits.

  • plufimplufim Dr Registered User regular
    Genuine question here, because I'm not sure the phrase "Indie" really means anything anymore. Is it meant to refer to being independantly funded and published, or just funded?

    Because my initial reponse was that if EA is your publisher, how can you actually be Indie anyway?

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  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    plufim wrote: »
    Genuine question here, because I'm not sure the phrase "Indie" really means anything anymore. Is it meant to refer to being independantly funded and published, or just funded?

    Because my initial reponse was that if EA is your publisher, how can you actually be Indie anyway?

    My understanding is that EA is promoting them, which is slightly different than publishing them.

    But I think your question is part of Persson's beef: if you're in bed with EA, then you're not really independent.

    The other part of it is that EA is now trying to jump on the independent publishing bandwagon after having tried to stomp-out small publishing houses, laughing small designers out of E3, send out goons & trolls to insult and shame independent teams, etc. I totally agree with Notch - EA is should not be welcome at the party, as it were.

    With Love and Courage
  • AZChristopherAZChristopher Registered User regular
    Sheep wrote: »
    Anyone else read that as "people are getting bored with this generation, yo"?

    Yeah. This generation has been really long.

    Will be interesting to see the price drops this Christmas. Kind of amazing that 6-7 years later the HD twins are still hanging around $200 instead of $100.

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Sheep wrote: »
    Anyone else read that as "people are getting bored with this generation, yo"?

    Yeah. This generation has been really long.

    Will be interesting to see the price drops this Christmas. Kind of amazing that 6-7 years later the HD twins are still hanging around $200 instead of $100.

    It took the PS2 nearly 9 years to drop to $99.

    Nintendo Console Codes
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  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    Long generation or not; I'm personally not bored with it at all. I know the talk these days is all about speculation on the next generation console announcements; but I certainly haven't ran out of things to play on the current ones, and upcoming releases don't make me think I'll be running out any time soon.

    I mean, I'll probably get a WiiU, but probably not right at launch unless there's something so compelling that I can't pass up.

    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
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  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    It's mostly developers rather than gamers complaining about the long generation, as far as I can tell. There's so much awesome hardware on the market, and they can build engines around it because the PS3 & 360 just don't have the muscle.

    With Love and Courage
  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    Long generation or not; I'm personally not bored with it at all. I know the talk these days is all about speculation on the next generation console announcements; but I certainly haven't ran out of things to play on the current ones, and upcoming releases don't make me think I'll be running out any time soon.

    I mean, I'll probably get a WiiU, but probably not right at launch unless there's something so compelling that I can't pass up.

    Yeah, I'm enjoying the long generation as well. I plan to pick up a PS Vita since the PSP isn't really getting much of anything new other than minis these days but I'm happy with what the 360 & PS3 are getting these days. For that matter, even the Wii is starting to see some use in my house outside of Netflix thanks to Xenoblade.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    skeldare wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    Anyone else read that as "people are getting bored with this generation, yo"?

    Yeah. This generation has been really long.

    Will be interesting to see the price drops this Christmas. Kind of amazing that 6-7 years later the HD twins are still hanging around $200 instead of $100.

    It took the PS2 nearly 9 years to drop to $99.

    $150 after 4 years, and $130 after 6.

    We're still seeing prices almost double right now what they were then.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    skeldare wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    Anyone else read that as "people are getting bored with this generation, yo"?

    Yeah. This generation has been really long.

    Will be interesting to see the price drops this Christmas. Kind of amazing that 6-7 years later the HD twins are still hanging around $200 instead of $100.

    It took the PS2 nearly 9 years to drop to $99.

    $150 after 4 years, and $130 after 6.

    We're still seeing prices almost double right now what they were then.

    PS3 and 360 also launched at a MUCH higher price.

    skeldare on
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    PM Me if you add me!
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  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    Rakai wrote: »
    Yeah, this is Notch being retarded. His issue seems to be with what falls under Valve's "Indie" category and puts all the blame on EA because it's cool to blame EA for everything.

    The way I understand his position is that EA is bundling and slapping their label all up on indie games. Rather than pushing the indie games out on their own, as they possible have their own merits.

    uh, no? these are all games, which EA published, that they grouped together and sold as an 'indie bundle'. it's a simple way to denote why all the games are being lumped together, it's just silly as hell to hear 'indie bundle' anywhere near the guys who make madden and battlefield

    but it's not really worth frothing about, the games in the bundle look good and EA did foot the bill to get them made. i see no shame in offering them at a (slightly) discounted price. if i didn't already buy and hate WARP i'd probably get it just for the shank games, and treat the others as bonuses/gift them away.

  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    skeldare wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    Anyone else read that as "people are getting bored with this generation, yo"?

    Yeah. This generation has been really long.

    Will be interesting to see the price drops this Christmas. Kind of amazing that 6-7 years later the HD twins are still hanging around $200 instead of $100.

    It took the PS2 nearly 9 years to drop to $99.

    I was waiting for YEARS for the PS2 to drop to $100 so I would pick one up (I had a GC) and use it for DDR, and by the time it did I didn't care anymore.

    But apparently $130 for a 6 year old console is ok with enough people to keep it priced that way for a LONG time. I'm curious what the markup is now on the 360/PS3 considering that they should have reduced costs a lot by now. Especially the 360.

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Rumor: Harmonix prepping 'unique motion-gaming IP' ... with storylines
    We thought Harmonix had its hands full with Rock Band Blitz, but the Cambridge-based developer may also be preparing a new IP – and for the next generation of consoles. According to several different job listings, the developer is looking for narrative, content and level designers, and one software engineer to help out with "a unique motion-gaming IP."

    "Harmonix seeks an accomplished Narrative Designer to incorporate creative story lines into gameplay on a unique motion-gaming IP," reads just one of the positions discovered by Supererogatory. This particular gig is a 12-month contract position, while the others make mention of a "music-based motion-gaming IP" and seem to be for more established positions.

    A narrative-driven, rhythm-based motion game? Sounds a lot like one of our favorite games ever. [Wait, surely you meant this? - Ed.]

    Nintendo Console Codes
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  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Both of the examples quoted in that article are correct.

    Motion/rhythm game? Shootshootshoot!

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    It's going to be a snapping based rhythm game for Kinect2.

    ujav5b9gwj1s.png
  • chocoboliciouschocobolicious Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    I just want to say those sega Genesis collection packs are amazing. I can readily get all those games for nothing with a bit of googling, and actually get a better program to run them. Yet I bought that pack the instant it dropped without any hesitation. Same with all the packs.

    Nintendo really should consider this as some kind of option. I would buy nes and snes game packs in a heart beat.

    chocobolicious on
    steam_sig.png
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    Why? Their properties are actually worth something.

    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • chocoboliciouschocobolicious Registered User regular
    Why? Their properties are actually worth something.

    Except not.

    I can list you about... Let's see.... 680 snes games no one particularly cares about or remembers. About the same number for nes games.

    For every game in the nes/snes library that people fondly wank over I can list 10 they probably never heard of (and 3 of those 10 are probably pretty fun.)

    steam_sig.png
  • plufimplufim Dr Registered User regular
    I didn't see Xeno state anywhere that ALL SNES games were amazing

    3DS 0302-0029-3193 NNID plufim steam plufim PSN plufim
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  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    Right it's just assumed when dealing with me.

    Hell I and many others have benefited over the years because Sega's properties aren't worth jack. Ultimate Genesis collection despite its not terribly good emulation is an absolute steal at $20, I got it for sale launch week for 9.

    If the Sega fire sale ever happens it will be glorious.

    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Why? Their properties are actually worth something.

    Except not.

    I can list you about... Let's see.... 680 snes games no one particularly cares about or remembers. About the same number for nes games.

    For every game in the nes/snes library that people fondly wank over I can list 10 they probably never heard of (and 3 of those 10 are probably pretty fun.)

    How many of those 680 games are developed/published by Nintendo? They can't exactly release games that they don't own.

    Nintendo Console Codes
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    PM Me if you add me!
    HAIL HYDRA
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    Rakai wrote: »
    Yeah, this is Notch being retarded. His issue seems to be with what falls under Valve's "Indie" category and puts all the blame on EA because it's cool to blame EA for everything.

    The way I understand his position is that EA is bundling and slapping their label all up on indie games. Rather than pushing the indie games out on their own, as they possible have their own merits.

    uh, no? these are all games, which EA published, that they grouped together and sold as an 'indie bundle'. it's a simple way to denote why all the games are being lumped together, it's just silly as hell to hear 'indie bundle' anywhere near the guys who make madden and battlefield

    but it's not really worth frothing about, the games in the bundle look good and EA did foot the bill to get them made. i see no shame in offering them at a (slightly) discounted price. if i didn't already buy and hate WARP i'd probably get it just for the shank games, and treat the others as bonuses/gift them away.

    I'm not making his argument for him, Jay. I'm trying to understand what it may be if it's not the simple EA bashing everyone is (probably correctly) guessing it is.

  • Raybies666Raybies666 Registered User regular
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    Speaking of MMOs, has anyone else been following the 'Burn Jita' escapades going on in EVE? Because I know it's boring as hell lol spreadsheets in space, but I love that, because of how it all works, you can get something truly awesome come out of it, and as long as it falls within the TOS, CCP will not only allow it, but help you if it's needed:

    http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=28640
    Things have been afoot in the Jita solar system recently...
    WHAT IS JITA?

    For quite some time, the Jita solar system has been the most populated solar system in EVE Online on a sustained basis, having organically risen as the main player trade hub in game due to its location and the basic human need to gather together and trade stuff.

    It's had a varied reputation as [wretched hive of scum, villainy and scammers], [representative product of EVE's emergent sandbox game design], [indefatigable cog of economic prosperity], and [rallying point for impassioned protestors].

    And, starting last Friday, it was on fire.

    Actually, Jita itself wasn't on fire, but thousands of players who normally find it a "safe" haven of trade and economic gameplay found their ships on fire - everything from a lonely hauler on up to the simply massive, highly-armored freighters moving thousands of USD equivalents of ships and goods.

    As you can see from the below "kill" heatmap of the EVE universe (where each dot is one of the 5,431 solar systems in EVE's known universe), it was a pretty big deal.

    cdn1.eveonline.com/www/newssystem/media/28130/1/jita-heatmap-large.png

    And it all happened because a few players wanted to make it happen and then, after convincing thousands of others to join them from around the world, they made it happen.

    "BURN JITA"

    For several months now, a coalition of thousands of players have been planning the "Burn Jita" event, aimed at disrupting the biggest trade hub in game in order to wreak some terrific, universe-wide changes by shaking the very pillars of EVE's economy at its metaphorical heart. Surely there was some sort of larger, meta-economic objective that likely would cause them great profit. This planning happened both in game and outside of game, via voice over IP chat, secret forums, Twitter and more. A sci-fi plot of the new information age if there ever was one.

    Using game mechanics and some very impressive logistics, the coalition, lead by a group known as Goonswarm, amassed a tremendous amount of manpower and ships in a concentrated effort that would probably make many real life military strategists jaw-drop. Bravado-saturated propaganda was also a pretty big part of their plot.

    Fast forward to Friday: Player fleets comprised of high-damage-dealing ships began to destroy high-value industrial ships during a sustained campaign with single, coordinated volleys, sacrificing themselves in waves because the in-game "police" warps in almost immediately with harsh, reprimanding justice.

    Amidst this orchestrated chaos, opportunistic salvagers profited from the wrecks left behind and EVE's deep, talented player community began blogging about, filming, screenshotting, livestreaming and celebrating/decrying the event. Some opposing fleets rose up to fight the invading hordes as well - to mixed success.

    All of it occured in the same framework of unrestricted player movement and limitless player choice in a single, shared game universe. As our senior producer put it "f*cking brilliant". As a participating player put it: "There’s just something special about building 15,000 spaceships and loading their guns with 1 round of ammo to shoot. And doing it right in front of the police."

    As developers we watched in awe at another amazing thing our players brought to the universe we created. Yet there was a lot more going on behind the scenes on our end besides popcorn and a comfy chair...
    It goes on with a bunch of the technical stuff they did to make it run. Basically, Goonswarm decided they wanted to cause a huge distruption in the trade hub of the entire game, a system called Jita. Jita is a policed system, so if you attack another ship, the in-game cops descend on you and blow your tits off before you can do anything. But Goonswarm decided to amass a ridiculous army of disposable ships and willing pilots, and organised a massive attack on the system to try and cause as much damage as possible. Realising this would probably nobble the server, CCP brought in extra hardware and went to work reconfiguring their 'Time Dilation' system (for managing large scale fights) to make the whole event go as smoothly as possible. Rather than shut it down because it was a Friday and they wanted to knock off early, they went to work to make it happen.

    Deserves a special recognition for how to run your MMO.

    That's incredible. The policed systems make you feel safe, and to take that away.... EVE continues to impress me. Makes me want to play again, until I realize it'd be months to years before I could actually enjoy any of these shenanigans.

    I have a different reading of this. Near as I can tell, Goonswarm is basically griefing for the sake of griefing. I have no problem with that - but what does it say about EVE's nullsec metagame if this is the most entertaining thing they can find to do?

    In EVE there's one resource - technetium - that's much more valuable than all the others, and Goonswarm basically has all of it that they need. So they have no real reason to try and conquer more space - and plenty of reason not to, because conquering space is a huge hassle full of busywork and shooting immobile structures for hours on end - and then once it's yours, you have to pay a ton of money to keep it.

    I get the impression that Goonswarm is burning Jita because they have nothing else to do. I don't fault them for it, but it's not exactly a compliment to EVE's pvp endgame that one of their most powerful alliances is spinning its wheels like this. (To me, it's more a testament of how a free-for-all approach to player behavior can make up for subpar game design....)

    Edit: as for months to years to enjoy the shenanigans, that's not really true, you can fly a rifter and help in your first day in the game. But I don't wanna turn this into an EVE thread.

    Having lived with a goonswarm member, you are correct. They are griefing for the sake of it, and proud of themselves. Said goonswarm member tried to get me into it for that very reason, and when I refused to play Assholes in Spaaaaaaace!, he tried to get me into the FPS thats coming. Not interested.

    The scale of the ops can be impressive, but the reasoning behind it is purely internet bullies. One anecdote was that they hear some guy had amassed some decent money through mining (ingame creds or credits towards the gameplay itself, not sure,was several years ago) so they found this one guy, who wasn't part of any group but just enjoyed his space mining game, and blew him out of the sky in the middle of nowhere. They didn't want his stuff, they just thought it was really funny to knock out some inconsequential player in such a place that he could never get his stuff back.

    I then got to hear days worth of these stories, all backed up with "but the game lets us" as if thats a good reason to be a prick. My personal take is that they are taking their turn to be bullies to nerds, after they got it in high school or some lame shit like that.

    I'm done, don't want to turn it into an eve thread either.

    Beat me on Wii U: Raybies
    Beat me on 360: Raybies666

    I remember when I had time to be good at games.
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Henroid wrote: »
    Rakai wrote: »
    Yeah, this is Notch being retarded. His issue seems to be with what falls under Valve's "Indie" category and puts all the blame on EA because it's cool to blame EA for everything.

    The way I understand his position is that EA is bundling and slapping their label all up on indie games. Rather than pushing the indie games out on their own, as they possible have their own merits.

    uh, no? these are all games, which EA published, that they grouped together and sold as an 'indie bundle'. it's a simple way to denote why all the games are being lumped together, it's just silly as hell to hear 'indie bundle' anywhere near the guys who make madden and battlefield

    but it's not really worth frothing about, the games in the bundle look good and EA did foot the bill to get them made. i see no shame in offering them at a (slightly) discounted price. if i didn't already buy and hate WARP i'd probably get it just for the shank games, and treat the others as bonuses/gift them away.

    Do we actually know how these games were funded? If the developers made them off their own resources (as I'm pretty sure Shank will have been, at least), and then they struck a deal with EA to put their name on the box and open some more doors for them (get them on XBLA, PSN and Steam, for example) in return for a split of the profits, then I'd still classify them as Indie. Sure EA are promoting them and, do a degree, publishing them, but if they've not funded the development of the game (or maybe given them some cash to get them over the line), then I have no problem with EA putting them together, calling them an Indie Bundle, and selling them as such.

    Yes I know the problem also comes from 'Indie' being a fashionable term and EA are being seen to be using it incorrectly just to make themselves popular with the internet hipsters, but so what? If they're indie games, which I believe they are, then they're sodding indie games. It's like people bickering over FEZ winning at IGF and debating on whether it's indie enough to even be there.

    edit: yeah, just done some research. Hothead, Vanguard, Klei and Trapdoor are all independent developers, none of them owned by a publisher and I am pretty confident that EA didn't approach them with the pitches for the games, then pay them to make them. That is now how these things go down.

    darleysam on
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  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/next-xbox-in-the-manufacturing-stages/095551
    Fresh reports this morning are claiming that the Next Xbox console is already in the manufacturing stage.

    IGN speculates that with a 2013 launch now looking very likely, these early machines are possibly “dev units” – that is, basic versions of the machine designed for use by studios currently working on games for it.

    It claims that the consoles are being built at the Austin, Texas arm of Flextronics, which is a manufacturer of the current Xbox 360.

    A new testing group separate from the company’s other operations is said to have been established specifically for the Next Xbox.

    “Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships,” a typically corporate response from Microsoft said.

    “We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumours or speculation.”
    This generation is getting kind of long and it is showing.

    Couscous on
  • BeltaineBeltaine BOO BOO DOO DE DOORegistered User regular
    Shouldn't we have some sketchy concept art of the new consoles by now?

    XdDBi4F.jpg
    PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    Beltaine wrote: »
    Shouldn't we have some sketchy concept art of the new consoles by now?

    Something like this?
    conceptart.jpg

    Pretty sure manufacturers don't put out concept art for consoles.

    forumsig.png
  • ZephiranZephiran Registered User regular
    Beltaine wrote: »
    Shouldn't we have some sketchy concept art of the new consoles by now?

    Didn't IGN have an article about that some time ago?

    I might just be confused, however.

    Alright and in this next scene all the animals have AIDS.

    I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
  • Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Dragon Quest X Dated for August 2
    Square Enix announced today a release date of August 2 for Dragon Quest X. The Wii title will be priced ¥6,980 on its own and ¥8,980 when bundled with a USB Memory card.

    For those who opt for the base version, the game will require that you provide your own USB memory card with at least 16 gigabyte capacity.

    A bit rare for Wii games, the game ships on two discs.
    Charges run ¥1,000, ¥1,950 or ¥2,900 for respectively 30, 60 and 90 days play (Payment can be made via credit card using standard currency, or via WiiPoints. WiiPoint pricing is the same). You'll be able to create up to three characters.
    Both the standard and bundle versions of the game will come with 20 days free play time. Square Enix is also planning to host special "Kids Times" for the game. These periods will be free play. Square Enix says that it won't be setting a specific age limit for these periods, but asks that people understand that they're meant for children.

    http://andriasang.com/con0tq/dqx_date/

    I wonder how well this will pan out for Square. I also wonder how many will just wait until the WiiU version.

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  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Both the standard and bundle versions of the game will come with 20 days free play time. Square Enix is also planning to host special "Kids Times" for the game. These periods will be free play. Square Enix says that it won't be setting a specific age limit for these periods, but asks that people understand that they're meant for children.
    There will be so many pedophiles.

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Raybies666 wrote: »
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    Speaking of MMOs, has anyone else been following the 'Burn Jita' escapades going on in EVE? Because I know it's boring as hell lol spreadsheets in space, but I love that, because of how it all works, you can get something truly awesome come out of it, and as long as it falls within the TOS, CCP will not only allow it, but help you if it's needed:

    http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=28640
    Things have been afoot in the Jita solar system recently...
    WHAT IS JITA?

    For quite some time, the Jita solar system has been the most populated solar system in EVE Online on a sustained basis, having organically risen as the main player trade hub in game due to its location and the basic human need to gather together and trade stuff.

    It's had a varied reputation as [wretched hive of scum, villainy and scammers], [representative product of EVE's emergent sandbox game design], [indefatigable cog of economic prosperity], and [rallying point for impassioned protestors].

    And, starting last Friday, it was on fire.

    Actually, Jita itself wasn't on fire, but thousands of players who normally find it a "safe" haven of trade and economic gameplay found their ships on fire - everything from a lonely hauler on up to the simply massive, highly-armored freighters moving thousands of USD equivalents of ships and goods.

    As you can see from the below "kill" heatmap of the EVE universe (where each dot is one of the 5,431 solar systems in EVE's known universe), it was a pretty big deal.

    cdn1.eveonline.com/www/newssystem/media/28130/1/jita-heatmap-large.png

    And it all happened because a few players wanted to make it happen and then, after convincing thousands of others to join them from around the world, they made it happen.

    "BURN JITA"

    For several months now, a coalition of thousands of players have been planning the "Burn Jita" event, aimed at disrupting the biggest trade hub in game in order to wreak some terrific, universe-wide changes by shaking the very pillars of EVE's economy at its metaphorical heart. Surely there was some sort of larger, meta-economic objective that likely would cause them great profit. This planning happened both in game and outside of game, via voice over IP chat, secret forums, Twitter and more. A sci-fi plot of the new information age if there ever was one.

    Using game mechanics and some very impressive logistics, the coalition, lead by a group known as Goonswarm, amassed a tremendous amount of manpower and ships in a concentrated effort that would probably make many real life military strategists jaw-drop. Bravado-saturated propaganda was also a pretty big part of their plot.

    Fast forward to Friday: Player fleets comprised of high-damage-dealing ships began to destroy high-value industrial ships during a sustained campaign with single, coordinated volleys, sacrificing themselves in waves because the in-game "police" warps in almost immediately with harsh, reprimanding justice.

    Amidst this orchestrated chaos, opportunistic salvagers profited from the wrecks left behind and EVE's deep, talented player community began blogging about, filming, screenshotting, livestreaming and celebrating/decrying the event. Some opposing fleets rose up to fight the invading hordes as well - to mixed success.

    All of it occured in the same framework of unrestricted player movement and limitless player choice in a single, shared game universe. As our senior producer put it "f*cking brilliant". As a participating player put it: "There’s just something special about building 15,000 spaceships and loading their guns with 1 round of ammo to shoot. And doing it right in front of the police."

    As developers we watched in awe at another amazing thing our players brought to the universe we created. Yet there was a lot more going on behind the scenes on our end besides popcorn and a comfy chair...
    It goes on with a bunch of the technical stuff they did to make it run. Basically, Goonswarm decided they wanted to cause a huge distruption in the trade hub of the entire game, a system called Jita. Jita is a policed system, so if you attack another ship, the in-game cops descend on you and blow your tits off before you can do anything. But Goonswarm decided to amass a ridiculous army of disposable ships and willing pilots, and organised a massive attack on the system to try and cause as much damage as possible. Realising this would probably nobble the server, CCP brought in extra hardware and went to work reconfiguring their 'Time Dilation' system (for managing large scale fights) to make the whole event go as smoothly as possible. Rather than shut it down because it was a Friday and they wanted to knock off early, they went to work to make it happen.

    Deserves a special recognition for how to run your MMO.

    That's incredible. The policed systems make you feel safe, and to take that away.... EVE continues to impress me. Makes me want to play again, until I realize it'd be months to years before I could actually enjoy any of these shenanigans.

    I have a different reading of this. Near as I can tell, Goonswarm is basically griefing for the sake of griefing. I have no problem with that - but what does it say about EVE's nullsec metagame if this is the most entertaining thing they can find to do?

    In EVE there's one resource - technetium - that's much more valuable than all the others, and Goonswarm basically has all of it that they need. So they have no real reason to try and conquer more space - and plenty of reason not to, because conquering space is a huge hassle full of busywork and shooting immobile structures for hours on end - and then once it's yours, you have to pay a ton of money to keep it.

    I get the impression that Goonswarm is burning Jita because they have nothing else to do. I don't fault them for it, but it's not exactly a compliment to EVE's pvp endgame that one of their most powerful alliances is spinning its wheels like this. (To me, it's more a testament of how a free-for-all approach to player behavior can make up for subpar game design....)

    Edit: as for months to years to enjoy the shenanigans, that's not really true, you can fly a rifter and help in your first day in the game. But I don't wanna turn this into an EVE thread.

    Having lived with a goonswarm member, you are correct. They are griefing for the sake of it, and proud of themselves. Said goonswarm member tried to get me into it for that very reason, and when I refused to play Assholes in Spaaaaaaace!, he tried to get me into the FPS thats coming. Not interested.

    The scale of the ops can be impressive, but the reasoning behind it is purely internet bullies. One anecdote was that they hear some guy had amassed some decent money through mining (ingame creds or credits towards the gameplay itself, not sure,was several years ago) so they found this one guy, who wasn't part of any group but just enjoyed his space mining game, and blew him out of the sky in the middle of nowhere. They didn't want his stuff, they just thought it was really funny to knock out some inconsequential player in such a place that he could never get his stuff back.

    I then got to hear days worth of these stories, all backed up with "but the game lets us" as if thats a good reason to be a prick. My personal take is that they are taking their turn to be bullies to nerds, after they got it in high school or some lame shit like that.

    I'm done, don't want to turn it into an eve thread either.

    As someone who used to play Eve online as a member of Goonswarm (the alliance), I really do find it a bit irritating that you're so willing to generalize a very large number of people into a bunch of assholes who only play a game to grief. Goonswarm has been at the center of a huge number of massive wars that ocurred for many reasons aside from just griefing, so to say that griefing is all they play the game for is, quite frankly, factually incorrect. Maybe some Goons, but certainly not all.

    And that's sort of the beauty of the game, in its own way, that there is such a huge scale of things that can go on that people can do the same sort of thing as each other for very different reasons.

    EDIT: and yeah that's all I want to say on the topic here.

    Anzekay on
This discussion has been closed.