What convinced me to pickup the Wii this generation was titles like Red Steel. It looked like 3rd party developers might pick up the market that Nintendo neglects. If his message was make games my wife will like, I can't help but cringe a bit. I like gaming and for the most part, I like gaming how it is. I dont want hundreds of party games popping up, I already know there are going to be enough. Nintendo should be appealing to 3rd parties to develop exactly the type of games they wont.
I don't think Miyamoto's message was "make games my wife will like".
To me, I took it as this: 1) Nintendo's vision is to focus on casual and new gamers 2) Here's what I did to make sure I always kept that in mind: wife-o-meter, balance, focusing on making things fun, etc. 3) Here are the results from our efforts: huge success of the DS and Wii, and more importantly, wife-o-meter is high 4)... 5) PROFIT!!!
Now, other developers will have different visions in mind. Some of them may focus on the casual gamer as well, but many will focus on traditional hardcore gamers too. There are other ways to succeed in this business, besides focusing on just casual (just ask the Gears of War guys). And as you stated, we don't need hundreds of party games on one system. Diversity in the game catalog is important, so yes, Nintendo should want 3rd parties to pick up in genres that they don't excel at (or care to do).
But anyway, I see the keynote as simply, "Here's what we set out to do, here's what I did, and how I succeeded."... and it's up to everyone else to take out of that what they will. Maybe you come away with actual things to do, or maybe just insipired to succeed in your own niche area of the games industry. That's not such a bad thing, quite the opposite in fact.
And hopefully this post illustrates the source of my caustic tone. Slashdot is a group of mostly intelligent people and I have had some great conversations here. That said, when it comes to certain subjects ( like the Wii, or the PS3 in reverse ) it just breaks into a hive mentality. I wish I wasn't interested in gaming, as I would avoid these conversations completely if so. Nicely, I have really good karma from posting to the rest of the site, I can afford to burn some here. Glutton for punishment I guess.
Just ignore Will, he's one of the biggest Nintendo fanboys here. That's not a bad thing per say, unless it really clouds judgement (like he just did, jumping to conclusions and calling you a Sony fanboy). I've had arguments with him where I was arguing for Nintendo, but he got all confused because I didn't say "Wii" and "The Sims" in every other word, and started arguing against me.:) (Sorry Will, have to call it as I see it, heh)
That said, I do think that Miyamoto's keynote was very relevant. While it may be fairly obvious to you and me that Nintendo's current key to success is targeting the casual gamer, it may not be to the other game developers at the conference... especially the ones that are "heads down" on their particular hardcore games.
As a fellow engineer in the games industry, I have been to a number of conferences and will say that keynotes like Miyamoto's are generally more common than the one Sony presented yesterday. A lot of the time, it is fluff, because we do need to be reminded about what games are for, who are audiences are, etc. Many of us are so focused on the technical and business details, that we can't see the forest for the trees. Now, the other talks going on at GDC will tend to be more detailed and developer focused. But I wouldn't mind at all listening to the keynote Miyamoto gave, especially considering it came from such a luminary in the industry.
In short, the inherent problem is that we are being presented the opinion of someone we don't know without the details required to properly apply it to our own tastes. We get very vague understandings of the fun the reviewer did or did not have, with statements such as "the controls felt sloppy" or "the art style didn't stick with me" our only morsels of information. These tibdits are open doors ignored by reviewers. How were the controls sticky? Why didn't the art style have enduring value?
I agree that "reviews" that are basically a collection of screenshots and description of gameplay mechanics, aren't terribly useful. I find that it's the opinions that are helpful, but as you point out, it's difficult to know exactly what they're talking about when they say "the art style didn't stick with me".
That's why it's important to get to know the reviewers. It's like any other product. I have friends whose opinions I trust, because I know what they like and dis-like. I think there's a good analogy with movie reviews as well. Many people follow the reviews of folks like Ebert & Roeper, because they find that their tastes are similar. On the other hand, I know folks that do the opposite. ("If Ebert hated it, then it MUST be good!") The same should be with game reviews. I actually find that listening to podcasts from the gaming press (such as 1UP and GameSpot) is helpful, since you very quickly get an idea as to what style of game each person likes, and inevitably you will find either attracted or indifferent to certain people's opinions.
Yes, but unfortunately for Microsoft (aside from a couple XBLA games), most of the short but sweet games are on other systems like the DS or PS2 (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, both Katamari games, Amplitude, etc.). I agree with you, actually.
I should point out that I'm a gamer first, so I don't mind that many of these "short but sweet" games are on other platforms.:) Actually, I was thinking about listing Katamari when I first wrote the post, since I agree that it's an incredibly fun, albeit short, game. (Plus the music is amazingly good and catchy)
On related note, there are a lot of games on the DS that are perhaps longer, but definitely playable in short bursts. That's something that I especially like. Many of the games on that platform have a "quick save" option, for those times that you need to put the DS away, but want to be able to return to it quickly. Or games that are broken out easily between things like levels and such. Examples include Advance Wars DS and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Not everyone has the 2-3 continguous hours it might take to play a lengthy, immersive game adequately.
Ahh, but if I use thott or the allakhazam or any other data tracker, it's an opt in experience.
There are actually other sites where it's not an opt in experience. Warcraft Census is one example. It has a lot of interesting aggregate statistical data (what % of alliance are human, etc.). But it also tracks things like who's a member of what guild, and an individual player's guild history. I think it does more as well. I believe it accomplishes this via a set of mods that players can download and use to collect the data.
And yes it is a slippery slope argument, but slippery slopes do exist.
You should re-read the Wikipedia article on the "slippery slope" argument. No one is saying that a slippery slope doesn't exist in some circumstances, but it alone isn't enough. To quote the article, you also need "some independent justification of the connection between their terms". Going back to your original argument, you'd have to give a pretty clear justification as to why Blizzard would knowingly break the law and start handing out people's personal contact information. Just saying, "Well, they did it with WoW data, so that means they'll eventually do it with your personal data" is not enough.
Maybe I just don't want people to see all my stuff? I don't care if it's harmless information. What stings me is that I don't get a choice. I recognise the terms of use agreeement allows Blizzard to do whatever the heck they want with any data stored in their systems. That doesn't mean I have to like it, and it doesn't mean this kind of behaviour is good customer service.
You are definitely free to feel that way. Also realize that you do have a choice: stop playing.
Anyway, I hate to play devil's advocate so much, because I do agree that it does seem weird that Blizzard isn't allowing for some opt-out mechanism. I don't see why they wouldn't, but I don't work there and I imagine there's probably a reason why. I can understand why it's not opt-in, since most people wouldn't do it (mostly because they don't know it exists, or are too lazy to do it), so the tool becomes pretty useless.
That said, I personally don't care that my data is broadcast. Rather, it's a handy feature. Everyone I've talked to in-game also loves the feature as well. No more having to ask, "What talents do you have?" and then either manually typing them out, or at best, linking to your spec at the WoW talent calculator. You can just point them to the Armory instead.
First of all a disclaimer, I do work in games for MS. That said, I try not to play favorites. For example, Perfect Dark Zero? Not very good. 99 Nights? Yeaahh, not much either. But I did like Gears of War and Crackdown. I haven't worked on any of these titles either. I also have been a big fan of various games for other consoles and platforms (PS2, DS, etc.). Anyway, my thoughts...
I see a lot of comments regarding Crackdown being a relatively short game. The same was said of Gears of War. Given a dedicated week of playtime, you can beat them, as well as go through many of the achievements. Basically, it's about 10-15 hours of single-player content. (Obviously playing online extends the length quite a bit, but that's all subjective depending on how much you like multiplayer to begin with)
So, is the game's relative shortness, compared to other games that boast things like 40-50 hours of playtime (many of which are RPGs, such as Oblivion and Final Fantasy XII), a bad thing? I think it depends on what type of gamer you are. If I were a kid again, with ample free time... yeah, having a short game isn't that great. I'd be bored fairly quickly, and at that point, calling this merely "a rental" would make a lot of sense.
But as a working individual, there's something to be said about having a product that's fairly polished and a lot of fun, and relatively short. A "short" game like Gears of War still took me several weeks to complete. I'm finding that Crackdown is similar. I've already beaten the campaign, but there's still a lot that I want to do (get the other achievements). I like the idea that I should be able to accomplish this relatively easily after a few weeks. On the other hand, with games like the aforementioned FFXII, I know I'll have to dedicate months if I want to get through much of the optional side-quest content. Heck, just beating the original game took a long time. I'm not saying that long games are a bad thing (especially if they're good), but for me personally, there's a boon in having shorter games as well.
I think most of us would agree that the alternative, having a game that's unnaturally lengthened (forcing the user to revisit levels for no good reason, etc.), is a bad thing.
What do the rest of you think? Are there any other "short but sweet" games that you can think of?
That's very easy to say, and I'm sure there isn't any kind of special and amazing IWIN combination. But there might be something good that's unconventional. I know if I worked something like that out, I'd like to keep it on the hush for as long as I can.
I really think you overemphasize the importance of the information you get out of Armory. There's only two things that are useful to know: gear and talents. Well gee, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that better gear will help you more in PvP. You don't need Armory to know that if your opponent has a bunch of epic items, and you only have a mish-mash of greens and blues, he/she already has an advantage. As for talents, just the specs alone aren't going to be enough. You actually need to see it in action, which is obviously something Armory alone can't help you out with. Arguably, once you do witness the "IWIN combination" in action, that is what's ultimately important, not the actual spec. So then there's nothing preventing you from spoiling that in the forums or in chat, with or without Armory.
A lot of people seem to have missed the main point of my post, the problem with the whole Armory implementation is that Blizzard doesn't give you the choice to hide the information.
Saying that it's not important to have an option for privacy, even in something as trite as your in-game details in a computer game, is probably a bad idea. If Blizzard doesn't care about keeping this data private, what else don't they care about keeping private? Your name? Your phone number? Sure would be nice if you gank some guy and he looks up your name and address and comes around for a visit because it turns out he was criminally insane.
That's just stupid slippery slope argument. There are established laws and regulations regarding privacy. The thought that showing off in-game details will ultimately lead to display personal data such as your phone number, is as absurd as saying the same thing will happen to sports stars, whose stats are on display in on numerous web sites. By your argument, you would claim that ESPN might start showing Barry Bonds' phone number at some point.
As I've pointed out in some of my other comments on this story, there are already an abundance of sites that track this type of information anyway. In some cases, they track a lot more data than the Armory (such as personal guild history over time). I would much rather Blizzard present this data in an official fashion, and make it available to everyone, rather than have the data accessible to only the few folks that just happened to know the right web sites or forums to visit.
Well, someone has to fill in for E3. Why exactly did they stop having E3 anyway? Seems silly.
As someone who's been to a few E3s, I can definitely tell you that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Every year, it's like an arms race, with all the companies trying to build these larger, and larger booths. However, the venue itself was a horrible place to show off your game to retailers/press, since it's loud, crowded, lots of distractions, and rarely do you have time to honestly try out a product or talk to representatives. Thus, lots of companies started actually hosting their own private functions at hotels outside of the main E3 venue.
To a lesser extent, E3 always put a lot of demand on developers for having that E3 build ready for demo. Eliminating E3, or at least having it moved later, theoretically makes things easier. Some would argue, though, that having E3 as a milestone isn't necessarily a bad thing, and for many companies, they'll continue to have some sort of early milestone build target anyway (if you won't show it at E3, you can always show it off at other events, or private showings).
Back to GDC, that's not really an appropriate 1-for-1 replacement of E3. GDC really is supposed to be a gathering for developers, not just one big marketing bonanza. There are some E3 replacement ideas being kicked around, such as the Entertainment for All show, which is actually open to everyone (not just those in the games industry). There is also the Penny-Arcade Expo, a gathering of gaming fans that's getting larger and larger each year. Personally, I think those are better fits for a true "E3 replacement", but one that's really focused towards the fanbase.
How long do you suppose it would be before you could install some tool, then all you need to do is click on Legolaughs and in a couple of seconds you'll be able to see everything about that character? Actually, I would be surprised if someone hasn't coded this up yet.
I wouldn't be surprised if similar mods already existed before this site came out. As I said before, much of that information is already available in the game itself. A mod would just have to analyze the combat logs and make some educated guesses of what types of talents your opponent is. Or heck, you can just see it for yourself.
I am hoping that Sony (and other companies) will learn a few things from this whole experience:
1) The gaming community is extremely connected. Good news travels fast, but bad news is lightspeed. Wait before you do something stupid like blackball a popular gaming website. Maybe it's worth trying the "count to 10 before sending off a nasty e-mail" tactic?
2) More respect needs to be given to the gaming press in general. You can't push them around, just because you happen to be the content provider. Maybe that will get some companies to be a bit more open (*cough* Nintendo *cough*).
3) Image is important, especially in this industry where virtual wars are fought over these brand names. Yes, that means not screwing around the press. But maybe taking it further like not lying, not being overly egotistical, being more honest, etc. will actually help for once.
First of all, I think the proper thing to do is to just stick with the standard "No comment" approach, which is what Nintendo and MS always do. Ask them something that's fairly obviously true, you'll get "No comment". Ask them something outlandishly false, you'll also get "No comment". That's pretty much been the MO of the industry, and we're all pretty used to it.
Now, I'm sure there are times where a "No comment" isn't enough. Maybe it's leaked confidential information. Or someone broke an NDA. In those cases, they'll ask a site to remove it, and sure enough most will.
Even if they don't, I don't recall blacklisting as a tactic that's been done before (please correct me if I'm wrong, and supply examples/evidence). Of course Sony/MS/Nintendo/anyone-else is free to do what they please, but there's a reason why it's generally (never?) done. The backlash is pretty severe, especially in this industry where its fans are so vocal and connected.
if kotaku is simply a blog, they did the right thing by not backing down. however, if they are simply a blog they should not be able to benefit from industry perks such as debug systems, prerelease games, exclusive interviews, etc. these kind of perks are simply noncash bribes so that the product gets a mention.
if they are a journalistic entity, they should work with the press officers at sony and within the confines of journalistic fact. if they wanted to proceed, perhaps they could have offered a re-write [lets not forget that kotaku slanted the article to imply that the feature would be a copy of its various competitors] and requested a possible exclusive the day of the conference.
I would say Kotaku is, well, neither. Or a mix of both. Or sometimes one, and sometimes the other. There are many times where they just repeat whatever corporate statement has been made. And times where it's really just an opinion piece.
In the end, though, I don't think it matters. To publishers and developers, Kotaku is just another media outlet, and one they manage however they want to. There are certainly lots of blogs that DO get personal treatment (access to builds, interviews, etc.), and lots of journalist sites that DON'T get such things, because they're just too small.
That said, Sony is well within their right, obviously, to NOT grant Kotaku anymore access to information, press events, etc. I don't think anyone is saying that's illegal by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's a pretty damn crappy thing to do, as well as dangerous... especially in an industry where the fans are so connected and vocal. There's going to be a lot of debate about Sony's actions in blackballing Kotaku, rather than this potentially cool feature that was rumored on in the first place. I don't think Sony realized fully the consequences of what it has done (as usual).
I think what Blizzard realized is that privacy was gone anyway, thanks to a number of 3rd party sites that tracked much of the same data. And some of these places tracked a lot more information, some of which can be really used in a bad way. For example, there is a site that actually tracks your guild history (which ones you've been in, how long, etc.). So, if you're applying to a new guild, their leader could look you up at this site, and wonder, "Hmm, this guy has gone through X many guilds in Y months. That's not a good sign, so thumbs down to him!", even though you might have a legitimate reason for this.
So, that said, I think the data that Blizzard has decided to make public is rather benign in comparison, especially since much of it is data that you can already access anyway (inspecting gear, reading combat logs, etc.). Rather than give a small minority of folks an advantage, who happen to know the right websites to visit or mods to install... it's better to make it an official part of the game, and let basically everyone know where to find it.
Additionally, there's a whole lot of people that want access to this information, and don't mind sharing out their own data. This is true especially for guilds. Why do you think these 3rd party sites and mods existed in the first place? So again, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
I think Armory is going to be great in also exposing trolls, both on forums and in game chat channels. I'm referring to Internet-style trolls, not the actual Warcraft race.
There are always trolls that claim things like: 1) X class/talent is over-powered, I always die to them, Blizzard needs to make my class/talent a lot better - Well, looking at Armory, your talent spec is a mess. Plus, you've made some poor item decisions. No wonder you're having so much trouble. Anyone would in your condition.
2) I'm uber because I have all these epics and have gone through all these 40-man raids. Bow down to me! - Oh really? According to Armory, you're still outfit in greens/blues, and you barely have any rep associated with those raids (such as the Hydraxian Waterlords for Molten Core). Lying much lately?
3) I'm the uber-PvP king, so you should listen to what I say - Uh huh, well it says here that your Arena record is piss-poor, and you only have a couple thousand lifetime honor. Yeah, right.
I'm tired of people lying or misrepresenting themselves. It's almost always gamers who want to make themselves better than what they are. Typically, the people that ARE good at the game, don't need to advertise themselves, because it's already apparent.
One real negative to this site, though, is that it well definitely increase the elitism in this game. Yeah, pointing out the fault of forum and General chat trolls is one thing. But it could get ugly if elitists start pointing out flaws with normal Joe Blow players, who aren't trying to misrepresent themselves in the first place.
Don't know if yours is a troll post, but oh well I'll bite.
Sure, 90% of players won't care, but what about the high end gamers who develop a secret 2v2 PvP secret sauce?
There is no "secret sauce" in PvP. All the stats of a fight are in the combat logs. You can get a pretty good idea of what the other team is doing, just by seeing what they do, as well as the stats. And if you're not looking at this data, then you're probably not the type to look at the Armory stats anyway.
There also isn't a a simple "IWIN" button in PvP, despite what some forum posters think. Even if there is a certain combination of talents, spells, and classes that excel in PvP, you still have to be skilled enough to push all the buttons at the right time, have the reaction speed, etc.
I don't play this game, but I imagine that it would put people at a significant disadvantage in many situations. Trolls could find weaker players and go kill them easily. Personal privacy aside, I think this is a really bad idea. Imagine a war game (computer, real, whatever) where you know your enemies weaknesses, and they know yours. And it is not fair to say that everybody has access to this information and is fair game, because many will not know how to access this or even care about it. Bad move.
Easier said than done. Yeah, you may find out that player NoobSauce isn't very good, since his gear sucks and his talent trees are a mess. But how the heck are you going to find him? For all you know, he's not even logged in or playing the game anymore. It doesn't help even in the reverse situation. For example, you notice Legolaughs is guarding the flag in a Battleground. Are you really going to ALT-TAB out, launch a web browser, go look up his talent spec, ALT-TAB back, then go to town? Of course not. Just knowing his class and level, which you can already get in-game, is mostly all you need. And then depending on what spells or skills he uses, you can get a pretty good idea of his talent specialization, if you really want to know that too.
Where this DOES have an effect in PvP is with Arena teams, as several others have already suggested. Even then, I don't think it's terribly disruptive. Armory or not, just by playing the game and through normal means of communication (forums, chat, etc.), players were going to find out what class and talent combinations are used by the best teams anyway. Now that's information available to everyone, and not just those who frequent the WoW message boards.
Too many FPS games get so caught up in their own little world that they forget about making the experience fun. I recently beat Doom III (three years late, I know) and one word best describes it: boring. Sure, the weapons and environments (Mars, hell) are damn awesome, but the actual gameplay is monotonous and contrived. I actually turned on God Mode just so I could beat the game faster...
Actually, a lot of people would agree with you here. Doom 3 ratings on GameRankings are decent at 88%, but more successful FPS games/franchises, have scored a lot better, probably because they were fun.
Apparently a lot of people haven't read the actual article in question. In fact, they do mention PIN numbers and parental controls. However, parents need to know that they have to turn these features ON, since it's default to off.
Also, the "Wii == Porn Portal" is actually something the gaming press came up with. The actual site itself doesn't appear to be "blaming the Wii" for any problems.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a case where the gaming media is blowing something out of proportion, and stands a good chance at doing more harm than good. If I were a regular parent who came across the article on this site, I would have thought, "Oh, the Wii has a web browser? And I have a way to turn on parental controls? Excellent!". However, if I had come across the Slashdot or Kotaku article instead, I might be thinking "THE WII IS A PORTAL TO PORN!? OMG!". Gee, thanks gaming press.
After reading the actual Wii article on their website, it seems to me that the sensationalism is actually coming from the gaming press. "Smear campaign"? "Attack on the Wii"? I don't see at all in the article. Yes, they do mention that the Wii is a "portal to porn" in the press release, but that phrase isn't on the website, nor do they use anything similar blatant. Rather, it's the headlines in the gaming press where you see the sensationalism.
Yeah, so the website appears to be funded my some Christian group. Even though I'm not Christian, I don't really see a problem here, considering the actual messaging is quite reasonable and responsible. I don't see them blasting Nintendo or the console, in fact just providing parents the messaging they need to "do the right thing" (use the proper parental controls, etc.).
Sometimes I think the gaming press really does itself more harm than good...
While I don't agree with the bulk of your comments, I do agree that there could be some better quality-control overall with BC. I've run into several quests which were bugged in some way. Anyone encounter Fel Cannons and sand worms that were hidden underground? You can't attack them, but very annoyingly, they can attack you. Yeah, extremely frustrating. There are a couple of other quests which were bugged in various ways, that had to be patched as well.
As for the "class imbalances", I have to disagree with the bulk of the player base. In every MMO, you will always have people bitch that their particular class being imbalanced, and whine that "so-and-so" class needs to be nerfed. All you need to do is spend some time on the WoW forums to see this. What these posters don't realize is that they represent a tiny percentage of the actual population. Just because they have a particular grudge about something, doesn't mean it's real. Only Blizzard has access to the raw stats and data, to see what is actually occurring in the game. Certainly there are imbalances of some level, which is why tweaking is always occuring. It's just natural, as the players find new ways to use their spells and talents, to maximize their potential (and minimize others). But if you just listen to forum posters and bloggers, they make it seem like the sky is falling.
One great example is that of the Shaman class. For months, the popular sentiment was that Shamans were overpowered, and they needed to be "nerfed" (tweaked so that they were less powerful). I even joined a guild, entirely made of Shamans, that was called "Nerf Shamans", poking fun at this idea. Nowadays, it's the popular sentiment that Shamans are underpowered and thus need "buffs" (tweaked so they are more powerful). But you know, not all that much has really changed with the class. You can say the same with almost every WoW class, which always seems to go through a cycle of being over-and-under-powered.
However, after I did a quest where I had to kill Hydras for 4 hours in order to get 8 scales or whatever, I realized that it was more of the same crap and the promptly quit the game again.
I definitely agree that those "kill these monsters and bring back X items" quests are usually boring and tedious. So, I do look forward to quests that are different than the norm. One great example is the bombing run quest you get in Hellfire Peninsula, where you get to lob grenades from a flying mount. It's too bad that more quests aren't as fun as that one.
But there are times where the "interesting" quests aren't much fun after all, and I end up wishing for the normal "kill X monsters" quests. One example is of a quest in Shadowmoon Valley, where you're supposed to farm some weird potatoes for an orc farmer. (Yeah yeah, it's absurd that I'm a level 70, death-dealing rogue... digging up tubers, but that's a rant for another time) Anyway, you can't collect them yourself, but supposed to blow a whistle and have a nearby boar dig them up for you. The problem is that there are a bunch of reaver monsters roaming the area killing off boars. Obviously without boars, you can't collect the potatoes.
So, this task turns into a game of trying to protect the boars long enough to have them dig up tubers for you. The problem is that the boars are often not near the tubers, and the reavers respawn very quickly. I spent an hour running around the blasted area, constantly killing reavers, but unable to get one tuber because another reaver would spawn while I was busy and take out even more boars. This was easily the most frustrating quest in BC, and perhaps in the entire game. Fortunately, I did come back later and was able to complete it, through a combination of luck and better planning.
So yeah, the quest certainly was interesting and different. I wouldn't say it was too difficult either, since I was able to complete it later. In any other game, I would not have been frustrated by a quest like this, since part of the fun is the challenge. But it's interesting that WoW has gotten to the point where I'm almost obsessed with the act of being able to grind efficiently, that when Blizzard does throw a curve-ball from time to time, ironically I do wish for the "boring-but-straight-forward" quests after all.
Even half that cost is rediculous. How much of a discount do they really give you, though? I paid $40 for 7 years of Starcraft. Blizzard has really gone down hill..
Argh. I'm tired of people like you who "don't get it". Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. That's especially the case with games, which are extremely subjective. I'm tired of people like you who seem to think that their own personal opinions > everyone else's. That's why your last comments have all been modded down (Flamebait). (And possibly mine will too, since it is Off-topic)
So you don't agree that $15/month is worth it for yourself. Fair enough. But saying that "Blizzard has really gone down hill" is really quite idiotic, considering how many subscribers they have (including myself) who are happily paying that fee and playing the game. Are you trying to imply that we've also "gone down hill" for doing so? I certainly hope you're not, because that's just being short-sighted and close-minded.
If $15/month really were an ludicrous idea, then a game like WoW would have never been as popular as it is. Nor would other MMOs before it that were moderately successful (Ultima Online, Everquest). Believe it or not, there are a lot of gamers that like the MMO concept, and will gladly pay for it.
I remember when Guild Wars was coming out, a lot of people were claiming that the subscription fee model was going to die since Guild Wars supplied a lot of the same MMO-mechanics without charging for it. Well, you can see now just how wrong that prediction was. Blizzard happened to supply a game that millions of people like (and thus will pay for). I don't see at all why that's a bad thing.
What you, and many others who write posts like this, seem to forget is that there's a reason behind what otherwise appears to be bias among the Slashdot crowd. Remember that, and these kinds of things become much less surprising.
Oh, I'm not doubting that there's a reason at all. (If anything, some would argue I'm a part of this anti-Sony/pro-Nintendo crowd) But there's certainly a lot of pro-Nintendo fanboys whose only reasoning behind the success of the Wii is essentially repeating the company line verbatim, and spouting off a lot of Sony/MS FUD. There's a lot of FUD also slung towards the Wii as well. All of that doesn't make for a good discussion. However, my point was that despite all that, the moderation system does do a pretty decent job of picking out the truly insightful posts.
I'm sure I can't be the only person on slashdot who reads this and thinks "well actually I thought it would." Surely I haven't just become the world's leading business analyst overnight. Following on from their strong showing with the DS, I felt a lot of people (although none of the moron^H^H^H^H^Hexperts who get paid to share their infinite wisdom) seemed to predict this as Nintendo's second coming. Perhaps some analyst company would like to pay me stupid amounts of money - I'm open to offers. I was so sure about it, I even told my retired and not particularly wealthy parents to buy Nintendo stock (and they'd never forgive me if I was wrong).
There was actually a recent article implying that the Internet community was a better predictor than traditional business analysts of this console generation's successes/failures. This runs a bit contrary to what you think at first. After all, the Internet is rife with fanboys from all sides, so it can be difficult to draw out interesting tidbits and facts, from the general fanboy noise. You can certainly see this in a place like Slashdot, which is filled especially with anti-Sony/MS detractors and pro-Nintendo fans. Despite the arguably pro-Nintendo skew to a lot of postings (some good, some way too overzealous), I'm pleasantly surprised by a lot of the on-point analysis and observations on all "sides", or by folks who haven't really chosen any side in particular. There's something to be said about the opinions of a mass audience, which lives and breathes this industry... more so than arguably any one business analyst.
I work in the games portion of MS, and we've always had a good work/life balance schedule in my group. Yeah, there are times where we do work late night, but that's surprisingly rare. I think it's a combination of both smart management, and also the fact that my team doesn't ship retail titles, but works on platforms. So there isn't really a periodic crunch schedule, the way there are for games. Rather, we're always hectic, but in a manageable way.
But I have definitely heard the horror studios from friends who work in other companies and other parts of MS, which are really scary sounding.
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To me, I took it as this:
1) Nintendo's vision is to focus on casual and new gamers
2) Here's what I did to make sure I always kept that in mind: wife-o-meter, balance, focusing on making things fun, etc.
3) Here are the results from our efforts: huge success of the DS and Wii, and more importantly, wife-o-meter is high
4)
5) PROFIT!!!
Now, other developers will have different visions in mind. Some of them may focus on the casual gamer as well, but many will focus on traditional hardcore gamers too. There are other ways to succeed in this business, besides focusing on just casual (just ask the Gears of War guys). And as you stated, we don't need hundreds of party games on one system. Diversity in the game catalog is important, so yes, Nintendo should want 3rd parties to pick up in genres that they don't excel at (or care to do).
But anyway, I see the keynote as simply, "Here's what we set out to do, here's what I did, and how I succeeded."
That said, I do think that Miyamoto's keynote was very relevant. While it may be fairly obvious to you and me that Nintendo's current key to success is targeting the casual gamer, it may not be to the other game developers at the conference
As a fellow engineer in the games industry, I have been to a number of conferences and will say that keynotes like Miyamoto's are generally more common than the one Sony presented yesterday. A lot of the time, it is fluff, because we do need to be reminded about what games are for, who are audiences are, etc. Many of us are so focused on the technical and business details, that we can't see the forest for the trees. Now, the other talks going on at GDC will tend to be more detailed and developer focused. But I wouldn't mind at all listening to the keynote Miyamoto gave, especially considering it came from such a luminary in the industry.
That's why it's important to get to know the reviewers. It's like any other product. I have friends whose opinions I trust, because I know what they like and dis-like. I think there's a good analogy with movie reviews as well. Many people follow the reviews of folks like Ebert & Roeper, because they find that their tastes are similar. On the other hand, I know folks that do the opposite. ("If Ebert hated it, then it MUST be good!") The same should be with game reviews. I actually find that listening to podcasts from the gaming press (such as 1UP and GameSpot) is helpful, since you very quickly get an idea as to what style of game each person likes, and inevitably you will find either attracted or indifferent to certain people's opinions.
On related note, there are a lot of games on the DS that are perhaps longer, but definitely playable in short bursts. That's something that I especially like. Many of the games on that platform have a "quick save" option, for those times that you need to put the DS away, but want to be able to return to it quickly. Or games that are broken out easily between things like levels and such. Examples include Advance Wars DS and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Not everyone has the 2-3 continguous hours it might take to play a lengthy, immersive game adequately.
Anyway, I hate to play devil's advocate so much, because I do agree that it does seem weird that Blizzard isn't allowing for some opt-out mechanism. I don't see why they wouldn't, but I don't work there and I imagine there's probably a reason why. I can understand why it's not opt-in, since most people wouldn't do it (mostly because they don't know it exists, or are too lazy to do it), so the tool becomes pretty useless.
That said, I personally don't care that my data is broadcast. Rather, it's a handy feature. Everyone I've talked to in-game also loves the feature as well. No more having to ask, "What talents do you have?" and then either manually typing them out, or at best, linking to your spec at the WoW talent calculator. You can just point them to the Armory instead.
First of all a disclaimer, I do work in games for MS. That said, I try not to play favorites. For example, Perfect Dark Zero? Not very good. 99 Nights? Yeaahh, not much either. But I did like Gears of War and Crackdown. I haven't worked on any of these titles either. I also have been a big fan of various games for other consoles and platforms (PS2, DS, etc.). Anyway, my thoughts ...
... yeah, having a short game isn't that great. I'd be bored fairly quickly, and at that point, calling this merely "a rental" would make a lot of sense.
I see a lot of comments regarding Crackdown being a relatively short game. The same was said of Gears of War. Given a dedicated week of playtime, you can beat them, as well as go through many of the achievements. Basically, it's about 10-15 hours of single-player content. (Obviously playing online extends the length quite a bit, but that's all subjective depending on how much you like multiplayer to begin with)
So, is the game's relative shortness, compared to other games that boast things like 40-50 hours of playtime (many of which are RPGs, such as Oblivion and Final Fantasy XII), a bad thing? I think it depends on what type of gamer you are. If I were a kid again, with ample free time
But as a working individual, there's something to be said about having a product that's fairly polished and a lot of fun, and relatively short. A "short" game like Gears of War still took me several weeks to complete. I'm finding that Crackdown is similar. I've already beaten the campaign, but there's still a lot that I want to do (get the other achievements). I like the idea that I should be able to accomplish this relatively easily after a few weeks. On the other hand, with games like the aforementioned FFXII, I know I'll have to dedicate months if I want to get through much of the optional side-quest content. Heck, just beating the original game took a long time. I'm not saying that long games are a bad thing (especially if they're good), but for me personally, there's a boon in having shorter games as well.
I think most of us would agree that the alternative, having a game that's unnaturally lengthened (forcing the user to revisit levels for no good reason, etc.), is a bad thing.
What do the rest of you think? Are there any other "short but sweet" games that you can think of?
As I've pointed out in some of my other comments on this story, there are already an abundance of sites that track this type of information anyway. In some cases, they track a lot more data than the Armory (such as personal guild history over time). I would much rather Blizzard present this data in an official fashion, and make it available to everyone, rather than have the data accessible to only the few folks that just happened to know the right web sites or forums to visit.
To a lesser extent, E3 always put a lot of demand on developers for having that E3 build ready for demo. Eliminating E3, or at least having it moved later, theoretically makes things easier. Some would argue, though, that having E3 as a milestone isn't necessarily a bad thing, and for many companies, they'll continue to have some sort of early milestone build target anyway (if you won't show it at E3, you can always show it off at other events, or private showings).
Back to GDC, that's not really an appropriate 1-for-1 replacement of E3. GDC really is supposed to be a gathering for developers, not just one big marketing bonanza. There are some E3 replacement ideas being kicked around, such as the Entertainment for All show, which is actually open to everyone (not just those in the games industry). There is also the Penny-Arcade Expo, a gathering of gaming fans that's getting larger and larger each year. Personally, I think those are better fits for a true "E3 replacement", but one that's really focused towards the fanbase.
I am hoping that Sony (and other companies) will learn a few things from this whole experience:
1) The gaming community is extremely connected. Good news travels fast, but bad news is lightspeed. Wait before you do something stupid like blackball a popular gaming website. Maybe it's worth trying the "count to 10 before sending off a nasty e-mail" tactic?
2) More respect needs to be given to the gaming press in general. You can't push them around, just because you happen to be the content provider. Maybe that will get some companies to be a bit more open (*cough* Nintendo *cough*).
3) Image is important, especially in this industry where virtual wars are fought over these brand names. Yes, that means not screwing around the press. But maybe taking it further like not lying, not being overly egotistical, being more honest, etc. will actually help for once.
Anyone else want to pitch in?
First of all, I think the proper thing to do is to just stick with the standard "No comment" approach, which is what Nintendo and MS always do. Ask them something that's fairly obviously true, you'll get "No comment". Ask them something outlandishly false, you'll also get "No comment". That's pretty much been the MO of the industry, and we're all pretty used to it.
Now, I'm sure there are times where a "No comment" isn't enough. Maybe it's leaked confidential information. Or someone broke an NDA. In those cases, they'll ask a site to remove it, and sure enough most will.
Even if they don't, I don't recall blacklisting as a tactic that's been done before (please correct me if I'm wrong, and supply examples/evidence). Of course Sony/MS/Nintendo/anyone-else is free to do what they please, but there's a reason why it's generally (never?) done. The backlash is pretty severe, especially in this industry where its fans are so vocal and connected.
In the end, though, I don't think it matters. To publishers and developers, Kotaku is just another media outlet, and one they manage however they want to. There are certainly lots of blogs that DO get personal treatment (access to builds, interviews, etc.), and lots of journalist sites that DON'T get such things, because they're just too small.
That said, Sony is well within their right, obviously, to NOT grant Kotaku anymore access to information, press events, etc. I don't think anyone is saying that's illegal by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's a pretty damn crappy thing to do, as well as dangerous
I think what Blizzard realized is that privacy was gone anyway, thanks to a number of 3rd party sites that tracked much of the same data. And some of these places tracked a lot more information, some of which can be really used in a bad way. For example, there is a site that actually tracks your guild history (which ones you've been in, how long, etc.). So, if you're applying to a new guild, their leader could look you up at this site, and wonder, "Hmm, this guy has gone through X many guilds in Y months. That's not a good sign, so thumbs down to him!", even though you might have a legitimate reason for this.
... it's better to make it an official part of the game, and let basically everyone know where to find it.
So, that said, I think the data that Blizzard has decided to make public is rather benign in comparison, especially since much of it is data that you can already access anyway (inspecting gear, reading combat logs, etc.). Rather than give a small minority of folks an advantage, who happen to know the right websites to visit or mods to install
Additionally, there's a whole lot of people that want access to this information, and don't mind sharing out their own data. This is true especially for guilds. Why do you think these 3rd party sites and mods existed in the first place? So again, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
I think Armory is going to be great in also exposing trolls, both on forums and in game chat channels. I'm referring to Internet-style trolls, not the actual Warcraft race.
There are always trolls that claim things like:
1) X class/talent is over-powered, I always die to them, Blizzard needs to make my class/talent a lot better
- Well, looking at Armory, your talent spec is a mess. Plus, you've made some poor item decisions. No wonder you're having so much trouble. Anyone would in your condition.
2) I'm uber because I have all these epics and have gone through all these 40-man raids. Bow down to me!
- Oh really? According to Armory, you're still outfit in greens/blues, and you barely have any rep associated with those raids (such as the Hydraxian Waterlords for Molten Core). Lying much lately?
3) I'm the uber-PvP king, so you should listen to what I say
- Uh huh, well it says here that your Arena record is piss-poor, and you only have a couple thousand lifetime honor. Yeah, right.
I'm tired of people lying or misrepresenting themselves. It's almost always gamers who want to make themselves better than what they are. Typically, the people that ARE good at the game, don't need to advertise themselves, because it's already apparent.
One real negative to this site, though, is that it well definitely increase the elitism in this game. Yeah, pointing out the fault of forum and General chat trolls is one thing. But it could get ugly if elitists start pointing out flaws with normal Joe Blow players, who aren't trying to misrepresent themselves in the first place.
There also isn't a a simple "IWIN" button in PvP, despite what some forum posters think. Even if there is a certain combination of talents, spells, and classes that excel in PvP, you still have to be skilled enough to push all the buttons at the right time, have the reaction speed, etc.
Where this DOES have an effect in PvP is with Arena teams, as several others have already suggested. Even then, I don't think it's terribly disruptive. Armory or not, just by playing the game and through normal means of communication (forums, chat, etc.), players were going to find out what class and talent combinations are used by the best teams anyway. Now that's information available to everyone, and not just those who frequent the WoW message boards.
Apparently a lot of people haven't read the actual article in question. In fact, they do mention PIN numbers and parental controls. However, parents need to know that they have to turn these features ON, since it's default to off.
Also, the "Wii == Porn Portal" is actually something the gaming press came up with. The actual site itself doesn't appear to be "blaming the Wii" for any problems.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a case where the gaming media is blowing something out of proportion, and stands a good chance at doing more harm than good. If I were a regular parent who came across the article on this site, I would have thought, "Oh, the Wii has a web browser? And I have a way to turn on parental controls? Excellent!". However, if I had come across the Slashdot or Kotaku article instead, I might be thinking "THE WII IS A PORTAL TO PORN!? OMG!" . Gee, thanks gaming press.
After reading the actual Wii article on their website, it seems to me that the sensationalism is actually coming from the gaming press. "Smear campaign"? "Attack on the Wii"? I don't see at all in the article. Yes, they do mention that the Wii is a "portal to porn" in the press release, but that phrase isn't on the website, nor do they use anything similar blatant. Rather, it's the headlines in the gaming press where you see the sensationalism.
...
Yeah, so the website appears to be funded my some Christian group. Even though I'm not Christian, I don't really see a problem here, considering the actual messaging is quite reasonable and responsible. I don't see them blasting Nintendo or the console, in fact just providing parents the messaging they need to "do the right thing" (use the proper parental controls, etc.).
Sometimes I think the gaming press really does itself more harm than good
While I don't agree with the bulk of your comments, I do agree that there could be some better quality-control overall with BC. I've run into several quests which were bugged in some way. Anyone encounter Fel Cannons and sand worms that were hidden underground? You can't attack them, but very annoyingly, they can attack you. Yeah, extremely frustrating. There are a couple of other quests which were bugged in various ways, that had to be patched as well.
As for the "class imbalances", I have to disagree with the bulk of the player base. In every MMO, you will always have people bitch that their particular class being imbalanced, and whine that "so-and-so" class needs to be nerfed. All you need to do is spend some time on the WoW forums to see this. What these posters don't realize is that they represent a tiny percentage of the actual population. Just because they have a particular grudge about something, doesn't mean it's real. Only Blizzard has access to the raw stats and data, to see what is actually occurring in the game. Certainly there are imbalances of some level, which is why tweaking is always occuring. It's just natural, as the players find new ways to use their spells and talents, to maximize their potential (and minimize others). But if you just listen to forum posters and bloggers, they make it seem like the sky is falling.
One great example is that of the Shaman class. For months, the popular sentiment was that Shamans were overpowered, and they needed to be "nerfed" (tweaked so that they were less powerful). I even joined a guild, entirely made of Shamans, that was called "Nerf Shamans", poking fun at this idea. Nowadays, it's the popular sentiment that Shamans are underpowered and thus need "buffs" (tweaked so they are more powerful). But you know, not all that much has really changed with the class. You can say the same with almost every WoW class, which always seems to go through a cycle of being over-and-under-powered.
But there are times where the "interesting" quests aren't much fun after all, and I end up wishing for the normal "kill X monsters" quests. One example is of a quest in Shadowmoon Valley, where you're supposed to farm some weird potatoes for an orc farmer. (Yeah yeah, it's absurd that I'm a level 70, death-dealing rogue
So, this task turns into a game of trying to protect the boars long enough to have them dig up tubers for you. The problem is that the boars are often not near the tubers, and the reavers respawn very quickly. I spent an hour running around the blasted area, constantly killing reavers, but unable to get one tuber because another reaver would spawn while I was busy and take out even more boars. This was easily the most frustrating quest in BC, and perhaps in the entire game. Fortunately, I did come back later and was able to complete it, through a combination of luck and better planning.
So yeah, the quest certainly was interesting and different. I wouldn't say it was too difficult either, since I was able to complete it later. In any other game, I would not have been frustrated by a quest like this, since part of the fun is the challenge. But it's interesting that WoW has gotten to the point where I'm almost obsessed with the act of being able to grind efficiently, that when Blizzard does throw a curve-ball from time to time, ironically I do wish for the "boring-but-straight-forward" quests after all.
So you don't agree that $15/month is worth it for yourself. Fair enough. But saying that "Blizzard has really gone down hill" is really quite idiotic, considering how many subscribers they have (including myself) who are happily paying that fee and playing the game. Are you trying to imply that we've also "gone down hill" for doing so? I certainly hope you're not, because that's just being short-sighted and close-minded.
If $15/month really were an ludicrous idea, then a game like WoW would have never been as popular as it is. Nor would other MMOs before it that were moderately successful (Ultima Online, Everquest). Believe it or not, there are a lot of gamers that like the MMO concept, and will gladly pay for it.
I remember when Guild Wars was coming out, a lot of people were claiming that the subscription fee model was going to die since Guild Wars supplied a lot of the same MMO-mechanics without charging for it. Well, you can see now just how wrong that prediction was. Blizzard happened to supply a game that millions of people like (and thus will pay for). I don't see at all why that's a bad thing.
I work in the games portion of MS, and we've always had a good work/life balance schedule in my group. Yeah, there are times where we do work late night, but that's surprisingly rare. I think it's a combination of both smart management, and also the fact that my team doesn't ship retail titles, but works on platforms. So there isn't really a periodic crunch schedule, the way there are for games. Rather, we're always hectic, but in a manageable way.
But I have definitely heard the horror studios from friends who work in other companies and other parts of MS, which are really scary sounding.