"so far sales are dismal (down 25% from last year's sales"
I kind of think last year was a bit special as far big name releases. You had Half Life 2, Doom 3, WoW, Metroid Prime 2, GTA San Andreas, Halo 2, and perhaps Rome Total War so I think all of those maybe contributed to 2004 being a stellar year for game sales.
(Say what you want about the actual games themselves but they were all hugely anticipated...)
So after having failed as a day trader this guy wants to make a living on selling items / trading currency guy on the latest MMPORG. He is pissed because Blizzard are aggressively shutting down the Ebay auctions.
Ignoring the IP/Ownership issues, I have little sympathy for him. First and foremost it is meant to be a game, not a method for you to make a living. Why doesn't he go grind Lineage II or FF where this seems to be tolerated by the devs? (Though I understand FF has been cracking down on this a bit lately - maybe due to the arrival of WoW?)
I think you can go ahead and argue the legalities of who owns what and whether they have the right to sell it all you want but if I was paying to play this game, the last thing I would want in it is a legion of professional grinders/sellers spamming the chat channels.
Lastly, there have been a number of informative posts in games.slashdot over the last month or two describing what what effect the "gil sellers" in FF have had - camping items 24/7 basically monopolising level advancement to a certain point in the game. Fuck that.
I don't really have problem of selling optional content but PC gamers had to wait several months for the release of the game, only to find out that the game isn't graphically optimised to include a reasonably pervasive function as anti-aliasing support!
I can't help feeling they blew their chance with this. I know it has gotten progressively better over the year since the launch, but I feel this more than any other MMPORG had the potential to break that 1,000,000 subscriber barrier. (If any of them ever will) Or in other words gain that mass acceptance.
Maybe the expansion will cause a spike in the player numbers but I from what I have read it will be adding in features that probably should have been in the game originally.
From a developer's perspective, over the last year they have pushing Office 2003 down our (mainly MS based shop) throats. I can't rememeber how many free courses I have both declined and been to - all evangelising using a component of Office as part of the front end. (Not mention to all the free cd's of Office for us.)
Not a bad strategy - get the developers to build their apps requiring a cool little widget in Office 2003 so the customer HAS to upgrade to the latest version to use the app.
Thanks, but no thanks our customers are not keen when Office 97, Star or Open Office is fine for their needs.
...but as I actually RTFA, the bit that interested me the most was this:
Imagine the RTS game on the PC where you're the general and you're deploying troops and managing resources. The guys on the console are the troops, playing a real-time action/adventure game. They're going out and beating each other with clubs or storming the castle
Scepticism of actually being able to implement that aside, that would be fucking cool.
Apologies to the previous Slashdot poster who originally posted the below text, but I though it was so on the mark that I copied and kept it. It bears repeating:
I've seen SO many of these come and go. You can never question them while they're in the ascendancy.
Stage 1 consists of proof by repeated assertion, and "case studies" that actually describe only how projects using the Methodology were _started_. Lots of detail on how managers and workers were organized and brought on board, etc. Anecdotal success stories where you cannot tell whether the success actually had anything to do with the use of the Methodology or whether they just had a good team that would have succeeded anyway, or whether it was just Hawthorne Effect. No clear evidence that _other things being equal_ using the Methodology instead of some other process actually has a beneficial effect.
Stage 2 occurs when a Methodology has been used in enough real projects by a real-world variety of programmers, then you start to see the articles that say "in order for it to work, you MUST have conditions a, b, c, d, and e." One of the conditions is usually the enthusiastic involvement of upper management. But, hey, if you have the enthusiastic involvement of upper management you can probably get ANY project to succeed. Another is usually the adoption of the entire methodology, no "piecemeal" approaches. Another is usually the provision of adequate training. No real-world project ever meets all these conditions, therefore no failed project using the Methodology is deemed to disprove its efficacy.
Stage 3 occurs when people start to notice that the Methodology doesn't particularly work. Well, actually, it's never phrased that way. Nobody ever _admits_ that the Methodology was a fad which has now been abandoned. Instead, they simply say they are adopting the _new_ Methodology, which it is said, DOES work. Or at any rate WILL work. Provided, of course, that you adopt all of it, have the enthusiastic backing of upper management, and adequate training.
I am still waiting for an A-Team game. Can you imagine it:
Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.
Apologies if you have already seen this but it is worth repeating:
LOTR: Return of the King Survival Tips
1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, "Wait... where the hell is Harry Potter?"
2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" After the movie, say "Lucas could have done it better."
3. At some point during the movie, stand up and shout: "I must go! Middle Earth needs me!" and run and try to jump into the screen. After bouncing off, return quietly to your seat.
4. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: "The Ring."
5. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.
6. Ask the nearest ring-nut if he thinks Gandalf went to Hogwarts
7. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."
8. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, "And I did it.... MY way...!"
9. At the end, complain that Gollum was offensive to Ethiopians
10. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
11. When Shelob appears, pinch the guy in front of you on the back of the neck.
12. Dress up as old ladies and reenact "The Battle of Helms Deep" Monty Python style.
13.When Denethor lights the fire, shout "Barbecue!"
14. Ask people around you who they think is the next "Terminator" sent from the Middle Earth of the future to assassinate Frodo Baggins
15. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout "RUNFOREST, RUN!"
16. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: "That's what I'm Tolkien about!" See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.
17. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, "Where's Waldo?"
18. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.
19. Start an Orc sing-a-long.
20. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.
Good to see Steel Battalion (Capcom, Xbox) for finally getting some recognition. Props to the developer for having the balls to release a game + controller at almost the price of the console. The Mech "immersion factor" with that badass controller was triple A+.
Apologies to the previous Slashdot poster who originally posted the below text, but I though it was so on the mark that I copied and kept it. It bears repeating:
I've seen SO many of these come and go. You can never question them while they're in the ascendancy.
Stage 1 consists of proof by repeated assertion, and "case studies" that actually describe only how projects using the Methodology were _started_. Lots of detail on how managers and workers were organized and brought on board, etc. Anecdotal success stories where you cannot tell whether the success actually had anything to do with the use of the Methodology or whether they just had a good team that would have succeeded anyway, or whether it was just Hawthorne Effect. No clear evidence that _other things being equal_ using the Methodology instead of some other process actually has a beneficial effect.
Stage 2 occurs when a Methodology has been used in enough real projects by a real-world variety of programmers, then you start to see the articles that say "in order for it to work, you MUST have conditions a, b, c, d, and e." One of the conditions is usually the enthusiastic involvement of upper management. But, hey, if you have the enthusiastic involvement of upper management you can probably get ANY project to succeed. Another is usually the adoption of the entire methodology, no "piecemeal" approaches. Another is usually the provision of adequate training. No real-world project ever meets all these conditions, therefore no failed project using the Methodology is deemed to disprove its efficacy.
Stage 3 occurs when people start to notice that the Methodology doesn't particularly work. Well, actually, it's never phrased that way. Nobody ever _admits_ that the Methodology was a fad which has now been abandoned. Instead, they simply say they are adopting the _new_ Methodology, which it is said, DOES work. Or at any rate WILL work. Provided, of course, that you adopt all of it, have the enthusiastic backing of upper management, and adequate training.
I posted this months ago, and it still seems relevant to this article:
I pulled up the TRST Data from last year, and I counted how many of the top titles for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2 were made in Japanese top 10, top 20, top 30.
On PlayStation 2, two of their top 10 were made in Japan, and two of the next 10, and three of the next 10. That's got to be a record for low games from Japan.
On Xbox, there were none in the top 10, two in the next 10, and none in the last 10.
On GameCube it was six, five, and a few more in the last 10. (Almost all of them were Nintendo 1st/2nd party titles as you prolly guessed.)
....that obviously CD prices are a result of Price Fixing, without the artist getting anywhere near a fair share of it. So this is a PERFECT opportunity for the artists to say F U to the record companies and keep a majority of the money, just USE the freaking technology themselves. Yes I know, the record companies own the back catalog, and its easier said than done, but if ever was a time for artist to take the initiative vs record companies this is it. It would take time and risk. They'd have to start with new stuff and not the back catalog and start new companies..but some of the larger, consistent artists could do it. Rap seems especially suited for such a move...and bands like Creed, Metallica, U2 any band with a consistent track record could move units on their own and any up and coming band with staying power...imagine if Metallica/Van Halen/U2 had put out a majority of their own music at their peak?
10 million units x 12 bucks is 120 million each CD. at most the artist gets 10 million of that, and half of that is taxed. Unless you move other merchandise like boy bands and britney....its a lot of money, but as a percentage they are getting screwed.
I pulled up the TRST Data from last year, and I counted how many of the top titles for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2 were made in Japanese top 10, top 20, top 30.
On PlayStation 2, two of their top 10 were made in Japan, and two of the next 10, and three of the next 10. That's got to be a record for low games from Japan.
On Xbox, there were none in the top 10, two in the next 10, and none in the last 10.
On GameCube it was six, five, and a few more in the last 10. (Almost all of them were Nintendo 1st/2nd party titles as you prolly guessed.)
Anyone care to draw any meaningful conclusions from the above or just a blip in the graph?
What I found most interesting in the article, rather than the distributor crackdown was this quote from the author:
"...it's hard not to see this latest move as the thrashing of a platform holder which is becoming increasingly irrelevant in this territory and is grasping at straws to explain its own miserable failure."
Thats a big call, but Rob Fahey (the author) knows his stuff. I'm not sure if I agree with him here though...???
Slashdot Mirror
A small point regarding:
"so far sales are dismal (down 25% from last year's sales"
I kind of think last year was a bit special as far big name releases. You had Half Life 2, Doom 3, WoW, Metroid Prime 2, GTA San Andreas, Halo 2, and perhaps Rome Total War so I think all of those maybe contributed to 2004 being a stellar year for game sales.
(Say what you want about the actual games themselves but they were all hugely anticipated...)
So after having failed as a day trader this guy wants to make a living on selling items / trading currency guy on the latest MMPORG. He is pissed because Blizzard are aggressively shutting down the Ebay auctions.
Ignoring the IP/Ownership issues, I have little sympathy for him. First and foremost it is meant to be a game, not a method for you to make a living. Why doesn't he go grind Lineage II or FF where this seems to be tolerated by the devs? (Though I understand FF has been cracking down on this a bit lately - maybe due to the arrival of WoW?)
I think you can go ahead and argue the legalities of who owns what and whether they have the right to sell it all you want but if I was paying to play this game, the last thing I would want in it is a legion of professional grinders/sellers spamming the chat channels.
Lastly, there have been a number of informative posts in games.slashdot over the last month or two describing what what effect the "gil sellers" in FF have had - camping items 24/7 basically monopolising level advancement to a certain point in the game. Fuck that.
We wait in anticipation for the Chinese version of DDR online...
I don't really have problem of selling optional content but PC gamers had to wait several months for the release of the game, only to find out that the game isn't graphically optimised to include a reasonably pervasive function as anti-aliasing support!
How old is the the survey?
Like MarcoatWork I note that there were no ATI x800 or Nvidia 6800 class cards listed.
I would have thought these would have been steadily gaining a decent share due to a lot of people having upgraded for HL2, Doom 3 etc...
From the article:
Already, its Gmail free e-mail system gives users 100 megabytes of storage space on a remote network -- providing consumers a virtual hard drive.
Since when did 100mb = 1 gig?
I can't help feeling they blew their chance with this. I know it has gotten progressively better over the year since the launch, but I feel this more than any other MMPORG had the potential to break that 1,000,000 subscriber barrier. (If any of them ever will) Or in other words gain that mass acceptance.
Maybe the expansion will cause a spike in the player numbers but I from what I have read it will be adding in features that probably should have been in the game originally.
Definetly.
From a developer's perspective, over the last year they have pushing Office 2003 down our (mainly MS based shop) throats. I can't rememeber how many free courses I have both declined and been to - all evangelising using a component of Office as part of the front end. (Not mention to all the free cd's of Office for us.)
Not a bad strategy - get the developers to build their apps requiring a cool little widget in Office 2003 so the customer HAS to upgrade to the latest version to use the app.
Thanks, but no thanks our customers are not keen when Office 97, Star or Open Office is fine for their needs.
...but as I actually RTFA, the bit that interested me the most was this:
Imagine the RTS game on the PC where you're the general and you're deploying troops and managing resources. The guys on the console are the troops, playing a real-time action/adventure game. They're going out and beating each other with clubs or storming the castle
Scepticism of actually being able to implement that aside, that would be fucking cool.
Apologies to the previous Slashdot poster who originally posted the below text, but I though it was so on the mark that I copied and kept it. It bears repeating:
I've seen SO many of these come and go. You can never question them while they're in the ascendancy.
Stage 1 consists of proof by repeated assertion, and "case studies" that actually describe only how projects using the Methodology were _started_. Lots of detail on how managers and workers were organized and brought on board, etc. Anecdotal success stories where you cannot tell whether the success actually had anything to do with the use of the Methodology or whether they just had a good team that would have succeeded anyway, or whether it was just Hawthorne Effect. No clear evidence that _other things being equal_ using the Methodology instead of some other process actually has a beneficial effect.
Stage 2 occurs when a Methodology has been used in enough real projects by a real-world variety of programmers, then you start to see the articles that say "in order for it to work, you MUST have conditions a, b, c, d, and e." One of the conditions is usually the enthusiastic involvement of upper management. But, hey, if you have the enthusiastic involvement of upper management you can probably get ANY project to succeed. Another is usually the adoption of the entire methodology, no "piecemeal" approaches. Another is usually the provision of adequate training. No real-world project ever meets all these conditions, therefore no failed project using the Methodology is deemed to disprove its efficacy.
Stage 3 occurs when people start to notice that the Methodology doesn't particularly work. Well, actually, it's never phrased that way. Nobody ever _admits_ that the Methodology was a fad which has now been abandoned. Instead, they simply say they are adopting the _new_ Methodology, which it is said, DOES work. Or at any rate WILL work. Provided, of course, that you adopt all of it, have the enthusiastic backing of upper management, and adequate training.
"Mr Jackson transported the iPod (tm) in his Lee (tm) jeans."
Ha, Peter Jackson in jeans? He wore shorts to most of the premiers. Shoes only sometimes too.
I am still waiting for an A-Team game. Can you imagine it:
Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.
Was he packing the D.Eagle or the SIG?
Settlers of Catan.
Apologies if you have already seen this but it is worth repeating:
LOTR: Return of the King Survival Tips
1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, "Wait... where the hell is Harry Potter?"
2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" After the movie, say "Lucas could have done it better."
3. At some point during the movie, stand up and shout: "I must go! Middle Earth needs me!" and run and try to jump into the screen. After bouncing off, return quietly to your seat.
4. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: "The Ring."
5. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.
6. Ask the nearest ring-nut if he thinks Gandalf went to Hogwarts
7. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."
8. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, "And I did it.... MY way...!"
9. At the end, complain that Gollum was offensive to Ethiopians
10. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
11. When Shelob appears, pinch the guy in front of you on the back of the neck.
12. Dress up as old ladies and reenact "The Battle of Helms Deep" Monty Python style.
13.When Denethor lights the fire, shout "Barbecue!"
14. Ask people around you who they think is the next "Terminator" sent from the Middle Earth of the future to assassinate Frodo Baggins
15. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout "RUNFOREST, RUN!"
16. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: "That's what I'm Tolkien about!" See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.
17. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, "Where's Waldo?"
18. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.
19. Start an Orc sing-a-long.
20. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.
Good to see Steel Battalion (Capcom, Xbox) for finally getting some recognition. Props to the developer for having the balls to release a game + controller at almost the price of the console. The Mech "immersion factor" with that badass controller was triple A+.
Go back to kindergarten kiddie.
Apologies to the previous Slashdot poster who originally posted the below text, but I though it was so on the mark that I copied and kept it. It bears repeating:
I've seen SO many of these come and go. You can never question them while they're in the ascendancy.
Stage 1 consists of proof by repeated assertion, and "case studies" that actually describe only how projects using the Methodology were _started_. Lots of detail on how managers and workers were organized and brought on board, etc. Anecdotal success stories where you cannot tell whether the success actually had anything to do with the use of the Methodology or whether they just had a good team that would have succeeded anyway, or whether it was just Hawthorne Effect. No clear evidence that _other things being equal_ using the Methodology instead of some other process actually has a beneficial effect.
Stage 2 occurs when a Methodology has been used in enough real projects by a real-world variety of programmers, then you start to see the articles that say "in order for it to work, you MUST have conditions a, b, c, d, and e." One of the conditions is usually the enthusiastic involvement of upper management. But, hey, if you have the enthusiastic involvement of upper management you can probably get ANY project to succeed. Another is usually the adoption of the entire methodology, no "piecemeal" approaches. Another is usually the provision of adequate training. No real-world project ever meets all these conditions, therefore no failed project using the Methodology is deemed to disprove its efficacy.
Stage 3 occurs when people start to notice that the Methodology doesn't particularly work. Well, actually, it's never phrased that way. Nobody ever _admits_ that the Methodology was a fad which has now been abandoned. Instead, they simply say they are adopting the _new_ Methodology, which it is said, DOES work. Or at any rate WILL work. Provided, of course, that you adopt all of it, have the enthusiastic backing of upper management, and adequate training.
I posted this months ago, and it still seems relevant to this article:
I pulled up the TRST Data from last year, and I counted how many of the top titles for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2 were made in Japanese top 10, top 20, top 30.
On PlayStation 2, two of their top 10 were made in Japan, and two of the next 10, and three of the next 10. That's got to be a record for low games from Japan.
On Xbox, there were none in the top 10, two in the next 10, and none in the last 10.
On GameCube it was six, five, and a few more in the last 10. (Almost all of them were Nintendo 1st/2nd party titles as you prolly guessed.)
...Conflict Desert Storm
....that obviously CD prices are a result of Price Fixing, without the artist
getting anywhere near a fair share of it. So this is a PERFECT opportunity for
the artists to say F U to the record companies and keep a majority of the
money, just USE the freaking technology themselves. Yes I know, the record
companies own the back catalog, and its easier said than done, but if ever was
a time for artist to take the initiative vs record companies this is it. It
would take time and risk. They'd have to start with new stuff and not the back
catalog and start new companies..but some of the larger, consistent artists
could do it. Rap seems especially suited for such a move...and bands like
Creed, Metallica, U2 any band with a consistent track record could move units
on their own and any up and coming band with staying power...imagine if
Metallica/Van Halen/U2 had put out a majority of their own music at their peak?
10 million units x 12 bucks is 120 million each CD. at most the artist gets 10
million of that, and half of that is taxed. Unless you move other merchandise
like boy bands and britney....its a lot of money, but as a percentage they are
getting screwed.
From the review - "Overall Rating: 3.35 (Open Content has an effect on overall score.)"
What is the Open Content modifier they refer to above?
That's like Microsoft advertising on Slashdot!
oh wait...
I pulled up the TRST Data from last year, and I counted how many of the top titles for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2 were made in Japanese top 10, top 20, top 30.
On PlayStation 2, two of their top 10 were made in Japan, and two of the next 10, and three of the next 10. That's got to be a record for low games from Japan.
On Xbox, there were none in the top 10, two in the next 10, and none in the last 10.
On GameCube it was six, five, and a few more in the last 10. (Almost all of them were Nintendo 1st/2nd party titles as you prolly guessed.)
Anyone care to draw any meaningful conclusions from the above or just a blip in the graph?
What I found most interesting in the article, rather than the distributor crackdown was this quote from the author:
"...it's hard not to see this latest move as the thrashing of a platform holder which is becoming increasingly irrelevant in this territory and is grasping at straws to explain its own miserable failure."
Thats a big call, but Rob Fahey (the author) knows his stuff. I'm not sure if I agree with him here though...???