but after the everything-you-do-will-affect-your-world-even-your -sneezes hype bullshit fiasco that was Fable, I have no more respect for Mr. Molyneux or anything he says. The man is a idea man and a dreamer, no doubt, but he simply cannot make a game without opening his mouth about how orgasmic the gameplay experience is going to be when the reality of it is far, far more mundane.
We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs.
He did not say "we will offer all"...he just said "we will offer online-enabled games..." This guys is a *salesman* first and foremost. A salesman - i.e. what he didn't say is just as important as what he did. This is a shell game played with words and misdirection. You could say the same exact things about Microsoft's XBox Live service's "out of the box" capabilies - "online-enabled games that consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for...etc etc" All of those things are true of the XBL Silver account...you just can't play head-to-head without a gold account.
released at a closer later date
If I saw a bunch of content appear immediately after the game's release for an additional charge, I know I'd begin to wonder if the publisher wasn't being more than slightly disingenuous with me, their customer, by witholding content that could very well have been included in the final version. This is likely the reason behind Microsoft's recommendation...not that I necessarily condone their logic.
But lunch-hour Mario Kart racing on our DS's have us hooked here in my office. People look at us like we're nuts when they walk in while we're saying stuff like "You nuked me you damn jerk...eat my red shells..." but we still have fun. The DS's never fail to draw attention, especially when they make three grown adults behave like we're 12 again.
I was heavily involved in WoW at the time and know that it affected my game-purchase habits; I can only imagine how much impact it's had on the PC and console game industries as a whole. When you have dozens of days (and I was on the low end compared to my peers) invested in several characters, it sure seems hard to do anything else but to continue to play just. that game. After all, isn't that part of the hook? That if you stop, you're "throwing it all away"...?
Yes, the industry is "broken" because games get larger and larger and require huge budgets and thousands of man hours to complete...so the little guys are shut out because they can't compete or lack said budgets and the pubs don't want to take a risk...blah blah blah...
With the next generation development costs are increasing rapidly
So go develop a DS game or something for the XBox Live Arcade that's fun and original, and then you can get your funding, FFS. If you really have something insanely fun and interesting then you'll have no problem getting backing for it. Do it on a smaller scale and watch the doors open for the bigger deals. What the hell is an unproven "independent" trying to accomplish by making a $20 million game, anyway? Prove that you're worth the money and publishers will make sure your game gets to market...it's not like they don't fund all sorts of crap that sells anyway (see any of the Matrix franchise games for examples of this).
Growing the market - Where will the growth come from? Will the size of the hardcore audience suddenly double and triple or do we need the broad base of the mainstream to grow the business? The answer is obvious and so far the winners seem to be Microsoft with Xbox Live Arcade and possibly Nintendo with its easy to use and enjoy Wii games.
Again, sigh....this guys has answered his own damn question.
From TFA: It's as if consumers woke up and decided to start gaming again
Pullleeeeeze! Every time sales are down from the prior year the industry is in a "slump" and doom and gloom projections about the industry are cast wide and far. Sales are up this year, so has the game industry turned itself around now? Oh wait, comparing this year's sales to last year's means next to nothing. Maybe, just maybe, there was nothing released comparable to the present demand for the DS Lite in June of '05?
Because there are more dollar signs attached to this segment of the market than ever before, and it's fascinating to watch. e.g. imo "Casual gamers" made WoW a juggernaut hit, not the hardcore crowd...publishers saw that and said "Holy shit, we've got it bass-ackwards!" and a new demographic is born that appeared almost, almost out of nowhere - WoW's runaway success has taken everyone by surprise.
This mainstreaming of videogames really hit me yesterday when I was in the dr's office lobby and 3 out of the 4 people there, all who came in separately, each had a DS out while they waited. Now I don't know if that proves anything, necessarily, but it was pretty damn cool.
Excellent post. I was going to respond elsewhere that games like we're currently seeing have been around since the days of Pacman - easy to pick up but reward time & effort by the more faithful players. Graphics and new technologies quickly trumped that, though, and have been doing so (more or less) for the last twenty years until we're now, as I see it, coming full-circle to a place where the market is ripe for a return to yesteryear.
The generation that popped all those quarters into Pacman and Galaga uprights are now busy adults who are so jaded to (or just plain disinterested in) the complexity of modern games that this resurgence of simpler games is like a breath of fresh air - one, I would argue, that is simply a return to our gaming roots.
I find many such games - budget-style games that are very much "pick up and play" yet reward extended "practice" - on the DS and XBox Live Arcade. You can get into them in a minute but contain enough depth (and fun) to keep you coming back for more - games like Geometry Wars and (to a lesser extent) Mario Kart DS, Brain Age, Nintendogs, etc.
They (casual gamers) are also more likely to buy way more units than the hardcore minority. See Worlf of Warcraft's numbers for an example of where the previously MMORPG-ignorant have come in droves at a time when people were shouting "saturation point!!" for the MMORPG market. Casual gamers have one thing that the hardcore do not: sheer numbers. They're a hugely attractive, untapped market. TFA is dead on, imo.
the xbox360 will have about 8 or 9 games by this christmas
Talk about pulling numbers out of your ass, the Xbox 360 currently has 41 titles sitting on the shelves. If you're going to wax Nintendo-fanboy on us you could at least pretend you're keeping the hyperboles to a minimum.
Slashdot Mirror
but after the everything-you-do-will-affect-your-world-even-your -sneezes hype bullshit fiasco that was Fable, I have no more respect for Mr. Molyneux or anything he says. The man is a idea man and a dreamer, no doubt, but he simply cannot make a game without opening his mouth about how orgasmic the gameplay experience is going to be when the reality of it is far, far more mundane.
We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs.
He did not say "we will offer all"...he just said "we will offer online-enabled games..." This guys is a *salesman* first and foremost. A salesman - i.e. what he didn't say is just as important as what he did. This is a shell game played with words and misdirection. You could say the same exact things about Microsoft's XBox Live service's "out of the box" capabilies - "online-enabled games that consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for...etc etc" All of those things are true of the XBL Silver account...you just can't play head-to-head without a gold account.
released at a closer later date
If I saw a bunch of content appear immediately after the game's release for an additional charge, I know I'd begin to wonder if the publisher wasn't being more than slightly disingenuous with me, their customer, by witholding content that could very well have been included in the final version. This is likely the reason behind Microsoft's recommendation...not that I necessarily condone their logic.
It's our not-so-fond name for the blue shell.
But lunch-hour Mario Kart racing on our DS's have us hooked here in my office. People look at us like we're nuts when they walk in while we're saying stuff like "You nuked me you damn jerk...eat my red shells..." but we still have fun. The DS's never fail to draw attention, especially when they make three grown adults behave like we're 12 again.
So don't develop for it.
Hell with that. I don't have time to be addicted...I have a raid schedule to keep.
Boo...someone needs their Jay & the Silent Bob detector fixed.
I think George Lucas gonna sue somebody!
How the hell is a serious gamer like me gonna to get to see boobs?
But I'm 90% sure that 75% of statistics are made up on the spot...mostly...
Hell with that. I don't have time to be addicted...I have a raid schedule to keep.
Pretty please?
was posted sometime last September here on /.
I was heavily involved in WoW at the time and know that it affected my game-purchase habits; I can only imagine how much impact it's had on the PC and console game industries as a whole. When you have dozens of days (and I was on the low end compared to my peers) invested in several characters, it sure seems hard to do anything else but to continue to play just. that game. After all, isn't that part of the hook? That if you stop, you're "throwing it all away"...?
Oxygen linked to fires...time to take ACTION!!
He was being ummmmm...what's that word? Oh, yah, sarcastic... ;)
Yes, the industry is "broken" because games get larger and larger and require huge budgets and thousands of man hours to complete...so the little guys are shut out because they can't compete or lack said budgets and the pubs don't want to take a risk...blah blah blah...
With the next generation development costs are increasing rapidly
So go develop a DS game or something for the XBox Live Arcade that's fun and original, and then you can get your funding, FFS. If you really have something insanely fun and interesting then you'll have no problem getting backing for it. Do it on a smaller scale and watch the doors open for the bigger deals. What the hell is an unproven "independent" trying to accomplish by making a $20 million game, anyway? Prove that you're worth the money and publishers will make sure your game gets to market...it's not like they don't fund all sorts of crap that sells anyway (see any of the Matrix franchise games for examples of this).
Growing the market - Where will the growth come from? Will the size of the hardcore audience suddenly double and triple or do we need the broad base of the mainstream to grow the business? The answer is obvious and so far the winners seem to be Microsoft with Xbox Live Arcade and possibly Nintendo with its easy to use and enjoy Wii games.
Again, sigh....this guys has answered his own damn question.
From TFA: It's as if consumers woke up and decided to start gaming again
Pullleeeeeze! Every time sales are down from the prior year the industry is in a "slump" and doom and gloom projections about the industry are cast wide and far. Sales are up this year, so has the game industry turned itself around now? Oh wait, comparing this year's sales to last year's means next to nothing. Maybe, just maybe, there was nothing released comparable to the present demand for the DS Lite in June of '05?
1995 called. They want their joke back.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Warcraft is extremely casual and easy to get in to...from 1 to 59.
Because there are more dollar signs attached to this segment of the market than ever before, and it's fascinating to watch. e.g. imo "Casual gamers" made WoW a juggernaut hit, not the hardcore crowd...publishers saw that and said "Holy shit, we've got it bass-ackwards!" and a new demographic is born that appeared almost, almost out of nowhere - WoW's runaway success has taken everyone by surprise.
This mainstreaming of videogames really hit me yesterday when I was in the dr's office lobby and 3 out of the 4 people there, all who came in separately, each had a DS out while they waited. Now I don't know if that proves anything, necessarily, but it was pretty damn cool.
Excellent post. I was going to respond elsewhere that games like we're currently seeing have been around since the days of Pacman - easy to pick up but reward time & effort by the more faithful players. Graphics and new technologies quickly trumped that, though, and have been doing so (more or less) for the last twenty years until we're now, as I see it, coming full-circle to a place where the market is ripe for a return to yesteryear.
The generation that popped all those quarters into Pacman and Galaga uprights are now busy adults who are so jaded to (or just plain disinterested in) the complexity of modern games that this resurgence of simpler games is like a breath of fresh air - one, I would argue, that is simply a return to our gaming roots.
I find many such games - budget-style games that are very much "pick up and play" yet reward extended "practice" - on the DS and XBox Live Arcade. You can get into them in a minute but contain enough depth (and fun) to keep you coming back for more - games like Geometry Wars and (to a lesser extent) Mario Kart DS, Brain Age, Nintendogs, etc.
They (casual gamers) are also more likely to buy way more units than the hardcore minority. See Worlf of Warcraft's numbers for an example of where the previously MMORPG-ignorant have come in droves at a time when people were shouting "saturation point!!" for the MMORPG market. Casual gamers have one thing that the hardcore do not: sheer numbers. They're a hugely attractive, untapped market. TFA is dead on, imo.
the xbox360 will have about 8 or 9 games by this christmas
Talk about pulling numbers out of your ass, the Xbox 360 currently has 41 titles sitting on the shelves. If you're going to wax Nintendo-fanboy on us you could at least pretend you're keeping the hyperboles to a minimum.