A shame they didn't do this with Deus Ex II: The Invisible War. That game would have been much less criticized had it not carried the stigma of being a DE game.
Of course, if it didn't say Deus Ex in the title, it probably would have sold even worse. But at least we could still respect the franchise. Maybe even respect Ion Storm too !
Akamai has their DNS servers located on plenty of different networks. (assuming you don't count 'The Internet' as one big physical network)
The problem here is twofold. First, a sites' DNS services were provided by the same company. This is going to happen no matter what, and even the rule you mentioned doesn't prvent it. However, and here's the kicker, lots of sites use the same company. So instead of one company's network outage affecting that one company's sites, we have it toasting half the internet.
IANAL, but from what I've seen in the theatres, "extreme prejudice" usually involves someone getting shot repeatedly. If not, they're instead blasted into a fine pink mist.
Assuming the US legal system uses the same terminology as action movie characters, I'm thinking "DISMISSED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE" might be the best outcome in regards to SCO.
it actually may have been a safer move to sell it at $30 or $40, which is starting to become a trend for smaller games.
This was almost exactly what I was thinking. ALL the big publishers sell games at 50$. $30-$35 is still significantly cheaper, but is much less likely to to set off warning bells that you might be purchasing a piece of crap. $19.95 just smells....cheap. Sega would garner a higher profit margin with less chance of backlash by just making their games a little more expensive. (I can't believe I just advocated a company raise their prices.)
However, this issue could probably be mitigated with effective advertising. That can go alot to make people aware that these aren't just 'bargain' games - they're games at a bargain. And not just gaming magazine adverts. They need to get the word out on more mainstream outlets.
Needless to say, developers slashing prices is a good thing. However, I'm worried how casual gamers might take this. The general public seems to have accepted the fact that games big cost $50. Only charging $20 could make Sega's games appear as though they are producing something less than a decent title. I know that I would generally be wary of something that costs 60% less than everything else on the market. This often indicates lower quality in a product.
Now, I sincerely hope this is not the case. I would love to see Sega thrive charging less for their games. But it would be a real shame if they didn't sell because they undercut too much, and consumers didn't realize the other games are overpriced...
Halo had a very large PC fanbase going for it before Bungie was bought out. I have absolutely no doubt that Halo would have been a significant success saleswise had MS not come along. It might not have been widely considered the best game on the platform, but a success nonetheless. Bungie had a excellent track record with the multitude of Marathon and Myth titles. The cult-following alone would have made Halo a hit. It most likely would have garnered mainstream recognition as well.
I don't believe the Mac community lost all that much when Bungie started producing for the PC. Both Myth and Oni were playable on the Mac soon after their release on the PC. (If not at the same time) Due to the similarities of input devices and the like, neither game was dumbed down or limited by this cross-development. Bungie had quite a devout Mac fanbase because they were providing quality games on both platforms.
The same cannot be said for Bungie under Microsoft. The PC & Mac versions came out looong after the X-Box release. And the differences in console and desktop gaming meant that a simple port just doesn't make for a good game. Damn MS for defiling our gaming Mecca.
I also noticed an interesting side effect. Any ill-conceived notion of invulnerability is shattered by playing those games, because you will be killed in the games, no matter how good you are.
I think this particular aspect is completely overridden by the prevalence of respawning or save/reload. Getting a nigh infinite number of chances will result in the gamer only remembering the times they succeeded. The lack of any significant consequences for dying adds to this as well.
Certainly I, for one, come off feeling invincible after a round of UT2K4. I'm obviously rational enough to know that I'm not, but that's not the lesson I get from gaming.
However, I happen to think that Microsoft will NOT win the console market. Essentially Microsoft is in a catch-22 situation with the Xbox. If it fails to sell, Microsoft failed. However, due to the 100 bucks loss on each console, if it succeeds, Microsoft loses even MORE money.
Selling hardware at a loss is pretty much par for the course when it comes to consoles. Even Sony does it (BTW, if anyone has a better link for PS2 manufacturing costs, let me know.) Even though the actual sale of the console costs money, it still leads to increased profits. It all comes down to software licensing. The more MS brand consoles in the public's hands, the more developers will want to make games for them. The larger market is just a better place to hawk a product. This increase in demand/profit from developers allows Microsoft to increase it licensing cost, eventually bringing the entire division into the black.
Now, is this going to happen with the X-Box ? Not unless the wrath of god removes Sony from existence. However, it is theoretically possible with the next generation console. As you astutely put it, only time will tell.
I won't argue that GTA provides a much more realistic depiction of violence. But games seem more likely to be protrayed as 'evil' when they have a multiplayer facet. Killing animated pixels on your monitor is one thing, but when those are representations of another real person... IMO, most games often touted as violent involve a multiplayer aspect. Doom, Quake, etc. And other MMOG's such as EQ seem to be getting a similar 'bad' wrap in general.
And considering how much money Microsoft is losing now, I don't think Microsoft will wait 12 years and will almost certainly give up before then.
I'd like to draw your attention to this Cringely article. It's a (long) opinion piece on MS' business model. Two points are made about the way MS works: 1) MS has incentives to increase losses. Yeah, you read that correctly. Without losses to balance off their massive growth in the Office/Windows department, they'd plateau and go nowhere. 2) Microsoft has basically saturated the PC market, and sucked as much profit as humanly possible from computer sales. Thus, they have to move into new markets.
Keeping the top two points in mind, the X-Box seems to be doing a perfect job of what MS wants. Now, I certainly don't expect you to whole-heartedly agree with the above article, but do at least read it...
Most (US) military names use 'X' to signify an experimental design. In this case, I think the 'X' is to indicate the project is to be used for multiple ship classes. Kind of like a variable in a mathematical formula. (Evidence - the program will now be called "DD(X)" to more accurately reflect the program purpose, which is to produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants, not a single ship class)
All that being said, X sure does get used a lot, often in the most retarded of ways. It's just the alphabet's sexiest character. What can you do ?
MS profits on sales of a surprisingly small amount of, well, anything. Think about how much MS makes when you use MediaPlayer, Internet Explorer, etc. MS isn't about selling a bunch of products, they're about controlling the platform. The idea behind the XBox isn't to turn a profit. It's to put a MS platform in as many living rooms that they possibly can. Once they've got that sort of control, then they can start making money. It's not like we haven't seen this before...
How long do you think it will take before NetDevil gets sued for real life violence ? One idiot that goes postal on the freeway will be found that contemplated playing this game, the media will pick it up, and bamf ! Pure insanity.
Hell, reporters will probably be dropping this game's name into any video game discussion 10 years from now. "...including such violent video games as 'Auto Assault' or 'Doom'..."
can anybody name another game that was hurt as the result of this?
Bungie was originally a PC (And Mac !) developer. And a damn good one too. (I hope you've all played Myth & Marathon)
I think the logic behind the 'XBox hurts PC' charge is that MS winds up buying development companies, and makes them XBox only. Like they did with Bungie. That, and the potentially more lucrative market for the XBox takes focus away from PC development.
I can entirely see how their Q/A team would miss the bug - Q/A would need to be playing on hard, probably with no cheats on (otherwise, why save and reload?).
IMO, playing without cheats is a pretty significant part of QA. Admittedly, you're going to need someone to breeze through the game easily just to make sure the basic mechanics work. But you're creating a game. The QA team NEEDS to make sure it has enjoyable gameplay, or they're just selling an overly expensive tech demo. Especially in a game like Thief III, where the AI one of the major selling points. If you don't have the time to test all your features, then make time. If you're not willing to do that, then be prepared to reap the whirlwind when your stuff breaks.
... a more important factor is that the consumers whine, stomp their feet, type IN ALL CAPS, and otherwise make a idiot of themselves if the game does not come out quickly.
It should be noted that producers are compounding this problem themselves. (Yes, the gamers are still to blame too) Just about any big-production game gets obscenely hyped. Press releases say what the game "will" do long before any features are really finalized, much less coded. The PR machine gets working as soon as humanly possible. This unsurprisingly leads to innaccurate release dates, and a production time that 'seems' overly long simply because gamers have known about the game from the instant the first design document is written.
I mean, really. Isnt the goal to make money? And isnt that a product of producing a good game?
Yes, indeed. Much like the formula for profit in music or movies is a high-quality original release. Titles that are carried on the strength of name recognition, sex appeal, or herd mentality just don't cut it.
Undoubtably, bugs will happen. There isn't much anyone can do about this. But there's a deeper problem at issue here. Namely, games are being rushed out the door before they're ready. Now, this is most likely the fault of the publishers rather than the developers, but there isn't much we can do to distinguish when it comes to our purchases.
It's not like this is Ion Storm's first problem with this sort of thing. Did you try the abysmal Deus Ex II ? There were billions of issues there that should have been caught by simple playtesting. Likewise here...did no one test the difficulty settings for more than 5 minutes ?
The gaming industry really needs to learn that they can't blitz a product to market at less-than-optimal quality, and expuct the publc to shell out $50+ without complaint. Gamers are used to (virtually) blowing crap up, not grabbing their ankles and taking it from behind. PC games are complex constructions, no question about it. If you want your game to be a quality release (and thus keep customers) you have to expend a good deal of effort in QA/testing. Hell, resort to a semi-public beta if you don't have the inhouse staff to do it.
There's a link here that describes the soldering method in detail. No mod chip required, but it does take a good deal of effort. Basically you just flash the original X-Box BIOS, rather than circumventing it and running code on a modchip.
Despite the article's claims that this will not allow you to run games, I'm pertty certain that you could simply replace the original MS BIOS with a less-than-legal one that would play games...
Basically, an X-Box modchip just allows the box to run a different BIOS. You can easily flash the modchip with a BIOS that runs Linux rather than the MS DashBoard. Also just as easy to allow unsigned code to run with the dashboard. As in...'play backed' up games. (No, not legal)
That particular modchip does not require soldering either. Basically, you just scrape the mainboard a bit, and metal spikes from the chip rest there, making the required electrical connection. The soldering mentioned in your link appears to be a way to install Linux without a modchip, and just using a few solder droplets.
It would appear that the developers behind DEII really didn't like the original Deus Ex. Hence the unified ammo, lack of skills, no depth, poor voice-acting, etc.
With such a rock-solid gameplan, what could go wrong ?!?
Having helped a friend with his X-Box modifications, I'm quite certain there are no-solder modchips on the market. This particular one simply required scraping off the insulation on a couple contact points. Much like installing your own PC hardware, it was quite daunting the first time. But once you've finished, you realize it really wasn't much effort afterall.
I believe the PS2 has similar chips that don't require soldering, but I can't be sure.
All that being said, it still requires a decent amount effort, not to mention cajones. The average person probably isn't going to bother, without someone to hold their hand.
Slashdot Mirror
A shame they didn't do this with Deus Ex II: The Invisible War. That game would have been much less criticized had it not carried the stigma of being a DE game.
Of course, if it didn't say Deus Ex in the title, it probably would have sold even worse. But at least we could still respect the franchise. Maybe even respect Ion Storm too !
--LordPixie
Akamai has their DNS servers located on plenty of different networks. (assuming you don't count 'The Internet' as one big physical network)
The problem here is twofold. First, a sites' DNS services were provided by the same company. This is going to happen no matter what, and even the rule you mentioned doesn't prvent it. However, and here's the kicker, lots of sites use the same company. So instead of one company's network outage affecting that one company's sites, we have it toasting half the internet.
--LordPixie
Don't make me break out the Trillian logs... --LordPixie
IANAL, but from what I've seen in the theatres, "extreme prejudice" usually involves someone getting shot repeatedly. If not, they're instead blasted into a fine pink mist.
Assuming the US legal system uses the same terminology as action movie characters, I'm thinking "DISMISSED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE" might be the best outcome in regards to SCO.
--LordPixie
it actually may have been a safer move to sell it at $30 or $40, which is starting to become a trend for smaller games.
This was almost exactly what I was thinking. ALL the big publishers sell games at 50$. $30-$35 is still significantly cheaper, but is much less likely to to set off warning bells that you might be purchasing a piece of crap. $19.95 just smells....cheap. Sega would garner a higher profit margin with less chance of backlash by just making their games a little more expensive. (I can't believe I just advocated a company raise their prices.)
However, this issue could probably be mitigated with effective advertising. That can go alot to make people aware that these aren't just 'bargain' games - they're games at a bargain. And not just gaming magazine adverts. They need to get the word out on more mainstream outlets.
--LordPixie
Needless to say, developers slashing prices is a good thing. However, I'm worried how casual gamers might take this. The general public seems to have accepted the fact that games big cost $50. Only charging $20 could make Sega's games appear as though they are producing something less than a decent title. I know that I would generally be wary of something that costs 60% less than everything else on the market. This often indicates lower quality in a product.
Now, I sincerely hope this is not the case. I would love to see Sega thrive charging less for their games. But it would be a real shame if they didn't sell because they undercut too much, and consumers didn't realize the other games are overpriced...
--LordPixie
Halo had a very large PC fanbase going for it before Bungie was bought out. I have absolutely no doubt that Halo would have been a significant success saleswise had MS not come along. It might not have been widely considered the best game on the platform, but a success nonetheless. Bungie had a excellent track record with the multitude of Marathon and Myth titles. The cult-following alone would have made Halo a hit. It most likely would have garnered mainstream recognition as well.
--LordPixie
I don't believe the Mac community lost all that much when Bungie started producing for the PC. Both Myth and Oni were playable on the Mac soon after their release on the PC. (If not at the same time) Due to the similarities of input devices and the like, neither game was dumbed down or limited by this cross-development. Bungie had quite a devout Mac fanbase because they were providing quality games on both platforms.
The same cannot be said for Bungie under Microsoft. The PC & Mac versions came out looong after the X-Box release. And the differences in console and desktop gaming meant that a simple port just doesn't make for a good game. Damn MS for defiling our gaming Mecca.
--LordPixie
I also noticed an interesting side effect. Any ill-conceived notion of invulnerability is shattered by playing those games, because you will be killed in the games, no matter how good you are.
I think this particular aspect is completely overridden by the prevalence of respawning or save/reload. Getting a nigh infinite number of chances will result in the gamer only remembering the times they succeeded. The lack of any significant consequences for dying adds to this as well.
Certainly I, for one, come off feeling invincible after a round of UT2K4. I'm obviously rational enough to know that I'm not, but that's not the lesson I get from gaming.
--LordPixie
However, I happen to think that Microsoft will NOT win the console market. Essentially Microsoft is in a catch-22 situation with the Xbox. If it fails to sell, Microsoft failed. However, due to the 100 bucks loss on each console, if it succeeds, Microsoft loses even MORE money.
Selling hardware at a loss is pretty much par for the course when it comes to consoles. Even Sony does it (BTW, if anyone has a better link for PS2 manufacturing costs, let me know.) Even though the actual sale of the console costs money, it still leads to increased profits. It all comes down to software licensing. The more MS brand consoles in the public's hands, the more developers will want to make games for them. The larger market is just a better place to hawk a product. This increase in demand/profit from developers allows Microsoft to increase it licensing cost, eventually bringing the entire division into the black.
Now, is this going to happen with the X-Box ? Not unless the wrath of god removes Sony from existence. However, it is theoretically possible with the next generation console. As you astutely put it, only time will tell.
--LordPixie
I won't argue that GTA provides a much more realistic depiction of violence. But games seem more likely to be protrayed as 'evil' when they have a multiplayer facet. Killing animated pixels on your monitor is one thing, but when those are representations of another real person... IMO, most games often touted as violent involve a multiplayer aspect. Doom, Quake, etc. And other MMOG's such as EQ seem to be getting a similar 'bad' wrap in general.
--LordPixie
And considering how much money Microsoft is losing now, I don't think Microsoft will wait 12 years and will almost certainly give up before then.
I'd like to draw your attention to this Cringely article. It's a (long) opinion piece on MS' business model. Two points are made about the way MS works: 1) MS has incentives to increase losses. Yeah, you read that correctly. Without losses to balance off their massive growth in the Office/Windows department, they'd plateau and go nowhere. 2) Microsoft has basically saturated the PC market, and sucked as much profit as humanly possible from computer sales. Thus, they have to move into new markets.
Keeping the top two points in mind, the X-Box seems to be doing a perfect job of what MS wants. Now, I certainly don't expect you to whole-heartedly agree with the above article, but do at least read it...
--LordPixie
Most (US) military names use 'X' to signify an experimental design. In this case, I think the 'X' is to indicate the project is to be used for multiple ship classes. Kind of like a variable in a mathematical formula. (Evidence - the program will now be called "DD(X)" to more accurately reflect the program purpose, which is to produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants, not a single ship class)
All that being said, X sure does get used a lot, often in the most retarded of ways. It's just the alphabet's sexiest character. What can you do ?
--LordPixie
MS profits on sales of a surprisingly small amount of, well, anything. Think about how much MS makes when you use MediaPlayer, Internet Explorer, etc. MS isn't about selling a bunch of products, they're about controlling the platform. The idea behind the XBox isn't to turn a profit. It's to put a MS platform in as many living rooms that they possibly can. Once they've got that sort of control, then they can start making money. It's not like we haven't seen this before...
--LordPixie
How long do you think it will take before NetDevil gets sued for real life violence ? One idiot that goes postal on the freeway will be found that contemplated playing this game, the media will pick it up, and bamf ! Pure insanity.
Hell, reporters will probably be dropping this game's name into any video game discussion 10 years from now. "...including such violent video games as 'Auto Assault' or 'Doom'..."
--LordPixie
can anybody name another game that was hurt as the result of this?
Bungie was originally a PC (And Mac !) developer. And a damn good one too. (I hope you've all played Myth & Marathon)
I think the logic behind the 'XBox hurts PC' charge is that MS winds up buying development companies, and makes them XBox only. Like they did with Bungie. That, and the potentially more lucrative market for the XBox takes focus away from PC development.
--LordPixie
The sad part is that I actually proofread that post. Don't even ask how that managed to slip past.
What the Slashdot community really needs is a "Oh crap, my spelling sucks ass. Let me fix that ! button.
--LordPixie
I can entirely see how their Q/A team would miss the bug - Q/A would need to be playing on hard, probably with no cheats on (otherwise, why save and reload?).
IMO, playing without cheats is a pretty significant part of QA. Admittedly, you're going to need someone to breeze through the game easily just to make sure the basic mechanics work. But you're creating a game. The QA team NEEDS to make sure it has enjoyable gameplay, or they're just selling an overly expensive tech demo. Especially in a game like Thief III, where the AI one of the major selling points. If you don't have the time to test all your features, then make time. If you're not willing to do that, then be prepared to reap the whirlwind when your stuff breaks.
--LordPixie
... a more important factor is that the consumers whine, stomp their feet, type IN ALL CAPS, and otherwise make a idiot of themselves if the game does not come out quickly.
It should be noted that producers are compounding this problem themselves. (Yes, the gamers are still to blame too) Just about any big-production game gets obscenely hyped. Press releases say what the game "will" do long before any features are really finalized, much less coded. The PR machine gets working as soon as humanly possible. This unsurprisingly leads to innaccurate release dates, and a production time that 'seems' overly long simply because gamers have known about the game from the instant the first design document is written.
--LordPixie
I mean, really. Isnt the goal to make money? And isnt that a product of producing a good game?
Yes, indeed. Much like the formula for profit in music or movies is a high-quality original release. Titles that are carried on the strength of name recognition, sex appeal, or herd mentality just don't cut it.
Oh, wait...maybe that's a bad example...
--LorDPixie
Undoubtably, bugs will happen. There isn't much anyone can do about this. But there's a deeper problem at issue here. Namely, games are being rushed out the door before they're ready. Now, this is most likely the fault of the publishers rather than the developers, but there isn't much we can do to distinguish when it comes to our purchases.
It's not like this is Ion Storm's first problem with this sort of thing. Did you try the abysmal Deus Ex II ? There were billions of issues there that should have been caught by simple playtesting. Likewise here...did no one test the difficulty settings for more than 5 minutes ?
The gaming industry really needs to learn that they can't blitz a product to market at less-than-optimal quality, and expuct the publc to shell out $50+ without complaint. Gamers are used to (virtually) blowing crap up, not grabbing their ankles and taking it from behind. PC games are complex constructions, no question about it. If you want your game to be a quality release (and thus keep customers) you have to expend a good deal of effort in QA/testing. Hell, resort to a semi-public beta if you don't have the inhouse staff to do it.
--LordPixie
There's a link here that describes the soldering method in detail. No mod chip required, but it does take a good deal of effort. Basically you just flash the original X-Box BIOS, rather than circumventing it and running code on a modchip.
Despite the article's claims that this will not allow you to run games, I'm pertty certain that you could simply replace the original MS BIOS with a less-than-legal one that would play games...
--LordPixie
Basically, an X-Box modchip just allows the box to run a different BIOS. You can easily flash the modchip with a BIOS that runs Linux rather than the MS DashBoard. Also just as easy to allow unsigned code to run with the dashboard. As in...'play backed' up games. (No, not legal)
That particular modchip does not require soldering either. Basically, you just scrape the mainboard a bit, and metal spikes from the chip rest there, making the required electrical connection. The soldering mentioned in your link appears to be a way to install Linux without a modchip, and just using a few solder droplets.
--LordPixie
It would appear that the developers behind DEII really didn't like the original Deus Ex. Hence the unified ammo, lack of skills, no depth, poor voice-acting, etc.
With such a rock-solid gameplan, what could go wrong ?!?
--LordPixie
Having helped a friend with his X-Box modifications, I'm quite certain there are no-solder modchips on the market. This particular one simply required scraping off the insulation on a couple contact points. Much like installing your own PC hardware, it was quite daunting the first time. But once you've finished, you realize it really wasn't much effort afterall.
I believe the PS2 has similar chips that don't require soldering, but I can't be sure.
All that being said, it still requires a decent amount effort, not to mention cajones. The average person probably isn't going to bother, without someone to hold their hand.
--LordPixie