There now all you "4-6 hrs isn't enough!" people, is 4-6 hr episode with a new weapon, new enemy, new tech, a new veichle, and Team Fortress 2 enough? What if we throw in a Portal with an innovative new gameplay mechanic for a package deal? Hehe, I loved episode I enough I'd pay $40 for all three of these!
But wait, there's more! Console gamers get Episode I in there too! The consoles will probably have to pay $60 for the package (if $40 for ep2 TF2 and portal plus $20 for ep1 because they can.) I bet you PC by Steam will be the best option.
Since they freed themselves from beneth Vivendi's Iron heel. They announced that EA would do their physical medium publishing while Valve maintained full control of distribution through steam and whatever else the want to do. It's much more of a "mutual partnership" kind of deal than "we own all your distribution lines and therefore we (essentially) own you" kind of thing that Vivendi had going down. Much less pressure, much more freedom. The way games were ment to be published.
Episodic games can't compete against the mega bucks marketeers like EA can bring to the table? I had a hearty laugh! In a market as closly tied to technologies like the internet, word of mouth will always be king. It doesn't hurt that internet distribution of episodic content makes advertising cheaper too.
When I put down a game, I pick up a new one too. But with years of development between the one I put down and it's sequel, the chances are a lot less that the game I pick up is going to be one of yours. I happen to think that recycled content is a symptom of uncreative developers, something that happens is games already anyways. Maybe buyers will wise up faster in episodic and not tolerate that crap so much and then the real creative developers can increase their market share.
Never ever say "That's something we don't want/need to know." Investigate and study everything.
I think in the coming century, we'll continue to see the world's population increase. It will come in a different kind of environmental revolution; we won't just be changing the environment around us anymore, we'll start changing the environment in us. We'll become more resilient, self-relient, and broaden the conditions in which we can exist in an enviroment and when that happens, we'll be able to inhabit new places on the globe and start to move beyond.
Well, as an American born and raised to 8 in Illinois, grew up to 15 in Texas, and attended college in Ohio (Cinninati race riots POV.) I can tell you that where you live makes a huge difference in your perceptions of racism. Personally, I don't think we should lighten up; you should get serious. Racism does not occure in a vacuum; it's like a coal fire of hatred in the hearts of men (and women.) Some of the smallest sparks can smoulder for years after it seems to be put out and the more embers you pile on; the greater the chance to rekindle the violent flames of hatred.
There may be more than one image to this campaign, but it doesn't matter which is being percieved; the message is the same: White vs. Black (on the PSP) and I for one don't like it one bit.
And a moment of Silence for...
on
Five That Fell
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Many may question why they would care to Distribute first party games through electronic means after going through the trouble of implimenting Blue Ray for 'increased space for better, more involved games that you could get on other formats.' Some may even question pledging support for E-distro of these games with the sizes of harddrives their offering. Well I for one do not question them, it makes perfect sense from the point of view of historic trends and buisness. Unfortunatly for us, the reasoning is pure evil.
About the time of the 32-bit battles, an old trend began resurfacing in a new form; Forced Competition Development Denial (FCDD.) FCDD was easiest illustrated by Nintendo's NES. They choked off development for other consoles (namely the Sega Master System) by forcing developers to choose; in this case by having them sign contracts preventing them. That was killed in the courts and for the 16-bit console wars, FCDD didn't happen; the only denial of competition was from sales, loyalty, and popularity (oh, and who bring the $$.) From that, you had relativly similar cross platform offering and much less exclusivity.
In the lastest Generations, however, FCDD has resurfaced in a more diabolical, more legal form. By creating hardware and formats incompatible with their competition (as in Sega Saturns multiprocessor setup, 64's cartrige format) forcing developers to strech their resources to support them all. It is in the developer's best (buisness) interest to develope a game for as many platforms as its resources will allow without impacting the game's quality in a way that it will hurt overall sales. As new competition enters the console game, the developers are already becoming streched naturally. The FCDD tactic takes this further by increasing the resources the developer must devote to developing for a particular system; stealing those resources from other consoles and hopefully costing the developer to drop support for a competitor. In this generation FCDD is hitting a high mark, especially between Sony and Nintendo (Microsoft is guilty too, they just hide it well.) Nintendo's controller will require a different devotion of resources, namely creative input, to 'port' games successfully without disappointing. Sony has an unholy FCDD armament in the form of their Cell processor. This octopus of a processor is built in such a devious way that multi-threading in their programming is almost impossible to avoid; complicating the development process.
E-Distro is a huge next step. Not only is it on their format tailored for their hardware, Sony manages to monopolize the entire game development by forcing the developer to integrate Sony into every level of the game; it would become a nightmare for developers to to go cross platform (especially if they are targeting indy and small time developers, who have notoriously small budgets.) Don't expect games released by E-distro on Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft to be appearing on any where else. And that, unfortunatly, is the point.
On another note, FCDD is a risky tactic for any developer. Increasing resource costs can also force developers to reconsider developing for the FCDD console itself. FCDD practictioners need to put more reliance on brand popularity (which Sony seems to rely a lot on) and really sell the FCDD hardware as "superior choices" if it's going to really win those ever important developer games. Jaguar and Saturn are two good examples of consoles that (inpart) failed because of a backfire of their FCDD tactic. Don't let Sony's focus on 'first party games' in the article fool you, this is all about the 3rd party developers; lower distribution costs for their own titles is just a happy bonus.
Make it war! Give the super mosquitoes no quarter; leave no water standing (still!) See a mosquitoe swarm? Spray it down; it's your civic duty! Never leave home without that bug spray. Back the attack by crushing or shredding cups or other shaped garbage that may hold water if it rains. Let no trash can go without cover (so water can't collect.) Coat the city in repelent by plane (not ddt!) Just call it "Gas Mask Day" and give people the day off. If you have large bodies of water (as in sewers, ponds, ect.) make sure you aggrevate it constantly; a vibration device powerful to make small wave will do well. Do your part and help wipe out the super mosquito menace before it spreads. When people organize, no animal can escape extinction!
I think the evolution theory is correct, but hell if anythings gonna change on my watch!
There's more than these gaming factors that's going to contribute to how Sony places. The HDDVD market will influence this as well. One of the primary functions Sony seems to have planned for the PS3 is market penetration for its Blue-Ray player. They've sacraficed things like cheap price and possibly even earlier release to include the Blue-Ray player. If the HD format war doesn't flop out; it could become an important factor as those who what HD have to decide if the PS3 with Blue Ray or Microsoft with an accessory HD DVD (or internal HD DVD for the 360 if you think like Toshiba: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151889) This have anywhere from a huge to an insignificant effect on what the Console war. It really is more of a Great Home Entertainment War rather than a format war and a console war; they are well intertwined.
Or atleast, they will be. I speculate that the Format side of the GHE War will slog along in a prolonged sitzkrieg for a year or even more before it starts to pick up as more consumers finally migrate (slowly) along to HD. With the sitzkrieg on the format front, Sony's Blue Ray justification for its price will languish; costing it valuable ground against Microsoft's established console (which I might mention consumers may enjoy not having HD DVD costing them up front when they don't need it yet; they can upgrade on their own terms, possibly cheaper than buying Blue ray before they need it.) Once the Format front picks up, the Console side will invigorate to as Sony's console will likely have come down atleast some, becoming a more economic competitor. That's the Great Home Entertainment War solved for X in terms of Y.
But, as I said, you can only solve for X in terms of Y and vice versa. It's really anybodies guess what the effect Blue Ray and HD DVD will have. Then their is the Z factor...Nintendo. But, I've already talked about what possibilities Nintendo can have, both on consoles and on HD Formats http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=188332&cid=155 24741
I perfer to call myself a hardcore gamer, but I don't see anything interesting about PS3 or XBox 360 (ok, one game interests me on 360; and I'll probably break down and buy one for the new Sonic game eventually.) Hardcore gaming is about more than just playing the trendy games alot; It's about making gaming more than just a hobby rather almost a way of life. Just playing the trendy games alot is called being a poser gamer. Nintendo may be focusing on bring in gamers and non-gamers, but gamers includes hardcore gamers too. Most of the industry agrees that one ignores the hardcore gamers group at their own peril; they need not be the only focus, but they should be kept well in mind. There's a nice article on different parts of the industry's views on Hardcore gamers here: http://www.gamespy.com/articles/701/701787p4.html
Video game console makers that sell their console units at very low margins, or even at a loss, to achieve a higher market share. They rely on profits from software sales where the markups are considerably higher. They also receive profits from 3rd party software companies for licensing fees. Microsoft has used this technique with the Xbox. Sony has done the same, to a lesser extent, with the PlayStation 2 and PSP. Nintendo was able to profit on the sales of its Gamecube console for a short time before selling it at a loss.
http://www.actsofgord.com/Proclamations/chapter0 2.html an article on the myth of selling consoles at a loss. It does happen, but its not a historic all encompassing trend.
Considering they will be selling the PS3 at a loss, as is the case with most any console, they must make it up with accessories and games. Blue Ray technology will be very costly to the console, especially early on while its still new tech, assuming ~$1000 for a player based on Samsungs, thats $500-$400 gross loss on the Blue Ray alone. And who knows how much the Cell processor maybe costing them? The cost of the Blue Ray medium itself may even contribute to a price increase.
I admit, I laughed when I first saw rumors of $80 PS3 and dismissed it as Xbox fan's reacting to the new $60 games. Today, seeing near final specs on the PS3, I would not doubt $70 games, though $80 still seems a bit farfetched for anything but the mega-big games. Perhaps as technology improves, the higher cost of games will come down, or maybe Sony will keep them high. But in the beginning, I would be surprised if they keep all their games below $60.
Couldn't agree more, I hardly can remember the last time I bought from a physical store (outside an impulse buys I happen upon.) I buy nearly everything online and even then I check for a full digital distribution first. And all my music comes from the games I buy so... yeah.
Now If I could only convince people that episodic content at $20 every 6 monthes for 4-6 hours is a better deal than Subscription patches at $90 over 6 monthes for *maybe* 9-10 hours (not including replay value for either, when I've played through the new dungeon once, I don't count the second run for more loot under the initial experience.)
I for one can't wait for this craft to make it to Pluto. There's so much we don't know about that area of the solar system and even a fly-by mission could tell us so much. Wouldn't it be grand if we could pin down chemical makeups of pluto and other objects in the Kuiper Belt? We might get a better idea if the Deuterium and Protium Isotope proportions are dissimilar to the Earth's Ocean Water and help decided whether comets like Halley and Hyakutake are good represent sample (if they are, they're easier to study than the rest of the Belt.) What if we discovered that the ratio is closer to Earth's Ocean than the comet's have provided? It could lend quite a bit of credence to theoretical origins of atleast some of Earth's water as being Extraterrestrial! Who knows what other clues Pluto and its moons may hide about the origin and growth of the solar system. I wonder if these new moons plus Pluto and Charon would be massive enough (as one) to be above the controversy over Pluto's planethood?
I have to agree, there was nothing about SEGA before the Master System, or on their highly successful arcade developments. Nothing much beyond his own experience, either. Nothing about how well Master system did in Brazil, a mere footnote on its success in Europe, not even a mention of how any of its systems did in Japan!
I was pleasently surprised to see they included the Dreamcast, it seems many people forget it was part of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation. I'm happy to see how well the Dreamcast performed as well.
While I'm sure you mean HL2, HL1 was out in 1998 and it still has a huge number of people playing it. Checkout http://steampowered.com/status/game_stats.html Steam's Network status: 1. the original Counter-Strike and Half-Life's Deathmatch is just below HL2:Deathmatch at #7.
Slashdot Mirror
Did anyone else hear the UT 2k4 announcer's voice when they read "DENIED"? I wonder if amicus curiae is latin for Redeemer Missile...
There now all you "4-6 hrs isn't enough!" people, is 4-6 hr episode with a new weapon, new enemy, new tech, a new veichle, and Team Fortress 2 enough? What if we throw in a Portal with an innovative new gameplay mechanic for a package deal? Hehe, I loved episode I enough I'd pay $40 for all three of these!
But wait, there's more! Console gamers get Episode I in there too! The consoles will probably have to pay $60 for the package (if $40 for ep2 TF2 and portal plus $20 for ep1 because they can.) I bet you PC by Steam will be the best option.
Since they freed themselves from beneth Vivendi's Iron heel. They announced that EA would do their physical medium publishing while Valve maintained full control of distribution through steam and whatever else the want to do. It's much more of a "mutual partnership" kind of deal than "we own all your distribution lines and therefore we (essentially) own you" kind of thing that Vivendi had going down. Much less pressure, much more freedom. The way games were ment to be published.
Its new name.
Episodic games can't compete against the mega bucks marketeers like EA can bring to the table? I had a hearty laugh! In a market as closly tied to technologies like the internet, word of mouth will always be king. It doesn't hurt that internet distribution of episodic content makes advertising cheaper too.
When I put down a game, I pick up a new one too. But with years of development between the one I put down and it's sequel, the chances are a lot less that the game I pick up is going to be one of yours. I happen to think that recycled content is a symptom of uncreative developers, something that happens is games already anyways. Maybe buyers will wise up faster in episodic and not tolerate that crap so much and then the real creative developers can increase their market share.
Never ever say "That's something we don't want/need to know." Investigate and study everything.
I think in the coming century, we'll continue to see the world's population increase. It will come in a different kind of environmental revolution; we won't just be changing the environment around us anymore, we'll start changing the environment in us. We'll become more resilient, self-relient, and broaden the conditions in which we can exist in an enviroment and when that happens, we'll be able to inhabit new places on the globe and start to move beyond.
Well, as an American born and raised to 8 in Illinois, grew up to 15 in Texas, and attended college in Ohio (Cinninati race riots POV.) I can tell you that where you live makes a huge difference in your perceptions of racism. Personally, I don't think we should lighten up; you should get serious. Racism does not occure in a vacuum; it's like a coal fire of hatred in the hearts of men (and women.) Some of the smallest sparks can smoulder for years after it seems to be put out and the more embers you pile on; the greater the chance to rekindle the violent flames of hatred.
There may be more than one image to this campaign, but it doesn't matter which is being percieved; the message is the same: White vs. Black (on the PSP) and I for one don't like it one bit.
All those companies lost to EAssimilation:
Maxis...
Westwood Studios...
Mythic Entertainment...
ect...
*cries*
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory &refer=conews&tkr=7974:JP&sid=au6z1KDVwCZc
Many may question why they would care to Distribute first party games through electronic means after going through the trouble of implimenting Blue Ray for 'increased space for better, more involved games that you could get on other formats.' Some may even question pledging support for E-distro of these games with the sizes of harddrives their offering. Well I for one do not question them, it makes perfect sense from the point of view of historic trends and buisness. Unfortunatly for us, the reasoning is pure evil.
About the time of the 32-bit battles, an old trend began resurfacing in a new form; Forced Competition Development Denial (FCDD.) FCDD was easiest illustrated by Nintendo's NES. They choked off development for other consoles (namely the Sega Master System) by forcing developers to choose; in this case by having them sign contracts preventing them. That was killed in the courts and for the 16-bit console wars, FCDD didn't happen; the only denial of competition was from sales, loyalty, and popularity (oh, and who bring the $$.) From that, you had relativly similar cross platform offering and much less exclusivity.
In the lastest Generations, however, FCDD has resurfaced in a more diabolical, more legal form. By creating hardware and formats incompatible with their competition (as in Sega Saturns multiprocessor setup, 64's cartrige format) forcing developers to strech their resources to support them all. It is in the developer's best (buisness) interest to develope a game for as many platforms as its resources will allow without impacting the game's quality in a way that it will hurt overall sales. As new competition enters the console game, the developers are already becoming streched naturally. The FCDD tactic takes this further by increasing the resources the developer must devote to developing for a particular system; stealing those resources from other consoles and hopefully costing the developer to drop support for a competitor. In this generation FCDD is hitting a high mark, especially between Sony and Nintendo (Microsoft is guilty too, they just hide it well.) Nintendo's controller will require a different devotion of resources, namely creative input, to 'port' games successfully without disappointing. Sony has an unholy FCDD armament in the form of their Cell processor. This octopus of a processor is built in such a devious way that multi-threading in their programming is almost impossible to avoid; complicating the development process.
E-Distro is a huge next step. Not only is it on their format tailored for their hardware, Sony manages to monopolize the entire game development by forcing the developer to integrate Sony into every level of the game; it would become a nightmare for developers to to go cross platform (especially if they are targeting indy and small time developers, who have notoriously small budgets.) Don't expect games released by E-distro on Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft to be appearing on any where else. And that, unfortunatly, is the point.
On another note, FCDD is a risky tactic for any developer. Increasing resource costs can also force developers to reconsider developing for the FCDD console itself. FCDD practictioners need to put more reliance on brand popularity (which Sony seems to rely a lot on) and really sell the FCDD hardware as "superior choices" if it's going to really win those ever important developer games. Jaguar and Saturn are two good examples of consoles that (inpart) failed because of a backfire of their FCDD tactic. Don't let Sony's focus on 'first party games' in the article fool you, this is all about the 3rd party developers; lower distribution costs for their own titles is just a happy bonus.
Make it war! Give the super mosquitoes no quarter; leave no water standing (still!) See a mosquitoe swarm? Spray it down; it's your civic duty! Never leave home without that bug spray. Back the attack by crushing or shredding cups or other shaped garbage that may hold water if it rains. Let no trash can go without cover (so water can't collect.) Coat the city in repelent by plane (not ddt!) Just call it "Gas Mask Day" and give people the day off. If you have large bodies of water (as in sewers, ponds, ect.) make sure you aggrevate it constantly; a vibration device powerful to make small wave will do well. Do your part and help wipe out the super mosquito menace before it spreads. When people organize, no animal can escape extinction!
I think the evolution theory is correct, but hell if anythings gonna change on my watch!
Don't they even try to cover up the advertising in a submission anymore?
.er
5 24741
There's more than these gaming factors that's going to contribute to how Sony places. The HDDVD market will influence this as well. One of the primary functions Sony seems to have planned for the PS3 is market penetration for its Blue-Ray player. They've sacraficed things like cheap price and possibly even earlier release to include the Blue-Ray player. If the HD format war doesn't flop out; it could become an important factor as those who what HD have to decide if the PS3 with Blue Ray or Microsoft with an accessory HD DVD (or internal HD DVD for the 360 if you think like Toshiba: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151889) This have anywhere from a huge to an insignificant effect on what the Console war. It really is more of a Great Home Entertainment War rather than a format war and a console war; they are well intertwined.
Or atleast, they will be. I speculate that the Format side of the GHE War will slog along in a prolonged sitzkrieg for a year or even more before it starts to pick up as more consumers finally migrate (slowly) along to HD. With the sitzkrieg on the format front, Sony's Blue Ray justification for its price will languish; costing it valuable ground against Microsoft's established console (which I might mention consumers may enjoy not having HD DVD costing them up front when they don't need it yet; they can upgrade on their own terms, possibly cheaper than buying Blue ray before they need it.) Once the Format front picks up, the Console side will invigorate to as Sony's console will likely have come down atleast some, becoming a more economic competitor. That's the Great Home Entertainment War solved for X in terms of Y.
But, as I said, you can only solve for X in terms of Y and vice versa. It's really anybodies guess what the effect Blue Ray and HD DVD will have. Then their is the Z factor...Nintendo. But, I've already talked about what possibilities Nintendo can have, both on consoles and on HD Formats http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=188332&cid=15
I perfer to call myself a hardcore gamer, but I don't see anything interesting about PS3 or XBox 360 (ok, one game interests me on 360; and I'll probably break down and buy one for the new Sonic game eventually.) Hardcore gaming is about more than just playing the trendy games alot; It's about making gaming more than just a hobby rather almost a way of life. Just playing the trendy games alot is called being a poser gamer. Nintendo may be focusing on bring in gamers and non-gamers, but gamers includes hardcore gamers too. Most of the industry agrees that one ignores the hardcore gamers group at their own peril; they need not be the only focus, but they should be kept well in mind. There's a nice article on different parts of the industry's views on Hardcore gamers here: http://www.gamespy.com/articles/701/701787p4.html
Sorry, that should have said 'as most any modern console'
6 .html 0 06/id20060501_525587.htm?chan=innovation_game+room _top+stories
0 2.html an article on the myth of selling consoles at a loss. It does happen, but its not a historic all encompassing trend.
PS3 will be sold at a loss, like the PS2, the PSP, the Gamecube, the Sega Saturn.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060219-621
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2
Loss Leader described on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader
Video game console makers that sell their console units at very low margins, or even at a loss, to achieve a higher market share. They rely on profits from software sales where the markups are considerably higher. They also receive profits from 3rd party software companies for licensing fees. Microsoft has used this technique with the Xbox. Sony has done the same, to a lesser extent, with the PlayStation 2 and PSP. Nintendo was able to profit on the sales of its Gamecube console for a short time before selling it at a loss.
http://www.actsofgord.com/Proclamations/chapter
Considering they will be selling the PS3 at a loss, as is the case with most any console, they must make it up with accessories and games. Blue Ray technology will be very costly to the console, especially early on while its still new tech, assuming ~$1000 for a player based on Samsungs, thats $500-$400 gross loss on the Blue Ray alone. And who knows how much the Cell processor maybe costing them? The cost of the Blue Ray medium itself may even contribute to a price increase.
I admit, I laughed when I first saw rumors of $80 PS3 and dismissed it as Xbox fan's reacting to the new $60 games. Today, seeing near final specs on the PS3, I would not doubt $70 games, though $80 still seems a bit farfetched for anything but the mega-big games. Perhaps as technology improves, the higher cost of games will come down, or maybe Sony will keep them high. But in the beginning, I would be surprised if they keep all their games below $60.
Congradulations on using nearly every cliché joke! As a reward, I present to you this award: http://img418.imageshack.us/img418/7817/rewinner9s f.jpg
Couldn't agree more, I hardly can remember the last time I bought from a physical store (outside an impulse buys I happen upon.) I buy nearly everything online and even then I check for a full digital distribution first. And all my music comes from the games I buy so... yeah.
Now If I could only convince people that episodic content at $20 every 6 monthes for 4-6 hours is a better deal than Subscription patches at $90 over 6 monthes for *maybe* 9-10 hours (not including replay value for either, when I've played through the new dungeon once, I don't count the second run for more loot under the initial experience.)
I for one can't wait for this craft to make it to Pluto. There's so much we don't know about that area of the solar system and even a fly-by mission could tell us so much. Wouldn't it be grand if we could pin down chemical makeups of pluto and other objects in the Kuiper Belt? We might get a better idea if the Deuterium and Protium Isotope proportions are dissimilar to the Earth's Ocean Water and help decided whether comets like Halley and Hyakutake are good represent sample (if they are, they're easier to study than the rest of the Belt.) What if we discovered that the ratio is closer to Earth's Ocean than the comet's have provided? It could lend quite a bit of credence to theoretical origins of atleast some of Earth's water as being Extraterrestrial! Who knows what other clues Pluto and its moons may hide about the origin and growth of the solar system. I wonder if these new moons plus Pluto and Charon would be massive enough (as one) to be above the controversy over Pluto's planethood?
I have to agree, there was nothing about SEGA before the Master System, or on their highly successful arcade developments. Nothing much beyond his own experience, either. Nothing about how well Master system did in Brazil, a mere footnote on its success in Europe, not even a mention of how any of its systems did in Japan!
Then where does Sega Saturn fall? Dreamcast was part of the 6th generation of game consoles, Saturn was part of the 5th. Even Wikipedia thinks so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_co nsoles
I was pleasently surprised to see they included the Dreamcast, it seems many people forget it was part of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation. I'm happy to see how well the Dreamcast performed as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreedz_Climbing Kreedz Climbing, a mod devoted to trick climbing/jumping in levels to reach odd places. Now that's unusual!
While I'm sure you mean HL2, HL1 was out in 1998 and it still has a huge number of people playing it. Checkout http://steampowered.com/status/game_stats.html Steam's Network status: 1. the original Counter-Strike and Half-Life's Deathmatch is just below HL2:Deathmatch at #7.
No Free-cam?
No "sandbox mode" ala Simcity/Grand Theft Auto?
Sniper Shots made it but "target locking?"
This list may all be great mechanics, but many of them are far from the best.