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Gaming Roundup 9/10/08: Liar, Liar

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:27:00 -0500

Did you know that, on average, gamers find themselves embroiled in 43% more shouting-matches than non-gamers?

Neither did I, because it's a statistic I just made up. However, enshrouded by the many licks of flame that are now consuming my pants, there's a spark of truth. When we throw down across the 'net, the Lord Almighty actually plugs his ears -- not even He can damn people that hard.

Really, if I were to base my opinion of the gaming community on my harrowing online excursions, I probably would've slipped a full suit of armor under my Green Linen T-Shirt at QuakeCon.

But I don't, and I didn't.

Because, by and large, even the more obnoxious gamers are typically rational, socially acceptable creatures. However, given a headset and a broadband hook-up, everything changes. Outside, you're a walking, talking, glaring, physically imposing person; but on the Internet, you're a whisper bumbling through the static -- at best, a throaty voice who knows its way around a shotgun. In short, you're nothing. Your lack of presence, then, is a bright red target for someone's insecurities. If they're feeling small, they can make you even smaller with minimal effort.

Now let's turn this thing around. When you hop online, do anonymity's rays transform you into, well, a jerk? Or are you immune to Mr. Hyde's advances?

Well, today's Roundup should at least add some flavor to your jerkery. Inside, you'll find stories about GameStop sealing its own fate, NCSoft deciding that size does matter, and Hideo Kojima rallying against in-game advertising.

All that and more after the break.

GameStop: Digital Distribution Won't Overtake Retail Until 2020 at Earliest

"The first digital distribution was Napster and it was illegal," CEO Dan DeMatteo said. "Let's just start there. The software publishers are afraid to death of piracy. Once a full game is lying on a hard drive, there's the potential for piracy. Aside from the games, the bandwidth, etc., our studies have concluded that the network won't be in place to do digital distribution of full games until 2020 to 2025," he commented. "And that's using today's size, but as consoles get more powerful, games get bigger. Right now, a 30GB game with your best T1 line is about 72 hours to do it."

"Microsoft and Sony are the gatekeepers for their consoles. And if you're a third party that should scare the hell out of you because that's the only way to get to your customer. They'll take 10 to 15 percent. Video game publishers sell me games today for $48 wholesale. If they go direct to the customer they'll probably get about $30 for them. They'll get less for the game if they bypass retail."

Everyone, have at him. But don't be too rough; his sooner-than-he-thinks-to-be-sinking business should take care of that.

NCSoft Ditching "Lighter" Games To Focus on Triple A Titles

Fortunately, the ensuing lay-offs haven't jettisoned Tabula Rasa into the cold recesses of non-existence as was earlier reported, but other NCSoft titles are on the chopping block.

NC West President David Reid noted that, among other titles, the publisher will be "moving away from" Dungeon Runners.

His rationale?

"This transition is really about ratifying a completely dedicated business to the triple-A titles," Reid said. "We would consider ourselves in the class of five-ish companies in the world that can be successful in this market. We are a leader here and we are doubling down in those efforts. If you are successful in this business, you are fabulously successful."

Koei boss: It’ll be years before HD consoles are big in Japan

“It’s back to surviving the market, I think,” he said. “In the PlayStation days, the platform was only one, but the competition was so high. For PlayStation 3, we have to spend huge resources. In the PlayStation 2 days, we could just focus on one platform, but these days, we have to spend resources on handhelds, popular consoles like the Wii, and high-performance consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3."

Guess this explains the discontinuation of my Dynasty Warriors game of the month subscription. Shame, that.

Hideo Kojima Critical of 'Massive Ad Campaigns' for Videogames

"The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis," the statement reads. "Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation."

Check out the full article for 1up's analysis. It's interesting stuff.

Internal studios more expensive than indies, says Rebellion CEO

"Internal teams are at times seen as a cheaper alternative than using an external resource," Kingsley explained, "but the truth is the exact opposite as far as I'm concerned, and big companies shedding internal teams might be an indication that the penny has dropped in their accounts departments."

Translation: Don't be surprised if we see a few more dev teams go under. So, who's next?

Crowbar, headcrab, and Half-Life strategy guide shipped to CERN

Crisis averted.

Gaming Roundup 9/4/08: Un-Fun Fair

Nathan Grayson — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:54:04 -0500

In the past, I've clambered to the top of my soapbox tower in order to wax ludological about why games should be fun. While riding back down the escalator from atop my exceedingly ritzy box, I gazed upon my audience, hoping that I'd at least imparted one tiny nugget of info: I don't care about difficulty -- I'll even turn a game's masculinity meter down to "Very Easy" -- if it means having a good time. Lucky for me, many of today's game developers seem to agree with my sentiment. They hold our hands like an overprotective mother herding her child across the street. They give us failsafes for our failsafes. They design their games to be "fair."

But therein lies the problem. Personally, I think games should flip us a double-sided coin every once in a while. If the scales never tip, then what impact do our choices have? Take, for instance, BioShock. Whether you saved the Little Sisters or ended them, you still gained roughly the same amount of Eve, and bonus powers were negligible. BioShock was supposed to have us wracking our brains every time we made a choice. Your life versus the Little Sisters' -- power because of necessity versus mercy. Instead, though, the whole thing was a sham.

More recently, Mercenaries 2 made a similar mistake -- essentially replicating its weapon set across the game's different factions, making your choice of gun-toting employer basically meaningless.

And guess what? The onus for this trend rests on our shoulders. If the aliens have nicer weapons than the humans, we hop on message boards and join in a chorus of variously pitched whining. Single-player or multiplayer, if a game isn't perfectly "balanced," we get uppity.

So maybe we should just ease off our "!" key and let developers flex their creative muscles from time-to-time. A few failed attempts would be well worth the successes other games might reap.

But what say you, MPC readers? Should games continue down the sterile road toward same-same fairness, or would you prefer developers give some meaning to our choices, even if it means ruffling some feathers in the process?

Either way, this installment of the Roundup is just what you're looking for -- mostly because you're already reading it. Today, you'll find news about a wicked-cheap font from which X-COM now springs, a good reason to nab an Xbox 360, and episodic gaming's great failing.

Get the full scoop after the break.

Bethesda's Pagliarulo: Episodic Gaming 'Just Doesn't Get The Press'

"Episodic content has proven to be great, but it just didn't get the press," he says. "People talk about the quality of writing in Oblivion, how it's a little schizophrenic. But if you read the reviews of Shivering Isles, the expansion, people rave about the quality of the writing. It's a tremendous step up. But nobody thinks about that -- it's in the expansion."

"You've got companies like Valve and Blizzard who say, 'PC gaming is great!' I think that's a little misleading," he says. "It's great for them, because they're Valve and Blizzard. Valve has Steam, the most important PC distribution network in the world. It's fantastic."

"I don't think a lot of games have that opportunity. That's why I think [Xbox] Live [Arcade] is great. [For] smaller games like Braid, it's a great avenue."

Lordy, this guy has some interesting stuff to say. I'll be printing off copies of the full interview for all of my friends.

Tecmo rejects Square offer, in serious talks regarding Koei merger

“In our company’s source of revenue, as a result of a guarantee with our capable workers, a guarantee of steady game development and the preservation of our brand, there is a high possibility of improvement… Thus, our Managing Board declines the offer,” said Tecmo in a statement.

But Koei, maker of such hits as Dynasty Warriors 1-6, as well as the Dynasty Warriors Swimsuit Issue, may soon be getting some love from Tecmo.

"Under these circumstances, [Koei and Tecmo] have excellent financial positions, strengths and the ability to take advantage of each other in order to improve profitability and solidified the foundation of a worldwide leader," read Tecmo's statement.

But don't fret about a possible face-off between Dead or Alive's cast of voluptuous vixens and Chinese Warlord Lu Bu atop a snake monster; both companies aim to respect each other's individuality.

Xbox 360 US price cut is not about turning “profit today”

Yes, it's finally official, but it's probably going to put a dent or two in Microsoft's wallet.

“Microsoft wants to drum up demand for the holiday,” analyst Toan Tran said. “Microsoft’s long-term vision for the Xbox is not to turn a profit today.

“It’s a way to get a foothold into people’s living rooms.”

But, if you enjoy making progress in your games, you'll probably want to plunk down $80 for a proprietary Xbox 360 hard drive to go along with the cheapest Xbox SKU. So let's not start a pity-party for Sony and Nintendo just yet.

‘Halo Wars’ Designer Wants To Play ‘EndWar,’ Hadn’t Considered Voice Control

“It’s right over there,” he said of Ubisoft's Endwar while at PAX. “I really want to go play it. I’m anxious to see it. I’ve got to admit it’s a pretty unique idea and we didn’t think of that.”

But, he added, traditional controllers are still better than voice control in the RTS arena, as esteemed titles like Command & Conquer and Universe at War have proven. This, he clamored, after admitting that he hadn't even played the voice controlled RTS in the first place. Hmmmm.

X-COM Comes To Steam (And Wicked Cheap Too!)

Raving Rabbid Figures, Now Yours To Buy

My most anticipated anything of ever.

*Nathan was too busy taking advantage of this excellent deal to actually write anything about how you can now purchase X-COM: UFO Defense, X-COM: Apocalypse, X-COM: Interceptor, X-COM: Enforcer and X-COM: Terror From The Deep on Steam, bundled together for the low, low price of $13.49.