RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[ShadySands]

I can't say that I'm excited about a PS5 yet mostly because my PS4 just collects dust. Especially if they try to force VR because I have a headset that I haven't used in months. I don't get sick or anything but I haven't played or watched anything that I've ever wanted to go back to on a regular basis.

[Zoraptor]

Surely 'forcing VR' means every PS5 hardware SKU will have VR capability rather than forcing VR into every title released. Trying to force VR into every title would be at best asinine, at worst abjectly moronic; having the capability available to everyone on the console otoh is easily justified- and presumably, like Kinect for the xbone, if it ends up being a bit of a dog it can be cut to save some $$$ whatever they say now.

 

Ubiquitous VR is one of those things that is always a year or two away yet barely ever gets any closer practically. Same with cloud/ streaming gaming services, they've been the next big thing and only two years off for a decade.

[SonicMage117]

More Jabberwockey from me:

 

 

 

 

So far the PS4 Pro can manage VR just fine, we see this with the latest and perhaps the greatest example (Ace Combat 7) which functions much better than any PC VR title available today - which is strange because a.) The PS4 Pro isn't powerful hardware and b.) Ace Combat 7 wasn't and isnt an exclusive.

 

I noticed that even on PC's best VR "games", VR support seems to be either a merely a tacked on feature with functions as optional for existing games or tech demos whicg look great and the theatric immersion is there but it's only going to last the player 30 minutes or so.

 

But to clarify, the only way I see forced VR only if consumers cannot buy a system without the bundle at launch. I highly diubt that devs will tack on VR to their projects just because Sony/Mucrosoft force consumers a bundle to where every console bought means a VR headset owned. Maybe Sony will try to force first party to develop VR titles exclusively - I don't think it's a possibility but who knows.

 

The biggest problem is that devs and publishers can't solve the mystery of making a lasting VR game that's worth the time, has reply value and just isn't a tech demo which looks pretty but nobody cares about. VR headsets have sold what? 500,000 units? Which is nothing, it's so niche atm and those who have bought it really have no real reason to pick it up. That's what has to change for success otherwise VR is lost another generation.

 

Samsung Gear is doing better for consumers than any VR headset, strange but makes sense since there are so many useful VR apps on phone. Add to that adult sites to boot.... Perhaps PS5 won't feature VR as a focus on games but Sony invested apps much like Google?

[Blodhemn]

Yeah, I wouldn't play most of those games for free. It's a two steps back, one step sideways, then forward type thing. In theory, a fully immersive RPG would seem cool but would cost too much to produce at that fidelity with the amount of content RPG players are accustomed to. About the best thing I've seen amounted to a point n click type puzzle adventure reimagined.

[Katphood]

Would be really interesting to see Sony go PS Vita on the PS VR.

[Agiel]

 

Neverwinter Nights 2 coverage starts at 1:41:17.

[Vitalis]

I'm going to pass on VR until they find a solution to the part where I projectile vomit after 5 minutes.

That's not going to happen since it is caused by the human brain not the technology.

[Blarghagh]

 

I'm going to pass on VR until they find a solution to the part where I projectile vomit after 5 minutes.

That's not going to happen since it is caused by the human brain not the technology.

Yeah, but certain kinds of rendering and vignetting have already made symptoms a lot less. The human brain is incredibly easy to trick, someone just needs to find the right one.

[Mamoulian War]

It's very individual, some people have nausea, some people have problems with motion stability, and some do not have a problem at all. I have nausea from VR only when I am tipsy, but I am not able to play VR stuff while standing.

[SonicMage117]

So in other words:

 

"More money for top businessmen, less money for game development. Means more money towards implementing micro-transactions and less money on development budget whilist cutting pay for developers and pr letting them go."

Edited January 15, 2019 by SonicMage117

[Azdeus]

I really don't get why people are going on about that. It's buisiness as usual in the corporate world. Nothing new or noteworthy.

[Chilloutman]

I really don't get why people are going on about that. It's buisiness as usual in the corporate world. Nothing new or noteworthy.

 

dont be so cold man, sure you are right but it still cuts deep. Maybe those brarts buying anything those corporates throw at them will one day wake up

[SonicMage117]

Welcome to... Elseworlds

[Orogun01]

So in other words:

 

"More money for top businessmen, less money for game development. Means more money towards implementing micro-transactions and less money on development budget whilist cutting pay for developers and pr letting them go."

I'm going to play devil's advocate here; the reason they get that much money is so that they go down with the ship. Most firings happen at a top level and a bottom level, and at the top level they need to guarantee that the people involved keep the company's secrets, they serve the investors best interests and that they don't go to another company. Paying them high salaries guarantees that and it justifies the very restrictive contracts that they have to sign.

 

Seriously though, looking at this and at how Bobby Kotick has been overpayed all these years it is no surprise that investors are launching an investigation into the company.

[Keyrock]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here; the reason they get that much money is so that they go down with the ship. 

Except that sometimes they don't go down with the ship.  In fact, sometimes even when the company goes down in flames the top executives STILL get their year end bonuses and then get hired by another company for 7 figures to boot.

[Orogun01]

 

I'm going to play devil's advocate here; the reason they get that much money is so that they go down with the ship. 

Except that sometimes they don't go down with the ship.  In fact, sometimes even when the company goes down in flames the top executives STILL get their year end bonuses and then get hired by another company for 7 figures to boot.

 

Hey; i"m just trying to explain investors thought, process I didn't say that it was sound or rational. Although to keep playing Devil's advocate, that jump might be a lot sooner if they get a better offer.

[Zoraptor]

 

Seriously though, looking at this and at how Bobby Kotick has been overpayed all these years it is no surprise that investors are launching an investigation into the company.

 

 

Funny thing is that Kotick was not overpaid, at least not comparatively. Activision was the best performing game stock for a long time, and that's what Bobby got paid for.

 

At this point he's pretty much run the company into the ground by focusing on the short term and relying on big franchises with little new stuff coming through, but that same approach of having no chaff is what brought in the money and inflated the stock prices (more than others, to be clear) in the first place.

 

Stock markets themselves are the fundamental problem as they focus far too much on short term; and everything inflated beyond their actual worth due to low interest rates/ quantitative easing. Even relatively poorly performing companies like EA saw huge share price appreciation over the last few years.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Zoraptor

[Orogun01]

 

 

Seriously though, looking at this and at how Bobby Kotick has been overpayed all these years it is no surprise that investors are launching an investigation into the company.

 

 

Funny thing is that Kotick was not overpaid, at least not comparatively. Activision was the best performing game stock for a long time, and that's what Bobby got paid for.

 

At this point he's pretty much run the company into the ground by focusing on the short term and relying on big franchises with little new stuff coming through, but that same approach of having no chaff is what brought in the money and inflated the stock prices (more than others, to be clear) in the first place.

 

Stock markets themselves are the fundamental problem as they focus far too much on short term; and everything inflated beyond their actual worth due to low interest rates/ quantitative easing. Even relatively poorly performing companies like EA saw huge share price appreciation over the last few years.

 

Considering that Activision has declined for the past 5 years I would say that he's been overpaid and living from his past glories from the video game bubble of 2009. Quite frankly if investors thought that a one trick pony like Kotick was a good bet they deserve to lose money.

 

Also, I"m curious what you mean by quantitation easing. I've never heard of it being applied to video game stock.

[213374U]

investors thought

Hmm. Investors don't really need to think. Not the institutional ones anyway, that own like 80%+ of EA, ATVI, etc. They literally have turned to machines to do this "thinking" for them as a response to the (investing) public complaining about high fees and poor performance, which will only exacerbate the problem Zoraptor described.

 

Sure, Skynet didn't explicitly approve Bob Kotick's appointment, but the point is investors don't really need to know the business because they trust managers who in turn trust machines. So long as the guy in the chair doesn't massively crash the stock by opening his mouth or something no one really cares.

 

Accelerationism at work. Hop in or you'll be left behind.

[Zoraptor]

 

Also, I"m curious what you mean by quantitation easing. I've never heard of it being applied to video game stock.

 

 

It isn't specific to video game stock, it applies to stock (and other investments) in general. Economically speaking...

 

Essentially, if the countries central bank is quantitatively easing- 'printing money', in the old parlance- there's no point keeping that money in the bank as deposit interest rates are typically below inflation so you have negative return. So alternatives like the sharemarket or cryptocurrency or housing get artificially inflated because investors have more and more money to get rid of from the 'printing' and fewer places to put it.

 

That's why objectively relatively poorly performing stocks like most game companies still went up in value massively over the past few years, and well performed ones inflated even more, why we had cryptocurrency bubbles and housing bubbles- things are crashing now because the spigot has been turned off and investments have to be justified in the real world again and a lot cannot be*. This also tended to hide underlying problems companies like Activision have: so long as shares appreciated sufficiently Bobby was doing a good job because shares were going up- now that reality has reasserted itself and shares are at a more realistic level and have dropped his performance is a lot less compelling.

 

Bobby deserved his salary because by the metrics his performance was judged by he was performing well, and better than comparative rivals. I would not dispute that those metrics are... deeply flawed and his performance from a longer term view is leading towards a near inevitable implosion, but those metrics are unfortunately typical. It should also be noted that the other game companies have also roughly halved in value as has much of the market, so by share price metric everyone is rubbish now.

 

*biggest example: bitcoin, $3800 at peak, today it's... $126. Literally 97% of peak value lost in barely a year.

[Melusina]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/01/15/aer-studio-forgotten-key-closing-release-prototype-demos/#more-633293

 

 

You can get drm-free & steam key at humble at half the price. In fact, I recommend that.

[Malcador]

I really don't get why people are going on about that. It's buisiness as usual in the corporate world. Nothing new or noteworthy.

 

Gamers are morons, pretty much.

[SonicMage117]

Perhaps they just enjoy reporting on current events regardless of how usual or common it is. Tbh, If it wasn't for YongYea popping up in my youtube recommendations, I wouldn't know about things like Activision's stock falling - it's not like I'm going to Google it or keep up with this stuff on my own on my own time.

[Malcador]

That tool Stirling also commented about it, mercifully was just text so we were spared having to hear him.

[Katphood]

Man, forget about Japanese or western games...

Eastern European games are where it's at.