RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Calax]

 

 

The sad fact is that EA is the only major publisher that has any kind of RPG arm at the moment, and them going away wouldn't be an improvement in any way. It'd be the mid-90s again...

 

Oh, right Bethesda. I actually did forget about them. Not my cup of tea.

Squeenix, Capcom, Konami, etc.

I wish Konami would get off their asses and do another Suikoden.

 

This is Konami... they're scared of earning money (Zone of the Enders for example).

 

Honestly, I think over the next 6ish years the industry is gonna have to shuffle around their business model. A publisher recently gave an editorial on kotaku where he made the point that the reason EA and other companies can take chances on things like Dishonored, Assassins Creed and Mirrors Edge, is because they have a dev studio or two that are pumping out things like Call of Duty.

 

However, the big thing for them is that they're gonna have to scale back the massive budgets that are around, and get tighter controls on their publishers so that the companies can't keep putting things off for more money (like Eternal Darkness 2s development being almost entirely funded by money from Xmen Destiny). At the same time they also need to get more realistic about their schedules. I know one year is a phenomenally short dev cycle, but it's starting to feel like the devs are trying to sell games with unrealistic schedules and by promising the world, when they know they can't provide. That sort of culture needs to be shot and abandoned at the side of the road because all it's doing is creating tension and incomplete products.

 

PR is a big deal too. Companies seem to be attempting to change their business models, but are going about in such a way that they come off like complete ****. The ME3 ending and "Day 1 DLC" is a perfect example, with the ending having been concocted entirely separate from the rest of the story and ignoring the core promises of the franchise. The DLC debacle was entirely avoidable if they'd just said "have it as our gift". Yes, it would have cost a little money in the short term, but would have also built up a better feeling among the fans, and the DLC seems pretty necessary to the plot overall.

 

>.> I need to stop throwing out these business models.

[Hurlshort]

My movie ticket example is clearly poor, and I apologize and recant.  It was made in haste.  I'd like to focus completely on mkreku's unopened box.  In that box is a product key, which he is not using.  Instead he has downloaded from another source, clearly not a legal distributor.  Do you guys feel this is acceptable?   

[Drowsy Emperor]

Why would it not be acceptable? He's not going to play multiplayer with a cracked copy so its not as if he's stealing someone else's right to experience the game. 

 

Down the line he may make a few bucks more by selling a shrink wrapped copy - or he might not, if the game turns out to be worthless junk. He's more likely to lose money on a game than make it, given the quick drop in value games experience.

Many collectors editions aren't going for much money on ebay, regular editions are next to worthless.

Somewhere down the line he might even make someone happy with a mint copy, something most collectors prize.

 

What's the purpose of championing the legal rights of multi-million multinational companies that can and will hire a legion of lawyers to do so on a whim? Especially since he's already given them their money, and money is the most important issue after all.

[Zoraptor]

Personally I wouldn't consider it proper to keep a sealed box and download a copy if I intended to sell the box at the end (like buying a cake, downloading a duplicate cake and eating it, then on selling the original), but if it is just to have a nice sealed box sitting on the shelf I have no issue with it.

[Oerwinde]

I don't see the point of getting a collectors edition if not for the cool stuff in the box. Its not like boxed versions of games really appreciate in value all that much unless they are super rare.

 

That said, he paid for the game, he's not distributing copies, therefore there is nothing wrong with it.

[Blarghagh]

Honestly the product key thing is a bit sticky, technically it's a unique product. However, his use of it doesn't stretch further than a general crack - for all intents and purposes, it seems morally the same to me as the situation I described earlier - he's simply using bad means to use something he legally owns. I have to admit, it gets a bit tougher there considering product key fraude is a big issue these days - took me days to be able to play Diablo 3 because some jackass registered using my product key which some keygen apparently had a lucky guess about, but as far as I understand, Mkreku did not use it for multiplayer or register it.

 

It's legally weirder, but I find it acceptable from a personal point of view on the provisions that it's not intended for resale and he doesn't "use up" the product key, so to say.

 

Honestly I always think the point of a toy is to play with it, though.

[Bester]

I hope some day there are laws where the penalty for digital theft is decimation or at least flagellation. I can see a lot of you aren't taking it seriously. Thinking a cinema ticket is an excuse to download something, my god people, have you no shame?

[Malcador]

I hope some day there are laws where the penalty for digital theft is decimation or at least flagellation. I can see a lot of you aren't taking it seriously. Thinking a cinema ticket is an excuse to download something, my god people, have you no shame?

Ah, there was the indignation I was seeking.

[Bester]

I can't believe you're talking so lightly about property. If you allow thieves to rob studios and game developers, then next thing you know, some bum will be stealing your car and house and it will be legal too. Is this the kind of future you want for your kids?

[NOK222]

I can't believe you're talking so lightly about property. If you allow thieves to rob studios and game developers, then next thing you know, some bum will be stealing your car and house and it will be legal too. Is this the kind of future you want for your kids?

Commericials ask me would I download a car?

 

I say ferrari.zip

[mkreku]

Ok, maybe I should clarify. If the game asks for a CD-key, I open the box (I actually open the box in 99% of the case, as I have shown again and again)
 
Unfortunately, my right to use the product is tied to my product key so I do not try to go around that.
 
The specific collector's edition I didn't want to open was a box and a book bundled together with plastic, and since I didn't want to risk losing the book, I decided not to remove the plastic. Older games didn't always have CD-keys, only CD-checks. It had nothing to do with re-seller value, I don't collect games for that reason.

[mkreku]

Btw, I saw that this was released yesterday:

 

http://mars-warlogs.com/

 

Has anyone heard of Mars: War Logs before? It seems to be an action RPG of some kind. Looks very cool in the trailers, but I have not heard anything about it until now (saw it on Steam).

 

[BruceVC]

 

I hope some day there are laws where the penalty for digital theft is decimation or at least flagellation. I can see a lot of you aren't taking it seriously. Thinking a cinema ticket is an excuse to download something, my god people, have you no shame?

Ah, there was the indignation I was seeking.

 

 

Malcador you live in a first world country, I imagine your biggest concern in when your neighbors pet Elk wanders into your garden and starts eating your organic Honey Dews?

 

I am surprised you are so brazen and phlegmatic around the fact you Pirate games and break the law? Imagine what your neighbors would think if they knew...

 

Edited April 27, 2013 by BruceVC

[melkathi]

 

Has anyone heard of Mars: War Logs before? It seems to be an action RPG of some kind. Looks very cool in the trailers, but I have not heard anything about it until now (saw it on Steam).

 

A former guildie of mine bought it yesterday. So waiting to hear an opinion from him.

[Malcador]

Malcador you live in a first world country, I imagine your biggest concern in when your neighbors pet Elk wanders into your garden and starts eating your organic Honey Dews?

 

I am surprised you are so brazen and phlegmatic around the fact you Pirate games and break the law? Imagine what your neighbors would think if they knew...

 

Pet elk ? I doubt they would care all that much. I just find outrage online amusing most of the time.

[NOK222]

It is pretty amusing, flagellation lol 

[greylord]

 

 

Has anyone heard of Mars: War Logs before? It seems to be an action RPG of some kind. Looks very cool in the trailers, but I have not heard anything about it until now (saw it on Steam).

 

A former guildie of mine bought it yesterday. So waiting to hear an opinion from him.

 

 

Looks like sort of a mix of Red Faction meets all the TPS games of current games

[Morgoth]

It looks like another crappy cheapo from Spiders/Focus.

[Hurlshort]

Ok, maybe I should clarify. If the game asks for a CD-key, I open the box (I actually open the box in 99% of the case, as I have shown again and again)

 

Unfortunately, my right to use the product is tied to my product key so I do not try to go around that.

 

The specific collector's edition I didn't want to open was a box and a book bundled together with plastic, and since I didn't want to risk losing the book, I decided not to remove the plastic. Older games didn't always have CD-keys, only CD-checks. It had nothing to do with re-seller value, I don't collect games for that reason.

 

I've been bamboozled!  

[Humanoid]

Well the entire software industry sales model is to bamboozle the customer, so yeah.

[BruceVC]

 

Malcador you live in a first world country, I imagine your biggest concern in when your neighbors pet Elk wanders into your garden and starts eating your organic Honey Dews?

 

I am surprised you are so brazen and phlegmatic around the fact you Pirate games and break the law? Imagine what your neighbors would think if they knew...

 

Pet elk ? I doubt they would care all that much. I just find outrage online amusing most of the time.

 

 

An Elk is like a large deer. I always assumed Canadians kept them as pets?

 

[Malcador]

An Elk is like a large deer. I always assumed Canadians kept them as pets?

 

I'd expect that of you.

[marelooke]

 

Has anyone heard of Mars: War Logs before? It seems to be an action RPG of some kind. Looks very cool in the trailers, but I have not heard anything about it until now (saw it on Steam).

 

A former guildie of mine bought it yesterday. So waiting to hear an opinion from him.

 

Keep us updated, it *looked* interesting and user reviews on MetaCritic are positive so far (as are the Steam forums), but it wouldn't be the first time all those were gamed...

[BruceVC]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/27/the-witch-is-dead-witcher-3-multiplayer-off-the-table/#more-151039

 

 

Friends there will be no MP in the Witcher 3, this is good news as now CPR can focus on the better delivery of an immersive single player game

[Labadal]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/27/the-witch-is-dead-witcher-3-multiplayer-off-the-table/#more-151039

 

 

Friends there will be no MP in the Witcher 3, this is good news as now CPR can focus on the better delivery of an immersive single player game

Now let's hope the gameplay is actually fun.