RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[LadyCrimson]

Nope.  But I did meet Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, as well as Nathan Fillion and Peter Dinklage.

What?! Why are these things never held near where I live?

Did you get me an autograph from M.B.? Huh? Huh? Huh? Or candid pics? Or a piece of his shirt? Or .... sigh.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Actually, considering the almost total freedom indepentent developers possess, the actual results are mostly underwhelming. For some mystifying reason (apart from being cheap to make) most of their products are retro clones of outdated games.

 

Someone needs to tell these people that Pong is equally boring in HD.

 

Kickstarter has yet to prove its worth. Sequels to long dead RPG's, as nice as they are, aren't exactly breaking new ground.

[entrerix]

This difference between the late 90s golden age and this possible "upcoming" golden age is that the "upcoming" one is a throwback to the original.  In the late 90s, it was still pushing new things.

 

I'm more eager to see what new things come down the pipe with the Kickstarters, rather than promises of going back to the "good old days."

 

i generally agree, but what happened was the golden era rpg's were heading forward forward forward and then BAM, they just stopped.  a few years later we got dumbed down games trying to cater to different audiences instead of deeper experiences built on the groundwork laid by "golden age" crpgs.  so now, we need to get back to the "good old days" type of game before trying to improve on them.  dragon age 1 was a step in that direction, imo, but that even that game was followed up by a dumbed down acshun!! game

 

as a somewhat related side note: where is the spiritual successor to system shock 2?  i guess its deus ex HR, because it sure as heck isn't bioshock infinite.

[rjshae]

Speaking of golden-era crpgs, I'm somewhat intrigued by the idea of a Deus Ex-style of game being developed with an isometric viewpoint (as in PE) and centered around team tactics rather than using single character. Shadowrun Returns almost has that look, except there's magic involved. What do you think?

[Keyrock]

Nope.  But I did meet Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, as well as Nathan Fillion and Peter Dinklage.

You got to meet Michael Biehn?  I am so ****ing jealous!

[WDeranged]

 

This difference between the late 90s golden age and this possible "upcoming" golden age is that the "upcoming" one is a throwback to the original.  In the late 90s, it was still pushing new things.

 

I'm more eager to see what new things come down the pipe with the Kickstarters, rather than promises of going back to the "good old days."

 

i generally agree, but what happened was the golden era rpg's were heading forward forward forward and then BAM, they just stopped.  a few years later we got dumbed down games trying to cater to different audiences instead of deeper experiences built on the groundwork laid by "golden age" crpgs.  so now, we need to get back to the "good old days" type of game before trying to improve on them.  dragon age 1 was a step in that direction, imo, but that even that game was followed up by a dumbed down acshun!! game

 

as a somewhat related side note: where is the spiritual successor to system shock 2?  i guess its deus ex HR, because it sure as heck isn't bioshock infinite.

 

 

This is how I feel, the previous "golden age" was cut short, 3D graphics cards and powerful consoles happened and all the developers had to shift direction to stay on the money trail.  In my opinion some of the new "retro" platformers are really pushing the boundaries of their art, I'm hoping to see RPGs get a similar shot in the arm.

[marelooke]

This difference between the late 90s golden age and this possible "upcoming" golden age is that the "upcoming" one is a throwback to the original.  In the late 90s, it was still pushing new things.

 

I'm more eager to see what new things come down the pipe with the Kickstarters, rather than promises of going back to the "good old days."

 

Swen Vincke said something along the same lines in one of his interviews (iirc he actually said that a lot of innovative idea "lines" from the "last golden age" as you call it have just died and are waiting for someone to pick them up and continue experimenting with them). I suspect that once we have the "classic genres" back that the big publishers dropped because they weren't mainstream enough we'll start seeing more experimentation again. While Dragon Commander at first didn't seem like my cup of tea I consider it a start in that direction (from what I understood you plan conquest turn based, actual battles are rts but you can hop into the fray turning it into more of a fps and somewhere in there is also a lot of politics)

 

Kickstarter isn't really a storefront though.

 

But you are right that it doesn't guarantee excellent games; odds are there will be some stinkers that get made (and good games that don't get funded).

 

I think that this way less good games end up not getting funded than with big publishers, so it's still a win in the end

[Mamoulian War]

And another look at Game Dev Tycoon, with little bit under the hood looking at the legal matter of what they have done...

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/05/piracy-or-baiting-the-thorny-legal-question-of-game-dev-storys-honeypot/

[melkathi]

Nope.  But I did meet Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, as well as Nathan Fillion and Peter Dinklage.

 

Did you meet them as a Bioware representative to convince them to do voice acting for the Tron RPG Bioware is working on?

(one can dream )

[Malcador]

And another look at Game Dev Tycoon, with little bit under the hood looking at the legal matter of what they have done...

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/05/piracy-or-baiting-the-thorny-legal-question-of-game-dev-storys-honeypot/

So inconclusive then. Still that whole trick worked and they got sales. Did also find it funny that a group cracked it 2 hours after they put that up. The Scene provides I guess

[AwesomeOcelot]

It's not going to be a golden age like the late 90's because most money is being thrown at "casual", "cinematic", and "photorealism", in the late 90's games were still being made for gamers by gamers backed by publishers, they were trying to make the best games they could. A lot of games are FPS designed for gamepad, 30 frames per second, and narrow FOV, all terrible for gameplay. The new console generation is just going to make it worse, with larger budgets, larger asset teams, and more linear, scripted, QTE infested games because gameplay gets in the way of narrative and drops frame rate, plus it's perhaps a little too hard and complicated, it's probably unnecessary.

 

The only way for their to be a new golden age is for many mid to large developers to find a way to become independent like Valve or CD Projekt RED. KickStarter hasn't looked like supporting that yet, it may be proven to support inXile, not sure if it's big enough to call it mid-sized, and Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera are going to have to sell well for them to grow. Smaller developers like Frozenbyte, Supergiant Games, and Team Meat have managed it with the help of digital distribution and in that respect gaming has never looked so good.

[alanschu]

 

What?! Why are these things never held near where I live?

Did you get me an autograph from M.B.? Huh? Huh? Huh? Or candid pics? Or a piece of his shirt? Or .... sigh.

 

 

If your name is "Allan" you can use the one I got

 

(Whenever I try adding it, however, it says my post is too short...)

 

EDIT: Fixed it.

 

 

 

And yes, it is awesome that he told me to Stay Frosty.

Edited May 2, 2013 by alanschu

[alanschu]

 

This difference between the late 90s golden age and this possible "upcoming" golden age is that the "upcoming" one is a throwback to the original.  In the late 90s, it was still pushing new things.

 

I'm more eager to see what new things come down the pipe with the Kickstarters, rather than promises of going back to the "good old days."

 

i generally agree, but what happened was the golden era rpg's were heading forward forward forward and then BAM, they just stopped.  a few years later we got dumbed down games trying to cater to different audiences instead of deeper experiences built on the groundwork laid by "golden age" crpgs.  so now, we need to get back to the "good old days" type of game before trying to improve on them.  dragon age 1 was a step in that direction, imo, but that even that game was followed up by a dumbed down acshun!! game

 

as a somewhat related side note: where is the spiritual successor to system shock 2?  i guess its deus ex HR, because it sure as heck isn't bioshock infinite.

 

 

 

It's uncommon for there to be a "Golden Age" that results in consistent improvement since then.  Lest it not actually be called a Golden Age at all.

 

I can see your point about returning to the Golden Age in order to find that magic again, and maybe that will be the case.  But I wouldn't call "A return to the way things used to be" as being any sort of a "Golden Age."

[Keyrock]

 

 

What?! Why are these things never held near where I live?

Did you get me an autograph from M.B.? Huh? Huh? Huh? Or candid pics? Or a piece of his shirt? Or .... sigh.

 

 

If your name is "Allan" you can use the one I got

 

(Whenever I try adding it, however, it says my post is too short...)

 

EDIT: Fixed it.

 

biehn2.png

 

 

And yes, it is awesome that he told me to Stay Frosty.

 

Okay, that's just ridiculously awesome.  You are now my hero going forward...  for at least the nest five minutes.

[Bester]

Korean NWN Online is in open beta by the way, if anyone wants to try.

[LadyCrimson]

And yes, it is awesome that he told me to Stay Frosty.

Da awesome! Thanks for posting that. ::jealous::

[Morgoth]

SteamPipe announced

 

 

SteamPipe is Steam's new content distribution system. It changes the way games (including dedicated servers) are downloaded, updated and stored.

 

The benefits to players are:

• Faster and smoother downloads
• Faster game boot times and map load times
• Easier distribution, installation, and management of mods
• Smoother dedicated server distribution and update rollover

 

Game developers

Game developers using SteamPipe can issue updates themselves; the previous system required manual intervention by Valve when an update was to be published.

 

 

Excellent.

[rjshae]

Steam is just annoying. Having it pop up every time I log in, then just arbitrarily loading a new copy of itself whenever the owners feel like it. I finally removed it altogether.

[Keyrock]

SteamPipe announced

 

 

SteamPipe is Steam's new content distribution system. It changes the way games (including dedicated servers) are downloaded, updated and stored.

 

The benefits to players are:

• Faster and smoother downloads
• Faster game boot times and map load times
• Easier distribution, installation, and management of mods
• Smoother dedicated server distribution and update rollover

 

Game developers

Game developers using SteamPipe can issue updates themselves; the previous system required manual intervention by Valve when an update was to be published.

 

 

Excellent.

Cosigned.

[babaganoosh13]

 

SteamPipe announced

 

 

SteamPipe is Steam's new content distribution system. It changes the way games (including dedicated servers) are downloaded, updated and stored.

 

The benefits to players are:

• Faster and smoother downloads
• Faster game boot times and map load times
• Easier distribution, installation, and management of mods
• Smoother dedicated server distribution and update rollover

 

Game developers

Game developers using SteamPipe can issue updates themselves; the previous system required manual intervention by Valve when an update was to be published.

 

 

Excellent.

Cosigned.

 

All I ask is that you fix your stupid offline mode. My guess is now that I've really started getting into Dungeon Siege 3, it's going to lose my log in info.

[Hurlshort]

Steam is just annoying. Having it pop up every time I log in, then just arbitrarily loading a new copy of itself whenever the owners feel like it. I finally removed it altogether.

 

Huh?  You can very easily tell it not to start up when you log in to your PC.  You can also tell it not to auto update.

[alanschu]

How AAA devs view indies

 

http://devfodder.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-truth-about-how-aaa-developers-view.html

[Morgoth]

 

This is really coming along nicely.

[Orogun01]

Damn, that game looks good.

[Malcador]

How AAA devs view indies

 

http://devfodder.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-truth-about-how-aaa-developers-view.html

Well good to know from some random blogger I don't know why anyone would imagine otherwise though.