RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Mamoulian War]

I see.

[Amentep]

I think the issue was more about how they said no. Beer himself said that if Fish and Blow had just replied with a "no comment" he'd have been fine, but instead they decided to bitch on twitter about being asked.

At which point Beer didn't have to make his issue with Fish public. However he chose to make it public and thus loose whatever illusion of objectivity he had (which, going by being called "Annoyed Gamer" can't have been much).

 

Saying that he would have been fine with a "no comment" is, IMO, a bit disingenuous as well. Clearly he wasn't okay with it or else he wouldn't have taken the twitter feed personally (which, given that Fish also took it personally makes me wonder if there's a bigger personal history here than we have. At any rate I'd argue neither side comes off looking great).

 

 

 

 

No offense but I think you guys are being jaded, myopic and dismissive if you think that no one listens to gaming journalists

Plenty listen to them, which is the sad and funny thing. People don't need them, can't really think of anything they've uniquely provided other than social justice outrage (woo RPS) or just funny drama.

 

 

Okay so how would someone who doesn't have access to forums like these get an opinion on a new game that has been released without reading a gaming journalists review?

 

I know a lot of people ask the employees of the local game store for opinions when they go in looking for something to buy.

[BruceVC]

 

I know a lot of people ask the employees of the local game store for opinions when they go in looking for something to buy.

 

 

Sure that's one way but for many people they prefer the luxury and convenience of going to few websites and reading at there leisure what people whose job it is to review games have to say. If you look at websites like Gamasutra and Forbes they carry a load of credibility around what they think about certain games

[TSBasilisk]

Eternal Darkness downloadable re-release may be coming soon

[Zoraptor]

Sure that's one way but for many people they prefer the luxury and convenience of going to few websites and reading at there leisure what people whose job it is to review games have to say. If you look at websites like Gamasutra and Forbes they carry a load of credibility around what they think about certain games

 

 

Gamasutra and Forbes (whose specialist games journos are actually bloggers, iirc) are pretty well respected, but they also unashamedly do not target the general gamer but are orientated towards industry insiders. A fair few others still offer quality as well. The problem arises from shock horror page view baiting tabloid equivalents, often using free labour from interns looking to break in and inextricably interwoven in an alternating parasitic/ symbiotic relationship with the people they're supposed to be reviewing. They're lazy, frequently ill informed and often looking solely for what will get the most attention- or is easiest. There's a huge amount of recursive writing too, either by regurgitating press statements or slightly rewriting someone else's article.

 

It's rather difficult to imagine a situation where people have access to IGN/ Kotaku/ Gamespot etc but not to forums. I know we are all here after a thorough vetting process having received a coded invite via a trusted intermediary and personally signed by your sponsor, but that is not generally how forums work. Unless you live in the UK six months in the future you can access them without special permission.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Zoraptor

[Spider]

Who here is saying that people don't listen to gaming journalists?

 

What I am saying is that, if you support a gaming journalist that decides to NOT cover a popular game due to some petty, personal grievance, then that gaming journalist is doing you, his customer, a disservice.

 

I'm also referring to this idea that people like Blow and Fish owe their success to the gaming journalists for promoting their games.  It glosses over the idea that the gaming press promotes those games because the gaming press feels that that is what their customers want.  I will not deny that the exposure games like Braid and Fez get help their success.  I will say, however, that a lot of the exposure that those games get is a result of their quality.  Unless we're supposing that someone like Beer decides to promote games he feels are subpar because of personal motivations.  At which point, you shouldn't check out the gaming journalists because they aren't actually providing you with what you want.

 

Yes, there will be situations where excellent games fall under the radar.  That's an issue with ignorance (not used as a pejorative here) towards the product that the gaming press (and fans) will have, though.  If there are indie games out there that blow Braid and Fez out of the water, and the gaming press knows about it, then the gaming press is epically failing you by not reporting more on those games, and less on the poorer games.

 

 

TL;DR  The gaming press promoted the crap out of games like Braid and Fez, because the gaming press felt it was in their best interests to promote those games over other games.  It's as simple as that.  The principle reason for the gaming press to feel this way towards indie games, in my opinion, is because those games are seen as impactful.  In other words, Blow and Fish are the ones responsible for the gaming media feeling that their games should be promoted, by providing the gaming media something to promote.

 

(not directly responding to the above post, just quoting it for context of the conversation and responding to alan's posts more in general)

 

I think most of us here will agree that Beer is a tool. if he aired his grievances in public that is. If he just told Fish about how he felt in a more private way, then it depends more on exactly what he said and what his intent was. What one person sees as a threat, could have just been intended as a friendly warning.

 

Because the thing is Beer isn't wrong. True, a fantastic indie game that gets discovered will see a lot of press regardless, if it gets discovered. But the gaming industry also thrives on prerelease exposure, and if you're low on a journalists "friend"-list, you will get less than that. If your editor tells you "I need a 2-pager on a interesting upcoming indie-game", who do you think a journalist will reach out to first? A person he likes or one he has an antagonistic relationship with?

 

I'm not saying indie developers should be grateful to journalists, or go out of their way to please them. But giving a couple of quotes when you're in a relevant position to do s, will only help a developer in the long run. Unless you're saying things that would bring the wrong kind of attention down on you, but that's something else entirely.

[alanschu]

 

 

If your editor tells you "I need a 2-pager on a interesting upcoming indie-game", who do you think a journalist will reach out to first? A person he likes or one he has an antagonistic relationship with?

 

Maybe I'm the jaded cynic, but I expect him to pick the one he expects to get the most hits, because in a lot of cases that directly feeds into their bottom line (especially concerning the ones that are more bloggers.

[Spider]

Journalists, in my experience, tend to not be too concerned about clicks. Sure they're aware that it's something to be concerned about, but journalists don't write the titles of their pieces and they don't construct the pushers that are supposed to draw people in to the article.  The other stuff is the job of the editor, who is much more concerned about clicks.

 

Sure if it's blatantly obvious one article will gather more interest than another, that will factor in. But most of the time it isn't. Would and article about the developer of Braids gather more interest than one on the developer of World of Goo?

 

Also, deadline pressure. Journalists tend to have tight deadlines (maybe not as much in the electronic world, don't know for sure) so going to the guy they know is cooperative will mean less potential time wasted.

 

But I will give you that the blogging nature of some journalists does change things and to a lrage degree removes the editor from the whole picture. But given that those types of journalists are more personas, their selling point is their voice mor than their content. So in my (even more jaded and cynic) eyes, personal bias would play a larger role in content selection, because their own ego is their drive, more than news.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Spider

[AwesomeOcelot]

Bioshock Infinite DLC

. Rapture based story involving private investigator in noir style. Have to keep my expectations down, down, down.

[GhostofAnakin]

Bioshock Infinite DLC Buried at Sea Episode 1. Rapture based story involving private investigator in noir style. Have to keep my expectations down, down, down.

 

Is that set in an alternate timeline?  Booker and Elizabeth don't seem to know each other.

[Tale]

 

Bioshock Infinite DLC Buried at Sea Episode 1. Rapture based story involving private investigator in noir style. Have to keep my expectations down, down, down.

 

Is that set in an alternate timeline?  Booker and Elizabeth don't seem to know each other.

 

Yes.

[Orogun01]

 

 

Bioshock Infinite DLC

. Rapture based story involving private investigator in noir style. Have to keep my expectations down, down, down.

 

Is that set in an alternate timeline?  Booker and Elizabeth don't seem to know each other.

 

Yes.

 

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

[Tale]

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

No telling yet.

 

Considering that it's not taking place on Columbia, all bets are off. That's a whole other batch of circumstances.

[Orogun01]

 

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

No telling yet.

 

Considering that it's not taking place on Columbia, all bets are off. That's a whole other batch of circumstances.

 

I mean I know it's the 50's and all but I doubt a father would lit a cigarette for his daughter.

[Oerwinde]

Final pre-order bonus for Europa Universalis IV is a copy of Crusader Kings II. Doesn't pretty much everyone who would be buying EUIV already own Crusader Kings II? Cool that you can import your CK2 kingdom into EUIV though.

[NOK222]

 

 

Cool that you can import your CK2 kingdom into EUIV though. 

Back-back the **** up. I thought they said no originally?

 

Are you sure it's not a mod?

[Mamoulian War]

Some good news for Australian guys. Maybe you probably already know it, but yeah...

Australian Parliament urges citizens to bypass geo-locks on software

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/australian-parliament-urges-citizens-to-bypass-geo-locks-on-software/

[Cultist]

I'll just leave it here

Riccitiello: "Precious little to indicate mobile is building long-term brands"

Ex-EA CEO talks about how publishers are changing and how chasing graphics on mobile can be a "road to ruin"

In a "fireside chat" at Casual Connect, ex-EA CEO John Riccitiello sat down with journalist John Gaudiosi to talk about the state of the business.

Gaudiosi asked what Riccitiello thinks of the state of the industry today and who the winners are in mobile. "It's shocking how long titles stay in the Top Fifty," Riccitiello said. He also noted that there's no publisher with broad, long-term success on mobile. "Most publishers have only one or two titles in the Top Fifty," said RIccitiello. "Almost no one has a title with more than a year in the Top Fifty, and there's never been a successful sequel."

Riccitiello's solution? "Mobile needs to build brands," he said. "Madden is in its 25th year. So far there's precious little to indicate mobile is building long-term brands." The touchstone for Riccitiello is how well people do version 2.0 of a successful mobile game. Can publishers create brands that will last for multiple years? He feels that is going to be a key towards creating a valuable mobile publisher for the long term.

Gaudiosi asked what the role of a publisher is in mobile games, and Riccitiello said that's still developing. Classically, he explained, publishers do three things: Provide capital, turn content into money (transactions), and provide editorial service. Mobile developers still need capital (especially as budgets increase), and help improving a game (both technical and design help) is always useful. What's not clear, according to Riccitiello, is how helpful publishers can be in handling transactions when the platforms provide much of that mechanical assistance. The conversion of content into money is a mix of technology, marketing, and design, and mobile games are showing themselves to be different in many ways than games on other platforms.

What needs to change, according to Riccitiello, is the balance of revenue between the distribution platforms and the content providers. "For Apple and Google over the last five years, perhaps half or two thirds of their increase in shareholder value is directly from mobile products. That's about $300 billion of capital created by the distribution platform," said Riccitiello. On the other side is content. "Games are about 75 percent of all mobile app monetization; perhaps $25 billion of shareholder value has been created by content. That's ten times more value created by the platform creator. That wasn't the case in console." Riccitiello feels that there's great potential for game creators to change that equation and generate a lot more value from the content than from the platform.

Gaudiosi then asked Riccitiello what mobile can learn from console. "I've visited with many developers since I left EA," Riccitiello said. "Many have told me they want to bring console level graphics to mobile, and that will make them better. I tell them investing in better graphics without a better game is a road to ruin." Riccitiello feels that while mobile power is increasing, the rewards will go to developers that generate more satisfying games, not just better-looking games. "One bit of advice as you're looking at more powerful mobile," said Riccitiello. "Think about how that allows you to create an experience you haven't seen before. What game mechanic wasn't possible before?" Developers that find good answers to that question will do well.

Finally, Gaudiosi asked if Riccitello had any thoughts on how second screen gaming is impacting the business. "No one really knows the answer," said Riccitiello. "I sit on my couch looking at my email, playing a game on console, and playing Candy Crush on my tablet. I'm using mobile screens all the time. I have seen some absolutely stupendous dual screen experiences with console and mobile. I don't think we're scratching the surface so much as we're waving our hand above a surface that we're yet to scratch."

Riccitiello said that some of us would argue that all you need is a tablet or a phone and wireless HDMI out, but he disagrees. "TV is going be used for mobile games and dual screen will be a really big idea when you figure out a gameplay experience that is better."

Edited July 31, 2013 by Cultist

[Keyrock]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat Misery 2.0 mod is out!

 

[Meshugger]

 

 

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

No telling yet.

 

Considering that it's not taking place on Columbia, all bets are off. That's a whole other batch of circumstances.

 

I mean I know it's the 50's and all but I doubt a father would lit a cigarette for his daughter.

 

 

Cigarettes were considered as smoked vegetables in the 50's.

[Keyrock]

 

 

 

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

No telling yet.

 

Considering that it's not taking place on Columbia, all bets are off. That's a whole other batch of circumstances.

 

I mean I know it's the 50's and all but I doubt a father would lit a cigarette for his daughter.

 

 

Cigarettes were considered as smoked vegetables in the 50's.

 

They were borderline recommending giving them to babies in place of formula, or so I have been told.

[Oerwinde]

 

 

Cool that you can import your CK2 kingdom into EUIV though.

Back-back the **** up. I thought they said no originally?

 

Are you sure it's not a mod?

From the paradox newsletter. They're releasing a conversion tool to allow it.

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

 

Are they still father and daughter or can we sense sexual tension without the weirdness?

No telling yet.

 

Considering that it's not taking place on Columbia, all bets are off. That's a whole other batch of circumstances.

 

I mean I know it's the 50's and all but I doubt a father would lit a cigarette for his daughter.

 

 

Cigarettes were considered as smoked vegetables in the 50's.

 

They were borderline recommending giving them to babies in place of formula, or so I have been told.

 

 

No that was Coke-Cola, and it was a true recommendation. But never cigarettes

[alanschu]

 

 

From the paradox newsletter. They're releasing a conversion tool to allow it.

 

Yup.  Free for preorders, and I think $9.99 post release.

 

Works as a DLC for CK2, that takes a save game and converts it into a mod for EU4 (not a save game, which gives them more flexibility for custom countries).

[Huinehtar]

Outcast devs form Daoka, will build new games in series