The Gaming News Thread

[Kekvit Irae]

Epic Games President Michael Capps says that Gears of War II is not coming to the PC because of piracy and, surprise surprise, used game sales.

Q: Do you see an enemy in this equation? Is it the retailer, or the purchaser of second-hand games?

Michael Capps: I'd hate to say my players are my enemies - that doesn't make any sense! But we certainly have a rule at Epic that we don't buy any used games - sure as hell you're not going to be recognised as an Epic artist going in and buying used videogames - because this is how we make our money and how all our friends in the industry make money.

I think a little bit of it is education so people realise that the reason there's no PC market right now is piracy. I mean, Crytek just put out some numbers saying the ratio was 20:1 on Crysis, for pirated to non-pirated use. So guess what? That's why there's no Gears of War 2 on PC, because there's no market, because copying killed it - and that's gruesome to a company like ours that's been in the PC market for so long.

We're trying to fix it, there's a new alliance of companies trying to make PC gaming work again. But if people are playing games without buying them, then the games aren't going to keep coming.

[Martok]

Yeesh.


I think it was just yesterday I read about a scheme to eliminate used games being resold: Someone with another developer (Frontier?) recently proposed a business model in which games could be rented for $50.00, while a "permanent" copy could be purchased for a mere $160.00. (I'll see if I can find the actual article in a bit here.)

I don't know what that guy's smoking, but I want some.

[Xiahou]

So, Crysis sold over 1 million copies- that means over 20 million people pirated it? Pardon me for doubting his numbers...

Regardless, I guess what Michael here is saying is that he'd rather throw away 1 million additional sales on the PC than risk having people who probably wouldn't have bought it anyway pirate it? Add to this his suggestion that he thinks those who play his game are the "enemy" and it's not hard to see what's wrong with his business model.

I do sympathize with him on the used game market though. Should people be able to trade and swap games? Absolutely. But what EBGames/Gamestop are doing is despicable, imo. They rip people off, paying people a fraction of what they bought their games for and rip you off even more if you don't agree to take store credit instead of cash (thereby forcing you to give them back the money they gave you). Next, they sell the same games back to rubes for as little as a couple bucks off the "new" price. Gamestop pockets all the money and the people who actually make the game, the developers, get nothing. Really sleazy, imo.

The game publishers should demand to get a cut of used game sales, or just stop selling Gamestop new copies of games.

[Martok]

Aha! I found the article I mentioned earlier:

David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, is plenty upset. He joins the ranks of the likes of EA and other high profile developer/publishers that are mounting the beginnings of a massive offensive towards “retailers that buy used games”. Mr. Braben threatens that because of this practice the single player experience may be seeing its last days. Multiplayer only or multiplayer heavy games seem to be immune to this dastardly deed. The crime? Gamers play the short-lived single player game and then wish to trade it in for credit towards another game – imagine that!

Developers don’t get a dime when a game gets traded. The end result, retail outlets make a good penny for marking up old games while developers see nothing. In truth, being that the margins are so low in initial sales it would be impossible to run a business with the low returns on brand new games. In short, there is no profit in selling new games at retail stores and the used game market exists to fill a need.

We’ve all heard this story before, developers and publishers want a piece of the action. Solution? Give folks downloadable content to entice them to keep the games longer. Whether or not this solution has improved the situation has yet to be determined. Games like GTA IV, although selling well in its initial release phase, have seen massive returns to game retailers for store credit in part due to lackluster game play, even though downloadable content looms over the horizon.

Braben’s solution is a bit more radical. He suggests offering a two tier price entry: a not for resale version of the game and a rental version. The not for resale copies would be priced at roughly $160 dollars, and the rental version at around $50. The idea? Gamers won’t trade a game they spent their life savings on.

Be vigilant gamers! Game publishers and developers produce fun products; however they are in business to make money. There is no such thing as a compassionate, loving and caring conglomerate. Keep your wits about you and while you have fun playing, don’t lose your rights, or your wallets. Corporate greed is corporate greed and their insatiable appetite for your dollars may not only do away with the single player game, but games as a whole. Sadly the industry is maturing and the days of “doing it for the love” are gone.

[Kekvit Irae]

If there's anything that will encourage people to pirate, it's 160 dollar games.

[Martok]

Piracy? Hell, there would be almost no games left to pirate. If titles become that expensive, the gaming industry would all but disappear.

[Tratorix]

Braben’s solution is a bit more radical. He suggests offering a two tier price entry: a not for resale version of the game and a rental version. The not for resale copies would be priced at roughly $160 dollars, and the rental version at around $50. The idea? Gamers won’t trade a game they spent their life savings on.

That is one of the stupidest things i've ever heard. His idea to increase sales is to raise prices? Does he not realize high prices are one of the main reasons people buy used games?

[TinCow]

The hillarious aspect is that as consoles become more advanced, they also utilize more direct computer components. This makes it far easier to hack them or otherwise make them capable of playing pirated discs. The devs are in for a rude awakening when piracy makes the full-scale jump to consoles in the near future. We'll see what excuses they can come up with then.

[Praxil]

Epic Games President Michael Capps says that Gears of War II is not coming to the PC because of piracy and, surprise surprise, used game sales.

I think that it will come out eventually on this so "far much much better platform" everybody are shouting , it is only a matter of time. The answers to "when" is Microsoft, the franchise owner and publisher.

[TevashSzat]

ESRB Adds Game Summaries to Ratings

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The ESRB has added more detailed summaries of games to its content descriptors on the ESRB Web site (via a report from Joystiq). For example, Wrath of the Lich King -- which launches today -- is described in detail this way:

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game set in the imaginary world of Azeroth. Players complete quests to 'level up' their customized characters, while gaining powers and better equipment along the way. Quest objectives sometimes involve using magic and hand-to-hand combat to defeat various creatures, enemy soldiers, and occasionally other characters such as innocent villagers. Some attacks can result in splashes of red blood, while collateral damage also includes bursts of flesh and bone falling to the ground. Certain quests require the player to drink alcohol, resulting in the character's impaired vision (blurry screen, pink elephants) and movement. Players can interact with scantily clad characters, listen to provocative dialogue (e.g., "Is that a mana wyrm in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"), or view sexually suggestive dance routines performed by elves and other player-characters.

This is bound to lead to some game leaks or misunderstandings due to lack of context, but this should go a long way towards alleviating concerns over the ESRB's supposed lack of effectiveness. With such detailed descriptions, there can really be no excuse for parents not to know exactly what content is in the games their kids are playing.

Senator Hillary Clinton, who has historically been outspoken against the ESRB, has already spoken up in support of the move according to a report on the MTV Multiplayer blog.

"This new supplement to the ratings is a real gift for parents as we head into this holiday season," she said. "Parents need all the information they can get to make more informed decisions about what's appropriate for their children. These new rating summaries offer more helpful information than ever before to help parents get involved and get informed." Now, we just have to wait and see if parents really do use the tools available to them to get informed and involved. Otherwise, the criticism against the ESRB will come back, deserved or not.

I really love how there may be really huge spoilers within the description which they don't tell you at all....

Valve Steams $99 Complete Pack

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Stumbling across even one zombie is probably enough for any normal, healthy human being to have an intense and immediate reaction. But really, when is it ever going to be just one zombie?

With Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead going gold yesterday, Valve is honoring the occasion with a combo deal to rival last year's Orange Box. Dubbed the Valve Complete Pack, the package contains 22 titles in all, spanning the breadth of Valve's 12-year development history.

In addition to the aforementioned zombie shooter, the Valve Complete Pack includes all of the game maker's premiere titles, including Half-Life, Half-Life 2, its first two expansions, Portal, and Team Fortress. Also packed in are a number of Source engine-powered spin-offs, including Counter-Strike, Half-Life: Blue Shift, the original Team Fortress, and Day of Defeat, to name a few. For good measure, PopCap's Peggle Extreme is also party to the proceedings.

The Valve Complete Pack is available through the game maker's online distribution service Steam for $99.99. By Valve's tally, that's a $134.82 savings over buying each of the products individually.

Wow, that is really a great deal. 22 games for the price of two brand new games...... I'd probably get it if I didn't have the Half Life 2 and its episodes already since I get really nauseous while trying to play the original Half Life

[Xiahou]

doh!

[Xiahou]

ESRB Adds Game Summaries to Ratings

I guess that "mild violence, suggestive themes, and use of alcohol" isn't good enough any more? If parents didn't pay attention to the ratings and those descriptors, I don't see them reading lengthy descriptions either....

[Kekvit Irae]

Not gaming related, but amusing none-the-less for us gamers:

Turkish inmate escapes via cardboard box. The La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo are not amused.

[Martok]

Stardock Talks Star Control, Master of Orion Sequels.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Brad Wardell of Stardock tells Gamasutra that his company would be interested in making follow-ups to Master of Orion and Star Control:

"I actually pitched Atari on a whole idea for a true successor to Star Control," CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra, noting that the game would follow original series developer Toys for Bob's Star Control II rather than the Legend Entertainment-developed Star Control 3 ("We just pretend that never happened," the CEO says of that release).

The exploration-driven space strategy game is said to have influenced Stardock's Galactic Civilizations series as well as Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire, also published by Stardock.

Novato, California-based Toys for Bob has actually floated the idea of making its own Star Control II sequel, with co-creator Paul Reiche III indicating he has tossed potential design ideas around, but with the company now owned by publisher Activision the proposal seems to be stuck in limbo.

Wardell also mentioned Simtex's Master of Orion as a franchise he would like to see Stardock continue. Like Star Control, its third entry was developed by a different studio -- in this case, Quicksilver Software -- and was not as well-regarded as the original games.

"We'd like to do a Master of Orion 4," said Wardell, noting that those rights are owned by Atari as well. "It would be an updated Master of Orion 2. There would be more to it, but that would be the basis of it."

I'm not sure it qualifies as news per se, but it's certainly intriguing....

[Martok]

Stardock Talks Star Control, Master of Orion Sequels.

It turns out that wasn't the whole article, by the way. My bad.


Brad actually had quite a few interesting things to say:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Stardock's recently-announced Elemental: War of Magic is the developer's own internal creation -- but it's no secret that the Michigan-based company originally intended to secure the sequel rights to Microprose's 1995 game Master of Magic.

As it turns out, that's not the only lapsed property the Stardock team dreams of getting its hands on -- and not the only one currently owned by Atari, for that matter.

"I actually pitched Atari on a whole idea for a true successor to Star Control," CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra, noting that the game would follow original series developer Toys for Bob's Star Control II rather than the Legend Entertainment-developed Star Control 3 ("We just pretend that never happened," the CEO says of that release).

The exploration-driven space strategy game is said to have influenced Stardock's Galactic Civilizations series as well as Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire, also published by Stardock.

Novato, California-based Toys for Bob has actually floated the idea of making its own Star Control II sequel, with co-creator Paul Reiche III indicating he has tossed potential design ideas around, but with the company now owned by publisher Activision the proposal seems to be stuck in limbo.

Wardell also mentioned Simtex's Master of Orion as a franchise he would like to see Stardock continue. Like Star Control, its third entry was developed by a different studio -- in this case, Quicksilver Software -- and was not as well-regarded as the original games.

"We'd like to do a Master of Orion 4," said Wardell, noting that those rights are owned by Atari as well. "It would be an updated Master of Orion 2. There would be more to it, but that would be the basis of it."

He took the opportunity to deliver some stern words to those entrusted with a series they did not create: "If you're making a game that ends with '3,' or Something: The Sequel, it should be similar to the original game," he claimed.

Wardell noted: "Don't go off and say, 'I have my own artistic vision.' Okay, good -- so call it something else. Don't ride the coattails of the people who came before you to launch your own artistic vision."

And Elemental, influenced by Master of Magic but not officially based on it, is not the first time Stardock has developed its own property inspired by a best-case hypothetical scenario.

"I would never have done those Galactic Civilizations games in the first place if someone had made a Civilization-in-space game," Wardell laughed. "If [Sid Meier's] Alpha Centauri had been in space [rather than on another] planet, I never would have made it."

The CEO told Gamasutra that Stardock is building up a second full internal development team, and is tossing around various project ideas. "We'd like to do a roleplaying game too," he said, pointing to BioWare classics like Baldur's Gate II and Knights of the Old Republic as examples of the route he would like to take.

It would be "the same style of isometric gameplay -- not first person -- where I have a party that I'm interacting with," he explained, even calling out a specific Baldur's Gate II character.

"I think there are a lot of people who want that. They want to have a party again. They want to have a Minsc-type character in there. You can't have that interesting banter if it's just one guy running around."

"Someone's going to have to do it," he said, tossing out the idea of Demigod collaborator Gas Powered Games as a theoretical example. "If it's not another studio, it's got to be Stardock."

I love the part highlighted in bold. Take that, Quicksilver and Legend Entertainment!