[Choc]

part of the problem sony and ms has is all the convergence and media they have done this gen


every single contract they have with HBO etc needs to be renegotiated for Live 3/ PSN 2

its just the way it works. And people will expect all of it to work Day 1

if they don't, it will be inferior and stupid and a dumb thing to release. These are more than games machines now

And that problem was their own doing.

edit: E3 bolter #2

Consoles to be available on phone style plans. If not this gen, next gen Day 1.

So instead of buying a console you will buy a PSN plan, much like telephones etc today

[Yagharek]

Vince you honestly think EA and Activision give a fuck about that? They want to be hte only game in town and if a town of creativity is lost in the process who gievs a fuck guess who else wants that? Their shareholders.

At this stage I dont think EA and Activision are even relevant. They are just becoming the biggest fish in a shrinking pond. Give it 5-10 years and they will be crying foul about piracy/used game markets/indies etc just like EMI/Sony BMG/Universal Studios etc are now.

[Choc]

The biggest mistake this industry will make in history is if the PS4 and NextBox do not allow used games

they will then learn what that means. It means that only the most AAA game will sell. And the industry will have truly killed itself

but you know, sometimes to be a better industry, it needs to kill itself and start again.

[jambo]

i actually personally think the gen we are in now is fine graphically and power wise

720P in 2012 just doesn't cut it for me.

I had that res back in the late 90s.

(Yes I know the tech has come a long way since then, it just gets wasted imo when it's all jaggy and fuzzy)

[Choc]

jambo

please explain if the gameplay doesn't change how 2040p (as an example that doesnt exist... but you get the point)

will improve it?

[codswallop]

All future PS3 games playable on Vita remote play. VITA games playable on PS3 at some point but not all.

Can't you pretty much already do this with an iPad and Airplay-compatible TV (i.e. Samsung)?

Consoles to be available on phone style plans. If not this gen, next gen Day 1.

Already happening.

Consoles not launching with 4K compatibility have danger of already being irrelevant hardware-wise when the major manufacturers start releasing them. Some suggest as early as next year for mainstream 4K TV sets.

[jambo]

When did I ever mention gameplay?

There are plenty of games out there that have fantastic gameplay but could do without looking like someone smeared vaseline on my television.

[Fredescu]

PS2 was nowhere near as close to 2000-era PCs as the 360 was to 2005 PCs, for instance. Same with SNES circa 1991.

That's not how I remember it. For example the PS2 had a 64bit CPU before they were available in regular PCs. Also the SNES has better sound processing than most if not all PCs at the time.

Consoles, up until maybe the Xbox, have been pretty bare bones affairs. No OS, no on-board storage, no moving parts.

Are you saying this like it's a bad thing? Should consoles have clung even tighter to retail distribution?

[Omi]

When did I ever mention gameplay? There are plenty of games out there that have fantastic gameplay but could do without looking like someone smeared vaseline on my television.

Post processing is one if those things I take great enjoyment in turning off.

Do not like, except in very rare circumstances.

[jambo]

Post processing is one if those things I take great enjoyment in turning off. Do not like, except in very rare circumstances.

First thing everyone does in ArmA II is turn off the post processing effects.

Same with UT3.

[x3n05]

buy gravity rush

I will...in 3 weeks :/

[Yagharek]

Can't you pretty much already do this with an iPad and Airplay-compatible TV (i.e. Samsung)? Already happening. Consoles not launching with 4K compatibility have danger of already being irrelevant hardware-wise when the major manufacturers start releasing them. Some suggest as early as next year for mainstream 4K TV sets.

Just on consoles via subscription plans ....

Sega did this with SegaNet back in 2001.

Meanwhile, 4K sets will be as relevant as 3DTV sets. Most people just upgraded to HDTV. 3DTV uptake was weak in comparison, and 4K will see a similar fate.

[bodyboarder]

Its bad enough on xbox. I really dont like the level design in the demo. Too hard for me, like super meat boy. I think you need to be a savant to beat those games now.

Just takes a bit of practice. Though some of the extreme tracks i wanted to throw the controller out the window.

Sup Ausgaf. Campbell Newman has cost me my govt job.

Sorry to hear.

[Fredescu]

Some suggest as early as next year for mainstream 4K TV sets.

Where is the 4K content going to come from?

[x3n05]

4K (apart from some movies, a rare game or two etc) is a long long way off from mainstream. Look how long HD penetration has taken, now how long is it going to take to tell those same people that they need to upgrade again. Not to mention the FTA networks and console devs can't even manage 720P/1080i half the time.

edit: long version of what fred said...

edit2: go to osteopath to help correct issues with bad posture, come home and go back to bad posture, something isn't right here

[Yagharek]

Just takes a bit of practice. Though some of the extreme tracks i wanted to throw the controller out the window.

I have a window too close to where I game to risk it.

[markot]

1080 is all I want.

Really, I mean most Nintendo games look great upscaled.

I dont mind about the fiddly stuff, honestly, most of the times they are just in fps games (Oh how purty!) because there has been no innovation in the genre at all outside of graphically.

Hell, I dont care what they do, realism isnt what I want though, to me, the ideal, is a zelda or mario game that looks like a cartoon, with as good animation, and brilliant gameplay.

Sadly the 'realism!' people tend to be loudest, so now we have nothing but bald gruff protagonists shooting guns at shit and being bullet sponges.

Fact is, Michael bay has been the.. 'ideal' for most companies, not a kubrik or, you know, good director who has more emotional depth than 'Oh wow see that explosion it was like BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM'. Part of the huge problem with gaming is that its been chasing one demographic and thats been pretty much it. The teen -20+ year old male.

[x3n05]

I am salivating at the idea of Ninty games at 1080P. Sure I can use Dolphin but it's usually a pain in the ass to get it set up right to run the game to my liking, not to mention getting motion+ working etc.

[Fredescu]

At least Nintendo normally go for 60fps. I can forgive a few jaggies for that.

[reptilescorpio]

it was predicted eons ago by many journalists but what will happen is what has happened in hollywood 3-4 major studios developing most content with indies on the side its going to happen. Consolidation has been happening for years now. EA Activision Ubisoft 2K most likely

EA
Activision
(slightly less powerful) Ubisoft

2K will cut down a bit and be a midtier kind of studio

THQ will end up like Codemasters with some niche stuff that does enough but nothing huge enough to leverage into buying some EA/Acti tier power

Who knows what could end up happening with EA though, depends on what they will find next as a decent growth for them. Probably the social gaming aspect like Fred said since they have some great Mobile studios, as well as the obvious Facebook ones.

If it's internal they have to worry about the costs of layoffs or with having another project for the studio to work on.

With the internal focus though it wouldn't matter, especially with such a huge amount of games now being released. Ubisoft and Rockstar are especially good at this, when one project falters they have plenty of other pies for the employees to switch to.

I would actually love to see this become more of a focal point for the industry since the ramping up and laying off at the beginning and end of projects is a terrible way to treat employees and would really hurt their ability to work at their best. They would improve and become more skilled if they worked 11 months of a year rather than having a breakdown and worry about losing their house every 9 months or 18 months.

Distribution and marketing is usually 100% handled by the publisher. I don't see much difference in costs between internally and externally developed games here.

Keeping the work internally means they can leverage ALL of their assets as they wish. We hear stories all the time about Rockstar noticing a project (RDR or Max Payne 3 lately) having issues so they pull everyone off their current projects and throw them at the one project to get them over the line and avoid it being a fuckup.
The cost blowout in relation to marketing is more based around those contracts, a developer will reluctantly go to a publisher hat in hand and say that without extra time and money and pushing to the public it won't be profitable and won't be good. By making development internal a publisher won't have to wait to find that out, they will know already and would have canned it in pre-production or early production or they would have thrown more resources at it at an opportune time in order to make the most money, like what Rockstar do.

That last time I posted about a cost blowout I was actually talking more about the effect it has on the external developer, a situation where they sink all their money but a publisher isn't willing to double down on a marketing blitz that could make it a breakout hit and make shitloads of money for both the developer and publisher and instead the game limps out, becomes a cult hit but the developer didn't get paid as much as they spent and the publisher makes a small profit rather than a big one. Too many awesome games have gone out to an unaltered market, sometimes because the publisher has a big internal release out at the same time and they would prefer to maximise their own profit on THAT project.

I'm fairly sure EA partners deals with mostly developer funded games with EA handling the distribution and other optional components like marketing if the developer wants someone else to handle that. That's very different to a publisher going out to tender for a particular type of game.

That was completely my point. The risk isn't on EA, they get a hunk of money without any of the risk.
The point is that EA are moving away from the old style of a developer pitching a project to them, which they then fund all the way to our hands, to the EA partners system where they reduce the amount of money they have thrown up in the air hoping will land in some profitable places.

A clearer way to explain it would be using the hilarious example of Game Dev Story. NOTE: I am NOT saying the game industry is like Game Dev Story okay, I am simply using a gameplay mechanic as an example of what some publishers are looking at as a helpful way to keep the cash flowing.

In GDS you can spend tons of time working on a game that can make you shitloads of money if it turns out great and the market wants it. It could make anywhere from shitloads to being a money burner. Another choice is to do short term contract work for x amount of dollars within a certain time. The effort and work required is shorter and therefore there is less to fuck up and turn into a costly mess.
Publishers look to the same kind of thing. Rather than fund 2+ years of development and then trying and get the thing hyping to maximise the sales, they can offer less services for less money BUT there are less variables in the air so they can feel more assured that they won't end up running the deal at a loss.

I think they should be looking to be cheaper than the Wii, not more expensive like the Wii U. A low cost console that can serve both existing markets and emerging markets (India, China, so forth). Thinking something that can launch at $250 here.

Yeah Sony have that going with the PS2 still selling awesome in places like Brazil. Good method, using the old hardware sitting around the warehouse that is SUPER cheap to build now to make back some of that loss leader bank. Also old games that have already been made and are awesome! Win win.

[x3n05]

That's true, and something about the simple art style seems more forgiving a lot of time (or I am just mental).

[Yagharek]

Sadly the 'realism!' people tend to be loudest, so now we have nothing but bald gruff protagonists shooting guns at shit and being bullet sponges. Fact is, Michael bay has been the.. 'ideal' for most companies, not a kubrik or, you know, good director who has more emotional depth than 'Oh wow see that explosion it was like BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM'. Part of the huge problem with gaming is that its been chasing one demographic and thats been pretty much it. The teen -20+ year old male.

Yep. There really needs to be more games that anyone can play, to supplement the glut of games targeted solely at 14-25yo males. There's nothing wrong with those games existing, but why do they have to be the entirety of the games industry's output?

[bodyboarder]

I have a window too close to where I game to risk it.

The worst feeling is when you can see the end and you run out of time/faults.

Rage inducing game for sure.

[reptilescorpio]

Yep. There really needs to be more games that anyone can play, to supplement the glut of games targeted solely at 14-25yo males. There's nothing wrong with those games existing, but why do they have to be the entirety of the games industry's output?

They don't sell enough to take the spotlight in most publishers reports to shareholders.

You guys should have bought 2 copies of Rayman Origins.

[Yagharek]

They don't sell enough to take the spotlight in most publishers reports to shareholders. You guys should have bought 2 copies of Rayman Origins.

I bought it on Wii and bought Beyond Good and Evil twice. My soul is clean.

[markot]

At least Nintendo normally go for 60fps. I can forgive a few jaggies for that.

This too, Nintendo games are usually so smooth. You dont get fps drops, slow down... etc..

I love that more than graphical 'awe'.

Hell, I dont even bother looking at tech demos for UE4 >.< its like 'more detail?''more detail!'

[Yagharek]

This too, Nintendo games are usually so smooth. You dont get fps drops, slow down... etc.. I love that more than graphical 'awe'. Hell, I dont even bother looking at tech demos for UE4 >.< its like 'more detail?''more detail!'

Ive noticed long ago that in particular, EA and Ubisoft games have very poor performance. Slow loading menus, laggy menu selection, frame drops, vsync issues etc are all extremely prevalent in almost all their games. Meanwhile bungie and epic/ue3 games are notorious for texture load-in delays.

[markot]

Ironically, the most successful things this gen have gone outside that demographics (Except for Cod >.>)

But Wii? World of Warcraft? Guitar Hero?... ios/android games? Most of these things have flourished on a much larger target audience.

[Fredescu]

With the internal focus though it wouldn't matter, especially with such a huge amount of games now being released.

I don't think there is really such a huge amount of games being released. Not on console. I've pointed out how Activision have whittled down their properties to basically CoD + Blizzard + licensed games. Do you have some examples of big publishers who have increased their output on consoles since say 2008?

Ubisoft and Rockstar are especially good at this, when one project falters they have plenty of other pies for the employees to switch to.

Just going from Wikipedia (using TakeTwo since Rockstar aren't a publisher):


Ubisoft:

Defunct
Wolfpack Studios in Austin, Texas, U.S, founded in 1999 and acquired on 1 March 2004. Closed in 2006.[29]
Ubisoft Vancouver, started on 3 February 2009 after acquiring Action Pants Inc.[30] Closed in January 2012.[31]
Ubisoft São Paulo, started on 24 June 2008 and on 20 January 2009 they acquired Southlogic Studios and integrated it into this studio.[32] The studios were closed in late 2010 to focus on games distribution.[33]

Take Two:

Defunct
2K Australia in Canberra, Australia, folded into 2K Marin[23]
Frog City Software in San Francisco, California, founded in 1995, acquired by Gathering of Developers in 2004, consolidated into Firaxis Games in 2006
Gathering of Developers in Texas, founded January 1998, acquired May 2000, closed September 2004; brands merged into Rockstar and 2K
Gotham Games, started in 2002, eventually closed
Indie Built, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, founded as Access Software in 1983, acquired from Microsoft in 2004; closed April 28, 2006
Kush Games in Camarillo, California closed in 2008
PopTop Software in St. Louis, Missouri, founded in 1993, merged into Firaxis Games in 2006
TalonSoft in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1995, acquired in 2000, closed in 2005; most brands sold to Matrix Games
Rockstar Vienna, founded January 4, 1993, as neo Software, closed May 11, 2006
Venom Games, Ltd. in Newcastle upon Tyne, founded in 2003, acquired in September 2004; closed in July 2008
PAM Development in Paris, France, founded in 1997, acquired in 2006; closed in 2008

So they're especially good at keeping their studios busy? I'd hate to see a publisher who was especially bad at that.

Keeping the work internally means they can leverage ALL of their assets as they wish. We hear stories all the time about Rockstar noticing a project (RDR or Max Payne 3 lately) having issues so they pull everyone off their current projects and throw them at the one project to get them over the line and avoid it being a fuckup.

What you've described is already a cost blowout and a fuckup.

The cost blowout in relation to marketing is more based around those contracts, a developer will reluctantly go to a publisher hat in hand and say that without extra time and money and pushing to the public it won't be profitable and won't be good.

That's nothing to do with marketing, that's development.

By making development internal a publisher won't have to wait to find that out

Why do you think there would be any real difference? A lot of the time we're talking about a studio in a different city or country than the beancounters, whether it's internal or external. There's no particular reason that communication is going to be any better. Internal communication within big companies is usually pretty poor.

That last time I posted about a cost blowout I was actually talking more about the effect it has on the external developer, a situation where they sink all their money

With the kinds of games we're talking about, the developer is not spending their own money, they're spending the publishers money.

The point is that EA are moving away from the old style of a developer pitching a project to them, which they then fund all the way to our hands, to the EA partners system where they reduce the amount of money they have thrown up in the air hoping will land in some profitable places.

So basically they've stopped funding as many games? This is my point. Distributing games that someone else has made isn't risky and obviously EA aren't the only ones distributing those sorts of games.


Basically my point is that publishers are making fewer games for consoles and this why studios are reporting there is less work available for them. It's not because internal studios are a magical land where magic happens.

[Yagharek]

It's not because internal studios are a magical land where magic happens.

[markot]

[Fredescu]

I'm about 60% sure you're kidding, but my point isn't that internal studios don't make good stuff. It's that there is no "move to bring games into internal studios", it's that there is a "move to make less games".

[Yagharek]

I'm about 60% sure you're kidding, but my point isn't that internal studios don't make good stuff. It's that there is no "move to bring games into internal studios", it's that there is a "move to make less games".

I was only hanging on the "where magic happens" line of your argument.

But to be completely serious, your point makes perfect sense to me.

[HolyCheck]

Played about 12 hours of mass effect 3 yesterday!! Really loving it so far. On my way home for more now

I was wondering if there is anything like in mass effect 2 that acts as a time cut off? Like once you do this mission you can't go back and do the ones you had waiting? Other than the obvious one that is the war room computer. As I'd hate to miss out on visiting any of the mains from the last 2 games!characters I've met so far I've met/got jack, mordin, grunt, thane, garrus, liara,miranda, ranga from me2 who worked the comms, bland brunette fro me1

Is there anyone that It seems I may have missed at this point in the game? (I finished me2 with all survivors. I've just (gameplay spoiler, 12 hours in) destroyed the bomb on tchunka, and taken eve to the shroud.

Is there something I'm missing to getting side quests /smaller quests? I don't seem to get too many other than from over hearing the odd convo on the citadel (ie a few returning parts I've salvaged on scanned planets)

Also, what happens if I scan too much and a reaper vessel catches me? I do not want to test it to find out :(

Another thing, re: mordin why did they kill him fuck fuck. Is it possible to not have him die?

[hamchan]

Another thing, re: mordin why did they kill him fuck fuck. Is it possible to not have him die?

lol yes

[HolyCheck]

lol yes

How? I have no issues with the moral choices I made. So if it required me to side with the other party than fuck that.

[Choc]

Yeah cod

when i said phone style plans, i meant as the main way to obtain these systems

[Choc]

Another thing, re: mordin why did they kill him fuck fuck. Is it possible to not have him die?

you don't have to shoot him

[x3n05]

Silly girl...

Facebook 'money shot' triggers robbery A teenage girl learnt the meaning of oversharing on social media when she posted a photo of herself with a wad of her granny's cash on Facebook - and sparked a home invasion. The 17-year-old girl was helping her grandmother count her personal savings in their Sydney home at 4pm (AEST) on Thursday when she took a photo of herself and the cash and posted it on her Facebook page. At 11.30pm the same day two men armed with a knife and wooden club allegedly broke into the Southern Highlands house of the girl's mother demanding to talk to the girl about the money.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8474394

[HolyCheck]

you don't have to shoot him

I didn't

He blew up with the shroud after he released the genophage cure

[x3n05]

Here's something to think about:

"If a woman has only male children, she is the first woman in an unbroken line of women going back to the origin of humans to not have a daughter. The reverse is true with fathers having only daughters."

[Yagharek]

Here's something to think about:

"If a mammal has only male offspring, she is the first female in an unbroken line of females going back to the origin of mammals to not have a daughter. The reverse is true with males having only daughters."

Think about it further: it goes back at least to the origin of animals, and possibly as far back as possible to the origin of sexual differentiation itself.

[Doncamatic]

Here's something to think about:

Whoa weird. I was just thinking about this yesterday evening as I was going to sleep, I remember reading it on reddit a while ago.

Is there a term (if there is I assume it would be German because they know what's up) for when you think or experience something and then see it soon afterwards? Not the Baader-Meinhoft Phenomenon but something like it with a bit of deja-vu mixed in I guess.

[ClivePwned]

Played about 12 hours of mass effect 3 yesterday!! Really loving it so far. On my way home for more now I was wondering if there is anything like in mass effect 2 that acts as a time cut off? Like once you do this mission you can't go back and do the ones you had waiting? Other than the obvious one that is the war room computer. As I'd hate to miss out on visiting any of the mains from the last 2 games!characters I've met Is there something I'm missing to getting side quests /smaller quests? I don't seem to get too many other than from over hearing the odd convo on the citadel (ie a few returning parts I've salvaged on scanned planets). Also, what happens if I scan too much and a reaper vessel catches me? I do not want to test it to find out :(

side missions- talk to people you know on the ship and the citadel, they usually give you the sides. there are a lot that open as the game goes on so you will be back to the citadel many times
.
scanning- game over and you have to restart at that system. It's silly. Just head to the edge of the system and re-enter the system. If you restart at a point to far from the thing you want to scan, leave the system again and keep trying until the game puts you in the system closer to the thing you're after.

[Jintor]

Shan, tell me about pepper lunch as a japanese eatery.

[Yagharek]

I'm looking at Lego sets again. In a few minds as to what to get. Things I am considering right now:

1. Retro Space Police sets off ebay/amazon like Galactic Commander or whatever its called.
2. Some modern set with shitloads of pieces (like London Bridge which has 4000 odd).
3. Dinosaurs
4. Combination of 1 and 3 for fugitive Space Dinosaurs

What would AusGAF do?

edit: $350 for series 1 space police :(

[codswallop]

Where is the 4K content going to come from?

Panasonic has had TVs out since 2010, the cameras exist. I'm sure there's something. I think a lot of movies are already filmed in 4K. How that'll all get into the hands of consumers I don't know. Didn't really stop 1080p or 3D.

[HolyCheck]

NOW THANE

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

[Shaneus]

Silly girl... http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8474394

I know I shouldn't laugh, but holy fuck that's hilarious.

HILARIOUS.
I was expecting a different kind of "money shot" but oh wells

[Yagharek]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but holy fuck that's hilarious. HILARIOUS. I was expecting a different kind of "money shot" but oh wells

At the same time I read that, an ad on the tv came on for Real Insurance (thieving cunts btw).

The opening line? "There's nothing better than a happy ending"