The Gaming Lounge: Beyond - Part 6

[Iceman]

Capcom: Next Gen And Internal Development Won’t Increase Dev Costs. May 22, 2013 . 11:50am

“Bringing development in-house will not increase development costs,” Capcom said to those in attendance at a financials Q&A session.



source:Siliconera

I've heard different developers say different things on this. Hope it works out like this so they can really push boundaries without risking everything to do so.

 

[SpideyVille]

So I've been hearing some news that the Wii U has suddenly seen an increase in sales, particularly in the Amazon UK marketplace where it has gone up 875%.

A lot of people are saying this is pretty much because of Microsoft poor showing. But that can't possibly be true, can it?

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Many reliable sources are reporting it so there must be some truth to it.

I guess many were waiting on what Sony and Microsoft had to reveal first.

 

[SpideyVille]

But ... Nintendo was supposed to be dead!

 

[Soapy]

 

[SpideyVille]

That's actually pretty funny.

 

[Havok83]

So I've been hearing some news that the Wii U has suddenly seen an increase in sales, particularly in the Amazon UK marketplace where it has gone up 875%.

A lot of people are saying this is pretty much because of Microsoft poor showing. But that can't possibly be true, can it?

No, I think it has more to do with the fact that the price has been slashed at many retailers in the UK early this month and in the US, the system is on sale at Target for its lowest price yet.

http://www.nintendo-insider.com/2013/05/21/target-slash-wii-u-pricing/

 

[Iceman]

Haha, some of these reporters just can't get their heads around causality & don't do 2 minutes research beyond proving what they want to see. This is the same as when they misinterpreted Sony's stock price move, again due to something much larger & more relevant. Except here as the factor is directly related to gaming they have no excuse for not knowing. Seriously if someone physically ****s their pants tomorrow in China the reason will be linked to the Microsoft conference rather than the dodgy curry they had a few hours before. t:

Edit: although if wii U goes to about £150 I'll have to think about getting it too.

 

[Benstamania]

I'm telling you PRICE is what's keeping people away from the WiiU. I know SEVERAL people who want it but refuse to pay 350 for it. When it drops 100 bucks or so...It'll sell. More so once those games come out for it.

It's the 3DS all over again.

 

[Iceman]

Agreed totally. I don't yearn for it at the moment with the number of games it has but I'd still buy it tomorrow if they reduced it enough as I know there will be great games later.

 

[Fading]

No, I think it has more to do with the fact that the price has been slashed at many retailers in the UK early this month and in the US, the system is on sale at Target for its lowest price yet.

http://www.nintendo-insider.com/2013/05/21/target-slash-wii-u-pricing/

Dammit Havok, quit this honesty BS. Can't you just let me fantasize about some crazy conspiracy theory where Nintendo actually planned this all along?

That they sent Shiggy into MS HQ with a ninja outfit, armed with Mario "It's a ME!" voice recordings that he planted in various airducts to confuse the guards while he snuck past them. That he then found out MS's next console was a dud, and planned an awesome comeback around this? Instead of using $$ for marketing, he let MS do the work, and coordinated a price drop right after what he knew would be a disaster reveal!?!


Well, WELL!!!!.....

I got nothing, ran outta steam halfway through that paragraph.

 

[Iceman]

Well that would be a lot more awesome!!

Haha.

 

[SpideyVille]

Dammit Havok, quit this honesty BS. Can't you just let me fantasize about some crazy conspiracy theory where Nintendo actually planned this all along?

That they sent Shiggy into MS HQ with a ninja outfit, armed with Mario "It's a ME!" voice recordings that he planted in various airducts to confuse the guards while he snuck past them. That he then found out MS's next console was a dud, and planned an awesome comeback around this? Instead of using $$ for marketing, he let MS do the work, and coordinated a price drop right after what he knew would be a disaster reveal!?!


Well, WELL!!!!.....

I got nothing, ran outta steam halfway through that paragraph.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Dammit Havok, quit this honesty BS. Can't you just let me fantasize about some crazy conspiracy theory where Nintendo actually planned this all along?

That they sent Shiggy into MS HQ with a ninja outfit, armed with Mario "It's a ME!" voice recordings that he planted in various airducts to confuse the guards while he snuck past them. That he then found out MS's next console was a dud, and planned an awesome comeback around this? Instead of using $$ for marketing, he let MS do the work, and coordinated a price drop right after what he knew would be a disaster reveal!?!


Well, WELL!!!!.....

I got nothing, ran outta steam halfway through that paragraph.

 

[Fading]

Batman giving a thumbs up....not sure how I feel about that. One part is happy,. The other part creeped out, because I had a mental image of getting undressed for a shower at night, looking out a window, and seeing that image of him giving me a thumbs up.


/puts on thinkers cap

Maybe THAT'S the real reason he became Batman. Crime fighting is an excuse. He just wants a reason to run across rooftops to watch people while they sleep at night. /shivers. Then...is Joker technically the good guy? Trying to make us all laugh to forget the mental scars of memories we had blocked out. Of waking up in the middle of the night to find Batman standing over our beds smiling? My God....I need time to think about this. Maybe Bruce Wayne killed his parents because they found his photo stash of Rossie O'Donnell shower pics!

 

[zenith16]

• 
  The Bureau's Lead Narrative Designer On His Influences, The Future, And Infusing RPG Into A Shooter
  
  interview
  on May 24, 2013 at 03:51 PM
  163 Views
  
  Hear from the lead writer of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.
  ... More
  

source:GI

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Anyone play that downloadable call of Juarez game? I just played the trial and thought it was kinda neat. Might look into getting the full version at some point.

 

[jacobed]

Yeah I enjoyed it. It was like Call of Juarez and Borderlands had a baby

 

[zenith16]

Square Enix Feel They Have Something To Learn From Kickstarter. May 26, 2013 . 9:06pm

In an age where hit games like Tomb Raider can sell millions and fail to meet expectations, Square Enix feel lessons can be learned from Kickstarter and Steam.

• 
  
• 
  Square Enix Outlines New Development Approach
  
  News
  on May 27, 2013 at 10:14 AM
  3,848 Views
  
  22
  The company is changing the way it approaches big-budget, long-term projects.
  ... More
  

source:Siliconera & GI

 

[Fading]

I think Square's just become such a mess that can't even begin to recognize what's wrong with it. Their major series has become stuck in a rut, their solution? Buy a bunch of US companies, and their IP's. That doesn't work, so...learn from kickstart? You just have to look at things like their mobile game that had over $50 in micro transactions in order to even be able to enjoy the game to see somethings seriously wrong at the company.

Though personally, I think they're taking it too hard on the Tomb Raider thing. I hear it was a good game, and it sold over 3 million copies. It's been out of the video game loop for awhile, and they expect it to sell as much as one of their FF games. My guess is the lesson they'll take out of it this time is that TR didn't sell well because the formula was wrong, so they'll go back and make the levels more linear, and add in more wacky characters.

 

[zenith16]

The problem is that their not seeing is alot of the public is being cautious with their money due to the recession scare thanks to what happened in Greece and for some reason it's not registering with the higher up of these publishers that people rather have a deal and be able to afford these with a accessible low price and still have food and money in case there's some freaky financial catastrophe.

People just aren't as willing to over spend as they use to cause they want to live so their being smart with their money now and days. Especially the casuals. And their not gonna head out to get the latest game that priced 60$ that came out immediately ether. theyr all looking for price drops.

 

[Havok83]

I think Square's just become such a mess that can't even begin to recognize what's wrong with it. Their major series has become stuck in a rut, their solution? Buy a bunch of US companies, and their IP's. That doesn't work, so...learn from kickstart? You just have to look at things like their mobile game that had over $50 in micro transactions in order to even be able to enjoy the game to see somethings seriously wrong at the company.

Though personally, I think they're taking it too hard on the Tomb Raider thing. I hear it was a good game, and it sold over 3 million copies. It's been out of the video game loop for awhile, and they expect it to sell as much as one of their FF games. My guess is the lesson they'll take out of it this time is that TR didn't sell well because the formula was wrong, so they'll go back and make the levels more linear, and add in more wacky characters.

Id have to disagree. Their western acquisitions are probably whats keeping them relevant at this point bc if they didn't have those their releases this year would have all been complete duds. It was a short term solution but its helped them at least sustain themselves this console generation. They'd probably would have sunken without them

 

[zenith16]

Their expectations were still too high on those games made in north America though while it did keep them afloat some what, it was bad to put their expectations to high on them as well.

 

[Fading]

Id have to disagree. Their western acquisitions are probably whats keeping them relevant at this point bc if they didn't have those their releases this year would have all been complete duds. It was a short term solution but its helped them at least sustain themselves this console generation. They'd probably would have sunken without them

I didn't mean anything against their western IP acquisitions. Japan has been buying less games as well, it makes sense to increase their western sales as that's where the money is.

It's just that that's only a bandaid on a pretty big wound. Square's philosophy towards gaming has been degenerating over the years. It doesn't matter which IP's they buy if their fundamental view on how games should be doesn't change. Staying on the road they're on will just lead to even their new series going the way of FF.

What they need to do is think hard on why they're in decline, listen to critques, and fix the problems. They're simply not making games near the quality they used to be at. If they were, even with the recession, ect, sales would still be better. It's during especially hard times that we want a little escapism the most (talking to zenith's point). Maybe you can't afford to buy every game you want, but a GOOD FF would sell like hotcakes. It is/was a premiere series in a genre that let's you pay $60 to play hundreds of hours (so time wise, worth a dozen 10 hour games).

If the quality was still up there FF would still be a major property. If you look at the last several games they've made, they've gotten far more negative criticisms, and soured some of their old fan base on the series. Meanwhile other companies have ran in to steal the crown, and are willing adapt to the times to keep their spots. Square is just wondering around blind, relying on IP name power to keep them afloat, rather than putting out stellar, quality games like they used to (not that every game they've released is utter garbage, but they're definitely a shadow of their former selves).

 

[Havok83]

Regardless of what we thought of the quality, didn't FF XIII still sell relatively well? Enough so that they went and pushed out XIII-2 and soon another sequel to turn a profit.