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Many gamers who take the hobby seriously scoff at each year's Spike TV Video Game Awards. There are numerous reasons for this, the most prominent being that the show is often filled with gags, skits, and seemingly anything that does not consist of awards being handed out and accepted. You need only look at the show this past December where certain awards were given out beforehand and others were announced so rapidly they were gone in the blink of an eye. But about what the awards themselves -- are the selections, too, a joke?
Last night, in the midst of the 2012 DICE Summit in Las Vegas, the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (the IAAs) took place and were hosted by who else but comedian and BlizzCon frequent Jay Mohr. DICE (which stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) is an event geared towards those within the industry and thus has a much different focus than a trade show like E3. Whereas the nominees and winners of the VGAs are chosen by a select group of those in the videogame press, the IAAs are "decided by a peer-based voting system," as the organizers, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, put it. One might therefore expect the awards to end up in the hands of different nominees than the VGAs.
The DICE conference in Las Vegas is good for a lot of things, but one thing it's great for is bumping
into people. People who work in games and have opinions, even. So at this year's event, I posed two
questions to many of them: what's the one thing you want to see most in next-gen consoles, and why
are game budgets so secretive. (And perhaps notably, many of them said they'd heard the former
question a lot in the past few days.)
This story, if you're playing along and read the headline, contains the answers to the first of those two.
Head over here for the budget talk, read on to see what people in the industry had to say, and if you feel
inspired, offer your own take in the comments below.
Before asking the question above to a bunch of people at this year's DICE conference, I assumed everyone would agree with me that the game industry doesn't like talking about how much games cost to make. It turns out I was mostly right, but not entirely -- some weren't aware of what I was suggesting, though almost everyone had a unique take on why things are the way they are.
Check out all the replies below, and we won't complain if you want to offer your own take in the comments at the bottom of the page. Promise.
Last November, Valve revealed that hackers gained access to sensitive Steam user information, including user names, billing addresses, and encrypted credit card information. Via a message from company founder Gabe Newell, the Valve informed users of the security breach but added, "We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked."
Nearly three months later Valve is still attempting to assess the damage, which, according to a second message from Newell received by Steam Users today, was more extensive than originally thought. "Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords." writes Newell.
During a keynote address at the DICE Summit yesterday, Bethesda's Todd Howard described an activity the developers of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim participated in after finishing up work on the game last year. Game Jam, as they called it, saw everyone on the development team work on anything they wanted for a week, with the only restriction being that it had to be made for Skyrim. After laying out the premise, a sizzle reel was shared with a selection of some of the concepts that were come up with. Contained within the video were a variety of crazy and/or awesome ideas: kill cams for magic and ranged combat, epic mounts, dark dungeons (that players have to manually light), an enormous mudcrab boss, the ability to become a flying vampire lord or werebear, Kinect-enabled shouts, and more.
Howard prefaced the video with a caveat, which is that none of this is guaranteed to ever make it into the hands of gamers. "How much of this stuff sees the light of day? To be determined," Howard said before rolling the footage. "Could it be in a future DLC? We don't know. Could various parts of it just be released for free? We don't know."
Six years after the industry drove horse armor jokes into the ground, the concept of a major title without downloadable content sounds absurd (unless you're talking about a Nintendo game.) DLC gives publishers the chance to make a little more cash, and extends the life and sales of existing games -- thus limiting the damage used game sales can inflict on the bottom line. Combine those incentives with a population of gamers eagerly buying post-release content, and it's hard to find a reason for a publisher or developer not to push DLC, but that's exactly what Eat Sleep Play (ESP) and Sony are doing with the new Twisted Metal.
In an interview with Game Informer, Twisted Metal designer David Jaffe explained:
"Right now there are no plans. I always thought it was going to be a great game. But we weren't nursing these illusions that we were making Call of Duty in terms of sales. If it's a big enough hit I'm sure Sony won't let it wither on the vine. But right now there are no plans at all. There's no DLC plans, there's no sequel or expansion plans. We have to wait and see how it does."
As if the creator of Minecraft funding a dream project from a veteran game designer was not crazy and exciting enough of an idea, Double Fine may have just topped it. One day after Markus "Notch" Persson proposed Mojang help to make Psychonauts 2 a reality, the developer of Psychonauts is turning to fans to bankroll a new, old-school adventure game.
Using Kickstarter, a fundraising platform that has been employed by independent game developers and documentarians alike, Double Fine is looking to raise $400,000. $300,000 of that will be used to fund the PC game's development, while the other $100,000 will be used to document the entire development process. 2 Player Productions, the same group that produced a documentary on the early development of Minecraft at Mojang, has already been tapped to create the documentary, which will be made available in monthly installments for those who back the project. Any money raised beyond the $400,000 will be used to pay for things like extra voiceover work or bringing the game to additional platforms like Mac and iOS.
What do you think of when you read or hear the phrase "casual games?" Long considered a dirty word amongst a vocal minority of "hardcore gamers," casual games are undergoing a transformation thanks to new distribution models that make gaming on PC easier than plug & play consoles. A newly leaked list of games available on the upcoming "Consumer Preview" version of Windows 8 provides a glimpse into the future of casual games, and it's a lot more "hardcore" than you'd expect.
Similar to the Mac and Google Chrome app stores, Windows 8 will offer its own software portal for easy to install applications. Called the Window's Store, it will carry the following 10 games during the preview period:
Kaz Hirai, who was recently named the new CEO and president of Sony, accepted the job knowing he would be walking into a difficult position. Sony is not in the greatest of positions right now, and Hirai was not shy in admitting it. "I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not," he told the Wall Street Journal last month. "It's one issue after another. I feel like 'Holy s***, now what?'"
The latest such issue is a downgrade of Sony's credit rating. A week after Hirai was officially confirmed as Howard Stringer's successor, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered the long-term credit rating of Sony from an A- to BBB+, placing it just two grades above junk bonds (but still well below the AA+ rating the United States was cut to in August). The downgrade follows similar moves by both Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, as well as a poor third quarter performance Sony reported the details of last week. In addition to revealing a substantial loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, Sony projected a loss of $2.87 billion for the full fiscal year. Needless to say that is not good, with S&P deeming the outlook "negative" for Sony's long-term corporate credit rating.
Feature
By: Jeremy Parish February 8, 2012
Love it or hate it, the latest Elder Scrolls epic, Skyrim, continues to hold gamers' attention. Almost three months after its release, people are still trading tips; sharing their confessions of how they love Lydia (even though she doesn't quite grasp the importance of moving out of the way of massive swinging doors covered with spikes); and creating viral videos featuring startlingly accurate sports predictions and lamentations of knee-embedded arrows.
We can all agree that Skyrim is hardly perfect. In fact, it could use a lot of improvements. The Skyrim lovers may never convince the game's detractors of its greatness, but at the very least we'd have an easier time selling others on the game's greatness if Bethesda would take the time to fix the following issues -- and we'd welcome your input, too.
When I need to shut off my brain, I turn to reality TV, specifically any show that revolves around finding hidden treasures in piles of junk -- basically everything on A&E at this point. The producers of these shows coach their casts into childish conflicts for the sake of drama, but the merchandise is the real star. Every now and then someone discovers something incredible -- a first edition of The Old Man and the Sea, original sketches by Picasso, ancient artifacts -- items of real historical value. The men and women of these shows take their newly found treasure and sell it to the highest bidder, and no one objects, but what would happen if they found a historically valuable game -- like an unreleased Resident Evil title for the Game Boy Color.
Video game fans long ago reconciled themselves to the fact that they would never be able to play hundreds of different historically significant games on their original systems -- especially those that came close but never saw retail shelves. Over time, a small community grew around tracking down prototypes and unreleased titles. These lost games would otherwise sit in storage until magnetic and optical data degradation rendered them unplayable, destroying a piece of video game history in the process. There are only so many Stadium Events cartridges out there, and original Akalabeth floppies probably died long ago, effectively making emulation the only way to play these and many other classic titles. This emulation can be legitimate and endorsed by rights holders -- think of the virtual console and countless retro collections released on modern console -- or done through third party emulators and illegally downloaded files and ROMs. Since many of these important games never received a proper release and publishers are often selective about what titles they make available, the latter option won out amongst the small lost games community, which needed to cooperate and focus their efforts in order to uncover new finds.
"Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen," tweeted Minecraft creator Markus Persson (AKA Notch) yesterday to Double Fine CEO, and designer of the original game, Tim Schafer.
Notch's Tweet alone would pique the interest of Double Fine fans. Pychonauts' retail performance was so poor that mentioning it at this point, after Double Fine has produced so many other excellent titles, seems kind of cliché, meaning that all hope for a Psychonauts sequel died years ago. However, Notch didn't just tweet, Tim Schafer responded, "Oh wait. Hm. This is interesting."
Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts alike have been very quiet regarding the former's debut title. We're now almost two years removed from the founding of Respawn and we still know almost nothing about the game aside from the fact that it will be a sci-fi shooter of some sort. With EA likely to release a new Medal of Honor later this year, it would make sense for Respawn's game to come no sooner than 2013. That's precisely what's suggested in an alleged EA marketing calendar that points to a March 2013 release. Whether it comes then or sometime later, such a large project is very risky given the current state of the industry.
Heading up Respawn are Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former bosses of Infinity Ward. The two played a significant role in turning Call of Duty into the massive success it is today, but their involvement in a new game -- even if we assume they won't make a bad one -- does not guarantee a commercial success. Games are not sold on the names of their creative leads, and the vast majority of Call of Duty fans are unlikely to know the names of either West or Zampella or the fact that they are no longer employed by Activision. The inevitable campaign pointing out how Respawn's new game comes from many of the key people behind Call of Duty isn't about to cause those fans to drop CoD in favor of the new title, particularly when post-West/Zampella CoD games have continued to deliver the experience they want.
Those expecting a proper remake of Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita should start tempering their expectations. Although we still have very little in the way of details, it's been clarified that the project Square Enix has in the works is an HD remaster, not a remake.
Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto made this clear at the recent Taipei Game Show, according to GNN (via Joystiq). The difference between "remake" and "remaster" may sound like semantics, but in fact there are entirely different expectations that come along with the two. Depending upon how you feel about FFX, the reality of this being a remaster may or may not be welcome news.
Used game sales hurt the bottom line of all console game developers, as the entirety of each sale goes to the retailer and not the game's makers. It's a familiar line we've heard from several developers and publishers in the past five years. With used game sales taking heat from fans and game makers alike, digital distribution, like Steam or GOG.com, seems to offer the chance to get cheap games with a clear conscience, but that's not quite true. Even new games suffer from the same issue as used sales; none of the money actually goes to the people who made the game.
As brought to attention by Rock, Paper, Shotgun, last week, developer Simon Roth created a quick list of "games that no longer support their creators," and classic titles from defunct developers or publishers make up most of it -- Ion Storm and Deus Ex, Looking Glass and Thief, Black Isle and Fallout 2. Other titles still maintain their original publisher but not the developer -- EA collects on Syndicate and Populous, Peter Molyneux does not. You may read the titles of these games and think that the issue only affects older games, but do you think the former members of Team Bondi are seeing any money for copies of L.A. Noire sold today? If you don't purchase used games for ethical reasons, you might have to give up many new games as well.
The final of three games Microsoft announced in 2010 as a demonstration of its support for PC gaming, Microsoft Flight, finally comes out later this month. Several pieces of downloadable content are releasing along with it, though they are priced in a way that could make it hard to interest those who are not hardcore fans.
Many gamers take issue with downloadable content being made available right at a game's launch. In the case of a free-to-play game like Flight, launching on February 29, it's a different situation as the game itself is being given away for free and Microsoft hopes it's good enough that gamers decide to spend money on new locales, planes, and so on.
While everyone on the internet is busy running Madden simulations to predict the Super Bowl we thought we'd take a different approach. In order to determine the winner between the Patriots and the Giants, we're taking Skyrim's home-grown patriots, the Stormcloaks, and pitting them against the country's giants.
Downloading the upcoming February 14 Mass Effect 3 demo will upgrade the subscriptions of Xbox Live Silver members to Gold so that all players can sample the game's multiplayer before its release on March 6.
The temporary upgrade system that the demo takes advantage of indicates that Xbox Live as we know it is so outdated that it can't cope with offering users a single demo. The current XBL Gold/Silver division needs to change. After five years of Microsoft's biggest competitor offering multiplayer for free the console maker maintains what amounts to a $60 annual surcharge to play online. Online gaming is not new or novel -- it gained popularity nearly 20 years ago. Even consoles began supporting the function in the Dreamcast era. Multiplayer gaming should come standard with any system in 2012.
I love Half-Life, but somewhere around E3 2010 I resigned myself to the fact that Half-Life 3 won't see the light of day anytime soon. Steam, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, Counter-Strike, as well as some projects we've probably never heard of seem to keep Valve busy (and rich) enough for the time being. Not all fans are so patient. A Steam group named, A Call for Communication (CFC), is hosting an event called "A Red Letter Day" and asking players around the world to play Half-Life 2 this weekend at 2:00 P.M. Eastern, 11 P.M. Pacific, with the hope that Valve will take notice and begin to share more information about the future of the series.
Years of listening to forum-posters demand things of game makers with a remarkable sense of entitlement and lack of shame has led me to expect little constructive work to come fans, but CFC's positive tone and earnest message managed to shake me of my cynical world view (if only for a few moments). The group even goes out of their way to encourage positive interaction between Valve and fans on their official site:
"The lack of communication between Valve and the Half-Life community has been a frustrating experience. While continued support for current and future products is greatly appreciated, fans of the Half-Life series have waited years for a word on when the franchise will return. So, Instead of focusing efforts in a negative and disrespectful way, we have decided to gain Valve's attention by delivering a basic message:
This week was not kind to video game publishers. THQ announced plans for 240 lay-offs amidst the board of directors and CEO giving themselves a 50% paycut. Meanwhile, Disney bought a controlling stake in India-based UTV Ignition -- a publisher which went through its own set of lay-offs and restructuring last year -- for an undisclosed sum after the Indian government approved the deal which had reportedly been in the works since at least last summer. Disney plans to use the firm to expand their own presence in the Asian market. Neither company revealed how the changes would impact Ignition's gaming division. It's entirely possible that it will have little or no effect, but that seems unlikely given the troubles the company endured last year. THQ ran into financial trouble after relying on licensed properties and kids and family titles, specifically uDraw, whereas Ignition announced they would shift their focus to downloadable titles last year after a series of poorly performing games.
These two publishers are hardly the only ones publicly struggling. Various factors, including high-cost HD development, have led to a shakeout amongst small and medium sized publishers like Eidos, Gamecock, Midway, and others while Activision rakes in massive profits. Of course, this is normal, companies that fail to adapt die. However, THQ's and Ignitions's recent troubles stem from a disturbing trend in game consumers, not from development or publishing difficulties. It seems that players are spending more time playing games, but paradoxically spending that extra time with fewer titles. Game makers have never in the forty-year history of the medium had such a massive consumer base to sell to, but players have never been so unwilling to try new experiences.
PC gamers have become accustomed to being treated less than ideally as a result of DRM schemes like those which force you to have an active Internet connection to play or only provide you with a limited number of installations before having to ask for more. Next week gamers will get a taste of what it's like to be treated even worse when Ubisoft migrates its online services to new servers.
As outlined on the publisher's website, the process will begin on February 7. There's no estimate given for how long this will take which is problematic because not only will Uplay be unavailable, but a handful of PC and Mac games will also be impacted. That impact goes beyond online multiplayer; a number of games will not be playable online or offline for the duration of the transition. You didn't read that wrong: you will not be able to play a game you own offline because of a server transition.
Earlier this week, Gamasutra published a scathing criticism of Final Fantasy XIII-2 penned by our colleague (and occasional Retronauts podcast guest) Christian Nutt. Though contextualized through an extended comparison to Red Letter Media's popular video critiques of the Star Wars prequel films, his commentary touched upon many of the same points and concerns I addressed in my own review of the game. Where our opinions differ, I think, is in our ultimate conclusion of XIII-2's merits (or lack thereof); I found the game flawed but a welcome step in correcting the series' course after two widely lambasted entries, while Christian feels it represents a deep, systemic rot at Square Enix's internal development studio.
I'm not too surprised by this turn of events. Christian and I rarely see eye-to-eye on most matters. So while I agree with his assessment of the underlying issues affecting FFXIII and XIII-2, my outlook on the company's future isn't nearly as dire as his. (I also disagree with many of Christian's assertions about FFXIII, such as the claim that lead protagonist Lightning lacked a demonstrable character arc, but that's neither here nor there.) From having spoken to FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase several times over the past couple of years, I get the impression that they're sincerely concerned about the series' direction and want to keep Final Fantasy relevant. From what I know of Square Enix's corporate culture, I also suspect that they're hobbled by the conservative nature of Japanese business, which can be slow to change when processes and standards that worked for years suddenly become ineffectual.
For all of its bugs, glitches, and issues, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is still a remarkable game. As I'm sure was the case for many other gamers, the promise of eventual mod support was in and of itself enough reason for me to purchase the game on PC. Expansive mods are no longer all that far off as support is in place for the Skyrim Workshop now that the 1.4 update is available through Steam.
As demonstrated in the video above, Bethesda will soon be releasing the Creation Kit (mod-making software comprised of the same tools used to make the game) to the masses, enabling those who are so inclined to begin creating new content for what is already a content-rich game. Mods do exist for Skyrim but they are largely limited to things like UI refinements, improved world maps, enhanced textures, and so on. The Creation Kit should allow for a great deal more than that.
As if EverQuest dropping subscriptions wasn't enough of a sign that the subscription-based MMO business model will eventually be replaced by free-to-play, Trion Worlds has announced it will begin allowing players to experience a good chunk of Rift's early game content for free.
It's an identical move to the one Blizzard made last summer in the face of declining World of Warcraft subscription numbers. Coinciding with the release of the 1.7 update, a version of Rift known as Rift Lite is debuting today. By signing up for a free Trion account, you will be able to play up to level 20 without any restrictions on how long you can play for. Previously the trial available would only allow for seven days of play time before requiring the game be purchased in order to continue. That was a more significant free period than WoW's (which allowed you to play for only 48 hours), though removing the time limit altogether is a smarter approach.
Although it was hardly the first time it had been accused of copying an existing game, accusations that Zynga had cribbed the design of Tiny Tower struck a more sensitive nerve than usual. Maybe that's because Tiny Tower is more beloved and well-known than, say, a game like Farm Town, which seems to have had a pretty clear influence on FarmVille. As expected Zynga has denied the allegations and even suggested those complaining about their games being copied are not as innocent as they would have you believe, though it still remains to be seen where Zynga has innovated on the Tiny Tower formula.
Following in the footsteps of Tiny Tower developer NimbleBit, Buffalo Studios released an infographic contrasting the recently-revealed Zynga Bingo with its own Bingo Blitz game. There are certainly similarities, though Zynga posits the reason its game resembles Buffalo's is not because Zynga copied the competition.
Sony Online Entertainment announced today that the original Everquest would make the transition to a free-to-play system in March. Released in 1999, EQ was far from the first MMO, but the industry followed its model. It's hard to imagine World of Warcraft finding success without SOE's game preceding it. The game's transition marks the end of an era -- it's the death knell for MMOs as we've known them.
Everquest's relatively small player base means the shift to free-to-play is more a sign of the times than an agent change in and of itself. Several high profile MMOs --including Everquest 2 -- have gone free-to-play past several months, but the original EQ isn't just another entry into the genre. It proved to the world that MMOs could become wildly profitable, and set off a game development gold rush that gave us everything from WoW to Star Wars: Galaxies. I don't mean to say that we'll never see a new MMO, but the free-to-play business model's ascension is complete. Don't expect to see another Star Wars: The Old Republic-sized launch anytime in the next five years.
In the past few days, two more games joined the long list of those using some sort of online pass. Since Electronic Arts introduced the concept in 2010 with Project $10, more and more publishers have adopted the practice of locking out certain features for those who purchase used games. Many feel it's unfair, but I'm not so sure that's really the case.
Many gamers consider online passes yet another way they're being shafted this generation. Like downloadable content, it's another scheme cooked up to maximize the amount of money squeezed out of each gamer, they would say, and in the case of DLC that has been true at times. I'm hardly in favor of publishers releasing incomplete games and expecting people to then pay for the rest of it later, and I was as annoyed as anyone when cheat codes started showing up on the Xbox Live Marketplace for a fee. But there is a difference between hoping to make some money off of the game you created and withholding a part of the game simply so it can be sold to players at an additional cost now that it's technically feasible to do so.
Capcom announced today that it plans to release Dragon's Dogma on May 22, and the package will include a download code for a Resident Evil 6 demo. Fans will be able to download the demo from Xbox Live on July 3, while PS3 owners will have to wait until September 4.
Other publishers have found that tying an anticipated demo or beta to an unanticipated game boosts sales of both. The original Zone of the Enders did quite well thanks to the on-disc inclusion of the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty demo. Access to Halo 3's beta came along with new copies of Crackdown -- helping it become a cult hit. Without early access, fans and critics alike would have overlooked both titles. There's little doubt that Capcom is hoping the same strategy will work with Dragon's Dogma. What's not obvious is how much Capcom needs this gambit to succeed.
Every weekday, the Retronauts Lunch Break brings you a dose of classic gaming action, but there's no need to worry if you can't watch our livestream; every Friday, we'll feature a roundup of all the videos produced over the past five days. But if your lunch hour is free, make sure to come back (at 12:00pm PST) starting Monday the 30th as we devote a new week of Lunch Breaks to Resident Evil games -- along with our regular Friday playthrough of A Link to the Past. And hey, why not subscribe to our Twitch.tv feed while you're at it?
1/23/12 - Maniac Mansion
Feature
By: Jeremy Parish January 27, 2012
Final Fantasy IV has become so ubiquitous, so overly repackaged, so frequently and redundantly remade, that it can be difficult for one to put the game in its proper perspective and remember exactly how big a deal it was 20 years ago. The fourth chapter in the Final Fantasy series was a significant departure from its predecessors -- not to mention the greater role-playing genre as it existed in 1991 -- and not simply because it leapt ahead to the powerful Super NES. FFIV wasn't as much as game of firsts as it's sometimes treated in glowing retrospectives, but that shouldn't be seen as a lack of innovation. Other games certainly paved the way for FFIV; Phantasy Star II blazed a 16-bit trail, while Dragon Quest IV broke new ground by recontextualizing the grand, sweeping quests common to RPGs into a character-driven linear odyssey. What made FFIV so engrossing is that it rounded up the best ideas put forth by its competition, reworked them into a new whole, and in doing so owned those concepts.
From the opening moments of the game -- literally, as a cart with no save files on it will boot immediately into the introductory cinematic -- FFIV has a story to tell, and it isn't shy about showing off a little as it presents that tale. Ominous music plays as a fleet of airships (not the single airships of previous Final Fantasy games, a whole flotilla of them!) advances in formation. The landscape speeds past below. The scene shifts to the player's avatar, Cecil Harvey, captain of the Red Wing air fleet, pride of the Kingdom of Baron. Right away, this sets the tale apart: Cecil isn't a young kid, a nameless nobody, or a feeble amateur. He's a leader, an elite soldier who's risen through the ranks as a Dark Knight to take command of an entire nation's military powerhouse. Neither is Cecil a blank slate; he's conflicted about his actions, torn between duty and morality.
Netflix bewildered nearly everyone last year when it announced it would separate its streaming and DVD-by-mail services into distinct brands. There was a piece of good news in all of it, and that was Netflix's intention to add game rentals to the newly revealed Qwikster. But between the negative backlash and confusion generated through this plan, which looked to be an attempt to move away from the DVD-by-mail business it made its name on, plans for Qwikster were dropped and the prospect of game rentals was called into question.
As a part of Netflix's Q4 earnings report conference call, CEO Reed Hastings stated there are "no plans" to begin offering videogames in addition to DVDs and Blu-rays, Engadget reports. It's an understandable decision as the company's mailing service is clearly in decline and its future lies with streaming content. So barring any interest in acquiring a company like OnLive or Gaikai (or developing its own technology) games and Netflix won't have anything to do with one another in the near future. And it's a very unlikely scenario to change as Netflix is faced with enough problems in acquiring streaming video content; it doesn't want to pay more money on a per-user basis in licensing fees but wants to continue growing its user base. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter is among those who are skeptical such a scenario is possible.
Blizzard's annual BlizzCon convention won't be sticking to its annual schedule this year. For the first time since 2006, Blizzard fans won't be gathering at the Anaheim Convention Center to celebrate all things Blizzard.
Blizzard made the surprising announcement on its blog earlier today. BlizzCon will return in 2013 -- it isn't a matter of the event being put on ice indefinitely -- and to make up for its absence this year, Blizzard announced the 2012 Battle.net World Championship. Set to be held later this year in Asia, it'll be home to the World Championship tournaments for both StarCraft II and World of Warcraft. It's another example of Blizzard supporting eSports and professional gaming, with it having already hosted tournaments at BlizzCon itself.
Electronic Arts has continued working to expand Origin into something more than a home for its own games. The publisher announced today it has agreed to deals with 11 third-party publishers to bring their games to Origin's catalog.
Trion Worlds MMO Rift (pictured above) is the first of these additions and is now available. Specific games beyond that weren't mentioned, just that in the "coming months" Origin will also be home to titles from Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), Freebird Games (To the Moon), Recoil Games (Rochard), Autumn Games (Jimmie Johnson's Anything With An Engine), 1C Company (IL-2 Sturmovik), inXile Entertainment (Choplifter HD), Paradox Interactive (Magicka), Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games (Arcania: Gothic 4).
Since Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Marketplace alongside the Xbox 360 in 2005, there's been a nagging issue that's bothered many users: Microsoft Points. According to a report, they might be finally going away this year in favor of a more preferable setup.
Inside Mobile Apps reports a source has indicated Microsoft Points are to be replaced by real-world currencies by the end of the year, which means a new currency system would be put in place not only for Xbox Live, but also the Windows Phone and Zune Marketplaces.
In our first-ever IGN/1UP livestream collaboration, watch as we play the new downloadable content for Modern Warfare 3. Join @teanah, @bobbya1984, @peykemans, and @Steven_Hopper as we test our FPS skills on Piazza and Liberation. For more information on the latest content for Call of Duty Elite Premium members, click here.
When: Tuesday, January 24th, 2pm PT
Location: Watch the embedded video player here in this story!
Questions: Ask your question(s) in the comments below.
Ubisoft is no stranger to DRM controversies. This was amply demonstrated last year between reviving always-online DRM (and deeming it a success) and what happened with From Dust. But it was the DRM implemented in one of Ubisoft's final releases in 2011 that feels like it may have finally stepped over the line.
DRM, or digital rights management, is a form of technology used by companies in the entertainment and technology fields to control how their products are used. In the case of videogames, it might mean you can only play when you're connected to the internet (as mentioned above) or if you've got the disc in the drive. The goal of DRM is generally to combat piracy, but it isn't always (if ever) effective in that pursuit.
Update: Capcom has issued a press release confirming RE6's existence and its November 20 release date on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with a PC version set to come at a later date. It also released the trailer you see above, accompanied by the following description: "It has been ten years since the incident at Raccoon City and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place. Raccoon City survivor and personal friend of the President, Leon S. Kennedy, arrives to find the President transformed beyond recognition by a bioterrorist attack. Leon is forced to make the hardest decision he has ever made.
"At the same, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance Member, Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack."
You may have noticed us spamming the site with games of 2012 lists for the past week. Or you may not have been paying attention. But we've been spending a lot of time thinking about the future, and as the final entry in that bag of fun, everyone around here picked their most anticipated game for the year ahead. Then we made a video!
Then we went all crazy and embedded that video into this news story so you guys could make your own picks easily below. If you feel like it!
Ahead of the game's release in March, Capcom has released a variety of new Street Fighter X Tekken content today and confirmed the identity of six more fighters. But it's a short teaser in one of the new trailers that is the most noteworthy bit from what the company had to show today.
The newly-announced characters include three from either side: Street Fighter provides Balrog, Vega, and Juri, while Tekken offers up Paul, Law, and Xiaoyu. It's nothing terribly unexpected, and the surprise guest characters remain Cole from Infamous, plus Toro and Kuro.
Much like other recent Electronic Arts game releases on PC, Mass Effect 3 will not be available through Steam. And regardless of what format you decide to get the game in -- digital or physical -- Origin is a requirement for playing.
In a post on the BioWare forums by community man Chris Priestly, some frequently-asked questions regarding the PC version of Mass Effect 3 (launching on March 6 for PC and consoles) were addressed. Regarding a release on Steam, it's said that "during initial release" the digital version will be available through Origin and "a number of other 3rd party digital retailers," Steam not being among them.
