German site
GameStar.de reports (in German) that German developer Crytek is in financial
trouble, and may be facing bankruptcy. Most of the story is behind a paywall,
though we can see they say that the company secured additional funding in April,
but there are questions about how long they will remain viable.
DSOGaming summarizes more from the story in English, saying the recently
released new version of CryENGINE is not selling well, that development of Ryse
was catastrophic, and that there have been delays in making payroll for the 800
employee company.
In reporting the
removal of GFWL
support from Ms. Splosion Man,
GameInformer.com got a quote from Microsoft about the status of Games for
Windows LIVE, which has been dropped by many games over the past year amid
continuing rumors the unpopular service would be closing down. In spite of
interpretations to the
contrary, MS doesn't actually say they are not planning on killing GFWL, but
they do say they are currently continuing to support it:
We are continuing
to support the Games for Windows Live service. As previously announced, as part
of the retirement of Microsoft Points the Xbox.com PC marketplace was closed.
Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or
receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content
by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual. We
remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward
to sharing more in the future.
A
thread on Reddit from yesterday warned fellow readers to be very wary of
buying the early access edition of
Pixel Piracy in the
on Steam summer sale
(thanks Joao). This prompted a response from developer Alexander Poysky that was
not only open to criticisms of the unfinished game, but included his
encouragement to pirate it for a firsthand chance to gauge its worthiness.
A
follow-up post on the Steam community forums discusses his reasoning. "I
remember not being able to buy games because I quite literally wouldn't be able
to purchase that week's food if I did. That wasn't that long ago," Alexander
explains. "This is a once in a lifetime chance for me, and I'd never squander it
over the chance to cash a quick buck. I ALWAYS give anyone who doesn't have the
economic means to purchase my game a copy, ALWAYS." He also describes just how
successful this unusual approach turned out to be:
First of all, wow,
holy cow! The flash sale was unexpected, but what was TRULY unexpected was the
absolutely overwhelming influx of people purchasing the game.
When the sale started, I said I'd have a beer for every thousand sales we had.
I'm not a drinker, so I soon regretted it.
https://twitter.com/alexpoysky/status/480061845454475264/photo/1
We stopped the game when we realized I would have VERY easily died.
Early into the Flash Sale, a post on Reddit quickly became popular. It was one
that lended some VERY real and VERY acceptable criticism of whether or not one
should be wary of purchasing our title.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/28np65/heads_up_be_very_wary_of_purchasing_pixel_piracy/
Not being one to shy away from criticism, and always attempting to be fair, I
did not respond until AFTER the sale, at which point I simply stated my true
feelings regarding the whole situation.
What I wasn't expecting was for the entire thread to show such unwaivering
support. Mind you, this was a thread CRITICISING Pixel Piracy.
I never expected this much support. I never expected to do anything but make a
game and hopefully provide a little bit of enjoyment for a few people, if only
for the briefest of times.
The following list outlines the 10 bestselling games on
Steam last week:
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- PAYDAY 2
- DayZ
- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
- Far Cry 3
- The Walking Dead Season Two
- The Forest
- Spintires
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown The Complete Edition
- Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition
There was a shouting match between a couple of ladies in the supermarket parking
lot this morning. I couldn't quite tell what happened, but another bystander
explained that this involved the accusation of a stolen wallet. Judging by how
the accused seemed willing to stand there and shout about this until the accuser
pulled out her phone and called the police, I'm going to guess that the accuser
may have had a case. The cops showed up as we were leaving, but we will surely
get to read more details about this next week in the police blotter, as this
qualified as a major dust-up for our quiet little village.
And happy anniversary QUAKE. Just two years until it's 20th. Wow!
Twitter 
