People buy sequels, that's just a fact. New games are a big risk - often they just don't sell.

If you buy 'em then we'll make 'em!!

<Quote>That game was the best seller for a lonnnng time, and yet it is by far the worst game-concept I've ever seen. Why so many people love it, I have no idea.<End Quote>

*Boggle* I hope you're not a Games Designer. People like games about people - that's all there is to say about it.

I've already pre-ordered Sims 2.

C'mon, whoever it was will have driven a dumptruck full of money up to his front door. He's only human...

Next on "When Developers get bored and abusive" I'll reveal to you how selling studios makes more money than selling games for the guys at the top.

So... If a game looks like it won't make the money because it doesn't have the market, or the quality, and so they decide not to release it - hit them in the beanbag.

If they DO release said doomed title then - hit them in the beanbag.

And you guys wonder why Developers are moving onto the consoles more?

If your money's in the bank but noone can count it, is it enough?

I guess not...

Of course the thing we hate most about Americans is they all generalise so much. /irony off

Don't blame fish for swimming where the water is. Being a starving artist may sound romantic but it gets old pretty fucking quick when the monthly rent bill comes round again.

Was awesome multiplayer Co-Op.

In addition I loved the more cerebral feel of having to maneuver the perps into surrendering. Much more satisfying when you pulled off a "no fatality" run on the earlier levels.

...that every game that was great could be summed up in one sentence by the guys implementing it. It was, after all, a talk directed at people who make games, right?

Let's get one thing straight - when it comes to getting a game designed, implemented and brought to market - Warren Spector is a CHILD compared to Peter Molyneux.

I don't mean to criticise Warren, here, I personally view him very much as the Western version of Shigeru Miyamoto. If you're talking Design then I'd love to hear anything Warren has to say, but if you're talking the Design Process then you need to shut up and listen to the man who has more succesfull projects under his belt than just about anybody.


End of fucking line.
This comment was edited on Mar 8, 08:19.

Excuse me, Phayde, are you suggesting that we can't perceive an incitement to Genocide because we're White, twenty-something, males?

Are you claiming that white, twenty-something, males have a propensity towards genocide? Or just that we're more racist than anyone else?

If it comes to that, the only fat guy models in the game belong to the gay construction worker and the jogging suit wearing gay - so why aren't I upset that GTA portray's people with an eating disorder as whiny faggots who are only good for killing and looting?

Well, there goes ANOTHER company in which the artists will be able to put "little jokes" in without getting fired - and all because some asshat thinks it's funny...

Still, cheer on you guys, if you like your games bland and corporate, then you're heading the right way. <walks off muttering>

Supremacy was SUCH a cool game - the interface was gorgeous, especially things like the terraforming, troop armour and weapons, training states, aggression of your warriors...

<sigh>

Ascendancy kicked ass too...

Having worked with Microprose at one point (with not for) I was gutted when the Chipping Sodbury office died a couple of years ago. Hunt Valley was the other major site that worked gaming mojo - seeing it go too is another blow.


Eon

The whole point is that Blue can see that 500 and however many people have sent in their best wishes. It's a gesture of solidarity during a hard time and, whilst limited in the amount of physical actual help it can provide, gestures such as this DO have an effect on morale.

Speaking of which, my own belated good wishes to you and yours, Blue.

Westhu Hael! (Be of good health).

Well, I like it! It's graphically awesome, I like the idea of modules in the Cap ships as opposed to the ships being all-inclusive. I like the idea of squadrons as opposed to single fighter production. I haven't played long enough to experiment with strike forces - it'd be interesting to see how that works out.

I suppose it IS comparable to the original, but with the changes in interface and the refinements made... ...well, I'll be laying cash down on the table!


Eon (who wants to make B5 space battles on his PC!)

Do you know how much sales figures would be affected if a game hit it's marginal audience and not its "hardcore fanboy's"?

To paraphrase Douglas Addams in THGTTG "Not at all".

Unless, of course, your game is selling on the basis of its online Multiplayer. I would wager that this is NOT the case with Homeworld 2. I predict that either Alex got his pinkslip recently (or is expecting it) because of merger or that you'll see a large dose of ignorage over this.

Eon

Well, he works for Vivendi in PR - so he has the life expectancy of a snowball in Hell right now anyway. Bearing all that in mind, I'm not sure it would be that hard to get clearance for a post like this.

I don't know - maybe he just posted off the top of his head. Maybe he didn't clear it first. But these are hard mistakes to make for someone who works dedicatedly in PR. Even people with only a peripheral involvement (like myself) wouldn't post like that unless it was damn well cleared by higher-ups.

Who here didn't look at that post and KNOW that it would be picked up by higher circulation sites than the original destination? And really - are WE such a bunch of rocket scientists?


Eon

In short - no.

I have direct experience with this phenomenon, I have stood in the same place that this guy was standing and although I didn't bow out in the same manner he did, I DID stop posting at my game's forum and it was at the ORDER of higher management, because the amount of time I was spending firefighting was deemed to be all out of proportion to the PR value of said firefighting.

Now, some people will claim that if the game is good enough there won't be the NEED for fire fighting in public forums. It's a nice theory - except that by this yardstick there hasn't BEEN a decent game released in the last five years!

Back on track - I have two predictions:

1. That post was cleared via higher management, or the guy involved IS higher management.

2. It will have a zero effect on sales.


Eon

"What happens if there's no real 'military' news that week?"

Has there BEEN a week with no military or counter-terrorist news since the close of World War II?

Actually the chances are that the US release is what is delaying things... <shock horror>

Although most American development houses would disagree with me, it is MORE than possible to achieve your localisation within the deadlines for the game code itself. I know whereof I speak because I've DONE it.

However it takes roughly twice as long to get a game to market in the US because of delays and bullshit in retail.

Oh, since we're talking politics... I think it's a shame we gave Sadman Hussein long enough to move his pre-prepared stockpiles to Syria. I remain convinced that the right thing was done - it remains to be seen whether it's been done in the right way. I have high hopes, however...


Eon

This comment was edited on Jul 21, 02:51.

I take it you guys know that the development / marketing budget on a game are supposed to be roughly equal, right? Basically, by creating lots of new original content in the Star Trek universe, and giving Activision access to marketing materials from this new content, Viacom were picking up a sizable portion of that tab. And the best bit about it is that they would have done so simply in the process of creating and pushing their new shows.

See, games have to be set around events and characters within the Star Trek universe - and I'm sure you've noticed how doing so, whilst staying true to canon is pretty difficult. Hell - look at Elite Force! A group of Commando's who do the infantry and hazmat work, within a community the size of Voyagers, and never mentioned in any of the shows? That stretches credibility a LOT - and there have only been two games set in that franchise! With more original content, the designer gets to dip in here and there and, like a spider on a web, spread his weight out to avoid too many broken strands.

None of that will happen now - the pool of Star Trek content is vanishingly small, and the popularity of the series is waning amongst devotees and mainstream fans alike. This is nothing but bad news for a company that probably paid mucho dineros for the licensing rights. Whilst it's not fair that Viacom be beaten around the face and neck with a broken bottle, it's entirely fair that Activision recover the cash they spent to secure the licensing. This will mean that they can spend this cash on new product based around OTHER licenses or even, heaven forfend, some original product. Who knows?

The suit is bang on - one side has not lived up to their commitments.


Eon