it's going to be an interesting holiday season for the big 3, but how much is Sony sweating right now? Tho they knew this was coming so in the end it's gonna be all about the games, as it should.
on the plus side for Sony, Blu-Ray is owning HDDVD in the niche market of high def dvd sales...
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17053
As the article reminds us, not the biggest surprise.
Very good discussion. I am a casual WoW player on a PvE server but I can understand many of your points, Taylor. The high-man Raids don't seem to be happening as much as I would have thought based on what I read about TBC. I of course started playing after TBC came out so I don't really know what it was like before. My old guild collapsed because as we all got into our upper 40s and 50s we started to realilze that we did not have enough people to be a good end game guild.
So now about 7 of my closest guildies and I all ended up joining another guild with about 40 lvl 70's plus a hundred more characters. No doubt there are alts but not to many people have more than 1 lvl 70 alt. And still, there is talk that the guild doesn't have enough people to regularly do raids, certainly not the 25-man stuff.
At lower levels (40's / 50's) , I hardly every went on any raids in Azeroth as a casual player and I'm realizing what a shame because I hear it is the most fun when you have a good group of people.
...so yeah, I can see your point of how WoW is really "casualizing" relative to the hardcore potential of the game and MMO genre. As a casual player I don't mind that much, but I would like to do more raids where I don't need 25 people in at lvl 70.
thanks....once i get some photos i'll post some proof.
wedding was amazingly awesome, so was Maui for honeymoon.
At the high levels like that you are generally not paid for your "doing" but rather your "being"...
Quote from KungFuSquirrelWell, yeah, there's still some common sense involved.
The last few interviews I've had I've worn regular gaming stuff like my HL2 shirt or an X360 long-sleeved t-shirt (the most comfortable shirt EVER)... but the adage of being "that guy" that wears a band's shirt to their own concert holds true here, I think.
yes...don't be that guy. it looks really lame.
not that i've researched this much...but as long as you can solo and party play, it works.
it's gonna be a GOTY candidate for sure. front runner for shooter of the year by press. This is the game IW has always wanted to make.
I'd try not to show up in flip flops and a t-shirt that says "fuck everyone" or something. while it always casual in game studios try to look presentable and smart at least... :roll:
Sooo...what good PS3 exclusive titles are coming out in Sep-Nov 2007 period (for holiday) ? .....
please start filling in:
1.
2.
3.
4.
that footage was both awesome and terrible at the same time.
and if you are over 21 in the US hopefully you can buy Duff.
edit:
But they won't find Duff beer, the brand chugged by Homer Simpson. The movie will be rated PG-13, and selling a Simpson-themed beer "didn't seem to fit," said Rita Bargerhuff, a 7-Eleven marketing executive. "That was a tough call, but we want to make sure it's considered good, responsible fun."
D'oh!
This is an example of how Rockstar "gets" marketing. They aren't using marketing bullets and feature lists or logical reasoning to get people excited about the game. They just make product their fans will like and show it off as simply as possible. It's an experience, not technical specs of graphics or number of weapons or hours of gameplay. In short they are showing instead of telling. Most marketers still don't get that.
I'm not saying this is the best piece of game marketing ever, but the focus of the website on just the trailer and screenshots is refreshing.
Congrats! That's awesome!
Quote from ThrikThe Hitman film is nothing to do with Uwe Boll, just to clarify that.
Wow we really were off topic with Uwe Boll. My bad. Well his treatment of Far Cry worries me.
And he still sucks.
Back to Hitman.
1) I think the Hitman games could be made into a great movie. Sure, would take some creative story adaptation but with any good source IP (which Hitman generally is) you can make a good movie with a good writer and a good director etc. However...
2) Uwe Boll has made nothing but junk. I don't see how his treatment of Hitman will be different. It's a shame, really.
3) That trailer was bad, imo. It just felt so cliched...nothing really original or imaginative. Yeah he will kill evil..but honestly I HATE trailers with bullet points. This isn't powerpoint. I do powerpoint for clients when they ask but good God please do not sell me on another game or movie using bullet points in the trailer. if it needs bullet points to explain it it's usually not worth playing or seeing. Sure, the bullet points were minor, and integrated into the graphic design, but meh i hate cut up trailers like this...um...i'm ranting.
4) If Uwe Boll had any balls he'd show up at GDC and give a presentation to the crowd defending his work.
5) I personally got sick of Far Cry cause it was too long and I hated the voice acting in the First Person in that game. I have higher expectations for Crysis.
Conclusion: Hitman movie will probably go on my Netflix but I doubt I'll see in the theatre.
Quote from ThrikSony has pretty much always been a follower when it comes to technology and ideas. Didn't you notice?
[tangent]
What? Sony was a leader with Betamax and it took over the market because of it's....
....ooops.
Wait I meant those Minidiscs things that totally took over the recordable music...oh wait...
Seriously this time, the Sony Connect service that competed with iTunes was by far the...oh wait...didn't that just shut down?
Ok, the PSP UMD is now THE standard in portable disc based movie... uh...not so much.
But Blu-Ray is gonna do it!
[/tangent]
Late to the thread...oh well. Haven't played it. Only watched trailers and read up on it. Will address some points.
1) Is it "Quake" brand or "Enemy Territory" brand? Since both are id related IP it could be considered a brand merge, however to retailers it's a Quake game and it will likely get considered a brand extension of Quake. Think about how many brand extensions and different offshoots of Mario over the years. This is sorta like that (sorta).
2) The graphics do look about 2 years old...kinda bland. That could hurt the product if the game plays bland too. How's the atmosphere in the game? Smoke, fog, snow, etc? Short gameplay videos never tell the whole story.
3) Years ago at work Wolfy:E.T. was our after hours MP game of choice for a while. We absolutely loved it especially using an external voice chat or conference calls to coordianate team combat. I would play that game again in a second on a LAN like that. A few things that made it such a big hit across the office of both hardcore and casual shooter fans:
- It was WWII and back in 2003ish we couldn't get enough of it and non hardcore gamers could understand the setting instantly
- The leveling made it really fun and the balanced classes rewarded teamwork. But because the leveling was not persistant it made it easy to forget a bad round or session and start all over the next night we played.
- The missions and levels were interesting and the timed nature added a sense of drama
- The tide often turned for one side if they got their act together which was soooooo cool
All this was enhanced with LAN play with 16 or moe people. I only played it online a couple of times and it simply didn't compare for me.
So...
4) If QWET delivers the same relatively accessible fun factor as Wofly I could see myself getting into it, however I'm finding I have less desire to re-enter the Quake II / Quake IV ethos as WWII. Imagine that?!
Helping pubs/devs answer this and similar questions is the core of my consulting business. The short answer is: there is no formula. While there are trends and possible "guidelines", they are often genre and market specific and every guildine has exceptions. Oh and timing is everything. Oh and IP/license is a factor...both helping and hurting. Oh and....well I could go on and on.
Yes it is a viral ad for Hydro.
It totally smacks of viral marketing, but hey it was fun to watch!
