Posts by Izuno

saw it up close today at the show. lots of potential...lots of potential. looks great so far...

Halo is a MASS MARKET brand now. It's positioned as "the everything shooter to all console gamers: hardcore, casual shooter gamer or inbetween."

I'm sure it will be an amazing PRODUCT. As for a GAME...my expectations are lower.

Damn...we hate everything...why are we so jaded?

Don't you recall one of the top Sony guys, I forget which, who predicted that gamers would gladly save up their money to pay for the PS3 as it would be a premuim system and status symbol...

Anyway, a lot of industry analysts still think Sony is going to lead market share and the Blu-Ray will help pave the way, as PS3 owners will be able to watch Blu-Ray DVDs without needing to buy an additional player.

That certainly is a valid strategy, just I am not clear how it's going to unfold in the beginning for core gamers. At what point does a gamer say "$500 or $600" is worth it...plus the fact that in the beginning, you know there will be a hardware shortage and a black market. Any price sensitive core/casual gamer who really wants a new system is going to be shut out and forced to buy a Wii.

I think Sony's best move right now is to announce some kick ass exclusive content (games) at launch. Oh wait, I and everyone else has been saying that. So what do they have at launch?

FF XIII...er...will this be ready for launch?

MGS4....2007 game right now.

GTA IV....2007...and will ship on X360

Sonic the Hedgehog...a launch title...but is this going to be a killer app?

Resistance: Fall of Man...a launch title...and a new IP...could be good, but again is this the killer app?

Gran Turismo HD...no date yet....GT is one of the staples of the PS consoles. I have played all of them and like them, and they have a great brand recognition. Will it be ready for launch? It could be a launch racing killer app just because of the brand recognition, but no date set, so ain't gonna help the launch that much until we hear otherwise.

Warhawk...resurrecting a PlayStation game for the next generation...the screens etc look cool, but it's no GTA / FF / MGS / GT....even if it turns out to kick ass it just doesn't have the same mass appeal, though I think it at least looks like it could be fun. No release date set yet...so doubt it's a launch title and certainly not a killer app.

Virtua Fighter 5 and Tekken 6...both very well known PS/PS2 fighting games. Usually at launch of a new console there have been a good locking fighting game so users can show off their system. VF5 is slated for 2007 and Tekken 6 doesn't even have a date yet.

So roll your eyeballs....at this point the launch game content on PS3 doesn't strike me as enough to get me to buy the console in 2006 or early 2007. I admit there will be games I'm going to want to play on PS3, but this just gives me more reason to have fun with a new Wii system and save some cash until there is really something compelling on PS3 that I just have to play...else if every new high res DVD is Blu-Ray I might buy the PS3 for the dual functionality.

Bottom line, I'm still waiting for a compelling reason to fork over that much money for a PS3. I'll be at the show tomorrow and Friday, so I'm hoping to get a better understanding of all this and post some more thoughts after the show is over.

Quote from Furyo

Rumors say it'll be a 150-200 $ launch price.

Yeah I heard that, too. I haven't heard of a bill-of-materials for components being floated around at the investment banks yet, but given there is no HD capabilities and the processing power isn't ubertastic, I don't see anything that will drive the hardware cost up a lot.

I'm guessin $199 is probably the sweet spot, especially if Nintendo wants to convince parents to buy for the kiddies. I'm also thinking Nintendo won't do a $149 version, $199 version and $249 version or other crap that MSFT/SONY seems to do with the different versions of their nextgen consoles. I sort of feel like Nintendo is taking an "all inclusive" brand feel so that everyone can enjoy the same stuff at launch and there is no consumer confusion around which version to buy. Perhaps there will be software bundles with different pricing, but I'm hoping for one version of the console and only one. (besides different colors!)

Nintendo said it wasn't planning on losing money with each hardware sale, unlike with the 360 or PS3. That said, $199 might be a break even point and Nintendo may actually be planning on having strong content sales and strong console availability at launch to drive the bulk of the profit. This would include both new Wii games and for-purchase downloadable games like SNES, N64, Genesis etc games.

It's too early to tell how Nintendo's strategy will pan out exactly, but all signs point to them banking on having great content at launch, rather than just being some kind of expensive prestige item this holiday with artificually deflated production to drive up hype for a console that only has a handful of good content at launch but nothing really that new (Microsoft and Sony, I'm looking at you!...though Sony can still suprise me :roll:)

Quote from Mazy

YUS BIG GIACCHINO LUV!

Still havent listened to the score since I dont wanna spoil (You know, track numbers and the mood of some of the music does that sometimes :G)

/me donces away

haven't seen the movie yet but yes Giacchino rules. Go listen to Mercenaries soundtrack...best cinematic video game music ever!

1) Thank god the new controller is not the boomerang. I like my dual shock style.

2) Vibration is a cool feature, but of late I've been turning it off cause it's getting way over used such as in LEGO star wars which is a great little game that even my girlfriend appreciates...but geez does it need that much feedback in the controller? So the PS3 will have some gyroscope functionality. Great. Let's hope someone makes a good game that uses it in a non crappy way. Remember eyetoy? We're all using that aren't we? :roll:

3) If the gyroscope stuff starts taking off, how long before Microsoft introduces a new controller that uses it? They would need a kick ass killer game that is a must have to get 360 owners to buy it. Then maybe 3rd party dev/pubs might make once exclusive PS3 games cross platform to include 360. Just a scenario, but you have to wonder if that could happen.

4) At $499 or $599 for the PS3, I'm probably going to buy a Wii as my second console unless the PS3 comes with something absolutely amazing to play that I absolutely must have. What game is that going to be? :roll: :roll: :roll:

5) Oh, I really do think there will be a redawn of innovation in gaming. For a while 3D was "it"...but now the suits think it's HD. HD is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It doesn't really allow for a whole new world of gaming...it just makes current gaming look nicer, have higher resolution, cooler visual effects etc... The more I think about it, the more I think the real innovation will be in the emmergent gameplay model that Spore could begin to unlock.

5 extra) Why is it so hard to revolutionize gaming? Well, there is only so much you can do with a flat, 2D surface displaying 3D images with a controller or keyboard input. Sure, the Wii and now PS3 input devices could help spark such a revolution, which I think both Nintendo and Sony are hoping for. But proof will come in the games, and don't be surprised if the first such gyroscope enabled PS3 game isn't all that revolutionary.

I think the flop odds on Spore are rather low, too...though you never know until it we see more of it. However, given what I have seen and what I know about Wil Wright, I agree that's unlikely.

But anyway, the whole concept of the procedural systems to drive gameplay is a very very cool idea. In fact, the focus on gameplay innovation over ever increasing realism in graphics actually has me more excited than anything else, I expect this to breath some innovation into the industry, and perhaps even a new type of strategy genre.

If history has proven anything in gaming, it's that when something new becomes successful it is almost always copied. Doom spawned Dark Forces which was dubbed "Star Wars Doom" at first...and then FPS becomes a genre. Etc etc... to the point of all the GTA clones still being called "GTA clones" today when in fact maybe GTA spawned a new genre called "action/driving hybrid" or "sandbox game" or "open world game" or whatever. To that point, Mercenaries was sort of dubbed a GTA knock off, but you know, I love Mercenaries about 1000 times more than any GTA game.

Spore could have the potential to create a new genre of strategy games that are more "emergent behavior".

So I dubb Spore as the first "EBG"...Emergent Behavior Game.

Can anyone think of any such game that has come before? Seriously, list em if you know em...

give this one a chance. I admit it could flop, but just because they are trying something new, and Wil Wright has made some good stuff before, I'm willing to give it a shot. Gameplay > graphics for something like this. Give me something cool to do that I've never done before and make it fun, and I'll by your game.

i think that if you really want a job bad enough, you'll look hard for it and not rely on someone else spoonfeeding links of job boards etc.

Quote from Phatsniper

Did anything ever happen over Max Payne 2's full nude Mona skin then? All that required was a console command.

I don't recall anything being done about that. Too far in hindsight, I suppose.

Quote from Reno

I think the point was that the content shipped with the game, it was just "locked" and required something to unlock it. They can't do anything about mods changing things - you can't accomodate for that on the age ratings on the box - but if something comes with the game (ie. sex minigame in GTA, topless skins in Oblivion) then they can. Even if it does require a mod to unlock it seems.

Exactly...the fact that Take2 again allowed a game to ship with stuff on the disc that has nudies and such after the Hot Coffee thing has me scratching my head. I personally don't care about the ratings or really if it has any harmful effects on gamers because I don't think that it does (my opinion).

My concern is that all this does is create tomfoolery and shenanigans around ESRB, and we don't really need any more of that, do we? Unless the goal is to rethink the entire ratings system and force a better solution, I don't really understand what T2 is doing...unless they think the controversy will help spur more free PR and sales. A possible strategy, indeed.

Quote from Zacker

I don't see much reason to spend a lot of money on something which most games are designed to run without.

Some people said the same was true about 3D cards years ago, so don't rule out physics cards.

However, there has to be some market conditions for the physics cards to take a foothold...mainly the acceptance of having slots for the cards, which right now isn't that big of a deal but for some gamers with a lot of crap in their systems already it could be. Then there are the game devs...do they have the same incentive to write physics code to use a PPU the way they had incentive to write 3D graphics code for the early GPUs? For 3D graphics, the benefit was obvious as it opened a new world of gaming like never before. For physics, is the potential as big? That's the heart of the matter. If someone comes up witih amazing gameplay that requires such a card, and if that gameplay or derivations of it are used in every game like 3D is now used in almost every game, then yeah, this PPU idea will take off, either as stand alone cards or more likely Nvidia or ATI buys them up and integrates the tech into GPU cards, then in long run all 3D GPU makers will have integrated PPU cores on their cards. (Doesn't rule out standalone PPUs, though)

So let's get to the heart of the debate: what will PPUs allow for that are currenty not possible?

i think eventually gaming rigs will feature specific physics calculating processors similar to when 3D accelerator cards came out in the 90's.

Eventually, how many slots are computers going to have to support sound cards, GPUs, physics cards and who knows what?

I suppose there might be value in having an all-in-one graphics gard that as a specific processor just for physics, as clearly physics calculations are related to graphics.

The market could unfold several ways, but eventually I do believe there will be physics specific processors somewhere inside the computer, unless future CPUs and GPUs can be optimized to carry the load and still gave the same performance as a specialized "Physics Processing Unit".

PPU!!!!

how about a Hurg except he's sort of been hollywoodified in a Brat Pitt / Ocean's 11 sort of way? That way people will see it and be reminded of how cheesy fake Los Angeles is! Maybe wearing a suit with no tie, short, cool looking hairdoo and some Armani/Gucci etc sunglasses that the men out here are now wearing (not just for women anymore)...

GAME NOT GOOD ENOUGH? JUST ADD HOLLYWOOD EXEC TO MAKE IT BETTER AND SELL MORE!!! LICENSE LICENSE LICENSE!!! ORIGINALITY SUCKS!

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12604

Quote

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has just sent word that the rating assigned to Bethesda's and 2K Games' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been changed from T (Teen 13+) to M (Mature 17+). "The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or 'skin' that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters," said the ESRB in a release.

"In line with its mission to inform consumers about the age-suitability and content of computer and video games, this ESRB Parent Advisory has been issued to ensure that parents who have purchased this game are immediately notified of the rating change," the release continued. "Parents should also know that a patch for the PC version of the game that disables access to the file with the topless skin will be made available shortly. It will be posted in the near future at http://www.elderscrolls.com/. If parents have questions or concerns about the change in rating, they should contact their retailer."

"Parents across the country depend on ESRB ratings every day to make sensible choices about the games they bring home for their families," said ESRB president Patricia Vance. "Rating changes are extraordinarily rare, but if ever one does occur, ESRB recognizes that parents must be made aware of the change as quickly as possible so they are certain to have the most current and accurate information."

The locked out content is not accessible in the Xbox 360 version; however, the PC version will carry an additional content descriptor for Nudity until it can be re-mastered and released with the topless skin removed. It was, of course, a third-party modification that eventually led to the whole "Hot Coffee" scandal in GTA: San Andreas because it unlocked a mini sex game. Unlike this "skin" mod, though, the "Hot Coffee" mod didn't alter the game; it merely unlocked hidden content.

The ESRB further warned, "It is increasingly important for parents to realize that PC games can be altered through the use of downloadable programs created by other players called 'mods' (short for modification), which are broadly available on the Internet and can change the content of a game. Since players create them, it is impossible for ESRB or any rating service to consider them in assigning a rating. However, some mods can alter a game in ways that may not be appropriate for younger players and may be inconsistent with the ESRB rating, so parents should be aware of their existence and, as always, do their best to monitor their child's gameplay."

YOU! DISCUSS!

Quote from FrieChamp

Anyway, I'll hit you up at the GBX booth, or if anyone wants to drop by the EA one (Ginsen, Izuno, whoever) I'll probably be lurking around there a lot of the time!

Sure.

trust me Mike, you guys are going to get a crapload of nominations. Hope you guys win some cool awards, too.

Meanwhile, I think I'll be at the show Thursday and Friday and only have a couple of meetings, but otherwise I'm definitely coming by to see it. Please, don't make me wait in line like a puke!

Quote from generalvivi

yeah but the fun ! and the excitement!!

it was fun five years ago...each passing year it gets to be more of a pain in the ass, whether you're in meetings, working a booth, walking the floor or whatever.

seems like each year the overall feel of the products seems less and less exciting. but that does make a good product you see a gem!

the big deal last year was how disspointing as a whole the 360 lineup looked. Still, it was a transition year as this one is too so don't put much stock in that analysis.

I'm sure Gearbox is already on the slate for some best in show nominations based on the graphics quality alone for HH.

yeah. prob will.

Quote from TomWithTheWeather

There are similarities here and there, mostly with interface layout type stuff and actors. A lot of the same concepts translate over pretty well. A lot of stuff that was tedious in UE2 is easier to use in UE3. But overall, if you want to start now, UE2 will help you learn the general UnrealEd ways and it will be really easy to switch to UE3 when it's publicly available.

man...it's all about tools. When I was at this one studio on a project in another state (that shall remain nameless) one of the lead programmers constantly was bitching about the LDs' bitching about the shitty nature of their internal toolset. The programmer would say something like:

Quote

it's the LDs fault they can't get their shit done faster. I'm not going to waste my team's time on improving tools. My time is too valuable as evidenced by my higher pay. LDs can just work longer hours and weekend to compensate. I've already paid my dues.

so that game they were working on...well it got canceled because they couldn't produce anything good in the time alloted. There were other factors...but I mean...any time you decide not to invest in your toolset you are shortchanging yourself in the long run. Sure, there is a flipside and you have to balance certain things. But this guy was off on one extreme simply due to his own ego. If he and his team spent a few hundred extra manhours on the toolset, it might have saved thousands of LD manhours in the long haul on the project.

So that project was a victim of leetitude. gg

oh so back on topic...really great tools and good management (U3 + Gearbox in this case) can produce some nifty stuff in a reasonable amount of time, at least as evidenced by BiA's history and what we know of the 3rd game. Look how fast the sequels have come out and of improoving quality.