Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
7 Jan 05
Don't forget to put your nominations for the Game of the Year 2004 in the Forum. Right Here.
Amazon is taking donations for the Tsunami relief effort for the Red Cross. I've put a link at the bottom of the page for those interested.
I know Deja Vu all over again. I'd feel better with a few more nominations before we open the voting. By the way, the voting will be a poll on the news section of the site. That means that you don't have to register to vote. I don't know why some people object to registering, but that doesn't mean we don't want the input. I suppose someone could rig the voting with an open poll, but I couldn't understand why. I'm not expecting any Game of the Year editions to list our award, but I certainly wouldn't complain if they did.
The Game Over gaming column on CNN/Money is usually a good read. I've been reading it more recently. I did like today's column. The author, Chris Morris, points out that the two big gaming hardware releases coming up, the Sony PSP and the Xbox 2, both were light on specifics at the Consumer Electronics Show. He went on to look at the state of rumors around the Xbox 2. I suggest you read the column.
I'm just going to go over some of my thoughts about the trends he mentions. First up, higher priced games. I really think that the reason that $50 has held as the new release price point for games is that it is near the sweet spot. Gamers can scrape it together in a pinch. You don't feel too guilty spending that much. But more importantly, when the number of units sold meets expectations, the game makes money.
Clearly, $55-60 for a AAA title is not crazy. The problem is that gamers and publishers don't always agree on what's a AAA title. Plus there's a percentage of gamers that will avoid a higher price point game for no other reason than the price. It seems to me that Sony has been pretty successful with their $39.99 price point for first party games. Volume's not a problem this late in a console's life cycle. On launch it will be. I don't understand why Microsoft would be willing to put additional pressure on its second console with higher price points. We'll see if I'm eating my words this time next year.
Next up is the Xbox 2 hardware price point. There are really two issues here. The first is the expectation that it will blow past the previous cap of $299. That's probably not a huge problem if they don't go overboard. There's a certain percentage of early adopters that won't care about price. Beyond them, you'll probably lose a few percent for each $10 increase above $300. There's a point there where you start shooting yourself in the foot. If Microsoft insists on making a profit on each hardware unit sold, they might reach that point. I don't expect that to happen.
The other issue is that of multiple hardware configurations. The key question is "do the different configurations require different games (or programming) to take advantage of the differences?" If no, it will probably be like 720p mode in today's games for the Xbox. Enthusiasts will appreciate it, but the bulk of users will never care. Things like saving to your computer's hard drive or built in wireless internet connectivity are nice, but won't hurt a game if you don't have them.
If the answer is yes, the more expensive configurations will probably be ignored by most software developers. The great thing about a console is the standard hardware. If it works on one, it should work on all of them. If you have different hardware target goals, it's usually most cost effect to shoot for the lowest common denominator. How many games take advantage of the PS2's hard drive? The problem is that if everyone waits to see what games will take advantage of the features, the premium line might disappear quickly.
Finally, let me say, I'm happy with the improved chances of backward compatibility of the Xbox 2. Early adopters are often multiple console owners. There's only so much room, so many inputs, so much tolerance from the spousal unit, etc. If you can totally replace your Xbox with your Xbox 2, that's one less hurdle to a speedy purchase. Ah, it's fun to speculate.
Jason
Comments?
6 Jan 05
Don't forget to put your nominations for the Game of the Year 2004 in the Forum. Right Here.
Amazon is taking donations for the Tsunami relief effort for the Red Cross. I've put a link at the bottom of the page for those interested.
Yes, I know that's how I started yesterday, but believe it or not, not everyone stops by every day. I try to make them, but what can you do?
What's going on? There's the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's always fun to see all the toys I won't be able to afford for the next year. Apparently, Bill Gates had some technical difficulties with his Windows Media Center presentation. Somehow I feel better know that random lock ups can happen to him too. I actually kind of like the idea behind the media center. It's like those old sci fi stories with a "master" computer running the home. I like moving closer to that. I just hope that Microsoft makes it open and easy to access.
Usually January is a dry gaming month since everything in the world releases for the holidays. This month it looks like there's some interesting gaming to be had. Resident Evil 4 is probably the 800 lb (undead) gorilla this month. It's looking good. They seems to have improved just about every major complaint about the previous games. It looks like the action will have a more organic feel and the enemies will feel more "alive."
That's not the only interesting game coming either. The Punisher on the consoles looks interesting. It turns the dark comic into virtual bloodbath. The shooting action seems promising, but I wonder about the virtual torture to get information. Strangely that seems to be one of their big selling points.
Slightly brighter we have Mercenaries for the PS2 and Xbox. Generally described as wartime Grand Theft Auto: North Korea, Mercenaries comes from Pandemic. I still have fond memories of Battlezone II and Full Spectrum Warrior from them so I have high hopes. The freeform missions, weapons and vehicles sound good. One review I read describe the joy of blowing things up. It's hard to complain about that.
Sticking in that vein, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is also coming out this month on the same systems. You play a bounty hunter in Oddworld's Old West. It's part shooter, part brawler and part platformer. It has some cool ideas like the living ammo and bonuses for capturing enemies alive. If they keep the humor and action up, they could have a winner.
The only big strategy game this month is Playboy: The Mansion for PC and the Consoles. I've mentioned my fondness for Cyberlore after the Majesty games. I am hoping for Majesty 2 so I want this game to do well. I'm not sure how people will respond to it. On the one hand it's a business tycoon style simulator. On the other hand, the business is a sex magazine. That balance will be tricky. I can't wait for the reviews on this one. I'd also be interested if anyone decided to write a story based on this game. One can dream.
Jason
Comments?
5 Jan 05
Don't forget to put your nominations for the Game of the Year 2004 in the Forum. Right Here.
Amazon is taking donations for the Tsunami relief effort for the Red Cross. I've put a link at the bottom of the page for those interested.
For anyone interested, this was the day we were supposed to be welcoming David into the world. He had other plans. The doctors tell us that we can start using today for his corrected age at least for developmental purposes. That's kind of nice. If he's behind in some area, he automatically gets a two month grace period. Please no stories of how your child was doing calculus at six months and joined Cirque de Soleil at nine months. I will give you a gratuitous David picture:
He's on his play mat holding Krinkle the cow. We're working on his gaming reflexes.
So, what else is there? Vivendi looks like it might step in to fight EA from taking over Ubisoft. The French sticking together to fight off the evil Americans. I'm sure that plays well in Paris. Just don't tell them we're not overly fond of some of EA's more predatory tactics over here. One could take the Derek Smart view that all publishers are evil, but I pretty much take the view that some publisher consolidation is inevitable. So cheering for certain combinations isn't really that important.
I know some people are concerned that consolidation will lead to more cookie cutter games and an overall lack of innovation. That's always a risk, but the market has a way of sorting out poor efforts. Go to the well too many times and you'll come up empty. Just look at 3DO.
The other thing is consolidation doesn't close the playing field. As gaming continues to grow and revenues continue to surpass movies and some television, more companies will want to get into the game. Small to medium publishing is the easiest way to get your foot in the door.
Moving on, in an interesting response to Anarchy Online's free gaming, Dark Ages of Camelot is raising their subscription fee to match competitors. Maybe I'm missing something, but as you get more outdated, don't you lower subscription costs to keep and/or increase the number of players? Then when you need more money, you release an expansion pack. It seems like a strange way to keep your players from leaving for World of Warcraft, which has been getting a surprising number of Game of the Year nods for a MMORPG. I guess that's just another reason why I'll never run a game company.
Jason
Comments?
4 Jan 05
Ok, unfinished business from the last meeting. We've got a couple of nominations for the Game of the Year voting. Anyone wanting to nominate games should click Here. I added even more Empire Earth 2 screenies to the images on the news section of the site Here. On a lark I sent my thoughts on Relic to THQ, publishers of Dawn of War.
I read the EGM review of Ghost Recon 2 for the Playstation 2 today. Ouch. Out of ten points, it got 2.5, 3.0, and 5.5. Basically, they cited stupid and cheating AI as well as uninspired gameplay. To me there seems to be very little to this game that reminds one of the great PC game released a few years back. They've turned it into a lite action game competing more with the PS2's SOCOM than Operation Flashpoint. It's too bad, it sounded like an interesting story with an interesting setting. I guess the Xbox version has different missions, and seems to be getting totally unrelated ratings. Well, we can hope the PC version turns out more like the Xbox version with a greater tactical emphasis.
Action Trip put a new FEAR preview. Check it out Here. I can understand why this is on some people's highly anticipated list.
Jason
Comments?
3 Jan 05
I'm still not used to 05 yet. You know those new parents who say that they don't know what all the fuss is about their angel slept through the night on his first night home and is never a bother. Now I know why we hate those people. I was flying solo today with David. Oh my. Well, at least you understand any lack of coherence.
If you have a moment, please stop by the forum and put your nominations in for Game of the Year. I haven't played enough to make up my mind, but together we can come up with something. This place is about communication and collaboration after all. Anyway, we'll vote on the top nominees to select a GOTY. If you're feeling lazy, make with the clicky Here.
I put up a blurb on the news site about the new Lucasarts game. It's another stab at the RTS genre in the Star Wars Universe. Force Commander was pretty bad. Galactic Battlegrounds was good. Let's hope the upward curve continues. They have Petroglyph putting together ground based combat with Homeworld style space battles. Sounds promising.
However, it sort of begs the question: why didn't they get Relic to do it? They have the excellent Homeworld 2 space engine and the Dawn of War ground engine. That'd be pretty cool. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to see Relic do something like that. Perhaps something like Imperium Galactica but only from a supreme military commander's point of view. You never get into the government management beyond building your forces. It could be cool and certainly could be epic. We'll see what the future brings.
This week's game is in case you missed Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. Perhaps you only have a PS2 and not an Xbox. Well, I mentioned that the third person combat had a very Dynasty Warriors feel to it and perhaps it was what Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires should have been. Well, KOEI isn't letting us down. Just look at this week's game. It's Kessen III (teaser site) from KOEI. You play Nobunaga Oda (a more historical, less undead version than the Onimusha series) as you try to conquer Japan. You lead your war council, select weapons, armor, officers and marching orders, and then lead your troops in glorious combat. Prepare you conquest this Spring.
Jason
Comments?
© Talk Strategy 2005