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Done by the Japanese – look for a game call “Love Plus” by Konami for the NDS and 3DS (and no it’s not a porn game).

about 4 hours ago on The guns of E3: what can gaming learn from its bloody mistakes?

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I love the digital lending idea of X1, it was the first thing which really jumped out at me. My best gaming buddies from the university days are now scattered all over the world due to different work and life commitments – yet we still game. To me the Sony ad showing how to lend by physically hands a disk to another is the joke and the old fashion way because there is no way I can do that with my gaming buddies, whereas the X1 method is something that I know my buddies and I would all want. And yes I’m totally ok with a 24hr check just to have this ability to lend to people thousands of miles away because I have gained an ability which I would not have otherwise even with the “freedom” of disk. I just hope the regioning is not going to seriously affect the ability to share.

1 day ago on Sharing Xbox One games... 1 recommend

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No I really think it’s more to do with the media and the Internet liking to hate MS more so than MS’ failure to commuicate, yes MS marketing has issues, but I’m arguing that is not the major problem. Let’s take for example the original Zune’s ability to “squirt” songs – which is essentially letting you digitally lend a music file to a friend also with a Zune on the go, instantly. I think it’s a great feature which they advertised a lot, and was a completely innovative feature not available to the iPod, but the Internet and the media turned it completely into a joke – not unlike the X1 now – about how “oh I’ll just copy my mp3 to a friend” or “I’ll lend a CD to my friend” or “yeah I can’t lend it to nobody cos no one will have a Zune” etc. That amount of hate – literally twisting anything into a negative – really can’t be fixed by any amount of marketing. Right now we are just seeing the same type for the X1 in the works, but multipled by about ten folds.

1 day ago on Does Microsoft "suck at telling the story" 1 reply 1 recommend

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The Nintendo Famicom aka Japanese version of the NES.

1 day ago on What was your first videogame console?

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I see it more of a problem with people being obessed with sound bites but never the details. In the X1’s case they latch onto the word “DRM!”, then plug their ears and never let go – no matter what new benefits the new system offers. Yes you can lend a disk to a friend and family, but what if that friend lives in the next state, or even out of the country? What if you gave it to them last Christmas’ stay over and you now what to play it? Hardly anyone discuss this new possibility of digital lending even when MS DID make it to be a point. Or what about the Kinect? MS had repeatedly said you can turn it off, but the people just kept repeating that you can’t etc. It’s typical internetz tendency to spread self-perpetual memes, and I don’t think MS can actually do anything about it until the X1 gets into consumers end to actually try out some of these functionalities.

1 day ago on Does Microsoft "suck at telling the story" 1 reply 1 recommend

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Irrelevant and I’m not trying to argue anything, he pretty much called everyone a liar and he asked for one game where there is DRM on the PS3 and I provided. End of.

3 days ago on Sony is fooling consumers????? And that's going to cost!!! 1 reply 3 recommends

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_4_Arena

Region Locked (which is a form of DRM) PS3 game. You can sell it to some poor soul, but no telling he/she will be able to play it.

3 days ago on Sony is fooling consumers????? And that's going to cost!!! 1 reply 2 recommends

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How do consumers give back when they buy a TV or rent a movie?

If a consumer watches a movie on free to air TV it measn the TV station had paid the movie studio for the right to broadcast it in the first place. Therefore the studio got their cut even if you didn’t spend a dime. In the case of rent a movie – again, Blockbuster have to buy a special “Rental Use disk” which is WAY more expensive than your standard retail disk from the publisher (I think it is something like 20 times the cost per disk to factor in how many lost sales they supposedly get for purchase), if Blockbuster don’t buy these rental use disk and use retail disks they will get ass sued. If you are watching Netflix, Netflix paid the studio millions for the rights to stream the movie, again the studio got paid to compensate for the lost retail sales.

Currently the movie studios gets way more of these supposedly evil “second dips” that you guys are pitch-forking the game publishers for trying to get. Game publisher has no such systems in place – you rent from Gamefly? Game publisher get no special cut. You buy second hand? No cut. So what do the game publisher do? They either DLC you to death, create micro-transactions or whatever, but none of these are equvilant and not required to enjoy the game. So if you bought used or rented, you really aren’t giving anything back directly to the publisher for that particular piece of work they made. That’s simply the facts. Sure you can argue the money you saved would enable you to buy other games blah blah blah, but if you bought a used copy of Halo you in no way directly paid anything back to Bungie directly for specifically Halo, which I think is unfair.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 4 recommends

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You stated that games have only one revenue stream. When I gave you the example of Angry Birds, you start talking about Assassin’s Creed. Are you going to move that goalpost much longer?

I left out the word “most”, so it was a mistake on my part, but the overall point still standrds – single player games mostly only get one revenue stream. What about the other other single player games I mentioned? What about the fact that each Angry Bird program is sold once with no reselling, no lending or renting? Yet you haven’t addressed your failed comparison of the movie industry either. With just a single movie the distributor can license it multiple times to different TV stations, movie streaming service, cable etc without having to create anything new ie no more cost involved and demand new money, games can’t work this way, so how about you address this issue?

Provide some evidence which shows that a AAA title didn’t break even because of the second-hand market. Any.

This is not possible and you know it, no more than I can ask you to prove the opposite that a second-hand market can benefit publishers. But there are plenty of evidence that people are relying on second hand market for a product which doesn’t degrade over the number of times of standard usage (and no used car sales analogy please, it simply doesn’t apply here), where the middle dealer is making a huge profit at the expense of the first sales (Gamestop encouraging a slightly cheaper used copy over a completely new copy) and I think it is fair the software maker should get a cut.

What you’re advocating is only to the benefit of the development house, i.e the likes of EA.

No it isn’t. All publishers are equally affected by second hand sales if they so much make their software available as anything more than a purely lock-down digital sales.

XBox is definitely not Indie friendly

Ok now it’s your turn – who bought up indie in the first place? You, out of nowhere, and made no point about it. What is this about XBox being indie unfriendly?

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 2 recommends

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They are equal as in what? You now want to break down the game market further? Should I ask you if Avatar is the same as Arrested Development?

Angry Bird can have multiple revenue stream and easily able to do reskinned versions due to different game play mechanics, Assassin’s Creed cannot. Making money off a movie is straight forward, but games are definitely not equal. Heck it’s actally the complete opposite now – mobile game with micro-payments are the ones making the most profit (not net revenue, but sheer profit), not the AAA big hit titles, which is about the complete opposite of movies.

Companies go bust all the time just like working people get laid off all the time, what is your point? That we start protecting them by limiting our rights?

The point is I support the industry in putting reasonable limits if it means they have more revenue streams to make sure they can still make the games I like – namely AAA single player games – not MMOs, not casual games, and not freemiums, and if that means I may have to trade games at an authorized reseller which I think is a fair middle ground then so be it. Or if it means I can’t resell my copy of a game – just like what I do now on Steam or even my copy of Angry Birds from the iTunes Store, then that’s fine too because I think the limits are reasonable and I don’t quickly throw a fit over my “rights”.

I would care more if you and parent were defending Indie Developers. But no, you’re here fighting for EA and there’s little to no sympathy you’ll get anywhere for them.

Way to set up a strawman, how am I fighting for EA specifically? Is CliffyB defending EA too? No. Any publisher right now could benefit from getting a cut from second hand sales, it’s not just EA. Did you not see my example of Square Enix and their Final Fantasy series?

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 1 reply 3 recommends

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Are you seriously telling me with a straight face that Angry Birds is equal to Assassins’ Creed or any of the AAA big titles?

Blizzard makes money off subscriptions, EA with yearly sports game rehash and Activision merged with Blizzard so meh, yet most of the games which are heavily single player focused like Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, Infamous, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy (non-MMO ones) etc, with little to no multiplayer component can’t make money like that and truely only make money off the first sales, and only recently found a new revenue stream by gimping them (ie released unfinished products) with DLC content. Indeed, Square Enix is actually in huge debt and THQ just went bust. For the handful of successes you are also overlooking the many others which goes bankrupt. If going by pure market and demand soon we are only left with cheap casual games, subscription based MMO and freemiums where they nickle and dime you and if that happens I’m going to quit gaming, and I would dare say I’m not the minority here either.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 1 reply 2 recommends

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And never have I seen any segement of the market where the consumers demands so much but so unwilling to give anything back.

I worked in the industry before and would like the industry be rewarded for what is very hard and risky work. Creating games involves many talents from many different disciplines which is quite different to most of the “evil” cooperations (especially financial ones which creates nearly nothing). The problem is the gaming industry is so young thus unlike the other big entertainment sectors like movie and music they have not been able put in place the neccessary revenue streams (and lobbying) to keep them afloat, and if this continues they are on a path to implosion and we’ll be left playing more casual games, freemiums with maybe one or two AAA titles a year. I don’t want to see that.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 2 replies 6 recommends

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Because the movie industry has multiple revenue streams – they get money from the first ticket sales, they get payment when it gets put on TV or cable for example, they get a cut by offering it on Netflix, so the movie industries’ lost in second hand sale is more than offset by these other revenue streams, whereas the gaming industry has one and only one revenue stream right now and that’s the first sales, they don’t get a cut from rental (movie industry sell “rental use DVD” to the rental chains which are much more expensive to factor in the lost of sales, companies like Gamefly who do game rental just buy retail disks), they can’t do game streaming, they have none of that. This is not being disingenuous, it’s a real concern. The gaming industry can only fix this issue, sadly, by either being more like the MIAA and more draconian, or cut back on the investment, and neither looks good from the consumer’s POV.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 2 replies 7 recommends

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Also what if you don’t push the technology envelope? You get something like…. Nintendo, which by nearly all accounts are laughed out the door by the “hardcore” gamers. The devs are reacting to market demand.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 1 reply 1 recommend

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Why should my consumer rights (to buy/sell the discs I own) be waived simply because developers insist on spending millions of dollars on developing a single game?

That’s rich – it’s the consumers who demands bigger and flashier games, so the devs has to spend the money to make bigger and flashier games. The publisher didn’t insist it, the market demands it, and more of it with each generation of power increase. It is the consumers who want more realistic worlds with huge art assests, it’s the consumers who want rich sounds and full voiced games, it’s the consumers who want real time rendered 3D that rivals pre-rendered CGI movies. The more epic the better, and you think these don’t cost money to make? But it is also the market who want this for little or no money, somewhere something has to give. CliffyB is right, the market will adjust, by making less of these games if they can’t find a way to get more money back from their investment.

4 days ago on Xbox one is better for the Game industry. 1 reply 10 recommends

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If that’s really your argument against rumble then your initial point about motion gaming shouldn’t be included quickly falls apart as full body motion sensor had enabled an entire genre of games to be created – full body dance games, not the old button tapping ones like Dance Dance Revolution, but actual full body matching ones like Dance Central. This is not a subjective use as it is simply not possible without some sort of camera attachment.

I think you really need to rethink your arguments from square one.

5 days ago on Sony isn't forfeiting anything by not including the PS Eye.

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But this is what you originally said

Almost no one has used it in a meaningful or interesting way.

And again the majority of the players and publisher have spoken that rumble is NEEDED for greater immersion such as in racing and FPS – thus it has meaning. You disagreeing doesn’t make it a point.

5 days ago on Sony isn't forfeiting anything by not including the PS Eye. 1 reply

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MS already said you can switch it off. Also no one is stopping you from pulling the plug on the XBox One if you are THAT concerned for privacy – no power no snooping right?

5 days ago on Xbox's Flaw: Kinect Privacy 1 recommend

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Car on tarmac or not is completely integral to the gameplay because it means better driving line which then in turn means going quicker or slower, this aspect is hard to convey with no tactile feedback as anyone who has even driven a real car can tell you how important a force feedback joystick/wheel is to the enjoyment of driving games. Gun firing is also integral to the experience which again Sony themselves had to eat their own words on with Sixaxis to DualShock 3. Just because you don’t agree with them doesn’t mean they are poor examples.

5 days ago on Sony isn't forfeiting anything by not including the PS Eye. 1 reply 1 recommend

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Good answer. But I’d argue that the touch pad on the DS4 is going to be more like that of the back touch pad of the Vita than the front touch screen, which means its functionalities is very limited, probably like you said it would be nothing more than scrolling. I think it will be used even less than the Kinect to be honest.

I actually think one of the easiest to use aspect of the new Kinect is the heart rate monitor. I expect some survival horror games to take advantage of it (busting out some monsters when you are calm and least expecting would be quite scary, whereas if you are already in a state of tension they can just do some creepy sound effects or something just to pull your leg).

5 days ago on Motion gaming forfeit: PlayStation Camera isn't bundled with the PS4, and that's a big problem

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We’ve seen this whole idea that Nintendo needs to license out and/or make their game on other platform argument before in another segment – Apple. Armchair analysists all over then was pushing Apple to license out their OS, to make “Mac compatible” etc, and Apple didn’t do it. Cries of Apple’s dismiss were all over the place but look at where Apple is now. Nintendo games are just as much about the entire experience as it is with Apple products, Nintendo make profits not only on their software but also on their hardware – just like Apple does, Nintendo making their software available elsewhere is just not a smart move and like Iwata said would only be a short term profit spike but will destroy their long term business. Sure Nintendo must adapt and innovate, but not in ways these anaylsist think they should.

5 days ago on A link to the past: why Nintendo won't make games for smartphones

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Almost zero games use it in a way that is essential to the experience. People like it even if it does, almost, nothing.

That’s just a statement that is just plain false and disagreed by everyone including Sony themselves. For example take any modern FPS which uses rumble to the experience of simulating the kick back of firing a gun and adds the dimension of immersion, that is the reason why Sony had to put it back into the Sixais and make the DualShock 3 because for one of the launch PS3 title Resistance people bitch and moaned about how the lack of rumble took away from the immersion when previous generation had made that experience standard. Another example is racing games where the rumble can differentiate between your car running on the smooth tarmac or off on the track in the rough. Then there are games where rumble is used in minigames to tell you that you are close to picking a lock for example. So many example to demonstrate that you are just wrong on this issue.

5 days ago on Sony isn't forfeiting anything by not including the PS Eye. 1 reply 1 recommend

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No I get the point and I didn’t mean to imply that it is you who is making the logical fallancy. It’s just that current this issue is only being made aware and put in the limelight because people are using it as an attack point on the Kinect technology right now because it serves a particular purpose, and that is making the XBox One look bad.

5 days ago on Xbox's Flaw: Kinect Privacy 1 reply 5 recommends

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Compared to a smartphone which in theory can monitor all your conversation the entire day because you carry it in your pocket, have it on your night stand, follows you into the toilet and people are perfectly fine with that. But the Kinect in the living room is all intrusive of privacy! Can’t have the Kinect listen to me in my living room! /s

Wow, the logic is mind blowing.

5 days ago on Xbox's Flaw: Kinect Privacy 1 reply 9 recommends

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By the same logic people are using here to knock the Kinect – all the front and back touching wasn’t useful on the Vita, what makes you think it will be useful on the PS4?

5 days ago on Motion gaming forfeit: PlayStation Camera isn't bundled with the PS4, and that's a big problem 2 replies 1 recommend

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Pro tip: buy the console with the games you want to play, don’t rely on others to convince you.

I have a simple personal rule – if the console have 3 exclusive games I really want to play then I buy it – this rule have never failed me and I get none of the grif from all this platform loyalty crap.

5 days ago on PS4 or Xbox 1 2 replies 3 recommends