E3 2013

[Deuce]

If you think used games are going to be blocked on XB1, then maybe you should consider investing in bridges.

Except, with what MS was stating about licenses they're effectively doing that very thing. They may not be prohibiting them entirely, but I guarantee someone who purchases a used title and then has to pay more to unlock it will not be very happy.

[Doombear]

Okay I'm starting to think this stream was organized by highschool students...

No shit, this is pretty amazing...

Round Table over at GT is about to start, with some Jeff Gerstmann - http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/e3/live.html - if anyone would rather watch something other than this (or both).

[Deuce]

No shit, this is pretty amazing...

Round Table over at GT is about to start, with some Jeff Gerstmann - http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/e3/live.html - if anyone would rather watch something other than this (or both).

I've got both up and currently paying attention to GT until SE puts something up that is worth watching.

[Necronus]

GT won't load on my phone ... any potential solutions?

Edit: It IS loading the mobile version of the "live" site, but its blank

[djzombie]

You should support DRM because it leads to better/cheaper games.

ea's launch of sim city 5 is a shining example of this.

game is riddled with the worst drm possible, broke as fuck, and still charging full price for it.

[octopus]

FF14 stream showing stuff now

[Deuce]

Limit Breaks being shown before Ifrit Battle, going on Live one]

Battle to start in 10 min apparently.

[notorious bum]

Incase you're unfamiliar with MS' business practices, they are simply trying to do the same strategy that they know best: muscling their shit onto the market. They don't care if this experiment is a massive financial failure, they have stubburn, old, rich white men at the helm and they won't relinquish their power to evolve/adapt.

[zoobernut]

You should support DRM because it leads to better/cheaper games.

This would be true if smaller game developers didn't use/need big time distributors/publishers to get their games out there. Unfortunately any cost savings that happens because of DRM is eaten up by the publishers in the form of bigger profits (or so it has seemed so far).

[octopus]

FF14 Ifrit fight is on... game looks amazing ;o

[Day]

On DRM:

Anecdotally, releasing on PC without DRM leads to upwards of 90% piracy rates (source: World of Goo, Game Dev Tycoon, etc--it's an experiment that has been performed often). You can argue that the lion's share of those people wouldn't buy it anyway, but the truth of the matter is that a non-trivial amount of those people, given the choice of not playing it or paying for it, will pay for it.

If you have a 10:1 pirate-authentic ratio, you only need to convert 1 in 20 pirates to see a 50% increase in revenue. Given that almost all your costs in making a game are sunk by the time you are on shelves, a huge amount of that revenue is profit. (I know people will argue that publishers will just pocket the extra money and turn out the same tripe, so if you are about to make that argument stop and go read up on capitalism)

All of a sudden, you can afford to spend a lot more on making a game, and sell it at the same price. That leads to an increase in game quality. Alternatively, it may lead to a decrease in game cost if publishers decide to compete on cost rather than content/quality.

^

[aurik]

Except, with what MS was stating about licenses they're effectively doing that very thing. They may not be prohibiting them entirely, but I guarantee someone who purchases a used title and then has to pay more to unlock it will not be very happy.

Because what they say today must be the full, final version of the policy, rather than extrapolation made by someone based on pieces of information that may or may not be accurate.

[djzombie]

FF14 Ifrit fight is on... game looks amazing ;o

i lol'ed when they ignored the spikes and got hellfired for a complete wipe... ahahaha twice now

[shidobu]

i lol'ed when they ignored the spikes and got hellfired for a complete wipe... ahahaha twice now

lol wish i knew who these people where could tweet them "break the fucking pillars"

didnt they explain that the White mage limit break gives a shield? common guys... tactics..

[zoobernut]

^

I think that DRM will help combo developer/publisher houses like EA. It MAYBE could lead to cheaper games. I don't think in any case it will lead to better games. I also really was more referring to the fact that in the current video game industry model the developers that are using publishers rather than self publishing would see very little or no benefit from DRM. Things like that rarely trickle down.

Things are changing in some areas of the game industry but for large AAA titles you won't see any major changes any time soon.

At my company when our profits go up our game budgets don't increase. If we have a super successful game they ask us to make another similar game at a reduced cost and time budget to further increase profits.

[Deuce]

Anyone else watching GT with Geoff Knightley and these three guests he is interviewing? They all seem like Xbox One apologists to me.

Edit: scratch that, dude in the grey was the apologist I kept hearing.

[aurik]

At my company when our profits go up our game budgets don't increase. If we have a super successful game they ask us to make another similar game at a reduced cost and time budget to further increase profits.

That's the short term. In the long term, if every publisher is making an additional $50 mil per game released, eventually they will sink that money back into the game dev process in order to outcompete their peers.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/imag...recettear2.jpg

Also it will trickle down in the form of less games getting canned/studios getting shut down. Publishers will be more willing to take risks because the upside is higher.

[GoggleHead]

Why spend extra profits on development when you can keep cranking out games for less?

[zoobernut]

That's the short term. In the long term, if every publisher is making an additional $50 mil per game released, eventually they will sink that money back into the game dev process in order to outcompete their peers.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/imag...recettear2.jpg

Also it will trickle down in the form of less games getting canned/studios getting shut down. Publishers will be more willing to take risks because the upside is higher.

You would think that but all companies care about these days is their stocks and helping shareholders. When profits go up they push that out the door in the form of larger dividends. The best that I have seen is increasing the budget on a game in the form of acquiring a more expensive license but companies continually try to cut corners to save costs. They will always strive to make games with the smallest team possible cutting back to the bare minimum.

I have friends at other game companies that have had the same experience.

[Sho]

I don't have any issue with the DRM stuff either. I don't buy used games; its like a $5-8 difference oh noes. I have had stable internet for over 10 years. Either a whole lot of people are living in the backwoods or they just cannot afford internet I suppose.

Bought Ps4 last night, and I will buy Xbox today.

I don't have a problem with always on personally (decent internet, getting FiOs at the end of the year), but the general idea if it pisses me off. When you consider only about 40% of the world population has internet, and even less have stable internet it makes for bad business to pull off that business decision like that.