@andrewwyatt: I'd say that the price is already pretty right in stores. I picked up Mass Effect for 10 dollars and AC for 20. I'd like to see how they price up the games for this initiative, but I can't imagine they'll be much lower than that. I'd love to be wrong, though.
@-Skyline-: Yes, but even a robot needs regular maintenance and can't always be trusted not to rise up and destroy you. This is the difficulty with hiring non-organic employees.
I'm sure it'll be a huge benefit to the whole Gawker family to have one dude to point blame at when everything suddenly hits a brick wall.
"Qualifications:
Ability to problem solve
Fast thinker
Can make a mean coffee
Flame retardant a plus"
@nworobes: I don't fault them for releasing it as a disc, really, because I understand a significant portion of players don't have the option of broadband internet. It's the fact that they don't offer them on the download service that is more jarring to me, seeing as I'm sure they could offer the content at a premium since you aren't picking up the tab for manufacturing costs.
While I understand it will likely represent a significant saving as compared to buying all these songs individually, I don't understand why there is this need to push out discs in favour of their online store. SingStar has the exact same problem and all it has really done has caused the song selection to grow stale and sit on my shelf.
I'm not sure I'll be rushing out to grab this set, but you never know considering how much Lips has been popular at my house since picking it up last year. I just hope they will be dishing out at least some of this in a pack that won't cost me 2 to 3 bucks a song.
Tomatoes look and feel like some kind of creature that hasn't fully developed. It's not ready to be eaten, and yet we do.The influence you have when you feel strongly against something tend to impact kids more than your positive, at least as far as I've seen. I always took in the dislikes for food from my mom and dad and combined them. Nowadays, I'll eat anything, though. Product of desperate times at University.
I'm usually not a big proponent of informing the world what I'm doing at any given time, but I've really taken a shine to Twitter as a source of quick info from friends and game journalists / developers as to what is going on. It's very noninvasive, so I was able to integrate it into what I do pretty quickly. Addictive, though.
@beanerific!: It's easy to remember. Just need a catchy slogan.
Regina: The City That Rhymes With Fun!
Back in the Perfect Dark days, my friends and I would always change our names to match whatever we were doing, or what other games we were playing, or something to that effect. About a year after PD was released, the hype train for the Tomb Raider movie was in full swing, but it didn't fit as separate words as a character name. My friend put "tombraider" as his name, and kept winning every round.
One of my friends just stands up. "Who the hell is Tom Braider?!?!" as loud as he could. It's kind of been the running joke ever since. So, what I'm saying is: Best. Entry. Ever.
Hit the nail on the head, really. It's exactly what I thought about the game. I did fall in love with it pretty quickly, but I can't just pick up and play it. It requires a lot of focus, and a lot of that is due to the overcomplexity. The game is easy to play once you've decided on what to focus on, whether it is Master Romancing or continuing to grab new creatures, but the game doesn't give you any real guidance on how to sit down and focus, it just keeps throwing characters and items at you.
A bit overwhelming at times, but it is a fun and satisfying game.
I think that the soundtrack is appropriate to the pace of the game, to a certain extent, but when music is played during a hockey game (before faceoffs, between plays, etc.) it's usually either whatever is popular alt-rock for the area, or a formerly popular rock single.
Considering how 2K9 plays, though, it doesn't have the right speed to really feel like a punk centric soundtrack.
I still haven't played this game at all, but I've heard that there are a lot of really cool ideas hidden inside a poorly designed game. If a lot of these designs have been reconsidered and altered to make the experience more enjoyable, I'll probably take a look at the PS3 version to see what all the hubbub is about. It's also a good excuse to use the word hubbub.
It's still a rumour, but I think that Canada is definitely a big enough market for gaming, and especially for developing that it warrants having a major trade show. Right now there is a few developer or academic centric shows in Toronto and Montrèal, but not much else. The Fan Expo in Toronto is a getting a bigger gaming presence every year, but it's still far from the focus.
I'd definitely support this in any way I could.
I'm pretty addicted to the gaming podcasts, so I'd definitely tune in. You guys all have your own unique voice when writing, so I'm sure it'd translate to a pretty unique podcast regardless of any gimmicks you might think you need.
Skype is the best. Has saved me probably hundreds of dollars in the last few months alone.
@Thassodar: Money, money, money makes the world go round. It's still a good thing, though, because it gives more people an opportunity to play the game.
You have to give Levine a bit of respect for not laying blame somewhere else, or taking a jab at piracy and deflecting the question. Still, every time he talks about BioShock I get the impression that he made it in his basement or something. He takes a lot of credit for all the failures and successes, and it's weird how he's emerged out of this game that way. The cult of celebrity extends to developers more and more these days.
I met these guys last month and they are just as insane as they appear in their videos. At least they were when I was around. Their booth at the Expo I went to was right next to 2K's booth, and they were so loud it drowned out any of the game audio that 2K was trying to show.
It does take a bit of guts to act this weird in public, but thank goodness someone is doing it.
There is a fundamental shift in the market for Japanese developed games. Maybe moreso in the North American market, but as NA starts to put more money into the industry it's something that can't be ignored.
Perhaps the reason we're hearing more about this isn't necessarily indicative of the quality or "advanced" technology, but on the type of games that are doing well in the Japanese market. Maybe fans of the more advanced gaming mechanics and developers who play games made in the US are wanting the trends to shift that way in Japan, as well. I think it's more of the culture of what's popular than the actual quality or style of design.
SEGA spent a long time building a culture of mistrust in their antics. The Dreamcast was the fruit borne of this culture, and most people weren't ready to accept that after the Saturn.
It's influence on modern consoles and the steps it took back then were huge. It had a modem. It had online. Keyboards, a browser and a solid launch line-up. Lots of classic titles, and a big import scene. And yet, it didn't work out and was steamrolled by the PS2 and GC.
Check out the latest Retronauts Podcast where they talk about the whole anniversary if you want a cool look at the whole thing. Has Tycho from Penny Arcade in it and a lot of other cool guests. Definitely a good send off for the 9/9/99.
It's pretty evident in Canada, at least around me, how much they are focusing on games. The stores are loaded with them now, about 1/4 or 1/3 of the store is devoted to games in some places.
The big success that I'm seeing is applying certain ideas they use for music sales to games. 2/$40 or 2/$50 actually seem to have a pretty good value when you line up two really good games. I don't really know any other retailer that offers incentive for buying multiple games at once, so it's a bit different and often a great money saver.
I've been so enthralled with my garden in Viva Piñata this weekend that I haven't had time to try out Spore. However, on the note of addicting games, anything that involves micro-management usually crushes me, and it seems that VP is set to do that over the next few weeks. Damn game designers and their videopiates.
He who controls the spice...
