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Denver, 8:30 PM
Sat Dec 19
35 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/16/09
Just because a game's been in development for 18 months and has had milestones approved along the way don't mean shit. Especially if the milestones were fluffy and not substantive.
Think about this kids- for a game that was supposed to be released sometime in the fall of this year, Namco/BR did minimal to zero PR for the game. If you think about print press and retailer lead times of 3 to 9 months or more, they would have needed good looking PR materials back in January, or even earlier than that.
The lack of solid marketing materials means that BR didn't have the game in good enough shape for the Namco marketing people to do a proper job to promote the game. When you can't promote the game properly, the sales people won't sign up to sales numbers. When the sales people won't sign up, the marketing people will bug out and won't support the product.
If BOTH Namco and BR had their shit together, we would have been enjoying awesome screenshots, videos, and early impressions up the wazoo by now.
There are many moving pieces when you're in game development. Support from your marketing and sales departments is just as important as the competence of your developer and publisher-side project management.
03/16/09
I feel like the more I read about videogame development, the more bad games can be blamed on bad management. Obviously, someone didn't have their shit together. If Namco's contractual requirements were too low and then they realized their mistake, that puts them at least one step ahead of somebody like... Midway? But they're still one step behind a publisher like Nintendo, or dare I say it, EA or Activision (not that I really love the business models of all companies listed).
Either way, I think Namco has a problem. If their contractual requirements were too low, that's their fault. If they hired a developer that was under-qualified to make the game they wanted, that's still Namco's fault. And who knows? Maybe Namco just wasn't willing to pay for enough man hours to make the game happen right.
There are so many variables not answered, but my gut instinct is to say Namco is more at fault than BR. Just my two cents plus (bailout-inflated) tax.
03/16/09
On the other hand, money (and big businesses) talks...
03/16/09
03/16/09
03/16/09
*shrugs*
03/16/09
Ramonskito commented on Patent Troll Lawsuit Begins on Tuesday
"By calling them patent trolls wouldn't that open Kotaku up to a defamation suit?"
[kotaku.com] 6:51 PM on Mar 15
Dude...wtf? I'm assuming then you're a lawyer? Oh forgive me...assumptions make an ass out of you and me right?
Regardless, I don't claim to know or be read up on the case we were discussing beforehand. It was just a simple comment and you ironically twisted it the wrong way.
:D
03/16/09
*snap snap*
*head jerk*
*snap snap snap jerk jerk snap jerk jerk snap snap jerk*
03/16/09
*jerk snap*
*BREAK*
03/16/09
03/06/09
Though, Amazon has the advantage of being the ubiquitous online store and are associated with the best deals. So maybe they have a fighting chance.
03/05/09
why not skip both offers and use a service like Goozex to trade directly with other gamers...haven't tried it yet, but I signed up and am looking at using them with the next game I finish up.
03/05/09
03/05/09
He's not commenting on third party sales on Amazon, he's commenting on their trade-in program.
As is with most used good, selling them yourself outright always nets you more.
03/05/09
I don't buy anything from Amazon so I can't really comment on thier services.
03/05/09
03/05/09
gamestop is my #1 enemy in games of all sorts of business
im sure a lot of you agree.
Their North American monopoly is too much now
especially in Canada
03/05/09
Monopoly? Are you sure you know what that word means?
You can get games, used and new, at Amazon or eBay or any number of online retailers? Or in brick and mortars like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and whatever their Canadian equivalents are.
Their used game sales allow them to stay in business as a niche game retailer and remain competitive with big box stores.
I honestly don't understand the widespread hatred for them, especially when it stems from a complete lack of understanding of basic retail economics.
But yeah, go ahead and root for yet another company to go out of business and more people to lose their jobs, and less options for gamers. That's awesome.
03/05/09
03/05/09
The only problem with Gamefly's trad-ins is that the credit can only be used to pay their subscription fees.
I think a lot of people who trade in games do so to get a new game, so that may not be attractive to them.
03/05/09
Fuck GameStop
I'd rather support Amazon then those greedy bastards
03/05/09
03/05/09
So many people. So little understanding of supply, demand, and basic retail economics.
These threads always wear me out.
03/05/09
03/05/09
03/05/09
Mmmm...maize
03/05/09
03/05/09
Note that Amazon is what Edge magazine asked him about. Don't read to much into it.
03/05/09
03/05/09
I wish people would take a moment to consider what would happen if the used price was more than $5.00 than the new price.
If current used sales are already harming publishers (a dubious claim at best), then increasing used sales by lowering their price would give people more incentive to buy used.
While I don't think Gamestop has altruistic motives at heart when determining their pricing, I do think that a side effect of keeping used prices close to new is that you maintain a higher level of new sales.