@Ueziel: Were you able to finish it? There is a boss battle about 2/3 way through that was one of the most intense and disturbing boss battles I've ever played. I actually enjoyed the game, but yeah, it was a bit bland. I like the spirit world mechanic and the weapons were great. That acid shotgun NEVER gets old. I still boot it up occasionally just to spray that gun a few times. Anyone want to boost achievements, check my gamertag and let me know via LIVE :)
@subnet6: Yeah, I ended up finishing it. I'm guessing it's the plot twist boss battle. I guess I saw it coming, but I was more annoyed with how it just keeps charging you and it's hard to not get hit without just turning all the way to one side and running off. I didn't really think any part of the game was especially intense though.
@Yossarian: I swear, I just wanted the rights to Prey. In no way did it cross my mind that the game itself had small boys in tight clothing dancing to Celtic music.
"When Oblivion and Doom meet, the Fallout is bound to yield surprises; and perhaps offer some insight into the future of the video game industry."
Yes. The poor, hurting developers can make FPS games in a new conglomeration called "United First Person Shooters", and sell exclusively to FPS fans. And maybe, just maybe, loyal FPS fans will start to buy first- person shooters like it's 2002 again. What a fantastic idea! It's never been tried before, has it!
Seriously - if you wonder why people think all Americans are annyoing pig- headed jerks - this is it. Here the leading "analysists" have been predicting the fall and failure of all Microsoft competition for as long as MS has been in the game - and then when things mysteriously don't go so well, the absurd comparisons and emotional appeals come right away. Zenimax -> United Artists? FPS- shooters need creative license protection? Because people are forcing these studios to write terrible plots, isn't that right?
Excellent article. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this merger, and if any other smaller independent studios follow suit.
With so many studios out there, and competition getting so fierce, it makes sense that we start to see companies that focus on a niche area of gaming. It's nothing new; think FPS you think Bungie, racing you think Polyphony. They excel at what they do because that's ALL they do. But for those companies now that are struggling, it makes sense, and necessary, if they want to survive.
@Ueziel: Pachter really likes to talk apparently. Lately he just seems a little off the mark. Maybe if he swings the bat enough he'll hit something, but saying Valve needs to partner up with anyone to stay successful is like saying Midway was fine on its own. It just ain't right.
@Daniel @ playreadwrite.blogspot.com: Pachter did not say that Valve needed to partner with anyone to remain successful, he merely implied that if Valve were to do so, that would make it a lot easier for Valve to remain independent.
Please, do not confuse one concept for a completely different concept.
And to that point, Pachter is right. It would be a lot easier for any company (successful or not) to remain an independent entity, if they could offload some of the costs associated with running their company, unto someone else.
Think of partnerships of this nature, as a cooperative and not a "buy out". There are several major advantages, as it always is anytime with people of like mind and vision team up to work together. The most obvious advantage, there is bound to be some operations overlap, that once cut out would instantly save all partner companies involved millions of dollars every year. That is money that can either be pocketed as profit, invested in R&D for creating better games, invested in game development for creating more games, or passed on in lower prices for Valve games to Valve fans.
In the case of a partnership with ZeniMax, Valve is looking to save millions of dollars for every game they release on a home console. True the PC is their primary platform, but so long as companies like Microsoft keep making consoles that are as easy to work with as the PC, Valve is not going to walk away from the extra 2 million units in sale their games see on the Xbox platform. With the PS3, Sony has had their ass handed to them for creating dead end architecture into their consoles. So you can bet that when PS4 arrives on the scene in a few years, it will be yet another console that will meet Valve's standards to develop on. And just like that, they are looking at another 2 million units per game hitting that console. All told, next gen, Valve could be moving as much as 5 million units per game across both consoles. Having to go to publishers like EA to get their games published on consoles is already expensive - it will only get moreso, and when EA is eating up a noticeable percentage of all your console sales, those are huge losses Valve does not have to incur if they were part of a partnership. And once again, for all the tens of millions they save by not having to go to EA to publish their games on console, that is money that can go to R&D, or making more games, or giving another promising studio a job at Valve, or passed on as savings directly to Valve's customers.
On the flipside of the partnership, the benefits to ZeniMax's other partners are obvious. Reduced fee (if not near free) for hosting their games on Steam, and the cross-pollination of ideas, technology and expertise.
No, Valve does not NEED anyone to be successful. But partnering with someone else, so they both mutually benefit from reduced costs to running their core business? Now that does make it a lot easier for Valve to continue to be successful.
@MDevonB: Their may be infighting, or they may just pool their resources and create the mother of all middleware engines.
I mean, once you took a year to get everyone's ego out of the way, what exactly would there be to stop them from doing so?
The minds behind Unreal Engine 3.5, Source and id Tech 5, all working on a common middleware together . . . my God, it's like the perfect storm of industry middleware domination.
Arguably, the problem with the platform is that it uses standard hardware available in several other phones - yet lock out capability for the purpose of better streamlining the experience.
In for example much the same way as MS does with the xbox, if not to that extent. Where the purpose is not as much to provide potential for good programs to be made, and used effectively on a mobile platform. But to sell farting Santas.
So yes, of course it's a real platform. It just sucks golfballs through a hose.
So, goodbye to the id that innovated the games- industry technologically and to some extent artistically. Who would use new tech, and spearhead new development with it. And hello to the id that makes games for profit, with 19 games a dozen in the same franchise.
Oh, wait.. what am I saying - that all happened years ago.
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
It had some pretty epic music too :)
[www.youtube.com]
09/09/09
They built Vault 113 underneath an indian burial ground...
09/09/09
09/09/09
@Yossarian:
09/09/09
@Yossarian: I swear, I just wanted the rights to Prey. In no way did it cross my mind that the game itself had small boys in tight clothing dancing to Celtic music.
06/29/09
Better than EA buying them.
06/27/09
Yes. The poor, hurting developers can make FPS games in a new conglomeration called "United First Person Shooters", and sell exclusively to FPS fans. And maybe, just maybe, loyal FPS fans will start to buy first- person shooters like it's 2002 again. What a fantastic idea! It's never been tried before, has it!
Seriously - if you wonder why people think all Americans are annyoing pig- headed jerks - this is it. Here the leading "analysists" have been predicting the fall and failure of all Microsoft competition for as long as MS has been in the game - and then when things mysteriously don't go so well, the absurd comparisons and emotional appeals come right away. Zenimax -> United Artists? FPS- shooters need creative license protection? Because people are forcing these studios to write terrible plots, isn't that right?
What a joke. What a tasteless, disgusting joke.
06/26/09
With so many studios out there, and competition getting so fierce, it makes sense that we start to see companies that focus on a niche area of gaming. It's nothing new; think FPS you think Bungie, racing you think Polyphony. They excel at what they do because that's ALL they do. But for those companies now that are struggling, it makes sense, and necessary, if they want to survive.
06/26/09
06/26/09
06/27/09
06/27/09
Then you'd get the infighting, since those are the three biggest middleware game engine producers. (UE vs IT vs Source)
06/28/09
Please, do not confuse one concept for a completely different concept.
And to that point, Pachter is right. It would be a lot easier for any company (successful or not) to remain an independent entity, if they could offload some of the costs associated with running their company, unto someone else.
Think of partnerships of this nature, as a cooperative and not a "buy out". There are several major advantages, as it always is anytime with people of like mind and vision team up to work together. The most obvious advantage, there is bound to be some operations overlap, that once cut out would instantly save all partner companies involved millions of dollars every year. That is money that can either be pocketed as profit, invested in R&D for creating better games, invested in game development for creating more games, or passed on in lower prices for Valve games to Valve fans.
In the case of a partnership with ZeniMax, Valve is looking to save millions of dollars for every game they release on a home console. True the PC is their primary platform, but so long as companies like Microsoft keep making consoles that are as easy to work with as the PC, Valve is not going to walk away from the extra 2 million units in sale their games see on the Xbox platform. With the PS3, Sony has had their ass handed to them for creating dead end architecture into their consoles. So you can bet that when PS4 arrives on the scene in a few years, it will be yet another console that will meet Valve's standards to develop on. And just like that, they are looking at another 2 million units per game hitting that console. All told, next gen, Valve could be moving as much as 5 million units per game across both consoles. Having to go to publishers like EA to get their games published on consoles is already expensive - it will only get moreso, and when EA is eating up a noticeable percentage of all your console sales, those are huge losses Valve does not have to incur if they were part of a partnership. And once again, for all the tens of millions they save by not having to go to EA to publish their games on console, that is money that can go to R&D, or making more games, or giving another promising studio a job at Valve, or passed on as savings directly to Valve's customers.
On the flipside of the partnership, the benefits to ZeniMax's other partners are obvious. Reduced fee (if not near free) for hosting their games on Steam, and the cross-pollination of ideas, technology and expertise.
No, Valve does not NEED anyone to be successful. But partnering with someone else, so they both mutually benefit from reduced costs to running their core business? Now that does make it a lot easier for Valve to continue to be successful.
06/28/09
I mean, once you took a year to get everyone's ego out of the way, what exactly would there be to stop them from doing so?
The minds behind Unreal Engine 3.5, Source and id Tech 5, all working on a common middleware together . . . my God, it's like the perfect storm of industry middleware domination.
06/25/09
Deny thy iPhone and refuse thy game;
Or if thou wilt not, be but apologetic for Daikatana
And I'll no longer be a hater.
06/25/09
What's in an owner? That which we call id Sofware
By any other owner would still struggle for relevance.
06/25/09
06/25/09
Arguably, the problem with the platform is that it uses standard hardware available in several other phones - yet lock out capability for the purpose of better streamlining the experience.
In for example much the same way as MS does with the xbox, if not to that extent. Where the purpose is not as much to provide potential for good programs to be made, and used effectively on a mobile platform. But to sell farting Santas.
So yes, of course it's a real platform. It just sucks golfballs through a hose.
06/25/09
Oh, wait.. what am I saying - that all happened years ago.
06/24/09
06/24/09
"But Who Cares What John Romero Thinks?"
It took some work, but I think it was improved.
06/24/09
06/24/09
06/24/09