Brendan McNamara, former head of now-defunct Team Bondi, has been interviewed by Eurogamer. Part of that interview covered the end of the studio and his opinion about some of the allegations levelled at him as the head of the studio as being a “bully” among other things. You can read the interview here, but be … Continue reading
Filed under Money …
Crunch Time Is Wrong, But Gee This Game Is Fun!
GameSpot’s Andrew McMillen has an article up on the working conditions of game developers and why gamers should care. but unfortunately is misses its topic on a few levels and fails on its most important point – making gamers care. The first issue with the article are the games used to showcase extensive crunch times (“crunch” … Continue reading
Team Bondi: Disappearing Into The Surf
News is out that Team Bondi has been put into administration, which is a way of saying, “all their assets are being sold to pay back their debts”. Some have raised questions about this event being linked to the claims of people being overworked in crunch mode at Team Bondi, but the real answer is … Continue reading
The Cost of Games In Australia
For those outside of Australia, it’s very expensive to buy video games within Australia. The Australian Consumer’s Association has presented a submission to a parliamentary enquiry about that difference in cost. For those in the US: right now I can buy L.A. Noire for AU$108 off EBGames.com.au. (It’s AU$110 in stores when I checked last … Continue reading
Marvel Universe Online: A Gazillion to One Shot?
In my previous post on Gazillion’s Marvel Universe Online, I ended with the comment “… if it comes out.” In my opinion, there is still a strong chance MUO isn’t going to appear for the fourth time, with the one reason being Disney and the other reason being Gazillion. My Superpower is Cynicism As a … Continue reading
How Many Players Does CoH/V Have In Q4 2010?
NCsoft’s Q4 2010 results are out and the result isn’t great for City of Heroes / Villains. As I discussed a few days ago, CoH/V saw a big Q3 2010 release with Going Rogue, its second paid box expansion (City of Villains being the first, back in 2005). GoRo saw a large jump in revenue … Continue reading
DCUO: A Week Is A While, Right?
DC Universe Online’s launch week sales figures are out. As far as physical units go, DCUO shifted: 151 000 PS3 boxes; and 45 000 PC boxes. DCUO apparently did good business on the PC in digital distribution, but I don’t have any good sources for numbers there. It does make Sony Online Entertainment’s comments that … Continue reading
DCUO: Countdown to Crisis
I’m going to start 2011 the way I ended 2010: publicly wondering what is going on at Sony Online Entertainment with DC Universe Online. SOE looked to be in a pretty good place to develop DCUO – they had a larger IP than its competitors in City of Heroes / Villains and Champions Online, it … Continue reading
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #3 The Subscription Fee Model Is Falling From Grace
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a high risk title because it is being developed for some good and bad reasons, and will cost too much… and because its core way of collecting revenue is currently on the downhill slide. Although BioWare has been coy about its revenue model, EA management is talking subscription fees. … Continue reading
Battle Royale: CoH/V vs ChampO vs DCUO vs SHSO vs Marvel MMO
Back in 2008 (sheeh, that long ago?) I wrote a piece on City of Heroes / Villains versus Champions Online versus DC Universe Online. It’s time for a review of how these direct competitors are travelling, plus the new challengers in this space. City of Heroes / Villains (Paragon Studios / NCsoft) The self-proclaimed “world’s … Continue reading
World Class Villains 