So, what’s the take-out here? Obviously the market conditions that 38 Studios launched with in 2006 were very different to those it expired under in 2012, with investors no longer interested in pouring tens of millions of dollars into MMO development. But it’s not like 38 Studios should have been strapped for cash – as identified, they had at least US$135m put into the studio. Yes, they got a single player title out, but it fell a long way short of the initial “broad media” dreams, or even releasing the promised MMO, while burning a lot of cash. Continue reading
Filed under Console …
The Unplayed Gaming List – May 2012
It’s been a little while since I’ve updated what I’ve played and what sits on my shelf, staring balefully at me. Dispatched The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (X360): If anyone says, “You can’t put almost 130 hours into a game that you don’t enjoy!” point them this way, because despite spending that amount of time … Continue reading
Some Rare Kind Words about Zune
I can’t actually ever remember anyone outside of Microsoft saying anything nice about Zune. People aren’t always unkind, but most comments are in the polite-without-being-rude area of “but you can do so much better”. Which is why it feels odd to say something nice about Zune, especially when I’m going to say they have the … Continue reading
Marriwage Bwings Us Togethwer, Skyrim-Style
Skyrim made my Argonian Lizardwoman a lesbian. Or at least outed her to me, anyway. There were early signs: the dialogue in “A Night To Remember” indicated that my character’s fiancée was a woman, Evette San called her “the best man for the job” in helping her with her spiced wine issues, and there were … Continue reading
A Brief Discussion On Explaining Transgender Issues to Children, cite: Birdo
It’s damn hard to convince children that Birdo was (or is still) a male character. “Birdo is a boy.” “But she looks like a girl.” “But he isn’t.” “But she’s wearing a bow and is pink. She’s a girl.” “Listen to the voice in Mario Kart. That’s a throaty whisper a woman can’t make.” “But … Continue reading
An Online Platform User Statistic For Comparison
Valve’s Steam has 40 million users (up from 35 million in 2010). It made Valve almost US$1 billion in games sales in 2010. Microsoft has 40 million users on Xbox Live (up from 30 million in 2011). This earned an an estimate of over US$1 billion revenue from game, movie and TV show-related content in … Continue reading
The Unplayed Gaming List – January 2012
Xmas has come and gone. The Xmas and post-Xmas sales have come and gone. Time to update the unplayed gaming list. Dispatched Bayonetta (X360): Finished this on Normal difficulty, started again on the next harder difficulty and have shelved the game after running into a roadblock at a particular Alfheim Portal. Might come back to … Continue reading
What Proportion of Games Actually Get Completed By Players?
One area I’ve been curious on for a while is what proportion of players actually complete the games they play. A lot of attention gets put on games about how their narrative sophistication is evolving and how players love playing for the story they uncover, but all of that is so much puffery if the … Continue reading
Reading the MMO Tea Leaves for 2012
In previous years I’ve spent a lot of time reviewing and writing up a year’s worth of Massively.com / other MMO sites news articles. Although this is very useful from an information point of view (particularly the “oh, I’d forgotten about that” articles) it takes a very long time. So, this year I’m still doing … Continue reading
EA Thanks Australian Classification Board For Free Publicity
So EA Australia won’t appeal the Australian Classification Board’s decision to refuse classification to Syndicate, effectively removing its ability to be sold in Australia. And why would they? It’s sacrificing four or five figures worth of sales (at best) in Australia for the greater good of seven figure or higher sales in other countries. Getting … Continue reading
World Class Villains 