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
Tagged with APB …
Death and Rebirth… Of Sorts: Stargate: Worlds and APB
Stargate: Worlds looks to be properly dead at this point – although Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment may have won back the right to work on it among the mess that company and its offpspring are, MGM have pulled the Stargate license from them. MGM have also gone bankrupt, making any kind of re-licensing of said IP … Continue reading
Calling All Cars: The End of APB
That’s that then: APB has gone offline. Links to the official site are now dead. Sure, some companies may have been talking to Real Time World’s administration about picking up APB (300, with a shortlist of 6), but most of them would have been poking around to see what they could pick up cheap. Before … Continue reading
APB: Well, Since Everyone Else Is Doing It…
The failure of All Points Bulletin is a current hot topic, especially since it looks to have pretty much destroyed the generally well-regarded developer Real Time Worlds. A great look at this toppling can be seen at GameBrief – the only thing that appears wrong are claims that APB only sold around 10k copies, whereas … Continue reading
APB (Now That The NDA Is Gone, Or Maybe It Isn’t)
I’m not actually sure that the APB NDA has gone, but the game has launched, so I’m going to rely on the legal precedent of O’Really vs Ya’Really and put up my pre-launch opinions anyway. So, APB: Conclusion: – This particular attempt at GTA Online is probably going to struggle to hold large numbers of … Continue reading
APB: Advertising Over VOIP
Something I hadn’t heard of before: advertising over VOIP. Particularly in a MMO. Especially in a MMO that charges a box cost and subscription fee to play. Kudos then, I guess, to APB for being so creative. You can pay to turn it off by paying for Vivox Premium services, or alternatively use a different … Continue reading
APB Learns Something Else From The Movie Industry
In the movie industry, if a studio is releasing a film they know will be savaged on release, it is a common practice to not let movie critics see it before it launches. This maximises the number of people who will see the awful film because they won’t be warned off by bad reports at … Continue reading
Two Quick Points
Point 1: E3 is soon and Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to receive nothing but good press, probably even a few ‘Game of E3’ or equivalent titles. It’s BioWare, it’s EA, it’s Star Wars, it’s a hugely expensive title and no video game reviewing organisation wants to be left in the cold by … Continue reading
APB: Collecting Money Is Important
Although there are always cases of companies doing TOO well in collecting money from players, one of the quickest ways a MMO folds is if they can’t get enough income to keep the doors open. As such, putting thought into how that payment model should be structured is critical. Hellgate: London stands out as a … Continue reading
World Class Villains 