At SMU’s Game Business Law summit Jason Holtman of Valve addressed the business model underlying the company’s digital distribution network known as Steam. During his talk he attacked some of the thinking that underlies established video game sales models, suggesting that offering DLC for free is a valid way of boosting sales to earn more money and even going so far as to suggest that pirates aren’t the amoral cheapskates many label them as. He retitles them, calling them ‘underserved customers’.
“We take all of our games day-and-date to Russia,” says Holtman, explaining that piracy in that country (and likely many others) is due in part to the lag time between a game being released elsewhere and in Russia. Gamers are seeing trailers and screenshots of games that might be a long time in getting there, if ever and they want to play them as soon as possible, so they turn to the only avenue open to them: piracy.
“We found that our piracy rates dropped off significantly,” Holtman says as he points out that Valve makes sure their games hit Russian shelves the same time they’re released in the USA.
THQ sent out word that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, the sequel to Relic Entertainments sci-fi strategy game, has gone gold and will be showing up in stores February 19. The game was previously set for release on February 23.
“Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II stays true to the fast-paced, brutal heart of the Dawn of War series, while introducing branching single-player storylines and unique unit customization,” said Relic General Manager Tarrnie Williams. “The deep, tactical gameplay lets players develop and lead personalized elite units who gain experience and grow stronger with every ferocious battle.”
Those who wish to get a sample of the game earlier will get the chance to do so through a multiplayer beta that starts on January 28.
Publisher Eidos is on the selling block once again, as the struggling publisher has announced that it has entered into discussions that “may or may not lead to an offer being made for the Company.” The potential buyer’s name wasn’t given, with Eidos noting that discussions are “at a very early stage” and that there is no assurance that an offer will be made.
The company, once a strong publishing house and home to the Tomb Raider franchise (among many others), has long been the subject of frequent takeover talks. Numerous possible buyers have been rumored before, ranging from Square Enix to Warner Bros. – the latter owns 20% of the publisher already.
Eidos’ financial issues worsened recently due to Tomb Raider: Underworld failing to meet expectations, a situation that proved fatal for Crystal Dynamics as many from the studio were laid off.
Did you see the leaked alpha footage of Star Wars: Battlefront IIIover the weekend? Like me, you might have been impressed by the technology behind the game that allowed players to fly directly from the ground to outer space without any cutscenes. However, that technology will die with the end of developer Free Radicals involvement in the project, according to Spong.
The site supposedly carries word from a former Free Radical employee who says: “It’s my understanding that the game’s been passed to a new developer, but the tech that allowed you to fly from the ground, to air, to orbit, to space dies with Free Radical’s involvement.”
The employee added that the new developer will be making it a cut-scene every time you want to transition from ground to space.
Battlefront IIIs current home is yet to be confirmed, though rumors point to Pandemic, creators of the original title.
Following up on recent reports that a full Grand Theft Auto sequel could be released later this year, series developer Rockstar told Kotaku that there is “no truth” to the rumor, which first appeared in gaming magazine Game Informer.
The rumor suggested that it would be a full retail game and could sport a subtitle, such as GTA: San Andreas, instead of being called Grand Theft Auto 5.
Though Rockstar shot down the rumor, 2009 won’t be devoid of GTA action, as the franchise will make its leap to the DS – Chinatown Wars – on March 17, and the first set of Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content for GTA 4 will be released next month.
With the economy worsening, computer hardware manufacturer AMD has disclosed that it will cut 1100 jobs and temporarily reduce pay for all remaining employees.
The cuts affect 9% of AMDs 12,000 employees. Of the 1100 positions, 900 will lose their jobs, with the other 300 stemming from attrition and the sale of one of its business units.
Theres more bad news: those who stay will get their salary reduced, too. This will depend on the role of the employee, with CEO and executive chairman seeing salaries cut by 20%, vice presidents and other top management will lose 15%, regular staffers 10% and hourly workers 5% less. AMD has also indefinitely suspended 401(k) matching.
In the world of video games there’s nothing that can make a company money quite like a recognizable, popular character. Nintendo has filled their stables with recognized icons and profited greatly because of it. Every studio hopes to get that famous money-printer who guarantees financial success.
Naughty Dog’s game director Bruce Straley reckons that Uncharted star Nathan Drake is on his rise to stardom, even saying that Drake “might already be there” when asked if the character could become more famous than Lara Croft. “I feel that Nathan Drake can stand on his own in any line up of the video game pantheon,” he said, going on to assert that the character was a ‘breath of fresh air’.
Quite a boast when you’re discussing a character who has only been featured in a single game so far. Uncharted was quite a success and it may be that people are feeling some sense of real-world nostalgia. Some of the popularity of the title could be that for once someone’s making a real world title that isn’t a World War II game. Regardless, it’s definitely to say if Drake is a video game icon.
Dual-wielding was a very cool feature of Halo 2, but many of the weapons were underpowered on their own. This does make sense from a real world perspective (guns you can wield with one hand generally have less powerful rounds) and also from a gameplay perspective (if dual wield guns were on their own as powerful as single guns they’d be deadly in pairs). Due to this balancing though some of the guns felt underwhelming if they weren’t paired right. The SMG in particular was disappointing unless it was paired with something good at stripping away shields such as a Plasma Pistol or Plasma Rifle.
In Halo 3 Bungie toned down the power of dual-wielding weapons to balance out the multiplayer which further nerfed the power of the SMG, leaving it the best method of scratching an itch on approaching flood, but unable to do much damage. For the upcoming Halo 3 expansion, ODST Bungie has decided to revamp the weapon, making it more useful and a bit more powerful. It’s been upgraded to be more useful in a tactical sense. The weapon is now fitted with a silencer, ideal for a soldier being dropped behind enemy lines, a reflex sight and a smart-linked scope that’ll allow for some zooming in on your foes. It sounds like they’re trying to make it into a replacement battle rifle, but the post on Bungie’s site assures us that they’re still keeping it a tool for close quarters combat.
The XCM Dominator Joystick will be available for your PlayStation 3 sometime next week and it will only cost $89.99. If you feel like switching your regular PS3 controller for this XCM Dominator you’re in for serious gaming. With four programmable buttons and lots of blue unnecessary LEDs, you will certainly get a great gaming experience. You will certainly enjoy those buttons there which will let you preform great combo moves. And that’s not exactly cheating, is it?
And it case you were wondering you can plug two of those XCM Dominator Joysticks in your PlayStation 3 so you and your friends can perform combo moves against each other.
via extreme-mods
Sony Online Entertainment LLC together with Valve Corporation announced that some of Sony’s MMO titles will be available on Steam.
The games available include EverQuest and EverQuest II, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Pirates of the Burning Sea. During the first 10 days Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, EQ Secrets of Faydwer and EQII Rise of Kunark will be offered at special prices. Every new SOE game account will receive 30 days of free gameplay.
via SonyInsider
