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by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:50- Categories:
- DCEmu
The absence of new business models and platforms is the least of E3's worries - the press conferences were a brutal and troubling experience
Does E3 still matter? By now, you no doubt have your own view on the subject, and we here at GamesIndustry International have made no secret of our own, but this year's expo moved me in ways I didn't anticipate.
A week before the madness started, we published an article questioning the relevance of a show like E3 to an industry that seemingly changes with each passing month, expanding rapidly in every conceivable direction. This question is more relevant now than ever before, but unless you have a very short memory you'll know that this isn't the first time it has been asked.
Each year the same discussion begins, and each year it develops along very similar lines. And for all the compelling arguments that E3 is little more than a lumbering relic from a bygone era, the most convincing response is always the same: exposure. E3 is the one moment that those with no vested interest in the games industry give it more than a cursory glance, and this, we are told, really matters.
"This year, more than any other in memory, the act of watching the E3 press conferences was a truly discomfiting experience"
Exploring whether that notion holds any water would require a column of its own, but for the purposes of this argument I'm taking it at face value. E3 - and specifically the E3 press conferences - are the mask that the industry's biggest companies wish to present to the world, yet this year, more than any other in memory, the act of watching those presentations was a truly discomfiting experience: hour upon hour of elaborately choreographed mayhem and violence, interspersed with infrequent moments of quiet that only served to amplify the gleefully gruesome spectacle.
Goons were impaled by arrows, engulfed in flames, savaged by tigers, strangled, bludgeoned, shot and stabbed, mostly in the neck - E3 2012 was either the year of the bow or the year of the neck-stab, depending on who you ask. The stifling majority of demos were defined by or culminated in acts of loud and glorified violence, often accompanied by enough "****s" and "mother****ers" to make Quentin Tarantino blush.
I don't much mind that the Far Cry 3 demo opened on a pair of painted breasts, or that Crystal Dynamics believes that the ugly threat of rape is necessary for its new take on Lara Croft - as always, I'll put my faith in the creators, and allow the work to justify their decisions. But taken as a whole, the texture of this year's press conferences struck me as deeply unpleasant, and far removed from the endlessly diverse, creative and fascinating industry I write about every day.
We're so preoccupied with justifying E3 as the one moment that everyone's attention is on video games that we haven't stopped to consider what those people are actually seeing, and the thoughts that must wander through their minds as they turn away for another year. Violence has been a selling-point in games for as long as I can remember. I'm not so naive that I expect that to change, and I accept that others may see things differently, but I can't recall a time when it felt so dominant, so unapologetically central to how these companies see their audience and judge the value of their products.
"We're so preoccupied with justifying E3 for grabbing everyone's attention that we don't stop to consider what those people are actually seeing"
This was never more clear than during the climactic demonstration of The Last of Us at the Sony conference. Naughty Dog's next project is as beautifully rendered, richly atmospheric and skilfully performed as we can rightly expect from the creators of Nathan Drake and Uncharted. It is also stark and unflinching in its brutality; violence so immediate and forceful it left me breathless. But the crowd responded differently: they applauded as one assailant's windpipe was crushed between a wall and the protagonist's muscled forearm; they whooped and cheered as, moments later, his face was pulverised against the edge of a wooden desk.
The demo ended abruptly, as a human head was vaporised by a point-blank shotgun blast. The lights came up, the focus returned to Sony's Jack Tretton for his closing remarks, and in the brief moment before his unflappable professionalism kicked in, I swear I saw a look of utter confusion in his eyes. He clapped, he smiled, he said something along the lines of, 'How about that, huh?', but there was a glimmer of recognition that, in the world of AAA games in 2012, this is how you leave them wanting more.
What did Naughty Dog think of its game being used so hopelessly out of context, as the climax to so much amped-up, slo-mo destruction? I'd very much like to know. It seems clear to me that the intention behind The Last Of Us is not to whip crowds into a state of frenzy, but to create a sense of unease, a creeping disquiet at the unvarnished, punishing reality of a punch to the ribs or a lead pipe to the head.
Indeed, part of ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:48- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
The former Microsoft exec and Lionhead boss is also "shocked" by Microsoft's lack of attention to Windows gaming
In business, it's only natural to look across the board at the competition. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all keep a close eye on one another to see how respective strategies and product lines are evolving. According to ex-Lionhead leader Peter Molyneux, the Microsoft camp actually looks at Sony "obsessively."
In a wide-ranging interview with Molyneux last week at E3, GamesIndustry International prefaced a general question about Sony with our own comment that Molyneux and people in even higher offices at Microsoft must be constantly looking at Sony. Molyneux quickly noted, "Yes, very much so. Obsessively so."
Overall, Molyneux believes Sony's own first-party studio system could be its savior, but he's not sure the company's corporate troubles will enable them to flourish.
"If Sony can double down on those first party developers, give them the headroom to be inventive and be creative, especially when it comes it any next gen platform, then they could pull lots of rabbits out of the hat"
Peter Molyneux
"Sony has always had a very strong first person line-up, which I think is incredibly smart. They've got good developers. They've got some very talented developers. The way I always feel with Sony is that if they double down on those first party developers, give them the headroom to be inventive and be creative, especially when it comes it any next generation platform, then they could pull lots of rabbits out of the hat," he remarked.
"What I worry about, with their corporate pressure and the pressure on costs, I worry about the ability to do that. More and more - and this is a personal thing - I just don't know where they're going in hardware terms. They had the Move, but it wasn't as early as the Wii and it wasn't as innovational as Kinect. They seem to be third in line in that race. I have expected, every single press conference for the last year, Sony to bring out this magic rabbit out from a huge hat and say, 'Aha, world. You really don't realize what's going on.' And I do worry about them."
Sizing up Microsoft's E3 showing, Molyneux commented, "I thought it was a very smart move on their behalf to focus on demos. And actually, I thought EA's line, 'You're going to see ten great demos from ten great developers,' you could have said the same for Microsoft. I felt there wasn't nearly as much Kinect stuff as previous years, which was a little bit of a surprise and a shock to me."
He continued, "I like the SmartGlass thing that they were talking about but I didn't completely understand it. I'd like to have seen more examples of it. It sounded like it was a big thing, because here's Microsoft supporting Apple. It really didn't get a lot of play for that. I like the Nike Fitness product. I thought [the conference] was good. It was, as usual, super hyper-professional. They finished on the second. But what did it tell us about them structurally in the next two, three years? I don't think it said anything about it. I think - in fact, it almost painted a stone wall in my mind. It was like they were holding their breath and waiting for something else"
Molyneux sees all the console makers as struggling to deal with the reality that they're no longer the only game in town in 2012.
"It's always shocked me about how little Microsoft cared about the Windows platform. There was hardly a single talk about Windows 8 at all. You would've thought, with a billion installed machines, there would be at least some play"
Peter Molyneux
"It's going to be an interesting problem for all the console manufacturers I think. It's because so much computer entertainment, is spreading and diversifying over so many different platforms. They no longer have the luxury of keeping us all funneled into these consoles. A whole lot of manufacturers in the industry have been in a luxurious position for so long, where they could restrict the entertainment content to the masses. They did a very good job of squeezing the PC out and making this just about three formats and now it feels like it's sand dripping through their fingers. It's escaping from them," he observed.
Speaking of the PC, Molyneux was also surprised by Microsoft's continued lack of attention to the PC format for gamers.
"I would hope the next generation would bring about a new wave of innovation. If we don't do that in consoles, then you will find that those people that want innovation will start retreating to other formats. Look at the PC. It's incredible to me how there's been a resurgence in PC gaming. There's a lot more innovation now... I think that's the other thing about the Microsoft press conference. It's always shocked me about how little Microsoft cared about the Windows platform. There was hardly a single talk about Windows 8 at all. You would've thought, with a billion installed machines, there would be at least some play. And the whole metro interface is much more gamified, but there was no talk about it at all," Molyneux ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:47- Categories:
- PC News
Kids social network Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) will tonight be labelled as a “paedophile haven” by a special report on Channel 4 News tonight.
Kernel reports that the show will highlight “the extent of sexually explicit material on the social network”, with one newspaper already preparing national coverage.
It’s not the first time the site has been embroiled in grooming controversies but it is most certainly the highest profile investigation yet seen on the subject.
Investors in Habbo owner Sulake are expected to turn cold on the company as a result, with the second largest shareholder Balderton Capital expected to give up its 13 per cent stake and resign from the board.
“We were given some information a week ago that profoundly shocked us,” a Balderton spokesperson stated. “We had to ask ourselves whether we were comfortable being investors in a business where children were not being adequately protected.
“We didn’t take this decision lightly, as we have been investors in Sulake for over eight years, but the standards required to run a website that children have access to are very high. We felt the company was not meeting those standards.”
In the company’s defence, a former Sulake employee speaking anonymously claimed that “responsiveness to reports of inappropriate material on Sulake’s websites has been greatly improved” since current chief executive Paul LaFontaine was appointed in September 2011.
The same source adds that “the financial position of the company and the extent of the illicit activity on its networks was not properly explained” to the exec prior to his appointment.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/chann...e-haven/097802 ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:44- Categories:
- Nintendo 3DS News
For two decades, Nintendo has set a precedent - it iterates repeatedly on its handheld designs, making incremental revisions to extend the life of a system. The Nintendo DS alone received this treatment three times with the DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL. However it appears as though the company might be taking a different approach with the 3DS. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo is more focused on the 3DS's successor than anything else.
"I really feel like I'm satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is. I feel like it's the best for this generation," Miyamoto told me, when I asked about the Nikkei's recent report about a 3DS XL, and whether his company did have plans for something similar. The Nintendo executive noted that his company is always thinking about what's next. "What we're thinking about right now is probably going to be for a future generation of handheld."
Miyamoto did emphasize that he feels there is plenty more that can be done with this current hardware and 3D gaming in general. When asked about the option of including a second Circle Pad in future 3DS models, Miyamoto pointed out the system's gyroscope as a way to accommodate that need.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/06/1...eld-generation ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:43- Categories:
- Retro Consoles/Translation News
The best thing about mankind's constant quest to envision our own future is how totally and utterly wrong we constantly are. The Jetsons had suitcases that turned into cars. Back to the Future II had flying skateboards and a town built around a clean pond. Barb Wire thought it was a good idea to let Pamela Anderson hold a firearm. Not to be left out of the nonsense, video game developers spent the better part of the '80s, '90s and 2000s predicting a totally wrong future that would never actually happen. How can we prove that? Because in most cases, we've already passed the eras where these ridiculous visions were supposed to take place. For example...
Remember how good you felt after watching Spider-Man 2? Like the world was a bright and friendly place? Or when the rover Opportunity discovered that water had once been on Mars? That was such a great moment! Humanity was watching “LOST” and preparing for that trip to the Statue of Liberty, which had finally reopened after years of security concerns. Times were good, right?
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/06/1...to-video-games ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:41- Categories:
- PSP News
In a rather strange and altogether puzzling move, Sony and Square-Enix have announced that Final Fantasy III is coming to the PlayStation Portable. That’s right, not the PlayStation Vita. The PlayStation Portable. (However, it’s worth noting that the game should technically be playable on Vita should you choose to download the game to it.)
First discussed by Andriasang several days ago, the PSP version of the game is essentially a port of the Nintendo DS version that came to that handheld back in 2006. It’s due out in Japan on September 20th and will cost 3,990 Yen (approximately $50) on UMD and 3,300 Yen (approximately $41.50) on the PlayStation Network.
Further details note that the port will support 16:9 ratio, “a gallery mode with BGM and illustrations, the option for switching to the original Famicom/NES music, and an auto battle option that doubles the battle speed to two times.”
Final Fantasy III originally came to Famicom in April of 1990 and shouldn’t be confused with the SNES iteration of Final Fantasy III released in the west in 1994, which is in fact Final Fantasy VI. Initially scheduled to come to the Wondersawn in the early 2000s, western gamers didn’t get their hands on the game (legally and properly translated, anyway) until the 2006 Nintendo DS release. It was the last primary Final Fantasy game to be released in the west.
There’s no word yet on a western release of Final Fantasy III for PSP, though we’ll keep you updated as we learn more.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/06/1...-coming-to-psp
...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:36- Categories:
- PC News
One thing Diablo 3 has that many other games do not is a 'Real Money Auction House' (RMAH), which went live today for players with two factor authentication. Of course, mere hours before that, Blizzard publicly announced they would follow through on their promises. Accounts they have identified as cheaters and botters have been banned 'by the thousands.' No official number is out, but the news is indicating that as people get off of work and return home to their bot-wives and bot-kids they mayfind themselves without a valid Battle.net account (possibly tied to other games like SCII and WoW). Blizzard has also included many fixes to remove/dissuade many other exploits but if their past arcane attitude toward the 'gamers of the game' is any indication, thousands will be unhappy.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...rmah-goes-live
...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:35- Categories:
- Apple News,
- Android News,
- Apple iPad,
- Apple iPhone
Analytics firm Flurry recently posted a report comparing the new projects being undertaken by developers for mobile apps on Android and iOS. According to their data, significantly more projects are started for iOS than for Android. The gap has been slowly shrinking over the past few quarters, but it's still bigger than it was a year ago. "For every 10 apps that developers build, roughly 7 are for iOS. While Google made some gains in Q1 2012, edging up to over 30% for the first time in a year, we believe this is largely due to seasonality, as Apple traditionally experiences a spike in developer support leading up to the holiday season." The iPad's dominance of the tablet market is one of several reasons for the gap. "In Flurry’s estimation, the fragmentation of the Android platform is increasing the cost and complexity of app development, perhaps curbing third-party investment in software."
http://developers.slashdot.org/story...rom-developers ...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:31- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
But top-end titles 'may move to new platforms such as TV after the next generation of consoles'
Triple-A games will not disappear in the near to long term future, industry icons Ian Livingstone and Peter Molyneux have claimed.
Speaking at the Bafta Games questions time, the games veterans agreed that triple-A development was here to stay, although the way in which customers recieve it may change.
“I don’t think triple-A games will ever go away because they are still leading the way in terms of production values, investment and R&D,” said Eidos life president Ian Livingstone.
“It’s just how the next consoles are going to survive, will there be any hardware after the next-generation? Probably not, it’ll probably all be embedded in TV.”
22 Cans founder and former creative director of Microsoft Games Studios Europe Peter Molyneux said that whilst the sector for blockbuster games would not disappear, there would be less and less titles meeting the high standards expected at the top-end of gaming.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...going-anywhere
...by Published on June 13th, 2012 00:30- Categories:
- Nintendo Wii News
Failed tablet 'won't be buried in the desert'
THQ's new president Jason Rubin has announced his company hopes to sell the remaining 1.4 million units of uDraw tablets that remain unshipped.
The failure of the uDraw cost the company $100 million, and led to a restructure which has seen several studios shuttered, projects cancelled, and hundreds of layoffs.
Rubin was not at the company at the time uDraw was released, but he still believes there are important lessons to be learned.
"Don't create a drawing tablet right before they release an iPad," he told Polygon.
"That's a pretty good takeaway. I'm not sure how that happened."
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ng-uDraw-units
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