Monthly Archives: June 2013

Naughty Dog catching heat?

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Apparently Ellen Page isn’t happy about developer Naughty Dog (Uncharted series). She didnt like them making the character Ellie in its recent hit The Last of Us look a bit like her. I’ll admit there is some resemblance, and the teen angst thing Ellen Page does well is there too (Ashley Johnson is talented as well). She basically said it “wasn’t appreciated” seeing as she is already involved in the game Beyond: Two Souls which releases October 8th in North America on Playstation 3.

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On top of that drama, apparently the Boston transit map was used without permission. Here is the link below.

http://t.co/3EDFql6

Why used games are bad for business

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In todays world, consumers have the right to reject a product. They can “troll” on the internet, cry, scream, and moan until they get what they want. To me, that is exactly what a child does. This child mentality works, only because consumers drive the business. That still doesn’t make it right.

Imagine you are a software developer. You spend years working on a big-budget project, only to have a middle-man essentially cut you out of your only revenue stream by forcefully pushing used copies of your product at their store. Developers and publishers recieve nothing for used sales. Not to mention the fact that Gamestop will sell a used copy for only 5 bucks less.

I continue to see consumers say things like  “The developers make plenty of money and just want more”! That may be true. However, how would you feel if somebody showed up and just started taking money from you? They rigorously discourage new copies so they can pocket all the money. Sounds a bit shady, and manipulative.

We (as consumers) are selfish. We pretend be infatuated with the geniuses making these games, and act like a mob when they change something. We have to understand that video games don’t have multiple revenue streams like other digital media. Movies are totally different because A: They are “exclusively in theaters” for at least a few months, B: a much wider audience, and C: even after the theaters, they make deals with companies (On Demand, Netflix, VUDU) that allow you to pay and stream their content- And that is just to name a few.

Nothing is free kids! Big-budget games aren’t cheap! The same “ownership” that you say is being taking away from you, is being taken away from them with used copies. All that money Gamestop piles up is milked from the creative minds of the developers.

Do you support the people who made the game, or the bottom-feeders that exploit those who spent long hours, and many years creating it? Think about it before you “rage quit” a system that tries to give pubs and devs alternative revenue streams, so they can try to be optimistic about the future.

Microsoft changes Xbox One policies

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Microsoft went back to the drawing board (figuratively speaking) and changes its policies regarding used games and online “check-ins” to much applaud just a couple of hours ago.

Now the Xbox One policies will be identical to the Xbox 360 policies that we are all accustomed to. Games can be sold, lended, or traded wherever you like, games will still operate from the disk, renting is still possible, and no online requirement (I do think the “offline” mode will require a downloadable patch though).

This is music to a lot of fans ears, despite the news affecting some of the new ways to share games via the cloud. No more “family sharing”, as you now require the disk,  and no “digital” trades (even though we had no idea how that was going to work anyway).

Nonetheless, fans are stoked and this ultimately means Microsoft has now left only one card for Sony to play… Price point. The console war is now shaping up to be a very different war then a lot of people thought it would be post E3. I’m sure Sony is scrambling to find something else to “one-up” its biggest rival, as this is definitely something I’m sure they didn’t expect.