Dwell On It » Gaming

Ubisoft is right, but for the wrong reasons

Tateru Nino — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:31:47 +0000

Citing 95% PC piracy rates, Ubisoft seems to be quitting the PC games market. The problem with games piracy statistics are manifold: Nobody actually knows what the piracy rates really are (though they seem to be likely to be on a par with console piracy rates – probably – since there’s certainly no shortage of console games piracy), and there are other factors involved like release-timing, product quality and pricing that all play their part.

Ubisoft’s PC versions of their games have become increasingly so slapdash and cack-handed that it isn’t really surprising that PC gamers simply don’t want to buy them. I don’t have to tell you that this does not make for a good business model for the PC games market, but someone should probably tell Ubisoft.


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Big publishers’ AAA focus is good for Indie game devs

Tateru Nino — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:19:03 +0000

There are essentially two broad classes of games that sell. There are the so-called ‘AAA’ titles, which might be big financial hits or big financial flops, and there are ‘ordinary’ titles – games with a lower production value, but significantly less financial risk involved. In times past, those ordinary titles have been the mainstay of the games industry, sometimes incurring modest losses, but more often providing the steady income that offsets the big flops in a publisher’s ‘AAA’ stable.

With big publishers increasingly focusing on those ‘AAA’ titles and shying away from those mainstay games, money is left on the table. Money that Indie devs are well-suited to pick up.


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The level 20 rule

Tateru Nino — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:22:05 +0000

It’s been a while since I wrote about MMOGs professionally, but that doesn’t stop me having an interest. I have half a dozen MMOGs installed, and was recently ‘comped’ a copy of Star Trek Online and 60 days of game-time. I’ve just hit the equivalent of roughly level 20 (Commander, grade 1), and that set me to thinking.

Once you hit approximately level 20 in an MMOG, you’ve essentially seen all of the gameplay innovation that the game is going to offer, in all of the combinations that it is going to be offered.

A clear reduction

Tateru Nino — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:17:34 +0000

“In-principle” agreement on R18+ classification could delay R18+ classification indefinitely

Tateru Nino — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:36:06 +0000

I know, it seems like the various State Attorneys General coming to an “in-principle” agreement in favour of an R18+ rating for games would be a good thing for… well, actually for getting the rating passed.

However, it actually isn’t and it could delay this repair to the classifications system indefinitely. If the “in-principle” agreement hadn’t been announced, we’d likely have had an R18+ classification in the works by next week. As it is, it is actually looking increasingly doubtful that it will turn up any time soon.

Play it now – Game Dev Story

Tateru Nino — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:46:35 +0000

Got an Android device handy? Want a cool little management game for just a couple bucks?

Give Kairosoft’s Game Dev Story a whirl. Currently, the game is 40% off to celebrate the release of their newest game, Hot Springs Story.

Game Dev Story is just what it sounds like. A game about developing games.


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Script blocks

Tateru Nino — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:00:33 +0000

This game (currently in alpha) reminds me partly of making Redstone circuits in Minecraft, and partly of some of the more complex and ambitious scripted systems in Second Life – where object oriented programming can involve actual visible objects, and motion and colour can be used to monitor or debug system states.

No faith in Yee

Tateru Nino — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:43:44 +0000

California State Senator Leland Yee has just spent somewhere in the ballpark of a million Californian taxpayer dollars to have his bill on violent video games struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Again.

Yee says he’s going to do it again. In fact, that would make the third time he’s heaped all of that money into a pile and metaphorically set fire to it.

It doesn’t get any cheaper

Tateru Nino — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:57:14 +0000

It’s an awkward time for games-publishers as the industry and market performs a very slow and protracted migration from physical retail sales to digital distribution.

You might think that with an increasing percentage of copies of games titles being sold via digital distribution channels that the publishers’ costs would be falling. Well, it isn’t getting any cheaper for them.


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Play it now – Avadon: The Black Fortress

Tateru Nino — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:05:40 +0000

Power. Intrigue. Ambition.

Five nations held together in an uneasy alliance, threatened by neighbouring nations, and troubled by their own differences. Choices you make early on affect later events.

No sex as a reward. The Witcher 2 modified for Australian audiences

Tateru Nino — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:50:15 +0000

I’ve written a review of The Witcher (the original game), and you might want to check that out.

Now, moving on to The Witcher 2, which is due for release this month.


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Plants vs Zombies vs disaster

Tateru Nino — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:18:41 +0000

Gaia Online raises $50,000 for disaster relief, uncaps donations

Tateru Nino — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:51:53 +0000

Due to the severity of problems in Japan, and the terrific response of the Gaia Online community in purchasing the fund-raising items that are on offer, Gaia Online has removed the original $10,000 donation cap.

Gaia Online joins in virtual-world fund-raising for Japan disaster victims

Tateru Nino — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:00:26 +0000

Gaia Online has also entered the ring with its own fund-raising efforts for victims of the disasters in Japan.

So, how’s that working out?

Tateru Nino — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:09:32 +0000

So, you might remember my writing about how Activision reaffirmed its commitment to triple-A teams, basically continuing working on the strategy of only making blockbuster hit games – just like every other big player in the gaming industry seems to be doing.

So, how’s that been working out for them?


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New comic: Public Service

Tateru Nino — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:09:49 +0000

Jump to the new comic, or new readers can click the banner to begin at the rather rough beginning:

Arx Fatalis gets update and source release

Tateru Nino — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:40:25 +0000

Arx Fatalis is actually really rather a cool game. Think Ultima Underworld, fully jazzed up and with a nifty story full of surprising twists. I might produce a review of it at some later stage.

Arx isn’t a new game by any stretch of the imagination, being more than eight years old, and it had persistent performance issues except in the lower resolutions and on some specific hardware. Nevertheless, a patch (1.21) suddenly appeared which fixes all of that – although it actually maybe feels a little fast now.

Apparently it is the final patch for Arx Fatalis, but it is accompanied by the source-code under the GPL 3 (with a couple minor exceptions).

Play it now – SpaceChem

Tateru Nino — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:28:43 +0000

Do you remember when I wrote about Gondola? Did you tragically lose a half a day to its rapacious mechanisms?

Well, I nearly didn’t get this piece about SpaceChem written. I didn’t want to stop playing long enough to write it. So be careful, it’ll eat a chunk of your day (or even days) and it’ll eat twenty bucks. You might also be afflicted with high levels of intellectual stimulation and fun. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Owning the Playstation 3

Tateru Nino — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:58:58 +0000

Not too long ago, I had a big grumble about how modern consoles essentially weren’t owned by the purchasers – since the manufacturer could limit or change the capabilities of the devices more or less at will, alter the effective market value of the device in their sole discretion and so on. It was clear that ownership of the console continued to vest in the manufacturer, by the various legal tests for property.

The Playstation 3 was originally a much more open platform, allowing you the possibility of actually running your own software on it, but then Sony took that away, and asserted the rights of ownership when anyone attempted to open it back up.

Well, the Playstation 3 is now owned by users. Pretty much permanently.

Achievements

Tateru Nino — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 07:02:18 +0000

It’s taken me a while to really nut out what it is that I do not like about achievements.

Achievements commoditise gameplay. They turn fun into commerce.


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