"In 2003, scientists at Paignton Zoo and the University of Plymouth, in Devon in England reported that they had left a computer keyboard in the enclosure of six Sulawesi Crested Macaques for a month; not only did the monkeys produce nothing but five pages consisting largely of the letter S, they started by attacking the keyboard with a stone, and continued by urinating and defecating on it." - Wikipedia.com, Infinite Monkey Theorem

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

"Beware: may cause interdimensional radioactive monster-causing creature to appear..."

So it would appear that, for the next 12 months, Xbox 360 is the only place you'll be able to play a decent game of futball (or soccer, for you north Americans. Of which I am one).

Now, before I continue, I will concede that neither Fifa '07 or Winning Eleven were announced for the PS3 or Nintendo Wii, so a part of this is probably Microsoft's spin. That being said, this is still a pretty big deal, in my opinion, at least as it relates to those consoles. For one, EA wouldn't just "decided" not to release a copy of one of their staple franchises on two next-gen consoles--or one next-gen, one new-gen, if you prefer--for no particular reason. One reason could be because Microsoft through heaps of gold coins at them in bags marked with dollar signs. It's very likely, and a smart move on their part. They know they can't beat Nintendo and Sony in Japan, so they try to tighten their grip on the North American and (more so) European markets.

Then again, I think the length of this deals exclusivity is a bit more telling. For one, this is not the first multi-platform release that has been held back a year on the PS3. Could it be a sign that EA isn't quite sure about the PS3 and Wii? Perhaps they're unsure of the financial viability of rushing development for the two consoles at launch, considering the increasing development costs. Could also be a sign that the PS3 is indeed more difficult to program for than the other consoles, which developers have been whispering? Either are likely. In any case, this is a win for Microsoft, no matter how big or small.

God I love speculation.

Peace,
Ram

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

You know, over the last couple years I've tried to ignore the argument that PC Gaming is dead, or dying. I don't really buy it. People look at NTP numbers and think, "1-2% fluctuation in sales? PC gaming is over!". Over the last couple of weeks, however, there have been a couple claims, that really piss me off to the point that I must break my silence on the subject.

Now, I can understand why Michael Russell may say what he said. I mean, his game did not do anywhere near the kind of sales they were hoping, and considering it wasn't all that great to begin with, I'm betting he wanted to come up with a decent excuse for its failure. So sure, blame piracy, it works for the music business (see: sarcasm). But ID? What possible reason could ID have for making this argument? Doom 3 was one of the highest grossing games in 2004. What good are you doing to the PC community when you and your fellow developers are telling us that our platform is dying...because of us?

I think it's time we looked at a few facts. First of all, PC gaming is not the only place in the industry where piracy exists. I could go to China Town right now with $30CND in hand, and mod my PS2. Then I can go, rent a game--oh, lets say Okami, since it looks awesome--for about $5, burn it on a DVD, and be on my mary way of owning playing as many PS2 games as I like for about 10% of the retail price. Not to mention, since there are more consoles per house than gaming PC's these days, how many of those do you figure have been modded? You think maybe, just maybe, console gamers are just as bad for piracy as PC gamers are?

Secondly, PC game sales over the years have always been stable, if not marginally increasing. In terms of growth, online sales and microtransactions have completely transformed the way the PC market works. For one, MMO's are a huge cash cow. With 6 million players, I really doubt Blizzard is having a hard time racking in the dough. Direct to Drive formats like Steam, and EA's "Download", have also been able to generate plenty of sales without hurting the retail market. And if you want to talk about the games themselves, you don't really need to look further than Spore to see the ingenuity of PC games--though, if you want to look further, there's always Oblivion, Gothic 3, Dawn of War, World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Galactic Civilizations, Civ IV....you get the picture?

That's not to say that PC gaming is in perfect stability. There's are a few reasons that PC gaming hasn't been able to garner the kind of sales that the console market does. Sure, piracy is a factor. I never said it wasn't. But there are other, much bigger factors at work here. Lets consider the fact that there are fewer developers willing to work on PC games than console games--at least ones that aren't doing multiplatform. If you look at the sales stats over the last two years, you'd see that there were way more console games released than PC games--though the PC games, like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, were the more anticipated games. Or how bout the fact that retailers don't give a shit about pc games--I should know, I work for one. Have you been to an EB Games lately? The pc section is tiny, and usually in a dark corner with small movement space. So tell me, how can a platform defend itself when both retailers and developers are completely ignoring the market?

It really makes me shake my head when a company like ID, whose roots are deep in PC gaming, tries to make a case for the toe-tagging of the PC market. Way to help the cause.

Peace,
Ram

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

"...So would Mel Gibson think that Microsoft was like the Jews of the tech industry?"

So it would appear that Ziff Davis--the publishing house that owns 1up and it's accompanying magazines--has announced an "integrated media
collaboration" with Microsoft to rename Computer Gaming World(CGW) magazine. The magazine will stop production and will return in the fall as Games for Windows--presumably to be the voice of Microsoft's crusade to bring PC gaming back onto it's rightful thrown.

It doesn't entirely surprise me, considering Ziff Davis has been reported to have been scouting for buyers for its assets. I guess CGW was the first to go.
CGW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green clarified the change in a posting on the CGW message boards"

The bottom line, however, is that this is a GOOD thing. We will all miss the "CGW" name...we are going to be the same staff, writing the same articles, with the same point of view...Microsoft has NO say over our editorial content, and, in fact, it's part of the legally binding contract that they not interfere. So it's not even just a gentleman's agreement -- it's a legal reality...Microsoft is seriously upping their commitment to PC gaming. That's a good thing. And do I mind being a part of that? I do not. Not at all. And when they fuck up, we're gonna be right there, calling them on it. I promise.


If it was any other group of people, I'd probably call bullshit. But if there's any group to put faith it, it's 1up. Well, them and PC Gamer. But I do wonder if this is any indication as to what direction the other magazines will go in. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Do I hate it? Nah. Am I a little concerned? Sure. But only time will tell.

Peace,
Ram