Red Barrel Fever: January 2011

Soundtrack for this Blog:-
New Model Army - Vengence
Magazine - The Light Pours Out of Me
Bad Brains - I And I Survive
Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me
Big Business - Technically Electrified
The Birthday Massacre - Video Kid
PVT - Crimson Swan
DEVO - Watch Us Work It
Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - In Motion
Tubeway Army - Me! I Disconnect From You
The Depreciation Guild - November
Part Chimp - Crash The High Octave
School Of Seven Bells - Bye Bye Bye
Daft Punk - Recognizer
Clinic - You Can't Hurt You Anymore
Queens Of The Stone Age - Mexicola
Deftones - CMD/CTRL
Mochipet - Full Frontal Face Melt
Cougars - There's No "High" In Team
Pop Will Eat Itself - There Is No Love Between Us Anymore
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Monsieur Cutts
Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
The Faint - The Geeks Were Right
Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion

Forgive me for being a bit vague in the following paragraphs, it is intentional, I don't want to burn my bridges just yet ;D
These are concerns formed from what I have been currently reading.
If I discover any more revelations, I will include them, whether they counter my previous thoughts or reinforce them.

As I understand it, the main problems arising today, regarding video game production, is that the Marketing tactics executed by the reigning giants of the industry, will increase the cost of development.
Smaller Developers will have to focus more on shorter IP's with long term playability, with additional content added over time using online features (DLC).

It could be compared to a noteworthy Art house, Indie film alongside a Major Movie studio's Summer blockbuster.
There is an audience for both and all those involved in their production, should enjoy their time in the spotlight and reap the rewards.

Twisted Pixel are an Independent Developer

Unfortunately each console manufacturer tries to increase the complexity of programming onto their machine, to encourage developers to stick to an exclusive single platform release.
The problem that Developers face is that they intend to produce multiple platform releases to recoup their lost expenditure incurred during development.
In this current economic climate it is the only way for them to stay in business.
A moderate hit is a massive loss for them.
Blockbuster or just bust!

Another factor that can either help or hinder is outsourcing. It can help towards meeting a deadline for a smaller team but requires more managing and scheduling.
A potential risk that Developers must face now and factor into their companies best interests.

The business model that Publishers favour is to rely on games based on previous industry successes. In some cases, smaller companies are swallowed by Publishers, just to get the revenue to finish an ambitious game, whilst bigger companies express interest, mainly, in Licensed Properties, Franchises and Sequels, which are a mixed bag.
Some are surprisingly impressive (Batman: Arkham Asylum) where as others are just dreadful (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) and have little innovation and minimal replay value. The main draw back being how broad an audience these titles have to be aimed at.
Ranging from young Children to middle-aged Adults. This usually has a detrimental effect on the complexity of the IP's control system, story content and game length.

Not all Franchise IP's are awful, but they are a very 'safe' choice. Some are 'carbon copies' of previous games, that had been a success in their time, re-branded and re-jigged but essentially a victim of 'Pong Cloning'.

It is another example of a lack of foresight from big companies towards their own industry's achievements. They have come such a long way and still can not learn from the mistakes of the past. There is a real danger of the Market, once again, becoming saturated with the same game with a slightly different face, "sequel-itis" as it was called on this webpage:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2008/id20080616_308043_page_3.htm

This should be a time of innovation.

The three main consoles have earned their stakes. Microsoft's success is a reflection of Sony's and Nintendo never seems lost for ideas or an audience for that matter.
Their focus should be striving to accomplish how to improve and maintain the quality of what they have achieved.
They make new worlds to explore. Go with that.

Instead of reacting to 'sound and fury' marketing schemes , which briefly grab the customers attention, but generally 'signify nothing'. The 'Big Three' should be focusing on producing good quality IP's by aiding the developers and publishers in their process. Essentially protecting them
from these underhanded strategies. After all these consoles need games to validate their existence. Otherwise what are they? DVD players!

With the recent trend of hand-held gaming accelerated by Apple Devices, the market has been plagued by plagiarism and IP theft.
Capcom's Maxplosion is a mirror image of Twisted Pixel's Splosion Man:-
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/capcom-faces-iphone-clone-controversy-over-maxplosion-game

More news about bad practice:-
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-01-14-hand-circus-founder-questions-gameloft-stance

To some people, this visual realm is considered a new form of artistic expression.
Shouldn't there be a bit more respect for innovation? An appreciation for a team's vision.

FAR CRY 2 by Ubisoft Montreal

ALAN WAKE by Remedy Entertainment

HALO REACH by Bungie

FINAL FANTASY XIII by Square-Enix

HALO REACH by Bungie (again)

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS by Team ICO

ENSLAVED: OTTW by Ninja Theory

ENSLAVED: OTTW by Ninja Theory (again)

UNCHARTED 2 by Naughty Dog

UNCHARTED 2 by Naughty Dog (Once more, with feeling :)

It seems like they have failed to realise the potential that games are now offering.
This is a burgeoning frontier of entertainment that they have control of, they can make any realm a reality. Anything is possible.

Video games now out-gross the film industry and in some regard, offer more entertainment value and depth than current films, (Uncharted, Alan Wake) they have also expanded the market to include the whole household as a customer.
More importantly, there has been a complete lack of demand for any new consoles to be introduced. Aside from the race to release the newest inovation of a controller free interface (Kinect and Playstation Move) it is still a peripheral device for the current consoles.

As of right now, the customer seems satisfied, so keep them that way.
No ridiculous 'add-on's'. (Sega R.I.P.)
Reduce subscriptions costs for online accounts.
Provide reasonable support for Developers. Otherwise, NO GAMES!
Market goes Crash-Boom-Crash! (again)

Microsoft recently removed backwards compatibilty for old Xbox games with the latest system update. I can see Downloadable Content being thrust upon us very soon.

A lot of people are going to have to repurchase their gaming library, if they want to be able to enjoy those classic titles again!

Another pressing matter, that concerns us directly, is the real need for our government to support this industry, instead of turning it's nose up.
Canada and France are benefitting from a government aided Tax Break.
Before the coalition, there was a 20% Tax Break to be implemented in the UK.
Alas, within six weeks of the announcement, it was dropped.
Last year the games industry contributed 1 million pounds to the UK economy.

With more support, surely this figure will increase dramatically?

"A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers"
Plato

Sunday, 16 January 2011

This Short Film Deserves Some Screen Time \{'_'}/

Saturday, 15 January 2011

Remedy = Remove Curse / Where do we Game from here?

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