Halo 3 is putting up its price

by Eduard on June 13, 2009

The latest of a series of price questions has been raised against Microsoft’s Halo 3. The game was announced earlier as just an expansion pack, and definitely not a full game, or stand alone title. Jo Staten said very definitely that this game wasn’t meant to be a complete retail experience, and microsoft was looking to price it something ‘value based.’ But OSDT has been announced as a complete, stand alone game, with the standard $60 price tag.

The question being asked is why. Microsoft has justified the price on the base of content, with a  full single player campaign, which is brand new, and a new co-op fire fight mode, as well the complete Halo Multi-player collection on a single disk! It seems a lot. But if you’re playing multi-player you already have most of the content, except for the 3 new maps.
So its hard to say if the game is really something new, or just a new story in the same overall world… I mean instead of telling the story of character a, you’re playing the story of character b, everything else remaining constant.
Well I dont know, how different the stories are, might actually make the difference in the end. So we’ll just wait

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The Bargain by- gamers Vs. developers

by Eduard on June 13, 2009

So these days everyone needs wants more money, the recession has hit everywhere! Even the gaming industry, naturally is suffering, but its suffering rather interestingly! People keep questioning pricing decisions. I’ve already done a piece of the PSPgo, and on Left for Dead 2, and now its Halo 3. Though the game was indeed announced  as an expansion, it has since then morphed into a complete campaign game, with a decent amount of new multi-player content as well, including I think what is a new kind of Multi-player game.

So, somehow I never saw people really questioning the price of games, quite frankly, I thought you just buy what you see, and if you don’t like the price, look for something cheaper! But I suppose what has changed is that with Franchise games coming out in several sequels etc. The gamer feels entitled to continue that relation ship with the game series, and so has a legitimate demand for a price that is accessible to him.
But the nature of ‘bargaining’ is sort of dif. Because while in the case of most products, sellers can keep the actual contents and quality secret, and actually charge you premiums on assumed better quality… in the gaming industry, the quality bit is really not something gamers bother with.
Quality is just sort of assumed! And rightly too, cause game developers will try to keep ahead of the pack to attract newer gamers, and so the quality is something gamers don’t necessarily need to pay for, the competition takes care of that. Actually also, the quality of the physics and stuff in a game are sort of pre-determined by which generation of gaming we’re in.
So the bargaining is actually a very basic sort of we want more for the same price kind of peeve.   Which makes me wonder, whether or not its just the usual every guy wants more for his dollar kind of syndrome or do these guys really have a point?
And I guess the answer is, it varies from game to game, and what’s going on!
I’d really like to figure out how powerful the gamers are in such a negotiation. Like the proposed L4D2 boycott having any effect on the developers? And what could the possible repercussions for the game be, if the boycott actually is successful… with every franchise attracting a core set of die hard fans of the game, its becomes truly difficult to see the real effects of this whole negotiation will be.

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The Band Convenes… MTV ROCK BAND

by Eduard on June 12, 2009

So I’m just curious here, but I’ve just read about this thing call the MTV Rock Band Game… I’m not quite sure what that means, or how that plays out, but judging from i’ve read about the game, its not all that great really. I’ve tried playing the guitar, and hell, its not a question of pressing buttons at the right time, or anything as simple as that. Actually why the game has to have such an elaborate controller for what is essentially just an 8 button controller beats me. Perhaps the once more Fun is more important than reality, but i’m pretty sure with something like this, it shouldn’t be hard to make the experience a little more real, without loosing its quality. I mean quite frankly the system definitely has the potential to actually teach someone the instrument he’s playing.

Case in point being the drumming, though its a super simplified 4 drum kit, I think, from the looks of it you could really learn to play the drums on a kit like that… which is pretty cool. Perhaps a little more maturity in the guitar simulation is what I’m asking for. And why cant they make a title like this or in reality that can teach one to play the guitar, which by the way is a very technical thing, and varies with as much as a small change in the pressure you apply to the fret board, and whether or not you press the strings down straight… things like this are pretty crazy… specially on an electric guitar.
Still its a good start, so I’m hoping for something better, and perhaps a virtual tutorial isn’t that far away. Though if that’s to happen the current generation of music game peripherals are going to be woefully inadequate.

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Sony looking for a jumpstart with the Go

by Eduard on June 11, 2009

The PSPGo, is supposed to be the next big thing in handheld gaming, but is it? It isn’t much of a step up really from the PSP3000 and has all the same features, the only additions being 16gb of onboard memory and integrated bluetooth! Which is okay, in terms of upgrades, but the problem is honestly the price range. With production costs being as low as they are with this machine, and almost no development, you have to wonder why it commands a price of $24, which is basically what the PSP1000 cost when the whole idea was entirely brand new.

Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities says the game really isn’t much of anything. Thougg its forty percent lighter and fifty percent smaller than the PSP3000 its hard to justify the price, cause a lighter, smaller machine should cost less. He also mentioned that development costs for the PSPGo had been slashed by 80%. He says that producing the PSP3000 is cheaper than the PSPGo, and hence it should cost less? In his opinion the Go is priced to high to entice early adopters and then the price will later be slashed when demand dries up. This sort of an underhand tactic will earn Sony millions.
Well I cant really comment on whether or not the price is justified, and even if it is, I wont be buying it! Quite happily, more than half the time for me, the question of value for money, in the case of many gadgets is just academic…

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Modern Warfare 2 is fun?!

by Eduard on June 11, 2009

So, the latest buzz in town is Modern Warfare 2. After the pretty phenomenal success of the first game, this one is supposed to be another cracker of a game. The secret to the games success, and fans agree is the balance that the game achieves between realism and fun. What Studio director Zapella calls authenticity. He explains it simply as a product of what makes an action flick work, ‘its a little over the top, but its what makes it great.’

The Call of Duty series has been a great success through out its career, and these last two installments have been true feathers in the cap. While a break with reality, and this focus on action movie style fun has perhaps been the trick, another interesting thing they do is merge some various kinds of gameplay together. one such example will be a couple of ‘open’ stages in the latest game, where gamers in GTA style can figure out there own way in, and out of victory etc.
While some gamers might prefer the more structured, sort of shoot ‘em up in a line gaming, I’m sure this  kind of innovation will go a lot further than just add a little variety to the game and will go a long way towards the evolution of a less ‘defined’ gaming experience.

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NFS Shift…

by Eduard on June 10, 2009

The new NFS game is on the cards. I’m not sure when they’re going to release, but soon seems like a good bet. The game has been changed dramatically from what we’ve got used to in NFS games. The story line and models(one of my favorite, if also the most disappointing parts) are out, leaving just pure, stunning, awesome racing. Or at least that’s the plan.

The game is going to be entirely racing based, and being produced by slightly mad studios you can expect good things from them. The screen shots already look perfect, and I can barely wait to get my hands on the game. The cars look amazingly good, and have a more professional look to them.

The game itself is said to focus more on just the playing experience, and not on many frills, while customization is rather extensive, as are the tuning options, giving drivers a much more comprehensive feel when driving.

The game itself is going to be more event based, so it’ll be more arcade style. The interesting things is that for the first time, NFS aims to have the game played from within the cockpit, which means a serious change. The cockpit experience has so been changed, allowing one to see much more than usual, dials, buttons etc. the coolest thing is the reaction from the drivers hands in the game, they grip harder and release etc.

The game will also feature normal pro. Nos, which means that opportunistic button punching is out of the question, you’ll have to plan better. But more importantly, Drift is back… hell yeah!

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Sims 3 is a knockout!

by Eduard on June 10, 2009

Sims 3, is finally out, and well, people are going gaga over it, it seems. EA games has reported 1.4 million PC/Mac units sold since its June 2nd release. Even more interesting is the vast amount of player created content being downloaded, things like houses, parks, furniture, and pretty much anything. Also the game is top of the list on payable apps in the app store of i-phones.

While the sims’ world is definitely growing green, and EA is reporting its best ever PC release, I cant help but wonder why does the sims concept work. I’m not going to call all players escapist… but none the less why not just be what you do in the game outside.

Well, I know its easier, hell I was making out with a chic in under 5 mins of conversation when I played, something quite amazing, I really didn’t feel that good. While I’m sure the game has many things you’d never really wanna do, it might still be fun to figure out ways of doing the cool stuff you always wanted to do in real life.

The game is fun, but I don’t know, everything in there, from what little I know, is just too ‘ordinary,’ and everyday for it to jog my imagination. None the less I guess we all wanna earn in the 6 figures, so do what it takes.

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Race Track Rivalry

by Eduard on June 10, 2009

Developers of the Grand Tourismo series were supposed to debut their new game GT5 at the E309, but didn’t. Polyphony the developers of the series are coming under fire or failing to do so, and gamers and pundits alike are both nervous about the planned Dec 09 releases, however developers say the game will still come out on time.

The Grand Tourismo series has long been considered one of the best, if not the best racing sim. Series out there, but it is unfortunately an exclusive PS title. The Forza series is the Microsoft come back. Forza 3 was supposed to go head to head with GT5, but unfortunately Sony only showed a trailer of the game. For the first time the series sees damage modeling, however, nothing more was revealed, even in press conferences later.

Greenwalt the franchise director for Forza said he was surprised that GT didn’t show up, while his game was playable on the floor at E3.

He also added that he felt like he was taking over from Yamouchi-san, the owner of polyphony and GT brain. He said that GT was his inspiration to get into gaming, and he did so only because of how much he loved that game… and then he went and joined the competition? He says that if feels like he’s taking over from Yamouchi-san, because the GT series hasn’t really come out with anything new is sometime.

Essentially this could be a story of the pupil outdoing the teacher, except the teacher never wanted to be out done… and is being outdone by the greatest competition he faces. My advice? Teacher go ask him for his right thumb! It’s a mahabharat story, drop a comment if you wanna more.

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Valve lets the steam through!

by Eduard on June 9, 2009

Valve in response to its fans turning hostile has this to say. They had decided on so much to change in the game, so many ‘upgrades,’ that it added up to a game on its own. The content they felt was just to much to be an update/upgrade, but definitely stood on its own.

They re-affirmed that as a publisher they were committed to put as much into the box as they could, and they would stick to that philosophy. They also assured fans that the promised content for the first game would definitely be coming out, and players of left for dead would not be disregarded, but treated in an appropriate manner.

It’s hard to say which party here stands in the right, and we’re left with a tough one to call. Personally I feel games should be free, along the lines of this one site I found, it lets you download free games because they’re full of images of products. Why don’t Valve or someone do that? Ask someone else to pay us for playing Valve games. Everyone is happy…

Personally I don’t know what the big deal is anyway? Anything you buy today is obsolete by the time you pay the credit card bills, hell the way we’re going, credit cards will be obsolete by the time we pay their bills! Let’s hope we can stay one step ahead of the curb… or whatever is out to get us!

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Left for Dead 2 is left for dead?

by Eduard on June 9, 2009

There seems to be a brawl brewing over the Left for Dead 2 release planned for later this soon… too soon apparently. Fans of the original are claiming the sequel is more of an update, and the individual gaming components being sold are not enough to justify an entirely new title. What’s more, they’ve ‘organized.’ Yup gamers are going political, and they’ve getting together.

Over 19 thousand gamers have declared a boycott of the game, leaving developers valve with a lot of steam to get rid of. The gamers claim the content being released now should only considered additional content for the game, and that it doesn’t warrant the price tag, both qualitatively and quantitatively of a new title on its own.

They claim that Valve hasn’t yet delivered on its promise to provide free or ‘otherwise’ updates for its game, and that by releasing the sequel, Valve will in fact bifurcate the multiplayer community between the two games, and so reduce gaming quality. Also as the game releases to soon after its predecessor, it will render the first game obsolete too soon after its release.

The gamer demand for compensation, including releasing the sequel as additional content, or discounted prices for owners of the first game.

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