The Gamers Arms

I assumed it was for PC as well. That's a shame.

Animalmother wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2024 4:38 pm

I assumed it was for PC as well. That's a shame.

There is still an exclusive arrangement with the Epic Store on PC, so Microsoft couldn't have it on PC. It's possible that it arrives on PC Game Pass when that exclusivity expires on the 22 April.

Some reports of a massive data breach at Epic, including account and payment details (Epic currently denying it though fwiw):

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/epic-g ... yment-info

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68434599
The ever growing trend of just laying off hundreds of staff rather than maybe the higher ups taking a pay cut. I wonder what the Star Wars FPS was going to be.

Animalmother wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:27 pm

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68434599
The ever growing trend of just laying off hundreds of staff rather than maybe the higher ups taking a pay cut. I wonder what the Star Wars FPS was going to be.

Rumoured to have been a Respawn Mandalorian game.

It's been pretty bloody difficult to be a Star Wars single-player videogame fan in the decade EA held exclusive rights to the license. It's just been promising project after promising project cancelled. Respawn did a fantastic job on Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor (and both of which have been, I think, commercial successes), bar the technical issues at least partially beyond their control, and I was looking forward to seeing what else they could do.

The firm said the "streamlining" would "deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans".

What utter manure. In what possible way does reducing the number of staff lead to "deeper experiences"? Do they seriously expect anyone to swallow that drivel?

Are mass layoffs now the only way big games companies know how to protect shareholder dividends? Are we going to see a mass exodus of CEOs within the next two or three years as they realise they've finally destroyed their companies in search of that constantly increasing bottom-line that is the only measure of their worth?

The guys who made Titanfall and 2 previously successful Star Wars games where making a Mandalorian FPS and someone decided to axe it?



From the BBC article...

"This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow."

Translation: We're recycling the same old shit that we think you idiots seem to like and the remaining staff had better fucking get on with it so they won't be on the next wave of layoffs.

Of course. It's just so difficult to come up with gaming success in one of the most wildly successful franchises in history.

Pretty naff CGI trailer for a new Terminator game. Apparently an open world FPS survival set a few years after Judgement Day, bit like Generation Zero maybe.

The most interesting thing in the video is at the end where it mentions a 4D 40th anniversary of The Terminator in October. Is it getting a re-release?

The film is 40 years old.... Jesus..

Interesting discussion on the current state of the gaming industry:

I think they're right that it's time for the rise of the AA game. The games I've enjoyed most in the last few years have been lower to mid budget games that prioritise fun over flash. I like cutting edge graphics and physics, but I much prefer games that take 5 years rather than 10 years to create because the developers aren't wasting time trying to push the technological envelope at the expense of the overall game quality.

Bethesda spent nearly a decade updating their engine and developing Starfield and frankly it doesn't look hugely better than Fallout 4. Elder Scrolls 6 is probably going to take them ages too. Remember when they took 3-5 years making great games like Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout 3? Those days seem to be gone, and I can't honestly point at what's been gained from their longer development cycles. Overambition is good until it becomes a crutch. The gaming industry needs more realistic goals.

For sure. I can't even remember the last time I didn't play a AA or indie game in favour of playing a AAA-game, let alone paying full-price for one.

I found their thoughts on the market's rejection of the new £70 price-point publishers are pushing (perniciously!) interesting, it makes sense sales are suffering when there's a glut of excellent games available for half that at launch.

Case in point is FF7 Rebirth, which I very much want to play. I could splash out and get the PS5 version for £70, or I could wait and get the cheaper, better PC version when it inevitably comes out, and instead buy House Flipper 2 this month for less than half the price of a new AAA console game. HF2 isn’t even AA, it’s more like a B, and yet it’s won my attention over a AAA game that I’m fully intending to play at some point.

I've never once bought a videogame for £70, and I don't think I will anytime soon. At the absolute maximum, I'll pay £50, but that's a once in a blue moon, extremely highly regarded title like Baldurs Gate 3. If they can't make games and sell them for a profit at that price, then they just need to spend less making them.

Now, I know that an executive will read that as is "I think we should let AI make games for us for minimal cost", but the game has to actually be good for me to spend money on it, and at £30-50, there's no way I'm gambling on that at launch. If you attempt to replace actual creative talent with unthinking AI, you're going to lose even more.

And frankly, platform-exclusivity can do one. I also want to play FF7:Rebirth, but it's the only Playstation exclusive I'm really interested in, and I've no plans to spend £470 on one game (because the concluding third is bound to release on PS6 with them taking this long between parts one and two). It's one of the few things that Microsoft have really done well in recent years, and now some of their exclusives are being farmed out to Nintendo and Sony, which is just good for the industry as a whole.

The problems are twofold I think. Firstly you now have a space in which decisions about gaming - what will be made, who will be laid off etc are being made by people with zero understanding of games and gamers. The second is simpler, the older I get and the more I see, I just feel that the utter, endless unbridled greed that corporate industries hold up as the absolute holy grail fucks, corrupts and destroys everything it touches. There is no amount of money that will satisfy them, ever, nothing they won't hack to pieces for a short term gain on the bottom line.

Sadly I don't see an end to it as it is a vicious circle. Any developer who makes hit game gets acquired by a big corporate. As mentioned, people with no understanding of the gaming audience then get to make decisions. Projects will be greenlit but be subject to swingeing budget cuts and unholy working practices to compensate. Talent will leave. Sub-par products will result and the studio will duly be axed, I mean, fuck it it's only a vaguely known brand-name. Oh and look over there, an independent developer who has just made a hit game, here we go again, buckle up.