Game News 2.0

pixelburp

As the adage goes: you can have it fast, cheap or good - but you gotta pick two. Except in the Games Industry, where economics seem to get sucked into some weird black hole of chaos; the artists and developers the first to be thrown into the maw.

Mind you, that's not a screed against management: we've seen enough developer-led disasters where projects overrun because of untethered ambition (Duke Nukem Forever, Star Citizen etc, though open to correction). The latest NoClip featured a chat with the developers behind a level in Dishonoured 2 and one particularly complex aspect did get hobbled by money; it just would have costed too much to record al the extra lines needed.

Retr0gamer

It's why I said the majority of times. John Romero's article on gamasutra about the development of Daikatana is a fantastically candid article about developer level management blunders. It's only on wayback machine now but worth a read.

pixelburp

Ah, Daikatana. I'm glad Romero is still working and seems like a genuinely nice guy - and sounds like he was aware of his mistakes (not looking at anyone in particular, Peter Molyneux) - but yikes Daikatana was one for the ages.

Markitron

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117635892#Comment_117635892

You should see the shite that Capcom were spouting while developing RE6, they definitely set out to make a bad game, and they seriously succeeded.

Retr0gamer

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636527#Comment_117636527

Pretty sure the japanese devs working on that game were not thrilled to be making a boring by the numbers shooter with gaemplay mandated by what management believed where the current trends of the time.

It's pretty much a case of design by managerial committee.

Markitron

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636635#Comment_117636635

I suppose it depends on where you draw the line on what is a developer and what is management. For example I would still consider a game director a developer, even though they are also management, and the director of that game was spewing out some serious nonsense.

Retr0gamer

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117638051#Comment_117638051

In japanese game development, the director is upper management and dealing with shareholders while over seeing the game. The Planner is what would be the creator lead of a project, so like a director in a western made film. Sometimes the planner will be called a producer even but director is always upper management.

Mr Crispy

https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1417454497807409160?s=20

Can't be any more insipid than Clancybowl, surely?

Grumpypants

Just make district 10 and stop pissing about Neill.

pixelburp

I just had whiplash with the speed I went from excitement to apathy...

Neil Blomkamp does a game!! Yes!!!

It's a AAA multiplayer shooter. Oh.

Mal-Adjusted

Christ, I finally saw that XDefiant trailer. That quiet rumbling you feel is Tom Clancy rolling in his grave.

J. Marston

Farewell, PES...

https://twitter.com/FootballlForAll/status/1417799690406531080

I hadn't played it in years but PES 2-6 were the best football games. Starting Master League with Castello, Ordiz, Espinas and the boys.

pixelburp

The best they could come up with was eFootball? Free to play eh, can see that going perfectly fairly and without issue. And at this point I'll insert my usual grumble about how arcade sports don't exist anymore 🤣

Mr Crispy

I've no doubt they'll F it up somehow, but I actually think sports games are well suited to the GAAS model. It's ridiculous that people pay full price every year for the next version of FIFA, Madden etc, when they're usually more or less the same game as the previous instalment.

Markitron

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642324#Comment_117642324

Not only do they charge full price every year, they also have devious GAAS mechanics. Even if FIFA was free it would still be shady AF.

johnny_ultimate

Everything about FIFA’s model is insidious, including the appalling Ultimate Team system. Although the sheer cheek of their Switch ‘legacy versions’ (the same game every year, just with updated rosters) might just be among the most egregious example of corporate greed and cynicism around.

pixelburp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642324#Comment_117642324

That's true, to be fair. Charging full price for a database refresh, then also filled with GAAS is some brass balls - but equally, folks buy it up so that's the joys of free market capitalism I guess. The question then seems to be: will the paywalls of eFootball (yuck) be fair at the very least?

Retr0gamer

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642432#Comment_117642432

Not just console, PC is a legacy version as well.

Mr Crispy

Legacy version on PC for Madden and this eFootball too. 🙄

In other (surprising) news, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is previewing well - nothing new in it, but good fun it seems.

johnny_ultimate

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642495#Comment_117642495

Don't believe that's the case. It's confusing, but from what I understand the PC is (stupidly) getting the last-gen version this year, which doesn't have the next-gen bells and whistles but is still at least an updated game. The Switch 'legacy' version, in contrast, is literally the same game from a few years ago with just the jerseys and names changed.

Not that I'm defending EA's annual release approach at all, mind you - but the Switch releases are uniquely, farcically terrible.

Retr0gamer

For a game that makes literally billions, there's no excuse for that level of laziness in the Switch and PC ports. It's frostbite, a very scalable engine.

Honestly though I'd just like to see Ultimate Teams pure sleazy and exploitative business model outlawed. You can't even argue it should be regulated like gambling because at least with gambling they pay taxes. EA are paying no tax on profits from game sales but also ultimate team.

Honestly, **** them.

pixelburp

I suppose with CoVid, other social and economic pressures have appeared to dominate political conversations but one does wonder if there'll be enough popular interest or pressure to draft some laws against these "surprise mechanics" and the like. Feels like something that'd take a single crusader rather than a larger popular swing against the publishers.

johnny_ultimate

Great news: the superb Umurangi Generation has won the Seamus McNally Grand Prize at the IGF awards. Well deserved for a tiny but incendiary gem of a game.

https://twitter.com/gamasutra/status/1418014785451577345?s=21

Grim news: some serious allegations being levelled around apparent ‘frat boy’ culture at Activision-Blizzard. Bleak to see such a story around another major AAA studio not long after Ubisoft’s reckoning.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1418003549133361156?s=21

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1418017955841982465?s=21

Mr Crispy

Christ, that Activision Blizzard story makes for disturbing reading. It should be pointed out that AB deny most of this, but some of the allegations are sickening.

pixelburp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645009#Comment_117645009

Not just denied, but their official statement makes pretty bold attacks about "irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats", in between the corporate waffle about how amazing and inclusive their workplace is now. (Presumably asking folks to just forgive and forget?) I'm guessing their lobbying power wasn't strong enough to sway votes but its quite the tactic to attack the investigation, rather than simply deny charges and stay above it all. Bit rich for a corporation to talk about being unaccountable.

Mr Crispy

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645054#Comment_117645054

Yeah, some of their comments seem self-contradictory; "The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past" but then, "The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today". So it didn't happen in the past, but if it did, it doesn't any more??

The most galling aspect for me was their climbing on their high horse about the suicide of an employee; "We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family." The complaint alleges that she took her own life following intense sexual harassment, including having nude photos of her passed around at an office party. She then committed suicide while on a company trip with her male supervisor. No bearing whatsoever? Right.

Retr0gamer

Classic corporate legal bullshit. Deny everything until you can't deny it anymore and then settle.

pixelburp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645121#Comment_117645121

Aye. Reads a weird defence to essentially admit, "Yes, our workplace was a toxic piece of shít - but we made pamphlets, and our HR people regularly send stern emails". As Retro says they're probably just stalling to see if they can simply settle at some point. The Game Industry: just the very, very worst.

Retr0gamer

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117648940#Comment_117648940

Or maybe it's not virtue signal and it's people genuinely outraged and upset by this gross behaviour or people being supportive of others that have also experience this behaviour that seems to be endemic of the games industry?