@TraceurRyuk Part III Yeah, Square's character designs - including costumes - are almost always great. (And this is from somebody who never plays the games...)
Also: buckles are TOTALLY for shoes. When I was a kid I absolutely refused to wear any shoes with laces, I insisted on having buckles, it drove my parents crazy. :)
@sohcahtoa Exactly. Let's say Capcom react to this in any way, there is absolutely no chance they will magically give away more free content in future. Instead they'll spend extra time developing what is apparently a slightly more difficult way to deliver the content. As a result gamers probably will get fractionally less content for their money, and there will otherwise be no difference. Good job, protesters. :)
@Frankie Godskin Rubbish. Capcom are exactly right on this one.
Let's say they develop a bunch of DLC before ever releasing the game. Why is it any different if they put it on the game disc vs. don't?
Or let's say their development time for the game is 12 months plus 2 months for DLC. What difference is there if they release the game at 12 months (and the DLC implemented afterwards and downloadable later) or at 14 months (with the 'DLC' done and on the disc already)? You get the same game with the same amount of effort and the same extra stuff you have to pay for. It's no different.
Many years ago, pre-internet, Adobe sold a CD-ROM containing all their fonts. The CD cost about $50 or something and that included a couple of fonts. If you wanted more fonts, you had to phone them up and purchase license keys. The total cost for everything (that was already on the CD) would have been well into the thousands. So this is not exactly a new business model, and I don't see why it's unacceptable.
To put it another way, let's say that companies (and I don't think Capcom is especially bad here, but to put that aside) release games with way-too-short single-player, or otherwise not enough content. That's not in any way connected to whether there is DLC and whether it's on the disc or not. If there isn't enough content in the game as it ships, reviews will say so and you should make that decision to not buy the game. That's it.
@(Unverified) That's true, but I don't understand why they did it that way - somebody didn't hear of medians? Seriously, taking away 'outliers' (defined how?) and then doing a mean is pretty crazy. Median results would be clearer. It also seems like splitting the categories by seniority (position, not time), though difficult, would make the results a lot more useful.
Regardless of salary, and though I've never done it, I think game development is probably not a very good job (crunch time, constant layoffs). At least in terms of supply and demand, that makes sense; they can afford to treat people badly because game development is cool.
@Co vgchartz has Vita at about half 3DS in the US, and 3/4 in Europe. Neither of these are terrible, and both are more or less in line with what you'd expect from the successor to PSP. It's only in Japan that sales are really awful.
(Yes these are vgchartz figures so they might not be entirely reliable, but do you have anything better?)
@Vic Fontaine Yes those three games may well be good, but I don't think any of them are coming out in the next couple months, though, are they? (In Japan or anywhere else.) Afaik they're not dated yet.
By the way, 3DS doesn't seem to have a shortage for me. I haven't finished MGS 3 (which, hey, is actually really good - albeit probably not worth it if you played the original version), then I still haven't quite finished Mario Land, then I haven't even bought Mario Kart yet... Oh, and apparently Kid Icarus is actually good, so maybe I should play that too? Not a shortage there. :)
@Roflrex Mortal Kombat... and *Resistance*? Yeah, not in Japan. (And by the way regarding other markets - at least if you believe vgchartz, Vita is already not selling terribly in the West. Less than 3DS, sure, but not terribly like in Japan.)
The next significant Vita game in Japan is, eh I forget the details, a Persona port/remake of some kind I think? In June.
For 3DS, Kingdom Hearts just came out. April has Fire Emblem. May has, uh, is Mario Tennis going to sell?... but there is probably other stuff, I don't have a full release list or anything. Basically there is not much chance of a dramatic change in either 3DS's, or Vita's fortunes in the near future in Japan, because the former has games and the latter still doesn't.
@barrit You're right if next-gen consoles increase costs, but bear in mind that new consoles may also increase general interest in the game industry (i.e. if people buy new consoles they are going to want more new games for them).
This may be why it looks like the next console generation isn't likely to be massively more powerful than the last one. It doesn't really seem like graphics for Wii U are going to be significantly different than for PS3/60, for instance, and with rumours that Nextbox is only slightly more powerful than Wii U, that could be true of other platforms too.
If true, that means development costs wouldn't hugely increase when developing for those consoles, so releasing the new systems could boost the industry rather than drag it down.
@milespieri Yes, surely they will not cancel the Project Diva series. (Who knows which platform it'll be on by the time it comes out... but it's unlikely to be cancelled, at least.)
This article is about their US/Europe business rather than the Japanese business, which is probably why they only listed US/Europe franchises. None of the listed games really sell in Japan. (Except Sonic, I guess, and then for definitions of 'sell' that are mostly limited to 'when you add the words 'Mario and at the Olympic Games' to the title'.)
The Final Fantasy wears Prada
Apr 4th 2012 5:51PM (Joystiq)Yeah, Square's character designs - including costumes - are almost always great. (And this is from somebody who never plays the games...)
Also: buckles are TOTALLY for shoes. When I was a kid I absolutely refused to wear any shoes with laces, I insisted on having buckles, it drove my parents crazy. :)
Sample Final Fantasy Versus XIII music in Theatrhythm DLC form
Apr 3rd 2012 3:55PM (Joystiq)Japanese word-of-mouth seemed pretty good about the game (which sold out).
IMO: if there's one thing 3DS doesn't need (oh, and, Final Fantasy doesn't need) it's more remakes.
Report: Capcom sees 'no distinction' between on-disc and off-disc DLC
Apr 3rd 2012 3:43PM (Joystiq)Exactly. Let's say Capcom react to this in any way, there is absolutely no chance they will magically give away more free content in future. Instead they'll spend extra time developing what is apparently a slightly more difficult way to deliver the content. As a result gamers probably will get fractionally less content for their money, and there will otherwise be no difference. Good job, protesters. :)
Report: Capcom sees 'no distinction' between on-disc and off-disc DLC
Apr 3rd 2012 3:38PM (Joystiq)Rubbish. Capcom are exactly right on this one.
Let's say they develop a bunch of DLC before ever releasing the game. Why is it any different if they put it on the game disc vs. don't?
Or let's say their development time for the game is 12 months plus 2 months for DLC. What difference is there if they release the game at 12 months (and the DLC implemented afterwards and downloadable later) or at 14 months (with the 'DLC' done and on the disc already)? You get the same game with the same amount of effort and the same extra stuff you have to pay for. It's no different.
Many years ago, pre-internet, Adobe sold a CD-ROM containing all their fonts. The CD cost about $50 or something and that included a couple of fonts. If you wanted more fonts, you had to phone them up and purchase license keys. The total cost for everything (that was already on the CD) would have been well into the thousands. So this is not exactly a new business model, and I don't see why it's unacceptable.
To put it another way, let's say that companies (and I don't think Capcom is especially bad here, but to put that aside) release games with way-too-short single-player, or otherwise not enough content. That's not in any way connected to whether there is DLC and whether it's on the disc or not. If there isn't enough content in the game as it ships, reviews will say so and you should make that decision to not buy the game. That's it.
2011's game industry salary stats push us once more toward business school
Apr 3rd 2012 3:28PM (Joystiq)That's true, but I don't understand why they did it that way - somebody didn't hear of medians? Seriously, taking away 'outliers' (defined how?) and then doing a mean is pretty crazy. Median results would be clearer. It also seems like splitting the categories by seniority (position, not time), though difficult, would make the results a lot more useful.
Regardless of salary, and though I've never done it, I think game development is probably not a very good job (crunch time, constant layoffs). At least in terms of supply and demand, that makes sense; they can afford to treat people badly because game development is cool.
Japanese hardware sales, March 19 - 25: April Fools' Day edition
Apr 2nd 2012 6:10PM (Joystiq)vgchartz has Vita at about half 3DS in the US, and 3/4 in Europe. Neither of these are terrible, and both are more or less in line with what you'd expect from the successor to PSP. It's only in Japan that sales are really awful.
(Yes these are vgchartz figures so they might not be entirely reliable, but do you have anything better?)
Japanese hardware sales, March 19 - 25: April Fools' Day edition
Apr 2nd 2012 6:04PM (Joystiq)By the way, 3DS doesn't seem to have a shortage for me. I haven't finished MGS 3 (which, hey, is actually really good - albeit probably not worth it if you played the original version), then I still haven't quite finished Mario Land, then I haven't even bought Mario Kart yet... Oh, and apparently Kid Icarus is actually good, so maybe I should play that too? Not a shortage there. :)
Japanese hardware sales, March 19 - 25: April Fools' Day edition
Apr 2nd 2012 5:58PM (Joystiq)Mortal Kombat... and *Resistance*? Yeah, not in Japan. (And by the way regarding other markets - at least if you believe vgchartz, Vita is already not selling terribly in the West. Less than 3DS, sure, but not terribly like in Japan.)
The next significant Vita game in Japan is, eh I forget the details, a Persona port/remake of some kind I think? In June.
For 3DS, Kingdom Hearts just came out. April has Fire Emblem. May has, uh, is Mario Tennis going to sell?... but there is probably other stuff, I don't have a full release list or anything. Basically there is not much chance of a dramatic change in either 3DS's, or Vita's fortunes in the near future in Japan, because the former has games and the latter still doesn't.
Sega canceling games, cutting jobs in US and Europe to restructure [update: SOA statement]
Mar 30th 2012 4:59PM (Joystiq)You're right if next-gen consoles increase costs, but bear in mind that new consoles may also increase general interest in the game industry (i.e. if people buy new consoles they are going to want more new games for them).
This may be why it looks like the next console generation isn't likely to be massively more powerful than the last one. It doesn't really seem like graphics for Wii U are going to be significantly different than for PS3/60, for instance, and with rumours that Nextbox is only slightly more powerful than Wii U, that could be true of other platforms too.
If true, that means development costs wouldn't hugely increase when developing for those consoles, so releasing the new systems could boost the industry rather than drag it down.
Sega canceling games, cutting jobs in US and Europe to restructure [update: SOA statement]
Mar 30th 2012 4:53PM (Joystiq)Yes, surely they will not cancel the Project Diva series. (Who knows which platform it'll be on by the time it comes out... but it's unlikely to be cancelled, at least.)
This article is about their US/Europe business rather than the Japanese business, which is probably why they only listed US/Europe franchises. None of the listed games really sell in Japan. (Except Sonic, I guess, and then for definitions of 'sell' that are mostly limited to 'when you add the words 'Mario and at the Olympic Games' to the title'.)