Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/21/blizzards-battle-net-director-on-real-id-cross-game-integratio/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/21/blizzards-battle-net-director-on-real-id-cross-game-integratio/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/21/blizzards-battle-net-director-on-real-id-cross-game-integratio/#commentsDuring GDC Online, Blizzard's Battle.net project director Greg Canessa presented a "postmortem" for the latest version of the service, which enables online play and discussion for Blizzard's titles, most recently StarCraft 2. Speaking to Joystiq before the talk, Canessa was happy to discuss the recent past of the service with us, and talk a bit about the future.

Battle.net is in use by all 12 million World of Warcraft players, three-plus million StarCraft 2 players, and other users, but it recently came to the attention of an even larger audience when controversy arose over Blizzard's decision to implement Real ID, requiring users to identify themselves by their real names on Battle.net. Forum users did not respond kindly to the sudden and mandatory attachment of their real names to their comments, flames and LOLcats, and that part of the plan was cut, with Real ID still being implemented in non-forum features.

"The vision behind Real ID," Canessa said, "was to maintain parallel levels of identity: we have that sort of anonymous character level of identity, and then that Real ID tier that spans games, and there are incremental features that you get for being part of the Real ID community. The vision for that spanned games, got into cross-game chat and so forth. In reality, the in-game social suite was very popular, the cross-game chat that we did, the stuff within StarCraft 2.

Continue reading Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon

JoystiqBlizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>battle-netbattlenetBlizzarddiablo-3gdc-online-2010greg-canessapcreal-idStarcraft-2world-of-warcraftThu, 21 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC Online 2010 brought in 3,000 offline attendees]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/12/gdc-online-2010-brought-in-3-000-offline-attendees/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/12/gdc-online-2010-brought-in-3-000-offline-attendees/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/12/gdc-online-2010-brought-in-3-000-offline-attendees/#commentsFiled under: , ,

GDC Online -- formerly known as GDC Austin, but still held in the Texas town -- welcomed 3,000 attendees interested in online and social gaming this year. The show will return to Austin, Texas on October 11-14, 2011, at which time it'll be known as "GDC Zynga" -- kidding, maybe.

Highlights of the convention included the inaugural Game Developers Choice Online Awards, along with some revealing revenue details from MMO developer Turbine and the 3DS's ability to use the Unreal Engine. Check out more from GDC online by following this: handy-dandy GDC Online link.

JoystiqGDC Online 2010 brought in 3,000 offline attendees originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Austingdc-onlinegdc-online-2010league-of-legendsmacpcTue, 12 Oct 2010 01:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Epic's Mark Rein goes in-depth with Unreal Engine 3's TriOviz 3D]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/11/mark-rein-trioviz-interview/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/11/mark-rein-trioviz-interview/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/11/mark-rein-trioviz-interview/#commentsEpic Games and Darkworks might have just captured the 3D gaming market. With the addition of TriOviz 3D technology to the Unreal Engine 3 and its development kit, a massively popular game engine now has built-in 3D integration, for use with either 3D televisions or green/magenta glasses. It stands to increase the number of games implementing 3D dramatically, creating a de facto standard for 3D in the process. Incidentally, it adds an attractive new bullet point to Unreal's feature set.

Epic Games itself, however, somehow has yet to fully jump onto the bandwagon it is now driving. "That's not part of the announcement," Epic VP Mark Rein told Joystiq when asked if this partnership would mean Epic games in TriOviz 3D. "Don't know." The implementation of 3D is certainly not the reason Gears of War 3 was delayed into holiday 2011. For one thing, the companies claim it only takes a week to integrate 3D into a UE3 game. For another, "That was Microsoft's business decision."

Continue reading Epic's Mark Rein goes in-depth with Unreal Engine 3's TriOviz 3D

JoystiqEpic's Mark Rein goes in-depth with Unreal Engine 3's TriOviz 3D originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>3ddarkworksdsepic-gamesgdc-online-2010mark-reinmicrosoftnintendopcplaystationps3triovizwiixboxMon, 11 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/gdc-online-award-winners-announced-league-of-legends-wins-big/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/gdc-online-award-winners-announced-league-of-legends-wins-big/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/gdc-online-award-winners-announced-league-of-legends-wins-big/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Last night in Austin, Texas, the creators of some of this year's biggest and boldest online games were honored during the Game Developer's Choice Online awards ceremony. In particular, Riot Games and its heavyweight debut title, League of Legends, took home half of the awards up for grabs, including Best Online Technology, the Audience Award and Best New Online Game. It also took home "Best Game With a Title That Reads 'LOL' as an Acronym," but that's not ... a real thing. That's a thing we made up, just now.

Check out the real list of real winners after the jump.

Continue reading GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big

JoystiqGDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>awardsgdc-online-2010gdc-online-awardsleague-of-legendsmacpcriot-gamesFri, 08 Oct 2010 18:20:00 EST<![CDATA[How Star Wars: The Old Republic tackles the grind]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/star-wars-the-old-republic-tackles-the-grind/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/star-wars-the-old-republic-tackles-the-grind/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/08/star-wars-the-old-republic-tackles-the-grind/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Star Wars: The Old Republic systems director Damion Schubert hosted a panel at GDC Online 2010 this week about that excruciating aspect of gameplay known as "The Grind," which he defined as any time developers ask players to do something they don't enjoy in order to open up something that they will enjoy.

Most developers use the grind to fill out gameplay content -- handcrafted, "gold standard" content is much tougher to make, whereas grindy content is cheap to put together. But sometimes it comes in handy, said Schubert. While making SWTOR, BioWare actually found that it was putting "too much gold-quality content into the game." Players would be confronted with a Star Destroyer to fight through, a lost Wookiee to save, and a Sith quest to complete; and Schubert said that "we had, by jamming all of this good stuff together, actually made it grindy."

So to fix the issue, BioWare first cut some of the least powerful stories (the lost Wookiee didn't make the cut, Schubert confirmed), and then spaced the rest of them out. Additionally, a feature called "bonus quests" will create optional tiny grinds -- players will be offered extra grind-style goals ("Kill 10 Stormtroopers") while running other quests. That "keeps the activity level up, but lets the gold-standard content breathe," according to Schubert.

He admitted that the grind isn't always a bad thing -- developers sometimes have great reasons to add grinding, and there's a perception factor to consider, as well (one player's maximum effort is another's boring grind). But developers should be able to balance the grind with content and activities that players do care about, Schubert urged, creating a full experience that requires different kinds of efforts for equally different kinds of rewards.

JoystiqHow Star Wars: The Old Republic tackles the grind originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>biowaredamion-schubertelectronic-artsgdc-online-2010grindmmopcstar-warsStar-Wars-The-Old-RepublicThe-Old-RepublicFri, 08 Oct 2010 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Lord of the Rings Online doubles revenue since going free-to-play]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/lord-of-the-rings-online-doubles-revenue-since-going-free-to-pla/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/lord-of-the-rings-online-doubles-revenue-since-going-free-to-pla/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/lord-of-the-rings-online-doubles-revenue-since-going-free-to-pla/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Lord of the Rings Online Executive Producer Kate Paiz announced during a panel at GDC Online 2010 today that Turbine has done it again: Lord of the Rings Online has doubled its revenue and created over a million new accounts since going free-to-play early last month. That's the second MMO Turbine has taken from a paid subscription to a hybrid microtransactions-based business model, with Dungeons and Dragons Online doing the same thing last year (important to note: Paiz was in charge of both transitions, switching to LotRO in July). Paiz told us after the panel that LotRO wasn't in trouble, but rather that Turbine did the math and decided the switch would work. "We knew there was more out there for us," she said.

Paiz also shared that 20% of LotRO's former players have returned to the game since the switchover, and that the game has seen a 300% increase in peak concurrency, with three times the number of players online simultaneously, and a 400% increase in active players total. 53% of players have used the in-game microtransaction store (which sells everything from mounts and outfits to XP boosts and character slots), and as you can see above, extra storage slots are extremely popular in the store. And even paid subscriptions have increased. Turbine's lesson seems to be that, as Paiz said during the panel, "when you tell people you no longer have to pay for it, they come in droves."

JoystiqLord of the Rings Online doubles revenue since going free-to-play originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-online-2010kate-paizLord-of-the-Rings-OnlinepcrevenuesubscriptionsturbineThu, 07 Oct 2010 21:30:00 EST<![CDATA[NPD at GDC: PC retail to grow, physical and digital purchase gap closing]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/npd-at-gdc-pc-retail-to-grow-physical-and-digital-purchase-gap/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/npd-at-gdc-pc-retail-to-grow-physical-and-digital-purchase-gap/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/npd-at-gdc-pc-retail-to-grow-physical-and-digital-purchase-gap/#commentsFiled under: , ,

PC gaming is set to grow in 2010, according to NPD's Michael Klotz. Klotz hosted a panel here at GDC Online 2010 this afternoon, and said that expected growth can be attributed to two things: StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. PC revenue has reached $303 million as of August this year, and Klotz expects the WoW expansion to put the total over the top of last year's $538 million.

Klotz also talked about the ongoing transition of customers simply buying physical copies of games to buying both physical discs and digital downloads. In terms of revenue, physical sales still outweigh the digital side, but digital purchases (including both full game purchases and DLC) have overtaken bought discs in terms of numbers. That means, said Klotz, that physical purchases are still selling at full price, while customers are paying much less for digital games, either because of sales or because they're buying casual or just cheaper titles online. Klotz credited Rock Band for pioneering the digital move -- lots of players weren't sure about digital purchases until they saw how seamlessly the Rock Band Marketplace worked, and then they were OK with downloading games and game content.

Finally, Klotz shared an interesting stat: Physical point cards (like those for Microsoft points on Xbox Live) have overtaken gamepads as the largest accessory category for game retail in just the past six months. As long as he could remember, Klotz said, game controllers have always been the best selling game accessory, with power cables next on the list. But cards for DLC are now on top of the charts after a 37 percent increase in the past year, showing just how important it is for game retailers to try and get a piece of that pie.

JoystiqNPD at GDC: PC retail to grow, physical and digital purchase gap closing originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>analystdigitalgamestopgdc-online-2010michael-klotznpdpcpurchasesretailstatsThu, 07 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[iPhone dev cheers short development, quick patching at GDC Online]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/iphone-dev-cheers-short-development-quick-patching-at-gdc-onlin/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/iphone-dev-cheers-short-development-quick-patching-at-gdc-onlin/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/iphone-dev-cheers-short-development-quick-patching-at-gdc-onlin/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Vijay Thakkar is the technical director at Newtoy, the company responsible for iPhone hit Words with Friends, as well as a former developer on Star Wars: Galaxies and at the late Ensemble Studios. He took the stage at GDC Online 2010 this morning to run a panel about how to embrace mobile gaming, and while extolling the virtues of Apple's mobile platform and its constant online connectivity, he took aim at the traditional game industry's long development times and buggy releases.

Thakkar railed for a bit on a bug found recently in the latest title of his "favorite gaming franchise ever," Metroid: Other M. When the save-breaking bug appeared in the game, Thakkar recounted, Nintendo couldn't use the Wii's internet connectivity to patch the game. Instead, Thakkar pointed out, the company had to "ask players to 'send us your memory card.'"

"That's awful," Thakkar added. It's 2010, he said, developers should have ongoing access to update and patch their games when necessary, and he pointed to the iPhone as a platform where games could be released and patched quickly. "At Newtoy, we've completed full games in less time than it took me to design systems for older triple-A titles."

This agility means that developers can not only fix bugs quickly after launch, but they can also prototype new ideas ridiculously fast (Thakkar said that Newtoy had created one internal test game in just two workdays). Plus, this business model lends itself to filling in and growing features according to player demand after release -- something that a lot of big, lumbering developers haven't figured out how to do yet.

JoystiqiPhone dev cheers short development, quick patching at GDC Online originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>developergdc-online-2010iphoneMetroid-Other-Mmobilenewtoynintendopatchupdatewiiwords-with-friendsWed, 06 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Game Developers Choice Online Award nominees announced]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/game-developers-choice-online-award-nominees-announced/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/game-developers-choice-online-award-nominees-announced/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/game-developers-choice-online-award-nominees-announced/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The nominees for the first-ever Game Developers Choice Online Awards, which will be presented during the similarly named GDC Online on October 5 - 8, were announced earlier today. The list of candidates reads like a who's who of heavy hitters in the online gaming space, such as World of Warcraft (nominated for the Best Ongoing Live Game award), Star Trek Online (nominated for Best Online Visual) and League of Legends (nominated for ... like, everything.)

Winners will be announced and accolades will be distributed at the conference on the evening of October 7. To see who's in the running for what, check out the full list of nominees posted after the jump.

Continue reading Game Developers Choice Online Award nominees announced

JoystiqGame Developers Choice Online Award nominees announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gdc-online-2010gdc-online-awardsleague-of-legendslovepcstar-trek-onlineWorld-of-WarcraftMon, 23 Aug 2010 20:20:00 EST<![CDATA[First Game Developers Choice Online Awards to be held in October]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/27/first-game-developers-choice-online-awards-to-be-held-in-october/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/27/first-game-developers-choice-online-awards-to-be-held-in-october/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/27/first-game-developers-choice-online-awards-to-be-held-in-october/#comments Creators of online games, be they MMOs, addictive social networking applications or anything in between, will soon receive recognition in the form of impressive statuettes. GDC Online (formerly titled GDC Austin) will play host to the Game Developers Choice Online Awards on the evening of October 7. According to the event's announcement, awards will be distributed based on "excellence in live services, technology, game updates, online game design, and more."

In addition, one lucky online game visionary will receive the Online Game Legend Award, and one "all-time classic online game" will be inducted to the GDC Online Awards' Hall Of Fame. Finally, anyone can nominate and vote for their favorite titles in the Audience Award category. As soon as the FarmVille nation finds out about this, it should become number one with a bullet, so get your votes in while things are still even.

JoystiqFirst Game Developers Choice Online Awards to be held in October originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 May 2010 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>awardsgame-developers-choice-online-awardsgdcgdc-onlinegdc-online-2010onlineThu, 27 May 2010 11:49:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC Austin dated, name changed to GDC Online]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/10/gdc-austin-dated-name-changed-to-gdc-online/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/10/gdc-austin-dated-name-changed-to-gdc-online/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/10/gdc-austin-dated-name-changed-to-gdc-online/#comments GDC Austin is dead ... long live GDC Online. Dated for October 5-6, 2010, the convention formerly known as GDC Austin will take on the name of what has always been its prominent theme: Online. With locally based MMO developers Origin, BioWare Austin and Sony Online Entertainment, the change certainly makes sense.

In its eighth year, the conference will focus on emerging topics in the online space, including social network games, virtual goods, design and business-like money-making stuff. Official event information and submissions will begin in late spring.

JoystiqGDC Austin dated, name changed to GDC Online originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>austingdcgdc-austingdc-onlinegdc-online-2010Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:00:00 EST