Ramaniscence

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2013/06/10/e3-2013-battlefront-3/

I was looking for some info like this. Unlike feature films, game budgets aren't highly publicized (and searching "SimCity 2013 budget will get you...well not what you're looking for"), and while it SimCity 2013 sold quickly, it didn't sell anything after that. It sold 1.2 million in the first 2 weeks, and barely anything after that. That at least says the internet doesn't forget, but how much did it really effect the bottom line? Is the internet disciplined enough as consumers to really make a different in the difference in the market? (when it comes to NOT buying things, because we already know it does when it comes to buying things). For whatever reason the information just isn't there. Also: In addition to all the problems and DRM SimCity 2013 had, and still has, a $60 price tag which is outrageous for a digital download PC title (imho). Let alone a mediocre one. Either they thought they could sell more than they did, or they anticipated low numbers and wanted to milk that for as much as they realistically could.

Sim City 2013 has sold 1.6 million copies. So roughly $60,000,000 not counting DLC. Tomb Raider 2013 sold about 3.15 million copies before being considered a commercial failure. Call of Duty: Black Ops II sold 10 million copies. Obviously there's about a million other factors going on here, but I'd like to think that Sim City is still considered a commercial failure (I doubt EA would ever admit it) and that the consumers not purchasing it means something and that we could see a similar trend with XBONE. Only time will tell, though.

AND that's why it won't happen.

The original Playstation Store was pretty miserable compared to the XBOX 360 store, but pretty recently Sony made it MUCH MUCH better. Also: Matchmaking on PS3 for me was pretty similar to the XBOX experience (I played a few games on both because I have friends that own different consoles), though XBOX did handle friends better in general.

I started playing Plants versus Zombies Adventures yesterday to get an idea of what to expect. That game has you moving around pretty frequently via Crazy Dave's RV and then defending that RV from zombies in any given area. The areas are in 3D, not 2D, and the zombies travel down preset "paths" from individual spawn points around the zone. You set up plants along those paths and they can fire in a 3 dimensional area around them. Basically: A LOT like traditional tower defense. The music is definitely "plants versus zombies-esque" but not quite as charming, and I expect that it wasn't composed by Laura. From the trailer, I can expect that at least some of these features (3D, traditional tower defense mechanics, defending the RV) will carry over into PvZ2. That said: The facebook game isn't bad, but then again I didn't play it long enough to run into a paywall.

If/when it does get ported to PC, it will likely be on Origin, not Steam. It will likely be ported to Android eventually, and to be fair, so was the original. (Android still doesn't have Zen Garden, and probably won't ever). Free-to-play definitely sounds like it will be incredibly ad supported and full of strange Nissan/Dove/EA/Dunkin Donuts product placement. Hopefully that is not the case. Also hopefully Laura Shigihara does that soundtrack again, and hopefully it's available for purchase at a reasonable price.

I would assume it's because the motions you do control the music itself, which is feels a lot like every Fantasia scene ever.... ...however Fantasia didn't use Bruno Mars, and they do a pretty terrible job of being as "epic" as fantasy is with colored orbs. Also: Edit: Ok .

Would it kill you to source like...I don't know, any of this? Telling people to go look up information themselves doesn't prove anything to anyone.

I believe the issue here is that those shows are released on a regular schedule that is made available to the public. If they were not to be released within this schedule then they'd, at very least, release some kind of information letting people know when they could expect them. As far as I am aware, she hasn't committed to any schedule, nor has she really kept anyone informed on her progress. I'd guess people feel this is a big deal, as some have actually put money toward the project. To some it seems professional to keep those "investors" informed. Not that she has to do that, but that's the expectation. Similarly so, if an episode of Mythbusters or Dr. Who aired one day, at some time, and then next one would air "eventually", I'm sure it wouldn't go over well. Even more so if the public found out that episode was immediately available for release, but was not. I think also in that situation a little communication would be beneficial.

As someone who has an XBOX, a cable box, and a PS3, let me tell you: I have my XBOX, PS3, Cable box all hooked up to the TV and then set up to the soundbar. Right away this is like...3 separate remotes which is sucks in itself. That's not including the XBOX/PS3 controllers to control on-screen interface. We ended up buying a fancy logitech universal remote to switch the input, power up and control the XBOX, and cable box, while still being able to use the other TV features. Luckily the TV has optical out so I don't have to mess with the sound bar or change, god forbid, switch plugs every time I want to switch what I'm doing. And that's without even talking about how many cords and inputs we have going on. Anyway, I'm not saying XBOX will fix all these things, but shit if my XBOX was my blu-ray player and my cable box and my netflix box and my gaming box. It'd sure as hell make my life a lot easier without ever leaving my living room.

Game Dev Story Anomaly Superbrothers Swords & Sworcery World of Goo GTAIII if you're into that kind of thing. I've been enjoying NBA Jam, but it's better on XBOX.

The discussion is about the viability of gaming-only hardware (which is...I'd guess only Ouya at this point) versus hybrid media hardware (Which the XBOX One is). The example is mobile gaming versus smartphone gaming. The platform is irrelevant. The point is it's a common design pattern among mobile games. To be entirely fair, I've been leaning toward iOS lately, but that's an entirely different discussion.

But also remember that that still represents the vast majority of people out there. Sure Nintendo & Sony are hitting part of their niche market, but smart phones are undeniably eating into their niche market, as well as expanding that market. Right now there are still people that will by a dedicated gaming handheld, but that number is dropping. That is indisputable. No amount of links, graphs, and figures about how many Nintendo 3DSs have sold world wide is going to change the fact that it's just not as popular as smart phone gaming. You can write off Angry Birds and Temple Run all you want, but they sure as hell make money. Not to mention DS games were made with mobile gaming in mind, too. They're just a bit more fleshed out. The World Ends with You, the Kingdom Hearts game released on DS, and Crisis Core (all SE, I know) are all short mission-based systems with storyline tied in because it's conducive to the mobile gaming experience. The primary thing holding mobile phone gaming back is their limited control scheme, and don't expect that to hold many publishers back for long. Also: Come to think of it if Nintendo released an Android 4.0+ based hybrid system that could run Android apps natively with decent resolution, had a headphone jack on the side and had a media library that could compete with the iPod experience...I don't even think this would be a discussion at all, but would certainly prove zircon's point.

You add nothing to this conversation with comments like that.

Sure: starla. She owns a Nintendo DS (pink, imported) and used the play the crap out of it (a bit of a Brain Age addict, you see). She hasn't gotten a 3DS, and she hasn't picked up her DS since she got her Android. Why? Mostly because Plants versus Zombies, Osmos, and emulating GBA games have kept her satisfied. Shael Riley is having a similar experience, though I don't even he even owned a DS. Suzumebachi too. I know at least 3 IRL friends that are in a similar situation. In fact...I only know a handful of my friends who payed out to get a 3DS (myself included), and those are all from OCR (Lizz, Ashamee) but most of my friends owned a DS or PSP, and don't really now. I'm not saying that they don't own a 3DS specifically because they have a smart phone and that's a conscious decision, but I'm saying they decided the price of dedicated gaming hardware is not worth the money and then discovered there are good games available for their phones and are too distracted with those to even follow the handheld market. I own a 3DS, but I've only played 1 game on it (Hey Ice King) while I've played quite a few games to completion on my iPod Touch (Ghost Trick, Jet Set Radio, Phoenix Wright...) So don't pretend like it doesn't happen. Like I said it might not be someone declaring I DON'T NEED A 3DS BECAUSE I HAVE A SMART PHONE NOW! but a number of factors makes them uninterested in the idea of a dedicated portable gaming device. Also: both Nintendo and Apple recognize this. Do I think there's still a place for dedicated handheld gaming? Sure. Can I acknowledge it's becoming more niche than it once was? Absolutely. Also: zircon PM the Derrit your paypal, he owes you at least $60 by now.

I had a similar issue with Steam. I couldn't open it AT ALL without being online. I think it was checking for an update and aborting immediately because it couldn't ping, or maybe I had to set it to offline mode manually when I HAD Internet. I don't know but I distinctly remember this because I couldn't play WoW so I wanted to play an offline game and couldn't

That is potentially an entirely different discussion about cost of production, market penetration, etc. If something costs $10, and they sell $10 at 1 dollar, that's a disappointment. If something costs $2 and they sell 10 at 1 dollar, than that's not so bad. Whether or not something is successful is going to be based on ROI, regardless of what the number of sales is, and there's a LOT of factors in that. tl;dr: SE saying TR is a disappointment is irrelevant.

What still confuses me is, they put all this effort into the social features of the system...but they're only social within users of the system. The idea of viral marketing and social proof (Facebook Like, Google +1, Shares in general) is for users to share their experience with other users in their social circles and hopefully increase social awareness which in turn will hopefully increase the userbase. By having a social network that exists exclusively for other people who already own the console seems...inane. And THEN going as far as to take down Let's Play videos. I mean...which one of my friends own a Wii U and/or have shared something from in-game? Heck if I know! Social media marketing they are not.

I agree 100%. While I enjoyed SMG, it never had the same charm that SM64 did. Exploring, and unlocking new parts of the castle where half the fun of the game. I think a return to this format, with larger, more fleshed out stages, would be a nice turn.

Hopefully. The Wii use, released in November of 2012 is Nintendo newest console. It offers (arguably) innovative new controls, as well as improved specifications from it's predecessors offering (arguably) comparable graphical experience to other current generation consoles. Despite this, the console has experienced less sales than Nintendo had anticipated worldwide. While not in dire straights, the company is currently operating at a loss, and has been for the past 2 years. It has also seen a drop in overall revenue. Nintendo, and it's fans, hope to see this trend turn around with the release of their trademark 1st party titles, as well as 3rd party flagship exclusives later this year. However some are skeptic due to previous 1st party titles inability to effectively turn around Nintendo's downward slump. It is unclear whether this is a new trend, or the beginning of a larger downfall, but it certain that we, as consumers, would be worse off if Nintendo were no longer in the console market. tl;dr: The console isn't terrible. The sales are pretty bad (right now). The games are pretty great. Nintendo (consoles) probably aren't dying. Even if it did, we'd all (most) continue living.

It would seem that they've posted an operating loss, a loss in net sales, and an overall loss of revenue over the past 2 years. That's not great. Also, consider that is with the release of a new Zelda, a few new Mario titles (though could any of them be considered "flagship"?), a new Mario Kart title. Possibly others. That's just off the top of my head. BUT then also consider that's with the initial production of 2 new consoles.

So, which one is accurate? Edit: nm. They're both accurate, but the one you posted is a little misleading. First, It's cumulative, and 2, only goes up to 2011, which is where it starts to level off. So, from these 2 graphs, it's clear to see Nintendo is not making as much money as they once did, but certainly have money stockpiled. Which, the same could easily be said for Sony. It's also worth noting that Microsoft and Sony do not depend on video games for sales (this graph is specifically from video game sales) while Nintendo's business is dependent on it. Again, I'm not saying Nintendo is GOING TO FAIL or the console IS FAILING, but it indisputable whether or not Nintendo is making money.

I'm not going to say if Nintendo is going under or not. I'm not going to say whether or not the Wii U or 3DS is a "failure". I'm not going to say whether or not the games available, or that will soon be available, are good, bad, or whatever. I AM going to say that, no matter how anyone sees it, this is a real thing: http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/24/4260062/nintendo-2012-earnings Specifically this: That is not to say that we know all the factors behind this, or even all of the data being considered. That is not to say that Nintendo can, or cannot, turn this around. Edit: I also believe that Sony, and Microsoft, may also find disappointing sales with the release of the new XBOX and Playstation, but that's just my estimation.