So, I was reading joystiq when I stumbled upon this article. It speaks of how Realtime Worlds, the developers of Crackdown, only broke even after selling 1.5 million copies of their game.
The part that gets me, though, is when the CEO of the company says,
"we know 1.5 million new copies were sold, but it's likely there were 2.5, three million sold when you include used."
That's when I had an interesting realization.
...
...
What?! No wonder the company only broke even, their math sucks! Either that or they admit that their game wasn't such a great hit with people who purchased it, because if the game had up to 3 million sales including used copy sales, that means EVERY PERSON who bought the game SOLD IT.
Now, if I were a company, I would be less stressed about the fact that GameStop is sapping sales and more stressed about the fact that nearly everybody who bought your game didn't feel it was worth holding onto.
I'm going to continue my rant here and just say that, to me, the mark of a great game is when people want to hold onto it. When people plan on playing it again in future years just to relive the game's great moments, or even to hold onto it for future generations. Now that, to me, is the mark of a good game. Apparently, Crackdown wasn't so great.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Crackdown Devs Sales Estimates Make No Sense
Thursday, July 9, 2009
MechWarrior reboot and MWLL
A year ago I was convinced that the Mechwarrior franchise was dead. I've always been a Mechwarrior fan. I played all their games, regularly went to Virtual World to play the Battletech version, and even collected the Battletech toys.
I every once in a while will install my old copy of Mechwarrior 4 and play with some friends, and I was convinced that was the end of it. And that's when I saw MechWarrior: Living Legends. And more recently the teasers for the new Mechwarrior reboot.
When I found Mechwarrior: Living Legends (henceforth referred to as MWLL), it was like a dream come true. MWLL is a full conversion mod for Crysis, and is looking very impressive. Apparently the mod group has received permission from Microsoft to utilize content from the Mechwarrior franchise without fear of being shut down. Just one little problem: Mechwarrior is coming back.
IGN covers a lot of the details of the new Mechwarrior game here. So, with the release of a new Mechwarrior game, what does this mean for the MWLL group?
In response to a question as to whether or not MechWarrior's new game will ruin MWLL's chances to do well, MWLL dev team member Defender said:
"I don't feel any of our hard work is spoiled at all. We're in a different ballpark than that game. They haven't mentioned anything about combined arms, and they're also set in a much different time-period than us, which means we have more units, equipment and mechs at our disposal. There game is also cross-platform, ours is not, which gives us the option for another layer of depth and complexity that cannot be converted to the Xbox."
What it seems to boil down to is how the new MechWarrior game will turn out, especially in regard to in-game features.
And now a preview of the upcoming new MechWarrior title:
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Add Wireless to an XBox 360 Using a Laptop (even with Windows 7!)
One of the things I hear people complain about in regards to the XBox 360 is how it doesn't have a wireless adapter built in. Now, there are a number of workarounds, including buying an expensive wireless adapter, or you could use a laptop to do the exact same thing.
Just a note here before I begin. I know that this information is widely used already, and that there are likely several guides that exist out there. I am big on cross-platform solutions, and wanted to write a guide that covered several operating systems and explained the process step by step in plain English. Hope I have succeeded in this :D
Getting Started:
OK, first things first. You can do this with any computer that has the following:
-A Wireless Adapter (USB wireless adapter, built-in, PCI, etc)
-An ethernet port, like this one:
-An ethernet cable, this this one:
If you have these things, they are working properly, and you have a wireless network you can connect to, you should be good to go. Just take the steps necessary for your operating system to share your wireless connection.
Windows XP:
-Click on the Start button and select Control Panel
-In the control panel, open Network Connections
-In Network Connections, identify your Wireless connection as well as your ethernet port's connection, which will usually be called Local Area Connection.
-Select both networks by holding down the CTRL button and clicking on them
-Right click on one of the networks and select "Bridge Connections"
-Your Wireless network will now be shared across your ethernet port
Windows Vista:
In Windows Vista, the way to bridge your wireless connection is almost identical to Windows XP. As stated at Microsoft's Vista Help and How-to pages:
"1. Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
2. Hold down CTRL and select each network connection that you want to add to the bridge.
3. Right-click one of the selected network connections, and then click Bridge Connections. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation."
Your connections are now bridged, and you should be able to use your wireless connection through your ethernet port now.
Windows 7:
Despite what many people have been saying, Network Bridging has NOT been removed from Windows 7. In fact, it's almost identical in how it is setup in XP and Vista, it's just a bit more hidden. Here's how you set it up:
-Click on the Start (windows logo) button.
-Select "Control Panel"
-If your control Panel is arranged by Category, click "View network status and tasks" under "Network and Internet"
-If you are viewing your control panel by icons, click on "Network and Sharing Center"
-On the left hand side of the Network and Sharing Center screen, click on "Change adapter settings"
-From here, it's just like the pictures for Windows XP. Hold down CTRL and select "Wireless Network Connection" and "Local Area Connection"
-Right click on one of the networks and select "Bridge Connections"
-Windows will now create a network bridge, allowing you to share your wireless connection across your ethernet port.
Mac OS X (Leopard):
I've never done this on one of my Macs before, so I've basically created my guide using what I found here
-Open System Preferences
-Select Sharing
-On the left hand pane, where the sharing services are listed, select "Internet Sharing"
-In the "Share your connection from:" drop down menu, select AirPort
-Then, in the "To computers using:" box, select Ethernet
-Now, make sure Internet Sharing is checked on the service pane on the left side of the window, and you should be good to go.
I have yet to test this, but from what I can tell it should work great. I'll test it later when I get the chance.
Linux:
There are a TON of ways to get this done through Linux, but the easiest way is to make sure your wireless drivers are working and install FireStarter, DHCP, and use Firestarter to share your wireless internet connection. If you are using Ubuntu, you can install FireStarter through the Add/Remove Applications program.
-Install Firestarter from here or through your distro's precompiled binary distribution method (such as Ubuntu's Add/Remove Applications or Synaptic Package Manager, terminal commands, etc).
-Install DHCP, likely using the same method you installed firestarter. The package you need will vary depending on what distro you use.
-Once you have Firestarter installed, start it up
-You will be presented with a wizard to configure Firestarter. Don't close this wizard, it's actually a useful one.
-The first thing to set up is what connection you want to be Firestarter's main connection. In the Network Device Setup, select your wireless card. In my case, I am using an atheros wireless card, which was identified as an Unknown Device (ath0)
-Keep the "Start Firewall on dial-out" box unchecked
-If you don't have a static IP on your laptop (which most people won't), make sure the "IP Address is assigned via DHCP" box is checked.
-Click Forward
-In the "Internet Connection Sharing Setup" dialog, make sure "Enable Internet Connection Sharing" is checked.
-In the "Local area network device" drop down menu, select Ethernet device (usually eth0).
-If you have installed DCHP, you will be able to dynamically assign IP addresses to the machine you attach to your ethernet port (You want this). In other words, Enable DHCP for local network will be checked.
-If you weren't able to install DHCP, I don't believe Firestarter will successfully be able to share your connection, or at least won't be able to without a lot more configuration
-Click forward, and go ahead and check the "Start Firewall Now" box and then click save.
-Your computer is now ready to share its wireless connection.
Finishing Up:
Once you have configured your operating system to share your wireless connection, you should be able to simply plug a ethernet cable between the ethernet port on your laptop and the ethernet port on your XBox 360. Now, as long as your laptop maintains its wireless connection, your XBox 360 will be able to connect to the Internet and your XBox Live account.
The best part about this is that you can leave your laptop configured to share its wireless connection and use the laptop to connect to the internet as well. Configuring your laptop to share its Wireless connection doesn't ruin its ability to access the Web wirelessly at all. So, if you ever need to grab your laptop to surf the net, just unplug the ethernet cable and use it as always (or even leave the cable plugged in if you'd like). On the other hand, if you need to use the ethernet port to access the internet, you'll likely have to disable the bridge you set up to share the wireless connection.
Hope this guide helps! It can obviously be used to connect any device with only an ethernet port to a wireless network, so use as needed.
Machinarium Pre Orders Started!
Machinarium is an amazing looking game. With the resurgence of Adventure titles coming out these days, like the Tales of Monkey Island, Machinarium's timing couldn't be better. Well, at least as far as Adventure game visibility goes. Machinarium Preview from Amanita Design on Vimeo. Machinarium Preview 02 from Amanita Design on Vimeo.
Machinarium is a game about a cool little robot guy and his adventure through a land full of robots. All I have to say is, watch the trailer (or see the trailer after the jump), and you'll likely be drawn in as much as I have. It's slated to come out October 2009, and will cost $20, but if you pre-order you'll save $3. Awesome.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Starcraft II Tech Trees
Tech trees from Starcraft II have been posted up over at giant bomb, allowing for players to start getting ready for the beta that is supposedly coming out soon (Kotaku does the math here). Hit the link for how I feel about the trees and why studying them may not be worth it.
I remember an awesome strategy I had involving Hypogryphs in the WarCraft III beta. Then they balanced things quite a bit and changed the tech trees a bit. Beta testing tends to put a whole new perspective on a game's mechanics, and things are guaranteed to change drastically.
On the other hand, it really seems that Blizzard is trying to keep these tech trees relatively close to the ones found in the original Starcraft. This just echoes how much Blizzard really has decided to not try and do anything too different with SC II, as changing it around too much would likely ruin the reputation that the first game established.
The success that Starcraft has seen over the years was almost completely accidental. When I purchased my copy of Starcraft, I never would have imagined that the game would become such a huge international gaming phenomena. Basically, Blizzard has the first major E-Sport on its hands, and is wise to be careful about trying to re-invent the wheel.
Just think about how some game sequels are. Often times, they feel like completely different games. Now imagine if the next season of Football (Soccer) was rolled out with a bunch of new game mechanics, instead of a few rules changed to keep the sport balanced and maintained. Football fans everywhere would be outraged and the players would be put in odd positions, as they would have to completely change the way they played.
Starcraft is basically the football of the E-Sports world. Blizzard is the official organization that decides what the rule sets will be for each chapter of the sport's evolution, and if Blizzard makes things too drastically different, you can bet that the sequel will be kicked around and spit upon, not even coming close to living up to the original in glory.
So, Starcraft II is on its way, and its tech trees, as they currently stand, are available. Just don't take them too seriously, you'll get along just fine with what you already know.
Starcraft II LAN Petition
As many of you know, Blizzard has decided to remove LAN functionality from Starcraft II. Well, if that bothers you at all, go ahead and sign up on the ever growing LAN in Starcraft 2 Please petition.
Now, I know the petition is really written and in the spirit of what gamers traditionally see Blizzard as being, company wise, but I think lots of people are going to be surprised at how Blizzard handles this one. I think things have changed quite a bit at how Blizzard has to approach issues like this.
For those of you who have been living in a air bubble underwater for the last year, Blizzard was basically purchased by Activision. When one company purchases another, they like results. If those results aren't met, usually something along the lines of a lawsuit occurs, like what happened with 3D-realms and Take-Two interactive over Duke Nukem Forever, even though that may be an extreme example.
Anyways, with the demand of results from a larger company, Blizzard likely isn't going to just sit around and wait for words like "downsizing" to start flying around. They are going to start making some decisions based on pure results, and removing LAN from Starcraft II is exactly that.
By nuking LAN, Blizzard will move all multiplayer activity for SC II to Battle.net. The choice to get rid of LAN is simply to try and avoid piracy and try and motivate people to buy legitimate copies of the game.
My personal feelings regarding this issue is that piracy will continue just as strong with Starcraft II as it did with the original Starcraft, despite this move. My main reason for this is that Battle.net is a pretty solid authentication system, and changing that up a little bit by killing one aspect of Multiplayer doesn't change the fact that, in order to get the most out of Starcraft II (LAN or not), you'll need a legitimate copy of the game. All getting rid of LAN does is hurt those users who will be paying full price for the item, and simply delay the inevitable as far as piracy goes.
