Exploitations R Us
At Activision Blizzard’s latest earnings call, CEO Bobby Kotick claimed the company dumped the Ghostbusters game and industry legend Tim Schafer’s next title, Brutal Legend, because they couldn’t be “exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential to become $100 million dollar franchises.” As he recently used “exploited” in the same comtext, we can now rest assured his first statement was no simple slip. The money-grubbing clown mild-mannered man-of-profit really does intend to milk the company’s biggest franchises for every possible fraction of a sliver of a cent, artistic merit be darned. Thankfully, a slew of indie developers–including Edmund McMillen and Petri Purho–regularly say “phooey” to the conglomerates and continue to release the innovative likes of Gish and Crayon Physics.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/QsTqspnvAaI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Innovative, relaxing, and bound to make money; Bobby Kotick will never understand the formula.
Censorship? Or Sensitivity?
Post-apocalyptic controverasy magnet Fallout 3 happens hundreds of years after The Great War’s October 23, 2077 stab at global nuclear annihilation leaves civilization torn tattered, and gasping for drugs air. In part of the game’s sprawling world, a municipality fittingly called Megaton has grown up around an undetonated nuclear bomb (makes sense, right?). One series of choices offers players the opportunity to bring the town nuke to its fullest potential, wiping everything around it off the map. For the Japanese version, this questline and various nuclear references have been removed–for obvious reasons. As I said in the original news item, “as a strong supporter of artistic freedom, mature content, and a revised ratings system, I find myself torn on this issue.”
Bonus: The comments section of the article linked above reveals a lot about how the varying opinions gamers have on censorship relate to their personal empathy levels and (in this instance) command of history.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hc6iUCX2u3Q" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
"You don't see that very often," says the onlooker. In videogames, you really don't.
Little Big Removal
Gamers have beern taking content from one game and recreating it in another for years. Now, some users are covering songs in Guitar Hero: World Tour and uploading them to the Guitar Hero database for others to enjoy, even as publisher Activision swiftly removes any potential copyright infringement fodder. LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule continue to remove user-created levels for different reasons. Activision presumably plans to charge users for the stuff other users have made (no word yet on whether creators might get paid for their content), while Sony and Media Molecule are more than likely avoiding potential lawsuits. But the message differs little: “We’ll provide you with tools so you can build whatever you want, but don’t.”
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/fSuTvJMPUnA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Baby steps.
Paying for Endings – Michael Capps, president of Gears of War developer Epic Games, admitted he’s discussed “unlocking” coded game content with other developers and publishers who agree that second-hand game sales and rentals are cutting into profits. “If you get the retail version you get the unlock code,” he says, but if you bought the game used or rented it, “you go online and pay $20.” As usual, members of the NeoGAF message board waxed alternately pro and con. User Minsc noted that most people don’t buy games for their endings. Another user saw the statements as an act of betrayal, given that Epic’s titles have, for the most part, all been million-sellers. Other posters supported the president’s position, saying they’d rather give money to developers than retailers.
Realistically, the easiest way to curb second-hand sales and rentals is to digitally distribute all future titles with server authentication software. Using their proprietary Steam platform, Valve’s been doing it for years.
A Lich King’s Wrath – The biggest game of the year has just been released, and it’s not a new title or even a sequel, but an expansion pack. Most of World of Warcraft’s 11 million subscribers will go and purchase Wrath of the Lich King this week and participate in breaking some kind of sales record. If we’re lucky, mainstream news outlets will vilify the game and its productivity-snuffing effects, with absolutely no awareness of the impact social gaming has had on our culture and the possibilities it presents (and has yet to present). If we’re double-lucky, Cooper Lawrence will once again lead the charge.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eMRhnC4-QGQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
"The truest victory...is stirring the hearts of your people." If by "stirring" they also mean "securing pre-orders," then they're double correct.
