[papanesta]

I've thought a topic like this might be useful for a while now.

So retail gaming has been in decline for a good while now, but those of you outside the Mass Effect 3 topic might not realise that the UK gaming company Game has cancelled all upcoming EA titles for the coming month (more information, via JOSEPH).

I seem to be lucky in that my local Tesco stocks a lot of game variety (would that remain?), and it has been a good while since I was in a Game store. With such (otherwise) good online service, and a knowledge of gaming, I've not needed shops. However, the article above lists a lot of positive and negative reasons for the disappearance of media outlets. Do people still use them? Is there even any nearby?

[d0mm2k8]

As a PC gamer, I must say I really don't give a sh*t about Game. Back when I used my 360 and PS3, Game was great. Now I'm on PC however, they only dedicate one small section of a shelf for PC games which consist of only WoW, Sims and various RTS'.
I wouldn't mind if they didn't also go out of their way to strike deals with publishers to not make theirs games available on Steam for a while; I mean they barely even care about that section of the f*cking market, what's the point?

I order every game online from Amazon anyways. It's cheaper (Dead Space 2 new for £14 a few days after release? Every other new release for £25? Yes please).

[meta187]

I've ordered about 3 games from Amazon and an actual XBOX 360. They screwed up on 2 of the games, delivering them much later than intended so I always get my major releases reserved and purchased at Gamestop despite not exactly being a big fan of them as a corporate entity and a quiet monopoly. I've used Steam for a few PC titles and they seem pretty hassle free but I'm generally a console gamer so reserving games and having the option to get them at a midnight release with a little bonus schwag certainly keeps the retail outlets in the lead.

[ccrogers15]

Ive seen GAME not a good place. In usa tho, theres gamestop, and there both the same. They both rip you off. They can give you $2 for a PS3 game tradein, but then turn around and sell it for $50 after they gave you $2. I would rather order from amazon or ebay, or buy digital.

[Seddo]

Looks like Game and Gamestation won't be stocking Asura's Wrath or Street Fighter X Tekken either now.

I go in to Game stores but only to browse, Game has always been expensive compared to other retailers and so i have hardly shopped with them at all. The last time i did i bought MGS2 and GTA 3, so that's how far we're going back.

Buying online is so much easier and sometimes you can get the games a better prices on release.

If the likes of Game and Gamestation did ever ditch retail and concentrate solely on online retail i don't think the supermarkets will dwindle down their variety, the likes of Asda, Tesco and Morrisons have a decent selection already and Asda have even gone in to the pre-owned business. Perhaps the supermarkets might compete even more to get a bigger slice of the gaming market and add even more variety to their current selection.

[Opiteilsm]

I hate Game, the only reason I went in there was for a game that I wanted the limited edition for, because they seemed to be the only high street store that stocked them. I always went to Asda or ordered from Amazon for cheaper. I completely understand that Game only sold games so therefor had to charge the maximum, but the fact that there was such a difference between online and in store prices was just ridiculous. My local Game is constantly empty, even the employees buy the majority of their games from Asda.

[02fishera]

Having worked for Game in the past, it kinda made sense for me to make my purchases as I was receiving a staff discount. Nowadays though, I don't tend to rush out and buy a game straight away unless its something that I'm desperate to get (GTA, AC and FIFA tend to fall into this category.), I just wait a few months and pick it up on the cheap preowned when its usually part in a 3 for 2 deal or something along those lines.

[finn4life]

I love buying my games instore, it is so much better but its half the price for me to buy from the uk at ozgameshop.

[JOSEPH X]

The trouble with the supermarkets taking a bigger slice of the gaming pie, is that they're not going to stock all the titles on a platform. Only the lowest common denominator/popular games will get stocked. Supermarkets are risk averse, they only stock stuff they can get rid of.

If Game and gamestation go bust and the only places you can get games at retail are the supermarkets, it could have and adverse effect on game development as a whole. Publishers will only want to release games for the lowest common denominator.

What am I saying? It's like that anyway, has been for a few years. Apart from making the same mediocre game every one or two years they are trying to kill the second hand market with day one DLC. I've become a fan of many a series only because I got one of the games second hand. Our hobby is going to disappear up it's own ass!

Nice topic btw paps. I've often thought about makin a topic for general stuff like tech demos and such, but not cosplay. Fook that!

[papanesta]

Well, any topic goes, so feel free to discuss/post whatever.

I've just watched Quantic Dream's tech demo from GDC, and as far as these things go, it's stunning. Regardless of whether it's practical are not, or possible in-game, it's definitely worth a watch.

KARA - Part 1 - Part 2

[ccrogers15]

Even though gamestop, EB, GAME and others rip you off, i prefer to have a physical copy of the disk to be honest. I dont like digital games.

[ThePinkFloydSound]

Lets talk about current trends in gaming. A lot of people I know are gaming now, that essentially wouldn't be hardcore gamers but do play online. This is great, however it seems that the market is targeting by numbers so they are picking quantity of customers over quality of gaming. For example, multiplayer driven games such as COD series etc. Decent single player experiences are diminishing in favour of mass appeal for multiplayer gaming.

Could we see franchises/series do multiplayer game releases that coincide with single player releases? I mean, you can purchase, say, COD singleplayer standalone game with a 30 hour campaign and/or the multiplayer disc as a bundle or each separate.

For gamers who like both they will pay more but will get more. For people who just like multiplayer they can have that but it wont interfere with the singleplayer experience.

What are your thoughts?

[Robinski]

QUOTE (papanesta @ Thursday, Mar 8 2012, 04:14)

Well, any topic goes, so feel free to discuss/post whatever. I've just watched Quantic Dream's tech demo from GDC, and as far as these things go, it's stunning. Regardless of whether it's practical are not, or possible in-game, it's definitely worth a watch. KARA - Part 1 - Part 2

Son of a bitch. I saw the topic title and thought "Ah! A fitting place to post that Kara video!".

I really enjoyed it. It's nice to get a tech demo with an emotional side, rather than some guy walking down an ultra hi-def street or forest or something. A great little video tackling an interesting subject. Yeah, we've all seen it done before (think Blade Runner and Asimov stuff) but it was interesting to see it in a digital platform. The facial animations were particularly impressive, you can tell a lot more with a slight, well executed, movement of the face than you can with words. I heard (on the IGNUK podcast if you're afetr a source) that the actress did the voiceacting and facial mo-cap simultaneously (i.e. not reading the lines once for audio, then reading them again for facial capturing), that seemed to make it feel really authentic too.

E: Goddamn, just watching it again, that voice acting is fantastic when she's being disassembled. Really hits ya.

This post has been edited by Robinski on Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 11:55

[ccrogers15]

QUOTE (ThePinkFloydSound @ Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 11:29)

Lets talk about current trends in gaming. A lot of people I know are gaming now, that essentially wouldn't be hardcore gamers but do play online. This is great, however it seems that the market is targeting by numbers so they are picking quantity of customers over quality of gaming. For example, multiplayer driven games such as COD series etc. Decent single player experiences are diminishing in favour of mass appeal for multiplayer gaming. Could we see franchises/series do multiplayer game releases that coincide with single player releases? I mean, you can purchase, say, COD singleplayer standalone game with a 30 hour campaign and/or the multiplayer disc as a bundle or each separate. For gamers who like both they will pay more but will get more. For people who just like multiplayer they can have that but it wont interfere with the singleplayer experience. What are your thoughts?

You would be getting cheated. ALL online gaming should be free. Thats why PSN, Steam, Origin and Xfire dominate over XBL. XBL is pay for play. Who do they think they are? First they got that crappy system (ive had 4 go RROD on me. But STILL own my same ps3 from 08), then crap servers, and no good exclusives.

[Robinski]

QUOTE (ccrogers15 @ Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 13:14)

You would be getting cheated. ALL online gaming should be free. Thats why PSN, Steam, Origin and Xfire dominate over XBL. XBL is pay for play. Who do they think they are? First they got that crappy system (ive had 4 go RROD on me. But STILL own my same ps3 from 08), then crap servers, and no good exclusives.

Yeah, XBL kind of lost all my respect when they had that massive downtime (What was it? A month?) due to lax security measures. I mean, they lost a sh*t load of (admittedly encrypted) credit card details and personal info. The fallout wasn't that bad, but the reputation and respectability lsot was irreplaceable.

Oh wait, that was PSN.

This post has been edited by Robinski on Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 13:23

[ccrogers15]

QUOTE (Robinski @ Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 13:17)

QUOTE (ccrogers15 @ Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 13:14) You would be getting cheated. ALL online gaming should be free. Thats why PSN, Steam, Origin and Xfire dominate over XBL. XBL is pay for play. Who do they think they are? First they got that crappy system (ive had 4 go RROD on me. But STILL own my same ps3 from 08), then crap servers, and no good exclusives. Yeah, XBL kind of lost all my respect when they had that massive downtime (What was it? A month?) due to lax security measures. I mean, they lost a sh*t load of (admittedly encrypted) credit card details and personal info. The fallout wasn't that bad, but the reputation and respectability lsot was irreplaceable. Oh wait, that was PSN.

Oh well. XBL DOES get hacked and intruded on, but microsoft brushes it off, or keeps it private. So your actually at more risk on XBL then. Remember the new "Hack" that was reported on everywhere? People can now get into your XBL/live/hotmail account just by knowing your email, and using CMD. Your less safe on XBL, opposed to Sony standing up, turning it off to stop it, and gutting it getting rid of the hackers. Sony is better with your safety. Also, that never happened. Sony NEVER lost the credit card info. Anonymous even proved they did not have it, and so did sony.


XBL Flaws:
1. Stupid pricing
2. They charge
3. Bad Security
4. VERY BAD customer support
5. Complicated currency system. Points? Really?

[ThePinkFloydSound]

First of all, most people getting their accounts hacked have entered their Windows Live ID in silly places like bogey phone apps, non-Microsoft websites etc. Next of all, people have obvious and stupid answers for their secret questions set up on their account. What's your favourite food? It's always Pizza, Chips, Curry, Chinese.. (UK). What's your Mothers birthplace? Manchester....the same Manchester you have as your location on your profile? mmmm.

Microsofts system is secure. People are the weakest link. I know, I work here day in and day out. People give me their passwords willingly all the time when I don't even ask for them and they wonder why their accounts get 'hacked.' I have some people telling me their password is 1234. Seriously like.

XBL is a paid subscription but your money goes somewhere. I've never had an issue with any servers or ever connecting. Rooms for games are always full given the relevent popularity of the game at the time.

It's ironic that you say bad security considering the PSN debacle.

I don't know about bad customer support, I suppose that depends on the agent. What issue did you have with the customer support?

Also, for the service is cheap. €40 or €50 for one year. That's cheap. It's a pity when most of the time people defend PSN, they usually resort to saying its a free service. Exactly, it's free, people don't have much value for it. Also, your not paying for a service so you don't have much leg to stand on if it breaks. Its free and their not oblidged as much as say Xbox if there's a problem. Xbox you are a paying customer.

I'm not thrashing PSN. Its not me to do that. I don't have a problem with it. However, the general consensus is that XBL is a superior gaming service.

[Pat]

QUOTE (papanesta @ Wednesday, Feb 29 2012, 10:56)

but those of you outside the Mass Effect 3 topic might not realise that the UK gaming company Game has cancelled all upcoming EA titles for the coming month (more information, via JOSEPH).

Has anyone considered that there's a reason for this beyond the fact that GAME may be dying? EA is going through absolute PR hell right now with Mass Effect 3, they've got former BioWare employees defending day one DLC in what most gamers consider outright blasphemy, as well as the whole situation with Jennifer Hepler getting lambasted by major portions of the internet; I'm certainly not fond of her writing myself, but the recent attacks on her have no doubt been excessive (then again, she hasn't handled it well herself, posting retorts along the lines of "YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS OF MY VAGINA"). Then we look at their forums, where any bit of criticism is censored, and there are multiple cases of posts actually being edited to remove major portions of their argument.

I'm really interested in seeing how EA deals with this entire situation. I think more and more people are starting to see the absolute stranglehold they have on the developers they've acquired, and I feel BioWare is a prime example of what that stranglehold is capable of. I have no qualms with BioWare itself, but I feel they have dropped in quality drastically ever since EA took charge.

This post has been edited by Pat on Sunday, Mar 11 2012, 16:49

[Yossarianite]

Bumping this because it still can be used