...play with me!
This week, on a very special Nerds Without Pants: JD joins the crew and puts Julian on the therapist’s couch to try to get to the bottom of his deep-rooted issues with multiplayer. Spoiler alert: there’s more going on here than not wanting to be called names by a 14 year old.
Digital/non-traditional business generated almost half of retail games earnings last quarter.
Last week I wrote a blog which covered my take on Ben Cousins’ GDC presentation “When the Consoles Die, What Will Come Next?” In his presentation Ben went on to explain how he believes that the console era is near an end and mobile gaming will be the new platform of the future. While I agreed with Ben’s remarks, in my response I stated that some form of digital gaming will act as an intermediate between mobile and console gaming. Well, after taking a look at the some of the statistics from last quarter, it seems that we both may be right.
The studio that birthed Spyro and Ratchet & Clank is done with Resistance.
Resistance 3 was a great game and a fitting end to a trilogy that Insomniac started with the launch of the PlayStation 3. While it was a critical darling, the shooter wasn’t as successful at the register, selling roughly half the copies of its predecessor. Low sales aren’t keeping Sony from having developer Nihilistic Software bring the series to the PlayStation Vita in the form of Resistance: Burning Skies, but as far as Insomniac is concerned they’re done with the franchise.
Lower earning forecasts are forcing the company to put projects on hold for social ventures.
The rough game economy is continuing to show its impact on studios around the world. Cave, known for their hardcore, bullet hell shoot-'em-ups are exploring their options after lowering both six month and yearly earning forecasts. The company's 2011 fiscal year, which began in June 2011, was expected to bring 3,300 million yen in sales, but has since been reduced to 500 million yen ($6.5 million) due to industry stagnation and cautious retailers taking smaller orders.
Nate and Nick chat this week about the morality of piracy involving Rainfall titles.
After last episodes talk of Project Rainfall, Nick proposes the question of the morality and justification of piracy in the case of games that will never come to our region.
