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Every Wednesday I ask you to Ask Me Stuff. If you have a burning question about the games industry, leave it in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it this afternoon.
I’ll be doing this every Wednesday from 1pm. Except for today. I’ll be out of the office this afternoon, so hit me up with your questions this morning!
Now, fire away with those questions.
It seems unlikely, doesn’t it?! This is something I touched on a couple of weeks back in my “End Game Of Violence” post. Fighting and shooting is a simple, immediate form of interaction; it’s a lot easier for developers to simulate than, say, talking and other more sophisticated forms of human interaction. There are huge design and AI challenges developers will need to surmount before we’ll see fighting and shooting sidelined as the dominant form of gaming.
Also, isn’t Alan Wake primarily about shooting and fighting?
I guess thou you need a new game play mechanism to make it a game. I only recently played and finished Fallout 3. I had said to my friends I was going to make a talking character and solve things diplomatically, and they all said that it wasn’t going to work. They were right of course, I was able to end a few quest non violently but you still can’t get by all the raiders etc. I still really enjoyed it. its a great game.
But i would have really enjoyed a similar game where there was a more tense interaction when you meet strangers in the waste and if you get into a fight you really probably don’t want too because a couple of hits and you die.
I guess it goes back to something more D&D but thats almost impossible to program i guess.
Yeah I have to say fallout 1 and 2 were better for that sort of thing. For quite a few things actually, but lets not get into that.
I’m actuallly reminded of The Sims. It’s basically a life simulation game, and yet it is incredibly basic. You have a few simple needs, a money system that forces you to have a job so you can buy things, and relationships that are really just a single number that goes up and down based on a few actions you do.
Compare this to the complexities of real life and its a pretty poor simulation, though entertaining enough. When something like the sims can achieve a higher level of gameplay, while still being able to remain fun, maybe we’ll see more non-shooty games.
Have you had a chance to try out the Scott Pilgrim game? Any good? I can’t try the demo I’m at work. Working.
Why do you think publishers actively neglect the potential revenue from re-releasing their back catalogue on digital distribution services?
It’s probably a combination of a few things. One, publishers often sell their back catalogue rights to other companies to sell in budget lines. If there’s an existing deal in place, it may preclude those games from also being released on Steam or GOG or any other digital channel. Two, the digital distributor may not necessarily want those titles at that particular time; GOG in particular seem to like to drip-feed releases thus allowing them to promote each new release in a way that flooding their store would not. Three, the publisher may feel that the timing isn’t right; perhaps they’d sell more or be able to market a re-release better at a later date.
I don’t think any publisher looks at potential revenue from digital sales and says, “Nah, we don’t want that.”
Dou you know why Jason Hill’s Screen Play blog on the conditions at Team Bondi and other studios was pulled yesterday?
Is there a chached version of this around? I can’t find one. I’d be interested in reading it as I’ve heard a lot of things and recently passed up work there.
When is the Scott Pilgrim game out in Australia? I read that it was today, yet here I am with no Scott Pilgrim game. Profound sadness.
It’ll be up sometime tonight. The AU PlayStation Store always gets updated on Wednesday evening/night.
I’ve noticed you cover a fair amount of Collector editions for certain games on Kotaku? Most recently, the Gran Turismo Signature edition.
So, my question is do you actually buy/receive any of these collector editions or just opt for your usual standard/promo copies?
I do sometimes get sent special editions, but mostly I just received the standard or “not for resale” promo copy. And as you may have noticed with the Pile of Crap and Community Service Award, I’m often happy to give them away. The only special edition I’ve actually bought recently is Demon’s Souls because that was the only version available when I ordered. Before that, maybe BioShock for that Big Daddy statue?
I like the idea of special editions that include genuinely interesting content – ie. a nice hardback artbook, a strategy guide (that isn’t from Prima or Brady), a proper soundtrack CD, developer commentaries, etc. But if it’s just a cat helmet or toy car or poster or in-game content that’ll be free DLC later, then no thanks.
Hi Dave,
My old 60gb juggernaught of a PS3 Console passed away for good last night. It YLOD’ed about a month ago and i was able to fix it via the reflow method. Getting an extra month out of it was decent enough.
I was just wanting to know if there are any great deals the PS3 Slim are at the moment? Keep in mind that i will most likely be trading in any of the games that come with the bundles since my games library is quite extensive.
Cheers, Danny.
The 120GB Slim is going for $438 at Harvey Norman right now. That’s the cheapest I’ve seen a standalone PS3. Everywhere else seems to have it for RRP with bundled games.
did you try reflowing it again
it can work, sometimes the first one wasnt done 100% or whatnot(though eventually it will die foreva)
when i got my 120g slim,i got it for $399 and that was last december. It was not technically ‘new’ but it was a reconditioned slim that Sony were selling via Gamesmen. I beleive they still have the deal.
This is NOT in original packaging but is manufacturer wrapped, just ina cardboard box. Console was brand new as was all the internals. The gamesmen advise me there are NOT returned consoles that have been played with then died.
I was very happy with the price, still has full warranty and was absolutely brand new!
Worth considering…
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