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How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?
Posted by Luke Plunkett at 11:00 PM on January 23, 2008
British trade site MCV, after being overcome with a bad case of the busy-bodies, went around the UK asking anyone and everyone involved in the gaming industry how much money they were making. The cheek of them! Plenty of people answered, though, and MCV have just published the results. They show that if you want to make some money in the business, you need to be a Managing Director for a big publisher, because then you'll be making up to and beyond £250,000 a year. At the other end of the scale? Junior artists and designers, who are only making between £18-21,000 a year. Which is even less than journalists.
Industry salary survey [MCV]
Thanks to a shaky US economy, global stocks are taking a swan dive. Doesn't affect you? Maybe not directly, but remember, platform holders and publishers are almost all publicly-held companies. And surely you care about them, at least in an impersonal, "oh, that's a shame" kind of way. Anyways, in the wake of big falls in the US, Japanese and European markets, the following games companies have all lost a sizeable pile of cash: Ubisoft (down 11.5%), Sony (down 3.5%), Microsoft (down 3%), Take-Two (down 3%) and SCi (down 7.8%). Think of all those generic sequels and hardware colour variations, lost!
They say patience is a virtue. If so, it's one gamers have had wrenched from their clammy fists years ago. Delays for major games are about as common these days as a brown sci-fi landscape, which makes nobody happy, but did you ever wonder just why so many games see their release dates slip, and slip, and slip? A CVG article has quizzed the devs behind some of history's more notorious culprits (Galleon, STALKER), which provides us with some handy excuses as to why their particular projects went through development hell. Sadly, the piece only briefly touches on what's probably the most broken aspect of the whole shebang: the effect marketing departments have on the problem by announcing early, bogus dates. They believe a delayed game builds excitement, whereas I've always thought a delayed game does nothing but antagonise and create unrealistic expectations. But hey, what do I know, I don't work in marketing.
At least it will according to Squeenix's Tetsuya Nomura, who has said that they want to release a demo so that players can get a handle on the game's new battle system. That neatly removes the "if" from your FF fanboy's list of demo fantasies, leaving only the "when", which wasn't even hinted at. Not even a little. Sorry. But it probably won't be anytime soon.
The Japanese launch of Skype for the PSP, originally slated for late-January, has been postponed due to issues with Sony's official microphones. Apparently some of the microphone's components failed to meet Skype's necessary certifications, and rather than launch the service with no official peripherals to accommodate it, Sony have put the entire launch on ice. No new date has been set for the launch, Sony only saying "solutions to enable users to start using Skype features and services on their PSP are being sought for and will be announced in due course". Sucks for Japan! Western users, you're OK, as Sony have told us this "will make no difference to the European and USA launch, which will coincide with the end of January firmware upgrade".
SingStar in English is bad enough. Sure, every version of the game released thus far has had one or two tolerable, maybe even memorable tracks, but on the whole? Complete drivel. The German-language SingStars, though...well. After the jump are some of the tracks featured on SingStar Apres-Ski, a Europe-only edition of the game released last year. Europe, Germany, pop music, singing, you know where this is going. Enjoy!
This is a solar-powered MP4 player. Eh. It's also, however, a solar-powered Nintendo emulator, what with its ability to play NES, Famicom, Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games. Only catch is that the unit doesn't have slots for the actual carts: it's software emulation all the way, so you'll need to put the ROMs on an SD card before they'll work. The handheld costs around $US 120, and for that money you're not only getting the Nintendo emulation, but MP3, MP4 and WMA playback, a voice-recorder, flashlight and even a usb dock so you can charge other devices via its solar screens. A PSP for Nintendo-loving outdoorsman, if you will.
Deadline Games, the Danish devs behind the charming-yet-flawed shooters Total Overdose and Chili Con Carnage have taken the wraps off their latest project, a new shooter called Faith and a .45. Great name! It's also offering a somewhat original premise, as it's set in during the Great Depression, and will be focused on the Bonnie & Clyde-style adventure of a guy and his dame driving around shooting stuff up, as they try to topple the reign of "a ruthless, corrupt oilman who's out for their blood". You have our attention Deadline, keep us posted.
Faith Fighters, a flash-based 2D fighter by Molleindustria, is exactly what its name suggests. You pick a deity (choices include God, Muhammad, Ganesh & Jesus), you get an opponent, you fight to the death, Street Fighter-style. It's goal, according to Molleindustria, is to "push gamers to reflect on how [their] religions and sacred representations are often instrumentally used to fuel or justify conflicts between nations and people". OK! Muslim readers upset at the inclusion of a physical representation of the prophet Muhammad (ie a big no-no), there's a censored version of the game should you (or anyone else not already put off the game) still want to give it a try. I'd recommend it. The art style's got a very The Behometh (Castle Crashers) feel to it, and for a flash-based fighter it's pretty great.
SCEA have just confirmed that they're bringing the PS3's Hot Shots Golf 5 (now re-branded Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds) to the US market in March. Anyone with a Japanese PSN account (or, you know, if you're Japanese) may already have tested this out, but if you haven't, all you need to know is that it's another Hot Shots golf game, it's looking very pretty, and this version will be in a language you'll be able to comprehend. 
Japanese publisher Enterbrain have announced that the Nintendo Wii has just sold its five millionth unit in Japan. As of January 20, 5,019,337 had been sold, which translates to an average of 385,000 every month. Also announced were the top five-selling games for the console, which look a lot like this:
Games Radar are reporting that, according to a "reliable Sony source", God of War III won't be finished any time soon. As in, not in 2008, and maybe not even the year after, the source saying it's due to be completed around Christmas 2009 at the earliest. If you don't have a calendar handy, that's aaaages away. Bad news for fans of Kratos and his manly chest, then, and surely (if true) the reason why Sony were
Remember iPod gaming? Yes, it continues to be quite the punchline, but publishers are still giving it a go, with Namco releasing Pole Position Remix via the iTunes store today. The driving game controlled with the (get this) iPod wheel is receiving nothing short of piss poor to five-star rave reviews from those who have purchased the arcade remake and taken the time to comment on iTunes. Klee3 says Pole Position Remix is "[the] worst of all the iPod Games that are available now" but razor pod writes "this game is hot so fun and not very hard to control (for Me) so this game is really fun." Looks like someone's having so much fun they can't be bothered to punctuate! Very telling.
Cloth maps used to be a pretty big deal, back when Ultima IV was packing them in, thwarting Xerox machines everywhere. In the case of The Eye of Judgment, however, they tend to be more a source of frustration than of nerdy shouts of "Cool!". Reader Matt had it up to here (see forehead) with the included fabric play mat, easily bumped camera and need for constant lighting, so he built a custom EOJ table for himself and his sons to use when playing the PlayStation 3 collectible card game.
The official Capcom blog has revealed that this Thursday will bring about the long awaited first taste of Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners everywhere. Well, everyone who's not me, because I've already played the thing to death! But for those of you who don't get to live the glorious life of a stay at home video games blogger, one who flies to exotic locations to play 15 minutes of a game under the watchful eye of PR folk, keep your eyes on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network on the afternoon of January 24. The full game hits February 5 in North America, ensuring that you'll have ample to to become familiar with Nero's Devil Bringer.
Seems we're back on the cake. This one, a remarkable achievement unearthed (read: re-blogged) by the eagle-eyed gang at Arcade Heroes, was created for a Killer List of Video Games message board poster and presumed Sinistar fan by a co-worker. We can only assume that by "co-worker", the poster means "best friend in the universe" and "the only one who understands my true passion." It's really quite glorious in it's full-sized form, but remember that there are only about three Sinistar jokes one can make and I've already made one of them. Comment carefully!
Epic Games plan to demonstrate the latest Unreal Engine 3 features at this year's Game Developers Conference next month. The presentation will run on the half hour for each day of the show.
Former Gizmondo-brand snake-oil salesman and Ferrari Enzo-killer Bo Stefan "Fat Steffe" Eriksson has been released from a Los Angeles jail. Good news for him, but bad news for exotic cars everywhere. The former executive with ties to the failed Gizmondo handheld was arrested on grand theft auto charges and later charged with embezzlement, to which he pleaded "no contest." Old Bo is on his way to either Sweden or Germany now, where we assume he'll start work on Gizmondo Advance or some such nonsense. We simply can't wait to never hear from him again.
It may not have the gloss—nor the honor of lauding the Most Addictive Game Fueled By Dew—of some other video game award presentations, but the Game Developers Choice Awards are the real deal in their space. To take place during the Game Developers Conference, the Game Developers Choice Awards are the "industry's only open peer-based awards" meaning that the back-scratching here is genuine and informed. Leading the nominations this year are Valve's Portal and 2K Boston's BioShock, each nabbing five nominations, including Game of the Year nods.
Foremost Final Fantasy fowl the Chocobo has been many things, but I'm frankly surprised it's taken Square Enix this for it to be a suitable rubber ducky replacement, as is the Uki Uki Chocobo. The feathered friend flotation device measures 2.95" x 3.54" x 3.54", according to importer National Console Support, and ships in mid-April. Uki Uki Chocobo follows the precious design style of the Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon series for the low, low price of $US 13.50.
Sure, 
Seeing Cloverfield last weekend really piqued my interest. I was more impressed by the film than I'd expected to be, finding the documentary-style handheld shooting to be far more intrinsic to the narrative experience than some mere Blair Witch clone. And it got me thinking, while games like Gears of War have already experimented with shakier camera systems, could we stand a full handheld onslaught throughout 10-12 hours of gaming? 
1Up's former editor Patrick Klepek is now MTV's current...Patrick Klepek. But joining Stephen Totilo to hold down the fort will be no easy task. Seriously, have you ever seen that movie The Devil Wears Prada? Imagine Totilo as Meryl Streep. We're not sure how N'Gai fits in the picture during those Vs. Modes...hmm...we really should have thought this little film metaphor through before typing it all out and refusing to revise. In any case, congrats to Klepek—we wish him the best of luck in his new position. 
One Hong Kong retailer gives us a taste of just what Mario and Luigi would look like if Miyamoto went mad and decided to co-brand the franchise with Nightmare on Elm Street flicks. Seriously, these plush toys are freaky—we're talking clown freaky, or even Cher's cheeks no longer move when she talks, freaky (people still listen to Cher, right?). Plus, we're finding it more than a little gross that the curtains don't match the nose drapes, if you know what we mean. 
It looks like that
Most of you have probably heard of StripClubDJ, even if you don't remember why. His real name is Gary Dudley, and he's Xbox LIVE's top ranked player with 245,825 gamer points...who also happens to also be banned from the service. And, according to one of our tipsters, he's trying to sell the account, soliciting the sale in two separate messages:
We've gotten a few reports of customers who had purchased Undertow previously being laughed off the support line when calling Microsoft for compensation,