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Critical Consensus: Final Fantasy XIII-2
13th Feb 2012 3:10pm
Consider this for a moment: Final Fantasy XIII's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions garnered Metacritic averages of 82 and 83 respectively. These are commendable averages, the sort that most developers aspire to reach, yet every single one of the dozen or so Final Fantasy XIII-2 reviews I have read are prefaced with a paragraph about its predecessor dropping the ball.
Did Final Fantasy XIII receive undeserved praise based on the long, esteemed history of the franchise? I wouldn't like to say, but, as Eurogamer's Simon Parkin points out, there are times when XIII-2 seems like an elaborate, interactive apology.
"[Final Fantasy XIII] presented a journey so focused and linear that its first 25 hours could be mapped out as an unbroken corridor," Parkin writes in his 8 out of 10 review. "In Final Fantasy XIII, both towns and exploration were discarded as extraneous trappings, unnecessary to [protagonist] Lightning's mission or - as it was referred to in the game's terminology - her Focus. Rarely has a game been so focused as to discard so much of its own heritage."
Escaping the Asylum: Rocksteady's five designs to success
13th Feb 2012 7:00am
At the 2012 DICE Summit last week, Sefton Hill, co-founder of UK studio Rocksteady Games, detailed his approach to creating its last two hit games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Here are the five key points that helped create the most celebrated licensed properties of this console generation.
5. Rapid prototyping.
All prototyping at Rocksteady is done in-game. When the team comes up with an idea they want to implement, they get it in the game as quickly as possible. Gameplay needs to be iterated quickly, said Hill and it can either be improved or killed if it doesn't work. If you can't iterate quickly you'll have less ideas. Ideas have an energy or momentum that keeps the team motivated and excited, and that helps get the team through the tough times - the doubt and problems that crop up in game development. If your iterative process is slowed down you lose that buzz that enables successful problem solving, said Hill. He also advocated taking more risks, because risks lead to standout features that help your game be more distinctive. Ultimately, aim to shorted the gap between ideas and implementation.
Critical Consensus: Catherine
7th Feb 2012 12:03pm
A game like Catherine presents a difficult problem for experienced critics. No matter how sophisticated their tastes, regardless of how neatly they can turn a sentence or construct a telling metaphor, a significant portion of a game critics' professional life is spent grappling with identikit shooters, button-mashing beat-em ups and Tolkien-derived RPGs. As a result, games like Braid, Flower, and anything that deviates from purely visceral territory are ravenously seized as opportunities to flex the intellect.
The danger is that, blinded by the appeal of digging into an experience that touches upon higher ideas than the most efficient way to propel a bullet/arrow into a human/orcish face, the critic can often neglect their duty to actually appraise the game. Conversely, it is all too simple to undersell the importance of a game's more cerebral ideas if its interactive elements aren't as polished and refined as products for which gameplay is the sole focus.
At the time of writing, Catherine boasts a Metacritic average of around 80 per cent, but that number is derived from individual reviews that run the gamut from a lowly 40 all the way to a perfect 100.
Nesting close to the top of that tree is Eurogamer's John Teti, whose 9 out of 10 review is descriptive, thoughtful and shot through with characteristic humour. However, while he does an expert and thoroughly entertaining job of detailing Catherine's schizophrenic combination of romantic psychodrama - in which the protagonist, Vincent, agonises over settling down with his over-bearing girlfriend Katherine, or indulging his lust for Catherine, the uninhibited denizen of his local drinking den - and punishing block puzzles - in which a dreaming Vincent frantically climbs an endless tower of crumbling blocks - hard-line opinion is more difficult to spot.
Critical Consensus: Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
7th Feb 2012 11:34am
At first glance this Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning might look like your standard swords and swishy hair RPG, but it comes with big names, and an even bigger cheque book, attached.
Fantasy writer and New York Times best-seller R. A. Salvatore handled the writing, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane the artwork, and Ken Rolston, games designer one The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion added a serious RPG pedigree. It was developed by 38 Studios, the outfit launched by Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, and its subsidiary Big Huge Games.
The game was released in the US today, for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation. The reviews below are all based on the Xbox review code.
GamesIndustry.biz prepares for international relaunch
6th Feb 2012 5:00pm
GamesIndustry.biz and IndustryGamers.com are set to merge this month, relaunching the new site with added staff, tools and services.
The site will become available to all readers, with verified industry professionals still able to take advantage of advanced tools, industry-only discussions areas, a redeveloped company directory, and more.
The current network already unites more than 90,000 registered industry professionals, freelancers and students, and with the help of IndustryGamers' US audience is targeting more than 500,000 unique users per month.
With expanded teams in the UK, New York and San Francisco, the new site will be edited by veteran journalists Matt Martin and James Brightman, taking on the roles of European editor and US editor respectively.
In anticipation of the international focus, GamesIndustry.biz has appointed Melissa Brown as US sales manager, having held key roles at GameSpy Technology and GameDev.net.
Melissa Brown joins GamesIndustry.biz from successful roles at Gamespy Technologies and GameDev.net.
The GamesIndustry.biz UK Indie Developer Survey 2012
6th Feb 2012 8:00am
As readers of GamesIndustry.biz you'll hopefully be aware that, as well as striving for journalistic excellence and informative content, we have a vested interest in the health and well-being of the country's domestic industry.
As part of that industry you'll also no doubt have experienced, either directly or vicariously, some of the regrettable ramifications of the difficult and changeable environment we have found ourselves operating within over recent months.
Times have been tough, and to survive needs agility and knowledge. Today, TIGA released figures which give some insight into just how mercurial our field has become. In just three years, between 2008 and 2011, 197 studios and development outfits have closed in the UK alone.
It's not all bad news though - in that period 216 new games industry offices opened their doors, heartening evidence that we are adapting to and evolving within the vicissitudes which have presented themselves.
But judging the wax and wane of trends and movements is no easy task. To invest and act intelligently you need information: knowledge of your peers and your markets. To paraphrase Eric Hirshberg, by sharing that information we can help to grow the pie, and not just try and take a bigger slice of it for ourselves.
So, to that end, we're conducting a survey. A survey which we hope will accurately map the state of the UK industry, it's growths and weaknesses. Once we have collated enough results we will subject it to the rigorous analysis of our team and our consultants, to provide you with the ammunition you need to continue the fight to keep the UK in contention with the rest of the world's major industry players.
We'd love you to take part. To do so, you need to be a UK-based, independently or UK-owned developer. Answers are designed to be taken on a by-company basis rather than individual, so please do try and ensure that we don't get duplicate answers. Entries are limited to one per IP, but if you could try and help us to avoid repetition, we'd greatly appreciate it.
More details are explained in the cover letter below, which was sent to some our closest industry contacts last week. Already, the responses have been flowing in, with some fascinating results, but to make this as representative as possible we need all of you to take part.
It will only take 10 minutes and, as explained below, all answers are entirely anonymous. Nothing will be published which could link your answers to your company. Lists of the companies who took part will not be published, either. Raw data will be available on request.
We're in this together. Many of you are competitors, but many of you are also friends, and the two are certainly not mutually exclusive. If you do want to help, click on the link below to be taken to the first page of the survey. As always, your time is very much appreciated.
The GamesIndustry.biz Indie Survey 2012.
Original cover letter and invitation. Please feel free to distribute as you see fit.
Hello, and welcome to the inaugural GamesIndustry.biz UK indie survey - thank you for taking the time to read.
If you've received this then you'll likely know one of the GI.biz team already, or will have been encouraged to take part by one of the generous industry ambassadors who have kindly offered to help us spread the word. However, as always when being asked to disclose information about your company, I'm sure you'll have your reservations. Hopefully, we'll be able to assuage those doubts.
Firstly, all information provided is completely anonymous, unless you specifically request otherwise. We're not interested in using it for any commercial purpose other than to analyse it and produce work which will provide invaluable industry insight into the current state of the UK development scene and its direction - information which we hope will prove useful to those already part of, or looking to join, our country's innovative and progressive community.
If you don't want to answer a question, just skip it. Although we'd obviously rather receive completed questionnaires, we'd rather you felt you could miss individual answers than not fill it in at all.
This is something we hope to be conducting annually, and with your help build a picture of the trends and success areas of the country's industry. By contributing, you will be the helping the community to have a better understanding of where it stands and where it's headed.
At the end of the form, there's the option to attach a word file containing any further comments, suggestions or opinions, either anonymously or attributed. Anything we receive in this way may be used to accompany the analysis pieces which we'll be producing, so please do make clear whether you're happy for us to do so in the text.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to get involved. The global industry is changing, perhaps more rapidly than any of us were able to predict. Let's make sure we maintain the UK as the influential and groundbreaking market leader it has been for so long.
If you do know anybody who you think might be interested in taking part, please do pass along the link below.
Your time is greatly appreciated, many thanks.
Dan
Public game companies by the (really big) numbers
2nd Feb 2012 3:20pm
A new report from Avista Partners shows that, while 2011 saw plenty of hand wringing, worried frowns and whispers about another recession, it also boasted some pretty impressive numbers. Like that the total value of all public game companies is now a rap star sized $111.2 billion.
Break that total down in to categories and $39.7 billion came from PC and console (not including Nintendo), $37.6 billion from online, $17.3 billion from Nintendo and $11.8 billion from mobile. What's interesting is how close the categories come, online proving a real rival for more traditional PC and console titles, and mobile, typically seen as the realm of the casual gamer, not too far behind traditional gaming manufacturer and publisher Nintendo.
Last year there were 492 deals worth more than $9.6 billion. For those of you with Rainman style number skills that's about 1.3 a day, and online games made up more than 70 per cent of those deals.
Online was on top in the capital raised awards as well, of the $5.2 billion raised in 2011 it snapped up 69.8 per cent. For the $2.1 billion in venture capital raised, online snapped up $1.3 billion, a record for the sector. It was the same for mergers and acquisitions, $4.4 billion worth of deals, with 71.5 per cent for online.
So you work in online? Have a gold star. You work in mobile development? You can have silver, because the mobile game index had the best performing sector index, showing a result of +45.9 per cent.
The full 2011 report is available here.
Some of the figures in this article were initially incorrect. Data has now been double-checked and updated.
Nintendo or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the internet
31st Jan 2012 4:57pm
Nintendo is a remarkable company for a number of reasons. It is one of the games industry's oldest companies, for example, as well as one of its largest, and certainly one of its most consistent innovators. It is also arguably the only major publisher in the entire industry that openly talks about downloadable "add-on" content as if it's a new idea.
While its competitors are refining their DLC strategies, making it a fluid part of the production pipeline and gaining a clearer understanding of the sort of post-launch content consumers respond to, Satoru Iwata still refers to it the concept like a biologist would some rare exotic bird.
In a recent call with investors, Nintendo's CEO discussed the potential new strategy of, "supplying new stages to Super Mario users who want to play the game more but have completed the game and lost interest in the existing stages."
"This will not only give us new profits but will lengthen the life of a product," he continues, "in that it will never be out of fashion and can keep attracting public attention as long as many people play it."
It is hard to know if this sort of talk will ease the minds of Nintendo's investors, who were keen to know more about the company's short-term strategy following the publication of its financial results for the nine-month period ending December 2011.
After all, a net loss of $623 million on sales of $7.1 billion is hardly cause for celebration, and while the appreciation of the Yen is a significant problem for all Japanese companies with strong international trade, Iwata has an enviable track record of facing up to Nintendo's shortcomings.
"I am not saying that we cannot help going into the red," he explained of the impact of the Yen. "Naturally, we have to find ways to gain profits even with such changes. It is clear that, however, in the next fiscal year, the sales of Nintendo 3DS hardware will not give us much profit even if we will be able to cease selling it below cost."
To the views that Nintendo is cautious, conservative, or even negative about business on a network, we will make a bold attempt when the time is ripe
Satoru Iwata
CES: The future of the living room
24th Jan 2012 11:47am
In an article called 'Yesterday's Future' published last Friday, Rob Fahey branded CES 2012, "a wasteland for games." The console announcements anticipated by the credulous few failed to materialise, replaced by extensive lessons from Sony and Microsoft in the questionable art of saying very little for as long as possible.
These days, Fahey argues, the sort of companies capable of making megaton announcements tend to do so on their own time, on their own terms, and away from the glitz of Las Vegas and the glare of their competitors' products. CES may have been a major platform for the direction of gaming 10 years ago, but today it's a mountain of phone and television manufacturers as eager to learn about the next great leap for the games industry as you or I.
Frankly, it gladdens the heart to see the games industry at the forefront of consumer electronics and entertainment rather than lagging behind, and this shift was reflected in a panel - as reported by IndustryGamers - discussing the growing use of consoles for non-gaming content.
Chaired by Ted Cohen, managing partner at TAG Strategic, the panel was composed of Verizon's director of entertainment services Joe Ambeault, Ooyala CTO Sean Knapp, PlayStation Home director Jack Buser, and Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
No prizes for guessing who climbed off the fence first.
Cohen's question was both broad and familiar: "There's a battle for the living room right now, by people as diverse as Google TV and Apple TV, your cable company, the consoles... Do you believe that consoles will ultimately win that war?"
I think Nintendo, if they don't figure out that there really is something called the Internet, is a loser. Everybody else in the middle either wins or loses based on the decisions that they make
Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities
Venture Time: What the VCs spent money on in 2011
20th Jan 2012 2:15pm
Whenever it comes to venture capitalists, what everyone really wants to know, rather than their dreams of a brighter tomorrow, is what they're spending they're money on, and if it's likely to be on you anytime soon.
The latest figures from MoneyTree suggest that if your project is software or internet specific, then you stand a good chance.
In 2011 software hung on to its title of top investment sector, with $6.7 billion invested in 1,004 deals in 2011. Q4 might have seen a drop for software, with $1.8 billion spent on 238 deals but this still kept it at the top for the period, and way ahead of its closest competitor, biotechnology.
Internet companies hit the VC jackpot, with $6.9 billion splashed on 997 deals in 2011, the highest level of investment in the sector for ten years. It was a 24 per cent increase on 2010, which saw $4.1 billion spent on 807 deals. Like software, internet companies did see a decline for Q4 compared to Q3, a drop of 23 per cent in money terms, but this category (companies who rely on the internet at the most fundamental level) still accounted for 24 per cent of all venture capital spending for the year.
"We saw a resurgence in investments in clean technology and internet-specific companies in 2011, as well as a bit of a jump in average funding in the internet sector," said PricewaterhouseCoopers' Tracy T. Lefteroff.
"However, while venture capitalists continue to show their interest in these areas, they are acting prudently and not chasing excessive valuations. Accordingly, despite the increase in investing, we're unlikely to see these sectors overheat like we saw in the 1999 to 2000 era."
The report identifies 17 sectors of VC investment, with 13 showing an increase in investment on 2010. Financial consumer products and services saw a massive 103 per cent rise and media and entertainment a 53 per cent rise.
It was good news for VC virgins too, as there was a rise in the number of first time financings. Software saw the most money spent on first time deals and the largest number of first time deals done. A massive chunk, 51 per cent, of all first time deals, occurred in the early stages of development, and just 9 per cent in the later stage.
Overall, $28.4 billion was spent on 3,673 investments in 2011, a 22 per cent rise on 2010's spend.
But Mark Heesen, National Venture Capital Association president association, doesn't want you to order the Cristal right away.
"While venture capital investment grew in 2011, it is important to note that deal volume growth did not keep pace with dollar growth," he warned.
"In most industry sectors, round sizes increased significantly, driving the higher investment levels across most stages of investment. Reasons for this phenomenon differ depending on area of investment. For some, the higher rounds are driven by the challenging exit market which requires venture capitalists to fuel their existing portfolios longer and at greater investment levels than in the past. In other sectors such as Internet, software and media, the higher rounds speak to increasing valuations."
Can social superheroes save Playdom?
10th Jan 2012 10:22am
Disney has finally revealed solid details of its Marvel super heroes game for Facebook, after acquiring Playdom in 2010 to work on a number of the media conglomerate's brands.
Investors have been unimpressed with the $763 million acquisition of Playdom that Disney made to enter the social games space. Since acquiring the team it has only released one game, Gardens of Time, while rival Zynga continues to churn out games at a rapid pace for the social network.
But yesterday Disney said it would release Marvel: Avengers Alliance in the first quarter of 2012 as it ramps up its reliance on comic book properties. Playdom is also working on games based on traditional Disney characters and the ESPN brand.
While monthly active users for Gardens of Time fell in December by 2.9 million, when it comes to word of mouth between players, the game was last year's most popular. A Marvel game helped by viral recommendations could make a dent in the Facebook gaming sector in the first half of the year.
Big franchises debut in top grossing iPhone charts
5th Jan 2012 11:15am
Four traditional games companies made a significant impact in the top grossing iPhone charts for December, with Epic, Take-Two, Activision and Warner Bros scoring mobile hits.
That's according to analysis from Cowen & Company*, which noted that twelve of the top 20 grossing games on iPhone were built on a freemium model, with only three relying purely on an upfront purchase.
Top of the charts was Poker By Zynga, but Epic's Infinity Blade II, Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto III, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies from Activision and Warner's Batman: Arkham City Lockdown all made the top 20 in the month they launched.
Thirteen of the top 20 games were made by independent developers.
Titles held similar positions on the iPad, apart from Z2Live's Battle Nations, which took the top spot on iPad compared to number 20 on mobile. Electronic Arts also scored an iPad hit with The Sims FreePlay although the publisher did not feature in the iPhone charts.
Estimated Top 20 Grossing iPhone Games (December)**
Top 3 Facebook publishers see declines in December
5th Jan 2012 10:24am
Facebook game publishers Zynga, Electronic Arts and Playdom all suffered declines in active users during December.
FarmVille publisher Zynga saw monthly active users increase to 216.8 million, but according to analyst firm Cowen & Company this is mostly likely due to an audience checking out new title CastleVille - which is expected to decline as daily active users of the game are now past peak. For all the company's titles, daily active users were down 608,000 to 47 million.
Electronic Arts saw daily active users drop by 1.2 million to 10.9 million over the month, with The Sims Social declining for the third consecutive month. MAUs for the publisher were down 7.1m to 51.4 million.
Disney's Playdom also suffered a drop of 448,000 daily active users to 3.1 million as Gardens of Time continued to lose users. The company has been criticised by investors for not releasing new games on the social network quick enough. MAUs were also down by 2.9m to 15.5 million.
Zynga's dominance on the Facebook platform continues to wane - in Q4 2011 it had an estimated 35.7 per cent share of Facebook DAUs, down from the 50 per cent peak in Q1 2010.
But while the three publicly-listed companies were struggling, the rest of the seven companies that make up the top ten saw an increase in DAUs when combined.
Tetris Online and Happy Elements saw some of the biggest increases over the month, according to AppData, with Wooga, King.com, GSN, Halfquest and Playtika also benefiting from increased competition and growth in secondary markets such as the Middle East.
Top 10 Facebook Game Publishers by DAUs (December)
Critical Consensus: Star Wars: The Old Republic
3rd Jan 2012 12:46pm
So, here we are: it's now officially 2012, Star Wars: The Old Republic has now officially launched, and early reports suggest that EA's last-ditch attempt at a blockbuster MMO is off to a solid start. Of course, whether 1 million registered players is enough to justify the unspecified but obviously vast amount of money invested in its creation is open to question, and we don't expect a definitive answer in the near future.
Right now, the only thing that can be definitively said about The Old Republic is that the critics seem to be enjoying the experience, though not quite in the way they expected. After several years of slow-burning hype around what Bioware's RPG experience could bring to the stagnating MMO formula, it seems that The Old Republic is far more traditional than many had hoped.
The character classes, combat gameplay and mission design will be familiar to anyone with first-hand experience of World of Warcraft, and Bioware has included all of the game-types and play-styles expected of a modern MMO. The execution is solid throughout, if unremarkable in places, though the specific areas The Old Republic excels and falls short varies from critic to critic.
The point is that this is a huge game even by MMO standards. The Old Republic's dozens of constituent parts offer enough variety to satisfy and frustrate gamers of all tastes, but no more or less than in WoW or other, less successful competitors. Ultimately, The Old Republic's unique strengths lie with the pedigree of its developer and the strength of its license, and in these areas a consensus opinion is easier to define.
The Guardian's Mike Anderiesz is full of praise for how well The Old Republic captures the look, feel and general atmosphere of Star Wars, therefore satisfying a significant number of its early subscribers.
Being the centre of the universe in a personalized, branching narrative weaves a strong sense of meaning and purpose into everything you do in the game
Josh Augustine, PC Gamer
How PlayStation Plus adds up
9th Dec 2011 3:51pm
Sony Computer Entertainment America has released a pile of statistics for its PlayStation 3 subscription service, revealing just what subscribers got in 2011.
While the report might be coy about the number of subscribers, total revenue or just how many PlayStation users decided to stick with the service after getting it for a limited free period as part of their hacking apology bumper pack, is does report that subscribers have had access to around $1200 in savings through the service.
"At the end of the year the total value in free games and discounts offered to PlayStation Plus subscribers will be more than $1,200," said Brandon Stander, SCEA's director of marketing for the PlayStation Network.
"That doesn't include the convenience and access to features such as automatic updates and online game saves. Now, as we head into 2012,we're looking to expand and evolve PlayStation Plus to give subscribers even more savings and exclusive deals."
Subscribers pay either $49.99 for year's subscription or $17.99 for three months in the US, and it offers automatic updates, cloud saves, and discounts, free games, beta trials and full game trials to subscribers.
In 2012 there were 17 free games available to subscribers, with PSN titles Costume Quest, Stacking, Plants Vs. Zombies and Hyrdophobia on offer, and the total value of the list is over $200.
There were also 43 full game trials, a service that let's gamers try out a fully featured title like Red Dead Redemption for an hour before purchase, 4 betas, including Uncharted 3, and early access to 6 demos, most notably for Sony hit Killzone 3.
The service also offered 132 separate discounts on on games like Braid and Limbo.
According to figures from IGN, in its first year, between June 2010 and June 2011, the service offered 49 free games, with 17 PSN games, 21 Minis and 11 PSOne titles.
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