Witcher 2 for $6 too.  But I have that one already.

gog sale

↵

phantom_leo said:

Is it completely superficial of me to say this guy doesn't even LOOK the part of an upper-level, decision making executive? He looks unkempt, nervous and just plain goofy. Like a human Chihuaua... You don't HAVE TO be completely physically attractive, but at the very least, look confident! Am I the only person that feels this way?

"I now present to you XBOX ONE...!"

"Aw geez, guys... Please buy one! My boss said if this unveiling doesn't go well I'm gonna be the laughing stock of the industry and have to go work for Zynga!"

More ridiculously rich people should have the balls to stop being uptight knobs when they no longer need to. Good on him.

North American SNES Almost Shipped With Super FX Built-In

OMG. That would have been a massive improvement to the console. Nintendo, why you such cheap-asses?

From that Edge mag PS4 is your next console article

The articles pretty clearly elaborate on the front cover's sentiment. They do stick to their guns.

To go through their reasoning and some of the more cutting comments:

- PS4 focusses on players, that it is cheaper is 'merely one of its various advantages'

- Success isn't merely about price, but unfortunately for Microsoft PS4 is more powerful, and more developer friendly and has far better brand perception

- Microsoft's brand perception after the DRM reversal may no longer be 'down the toilet' but is still 'dangling somewhere around the rim'.

- Sony is willing to let indies self publish and release on PC and that, along with Sony's 17-strong WWS, leads Edge to believe that 'leaves little doubt as to which of the platform holders will offer the broadest range of games, at least early on'.

- Edge believes Microsoft has 'alienated the most vibrant development community in the modern era' and that their approach to indies is akin to them not courting EA or Epic last generation.

- Edge thinks their policies may see hundreds of game losses to PS4 over time

- After weeks of mixed messages Microsoft is 'a difficult company to trust'.

- Xbox One is the latest in a line of Microsoft experiments that consumers have rejected for similar reasons - a line that arrived too late with features that were too early for the market. Microsoft 'has constantly misjudged consumers' expectations', their new box 'equally confused'.

- Microsoft has 16 exclusive titles but are "trapped in the shadows of a mythical magic box that 'solves a hundred problems you never cared about solving in the first place".

- "In turning things around, Microsoft faces the kind of challenge that once drove the mighty Sega out of the hardware business"

So mostly: PS4 is cheaper and loves indies. Microsoft has a PR nightmare and its box is confusing.

Kamiya concerned Nintendo isn't marketing Wonderful 101

First, Kamiya says he doesnt see any magazine previews, says stores aren't promoting the game because they don't really understand what it is. There aren't enough ads or awareness he says its not a cheap game to make either, he estimates that in terms of manpower and resources, they spent 1.5 times what they did on Bayonetta 1*. He says in terms of "no one really gets the game, so there isnt a lot of hype" its similar to Okami**

I can understand that, it's hard to understand what kind of game this is and it's hard to market. Most people thought it was like Pikmin.

Triple-A development in significant decline, EA claims

The number of studios working on triple-A games is at its lowest point for over a decade, EA’s chief creative director Richard Hilleman has claimed.

“What is true today is that there are fewer triple-A games being built than at the same point in the previous generation,” he says in a recently published DICE Europe whitepaper.

“I’ve done some calculations that say there were about 125 teams in the industry worldwide working on what I’d call a triple-A game on a console, and that was seven or eight years ago.

“That number today is well south of 30; probably in the 25 range. What’s interesting is that, if you look at the composition of those teams, the numbers are exactly the same: those 125 teams became 25; the size of the teams increased by a factor of four.

“This has everything to do with the standard definition to HD change. If you look at the math, that change is about content – richly about content – and as we evolved, our costs went substantially up. And the number of people on teams with that kind of vision went up by necessity.

“I don’t see that kind of content-oriented change coming in this next generation of platforms. As a result, I think we were on a path that made me nervous, but it seems to have stabilized.”

Wow! The Last of Us is really, really good! Who knew?

travo said:

Care to play some multiplayer tonight?

Multiplayer? What's that?

How StarFox and the FX chip came to be, and how a Yoshi demo became Croc

Coming from a Eurogamer interview with Argonaut founder Jez San...

"Argonaut did the 3D technology back in London, and provided the lead programmers to live and breathe Nintendo, working directly in EAD's office. I think it's safe to say most of the code of the games was written by Argonaut and Nintendo's input was more on the creative side. Shigeru Miyamoto and his team produced and designed the game and we did the technical stuff - Argonaut was also responsible for the hardware and software design of the Super FX chip, of course."

Did you know that the Super FX chip was originally codenamed MARIO, which stood for Mathematical, Argonaut, Rotation & Input/Output? How about how the North American SNES almost came with a Super FX chip built-in?! If that's not crazy enough for you, how about the fact that Argonaut was once working on one of the first 3D platforming games ever...starring Yoshi?

"The end came when we pitched to do a 3D platform game, the likes of which had never been done before. We mocked up a prototype using Yoshi. It was essentially the world's first 3D platform game and was obviously a big risk - Nintendo had never let an outside company use their characters before, and weren't about to, either. This is the moment the deal fell apart. We later made that game into Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for the PlayStation, Saturn and PC, which became our biggest ever game in terms of sales and also in royalties, since we owned the IP."

San even goes so far to say that he believes Super Mario 64 was influenced by this Yoshi-turned Croc demo.

"Miyamoto-san went on to make Mario 64, which had the look and feel of our Yoshi game - but with the Mario character, of course - and beat Croc to market by around a year. Miyamoto-san came up to me at a show afterwards and apologised for not doing the Yoshi game with us and thanked us for the idea to do a 3D platform game. He also said that we would make enough royalties from our existing deal to make up for it. That felt hollow to me, as I'm of the opinion that Nintendo ended our agreement without fully realising it.

Full interview here

I think Jes San is exagerating.

I think he is straigt up bullshitting.

Ravenprose said:

North American SNES Almost Shipped With Super FX Built-In

OMG. That would have been a massive improvement to the console. Nintendo, why you such cheap-asses?

You know what is cheap? Everytime Nintendo does something you do not agree with, calling them cheap-asses. How about trying some other insults. Be original for once!

I have found playing Resonance of Fate while stinking drunk is more effective than playing sober. Complexity be damned! Bow to the power of _Beer!