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Archive of "Industry" Category
Plushie Validation
Yesterday when the news broke, I checked on one of our newer sites, TechSpy to make sure the story was live. For big news, you cant count on N4G to take care of itself, sure enough.
Interestingly, some N4G users object to the news as “not gaming related” – which is, after all, one of the first criteria for submitting something to the site! I still don’t see where they’re coming from on this. Steve Jobs was the founder and vision behind a company that created multiple gaming devices – devices that have their own channels on N4G! Devices that have spawned gaming genres and franchises with their own plushies. All this without getting into a Macs as gaming platforms kerfuffle (or mentioning Pixar). Maybe it’s the death part that just isn’t gaming related enough in a culture that’s come to count on respawn.
Keep the iDevice batteries at half power today.
Hungry for Patronage
As mentioned back at the beginning of May, the National Endowment for the Arts has expanded its grant description to include video games. Since then, this news has picked up some steam, been reported on widely, and in the case of the E3 2011 Into the Pixel reception, been cited as evidence of video games’ growing acceptance in the arts field.
This grates – that the industry is seeking a stamp of approval and legitimacy not only from an external source, but from the government. It’s just so unnecessary, and a symptom of our patron-hungry culture. Art in the United States does not have a widespread system of patronage like days of yore, a large reason why sites like Kickstarter are flourishing. The arts in American are starving for patrons, but the video game industry is not.
What follows is a piece I wrote some time ago for a print publication targeting the non-gaming populous, and since it has some relevancy here it seems a good time to get it digitized.
Sony E3 Press Conference Details
SCEA Press Conference and Special Event
Monday, June 6th, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena3:30-5 pm: Pre-show reception with world renowned DJs and LAs best food trucks including Empanadarama,Yappy Dog, Cheeseball Wagon, Komodo and more.
5-6:30 pm: Press Conference
6:30-8 pm: Enjoy hands on time with almost all of the press conference content on over 120 PS3 and NGP kiosks. Arcade to include special appearances and musical talent.
8-9:30 pm: Special performance2011 Into the Pixel Winners Announced
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment’s Software Association today announced the winning pieces of the 2011 Into the Pixel collection. There are seventeen works in total that will join the permanent collections, and include artists from Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, Valve Software, Bioware and Big Fish Games, to name a few. The works will be unveiled and on display at the 2011 E3 Expo from June 7-9 in the Concourse Foyer.
The Pelican Inn (Pub) by Andrew Kim, UNCHARTED 3: Drake's Deception™ Naughty Dog, Inc.
A juried exhibition, Into the Pixel is in its eighth year of collaboration between the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment Software Association. Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences spoke on video games as art, remarking, “Now that public institutions have accepted video games as a legitimate form of art, there is no question that video game art has and will continue to have a place in the contemporary art scene.”
Flemmeth by Matt Rhodes, Dragon Age 2, BioWare
Glenn Phillips, Senior Project Specialist & Consulting Curator, Department of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Getty Research Institute went on to say, “Into the Pixel showcases the incredible creativity, skill and artistic talent that pervades in the video game industry. You really see that there are great artists working across every genre of video games, and at every stage of the production process.”
Cronos Battle by Tyler Breon, God of War® III, SCEA/Santa Monica Studio
Into the Pixel 2011 Winners:
Title of Artwork Artist(s) Game Company Amorphous Drake Lucas Graciano Legends of Norrath Sony Online Entertainment The Bridge Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson The Dream Machine Cockroach Inc. The Cottage Hamzah Kasom Osman Drawn 3 Big Fish Games Cronos Battle Tyler Breon God of War® III SCEA/Santa Monica Studio Dead Walking Chris Moffitt, Brad Crow, Nathan Stefan, Bart Tiongson Orcs Must Die! Robot Entertainment The Dragon Play Brian Thompson and Hamzah Kasom Osman Drawn: Dark Flight Big Fish Games Flemmeth Matt Rhodes Dragon Age 2 BioWare Good Friends Matthew Halpin, Andrew Matthews, Matthew Preece, Radek Walachnia, John Laws Kinectimals Frontier Developments Ltd Grim Exploits Colin Foran, Claire Hummel, Ryan Wilkerson Trenched Microsoft Game Studio/Doublefine Incident at the Workshop Ivan Simoncini Alien Swarm Valve Software Market Fire, Columbia (Shop Sweeper) Ben Lo BioShock Infinite Irrational Games Normandy Mikko Kinnunen Mass Effect 2 BioWare Oktonok Cay Cannery David Guertin Ratchet & Clank®: All 4 One Insomniac Games Paper World Say Oh and Damian Kim Paper World Namco Bandai Games The Pelican Inn (Pub) Andrew Kim UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception™ Naughty Dog, Inc. Stahl Arms Jesse van Dijk Killzone® 3 Guerrilla Swamp Skull Jeff Haynie Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull Big Fish Games Into the Pixel 2011 Jurors:
- Glenn Phillips, Getty Research Institute, Senior Project Specialist & Consulting Curator, Department of Architecture and Contemporary Art
- Nora Dolan – Independent Curator
- Ryan Wilkerson, Microsoft Game Studios, Senior Art Director
- Matt Hall, Timbuk2 Studios, Senior Partner Production Designer
- Brian Moore, Microsoft Game Studios, Art Director
E3 Scrapbooking and Basket Weaving Class
Given an art project, you think the Type A would take over and that badge would be all filled out, but nothing doing: mostly just want to write in sassy things like “Ratchet is my Hero”:
When attendees show up is there going to be that awkward moment where everyone sort of peeks around to see who actually did the homework the substitute teacher assigned? Whatever, I like stickers.
Video Games Included as Art by U.S. Government
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) includes video games in grant description:
Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more.
The grant category was previously titled “The Arts on Radio and Television” and is now “The Arts in Media”.E3 2011 Ubisoft Media Briefing
Ubisoft has added to the presser-happy Monday of E3 with their briefing:
E3 2011 Microsoft Press Conference
Xbox 360 Media Briefing
Monday, June 6, 10 a.m.
Galen Center
3400 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007CoManAppDay
It’s all been said before. Internet, raise your glasses in a toast!
Online Gaming Communities
…and “Real Life Relationships” Panel, from PAX! Thanks to Tiffany, a.k.a. ElektraFi, for the video.
Derek “DSmooth” Nolan did an amazing job leading the panel, I’m grateful for his leadership and letting me tag along for the ride! It was great meeting Derek and Tiffany, as well as my fellow panelists Chloe “PMS Kitty” Brown, Ryan “H2O Rip” Chaply & Aaron “HMXhenry” Trites.
If you aren’t familiar with the topic, we discuss online gaming communities and the relationships fostered in “real life” from those communities. It’s a pretty big topic and I think we only just began to scratch the surface of forming those relationships, our gaming communities, and all the topics that naturally arise therein. The Q&A portion of the panel was concise, so if you only just thought of a question (or are just watching the panel for the first time!) please feel free to ask away here!
Again, video and some pictures.
I’d also like to thank some people I know were in the audience (with very little coercion!!): Columbo, an MVP Mod on N4G; Amanda (a.k.a. Amped from The Tester) and SaminSeattle who led the cheering section; and Geoff, Sam and DMiller of PGL and the Lobbycast. You guys are a living, walking, gaming testament to what this panel is all about!
Penny Arcade and Used Games: Shmegality & Shmorality
Full disclosure, I’m a little uncomfortable writing this. I like reading Penny Arcade, I’ve met the people-shaped components that make up the now monolithic P.A., definitely enjoy their company, and frankly, I just plain like getting along with people. Dissonance is upsetting on a fundamental level, especially when it’s made out to be an issue of right, or wrong. What can I say, I’m feeling a little masochistic.
Most of the time when people put their opinions on the Internet, it’s a relatively silent affair. There is rarely thoughtful response, less often dialog, and only occasionally the merest ripple of permanence. Unless you’re, well, kinda famous. Then you get people like me, reading things like that, and writing stuff like this. It’s even possible that Jerry wrote his post sometime in between showing up to the office and being slammed with pre-PAX crazy ten minutes later. Those guys are busy, and odds are there’s more he’d like to say on the topic. So here’s my ten minutes, wedged in between N4G and bedtime:
In his post, Jerry states that he “honestly can’t figure out how buying a used game was any better than piracy”. He goes on to posit that a game purchaser is a customer of the developer/publisher by purchasing new, and when purchasing used they become a customer of the retailer. The latter assertion is misleading: unless you are somehow buying directly from a developer you are a customer of the retailer from the get-go: the retailer purchases from the publisher, and you purchase from the retailer.
Furthermore (and oh, what a furthermore it is), the notion that you are buying new directly from the developer and that this is somehow more right makes it weird for the consumer to price-shop. Does one game retailer offer a game at a buck less? If it is an issue of more rightness to support the developer as much as possible by getting as much of your money from your pocket into theirs, then price shopping is less good than spending as much money as possible on the product, because if you are acting as a customer of the developer you are robbing them of those dollars – and that is truly bizarre.*
However, that’s not the case. The price you spend on a game new does not directly affect the developer because the game has already been purchased from them. Again, the retailer acquires the product from a publisher, and consumers purchase from the retailer. The publisher of the product has already sold, say, 100 copies of the game. The retailer is out the money and wants to move those items, new and at the highest price possible because doing so nets them the most profit. At no point in this process are you a customer of the developer. Can you imagine going to Best Buy and calling up Naughty Dog or Sony to complain about your retail experience picking up Uncharted 2? That would be weird for everyone. Don’t do that.
THQ’s scheme, a catalyst of sorts for Jerry’s post, implies that there is a kind of multi-player fee built in to the purchase of their titles, that when the retailer acquires these games they are paying the publisher this fee for each game, a Multi-player Tax! It follows that that fee must be recouped by THQ upon resale or they will suffer adverse financial conditions. However, there is no additional load on their servers. A game once bought and once resold still only adds up to one game at a time, sort of a you cannot create or destroy matter thing. The server(s), the infrastructure needed to support the game, is based upon the number of copies of the game in circulation – not whether those games change hands – and the number of copies in circulation begins when the retailer purchases from the publisher. Then, when it’s no longer financially viable to maintain the infrastructure, the servers close down.
THQ’s proposition is not an issue of wrong or of right, it is an issue of dollar signs and bottom lines. It is a punishment of sorts, certainly a disincentive: you should just buy it new, because it’ll be less of a hassle. I’m not certain the market will bear it, but THQ’s suggested model (even if a perceptual punishment) is not immoral, nor is it illegal. Of course, neither is buying games used.
So, in answer to “how buying a used game was any better than piracy”, it’s legal. Legally, there is nothing to keep you from reselling your copy of a retail game. There’s no doubt that the likes of software have made things like intellectual property law tricky. Try not to let your eyes glaze over, I’m going to mention the first sale doctrine, but I’ll make it Band-Aid quick! According to the first sale doctrine once you buy a copyrighted item the author of that item can’t, through copyright law, stop the resale of that item. Copyright covers the right of distribution, if it extended beyond distribution the copyright holder could retain control of the item.** The model is such that manufacturers can recoup their losses and acquire profits from the first sale of a product, and after that it’s all retailer gravy.
Idly, I wonder where the guys land on buying classic games and systems. If you find an Atari 2600 or a stash of NES games at a garage sale, do you pick them up? Do you write a check to Atari and Nintendo? Hunt down the game developers? This is a large part of why the first sale doctrine exists: manufacturer’s tracking an item past the point of sale isn’t sustainable.
It should strike you at this stage that there is benefit to be had on the retailer side, and I think it’s that potential that ruffle feathers. That games fetch a higher initial dollar than many frequently resold items (think clothes, books, CDs), and have reasonable volume, is a factor in this burgeoning market. Retailers buy an item, then they sell it for profit. They buy back that same item, they resell it for profit. If the publisher can devise a way to snag a piece of the revenue that comes from secondary sale, then they should get on that, but it is not the responsibility of the consumer to work that out for them anymore than it is to put as much money as possible in the retailer’s pocket. This is a publisher-retailer relationship and issue, and they do what suits their pocketbooks. Publishers want their games in retail. If they didn’t they would sell them independently, but they don’t, because they make more money with the games in retail. Retailers could sell only new games, but they don’t, because they make more money selling new and used games. Consumers could only buy new games, but they don’t because they can save money by buying used games. Why, then, in this chain should publisher, retailer or consumer be cast in morally unflattering light? It seems the situation is, at present, pretty darn symbiotic while still retaining that combative ferocity so characteristic of worldliness.
Yet the Penny Arcade discussion goes beyond legal yes-and-no and economics into semi-sanctimonious turf about buying games like it is a moral issue, and we’re not even talking about “ethical consumerism”. Is this born from the fact that Mike and Jerry no longer face the kind of budgetary concerns that initially drove their used game participation? That unlike back in their heyday of selling and buying used, they now can afford not to? The imperative that you should buy a game new because it is morally right is untenable.
Really, I mean really, this recent post from Penny Arcade gets me all twitchy because it seems to represent so much more, a harbinger of sorts in the Penny Arcade brand, an Us-Them divergence that has Penny Arcade defecting to Them, taking the side of “the industry” when it adversely impacts “gamers”. I respect the organization, from things like Child’s Play to PAX – and that PAX is as affordable for the gamer as they can make it without just throwing everyone into a pit of electrical outlets and surge protectors and calling it a day. I don’t want this to slip away.
*What about rentals? Or, if you want to open a whole other can of worms, what about price fixing? Games are, by-and-large, sold at an identical price point regardless of development costs. Sometimes thoughts are like endnotes, cluttering up space.
**Hey, bootleggers***, take note: illegal reproduction of a purchased item is not covered under first sale doctrine. That’s still illegal reproduction.
***Yeah, I insist on calling them bootleggers. I think comparing a non-violent criminal to a violent one is disingenuous. I also put a footnote in an endnote, which is a different kind of non-violent crime.
Dear E3 Diary, Day Five
Just made it back home from the I Am 8-Bit Scott Pilgrim party – no Michael Cera, but the crazy Lakers fans did blow up a car next to our hotel. Asplosions aren’t just limited to Activision events.
Started the last day of the show with the lovely ladies of gaming at the first ever “women in games” photo shoot. I was less uniformed than the Ubisoft contingent, though it seemed like they brought their booth babes out for the picture…not sure that counts.
Might have played some games today. Hard to say at this point in the show. There was Move, there was 3D…and then there was Civ 5. Happiness!
Oh, and the cutest swag of the week, the Spirit Hood from Nexon:
G’night super cool party people!
Dear E3 Diary, Day Four
Spent time with the folks at Bulkypix to check out a couple pretty iPad games, then waited in line. Mostly waited in line. The line ended with Kinect, which was underwhelming. Will finish up video and commentary tomorrow, which may or may not include the Felicia Day ogling I did, as she was playing Kinect in the neighboring bubble.
While at the 360 both had fun with both Lara Croft: Guardian of Light and Fable 3. The former, an Arcade title, was a fun bout of co-op play with kind of a Diablo feel. I need to think some more on the Fable 3 experience, mostly because I was really into Fable 2 so I’ve still got nitpicky questions for those Lionhead folks (who kindly put up with the first round of nagging).
The only folks badgered more were the MTV/Harmonix foks. I went into the Rock Band 3 appointment pretty skeptical, and very focused on the Fender stringed guitar that works with the game. It turns out that what they’re doing, contrary to all my pesky preconceived notions, is pretty cool.
Was given Grip-Its while walking around South Hall. They’re analog stick covers are “designed to elevate performance, extend game play, and give you the competitive edge” . They’re little controller condoms.
Spoke with Michael Pachter. We discussed important industry issues and/or that he’s never been to Idaho.
Hit the BIG/WIGI event this evening, which had some great door prizes, most of which went to WASP. The conspiracy continues…
Dear E3 Diary, Day Three
Woke up this morning and my hair was still wet from he previous night’s shower. Yeah, I’m sleepy. Nintendo kicked off the day, and I’ll add more thoughts to those nebulous notes sometime. Mostly it was an exercise in digital age futility – no internet and twitter was down. Same for the Sony presser, which meant some quality time in the media center instead of cruising the floor.
As a result, I only had time to catch a few titles on the floor today and of course I made PixelJunk a priority! It’s always really difficult for me to play games on show floors; I do not do well with distraction, or that level of spectator pressure. Still, managed to have some quality stage clearing before playing around with LittleBigPlanet 2.
IndieCade was going on at our hotel, which I gather is a venture to support indies and give them an outlet for their work through the PlayStation Home space. From there, off to SFX360′s Gamers Gone Wild party at the lush Suede bar (it was great to finally meet Peench of PGL, especially since he traded swag with me, but we missed Geoff!). After I went deaf there, it was back to the hotel for some room service and this lovely Dear Diary moment. Because I’m an old lady like that.
(btw, Amanda, Will and Sam helped me achieve a hattrick! Good to see you all again today)
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