Thursday, March 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Friday, March 07, 2014
Monday, March 03, 2014
Gorgeous - French photos of the construction of the Statue of Liberty
I never knew it was built and tested in France before being shipped to New York.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
The community begins to tie the pieces together...
Everything in our three games is full of Easter eggs, all pointing to each other. It’s fun when the community starts to decrypt it all!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Ken Levine's amibtious new goal:
“To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable.”
Nice phishing attempt
…except the line “…to our offices here in South Africa” with an email address in Finland kinda failed.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Friday, February 07, 2014
No "safe" level of alcohol for driving
According to a study based on 570k crashes:
Studied 570k crashes and determined there is *no* “safe” alcohol level for driving:
http://ift.tt/1fhP1Ys
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Finally saw the Superbowl Coke commercial
The stuff tastes awful and is bad for you, but now I want to buy it.
http://ift.tt/1k8rhfe
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Congratulating DEVELOP magazine
I guess it doesn't matter, but nowhere on the list of jobs did the DEVELOP annual salary survey of the game industry include "Writer," "Narrative Designer," or anything of that ilk. Not that it's the most important role, but you'd be surprised how many dev studios do actually use writers. Apparently, some players (those crazy guys and gals!) actually think that having professionals craft the plots and people improve a game.
What will they think of next?!
Seriously, I realize that adding that kind of thing just makes a complex survey more difficult, and after all a writer can just call his or herself a "designer" because it's like, you know, all the same thing, right?
In fact, I'll be petitioning the BAFTA and the WGA to stop those goddam awards and get their noses out of our industry, because everyone knows that the only thing that this writing stuff does is make a developer's job more complicated. And who needs writing anyway when you have such great graphics and destructible environments?
I mean, Michael Bay clearly doesn't have any use for writers on his films, and look how much cash he rakes in!
So I just though I'd be the first to congratulate DEVELOP for their refusal to kow-tow to the Chris Avellones, Eric Wolpaks, Marc Laidlaws, Rhianna Pratchetts, John Gonzalezes and Andy Walshes of the game world who just add a lot of stuff that none of us really need.
Way to go, guys! Keep up the good work!
What will they think of next?!
Seriously, I realize that adding that kind of thing just makes a complex survey more difficult, and after all a writer can just call his or herself a "designer" because it's like, you know, all the same thing, right?
In fact, I'll be petitioning the BAFTA and the WGA to stop those goddam awards and get their noses out of our industry, because everyone knows that the only thing that this writing stuff does is make a developer's job more complicated. And who needs writing anyway when you have such great graphics and destructible environments?
I mean, Michael Bay clearly doesn't have any use for writers on his films, and look how much cash he rakes in!
So I just though I'd be the first to congratulate DEVELOP for their refusal to kow-tow to the Chris Avellones, Eric Wolpaks, Marc Laidlaws, Rhianna Pratchetts, John Gonzalezes and Andy Walshes of the game world who just add a lot of stuff that none of us really need.
Way to go, guys! Keep up the good work!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Managers pissing me off, part 367
Guillaume de Fondaumiere, founder of the studio that did Heavy Rain, just gave an interview where he complained about the used game market and how it was eating into his profitability. In fact, he said that the one million used game sales represented a loss to him of between €5 and €10 million.
Wow. There is so much "gaaa!" there I'm not sure where to start.
Dude, 3 million people played your game. 2 million of them paid a price you yourself say is "...probably too expensive..." to do so.
So, with a little clarity, let's ask the real questions:
1. How many of those extra million players would have paid full price if there was no other option?
- If my understanding of royalty rates is correct (~15% to the studio), de Fondaumiere is claiming that at least half if not all of those million players would have purchased it new at a €60 price point.
...okay, raise your hand if you believe that. And in Santa Claus.
2. What is better, 50% more people enjoying your product, talking about it, and wondering about the next one, or thinking about draconian measure to try and maintain a price point and margin expectation that is clearly out of line with what your customers are willing to spend?
Did de Fondaumiere stop for one second and think, "Maybe at €40 we could have sold 4 million? Or 6 million at €20?" In a business that has essentially zero variable cost and enormous network effects that is a serious question. Yet he shows no indication whatsoever that he is thinking about the price/reach/community trade-offs. In this day and age, that seems to be a critical question for a studio director given the evolutions in game distribution and pricing.
Wow. There is so much "gaaa!" there I'm not sure where to start.
Dude, 3 million people played your game. 2 million of them paid a price you yourself say is "...probably too expensive..." to do so.
So, with a little clarity, let's ask the real questions:
1. How many of those extra million players would have paid full price if there was no other option?
- If my understanding of royalty rates is correct (~15% to the studio), de Fondaumiere is claiming that at least half if not all of those million players would have purchased it new at a €60 price point.
...okay, raise your hand if you believe that. And in Santa Claus.
2. What is better, 50% more people enjoying your product, talking about it, and wondering about the next one, or thinking about draconian measure to try and maintain a price point and margin expectation that is clearly out of line with what your customers are willing to spend?
Did de Fondaumiere stop for one second and think, "Maybe at €40 we could have sold 4 million? Or 6 million at €20?" In a business that has essentially zero variable cost and enormous network effects that is a serious question. Yet he shows no indication whatsoever that he is thinking about the price/reach/community trade-offs. In this day and age, that seems to be a critical question for a studio director given the evolutions in game distribution and pricing.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Clarion West Write-a-thon
Today marks the beginning of another Clarion West write-a-thon. For those of you who don't know, Clarion West (and the 2-3 other Clarion workshops) are six-week intensive courses dedicated to helping promising authors write speculative fiction. Admission is through application, and the workshops are taught by famous authors from the spec fic world.
The write-a-thon is an event that pulls together workshop alumni (around a hundred of us this year) with several goals in mind:
1. Get us energized and writing
2. Provide moral support for those in the program
3. Raise funds for the workshop (the most important part)
I'll be doing the write-a-thon this year (in spite of a hellacious schedule) both in order to get my own writing back on track and to try to raise money for a great cause and community. So please stop by the web site if you're curiuos (or if you want to give):
http://clarionwest.net/events_page/write_a_thon
I'll be doing updates over the next six weeks as the words begin to flow.
The write-a-thon is an event that pulls together workshop alumni (around a hundred of us this year) with several goals in mind:
1. Get us energized and writing
2. Provide moral support for those in the program
3. Raise funds for the workshop (the most important part)
I'll be doing the write-a-thon this year (in spite of a hellacious schedule) both in order to get my own writing back on track and to try to raise money for a great cause and community. So please stop by the web site if you're curiuos (or if you want to give):
http://clarionwest.net/events_page/write_a_thon
I'll be doing updates over the next six weeks as the words begin to flow.
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