I aim to misbehave » Stuck in a Basement

Moving the deck chairs

Jack — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:31:06 +0000

One of the criticisms leveled at Square Enix as of late is their games no longer appeal to a Western audience. So they’re opening a studio in Canada.

Uh, problem solved?

Weepy

Jack — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:16:07 +0000

If at first you don’t succeed, just call it a legacy platform.

Lessons not learned

Jack — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:05:36 +0000

The video game industry at large would be wise to read—and hopefully learn from, although I’m not optimistic—this GQ article called “The Day the Movies Died.”

Video game sales numbers are down, you see, and there are a heck of a lot of numbers in the “hotly anticipated” titles set to launch in 2011.

Jaded

Jack — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:48:38 +0000

Jade Raymond: Still beautiful, still talented. I just wish her shop was working on something besides a franchise or a sequel.

Indicative of a larger problem with this industry, perhaps, but that’s nothing new.

Irrelevant

Jack — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:27:44 +0000

Add “region-free” to the list of nerd buzzwords (like “open” and “walled garden”) that get in a product’s “negative” category in the months before it comes out and are then are utterly forgotten when everyone realizes 99.9% of the owners couldn’t give a shit.

Musclehead

Jack — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:29:55 +0000

Either Sony has learned nothing about what the majority of people want from their handhelds and consoles, or they’re positioning the upcoming PSP 2 as a high-powered enthusiast’s device not meant for the masses.

Music lames

Jack — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:42:13 +0000

Viacom unloads a turd.

Maturity

Jack — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:34:58 +0000

What, no hardcore gamer outcry over IGN’s 8.5 review score for Call of Duty: Black Ops? Did the Internet suddenly grow up when I wasn’t looking?

E for Everyone

Jack — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:47:54 +0000

Activision’s insane Call of Duty: Black Ops commercial—you know the one with all sorts of people from every walk of life playing war—perfectly encapsulates how clueless the industry is about approaching non-traditional gamers.

The CoD franchise is a marketing machine, obviously, but it’s not for everyone. Showing chubby girls and Kobe Bryant blowing shit up isn’t how you market games to people who have never played games before.

Platforming

Jack — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:35:39 +0000

Kirby’s a nice treat and Donkey Kong Country Returns is trending positive for all the right reasons.

So, great games, but they’re still “just” platformers. Why are third party developers so afraid of capitalizing on this cash cow?