Opinion: The many reasons Street Fighter X Tekken sold less than expected

By Christian Nut

Capcom’s most recent fighting game, Street Fighter X Tekken, didn’t sell as much as the publisher expected it to.

“Sales of ‘Street Fighter X Tekken‘ have fallen short of our plan. We believe one of causes is cannibalism because of the large number of other games in this genre that were launched within a short time,” the company said in a brief Q&A on its website last week.

The company blamed competition — and, of course, if you’ve followed Capcom over the years, you smacked your forehead. There’s competition, and then there’s self-competition. Capcom has always saturated the market to the point of pain, and that is, in fact, the most obvious criticism of this news.

In reality, that’s just a small part of the problem with Street Fighter X Tekken. If Capcom wants to blame the competition, publicly — that’s fine. But if the company wants to understand just what went wrong, there are some hard truths it has to face. And if you’re thinking about launching your own game — particularly launching in a segment with an ardent community — there are plenty of lessons here for you, too.

Let’s consider what Capcom did to set up stumbling blocks for itself:

Special: This game was made by Dimps, the same development team that handled Street Fighter IV — and that should mean quality.

Counter: This is the first and arguably the most important point, and it’s strange that Capcom hasn’t publicly admitted it, at least in its results. This game is a mess. Capcom did a good initial job with PR — building interest in the community by exposing the game early and often — but quality issues destroyed those gains immediately upon release.

The game is one of the sloppiest games Capcom has ever put out. Yes, most fighters have infinite combos — particularly console-based ones that didn’t enjoy prior arcade releases and have their bugs beta tested out by hardcore fans. But infinite combos should not be this trivially easy.

Even more confusingly, the game’s latest patch, which presumably was designed to take care of this sort of thing, added a brand new crash bug.

It’s not clear why this game is so sloppy. Was it rushed? Was it low-budget? Was a B-team put on it? Even incredibly funny YouTube videos, like this one of bugs with Mega Man make it incredibly easy to dismiss. In fact, videos like these make the game look way worse than it actually would play for an average player, too, who’d likely rarely if ever encounter them. Hardcore fans are the ones uncovering these bugs, but the damage applies to all audiences.

I would have said Capcom could have addressed this with a patch and some good PR, but the patch was obviously a failure; and the PR is deep in the hole for other reasons you’re about to read about.

Special: The competition is to blame — Street Fighter X Tekken didn’t have a chance.

Counter: Capcom, perhaps more any other publisher in the industry, is notorious for milking its games with add-ons, ports, remakes, and new versions.

Sometimes that backfires. Hell, it has backfired in this very market. Before the company released Street Fighter IV and brought 2D fighting games back into the mainstream, it took the genre through its first boom and bust, back in the 1990s. Excess inventory of Super Street Fighter II cartridges for SNES and Genesis reportedly badly hurt the company as it transitioned to the PlayStation and Saturn.

You’d think Capcom would learn.

Still and all, Street Fighter X Tekken came out less than four months after Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and less than three after Capcom launched UMVC3’s Heroes and Heralds mode — a major content update designed to keep players focused on that title post-launch.

Let’s not forget that all of the fighters the company released this generation feature Street Fighter characters. This was far from true of the Capcom’s output during its most prolific period. How many Ryus do you really need? This is the company’s fifth Street Fighter-based retail SKU since 2009.

It’s true that Namco released Tekken Hybrid late last year. But the truth is, nobody really cared about Tekken Hybrid (it’s an obscure fan-oriented title) and it didn’t even ship on Xbox 360. The decks were effectively clear. Sure, when it comes to casual fans, Tekken is not the draw Marvel is — an IP that thrives even outside games. But it’s still one of the best-respected and most popular series in fighters.

Then there are the real competitors. Yes, other companies released games around the same time, such as Skullgirls and Soulcalibur V, neither of which sold nearly as well as Street Fighter X Tekken. More relevantly, any student of capitalism tells you you weather competition by having a superior product; whether or not you like Street Fighter X Tekken — and many seem to — it’s clear that the game got the least attention of Capcom’s recent fighters. This is thanks to the way the company primed people to actively not want to buy the game — as we’ll see.

The open question is whether Capcom saw Street Fighter X Tekken and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom catering to different audiences. If so, it might have lost perspective on its own products.

Special: Sure, Capcom released a lot of fighting games in rapid succession — but that’s normal for this hardcore genre.

Counter: Yes, this is a genre that’s struggled with oversaturation from the moment it became popular — and Capcom, which propelled it into the limelight, has always pushed things to the very edge of sustainability.

But it’s worse than that, these days. Capcom drew ire from fans by releasing Super Street Fighter IV to retail rather than updating the original release of Street Fighter IV with DLC — but players accepted it, because it was 2009/2010. Things were different then, and Capcom seemed to figure things out, eventually, by offering the final upgrade, SFIV: Arcade Edition, as a moderately-priced DLC pack as well as a retail disc.

Even so, Capcom didn’t run with this strategy. Prior to the reveal of the full-priced, disc-based Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the company had planned to keep updating the original MVC3 with content — but after one batch of DLC characters, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was announced.

Guess what happened? UMVC3 sold worse than Super Street Fighter IV, Capcom’s Christian Svensson admitted.

Here’s an obvious cautionary tale: don’t change your plans. If you’re promising (or even implying) one thing and then delivering something else, you’re going to hurt your reputation.

But there are times when you might just have to change your plans, of course. Producer Ryota Niitsuma cited the 2011 earthquake as throwing a wrench into Capcom’s MVC3 strategy, which of course arouses sympathy. Would an aggressive, timely DLC plan be thrown off more significantly by losing a week or two of development than a retail release would be? It seems plausible.

But a week (or perhaps two) is likely all that would have been lost. Tokyo, where the game was developed (by Eighting) was not drastically affected by the quake, though it’s quite possible developers’ families lived in hard-hit regions, causing more significant disruptions to the schedule. However, if Capcom had said “the DLC’s delayed by two weeks due to the quake,” fans would have been sympathetic.

Obviously, I can’t say what the true scope of this tragedy was on the game’s development plans. It seems any plans could have survived this trauma if they were solid, though, and in this interview, Niitsuma suggests that there were always fundamental weaknesses in the DLC plan.

More importantly, the company had a real opportunity to start treating its fighting games as living, breathing services at this point, and squandered it. Earthquake or no, no doubt it would have required more effort for Capcom to get people to buy into Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as a service rather than to kick out another disc-based update, but it would have been a great chance to try and build a real interlocked community and DLC effort for the title. Rhe company still hasn’t gone down that road, and the poor design of and reception to SFXT’s DLC plans means it still won’t, as we’ll see.

The takeaway here: build goodwill through transparency and honesty in advance, not after you’ve already made an unpopular decision. If you have to make a major change thanks to circumstances beyond your control, let people know. And think ahead; don’t be forced to react when you hit a bump in the road. You will definitely hit one. The good thing is, your fans care.

Special: How can you blame Capcom for not jumping into the digital age properly? The game’s gem system is custom-tailored to today’s marketplace, and brings new strategic depth to the series.

Counter: It’s true that Street Fighter X Tekken has an interesting new system. But it’s interesting for the wrong reasons: it was a PR disaster well before the game arrived on shelves, and it throws player anxieties about pay-to-win items in sharp relief.

For those who don’t religiously follow the genre, the company planned a new gameplay system for Street Fighter X Tekken in which players could equip their characters with ability-enhancing gems. When the game’s producer, Yoshinori Ono, first dropped some vague info about the topic, all hell broke loose.

The fan community, dismayed by the idea of microtransactions, pay-to-win, and unfair advantages destroying the game’s balance, was horrified, and some tournament players quickly argued that the game might not be able to be used for competitive purposes.

It’s still debatable whether or not the gems system itself is critically flawed. The basic idea: adding collectible card game-like strategy to a fighter, allowing players to build a customized team, is in fact sound, and even clever. But the messaging and (crucially) the execution were the real problem points here.

Seth Killian, the company’s lead community manager and tournament player, argued that he loved the initial idea long before it was revealed to fans, when he was asked by Gamasutra.

Note that I say “when he was asked.” The company didn’t get ahead of this entirely predictable controversy. Killian is a tournament veteran and longtime fighting game fan. That’s why he got his job in the first place; he knows his community. Whether he struggles against the strictures of dealing with corporate overhead, whether he just didn’t think ahead, or whether he got taken by surprise by the mouthiness of the game’s producer Yoshinori Ono, I just don’t know. But there was seemingly no plan in place for dealing with the fallout.

In the end, Street Fighter X Tekken was selected for EVO 2012, the most important North American fighting game tournament. But how much say does the tournament have about whether or not it chooses to run with this year’s big game from the biggest name in the genre? We don’t know, but we do know gems are excluded from tournament play.

That, however, hasn’t killed the controversy, because it affects the game’s balance (it was designed for gems) and because expert players have continued to harp on exactly how the gem system is exploitable in the worst possible ways — which deflates Capcom’s defenses. Is this another example of sloppy development or was the lure of DLC profits that got to Capcom? It’s impossible to say, but the PR disaster is unmistakable.

Special: On-disc DLC is fair — because there are solid technical reasons to include this data on the disc.

Counter: And then there was the on-disc DLC. People hate on-disc DLC, of course, but even if you accept the company’s rationale — the fact that players who don’t buy the characters should still be able to fight against players who use them online without wasting hard drive space — what was hilarious is that (A) they weren’t available from launch and (B) they’re included, for free, in the upcoming Vita version. The full roster of characters costs $20 for the unlock on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

People have long hated on-disc DLC. Even with a credible pro argument, the con argument of “people hate it, and they have always hated it” is well worth noting, particularly in such a community-driven genre. The pro argument isn’t that credible, either: Namco’s Soulcalibur V offers an free DLC pack which allows players to experience, but not use, DLC they don’t own while playing online; Arc System Works’ BlazBlue allows users to easily step down to an older version of the game to play with players who haven’t upgraded.

Worse yet, the characters were all available in early builds of the game distributed to the press; it’s unclear what the original plan was, whether it changed, and if the characters were even done in time for launch. But either way, it was a major PR mistake.

Further insult came when it was revealed that the Vita version of the game comes with all of the characters for free, as noted above. Yes, it doesn’t come out till October, but it’s not as if the player base isn’t aware that it costs $10 less and has $20 of free DLC characters included, for a total of a $30 difference. And the Vita version is cross-compatible for online play with the game on PS3. Would you buy a game knowing that — even if you don’t have a Vita or plan to buy one — it’s a ripoff? It’s simple.

I’ve also heard it suggested that the fact that all characters being on the disc drove piracy — fans felt like they were being ripped off and so felt justified in ripping Capcom off. I’m not defending that position, but even if it’s neither true nor significant, it’s still not very smart to put the data on the disc — simply because pirates will crack the game and get early access to content your paying players can’t touch, frustrating them tremendously. Like aggressive DRM, this is a recipe for punishing, primarily, those who legitimately purchase your content.

Would players be complaining now if the company had gifted one DLC character immediately and accelerated the release of the rest? Probably not. Even without that, this was another predictable PR disaster.

Special: Console-exclusive characters? Cool!

Counter: It’s not uncommon for multiplatform fighting games with large rosters to have platform-specific characters on one system or another. It works well, too… when you do it right, as Namco has done with the Soulcalibur series in the past. Who can forget Zelda’s Link in the Gamecube version of Soulcalibur II?

Here’s how to do it wrong. Street Fighter X Tekken has five characters that appear only on the PlayStation 3: Mega Man, Pac-Man, Cole (from Sony’s Infamous series), Kuro, and Toro (from Sony’s Japan-only Dokodemo Issho series.) Yes, three of those characters hail from Sony IP, but two don’t. More importantly, there’s nothing on the 360 side to even up the odds, which is how Namco keeps the peace. Once the game got hacked, rumors began to fly that some or all of these characters were also on the 360 disc; whether or not it was true, it just was one more way the on-disc DLC story metastasized into something even worse, and turned an insult (for 360 owners) into an injury.

K.O.

As you can see, an overly simplistic explanation of what went wrong with this game ignores a majority of major flaws with this game, its release, and especially Capcom’s messaging around it. There is a top-to-bottom lack of planning and community engagement around this game, and that, I would argue, is what lead to the poor sales Capcom is now bemoaning in its earnings statement.

The story here is, no matter how good your community outreach and PR is leading up to a game’s release — and aside from the onset of the gems controversy, Capcom’s was good for this title — it will all unravel at lightning speed unless you can really address these concerns in a proactive, fan-friendly way.

Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono has become a celebrity to hardcore gamers; his name is widely recognized as the man who brought Street Fighter back into the limelight. But given the amount of confusing and contradictory information the company spreads about its fighting games and their release strategies for them, “Ono’s lies” has become a meme. That’s not great for your PR strategy, is it? Ono isn’t entirely to blame, but as the face of Capcom’s fighters, he’s become a divisive figure largely due to company-wide PR gaffes that could have been avoided with more careful planning.

Now, I’m not saying the company is fatally flawed. Capcom gets a lot of things right — just nothing to do with this game, pretty much. The bright side of its financial results was that the critically-maligned Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City sold well beyond expectations. Why? Because it correctly taps into both the zeitgeist (it’s a Western-developed shooter) and nostalgia (it’s set during the events of the fan-beloved Resident Evil 2). It doesn’t matter if it kind of sucks. It even offered free DLC to fans who held onto their discs after beating the campaign: a clever touch, and literally the opposite of what happened with Street Fighter X Tekken.

Don’t exploit, insult, and fail to engage with your audience. Nurture and respect them. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Street Fighter X Tekken is a completely cynical or needless game — the core concept, of pitting two rival franchises together, is reasonable, even exciting — it came out too close to the company’s other titles, with too many slip-ups in every possible regard. By the time it released, the well was poisoned, and things only got worse from there. Is it any wonder people didn’t feel like buying it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here’s Every ‘Leaked’ PlayStation All-Stars Character

By IGN

Here is a list of unconfirmed but probable Characters[1] in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Images or mentions of all of these Characters were leaked in some form or are already represented in the game.

• See also Confirmed Characters

Character	Evidence
	Leaked by voice actor Eric Laden.
Cole McGrath	inFAMOUS
	Leaked by Paul Gale Network, Sandover Village is a stage from the franchise as well.
Jak and Daxter	Jak and Daxter
	Said to be a possibility by Paul Gale Network, would tie with new film being distributed by Sony.
James Bond	James Bond
	Possibly seen in developer image.[2]
Nariko	Heavenly Sword
	Leaked by Paul Gale Network, RPG-7 is specifically mentioned as coming from these games.[3] Also, Eric Laden Leaked details.
Nathan Drake	Uncharted
	There is a stage from the franchise, will probably be a duo with clank.
Ratchet	Ratchet and Clank
	More commonly known as Sackboy or Sackgirl. Dreamscape is a LBP stage and the LittleBigPlanet games are some of the highest selling SCE games this console generation. This makes the character inclusion highly likely.
Sackboy	LittleBigPlanet
	Snake is a playable character in all of the MGS games so far. More commonly known as ‘Solid Snake’, but in MGS4 donned the moniker ‘Old Snake’. ‘Naked Snake’/’Big Boss’ are also played by the same voice actor. All of them are a possibilty as voice actor Eric Laden only leaked that David Hayter would be a voice in the game. He is in Smash Bros so comparisons will be rife.
Snake	Metal Gear Solid
	Possibly seen in same developer image as Nariko, could be NPC though. Allowing for the possibilt of an ICO influenced stage. [4]

What Makes a Game Worth Buying at Launch?

By Chris Pereira 1UP.com

Gaming can be an expensive hobby, particularly if you’re keen on picking up games as they are released. With your typical console game going for $60 at launch and there being no shortage of quality titles to play, those costs can quickly add up, making it difficult to keep up with the latest releases. But there are more factors than merely price which can make gamers hesitant to buy games when they first come out including a perceived lack of value, eventual complete/Game of the Year edition releases, and patches which make games into better experiences for those who opt against rushing out to a midnight launch.

1UP readers on Facebook and our boards responding to a question about purchasing games at launch offered up a wide variety of reasons for why they are not keen on always being early adopters. While there were those who do still buy games as soon as they are made available, a high percentage of answers indicated there are only a limited numbers of exceptions where they are willing to do so.

Money was a commonly cited reason to wait, and rightfully so. No one has an unlimited supply of disposable income to spend on games, and as Snuggets noted, the cost of living and increasing gas prices make it difficult to drop $60 on a single game. Getting older also makes it hard to spend as much money on games, both because moving away from home can be expensive and because adult responsibilities don’t leave as much time for gaming.

That cost becomes even more difficult to justify when games routinely go on sale soon after they are released. Mass Effect 3 is a good example of this. After being released on March 6, it was available on Amazon for $30 on April 24. It was only a one-day sale, and you can blame whatever reason you want for that, but it doesn’t change the fact that a AAA release was available for half price in less than two months. It’s a similar situation to Black Friday; games released in the weeks prior to it can be had for incredibly low prices, like getting Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City for $28 as Anthony Feliciano said he did. Those deals may require more effort to take advantage of than the usual sale you see in the Sunday flyers, yet knowing a game released in October or early November could potentially be had for $20 or $30 cheaper in late November may be more than enough to delay an immediate purchase. The same can be said for the inevitable price drops that seem to come sooner than ever before. In the case of PC games, things like Steam sales and indie bundles seem to be devaluing games and feeding into consumers’ desire to wait for a deal rather than paying the initial asking price.

There will always be fans willing to pay extra to get a game they care about as soon as possible, but price cuts and sales as steep as ME3’s are not helping to incentivize the purchase of games at launch. And developers and publishers most certainly do want you handing your money over at launch (if not sooner).

One way retailers are able to attract some gamers is by doing something to mitigate the cost. OhJTBehaaave brings up pre-order deals that can’t be passed up, such as Amazon offering a $20 credit toward a future purchase. “For instance there’s a $10 pre-order credit on Max Payne 3 that I might jump on because I really want to play that game on its release,” he said. “Otherwise I totally have enough of a game backlog to wait for games to reduce in price… which happens rather quickly these days.”

Although he said he would be buying Diablo III on May 15 even if he knew it would be available for cheaper soon after, EmperorCesar brought up a good point in mentioning how some companies’ games hold their value better than others. Blizzard is a good example of this, and Call of Duty games also tend to stay at their original price longer than most. But Nintendo with its evergreen titles may be the best example of all: New Super Mario Bros. for DS, released way back in May 2006 for $35, continues to be sold for that price at GameStop. Mario Party 8, released in May 2007, is $45 (used!) at GameStop and $48.84 on Amazon despite a sequel being released in March. If there’s a Nintendo game you want, sales aside, you’re unlikely to get it for cheaper unless you’re willing to wait a very long time.

UltramanJ mentions special deals helping to persuade him to splurge on a game at launch from time to time. To get gamers to put their money down early, stores will offer pre-order bonuses like physical items or in-game content, the desired implication being that they are only obtainable by pre-ordering. While that might be true of the physical items, it’s becoming more and more well known that in-game pre-order bonuses will be sold as downloadable content at some point down the line. Mortal Kombat‘s “klassic” character skins and fatalities come to mind as one example. Because these were spread out to different retailers, obtaining them all was initially an expensive proposition. Some turned to eBay to obtain them, with some auctions going for as much as $100. This happened before it was announced all of the bonuses would be sold in a DLC bundle for only $4.99. Knowing that a free pre-order bonus will only be available for an extra fee at a later date might convince some to put $5 down at GameStop ahead of a game’s release. But others see that DLC price as an acceptable cost because six months down the line they’ll still be coming out ahead as a result of the game itself costing much less.

Pre-order bonuses were one of three reasons vakthoth said he could see for wanting to buy a game at launch. The second was the game in question being an especially anticipated one; Portal 2 and Skyward Sword were noted as the only games he bought at launch last year. The third reason is if you’re the type to be very social about your games where you like to discuss the latest and greatest with friends. Time_Prophet said that’s what prompted him to buy games at launch as a kid. Nowadays the hot topic online changes rapidly — Mass Effect 3 and its ending, for example, were quickly devoured and dissected, and people have since moved on. That’s not to say no one is still talking about it, but by and large the conversation has run its course.

Part of that is due to the frequency of noteworthy releases. The past three months alone have seen Vita and its launch games, Mass Effect 3, The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360, Prototype 2, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Ninja Gaiden 3, Silent Hill: Downpour, Yakuza Dead Souls, Street Fighter X Tekken, SSX, Syndicate, Asura’s Wrath, Twisted Metal, Resident Evil: Revelations, The Darkness II, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning released — among others. And this isn’t even the busy part of the year; each fall the number of big releases seems to grow and it becomes an impossible task to keep up with them all. For those who want to be social about their games or are only interested in what’s hot at the moment, that means certain titles that might otherwise be day-one purchases get left behind.

“If I want a game, I buy it when it comes out. If I don’t buy a game within the first week or so, I’m likely to never get it at all because I just really don’t want it that much and have something else to play,” Dub_Z said. “Even if they were everyone else’s AAA GotY 1-2 years ago, by the time I’m in the mood for something new to play, and see them cheaper… they seem kind of outdated and even less ‘must have’ than they were when they were the cutting-edge game-of-the-week. Nowadays, I’d rather use the money to get DLC for a game I play on a regular basis, or for a $10-20 downloadable game that I want to play on day/week one and doesn’t require as much rationalizing, budgeting, or impulse control.”

The availability of collector’s editions is one thing that CloudStrife_ca said he can find difficult to resist as he doesn’t want to risk having one he is interested in become rare (and therefore more expensive) if he doesn’t buy it. Of course, this is a gamble in and of itself as anyone who has wandered into a store that sells games has likely stumbled across a pile of limited/collector’s editions of games that did not sell as expected and have now been heavily discounted.

Although I personally don’t like the idea of a game’s value being determined by the amount of content it contains, there were several people who noted game length and replayability play a significant role in deciding what is worth purchasing for $60. “If they are worth their launch price… so no, not very often,” tyfighter80 said in response to the question of whether he still buys games at launch. “All the AAA shooters and adventure games I most often rent from GameFly and buy them cheap if I think I’ll replay them a few times.” Luminaire28 said he expects to get “50 or more hours of playtime even if the developer goes out of business” if he’s going to spend $60 (but, like seemingly everyone else, he has exceptions to that rule; in his case, BioShock Infinite).

“There are very few games I buy at all anymore, let alone day-one purchases,” sdwoodchuck said. “For me, that shift has less to do with rapidly dropping prices and increased content packaged with the game down the line, and more to do with the fact that most games now aren’t the sort I can spend a lot of time with. You look at your average blockbuster release, and what you’ve typically got is a 10-15 hour single-player campaign and frequently a basic competitive multiplayer mode. While the latter does add replay for a lot of folks, it’s not something I typically get into, so I don’t feel as though I get my money’s worth when I spend release day prices on a game that I only spend a couple days with.”

On the other hand, multiplayer is one reason Anthony Feliciano said he will pick up a game at launch, presumably because that is when the online community will be most active. He also pointed to games where spoilers can be an issue, specifically mentioning Mass Effect 3 as one he purchased because it seemed as if details of its ending were everywhere. Back on the subject of multiplayer, between this example and the people saying they expect a lot of value from their games, you can begin to see why publishers are frequently insisting that developers find a way to incorporate multiplayer into their games.

Several people, including San_Andreas and JC_Lately, said niche games are the sort they will pick up right away. This is because these games can become difficult to find in stores after launch, something which is not at all the case with AAA games. On somewhat of a similar note, PoliticalGamer said he will go out of his way to buy games at launch that he considers a “miracle to have been released,” citing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as one such instance where he did that. I imagine it’s a similar sentiment which drove many people to purchase Xenoblade Chronicles upon its release in North America.

Considering this is all a matter of how people decide to spend their hard-earned money, it’s hard to say anyone’s rationale is invalid or wrong. But two reasons that ring truer than many others were brought up by zachwor. “Many games have been adding downloadable content, season passes, and multiplayer to games that wouldn’t otherwise have it, in order to combat used game sales,” he wrote. “Why would I spend $60 for a new game [and] spend an additional $30 to $40 for more content when I can wait six months to a year to get the ‘full experience’ in a game of the year package that costs $40 to $50?” And it’s a very valid point — Capcom in particular has demonstrated numerous times it will put out a game and then release a more complete edition at a later time, Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 being two examples. Other companies, like Bethesda or Rockstar, will package a game with its DLC and re-release it under the guise of being a ‘Game of the Year Edition,’ either at the original $60 price or sometimes for less.

The second point zachwor made had to do with patches. “Especially with developers and publishers emphasizing release windows over polish, why would I want to buy a game that NEEDS two patches in order to play properly?” he asked. “If anything, people are being punished for buying day one with a worse experience than someone who picks up the game six months later, after developers have pushed out necessary patches fixing stuff that shouldn’t have been broken in the first place.” Those who purchased Skyrim on PlayStation 3 know this all too well. The PS3 lag issues aside, it’s also now a better game — updates have improved the game and added new features, such as Kinect support on Xbox 360 and the Steam Workshop on PC. Skyrim is hardly the only instance of this happening; Konami recently announced Silent Hill Downpour and the Silent Hill HD Collection have patches in the works to correct issues with framerate, audio sync, and auto-saves.

Considering how negative an experience it sounds like it is to buy a game at launch, one would hope developers and publishers would strive to do things differently, such as not rushing games out the door. Even if more gamers decide to wait until after launch to pick up the latest games, what companies are unfortunately more likely to do is find new ways to extract additional money out of those who are willing to put up with the many downsides of purchasing a game at launch.

Blog 9 {{STAND BY FOR ASSIMILATION)) Jedionston Rolls with IGN

This blog was submitted to IGN Community Blogger E3 2012 Contest MyIGN Blog CaptainDirk

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Problems with Video Game Addiction? Illustration By Alex Sotomayor

Illustration By Alex Sotomayor

Do you know when enough is enough? Video games have captured the imaginations of people across the world, but as with any type of entertainment they are highly addictive.  Like television or the internet, video games have now been accepted as part of modern culture, but studies show that an alarming number of people are still addicted to video games and don’t even know it.

Take me for instance, I play video games, watch shows about video games, write articles about video games, plan on becoming a video game developer and overall love video games.

Am I a victim of video game addiction?

Short answer no.

Addiction has to have some negative attribute, and in a time where everyday life is littered with various types of addiction trends. The difference between trends and addictions starts to become a very thin line, ultimately only you can tell if you’re having issues with an addiction. If you are, find somebody to help you out, or commit your soul to my blog, and I promise to take care of you… forever.

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I will be posting an article next week about Comic Con Costumes.

“live long and prosper”

                                                    Jedionston

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PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royal

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Diablo III Individual Class Beta Preview

By Gavin Johnston

So like every good Blizzard fan I sprang at the opportunity to get some play time on the open beta that ended today and ran through April 20th-23rd. I had enough time to get some play time into each class progression so I decided to let you guys know what I think, and what to expect once Diablo III goes live. Very nice of me if I do say so myself ;D

Demon Hunter

The Demon Hunter is probably the most badass character in Diablo III, if you liked hunters and rogues in WoW then you will be right at home with this class. They are a ranged specialist that uses a variety of deadly tricks and crowd control tactics. Though PvP will not be available until after Diablo III has been released, I can see this class being a requirement for any serious PvP team. The Demon Hunters weapon of choice is either dual crossbows or a two handed bow, and while I did notice a difference between the demon hunter and the wizards DPS scale. It is apparent that the Demon Hunter was meant for more then pure DPS and will be  a vital component in groups. Additionally the male voice actor was probably the coolest one of the five classes I played in my opinion and I am still contemplating if this will be my starting class when Diablo III goes live on May 15th.

Wizard

a wizard is never late young guildling, he downs a boss exactly when he means to!

The wizard is hands down the choice for pure DPS in my opinion at this point. While the wizard has plenty of magic tricks to compete with the demon hunter and witch doctor, ultimately the wizards specialty is pure damage. One cool aspect about the wizard is that you don’t necessarily need to focus into a special type of magic like fire or ice, because it is all available for you to use and easy to access as your character progresses. This is an especially cool bonus, because most magic user players like myself, desire to have an arsenal of moves to display in a flashy way. I predict a long shelf life of top DPS for this class, but between the wizard and the demon hunter it’s a pretty hard choice to make in my opinion. As with most high DPS classes obviously your durability will always be an issue but if you are choosing a wizard class you probably already expected that.

Naming Penalties: If you were thinking about naming your monk character: Krillin, MasterRoshi, Avatar, Nappa, Yajirobe or Tien FAIL!!!I already plan on reserving them on launch day so back the %*#@ OFF!!! or ill see you when PvP is released, mark my ^&@)% words.

Monk

Half paladin half rogue!?!? sounds cheap as %$*#!!!

The monk is an interesting class and will be cool to see progress in the end game content, they are not exactly a typical melee class, besides the ability to tank and DPS, monks can use a variety of support abilities to make them a more viable crowd control class in addition to blazing fast physical attacks. Not exactly sure why but the female and male monk voice actors both sound Russian for some reason. The monk also has the ability to use two handed or duel weapons but seriously, if you can punch people to death you better do it. I can already hear the barbarians complaining in general chat about monks rolling on weapons, and I can’t  wait to troll them all by sending them individual WoW spam for no reason.

btw I don’t really do this Blizzard so don’t ban me… please

I used the magic word!!!

I have Tyrael’s Charger so you know what kind of player I am 😀

 Witch Doctor

I think it’s pretty obvious that the witch doctor is filling the shoes of dot master and buff maniac while being able to dish out decent DPS at the same time. The witch doctor takes some inspiration from the shaman, warlock and death knight from WoW, but the witch doctor is seriously cooler then all of them at this point. Doc can dish out some serious damage with his voodoo while managing the crowd and summoning evil creatures and is an equal asset compared to the wizard and demon hunter. I think I noticed a slight increase in durability when compared to the wizard but that is all subject to change so take it with a grain of salty demon blood. Throwing jars of killer snakes to dot down your opponents was more then satisfying, but I really hope Blizzard does the right thing and brings back Harrison Jones so I can throw snakes at him and watch him run away.

Jock: Oh that’s just my pet snake Reggie.

why did Jock bring a motha@$&*# snake on a motha$!!*#@ plane???

Barbarian

Just FYI I posted these class descriptions in the order that I played them, lastly the barbarian. I was pretty sure that I was going to play as a wizard or demon hunter but after I played as the barbarian I started to think I might have to go back to my melee roots on this one. The barbarian is everything you want in the class, crushing blows that devastate your enemy with heavy durability against all your enemies. The barbarian is a noticeably larger character avatar then the other classes, so for those with little man syndrome, you should fall right into place with this class. If you want to tear apart the demons of Diablo in the most brutal fashion while protecting your companions, the spirit of the barbarian is within you. This class seemed to be the easiest in my opinion because little effort was needed to keep myself alive during all the fights from lvl 1-13.

Oh and don’t even think about trying to use Conan or Grunt as your name ^ see monk names for penalties of usage

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Apple is Set to Change Gaming

By Colin Campbell IGN

Apple is coming into the traditional gaming space. It’s not even a question of ‘if,’ only of ‘when’ and ‘how.’ And that’s the question keeping execs at Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo awake at night, and which must surely be filling games creators with a sense of impending revolution.

This being Apple, there’s no shortage of media speculation fueled by the company’s own raging secrecy. It doesn’t matter that the general feeling of confidence of Apple’s impending arrival is entirely lacking solid evidence. The media’s arguments as well as those from analysts and investors, are based more on Apple’s bulging bag of compelling motivations. In short, it just makes too much sense.

Question is, what can we expect to see?

– Apple Insider

Jobs’ biography includes details of his desire to own the TV screen.

Obviously, the idea of Apple creating some sort of disk-based graphical power-box is ludicrous. There’s more chance of the company releasing a crystal-set radio than it showing up at E3 and unveiling a shiny plastic thing alongside a first-party shooter. Consoles aren’t merely about graphical speed and tech-specs, although these are important. They are also about access and retail power and brand-trust and by these measures, Apple is a monster.

The company has long been rumored to be working on a TV set, and the idea of this being its videogame play is entirely plausible. It’s only a ‘console’ play because we’re talking about gaming through the TV screen, in the home. There’s no actual console.

Games business analyst Michael Pachter agrees, “For now this is all rumor and speculation. Nothing’s been announced. But it’s definitely going to happen,” he says. “But it won’t be a box. And don’t expect to see a giant touch-screen iPad being released. Nobody wants to clean their TV screen every day.”

Only this week, an Apple TV was the subject of a glowing consumer survey on buying plans

A recent report once againraised the prospect of Apple’s TV-set, amplified (somehow) by Apple’s super-senior exec Tim Cook’s alleged visit to Valve. (Note: Valve now says this visit never happened.)

Apple’s TV has been mentioned in retail surveys and, only this week, was the subject of a glowing consumer survey on TV buying plans, in which 25 percent of U.S consumers said they find the idea “appealing.”

Earlier this month Jefferies analyst Peter Misek dubbed the oft-touted device as ‘iPanel’ and gave various reasons why he believes it’s happening soon, including the movement of TV-like components to Apple manufacturing partners in Asia.

Gene Munster, an oft-quoted analyst at Piper Jaffray, cited the TV in a recent projection that Apple’s share price could reach $1,000.

Not everyone is convinced, although even those who dismiss the idea of an actual TV-set are happy to note that the next big play will come through the AppleTV device, which does not preclude a games strategy. There’s always the possibility of Apple using both a TV set and AppleTV for its foray into lean-back gaming.

Apple has been connecting to TVs for many years

One leading game industry exec (who preferred to remain anonymous) told me, “We know this is happening. Apple has been slow to understand the games business but it gets it now, and it understands consumers. It sees gaps, it comes up with elegant solutions. And the games publishers are ultimately going to be happy whenever Apple opens up new ideas, new markets and new consumers.”

The idea of an Apple TV set has been in circulation for a long time, as you can find out by visiting IGN’s own Apple TV wiki, wholly dedicated to this long-running rumor. It cites Steve Jobs’ famed quote from his biography published after his death. “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

And yet, despite the vintage of this rumor it bears scrutiny because it’s likely that when Apple does arrive, everything changes, just as it did when Apple got into the music and the mobile phones and the mobile games business.

You think Microsoft and Sony are losing sleep over each other’s next-gen plans? Not one bit

Apple is the most important company in the games business, and yet it’s the biggest player without a hand in what we should probably still refer to as the ‘console’ market. Is Apple happy to leave TV-screen gaming to entrenched competitors? Is Apple going to sit back while the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world continues to mushroom? Hardly.

You think Microsoft and Sony are losing sleep over each other’s next-gen plans? Not one bit. They’re waiting to see what Apple does. They’re well aware that it’s been 11 years since a serious new player came into the console space, an unprecedented span of time in gaming history, especially given how much the market has grown in the last decade. Sony and Microsoft and even Nintendo also know that there’s only one company with the money, energy and power to really destroy their plans.

Apple isn’t interested in being in the TV-set business as it currently stands, because it’s a miserable scramble for tiny margins conducted by gargoyle-electronics companies like Samsung, LG and, yes, Sony. Nor is it interested in being in the games console business, which is looking increasingly archaic with every passing day.

My source added, “Look, the last thing on Apple’s radar is squeezing tiny margins out of consumer electronic devices. The play here is about owning everyone’s media buying experience. If you are connected to Apple through your phone, your computer, your tablet and your TV, there’s just no way out. It becomes too painful to go anywhere else.”

In fact, Apple’s play is well beyond words like ‘TV’ and ‘console’. It’s in the business of installing a retail outlet in your house, one which connects with all your other devices. It gets to the point where it’s virtually impossible for you to leave Apple’s entertainment retail combine for a competitor. And gaming is a huge part of that plan.

Apple has the power to change everything.

The company is interested in owning the entertainment business through this crucial portal, the TV screen. It wants to complete the circle of handheld Phone and desktop computer and portable in-house iPad and TV

Speculation on the nature of the TV is not hard to find. It will attempt to re-invent the TV experience through an app-like online environment which will also integrate traditional viewing and economic models. It will feature a new kind of interface that takes us beyond the remote control, using a mixture of Siri voice control, Kinect-like manipulation and iPhone / iPad integration. It will be stylish and expensive, very obviously aimed at elite urban media consumers.

It will be heavily geared towards the connected, social generation, not as an afterthought but as a core principle. Asmedia commentator Brian Solis says in an editorial today, the future of TV is all about integration with other screens, like the computer and mobile devics, and it’s here where Apple has the most to gain. Solis writes, “Connected consumers don’t just expect online, on-demand streaming optimized for each device. They expect to engage in each screen differently and in a dynamic way.” There is currently a hole in Apple’s multi-screen strategy, right in the corner of your living room. Unless you believe the TV is going away, it’s a screen that Apple needs to own.

Apple understands that retail is finished as far as game distribution goes

The screen must come with some sort of traditional games controller. Rumor has it that Apple has been visiting core game developers to talk about a new controller and while it’s possible that this might be restricted to the company’s handheld gaming business, some alternative to the limitations of touch-screen, this does not preclude a standardized games controlling device.

It isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that the iPad, or some version of it, will be the controller. A touch-screen controller is an idea Nintendo has already jumped on with Wii U.

It’s tempting to consider again the so-called connection between Apple and Valve. Is it right that iTunes has something to learn from Steam, that Apple (like the rest of us) has something to learn from Valve’s extraordinary culture? The idea of a Steam-cloud hovering over Apple devices is pretty neat.

Apple understands that retail is finished as far as game distribution goes, and it is not about to allow some other Steam-like outfit to out-iTunes its own ambitions. Steam is now the biggest retailer of PC games in the United States. The console companies and the likes of EA and Activision are gearing their business plans towards selling content through the screen. If games is the biggest entertainment business in the world, it takes the biggest company in the world to step in, dominate rivals and change everything with a bold stroke.

As well as offering games as downloadable apps, it may also consider an OnLive / Gaikai- style streaming service for top-end games.

This is where Apple’s likely plans become especially murky. If the Apple TV comes with a good enough chip to play, say, games of an iPad 3 graphical quality, that will satisfy a large proportion of the market. But it won’t satisfy the kind of players who want to play Crysis 3. Will Apple seek to handle this kind of game through a cloud-gaming solution, or will it cede the hardcore end of the market to established players? As yet, we just don’t know, although Apple’s history with games suggests that it isn’t especially concerned with the Call of Duty player, when there are so many Angry Birds players ready and willing to part with their cash.

Michael Pachter says the company may decide to hedge, beginning with a fairly basic ‘casual’ play and then ramping up with more intense tech solutions as the infrastructure becomes available. Undoubtedly, cloud gaming is evolving rapidly and solves a lot of the issues Apple might have with stuffing its gadget with graphics chips.

Owning screens is what Apple has been doing this past decade. More to the point, it (along with Facebook) has created a massively successful communication platform in which games are the dominant factor. If they enter the console / TV market, the guys at Apple face tough competition. But do you want to bet against them?

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Dragon Ball Z Kinect Wish List

By Jose Otero 1UP

Dragon Ball Z for Kinect features plenty of super-powered fights — enough for an overload of Internet jokes involving power levels over 9,000, at least — but what else can you do in game with your Kinect besides punches, kicks, and Kamehamehas? What about competitive multiplayer or additional co-op modes?

Presently, Namco is reluctant to give specifics about the game regarding anything outside of its predictable campaign and score attack modes. So, we at 1UP went ahead and brainstormed some ideas for them. Why? Because deep down inside some of us still care about DBZ. And if you have your own brilliant idea you’d like to see in DBZ Kinect, tell us about it in the comments below.

Fusion Dance

In DBZ, Fusion is the process of incorporating two characters into one super-powered being. Since many Kinect experiences work around the idea of drop in/drop out co-op, the opportunity to have a second player come in to help raise your power level presents an excellent opportunity to experiment with this mechanic. Incorporating two players to quickly perform the fusion dance also offers hilarious possibilities if the pair mistime the steps — if you can remember the overweight and underpowered version of Gotenks, you get the idea.

Eating Competition

If you’ve ever seen an episode of DBZ, you must have seen Goku eat. In fact, devouring enormous plates of food is a regular joke on the show. So why not toss this idea into a Kinect-based mini game where the fastest eater in the room can show off their munching prowess? Granted, it’s all imaginary food, but this is a game about imaginary power blasts and apocalyptic power battles, so a little comfort food between rounds could provide some levity.

Father and Son Kamehameha

In one of the more touching episodes of the Cell Saga, Goku’s son Gohan sums up the power to destroy a menacing threat with the help of his departed father. Ideally, something like this would only work with a second player, but it still gives another DBZ fan an opportunity to jump in and help win the epic battle — even moreso if the person helping you win is someone you care about.

Driving School

In one of DragonBall’s funniest episodes, Goku and Piccolo are forced to get their a driver’s licenses or face preparing their own meals. While this filler episode told a hilarious story about the lengths to which two super-powered beings will go for food, the idea of a whimsical DBZ driving mini-game in this style could provide fan service and be a fun distraction from all the chaotic battling.

Camera Tricks

If Double Fine’s Happy Action Theatre taught us just one thing, it’s that camera tricks can be fun in the right context. Hopefully, the developers at Namco see potential in making a DBZ game for Kinect besides all the punching and kicking. Imagine being super imposed next to your favorite DBZ characters or powering up and watching the items of your room float around due to a weird zero-gravity effect. Potentially DBZ Kinect can take you from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to dozens of important locales in the series and add a touch of something extra for DBZ super fans.

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48 Hour Film Project

So the annual 48 Hour Film Project comes to San Diego June 1-3 2012. The project features multiple teams of filmmakers from around San Diego (students and professionals), the project is to create a short film in less then 48 hours with a small team. Each team will have a set number of restrictions for their film including but not limited to, genre restrictions, character elements and locked script options. Most of the teams have already formed so joining a current one would probably be your best bet if trying to attend in a professional manner. I will be scripting and acting for PLATT College San Diego so hope to see you on the red carpet! Interested in finding out more? Or thinking about trying to join a team? Look at the link below for more information on the project website.

48 Hour Film Project

If you are an actor or skilled filmmaker and want to join or help out the PLATT College San Diego team send me and email at. The production manager of team PLATT is Dave Downes.

gavin.jedionston@yahoo.com

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