Author Topic: Random Gaming Talk Thread (Read 3901754 times)

Today, we are excited to announce that the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase will stream on Sunday, June 12 at 10 a.m. PT. This show will feature amazing titles coming from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and our partners around the world.

The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase will include everything you need to know about the diverse lineup of games coming soon to the Xbox ecosystem, including upcoming releases to Game Pass on Xbox and PC.

Actual Starfield gameplay maybe?

Bebpo · « **Reply #30130 on:** April 28, 2022, 03:27:53 PM »

Quote from: Tasty on April 28, 2022, 11:34:24 AM

Square are huge dicks, didn't see this one coming...

So is Naka tho

bork · « **Reply #30131 on:** April 28, 2022, 03:35:40 PM »

Maybe they removed him when they saw what a shit show the game was.

Edit: He said that they knew the game was unfinished and released it anyway. Having tried the demo I'm not sure if that would have mattered. It was an all-around awful game.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30132 on:** April 28, 2022, 03:42:33 PM »

Quote

You all laugh but look at this garbage called Human Park (scroll one minute in to listen to the crypto MMO buzzword vomit):

It just received $25 MILLION in VC funding (VHS is the developer). I found out about it because they're hiring about 100 people right now on LinkedIn to work on this poo poo. Someone gave 25 million to what VHS describes this way: "Human Park begins its journey as a collection of 20,000 living and breathing nude avatars. Think of these 'Noods' as a blank canvas for Web3 identities at the dawn of metaverse existence."

Trash NFT MMOs are apparently the future and Star Citizen needs to up its game. NFTs are links to JPEGs. There are millions of JPEGs already released by Croberts that are ready to be minted. The secret is not to try to market to gamers but to market to degenerate gamblers in the crypto ecosystem that don't care about playing the actual game. Star Citizen is perfect for this.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3898069&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=2021#post522792792

Bebpo · « **Reply #30133 on:** April 28, 2022, 03:55:41 PM »

Quote from: bork on April 28, 2022, 03:35:40 PM

Maybe they removed him when they saw what a shit show the game was.

Edit: He said that they knew the game was unfinished and released it anyway. Having tried the demo I'm not sure if that would have mattered. It was an all-around awful game.

It sounds like a battle between Naka who wanted to keep at the game with more money & time to try to turn it around and SE who saw the core game was bad and didn't think it was salvageable so they cut their losses and just released it.

Joe Molotov · « **Reply #30134 on:** April 28, 2022, 04:35:13 PM »

paprikastaude · « **Reply #30135 on:** April 28, 2022, 05:34:21 PM »

tbf I'll believe it when Naka says Arzest doesn't care about quality.

D3RANG3D · « **Reply #30136 on:** April 28, 2022, 10:04:18 PM »

Svejk · « **Reply #30137 on:** April 29, 2022, 09:26:02 AM »

Quote from: D3RANG3D on April 28, 2022, 10:04:18 PM

Didn't expect the speedbagging on the feels near the end... I've been recently playing Contra with my son (11), who thinks it's one of the greatest games of all time too, and it's gaming bliss that has transcended the medium greater than I ever imagined.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30138 on:** April 30, 2022, 04:38:46 PM »

https://twitter.com/gamesasylum/status/1520088492960882690

Potato · « **Reply #30139 on:** April 30, 2022, 08:30:04 PM »

Quote from: VomKriege on April 30, 2022, 04:38:46 PM

https://twitter.com/gamesasylum/status/1520088492960882690

Looks like a hard yes to me

D3RANG3D · « **Reply #30140 on:** May 01, 2022, 09:25:05 AM »

VomKriege · « **Reply #30141 on:** May 01, 2022, 12:15:44 PM »

4 years old but

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/375092/this-19-year-old-kiwi-farmer-accidentally-became-a-character-in-a-us-board-game

Pissy F Benny · « **Reply #30142 on:** May 01, 2022, 12:54:24 PM »

The Farms?

VomKriege · « **Reply #30143 on:** May 02, 2022, 02:38:19 AM »

Square sold Eidos and all its IPs to Embracer for 300 millions.

Edit : Includes Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain... Square kept Just Cause, Life is Strange, Outriders.

Nintex · « **Reply #30144 on:** May 02, 2022, 03:10:51 AM »

Only 300 mil for the whole shabang
I wonder why MS didn't bite.

Perfect Dark 2 truely is cursed

"The best is yet to come"

Potato · « **Reply #30145 on:** May 02, 2022, 05:28:35 AM »

There's something dodgy about that deal. Tomb Raider alone is worth more than that.

Nintex · « **Reply #30146 on:** May 02, 2022, 06:13:22 AM »

Quote from: Potato on May 02, 2022, 05:28:35 AM

There's something dodgy about that deal. Tomb Raider alone is worth more than that.

It's very weird indeed. Perhaps Square Enix wanted to lose dead weight for their own restructure/merger/sale or they're expanding their partnership with Embracer.
They bought Eidos themselves for ~$100 million back in 2009. Which was a steal.

Still, I can't imagine Microsoft wouldn't have bought it for $500 million. Maybe their lawyers told them to wait and not buy new things until the Activision deal closes(?).

Pissy F Benny · « **Reply #30147 on:** May 02, 2022, 06:33:07 AM »

That is way underpriced, and 900m less than what EA paid for codemasters

I'm shocked Sony didn't go for it at that price.

who is ted danson? · « **Reply #30148 on:** May 02, 2022, 06:50:20 AM »

WTF that is cheap.

$300m to bring back Deus Ex and Lara's triangular tiddies.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30149 on:** May 02, 2022, 07:42:16 AM »

Considering the frenzy of acquisitions recently this does sound really cheap even considering that those titles are not as valuable as they once were. Even if the financial results were judged as very sore by the Japanese HQ, Tomb Raider and Deus Ex kept a lot of cachet through the titles that SquEidos released.
The status for Hitman is reportedly a little confusing (it's not certain IO owns it wholesale).

I do wonder how much the internal craftsmanship / talent pool in those studios factor in those prices though. My impression is that a lot of the workforce is not really permanently bound and the artistic higher ups can and will often jump ship at one point if they want it.

I suppose there's an argument that everyone else is paying silly money at overvalued prices or that Square just wanted to unload it at all costs. As with all such deals we're not really privy to the small details so maybe there's something there ? Or we people seriously overestimate the value of Tomb Raider ? How much of a money sink Eidos is actually ?

Quote from: Pissy F Benny on May 02, 2022, 06:33:07 AM

That is way underpriced, and 900m less than what EA paid for codemasters

I'm shocked Sony didn't go for it at that price.

CodeMasters holds the F1 and WRC licences though and those are apparently very juicy.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30150 on:** May 02, 2022, 08:08:08 AM »

Also not sure if one should put trust in Embracer doing a better job with those old beloved titles.

Nintex · « **Reply #30151 on:** May 02, 2022, 10:25:16 AM »

I dunno, they bought a team of ~1100 people and the backlog of all the IP's and assets for $300 million.
They could potentially make up for that with 1 new Tomb Raider release.

I guess Square Enix realized that if they wanted to get back into the game with Deus Ex and Tomb Raider and do it right it would cost them more than they were willing to spend to be competitive.
Microsoft bought RareWare for $375 million and they didn't even get all of the IP's at that price.

My brother also works at an Embracer studio and no one was aware this was planned.
The industry rumor was that Sony was going to buy these assets from Square Enix.
So maybe Embracer came in with a higher bid or Sony plans to buy the rest?

Next up is Ubisoft. Sony, Microsoft and Netflix are all interested.
My bro says that might be why MS and Sony passed on this.

Embracer buying studios is of no risk to MS and Sony as their business is multi-platform.

bork · « **Reply #30152 on:** May 02, 2022, 10:56:48 AM »

https://hard-drive.net/melee-players-abandon-game-after-learning-its-over-18-years-old/

VomKriege · « **Reply #30153 on:** May 02, 2022, 12:19:22 PM »

Quote from: Nintex on May 02, 2022, 10:25:16 AM

They could potentially make up for that with 1 new Tomb Raider release.

Potentially is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30154 on:** May 02, 2022, 12:31:04 PM »

I mean the management reportedly sucked & all that but Square did gave a fair shot at Tomb Raider and Deus Ex at one point but despite selling 50m copies all told the profits were fairly thin it seems. Common wisdom is to blame Square's unattainable goals but there's maybe some issues within Eidos & co as an operation too.

who is ted danson? · « **Reply #30155 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:01:07 PM »

I feel like the Eidos stuff released under SE was always put on a massive discount soon after launch. So it doesn't surprise me if they had high sales numbers but low profits.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30156 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:10:23 PM »

I think the Tomb Raider reboot (and the spinoff games) and the Deus Ex one brought back those series into some mainstream relevance and up into the "AAA space" but yeah it seems the business model never quite worked as well as intended.

Rahxephon91 · « **Reply #30157 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:29:08 PM »

The Western Side of Square Enix has been a whole lot of nothing for years now. Not sad to see this happen.

Tasty · « **Reply #30158 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:31:28 PM »

Huh, maybe Legacy of Kane isn't as absolutely dead as I thought...

VomKriege · « **Reply #30159 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:34:22 PM »

Quote from: benjipwns on April 19, 2022, 09:51:48 AM

What is a "big budget" Fortnite chasing Crazy Taxi supposed to look like exactly?

Competitive online free for all plus a bunch of driver skins ?

Svejk · « **Reply #30160 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:37:08 PM »

Quote from: VomKriege on May 02, 2022, 01:34:22 PM

Quote from: benjipwns on April 19, 2022, 09:51:48 AM
What is a "big budget" Fortnite chasing Crazy Taxi supposed to look like exactly?

Competitive online free for all plus a bunch of driver skins ?

Makes me think JSR will be an NFT grafitti filled GAASy mess.

Pissy F Benny · « **Reply #30161 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:40:09 PM »

Quote from: VomKriege on May 02, 2022, 12:31:04 PM

I mean the management reportedly sucked & all that but Square did gave a fair shot at Tomb Raider and Deus Ex at one point but despite selling 50m copies all told the profits were fairly thin it seems. Common wisdom is to blame Square's unattainable goals but there's maybe some issues within Eidos & co as an operation too.

From what I heard (on a bombcast many years ago) was that square were hoping Tomb Raider (and other stuff like Sleeping Dogs) would sell so well that it would offset the losses from the Japanese side while they were shitting the bed during the PS3 era. It ended up selling over 14m copies but I imagine the vast majority were from sales over the years. I think at most other pubs those games will hold be considered a huge success.

benjipwns · « **Reply #30162 on:** May 02, 2022, 01:50:20 PM »

Tomb Raider did well but Square thought it was going to be massive. Basically a Call of Duty tentpole type franchise. Almost nothing "Eidos" could produce could meet expectations because the expectations were always absurd. Sleeping Dogs is a great example, it did really well, but they weren't interested in a sequel because they were thinking GTA numbers rather than something more achievable like Saints Row.

Nintex · « **Reply #30163 on:** May 02, 2022, 02:07:55 PM »

Quote from: VomKriege on May 02, 2022, 12:31:04 PM

I mean the management reportedly sucked & all that but Square did gave a fair shot at Tomb Raider and Deus Ex at one point but despite selling 50m copies all told the profits were fairly thin it seems. Common wisdom is to blame Square's unattainable goals but there's maybe some issues within Eidos & co as an operation too.

Do not forget that it takes a lot of work and support staff to keep an overseas studios properly running and staffed too.
In terms of HR, art, QA and IT support Embracer has a large number of studios and a lot of resources, Square Enix not so much.
Nixxes being bought by Sony probably also hurt their ability to develop for PC as Nixxes was doing all the heavy lifting for the Eidos group in terms of PC ports.

They were moving to a new engine so at best the next Tomb Raider would be ready 2 to 3 years from now but as we know from Microsoft Studios and others setbacks mean a game takes 4 to 6 years to ship.

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Pissy F Benny · « **Reply #30164 on:** May 02, 2022, 02:47:22 PM »

Hadn't the original FF14 just stank out the industry not long before Tomb Raider and Sleepy Dogs

VomKriege · « **Reply #30165 on:** May 02, 2022, 02:47:47 PM »

I'll reserve judgement on Embracer better managing it, but good for everyone involved if so.

Joe Molotov · « **Reply #30166 on:** May 02, 2022, 03:10:59 PM »

Quote from: Rahxephon91 on May 02, 2022, 01:29:08 PM

The Western Side of Square Enix has been a whole lot of nothing for years now. Not sad to see this happen.

As opposed to the Eastern Side that spends decades developing one or two games and then occasionally squeezes out a Babylon's Fall or Stranger of Paradise?

benjipwns · « **Reply #30167 on:** May 02, 2022, 03:47:59 PM »

https://twitter.com/rudeism/status/1520580654827589633
https://twitter.com/rudeism/status/1520874547205271553

The Sceneman · « **Reply #30168 on:** May 02, 2022, 06:46:22 PM »

That is absolutely brilliant

Rahxephon91 · « **Reply #30169 on:** May 02, 2022, 08:32:13 PM »

Quote from: Joe Molotov on May 02, 2022, 03:10:59 PM

Quote from: Rahxephon91 on May 02, 2022, 01:29:08 PM
The Western Side of Square Enix has been a whole lot of nothing for years now. Not sad to see this happen.

As opposed to the Eastern Side that spends decades developing one or two games and then occasionally squeezes out a Babylon's Fall or Stranger of Paradise?

Yeah the side that actually puts out games I care about.

tiesto · « **Reply #30170 on:** May 03, 2022, 12:19:11 AM »

Quote from: Rahxephon91 on May 02, 2022, 01:29:08 PM

The Western Side of Square Enix has been a whole lot of nothing for years now. Not sad to see this happen.

I just felt it was a mismatch between expectations, budgets, and SE's usual fanbase (Japanese game fans and RPG fans). A remnant of the PS3/360 era when Japanese devs felt a desperate need to 'westernize' and doing it in the most haphazard fashion that alienated the Japanese players, western fans of Japanese games, and never appealed the typical western gamer of the 360 era. I prefer the mid budget Japanese stuff from SE personally (i.e. DQ Builders and Octopath) so as long as those keep coming, I'm happy. (it's gonna be all this NFT and gaas shit, isn't it :/)

Bebpo · « **Reply #30171 on:** May 03, 2022, 05:28:06 AM »

So I joined a game jam and released my second game tonight. Made it in 2 days. Just a little survival wave simplistic game but has some stuff I like and I think the balance is decent. Got sidetracked and spent like 3-4 hours on the secret in Stage 2 because I got the idea for it and then wanted to make it happen (it's supposed to have a screen shake but the web build is bugged and doesn't shake, also the UI positioning is slightly off and camera framing in the web build).

https://dkclassdesign.itch.io/entropy-chans-tea-time-adventure

Nintex · « **Reply #30172 on:** May 03, 2022, 01:28:56 PM »

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Meanwhile at Ubisoft

Also MS is the most likely to scoop up WB Games. Sony is interested as is Amazon and a few others but MS really has their sights set on Mortal Kombat.

Svejk · « **Reply #30173 on:** May 03, 2022, 02:25:34 PM »

Quote from: Nintex on May 03, 2022, 01:28:56 PM

Also MS is the most likely to scoop up WB Games. Sony is interested as is Amazon and a few others but MS really has their sights set on Mortal Kombat.

That would be a good opp to make a MK/KI mash-up...

VomKriege · « **Reply #30174 on:** May 03, 2022, 04:27:17 PM »

I think it's always eye opening how many of those deals get announced and blindside the supposed insiders. Maybe confirmation bias at work because sometimes there's deals you hear about beforehand while they wrap up but still... Everyone was fixated at Square Enix for-a-Sony-buyout and missed what was actually going on.

It's probably a given consolidation will continue so you can pair any big fish name with slightly smaller fish publisher and have a good chance to be right in the 5 next years.

Potato · « **Reply #30175 on:** May 03, 2022, 09:44:03 PM »

Quote from: Nintex on May 03, 2022, 01:28:56 PM

Meanwhile at Ubisoft

(Image removed from quote.)

Lol. How do you fuck up a remake so bad that shit needs to be taken away from you? It's like fucking up a paint by numbers picture.

Also, $900 million sounds more realistic, but still seems very cheap for Tomb Raider considering Lara Croft remains one of the few video game characters recognised outside of the video game demographic.

Potato · « **Reply #30176 on:** May 03, 2022, 09:45:42 PM »

Quote from: VomKriege on May 03, 2022, 04:27:17 PM

I think it's always eye opening how many of those deals get announced and blindside the supposed insiders. Maybe confirmation bias at work because sometimes there's deals you hear about beforehand while they wrap up but still... Everyone was fixated at Square Enix for-a-Sony-buyout and missed what was actually going on.

It's probably a given consolidation will continue so you can pair any big fish name with slightly smaller fish publisher and have a good chance to be right in the 5 next years.

Video game "journalists" exist on a diet of pre-warmed junkets and reconstituted press releases.

Tasty · « **Reply #30177 on:** May 03, 2022, 10:13:58 PM »

Quote from: Nintex on May 03, 2022, 01:28:56 PM

Also MS is the most likely to scoop up WB Games. Sony is interested as is Amazon and a few others but MS really has their sights set on Mortal Kombat.

I would be surprised if WB Games is still on the chopping block with Zas in charge now.

Svejk · « **Reply #30178 on:** May 03, 2022, 11:27:21 PM »

Supposedly SE lost $200 mil on the two Marvel games.

VomKriege · « **Reply #30179 on:** May 04, 2022, 12:34:22 AM »

I wonder if there's unspoken or unwritten costs to that price tag, like an inevitable restructuring or solid severance packages to pay for if they trim this down.

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Author Topic: Random Gaming Talk Thread (Read 3901754 times)