Guest: Henry Frew, Animator at Fleetwood Gaming Topic: The Market
Wow, this is probably our worst audio yet. Sorry. Henry's mic was coming in soft, and our lovely levelator couldn't even bring it all together. We will see what we can do to fix it, but that might take some time. UGH.
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Hahaha, well the on schedule recordings sure didn't last. But schedules be damned, we were able to get 2/3rds of the team together to record up a little diddy for ya. Joining Ryan and Mike this week is Henry Frew, animator at Fleetwood Gaming, and we talk about everything from modding, 3d movies, and addictions to our main topic which is the affect of the market on games, and how games can affect the market. Yes, after two shows of being entirely qualified to talk about the topics at hand, we decided to talk about something this week that we know far less about.
And, we drink some beers while we do it.
This weeks show notes:
- 3d-ish Wii Head Tracking craziness
- Compulsive gaming is not an addiction
- Gamestop's debates against complaints
- Gamestop's secret weapon against download services
- And finally, here is an awesome article Ryan found about game endings only for new versions of the game.
Episode Fourteen - Market Schmarket
(right click the above to download)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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25 comments:
And a link to my beer! In... uhhh... Finnish. I'm sure it will be more amusing then Mike's beer if run through Babelfish:
http://olutopas.info/?olut=337
I linked your beer in the description. Mine is linked on the word some, yours is linked on the word beer. Both are to that beer advocate rating site so that people can read how awesome they are.
Oh, word then. BTW we have a Facebook group now too!
one big reason that 3d games dont exist is because you need to render everything 2x to produce any stereoscopic effects. so everything will look half res compared to every other game out there.
There isn't some sort of filter that could be put in place to do that instead of rendering it twice?
Yes, I make games, but I am tech dumb about them, so bear with me, haha
I think some older 3d devices that never caught on used interlacing to solve this problem but it was more of a hack then anything. For a long time, GeForce cards had optional 3d glasses that worked with a lot of games but I don't know if they sucked or just never caught on.
Rendering twice is a technical hurdle but many games do it (like any game with split screen) and others can (most any game running at 60fps). I remember one of the Sly Cooper games on ps2 even came with old school 3d glasses.
I think the biggest hurdle is the hardware ubiquity; companies will not make a 3d game until there is enough 3d hardware (glasses) to make it worth it and no gamer will buy 3d hardware until there are games that make it worth it.
Personally, I think we need a killer app to put new hardware in everyone's home(like Guitar Hero did with plastic guitars) or a new console that has it as part of it's functionality (like the Wii did) before 3d gaming is going to really catch on.
split screen is a good point. dont the screens pop down to lower LODs for split screens though?
It would depend on the game but I've never actually heard of anyone doing this. It's possible LOD distances might be changed (I think only one game I briefly worked on had split screen, and I'm not a programmer so I'm not an authority on the subject!) but sweeping off the top layer of LODs wouldn't be enough to double your frame rate anyway.
In some cases (such as Halo 2 and maybe 3) single player runs at 60fps and split screen at 30. This is why you need to know waaaaaay in advance if your game is going to have split-screen/co-op.
Alot of 3d content seems to concentrate more on graphics instead of gameplay and creating unique environments.
That makes me a sad panda.
For the special edition, limited edition of games to me they actually really need to make it worth it.
Like the prince of persia special edition for instance the making of video is only 5min long, I mean yea how much can you actually show on a game making of but to me thats the sort of thing that interests my as a consumer, the soundtrack you have to listen to in the dvd player or program and some of the music cuts out halfway through the track, the videos they only put one of a few videos they released, same as trailers and walkthroughs, and the art I know they didn't have it all there. In all I was pretty disappointed but granted it was a free upgrade with preorder but would have paid the extra $10 to have all that content.
Wwith gears 2 I was happy for the most part with what was on the disc, also granted things were a little short, the artbook was really really lacking. Dead Space for example had an excellent artbook you get with the preorder.
really if they are gonna offer these special editions they need to put more time in them to make them worth the $10 and not come up short on content/material.
Mokuu: You and me both.
B-rad:Looking at my shelf, I have two Collector's Editions of games and both had good reasons (I also have the collector's edition of Ultimate Spider-man but it was free so it doesn't count).
Unreal 3 I bought just to mod; I didn't care about the game because Epic's art direction doesn't do for me what TF2's does. The special ed. came with 27 hours of Modding videos on a DVD so that made it worth the extra $5.
STALKER I bought the limited edition because that's all they had at the store on launch day. Hmmm... that'd be an interesting dirty publisher trick: shipping special editions early to really milk the early adopters... Good thing I'm on the dev side :)
Really, cool statues or FULL SIZED art books are the only way I'll get a collector's editions. I know how games are made already and worse, I know how those "How the game was made" videos are typically made (with generous portions of spin and fallacy)
I just realized I know a Dutchman with the last name Bakker. Mike was right; two K's makes it Dutch.
hahaha, I was totally just being a dick, though good to know even when I'm being a dick I am totally on point.
B-rad. im trying to kick ubisoft producers in the nuts for the dissapointement that the Prince of persia collectors edition brought me.
DIGITAL BLU RAY ART BOOK *flips out*
The fallout 3 collectors edition was gold, artbook, making of -30 mins-, custom box.
Even God of war 2 had a terrific artbook and making of dvd.
Ryan, can you call me asap?
If I knew which Kevin to call... is this the Kevin in Redondo Beach with the car that's almost as cool as mine?
Hey guys,
Like the podcast (been a while since I stopped by here), but you really wouldn't want to have one of these made up peanut allergies. It has been known to cause unpleasant choking sensations, with optional death from Anaphylactic shock.
Peanut allergies may be a 'luxury' problem genetically, but not so much individually. Shelter and food are not high on your list of priorities when you can't breathe.
Hey Christiaan,
I'm glad to hear you like the podcast and I can sympathesize a little bit with my cat allergy which was partially responsible for my lung collapsing on two seperate occasions (fun!). My sister has been hospitalized in at least one peanut allergy incident.
Basically, Mike is a big, dumb, insensative asshole. But we hope that won't stop you from listening because occasionally he says something funny and even more occasionally, something smart!
Right off the bat, Christiaan, you rock sir, and thanks for commenting. And even more for calling me out. I LOVE that. And I should probably just allow Ryan's words to be the end of it, but I am big and dumb as he says, so I must expand.
As a fellow can't breath type person, thanks to the asthma, I can agree with your last point. Though having shelter CERTAINLY helps when you can't breath, even if you don't appreciate it as much at the time. What I was getting at overall is the way such "luxury" problems can and often are taken overboard. Myself, as someone who is allergic to everything plant and animal, have never expected anyone else to look out for me though. That is my genetic short coming, not theirs, so no need to make an issue of it. When schools are forced to ban the serving of peanut butter, that is insane. And it is obviously a product of this current generation of parents, as this was never a serious issue before hand. Why? Because if something is harmful to you, it is your responsibility to watch out for it. To have a world where everyone caters to one person gives a sense of entitlement and false security which is silly in my opinion, and more harmful than the allergy itself. It is the responsibility of the parent to find out what is harmful to their child. At that point, they can tell the school that child has the allergy, but they should in no way demand that whatever causes that allergy, especially one as rare as a food allergy, to cease being served.
It is the overcompensation and sensationalistic reactions that are being forced upon society that drive me crazy. And THAT is a product of a society that has too much time on it's hands.
So I didn't mean to call out the cause, so much as the effect.
I truly apologize if I offended you, or anyone else, as that is never my intent. Unless I am offending Ryan or Rick, in which case I don't care. ha
Hey Mike,
Don't worry, I'm not easily offended.
I agree with you banning peanut butter is ridiculous. However...
I was at Schiphol airport once and ordered a cup of tea which came with a free cookie that had nuts on it. It was the kind of cookie that normally comes with almonds so I thought nothing of it. A few minutes later I got a familiar tingling sensation in my throat and started wondering if they sold anti-histamine at the airport.
My peanut allergy is mild enough that I don't go into shock, but if I had been that sensitive, it could have killed me.
Death by cookie.
It is very much crucial to cater to this minority, small though it may be, but it can be done in a way that doesn't deprive others of their favourite nut. For starters, not putting peanuts on almond cookies.
There's nothing wrong with serving peanut-based food as long as the ingredients are clearly advertised. You can't take responsibility without information.
See, I can hit this peanut allergy thing from another standpoint. Parent. My 18 month old has never touched peanut butter, or any nuts... except his own, but that's another story. We held off feeding peanut butter until 2 years for our oldest boy and he has no allergic reaction to it.
The school we take our kids to does not allow peanut products at all. So making lunches for my 4 year old and not having that ever so easy peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my arsenal SUCKS. But, if my kid was allergic, I'd want to school to look out for them too, because no 4 year old can. So yeah, in most cases I don't have a problem with it. I just feel bad for any person that can't enjoy some all natural Skippy with strawberry jelly between two pieces of sourdough.
two words Rick. Cashew butter.
Cashew butter is nice, but they don't seem to sell it anywhere.
Rick: You do know you can test for allergies, right?
See, the problem Christiaan, is that Schiphol Airport WANTS you to die because you'd be one less person in the hellish mosh pit they call a security check.
Entirely probable.
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