| Original message (761 Views )
|
Replies: |
| PSN: zonepharaoh
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: zonepharaoh
|  "Farewell to USGamer" , posted Mon 1 Feb 15:49  
The venerable games site and 1up.com successor USGamer is closing down. That really sucks! It was a very MMC-relevant site given its long-form writing and older staff (including some 1990s Gaming Intelligence Agency alum) with a retro games bent that the original Retronaut Jeremy “toasty frog” Parrish set in motion while he was there.
The reason, as ever, is the evolving (declining) state of media in a social media hell age, so I guess it means we will get our news from twitter PR, occasional odd newspaper columns, or hired carnival barkers charitably called “influencers,” so I guess that sets us back to...pre-1990, really?!
Once again, the Cafe stands high as all the old internet has fallen away, but I wasn’t particularly hoping we’d be victors by default. 
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
|
| | "Re(2):Farewell to USGamer" , posted Tue 2 Feb 16:26
quote:
Once again, the Cafe stands high as all the old internet has fallen away, but I wasn’t particularly hoping we’d be victors by default.
Nobody wants to win through disqualification. I want to destroy our enemies and sit upon a throne of their skulls! Wait, that's not the right attitude...
Too bad USGamer has gone into the great beyond. It's nice to think that the internet is large enough to provide space for anything, such as the more unique approach of USGamer. However, time and again I've been proven wrong.
I think that magazines and highly focused/idiosyncratic publications can still exist, as basically a dozen well-monetizing niche Patreons show. I do think that trying to sell "subscriptions" in a fashion which is crudely translated from print media to internet simply isn't as effective as how Patreons allow idiosyncratic and tailored monetizations which actually allow enthusiastic readers to give MORE money.
One of the things I particularly would like to see is a reduction in need for up-to-the-second news which is often little more than the PR out of the company's own mouth with no insight. I think it'd be tremendously more valuable for what journalists (like, actual journalists!) are in the employ to actually compose thoughtful analysis of particular news things as they pertain to particular topics that that journalist is actively covering. Needing to be driven by clickbait results in the entire content of the publication being diluted by clickbait, when ad impressions is already a largely nonfunctional method of earning revenue for all but the most cosmically large sites.
One of the very important points of basically any game design is "how do you intend to make money from this game". It sounds callous, but it's incredibly important and is something that was absolutely a consideration in the design of iconic classic arcade and console games. Freeware games are also a thing, and they can be wonderful, too! But if you decide that your game is to generate a profit as a means of generating livelihoods, then that has very real implications for the design of your game. People haven't stopped reading regardless of the prevalence of streaming media, and there are now more ways than ever for words to enter people's eyes!
I have previously wondered if "constellation" publications/journalism "channels" are possible, where a bunch of interested journalists form a loose association such that they can gattai their clout much like larger publications of the past. Something more formal than a feed of the twitters you follow, but less formal than a monthly fixed publication.
|
| | "Re(3):Farewell to USGamer" , posted Tue 2 Feb 19:22
quote:
One of the things I particularly would like to see is a reduction in need for up-to-the-second news which is often little more than the PR out of the company's own mouth with no insight. I think it'd be tremendously more valuable for what journalists (like, actual journalists!) are in the employ to actually compose thoughtful analysis of particular news things as they pertain to particular topics that that journalist is actively covering. Needing to be driven by clickbait results in the entire content of the publication being diluted by clickbait, when ad impressions is already a largely nonfunctional method of earning revenue for all but the most cosmically large sites.
The issue with that is that mainstream news site also suffer from this issue.
So the moment someone intend on actually doing journalism appears, like Jason Shreier, they are whisked away to a mainstream news site because of the dearth of actual original content driving visits there.
Ironically, his piece on Cyberpunk 2077 was super dull because he had to cut the most interesting anecdotes so that the casual Bloomberg reader wouldn't be confused, apparently. Though his article on Amazon is much better.
I think the other way is to divert from the news and invested into entertaining original content and personalities. Yahtzee or Brian David Gilbert doing their own weird thing has probably driven a lot more traffic to Polygon's Youtube channel than boring content "so, is the new AAA game any good?". Obviously, the issues there is that you're at the mercy of Youtube for your revenue, which is never a good idea, and also that investing in creative people is a long and expensive process, and you can't expect these people to stay doing their thing forever, as BDG's departure shows. Plus the risk of a milkshake duck is always high, especially in gaming.
That leaves us with... Gamasutra, I guess? Haven't visited there in a while. Is it still good? Is it healthy?
|
| | "Re(6):Farewell to USGamer" , posted Thu 4 Feb 06:59
quote:
After thinking about it a bit more, I do realize that what is interesting to me and other oldsters around here is also often of a particular level of interest: as Iggy mentions with the difference between Bloomberg articles and Kotaku articles by Schrier, different audiences sometimes need to be written for differently, or have a different bent.
From what I've read elsewhere, Bloomberg restricts Schrier's article lengths, which also prevents him from doing the more in-depth features that he did at Kotaku.
That also doesn't surprise me, and I think just points out the value of having different editorial interests for different publications imposing different restrictions. There is value in concise overview articles! There's also value in lengthy nitty-gritty articles!
Frankly if I had to run a news-like (as in rogue-like) website, I'd have one entire section of the site cordoned off as the "PR FEED!" which would effectively be run by a bot that just crawls the tweets and PR releases of companies and puts that into its own little div in the website that users can just choose to scroll past or that they can dive into and endlessly scroll in. That way I could have entirely separated "update" pings to the site's feed and readers that they can filter: if they want the "PR FEED" they can, if they just wanted authored content by writers/creators from the site they can, etc. It simply isn't worth someone's time to do "PR release plus extremely minor amount of context that doesn't really meaningfully add to the release" as their job, and I also wouldn't want that element of the news to dilute the higher value updates and search results that come from the work of writers/journos/etc. on the site. I have no idea if that would actually work, but it's the kind of site I myself would be more interested in looking at.
|
| | "Seaside Vacation" , posted Mon 22 Feb 21:53
I can't find it, I know we wrote about 13 Sentinels in some thread here somewhere, I don't remember if it was a dedicated thread or not.
By the way, I got the game, I was dubious about the real time/tower defense aspect of the gameplay (a type of game that usually I hate and thought it could be a deal breaker). But I love their games, so I tried, and wow, I am amazed to what they were able to cram in the story, there is literally everything vaguely or tangentially related to sci-fi in there, it's fantastic. Anything else I could write about the story would be a giant spoiler, I think this is a game that must be played with knowing the less possible about the story outside of the 2 or 3 things showed in the trailers.
And that song played in that mission, oh wow, that was E P I C.
I haven't completed the game yet, I'm on the last mission, I don't know if they can surprise me with something even bigger for the ending, but who knows. I had to write this as I can't stop listening to that song. Or I don't want the game to ends. Send help.
I forgot, the gameplay it's funny, not too difficult, upgrades helps a lot, initially you sucks and can't do much with what you get to use, but when you start to update the right things and abuse the system you can annihilate everything (at least at normal difficulty).
|
| PSN: Ishmael26b
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: Ishmael26b
| "Re(4):The lady will see you now" , posted Wed 10 Mar 04:30
Recently I tried two games that not only take inspiration from other games but expand upon them in new ways that may or may not work.
First up, is Remnant: From the Ashes. That poorly worded, janky title is appropriate for a game that is yet another low budget Dark Souls clone. As you would expect, there are bonfires, healing flasks and a world of decay that resets whenever you save your progress. The difference is that instead of poking monsters to death with medieval weapons you are using firearms. Yes, your character still spends an embarrassing amount of time rolling around on the ground like a modern-day Morph Ball. However, the change in weapons also means getting rid of blocking, backstabbing, riposte and all those other genre staples. In its place you have to blast your way through hordes of enemies before they can swarm you. Right now I'm playing as a cowboy with shamanistic powers who is putting daylight through eldritch horrors with a shotgun. That's a weird hot-pot of ideas but I'm enjoying the mixture.
For the second game I recently realized I was the last person on planet Earth who had not tried Fortnite so I had to do something about that. After running a few matches I can't understand why this game became the biggest thing since the last big thing. I'm not saying that as a grumpy old person complaining about the kids today, I honestly don't know why it was Fortnite that captured the zeitgeist of the times. Is it the art style? Is it the payment plan of free upfront and pay through the nose later (a plan popular with both credit card companies and drug dealers)? There must be thousands of papers and meetings held on why this particular game has gotten all the money.
Am I missing something in the way it plays? When I went into battle royale mode I found the fighting straightforward if simple, and a building mechanic that was obviously designed for a different game. In spite of never having played I still won two of the four games I participated in on the first day. Since I'm not Death that Walks that either means I was either knocking off hyperactive ten year olds who couldn't shoot straight or I was wasn't playing according to the game's meta. Was playing to win the wrong approach? Is Fortnite the modern equivalent to an arcade, where people hang out and occasionally play a game? Is it an absurdist social phenomenon, where you're supposed to dress up like a banana, do dance moves and then all stand around in a circle and shoot each other like it's the finale of a Hong Kong gangster movie? I don't understand Fortnite and I'm not certain it's worth paying $20 to play as a xenomorph to find out.
|
| PSN: zonepharaoh
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: zonepharaoh
| "NIER-ly time for release" , posted Sat 20 Mar 00:06:
quote:
I'm not certain it's worth paying $20 to play as a xenomorph
Lord SNK's 13 Sentinalful vacation
I meant to say I was really glad to hear this Vanillaware report! The over-familiar setting kept me away, but it sounds like I'm missing out. Also, "Xenomorph" may have sold Fortnite for me! Actually, randomly fooling around seems to be the name of the game in Valheim, so maybe that's what Western games are all about now. Now, I must get back to building my elaborate flower garden in Animal Crossing, so...
MEANWHILE IT IS ALMOST TIME FOR THE NIER REPLICANT REMAKE
I'm typing this listening to the godly intensity of Nier Automata’s fierce battle track Dipolar Nightmare and wondering what veterans of the original Nier are thinking as the remake is approaching. That, and whatever Nier Reincarnation was. You see, I've studiously avoided all post-Nier Automata stage plays, novels, etc. in what is obviously my mental defense mechanism after having finally managed to obtain a fairly happy ending for these poor characters in Ending E after 40 hours of intense mental distress and profound/harrowing brilliance.
I'd be glad to see Replicant become as Automata-like as possible art- and design-wise. I realized that what attracted me to a game like Automata that would otherwise be far too emotionally terrifying was the extravagant gorgeousness of the character designs and music that was already clear on its PR site. I don't remember if Nier Replicant had Yoshida Akihiko on designs, but the PS3 game’s promo art was boring, even more so with the Japanese copies since at least the American one caught your eye for being an early "dad game" by transforming the hero from a brother to a father.
Any experts on what's coming? Is it time to get excited??
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Sat 20 Mar 00:10] |
| | "Re(2):NIER-ly time for release" , posted Sun 21 Mar 07:04
quote:
Any experts on what's coming? Is it time to get excited??
I'm no expert, but playing Nier/Automata was my lockdown project last year (just after I bought PS3 Nier, they announced the remake, what a luck!).
Everything should be better than the original (smoohter gameplay, moves, etc) but the updated graphics seems to change the "atmosphere" of the original. I'm talking specifically of Kainé, the new look is a bit off. Considering how much she is foul-mouthed in the game, that "soft" looking face/expression with a side of moe is not what I expected.
Yeah, I agree. The technology that allows for rounder faces and more flesh-like flesh is nice and all, but I think the inhuman whiteness of Kaine (as opposed to the more albino look she has now) along with the harsh angles of her face that went along with her harsh manner of speaking helped make the character better.
On a similar note, I think the story which Nier tells by being about a father and a daughter works better than it being about a brother and a sister. In particular, a lot of things which Nier does in ignorance when he's the one who has to come across as "knowing better" and "raising a child" I think work much more strongly in a parent/child relationship than in a sibling one where the two are more equal.
In particular, father Nier doesn't have the angle of "well he's just a dumb teenager" to lean on for his approach to things: if anything, the idea that he's lived an entire adult life doing this and he's so hardened in his ways that he just can't do otherwise, I think is much more powerful.
|
|
|
