as i previously posted, Activision’s new game “Modern Warfare 2″ (developed by Infinity Ward) has lived up to expectations in every perspective. The new game released and swept up $550million dollars in sales in just the opening 5 days!
This ginormous number has broken past records across the entire Entertainment industry (music, movies, tv..? etc. )…movies like Harry Potter and The Dark Knight (box office record holders) have lost their hand to the Gaming Industry
“The title’s success redefines entertainment as millions of consumers have chosen to play Modern Warfare 2 at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media,” says Kotick, CEO of Activision
As a cap to the triumphant announcement, Activision is quick to note it “remains cautious” about the current economy both domestically and globally, and points out that consumer spending remains a “significant concern.”
Doesn’t really look as though the economic crisis is preventing consumers from buying games..
Isn’t this just inspiring? Makes you wanna work that much harder to get into such an expanding and fearsome industry
there’s a gigantic game release coming up just around the corner..!
it’s for the new Call of Duty game, “Modern Warfare 2″.
word is Modern Warfare 2 will be [the] biggest launch in the entire entertainment industry of 2009 (suprassing any movie launch, music album release, tv series, etc.).
this is absolutely music to my ears on a personal level. again we see here how much our society today embraces Gaming…our industry has been growing rapidly, and it’s growing so fast it’s hard to ignore these days. Major milestones date back to early 1998/99, and we’ve just been getting better and better at our job these many years.
Back to this upcoming Game Release news, there have been other prior “epic-monumental Game launches” in the past, such as Microsoft’s “Halo 3″ game..Microsoft reporting $170million in revenue within 24hours of the game hitting store shelves.
The Call of Duty series, or franchise, has been running for a great 4 or 5 years now, starting back with the very first “Call of Duty” game, that at the time, also made a very successful launch/premier into the Gaming market..needless to say, each of the successors of the game title have been steadily growing in sales, with the last “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” game, selling already 13million copies across all game platforms (ps3/xbox/pc, at like $50USD each copy).
The new game from Infinity Ward is gonna be plain awesome, with a what-seems excellent Co-Op game mode, fresh new visuals, and it’s gonna be one magnificent launch.
Keep an eye out for “launch day” numbers when it arrives!
didn’t i blog about this before some where… i personally believe very strictly in the micro transaction business model for games. There’s always been a new idea for how to make money off the game you work so hard to develop and put onto store shelves… the more accepted “episodic release” being one of the better favored “new successful distribution” method. Games like NCSoft’s Guild Wars for example was one of the early pioneers of ‘episodic release’ business model… customers buy the game, and get to enjoy the full content of the game for free, until, there’s a new “episode” or expansion, you pay for the expansion, and it’s the customer’s choice if he/she wants the additional content. Valve’s Halflife 2 Episodes are also a great example of this business model.
But that model seems to be… failing. It’s hard work to keep steady with a “6 month” develop-and-release cycle, especially if each new episode has to be as good, or even better, than the previous one (usually it has to be better otherwise why would fans continue to keep up with the game).
So introduce Micro Transactions. The general idea of it alone sounds so much more appealing already to any shopper. You pretty much buy the game free, play all you want, but, when you’re in-game with your character and friends, you start to realize you’re lacking something. So you continue on into the in-game shop, and purchase a new item or boost or armor or etc..for a measly fee of usually something around 2 or 3 real-life dollars. Every time you want something more, or a new kind of boost or upgrade or a new expansion chapter, you head back into that virtual store, and make another 3 or 5 real-life dollar purchase to get an in-game item. Developers are constantly updating and adding new content, usually very simple and quick content, bringing them into these virtual stores within that game, and everyone loves new stuff, so the masses will naturally horde in to grab that new item for 3 dollars a pop.
Alright so what about the iPhone??
well, now Apple has available this type of transaction for game/app developers that wish to make use of. It’s proven that this kind of distribution and business solution helps control piracy, and also increases the title’s distribution rate. Afterall, game is free, why won’t a person grab it? And the moment they do start playing it, that’s where the hook is…and they latch on, and they start micro-transactions, buying mini-game items for “just 1 buck” for the rest of their lives playing this game. Developers add something new and enticing into this virtual shop, and bam, the person goes to spend more money on the game.
I’m excited ’cause i’ve always dreamt to develop a game, which utilizes heavily this micro transaction model..and with the iPhone now capable of it, it’s another motivator for me to push on with my personal iPhone project.
Stumbled again (i love stumbling!!) over this article about the basics of using actionscript to create a RTS/Strategy type of flash game.
I find it especially intriguing ’cause the actionscript source itself pretty much is commented about at every line, so i’ve managed to pick up and apply my own needs with various areas of that chunk of code.
It’s great reference and/or base source material for anyone that’s also into Flash game development.
The all new title in the Need For Speed franchise. Shift.
Everyone knows the Need for Speed series has been plummeting downhill with it’s previous iterations. Players just didn’t want anymore flashy street racing, and the series has been getting hit hard by critics.
But with this new Need For Speed: Shift, it definitely looks like they’ve finally, turned corners with the franchise.
It’s getting great reviews from big hit game sites like Gamespot and Gametrailers.. “9.1 out of 10″. Something this series seriously been needing..
I’ve not had the chance to check this game out personally, but I’d really love to at least find a demo for it somewhere. The in-game videos and screenshots certainly are breathtaking and, refreshing. Today’s racing games certainly look spectacular…high-poly car models/textures, awesome game rendering engines..gorgeous.
Alot of hardcore fans of the Racing genre have been putting up comments about how Shift still can’t compare to other “pure-racing” games out on the market, namely the also-new Forza 3 and Gran Turismo for the consoles (Xbox/Playstation)..but….but…Shift does hold up strong and there’s critics that claim this title is better than the other named racers.
the newly released Playstion 3 Slim, by Sony, has done an impressive 150,000+ consoles sold within opening 3 days in the Japan market.
not sure how that stands up to what it was doing previously? before the new “Slim” models of the Playstation 3 was available, something like under 10,000 consoles were selling each week..on average.. compare that to the 150,000 in just-3-days.
Compare that, with XBOX 360 weekly sales..around the same “under 10,000″.
For the U.S Market, vendors have noted sales being boosted to something like +300% with the release of the PS3 Slim.
What else does this mean? More people at home now have a ps3. More developers will start to make and push games for this platform. The Playstation 3 is finally, getting it’s limelight. Xbox fanboys…don’t be too hard on yourselves
Article i found showing just how much people are getting involved and believing in the iPhone Game Application market.
Apple, company responsible for the infamous iPhone/ipodTouch, “revealed that 21,178 titles are currently available for download from the iTunes App Store.”
Comparing with other Portable Gaming Devices suchs as Playstation Portable, Nintendo DS (modern age Gameboy)…the iPhone has at a minimum, 5x more games available than those 2 platforms combined.
Playstation Portable “has 607 titles”(games) available, and the Nintendo DS “has 3680 titles” for consumers.
Awesome eh? Apple also notes the newer models of iPhones will boast stronger hardware, allowing games to run and look better on it..meaning the games are just gonna keep coming. more, more and more.
These numbers reflects our average society today. Shows us how much we’ve accepted Gaming into our lifestyles today…and shows us that Gaming, is here to stay. Gaming has become so much a part of our lives now, be it casual or hardcore-intense gaming…we all love games.
It also shows me just how much competition there is now…i’ve “missed the boat”, and piercing into this now-humongous mobile game market is gonna be dreadful tough.
been a good year at least, since the hype for Crytek’s “Crysis” game was fed & satisfied. With just one expansion so far that’s fully built on the CryEngine2 “Crysis: Warhead”….there’s still plenty more to see just what the engine can do.
or can we.
Crytek’s already demonstrated a newer CryEngine3, but bringing only a few “wows” and “ooohs”. Reason being it’s really nothing too new, CryEngine3 is just a tweaked up version of its predecessor so consoles, like the Xbox & Playstation, can too, have their version of this mouth-watering game engine. Does it hold up? Nah. The original CryEngine2 for the PC is still just as strong, if not, still the King of CryEngines. I still haven’t seen any studio push as hard as Crytek does to put art & visuals as high a priority as say gameplay, game design, or story. Sure, sounds like they decided not to skimp on any aspect of the game, but they do lose out on market size..and, that, does, not, matter. ;D
Enjoy the video. This is what makes me proud to be a Game artist. Unreal Engine 3 still needs work, if i have to decide anything.
news around about Disney, Walt Disney, yes yes, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Disney, buying out Marvel! Marvel is the group with the famous Spiderman & X-Men series..including Fantastic Four and the Hulk and other classic child Superhero favorites.
Disney is said to be buying over Marvel in a $4billion(USD) deal..and there’s alotta comments already regarding the future of what a Disneyland-Marvelled will be. It’s a really significant and interesting “merger”. Marvel is more targeted to grown-ups, while Disney seems to be targeted to lil’ kids. So yes, the combinations of a “SuperHero Team” in the future appears to be confuzzling. “Mickey Mouse tag-teams with The Hulk to rescue Daisy Duck from the evil clutches of Venom!”
Fat Princess, a multiplayer game developed by Titan Studios, finally launched. I’ve personally been keeping an eye out for this title, and wow, it’s definitely held up to my expectations. Take a look at the video comments of this on gametrailers.com, pretty much the highest number of “i want to buy this game” comments i’ve ever seen.
This game is targeted for both casual & hardcore gamers. It’s built to be very “user friendly” so anyone can just pick up the game/controller and jump straight into the mayhem. The concept of the game is as simple as you can get, rescue your princess. You play as Red or Blue team, and battle the opposing team to get your princess.
However, the depth of the game stretches with the introduction of 5 different playable classes. It’s the standard roles you will find in any and every multiplayer game around. You have the warrior class(melee attacks), archer class(ranged attacks), mage class(magic spell attacks), priest class(healing/supportive role), and lastly the worker class(collect resources to aid your team’s overall strength). Upon choosing what role you wish to play, you’re dropped straight into battle royale…and depending on the level, it could be anything from the typical “team deathmatch” (kill all opponents), “capture the flag” (in this case your flag’s your princess), “point-control” (sieze and hold various strategic points around the level for the longest possible time). The battles can get up to 32-player huge, meaning 31(+1 you) other people around the world will be able to play together with you online..giant battles! (not to mention long battles too hehe)
What’s cool is that you can even switch roles out on the battle field. Say you’re a warrior(melee) and you’re having a hard time “doing your thing”, if you see an archer(ranged) [Hat] on the ground, pick it up at will and you’ve switched to that class. This will have significant impacts on strategies teams employ…what may be working right now might just flip for the worse! So be prepared, think and act fast
The other twist to this “simple” game design is the fact that you can feeeeeed yourrr princesss Cake! More cake, she gets heavier! Heavier, your opponents will have a harder time rescuing her! They will move slower back to their fort the bigger the princess is..
The art style for the game is my perfect cup of tea too! I digg the cartoony look, vibrant colors, stumpy characters. The level design too is amazing…clearly there’s many heavy choke points, bringing out the biggest clashes between the teams Everything comes together beautifully.
If i ever had the chance, this would have absolutely been one title i would be thrilled to work on. Every aspect of the game appeals to the type and style of work i’ve grown to love.
Check out the Developer Diary videos too! They’re a great peek into what kind of minds we need to bring forth a game like this one
Oh yes, this game is available for only the Playstation 3, on PSN..unfortunately.
Wooo … yes, again a console development, this one for the Xbox systems..
This is Bennu, for the Xbox Live Arcade. (i think hehe)
but it looks like an interesting game design. Casual, yet still seeming to offer a good depth of gameplay..it says it’s unreleased yet, but it looks great so far for a ‘work in progress’ …
check out the gameplay videos, its really cool. I digg!
hummmm … the gift of programming… or shall i say .. the art of programming.
writing code, and giving pixels, life..animating them.
3d modeling/digital Art is a different field from coding/programming. It takes alot alot of dedication and skill to become a strong Technical Artist (i belive is the name crowned for digital artist that have strong programming skills simultaneously).
i’m certainly far from that. And at the present moment, i’m beginning to truely appreciate the people that do understand coding and know how to write code.
sure i can model, texture, and maybe rig, the cutest looking piglet.. but that piglet wont oink if there’s no commands given to it to make it oink.
i need programmers..or software engineers! friends that are interested in starting programming for a game development career, please drop me a note/email
this is not a ‘game studio recruitment’ … its a casual, indie development startup project. The terms of the project are still only in pencil & sketch book, i’m just looking for a team of interested artist. Yesh, this will be a fun process, the goal is to completely build a fully playable, online/multiplayer game, current design plans include porting this game onto the iphone (granted the tools i’ve found are indeed the correct tools for such a task).
Hmmmmm …. there doesnt seem to have been much “epic” game titles released for the PC in the past couple of months.. the recent big hits have mostly been just for the console side of the industry, which is a good thing too, finally the PS3 is getting some thing worthy to talk about.
Alot of the upcoming games that has my attention are all console-based, be it xbox, xbox live arcade, ps3, ps3 network, wii … where’s the PC family at? I’m not saying there hasn’t been any new games for the pc, but there’s very very few pc-exclusives lately.. oh well .. looking forward to hear more ’bout the new Blizzard games (you guys know which titles alrady).
Wow… the classics live on. Still can’t beat the simplistic designs of the good ol’ games.. like Donkey Kong & Arcade fighting games.
It wasn’t too long ago Street Fighter IV made it’s come back on the modern home consoles, bringing back many good memories to the fans (comments/writeups are all over google). Now there’s Donkey Kong coming for the Wii, and Marvel Vs Capcom 2, another great great classic arcade game. MVC2 will be out for Xbox and the PS3, and will feature online multiplayer just like Street Fighter IV did.
Lode Runner is kicking back into the scene as well! (seems to be Xbox-Only..ew) I remember playing that game when i was in the 4th grade… oh geez. This new modern Lode Runner is all up to speed with modern 3d visuals now (byebye sprites!), and from what i see in the videos, additional gameplay twists.. i guess it’s an attempt to keep it fresh.. but i’m so excited to see these classics still live on in us, and enough for some to bring them back for us
i was doing a little research on the Torque game engine, and i stumbled(again..i love stumbling!) on this really great write up about starting a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game. It’s not as easy as just “getting a team” and “producing the game”! There’s sooo much more to the ‘behind the scenes’ of running a successful MMO. But, is the effort and hard work worth it? In my perspective, heck yes. $$
For those interested in starting your own MMO in the near future (or working for)…i recommend reading this writeup
After reading that, and was reflecting and digesting the information, i’m actually proud to say i do, in some sense, already have the experience of running an MMO (is it “a MMO” or “an MMO”? lol)….having hosted, maintaining, troubleshooting, upgrading, and running my own game servers for Counter-Strike back in 2003-2006. Not to mention also having run forums & managing the forums for those game communities. So this beats having no clue about “the business”, and it’s a great starter boost for me wee!
———sidenote for today————
omgosh i got an email from an olldd friend. He’s started his own studio with his girlfriend (jeff has a girl haha!) and is going to be developing a new MMO, and he requested me to be Assistant Producer/Manager! He said he tracked me down via Google and found this site, and he claims that i have potential to fit the role he envisions, based on all the writeups i’ve done on my site (haha) and his past experience working along side me. I previously worked with him to develop a modification (Game Mod for Counter-Strike, back in 2002ish), and consequently helped manage that small community, providing technical support, game support, game server adminstration work, etc. He says the position unfortunately, has to be full time, and it’s in So-Cal…so i had to unwillingly turn it down for now.
Yeap.
I’m not saying there hasn’t been any new games for the pc, but there’s very very few pc-exclusives lately.. oh well .. looking forward to hear more ’bout the new Blizzard games (you guys know which titles alrady).
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