common-sense
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Mark Jacobs on the coming F2P apocalypse
Mark Jacobs isn't jumping on the free-to-play bandwagon like most of his MMO-making contemporaries. The Camelot Unchained developer and former Dark Age of Camelot head honcho predicted a F2P "apocalypse" in a recent interview with VG247. You know, free-to-play is just another model, and just like every other model in the industry, it will hold its special little place for a while but then there will be consequences. Those consequences in a few years will be a bit of an apocalypse. You're going to see a lot of developers shutting down, and you're going to see a lot of publishers going, oh yeah maybe spending $20 million on a free-to-play game wasn't the best idea ever. That's part of the reason, but the other reason is equally as important, that if you go free-to-play, you really have to compete with every other free-to-play game out there. Camelot Unchained, which recently passed the halfway point of its $2 million Kickstarter goal, will be a "niche subscription game," which Jacobs says will allow his studio to focus on creating content for a more desirable audience. The subscription model "allows us to focus our game on the people who want to pay for it, and are willing to pay for it," Jacobs explains. "I'll take a smaller subscription base that is dedicated, is energized and is excited to play our game, and to work with our game, than ten times that base where I have to deal with a lot of people who really don't care."
Study: 51 percent of American kids under 8 have played a console game
We're not sure which is more telling, the fact that just over half of all American kids 8 or younger have played a console game, or the fact that our initial reaction to that statistic was, "Wait, that's all?" Seriously though, 51 percent of anything in any statistical analysis is a drastically massive majority, even when it comes to a combination as natural as kids and video games. The study, published by the aptly named group Common Sense Media, claims that 51 percent of American children (8 or under) have played a console game at least once. Break that figure down further, and its research shows that 44 percent of kids aged 2 to 4 and 81 percent of children between 5 and 8 have spent time with a controller, with 36 percent of the latter group gaming at least once a week. There's no denying that we live in a media-rich environment, and that technology is more pervasive now than ever, but we don't think these numbers are anything to worry about. The study claims that most kids are exposed to games before the age of 4, which is certainly true for the Joystiq staff, and we're about as sane and grounded a group of people as you're likely to find.
Behind the Mask: The Art of War, tanking edition
Recently, my girlfriend told me that Behind the Mask hasn't had enough "fun" articles lately. What is "fun," anyway? And why is my girlfriend nerdy enough to actually understand what CON and PRE are? She doesn't even play Champions Online! However, I did promise this week I'd do an article on CO tanking techniques. It'll include very little on specific powers and more on how to use those specific powers. I had a video guide planned, but my project file got corrupted. Hopefully the information presented here is enough for you to get a good idea of what to do. One key element of of my techniques is that they are heavily geared toward a character with Acrobatics. If you do not have Acrobatics, you are at a massive disadvantage compared to a tank who does. In-battle mobility is extremely important for a tank!
Lame scams still profitable in Guild Wars, over 1000 bans every week
Would you fall for this? (Please say 'no'...): A complete stranger approaches you on the sidewalk outside of your bank and shows you a rare coin he says is worth twenty thousand dollars. "I want to just give this coin to you," he says, "but I don't want anyone to know we did this... tax issues, you see." The stranger suggests putting it in your safe deposit box, but because he's so concerned about privacy, he wants access to your safe deposit box to be sure the rare coin gets there, with no one the wiser. The problem is that he can only get in there with your express permission...We're guessing 99.99% of you would never get suckered by something asinine like this, but why then do people fall for the exact same thing in the virtual realm? Specifically, it seems that Guild Wars players regularly turn over their login info to account thieves in hopes of getting something for nothing, as mentioned by Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats. This ultimately leads to a continuous deluge of stolen accounts, tears, and rage.
Common Sense: There is no beta hack
There has been a YouTube video that has been circulating around the internet lately claiming to show how to get into the Wrath of the Lich King beta via a backdoor security flaw. The video directs you to another site, which you then must enter your user name and password that you use to get into WoW. Surprise, surprise: this is nothing but another trick to steal your account.This video has been showing up in links around the WoW community lately just about as much as a certain great music video. This initially caught my attention when it was posted here in our comments a few times.Since the real beta signups are under way, and access to the beta is expected to begin any time, we were expecting and indeed seeing a large uptick in the number of beta scams. Be sure to protect yourself.
Wii gamers need more common sense
If you were hoping to get a crack at Otona No Joushikiryoku Training DS, well, too bad. That's one DS training game that isn't yet on board for an English-language release, but it does seem to be headed toward the Wii ... at least, in Japan. The non-game focuses not on common sense as we often colloquially use the phrase, but more on "general knowledge." For example, in the above screen, players are asked to locate the Caribbean Sea. From some of the other screens (handily included in our gallery below), we can see that the title focuses on a variety of skills and knowledges that are useful, from tying a tie to cultural information. Perhaps the Wii title will have a better chance of crossing the globe, considering the ever-expanding casual market, but for now, we'll have to settle for a little free translation training from the kanji-heavy screens.The Wii version heads out to Japan in March. %Gallery-14007%
Dr. Phil comes off as pro-MMO
Over at the games blog Game|Life they pointed out a somewhat rare event: a sudden outbreak of common sense. Well-known psychologist for the masses 'Dr. Phil' recently stuck up for virtual worlds on national television. More specifically, he pointed out that there was nothing inherently wrong with them. On a episode devoted to teen behavior, Dr. Phil confronted a young woman who apparently spent too much time in the There virtual space. While Phil apparently couldn't understand the appeal of online friendships, he did take pains to clarify there was nothing wrong with the service or the activity - just her choice to over-indulge. Addressing Michael Wilson, CEO of There, the good doctor explained that there were "a tremendous number of safeguards" in place at There, saying "Your intention is not to consume kids from their real life. Like many MMOs, There is free to play but charges for in-game items like cars and furniture. According to Wilson, if someone is overspending, There will contact the account holder and ask them if they're aware of how much they've spent on the game. If a parent calls with concerns, There will shut off their kid's account. In other words, said Dr. Phil to his guests, "The problem is not the game, the problem is the use of it."Now if only Phil could communicate that to most of America ...
Best Buy adds Common Sense ratings, but whose common sense?
Best Buy waffled on the ESRB yesterday by adding Common Sense Media ratings to their online listings. The new Best Buy page redesign also has larger ESRB ratings and reviews by GameSpot and GamePro. As GamePolitics says, "We're not sure what prompted the move, which seems to provide Best Buy with a redundant layer of ratings. As it stands now, customers can see the entire ESRB rating on the product page, but need to click through to access the Common Sense Media information."One can say that this Common Sense Media rating is just an alternative to the ESRB, but on the other hand, it is rather insulting to the ESRB that Best Buy doesn't think that the industry is doing a good enough job of self regulation (they trust MPAA rating for movies). The thing that really just sticks in our craw is that they are "common sense" ratings. Whose common sense? For a country clearly divided among red and blue states there isn't too much consensus on what common sense is anymore.Update: ESRB spokesperson Eliot Mizrachi told GameDaily.biz, "ESRB ratings are just one tool among many that consumers can and should use to help them make informed video game purchase decisions. Best Buy continues to be a strong supporter of ESRB ratings, and this move expands upon the resources they've been offering their customers, including game reviews from GameSpot and GamePro. The reviews that websites like these provide are a useful supplement to the basic information that ratings convey, offering additional detail about game content that can only further help parents choose games they deem appropriate for their families."
Common sense training on the DS
Forget training your brain -- what most people need is to learn not to be a complete moron in day to day life. But they don't mean common sense in the "don't set yourself on fire because it's funny" way (which is a shame), but common sense in the "general knowledge" way. Famitsu has several new screens from the third installment in the DS Touch Generations training series, but darned if we can tell what's going on in all of them. Maybe we need a little training.There's been some dispute over the translation of the title, so until we get an English version, we'll just go with Otona No Joushikiryoku Training DS. The game is scheduled for a Japanese release in October.Who can tell us what kind of flowers those are?[Via Go Nintendo]
