dice-2009
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DICE's Lars Gustavsson says game industry is at a 'crossroads'
Lars Gustavsson is no stranger to risk. After last year's first-person parkour-based action/platformer Mirror's Edge stumbled off shelves during the holiday season, you'd think DICE's creative director might be dissuaded from continuing to push the envelope. However, speaking at the Design Innovate Communicate Entertertain Summit (conveniently shortened to D.I.C.E.) last week, he told the crowd "the games industry has come to a crossroads." According to him, the situation is multi-faceted -- the poor economy is forcing lower overhead costs on developers and people are less willing to spend their money while consumers are also less likely to invest in new intellectual properties (such as the aforementioned Mirror's Edge). Should developers play it safe with proven IPs or take risks in hopes of breaking in?He pontificates that "more customization offerings, new business models, data-driven development and the active tuning of the games" will drive innovation and allay risk going forward. "It's totally different from anything we've done," Gustavsson noted when referencing upcoming online-only multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1943. And he seems to be putting the development costs where his mouth is, as Battlefield 1943 sticks to his plan (on paper at least) to a tee. It remains to be seen whether they'll work out. After all, we're still waiting on that other Battlefield game.
DICE 2009: Todd Howard on Bethesda's 3 rules of game development
Some of us had only just recovered from turning back the Daedric scourge in Tamriel before Bethesda took it upon itself to obliterate the countryside altogether in Fallout 3. Destruction of this magnitude takes planning, and speaking during last week's DICE summit in Las Vegas studio director Todd Howard laid out Bethesda's three simple rules for "making excellent games." According to MTV Multiplayer, Howard's vision for great game design can be distilled down into the following principles: 1) A dev's ability to leave even their favorite ideas on the cutting room floor, 2) the capability to think smaller and keep things simple and 3) being able to define a project "by the experience you want people to have," rather than just a laundry list of features. During his time on stage, the outspoken director also took issue with the importance of the Wii's overwhelming dominance of the console market, with Gamasutra reporting that Howard said "if install base really mattered, we'd all make board games, because there are a lot of tables." True, but we'd still be hard pressed to trade away our railway rifle and head shots for a pricey monopoly built on the smoldering ruins of Boardwalk and Park Place.Source -- The Following Colorful Wisdom Is From Todd HowardSource -- Bethesda's Howard On Supreme Playability
DICE 2009: GameStop exec defends used game sales
A few of the headline-making speeches at the 2009 DICE Summit in Las Vegas have prophesied the rise of digital distribution and the slow decline of brick-and-mortar retail outlets, like the oft-demonized GameStop -- Dave Perry's speech even included a photoshopped jab at the company's logo, re-dubbing it "Used GameStop". However, the retail juggernaut's chief operating officer J. Paul Raines recently took the DICE stage to defend the company's used game sale practices, claiming, "borrowing and lending games are very important ways for people to try new games."He said that the effect GameStop's pre-owned sales have on the success of new games is beneficial -- according to the company's statistics, over 70 percent of trade credits are applied to the purchase of new games. As far as stealing from the coffers of developers and publishers, Raines said that only four percent of used games purchased are titles that were released in the past 60 days. Even with these figures in hand, we still understand developers' protestations -- after all, any slice of a $2 billion pie is highly covetable.
DICE 2009: NPD says six million new gamers came to play last year
The poor brains housed inside the skulls of the 2009 DICE Summit attendees were recently ravaged by an onslaught of gaming industry statistics -- though, really, if they willingly joined the audience of a speech being delivered by NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier, they probably knew what they were getting themselves into. Here were some of the highlights: According to the group's calculations, 58 percent of Americans ages 13 and up play video games, console-based online gaming increased by two percent over the past year and retail sales of PC games have declined by 50 percent over the past seven years.However, here's the statistic that probably permeated the discussions of attendees as they left the conference hall: According to the NPD, last year saw nearly six million new gamers pick up their first controllers, a figure which lends itself to a retail market that is "very dominated by young people." The group's findings put digits to a familiar trend -- "the audience for some hardcore games is not as large as it is for more casual or family-friendly games," Frazier succinctly surmised. Seriously? We hadn't noticed.
World of Goo coming to Japan in Q2
Earlier this month, a Japanese trademark for World of Goo was spotted, registered by Nintendo of Japan. This lead to conjecture that Nintendo would publish the indie WiiWare hit in that territory. Nintendo's Tom Prata has kindly confirmed the speculation, telling us that "Nintendo will distribute World of Goo for WiiWare in Japan starting in the second quarter of 2009."The company certainly seems taken with the game, which is now pretty much the poster child for WiiWare. At the DICE summit, 2D Boy's Kyle Gabler even joined Prata onstage for a presentation about Nintendo's interest in putting more indie games on WiiWare and DSiWare.%Gallery-16000%
DICE 2009: Jay Mohr pokes fun at devs at AIAA awards
We've seen the unforgettably disastrous consequences that result when comedians attempt to make jokes at the expense of members of the gaming industry (smelly virgins! LOLOLOL!), but from what we've heard, Jay Mohr's introduction to the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards show actually possessed some elements of humor. Instead of harping on gamer stereotypes, Mohr's act was refreshingly researched -- take, for instance, his jab at Richard Garriott: "That guy used thirty million to launch himself into space. Maybe he should have used that to launch Tabula Rasa."While some of his jabs fell flat, Mohr ended up hitting more than he missed. He compared the 100-plus hours he's sunk into Fallout 3 to the amount of time it takes to acquire a pilot's license, saying, "Guys are landing planes on the Hudson. I'm decorating a shack in Megaton." He turned his sights to the D.I.Y. nature of LittleBigPlanet, too, saying, "It's like buying a CD, plugging it in, and then having to go buy all the instruments." Best of all, he refused to pick on Grand Theft Auto IV, quipping, "If you want to watch an awards show about thugs beating up ho's, watch the Grammys." Awww ... (wait for it) ...
The life and death of Ensemble Studios
Maybe its staff wasn't surprised, but it was quite a shock to us when the plug was pulled on Ensemble Studios five months before the release of its baby, Halo Wars. Now, after reading a post-mortem delivered by studio founder Bruce Shelley yesterday at D.I.C.E., we finally feel like we have a firmer grasp on exactly what went wrong.It seems that not just one factor was behind Ensemble's demise, everything from lack of diversification to fragmentation among the staff played a role. If you're as curious as we are about how a profitable studio can still go under, you should absolutely give his discussion a look.
DICE 2009: Dave Perry predicts rise of free, online games, death of single-player titles
Continuing the trend of DICE 2009 speakers casting chicken bones and reading crystal balls in order to divine the secrets of upcoming movements in the gaming industry, Dave Perry (founder of the now defunct Shiny Entertainment and all-around industry veteran) possessed a unique, unsettling vision for the future. He explained that as the technology supporting remote storage and processing improves, the need for gamers to own hardware and software will naturally disappear, ushering in a gaming era where free-to-play online titles reign supreme.As totally awesome as a world where all video games are sans-price sounds, Perry cautioned that this scenario means that "the days of single-player games are numbered." Equally alarming is the fact that this new business model would make it extremely difficult for traditional developers to compete against their uncostly competitors. Worst of all, think of the impact the rise of Flash games will have on poor ol' GameStop! That part alone is going to prevent us from getting any sleep tonight.
DICE 2009: Riccitiello addresses recession, a 'blessing' for gaming industry
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello knows a thing or two about money -- and considering the recent, brutal round of layoffs that the company had to undergo, he probably knows a thing or two about the current economy's sad state of affairs as well. Loading up a tongue-in-cheek screenshot depicting a gruesome wreck in Burnout Paradise, the EA commander-in-chief addressed the recession's effects on the gaming industry, as well as his company's strategy for staying afloat, during his speech at the 2009 DICE Summit in Las Vegas.Said strategy is unbelievably simple -- Riccitiello summed up the EA survival plan which will result in over 1,000 positions within the company being jettisoned by April in three easy to remember steps: "Start by deciding what's important. Invest heavily in those programs. And cut the rest." This likely adds insult to injury to the nine (apparently unimportant) studios and publishing locations which were recently "cut" by the company, but it sounds like this relentless pruning is in the best interest of the EA mothership.However, according to Riccitiello, gaming enthusiasts shouldn't be completely disheartened by the recent outbreaks of industry downsizing. He hypothesizes that the "riffraff" that tarnishes the gaming universe will die out, allowing for the market to become more accomodating for the visionaries and luminaries who want to move the medium forward. We certainly hope Riccitiello's dream of a "survival of the fittest" gaming utopia is realized -- we just hope we're all not eating shoelaces and apple cores by the time it gets here.
DICE 09: Capcom delivers its ten commandments (of development)
Though we expected the list to start out with something obvious, like, "Thou shalt never speak of Dino Crisis 3 again," Capcom's ten commandments of development are more aimed at the business side of the gaming industry. Speaking at the ongoing DICE summit in Las Vegas, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi shed some light on the Japanese publisher's demonstrable success in reaching Western audiences.The ten rules, captured by MTV Multiplayer, highlight the importance of carefully managing development costs (Rule #3: Keep development cost fluctuation within 10 percent), man power (Rule #1: Keep staff turnover below 10 percent per annum) and prudent handling of new IP (Rule #4: Investment in new IP needs to be kept within 20 percent of total development budget). Oh, Rule #10 is a good one: Don't set unachievable targets.Let's hope that's the end of Capcom's attempts to make a good Resident Evil lightgun game.
DICE 2009: EA announces American McGee's Alice 2
According to a tweet from Geoff Keighley from the ongoing DICE summit, EA CEO John Riccitiello has just revealed a sequel to American McGee's Alice, coming soon. Details are slim -- in fact, we just told you all of them right now -- but we can assume that Alice 2 will have American McGee's name on the cover, and will probably be another third-person action game that takes elements from the Alice in Wonderland story and makes them all edgy and gothy. We will pass along actual (i.e. non-conjectured) information as soon as it is available. Update: While we've never known Keighley to not be a man of his word, official evidence is always welcome. EA adds that the Alice sequel is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 by American McGee's Spicy Horse studio. Says EA Partners GM David DeMartini: "EA Partners is ready to help [American McGee] bring his innovative vision for the franchise to even darker, more exciting places."
Gabe Newell presents his vison for the gaming industry at D.I.C.E.
Long story short: Do it like Valve does it. Long story reasonably brief: Valve boss Gabe Newell wants to shake up the way the industry works by keeping pricing in flux, updating content more frequently and getting away from DRM as copy-protection, among other things. Newell also suggested leaning more on the release of concept art to get gamers excited, though we're not still not sure what effect that one Half-Life image is having on us.You can see more of the Freemanifesto that Newell delivered yesterday at D.I.C.E. right here. We'd love to know how closely your own view cleaves to his vision for the gaming landscape. Or, if you're feeling less cerebral: OMG Team Fortress 2 comics!
Gabe Newell to keynote D.I.C.E. Summit
When the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences kicks off this year's D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas it will do so with opening remarks and a keynote address by Gabe Newell. The Valve supreme commander will join the show's laundry list of other industry luminaries when the event takes over Sin City's Red Rock Casino the week of February 17.Among the more interesting scheduled talks include a presentation by Resident Evil 5 creative director Jun Takeuchi, who plans to address the challenges devs face when creating games for a global audience. Another by Ensemble's Bruce Shelley will see the game designer look back on the studio's history as well as discuss what may have led to the company turning out its lights for the final time. As for what Newell himself will be talking about, nothing has been announced, though our Magic 8-Ball says it will be PC-centric and not particularly flattering towards DRM.
LittleBigPlanet leads in AIAS award nominations
The game industry's closest approximation of Hollywood's Academy Awards has to be the Interactive Achievement Awards. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has revealed its nominees for 2008, and LittleBigPlanet has managed to run away with ten category nominations, the most of any game this year. Ahem. And the nominees are: Overall Game of the Year: Fallout 3 Grand Theft Auto IV Left 4 Dead LittleBigPlanet Metal Gear Solid 4 Console Game of the Year: Fallout 3 Gears of War 2 Grand Theft Auto IV LittleBigPlanet Metal Gear Solid 4 See the rest, after the break.
AIAS rolls the D.I.C.E., 2009 speakers announced
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences today announced its initial roster of speakers for the 2009 D.I.C.E. (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) summit, being held February 12-17 in Las Vegas. The lineup includes figures from all corners of the video game space; from product development to journalism.Headliners will include Jun Takeuchi, producer of Resident Evil 5 ("the most anticipated game of 2009," says the AIAS), Todd Howard, lead designer of Fallout 3, Ensemble Studios' Bruce Shelby and EA CEO, John Riccitiello. Insomniac Games president Ted Price will also be on hand to moderate a panel discussion between journalists from G4, Newsweek, USA Today, and the New York Times. (Sadly, the AIAS has informed us that, while we are bioluminescent, we are not "luminary" by its standards.) Take a peek after the break for the full list of speakers, who each emit more than 100k lumens.* *Not really.
