July is starting off pretty strong, lots of news in the early edition this week, and it all ends with some speculation on the future of the gaming industry. Cloud distribution? Free to play? Sony, Microsoft, EA, and Crytek are all talking about the future, and some of it scares me.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is the upcoming collaboration from Studio Ghibli and Level-5. Not being into anime I keep getting tempted to just write this one off. But then I remember how awesome Level-5 games have been and I see the art and think it’s worth a shot. The story about a separate world with analogs of certain people also reminds me Stephen King and Peter Straub’s collaboration, “The Talisman.” So I think I am going to play it, but I’ll be passing on the just announced “Wizard’s Edition.” It’s only been announced for the EU and Australia so far, but it’s reasonable to think it will come to the US in some form. This edition has your standards: a nicer box, the game, a book, and some DLC. But the book isn’t your standard concept art magazine, it’s a 300+ page hardcover companion with an included bestiary, item descriptions, spells, and history of the game’s alternate world. The set also comes with a plush doll of Drippy, Oliver’s odd companion. The DLC includes two additional familiars, the “golden mite” and “golden drongo.” Two more familiars, “flutterby” and “griffy,” are available as pre-orders bonuses from select retailers. The game is scheduled for January 22, 2013.
As if it isn’t bad enough that our games are constantly getting delayed, now the DLC is being delayed too. The “Arctic Strike” pack for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is not going to hit its scheduled release today. The delay isn’t long though, as it is still expected to release later this month. According to Ubisoft’s official announcement, “We decided to take a small amount of extra time to further polish the content. The pack is planned for release later in July and the exact release date will be announced as soon as possible.” The add-on will include several new maps “from the streets of Moscow to the far reaches of the Arctic,” a new multiplayer mode, six weapons, and a Guerilla co-op map.
When E3 closed last month, most of the gaming press was busy talking about everything they had seen and what they found most exciting. Very few discussed what they felt was missing, or were surprised they didn’t see. It’s not really surprising that Grand Theft Auto V wasn’t on display, as Rockstar has always had a shaky relationship with the event and with ESA, the organizers. But it’s still a game that everyone would liked to have seen, even if it didn’t have a very large presence. Gamescom, the next major gaming event, is happening next month in Germany. The latest hype video for that event has just a momentary glimpse of footage from the game’s trailer released last year. Speculation is now that Rockstar will be showing the game at that event. But, as usual, Rockstar doesn’t “comment on rumor or speculation.” Which isn’t an outright “no.” Knowing Rockstar’s traditionally reclusive approach, and knowing they have a built in market of millions without the need for major press events, I doubt we’ll see them in Germany. I think the next you’ll see from them is an exclusive preview to a major gaming magazine, likely Game Informer, and a few more teaser trailers right before the game’s release, which is still scheduled for late 2012.
Several months ago, Ubisoft previewed the various collector and special editions of Assassin’s Creed III that are releasing in Europe. At long last, they’ve finally revealed the edition we’re getting in the States, where the game takes place. This $120 Limited Edition will include a 9.44″ statue of Connor, an embroidered 28″x48″ colonial flag, and a metal Assassin belt buckle. I’m a little disappointed that they haven’t included a picture for this edition with the announcement. That’s sort of standard procedure with limited editions. Instead, I’ve got a picture of the UK’s Freedom Edition. It’s likely the Connor statue is the same. The game releases October 30th.
People change jobs all the time. And if you’ve read VGQH long enough you’ll know that sometimes those job changes are important enough they just have to be reported. One of those was announced yesterday. If you’re a fan of fighting games, you should know Seth Killian‘s name. Remember the final boss from Street Fighter IV? Seth? Yeah, that’s him. He’s been at Capcom as “special combat advisor” for several years. His work was instrumental on SF IV, as well as Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and other entries into their gaming catalog. So who’s scooped him up from Capcom? Sony has just brought Seth on as lead game designer with the external group and Santa Monica Studio. You should know that name too, they’re working on their fourth entry in the God of War franchise now. The external group at Sony is responsible, in its various forms, for games like Journey, PlayStation All-Stars, Escape Plan, Unfinished Swan, etc. Seth is a real talent and whoever stole him from Capcom probably deserves a raise. This move shouldn’t be that surprising though, as Seth has always had a great relationship with Sony, having appeared on their Blogcast and even serving as a guest judge on The Tester. Here’s Seth, on the left, chatting with the Blogcast crew at E3 last month:
How excited are you for Halo 4? Don’t answer that, we all know. You can’t wait to get that disc, pop it in, start pwning n00bs, and spouting racist, homophobic nonsense at children. Actually, please refrain from that last part. But don’t get too excited yet. Not only are you going to have to wait until the game launches November 6th, but you won’t be headshotting ten year olds as quickly as you’d expect either. That’s because you’ll be spending time sorting through the files on your nearly full hard drive and deciding what to do delete, then watching the install screen as the game creates the 8GB file needed for multiplayer! That’s according to a recent update on the XBox product page. Seriously, 8GB? I’ve had some large installs, some up to 4GB and I think that’s insane. My current Rock Band file is probably over 10GB, but that grew slowly over time. How long is it even going to take to install that? And what’s the benefit? This thing better have zero load times. And I can’t help but notice that the link provided above doesn’t just tell you about the install size, it also has product links for buying XBox-branded memory sticks and the 320GB media drive. Is it just my pessimistic nature, or is it reasonable to think this might be as much about selling storage as about needing the storage?
After the announcement last month at E3 about Sony’s changes to PS Plus and the Instant Game Collection, there’s been plenty of concern about how and when new titles would roll in. Sony seems to be answering some of those questions as they’ve revealed the next three games being rolled into the collection. For the month of July, Gotham City Impostors, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, and Renegade Ops will be free for PS+ members. All three are PSN titles, as opposed to the blockbuster retail releases already seen with Little Big Planet 2 and inFamous 2 (both of which are still in the collection). Of the original 12 games, three have also been rolled out: Virtua Fighter 5, Hard Corps Uprising, and Choplifter HD. Those three are still available if you “purchased” them last month but didn’t download or have deleted them, as long as you maintain your Plus subscription. Seeing as Gotham City Impostors was already announced as 50% off for the summer sale, I can’t help but think these changes are somewhat impromptu. I’m curious now to see what next month brings.
In what could prove to be a major change to the landscape of gaming, Sony has bought Gaikai, a cloud gaming service, for $380million. Andrew House, head of Sony Computer Entertainment, says this will enable users “to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.” Which devices? Tablets and smartphones, surely. But maybe the PS3 and Vita as well? PS4? David Perry, co-founder of Gaikai, also seems excited about the direction this could go, saying they’re “honored to be able to help Sony rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide.” These types of streaming services have been around for some time, but haven’t really gotten a strong hold in the mainstream gaming audience. With Sony getting involved, and bringing the power of the PlayStation brand to bear on it, this could be a major shift in the gaming continuum. Or it could be a fad like motion controls.
In response to Sony’s acquisition, Microsoft simply added that they were unconcerned about the purchase. The attitude of their statement actually sounds like they expected the move, or at least something like it. Which, considering their own investments, they probably did. According to a Microsoft representative, “The cloud has been a key component of our strategy and a big area of investment with Xbox for many years. Through Xbox LIVE we’re serving up gaming and entertainment in the cloud to more than 40 million people. We’re committed to delivering extraordinary entertainment experiences across devices in a uniquely connected way through Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and other popular devices, and we’re looking forward to continuing to innovate in this space in the future.” For the first hints at Microsoft’s cloud plans, look to their announcement of Xbox Music at E3. This app is set to launch later this year. For a monthly or annual fee, you’ll have a streaming source similar to Spotify that can also store your own music from other services in an online locker. If reports are correct, you can expect to access your music from any device running Windows 8.
And, speaking of Windows 8, Microsoft has just laid claim to a number of domain names that were in dispute with someone in China. It’s notable that they deliberately sought out Xbox8.us and Xbox8.org. With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 set to release later this year, could these domains be related to the officially nonexistent but clearly deep in development next-gen console? XBox Infinite has been a rumored working title for the console.
All of the discussion about cloud gaming and digital distribution seems to have gotten in EA’s head. EA Labels President Frank Gibeau sees the company going 100% digital in the near future. He does clarify that “soon” is going to be dictated by gamers and how they want to purchase the media. But, his long term plans are clear: “For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future… we’re going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It’s going to be there some day. It’s inevitable.”
Meanwhile, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli is still rambling on about free to play. His recent comment that their company would be going 100% free to play was met with a collective grin and a shaking of heads. But he’s still going and I’m starting to think he’s serious. The model has shown much success in the multiplayer element, with DC Universe Online, the Star Trek MMO, and all those games your Facebook friends don’t care that you’re playing. But how would it be incorporated for a single player? Yerli is confident it will work: “We’ll figure out how to make a game like Crysis 3 work. If the proposition is, the gamer gets the games for free, well, that’s better for the gamer. And what’s best for the gamer is best for the industry.” Don’t get me wrong, I’d love some top shelf free games, but not at the expense of hundreds of dollars worth of microtransactions. But John Riccitello of EA convinced me, half-hyperbolically, that the plan is awful when he was trying to sell it to investors: “When you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip and we ask you for a dollar to reload, you’re really not that price sensitive at that point in time. So essentially what ends up happening, and the reason the play-first, pay-later model works nicely, is a consumer gets engaged in a property. They may spend ten, twenty, thirty, fifty hours in a game. And then, when they’re deep into a game, they’re well invested in it. At that point in time the commitment can be pretty high. It’s a great model and it represents a substantially better future for the industry.”
On the one hand I have to applaud some of these game and console makers, particularly Cevat Yerli, for their confidence and creativity. It’s refreshing to see an industry that’s being proactive about evolving in the current market, as opposed to the music industry’s flailing at the dawn of the digital age. On the other hand, I can’t help but think these kinds of announcements are seeing games turn into a service rather than a product.
Someday soon a foul-mouthed teenager is going to call me old fashioned because I like paying a set amount of money and receiving a specific product in return to use as I see fit. I totally understand the concept of paying for an “experience” rather than an item. I like roller coasters and concerts, though I’m probably getting too old for those as well. But games, to me, are sort of like books. Yes, I am paying for the experience of reading or playing, but I also like to put them in my collection, loan them to friends, and maybe revisit them sometime down the road. I’ve read The Grapes of Wrath nearly as many times as I’ve played the original Legend of Zelda. Both are sitting on a shelf or in a drawer in my home waiting for the next time I need to visit these old friends. I can’t help but compare that to the fun I’ve had with Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer. I’ve been told it’s not very good, but I’m not much of one for online play and I’ve enjoyed it. In five years I won’t be able to revisit the mode, or even get the best ending in single player, because the servers will be shut down. The PS3’s online support will likely no longer even exist. Maybe I am old and senile, but that’s sad.
If you can’t relate to that sentiment, think about those long boxes in your basement. Any time you want to re-read the the Infinity Gauntlet or that issue of Batman when he throws a car battery at a thug, you just have to blow off some dust. But if you’re buying Avengers vs. X-Men digitally, you’re counting on Marvel keeping those issues on the server long after you trade in your current phone. I want to be forward thinking and embrace the digital age, but I subscribe to cable and I buy blu-rays. Digital and cloud distribution is great, but let’s not do away with physical media. And Cevat, free to play works in some cases. But, please don’t push it into areas it doesn’t belong. I’d like to try your games for free with a demo and pay a set amount for the full experience, not find myself over the limit on my credit card because I made 12,000 smaller purchases instead of one at a reasonable price. “Free to play” is just too expensive.