The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

[syntheticgerbil]

Nintendo Wi-Fi connection is going to be discontinued on May 20th of this year, which means that Wii and DS online features will stop working, although stuff like the Wii and DSi shops will remain available. I guess it's to be expected, but it's going to be a clusterfuck when the online functionality for two entire generations of Pokémon games finally goes down.

Does this mean I can't download the Weekly Puzzles for Professor Layton anymore? Should I get on that?

[Bjorn]

EU Commission holds meeting over free-to-play concerns

[Justin Leego]

Does this mean I can't download the Weekly Puzzles for Professor Layton anymore? Should I get on that?

 

All four DS Laytons are on the list. Lists!

[syntheticgerbil]

Yeah after I typed that last night I went through every game I owned on the list and made sure I wasn't missing out on any DLC. I think a lot of them just had some kind of multiplayer as far as I can tell, but I still feel stressed that I may have missed something. I also had to order Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Miniland something or other and Layton 4 so that all the downloadable puzzles will be waiting for me when I get to them.

Sheesh, I wish Nintendo weren't doing this. I wonder why it can't be a part of the WiiU and 3DS networks.

[Twig]

EU Commission holds meeting over free-to-play concerns

Is anything likely to actually come of this? I'm under the vague impression that Europe in general cares more about consumers than America does, but that could just be me being pessimistic about America because I live there.

[Bjorn]

Is anything likely to actually come of this? I'm under the vague impression that Europe in general cares more about consumers than America does, but that could just be me being pessimistic about America because I live there.

 

From the bit I pay attention to European regulation, yeah, it could actually have an impact.  Though the stated goals here are pretty limited, it's a start to ensuring some consumer protection for F2P games, which has just been a wild west. 

[Bjorn]

Amy Hennig leaves Naughty Dog, rumors abound. 

[Roderick]

Yeah, and under weird circumstances. She didn't go voluntarily, apparently? Interested to hear more.

[Bjorn]

Yeah, it seems like if this were a non-contentious leaving, then ND would have released a statement announcing it, thanking her for her work and wishing her well in the future. 

[SecretAsianMan]

In the latest round of video game layoffs, Disney Interactive lays off approximately 700 employees

[Nachimir]

Yeah, and under weird circumstances. She didn't go voluntarily, apparently? Interested to hear more.

 

She's not said anything about it on Twitter, apart from (it seems) this in reference to a now deleted 4chan thread on the thing about her being upset over TLOU DLC:

https://twitter.com/amy_hennig/status/441259959875928064

 

All made up. I would never say any of that.

[Lu]

I hadn't seen this posted here yet, but Naughty Dog did release a statement a few days ago.

[Bjorn]

So two companies are trying to get permission to dig in the landfills where all the legendary Atari E.T. cartridges are buried.  They got county approval, but failed to get state approval.  Apparently it's in part for a documentary about the fiasco, and sounds like it's being funded by Microsoft.  Which seems weird for a console maker to fund a documentary about the event that's regarded as the death knell for one of their predecessors.  

[Dewar]

Interesting, I hope that they get a WEP together and get to do that in the end.

[Eric]

Digging up landfills intensifies decomposition which exacerbates the release of stored carbon and that is not so nice for the environment. I think in general its probably better to keep that stuff buried unless they plan to do carbon remediation at the same time

[Bjorn]

I'm only partway through this, but this piece on the absolute implosion of the GAME_JAM is super interesting. 

[Zeusthecat]

I'm only partway through this, but this piece on the absolute implosion of the GAME_JAM is super interesting. 

 

Yeah, that is a sad and disgusting series of events. Good on the developers for walking out and not putting up with Matti's shit. He seems like an utter disgrace of a human being.

[JonCole]

Vlambeer's Rami Ismail has another interesting, highly depressing story regarding GAME_JAM and how shitty contracts for indie developers can be (in this specific, weird situation and in a more general publishing context) - http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/1/5570480/a-warning-about-contracts-from-the-sidelines-of-the-most-expensive

[Merus]

I wasn't sure if that was an April Fool's joke, to be honest, but if it is then unless Matti is in on it, and I don't see why he'd participate in an indie developer gag, it'd be libellous.

[Ben X]

Yeah, the melodramatic writing style of that indiestatik piece made me wonder if it was an April Fools too, but it seems not. Dan wrote another advisory piece for indie devs considering appearing on telly:

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/01/down-the-tube-a-developers-guide-to-television

[melmer]

amazon just released a games console (well sort of)

http://live.theverge.com/live-amazon-tv-video-event/

[Bjorn]

amazon just released a games console (well sort of)

http://live.theverge.com/live-amazon-tv-video-event/

 

$99, I'm probably sold on that.  I'll want to see its power consumption.  I'm assuming it will be way the fuck less than either my PS3 or gaming PC, in which case it saves power and wear-n-tear on those when I'm just playing music or movies.

 

They have an ad with Gary Busey.  Fucking Win.

 

Also, dinos with jetpacks:

 

[JonCole]

I come down in about the same place. I don't really have a good STB, only a 2-year old Roku that isn't at feature parity with the newest lineup. I'd like a box that would be always on and could do all that stuff without needing me to turn on the PS3 and eat up a lot of power. The price seems right, it's what I'd pay for a new Roku 3 with all the features I want.

 

I would like some real impressions of 1) power consumption 2) wasn't clear to me if the remote is IR or RF, RF would be way better 3) how long will it actually take for those apps to come in, no Netflix at launch is a day-one dealbreaker 4) is there actually any value in the extra features the mentioned?

[Spenny]

I would expect the game side of this to be very Ouya like, it's android powered so you will run into that problem where by people already developing for android might not be able to port to this simply because it doesn't have a touchscreen. At least though they'll probably let you do the normal F2P hooks and not the dumb demo system the Ouya had.

[Bjorn]

I've never bought one of the media boxes like Roku, as I've looked at them and they just didn't feel quite good enough.  Either too expensive, or lacking features or services that I wanted.  I'm not going to buy this today, but so far it's looking like a better fit than anything else I've seen. 
 
The specs list:
 

Remote with no line of sight required

 
Is Netflix not available at launch?  That would be weird, since they are using Netflix in their advertising.
 
I'm assuming a wired 360 controller should work fine for it, as those have worked with Android devices for years.

 

I would expect the game side of this to be very Ouya like, it's android powered so you will run into that problem where by people already developing for android might not be able to port to this simply because it doesn't have a touchscreen. At least though they'll probably let you do the normal F2P hooks and not the dumb demo system the Ouya had.

 

Of course the biggest difference with Amazon is that they own their own game devs plus publisher, and they are probably a lot better situated to work professionally with both the big players and indies.