[alt text: text that says, “when your friend is in an argument online and asks you for memes”. Below the text is a screenshot from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, where the shopkeeper Ulfberth War-Bear is looking at the player character and saying, “Looking to protect yourself, or deal some damage?”]
[alt text: a semi-surreal meme image on a plain white background. Two characters from Dark Souls are saying, “My lord, we have absolutely ESSENTIAL lore information for the player. Should we make a cutscrene for it?”. They are looking at Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has the From Software logo emblazoned over him, and he is...
it’s interesting to think about the logistics here. How much money should Rockstar have allocated for the soundtrack, to offer a better deal to artists? The article mentions that they licensed over 240 songs for GTA5. At $7500 a song (who knows what they actually paid), that’s $1.8 million. The total budget for GTA5 was around $265 million, so that $1.8 million is less than 1% of the total budget. Some songs surely cost more than $7500 to license, so let’s assume it added up to 1% of the budget by the end. Evidently GTA6 is looking like a $2 billion budget game atm (absolutely bonkers), and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to allocate at least the same percentage to the music licenses, given how central the soundtrack is to the GTA experience.
If they allocated 1% of $2 billion to the soundtrack, that would give them $20,000,000 to play with, or average $83k per song if they are going for about the same size of soundtrack. Now, this is all just my quick napkin math based on the assumption that Rockstar paid about $7500 per song for GTA5, but I think this indicates that either A) they are massively underballing Heaven 17 here, or B) Rockstar senior management has not allocated a music licensing budget that matches the size of the game they are making.
What do y’all think? Is $83k per song a reasonable rate for the kind of license Rockstar is asking for? Or is even that too low?
artists die from “exposure”, because it doesn’t pay the bills. I think you are right that the exposure has value, but it definitely doesn’t have $83k worth of value, because musicians simply do not make money from album sales anymore. Most artists barely break even from doing concert tours.
Sounds like Sony finally has their very own Mario game! I hope Sony leans into this side of their portfolio in the future. And more selfishly, I REALLLY hope this one comes to PC
Are we going to reach the same levels of player count and engagement again when there are so many other draws on their attention and time compared to 2020 or 2021? Not anytime soon, if we ever do.
As I see it, the video game market went from a growth market to mature practically overnight. Meaning, since Pong, the video game market has continued to grow as more and more people have discovered gaming over time. But in 2020-21, a huge influx of players and time found their way to the video game market and many of them liked it and stuck around. Others have again left gaming, having been pulled away by other things. So now, it’s more about optimization of the player base rather than pursuing more organic growth by finding new players.
This has been a painful transition in thinking for many in the industry, especially those who assumed that player growth would continue forever, especially after the boom seen in 2020-21.
It’s not just that gaming had an unusual growth period during COVID lockdown. It’s that gaming had its final big growth period ever during this period. Everyone left out there that ever thought they might give gaming a shot did so during the lockdown, and they either stuck with it, or they realized it wasn’t a forever hobby for them. From here on out, the gaming industry is more like the food industry or something. They won’t find new pockets of untapped consumers. They have found them all, and now developers and publishers need to be smarter about scale and burn rate.
That statement was my attempt to summarize a chunk of the article, and was not my own analysis. From my perspective, I will say that I understand that there are parts of the world that don’t have access to PS5 games or whatever. However, I don’t think that this market is going to massively shift at any time in the next decade, because that would mean a shift of the entire socio-economic balance of the world. As much as I would love to see the Global North take a backseat while other nations rise, I think it’s fair for an analyst to assume that this is not going to happen.
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware
With the release of the Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine mod, I’ve been motivated to pick that game back up again. I played DS2 for the first time about a year ago, got maybe a third through, and then kind of fell off. It’s fun to be back in Drangleic! Last time I was rolling a Paladin-type character with Faith and melee weapons, this time I’m interested in making a huge-sword type build and pivoting to hexes in the later game. The lighting mod also let’s you mod in HDR if your monitor is capable, and boy howdy does it look incredible with the improved lighting and HDR 🤩
Edit: here’s some screenshots i took capturing how bright Majula is, and capturing the added shadows.
I’ve been playing Mario Galaxy 2 for the first time. It’s pretty good, but I’m wondering what the hype was about.
Does it feel like anything more than a level pack for Galaxy 1? That was the general impression that I remember. My lil bro beat Galaxy 2 but I never got around to it.
more puzzle-like than tactical combat, but the added “Confidence” objectives are fun to try to get.
Yeah it’s giving me Into the Breach vibes, and that was a game that also felt very “puzzle tactics”.
EDIT: actually I have a question for the group. How do y’all feel about “puzzle” tactics games like this versus more open-ended tactics games like XCOM? Personally I can sometimes get turned off from games that feel like all the levels are predesigned with a “best” solution that i have to work out. XCOM can feel freeing because when you come up with an incredibly efficient turn that synergizes everyone’s abilities, it can feel like you “got one over” on the game.
i mean…you could always buy the add-on disc drive? Assuming that it is still compatible with the Pro, not sure why it wouldn’t be. They get to fleece physical media heads for an extra $80, that’s a win for Sony.
the hardware design team is so far up their own asses with the PS5 design. Here’s two articles where you can read how high they are on their own supply: One, Two
awesome! just double-check that it’s compatible with the new one before dropping the extra $80! Nothing about the Pro is official yet, so we still gotta wait and see.
a crime if true. The article says that it “will include ‘more than 15’ playable games from the series’ history”, and they only list 9 in the article and trailer, so maybe it will be one of the versions not listed?
Not to burst your bubble, but that is a screenshot of the “Time Warp” mode from the trailer. Although if they built the GB style into that mode, maybe that is promising for getting the actual GB game in the collection?
@chloyster I think you can still see my reply even though i deleted the other thread, but thanks again for the advice! For others that may want to post review threads in the future: OpenCritic has a “share” button with several options, and the “reddit” option formats nicely for Lemmy. However, the “share” button only seems to show up on OpenCritic’s mobile site, so you may not see it if you are trying to create a review thread on your desktop computer.
right there with you. I saw some gameplay footage yesterday and thought it looked like great videogame junk food, especially if you’re a Star Wars mark like me. I just finished Fallen Order, and tbh I think the comparisons are spot on. The most notable similarity is both protagonists having a shoulder-perched sidekick that is responsible for like a quarter of your moveset. I think it’s neat in this game, but if we get ANY other Star Wars game in the next decade that has a shoulder-perched companion like this, it’s gonna feel really stale.
aha i was actually hoping you would comment when i posted this! i juuuuuust figured it out and posted a review thread. They don’t show those “share” links unless you’re on mobile, and I was banging my head against it on desktop. Thank you!
[alt text: a screenshot from an unspecified Mario game. In the screenshot, Bowser is standing behind Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong has a dramatic expression with eyes closed and mouth wide open like he is yelling or groaning.]
[alt text: a pair of posts by strudel-fatpaws on tumblr. The first post says, “who was the guy who said every indie game is named either ‘empoisoned’ or ‘swumbles big jumble’. i swear this is a real thing someone said”. The second post says, “gonna start sorting my steam library like this”. Included with the...
As currently proposed, KOSA’s pitch on harm reduction policies come in a few forms:
Establishing a “duty of care” requirement that would potentially hold social networking companies liable if they fail to filter out abusive or exploitative content for minors
Ban targeted advertising towards minors
Stronger default privacy protections for minors
Beyond that, the bill is still in progress. It passed the Senate, but not the House, and it might be dead in the water, so there are no specific implementation details just yet. The point of the article is that legislators are aware of online “platform” games like Roblox, and they are aware that they are exploiting kids. So even if this specific bill doesn’t pass, regulation is coming one way or another. It’s just a question of whether the industry will self-regulate before the government actually passes something.
the regulation in this case is more about exploitation of children in online spaces, not so much about violence in videogames. That question was settled in the 90s.
well that’s the Olympics. They are the dictators of their event, for better or for worse. Rules in the Olympics are important, but they are not legislation or regulation.
they're a powerful tool (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: text that says, “when your friend is in an argument online and asks you for memes”. Below the text is a screenshot from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, where the shopkeeper Ulfberth War-Bear is looking at the player character and saying, “Looking to protect yourself, or deal some damage?”]
the secret recipe (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a semi-surreal meme image on a plain white background. Two characters from Dark Souls are saying, “My lord, we have absolutely ESSENTIAL lore information for the player. Should we make a cutscrene for it?”. They are looking at Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has the From Software logo emblazoned over him, and he is...
Heaven 17 claims it turned down GTA 6 soundtrack offer over pay offer: ‘Go f*** yourself’ [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Astro Bot (2024) Review Thread
Game Information...
Five Questions About Gaming’s Future With a Video Game Analyst [Remap] (remapradio.com) angielski
Risk of Rain developers join Valve, announced in a twitter post. (x.com)
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware
Concord may have sold as few as 25,000 copies, it’s claimed [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of September 1st
Whatcha all playing!...
The Meditative Power of Irritation [Remap] (remapradio.com) angielski
Tactical Breach Wizards | Review Thread (opencritic.com) angielski
Game Information...
PS5 Pro announcement plans and console design have been leaked [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Remedy and Annapurna announce a strategic cooperation agreement on Control 2 (www.remedygames.com)
cross-posted from: sopuli.xyz/post/16447519
Bungie's former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett reportedly ousted following inappropriate behaviour [Eurogamer] (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Digital Eclipse is releasing a Tetris collection called Tetris Forever [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Star Wars Outlaws | Review Thread (opencritic.com) angielski
Game Information...
deleted_by_author
Balatro: Friends of Jimbo – Reveal Trailer – Nintendo Switch - YouTube (youtu.be)
uhhhh...guys? (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a screenshot from an unspecified Mario game. In the screenshot, Bowser is standing behind Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong has a dramatic expression with eyes closed and mouth wide open like he is yelling or groaning.]
a new paradigm (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a pair of posts by strudel-fatpaws on tumblr. The first post says, “who was the guy who said every indie game is named either ‘empoisoned’ or ‘swumbles big jumble’. i swear this is a real thing someone said”. The second post says, “gonna start sorting my steam library like this”. Included with the...
Avowed plays like a funny Obsidian role-player where you buddy up with the voice of Mass Effect's Garrus [Eurogamer] (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
‘Albion can’t be copyrighted’ - Peter Molyneux explains how his new game is set in the same world as Fable [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Government Legislation and Regulation Is Coming For Video Games (patrickklepek.substack.com) angielski