Game News 2.0

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A rare peek behind the curtain (reportedly thanks to some published-too-early documents from the big Apple vs Epic lawsuit)... here’s how much Epic paid for all those free games they gave out:

https://twitter.com/simoncarless/status/1389297530341519362?s=21

And an explanation of what some of those numbers mean:

https://twitter.com/tha_rami/status/1389312864314351618?s=21

Some of those devs are going to feel really dicked over.

johnny_ultimate wrote:

I’m fascinated at just how secretive the video game industry is around sales, exclusivity deals etc... This Apple v Epic lawsuit is a goldmine of info. The Epic Game Store is such a ludicrous thing.

Bargaining power. It's the same reason your employer doesn't want you to talk about your salary to co-workers. Means they can get better deals if people don't know that the deal they are getting is ****ty in comparison to other devs/publishers.

PopePalpatine

DeSelby83 wrote: »

Jedi Fallen Order is a free pro game for May the 4th on stadia. Nice little freebie if you sign up and get your free month of stadia or use the 3 free month offer mentioned in this Reddit link

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/n3fw4z/clain_3_months_of_stadia_pro_for_free_with_legion/

The last thing you need in a lightsabre fight is latency. :pac:

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1389632405443600386?s=19

EoinMcLovin

Vinny Caravella/Alex Navarro/Brad Shoemaker just announced they're leaving Giant Bomb

Mr Crispy

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I’m fascinated at just how secretive the video game industry is around sales, exclusivity deals etc... This Apple v Epic lawsuit is a goldmine of info. The Epic Game Store is such a ludicrous thing.

https://twitter.com/simoncarless/status/1389372260067123200?s=21

Mad money. But then Fortnite alone generated $9bn for them between 2018 and 2019.

super_furry

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Vinny Caravella/Alex Navarro/Brad Shoemaker just announced they're leaving Giant Bomb

Gutted. Giant Bomb was and still is my favourite games related media, hard to think it'll be the same with just Gerstmann steering the ship, even he doesn't move upstairs.

Retr0gamer

Never liked Giantbomb. They rambled too much and their taste in games just clashed with mine (Dark Souls having awful combat). would have liked it an awful lot more if it 60-90 minutes. Going to be loads that will miss it. It's pretty much an institution.

Retronauts is at least still going strong.... unless I've jinxed it.

Grumpypants

If they all left at the same time it is very likely they are just going to start their own channel.

Interested Observer

Grumpypants wrote: »

If they all left at the same time it is very likely they are just going to start their own channel.

I hope so.

Just listening to it now, I think we can only guess for the moment but Vinny sounds like he's just had enough and needs a change, which is understandable. I would guess that might have been the spur for Brad and Alex. I'd love them to go do their own thing - though they seemed to have a fair bit of freedom to do what they wanted.

Markitron

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Never liked Giantbomb. They rambled too much and their taste in games just clashed with mine (Dark Souls having awful combat). would have liked it an awful lot more if it 60-90 minutes. Going to be loads that will miss it. It's pretty much an institution.

Retronauts is at least still going strong.... unless I've jinxed it.

Never really understood the hardcore love-in for GB, Gerstmann is a knowitall cynical twat.

pixelburp

Didn't see that coming; never played the 2013 remaster / remake so not sure how this news bodes:

https://twitter.com/Microids_off/status/1389603484354424834

gizmo

pixelburp wrote: »

Didn't see that coming; never played the 2013 remaster / remake so not sure how this news bodes:

https://twitter.com/Microids_off/status/1389603484354424834

None of this bodes well really.

Ubisoft published the 2013 remake which was made by the now defunct VectorCell (who were also responsible for the even worse Amy). This time around, however, it's Microids on publishing duties but their more recent history is littered with buggy, rushed remakes including XIII which was so bad it resulted in both developer and published issuing an apology for the state it was released in.


On the other hand, the 2013 remake did give us this...

Stone Deaf 4evr

Markitron wrote: »

Never really understood the hardcore love-in for GB, Gerstmann is a knowitall cynical twat.

Through all their staff iterations, they've never come across as anything other than the kind of people I'd like to hang around with. They were funny without being mean, and their after hours shows at E3 were for me, way better than the shows themselves. The site is also inclusive , without being over the top PC culture, and they're of a similar age to myself, so easier to listen to than the likes of the young brigade at Gamespot - specially when the conversation drifted to things like what was going on in their lives, which often aligned with myself.

Gerstmann - despite his jaded seeming personality, often sees the good in things - like his surprise fondness for recent Ghost Recon games, and hes never been afraid to call out bullsh1t - be it advertisers pressuring reviews, the opening statement to Phil Spencer 'So, when are we going to stop releasing broken games?' .

I hope the site continues, but It'll be hard to capture that original magic.

Mr Crispy

Sumo Digital are apparently working on "a AAA title based on one of the worlds best known and best-loved fantasy franchises".

https://twitter.com/sarahlongthorne/status/1389893136416116737?s=20

Something set in Middle Earth then?

gizmo

Mr Crispy wrote: »

Sumo Digital are apparently working on "a AAA title based on one of the worlds best known and best-loved fantasy franchises".

https://twitter.com/sarahlongthorne/status/1389893136416116737?s=20

Something set in Middle Earth then?

Would that not be their latest game based on Robin Hood, Hood: Outlaws & Legends?

Mr Crispy

gizmo wrote: »

Would that not be their latest game based on Robin Hood, Hood: Outlaws & Legends?

I guess it could be if you consider Hood to be AAA? It's a fairly nebulous label after all.

EoinMcLovin

Sony facing lawsuit over PlayStation Store exclusivity
Platform holder stopped allowing third party stores to sell digital downloads in 2019

Sony Interactive Entertainment is up against a class-action lawsuit by consumers regarding exclusivity on its digital storefront.

That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims that Sony is accused of operating a monopoly by only allowing digital games to be bought through its online store.

Sony's PlayStation store has become the only place that players can purchase digital games, after Sony stopped allowing third-party retailers to sell download codes two years ago.

The suit states that consumers may spend up to 175% more to download a game on the PlayStation store than they would on purchasing a physical copy.

"Sony's monopoly allows it to charge supracompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games, which are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market, and significantly higher than they would be in a competitive retail market for digital games," consumers said in the filing.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-06-sony-facing-lawsuit-over-playstation-store-exclusivity

EoinMcLovin

Looks like there was a possible data breach on epicgames.com. Change passwords and Add 2FA if not already active.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/epicgames-com-has-suffered-a-possible-data-breach-exposure-that-could-include-106353275-emails-password-and-usernames.421691/

Retr0gamer

There's a very good chance Sony are going to lose that.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's a very good chance Sony are going to lose that.

It's a good thing too tbh. Really need competitive digital market places and pc has that. It's one of the reasons I'm so slow to move digital only for PlayStation.

marcbrophy

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Looks like there was a possible data breach on epicgames.com. Change passwords and Add 2FA if not already active.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/epicgames-com-has-suffered-a-possible-data-breach-exposure-that-could-include-106353275-emails-password-and-usernames.421691/

I pay using PayPal and have 2FA on since day 1.
I should be okay, I guess?
Should I still do a p/w change?

GhostyMcGhost

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's a good thing too tbh. Really need competitive digital market places and pc has that. It's one of the reasons I'm so slow to move digital only for PlayStation.

I got the disc PS5 and now most of my games are downloads this generation

CastorTroy

Didn't Epic do some kind of promotion to encourage 2FA?

Xenji

Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance had a very low key release today, basically the PS2 game with a resolution bump.

CatInABox

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Looks like there was a possible data breach on epicgames.com. Change passwords and Add 2FA if not already active.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/epicgames-com-has-suffered-a-possible-data-breach-exposure-that-could-include-106353275-emails-password-and-usernames.421691/

Nothing confirmed yet, and a staffer from Ars Technica commented on that thread that they haven't seen or heard anything from their channels that would make them think this is true.

No harm in changing your password anyway. Most likely, the people getting hit were reusing a password from some other site, which did get hit.

EoinMcLovin

CatInABox wrote: »

Nothing confirmed yet, and a staffer from Ars Technica commented on that thread that they haven't seen or heard anything from their channels that would make them think this is true.

No harm in changing your password anyway. Most likely, the people getting hit were reusing a password from some other site, which did get hit.

Better to be safe than sorry. In this day and age you'd be crazy to be using the same password everywhere anyway.

Kiith

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Better to be safe than sorry. In this day and age you'd be crazy to be using the same password everywhere anyway.

I don't use the same password everywhere.

I use the same 3 passwords everywhere :pac:

Mr. CooL ICE

Pff, passphrases are where it's at

Shapey Fiend

It'll be interesting see how all these storefront solutions work out. A 30% margin for digital retail does seem really high. So many software companies are huge loss making ventures (or apparently loss making for tax purposes) with gigantic share prices based on the presumption they'll have a monopoly in the future. It all feels very unsustainable to me.

Retr0gamer

None of them are loss making. All the profits are in tax havens.