@hardwenzen said:

...

Damn...139 peak? Game just came out.

Yeah and don't forget the absolutely terrible state that Arkham City was released in. Just completely unplayable for a large number of people.

I can see one of these c-suite types who might be a gamer and believes in integrity finally speaking up and being like "Hey, guys, how about we just make games and we do our best and if it's good, it will sell" and then everyone just looks at him like he has a dick where his nose should be, then they laugh and say business lingo like "synergy" and "cross-stream revenue sources" and "blah blah blah profit blah blah blah growth" and they don't learn from it.

Anyway, point is, I hope they learn the right lesson, but chances are they will learn the wrong lesson. That being that instead of not squeezing the bruised and bloody teet of an exhausted and drained and disinterested gaming population, they instead will squeeze the teet even harder.

@Pedro said:

Hey don't let it go to your head like you did to theirs. Stay humble! 🤣😋

Or worse, bailed out. They're clearly at "too big to fail" status right now, and the US government might have put up a show with the Microsoft-ABK merger/takeover, but when that deal went through it was pretty clear corporate interests will reign supreme.

A lot of boomers (and therefore most politicians) and older still consider video games a childish diversion, but the simple fact is that it is far larger than film, streaming, television, and (iirc) music industries combined.

There won't be a crash and, if there is, we will end up paying for it in both a decrease in quality, increase in price, and a lack of accountability on the offender's part (corporations).

Yeah been wanting to check it out but, well...I'm a no good stinking casual, I don't know if I am up for any challenges, much less brutal ones

Playing through Battlefield V right now and I have to agree, good motion capture work can really add to the immersion factor of a game. The way soldiers hop in and out of tanks, the different prone animations, melee animations, running, how the bodies seem to have real weight and inertia to them as they run and turn...really just looks good.

IIRC they used the same mo-cap tech they use in the Madden games, and apparently that is top-of-the-line stuff (even if the game Madden is trash franchise milking). They also did this well in Hellblade, too.

I don't know if comparing a game's animation to an animation's animation is really fair, though. Plus, you shouldn't take everything before the game's release as how it will be. But yeah I agree, pretty rough looking.

Looks good, cautiously optimistic.

I mean, why? They've been putting out some great games these past few years. Some stinkers, and I will always loathe them as a business, but they've got some great talent and games under the belt.

I get wanting to hate them, but this is by a solid developer, Massive Entertainment:

• Ground Control: awesome RTS
• World in Conflict: awesome RTS
• The Division 1/2: arguably the best example of a game-as-a-service in the loot-n-shoot arena. Better than Destiny, just not as popular.
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: great story-driven FPS that nails the atmosphere of the films, really fun, great locomotion and combat.

As far as I am concerned, they have a 100% success rate of making some really neat, interesting games that hit the sweet spot of having mass appeal but also having integrity and being well-made.

Honestly, I don't care any more, I'm so done with the AAA game space. I'm sorry when studios get caught in the crossfire of exclusives, corporations, and so on...but whatever.

Plenty of fish in the sea, lots of a great independent developers, and I am absolutely drowning in more games than I can possibly play all at once.

Anyone that actually cares about these business theatrics and politics is just doing it for the drama.

But then again, this is System Wars, so carry on with the drama 😋

Yeah, I dislike unrealistic or illogical floor plans. Or when the size ratio is off. I remember playing Gears of War 5 or whatever the last one was, and there was a restroom you could go into, and the doors were like way larger than they should have been. So hear I am, in my giant armor, this elite huge soldier...and I'm staring this giant bathroom stall door in the face in this disproportionate bathroom.

I also dislike really exagerated clothing styles. It's like, look, I get it; you need to take some creative liberties. But if you think a game set 10 years in the future is realistic in portraying people like they're wearing the most avant-garde styles off a Paris fashion runway, you're wrong (looking at you, Ubisoft and Watch Dogs Legion....).

"Wow, didn't see this coming"

...said no one.

Companies need to learn and/or be happy with just being profitable. This obsession with infinite growth off of finite resources is concerning, to say the least.

Ya I can't stand the double-dipping; you want to charge me for streaming? Fine. You want to give me free product with ads? Fine. You don't get to do both, though.

These people killed TV and cable off and now that it is gone, they can do what they want.

Don't get me wrong; I'm fine with streaming in terms of content, availability, quality, and so forth. It's the business aspect I dislike.

Well crap now I have to play DCS World

*runs off to play study sim*