Digital Distribution: The Other Guys

By Shamus Posted Friday Jan 27, 2012

Filed under: Column 126 comments

I’m obviously fascinated by this digital distribution business. I think it’s interesting to see this transformation in the industry, changing how people shop for software and how they think about “owning” things. It’s like seeing suburbia switch from shopping downtown in the 50’s and 60’s to shopping in malls from the 70’s onward. There are going to be a lot of non-obvious repercussions to this down the line.

Six years ago I wrote this rant about how I thought digital distribution wasn’t going to make any headway in the marketplace. I think I’ve been pretty firmly proven wrong on that point. However, I’m going to stick to the other point I made that we’re never going to be rid of boxes in stores. This is a much safer bet. I mean, you can buy MMO time cards in a store, which is 100% digital goods. There will always be people looking to buy physical copies, either because they’re old-fashioned or because they want to give it as a gift. Stores won’t give up on it either, simply because it’s another sales vector. Steam can sell me stuff when I browse the store, but it can’t sell me a videogame when I’m shopping for shoes, which is something Target can do.

My column this week is a comparison between some of the big players in the digital distribution realm, and what I think of them.

 


 

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP10:Welcome to Mine Apartment

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jan 26, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 97 comments


Link (YouTube)

This is what the show is all about: Serious, in-depth commentary. My fear is that someone will mistake our exhaustively researched review for Rutskarn and I ignoring Josh and acting like jackasses for twenty minutes.

Also: Pbbbth. Pbbbth. Pbbbth.

Having said all that: Am I the only one who wanted to punch out the dancer? Were we supposed to think he was awesome? I dunno. He’s technically got rhythm and athleticism on his side, but for whatever reason I thought “poser” every time I saw him.

He really is well-guarded. Aside from the crowd of inexplicably applauding onlookers, there are a couple of cops patrolling the area. I wanted to take him down without having to fight everyone in the Detroit subway system, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it.

 


 

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP9:Yo Baby What’s Up?

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Jan 25, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 174 comments


Link (YouTube)

The inventory system really got to me in this game. I was using Skyrim-style item hoarding in a cover-shooter with some light inventory elements. There was no way that was going to work out for me. I maxed out the inventory capacity as soon as I could, and even that wasn’t enough.

In the section where you have to deal with the gangers, I was compelled to sell off ALL of their gear.Of course, if you pick up a shotgun and you already HAVE a shotgun, it simply poofs the firearm out of existence and gives you the bullets. So, I had to… carry the guns to the shop one at a time. I did that. It was boring. It took forever. It wasn’t necessary. And it wasn’t something the developers intended the player to do.

And if I played through again? I’d probably do the same thing.

There is no cure for compulsive looting.

 


 

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP8:
Venting Our Frustrations

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jan 24, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 114 comments


Link (YouTube)

Weeks before this series began – almost as soon as we announced we’d be covering Deus Ex: Human Revolution – people were already listing all the things they wanted to see in a DEHR play-through. As the series has gone on, the number and specificity of these demands has grown. A great deal of the comment threads are dedicated to expressing outrage over items we missed or listing things we MUST do in future episodes. It has now officially gotten out of hand.

So: Relax. If there’s some particular way you want to see things done, feel free to boot up the game and have a go at it. If we overlook something that you enjoyed, feel free to talk about it in the comments without passive-aggressive (or even explicit) insinuations that we’re playing the game wrong.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Human Revolution EP8:
Venting Our Frustrations”

 


 

Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 12: All’s Fair When Josh is Playing

By Josh Posted Tuesday Jan 24, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 43 comments

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And now for your entertainment: The Adventures of Munenari, the Ninja-Man!

In a stroke of luck, on his way through Kai province to scout for further Murakami incursions, our valiant protagonist catches sight of an enemy ninja – no doubt about to engage in some nefarious mission of sabotage or subterfuge against us! Munenari knows what he must do.

With a display of great guile and skill, he subtly sneaks into the ninja’s massive army camp and slips past his numerous, heavily armed guards. Clearly, this enemy ninja must be a master of the art to hide such a large and obvious camp so close to our forces.

Once inside, he sights his target:

shogun12-1.jpg

The enemy ninja sits unmasked, at the center of his camp, in meditation. Munenari throws a knife, dead center at his opponent’s back, but the enemy knew he was here! He blocks it with his fan and draws his blade!

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They clash!

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 12: All’s Fair When Josh is Playing”

 


 

Airsoft GI

By Shamus Posted Monday Jan 23, 2012

Filed under: Movies 104 comments

If you can, you’ll want to watch this one full-screen and in high-res. It starts off as an incredibly faithful Left 4 Dead fan film, and then expands into… Well, I shouldn’t spoil it. You’ll see.


Link (YouTube)

Awesome, but it’s also very instructive in light of the recent SOPA debate. There’s a lot of copyrighted characters in this thing. Midway Games, Warner Bros. Interactive, Epic Games, Microsoft Game Studios, and Valve could all claim that this movie uses their copyrighted stuff. Sure, this is non-profit and obviously every bit as legal as fanfiction, but companies have opposed this sort of thing in the past.

But even if none of those companies would take action, would people really risk sharing it? Would I want to share this video on my website if doing so could result in a takedown? I mean, a SOPA takedown would mean this site would vanish and I’d have to fight to have it restored, during which time I wouldn’t be able to promote my various projects. I can’t perform due diligence on this video and make sure the producers have permission to use those characters, sounds, and music.

But most importantly: Who would bother making a video like this? This cost a great deal of time and money to produce. Who would take that risk in a world where everyone would be afraid to share it??

This is the fiendish heart of it. Beyond the lack of due process, the damage to free speech, the potential for abuse, the security hazards, and the dangerous precedent created by SOPA, we wouldn’t even know just how much we’d lost. There’s no way of measuring the things that don’t get made.

Anyway, that was a pretty hilarious movie. I’ve never been a fan of Master Chief, but even I cracked a smile when he showed up and started kicking ass. I am simply amazed at the sheer volume of clever, interesting, high-quality content that the internet produces for me every day.

 


 

Experienced Points: Dear Origin

By Shamus Posted Friday Jan 20, 2012

Filed under: Column 131 comments

So, my column this week is mostly preaching to the choir, but there’s always this mad, delusional hope that some of it will sink in. I can understand (but not condone) when a company acts with contempt for their customers in service of their bottom line. But I find it maddening when a company does so to their own ruin. In short, Origin needs to get its act together, quickly.

The time and money put into Origin are considerable. It could be a great opportunity for EA and gamers. I say this as someone who isn’t even all that keen on digital distribution and would prefer a market based on physical copies. However, I can see this is the way things are going, and I can see EA is squandering this opportunity.

A good litmus test is this: Given the behavior of the competition, would Valve need to change Steam in any way in order to avoid losing sales or market share? If anything, Origin just makes Steam look that much more attractive.

How can so many people be so flagrantly clueless and dysfunctional for so long? They must have unbelievable internal inertia to be this slow and unresponsive to market expectations.