I T ( ) E - U N I T E D: 05/01/11

May 7, 2011

Brink ready for pre-load

The game unlocks on Monday, May 9. (EDIT: it actually unlocks at midnight, so call it the 10th.)

May 5, 2011

First Person Spammers

BASHandSLASH.com has a great podcast up on the trend in first-person shooters away from the "classic" format where success depends primarily on actual skill. You can listen to the cast here.

Game developers seem to have discovered a previously untapped pool of customers: people who want to feel good about their performance without exerting themselves, and who want that gratification instantly. In tailoring the new generation of games to appeal to that demographic, developers like DICE, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch have taken the legs out from under the run-and-gunners that used to thrive in MP servers. It's a sad state of affairs, and one that's likely to outlast my interest in gaming.

So, have a listen. If you've ever bounced out of a game because you were sick of getting killed by a dozen things you couldn't have avoided, you'll identify with the thesis.

P.S.: I am not promoting the podcast just because my name is mentioned. Or because I'm quoted extensively. I am very humble - almost shy, actually - and I would never attempt to stroke my own ego on this blog.

Never.

Flaccid Effect?

When the news broke that Mass Effect 3 would be delayed several months, everyone was not surprised. Q4 of any year is Call of Duty season, and Q1 of the following year is when we all gather together to talk about how shitty the latest Call of Duty is. It follows that Q1 is a vastly better interval in which to release all non-Call of Duties. QED.

But then, there's this. John Riccitiello (the Big Boss Man at EA) had something mildly disturbing to say at an investor meeting:

One of the things that Ray Muzyuka and the team up in Edmonton have done is essentially step-by-step adjust the gameplay mechanics and some of the features that you'll see at E3 to put this in a genre equivalent to shooter-meets-RPG, and essentially address a much larger market opportunity than Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 began to approach.

Immediately, it's fair to wonder whether Riccitiello knows Jack Shytte about Mass Effect, as it has always been a shooter/RPG hybrid. The two components varied in emphasis between the two games, but were obviously present in both.

So maybe Big Boss Man is just blowing smoke up the asses of his financial backers, suggesting the Mass Effect IP will innovate by doing what it has been doing all along. What's disturbing, though, is the last bit. Addressing "a much larger market opportunity" sounds a lot like "trying to appeal to a broader audience." And that sounds a lot like "we're deliberately engineering this thing to draw in the Call of Duty crowd."

Medal of Honor tried that. So did Crysis 2. Both were published by EA, just as Mass Effect 3 will be.

A billion dollars is a lot of money.