Japan Entertainment Industry

Japanese games have taken a great lead to North America but lately in a game show in Tokyo people view Japanese games as lacking skills and competence. The fate of Japan as a powerful market for console game developer may be a concern.

During 1980s until the early 2000s Japanese games were label as king of console games. One example during this era is Miyamoto who designed Mario that became the biggest franchise in the world. However games have become more disappointing in its creativity to gameplay.  In Japan traditional game developer don’t have many styles for new ideas for funnier gameplays. Almost every Japanese gameplay is similar in the gaming genre. At the same time, it can be said for American developers too. An example of one game that shows boredom for gamers today is Street Fighter. Developed by Yoshiki Okamoto, he believes the game has no way to revive or continue with the game. Fighting games have been around multiple of times and it has become less fun for people to play.

Also platform games such as Super Mario bro gameplay style is getting repetitive. Japanese traditional ways of developing games should be address in today generation because gaming will become boring. It’s like expecting more people to enjoy music that were from 10 year and not in today’s generation. Obviously that is unlikely to happen new generation will always want a change in making differences in old music. Therefore, Japanese developer should begin the processes of researching new ways to develop funnier games for people to play.

Sources:

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/179022/Considering_Japan.php by Christian Nutt

Tim Schafer: Why We Need More People Like Him

Duncan Kennedy      Source Article: http://kotaku.com/5904887/these-might-be-the-first-screens-of-tim-schafers-new-adventure-game/gallery/1

If you fancy yourself someone who knows gaming, you know Tim Schafer. The creative mind behind such masterpieces as Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, and Monkey Island, Tim Schafer’s work is among the highest quality and most innovative direction games have seen. If we need anyone to keep making games in this time of stagnation, we need someone like Tim.

            It’s been a fact of gaming since the 90’s that Adventure Games are of a dying breed, if they aren’t dead already. It’s not the fault of the Genre, but the consumers. Tim Schafer was one of the last designers to push for grand Adventure titles, and is still trying to revive the genre, like his own Frankenstein’s Monster. The only difference in this case is that the monster will be beautiful and more than likely welcomed by the village people.

            Experiments in reviving the dead aside, Tim has been a major part in some of the most unique game of recent history. A game about a camp for psychic kids. A game in which metal music wages a war against other, lesser musical varieties. Had anyone else pitched or produced these games, they would have flopped. Leave it to Tim Schafer to come up with something crazy and make a fantastic game out of it. Most older gamers will remember him from his work on Monkey Island. It’s games like this that we need more of.

            Most large developers are afraid to innovate. It’s not a guaranteed profit compared to what’s safe, so why bother? This is a mindset that Tim and his studio Double Fine strive to work against. Tim founded Double Fine in 2000 to make the games that would otherwise be rejected as too “out there”. Since then they have made some fascinating and unique titles that have been great contributions to the art form as a whole.

            For his entire career, Tim has made games that challenge what is acceptably fun in this genre, and we’re better for it. If we had more minds like his, maybe Adventure games wouldn’t be dead. Maybe EA wouldn’t get away with its defecation on the games industry. And, hopefully, maybe games as a whole would be acceptable as an art form rather than just games.

Warcaft 12 Million!

Warcraft 12 Million!

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/07/world-of-warcraft-subscriber-numbers-remain-over-10-million/

World of Warcraft has experienced a steep decline in its player base.A peak of 12 million players was reached after developer Blizzard released the third expansion to the game, Wrath of the Lich King. The next expansion was not a success, however, and millions of subscribers were lost with the release of Cataclysm in late 2010. Things weren't looking too well for the company last year. Blizzard took a nose dive for the worst, the subscriber pool dipped to 9.1 million subscriber pool and hundreds of employees lost their jobs with the company. Great news came into Blizzards hands with the launch of their latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard has pulled through once again, and since September the amount of subscribers has steadily climbed back to previous levels. October 2012 marked a return to previous levels for the company as total subscribes hit 12 million once more.  Let’s just hope things stay this way!

- Sheri Lewis

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                                                                Selling Out?

Arlen Norgan

Star Wars sold to Disney for 4.05 billion dollars on October 30, 2012. George Lucas is the sole owner of Lucasfilms.LTD and was pushing 68 years old. He felt that he was done making Star Wars movies and felt he would rather watch as a fan than be out filming it at his age. The CEO of Disney wants to see a new Star Wars movie every two to three years. Episode seven is getting under way right now but there finding it hard to get a director that wants to touch the trilogy. As a huge fan of Star Wars I would love to see another trilogy even if Disney has a hand in it I feel they will be true to the Star Wars legacy we have all grown up with and loved. With the animation companies that Disney has acquired over the years like Pixar and Marvel they could really help the movie out with some of the amazing things they have shown us before (Toy Story AWESOME). Disney did an amazing job co existing with Marvel and even Final Fantasy in the kingdom hearts franchise. Disney also acquired Special effect house Industrial Light and Magic, Skywalker Sound and Lucas Arts in my opinion best game company out there. Lucas believes that Disney will keep his legacy alive for many generations to come and come up with unique ideas that he feels he never could. Mr Lucas can now watch as a fan and appreciate Star Wars from a fan perspective.         

George Lucas is still going to have a bit of say in what Disney can do with the Star Wars genre which  should keep the story on track and keep most fans happy instead of bashing the Star Wars films games and whatever isn't associated with the three original films. The true Star Wars fans are obviously not going to like Disney buying Lucas films but what can hurt by giving it a chance. Disney did great things with Marvel; the movie was spectacular to say the least. The Star Wars name will prosper under the Disney banner like the other company's  they have acquired over the years  I have high hopes for Disney and Lucas to have a long prosperous relationship and bring us some of the best Star Wars we have seen yet.                       

 

                                               

  

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Final Fantasy 10 vs. 7

Arlen Norgan

Final fantasy 10 is being remade in HD an amazing step forward in my eyes for Square Enix but a letdown for most Final Fantasy fans who are looking more towards the Final Fantasy 7 to be remade. Both are very good games Final Fantasy 7 made Square Enix into the leading power house it is today. Final Fantasy 10 really showed what Square Enix is made of with their rendering capabilities amazing animation and almost flawless graphics. Not to mention to have one of the most sole full and heartfelt story lines gamers have ever seen. Now Final fantasy 10 in completely out dated except the graphics which really shows you what their capable of at Square Enix. Most Final Fantasy fans have only played 7 so that's why they want it remade but the work that went into making back then is phenomenal it would take a lot of man power and time to produce something of that quality with all the updated graphics of today.

 

             Final Fantasy 7 had a solid story there was love action and a character named cloud with a 6ft sword what's not to love right. Final Fantasy 10 has a badass main character named Tidus who does not wield a 6ft sword but is still an intriguing character and can look cool in a battle. Two completely different characters in two completely different world and environments it's a hard choice to which one should be remade or in my opinion re mastered. Final Fantasy 7 is not at a complete loss there is speculation that Steam might be getting an "updated" version of Final Fantasy 7 for sale on the Steam store. Updated graphics will do the game some justice but will not satisfy most fans. Maybe this is the spark Square Enix needs get to do more with an amazing title that is worthy of more.

25-man raids have harder challenges and better rewards on Asian realms

25-man raids have harder challenges and better rewards on Asian realms

 http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/25-man-raids-have-harder-challenges-and-better-rewards-on-asian/

     EU raiding team “ METHOD “ had an amazing oppertuinty to be interviewed by Blizzard Lead encounter disgner, Ion Hazzikostas. Within the interview, Players discussed newly released upgrades within the games content. One of the more interesting topics that players touched base on were how rewards and raids were are different in Asia compared to EU and North American regions.

     Items that drop in 10 man raids have 0/2 upgrades where items in 25 man raids have 2/4 upgrades for players. This is similar to WRATH OF THE LICH KINGS choice of rewards to players. Blizzard has stressed out that Asian realms aernt used to that of “Experimental Realms” for possible system changes in other regions around the world.

Decreased spawn rates?

Patch 5.1 – Ore and Herb Spawn rates dropped?

 

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/30/patch-5-1-ore-and-herb-spawn-rates-reduced-by-50/

 

     While flying around pandaria farming herbs and ore you may have noticed a few things are a lot slower.. And I don’t mean your flight speed. Patch 5.1 made a lot of chances to not only classes, raids and other aspects of the game.. But it also brought apon changes within spawn times for materials everyons seems to be farming for.

     With a quick search forums applied a blue post for users to read the answer to their puzzled minds. Where are all the plants and nodes?!

 

     With the large decrease in nodes and herbs available, prices have skyrocketed. With that comes a good and bad opportunity for gold makers. While prices are higher, Ores can be sold for more… Though for levelers, and crafters the increase in ore could be highly expensive. As blizzard watches with a close eye, im sure further hotfixes will be applied suitable to the situation.

-Sheri Lewis

Brendon Fredin - Why I Love Subscription Games

Source Article – Troubled MMO The Secret World drops the subscription model – Mike Rose

 

                Ahhh, another one falls. After Star Wars: The Old Republic, the long touted "World of Warcraft killer" finally followed in its predecessors footsteps and switched to a free-to-play model, it seems The Secret World will be joining them as well. The switch to free-to-play seems to be a movement that has defined 2012. It makes sense really, in this age of mobile gaming and micro-transactions, that a subscription model might not be favourable. Indeed, the only two major MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) left with a subscription model are EVE Online and World of Warcraft.

 

                In my personal opinion, I understand the free-to-play versus pay-to-play fight very clearly. By going free-to-play, the game is free and instead, you use micro-transactions to buy additional content from some sort of in-game cash shop to obtain items from weapons and armor to new outfits and hair styles (some games of course only sell cosmetic items and no weapons or armor are allowed). That seems very pay to win to me though and heavily shifted in favour of those that have money to throw around. There is a reason why I love the subscription model.

 

                I love the subscription model because it puts everyone on an even playing field. Typically, in a subscription modeled MMORPG, everything you see in game, you can get and is not blocked off by any sort of cash shop or monetary wall. I'm a broke college student, I cannot afford to make constant small purchases. A lot of the free-to-play games I have tried sell weapons and armor in their cash shops. I literally cannot afford to keep up with the other players. In a game like World of Warcraft, which I have been playing for 8 years, I pay once a month, and it's up to the player on how hard he wants to work to get the equipment he needs for his character(s).  Blizzard did set up a cash shop to buy mounts and pets, but those are for cosmetic reasons.

 

                I am totally in favour of the pay-to-play subscription model. I constantly feel disadvantaged when playing free-to-play games and I find myself not having fun. The constant ads and sales are overwhelming. I understand why more companies are using them, but to me, it feels like they are selling out. I'm not having fun when I'm being constantly bombarded to spend more money.

What did you learn playing video games?

http://myeslcorner.blogspot.ca/2012/04/digital-games-learning-english-by.html

 Here I will share how games can contribute for the learning and some of my experiences about it. It is important to say that video games have been seen by some people as a bad thing, where you don’t practice any skill, just stay sit playing. The first point against that is that games make you think in a lot of different way. The second point is that you are having fun, so you are in your comfortable zone, that helps a lot to your brain focus in learning and it is easy to think.

The first way of thinking that the video game make you improve is the ability of fast thinking. I can give the First Person Games that usually are seen as violent and inappropriate. In my own experience I learned a lot with these games, they put me in hard situations, where I was concerned or in pressure and need to make a fast and right decision or the other option was lose the game.

A little different the strategy games give you a fast thinking, but not under pressure like you are in FPS games. Imagine you in the middle of shooting for a FPS, and you need get out of there safe. For a strategy game you can imagine a chess that you don’t play with turns, but who play faster and with right moves win the game.

You don’t just improve skills, but you learn languages and other subjects. As a English second language speaker I leaned almost all what I know playing video games or chatting in game. I never had really speak English with someone or did classes before come to Canada. You can learn history or mythology with a lot of games, one example is the Age of Mythology, where you learn about old gods, Greek, Nordic and other mythologies.

People turn more sociable start playing. Mainly people that have social disturbs they feel more comfortable start being sociable by the internet, where they don’t have the eye contact and they are in their private space.

One thing that is very interesting is that the video game players start being much more creative and stop following the common sense. When the non-players people are watching TV or reading the news, but the gamer is playing getting off of the usual routine and world. It can sound silly but I can say that the player escape from the alienation from the big media.

Concluding, the game have a lot of positive points where can improve skills or knowledge, yes, it has the negative points but it is not just that.

Brendon Fredin - Why 2013 Will Be The Greatest Year Yet

Source Blog – 8^th Generation Wars: A 'Console' Challenger Appears – Oliver Teckert

 

                OOoooooooo things are getting fun now! With the Ouya getting a MASSIVE Kickstarter, and with Apple announcing they want to enter the Console Wars as well, Steam saying they want in is just the icing on the cake. Gamers will be getting a wicked environment in which to pick the best games at the best prices for the next few years. Good things will be happening soon. I myself am a massive fan of Valve's Steam service and of the Microsoft Xbox, so for me personally, this is getting pretty exciting. So many different ways to play and enjoy the world that is video games.

 

                Who will win though? Nintendo has just released their next gen console, the Wii U, and it has some fantastic reviews up right now. Everybody I know who has one loves it and everybody I watch on YouTube has had a favourable time with it as well. Nintendo beat Microsoft to the punch this time, and got it right. No major console breakdowns and constant patches to fix the issues. That's a good thing. Nintendo has taken an early lead in this war. They even just launched the Wii Mini for the Christmas season as well to help boost sales.

 

The Steam Box changes everything though. 1800+ games available with 54 million+ accounts. Granted, most of those games are available for other systems as well, but when you factor in the Steam Sales Valve loves to have, that gives Steam a massive advantage. 75% off your favourite games? Yes, please. Steam is going to take a big chunk out of the market from some well established companies for sure, but what about those console gamers who DON'T use Steam? How will Valve win them over?

 

Valve will have to launch a massive marketing campaign, which will spark others to do the same. At the end of the day, gamers will finally be in paradise. Every video game company begging for their dollars. This is a good sign for the game industry as a whole, as many new competitors are stepping up and the gaming universe is evolving as a whole. I cannot put into words how excited I am right now for this next console generation. E3 2013 is going to be exciting. I can't wait for more. 

Scenario Upgrades.

 

Scenario upgrades with patch 5.1 

 

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/29/scenario-rewards-improved/

 

     Scenarios were introduced to WoW during the release of Mists. Since then, Scenarios have been upgraded with larger rewards with patch 5.1 With the upgrade, players can not only get a chance at epics, but they have also increased Cache values. This feature is great for  random ques.

     New caches will allow players to obtain 476 items as well as the chance at 450 and 430 rares. As far as we know now drop rates have no been confirmed, though they have been increased significantly. 463 items include a few weapons, allowing easy access into raid finder queues.  Giving you even more ways to acquire gear and weapons. And if that’s not your thing gold lovers and profession levelers have access to acquiring materials for enchanting.

     Hopefully the new revamped scenarios will give players more of a desire and need for to participate in them enlarging communities and game play for everyone.

- Sheri Lewis.