Videogame News

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Videogame News

Post by ColinAlonso »

That's fair. I think they're trying to recover ground with the fanbase that was lost after the Revolution debacle and might play it safe.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

I haven't exactly been a fan of YongYea ever since his garbage pre-MGSV covering, but that was actually a good example of proper investigative journalism. Interesting subject matter which is presented in a clear and mature way. Whenever we hear about abuse of authority / mismanagement in corporate circles, our minds tend to associate it with scummy, ruthless executives. But it's interesting to keep in mind that some otherwise kind and well-intentioned people simply aren't suited for leadership positions.

As for Valkyria Chronicles, I think it'd make sense to remaster / remake 2 and 3 first. I can't be the only one who missed out on those on account of their PSP exclusivity but who would appreciate the opportunity to play them before continuing with any future releases. Going straight from VC1 to VC4 on the PS4 seems odd.
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Flabyo
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Flabyo »

You really aren’t missing much with 2. Some of the new unit types are interesting, but the smaller battlefields and ‘Japanese high school’ setting don’t do it any favours.

3 is apparently much better, but had no official English localisation.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Videogame News

Post by ThirdDrawing »

EA has been accused of firing the original creator of Plants vs. Zombies for protesting micro transactions.

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/3568 ... ansactions
Todinho

Re: Videogame News

Post by Todinho »

Belgium rules loot boxes as gambling, interestedto see how things are gonna turn out in the future, from where Im stading I think this is great news but Im sure many devs would disagree: http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-loo ... in-europe/
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Flabyo
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Flabyo »

First thing that’ll happen is Belgium won’t be getting many new releases. It’s a fairly small part of the market so most publishers will just ignore it completely. It’s trivial to turn off the store in countries where it’s not allowed.

Belgium and Holland already have tough anti gambling laws, there are no online betting firms or casinos at all in their jurisdiction, so this is really them deciding if video games fall under that same rule or not.

Getting it to apply across the whole eu? Tricky, gambling law is not something they eu regulates, so each country would need to decide individually. That could take years, and wouldn’t apply to the uk anyway (cause, you know, brexit) whose gambling commission seem fine with things as they are for the moment.

I’d also expect plenty of firms to challenge any ruling on this.

Honestly, I think I’d prefer Pegi to take the lead on this rather than rely on piecemeal inconsistent rulings from governments. Do we really want to encourage governments to decide what should and shouldn’t be in a video game? Why would they stop with just this one issue?
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

I consider loot boxes to be a fairly shady practice, but I think the chinese solution was actually the best: Make it mandatory for publishers to reveal the exact drop rates they're using so that consumers can at least make an informed decision as to what they're spending their money on. It may not be quite enough to deal with the overall pitfalls of gambling psychology, but it doesn't bring about all the complications of outright banning them entirely.
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Videogame News

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Loot boxes would do very well in Australia, because if it isn't that it's pokies, or horse-racing, or online gambling... it's a profoundly dumb country at times.
Todinho

Re: Videogame News

Post by Todinho »

Yes! goverment should absolutely get involved in preventing predatory gambling from being in videogames how's that even a question? Lootboxes are designed only to make money by exploiting the psychologically vulnerable , you would want the goverment to step in and prevent the selling of toys with lead painting on it so why shouldnt the government intervene agaisnt a pratice that psychologically abuses people? Lootboxes arent an artistic choice, they arent an important design component of a game, you can replace lootboxes by simple microtransactions(I feel dirty just by saying this) that remove the random chance, they have no reason to exist in videogames if you're literally gambling with them, this especially hits home to me because here games have for a long time being hugelly taxed because our goverment equated them with gambling and we've fought for to get those taxes removed by saying that games were an art form as legitimate as filmes or literature only to have publishers come and shove gambling in games.

Also while the Belgium ruling is a small drop in the pond it's good to remember that in China gambling is ilegal and the only reason lootboxes are allowed to exist is because they arent considered as such, now imagine if this gets some traction and lawmakers in China decide to do the same now that would be a very different conversation, especially given that companies have found a loophole in the lastest law passed that demanded them to show the %.
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Videogame News

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

There is another option: don't buy those games to begin with. Money talks. If people keep putting money into these companies that go in this direction, there's very little reason for them to change their behaviours.

That's not exactly a feasible or realistic plan, and people are going to buy whatever they want to buy, but technically speaking - it is an option?
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Craig
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Craig »

To go down the “don’t buy it” route, I think the ratings board needs to be stricter on the age limits on these games. FIFA, for example, has a 3 year age limit, so it’s easy enough for a teenager to buy it and be enticed.

If you have something tantamount to gambling in your game, maybe under 18s shouldn’t be able to buy it so easily. Of course parents will still buy it for kids anyway, but at least they’ll have a say in the matter first.
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Flabyo
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Flabyo »

Todinho wrote: November 22nd, 2017, 12:33 am Yes! goverment should absolutely get involved in preventing predatory gambling from being in videogames how's that even a question?
Not quite what I said.

I see this as a 'thin end of the wedge' thing.

Why not add 'ok, you can't do anything with LGBT representation without getting a permit'. Or 'all games with shooting must be 18 rated and not sold in stores'. I'm exaggerating, but I have a deep mistrust of government legislation of the tech industry cause they have a track record of not knowing what they're actually doing.

I get the euphoria a lot of people are having about 'yay, we sure told EA', but there's a huge amount of 'be careful what you wish for' going on here. I think there were ways the industry itself could've dealt with this cleanly (much like they did in the US in the height of the 'Mortal Kombat Panic') and that should be the preferred option.

Some games won't be overly affected by it. Blizzard could change Overwatch right now to make the loot boxes only drop from gameplay and switch the IAP to be buying the in-game gold instead (because it lets you buy items direct with that already). They'd probably need to scale back the amount of free content they're adding to the game but they can probably absorb that.

For something like Hearthstone (or Gwent, or even Magic the Gathering), well, they're basically shit out of luck there.

It's the mobile industry that will be most badly affected by this kind of legislation. And sure, that probably doesn't matter to most people here much cause that's not your jam, but that market is waaaay larger than console gaming and the companies involved make EA's market cap look like pocket change.
kintaris

Re: Videogame News

Post by kintaris »

I have to echo Flabyo's concerns. The gaming community and the classification bodies involved in gaming should really have more of a say than reactionary governments sticking a toe in only when a news story hits CNN.

Many are saying "vote with your wallet", and that's exactly why governments shouldn't chuck in extra reactionary legislation at this time. It's a consumer product, not a utility. Consumers, and the parents of those consumers, and the regulators looking after those consumers specifically, should decide what can and can't be purchased.

That's not to say I agree with EA's practices. I just think there is still an avenue for change via pressure from consumers directly to EA rather than adding a bureaucratic layer (another one, on top of many) to the process of making money as a publisher.

To be quite honest, microtransactions work absolutely fine in a ton of products that I use, given that I have never purchased a loot crate and still enjoy the games.

Mobile games in particular are often built for the 90% of players that will never buy a loot crate. The base experience, the level of fun, is tailored to them. Those companies then make their money back off of the 10% with money to burn and no time to play properly, and that's fine too.

EA have done a shit job of things by locking out too much of the core expected experience (i.e. playing as iconic characters) behind huge paywalls. I don't think it's fair to tar the entire publishing industry with the same brush, which is exactly what sweeping, reactionary legislation will do.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Videogame News

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Microtransactions should not be in games. Period. They are predatory and anti-consumer.

If it takes the government getting involved to get rid of them, so be it.

Last time the government attempted to get involved with video games, we ended up with the ESRB.

If it takes creating a regulatory body to control how much publishers exploit gamers, so be it.
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Flabyo
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Flabyo »

I will say I do have a crazy amount of cognitive dissonance over this one because it directly affects my ability to pay my rent.

Be an interesting few months as this stuff gets debated by people outside of the ‘angry gamer’ clique.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Videogame News

Post by ratsoalbion »

As we've been finding over on our Facebook page, the idea that videogames are - on the whole - incredibly good value for money seems to be ridiculous to many vocal gamers.

I'm not suggesting that dubious practises shouldn't be investigated and regulated and appropriate for age etc. - I like a very small flutter on the football myself but there are discussions to be had around the responsibility of encouraging gambling and so on of course.

However, basic game prices haven't gone up with inflation at all for decades while budgets have escalated as the state of the art has moved on.

OK, 'bad' games can be expensive mistakes like any misguided purchase, but good games can provide absurdly good VFM compared to almost any other form of leisure or entertainment - especially if you shop smart.

My average game purchase price this year is £3.70 (including Live Gold and PS+), across 215 games, representing potentially thousands of hours of enjoyment.

I've spent £0 on what you'd call micro-transactions or loot crates, though I do buy the occasional bit of dlc 'content' if I want it.
Todinho

Re: Videogame News

Post by Todinho »

Im sorry but I find the argument that regulating lootboxes is some sort of "slipery slope" is ridiculous, they are NOT an artistic choice they are a predatory method of getting money out of your playerbase it has no other purpose and it does real damage to people's lifes, like I said a toy company that used lead in it's products would be stopped straight away to protect consumers and lootboxes are the same thing as far as im concerned, also I was kinda of shocked when I found out that ESRB and Pegi were "self-regulatory" bodies made by the game industry itself, well no surprise that they didnt view lootboxes as gambling it's in their interest not to.

Also I'd have more sympathy for game companies saying "Games are too expensive to make" if EA's CEO didnt get a 17 million dollar BONUS last year, or if these corporations didnt stash millions of dollars in off shore accounts and if they didnt make the argument that the only possible way that a STAR WARS game that is a sequel to a game that sold 14 MILLION copies could only ever make money by having gambling in it!
Yes games are expensive to make and their price hasnt increased(in the US) but publishers have been charging more then the base price for years now, what are season passes if not that? This argument also forgets that while the prices have stayed the same the market itself has grown, hell the gaming industry was one of the few sectors that was doing well during the recession, just in the case of Brasil I can tell you for a fact that there are more paying customers here then ever before.

On a more personal level this microtransaction and lootbox stuff just feels gross and undermines the whole argument gamers and the industry has made for years that videogames are a legitimate art form, well when was the last time you were watching a movie and it paused in the middle to ask you: "for 9.99 to change the color of the characters costumes?" Or when you read a book and at the end of a chapter it said: " hey buy this box and see if you can change the font of the next chapter!"you know it's ridiculous.
I understand why small devs that are trying to make ends meet in mobile would resort to that, I get it it's a stable source of income that you can use to keep yourself afloat and in this industry that sure is reassuring I would think, but I have 0 sympathy for AAA companies doing the same thing not when they exploit their employees to the bone making millions of their back to just shut down a studio that "underperforms" thanks to their stupid meddling.
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Flabyo
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Re: Videogame News

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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Todinho wrote: November 22nd, 2017, 3:10 pm Im sorry but I find the argument that regulating lootboxes is some sort of "slipery slope" is ridiculous, they are NOT an artistic choice they are a predatory method of getting money out of your playerbase it has no other purpose and it does real damage to people's lifes
I think you may be misrepresenting the issue. The argument is not that loot boxes should be protected as a valid artistic choice, it's "Once various governments will have gotten a taste of controlling the contents of entertainment products, who will stop them when they start crossing the line into full-blown artistic censorship? Petitions on facebook?"

Just because we here on CaR understand the difference between sleazy executives utilizing loot boxes to squeeze money out of vulnerable consumers and free-spirited creators choosing to incorporate controversial content in their games, doesn't mean that government officials will in the future.

It's a layered issue. Reductive rhetoric isn't helping.
Todinho

Re: Videogame News

Post by Todinho »

Sorry but just dont buy this whole "freedom" argument, goverments ban all types of drugs because of their potential hazard to the public health and their addictiveness, goverments mandate that tabacco gets a label clearlly explaning what will happen to you if you use it,etc. The way I see it there's no difference between that and regulating gambling and hence lootboxes, creating this boogey man that's gonna take your video games away if they so much put a small regulatory finger on it to stop a predatory pratice is ridiculous, instead the alternative is what? to leave it the hands of sociopathic corporations whose only concern is make more money that to me is way more concerning.
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