Oh speaking of the supernova, I actually have an idea to pitch for a fire emblem game.
Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
- Status
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
I think you have San Antonio confused with Corpus Christi, the one that got the major boost ITTL thanks to Selena's continued living.
My bad. Actually thought it was San Antonio through my reading.
Still, that does leave St. Louis, San Diego and others open for the Rams and Browns moving (granted, the proposed STL stadium is defeated as OTL). I wouldn't think the Vick scandal, especially at the extent of a coverup that Cleveland and the team were in, would keep the Browns alive.
After OTL 1-31 seasons....if the browns are able at least sneak into playoffs the team is safe, yeah they've the massive blackspot of vick and they got nerfed with the punishment wheel, but OTL the clowshow was 16 and 17 season was so awful would rival the infamy of vick coverup, they need a massive morale boost, but is a uphill battle even worse otl.
It's hard to really say since I'm not much of a fan of his work and I'd have to do a bit of research. I imagine that most of his OTL stuff would stll exist TTL but Inland Empire probably is the first thing of his to get butterflied away.
It's possible that San Antonio could get an NFL team, that city would have some residual positive effects from Corpus Christi doing better, so San Antonio itself could rise in prominence.
I'll have to check out the PM later, I know I've got a backlog of them again but it might take me another day or two to respond with how busy I've been as of late. Hopefully I can get to all the PM backlog before Monday.
I could def see San Antonio getting a team but I'd much rather it be the Browns re-branded and relocated to SA(Rattlers or just Rattlesnakes maybe). And the Rams just relocated to LA as OTL.
as long kroenke don't buy the rams. Still depends, pacience grasshopper(plus we can't overcome dark lord Jerry)
No way Cleveland is letting the Browns move again. I think despite the scandals, they’d want to keep them.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
The big question is if Cleveland would get another football team if the Browns moved. Granted I am not a football fan but being a proud Ohioan I still crack jokes at their expense IOTL, and... Well, the business with Michael Vick was no laughing matter, so whatever counterpart of me existing in this world would probably have even less of an attachment to the team, especially after 2007.
Oh man, the fact that Vick led to defeat the Saints ITTL (with our canine mascot) would probably make OTL's Boycott Bowl look like child's play in comparison.
As for Ohio, I just couldn't see a franchise or town getting out of this safe. Even if the years pass by, who would want to be with a team that was willing to coverup a serious, blood spilling crime just because of a Super Bowl?
Winter 2010 (Part 4) - The Final Fantasy Legacy
In many ways, Final Fantasy Online is the same old game that came out five years ago on the Nintendo Wave. All the familiar battle systems remain intact, and the world of Vana'diel is as big and as beautiful as ever. The gameplay itself hasn't been upgraded, apart from the many patches and tweaks that Squaresoft has made to the game along the way. However, the game's Nintendo Sapphire iteration is without question the preferred way to experience the world of Final Fantasy Online, for reasons that should be obvious to even the most casual MMORPG enthusiast, but that I will still detail here in order to do such a wonderful remaster justice.
Final Fantasy Online on the Sapphire includes the original game, all the job and equipment DLC, and the two expansions: Legacy Of The Crystals from 2007, and Underworld Arisen from 2008. These two expansions taken together added 80% more locations and nearly 150% more missions to the original game, and for players who have only experienced that base version, it's like getting a brand new game all by itself. However, the Sapphire version also debuts a brand new expansion: Tempest Of Innostrata, an expansion that adds an enormous western sea, a huge new archipelago full of treasure islands, and another continent-sized landmass to the game, more content than either of the two original expansions, almost enough to stand as a full game world by itself. This new expansion also adds eight new jobs, hundreds of new missions, and thousands of new items and pieces of equipment. When taken all together, these three expansions add almost two and a half times more content to the original game, and make the Sapphire version of Final Fantasy Online a worthy purchase even for players who have literally seen everything there is to see on the original Wave version of the game. This new content will be exclusive to the Sapphire version for one year, after which it'll be added to the PC version of the game but will never be added to the Wave version. On top of all this new content, the game gets an enormous presentation upgrade, with vivid new HD landscapes, smoother battle animations, and the longest draw distance of any game on the Sapphire save for Final Fantasy XII. Speaking of Final Fantasy XII, this new Sapphire version of Final Fantasy Online adds some intriguing connections to XII that fans of that game will devour and that raise questions for a potential future expansion: might we see Lilith and her band of heroes enter the world of FFO at some point, in the same way that we've seen characters such as Cecil Harvey and the Four Warriors of Light make an appearance in other expansions?
You'll be able to party up with your fellow players on the PC and even the Wave in the Sapphire version, though don't expect to be able to play through any of the new content with them: if you're partied with any PC or Wave players, you'll be gated off from any of the Tempest of Innostrata content, though the PC and Wave versions will be patched to include parameters for the new equipment and job classes, so you won't have to change back to a boring old Bard to play with your last-gen buddies. As it pertains to PC versions of the game, obviously FFO players running on higher-end rigs will still get a better graphical experience in most ways, though the way the game has been optimized for the Sapphire means that a surprising percentage of the game will always look better on the Sapphire, at least until the PC version is patched with the new graphical assets. The Sapphire's improved online architecture also means that it'll be easier to party up with your friends, with FFO including a feature that allows you to keep track of your friends on the PC version as well, but only if they're playing at the time.
(...)
Squaresoft is doing Final Fantasy Online players a massive service by porting the game to new hardware, but this likely means that it's still going to be a while before we get a true sequel, and if we do get a sequel, it may not be on the Sapphire. Final Fantasy Online remains one of the biggest and most fully-featured MMORPGs on the market, and even though a few newer games with improved quality of life and even the ability to play for free (Squaresoft still charges $10 a month for Final Fantasy Online) have appeared on the scene, Final Fantasy Online remains one of the best games in its genre. Squaresoft has been diligent in keeping the world and gameplay up to the standards of a modern MMORPG, and is likely to continue updating the game well into the future. It remains the second most popular MMORPG on the market, trailing just behind World Of Warcraft, and with new players joining every day, you won't have much trouble finding a party no matter what platform you choose. Final Fantasy Online is easily one of the best RPG experiences on the Nintendo Sapphire, and even if you're a five year veteran of the Nintendo Wave, you need to make the upgrade, because the new content, features, and presentation make Vana'diel a whole new world again.
Score: 9/10
-from Alex Stansfield's review of Final Fantasy Online for the Sapphire, posted on Games Over Matter on March 23, 2010
-
"Palladium Knights is shaping up to be a fun RPG experience, if not one with the epic scale or story of Final Fantasy XII, at least a refreshing appetizer that should keep series fans happy until the first bits of information start to trickle out about Final Fantasy XIII. Palladium Knights launches in Japan next month, and in North America in June.
Work on Final Fantasy XIII has already begun, and according to Tetsuya Takahashi himself, early work on the game is "progressing smoothly". Final Fantasy XIII is speculated to be an open world game much like Final Fantasy XII, and it's highly likely that the Gears, the giant robots that were a central feature of Final Fantasy VIII, will return and be playing a major role yet again. Final Fantasy XIII, which is speculated to be released on the Sapphire sometime in 2012 or 2013, is said to "build upon" what Takahashi and his team accomplished with Final Fantasy XII, and will bring back many of the same people. While Takahashi briefly considered a direct sequel to XII after that game's spectacular success, he ultimately decided against it, claiming in an interview with a Japanese gaming magazine that "the story of Lilith and the world of Luxurion have been fully told, and are best left alone". In the wake of the success of Final Fantasy XII, XIII has become one of the most anticipated games of this generation, much in the same way that Final Fantasy VIII was so highly anticipated after the success of VII on the Ultra Nintendo."
-from a March 25, 2010 article on RPGamer.net
-
FINAL FANTASY TO MOBILE? SQUARESOFT REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO BRING FIRST THREE FINAL FANTASIES TO ANDROID PLATFORM
-a headline on AndroidDragon.com, posted on March 27, 2010
-
Squaresoft's negotiations with Apple to bring either Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Online, or both games to the iTwin may have stalled, but speculation is now swirling over a confirmed rumor that Squaresoft is negotiating with Google to bring some form of Final Fantasy game to a future Google platform, likely Android. While rumors have centered around remastered versions of the original three games, it's also been rumored that Final Fantasy VII may be coming to an Android platform. Today's smartphones are more than capable of handling the original version of the game, with some phones even powerful enough to play the Wave Final Fantasy games such as X and XI. While Squaresoft's close relationship with Nintendo has precluded any of the Final Fantasy titles from going multiplatform in the past, Nintendo may not feel quite so threatened by mobile ports, and Squaresoft could well be eager to take advantage of the increasingly lucrative app market.
-from a March 28, 2010 article on Kotaku
Final Fantasy Online on the Sapphire includes the original game, all the job and equipment DLC, and the two expansions: Legacy Of The Crystals from 2007, and Underworld Arisen from 2008. These two expansions taken together added 80% more locations and nearly 150% more missions to the original game, and for players who have only experienced that base version, it's like getting a brand new game all by itself. However, the Sapphire version also debuts a brand new expansion: Tempest Of Innostrata, an expansion that adds an enormous western sea, a huge new archipelago full of treasure islands, and another continent-sized landmass to the game, more content than either of the two original expansions, almost enough to stand as a full game world by itself. This new expansion also adds eight new jobs, hundreds of new missions, and thousands of new items and pieces of equipment. When taken all together, these three expansions add almost two and a half times more content to the original game, and make the Sapphire version of Final Fantasy Online a worthy purchase even for players who have literally seen everything there is to see on the original Wave version of the game. This new content will be exclusive to the Sapphire version for one year, after which it'll be added to the PC version of the game but will never be added to the Wave version. On top of all this new content, the game gets an enormous presentation upgrade, with vivid new HD landscapes, smoother battle animations, and the longest draw distance of any game on the Sapphire save for Final Fantasy XII. Speaking of Final Fantasy XII, this new Sapphire version of Final Fantasy Online adds some intriguing connections to XII that fans of that game will devour and that raise questions for a potential future expansion: might we see Lilith and her band of heroes enter the world of FFO at some point, in the same way that we've seen characters such as Cecil Harvey and the Four Warriors of Light make an appearance in other expansions?
You'll be able to party up with your fellow players on the PC and even the Wave in the Sapphire version, though don't expect to be able to play through any of the new content with them: if you're partied with any PC or Wave players, you'll be gated off from any of the Tempest of Innostrata content, though the PC and Wave versions will be patched to include parameters for the new equipment and job classes, so you won't have to change back to a boring old Bard to play with your last-gen buddies. As it pertains to PC versions of the game, obviously FFO players running on higher-end rigs will still get a better graphical experience in most ways, though the way the game has been optimized for the Sapphire means that a surprising percentage of the game will always look better on the Sapphire, at least until the PC version is patched with the new graphical assets. The Sapphire's improved online architecture also means that it'll be easier to party up with your friends, with FFO including a feature that allows you to keep track of your friends on the PC version as well, but only if they're playing at the time.
(...)
Squaresoft is doing Final Fantasy Online players a massive service by porting the game to new hardware, but this likely means that it's still going to be a while before we get a true sequel, and if we do get a sequel, it may not be on the Sapphire. Final Fantasy Online remains one of the biggest and most fully-featured MMORPGs on the market, and even though a few newer games with improved quality of life and even the ability to play for free (Squaresoft still charges $10 a month for Final Fantasy Online) have appeared on the scene, Final Fantasy Online remains one of the best games in its genre. Squaresoft has been diligent in keeping the world and gameplay up to the standards of a modern MMORPG, and is likely to continue updating the game well into the future. It remains the second most popular MMORPG on the market, trailing just behind World Of Warcraft, and with new players joining every day, you won't have much trouble finding a party no matter what platform you choose. Final Fantasy Online is easily one of the best RPG experiences on the Nintendo Sapphire, and even if you're a five year veteran of the Nintendo Wave, you need to make the upgrade, because the new content, features, and presentation make Vana'diel a whole new world again.
Score: 9/10
-from Alex Stansfield's review of Final Fantasy Online for the Sapphire, posted on Games Over Matter on March 23, 2010
-
"Palladium Knights is shaping up to be a fun RPG experience, if not one with the epic scale or story of Final Fantasy XII, at least a refreshing appetizer that should keep series fans happy until the first bits of information start to trickle out about Final Fantasy XIII. Palladium Knights launches in Japan next month, and in North America in June.
Work on Final Fantasy XIII has already begun, and according to Tetsuya Takahashi himself, early work on the game is "progressing smoothly". Final Fantasy XIII is speculated to be an open world game much like Final Fantasy XII, and it's highly likely that the Gears, the giant robots that were a central feature of Final Fantasy VIII, will return and be playing a major role yet again. Final Fantasy XIII, which is speculated to be released on the Sapphire sometime in 2012 or 2013, is said to "build upon" what Takahashi and his team accomplished with Final Fantasy XII, and will bring back many of the same people. While Takahashi briefly considered a direct sequel to XII after that game's spectacular success, he ultimately decided against it, claiming in an interview with a Japanese gaming magazine that "the story of Lilith and the world of Luxurion have been fully told, and are best left alone". In the wake of the success of Final Fantasy XII, XIII has become one of the most anticipated games of this generation, much in the same way that Final Fantasy VIII was so highly anticipated after the success of VII on the Ultra Nintendo."
-from a March 25, 2010 article on RPGamer.net
-
FINAL FANTASY TO MOBILE? SQUARESOFT REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO BRING FIRST THREE FINAL FANTASIES TO ANDROID PLATFORM
-a headline on AndroidDragon.com, posted on March 27, 2010
-
Squaresoft's negotiations with Apple to bring either Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Online, or both games to the iTwin may have stalled, but speculation is now swirling over a confirmed rumor that Squaresoft is negotiating with Google to bring some form of Final Fantasy game to a future Google platform, likely Android. While rumors have centered around remastered versions of the original three games, it's also been rumored that Final Fantasy VII may be coming to an Android platform. Today's smartphones are more than capable of handling the original version of the game, with some phones even powerful enough to play the Wave Final Fantasy games such as X and XI. While Squaresoft's close relationship with Nintendo has precluded any of the Final Fantasy titles from going multiplatform in the past, Nintendo may not feel quite so threatened by mobile ports, and Squaresoft could well be eager to take advantage of the increasingly lucrative app market.
-from a March 28, 2010 article on Kotaku
Turn-based rps are one of the few console genres mobile can actually make work with little to no modification...
yet OTL Squenix fumbled it with awful spritework...maybe here could get better
Does anyone think I should abandon the musical format for my Thomas reboot?
I just caught up with what's been happening since Winter 2009, and I have two questions, one to you, and one to the others.
1: Back when there was some sort of mini-TV kind of toy, yet I forgot the name, is/was there an OTL counterpart to that?
2: Does anyone want to wager that Microsoft announces their departure from the Console Wars at 2010's E3 ITTL?
1: Back when there was some sort of mini-TV kind of toy, yet I forgot the name, is/was there an OTL counterpart to that?
2: Does anyone want to wager that Microsoft announces their departure from the Console Wars at 2010's E3 ITTL?
Yeah pacience with that...Will not give spoiler...
Winter 2010 (Part 5) - Buying Games At The Start Of The Decade
Narration: Nearly seven years after it was launched all the way back in 2003 as a way for iPod owners to buy music legally for their devices, Apple's iTunes service remains the biggest digital music store in the world, selling millions of songs and albums each day. However, the biggest money maker for iTunes isn't its extensive song library: it's actually its video game service, which delivers digital content to Apple's video game consoles and Macintosh computers. The iTunes store has a storefront exclusively for games, and business is booming: on average, Apple sells over $10 billion worth of digital games annually on its service, and that segment of Apple's business has seen a sales increase every single year since its introduction. iTunes does 44 percent of its digital content sales in games, 41 percent in music, and 15 percent in movies, and all three segments are steadily growing. iTunes benefits from an extensive library of current video games, as well as classic titles from both Sega and other companies, including companies like Capcom and Konami. While far from a one-stop shop for video games, since the iTunes service doesn't carry titles from rival companies such as Nintendo and Microsoft, it offers over ten thousand titles on its service, a library that grows every week. Reggie Fils-Aime, the head of Apple's gaming division, says that a major goal of the company has been to add new classic content every single week, in addition to a steady lineup of newer games. More than half of the original Sega Genesis library is now available for download on users' iTwin consoles, iPod music players, and iPhone devices, while classic systems like the Sega Saturn and Sega Game Gear also have significant fractions of their libraries, including most of the top selling games on those platforms, available for purchase.
Reggie Fils-Aime: We want to deliver content to our customers so that they have an incentive to purchase games legally. It's the same as it is for music, back when iTunes was launched, the only way a lot of people would be able to download digital content would be through piracy services, and the people working so hard to make those songs weren't getting paid. And then Apple and Steve Jobs came along and said, "hey, there's a better way, and everyone can get paid", and that's how iTunes was born. And we're always listening to our customers, if there's an old game that hasn't been available for a while, and there's enough demand for it and we can make a deal with the company, then that game will show up on iTunes.
*Fils-Aime is shown scrolling through the iTunes video game marketplace on an iPhone.*
Fils-Aime: There's so many games here. You could never possibly play all of them.
Narration: It's that sheer volume of available content that's elevated the iTunes Store far above its contemporaries. Nintendo's online digital store offers only a few hundred classic titles on its service, though most modern Nintendo games are available for download to their current Sapphire and Supernova systems. Microsoft's storefront offers up classic PC games and current Xbox titles, giving it a slightly larger library than Nintendo's, but one that pales in comparison to Apple's huge collection. PC owners, however, have the Steam Store, the brainchild of Gabe Newell, founder of the gaming software company Valve. Valve was once known for its popular Half-Life series of first person shooter games, but in 2003 started the Steam service as an easier method of online game distribution. The company has surged forward to become the leading seller of PC gaming content, even fending off a hostile takeover effort in 2007 by Microsoft, which failed after that company experienced a downturn in sales. Though Steam sells games on both the PC and Macintosh platforms, its greatest success has come on the PC, with Apple's iTunes store having a slight majority of Macintosh gaming market share.
-from a February 1, 2010 report on CNN
-
Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar chains like Gamestop are still doing well, even in the age of the digital marketplace. Indeed, the prevalence of digital gaming sales has generated a bit of an arms race, with Gamestop pushing used sales and digital stores offering incentives to get gamers to buy new at a slightly higher price.
"We offer increased rewards for used sales, and we're also using pre-order bonuses for those who choose to buy new," said one Gamestop regional manager we talked to, who says that physical bonuses are the most enticing rewards for buyers, and that exclusive digital content hasn't caught on as well as Gamestop and some of the gaming companies like Ubisoft and Activision would have liked. "Call Of Duty fans aren't pre-ordering the game for special skins or costumes, but if we offer something like a half-priced strategy guide or a t-shirt, that tends to generate more pre-orders."
Apparel bonuses have proved popular. Gamestop offered up a physical replica of Alex's hat for pre-orders of the original Thrillseekers, and for Thrillseekers 2, people who pre-ordered the game got Emma's punk inspired t-shirt. Some stores have gone so far as to offer media bonuses: For Fullmetal Alchemist 2, Best Buy offered up the game's entire soundtrack on a three-disc set, though those were limited to the first 50 pre-orders per store. For pre-orders of Squad Four Protectors, Nintendo and Target partnered up to give away a special Sapphire disc with the original Squad Four and Squad Four Eclipse, those discs are now fetching upwards of 50 dollars on Ebay.
Digital storefronts are also choosing to go with the carrot rather than the stick when it comes to buying games, with Apple's iTunes store frequently offering up $5 or $10 credits to purchasers of new games, so for example, someone buying the latest iTwin game might get a $10 coupon that can be used to buy an album for their iPod or iPhone. This approach has helped the iTunes Store become the most popular digital gaming storefront, and has made full-priced digital titles viable when one can simply choose to go to Gamestop and get the same title physically for $5 less used.
These efforts to offer up more value for consumers during continued tough economic times are helping to keep the video game industry strong, but will these bonuses and special offers stick around once times improve and once some of the bigger companies begin to clear out some of their competition? Only time will tell, but for the moment, a savvy gamer willing to shop around is likely to get a little something extra with the purchase of the latest big games.
-from a February 21, 2010 article on Games Over Matter
-
Walmart, Feeling Pressure From Competitors, Begins "Aggressive Pricing Strategy" For New Video Games
You might have an easier time finding a deal on a new video game at Walmart, if an internal memo from the company proves accurate. Walmart has long avoided so-called "sale pricing" on video games, frequently selling most newer titles at full price long after competitors have slashed prices on the most recent games. Now, feeling pressure from companies such as Kmart, which has begun offering deep cuts on certain games and bonus incentives to frequent customers to purchase certain titles, Walmart will begin a new pricing strategy on certain video games, offering up games at discounts more often, with price cuts on certain games designed to beat some of its competitors to the punch. The company takes great pride in its "everyday low price" strategy, avoiding temporary sales in lieu of offering lower prices on most of its items 24-7. It has avoided using items like video games as "loss leaders" in order to get people into its stores, and instead, chooses to sell those games at full retail price until finally cutting the prices permanently once that item's MSRP has been reduced by the company. Now, over the next few months, the company will introduce a strategy in which it will permanently cut the prices of some of its new games just weeks after that game is released, offering those games up at $49.96 or $39.96 and keeping them at those prices indefinitely. The aggressive pricing will be accompanied by an ad campaign specifically geared toward gamers that will be rolling out in the spring of 2010.
Walmart, which remains the world's top retailer, has seen slightly reduced sales growth in recent quarters, owing to the economic recession, the rise of digital marketplaces like Amazon, and aggressive pricing by competitors including Target and Kmart. Though the company's overall growth profile remains strong, stock prices have dipped and there are some indicators of a corporate restructuring on the horizon.
-from an article on Gamespot.com, posted on March 12, 2010
-
"According to the report, rumors of a potential acquisition of Valve by Google are not accurate, and overstate the financial strength of Google while underestimating the value of the Steam service. However, there is a desire on the part of both companies to work together on certain projects in the near future, and this could be related to either the Android service or a potential new piece of hardware from Google, possibly a miniaturized PC to play Steam games. The companies have definitely been talking, and the talks are much more friendly than the talks between Microsoft and Valve ever were, even when the companies were cooperating to bring exclusive games to the Xbox 2. There's a shared culture between them, a shared taste for innovation.
Whatever it is, they're working on something. Maybe it's Half-Life 3?"
-from a rumor column on a Valve gaming forum, posted on March 18, 2010
Reggie Fils-Aime: We want to deliver content to our customers so that they have an incentive to purchase games legally. It's the same as it is for music, back when iTunes was launched, the only way a lot of people would be able to download digital content would be through piracy services, and the people working so hard to make those songs weren't getting paid. And then Apple and Steve Jobs came along and said, "hey, there's a better way, and everyone can get paid", and that's how iTunes was born. And we're always listening to our customers, if there's an old game that hasn't been available for a while, and there's enough demand for it and we can make a deal with the company, then that game will show up on iTunes.
*Fils-Aime is shown scrolling through the iTunes video game marketplace on an iPhone.*
Fils-Aime: There's so many games here. You could never possibly play all of them.
Narration: It's that sheer volume of available content that's elevated the iTunes Store far above its contemporaries. Nintendo's online digital store offers only a few hundred classic titles on its service, though most modern Nintendo games are available for download to their current Sapphire and Supernova systems. Microsoft's storefront offers up classic PC games and current Xbox titles, giving it a slightly larger library than Nintendo's, but one that pales in comparison to Apple's huge collection. PC owners, however, have the Steam Store, the brainchild of Gabe Newell, founder of the gaming software company Valve. Valve was once known for its popular Half-Life series of first person shooter games, but in 2003 started the Steam service as an easier method of online game distribution. The company has surged forward to become the leading seller of PC gaming content, even fending off a hostile takeover effort in 2007 by Microsoft, which failed after that company experienced a downturn in sales. Though Steam sells games on both the PC and Macintosh platforms, its greatest success has come on the PC, with Apple's iTunes store having a slight majority of Macintosh gaming market share.
-from a February 1, 2010 report on CNN
-
Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar chains like Gamestop are still doing well, even in the age of the digital marketplace. Indeed, the prevalence of digital gaming sales has generated a bit of an arms race, with Gamestop pushing used sales and digital stores offering incentives to get gamers to buy new at a slightly higher price.
"We offer increased rewards for used sales, and we're also using pre-order bonuses for those who choose to buy new," said one Gamestop regional manager we talked to, who says that physical bonuses are the most enticing rewards for buyers, and that exclusive digital content hasn't caught on as well as Gamestop and some of the gaming companies like Ubisoft and Activision would have liked. "Call Of Duty fans aren't pre-ordering the game for special skins or costumes, but if we offer something like a half-priced strategy guide or a t-shirt, that tends to generate more pre-orders."
Apparel bonuses have proved popular. Gamestop offered up a physical replica of Alex's hat for pre-orders of the original Thrillseekers, and for Thrillseekers 2, people who pre-ordered the game got Emma's punk inspired t-shirt. Some stores have gone so far as to offer media bonuses: For Fullmetal Alchemist 2, Best Buy offered up the game's entire soundtrack on a three-disc set, though those were limited to the first 50 pre-orders per store. For pre-orders of Squad Four Protectors, Nintendo and Target partnered up to give away a special Sapphire disc with the original Squad Four and Squad Four Eclipse, those discs are now fetching upwards of 50 dollars on Ebay.
Digital storefronts are also choosing to go with the carrot rather than the stick when it comes to buying games, with Apple's iTunes store frequently offering up $5 or $10 credits to purchasers of new games, so for example, someone buying the latest iTwin game might get a $10 coupon that can be used to buy an album for their iPod or iPhone. This approach has helped the iTunes Store become the most popular digital gaming storefront, and has made full-priced digital titles viable when one can simply choose to go to Gamestop and get the same title physically for $5 less used.
These efforts to offer up more value for consumers during continued tough economic times are helping to keep the video game industry strong, but will these bonuses and special offers stick around once times improve and once some of the bigger companies begin to clear out some of their competition? Only time will tell, but for the moment, a savvy gamer willing to shop around is likely to get a little something extra with the purchase of the latest big games.
-from a February 21, 2010 article on Games Over Matter
-
Walmart, Feeling Pressure From Competitors, Begins "Aggressive Pricing Strategy" For New Video Games
You might have an easier time finding a deal on a new video game at Walmart, if an internal memo from the company proves accurate. Walmart has long avoided so-called "sale pricing" on video games, frequently selling most newer titles at full price long after competitors have slashed prices on the most recent games. Now, feeling pressure from companies such as Kmart, which has begun offering deep cuts on certain games and bonus incentives to frequent customers to purchase certain titles, Walmart will begin a new pricing strategy on certain video games, offering up games at discounts more often, with price cuts on certain games designed to beat some of its competitors to the punch. The company takes great pride in its "everyday low price" strategy, avoiding temporary sales in lieu of offering lower prices on most of its items 24-7. It has avoided using items like video games as "loss leaders" in order to get people into its stores, and instead, chooses to sell those games at full retail price until finally cutting the prices permanently once that item's MSRP has been reduced by the company. Now, over the next few months, the company will introduce a strategy in which it will permanently cut the prices of some of its new games just weeks after that game is released, offering those games up at $49.96 or $39.96 and keeping them at those prices indefinitely. The aggressive pricing will be accompanied by an ad campaign specifically geared toward gamers that will be rolling out in the spring of 2010.
Walmart, which remains the world's top retailer, has seen slightly reduced sales growth in recent quarters, owing to the economic recession, the rise of digital marketplaces like Amazon, and aggressive pricing by competitors including Target and Kmart. Though the company's overall growth profile remains strong, stock prices have dipped and there are some indicators of a corporate restructuring on the horizon.
-from an article on Gamespot.com, posted on March 12, 2010
-
"According to the report, rumors of a potential acquisition of Valve by Google are not accurate, and overstate the financial strength of Google while underestimating the value of the Steam service. However, there is a desire on the part of both companies to work together on certain projects in the near future, and this could be related to either the Android service or a potential new piece of hardware from Google, possibly a miniaturized PC to play Steam games. The companies have definitely been talking, and the talks are much more friendly than the talks between Microsoft and Valve ever were, even when the companies were cooperating to bring exclusive games to the Xbox 2. There's a shared culture between them, a shared taste for innovation.
Whatever it is, they're working on something. Maybe it's Half-Life 3?"
-from a rumor column on a Valve gaming forum, posted on March 18, 2010
- Status