Category: Videogames

Coffee Talk #475: Consoles With a Two-Year Subscription

One of the most interesting rumors this week was The Verge’s exclusive on Microsoft offering its Xbox 360 console with a two-year agreement. The company will allegedly sell the 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle for $99 with a two-year service agreement. The monthly cost for Xbox Live Gold service would be $15 and a warranty…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the possibility of Mariano Rivera’s career ending with an ACL tear, Demi Moore changing her Twitter handle from @MrsKitcher to @JustDemi, or flying to Sweden for a games conference, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

One of the most interesting rumors this week was The Verge’s exclusive on Microsoft offering its Xbox 360 console with a two-year agreement. The company will allegedly sell the 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle for $99 with a two-year service agreement. The monthly cost for Xbox Live Gold service would be $15 and a warranty would cover all two years of the service contract. Would you be interested in buying a console this way?

On paper, it looks like a compelling option. The up-front cost is low and the total cost of ownership isn’t much more than buying everything outright. Of course that’s all based on today’s prices. With a customary price drop in fall, the deal wouldn’t be as appealing. It will also be interesting to see what the terms of the contract are, particularly the early-termination fee.

For customers in certain countries — America and Canada immediately come to mind — the sales tactic is familiar. Mobile phones are sold with a subsidy and contract requirement. Perhaps some gamers would feel just as comfortable buying a console in a similar fashion.

Naturally, I want your thoughts on the matter. Kindly vote in today’s poll and let me know if you’d buy a console that required a two-year service agreement.

[poll id=”148″]

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This week has been somewhat stressful. I need to chill out. This is where thatgamecompany’s Journey comes in. It’s soothing and moody and atmospheric. I might have to throw some Flower in the mix too. In general, I don’t want to play anything new. I just want familiar and comforting games this weekend. Of course Civilization: Revolution for iPad will be in the mix.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

David Hayter and Jennifer Hale Confirmed For Republique

Camouflaj has announced that David Hayter and Jennifer Hale will be reporting for voice-acting duty for its upcoming game (and hyped Kickstarter project) Republique. Camouflaj founder Ryan Payton worked with Hayter and Hale when he was at Kojima Studios working on the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Millions of gamers know Hayter as the voice of Metal Gear’s Solid Snake, while uber-geeks also know him as the writer of the X-Men and Watchmen movies. Hale is a veteran videogame voice actor known for providing the pipes for Samus Aran (Metroid), Commander Shepard (Mass Effect), numerous other BioWare games, and multiple roles in Metal Gear Solid titles.

Here are more details from Payton:

David will voice the role of the head revolutionary in the Orwellian world of République who authors much of the anti-Overseer propaganda that players come across in the game. It’s a character I wrote specifically with David in mind, as he’s not only very politically active but also an accomplished writer.

Jennifer will play the role of a villain character we’re simply calling The Mentor. I’m thrilled to work with Jennifer again, this time on a new character who will be a central antagonistic force for players. The Mentor is incredibly complex.

As of this writing, Camouflaj has obtained $167,127 of its $500,000 Kickstarter goal for Republique with eight days left to go. Hopefully this star-studded announcement will help the company reach its goal.

Any of you contribute to Republique? Does the involvement of big-name voice-actors like David Hayter and Jennifer Hale make you more likely to support a Kickstarter project?

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Wish List

Now that PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for PlayStation 3 has been officially revealed, I wanted to hear about your dream characters for this game. If you’re not familiar with it then check out the video above. Unsurprisingly, the game has been compared to Nintendo’s ultra-popular Super Smash Bros. series. Like that game, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale features characters and locations from numerous Sony games. The confirmed characters include Kratos (God of War), Sly Cooper (Sly Cooper), Mael Radec (Killzone), Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), Fat Princess (Fat Princess), and Parappa (PaRappa the Rapper).

Don’t you just love the idea of PaRappa taking on Kratos? Any predictions on third-party characters making the cut? After all, Ezio from Assassin’s Creed is all over the place these days. What Sony characters are on your wish list for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale?

God of War: Ascension Developer Diary

When Sony Computer Entertainment America released the launch trailer for God of War: Ascension, a few of your were…unenthused. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the game now that its surprising multiplayer mode has been revealed. If you need even more info then check out the developer diary above from game director Todd Papy and lead game designer Mark Simon.

Are you more excited about the game now? Do you think God of War: Ascension multiplayer will rock?

Coffee Talk #473: Judging Student Games at USC

Instead of my usual evening of WWE Monday Night Raw, I spent last Monday at the USC School of Cinematic Arts judging student projects. My excellent friend Joseph Olin teaches a graduate school class there called The Business of Interactive Media. The projects covered a wide range of topics. I got to see traditional…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, devouring New York pizza, devouring New York chicken parm sammiches, or Ashton Kutcher going on vacation with Mila Kunis (nooooooo!!!), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Instead of my usual evening of WWE Monday Night Raw, I spent last Monday at the USC School of Cinematic Arts judging student projects. My excellent friend Joseph Olin teaches a graduate school class there called The Business of Interactive Media. The projects covered a wide range of topics. I got to see traditional games, social networking apps, educational projects, and even a modern interpretation of Hindu scriptures. The projects were very cool…

…but not as cool as the students! It was inspiring and refreshing to hear pitches from MFA students instead of people already in the gaming business. You could feel the passion and energy as the students spoke about their projects. There was a certain purity in their visions — a charming mixture of smarts, bravery, and naïveté combined with a lack of experience that didn’t let them know, “Hey! You can’t do that!” It was beautiful to watch, listen to, and learn from these cats.

The shocking part was that I offered a bunch of suggestions on how to monetize their projects. As most of you know, I’m not the most business-minded person in the world. So I was surprised that I became that guy for one class. “This would be a cool project for Microsoft Surface. Have you thought about partnering with MS?” “This seems like a project XXXX would grossly overpay for!” “How about partnering with AT&T to sponsor an event like Coachella and using your app to sponsor signal trucks?” I felt a little dirty trying to taint these pure visions. Ha!

Anyway, that was a brief rundown of my Monday spent judging interactive media projects at USC. It was a lot of fun and very inspiring. Thanks to Joseph and all the MFA students for the experience!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I’m still in New York, so my only gaming device is my iPad 2012. Thankfully, it’s awesome and it has awesome games! Jetpack Joyride and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP received big updates this week. That’s a good excuse to revisit those fine games. Skylanders: Cloud Patrol is always great for several rounds of cartoonish shooting. Of course I still play Civilization: Revolution every day. Yeah, for work and play, the new iPad completely rules.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

IGDA Makes Finding Kickstarter Gaming Pitches Easy

Last week I was talking to my pal Gordon Bellamy, executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). He mentioned that the IGDA has this nifty curated page on Kickstarter that helps prospective backers find cool videogame projects on the site. In addition to new pitches, a backlog of old ones is kept so that people can see and learn from past projects. The descriptions are written by IGDA staffers. For example, I would bet $1,000 that Gordon himself wrote the description to Sira the Game, which begins with, “This game is hot, like the sun.”

If you’re interested in keeping up with Kickstarter videogame pitches but don’t have the time to scour the site every day then I recommend bookmarking the page.

Gambitious: A Gaming-Specific, Kickstarter Alternative

Kickstarter-funded games are all the rage these days. Independent developers are thrilled with the creative freedom crowd-funding offers, but there are some that are skeptical of the model. One interesting alternative is Gambitious…

Kickstarter-funded games are all the rage these days. Independent developers are thrilled with the creative freedom crowd-funding offers, but there are some that are skeptical of the model. One interesting alternative is Gambitious, which is set to launch at E3 2012 according to Gameindustry.biz. Instead of finding donors for companies, backers buy equity in games. Here’s more from CEO Korstiaan Zandvliet:

The main difference between Gambitious and the currently popular Kickstarter is that the former does not rely on donations. Instead, a developer decides what percentage of the required funding people can buy. Someone who invests money in a project, becomes a shareholder and is entitled to dividends.

The model is compelling for both the developer and the backer. Developers have more flexibility with how their games are funded, while backers stand to earn some money back. While it doesn’t have the romantic feel of donating to “dream” projects, I imagine that there are many people that would be more comfortable with Gambitious’ model than Kickstarter’s system.

How do you feel about Gambitious? Would you rather buy equity in a game than donate to a developer? Or does the difference not matter to you?

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