Duke Nukem (and the videogame industry) is Sexist, and another Post About Marketing

I read this amazingly well written article on Kotaku scribed by Lydia Heitman. It was all about how terribly Duke Nukem was marketed, and it isn't a surprise because the project is a failure in every way. It really is the zenith of how the video game industry does not understand it's customer base at all.

Stay with me!

Bethesda is stupid because they are wasting money on marketing for the already hyped up sequel to The Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Skyrim. Like all good PC master race out there I can not wait until November when this game comes out and would get a second mortgage on my house for the privilege to play it. I'm already sold. The demographic that Skyrim appeals to is me. We know the game is coming, and we will pay full price on release day.

Seeing ad's for Skyrim on sites like The Escapist is like watching an advertisement for the Next Food Network Star during an airing of the show; I'm already watching. You don't need to waste time and money getting my attention.

When Valve spent millions of dollars to air a television commercial for Portal 2 what was in the video? Was it Glados? Was it Chell? Nope! It was two adorable robots hugging. Why you may ask? Because Valve knows that people like me are already going to purchase the game no matter what they do, so they want to get my wife to buy it. They wanted to advertise to another demographic who wasn't already predisposed to having a favorable view.

Advertising a game like Duke Nukem is tough. Most people old enough to remember the original (ME!) have long outgrown the mechanics and spirit of the game. People who are younger and into FPS's are curious. The people you want to market to are the people who wouldn't normally purchase your game, but might be interested. You don't need to market sex to young men because hey; it's what they (we) will flock to like flies on stink.

If Duke Nukem was really a good game they would go after the second largest demographic in our indusrty (women over 25!!!!! Its true!!!!). Let's not also forget that the largest group who consumes video games is men over 25 and the second largest is women of the same age range. We have careers, spouses, often kids (yikes!), we have mortgages, life insurance, and real world problems. We aren't college kids or teenagers. We don't care what our parents think about games. When Duke Nukem 3D came out we were 11 to 15. Now we are in our late 20's to 40's. We don't care about digital boobs, we care about a fun escape from our normal, mundane lives. We want a mature plot, a well realized world, and a story that can make sense. That doesn't mean it can't be full of dick and fart jokes, but that won't be enough to make a successful experience.

Problem is the game is crap, so they thought they could pull a fast one on "hardcore" gamers and throw a fastball by us. When a game is actively marketed towards me (the apex of the largest consumer demographics for video games, see previous paragraph) it makes me very wary, because I know what games I like. I know what sequels are good and which are crap, I know what new IP's look awesome. I'm too savvy for box art blurbs. If you aren't marketing towards a new demographic to whom you can expand your userbase, and instead are solely focused on who should be your bread and butter it is indicative of a big ol' desperate move.

That is clearly what the king has become.....

Epic Fail.

Silent Hill Book of Memories and Skyrim

Two completely different games I know.

Take a journey with me if you would please!

Joystiq reported that there will be an upcoming entry in the Silent Hill franchise entitled Book of Memories that will be predominantly a multiplayer experience. As I have mentioned before this will be an epic fail. Ultimately this move really encapsulates what is wrong with the AAA game industry.

A lot of publishers and developers see Intellectual Properties as brands to be exploited rather than living, breathing universes that are specific works of art.

It is what I will refer to as the Guitar Hero effect. Something is popular, so lets push the shit out of it rather than take the time to develop the property into something that evolves and is continually exciting. Silent Hill 2 was so good that even 10 years later just the name will help a game sell well. It has brand recognition. Multiplayer games sell well too so if we combine a brand name with popular mechanics it should be a hit right?

This is indicative of what the AAA industry does wrong, but it must be doing something right? Right?!?!

Of course it does! I can't remember or find where I read it, but I saw that some lead on Skyrim said "we just want to make the most awesome, giant RPG" (paraphrasing). That attitude, right there, is how you make the big bucks. Take your time (within reason of course) to make the best product you can. It's how Blizzard did is, how Id did it, how Valve did it, and why all of those companies continue to be profitable when Activision and EA are laying people off and closing studios left and right.

AAA games will always be great if the people with the money, talent, and resources recognize the power they have to create brilliant art rather than analyze trends and imitate and not innovate. If you are going to spend $20 to $30 million on a game, why not commit those kind of resources to creating the best product you can? If you do there will always be plenty of "me's" to throw our disposable income at you (and we will be happy to do so).

Next time why Nintendo is stupid (short answer Wii U) .

My quick thoughts on E3 Day 1

Another summer is upon us and in Los Angeles another Electronic Entertainment Expo is in progress, highlighting many of the industry giants and their products.

We certainly have a lot of sequels and clones that look to have cost millions upon millions of dollars. The sad fact is that most of these games will lose money, people will subsequently lose their jobs, and publishers will be more risk adverse than they already are. The mainstream of our industry continue to overlook what makes our medium special, and thus are doomed to keep trying to ape WoW or continue to churn out brown shooters.

I am always a little disappointed while watching the coverage every year because it proves to me that the American video game industry of today is a lot like the American car industry of the 70's and early 80's...

Our industry seems to think it can tell us what we want while studios fold, profits plummet, and there are record layoff's everywhere.

Of course I don't really worry because most of my favorite studios make plenty of money, have solid economic models, and make games that real people will continue to pay for because they have earned our money, but lets take a quick look at some of what day 1 has brought to us.

Microsoft seems to be convinced that the Kinect is the way of the future and why not? They seem to have hit their American and European sales goals, and hardware has done reasonably well. The biggest problem is, however, is the sustainability of the Kinect market. The reason the Wii has done so well is not the motion control gimick, it's the strong 1st party support. I am certainly not a fan of pretty much anything Nintendo has done in the last 12 or so years, but they give the masses the sequels, mini-game collections, and rehashes that the drooling masses seem to want. Microsoft does not have that acumen (read Mario, Zelda, etc) to fall back on. They are putting a lot of egg's in one basket and when the snakes are no longer charmed by the motion controller tune (and people get sick of Dance Central like they've gotten sick of Guitar Hero) we will see the ugly bite of market drop-off.

Sony has done nothing but apologize, but words mean very little. What are you going to do Sony? Give people Infamous when most people who want to play it A: already have it and B: there is a sequel due to release soon? Super lame. Give people some of their money back and hope they will give you the opportunity to earn more of it. Show us what you got. So far, despite being a "hardcore" gamer and having plenty of disposable income for such devices, I do not own a Playstation because you haven't given me a reason to own it along side my PC and Xbox. Here's your chance.

BioWare proves again that they have the best cinematics department in all the world with another trailer for their upcoming MMO The Old Republic. Seriously take the next 6ish minutes of your life to watch this. If you already did watch it again:



Seriously, how amazing does that look? If there was 2 hours of that I would see it over and over in the theater. That, as a movie, looks amazing. My fear is the same as that for Dead Island; will the gameplay live up to the cinematic? Only time will tell but BioWare has recently left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Skyrim gameplay trailer looks amazing as well, but for a different reason. This is the actual game. The graphics, the mechanics, and the world all look amazing. Bethesda may not release the most polished games, but they are big, beautiful, and just damn fun. Lets watch!



300 hours? Really? I believe it as I believe that they will be 300 quality hours that are all lots of fun. Bethesda has a habit of making more game then they need to; they always not only meet the minimum requirements for demanding $60 of our money but continue to always provide new experiences, rich lore, new worlds, and spend the time and money to create a product that is truly special. Something that isn't rushed, mimiced, or reactionary to trends pencil pushers think are profitable. They don't see whats popular, they decide it through hard work and artisan like craft.

Bethesda always strive to make the biggest, most amazing RPG's they possibly can and that's why they sell millions of copies.

Side note, have you ever noticed how all great western RPG's have flower picking mechanics? Think about it...... =D

There is a lot more complaining to do, but I have will have plenty of time and plenty of fodder as the expo progresses. More will come in the following days! Certainly a lot to talk about!!

I've been away for too long

And there is so much to talk about. LA Noire is finally out. Duke Nukem was supposed to have a gay robot sidekick. There are evidently no women in Brink. Evidently there is a game called Brink that was published but not developed by Bethesda which means it much suck.

So much to talk about....

BioWare vs. Bethesda

I love March because it means it's time for not only PAX East, but also March Mayhem on the Escapist. We are getting to the final rounds of voting for our favorite developers and there are some really interesting matchups, the most interesting right now being BioWare vs. Bethesda (hence the name of this post). By the way you have been warned; BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!

Despite being a huge fan of both developers, I opted to vote for BioWare mostly because Dragon Age 2 is out right now this very moment and I have been having a blast with it. A very good friend of mine decided to troll me for my public display of favoritism which really got me thinking about both developers. In my opinion Bethesda and BioWare are the two best Western RPG houses the world has ever seen and for two very different reasons.

Bethesda creates the best worlds, period. Despite spending easily 200+ hours with Morrowind I never actually finished the game because I didn't need to. I had more fun exploring Vvarfendel, reading all the amazing books, drinking in the different architecture of Vivec, the Telvani towns, the ashlands, etc. Granted the magic system was pretty useless endgame, the alchemy system was broken, and the hit detection was incredibly questionable; didn't matter. The game was magic with a V8 engine, 12 gig of ram, wrapped in bacon, and pure awesome sauce spread all over. I spent easily as much time with Oblivion and the continent of Cyrodil. The cool, weird architecture was replaced with more familiar high fantasy archetypes, but the game world was so meticulously well crafted that I had an amazing time closing gates, exploring towns, and (like any great open world game) picking flowers. The gameplay trailer for Skyriim looks nergasmically fantastic!!



BioWare games are really fantastic because no one tells a story quite as well as BioWare. From KOTOR to Mass Effect to Dragon Age, no developer has ever written characters that are as vivid and that suck you in. The quests and decisions in BioWare games are also so incredibly well thought out it actually gives one time to pause and really take into account the weight of one's decision and how it will affect the story and the world. When we had to decide between Kaiden and Ashley staying to set off the bomb in Mass Effect, or whether to spare, kill, or enslave Loghain, I never really cared about the characters in any other game like I do in BioWare games.

BioWare have made it pretty difficult to really support their studio as a fan lately. Despite having an amazing time with Dragon Age 2 right now, I am certainly not the first to report the game was obviously rushed. From the same subpar graphics to the environments that are used over and over again, the game certainly would have benefited from another 6 months to a year of development time. The flood of premium DLC as well has been down right disrepctful to fans and consumers willing to spend $60 hard earned USD's (or the local equivilent if you live elsewhere) to play a complete release. Dragon Age Legends on Facebook can cost up to $99.99 (as much as both Dragon Age's 1 and 2 combined on Steam right now) to play consistantly without waiting for energy to refil. Hell, Dragon Age 2's presence in the marketplace this soon really only leads me to think that the game exists soley to fund the upcomming MMO "The Old Republic" (which does have one of my favorite game trailers ever).



One advantage for Bethesda is that they certainly do not have the aggressive release schedule BioWare does. The last full priced entry in their catalogue was Fallout 3, which came out in 2008. Their next release will be Skyriim, which is due to release November 11th this year, approximately 3 years later. Figure the game began development in 2007 I would estimate.
I absolutely love this philosophy. Every game Bethesda releases is always of such high caliber and concept, and despite being hardcore action RPG's always are a commercial success. I would rather wait 5 years for an amazing game then 3 for good enough.

Despite the clear lack of development time for DA2, BioWare still has a huge hit and an amazingly fun, tactical, and deep RPG that has characters that are written incredibly well. The game is certainly compelling despite itself. If both studios ever could join hands and come together to create a game, it would absolutely epic.

Bottom line is there is certainly room in my heart for both. Only thing is Hawke is here now FTW! I mean, that is certainly points for BioWare; their lead character's name is Hawke.

PAX East 2011 Day 1

Well day one was quite amazing as to be expected. I did skip the keynote speech for reasons I already went over (and will prolly do a follow up to that soon anyways). Let's start with a few highlights for me.

[Quick side note, the pictures look like ass because they were taken with my phone camera. Taking a real camera today to get some MUCH better pics]

First off, I am happy to report that I am starting to think I was wrong about 38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur. Now full disclosure; I did get the shake Curt Schilling's hand, and as a huge RedSox fan, that is kind of awe inspiring. I didn't get any pictures though much to my chagrin. Anyways, the game looked reasonably solid, considering the gameplay demo we got was a pre-alpha build. One thing that really impressed me about Curt's attitude is that he is fully aware that KoA is not breaking any new ground as a fantasy RPG, but he wants it to be the absolute best. He is going for the Die-Hard effect (topic of a future post). The game right now looks an awful lot like Fable to me with more of a focus on fast paced, combo driven combat. To be honest the demo looked like a hell of a lot of fun, with really fast paced and visceral combat, beautiful visuals, and an interface that seemed very streamlined and functional, yet potentially as deep as many hardcore RPG nerds demand. Of course he is going to have some stiff competition in 2011.

I did spend some time in the expo hall as well checking out all the booths and what some AAA and indie developers had to offer and I am sorry to say there is really nothing new to report. Gears of War 3 looks an awful lot like GOW2, Battlefield 3 looks an awful like like BF2BC, COD, and all the rest of the military shooters to the point I couldn't discern (and I am sure it will sell accordingly), BioWare had a short playable version of TOR that looked exactly like it does in all the videos, and Bethesda had a multiplayer build of Brink for people to play that, once again, looks an awful lot like other online shooters on the market. Lots of fun to check everything out, but no new revelations.

On the floor I really enjoyed the Kingston booth, where they had EGiNcontroL playing Starcraft 2 against challengers from the crowd while being cast live by professional shoutcaster Day[9]. I have to say it is really exciting to be there, surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd, watching high(er) level live matches. There was one game when the challenger got almost all of his army blown up by blings and just hearing the crowd holler and jeer was almost reminiscent of any professional sporting event I have been to. It really makes me want to pursue my thought of getting a small, local tournament up and running (more to come on that).

Regardless there was a lot of gaming, a lot of Magic the Gathering, a lot of great booths and great sights, and I got to meet a lot of amazing people already. Day 2, here we come!!

My unabashed love for The Elder Scrolls

Yesterday Bethesda unleashed the first gameplay trailer for TES5 and, like most of geek culture, I had such a nerdgasm that resulted in the necessity for a fresh change of pants. Let's all enjoy the trailer again, shall we?



In case you couldn't tell by my verbal toungbath above I love the Elder Scrolls series. Why you may ask? They have all been really buggy, have had throw away stories, and mediocre mechanics. What is so exciting about them? What really makes them as epic and successful as they have been? I will tell you exactly what; because the games would not work as movies or books.

TES is all about exploration and interaction. Like most people, I was 60 hours deep into gameplay in Oblivion before I even really paid any attention to the main quest. I had more fun with the dark brotherhood, getting enveloped by paintings, venturing into caves to find old akaviri artifacts, and just getting lost in a wonderful fantasy world. I have spent 100 hours or more in Morrowind and never finished the story. Didn't need too. Too much fun to just explore and be a part of the world. You can't get that experience with a movie or book. You are always an outsider looking in. You are always a slave to the artist's story and not free to really create your own.

Anyways, SQUEE!!!!