Disqus - Latest Comments for deftangel

Re: What Happens When Activision’s ‘Oil Well’ Dries Up?

deftangel — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:17:58 -0000

Very succinctly put! Although you could argue that ActiBlizz are putting all their oil exploration eggs in one Bungie basket hoping that turns out to be the ten year oil well they envisage.

Re: Blog design update

deftangel — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:57:36 -0000

Much better Major!

Re: Exclusive first look: MapOmatic shows you where your friends are “wasting time” (mobile map replacement)

deftangel — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:41:59 -0000

Interesting video. I've been building something similar outside of my day job (for iOS first, naturally) but with a greater focus on the real time/social angle that you hint at in your piece. Geotagged tweets can add great context in the best case scenarios so I'll be shipping that day 1. Would love to send you a preview build in a few weeks.

Re: Curation versus filtering – the conceptual battleground

deftangel — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:37:30 -0000

When I first read this post, I was thinking along similar lines and immediately thought of some of Robert Scoble's comments on curation (http://scobleizer.com/2010/...

He's coming at that more from a tech news angle but similar principles apply. We're going to *need* curation in the future to wade through the amount of "stuff" but clearly one would prefer curators who have *your* interests at heart and not that of their own arbitrary platforms.

In the social networking age, we're all curators. I've friends who'll ask me what games they should be paying attention to and I'll ask them what Kung Fu movies I should be considering. I'll follow Gamesbrief on Twitter for what games biz advice I should be reading.

Scoble posited that companies will arise based on having the best curation tools for this purpose. He mentioned curated.by a while back but not written anything on the subject since.

Re: Why the Nokia email was vital, and why the people calling “hoax” are part of the problem.

deftangel — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:49:51 -0000

The main bones of contention amongst the Nokia apologists of late has been that

a) Most analysts / commentary on the smartphone market is overly biased towards the US
b) Nokia sells more smartphones than anybody else.

a) Might well be true but it doesn't mean they are wrong. The problem with b) is that what Nokia terms a "smartphone" is a vastly different consumer proposition than those powered by Android, iOS etc. Nobody likes the term "superphone" but it at least demarcates things properly.

If you consider Nokia's actual marketshare in terms of devices that can compete with the iPhones and HTC Androids of this world they are absolutely nowhere.

Like HP yesterday, their biggest problem is that right now it's all talk about the future. By the time they rock up with a product and a price, things may very well have moved on again.

Re: Ten games businesses that are blessed

deftangel — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:25:37 -0000

Kinnectimals looks like solid software to me, I've plenty of time for Frontier. But asides from the price it's also an extension of the virtual pet concept that's been done before, at least more than Wii Sports had been and nothing like as viral (People won't be having Kinnectimals parties/evenings in, I'll venture).

Re: Ten games businesses that are blessed

deftangel — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:04:05 -0000

Interesting that you put Kinnect on there. If you had written this last year, I'd have agreed with you. Watching the project come into life over the last few months I'm no longer so sure. To paraphrase Sean Malstrom, it's the right strategy seemingly hampered by poor execution.

Malstrom distinguished Move & Kinnect by respectively penning them as a "defensive" and "offensive" co-options of Nintendo's disruptive (motion control) strategy.

Move is defensive because, like you say, it might prevent a PS3 owner buying a Wii or possibly entice someone with neither to plump for the HD console if they value the other things it offers. What I don't think it'll do is attract in any significant numbers the new consumers who flocked to Nintendo because, well, they might as well just buy or keep the much cheaper Wii. It's merely defending the traditional segment of Playstation customers (which to Sony's earlier credit of course does comprise of those who bought into Buzz, Sing Star, Eyetoy et al) and limiting the damage on the downstream side.

Kinnect on the other hand initially showed the potential to do something new. Much like touch screen devices have enabled some great games based on innovation around input. It was aggressive because the technology could potentially allow for games that Nintendo could not replicate. Though diminished, it still does in theory.

However, the execution from the outside appears to have gone rather badly and in my opinion, partly why Bach has gone. It is horrifically expensive considering who it actually needs to attract and as a result, the marketing appears confused. Much of what was promising shown at E3 2009 hasn't materialised. The launch software, one or two exceptions asides strikes me as underwhelming and the price will certainly hamper the likes of Dance Central and Kinnectimals. Being closer to a new console launch than a new peripheral, it appears to have had it's issues during development which hasn't made life easy for developers. Regardless, I'm especially disappointed from a first party perspective given they've got talent like Molyneux enthused about it's potential and Rare working on it full time. They needed to show Nintendo style leadership here.

(I'll ignore for the time being question marks over how it'll perform in the living room because the Wii was mired with exactly the same concerns pre-launch but it's certainly far from guaranteed they will similarly dissipate when it's out either.)

None of the above would matter much (perhaps even the price) if the right software was available. The Wii was successful not because of the motion controls but because of Wii Sports and later Wii Fit. They became phenomenons in their own right. Someone, somewhere maybe has it within them to make an equivalent for Kinnect but up till now have been hampered in doing so.

My feeling is that sales will fade away after an initial solid start and that next year we'll be told is "the real year of Kinnect" when things are cheaper, the tools more mature and capabilities better understood. This should mean better games become available. You could certainly argue that the 360 (or most new consoles) had a similar modest start.

But where Wii was competing in a blue ocean, Kinnect will be in a red one and thus even harder to create a phenomenon like Wii Sports. Without one however, I don't think it'll move the needle. Next year is going to be about tablets and the 3DS as it is. In time, I think it'll be seen as a missed opportunity and this is with my relatively positive view of controller-less gaming! There are plenty of people who think that flawed from the start.

Agree with the above comment however, in that it's certainly one of the more interesting things to watch.

Re: The CHIPS are down: UK independent games retailer Chipsworld enters liquidation

deftangel — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:19:49 -0000

Interesting stuff from Nicholas and Chris. All of it making a lot of sense. The Long tail, as originally penned by Chris Anderson has certainly turned out a little differently. The tail is certainly longer, but hasn't gotten that much fatter. Instead, the head (i.e. the hits) have only got bigger. Combined, this puts a lot of pressure on the middle. I've seen a couple of analysis' that illustrate this effect, one was a good take on XBLA. The conclusion is the same. Either be massive AAA or small, targeted and niche.

I've a somewhat complimentary hypothesis from watching NPD data over the last few years which I wish I had the proper access to test. My conjecture is that that the "hardcore" market hasn't just stopped growing, it has been more or less static this console generation and possibly longer.

If you factor out the growth driven by the Wii (i.e. assert that the Wii turned out to be a reprise of the Gamecube sales wise) then the record revenue increases that were crowed about, peaking in 2008 don't look so clever. Consider also, who makes the majority of the money on the Wii (Nintendo!) and you start to build up a picture. Sony and Microsoft's revenues aren't a long way from flat over this time.

US revenues were around $10bn in 2005 and have been around $20bn the last two years. The same last two years Nintendo's market share has been around 50%. What was Nintendo's marketshare in 2005? I don't have access to that data but it sure as hell wasn't 50%.

Over-simplistic perhaps but analysts continue to talk about the decline in the US market being down to Nintendo without considering how revenue's hit these highs in the first place.

Re: Which platform is winning the online war?

deftangel — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:00:03 -0000

So by virtual goods, are Forbes including the commission they make from sales of DLC, Xbox Live Arcade games etc?

For the Xbox Live Indie Games it's usually a 30% cut, I'm sure that varies a bit on XBLA. At any rate, I would venture the majority of their non-subscription revenue must come from this area, especially with Modern Warfare map packs selling at the reported levels. By comparison, the Avatar marketplace hasn't been going quite as long

Re: Please help me: I need to choose a cover for my book

deftangel — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:25:21 -0000

I would concur and suggest you use cover #5. I quite like 2 and 4 is the most aesthetically appealing but I don't feel they convey what the book is about anything near as strongly as the fifth cover.

Looking forward to giving it a read too.

Re: EA Sports Active 2 Coming Wii, PS3…and iPhone

deftangel — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:32:00 -0000

I agree with the last part, in fact I think this announcement just paves the way for a Natal specific product to be announced at E3. EA have already confirmed two Sports Active products will launch this year;-

http://www.couchcampus.com/...

Re: Deleting GAMESbrief’s weekly tweets

deftangel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:54:09 -0000

Because I follow @gamesbrief on Twitter I merely ignore them. I guess it would depend on how much of your audience are on there and/or follow already.

Re: Guardian profoundly misses the point about FIFA Online

deftangel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:19:20 -0000

I saw that earlier and shook my head. I think the article was just mis-informed as opposed to an atypical "think of the children!" type diatribe. I'm sure some better research and/or hands on with the actual product or the developers would have assuaged his concerns.

Re: iPad reveals Microsoft Tablet PCs as flawed. What about Google?

deftangel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:32:07 -0000

Microsoft's big Xbox play is Natal, which the iPad can't do. The jury's certainly out on how well they'll execute on that front. There's enough innovation in the concept to (just) differentiate it from a Wii rip off I think it largely depends on software and as much as they are a software company, doubts remain over whether they can make the "Wii Sports" for Natal.

I don't think Microsoft have to worry about their hardcore gaming market which is unlikely to want to shift "down" to the iPad. Their problem is the traditional enthusiast gamers aren't the segment that's growing and if Natal doesn't work, they're going to miss out on the action leaving the Xbox to cater for it's hardcore niche.

As for the iPad itself, I agree it's down to false expectations. Most commentators expected a disruptive product like the iPod or iPhone to emerge. This hasn't happened. The iPad is a sustaining innovation of the iPhone/Touch and in my opinion, a bridge to move new Apple customers (who've bought an iPod or iPhone over the years) upstream to the higher end Apple computing products.

This can be successful because the world today has changed. There are a large group of consumers who have broadband/wireless in there homes for which a notebook or even netbook overshoot their requirements. i.e. they just want to do photos, browse, facebook, social gaming, music, youtube, e-mail in comfort on their sofa with a social friendly device.

I think you mentioned a figure of 10% on your video. They'll convert that many in spades and augment it with the hype and geeks like us who can see specific use cases (such as the car, etc.)

As for Google, can they get behind a device and execute on it to consumers to the degree that Apple can? Interesting challenge and I think the extent to which Chrome/Android will fragment with so many different hardware platforms makes that a lot harder.

Re: “Games cause rickets” – a thorough debunking

deftangel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:38:29 -0000

Great read, couldn't believe this made the front page of the Metro. Slow "news" day I guess.

Re: Mass Effect 2 flirts with permadeath

deftangel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:36:44 -0000

Temp

Re: Top Turkeys from the Noughties – part 2

deftangel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:57:22 -0000

Good read! I still maintain that Lair should be on there, though at the expense of whom I've no idea as it would be difficult to justify removing any of them. I also liked "Enter the Matrix" in patches but seem to be the only person on earth who did so. Quite shocked to see it sold 5m and still never made Atari any money!

Re: GamesIndustry.biz slams up a registration wall

deftangel — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:37:11 -0000

As a registered member already as well, it doesn't really affect me. On one hand, I generally make a point of reading Rob Fahey's editorial every Friday so I would sign up on that basis. On the other, that's merely my perspective as an existing reader knowing what content I'm getting. If I was just discovering GI, it's far more likely that I wouldn't. Especially when at a glance I can see the same headlines at GamaS, MCV etc. on a Twitter list or Google reader.

Agree that it would seem like an oversight not using Open ID, Facebook Connect etc.

Re: Google’s infinite strip: the brilliance in Google Wave

deftangel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:35:00 -0000

I remember the original Google Reader interface was dire as well. I went to Bloglines because of it and it took me two years to come back.

Re: Updating the technology

deftangel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:30:53 -0000

We pulled Disqus from our blog as it was killing page load speed. A shame because I really like it.Might be worth seeing what effect it has.

Re: Six reasons why $250 million for Playfish is a steal

deftangel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:31:18 -0000

I think that's 100% spot on. I'd be interested to see if any analysts agree. Something tells me they won't as most of them seems to have their heads in the same sand as some of the other larger publishers.

Re: Activision lays off 50% staff at 7 Studios

deftangel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:38:27 -0000

In a word, ruthless.

Re: Brutal Legend Demo Impressions

deftangel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:52:28 -0000

It's a bit of a shame the Brutal Legend demo didn't allow you to see the open world parts of the game, which is quite cool. The gameplay gets a bit more involved quite quickly as well combining RTS elements with the sandbox nature of the game. It's not just a hack n slash.

Re: Why The Sony PSP Had To “Go”

deftangel — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:13:11 -0000

Things might have just got more interesting. There's evidence to suggest Sony might start digital PSP game rentals.

http://www.vg247.com/2009/1...

Re: Why The Sony PSP Had To “Go”

deftangel — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:33:26 -0000

Ironic that Sony would launch a console that helps to address their issues with homebrew, piracy and firmware upgrades but then makes the games the same price as retail. Have they not been telling people these were factors in game pricing for years?

Even with the caveat that notionally at least, retailers are still selling those games on UMD and Sony can't wilfully be seen to be undercutting them, this half-hearted approach isn't helping their retail relations either.

Let the game retailers drop it if they wish, sell it as a consumer electronics device and embrace digital fully by going direct to the customers with a deal that works for them. Even so, it would still be a tepid reaction to the iPhone but it would be more satisfactory for everyone concerned.