Big Fish Games Plans Casual Gaming Streaming Service

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Big Fish Games has announced that it is bringing together a team of 30 software engineers to create a cloud-based game service. They’re hoping to use Netflix streaming as a model of what they’ll offer in the future, with 2,500 games in Big Fish Games’ library and 1,000 cloud-ready now

“It was just a natural extension for them and it really exploded the consumption model of watching movies across many, many devices,” says Will O’Brien, vice president of business development at Big Fish Games. “We’re looking at it in the same way.”

“Often, these games are north of 500mb file size, and so by leveraging the cloud, and leveraging the increasing adoption of mobile devices, connected TVs and other platforms, we’re going to be able to allow users to instantly start playing these rich, high-quality games without the time it takes to download a large file,” he says. “Because our focus is on casual games we have a unique set of challenges, but not the same challenges as core games do – in terms of latency. Our games work really well over a 1 to 2MB per second connection. In the U.S., I think the average consumer connection is 3.2mb/sec broadband. I think we already have a really great approach to solving that problem.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Bungie Making ‘Incredible Progress’ On New IP

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Bungie continues to work on their new IP, although the game is still shrouded in secrecy. While no one is talking about what, exactly, it will be Activision was proud to trumpet the progress made during their recent conference call.

“We continue to lay the foundation for our new universe from Bungie, one of the world’s best developers,” said Activision during an earnings call today. “Bungie continues to make incredible progress on what we expect to be a genre-defining new IP that will provide us with tremendous new opportunities, and which remains one of our key strategic growth pillars for the future.”

Console Pricing Driving Gamers To Free-To-Play

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Free-to-play offers a compelling alternative to standard retail products asserts Gabriel Leydon, CEO of mobile company Addmired. He says that the pricing model for retail games means that those publishers can no longer afford to take risks.

“Mobile is the home of free-to-play and that’s the next big model for video games,” said Leydon. “The real problem [for consoles] is price fixing. Consoles set expectations for prices for thirty years. Nobody talks about how bad it is to charge somebody $70 for something they don’t like. You can’t know what you’re getting because it’s another sequel with $100 million of marketing. One day after Call of Duty is out the used section in GameStop is filled with them. You have an army of consumers who paid $70 and lost $40 by trading it in.”

“[Free-to-play] removes the risk from the consumer, the consumer pays nothing to try out the game. I want the consumer to play for months without paying. Good free to play encourages players to stay and that’s where the longevity is because the risk of an online pass, consoles that can’t play used games, DLC and all this stuff, after I’ve paid $70… Why would do I do that I can play lots of great games that are free. The risk is being transferred from the consumer to the developer. The developer has all of the risk now so they end up doing crazy stuff because it’s a new industry.”

Leydon doesn’t think that the offerings of console retail games is inherently better than F2P games. “Free-to-play is the MP3 of the video game industry and it will destroy all business models and it removes the risk for the consumer,” he asserted.

However, he concedes that quality is often an issue with free-to-play games. “The model for acquiring users is insanely complicated,” Leydon offered. “We’ve been doing this for three years and it keeps changing, it’s very hard. It can be profitable but we can also throw money down a black hole. Most of our players don’t play a second session. But the rest stay and play and if they stay long enough they end up playing and we can run a business.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

The Battle Is In L.A.

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The Ultimate Battle won’t be on some distant planet: it’s coming to Los Angeles. According to intel, Megatron and his evil Decepticons plan to exterminate the human race and Optimus and the Autobots cannot stop them alone. They need your help. Now is the time to Prepare for Battle. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for all your life. Enlist now and prepare for combat training and become a defender of your planet alongside N.E.S.T. and the Autobots. Rise through the ranks and you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your efforts with exclusive Transformers collectibles and a trip to N.E.S.T. H.Q. in Los Angeles.

Trion Opens Rift To China

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Trion Worlds  announced that Shanda Games will release Rift in China. This news follows Trion’s $85 million round of strategic growth equity financing, and the company’s plans to launch their Red Door initiative that combines a consumer platform with a full-scale publishing and development platform.

“Our collaboration with Shanda is a huge step for Western premium games in China, and we are proud Trion is at the forefront, setting the standard once again,” Lars Buttler, Founder and CEO, Trion Worlds, said. “The appetite for great, new original game experiences like Rift, that disrupt the existing paradigm of traditional gaming, is universal.  Shanda, with a proven track record of localizing and delivering content, is the best publisher for Trion to offer gamers in Mainland China an authentic Rift experience.”

“We are delighted to bring Rift, Trion Worlds’ much-acclaimed award-winning title, to China,” said Mr. Alan Tan, Chairman and CEO of Shanda Games. “Rift offers an adventurous online world with fantastic dynamic content and stunning graphics, and has attracted many devoted fans worldwide. Based on our experience and expertise in the China market, we are excited about the upcoming launch of Rift to our broad gamer audience, and are confident in the success of Rift in the China market.”

Killzone Re-Release ‘Delayed Indefinitely’

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Recently, it was announced that the original PS2 hit, Killzone, was coming to PlayStation Network.  Although it was set to be a digital release and not an HD remaster, the game has been shelved for the time being.

“With regards to KZ1 for PS3, not sure what happened but I’ve been informed that it’s been delayed indefinitely,” tweeted the Killzone developer.

Source: twitter.com

Halo Developer Speaks Out Against Blocking Used Games

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There have been reports that the next Xbox will block consumers from playing used games on the system. Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive (which built the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and is developing Inversion), thinks a new approach is needed.

“I don’t think we should prevent people from playing used games. I understand why they would want to do it, but I think the approach should be different,” said Karch. “As long as games are distributed on physical medium as physical goods, players should have the right to buy and sell them.”

“$60 is a lot to pay for a game, and if a player buys a dud and is stuck with it, then that’s just not fair to force him to keep it. If people buy Inversion and it’s not for them, then why should they be forced to turn it into a drink coaster ” he added. “Publishers feel that reviewers have too much control now, and if games can’t be traded, then reviews will become gospel. This doesn’t serve anyone’s interest. For me the approach is to bring the cost of games down and to sell them as digital content where they can’t be bought and sold. If someone pays $15 for a game, then it’s less painful if they need to keep it.”

“Last time I spoke about this, some people misconstrued my comments to imply that I didn’t think that games should be ‘full-length’. This isn’t the way I feel about it,” he noted. “A $60 game has about $30 of waste in it in getting the game to retail. I really believe that with digital distribution, you can get that same full-length experience for $30.”

“With Inversion (or games like Battlefield or Gears of War), for example, you could break that experience into two components – single-player and multiplayer – and sell them for $15 each or sell them combined for $30. If someone spends $15, then the trade-in value would be minimal anyway even if it were permissible. I think that’s the way to go, lower the costs for the same access by bringing them to market digitally. Then a no-used solution is fair,” he concluded.

Source: CVG {link no longer active}