Preview Dragon Age II News

[circ]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

Never underestimate the retardation of the consoletard.

 

[Bigot_]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

Keep telling that to yourself, maybe if you say it enough times you'll hate your life just a little less.

IN A FEW YEARS SON YOU'LL BE AS JADED AND EDGY AS ME
GET @ ME BRO

 

[a budda]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

Keep telling that to yourself, maybe if you say it enough times you'll hate your life just a little less.

IN A FEW YEARS SON YOU'LL BE AS JADED AND EDGY AS ME
GET @ ME BRO

we don't need you here, goback to bio forums

 

[Bigot_]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

Keep telling that to yourself, maybe if you say it enough times you'll hate your life just a little less.

IN A FEW YEARS SON YOU'LL BE AS JADED AND EDGY AS ME
GET @ ME BRO

we don't need you here, goback to bio forums

I'm sorry are you mistaking me for a bio fanboy
lol

You know for people with halfway decent tastes in rpgs I expected the majority of you to be able to comprehend english
Maybe that was expecting too much.

I guess the enemy of my enemy is still a stupid faggot, after all.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

I'm not taking sides here, but...wtf does this even mean? Sounds like a buzzword straight out of game journalism.

"Bioware innovates with much needed changes to the core game in DA 3, this month's grand evolution of rpgs..."

 

[turul]

I'm sorry you pathetic fatty, but DA and Oblivion will never reach classic status, there just isn't enough core game to do that.

I'm not taking sides here, but...wtf does this even mean? Sounds like a buzzword straight out of game journalism.

"Bioware innovates with much needed changes to the core game in DA 3, this month's grand evolution of rpgs..."

I think he meant, depth and immersion. There are different types of that also. It depends on the person and his or her moral standards and intelligence, standards. Yes, you can figure out someone by that. A shallow useless idiot is easily amused.

 

[Coyote]

Companies that rely on DLC to make their games profitable are doomed to collapse in a few years anyway when people get fed up with paying $150 for a complete game and stop paying for them.

Are you sure? I'd rather say they will continue to profit 3 times better than non-dlc games

As modern gamers get older they'll start to realize they're wasting money on DLC games and slowly stop paying for them. As this happens companies will increase the cost of games and DLC to compensate for lost revenue. The increased costs will raise the barrier of entry for new gamers and cause existing gamers to quit paying even faster. Eventually the industry will hit critical mass and we'll have another great crash. Expect it within the next five years or so.

You're clearly a more optimistic man than I. Even if the majority of the current crop of gamers grows disillusioned with DLC (a prospect I find unlikely), there will always be new dumbfucks willing to let themselves be nickeled and dimed to death by game companies. And I don't think they need to make very many sales for DLC to be profitable, anyway. Keep in mind, the very things we object to about DLC are the same things that make them so desirable from the company's perspective...

* Using ME2 as a benchmark, consider the DLC that's available. They can get people to pay $2 for very small additions like ME2's alternate appearance and weapons packs and $7-10 for moderate to large quests like Kasumi, Overlord, and Lair of the Shadow Broker. Even the large quests can't require more than 5% of the resources required to make the original game itself, and I'd bet that it's closer to 1-2% when you take into account how many assets are reused (the graphics and game engines, the combat mechanics, the interface, etc.) and the experience the devs now have with working with this particular iteration of whatever engine they're using. And that's ignoring the stupid shit that doesn't even affect the game, like the $1-5 character pictures, avatar items, and themes they sell for Xbox Live.

* Companies can sell content that was either cut from the final product due to being unfinished/unpolished or taken out solely for the purpose of reselling it, effectively increasing the price of the game without the backlash they'd get for raising the retail value at very little or no cost to them.

* Companies can make extra money from resales by making some content of the game free only for people who purchase new copies (e.g., the Cerberus Network DLC for ME2, Shale for DAO).

In all of these cases, the company ends up earning more with minimal extra resources invested on their part. I just can't see them needing to sell very many of these things for them to be profitable.

 

[Xor]

We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. The signs of decay within the industry are everywhere - the average developer is horribly out of touch and doesn't understand what gamers want, publishers are trying to milk their customers for as much money as possible while sales stagnate, sony and microsoft are both losing money on their consoles and can't sustain that business model forever, and all the while development costs are only going up.

I may be off on the timing, but it seems pretty much inevitable to me at this point. And it will only be a good thing - after the collapse, companies that form the new industry will hopefully be willing to spend less money on development and work on niche games (like cRPGs!) instead of throwing tens of millions of dollars at a title that needs to sell 3 million copies in order to break even.

 

[DraQ]

We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. The signs of decay within the industry are everywhere - the average developer is horribly out of touch and doesn't understand what gamers want, publishers are trying to milk their customers for as much money as possible while sales stagnate, sony and microsoft are both losing money on their consoles and can't sustain that business model forever, and all the while development costs are only going up.

It already happened once. And this time we also have photorealism ceiling to impact.

 

[aries202]

I hope there is more to Sebastian Vael than just either 'holy revenge' or 'to avenge Sebastians family'. I find it interesting that it seems like revenge in one form of another seem to be the oply options available here. I hope, I'm wrong, though.

As for the controller issue, DA2 was developed at the same time for all platforms, including the pc. That's why it feels like it supposed to be played using a controller...on the ps3 and the xbox 360...

As for the DLC issue, some of you apperently still have problems perceiving how the game-industri works today. Bioware is now a fairly large company with about 500 employees, I think?. This means that when say work is finalized for Dragon Age 2, people will have no jobs - basically. Now, instead of firing these people, and then hiring them again 3-6 months later, Bioware (and other studios) have found a way to keep these people on paychecks. And that way is to make dlc
or to make patched or to get transferred to another team.


The final build disc (as I understand it) has to be finalized 12-14 weeks before the release date in order for it to get controlled, copies being made, and shipped etc. And maybe the people on the DA2 team stopped working in this game 3-4 monhts before this? Would you rather that tese people be fired than keep their job, spending their time making Day 1 DLC.

Some of you need to face up to the fact that this is not 1998 anymore, and we're now in 2011.
Making games is an industry now. You can bemoan this all you will, but the point still stands.
Making games in 2011 is different from making games in 1998, more games in 2011 need to succeed than in 1998 e.g. make really big money. The same trend can actually be seen, and has been seen, in the movie business.

 

[J_C]

sony and microsoft are both losing money on their consoles and can't sustain that business model forever,

Actually Sony is not losing money on the PS3 since June, 2010, and I think the Xbox 360 became slightly profitable even before that. Of course we are talking about a small profit margin here (especially in the case of Sony).

 

[Overweight Manatee]

sony and microsoft are both losing money on their consoles and can't sustain that business model forever,

Actually Sony is not losing money on the PS3 since June, 2010, and I think the Xbox 360 became slightly profitable even before that. Of course we are talking about a small profit margin here (especially in the case of Sony).

They still haven't nearly recouped their prior losses though. Microsoft needs another 2 or 3 years of similar profit to break even.

 

[turul]

sony and microsoft are both losing money on their consoles and can't sustain that business model forever,

Actually Sony is not losing money on the PS3 since June, 2010, and I think the Xbox 360 became slightly profitable even before that. Of course we are talking about a small profit margin here (especially in the case of Sony).

They still haven't nearly recouped their prior losses though. Microsoft needs another 2 or 3 years of similar profit to break even.

Well, they just gonna have to force the devs to keep pumping out short and uninspiring games, with 3/4 of the budget is poured into advertising. The games can't have a lasting appeal, neither replayability, otherwise you won't buy the next one 2 weeks later. There has to be a lot of porn in it. Porn sells, same with graphics and violence. Violent graphic porn = winning combo. <-- 21st. Century gaming.

 

[waywardOne]

As for the DLC issue, some of you apperently still have problems perceiving how the game-industri works today. Bioware is now a fairly large company with about 500 employees, I think?. This means that when say work is finalized for Dragon Age 2, people will have no jobs - basically. Now, instead of firing these people, and then hiring them again 3-6 months later, Bioware (and other studios) have found a way to keep these people on paychecks. And that way is to make dlc
or to make patched or to get transferred to another team.

wrong. from before DAO was released, biofuck was adamant that the dev teams that make the DLCs are already a separate group from the team that makes the base game. the patchers are yet again a separate team as well.

nice try. fuck you, laidlaw.

 

[turul]

As for the DLC issue, some of you apperently still have problems perceiving how the game-industri works today. Bioware is now a fairly large company with about 500 employees, I think?. This means that when say work is finalized for Dragon Age 2, people will have no jobs - basically. Now, instead of firing these people, and then hiring them again 3-6 months later, Bioware (and other studios) have found a way to keep these people on paychecks. And that way is to make dlc
or to make patched or to get transferred to another team.

Sounds like the Soviet Union.