Outtakes in Blogging - New Years Stats Edition

Sometimes, trying to write a blog post ends up with hilariously poor results.  As an outtake, these are amusing to witness from the outside, of course, but there's a lot of frustration involved, as you might imagine.  Still, it's something that -I- can laugh at when presented with it, so it's not something I'm adverse to sharing and that's exactly what I'm going to do tonight.  You see, I -was- trying to figure out a very, very basic thing for an opening stat and, well, it kind of broke me.  I was essentially just trying to work with something without having enough data for it, which I realize now (and honestly realized at a few points, but damnit, I was going to try) and it just did not end well, as you can imagine.  But I'm welcoming you to enjoy my hilarious missteps in the process of trying to provide content because it in itself is content of sorts.  I'm inserting a page break, however, because it's a chatlog, which means it's quite long by nature without being -full-, as paragraphs are.  So, yes, hopefully you will enjoy it in lieu of actual numbers tonight.

good lord, did I wobble this one spectacularly

The E3 Recaps

Almost more fun than E3 itself is the spin that people take on the events afterward.  I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone of the famous "Never" bit from Giant Bomb from years back, and there are innumerable other examples I could throw down right here.  That's not the point.  Or...it's mostly not the point.  The point is that I'm trying to lead-in to talking about the E3 recaps from VideoGamerTV, one of those Youtube groups that has all sorts of folks uploading to the same channel, I believe.  Probably.  Gonna be honest, I didn't look into them at -all- aside from collecting the recap videos because I'm at a surplus for Youtube channels I watch yet my time is heavily, heavily budgeted already, so I don't need or want more.  The recaps are hilarious, thus I'm going to talk about the recaps.

The Playstation one above was the first one of the three I saw and was quite fantastic the first time I went through it.  Of the three, it's probably the least out-and-out funny, but that's more than likely because it doesn't -need- to be funny.  One of the things it plays up pretty heavily is, of course, Sony's triumph at E3 and it does so in a way that, while humorous, really sort of captures the mood or the thinking of the majority of us that was likely going on while it was happening live.  So I didn't have to stop the video and belt out a peal of laughter at any point, but it -was- still entertaining the whole way through.  Definitely worth a watch, if just for the Indie section alone.

"Do you guys like Indie Games?  Because we've got all of them.  Fuckin' all of them.  Count it:  all of them."

If there can be anything said about the Microsoft video, it's that it 99% -only- covers the actual E3 presser, which is pretty much a good thing overall, I should say.  No sense bringing that negativity into it, though there are just a couple bits where a little snark is thrown that way if you're thinking along those lines.  It is a shame that the video was taken from a laggy livestream, thus making the video choppy as hell, but, well, that was likely the E3 experience most people got anyway, so, true to form again.  If I had to pick a favorite part of that video, it'd definitely be the bit where they tried to make sense of the "Driveatar" because.....yeah.

Good luck with that.

I've gotta be honest.  My whole reason for doing this post was just so I could post the Nintendo abridged one.  It is by far the best of the three and it is -still- funny even though I've watched it half a dozen times.  It's just stellar and really kind of captures the feeling that it might not exactly be all the games we -wanted-, but they're games we'll play and enjoy all the same.  Really, the whole thing, aside from the Wind Waker bit which I just didn't understand, is all fantastic.  It just didn't feel right -only- posting this one even though it's the one I enjoyed the most.  So really, if you haven't watched the other two, at least watch this one.

"Crotch!"

Bonus Post - This is the Best Thing

I know this is technically coming -before- the post, but it's just this picture because this picture is amazing.

it's also true

Oh Boy, That NeXtBox Presser

I had a long day today and while I worked on a breakdown post, I just didn't have it in my tank to finish it tonight.  Instead, I will share this, which I got from Chance.  Mostly because it is amazing, but also because it's fucking true, holy shit.  Really, that whole showing and the information that's come out from it and since then has been fairly dire, and the only interest I'm deriving from it, personally, is dumbfounded laughter here and there as I come to terms with the rumors that are now reality, for the most part.  But that is a post for tomorrow (barring thunderstorms), and today is a post for this video.

Also for me saying that that's it for tonight because good lord, I am tired, it's hot and my allergies are making my mind work like...uh....something to do with molasses.  Thus, this is good night, folks.

Game Dev Tycoon Has Hilarious Anti-Piracy Measures

Doing fun things to the coding of your games that are only visible on pirated versions of it is not a new concept by any means, but it is almost always a fun one to explore.  These little bits of coding, whatever they set off, it's solely intended on being viewed by someone who has not actually paid money for your game, nor gone through anyone who paid money for it either (like a gifting option).  As such, you might expect them to be mean-spirited or even just nasty, yet I can't honestly name one instance of that - everything basically boils down to electrifying the cookie jar lid so that you get a little shock when you try to sneak one before dinner.  You cast a sheepish look around and spot someone just giving you a knowing smirk - the trap-setter - and the two of you share a shrug.  No harm done, I suppose, but you've got to play by the rules now.  After all, you just literally got caught red-handed.

Take this instance for example, if you would:  Game Dev Tycoon is a game where you start up a game development company sometime in the 80s as a small operation with the intention of building it into a big brand that releases blockbuster titles.  It's not the first of its kind, nor will it be the last, and it's a genuinely interesting concept if nothing else.  It has a natural, obvious progression and for the most part, it's something you could likely sink time into 'indefinitely', except I imagine there's a point where the game 'ends' because of the years that have passed, if nothing else, and your success is measured then.  Maybe I'm wrong on that, however.  Regardless, if you're a legitimate purchaser and player of the game, you'll be able to have a nice, thriving company if you run it right.  However, if you've not purchased the game, eventually the games that your studio is making will start getting pirated more and more, and sold less and less.  Such a recipe is only good for disaster and, eventually, your company will go bankrupt.

This was the scenario that played out for a staggering 94% of initial players.  Ninety-four.  Of the 3,318 copies of the game that were floating around through the internet after its initial release, only 214 of them were purchased legitimately and it's thanks to this little anti-piracy scheme that we're seeing the true scope of this kind of figure.  People took to message boards, not-so-innocently lamenting the fact that they were unable to actually complete the game proper because their studios kept closing.  "Why are there so many pirates?  They're ruining my studio!" is exclaimed, yet nobody really understands the subtle irony to it because it is not exactly subtle, being the majority.  There's something funny about one or two people who pirated the game taking to message boards and voicing their confusion at a very obvious issue, as it always is in these situations.  There's something incredibly sad when those boards get flooded and it's less the outlier and more the norm.

I'll not get into the philosophical debate about whether or not piracy actually leads to lost income in developers since every side to the argument ends up going over semantics about entitlement and it's just not a fun conversation any way you slice it.  I will, however, say that I think this is absolutely brilliant if just for the subtle jab it takes that couldn't help but look for a better impact with the 95% piracy rate of the game.  Seriously, it's $8.  It's made by a handful of guys.  You seriously can't spend $8 to support these dudes for making a game that you obviously want to play?  And the "Piracy-As-Demo" idea doesn't fly considering there's an actual demo of the game.  With any luck, the exposure their story has gotten from the little piracy thing will divert a few sales their way since they deserve some money if just for providing a good laugh.  Yeah, their game isn't completely totally original, but what is anymore?  If it works and if it's fun, that's all that matters.

"wait my studio closed because of piracy?  geez, it's like karma or something"