Coding Horror had a really good article on piracy (via Petri). The article still mentions the World of Goo case though we don’t have any update about the piracy rate. It’s gonna be really interesting to learn about numbers with 2DBoy at the GDC 09.
In a nutshell the solution is: Have a great product. Charge a fair price for it. Piracy is not a dead end, it’s also the best viral software distribution network. Web 2.0 talks about getting eyeballs well, piracy with newsgroups and p2p are myHi5spacebook fo game developers. Publishers cannot deal with it but indies sure can. And should.
Rara Racer is awesome (via Raph). It’s a little game made in 48 hours and it’s the kind of game that surprises you even when you think it can’t. Trust me and play it.
There’s only two games from the ps3 that I’d love to play (videos in links): PixelJunk and Flower (ok, let’s add Noby Noby Boy).
Digital organic-ness.
What I don’t really understand is that these games are made by little companies (Q Games, TGC) which certainly want to maximize their investments. Why going exclusive with the horse who’s dying in liters of blood? I really feel it was the last time little gamedev teams would go this way. I hope so.
Gamasutra reminded me with his Best Of 2008 that the game business in Montreal seems like a great family in which employee salary fixing and spying could be the routine. Interestingly enough, Flavie was HR manager at Ubisoft Montreal -and ex COO’s wife? same Tremblay last name- then she was at Eidos and she’s back in Ubi, same position. Fucking weird and totally french if you ask me. Comments are quite funny:
“Ubisoft management “ideologues” are some of the most corrupt in the business, as anyone that has worked with them can attest. This is one of several methods they use to shore up either incompetent or shoddy internal HR practices.
What is surprising is that Eidos didn’t tell Ubi to go fuck themselves when extended this kind of offer like EA/Dice did in Bucharest or Crytek did in Kiev.”
Ouch.
“In fact, altough I am a employer, I must agree with the idea, competition to pay higher and higher salaries are what drive costs upward wildly, make games cost 60USD on the box, and results in stupid workers having high salaries.”
Then change your stupid business model of AAA that sell poorly and cost 18-24months/100-200 people to produce. Setting a salary-fixing BS is plain wrong, especially with a government as nice as the Canadian one (heavy tax breaks). Greed is a disease.
By the way another one:
“And, you know, I tend to only call sexism when something is offensive to women while glorifying men — but all the show really glorified was that it’s awesome to be a chubby nerd in your underwear. How do you guys feel about being portrayed that way?”
First I don’t wear underwear and I’m a funky nerd. But this is why “video” games awards have no appeal on me -even if it’s the start of recognition of a culture wall- because I’m too much fucking busy searching and experiencing things to really care about which game is the game of the year with people looking to the good old past. The same for a lot of folks in the game industry. I admire people able to do some code and express themselves in front of a camera. Opposite skills. Let us another few years.
Crayon Physics is out on the iPhone.
Dream timelessness.
InfiniteAmmo announces Marian. I love how this little team is giving and sharing stuffs. Alec, composer and coder did a Pajama Jam. So cool, I did a little one too. They can’t stop doing games and prototypes, I love it.
This year the level of polish from indie games is gonna be mature.