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In my understanding of how a traditional retail store works, the business buys goods from a supplier in order to put them on its shelves (in some way or another). In which case, the supplier has already recouped the cost of the goods because the business had to pay to acquire those goods in the first place.
So why does everyone argue as though a sale at a GameStop counter to Joe Consumer is what ferries the money over to the good ol' folks who made the games? Haven't the developer AND publisher already received money by supplying the retail outlets with copies?
If the game industry doesn't work like a traditional retail business, then why not?
I understand that either way, used sales can affect the number of new copies sold (in turn, affecting developers), but WHEN the developers and publishers receive payment along the chain of supply is important. It affects what we should do as consumers, and it affects what the developers and publishers can do to stop the middleman from cannibalizing the whole system.
For example, (again, bear with my limited understanding of the industries involved, I might be mistaken), in the book industry, publishers will absorb overstock at no cost to retailers, in order to encourage retailers to purchase more copies in hopes of selling more all around. Does the games industry do something like this? Because right now, there seems to be a lot of incentive for the Gamestops of the world to buy a small amount of new stock (lowering how much stock the publisher sells overall) and keep churning profit out of it through used game sales. Is there anything the publishers can do to increase the amount of stock that retailers take in without hurting the retailers themselves? And would it affect new game sales?
I think that we need to look at the economic side of things and cool down a bit, instead of making this a linear, your-wallet-to-developers'-paychecks, tug-at-your-heartstrings debate. Because our actions as consumers affect developers, certainly. But not DIRECTLY. What does the rest of the picture look like? Can anyone explain the whole process? Because I have no clear idea of how it works, and I'm sure I'm not alone."
The comparison to censorship in other industries, especially the comic book industry, is interesting. One of the arguments against comic books, aside from allegations of homosexuality and violence, was that it would contribute to the illiteracy of children. That's one allegation that has stayed out of the courts where video games are concerned. But there's still a perception among the general public that video games infringe upon time best spent improving oneself (by reading books instead, often implied).
I doubt charges of creating illiteracy will ever be addressed by the law or in court, but concerned (or paranoid) people could wind up spearheading a social movement that argues video games do just that."
In older games, I was always frustrated when being limited to just four or six letters. My name is seven. If I could have used my own name, it would have been different, but I always got annoyed at the game, thinking "Why do you have to make me make up some whole new name? A name that'll probably sound stupid and I'll have to live with for the rest of my playthrough."
So I started naming characters based on their roles and genders. Secret of Mana, before I knew the canon names? Called the three "Boy," "Girl," and "Sprite." Generic sword-wielding protagonist? "Hero" did just fine in a pinch.
I don't like using my name, because often the characters are so unlike me that they aren't really relatable if i slap my own name in front of them. A free-roaming game like Oblivion is fine. But I'd rather characters had their own names so I could empathize with their experience, rather than be distracted by my own name.
Side question for people who rented games on cartridges back in the day: What's the weirdest character name you've found on a rental/used game cartridge? I routinely found names of people, but once I picked up a copy of Soulblazer and found a hero named "Smiggie.""
It must be really obscure, I can't even find any screenshots of it. Just this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12ZjAXkW_ko
I've been waiting for a modern version of Familiss on a handheld or console for ages."
I decided before I went to TGS that I would wear business casual (because I look like a highschool kid in the stuff I lounge around at home in, never mind the fact that a T-shirt just didn't seem appropriate). But then when I arrived, I was one of the only girls in the press line, and one of the only people wearing decently nice clothes. Even though I didn't do anything wrong, it made me feel awkward and out of place because I was a lone nicely-dressed person in a sea of the casual and sloppy. Saw lots of Nintendo shirts, even though Nintendo wasn't even AT TGS last year. A few Sega shirts. Even a Final Fantasy shirt.
Some outlets had their own T-shirts, which is a bit better. I think the sites that get their own branded polo shirts look the most professional without too stuffy.
Definitely agree with the rest too. I think the point of number 6 isn't so much "Don't show any emotion and be objective and serious all the time," than "Have some restraint, self-control and calmness. Don't bellow like a whoo-drunk."
You can spot the people who are excited but controlled about it. They have this sparkle in their eyes, this quiet smile that just says "I'm having the time of my life right now and I just played/saw something really awesome." And then they politely hand over a business card or something. No fanboygasming.
Those people are very classy, and I'd love to be like that someday. (I imagine I looked less classy, more harried and overwhelmed.)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bapyn1VKGg
Picking one is too hard. There are so many great Mario songs. I was a fan of the music they played in the Paper Mario commercial, but that's maybe 15 seconds long, so...
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@Chase - I loved Crush. Some reviews criticized it for the learning curve or for not really going anywhere, but it's a puzzle game and so I can forgive it for having a one-by-one mission-based structure. It just used its premise to churn out a lot of creative stages. I think it got overshadowed by the higher-profile Super Paper Mario, which came out around the same time and runs with the opposite concept (expand 2D scenes to 3D landscapes to find hidden passageways, etc.)."
@Frank - You should be in for a treat. How far did you get on previous attempts? And have you played Ico before?"
I'm trying really hard to remember last year's show in Tokyo, which was phenomenal. That was the first time that VGL played music from Shadow of the Colossus, and I'm pretty sure that that was one game that they paired with a ton of gameplay footage, for two reasons. One, because there aren't very many cutscenes in SotC, and two, because the gameplay is where the biggest and baddest epic moments are!
It was a combination of the pre-title-screen theme, and The Opened Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3PRXFLJYcw
My reaction? I think I was slack-jawed and paralyzed with awe, unable to even twitch my fingers. I just let the walls of sound hit me. No musical performance had EVER done that to me before. Video Games Live was top notch, but the Shadow of the Colossus portion of the Tokyo show was beyond description."