THQ's For Coming

THQ announced late last year that it would be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy as it had run into significant financial problems. It was initially expected (as reported here) that the clear lake capital investment group would be bankrolling its operations until they could buy the company outright and it would continue as a whole in that manner until it got back on its feet.

This didn't happen. Their creditors and a government trustee filled objections saying that THQ had rigged the proceedings so it would be more fair to them than it would be to the creditors. A judge ruled in their favour and bidding was opened with the deadline set for January 22nd.

Well the bidding for the pieces of THQ ended today and here's how it all ended up.

The good folks at Sega took home Relic Studios and the Company Of Heroes IP ($26.6m).

Ubisoft picked up the South Park: The Stick Of Truth ($3.3m), THQ Montreal's studio along with two unannounced game IP's Underdog and 1666 ($2.5m) which had only been revealed through the bankruptcy proceedings.

Take-Two Interactive bought the Evolve IP ($10.9m)..

Crytek GmbH nabbed the Homefront IP rights ($544,218).

Volition Studios  and the licenses for Saints Row and Metro (including 2033 and 2034) went to Koch Media GmbH (also known in the states as Deep Silver).

One thing I wanted to make sure was clear about that last one. Koch Media. I know ethical shoppers will be aware of a particular pair of politically active businessmen in america with a similar sounding name. I want to assure you that the company Koch Media is not affiliated with them. 

Koch Media is a company that started in Germany in the early 90's by a couple of German guys. So yeah, buying games from Deep Silver does not support those with nefarious schemes for world domination. Unless Franz and Klemens have been playing that one particularly close to their chests.

Between all of this and Atari filing for the same chapter 11 bankruptcy you could be forgiven for believing that the games industry is dying. And in some ways it is. 

The games industry, as with any new industry, is volatile and probably will be for the next 50 years. But then it will have been forced to evolve by market forces so much that really at the end of the day it will be so much stronger.

So while it may be sad to say farewell to what we consider to be old friends. There is a lot to be hopeful for in the future of gaming. Just keep supporting games and studios you love and the rest will follow.

*sometimes wonders if opera is on to something*

Sources: Joystiq, Koch Media (now with 100% less evil)

Its All Our Fault

Creativity in the gaming industry has long been fraught with problems. Terrible story writing has been a plague on gaming for years. As an observer of the culture you may see the potential of the medium to grow and you will also be consistently disheartened by what seems to be, an increasingly shallow, gun porn and violence vehicle.

But there is one issue that often gets left completely to the wayside. The simple fact that its OUR fault. Capitalism works, but this is what capitalism working looks like. When it comes to deciding what's important to the general public all you really have to do is look at what they are buying.

Perhaps this doesn't take into account peoples motivations for their purchases, the deeper meanings these things have to the individual. As a measure of what's important to society though, what people buy is pretty much the most comprehensive way possible of seeing what exactly has value to them.

This brings to mind the old adage “a budget is a moral document”. Coined by the faithful, this phrase is so deeply and profoundly important, in a capitalist society, that its a wonder that its not more commonly used. Where we spend our money, as individuals and as a society, says a lot about our values, what is important to us and what our priorities are.

So gamers. Here's the thing. And this is quite difficult for me to say. But its our fault that the big three have so much power and its our fault that, with the rare exception, most games that come out of that evil empire are little more than violence porn. Not to say that there's anything particularly wrong with violence porn. Just that there is so much room for more depth in these things that is completely unexplored.

I do my best to spend my money as best I can. I support indie developers whatever way I can (look out for my #1GAM article, coming soon) but, at the end of the day, the field is so devoid of truly important content that it often feels like a completely fruitless endeavour.

Spend your money wisely folks.

*self hatred can be fruitful*

Bravo, Bravo, Encore, Encore

This years winter holiday has apparently been so successful for Steam that they have decided to have an Encore Weekend for their Steam Holiday Sale, which was supposed to end at 10am PST on Saturday, for two additional days of spectacular discounts.

The sales, for the two days, will not just be the standard discount fare however. "A select number of the most sought-after titles from the Steam Holiday Sale will reprise their biggest discounts" Suggesting that the sales will be for the highest end titles with the largest discount percentages they had during the holiday period.

This could mean phenominal savings and added opportunities to get your hands on some of the biggest titles of the past year at heavily discounted prices. Will this include Batman: Arkham City which, i maintain, was the greatest discount and value for money purchase for the whole sale? I'm sure we will find out. But all in all, gamers have a lot to be excited about in, what is essentially, the digital distribution version of the January clearance sales.


*is a massive steam fanboy*

Sources: Steam News

How to Lose Women And Alienate Everyone (Who Has a Soul)

In a time of new sexual revolution its not really surprising to see a lot of backlash from the established norms. But the most disheartening for me is how female gamers are treated as they, more and more, step into the arena with the boys. . But a new trend that's been getting a lot of coverage lately is the particularly nasty attacks that have been levelled against some female gamers. Also how they seem to be viewed by geek culture in general is really quite disturbing.

I won't be linking to the video's or the YouTube channel but there has been a revelation broken today by Kotaku (who have the aforementioned links if you want them). A user by the name of ShrineNI posted, on Dec. 23, in a “Christmas Special” YouTube video began voicing his opinions on how girls who play World of Warcraft, and presumably in all games, should be treated.

In this, oh so special Christmas extravaganza, he goes into detail about how to “Get inside the mind of a girl gamer”. From this well thought out and clearly evolved perspective we are treated to such titbits of wisdom as: “New content is too hard for them to participate in,” as an explanation of his perception that girl gamers only do old content raid instances like Molten Core. 

And apparently girls only do dailies and secondary professions so that they feel like they are playing the game when in fact they aren't. Because, you know, dailies and secondary professions aren't a “real” part of the game.

Now my personal opinion is that this was actually a troll of the girl that he takes aim at towards the end of the video, Daicy. I am currently awaiting a conversation with the girl gamer in question to discuss this issue. Update to follow.

The second video is more of the same disgusting behaviour and talk but again, I don't really buy it. At the beginning he feigns just enough elaborate planning about communication and coordination to sound like it's something he's put a great deal of thought into. the video then quickly deteriorate into him just rambling diatribe and fake sounding “get the gamer girl” nonsense.

Finally is the apology video which ShrineNI spends about 1:30 explaining how sorry he is for being so thoughtless. He then breaks out an ethnic slur against the author of the article and launches into yet another diatribe, this time, aimed at the author of the article, Patricia Hernandez and Kotaku in general.

Maybe I'm giving the guy too much benefit of the doubt but really if I am, then I think the quote of the whole day goes to the YouTube commenter who pointed out, that in the faux apology video, ShrineNI had the tab “How to come out of the closet” open.

The worrying thing about this whole thing isn't even so much the guy who posted the videos. As I said, I believe he is trolling. No, the really worrying thing is the commenter's. While I agree that its disgraceful to equate sexual harassment with sexual assault or rape, its quite still disturbing to see SO many people completely support the message of the video. That women are inferior in some way and should be treated like dirt for, you know, existing.

*is still scared of the feminazis*

Sources: Kotaku, Twitter, The ESA

Ooooo Yeahhhhh

So the folks at Ouya's have shipped 1,200 of their Kickstarter funded console and they have already begun arriving at developers all over the world. There seems to be a great buzz about it happening on twitter right now. So here's a quick run down on some reactions to the fledgeling console.

“Lunch Game Studio is a two man team based in beautiful Vancouver, BC. The team is currently working on the 2d platformer "Shelled In" slated for a multi-platform release. Check out the title specific pages for more info!”

Helmed by James Brotherston Lunch Game Studio has their game Fruit Flies up for review on Apple iTunes now.

Got my @playOuya dev console today!!! twitter.com/jamebesa/statu…
— James Brotherston (@jamebesa) January 4, 2013

Notorious console hacker Ben Heckendorn took it upon himself to tear the Ouya apart before ever turning it on because he was so excited to get inside this thing. I suppose that's a man thing hey?

Ouya teardown video. youtu.be/_hh3Ezg9xf0 Don't worry I put it all back together!
— Ben Heckendorn (@benheck) January 4, 2013

“Kactus Games is a small independent developer based in Perth, Western Australia. It was founded in mid-2010 when Kamil and Sue impulsively decided to make a game for Android. We currently have three Perth based team members.”

@playOuya We got our game's alpha version up and running on the same day as the unboxing! youtube.com/watch?v=pO2gdE…
— Kactus Games (@KactusGames) January 4, 2013

All in all the Ouya seems like its being very well received by developers, some even having their projects up and running on the machine, this bodes well for a decent selection of launch titles. With the open source nature of the console it will also no doubt be awash with indie titles of all kinds. With some major titles thrown in there for good measure and a potential version of Minecraft on the cards the folks over at Ouya have a lot to be excited about.

*wants one*

Sources: Twitter, Kactus Games, Lunch Game Studio

Slow News Cycle

So its the end of the year. Its usually pretty quiet around this time. Everyone's enjoying the period after Christmas, in which, no one does anything, nothing important happens and we all wait for the cluster fuck that will be, the New Year. But there are a few stories of varying scale and scope that deserve our attention, even if its only peripherally.

THQ Goes Bankrupt

This sounds like a much bigger story than it is. All that really happened was that the company defaulted on a loan and filed for some protections so it wouldn't have to close down. Right now THQ is being propped up by the Clearlake Capital Group, who bought the company for a song, in the interim while it gets back on its feet. Amid fears of cutbacks in the wake of their filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy a press release from THQ had this to say:

“THQ does not intend to reduce its workforce as a result of the filing, and employees will continue to work their usual schedules and receive normal compensation and benefits, pending customary Court approval.”
So basically the bankruptcy doesn't affect consumers, besides a few titles being set back a few months to reduce costs and it doesn't affect employees at the company because they will keep their jobs and salaries. Its really just a few numbers being moved from one ledger to another.

No Code Heroes(?)

The good folks over at Kickstarter have had a phenomenal year. Since the unprecedented success of Double FineAdventure in March. New indie projects have been getting crowd-funding monies out the yin yang ever since.

One game in particular has been raising eyebrows though. I personally think its a much less sinister than it would seem but there is no question, that the Kickstarter campaign for Code Hero (a programming game/teaching tool) has been behaving rather oddly. 

The developer, having promised many features and regular updates about his project, suddenly became very quiet once the project was fully funded. Now, to me, this seems like just another case of an overly ambitious project leader, making promises,out of enthusiasm, that they cant realistically deliver on. I truly hope, however, that this game is completed because I, for one, am VERY interested in seeing the end result.

Games Of The Year: From What I've Heard

There has been a few picks from various sites and sources across the interwebs but no real answer about what the definitive game of the year was. Halo 4 Tops Amazons list of Best Sellers of 2012 but the subjective, best of the year, is never decided based on sales. 

There have been picks bandied about from TheWalking Dead, to Mass Effect 3. Farcry 3 has been a major contender in the running. And i'm sure someone is saying that CodBlops2 counts as some kind of interactive experience that. I believe those people are typically considered 'barely cognisant' so I'm not sure they count as people, but I digress. 

Since I have not played any of these games and have no money to do so in any kind of a timely fashion I will be picking one based entirely on what I've heard about it, what I'm interested in seeing about it and really, simply, how much the thought of playing it excites me. 

My Game Of The Year: From What I've Heard 2012 is Farcry 3. Having played Far Cry 2 rather extensively i feel that i know what to expect from Far Cry 3, but while FC2 was a hugely satisfying experience I could see that there was so much more unrealised potential in the title and its direction. It truly thrills me that, from  what I've heard, its really lived up to that potential.

*wonders when the next end of the world is happening*

Sources: Escapist, Kotaku, Kickstarter, VentureBeat, Softpedia

CrayZ(?)

So i figured this deserved a little investigation. A rumour has been spreading about The War Z again. This time it has been claimed that a month prior to their release of the game they had been notified that their trademark is invalid due to a prior registration of a trademark. The rumour claims that the prior trade mark was the movie World War Z.

Executive Producer Sergey Titov's reaction to the news, as usual, was a massive confidence in the tiny patch of extremely thin ice he stood on. “It basically says that this application is suspended because there's another application with regards to this trademark.”

Since you can actually look this kind of thing up through publicly available patent application records on the internet I thought I'd take a look into it.

As you can see, Sergey; to his credit, included a handy little guide to looking this kind of thing up. The link he provided didn't actually lead anywhere because the search session expires after a few minutes. One can only speculate as to why he didn't just give a direct link to all of the details about his patent application. but the guide is actually quite useful. So lets start there.

1) Go to uspto.gov: Done

2) Go to TESS - trademark search: Its in one of the tabs up top, but OK, not too hard to find

3) Search for War Z: Also not too complicated.

4) Enjoy LIVE trademark!: Yay, all above board and completed and... Oh wait... What's this?

It turns out that trademarks aren't simply either live or dead. If you look a little deeper into the trademark information by clicking into the TSDR you can see its prosecution history. This is basically just a list of notices of actions taken by the office against the claim. If you've ever dealt with any large american bureaucracy you'll be familiar with this as their standard form of transparency. Given the size and scope of these departments its really to their credit that these facilities function as well as they do.

Under prosecution history you can see that the War Z application is suspended. Just like our good buddy Sergey said it had been, and it has been suspended since the first day the examiner looked at it on the 15th of November 2012. But is it a big deal? What's the reasoning behind the suspension? Well, its right there under documents, you can read the suspension letter. “... a mark(s) in a prior-filed pending application(s) may present a bar to registration of applicant’s mark.“

In short this just means that a previous application exists (read: not granted yet) for a trademark of a similar name  that may conflict with their application (World War Z perhaps?).

Where Sergey is wrong is that he seems to think that, when the application for World War Z goes through, his application will still be approved. This is not the case. When the application for World War Z gets approved (which it recently hasbeen) his application will be declined shortly afterwards and he'll be left with his dick in his hand... again.

I cannot imagine the lengths that Sergey Titov must go through to maintain this fantasy world where everything he touches turns to gold and anyone who says otherwise is part of the greatest feat of gang stalking in all of human history. He clearly wasn't prepared to be in the limelight as much as he has been. But he's been so consistently wrong about the facts surrounding his game that one starts to wonder if he is, in fact, either a paranoid delusional or a pathological liar.

*sometimes wonders if everyone is secretly trolling him*

Sources: USPTO, The War Z Forums

X–Rebirth: Expected To Be Overdue

The long awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed X series of space simulator games has been set back until 2013. X-Rebirth was initially expected to be released at the end of this year but the developers have decided to delay launch saying

“...it turns out that you don't simply reinvent space games overnight! ;)”

Maybe I'm strange, but I always get a little spark of happiness, to accompany whatever disappointment I feel, whenever I hear that a release date has been set back. Unless its “for the foreseeable future” or “for an indeterminate amount of time”, there is a little flare of excitement there, because, it says to me that, the developers don't want to rush out an incomplete product, as has become such common practice lately.

It would seem that the the folks over at Egosoft have been taking great time and care with their project which has been in the works for over 5 years. And while not all of it has been voluntary, it has all been necessary, to keep the project on the table at all.

Player involvement has been such a focus for the developers that they even have a poll on their Facebook page in which fans vote on which model they would like to see used, in game, for the "Plasma Pumps Production Unit".

This is just one example of how Egosoft have used player feedback to inform their decision making. The forums are constantly alive with discussions about new developments and directions that the fans want the game to go in. And it would seem that there is always a keen ear willing to listen whenever anyone has an intriguing new idea.

To my recollection I don't think I've seen collaboration on this level between players and developers. And while I'm sure its partly to blame for the long development time, I think it is to be commended and I hope that in the future the process can be streamlined.

All in all I'm very much looking forward to see what they end up with as a final product. I'm just glad that with all their setbacks and issues they still haven't been tempted to release an incomplete product. It would have been a huge let down if all this time spent and effort invested had been for a shoddy product. And while I'm sure expectations are ridiculously high, i'm equally sure that the folks over at Egosoft are going to do their best to reach them.

*played every X game, has never finished a story mode*

Sources: Egosoft Email

It Begins...

Well, its that time of year again, Santa's out in full force with his ho's, the reindeer are so sloshed their noses glow red, the elves are using extra fairy dust to get all the toys ready (this is in no way an allegory for child slaves and methamphetamine) and the good folks over at Steam have begun their Christmas salegasm.

Its been a year since the last one (obviously) and I am still feeling the pain from all the moneys I spent on bundles and DLC's and yes, even individual games.

With many of your favourite franchises releasing new DLC and sequels this year its the perfect opportunity to pick up the games you most wish you'd been able to afford during the year. Most notably in my opinion is Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition which is on "flash sale" for the low low price of just $7.49 discounted by 75%.

I got the Valve bundle last year and if I remember correctly it was the same price as this years but with 1 noticeable change, DOTA 2 is now a part of the list. From this one pack alone I have had countless hours (I'm sure I could add up steams totals) of fun. Between co-op games of Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead or just letting loose in Team Fortress 2 on-line there's one hell of a lot of fun to be had in this bundle.

Steam aren't the only ones with some amazing offers for Christmas though. For my indie titles I prefer to go straight to the Humble Bundle sales to pick them up for a fraction of their original cost (not because I don't feel they are worth more but because I am financially destitute) and just yesterday they began the Humble Indie Bundle 7. With the critically acclaimed Dungeon Defenders (including DLC) available when you contribute over the average donation. Indie Game: The Movie is also included in the bundle and while not strictly a game is looking like a great insight into how indie games get made.


And finally, in honour of this most auspicious occasion I am unveiling the brand new, fully featured Donate button, care of my good friends at PayPal. And while the funds raised from the donate button may be non-refundable and while they may not be spent entirely on games (though I will make every effort to spend as much as I can on games) it will certainly help me stay alive to play them. So without further adieu I bring you "Help the G" a button designed specifically for your viewing pleasure and for my income convenience.

*is so hungry, so very very hungry*

WarZ, WarZ, Give Me Your Answer Do

So the WarZ scandal continues. But I think its reached its absolute low point so its time for me to step in and sum up what's been going on with this incredible success/terrible failure.

WarZ is a game that's been released in reaction to the increased popularity of zombie based games in recent months and years (despite the claims of the developers). With the rise of franchises like The Walking Dead and the unexpected success of the ARMA II mod DayZ "zombie apocalypse sims" seem to be going from strength to strength.

But the developers of WarZ seem to have made some fundamental errors in the realm of public relations and in the broader area of general human honesty and consideration.

The controversy began pretty much as soon as the game was released. In the description sectoin on the steam page for WarZ there were a few glaring discrepancies between what the description was saying and what was actually included in the game.

It was clear that the listed features were supposed to be a part of the game as there was no mention of the game either being an alpha/beta or that some features would be added at a later date. I'm actually willing to put this down to the developers being overzealous in their approach to their description  Their dreams for the game and intentions for the future being mistaken for the actuality of what they had produced and released.

If you've read any of the reactions from the developers to the outcry about the numerous scandals you can tell that these guys are really very impassioned, if a little (read: a lot) misguided, so I can see how this would happen. That is no excuse mind you, they should be expected to maintain some level of objectivity regarding their game, especially when engaging in actual description of its existent features.

But this wasn't enough for the folks over at Hammerpoint Interactive. Once they had secured the top spot on steams best sellers the proceeded to release a patch which I can only assume was cynically retained for this exact purpose. The patch increased the waiting period for re-spawn from one hour (which i already find ridiculous) to 4 hours with the option of paying the equivalent of ~$0.27 (based on their in their in game currency pricing) for a reduced re-spawn time.

Add to this their Steam forum administrators constant banning of the accounts of critics. According to one user if they ban you from the Steam forums, they also ban your game account, though this is unconfirmed. This quickly becomes more than enough to make your blood boil already.

So how do the developers respond to the questions that have been levelled against them about their shady practices? Well, they blame the customer of course. They haven't released a statement about their censorship or sudden micro-transaction yet but Sergey Titov had this to say on the subject of the wildly misleading and inaccurate description on the steam page.

"I'm sure there'll be people who will look into small details and will say "no I was mislead," where in fact they imagined something to themselves without checking details first. I'm sure that Steam have it's refund policies that should handle those situations."

So there you have it. If you read things that are presented as facts and assume they are facts its your own fault because the person who wrote them can just retroactively say "we meant something else"

*is now worried he will have to retroactively say he meant something else*


***UPDATE***

Steam has pulled WarZ from their service. While people who already purchased the game can still play it, it is no longer available for purchase. Those who wish to continue playing may do so but those who are dissatisfied with their game may create a ticket through steam to get a refund. 
Valve had this to say to Kotaku:

"From time to time a mistake can be made and one was made by prematurely issuing a copy of War Z for sale via Steam. We apologize for this and have temporary removed the sale offering of the title until we have time to work with the developer and have confidence in a new build. Those who purchase the game and wish to continue playing it via Steam may do so. Those who purchased the title via Steam and are unhappy with what they received may seek a refund by creating a ticket at our support site here."


Our old buddy Sergey also weighed in saying:

"We're making sure that our Store page is 100% correct this is why."
"Bottom line—our end goal is to have satisfied and not angry customers, so this is more important for us than everything else."

It seems to me like he's trying to make it sound like they only took the page down to make changes to the page itself, while steam are saying they took the page down to make changes to the game. I'm starting to believe that Hammerpoint really didn't intend for any of this to happen and Sergey is just a completely useless communicator.

Sources: Gamespy, Escapist Magazine, Kotaku, Reddit