Power of the Teens

Today I watched 3 podcast which are related to game industry. Each of the podcast discuss certain aspect of the game industry. Mostly, the liabilities which can be a huge problem to the relation between games and minors.

First podcast was about the Supreme Court case about selling mature games to the minors. In this podcast there were 2 guests which discussed the ban the games for minors is right or not. I had to admit, I liked this podcast because topic was discussed objectively which related how the mature games effect the minors. How minors can access the mature games and how these games affect minors daily lives. I agree with the host about this court is a serious matter for the game industry which will able to influence game industry seriously.

Second podcast was about the same issue, but this time host had 3 guest which overview the censorship of the game. In this discussion mainly focused rating system that if it is really working or not. Also, how the decision of the Supreme Court will affect the industry. Some of the guests were strongly disagreed with the idea of banning the games for the minors. However, they also discussed how rating and censorship is in the Europe in order to compromise the issue with alternative point of view.

Third podcast was about the same issue, but compare to the first two podcast, this podcast shoot by the non game related websites. This podcast was about the host's point of view about the issue and how important the game industry for the economy and most of the gamers. He was worried about the impact of the decision of the Supreme Court will destroy most of the important franchises like Activision's Call of Duty. He defended his issue with how violence and nudity is the reflection of the reality.

This issue is a very serious matter recently about the game industry. As all the podcasts discussed the decision of Supreme Court will have a huge impact to the game industry. Rating of the games or "maturity" of the games right now seems that the most important liability for the video games. We see more news about nudity and violence of the games. Moreover, some of these games already banned from other countries because of their maturity. Moreover, this time entire genre is going to aimed by the court. All of these issues will affect the developing of the mature games which are the backbone of the game industry.

Podcast links:
1. http://www.gameindustry.com/podcast/item.asp?id=95
2. http://www.gameindustry.com/podcast/item.asp?id=68
3. http://www.justin.tv/thegunnshop/b/281891068?utm_campaign=archive_export&utm_source=thegunnshop&utm_medium=youtube

Screenshots:
1.http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ccfc/images/manhunt%20axe.jpg
2.http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1425/710361398_04a8ee59ca_o.jpg
3.http://jimmyjangles.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/miranda_breasts_sex_scene_mass_effect.jpg

Other side of the Coin

Everyone who is interested in the game industry or read news regarding the games probably read couple of sues regarding the game developer or distributor companies. It is like every major or minor company in the game industry that faced couple of courts since 2000.

Most of these courts focused on violence and nudity of the video games. With the advancement of technology and popularity of the mature games, many games today contain violence and nudity in their arsenal. Best examples are Dragon Age, Mass Effect and The Witcher franchises for the RPG games.

Because of that, many parents and media focused on the contents of the game. Recently, long awaited game Duke Nukem Forever accused as highly sexist by the media and Women's Media Center VP. Because of the status of the women in the game (every women in the game are strippers and you can kill them for fun), The Gearbox Software will likely face a case about this issue after the release.

Regarding of the mature game issue, there is another case about mature games in the Iowa Supreme Court. The case is about how to sell the mature games with or without parents. California State wanted to prohibit the sail of mature games to the minors who do not have parents with them. Video Software Dealers Association and Entertainment Software Association concerned by this law because they fear that this law may hurt their income tremendously and apparently both parties will face each other in Iowa.

However, the industry does not just face sex and violence regarding cases. Sometimes taxes and the other regulations are important case as well. For example, the best known Facebook games, FarmVille and CityVille developers Zynga considering the leave San Francisco because stock-option payroll tax.

Screenshots:

1.http://www.electricpig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fallout-gore.jpg
2.http://www.3drealms.com/duke-nukem-forever.jpg

Advertisement in Games?

In all around entertainment businesses, advertisement is the main income and marketing tools for the companies. Because of the large audience of the entertainment industries, many companies choose them for marketing their products or services. This type of business is common especially in the music and movie industry and we can see the sign of the branding and marketing of the products inside the game industry as well.

However, there is a big difference between other entertainment industries and the game industry in regard of advertising. Most of advertisement and marketing tools aren't fond by the audience. Most of the audience try to avoid the advertisement rather than listen or watch. On the other hand in game industry, advertisement adds realism into the game which is highly demanded by the audience.

Most of the in-game advertisements are brand names who are the sponsors of the sport teams like brand name of the sponsors on the jerseys. Because of that reason, most of the in-game advertisements are for sport genre. Madden, NHL and NBA2K franchises are the best example. However we can see other brands name in racing and simulations as well.

It's hard to say that we can encounter any advertisement in RPG games. Because most of the RPG game have a concept of medieval fantasy and this concept hardly open an environment of marketing.

Screenshot sources:
http://img810.imageshack.us/f/ajie.jpg/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ea-sports-game-gatorade.jpg
http://www.testdriveunlimited2z.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Test-Drive-Unlimited-2-tdu211.jpg

Power of the Sequels

One month ago I wrote a post about how the competition will rise in the game industry for 2011. There will be a lot of AAA games going to be release at the same time. Despite the news, the whole industry will wait till to the end of year because of the recent financial reports.

Also, there are some news going out in the internet about the games in the Game Development Center 2011(GDC 2011). In the GDC, there was a lot of games which made a huge impression to the press as well as to the auidence.

However, I realized that most of the anticipated games of the 2011 and recently released AAA games are sequels of the last or two years old games. For example "Dead Space 2", "Dragon Age 2" and "Witcher 2: The Assassins of Kings". At first, it may seemed that industry repeated itself by creating something already created 2 or 3 years ago. However, these sequels games are more improved than their predecessors.

These new games offer more graphics, gameplay, action and most importantly more fun than their predecessors. Although, most of these games are not yet released, the expectations of the industry and audience seems to be very high. Because the developer teams of each game tried to keep their strong points and improve their weakness as well as creating more contents for their games.

Actually, I don't really sure about why most developers tend to do sequels rather than creating a new game. I guess it may be because of the recent financial news or the popularity of the sequels games. With the discouraged news of financial reports, the developers and producers don't want to take huge risks anymore. Because one failure may lead to bankruptcy in these days. Moreover, sequel games have a loyal players because of the first game and the name of the product already became a brand which the auidence can trust.

At the end, I think these were the reasons why we see many sequel games in the shelves today. But I can't say that I have problem with this. Also I believe that, most of the audience agree with me right now.

Negotiation

Negotiation is something that we are doing every time during our daily lives. Like when we negotiate about the time when we will return at night, deciding a place for lunch with our friends and choosing a location for a summer journey with our lover.

Also, the negotiation is an important part of the game industry. Most game producers needs to negotiate the when they were planing the schedule, priorities,relationship between the teams and searching for the funding resources. So, negotiation is one of the vital points in the process of developing games.

That's why in this month I interviewed with Ergun Aydalga, one of the owners of Aybim the Software Development Company, about the preparations and the vital things during negotiations. Software Development Industry is very similar to the game industry so I thought that this interview will be useful for the game industry too.

According to the Ergun Aydalga,one of the important things in the negotiations is the preparation process. He advised that the best way to understand the other party and deciding on your objective criteria is visiting your opponents if you have a chance. In these visit, you have a chance to meet your opponent face to face before the negotiation starts. These visits also gave you a chance to understand both the personality and the objectives of your opponent.

Another way to prepare the negotiations is the build your self consciousnesses before the negotiation. Ergun Aydalga suggests that meditating or relaxing will be useful but it depends on the individual.

Also during the interview Ergun Aydalga mentions the importance of separating the people from the problem during the negotiation. Ergun Aydalga said that the best way the do this is focusing mutual benefits during the deal. He claimed that even though other parties may be become hostile at the beginning, you can solve the issue if you can offer the best beneficial offers for both parties. Because doing this will neutralize the behavior and you gained the respect of the other parties. Thus influence them to make a deal even though you had a small chance at the beginning.

So, according to the one of the expert in the software business these are the vital points for preparation and making a successful deal. I thanked again for his time and consideration for giving me a chance to wrote this interview in this blog.

A Bloody Battle is Upon Us!

2010 started quickly with the release of "Mass Effect 2" but, last season didn't met the expectations of the game players except brand new game of the huge series: "Fallout New Vegas” which, wasn't graded much by critics unlike "Fallout 3". This status of the game market reflect the games sales which dropped 2% to $24.7 billion.

However, 2011 is still new and may change everything. Unlike last year, this year has too much expectations and anticipations by the audience because of the announcements of the big guns.

The first wave of the bombardment is going to happen in March. "Fable 3", "Dragon Age 2" and "Witcher 2: The Assassins of Kings" which are the three of the greatest RPG sequels will be in the front line at the battlefield. Moreover "Shogun 2: Total War", the last game of the one of the best RTS game series in all time, will start the invasion of the shelves in March. Last but not the least, "Crysis 2" which was the sequel of the best seller game "Crysis" will be on the shelves in this March.

Why wait for the March? Even though it is not a bombardment the scout battalions already released, like one of the most anticipated MMORPG, which is "DC Universe Online". Also there are rumors like "Diablo 3 and games, which don't have a specific release date like "Deus Ex: Human Evaluation" maybe show themselves in 2011. Also, important DLCs for "Fallout New Vegas" and expansions like "The Sims Medieval" will offer more for the games, which are already in the field. However, the outcome won't be decided until the end because another big sequels like "Mass Effect 3", "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" and "Batman: Arkham City" will show themselves at the last quarter of the 2011.

With the rising of the inflation, dropping sale rates and decreasing buying power around the world, will these games can beat each other and find themselves a buyer? It is uncertain and these games will be able to face a delay but with the financial status of the game market and the power of these brand names, we will definitely see a very bloody battle soon.

Big Pocket of Duty

Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops earned a milestone by gaining 1 billion dollar revenue since the game released on November 9. According to the Gamespot:

"In the first 24 hours, 5.6 million gamers answered the latest Call of Duty for a total of $360 million in sales. Within the first five days, Black Ops sales had reached $650 million. Those numbers trumped last year's opening for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which posted a 4.7 million unit, $310 million one-day total and reached $550 million in five days."

Even though Call of Duty is a shooting game not a RPG, I still want to the write about this success. Because this achievement may effect not just RPG but, entire game industry as well.

You may want to know how this is going to effect the game market? The reason is simple. Activison's Call of Duty: Black Ops is one of the products that earn so much money in so litle time that, achievement can be compared with the James Cameron's Avatar Movie. Also, this success shows the accomplishment of a game that one can make on the sales chart.

Of course, best selling is not a new thing for the game industry. If I remember right, GTA 4 gained nearly 155 million dollar at their first three day. Also, everyone knows about how Blizzard earn more than 1 million dollars in every month thanks to the World of Warcraft.

However, I believe that no game has earned 1 billion dollar so quickly in the entire history of game business. This maybe a sign that game industry will become the most profitable market in the entertainment business.

On the other hand, there is always a downside. Recently, Best Buy announced that their entertainment software sales down 15.4 percent in the last 14 months. Also for the last holiday season their sale down 1.6 percent since last year. But according to the news, Best Buy already have problems about decrease in the sales of the other departments. So this decrease do not show the real potential of the game market.