Topic: E3 MMX

[TJ Spyke]

I couldn't tell you any specific numbers, but I know that $15/year would not run matchmaking and dedicated servers across all games for everybody who wants them.

Do you have any actual info to support that or are you just assuming it? $15 would be more than enough. Besides, very few Xbox Live enabled games have dedicated servers, the majority of them use P2P connections (which is another reason EA only has themselves to blame by choosing to run dedicated servers).

[NWR_insanolord]

Valve gives away Steam for free. There's absolutely no reason $15-20 a year shouldn't be enough to run a good service.

[Dirk Temporo]

Steam is a digital distribution service. That's it. It has nothing to do with matchmaking or servers, except on Valve games, whose dedicated servers are run by the people playing them, meaning that there would literally be no reason to have to pay for Steam. Matchmaking costs money too. You're still accessing their network in order to play the game. The total cost goes up every time somebody joins, so having less people isn't going to lower the individual price.

[NWR_insanolord]

Matchmaking costs money, but nobody except Microsoft (and now EA, if you buy it used) charges for it, so there's no reason to believe that they couldn't continue to not charge for it.

[Dirk Temporo]

I can't even think of any games that use matchmaking that aren't on PSN, which pretty much everybody has accepted is vastly inferior to Xbox Live.

[MaryJane]

I can't even think of any games that use matchmaking that aren't on PSN, which pretty much everybody has accepted is vastly inferior to Xbox Live.

I would like to respond to what you said before the comma, but I don't even know what that means... lol there's a good chance it's just me so don't take offense to that.

I don't know about vastly inferior... there's just a few(sort of important)things missing, but the overall experience is satisfying. For one thing, its main purpose is served: you can extend the playtime of a game you bought by competing online and/or adding DLC. Most of the games I would play online on a 360 are on PS3 or can I get something 'close enough'. For online play having a great story or intriguing characters isn't really that important. 

That is why I think the handheld market is going to be so important. Nintendo was right to say that graphics are reaching their peak, and to a certain degree so are game types. Nintendo is one of the few developers who still strive to create unique and amazing software titles. Media Molecule definitely deserves A LOT A LOT A LOT of credit for LittleBigPlanet, and I am anxious to see LBP2, but they're fairly new so let's see if they're going to be a one trick pony. There are only so many types of games you can make before repeating yourself, and that is why the experience is more important. I'm not going to prattle about that on the console side because Sony and MS are going to make that painfully apparent at E3. In the handheld department there are really on two competitors--I know about iLine of gadgets, but the people who play games on those things are either unlikely to have a DS or PSP or already have one, they doesn't really replace a dedicated system... yet--is Sony really going to make the PSP have two screens? They can give it a touch screen, but Nintendo is poised to move past that, and by the time Sony gives the PSP a 3D screen--which actually they may do rather quickly judging from the moves they are making in their non-video game divisions--Nintendo will be ready to offer a new experience while Sony will be offering more of the same. With MS's success and the increasing popularity of portables--hopefully about to be made to explode with the introduction of the 3DS and portable 3D without glasses--it is likely that a true third, and a fourth, fifth, and so on competitors may arise, but no one makes game experiences like Nintendo, and developers like to make money the Nintendo way.

[Kytim89]

E3 2010: GIVE ME GRAND THEFT AUTO WII NOW!

[BeautifulShy]

Rockstar isn't going to be at E3 this year so the likelyhood of that happening is low Kytim.

[Kytim89]

Rockstar isn't going to be at E3 this year so the likelyhood of that happening is low Kytim.

What about GTA 5?

[BeautifulShy]

The analysts jumped the gun and said that GTA 5 will be at E3 but Rockstar said they won't be at E3. So any IP that Rockstar has will not be shown because Rockstar won't be at E3.

[Caterkiller]

Anyone think we'll finally see what Retro is up to? Man in 2 generations we have 3 games and one compilation, am I missing anything? I really want to see what they are working on. Something to please Ian i'm sure, at least until he finds out motion plus is required.

[Caliban]

It's a 2 hour presentation, so Nintendo should show what Retro is working on.

[Ian Sane]

Anyone think we'll finally see what Retro is up to? Man in 2 generations we have 3 games and one compilation, am I missing anything? I really want to see what they are working on. Something to please Ian i'm sure, at least until he finds out motion plus is required.

Well Motion+ will probably be a requirement for the new Zelda so by the time any new Retro game comes out I'll probably have one by then anyway.
 
Retro has been quiet for so long that I fear that they'll just announce Metroid Prime 4 or just something that is really not very interesting.  Or Nintendo will do another Silicon Knights and have them work on some remake of a third party PS2 game.  Or Nintendo will someday just quietly mothball them.  Or sell them to Microsoft.
 
The time between games has just built up this level of anticipation that it would be so easy to disappoint.  You know that if their next project isn't so hot that we'll have to wait YEARS before they move to something else.  With a more prolific dev you might get something lame but then next year you get something else so it's not that big of a deal.  But we haven't heard from these guys in almost three years.  If they haven't been working on something cool, we won't get something cool from them for probably another four years since I doubt their next game is a 2010 release.
 
What if we just have another E3 with no news from Retro?  What do we assume then?  It's really seems like now is the time to show something.

[King of Twitch]

They were waiting for 2010 so they could have two consecutive best game of the decade awards.

[Stogi]

Ian...you are forgetting Nintendo's new policy: Don't say **** until it's done. Retro hasn't released anything substantial for quite some time but that doesn't mean they are not working on anything. The average development cycle is roughly 3 years for something brand new (i.e. new game engine). Like you said, it's been almost 3 years so we should expect something. Just don't be so damn pessimistic. You don't have to be optimistic either, but with their track record I would assume one should be.

[Caterkiller]

Darn it Ian, why did you have to go and say the whole "sell to Microsoft thing"? I didn't even want to entertain the idea before it gets swept up by someone and rumors go around. Luckily I am only 0.0001% worried about that.

[Ian Sane]

Darn it Ian, why did you have to go and say the whole "sell to Microsoft thing"? I didn't even want to entertain the idea before it gets swept up by someone and rumors go around. Luckily I am only 0.0001% worried about that.

I honestly don't think that is going to happen.  But man, it really is the trend isn't it. Split with Nintendo and move to an Xbox exclusive.  MS is like the New York Yankees of videogames, picking up every free agent.  Only the free agent ends up being kind of a dud so they're more the Yankees of the 80's or the New York Rangers of videogames.

[Adrock]

Retro, unlike Rare, seems to operate under the same principles that Nintendo itself does. Rare's titles were sloppy (until Miyamoto cleaned up their messes), always late, and often just crappier versions of Nintendo's own games. Retro is basically just Nintendo Texas.

[TJ Spyke]

Probably because Rare was a second party studio that chose to work with Nintendo, while Retro Studios is a first party studio owned completely by Nintendo. I think Nintendo even said (or implied) that they let Rare go because their titles were frequently late and over-budget. Rare continued being like that after Microsoft bought them.

[ThePerm]

we haven't heard from Retro for 3 years because they are working on something NEW. NEW takes longer than old. The first Metroid Prime had a couple of years of development before it went gold, but then after that the 2 sequels came out at regular intervals. The long break between now is mostly because of the 1& 2 ports to Wii and the new project. Whatever it is, it isn't Metroid. No telling if it is an entirely new killer app, or a revival of an old franchise. I'm hoping for something entirely new. Hopefully in 8 or 9 more days we'll know.

[Shaymin]

It's a 2 hour presentation, so Nintendo should show what Retro is working on.

You sure this is accurate? They've knocked everything out in an hour the last couple of years. (And a full third of both have been embarrassing at best for all involved, but we won't talk about that...)

[Ymeegod]

Yeah, I wonder what Retro is working on myself--my money's on a standard FPS game with MP aplenty.

Also any word on Dragon's Quest X developer?  Level 5 doesn't seem to be making it so who is and how long do we have to wait!

[MaryJane]

We were promised brand new IP's from Nintendo's studios awhile ago, and with Sony and MS showing off their 'let's copy Nintendo after we made fun of them' peripherals, it might be a good way to steal the show. A new (amazing) title from Rare would cause a stir, and Eternal Darkness 2 from Silicon Knights would be a gift that would just keep on giving. Of all the horror games I have ever played Eternal Darkness is the only one that really managed to scare me.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

An extra hour?

Finally, a whole hour dedicated to sales data and pie charts, just as I prayed for.

[Caliban]

It's a 2 hour presentation, so Nintendo should show what Retro is working on.

You sure this is accurate? They've knocked everything out in an hour the last couple of years. (And a full third of both have been embarrassing at best for all involved, but we won't talk about that...)

An extra hour?

Finally, a whole hour dedicated to sales data and pie charts, just as I prayed for.

It's going to be a 2 hour presentation, or so I heard from IGN's NVC podcast (#77 I think).
It makes sense because they've got to cover the 3DS's software line-up, price, capabilities, and that should take at most an hour. Not to mention they have to do some kind of presentation with the Vitality Sensor. Also the Wii, and DS software line-ups for the second half of the year following into next year. If they do show the new Zelda they will most likely also have a presentation for it to show how its played.