This week is slow in terms of videogame industry news, but rich on developer stories told by Paul, so be prepared for a lot of advice for the kid who wants to make games instead of just play them.
The news includes:
- Report: Microsoft to buy Mojang
- Destiny day-one shipments top $500 million
- Dan Adelman: “Good games are worth paying for”
- Video game degrees in the US increase by 50% in five years
- European Women in Games Hall of Fame adds new members
All this and Listener Feedback, with the Question of the Week: “Have you ever created your own content with a game’s editor?”
This week’s episode is the final episode before E3, and next week, an outtakes episode filled with Dr. Who and Game of Thrones discussion will run. After that, we’ll have some serious E3 2013 discussion, especially about what happens with Microsoft and Sony in particular.
Microsoft has announced they’ll be giving Xbox Live silver accounts access to play some multi-player cross-platform games for free until the fall update. Recently, Microsoft announced free online play with Games for Windows titles, effectively giving PC gamers “gold accounts” to play online.
@Notch selling Mojang to Microsoft: I was a bit apprehensive when I first heard this story. Though we have no confirmation I’m taking the silence as to mean a deal is being discussed and nothing is finalized yet. The more I thought about it and after listening to your take on it I think it could be alright. I’m just concerned with what they might charge for using the PC version. I’ve also come to be used to Mojang having added features with each new version release and I hope that continues. I’m not so bothered by Notch selling the company since he’s walked away from Minecraft when he did the Full release a couple years ago. I hope that we will also still be able to use our own custom skins, resource packs and mods for the PC.
@Good games worth paying for: I do agree with the sentiment that quality games are indeed worth paying for. Like Skyrim was and I’m sure a lot of hard work went into that game. The quote “a terrible game lasts forever” is right when you have the Atari ET as an example.
@80’s shows: I got both the Dungeons and Dragons and Captain N show references , I loved both shows as a kid.
@FFVI: I knew I had forgotten to mention Terra from FF6, I feel that the first half of that game was about Terra and Celeste the second half the game. I remember the argument I got in with my friend over this when he noticed that I wasn’t using Edgar or Locke in my party and he questioned me “Why aren’t I using the main guys?” My response was “what main guys? Terra and Celeste are the heros and he got so mad and yelled at me that Edgar was the hero. How can he be the hero, or Locke, when you can beat the game without them at all? More over the whole story revolved around the Espers and the empire trying to use them.
And just FYI I am a guy but that doesn’t mean I can’t emphasize with women or feel rejected when I hear things like “Girls won’t like you if you play games, why don’t you play a sport instead?”
I also did misunderstand your point Paul, thanks for clearing it up.
@QOTW: I remember making a few custom units in CIV 2 and using the map editor. I’ve played around with programs like RPG Maker and other similar RPG games like Neverwinter. The amount of work in making even the smallest dungeons or quests is just tremendous so I have to give it to those who make entire games worth of content and quality work. You do get what you pay for.