This week we’re flashing back to Zaxxon and into a bit of a reflective history on the NES Satellite accessory. We reflect upon how bad Don sucks at Mass Effect and get tips from the community. We’re also checking in on some news this week including:
Microsoft Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 and Wii in Japan - Nintendo DSi not competing with cell phones or iPods
- PlayStation 3 hard to develop for on purpose
- EA admits they need to try harder
- Killzone 2 sells 750k after launch
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li KO’ed at theaters
- Tabula Rasa MMO Shutting Down After 1.5 years
- Xbox Live Bans Gay Gamers
We’re also asking a few questions of the week, you can answer them all, one or none (but we’ll give you sad face)! What’s your favorite video game accessory since you started gaming, what actor can make a video game movie a success?
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2 responses so far ↓
1 jonahfalcon
// Mar 4, 2009 at 1:42 am
The Japanese didn’t buy the Xbox 360 on Star Ocean: The Last Hope alone that week. It was more like, “Oh, an exclusive Star Ocean. That tears it. I was on the bubble with Blue Dragon and Tales of Vesperia and some of the other 360 RPGs that I was interested in, but now Star Ocean, too? I’ll pick this up, get Ocean, then get Blue Dragon and the other games that piqued my interest but weren’t enough for me to buy a 360.” Sort of like you and the PS3, Derrick. Yes, you covet LittleBigPlanet, but it alone isn’t enough. You’re waiting for your PS3 Star Ocean (and Killzone 2 isn’t it.)
2 Tristan (Australia)
// Mar 8, 2009 at 10:57 am
Long time listener, first time commenter. Really love your show, thanks and keep it up.
In regards to your discussion relating to what MMO’s need to do break into a market dominated by WoW, a good concept that I believe would work well with many of the more recent MMO releases is the strategy used by Dofus (the french 2.5D flash based MMO) .
Dofus allows all users to play for free but they are restricted to the beginning area and the area surrounding the first major town. This includes the first dungeon which by itself is addictive enough to play hundreds of times over in the hope for some great beginners loot and quest rewards. There are also a few other restrictions for Free-to-play characters, such as being unable to see items via the shop mode and decreased chances of getting rare loot.
The game is well designed and very diverse in character play styles, but having over 10million users and over 1 million paid players, shows that this strategy may have more potential long term rather than the short term subscribe form the beginning cash boost with only 10 day free trials which tend teeter out and diminish in profitability as time goes on.
For a game such as AoC, Warhammer or LotR Online, a system where players could play for free forever but if they want to go beyond the the first 20 levels (or a 1/3 of total cap depending on how many levels are available) they have to subscribe may reduce initial income from the game but help games to gain more sustainability and secure a longer term future. You would expand your base of potential customers with all those trying it as it’s free, and as they get to experience or see paying customers enjoying some of the great features of the game, it would encourage the to move onto subscription.
With a larger player base (including all the free-to-play customers), it would also create a better gaming atmosphere and make it friendlier to new players with grouping being easier and full servers. Just my thoughts on the issue.
Once again thanks for the great podcast. Looking forward to the next one ^.^
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