DOOM is a PC game titlat that wasn’t initially released in stores. It was uploaded to an FTP server in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and on the Software Creations BBS on the 10th of December; released as a shareware game, people were encouraged to download and spread the game around to all their friends.
In days before social networks and the wildfire of the Internet (or high speed networking) this game still managed to spread around to everyone in the gaming community. From1993 to 1995 the title had an estimated install base of 10 million computers. We were one of them.
Granted, ten million copies were installed but most were not registered and simply remained as shareware. However, over one million copies were sold for the registered version of DOOM and this brought momentum to their next non-shareware copy of the DOOM series. The Ultimate Doom (version 1.9, including episode IV) was released, making this the first time that Doom was sold commercially in stores.
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@Assassin’s Creed (CE):
Oh my, 40 bucks is almost a second game. Unless they have a large numbers of fanatics, I don’t see that working out well.
The article also implies that Ubisoft needs money. Remember the episode where you guys covered EA selling its share in Ubisoft? Is there a connection?
Regarding the “how’s made”, Doom 3 did that with the “The Making of Doom 3”, and it was given for free for both Doom 3 and Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil.
@Call of Duty: Black Ops
Well, after watching the video, I’m a bit disappointed. Recording videos is not something unusual. The Quake 3 engine ‘knew’ how to record demos.
The gameplay is straight up modern warfare. Nothing new, no extra value. Very much like the WWII CoDs (CoD, CoD: Unitrd Offensive, CoD2 and CoD3), Activision is apparently trying to get as much money from this new “Modern Warfare” approach.
From this point of view, I see no reason why multiplayer addicts on MW and MW2 would buy Covert Ops. It doesn’t seem to offer the extra kick.
@QOTW:
This is an interesting question! You’re forcing your listeners to think like a producer 🙂
Here’s what I’d add:
– a hard copy of the strategy guide
– the making off stuff, either a CD or an extra booklet
– a special USB stick: when you plug it in, it launches it’s own shell (ie: like explorer is for Windows) that has the look and feel like the in-game user interface.
– and maybe a 2 – 3 inch figurine of one of the characters?
I am not good at this …
@Assassin’s Creed (CE):
Oh my, 40 bucks is almost a second game. Unless they have a large numbers of fanatics, I don’t see that working out well.
The article also implies that Ubisoft needs money. Remember the episode where you guys covered EA selling its share in Ubisoft? Is there a connection?
Regarding the “how’s made”, Doom 3 did that with the “The Making of Doom 3”, and it was given for free for both Doom 3 and Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil.
@Call of Duty: Black Ops
Well, after watching the video, I’m a bit disappointed. Recording videos is not something unusual. The Quake 3 engine ‘knew’ how to record demos.
The gameplay is straight up modern warfare. Nothing new, no extra value. Very much like the WWII CoDs (CoD, CoD: Unitrd Offensive, CoD2 and CoD3), Activision is apparently trying to get as much money from this new “Modern Warfare” approach.
From this point of view, I see no reason why multiplayer addicts on MW and MW2 would buy Covert Ops. It doesn’t seem to offer the extra kick.
@QOTW:
This is an interesting question! You’re forcing your listeners to think like a producer 🙂
Here’s what I’d add:
– a hard copy of the strategy guide
– the making off stuff, either a CD or an extra booklet
– a special USB stick: when you plug it in, it launches it’s own shell (ie: like explorer is for Windows) that has the look and feel like the in-game user interface.
– and maybe a 2 – 3 inch figurine of one of the characters?
I am not good at this …
@ QotW
I’m not really interested in stratergy guides (can find plenty online) or making of videos but here are a few things I would include / like included in collector’s editions:
– a Themed Coffee Mug: It’s nice to get something that is still useful when your passion for the game isn’t what it used to be. Its also a little less dorky than wearing around a game T-shirt. I love my Black Mesa Research and Aperture Science mugs, but unfortunately I had to buy them off the Valve store. I am also super jealous of the reviewers who received Peggle Mugs.
– Figurine or similar: I’ll echo Herr_Alien’s idea here. I love my Masterball Stressball than came with preordering some pokemon game and quality figurines are also cool. I would consider claiming the preorder was for a younger sibling but I don’t think you’d fall for that.
– A really large map if the game is a big open world mmo/rpg kind of game. (with an emphasis on size, detail and clarity). I remember my last collectors edition had a small map on artificial leather and was unreadable so giant clear poster would be preferable.
– An ingame hat for my favourite valve hat simulator (Team Fortress 2). I barely resisted pre-ordereding the most recent sam&max series off steam only for the included TF2 hat and with no intention of playing it. I would personally include a giant pile of stacked hats reaching several times the height of my character and wouldn’t even be fussed if I had to pause for 5 seconds every 20 ingame steps to rebalance my awesome stack of hats. For those not into hat simulators maybe a WoW pet or mount would be an alternative option.
– A voice simulator: Finally if the game has any peculiar or distinct character voices a voice simulator would be really neat. ie a simulator to make me sound like Darth Vader for a starwars game.
@ QotW
I’m not really interested in stratergy guides (can find plenty online) or making of videos but here are a few things I would include / like included in collector’s editions:
– a Themed Coffee Mug: It’s nice to get something that is still useful when your passion for the game isn’t what it used to be. Its also a little less dorky than wearing around a game T-shirt. I love my Black Mesa Research and Aperture Science mugs, but unfortunately I had to buy them off the Valve store. I am also super jealous of the reviewers who received Peggle Mugs.
– Figurine or similar: I’ll echo Herr_Alien’s idea here. I love my Masterball Stressball than came with preordering some pokemon game and quality figurines are also cool. I would consider claiming the preorder was for a younger sibling but I don’t think you’d fall for that.
– A really large map if the game is a big open world mmo/rpg kind of game. (with an emphasis on size, detail and clarity). I remember my last collectors edition had a small map on artificial leather and was unreadable so giant clear poster would be preferable.
– An ingame hat for my favourite valve hat simulator (Team Fortress 2). I barely resisted pre-ordereding the most recent sam&max series off steam only for the included TF2 hat and with no intention of playing it. I would personally include a giant pile of stacked hats reaching several times the height of my character and wouldn’t even be fussed if I had to pause for 5 seconds every 20 ingame steps to rebalance my awesome stack of hats. For those not into hat simulators maybe a WoW pet or mount would be an alternative option.
– A voice simulator: Finally if the game has any peculiar or distinct character voices a voice simulator would be really neat. ie a simulator to make me sound like Darth Vader for a starwars game.
@Assassins Creed Collectors Edition – I would have to really love a game to pay almost double the price for a collectors edition like that.
At the moment I’m deciding whether to buy the Civilization 5 Special Edition. It costs a ridiculous $130 Australian and includes a hard-cover art book, making of dvd, soundtrack and 5 figurines (although I don’t care about the figurines at all), but Civ 4 is one of my favourite games and I really like watching “Making Of” movies, so I’m not sure whether to spend the extra money. Any suggestions? 🙂
@Gran Turismo 5 – This is becoming ridiculous, especially since it’s a racing game. I mean, I understand wanting to have a game well polished, but this is going too far. I hope this doesn’t turn into a Duke Nukem Forever.
@Aussie game prices – To be honest, I think the reason why they put game prices so high here is because they can. (see “Price Discrimination”)
And buying games digitally (eg, on steam) is usually just as expensive as buying them at the store, so I guess shipping isn’t the reason.
@QOTW – I would include a (quite lengthy) “Making Of” DVD and the Soundtrack. Plus I like Tristans idea for a themed coffee mug. And as Herr Alien mentioned, a hard copy strategy guide would be good too. Yes I know, I’m not very original 😛
@Assassins Creed Collectors Edition – I would have to really love a game to pay almost double the price for a collectors edition like that.
At the moment I’m deciding whether to buy the Civilization 5 Special Edition. It costs a ridiculous $130 Australian and includes a hard-cover art book, making of dvd, soundtrack and 5 figurines (although I don’t care about the figurines at all), but Civ 4 is one of my favourite games and I really like watching “Making Of” movies, so I’m not sure whether to spend the extra money. Any suggestions? 🙂
@Gran Turismo 5 – This is becoming ridiculous, especially since it’s a racing game. I mean, I understand wanting to have a game well polished, but this is going too far. I hope this doesn’t turn into a Duke Nukem Forever.
@Aussie game prices – To be honest, I think the reason why they put game prices so high here is because they can. (see “Price Discrimination”)
And buying games digitally (eg, on steam) is usually just as expensive as buying them at the store, so I guess shipping isn’t the reason.
@QOTW – I would include a (quite lengthy) “Making Of” DVD and the Soundtrack. Plus I like Tristans idea for a themed coffee mug. And as Herr Alien mentioned, a hard copy strategy guide would be good too. Yes I know, I’m not very original 😛
Oh, and Jonah, according to wikipedia and vgsales, the Gamecube sold nearly 22 million units worldwide, while the xbox sold 24 million. So sure, the Gamecube’s sales are tiny compared to the PS2, but it wasn’t really very far behind the xbox.
Oh, and Jonah, according to wikipedia and vgsales, the Gamecube sold nearly 22 million units worldwide, while the xbox sold 24 million. So sure, the Gamecube’s sales are tiny compared to the PS2, but it wasn’t really very far behind the xbox.
GT5: I was going to say “feature creep”, but you beat me to it.
What’s funny is that there have been three Forza titles since Gran Turismo 4 A-Spec was released.
GT5: I was going to say “feature creep”, but you beat me to it.
What’s funny is that there have been three Forza titles since Gran Turismo 4 A-Spec was released.
Er, a new console manufacturer like Microsoft, which had a ton of baggage in the console community, outsold a heavily hyped Nintendo console with established IPs? Yikes.
Er, a new console manufacturer like Microsoft, which had a ton of baggage in the console community, outsold a heavily hyped Nintendo console with established IPs? Yikes.
One more thing: Microsoft expects 2-4 milli0n Kinect sales as a conservative estimate. Fairly low number.
One more thing: Microsoft expects 2-4 milli0n Kinect sales as a conservative estimate. Fairly low number.
That’s true, but it wasn’t the distant last or the massive failure that some people say it was.
I tend to agree with derek when he says that Nintendo didn’t fail with the N64 or the Gamecube and Sony hasn’t failed with the PS3, but SEGA did fail (on the hardware side anyway).
That’s true, but it wasn’t the distant last or the massive failure that some people say it was.
I tend to agree with derek when he says that Nintendo didn’t fail with the N64 or the Gamecube and Sony hasn’t failed with the PS3, but SEGA did fail (on the hardware side anyway).