Original link: https://markonreview.com/2023/08/07/markon-review-express-weekly-2/
Since May of this year, we have opened the Telegram channel Markon Review Express , which is used to push some hot news and comments from industry media that we screen and read and find interesting. Since last week, we have started to push the past week on the channel The news of is compiled into a weekly report, which is released every Monday in principle to help you review last week. Welcome to read it.
Weekly directory
general information
- Game Developer: Reinventing Pulp Magazine and Retro Gaming for the 21st Century
- IGN reports on Remnants 2 development team interacting with community around data mining puzzles
- Polygon: Anita Sarkeesian to Shut Down 15-Year-Old ‘Feminist Frequency’ Project
- PC Gamer Previews Baldur’s Gate 3
Market Dynamics
- GamesIndustry: Highlights of Capcom’s financial report for the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2023
- IGN interviews the former Sega US head, looking back at the history of the Dreamcast ending Sega’s console business
- VGC says Nintendo’s next-gen console is expected to be released in the second half of 2024
- Game Developer: Russians ramp up piracy as game industry freezes in region
- GamesIndustry interviews GameFam, who develops experiential brand marketing within gaming platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite
- EA’s performance in the first quarter of this fiscal year hit a record high, and many media reported
- Nintendo announces operating data for the first quarter of this fiscal year
- Unity Announces Operating Data for the Second Fiscal Quarter of the Fiscal Year
- IGN: Final Fantasy XIV’s ten-year long journey to the Xbox platform
point of view discussion
- Eurogamer: 4X Game Developers Discuss Making an ‘Anti-Empire’ Empire Contest Game
- Does the next generation of NS need to be launched in 2024? IGN interviews developers, analysts about it
- A little-known DSi game is promoted as the highest user-rated Nintendo game on Metacritic, and IGN reports the inside story
- Rock Paper Shotgun: How Larian Studios Transformed With Development of Baldur’s Gate 3
- GameSpot interviewed the director and producer of the “Tekken” series, and talked about his views on new works and fighting game genres
- IGN: The most emotional game music is hidden in unexpected places
general information
Game Developer: Reinventing Pulp Magazine and Retro Gaming for the 21st Century
Game Developer publishes an article by the (only) two co-founders and creators of Argentinian indie studio LCB Game Studio , who describe the studio’s current focus on a project called “Pixel Pulps” retro text Adventure game series.
“Pixel Pulps” has two main sources of inspiration: one is the “Pulp Magazine/Fiction” that was popular in the Western world in the 1980s, and it is called “Pulp Magazine/Fiction” in English (Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Pulp Fiction” is also derived from this name), this cheap, mass-printed book contains a lot of stories about sex, horror, crime, science fiction, etc.; Designed with corresponding sound.
In addition to approaching and integrating the above-mentioned retro features in form, the two creators also said that their “Pixel Pulps” will bring different experiences, and the entire content is currently divided into three parts (three independent games), of which the former Two parts, “Mothmen 1966” and “Varney Lake” have been launched on multiple platforms. The third part, “Bahnsen Knights”, will be released later this year, and there will be a physical version of the “Pixel Pulps Collection” containing three games. The developers said that the characters in the story will be presented in multiple dimensions and will bring surprises to players, and they are also committed to making these three games each have an unexpected experience.
Source: Game Developer by Nico Saraintaris, Fernando Martinez Ruppel
IGN reports on Remnants 2 development team interacting with community around data mining puzzles
“Remnant II” (Remnant II) is a soul-like game launched by Gunfire Games. This development team is very happy to bury puzzles in the game and invite the community to actively participate in solving them. The method of cracking outside the game that the community is keen on—game data mining. After predicting that the community will habitually carry out data mining, Gunfire Games deliberately hid the clues of the major reward (an optional character type) that will be sought after in “Relics 2” in a place that only data miners can discover corner.
The data mining process of the new work finally came out of some drama: Oliver Nikolic (ID: Barut), a player in the Discord community without a code base, also participated in this easter egg hunt. He mainly attacked an inaccessible but seemingly important “corrupt” (Corrupted) Red Gate, with the help of 15 bottles of Red Bull Relay, Nikolic learned how to do data mining through Google, and relied on ChatGPT to generate code and process data (using the Code Interpreter function to upload the data to be processed), and finally he found that every Each equipment slot has one and only one item with the “corrupted” field that can be equipped, so Nikolic believes that wearing this set of items should be able to pass the red door, and the test proves that Nikolic’s theory is completely correct.
Gunfire Games is pleased with the puzzle-solving process, as they have exploited the inescapable phenomenon of data mining to create a community puzzle experience that is unique, but admit that such an attempt may only be done once, as It is difficult to cover up secrets and make fun in the same way once.
Source: IGN , by Travis Northup
Polygon: Anita Sarkeesian to Shut Down 15-Year-Old ‘Feminist Frequency’ Project
Feminist Frequency (Feminist Frequency) is a non-profit project launched by media commentator Anita Sarkeesian in 2009 when she was studying for her master’s degree. One of the core purposes is to “fill the missing needs in the field of media commentary and video games. “, from the earliest output of Youtube video series, to now provide podcasts, industry resources, Online Harassment Hotline (Online Harassment Hotline) and many other content.
Sarkeesian announced earlier this month that the “Feminist Frequency” will be shutting down. The industry resource content assembled over the years will remain on the project website indefinitely. The accountability group ReSpec will continue to exist in different forms. The online harassment hotline will close at the end of September closed, and the rest will be shut down by the end of the year, at which point the entire organization will be disbanded for good. “The work we’ve done to change the industry has had an impact,” Sarkeesian wrote in a related press release, “and all would love to see improvements continue,” “but now is the time to close this chapter and start my career.” Taking a break before the next phase of my career.” By going away for a while, she hopes to give herself more and more room to grow.
Sarkeesian started producing a video series “Tropes vs. Women” in 2010 that examines trends in misogyny in film and television. Each episode touches on a different tropes — such as “Women as Reward” and “Strategic Butt Coverings” — to explain these Where the metaphor emerges, providing critical feminist analysis. Polygon also cites examples from individual games: Arkane Studios exec Harvey Smith talked to Sarkeesian about how “feminist frequencies” have influenced his work, and said he will always remember Sarkeesian’s misogynistic content in Dishonored criticism; Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann also talked about how Sarkeesian’s work influenced him personally and his decisions on UNCHARTED 4.
Feminist Frequency launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 to raise funds and expand the video series (which is also when it began to touch the gaming industry heavily); Sarkeesian’s video series boldly confronts the growing industry’s casual objectification and devaluation of female characters , and the real-world mistreatment of female gamers, which was one of the catalysts for the infamous harassment campaign “Gamergate”. Sarkeesian quickly became one of the most popular targets for abuse, including but not limited to bombs and threats to physical safety, even leading to FBI involvement.
In a 2014 interview with Bloomberg, Sarkeeian referred to harassment as a “background radiance in her life” and “a factor in every decision she makes,” and she also insists on her work at “Feminist Frequency” in this climate , condemn injustice, and provide resources. “Feminist Frequency” reached a cooperation with Intel in 2015 to promote career opportunities for women and minorities, and was awarded the Peabody Awards (Peabody Awards, similar to the Pulitzer Prize for the broadcasting industry) last year.
Sources: Polygon , by Nicole Carpenter; Engadget , by Will Shanklin
PC Gamer Previews Baldur’s Gate 3
PC Gamer played the official version of “Baldur’s Gate 3” (Baldur’s Gate 3) in advance and gave the main impression after playing for 16 hours. The author thinks that Baldur’s Gate 3 feels like a real evolution of the CRPG genre, feeling like the next-gen Dragon Age he’s always wanted, while at the same time not unlike the complex and surprising CRPGs of the late 90’s The masterpiece is very similar; the game is full of characteristically animated cutscenes, characters can believably express emotions in less important dialogue, and the author also lists some very classic Fallout-style questline details.
Source: PC Gamer , by Ted Litchfield
Market Dynamics
GamesIndustry: Highlights of Capcom’s financial report for the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2023
Capcom recently released its financial report for the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year (corresponding to the second quarter of the 2023 natural year). The following are some key points:
Single-quarter operating income was approximately US$313 million, a year-on-year increase of 73.8%. Among them, Capcon’s digital content department, including games, had operating income of US$270 million, a year-on-year increase of 91%; net profit was US$172 million, a year-on-year increase of 99.4%.
The company’s most important release during this period was Street Fighter 6, which launched on June 2 and sold 2 million copies in a month.
“Resident Evil 4” (Resident Evil 4), released at the end of last fiscal year, sold 3.73 million copies in the first week and 1.2 million copies in this quarter, with a total of 4.95 million copies; “Rockman Exe Collection” (Mega Man Battle Collection) released at the beginning of this fiscal year Network Legacy Collection) 1 and 2, two compilations, have sold 1.32 million copies since they were released in April.
Price cuts boost sales of off-year titles like Monster Hunter Rise and Resident Evil 2, which have sold 9.8 million games this quarter , an increase of 9% over the previous year.
During the quarter, Capcom sold a total of 13.5 million games, an increase of 15% over the same period last year.
Operating income in the company’s entertainment equipment business rose 38.2 percent to $6.4 million, driven by continued demand for “Shin Onimusha” and “Monster Hunter: World Iceworld”-themed pachinko machines.
Looking ahead, Capcom is looking to boost the current quarter with Exoprimal, which has attracted 1 million players since its July 14 release.
Sources: GamesIndustry , by Sophie McEvoy; Capcom
IGN interviews the former Sega US head, looking back at the history of the Dreamcast ending Sega’s console business
Sega’s game console Dreamcast was launched in the United States in September 1999, with sales of up to 98 million US dollars on the first day. Peter Moore, the senior vice president of marketing at Sega America at the time, called it “the most significant release in the history of the entertainment industry”; Eighteen months later, Moore, who has been promoted to the president of Sega America, publicly stated at an industry conference call that Sega will completely withdraw from the game console business, ending the company’s 18-year, four-generation game hardware product line. .
The release of Dreamcast in Japan did not achieve the expected results, but in the US market, Sega stimulated consumers’ interest through cool advertisements, celebrity platforms, and a strong starting lineup. But even at the best of times, seeds of doubt are already germinating among consumer groups.
At the Tokyo Game Show in 1999, Sony announced the release of PS2 the following year. One of Sony’s marketing strategies was to try its best to demean Dreamcast, describing it as a “transitional platform”, trying to make players and manufacturers understand: The Dreamcast is good, but there’s an upstart coming, and that’s where you’re going to be. Players and manufacturers are also uncertain about the future of the Dreamcast, which is partly to blame on Sega itself, because the previous Sega console Saturn (Saturn) has experienced insufficient follow-up support, and this expensive device lacks enough good Game support, so history is more difficult to reverse the trend of people turning their attention to PS2.
Moore also talked about the slow response of Sega Japan’s first-party studio to changes in the industry. When he went to Sega’s Japanese headquarters to communicate, he felt that the head of the first-party studio was like a “narrow-minded, closed-off demigod. “types, they’re undoubtedly sought after, but they’re not willing to jump into market research very nimbly, and they don’t seem willing to adapt to a global audience, as Moore describes them, “They’re never going to fly to America and listen to what the players are saying, that’s Kind of pretentious, because these guys are rock stars in Tokyo and have the Midas touch for the most part.” Disappointment with the arrogance of these studio heads eventually drove Moore to leave Sega.
The article concludes with a touch on the Dreamcast’s industry-leading awareness that this console has the ability to run MMO games such as Phantasy Star, which was born on the platform, which is more powerful than World of Warcraft’s. Four full years before the outbreak, Dreamcast is also considered to be the first host to try DLC. The platform even briefly launched the currently popular Internet subscription service “Sekanet”. But the problems that led to the Dreamcast’s failure are also helpless and obvious: while ahead of the times, audiences, and markets, profits have not caught up. Moore compared Dreamcast to a person who arrived at the party too early, “When the party finally started , Sony showed up with fireworks like Tony Stark.”
Source: IGN , by Samuel Horti
VGC says Nintendo’s next-gen console is expected to be released in the second half of 2024
According to the news obtained by VGC, the development kit of Nintendo’s next-generation console has now been delivered to the studio of an important partner. PS5, XS X|S first stock shortage problem.
Although the specific details of this device are kept strictly confidential, VGC sources said that the next-generation console can still be used as portable as the Switch, and in order to reduce costs and maximize storage space, the new model may use an LCD screen ( Instead of more advanced OLED); the source also mentioned that the new model will also read the physical version of the game in the form of a cassette, but it is not clear about the backward compatibility performance of digital and physical games.
Source: VGC , by Andy Robinson
Game Developer: Russians ramp up piracy as game industry freezes in region
This article focuses on the increasing trend of game piracy in the region following the imposition of various Western sanctions on Russia. The gaming industry has been one of the most prominent exodus of foreign industries from Russia, almost all major gaming companies have pulled out of Russia, offices in the region are almost all closed, and ordinary Russians turn to piracy in large numbers to satisfy their gaming needs.
This article cites a study conducted by the Russian game development group School XYZ in June this year, with a sample of 1,500 people covering all regions of Russia. The results show that the piracy situation is getting worse after the relevant companies withdraw: 69% Respondents admitted they played at least one pirated game in 2022, 51% said they had acquired more pirated games in the past year than the year before, 27% said they had pirated more than three games, 20% of those who said they pirated more than ten games; 31% said they did not pirate anything, almost all of whom expressed disgust with the practice, and 7% said they would buy no new games in 2022.
The article pointed out that there are almost no ways for Russian players to legally purchase new games—in fact, outside of games, regular channels for obtaining books, movies, and music are difficult to find. The above research reaffirms a classic thesis that piracy is an attractive solution when content is not easily and legally accessible.
The article also mentioned the efforts of the Russian government to replace Western companies in the game field, including the combing of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks on the development of the domestic game industry.
Source: PC Gamer , by Rich Stanton
GamesIndustry interviews GameFam, who develops experiential brand marketing within gaming platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite
GamesIndustry spoke to GameFam, which specializes in creating ad campaigns within gaming platforms. The company has launched experiential music scenes on platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, Interactive marketing experience, etc., to promote various brands or movies.
The company CEO Joe Ferencz and the head of the “Fortress Night” business team Matthew Zanazzo said in an interview that because the business is very segmented, GameFam faces almost no competition. They think that these game platforms are very similar to TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram. They are also seeing brands begin to shift budgets to gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite – platforms that have also maintained support for such brand marketing activities, and games will continue to be the main entertainment content for today’s young consumers form, to promote the development of this business model and phenomenon.
Source: GamesIndustry by Jeffrey Rousseau
EA’s performance in the first quarter of this fiscal year hit a record high, and many media reported
VGC, Game Developer, etc. reported EA’s recently announced operating data for the first fiscal quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (ending June 30). Net sales of digital or physical products and services), a year-on-year increase of 21%, of which 75% came from EA’s online service games, a business model described by EA as “highly risk-resistant”; EA pointed out that the main reason for the record was The continued popularity of FIFA 23 and the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
The company’s CEO Andrew Wilson commented on several of its collections during the earnings call:
FIFA Ultimate Team mode has attracted tens of millions of fans, with a 15% increase in average daily users; FIFA Mobile has attracted more than 65 million new players in this quarter alone; FIFA Online has average monthly, weekly and daily users Both achieved double-digit growth. “The Sims 4” (The Sims 4) has attracted about 4 million new players this quarter after becoming free-to-play last year. Season 17 of Apex Legends fell short of expectations, but EA will continue to invest in the series, and the company is confident that developer Respawn Entertainment can steer it right.
The company’s CFO Sutart Canfield mentioned:
“FIFA 23” also broke the series’ historical record for net bookings during the quarter, “further proving the energy and potential of a connected, massive online community”. EA has high hopes for “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor”, the company observed that players put more time into the game than its predecessor, and believes that the game “will deliver long-term value.” EA expects net bookings for the next quarter to be between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion, and net bookings for the full fiscal year are expected to be between $7.3 billion and $7.7 billion.
Sources: VGC , by Chris Scullion; Game Developer , by Chris Kerr
Nintendo announces operating data for the first quarter of this fiscal year
Nintendo recently announced its financial data for the first fiscal quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (as of June 30). Due to the release of “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” during this period, therefore The company’s financial performance for the quarter was unsurprisingly successful. The following are some of the key points that the author sorted out:
Sales revenue for the quarter was 461.3 billion yen (about 3.22 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 50%, operating profit was 185.4 billion yen (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 82%; Switch hardware sales were 3.91 million units (of which 2.83 million units were OLED models), an increase of 13.9% year-on-year, with a total life cycle sales of 129.5 million units, Switch platform software sales of 52.21 million copies, a year-on-year increase of 26.1%, and a total life cycle sales of 1.09 billion units.
“Tears of Kingdoms” has sold 18.51 million copies as of June 30.
Sales of the company’s game platform business unit (including hardware, physical and digital games, and peripheral accessories) increased by 44.6% year-on-year to 427 billion yen (approximately US$2.99 billion); digital content sales increased by 35.9% year-on-year to 119.6 billion days yuan (approximately US$832 million).
As of July 30, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” released in April, has been watched by more than 168 million people worldwide. The film’s box office revenue as of July 26 reached 1.34 billion US dollars, It has reached the level of “the highest among original films adapted from games and the second highest among animated films”. The company credited the film’s contribution to results, saying it had a positive impact on Mario-related game sales, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which sold an additional 1.67 million copies in the quarter , The total sales volume of the work reached 55.46 million copies; the company’s IP licensing business was also positively stimulated, with related sales reaching 31.8 billion yen (approximately 222 million US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 190.1%.
The company still expects full-year sales revenue to reach 1.45 trillion yen (about 10.1 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of fiscal 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 9.5%, in line with the forecast when it announced its annual results for fiscal 2023 in May. Bloomberg commented that the open question is what steps Nintendo will take to maintain the current momentum in the coming months, because the company has not yet announced any blockbuster works for the rest of this fiscal year.
Surrounding the rumors of the next-generation console, Nintendo only said that it will continue to focus on the Switch.
Sources: GamesIndustry , by Marie Dealesandri; Bloomberg , by Takashi Mochizuki, Yuki Furukawa; Nintendo
Unity Announces Operating Data for the Second Fiscal Quarter of the Fiscal Year
Unity recently announced its financial performance for the second fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2023 (as of June 30, the same as the natural year). The following is a summary of relevant key information:
In the single quarter of Q2, the company’s sales revenue recorded US$533 million, an increase of 80% year-on-year, and its net loss was US$193 million, which was slightly narrower than the loss of US$204 million in the same period last year. Growth of 17%, Grow Solutions revenue of $ 340 million, an increase of 157% (in part due to the acquisition of IronSource in November last year).
Unity said that Q2 revenue in 2023 exceeded the revenue guidance of US$510-520 million. The revenue growth of the core business Create Solutions (including the engine and strategic cooperation department) was outstanding, and the revenue from industries other than games accounted for 30% of the total Create Solutions.
For Grow Solutions (including the analysis and monetization tools department), Unity said it is improving the application of AI technology, and named the AI tools Unity Muse and Unity Sentis announced in June.
The company has not released net profit figures, only reporting positive EBITDA that has continued to grow since the fourth quarter of last year. The company expects to achieve revenue of US$540-550 million in the next quarter, a year-on-year increase of 67%-70%.
Source: GamesIndustry by Jeffrey Rousseau; Unity
IGN: Final Fantasy XIV’s ten-year long journey to the Xbox platform
IGN interviewed “Final Fantasy XIV” (FF14 for short) producer and game director Naoki Yoshida, described the past of “FF14” before its release on the Xbox platform, and discussed the challenges and efforts behind this cooperation.
The author asked Yoshida about the launch of “FF14” on Xbox in 2013. The obstacle Yoshida pointed out at the time was that Xbox Live’s policy restricted cross-platform online connection of Xbox players, which was not in line with the MMO philosophy of the “FF14” team. However, starting from E3 2016, Xbox’s attitude towards cross-platform online has suddenly changed from closed to open and encouraging. In the following years, Yoshida and Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s game business, have disclosed the progress of the negotiations between the two parties in different interviews, pointing out that Difficulties and solutions in the process.
In many interviews, Yoshida praised Spencer for his unremitting efforts to bring “FF14” to Xbox, and the author of IGN also commented that this cooperation case facilitated by Yoshida and Spencer can be regarded as Microsoft’s current policy──To make the game Reaching more players──The strong support of SE executives around this event also lights up the hope of more “FF” coming to the Xbox platform.
Source: IGN , by Destin Legarie
point of view discussion
Eurogamer: 4X Game Developers Discuss Making an ‘Anti-Empire’ Empire Contest Game
This article records a discussion around the production of an “Anti-imperial” themed empire game. In addition to the interviewer, three 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) game developers participated in the discussion: After the development Nikhil Murthy of the colonial 4X game Nikhil Murthy’s Syphilisation, Ryan Sumo, business lead for Europa Universalis IV and Victoria 3 at Paradox Interactive, senior member of Firaxis, and Civilization 5 (Sid Meier’s Civilization V) lead designer Jon Shafer.
The important trigger that triggered this discussion was “Syphilisation” produced by Murthy from India. This work imitates the gameplay design of the “Civilization” series and takes the Indian colony under British rule as the stage. The game is different from the general 4X game. , Murthy tries to “reframe human struggle as a common pursuit of a better world, rather than a competition between each other”, and whether this ideal is realized depends on the player, and the player in the game is not the ruler, but the One of the students studying related topics, as the “history” evolves, the player will form a report on the entire colonization issue including key figures such as Churchill and Gandhi. The trio discussed co-op mechanics in 4X games, untapped possibilities in map design, and the transformation of what is arguably the most “imperialist” genre among ex-colonial developers and players.
The length of this article is long, but the four people including the interviewer (that is, the author of this article) have rich playing experience and in-depth insights into the 4X genre. Many well-known 4X series were widely mentioned in the dialogue, and several creators His views and enthusiasm are worth savoring.
Source: Eurogamer , by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Does the next generation of NS need to be launched in 2024? IGN interviews developers, analysts about it
In the context of the rumors of the next-generation console of the Nintendo Switch, which indicates that it is getting closer to its launch, IGN asked another question to a group of developers and industry analysts: Does Nintendo need this new console next year?
Interviews with developers show that some independent developers interviewed believe that Nintendo can wait until 2025 or even later to launch a new generation of hosts. The current high penetration rate of Switch has made it an ideal development for small studios with limited resources. platform; and for some developers who develop larger-scale and more technically complex projects, they hope to see the successor model of Switch soon, because the technical environment has changed a lot since the release of Switch, and these developers need It’s awkward to develop for Switch, PS4 and X1, PS5 and XS X|S consoles at the same time.
On the analyst side, there are also differences in whether Nintendo will update the Switch product line next year. The focus of the analysis is on the financial situation: some analysts believe that Switch sales have continued to decline since they peaked in 2020, and 2024 may be the next year. There is also a view that the Switch is not currently experiencing the decline that usually begins in the seventh year of the life cycle, so Nintendo does not necessarily need to launch a new generation in 2024.
In the end, IGN also turned around and pointed out that it is very difficult to predict the release decision of Nintendo’s next-generation console: some analysts said that historically, Nintendo is a very maverick console manufacturer, and its positioning is actually closer to toy manufacturing It has enough money and brand strength to take such experimental risks as Wii U and Switch (and Nintendo has done it many times over the years); In the middle, the market does not think that Nintendo will push a host platform that is not ready to the market in order to meet the profit requirements of a certain quarter.
Source: IGN , by Rebekah Valentine
A little-known DSi game is promoted as the highest user-rated Nintendo game on Metacritic, and IGN reports the inside story
A Reddit user browsed Metacritic (MC for short) last week and asked a curious question: Why is the highest user-rated Nintendo game of all time an unnamed DSi game called Metal Torrent? IGN tracked down the ins and outs of the incident, and fully presented the tortuous investigation process in this article. IGN concluded that the game’s high score appeared to be the product of an MC rating manipulation show.
After the release of the 2020 game “AI: The Somnium Files” (AI: The Somnium Files) caused a storm of public opinion in the community (probably because of some LGBT-related plots in the late game), and then a user named “Krvavi Abadas” A crusade was issued, and the team he led expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of specific characters in the game. At the same time, he introduced the inspiration obtained from “Warcraft III: Reforged” (Warcraft III: Reforged) being the lowest user rating of MC, The proposal would demonstrate how highly manipulable the MC scoring system is, “in just a few hours it would take any nameless game to call it one of the best or worst games ever made”.
Krvavi Abadas claims to have manipulated the ratings of two Spike Chunsoft games, “AI: The Dream Files” and “Crystar -Lamenting Star-“, and “Metal Torrent” is apparently one of the affected games, except that the IGN investigation found its rating change time In line with the above incident, it is also because the hidden header information “ASET” appeared in the MC comment of “Metal Torrent”──this is the name of the controversial character in “AI: Dream Files”; after the article was published, there was another tweet The special account Robo_Fucker came forward to claim the manipulation operation, claiming to be responsible for the high score of “Metal Torrent”.
IGN concludes by commenting that while MC and Steam are trying to defend against rating manipulation attacks, it is clear that anyone can quietly manipulate rating numbers for any reason they like, depicting a false community consensus–including for specific game characters rage, which puts trust in such aggregated statistical scores at risk; actually reading what reviewers have to say, and understanding what people actually think about the game, is probably more valuable than statistical scores.
Source: IGN , by Rebekah Valentine
Rock Paper Shotgun: How Larian Studios Transformed With Development of Baldur’s Gate 3
This article explores how Larian Studios expanded and transformed through the development of its latest title, Baldur’s Gate 3, and the challenges the studio faced along the way.
The article mentioned that in order to achieve the development goals, Larian has expanded from 120 people at the beginning of the project to nearly 450 people now, and has established studios in Guiltford, the United States, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Barcelona, Spain, Dublin, Ireland, and Quebec, Canada. . Despite the intention to expand, recruiting new staff was difficult, as Larian followed a very specific and permissive design philosophy, resulting in people who might not necessarily be a good fit for Baldur’s Gate 3 even if they had worked on a well-known title.
The article also pointed out that a lot of Larian’s growth is caused by new film narrative needs. The studio needs to produce 174 hours of film cutscenes for “Baldur’s Gate 3”, involving motion capture and recording; a large part of the Larian cutscene team Some came from Telltale, and they had a lot of experience with the impact of player choices on the film, but even they were initially troubled by the sheer number of permutations involved in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Studio founder Swen Vincke concluded by talking about his thoughts on the future. He thinks that next year will be a “pretty cool time” for Larian because “there will be a lot of experimentation.” From his perspective, the biggest challenge may be It’s about “keeping the plan under control, not the other way around.”
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun by Jeremy Peel
GameSpot interviewed the director and producer of the “Tekken” series, and talked about his views on new works and fighting game genres
GameSpot recently interviewed the long-term soul and game director of the “Tekken” series Katsuhiro Harada and producer Micheal Murray, discussing how the development team made new works after the great success of “Tekken 7” eight years ago, as well as creating Reviewers’ current thoughts on the fighting game genre.
The two mentioned that “Tekken 8” is the first time in the series to release a game first on consoles rather than arcades. New work; the development team recognizes that people’s lifestyles have changed and players may not spend as much time in arcades, and the creators of “Tekken” are working hard to find ways to adapt to the game needs of modern players, The results of the exploration are not yet public.
The two also chatted about how they decided the right time to launch Tekken 8, and while the 7th generation is still popular and monthly active users are still increasing, players may be ready for a new experience (albeit with lip service.永远留在《铁拳7》）。
GameSpot 还与两位谈到了格斗游戏类型的未来，这个类型已经存在了25 年，原田认为它会继续存在，就像某些运动即便小众，也仍然有人愿意留守、磨练技艺，同时他也强调，在格斗游戏领域中，《铁拳》系列可能是最积极探索玩法从2D 转向3D 的之一。
GameSpot 最后询问两位是否觉得有责任维护格斗类型的健康，两人的给予了否定答复，他们认为自己只是《铁拳》的制作者、有经验和意愿继续制作这个系列，责任感可以存在于满足《铁拳》玩家的需求，但格斗游戏领域很广阔、还有大量开发者在制作各式各样的格斗游戏，因此并不是只有他们可以担当“火炬手”。
来源： GameSpot ，作者Tamoor Hussain
IGN：最情绪化的游戏音乐藏在你意想不到的地方
本文探讨了电子游戏音乐创作的演变，特别围绕了一个案例──音乐家David Wise 为上世纪90 年代SFC/SNES 游戏创作的配乐《Aquatic Ambience》 ，该曲也被人称为游戏音乐领域的《Eleanor Rigby》。
Wise 的这首配乐用于平台跳跃游戏《超级咚奇刚》（Donkey Kong Country）的水下关卡，拥有突破游戏领域、延续至今的生命力，被Childish Gambino 等知名艺人采样，受到音乐人Trent Reznor 的热爱，在全球各地的大型音乐会上被演出。Wise 表示《Aquatic Ambience》的创作是他的灵光一现，这首曲子并非专为水下关卡量身定制，Wise 只是想让它听起来不错，他说“尽管这首曲子的基调是沉思和阴郁，但它在现场演出中总是受到热烈欢迎”。
文章还详细描述了Wise 构思音乐的情境、不断优化编曲的手法、在FC/NES 有限硬件环境下创作音乐的大量技术细节、该曲目被任天堂收录的过程等。IGN 强调了《Aquatic Ambience》对整个行业的影响，以及它如何成为人们谈论伟大电子游戏音乐时首先想到的歌曲之一；对此，Wise 则谦虚地说，他从未试图用《Aquatic Ambience》重塑、拓宽游戏音乐的可能性，他甚至不确定人们为什么如此喜欢这首曲目。
来源： IGN ，作者Dale Driver
（文中图片来自网络）
本文转自： https://markonreview.com/2023/08/07/markon-review-express-weekly-2/
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