Charity in Gaming
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
By way of Gamepolitics, I read an interesting editorial piece regarding charity within the video games industry. Ryan Sharpe, co-found of the Get-Well Gamers Foundation, basically came out saying that the video game industry isn’t doing enough charity work. While he did make the comment that he was unaware of all of the charity work done by companies, it is quite evident that he really doesn’t know.
A simple Google search on the matter will turn up lots of results. If you spend anything more than a quick glance into it, you’ll find that Bioware has helped raise money for Child’s Play Charity, Naughty Dog sponsors a kennel (not for publicity), Ubisoft helps raise awareness regarding challenges faced by disabled persons, Activision has their charity push and CODE, Zynga donated money to Haitian charities.
With just these examples (which literally took me less than 15 minutes to find with Google) it is quite clear that the video game industry are not scrooges when it comes to charity. Sure, maybe the movie industry donates more money but that doesn’t mean that they are automatically more charitable. What about the video game companies that do the good work for the sake of doing the good work without saying “Look at me! I’m doing charity” and call attention to it. Dollar amounts are an easy way to measure how much you’ve done, but don’t forget that giving time is just as important (if not more) as donating money.
Tags: Activision, charity, Electronic Arts, Naughty Dog, ubisoft, Zynga
France’s Web Filtering
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary
Australia has already begun instituting internet filtering, and now it seems like France is one step closer. Now I need to ask the question whether or not governments should even have the right to filter the internet. The old argument is that even if you block something, people will still find a way to obtain it. Not to mention the fact that, sure child pornography is bad and really shouldn’t be out in the world – but will filtering internet even stop it. Will the government stop at just that? What about political websites that attack the status quo?
While I don’t condone child pornography in any shape or manner, how effective can internet filtering really be against it? There are proxy servers, P2P, the sneaker net, and what not to get the stuff into the country/past the filtering. Does the cost really justify how much money it will cost? Wouldn’t it be better to continue attacking it at the source, catching the people that are doing the most harm to children?
The thing that I have the problem with is the fact that, while the government may have good intentions, that doesn’t mean that somewhere down the line there won’t be a problem with the system. There is the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and it is quite possible that this will be true to any internet filtering. I believe that the internet should continue, and always be, 100% free from all government control. That’s not to say that governments shouldn’t have the tools to combat stuff like child pornography, just that there must be a better way.
Tags: filtering, France, internet
The Tester
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary
I sat down and watched the preview show for Sony’s The Tester. They really are hyping up being a game tester, making it sound really cool and everything. There was some truth in what they were saying, because it really does take someone who is dedicated to video games and who literally could play them nonstop, over and over. It definetly will be interesting to watch… I can’t wait for it. I hope that Sony continues with this sort of media release.
Tags: game development, sony, The Tester
Why the iPad is no good
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games, Programming
Well the news about the iPad has been around for a while, and there are plenty of game developers excited about it. Why? I haven’t the slightest clue. There is three differences between the iPhone/iPod touch and the iPad and they are: (A) Size of the screen (B) System power & (C) Price. The iPod Touch got more power between the first and second hardware revisions just like the iPhone 3G and 3GS. But, here is the problem… the iPad will bring about the downfall of the video game industry (if it actually catches on).
While my statement may be very wild, if the iPad actually catches on – video game developers should not be happy at all (at least the ones who want to make money). Sure, with the bigger screen size and more powerful system we’ll be able to make bigger and better games, but the problem is that the economics surrounding the iPad will probably gravitate to towards the same trends that the iPhone/iPod Touch have in terms of application costs and the flood of applications. While usually having more is better, in terms of the consumer, in the case of the App Store it is actually really bad. With the 20,000 games available on the App Store how can one find a good game? Its not easy. I put less research into buying a $60 game than I ever have trying to purchase a game from the App Store.
While the iPhone OS and SDK are great for indies and hopefuls wanting to break into the game industry, there are very few companies that can actually survive with the sort of economics that are available on the iPhone. The thing is, that you need to develop something really quick and really cheap in order to turn a profit. There are very few games that sell for more than a few dollars, so if your game cost $100,000 to make (not really that big of a number if you have an artist, programmer, QA, etc working on your game) then you would have to sell a minimum of ~150,000 if you sold your game at $0.99 (there is a percentage that Apple takes from the sale). Sure there are many developers that could put out games for less than $100K, but there are many people who will do this development on the side so there really isn’t any cost associated with it.
Now, you might be wondering why a a game developer would care about a platform they may not even develop for. Well, that is simple. The economics surrounding the App Store have started to bleed over into other sectors of the industry as consumer’s are getting more and more used to getting really small (and usually not that good games) for good and cheap. They want more of this. Now there are less and less people who are willing to continually spend $60 on a new release for a game. They might start buying used copies, none of which goes to the developer. And while I may be exaggerating a bit regarding the overflow, there are plenty of examples of people complaining about the price of the PSP minis in comparison to the App Store.
Now, the iPad has a touch interface, just like the iPhone. Guess what, it sucks. It doesn’t really drive innovation like one would think, except for innovation on how to adapt and get around the platform’s limitations. Sure limitations can drive people to create awesome games, but with the iPhone its about finding the interface that sucks the least. Yeah, the iPad has a much bigger screen that will allow developers greater flexibility when designing controls because screen space will not be as limited. The biggest problem with the iPad (in terms of gaming) is still present… NO BUTTONS. While the touch interface is great, it still needs to have physical buttons with physical feedback. No buttons = limited gaming potential.
Without forgetting one huge problem, we come to the biggest problem of all – PRICE. The starting price is $499 USD. That is more than a new desktop! This platform will suffer, just like the PS3 did, until it has a price cut to be a reasonable price that is affordable. The iPad is on track to have the same consumer adoption rate as the MacBook Air (while I don’t have numbers regarding this, many Mac enthusiasts that I know thought the device was a flop). You cannot charge $500 for a piece of hardware that doesn’t do that much and expect a huge adoption rate.
Lastly, we cannot forget the thing that I really cannot understand most of all – the lack of innovation in the device. What is the iPad really? It is an oversized iPod Touch. I think the only innovation is that it will be able to connect to the internet anywhere with AT&T – but that is not anything new. There are no new hardware innovations that will allow developers to create new interesting new interfaces. When the iPhone/iPod Touch came out at least the accelerometer and the multi-touch screen was new, now it is old and dull. In reality the iPad is nothing more than an oversized, overpriced, iPod Touch.
Tags: apple, Development, game development, Games, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, mac
Kiva
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary
I came upon this interesting site, called Kiva. This is an organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged individuals. But this is not exclusively a charity, but allows you to help people help themselves. This site allows you to be an investor in poor entrepeneurs, and only a little bit at a time. Take a look at this site for more information.
Tags: charity, Entrepeneurs, Kiva, microfinance, microfinancing
South Australia Censorship
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary
While South Australia has recently been the subject of a heated discussion regarding mature rated games, it is now subject of a different type of problem – censorship. This news, coming via Gamepolitics, indicates that any person living in South Australia is required to publish their real name along side their comments or posts regarding anything about the upcoming election. Not only is this law repressive, but it is potentially dangerous for anyone expressing anything seeming like a radical opinion online. The internet is supposed to be a free and open forum to express any opinion, but this law makes it not. While South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson said that the law would be repealed after the election on March 20th, he also indicated that the law would not be enforced either (additional information on the law is available via the Gamepolitics link).
Tags: Australia, Censorship, Elections, Michael Atkinson
Rockstar Letter
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
For those of you who have any idea about the quality of life (QoL) issue for game developers, the mention of the EA Spouse letter will make your hair stand on end. Unfortunately it seems that the big bad publishing giant EA is not the only company now to have received an open letter regarding the QoL issue for it’s developers.
Rockstar San Diego is the focus of the latest letter from a group of wives of developers working at Rockstar San Diego. I was very concerned to hear that most of the same issues have been brought into the light by spouses of developers 5 years after the EA Spouse Letter. It concerns me greatly as a developer to hear that these issues are still alive in the industry.
I have been fortunate that I have never had to deal with issues even approaching the magnitude of either the EA Spouse Letter or the Rockstar Wives’ Letter. Hopefully we, as an industry, can work towards a way to fix these kinds of problems.
Rockstar Wives’ Letter – Gamasutra Link
Tags: EA Spouse, Industry, QoL, Quality of Life, Rockstar, Rockstar San Diego, video games
Video games were invented by the devil
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
Today brings another “genius” who tells us that she thinks that video games were invented by the devil. Anytime I read something like this it boils me up inside. They continue to show that some people are just not meant to be parents, or don’t really want to do the hard parts – like discipline.
The Frumpy Middle-Aged Mom says:
My anti-video game attitude was only reinforced recently, when I read a story in the Boston Herald about a mom who was so frustrated by her son’s obsessive video gaming that she finally called 911.
Apparently, her 14-year-old had become so fixated on “Grand Theft Auto” that he refused to stop playing it. The trouble in her house started after she woke up at 2 a.m. and found her son playing the game on his bedroom computer.
Video games can be bad, if your child is not monitored – like everything else in the world. Unrestricted, unsupervised, unregulated access to certain things for children is not always the best idea because most children haven’t learned what is an acceptable amount of time for certain activities. Should you regulate your child’s access to certain food, even if it is healthy? Of course you should because too much of anything is bad for you.
Parents that say that video games are the cause of childrens’ bad behaviour are simply looking for a scapegoat, and it is understandable. What parent wants to admit that their child is a terror and is not well behaved? It is easier to blame something like video games. I’m sure we all have witnessed the child at the grocery store or shopping mall running rampant without the parent saying anything.
Now I wonder about the question can video games teach children any positive skills? Video games are endless and therefore there are many opportunities for children to pick up real life skills, even if those skills are not learned directly from video games. Not all children are outgoing and make new friends easily – video games are a common thing among children and can help break the ice when a child is being encourage to expand their social horizons. Children can also learn teamwork through co-operative play. But again, ensuring that children balance their video game time (along with TV and movie viewing) with appropriate healthy outdoor socialization with other children is important. If your child would rather play video games than spend time with friends, then maybe it is time to step in and turn off the video games, or limit them to an hour a day.
Now with this “Frumpy” mother’s misinformed nature, I think it also important to note that video games can probably (I’ve seen no definite evidence, but this is pretty much common sense to me) have adverse effects on children if they were some other factor. For instance, if you knew a sociopath would you give them a gun and let them loose unsupervised? Do convicts on parole just get to roam the streets free without supervision? The answer to both questions should be no. If you had a really nice TV and you knew someone that had a habit of throwing things when they got frustrated, would you let them play a video game with that TV alone? Probably not.
The author of this article continues to demonstrate my point that children should not be left to their own devices:
I was an odd, geeky kid most of my childhood.
I was too weird for most of the other kids to play with, so I spent most of my time reading obsessively, which of course only made me more of a dweeb…
She had problems as a child with socializing with other children because of a self-admitted obsession with reading. Reading is great, but the thing is that it reading begins to cause the symptoms of addition to appear (like the focus of the “addiction” causes the person to spend less and less time with friends and family, work life begins to suffer, etc) then the person has obviously gone overboard with their hobby/passion/pastime. Now I need to mention that I do not mean this as a personal insult but rather proof of children not always being able to balance interests with healthy living.
There are plenty of video games that are suitable for children, and no I don’t mean Grand Theft Auto (which is actually rated to be inappropriate for children). Most Nintendo games are very appropriate for children, like the New Super Mario Bros. Wii for instance, cartoon violence and the like. Children under the age of 13 should generally stick to games rate E for Everyone. Other games include Braid (E10+), Vancouver 2010™ – The Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games(E), LittleBigPlanet(E), Frogger(E), Forza Motorsport 3(E), Madden NFL Arcade(E). Would you let a child watch a R rated movie? If not, then why would you let a child play a game that has the equivalent rating (M for Mature)?
In the end, this author simply proves that parents are not informed and therefore vilify something that doesn’t deserve it. It is common for video games to be used as a scapegoat rather than have a parent admit that they are a bad parent. Hopefully we can move on from blaming video games for the world’s ills and start accepting responsibility for our own actions.
Tags: bad parenting, devil, mainstream media, obsession, overuse, video games
Christian Group Calls for MW2 Ban
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
I think that its time that we ban free speech in this world. I know that this is an outrageous statement, but I am equal in audacity that the Maine Family Council has excercised in calling for the banning of Modern Warfare 2. Not only that, but they have also used lies and misdirection to push their ideological belifes on other people.
Evidently there is a “Massacre Level” available in Modern Warfare 2, but it seems that I missed it. In truth they are referring to the “No Russian” level in which you play the part of an undercover agent posing as a Russian Terrorist. References to the game being banned or modify overseas are not completely without truth, but these instances are within countries that do not allow free speech in all forms, and the majority of the countries in which this game is available have not required modification or banning of this game.
Anytime I read such stories online I find myself questioning whether or not these sites are satires, and if these articles were written by people that honestly believe the words written. Whatever the case I hope who ever reads this article will actually think for themselves before attempting to aid in the ursurpation the First Ammendment so that they can say whatever they want and not allow anything that they do not agree with. There are additional points within the story that are quite amusing that one should take a look at.
Gamepolitics Article
Original Article
Tags: Ban, First Ammendment, Free Speech, Games, Infinity Ward, Maine Family Policy Council, modern warfare 2, mw2
Poor Video Game Media
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
Recently I came across a story regarding a school shooting that was recently adverted. Another example of mainstream media playing up a video game link for no good reason. There is a great interview with Guillaume de Fondaumiere (co-CEO of Quantic Dream) in which he discuss the reasons he believes that mass media so poorly represents video games and the industry.
However, there is a greater problem with the attempt to associate video games and unfortunate events. That problem is the video game news sites. First, before anything else, I must say that I truly enjoy most of the video game news outlets out there. But, the problem still is the fact that they report these associations seemingly as much as the mainstream media which isn’t helping anything. Most of the reporting is simply just stating that a mainstream media outlet has made this tie, which doesn’t help the matter any. I only say this to challenge our beloved news outlets (sites that are about video games) to step up and challenge the mainstream media, not simply re-report something that has already been mentioned.
Tags: Games, mainstream media, misreporting, sensationalist media
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