Tiger has Tanked
Those of you who are old enough will remember the commercial from the 60’s that touted the slogan “put a tiger in your tank”. Now it seems the Tiger has indeed tanked but this time its Tiger Woods. It was just late last year that Howard Rubenstein, Chairman of the famed public relations firm Rubenstein Communications, inc. was quoted by ABC news as saying, “He [Tiger Woods] is beyond PR redemption. He is in public relations hell right now. There is not a PR man on Earth who can restore his image,” said public relations maven Howard Rubenstein.
And so what?
Activision has the Modern Warfare series, Nintendo has that famous plumber Mario, Electronic Arts has Madden, FIFA and the Sims series. What is missing from the list? The series based on he of the self destructing reputation – Tiger Woods. Who knew that the “family man” whose reputation was once as pure as the driven snow was only as thin as siding made from onion skin paper? It seems that in the first two quarters of 2010 fans have spoken. Fans have been teed off at the Tiger, who has smacked his ball, seemingly irrevocably, in to the rough. Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz is quoted in Edge discussing the June release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 and it’s 68 percent decline in the first month since last year’s version. “The 86 per cent decline on the Wii was particularly catastrophic,” said Creutz. I wonder how long it will be before we the famed golf series being given out as free prizes with every box of Wheaties cereal. It just goes to prove the sage advice of my grandmother who pointed out that “there are times when it is best to keep your genes in your jeans.”
Climbing out of the tank
Remember the commercial slogan “only her hairdresser knows for sure”? This is a case of only the CEO knows for sure. It seems that EA is selling off its 15% stake in French game publisher Ubisoft. Is it a case of Electronic Arts climbing out of the dip in earnings that the Tiger’s tanking has caused? Perhaps EA knows (or suspects) something about Ubisoft that the rest of us don’t. Either way, Ubisoft sounds a bit like a jilted lover to me when they said, “we feel that this transaction is in Ubisoft’s best interest”.
Getting out of Dodge
One of the movements we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy have been following closely is the fiasco going on between the U.S. Broadband providers intent on charging American consumers out the wazoo for their services and the FCC (see The Digital Stream becomes a Trickle ). With Google and Skype on the other side (and Steve Jobs oddly enough fighting for deregulation) it seems that Netflix has taken steps to get away from the foul odor that has been blowing in the wind. Like many American households we had out cable provider pull their cable out; shortly after which we switch internet providers. More than a few homes across the U.S. must be following in suit if broadband providers are attempting to take up the slack by hiking the rates like a field goal kicked over the moon. Netflix is “getting out of dodge” and is moving its movies and television shows in an expansion to our neighbors to the north – Canada. So far it seems to just be a matter of expansion in to other markets, but I can tell you that if we here at NPNM can’t get our streaming we will be screaming.
Blowing in the solar wind
The artwork formerly known as walking in station…
…now known as Incarna has reared its head once more. Eve’s new Senior Producer CCP Zulu (the dev formerly known as Zulupark) has been discussing playing walking on stations and fighting on planets in the latest devBlog . Be it known that as of August 17th CCP will have 90 developers working on making sure players can one day walk in stations, and that friend, is a lot of manpower (and presumably womanpower). Apparently CCP is serious about Incarna and here is the reason that CCP Zulu gives:
“To achieve our goal of EVE being a complete sci-fi experience we must have full body avatars. When we talk to people who like the concept of science fiction games but aren’t attracted to EVE, it becomes obvious that there is a need gap that can best be filled by having a character to associate with rather than a spaceship, and I would venture there are many existing players who want this option as well.” – CCP Zulu
Personally I have been hoping for this for a long time…a long, long time. So long, in fact that I have given up on it and simply considered if vaporware; relegating it to the same category as the little boy who yelled wolf a few thousand times. But word around the blogosphere is that many of the zero security players would be happy if it never came out – one website insisting that CCP would never pay the pvpers any mind at all. There may be more grouse out there than a bird sanctuary amongst some of the players out there, but this is something that the rest of us who help pay CCP bills have been looking forward to since we first set virtual foot on a frigate.
Who’s on first?
Apparently CCP is on first – or at least they intend to be. As all Eve players know, CCP recently launched their planetary interaction in preparation for linking Eve Online with their impending console game, Dust 514. Even though the good folks at CCP have already stated they don’t expect Dust 514 to do well they are committed to quality over quantity – that and being the first developer to link a console game to a mmo. Here is what CCP Zulu had to say:
“Let that sink in for a minute. CCP is the first company in the world to do something like this. First. Ever. The „resource cost” on the EVE side for that is a team continuing on development of the Planetary Interaction feature (the primary link between the two) for the next three releases, delivering immediate, meaningful value into EVE Online and making game development history while they‘re at it.” – CCP
Planetary Inaction
When I was a youngster the toy stores all sported these large rings of plastic hanging in racks called “hula hoops”. The concept was to put it around your waist and gyrate in such a manner as to keep it aloft through the use of centrifugal force…this was called fun you see. The problem was, even as a child with a vivid imagination (of which I had in abundance) it was fun for about a minute and a half. Then it was just a boring pain the ass.
When planetary interaction was first introduced with slick trailers that would make even Paramount motion pictures proud I bought into the hype. Like many others I had images of claiming my own planet. It was a misconception which CCP purposefully encouraged amongst players, even to the point of calling it a “land rush”. I bought into the hype with great hope; certain I could pull isk out of the planets much like I could asteroids. In the end, nothing was further from the truth. The money I could pull out of a colony in one week was less than what I could profit from one wreck in a level 3 mission. The profit margin was such that it would take me about a decade of real time just to break even. And normally there might not be anything wrong with that, if process of planetary interaction was fun. Oh it was fascinating at first to be true. But then, much like the hula-hoop it got old fast – it didn’t make any money, and quickly became a pain to manage. While it was nice to get the limited edition planetary interaction ship, as all regular Eve Players know, no matter how well the execute the design of a limited edition ship of that sort, it is a waste of hanger space. All they end up being is a target for players who just want to make their day by ruining someone else’s. At this point if a Dust514 player wants my Eve Colony they are welcome to it.
Early re-adopters
Early re-adopters is not my phrase to be sure, it was coined (as far as I know) by Dr. Richard Bartle. To be sure CCP is the first to link a console game and an mmo. It may be that, like Zynga, they are one of the first developers/publishers to say “wouldn’t it be great if…” and that is what they seem to be banking on. Certainly they know their own market. I am overjoyed they want to address the desires of that sector of the market that, “like the concept of science fiction games but aren’t attracted to EVE.”
World first or not, it seems you would want to fix what you have before you attempt to pull in players from a new market. And if CCP does players from new markets then things are going to have to change. When I consider “who gives a rat’s ass” attitude toward new players victimized by suicide gankers, the words of the Ancient Gaming Noob come to mind:
“And you can take the cliché attitudes that people throw around in EVE. Don’t fly what you cannot afford to lose. Don’t ever assume you are safe outside of a station. Don’t AFK. EVE is about PvP. Sandbox, landmines, blah blah blah. But all that amounts to is throwing a teaspoon of kitty litter over the steaming cow turd that is the loophole in the way things work in EVE Online.” – The Ancient Gaming Noob
Walking around in stations just might pull in a new breed of player for a “look see” but it will never keep them there. The first time a player ventures over from Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and finds themselves the victims of a suicide gank, or a swindle that is “just part of the game” said new player will leave the game so fast it will set new land speed records.
So why do I stay around? Why pay a parking fee and the training game? Well the fact of the matter is that it runs in cycles. The last time out I worked a player up until I could mine in tech 2 ships. This time out I have worked my way up the training scale until I can zoom around the universe in tech 2 ships at 6,000 m/sec. But it is starting to look like I am reaching the end of another cycle. I find myself logging in less and less in what has become a summer mmo doldrum. In the end I think the only reason I keep coming back is that one day CCP just might engender comments like “Gee I wish I had paid more attention to that ‘Jobs’ kid back when he was working in his garage.”
See you online,
Julie Whitefeather
[posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster]