They’re big enough, they’re scary enough…

update: No closed deal (yet) but there has been an announcement of terms: $562.2 million plus “performance liked earn out of up to $200 million. (source) So it looks like its full speed ahead for Disney version of Facebook games. Are we in for treats like “Down on Mickey’s Farm”, “Duck Wars”, and “Minnie’s happy little aquarium”? Get out your barf bags ladies and gentlemen it promises to be a bumpy ride.

No word as of yet if Disney has actually gone through with the purchase of Playdom and it’s ever growing portfolio of Facebook game developers for a reported $500 million plus. But that isn’t the only merger/acquisition in the news today. Senator Al Franken, the man who fought tooth and nail to get the job as senator in the first place, was addressing the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas this last Sunday, as reported by TheWrap.com. Calling Net Neutrality “The first Amendment issue of our time” Senator Franken had the following to say about the proposed Comcast/NBC merger:

“If Comcast merges with NBC, how long do you think it will take for Verizon and AT&T to start looking at CBS-Viacom and ABC-Disney”

“Imagine if what is happening with television, the senator went on to say, where an independent producer can’t get a show uon the air unless a network owns a piece of it, where to happen to the internet. There would be no next Youtube or Twitter. There would only be what the R&D departments at the few megaconglomerates could invent and profit from.”

If you don’t think the Senator is right, consider the following:

Vivendi SA (formerly Vivendi Universal) divisions are Vivendi Entertainment, that in turn owns the Canal+Group (a French film and television studio), Universal Music Group, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, Global Village Telecom, Maroc Telecom, SFR (a French mobile telephone company), and a 20 percent interest in NBC universal (the remainder is owned by General Electric)

But wait, we’re just getting warmed up here.

NBC Universal in turn has the following divisions: NBC, Universal Studios, NBC Universal Television Group, NBC News, USA Network, SYFY (the Sci-Fi Channel), CNBC, MSNBC, NBC.com, MSNBC.com, IVillage, Bravo, qubo, Telemundo Television Studios, The Weather Channel, Hulu and the A&E Television Networks.

If you add Comcast into the mix that includes five more networks (source: Arstecnica as well as The Philadelphia Flyers, The Philadelphia 76ers, the Global Spectrum Management company, Front Row (a marketing firm), as well as non-controlling interests in In Demand, TV One, MGM, Sportsnet, New England Cable News, and the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel

When you are all done chewing on that you can go watch the following movies on Netflix (while Comcast still allows it to run) – The Running Man, Robocop, and one of our personal favorites, the John Cusack movie called War Inc. The common theme with all three is, of course, “egaconcongomoerate” corporations run amok vie to control the world (or destroy it).

Is the senator from Minnesota being alarmist? We tend to think not, and if he is, a large portion of the Federal Government is being alarmist right along with him. If nothing else you have to like an actor from Saturday Night Live who fought hard to be a senator; and as the Senator’s Stuart Smalley character used to say, he’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doog done it, people like him. Just like California, Minnesota may have an actor for a senator, and had a professional wrestler for a governor (Jesse Ventura) but none of the governors are, to my knowledge, wearing prison uniforms – and that’s something that we here in Illinois won’t be able to say for some time to come.

Another one bites the dust?

You had to see Warhammer Online Free 2 play coming from a mile away. It certainly didn’t take a telescope to spot Dungeons and Dragons Online coming up the Free 2 play street either. Lotro was a bit of a shock – we will certainly hand you that. Now in a move that we will claim you could have seen with a blindfold on (never mind that hind sight is always 20-20) Everquest 2 is going free 2 play [http://everquest2.com/free_to_play/extended_faq] with what they are calling Everquest II Extended. Now there are many of our listeners who will, of course, remember Paul Barnett speaking of such matters on a previous show shouting “I TOLD YOU THE SUN WOULD FINALLY EXPLODE.” We will let you look up exactly how much is “free” in Free 2 Play, after all no matter what anyone said our grandmothers were right…there is no such thing as a free lunch. Does this mean that I will be able to get out my gnome and get back the key to my enormous mansion and 1 Antonia Bayle? I sort of doubt it. If the past is in any way precedent I sort of doubt it. John Smedley once said that he considered a game a success if the profits paid to keep the servers open and pay the bills; lets hope the new business model does at least that.

No reviews for you

Today is the day that Blizzard finally takes the chains off that giant of industry IP’s Starcraft 2. As we all know by now, Blizzard would not allow reviews ahead of time. Our first thought was to consider movie Studios like Paramount that refused “professional” reviewers into advance showings of some of their movies after they had been blasted one to many times by reviewers, who later ended up with a few dozen eggs on their face after the same movies where hits at the box office. Still, a comment on one of our regular must reads claimed that Blizzard could defecate in a box, slap the words “Starcraft 2” on the box and still sell it (or words to that effect) and we tend to agree.

What struck us about the release was not the game itself . No, as usual Blizzard doesn’t release anything unless it is polished to the point where it could be used as the mirror in a refracting telescope. Just as striking are the CGI trailers that Blizzard released about the game. Mind you these are not all that uncommon in the mmo industry. But it is not the quality of the trailer that we find lacking – it is the fact that in most cases they are not at all representative of the game. For a game that, as we understand it, is mostly an isometric (albeit highly detailed) view the trailers seem more akin to the hype we see in movie theaters for movies that are big on special effects but low on script quality – rarely do they represent the actual movie. In fact in such cases, if you have seen the trailer you have seen the best parts of the movie with boring filler in between. Mind you in this particular case Starcraft 2 is obviously a “killer game”. Still a bit more of a pragmatic approach, and a lot more honesty in depicting what the gamer is actually getting would be honest and no doubt more productive in the end.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Be nice to the people you meet on the way up; you will meet the same people on the way back down.

Truer words were never spoken. In fact I could go on like this for some time, including the following:

A quote from a play called The Kings Ring that ends “even this shall pass away”.

From the movie Blade Runner, “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”

And a senior drill sergeant of my onetime acquaintance, “What goes around comes around.”

What caught my eye was the headline from Edge over at Next-Gen by Tom Ivan: “Lawsuit: Activision Created Police State at Infinity Ward “.  By now just about everyone and their brother will have heard about the infamous lawsuit by not only Messers West and Zampella (formerly of Infinity Ward) but also a group of former Infinity Ward employees – even the snail mail magazine that arrives in our mail box will have picked it up by now (that makes it REALLY old news).  So on the face of it, it’s not really that profound hearing that same said group rattling their sabers talking about the “police state” created by Activision as well as withholding bonus payments in attempt to force the development of Modern Warfare 3.

O.K. so what else is new?

Blizzard recently backed down on their Real ID issue.

 Also not news to write home about; after all it’s not that big an issue (providing the proper exceptions were put in place).   Still I can’t help but consider that this is the same company that always said it’s done when it’s done –  the famed Blizzard attitude that prevails while developers in other parts of the industry are busy dancing to the music played by their respective publishers.  For some years what seemed like exponential growth in subscriber numbers where published like Burger King used to announce how many hamburgers they have served.  Blizzard has long seemed the unassailable zombie gorilla that no developer could topple (and any who tried paid for it dearly).   On the face of it, listening to your community is usually (but not always) a good policy. But I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a case of a widening chink in the Blizzard armor.

Gordon over at We Fly Spitfires has an interesting post on a related issue entitled Will BioWare Be To Blizzard What Blizzard Was To SOE? . Here is an excerpt of the article that is a very interesting read:

Over the next few years SOE made a handful of bad decisions (most notably the NGE for SWG) and suddenly all faith in them was lost. Justly or not, SOE had turned from the Kings of the MMO genre to the butt of every harsh remark about screwing over the fan base and selling out their morals. $OE was their new name and woe was them. – Gordon, We Fly Spitfires

Obviously even Blizzard doesn’t think that their light will never dim or Lead Designer Tom Chilton would not have recently pointed out that there may come a time when World of Warcraft goes free to play. Likely as not this won’t be any time soon – especially not with the Cataclysm expansion on the near horizon. Then again few people expected the recent announcement that Lord of the Rings Online was going free to play either. Between the Activision lawsuits, 25 dollar sparkling ponies (few of which I see in game anymore), and Real ID perhaps the Blizzard Gorilla isn’t as tough as he used to be.

All things considered maybe it’s a good thing that Activision/Blizzard is back to being known as Blizzard.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Say it isn’t so…

This just came across our news feed: Edward Norton will NOT be back as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the upcoming Avengers movie.  As our regular readers and listeners know, we here at NPNM love our action movies.  When we heard that they were making The Hulk we never thought that anyone could ever fill the shoes of the late Bill Bixby – the man touched our soles with his heart felt, bittersweet performance.  But after we saw Mr. Norton as Bruce banner we were sucked in to everthing he brought to the role. Now we can’t imagine anyone else in the role.

But it seems we will have to.

News has just come to us that Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige made the following announcement:

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.” – Kevin Feige

Well friends all I can say, as a long time Marvel and especially Avengers fan color me hopping mad.  It’s one thing to decide you are not going to use Mr. Norton in the role but is it necessary to slam the man on the wayout? Now truth be told you never know what the Edward Norton is like to work with.  Some of the things Mel Gibson has done in the last few years has us both dropping our jaws to the floor and throwing his movies out in the garbage (with the sole exception of the Passion of the Christ of course).

Sad news indeed. Hopefully Mr. Feige will come to his senses.

[posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster]

If it quacks like a duck…

It’s not always a duck.

And at least a few of the big dogs on the porch agree – starting with the 1 ton gorilla on the block, Blizzard.  Frank Pearce, the executive producer for World of Warcraft and co-founder of Blizzard, confirmed that Starcraft 2, which is due to ship this July, will not require the same “always on” digital rights management (DRM) system that Ubisoft uses. The game will require a single online activation using the Battlenet servers and that, apparently, will be it. Hopefully, the industry will take not just a note, but the whole symphony from Mr. Pearce’s handbook:

“We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” – Frank Pearce, executive producer, World of Warcraft

The Blizzard exec said, “If we’ve done our job right and implemented Battle.net in a great way people will want to be connected while they’re playing the single player campaign…”

Even better news is that there are indeed some development studios that feel the same way – Avalanche Studios (Just Cause, Just Cause 2, The Hunter) being one of them. Cristofer Sundberg, Avalanche Studios co-founder said, “Games have become a luxurious form of entertainment and piracy has scared the market to start implementing ridiculous DRM solutions that only limits the consumers that actually PAY for their games, not stopping the pirates.”

While we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy hope that the rest of the industry follows lead of Messers Pearce and Sundberg, we aren’t going to bet the proverbial farm on it.  Money talks, or so they say, and until the bean counters, be they executives, investors, or both, SEE that DRM bites that hand feeds it, the path blazed by backward thinking companies like Ubisoft is likely to look more appealing.

In the end, however, the song made famous by The Mills Brothers is likely to ring true: You always hurt the one you love.  While the “one” game publishers should love in this case are the consumers, what will change their mind is what they do love most of the time and that is the bottom line.

Expecting “always on” DRM to thwart game piracy is like handing a chef a sledgehammer, daring him to break some eggs with it, and hope that hammer gives out first.  Avalanche exec Sundberg called DRM the “ultimate Rubik cube” for game pirates.  Blizzard Boss Pearce called it a “losing battle”.  Yet still publishers insist on DRM schemes that hurt the consumer more than the target at which they are aimed.  The two likely situations seem to be that game publishers think gamers are apathetic enough to continue to put up with the treatment, or investors are stupid enough to believe that such extreme measures work.  While the former of the two is more likely, we really hope we are wrong, and you will see the pig for what it is – vote with your wallet.

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

The Race Horse

Welcome to the Friday Horse and Pony show…it’s kind of like a “dog and pony show”. In fact it’s a lot like a Dog and Pony show because Infinity Ward vs. Activision, if not a circus act yet, is getting close to one – depending, of course, one whether you are the one who has to clean up the horse dung afterwards.

The total employees who have left Infinity Ward are now up to 13 (including Jason West and Vince Zampella who didn’t leave so much as they were pushed out the door of a C-130 troop transport from 10,000 feet).  In the unlikely event that you are scratching your head at this point saying “Infinity ward? Activision? You can start here.  Up to this point, upon Messers West and Zampella forming Respawn Studios, Electronic Arts (EA) hasn’t had much to say since their association with the new studio. 

Today the ice was broken, so to speak, by EA’s Director of Corporate Communications, as reported here. Sounding for all the world like a quote from Karl Urban in Star Trek 11, Jeff Brown had this comment about Activision’s announcement “raising its financial outlook on the back of strong Modern Warfare downloadable content sales”:

“This is kind of like announcing: The race horse I shot last month has won the Triple Crown!” – Jeff Brown, Director of Corporate Communications, Electronic Arts

My Pretty Starry Pony

Not to be outdone by Hasbro, Activision/Blizzard has just released their own “little pony” (see below right), and as well all know the internet is all atwitter about it, both pro and con.  Whether we agree with it or disagree with it is all a moot point.  Now that one estimation has it that Activision was making 2.5 million dollars an hour upon the release of its pretty starry pony, it is not only a done deal, but a trend for the future.

At first sight “my little pony” was the first thought that leapt into our minds (or should we say clawed).  That and expressions like “terminally cute”.  In case you are not up to the minute on your Blizzard pretty pony news, the Celestial Steed (or so they are called) costs $25.00 (here insert the term “a whopping” or “a mere” depending on your outlook).  Whether on ground or in the sky, the speed of the horse adapts to the speed of the fastest mount the player already owns. And that, at least for one member of the No Prisoners, No Mercy team, casts a whole new light on the situation.

Imagine if you will, you’re a mighty Tauren Warrior, or at least the player controlling said warrior.  You have worked your way up the ranks until you are “all that and a bag of chips” where tanking is concerned.  You have finally arrived.  But what is this noble warrior forced to ride? Barring reputation grinds that would make 40 years in the desert look like a day at the beach you are forced to ride a rhino…I mean a me a Kodo (which is basically the same thing).  Now ask yourself, what YOU would rather ride – a horse that looks as if a looks as if the constellation Pegasus sprang to earth, or a dinosaur? The answer we would give (unless we were back playing Age of Conan) would be the horse.

And as a side note at this point, it may be a good thing that Activision will have a bit of extra money set aside from the sale of Starry Ponies, because they appear to have lost the first round in No Doubt vs. Activision.

The Trojan horse

Our little horse and pony show wouldn’t be complete without a story about a Trojan horse.  Now we will all be the first to admit that we had never heard of “Hentai Games” before this story broke. It seems that said developer/publisher/slime pit (pick your term) sells pornographic anime (we had no idea there was such a thing). According to one report it appears that individuals who pirated “games” from the this company have been hit by a virus which is actually virtual extortion.  The virus publishes the users full internet history online, which is easily removed if you pay the creator (whoever that is) a fine of 1,500 Yen (we will let you look up the exchange rate for yourselves).  The article reports 5,000 people have paid the fee to date.

It all goes to show you that our grandmothers were right when they gave the advice “Always keep your genes zipped up in your jeans.”

Publisers get banned too

Blade: How do you feel old man?

Whistler: Like Hammered shit.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to think in terms of movies. For every situation there seems to be a scene in a movie somewhere that fits this situation – that seems to personify the event if you will (or even if you won’t). In this particular case, these days it seems that game publishers get hit with the ban hammer as well as players. The main difference here is that publishers are getting banned from places with names like China, Australia and Germany.

The latest title to be banned by the Australian Classification board is Alien Vs. Predator.  This time it is the United Kingdom developer Rebellion that responded.  CEO Jason Kingsley made this comment:

“We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.” – Jason Kingsley, CEO Rebellion (entire article available here)

Ron Curry, the CEO of Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA – an Australian and New Zeland videogame industry group) is not taking things so lightly (if indeed you can consider Mr. Kingsley’s comment “light”).  What follows is an excerpt from a lengthy, and well researched, response to a form letter from South Australia’s Attorney-General Michael Atkinson’s form letter on the R18+ classification for computer and video games:

Attorney-General Michael Atikinson:  “… Indeed, with all the effort and money that goes into game development, coupled with the effects and graphics now available, there is no need to introduce these extreme elements. I am baffled and worried about why proponents of R.18+ games are putting up their hands and saying ‘Give us more cruel sex and extreme violence!’”

IGEA CEO Ron Curry: “I’m not really clear who (apart from Atkinson’s own personal preference) has claimed that games are more interesting to an adult simply because they contain extreme violence, explicit sexual material or highly offensive language. More so, who is calling for more cruel sex? This assertion is patronising in the extreme, deciding what is good for all adults and is dripping with moral panic.”

You can read Mr. Curry’s well thought out and highly research response here. (we have a mountain of respect for anyone who can plough through federal regulations)

Now at this point, dear readers, some of you may ask yourselves (those who are not from Australia and we know ALOT of gamers who are) how does this inolve me? I live in the United state, why should it bother me if some Brazilian Senator Valdir Raup authors a bill to make it illegal to it illegal to “make, import or distribute offensive videogames”? (read the article here) What should I care, you may ask yourselves, if 16 of Germany’s Interior Ministers asked their government to ban the production and distribution of violent video games? (read the article here)

Most people have heard about disbarred attorney Jack Thompson and his crusade to ban videogames that he deems are offensive. And more, if not all, of our readers may have heard of the attempt by “governator” Arnold Schwartzenagger (currently the governor of California for all you over seas readers) attempt to ban games that he feels are offensive – an attempt that was brought to a halt on appeal (article here).  We here at No Prisoners No Mercy will bet you “dollars to donuts” (or so the assertion by our grandmothers used to go) that the attempt by petty beaureacrats and like minded disbarred attorneys is far from over, at least in the U.S.

Even if you don’t agree with us, these days, even the biggest game publishers of them all, the famed Activision/Blizzard 800 pound gorilla, has been brought to it’s knees by China’s video game industry regulator the General Administration of Press and Publication. (GAPP – article here).  In a battle that is far from over, GAPP turned the 800 pound gorilla into a 400 gorilla when it banned foreign investment in online games.

So in the end, it seems that even game publishers and developers are getting hit with the ban hammer these days.

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy team

Now we are sure, whenever our readers see the “welcome to the (fill in the blank) edition” they say to themselves “oh boy, it must be a slow news day.” Well our contention is that there is simply a lot we wish to write about that day and only so much room in one article. At least that’s our story and we are sticking to it. That said, there are people in the news today who have “said things with style” –  it is merely a matter of WHAT sort of style that is a matter for discussion.

Earlier this week we wrote about one Erik Estavillo, whom you may remember as the player who sued (unsuccessfully) Sony Computer Entertainment of America over his banning from the PlayStation Network.  The latest round of lawsuits are against Activision/Blizzard and Microsoft Corporation. To wit (doesn’t that sound legal? We thought we would throw a “to wit” in there) he has subpoenaed one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, as well as actress Winona Ryder and a member of the band Depeche Mode. Now Mr. Estavillo has added to his list of subpoenaed celebrities by summoning to the stand “a pair of rappers” (or so Gamepolitics.com reports here ).  Game Politics.com being one of our favorite sites, we will just have to take their word for it that rap artists come in pairs (we heard at one time they came in “murders” as in a “murder of crows” – we are happy to be proven wrong in this case). Added to the list of those subpoenaed are Lady Sovereign, as well as Krayzie Bone of “Bone, Thugs and Harmony”. It appears that the rappers are being subpoenaed to show “how rappers are not censored/banned/or punished for ‘cussing/trash talking’ on private property”. 

Now we aren’t sure what got Mr. Estavillo banned from the PlayStation Network in the first place, but based on the reason for the latest round of summons we have a sneaking suspicion.  And if (and that is a big if) that is the case we will be interested to find out if the words “first amendment” come under discussion.

In the end, no matter what the reason for the lawsuits against Microsoft and Activision/Blizzard we have got to hand it to Mr. Estavillo…having the hutzpa to bring a lawsuit and summon a laundry list of celebrities has style.

[Authors note: for those of you who have never heard of the word “hutzpa” before, the classic definition is a man who kills both his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan]

We’re not sure what kind of style this next section consists of, but we will call it the “we don’t like ten bunny rabbits dancing around with toilet paper” style (derived from a quote by the late Rod Serling). There is an interesting interview over at Werit (available here) that comes to us via Bio Break (simply because the letter “B” comes before “W” on our Google Reader). The interview is with Fallen Earth developer Wes Platt. Here is an excerpt from the interview we just loved:

 Werit:  You guys recently had the Days of the Dead event for Halloween which seemed to be a hit among the players.  Can we expect a Christmas Event?  If so, will it involve a mutated Santa Claus?

Wes Platt: Yes, we’ll have a winter holiday event. You might even get to kill some elves.

Elf hunting in Fallen Earth? Sign us up, we will be the first ones in line.  We have our motorcycle and our 357 magnum six shooter all ready.

And all this talk about Fallen Earth reminds us of a quote from script co-authored by Harlan Ellison, based on one of his stories:

“World War 4 lasted just five days  – just long enough for the final missiles to leave their silos on both sides. What’s left where once were homes and families and warm hearths – now only desolation, civilization lies smothered, decaying under an ocean of mud belonging to whoever can dick (we presume the author is referring to Richard Nixon) and fight and keep it for his own. God that’s dramatic. I like that. So spread about us the city of Phoenix, Arizona where in 2006, 18 odd years ago, you managed to come into the world and we became associates…now let’s hear that back” – from a script based on a story by Harlan Ellison

Now we will be the first to admit that the story has some scenes that set our teeth on edge, but it is interesting that the setting of the story is in post apocalyptic Arizona. It is interesting to note that at least Ellison himself said of the last line in the film: “moronic, hateful chauvinist last line, which I despise.”

And before we leave the subject of Fallen Earth entirely, we should point out that in some of the games we play the wait for a gm to respond is sometimes measured in days.  In the case of the latest Fallen Earth GM to help us out the response time was measured in seconds (less than five to be exact). It was a difficult problem (we won’t go in to it here). Suffice it to say that although the programming glitch wasn’t in the patch notes, it was fixed in the next patch less than 24 hours later. We don’t know if GM Daxus is responsible but we are claiming it for him anyway.

Say it with Style…

The latest game to make its way around the blogosphere (at least the end we inhabit) is, as we all know, Alganon. Now as of our readers and listeners know, we are big supporters of the restoration of keel hauling as punishment for the application of “WoW clone” to any game (other than WoW itself of course). That being said, our good friend R.W. Harper (a guest on our upcoming anniversary show) has a great review of the game over at www.lorewriter.com entitled “Something New and Totally Out of the Blue” Here is an excerpt:

 I have sensed a ripple in the force amongst you all and know that this usually is a prelude to the mass of trolls that are about to start screaming their unintelligible and uninformed spewage about the following:

Oh great, another WoW (Everquest, Everquest2, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Runes of Magic, Hello Kitty, Warhammer Online) clone.

You know what?  I see this argument being about as pertinent as a dissertation on the variable textures and viscosity of horse dung.

Now THAT my friends is style. We wish we had written that ourselves.

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

Wake up CVG!!!

Note to computerandvideogames.com: Wake up and smell the coffee. Why? Read on…

MMO developers trying to copy World of Warcraft is “definitely not the right move,” says Blizzard lead producer, Shane Dabiri.

Speaking in the latest issue of PC Zone magazine, Dabiri argues that trying to emulate the success of his company’s MMO isn’t what gamers are looking for, and devs should try to create “innovative new MMOs”. In other words, stay away from Blizzard’s profits, you thieves.

“There are a lot of people that try to emulate World of Warcraft – and as flattering as that is our end it’s definitely not the right move,” he says.

“I know that World of Warcraft is very successful, and so people think if they were to make another game just like it they could somehow capture that audience. However, I don’t think that’s what players are looking for. –   PCZone Magazine via computerandvideogames.com

There are several thoughts here upon reading the comments by computerandvideogames.com (CVG) and the first would be “would this (Blizzard Entertainment) be the same company that “borrowed” so heavily from Everquest and the Warhammer Tabletop game themselves? Isn’t this a bit like the “pot calling the kettle black” as grandmother used to say?

Beyond our initial impressions, it seems that the author from computerandvideogames.com (not PCZone Magazine) has missed a point or two somewhere along the way.  First, what Shane Dabiri is saying here is obviously not, as the CVG author so erroneously interprets “stay away from Blizzard’s profits, you thieves.”  Now we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy can’t entirely blame the cvg author for their naiveté in the matter – many is the gaming journalist who has the mistaken impression that developers in the video game industry are always at each others throats.  We would humbly suggest that before anyone over at CVG goes about cramming words down anyone else’s throats (using what seems like an incredibly large hydraulic press in this case) that they go back and listen to our shows with Mr. Paul Barnett and Mr. R.W. Harper to get of a more realistic perspective on the inner workings of the video game industry.  Consider the quote from Shane Dabiri taken from the same interview:

“Players that have invested time in WOW don’t just want to do the same thing in other game – they want to try something completely new and different” – Shane Dabiri, Blizzard Lead Producer

This, after all, is the crux of the issue [pay attention now CVG] the issue isn’t who is using who else’s intellectual property – The issue is innovation.  As we discussed on show 49 (and at some length) with JMO from the MMO Voices podcast and Tipa from West Karana, the issue is that players are looking for something different.   As Tipa put it, “I already have a World of Warcraft icon on my desktop.”

However, before we leave the issue lets touch on one last aspect of the cvg article:

“We can see his argument. Even the excellent Warhammer Online – an unashamed and well-built WoW-alike – doesn’t seem to be doing that well these days.” – CVG

Our first thought here is, of course, wake up and smell the coffee CVG; an “unashamed and well built WoW alike”? If anything this is more of a chicken or the egg argument as the artists over at Games Workshop, upon which the Warhammer Online mmo is (obviously) designed, were penning their now famous orcs long before then Blizzard Entertainment even thought about it.

As we discussed with Cryptic’s Bill Roper on No Prisoners, No Mercy show 50 (still in the editing process) we hear at No Prisoners No Mercy believe that the punishment of Keel Hauling should be brought back for any imbecile who insists on dredging up the same tired term “WoW clone” or any other derivative (something which caused our own Julie Whitefeather to coin the phrase “writer clone” not long ago).

That said, only a complete imbecile totally ignores the game mechanics (note here we are not talking about art designs, nor about intellectual properties) which are used by a successful competitor.

See you online,

The No Prisoners No Mercy Team

SIDE NOTE:

Today’s side note is also today’s “tip of the day” from Fallen Earth (reformated to fit your screen as they say)

Give us a big smile

There is an old joke that can be applied to just about any area of business – in this case it would go something like this…

Question: Why don’t sharks eat business executives?

Answer: Professional Courtesy.

In the world of business, you never know if the big smile that greets you in the morning actually hides a row of shark teeth. Likewise, you never know if someone’s bark is MUCH worse than their bite.

When I was in the military I got to know the commander of the United Nations Honor Guard off duty.  Off duty he was the nicest guy you ever want to meet – on duty he would have made General George Patton cringe in fear. In the end, you never know if the “face” that someone presents you is what a friend of mine called their “date face”.  The idea is that someone puts on a show, some behavior that they want you to see, that isn’t the real person.

I also had a boss I worked for in the military that described himself as “little Hitler” for reasons of what we shall facetiously call his “sunny disposition.”

 So the demeanor that Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision/Blizzard, presented at the “Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference (at least as far as an article at Gamespot.com presents – available here) may be Bobby Kotick’s “date face”.

Let’s hope so.

The article is business as usual until it gets to the end. Then, in what seems to have swiftly become what we can expect from Mr. Kotick, he throws us a few zingers:

“We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games.”

“The executive said that he has tried to instill into the company culture ‘skepticism, pessimism, and fear’ of the global economic downturn, adding, ‘We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression.’”

Yes friends, this is the same Activision/Blizzard executive that just a short while ago confronted the protestations of their customers over the high price planned for their upcoming “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”  release by telling us all that if he had his way he would have raised the price even further. 

It seems that Bobby Kotick may just be the impetus behind the drive for profit over at Activision/Blizzard these days. Now you might respond to this last sentence by replying, “What’s wrong with a little profit?” My answer would be “absolutely nothing.” I might even quote J. Paul Getty who once said, “Money is only dirty when it is somebody else’s.”

Nope, nothing is wrong with profit. Not just so long as I don’t have to be the person who is, presumably, the beleaguered soul who works directly for him. I really feel for that person, whomever he or she is.

I feel like I have been pimp slapped and I don’t even work there.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather