How is this guy in any way relevant to game industry at the moment, sure he made Gears of War and popularized chest high walls but anything else aside from that and antagonizing a lot of people?
Cliff Bleszinski: "I'll Never Make Another Disc-Based Game"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
His next game will be funded through Cliff-starter; where all projects are paid for in Cliffycoin and have a stretch goal for a 'totally sick kegger with CliffyB braaaah!'.Mr.K. said:
Gears of War needed Games For Windows Live, it never really stood a chance of success outside of the console market because of that. It's just a shame CliffyB decided to blame it on the gamers rather than the DRM, but it seems he has changed his tune. Hopefully someone will ask him about that in an interview though, just to see him squirm.Weaver said:
That, and it also released 1 year after it came out on 360. If anyone wanted to play it they probably played it on 360, especially since there was no news of the PC release until like two months before it came out (so no one would know to wait).CriticalMiss said:
I've never played anything he had ever had a hand in. My life's intersection with his had purely been his jibber jabber on sites like this about stuff unrelated to any ACTUAL work in progress.
The tag line for these pieces should be "hey its that guy that made a few games like 3-5 years ago that no one you know ever played, who likes to bust out his sage wisdom on the industry he has barely been a part of compared to people that have been at it for longer than he has been alive. Take a moment to hear about what he is (not) doing next, because...reasons."
The tag line for these pieces should be "hey its that guy that made a few games like 3-5 years ago that no one you know ever played, who likes to bust out his sage wisdom on the industry he has barely been a part of compared to people that have been at it for longer than he has been alive. Take a moment to hear about what he is (not) doing next, because...reasons."
I'm sorry, who are you again? Gears of wha- Oh, I see. You made some games and stuff. Right, well... You're an authority on things how? Can I see some credentials? Some recent work that shows that you're on the hub of anything? No? Well then, stuff it, Cliffy. You're just an internet personality, and that's not saying much.
Nope I agree with you, I only get games at full price if I get a hard copy (usually a collectors edition), otherwise I wait for a steam sale. I won't pay more than $10 for a digital copy, it's too risky, there's no value in them at all and at the end of the day I have nothing to show for it other than data on my HDD. So I pay accordingly ($10 or less, $20 for a few special exemptions)King Whurdler said:
But...I like my disc based games... :-(
Guess I won't be buying any games from him or his company then for a while. Maybe if something is truly--oh, wait. PC only. Nope, never buying anything from him. I don't play on PC. I like my consoles.
Guess I won't be buying any games from him or his company then for a while. Maybe if something is truly--oh, wait. PC only. Nope, never buying anything from him. I don't play on PC. I like my consoles.
Are we living in the same present? Im not being sarcastic, i genuinely am curious as to whether your experiences of the not-to-distant past are different from mine. The "PC space" as you call it has not changed, not one single bit. This is evident to anyone who has played any games on the PC platform in the last 10 years. GOG emerged quite a while ago, Steam has been a thing since 2004, his comments and opinions on PC as a platform? They are very much recent, which is the same for basicly everyone else. Alot of people were claiming that "Consoles are the future" and "The PC is dead", it isnt, it never was and never will be, most obvious proof? PS4 and Xbox One. The only true console left on the market right now, handhelds excluded, is the Wii U.Crimsonmonkeywar said:
Yeah you read that right, Sony and Microsoft basicly made pre-built, cheap mass-produced PCs. Sure you still have the controller as the main input device but thats really it. In terms of software there was not really such a huge difference even during the last generation, granted its not Windows, or Linux as we know it, but there was a rather famous case of someone putting Linux on the PS3 and getting sued which led to a rather long blackout of Sony's online services, its not that long ago. And now the Hardware meets the same standard that has been the norm with PCs for several years and by that i mean the architecture, hell the Xbox One runs on Windows 8. The reason developers and publishers abandoned the PC platform was because of the misguided idea that consoles had become the next big thing, as we know now, they arent, they just are gaming platforms. And thats not even going into issues like second hand and piracy which he as well claimed to be a problem having not changed at all.
So no, the "PC space" hasnt changed, what has changed is his opinion because he now sees profit to be made in a market he has previously ignored, if not actively shunned.
Can't argue with that. The gaming industry really sucks at the whole change thing.Mr Ink 5000 said:
Hey, its more old devs whining from their armchairs in the retirement homes. Although unlike Molyneux, or Garriott, or whoever else, he doesn't seem to be actually doing much of anything to address any of his concerns(?, comments? random tangents?).
So you won't make a disc based game again. Okay? Is this supposed to differ you from all the other B-tier (in size/budget) devs and indie guys out there running on Steam/XBLA/PSN/whatever. This isn't a groundbreaking stratagem being proposed or anything, its already a decently large chunk of the gaming sphere.
Topping it off, he doesn't seem to have anything to actually sell, on disc or not. He's telling his customers (I guess thats who this random sputtering is aimed at?) what color bag the magic beans come in before he's even sold them on the beans.
So you won't make a disc based game again. Okay? Is this supposed to differ you from all the other B-tier (in size/budget) devs and indie guys out there running on Steam/XBLA/PSN/whatever. This isn't a groundbreaking stratagem being proposed or anything, its already a decently large chunk of the gaming sphere.
Topping it off, he doesn't seem to have anything to actually sell, on disc or not. He's telling his customers (I guess thats who this random sputtering is aimed at?) what color bag the magic beans come in before he's even sold them on the beans.
Fair is fair, and CliffyB has made some big contributions to the game industry - bigger than most. But in predicting the future and trying to find his place in it, I think he's in basically the same boat as the rest of us: flailing about as he tries to figure out what's going on. Maybe he'll never make a disc-based game again, but maybe he will, especially if he comes up with a hit and Take-Two or EA shows up with the money truck.
I don't think conventional retail is dead. Lots of people, myself included, use it as their primary method of acquiring games. It's easy to have an "all hail digital" attitude when you live and work in an area with unlimited, super-fast broadband access, but when you don't - and believe it or not, lots of us fall into that category - it's a different situation. And as others have said, I like "owning" my games. I like boxes and manuals and quick reference cards and all that bullshit, and it infuriates me that I so often have to buy special editions to get that stuff these days, but I do it because it's an important part of the experience. A game that doesn't get a retail release is a game that I'm far less likely to buy.
He does make some interesting points, but I don't happen to agree with them - and more to the point, I hope he's wrong. A digital future is not my future.
I don't think conventional retail is dead. Lots of people, myself included, use it as their primary method of acquiring games. It's easy to have an "all hail digital" attitude when you live and work in an area with unlimited, super-fast broadband access, but when you don't - and believe it or not, lots of us fall into that category - it's a different situation. And as others have said, I like "owning" my games. I like boxes and manuals and quick reference cards and all that bullshit, and it infuriates me that I so often have to buy special editions to get that stuff these days, but I do it because it's an important part of the experience. A game that doesn't get a retail release is a game that I'm far less likely to buy.
He does make some interesting points, but I don't happen to agree with them - and more to the point, I hope he's wrong. A digital future is not my future.
Like anyone's gonna be making disc based games for any console in a year or two...CriticalMiss said:
Hmm, so apperently Cliff Bleszinski has actually gotten some intelligence in that head of his and not just antipiracy propaganda. Despite how much you dont want to admit it, he is right, this is where gaming is going.
Also, even back in 2000, you know, back when 100KB/s internet was normal, i downloaded files even 8 GB in size (back then we had 100 GB per month limit, but limits been lifted since 2008). It took longer, granted, but thats about all the trouble it was.
He is also responsible for creating unreal engine. you know, the engine that over a hundred games were developed for (and a big profile ones you know) and that is STILL being used to develop tens of games every year. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unreal_Engine_games]
You know, games like Mass effect, Bioshock, spec ops, Xcom and many other titles.
Everyone that cares about modern videogames affords to. The only reason you and your friends dont have decent speeds and have donwload caps is because your ISP is abusing you, likely because they are monopolistic assholes. There is an easy solution - force your ISP to provide decent service. Of course, for that you need to work united across all its users, so its not that easy in the end since humans fail to cooperate.Tanis said:
Also, even back in 2000, you know, back when 100KB/s internet was normal, i downloaded files even 8 GB in size (back then we had 100 GB per month limit, but limits been lifted since 2008). It took longer, granted, but thats about all the trouble it was.
PC space was never terrible. It is a myth perpetrated by idiots who spout things like "Only PC gamers pirate" and other such nonesense. A lot of attentino was paid to consoles back then since they still offered competetive hardware (was the last time they did actually) and unlike PC gamers, console gamers accepted to bend over and be raped with things like Xbox Gold.Crimsonmonkeywar said:
You remmeber digital distribution being done before? Do tell us how it ended.Mr.K. said:
His last game was only 2 years ago. You dont become irrelevant in only 2 years you know.james.sponge said:
He is also responsible for creating unreal engine. you know, the engine that over a hundred games were developed for (and a big profile ones you know) and that is STILL being used to develop tens of games every year. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unreal_Engine_games]
well, then i guess you missed a lot of games [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unreal_Engine_games]KoudelkaMorgan said:
You know, games like Mass effect, Bioshock, spec ops, Xcom and many other titles.
Does this guy ever have anything useful to say? All I read was "because being pretentious means never having to actually say so." Seriously, why should the industry care what a guy who's not even making anything right now says he has planned for his future.
It's not just Cliff but the whole "disks are bad, download good" crowd really p1ss me off!
Seriously folks, we don't all live in an area that gets great, superfast internet.
Some of us live in areas where you can only connect to the internet a certain times!
Captchas: Miles To Go.... your damn right captcha, your damn right!
Seriously folks, we don't all live in an area that gets great, superfast internet.
Some of us live in areas where you can only connect to the internet a certain times!
Captchas: Miles To Go.... your damn right captcha, your damn right!
I don't think anyone argues that discs are bad, I don't see why anyone who can use digital distribution would even care if discs were available or not.putowtin said:
Developers and publishers are pushing digital distribution because retailers are being a cancer on the industry and go to extreme lenghts to block new sales and make the money for themselves. Which is possible only with discs.
Digital distribution is simply the best way to ensure game sales.
There comes a point where sales lost due to a part of the consumer base not embracing/being able to embrace digital distribution will be less than sales lost by used games market and retailer scumming. And when that point comes no one will bother making physical copies anymore.
I like the general distaste towards Cliffy B's ramblings. Makes me feel like there's hope behind the BS advertising facade that "the industry" holds.
As a general rule, I treat the whole PR image of ANALysts, "industry experts" and either "triple A" gaming or the currently trending indie scene, with that greatest degree of cynicism and skepticism. "The industry" may have a vastly wider audience and demographic, coupled with a multi-billion dollar revenue stream, but when it comes right down to it, your "core" consumers are your bedrock, and they'll be the hardest to fool or "sweet talk" when they've already been burned.
What I'm trying to say is, this superficial posturing means nothing. All it currently represents is a metaphorical fart in a hurricane. Actions speak louder than words, and going off Cliffy B's actions (and the actions of "the industry" at large), no-one on the core consumer side is (or should be) taken in by anything said by Cliffy B or anyone like him.
Sure, I'm jaded and cynical, but that's justified when all we get is a smoke and mirror light show up front, and a Mr Burns "nickel and dime" system fused and implanted throughout our experience behind the scenes. My distrust for "the industry", and (unfortunately) all of those in it, is at an all time high, and thankfully, The Escapist seems like the only sane port in this asylum.
So, no matter what, who or why "experts" are waxing lyrical about their thoughts on "the industry", I'll be taking nothing at face value. Cliffy B helped to peddle his wares by talking them up, and that trend for "celebrity developers" has me worried about just how much of what is deemed as "a good game" is actual gamer tested, "word of mouth" feedback, and how much is just the mesmerizing showmanship of the spectacle.
As a general rule, I treat the whole PR image of ANALysts, "industry experts" and either "triple A" gaming or the currently trending indie scene, with that greatest degree of cynicism and skepticism. "The industry" may have a vastly wider audience and demographic, coupled with a multi-billion dollar revenue stream, but when it comes right down to it, your "core" consumers are your bedrock, and they'll be the hardest to fool or "sweet talk" when they've already been burned.
What I'm trying to say is, this superficial posturing means nothing. All it currently represents is a metaphorical fart in a hurricane. Actions speak louder than words, and going off Cliffy B's actions (and the actions of "the industry" at large), no-one on the core consumer side is (or should be) taken in by anything said by Cliffy B or anyone like him.
Sure, I'm jaded and cynical, but that's justified when all we get is a smoke and mirror light show up front, and a Mr Burns "nickel and dime" system fused and implanted throughout our experience behind the scenes. My distrust for "the industry", and (unfortunately) all of those in it, is at an all time high, and thankfully, The Escapist seems like the only sane port in this asylum.
So, no matter what, who or why "experts" are waxing lyrical about their thoughts on "the industry", I'll be taking nothing at face value. Cliffy B helped to peddle his wares by talking them up, and that trend for "celebrity developers" has me worried about just how much of what is deemed as "a good game" is actual gamer tested, "word of mouth" feedback, and how much is just the mesmerizing showmanship of the spectacle.