Jimquisition: Damn Fine Coffee

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Once again a fun Jimsterling production I can whole-heartedly enjoy without blowing any of my anti-whatever fuses. Splendid.

Oh, do get this:

"Fuse is actually the least changed of all of our IPs." Ratchet and Clank was originally a third-person, M-rated adventure game called, simply, "Girl With a Stick." - Ted Price, CEO Insomniac

It can be accessed over at: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/ted-price-on-how-insomniacs-overstrike-became-fuse/

and it's from Sep 12th 2012. It's about the time I gave up on Overstrike and decided I didn't fancy Fuse very much, t'a.

 

[Fappy]

That is a cool fucking mug. Also, thanks for ruining my anticipation for Fuse. Granted, I had totally forgotten about it since that teaser originally premiered, but I think I was looking forward to it subconsciously. Now it will never exist

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't even like coffee.
Anyway it's a sad day when the madman is talking more sense than anyone in the industry.

It's not sad. If you set the bar low enough by design you can make anything look Brilliant.
Granted that bar is in fact EA,

and yes Jim sterling on his nuttiest worse day will always sound, look, and possibly even smell better than EA. he will be more likeable.

Crap your lowest internet troll (cough Ben yahtzee) could pull that off. it's not sad.. it's obvious.

That's true too. I certainly can't argue with that.

I don't even like coffee.
Anyway it's a sad day when the madman is talking more sense than anyone in the industry.

I don't like it either. Never drink it.

Also, there is a joy in being mad that only madmen know about.
Give it a try everyone! Ya might like it.

Thank God for Jim.

I'm not saying their isn't, it's just sad when madmen make more sense than so-called industry "professionals."

 

[Andy Shandy]

Gotta say, Jim, another brilliant episode, as has very much been the case recently. So, bravo, "madman".

And I'm really disheartened about Overstrike becoming Fuse again.

 

[Rect Pola]

Focus testing shouldn't be used on a creative aspect because creativity depends on independent thought. There are plenty of more concrete places when a general barometer is a good idea before you're in too deep. Like "does this control scheme suck?", or "was it too vague". That last point actually reminds me Extra Credits did an episode a while back where the optimum approach wasn't what the testers said, but very carefully observing how they reacted.

 

[xPixelatedx]

*depression be here*

Frat boys and 12 year old boys? ...REALLY!? That wasn't an exaggeration or anything? Because that's exactly what I've been saying for the last 3 years; it seems to be the only people the industry is really targeting anymore, at least in the triple A department. Last year the only triple A games I bought were Halo 4 and Borderlands 2, because they were the only ones I could stomach. This year? Nothing, and probably going to be nothing out of "the big releases" before the year ends. Though I am happy to hear game sales are down across the board. But that brings me to my real question.

Tell me Jim, do you think sales will eventually get so bad publishers and devs will realize this is unsustainable, and finally break themselves of the cycle? Or do you think they will stubbornly 'stay the course' until we have another crash?

 

[kmg90]

Once again a fun Jimsterling production I can whole-heartedly enjoy without blowing any of my anti-whatever fuses. Splendid.

Oh, do get this:

"Fuse is actually the least changed of all of our IPs." Ratchet and Clank was originally a third-person, M-rated adventure game called, simply, "Girl With a Stick." - Ted Price, CEO Insomniac

It can be accessed over at: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/ted-price-on-how-insomniacs-overstrike-became-fuse/

and it's from Sep 12th 2012. It's about the time I gave up on Overstrike and decided I didn't fancy Fuse very much, t'a.

It's funny that Ted would say that since the code name for the Resistance 2 private beta was titled Girl With a Stick...

Still have the save data for it on my PS3 for (lack of a better word) sentimental purposes

 

[Elijah Newton]

Funny thing about Coke, and focus-testing, actually.

In April 1985 the company briefly replaced the familiar Coca-Cola formula with one called "the new taste of Coke". This new formulation was not well received and after a few years was withdrawn from the market, replaced with a slight variation of the old recipe (the primary difference was that cane sugar was replaced with high-fructose corn syrup), briefly identified as "Classic Coke" before returning to its identity as simply "Coke"

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula, skip down to "New Coke" )

This was a pretty deliberate switch, though, driven by money. The short of it was that "New Coke" was designed to fail so Coke could win points / free publicity by pretending to cater to fans when it switched back to 'Original Coke', while disguising the change in taste that came from shifting from cane sugar to HFC. Coke needed to make that change because sugar was two to three times as expensive as HFC. Apparently the initial focus testing showed that without the intermediary, and deliberately foul, New Coke, customers would not endorse the new taste.

FWIW, the New Coke wikipedia entry lists this as a conspiracy theory ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke#cite_ref-Oliver183_41-1 ), which for some reason amuses me. The one or two people still reading this post may be interested in "The Real Coke, the Real Story" by Thomas Oliver ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Coke-Story/dp/0140104089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370278175&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Real+Coke%2C+The+Real+Story )

 

[Vault Citizen]

As an athiest who am I to thank for Jim when he descends from the mountain to deliver his truth?

Strange joking aside good episode Jim.

 

[Erttheking]

Call of Duty has a soul and is made from the heart...Jim, you're gonna need this.

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/13/132850/2262045-FlameShield.jpg

Also it kinda feels like you're stagnating a little. This feels like a retread of the pasta sauce video, and while I liked that video, it feels like the same thing here worded differently. Maybe you could make videos about things you really like in the industry to spice things up. You've already got countless videos saying "don't do this," a few videos saying "do this instead," would be a nice compliment.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

MEANWHILE, IN EVERY AAA PUBLISHER'S BOARDROOM...
OT: This is just sad. Even leaving out the fact that I hate fratboys and dudebros with a passion, while would you want to cater to just them? There are so many other markets with more money to spend on your products, and the fratboys and dudebros are already satisfied with their yearly dose of spunkgargleweewee.

Oh, and... Insomniac, I am sad for you that your game got turned into what it is now by EA, but honestly what made you think signing up with EA was a good idea?

 

[Rad Party God]

In defense to focus groups (Which Jim did well at the end), I think they can be useful as a way to listen to the community. Being creative all the time is hard, but what fills creativity is inspiration and/or ideas. Getting ideas from a focus group could lead to a potentially great game, or take a familiar genre of games and add a unique spin on it to make it unique.

But it sounds like publishers are only allowing a niche audience of gamers that are the "Call of Duty" fans into the group, rather than a diverse group of females, "Dark Souls" fans, and middle-aged gamers for testing. Plus it sounds like the output from these focus groups is used as a base-line for a game, not as a way to get feedback from the community. Of course these games are going to be bland and repetitive to "Call of Duty", because you are just making a mediocre "Call of Duty" game to meet the "Call of Duty" fan boys expectations.

Although the discussion on how a person's opinion is influenced by the group is interesting, and unfortunately does lead to poor results. Are these focus groups meant to give their answers as a group or individually?

Exactly this.

Everyone wants to be Call of Duty and all they do is ask Call of Duty fans how to improve their shitty clone, ironically, so that in the end, they don't buy it because they already have frakking Call of Duty.

 

[geizr]

Game publishers are looking for a magic silver-bullet that will magically make massive profits as a result of no, or, at best, extremely minimal, effort on their part. Unfortunately for them, no such bullet exists.

EDIT: Corrected "not just" to "no such". Can't believe I didn't catch that the first time.

 

[rofltehcat]

So let's assume I'd get into a focus testing group and all their questions would be coffee-related and in their feedback form to fill out I can't just tell them "I don't even like coffee! Give me hot chocolate and black tea!" except in the 2 lines space at the bottom that nobody will read anyways...
yeah, my answers would probably disregarded or their coffe would range from mediocre to horrible.

 

[Zeles]

I think that developers and publishers should sit down together and ask eachother: What would be fun?

What will make this game more enjoyable to play?

 

[Lono Shrugged]

DAMN fine episode......and HOT!

You may enjoy Jim http://www.javadistribution.com/coffee/david-lynch-signature-cup-organic-coffee/

 

[tardcore]

Jim did you seriously talk about beating a dead horse while bitching and moaning about EA?
Seriously Jim? Your teaching the same lesson with a new spin every week now.

Dear God man Diversify.

Not saying it sucks, not saying it's bad.. it's an awesome lesson... And i like reputation Lord knows i play diablo 3,

But come on man Just a little something else. I swear to God we won't all start magically respecting EA 1 week later if you shelf bitching about them just a little bit.

Pretty please?

So a new game comes out and in almost no way resembles the game it was at the beginning of the development process. Jim goes on to explain why this is and gives us an excellent look at how focus groups and companies chasing the almighty dollar are generifying gaming to death. And all you got out of this was that Jim is bashing EA. Seriously if anyone here is narrow mindedly obsessing over something, I don't think it's Jim.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Things have gotten so insane that the madman makes sense?

That has to be one of the most poignant(sp?) things I have ever heard. A sad truth, but still...

 

[II2]

That's the sketchiest, coffee clubhouse I've ever seen. The kind where attempts at 'brewing coffee' yield low purity piles of MDPV.

I'm just kidding. I know it's just a picture of a crappy shed, but it's a welcome addition the regular rollodex of shrimp, kids halloween costumes and meat.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Once again a fun Jimsterling production I can whole-heartedly enjoy without blowing any of my anti-whatever fuses. Splendid.

Oh, do get this:

"Fuse is actually the least changed of all of our IPs." Ratchet and Clank was originally a third-person, M-rated adventure game called, simply, "Girl With a Stick." - Ted Price, CEO Insomniac

It can be accessed over at: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/ted-price-on-how-insomniacs-overstrike-became-fuse/

and it's from Sep 12th 2012. It's about the time I gave up on Overstrike and decided I didn't fancy Fuse very much, t'a.

Wow... that just makes Insomniac sound like complete idiots who simply get lucky with each franchise they put out. I suddenly feel much less respect for them.

Call of Duty has a soul and is made from the heart...Jim, you're gonna need this.

Jim's right. Call of Duty is about the only franchise out there that isn't trying to be like anyone else. They have their target market and they make very specific games that cater to that market. Because of that they are successful. It also means that the developers don't have to suffer the wrath of useless focus testers and they are free to make the god damn best explodey shootey grey shooter they like.

You may not like COD personally (neither do I) but it does what it does to a high quality and that means that someone somewhere cares about what goes into the game.