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每日观察:关注EA对3D游戏发展前景看法(8.1)

发布时间:2011-08-01 11:28:00 Tags:,,,

1)id Software联合创始人John Carmack在日前媒体采访中表示,他认为电子游戏不会助长玩家的暴力倾向,反而可以当做一种发泄出口,减少现实生活中的攻击性行为。

john_carmack(from blogs.pcworld.com)

john_carmack(from blogs.pcworld.com)

他称电脑游戏赛事QuakeCon中的玩家的行为举止,远比在一般大学校园中更为文明得体,并指出最近的研究称电子游戏的崛起实际上减少了美国犯罪发生率(游戏邦注:但据称最近全球热议的一起挪威命案中的肇事者Ander Behring Breivik就是一名狂热的游戏玩家,甚至自称《现代战争2》是一种杀戮模拟演练)。

2)据TouchArcade报道,《最终幻想战略版:狮子战争》不久将登陆苹果App Store(游戏邦注:该游戏曾在去年6月宣布将在2010年9月15日发布iOS版本,但后面却多次延迟发布日期)。

Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Lion_War(from finalfantasy.wikia.com)

Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Lion_War(from finalfantasy.wikia.com)

原版的PSP游戏于2007年10月在北美发布,它是1998年的PlayStation 1策略RPG游戏《最终幻想战略版》的更新版本。PSP版游戏虽然算不上完美,但已为粉丝提供了不少新内容,修复了原版游戏的大量漏洞。

3)Mobigame工作室的iPhone益智游戏《Edge》将通过发行商Two Tribes发布PC和Mac版本。该游戏将于8月11日登陆Steam和Mac App Store,而iOS版游戏《Edge Extended》也将提供免费发布的DLC。

edge(from cultofmac.com)

edge(from cultofmac.com)

桌面版本的游戏功能与原版iPhone游戏无异,但提供了更高的分辨率和新特效和视觉效果。《Edge》是Two Tribes向PC和Mac移植的第三款游戏。Mobigame的《Edge》在2009年时初获名气,当时Edge Games公司负责人Tim Langdell曾因游戏名称问题,威胁将与Mobigame对簿公堂。

4)游戏发行商EA首席执行官John Riccitiello日前表示,他认为3D游戏不会有太大发展前景,EA会将更多资源投放于社交和在线游戏项目。他称后两者的市场回报更可观,而3D游戏则不然。在EA看来,3D游戏、3DTV都缺乏较大发展潜力。

John-Riccitiello(from news.softpedia.com)

John-Riccitiello(from news.softpedia.com)

但索尼3D游戏主管Mick Hocking却曾向媒体表示,目前支持播放3D内容的PlayStation 3已经达到5000万部,他们的3DTV销量也很不错,不少粉丝对其3D游戏作出了积极回应。但他同时也承认,高质量的3D效果有助于增强游戏体验,但低劣的3D效果却可能让玩家大倒胃口。只有在有助于增加游戏玩法体验的前提下,才需要添加3D效果,不可仅为增加深度而植入3D效果。

5)《Deadlock:Online》是一款由Crescent Moon Games推出的iOS大型在线多人游戏,最近登上了免费iPad应用榜单第10名。该游戏被不少玩家称为“iPhone版的《使命召唤》”,其双摇杆射击玩法与《现代战争》的多人模式类似,针对iPhone和iPad设备进行了优化处理。美中不足的是,其连网功能及服务器问题让玩家体验大为失分。

Deadlock-Online(from insidemobileapps)

Deadlock-Online(from insidemobileapps)

它提供了单人和多人游戏两种选择,选择前一种模式的玩家可以进入“Deathmatch”模式与AI敌手进行过招,游戏目标就是在有限时间内完成多次杀戮。另外还可以选择“Survival”模式,该模式中的敌人会像野火烧不尽一样不断重现直到玩家死亡为止。玩家只有在多人游戏选项中才能赢取经验值,但该模式经常遭遇断线问题,甚至几乎无法体验游戏。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Carmack: games “reduce aggression”

by Fred Dutton

Doom creator and industry veteran John Carmack has hit back at accusations that games promote violent tendencies in players, arguing that they’re in fact “cathartic” and more likely to reduce aggression.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, the id Software co-founder explained that he’d never taken the “violence in video games debate” seriously.

“There was an E3 where all that was going on where I was giving interviews and the reporters would start going into their questions, and I wasn’t supposed to talk about any of that,” he said.

“My wife was there and she’d start kicking me when I was about to go, ‘Well, I think…’ And in the end it didn’t matter, it didn’t make any impact on things. I never felt threatened by it and it turned out not to matter.

“And I really think, if anything, there is more evidence to show that the violent games reduce aggression and violence. There have actually been some studies about that, that it’s cathartic.

“If you go to QuakeCon and you walk by and you see the people there [and compare that to] a random cross section of a college campus, you’re probably going to find a more peaceful crowd of people at the gaming convention. I think it’s at worst neutral and potentially positive.”

That study Carmack is referring to could be a recent report that argued the increase in popularity of video games is partly responsible for the recent drop in the US crime rate.

In related news, a Norwegian retailer today decided to remove 51 games from its shelves in the wake of the horrific Oslo shooting spree last week.

The perpetrator, Anders Behring Breivik, was reportedly a keen gamer who apparently considered Modern Warfare 2 a “training-simulation”. (source:eurogamer

2)Long-Delayed Final Fantasy Tactics iOS Port Coming Soon

By Chris Pereira

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions will finally make its way to the iOS App Store in the near future. Apple has approved the game for release, TouchArcade reports.

This has been a long time coming. After being announced last June, it was set to come out on September 15, 2010. It obviously missed that date and was pushed back and bounced around a number of times; with Apple’s approval, it’s all but guaranteed to be in our hands very soon. (TouchArcade speculates it will be out by next Thursday.)

The War of the Lions was originally released in North America in October 2007 for PlayStation Portable (and was made available for download on PSN just over a week ago). It’s an updated version of the PlayStation 1 tactical RPG Final Fantasy Tactics, which debuted in North America back in 1998. The PSP game was hardly perfect, but it did provide fans with some new content without wrecking anything — or fixing a number of problems the original had. (source:1up

3)Mobigame’s Edge Launching On PC/Mac Next Month

by Mike Rose

Mobigame’s highly regarded iPhone puzzler Edge is on its way to PC and Mac, after the company signed a deal with publisher Two Tribes.

On August 11, Edge will be released on both Steam and the Mac App Store, while the upcoming enhanced iOS version Edge Extended will be offered as free post-launch DLC.

The desktop version features the same game as the original iPhone edition, except with a higher resolution and with new special effects and visuals.

The game sees players taking control of a small cube as it rolls around a variety of retro-styled levels against the clock. Unique techniques such as ‘Edge Time’ are in place to give the gameplay that little extra jazz.

Edge is the third game to be ported over to PC and Mac by publisher Two Tribes, after both Swords and Soldiers and Frenzic were made available previously.

Mobigame’s Edge gathered fame back in 2009 when Edge Games’ Tim Langdell threatened the company with legal action over the title of the game. (source:gamasutra

4)EA: “very poor returns” on 3D gaming

by Wesley Yin-Poole

Mega games publisher EA reckons 3D gaming isn’t worth its time or effort.

Instead, it will pump resources into social and online gaming.

“We see really high returns in these markets and very poor returns focusing on 3D, so we are allocating our resources toward new innovations,” EA boss John Riccitiello told stockholders at EA’s annual meeting, reported by GamesIndustry.biz.

“Frankly we have not seen a big uptake for 3D gaming. We have not seen a big uptake in 3DTVs in the home, at least not yet. We are not here trying to drive a market. We are here to react to what consumers are looking for.”

Riccitiello’s comments are sure to worry Sony, which has invested millions of dollars into 3DTVs and 3D gaming through the PlayStation 3.

PlayStation 3 exclusives Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5 and MotorStorm: Apocalypse all support the feature.

Only last week, at the Develop conference in Brighton, Sony’s 3D gaming chief Mick Hocking told Eurogamer: “It’s been a good first year.”

“We’ve got 50 million PlayStation 3s that support 3D playback. 3DTVs are selling well. We’ve had great response from our fans out there at game shows and forums about the 3D games we’ve produced.”

But Hocking did admit that some game creators are producing poor quality 3D visuals.

“We need to, and we’re trying to encourage everyone to learn about 3D properly and come and talk to us so we’ll support them when they convert the games,” he said.

“But only deliver the best quality 3D. As we’ve seen in some other industries, if you make great quality 3D, in film you could say Avatar – it’s the most successful film of all time, it’s the highest grossing film of all time – but since then that hasn’t been followed up with the same degree of success.

“We’ve spent a lot of time getting great quality across all the PS3 games, and we’ve had a very good response for that, but it’s really important we maintain that level of quality.

“If people see great quality 3D it does enhance the experience. It’s a great feature for a game. But if they see poor quality 3D it can put them off.

“Unfortunately some people are producing poor quality 3D, in all mediums. Over the last 12 months we’ve seen TV, film, some games, where the quality hasn’t been there. It’s just a case of people need to understand how to work with 3D, how to make it technically correct and then how to use it creatively.

“Only add 3D where it makes a difference to the gameplay experience. It must add something. Don’t just add depth for the sake of it.”

Sony points to research that indicates that in the UK about 2.5 per cent of HDTVs are now 3D. Data suggests that by 2015 nearly 40 per cent of all new TVs sold will be 3D.(source:eurogamer

5)Deadlock: Online Proves Great in Theory, But Disappoints in Connectivity

By Christopher Mack

Crescent Moon Games is a iOS developer who has shown up in the iOS top charts several times, but a studio that we haven’t yet looked at in tremendous detail. Their most recent release provides ample opportunity in the form of the online multiplayer game, Deadlock: Online. Interesting in concept, the free-to-play application has shot up the top free iPad app charts to #10, and currently mills about that area.

Dubbed the “Call of Duty of iPhone” by some of its current users, the game shows potential, and the comparison can certainly be seen. It’s a dual-stick shooter very reminiscent of Modern Warfare multiplayer and it’s been dramatically streamlined for iPhone and iPad players. That said, it feels like Crescent Moon has bitten off far more than it can chew, as the overall player experience is lacking due to connectivity and server issues.

For those unfamiliar with the classification, a “dual-stick shooter” is typically a top-down game in which two virtual analog sticks are placed on the bottom corners of the game with the left controlling movement and the right controlling shooting direction. Players can opt to play both single and multiplayer matches against either AI or human opponents.

Players are also granted various game modes to choose from, which will differ based on whether or not they are playing alone. In single player, users can enter into a “Deathmatch” mode with up to seven other AI opponents, with the sole objective being to rack up as many kills as possible within the time limit. Aside from this, players can also play a “Survival” mode, in which continual waves of enemies spawn until the user eventually dies.

Truth be told, the single-player is rather underwhelming, leaving the real meat of the game in the multiplayer. Here, users can play matches with up to eight total players which include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture & Hold (controlling a point of interest). It is also through the multiplayer that new weapons and items can be earned.

In order to utilize the 30-some-odd weapons in Deadlock, users must acquire a virtual currency called “Unlock Points.” As a free-to-play game, this is the core monetization method employed. Users can buy points in quantities of four to 120 at $0.99 and $9.99 respectively. To add perspective, the cheaper of the two packages can buy about one decent weapon.

Players can earn Unlock Points in game by getting top slots on the daily leaderboards or sharing the app with a friend. Additionally, one Unlock Point is every time a player levels up, but this slows down considerably as leveling begins to take longer amounts of time, slowing the sense of player progression and reward. Unfortunately, this is where the primary frustration of Deadlock sets in.

Experience is only earned from multiplayer matches (e.g. from kills), but the connectivity and servers for Deadlock are simply not up to snuff to handle the number of players trying to play. More often than not, multiplayer games were met with lock-ups on the “Joining Game” screen in which connections were never established. There was also frequent lag, loss of game hosts, and a high number of disconnections. These issues made the game nearly unplayable, and leave only the single player. That said, games where we were able to successfully fun were actually a ton of fun — especially Capture & Hold.(source:insidemobileapps


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