Tag: Xbox

Microsoft changes E3 Prescence

E3 is coming and guest passes are finally out for a general audience to purchase. However, more gaming companies are stepping away from E3 to host their own events. Microsoft has announced that they will not have a dedicated booth at the LA Convention center. Instead, their E3 focus will be held in Microsoft Theater. It will be a separate venue: “a new booth completely dedicated to Mixer, where you can play, stream and interact with games and catch the latest E3 news live throughout the entire week.” The venue will be X-Box focused and have hands-on demos. What will be shown has still not been revealed or leak. Currently, the Xbox One’s Console total sales are $35 million. The PlayStation 4 has sold $70 million and the Switch is almost $10 million since its launch last year. Whether Xbox can surpass the PS4 remains unlikely for this generation. Maybe this E3, Microsoft will showcase exclusives that don’t disappoint longtime fans.

Schedule for their Stream:

Microsoft’s E3 part will begin on Monday, June 10th at 1pm.

Sources:

Polygon

 

Should Companies give Players more for Achievements/Trophies?

Since the Xbox, in-game rewards/achievements have become integrated parts of games. Players can earn them by beating portions of the video games, finding secrets, or completing the entire game. The main appeal is the ability to share your “score” on your game profile and compare it with others. Whether it be Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Steam, achievements are generally well received and a standard feature in games. However, they provide no value to players besides a score number until recently.

Recently, Sony announced changes to Sony Rewards program that would reward players for earning trophies from PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 games. Silver trophies are worth 1 point, Gold is worth 25, and Platinum is 100. To earn points, you must create a Sony Rewards Profile that connects to your PlayStation Network account. Sony Rewards program offers members points for purchasing games, movies, or other entertainment to earn concerts, merchandise, video games, and gain access to unique sales and deals. Members can only start earning points for their trophies after connecting the Sony Rewards profile to their PlayStation account. All previous trophies earned will not give players anything.

Often, gamers have questioned the value of achievements. They have become so common in games that they become almost an afterthought in players minds rather than a goal. It can be argued that the score recognition is no longer as interesting to players. Whoever owns more games will usually have more points or trophies than others so the comparison to friends loses luster. While there are communities of gamers interested in achievement hunting and increasing their gamerscore, the number of people interested overall has decreased.

Business Opinion:

Providing a small monetary value to trophies is a good movie by Sony. It incentivises more players to earn more trophies which means they must buy more games. It adds a point value into purchases similar to restaurants for trophies. By connecting it to Sony Reward Program, users feel a stronger connection to Sony and creates a more rewarding feeling for buying certain products from them. It creates a brand community connected around purchasing Sony related products. I wouldn’t surprised if Microsoft uses a similar model in the feature.

Sources:

Polygon

IGN

Video Game Voice Actor Strike: What is it?

The 340-day strike for The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has reached an end. A tentative agreement has been made between the voice actors and 11 Video game companies: Activision, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and more. The strike began on October 21st, 2016. SAG-AFTRA was striking for four issues: Transparency on voice acting contracts, prevent stress on extensive vocal sessions, stunt coordinators available for on hand performance capture studios, and bonus pay depending on sales of the game.

  • Not every voice actor knows what game their voices will be in. Often, voice actors are contracted for a specific role, sent to a recording studio, and then given a script. This is more relevant on actors playing small characters or NPC’s.
  • Voice acting sessions can become quite straining on vocal cords depending on the role. Grunts, screams, and battle lines session can become strenuous and taxing. Some actors claimed they were forced to shout for hours which can cause permanent damage to vocal cords.
  • Some voice actors are requesting to perform certain stunts for performance captures in the game. To save money, most companies will not hire professional stunt actors for roles but rather have their on-hand voice actors perform the action.
  • The biggest issues were the request for bonus pay based on video game sales. The original request from SAG-AFTRA was a full day’s pay for each 500,000 units sold. Certain games sell extremely well but voice actors are not compensated for their “efforts in improving sales.”

Not everything was achieved but so far SAG-AFTRA is considering the negotiation to be a big step forward. An alternative form of payment was agreed upon but not based on sales of the game. Voice actors will receive a  bonus of $75 for their first session and end up with a total bonus of $21,000 for 10 sessions. 

“This is an important advance in this critical industry space. We secured a number of gains including for the first time, a secondary payment structure which was one of the members’ key concerns,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “The bonus payments we have now are significantly larger now than what we had 11 months ago. The existence of additional payments beyond your session fee is in the video game world for good, both in our high-budget and independent promulgated agreements” said Keythe Farley, chair of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee”

Voice actors will also receive more transparency from Video game studios. They will know the project code names, the genre, whether it is a sequel or part of a previous IP or if it is a recurring role. 

“Members are also protected by the disclosure of whether they will be required to use unusual terminology, profanity or racial slurs, whether there will be content of a sexual or violent nature and whether stunts will be required,” said chief contracts officer Roy Rodriguez.

The contract also contains an “employer commitment” regarding issues of long video recording sessions. The agreement isn’t finished. SAG-AFTRA’s national board will review the contract at its next meeting in October.

Arguments against the Strike:

SAG-AFTRA doesn’t represent every video game voice actor. They make up 25% of the industries voice acting talent. 40% of the top-selling games don’t even use SAG-AFTRA voice actors.

Sources:

Eurogamer

Endgadget

Polygon

Why did Bethesda add Paid Mods?

Recently, Bethesda, creators of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, launched a new feature: Creation Club. Essentially, they are official mods to Fallout 4 and Skyrim that players pay for through credits. They are created from fans or engineers from Bethesda and actually require Quality Assurance Testing before they are released for players to purchase. They don’t affect the achievements or trophies, unlike fan mods. It will be completely compatible with the game and you’ll receive 100 credits for all users on all systems. There will still be free modding support for all systems as well.

Fans Respond

Obviously, there is fan backlash regarding premium mod supports. They consider the prices too high for essential paid DLC content such as one gun, backpacks, or even armor. The modding community has always been providing free content to improve the gameplay, adding unique features, or even add an additional fan story portion. Bethesda even provided the ability to download free mods on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. To add paid mods will not appeal to anybody considering free mods are actively available and better than the paid versions. To remain good relations with their fans, Bethesda should not release the Creation Club or make them free for all users.

Source:

Bethesda