The Last of Us Part I PS5 review covering visuals, combat feel, accessibility, performance modes, and whether it is really worth the asking price of $69.99.
Doom level designer Sandy Petersen has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to explain the closure of Ensemble Studios, where he worked in the 2000s. According to Petersen, Ensemble and its in-development Halo MMO were scuttled by Xbox boss Don Mattrick to protect a short-term, profit-based bonus he was elligible to receive.
@dveio Why, is the reddit official and run by Microsoft? I would've thought a developer from the team is a legit source. Or is it fanboy-run?
While I can't stand Don Mattrick and how he ran the Xbox business into the ground with incredibly anti-consumer decision-making, I can't help but feel like this post is suspicious. Why would this level designer have any clue about Mattrick's compensation package? Mattrick was not C-suite and probably didn't make enough to exceed the SEC reporting threshold. It doesn't seem likely that Mattrick would share that kind of information, either.
Bare with me this is long.
Tbh the anti consumer choices imo isn't necessarily what hurt xbox immensely. Part of it? Yes definitely of course but I think it's simply not investing in AAA games back then. Specifically in 2011 the year they went dry. short term fads like Kinect and casual games is what really hurt them and got them to where they're at now.
If they bought those same studios in 2011 instead of 2018, 2020 and 2021 (excluding ABK because they wouldn't need them) they would release the games the traditional way selling the console being competive with exclusives and content. Of course the first 3 to 5 years MS will have their usual stumbles like canceled projects delays etc. Around 2017 and beyond they would finally have the rhythm and start releasing games.
GP probably won't be a thing just GWG. Releasing games on PC I think would still be thing but it probably won't be day and date they'll take Sony's approach and release a year or so later on PC. The best thing about all this is that Ms wouldn't have to fully absorb the Xbox because they're finally profitable thanks to those games being released, selling hardware. Theyll still sell less than PS. I'll say they'll be around just shy of 70 or so million, not bad. The other big thing is if MS were to make changes, it would be slower not as aggressive and hardly any double talk or goal post moving. It would be clear and concise messaging because they have their gameplay and sticking with while slowly looking into other things.
Again the anti consumer stuff definitely hurt them but the topic of constant discussion at the end of it was no investment in AAA Studios. That's what got xbox where it's at now. Being dog walked every which way, the double minded Console killing MS we have now.
Theory: Microsoft buys some of the best studios and editors. Fact: Microsoft pays too much for them. Effect: Staff is fired and the best of them go to other studios and editors. Postmortem: Microsoft buys empty franchises and kills them.
You're right that the years-long games drought prior to and around the launch of the Xbox One also substantially contributed to the demise of the Xbox division. But, I have to disagree that there was a path to success for them, simply because the culture of MS (which bled into Xbox) is so anti-consumer.
Where they wanted to take console gaming clashed harshly with what gamers wanted. Consoles must check-in every 24 hours; game discs are locked to the first console in which they are played (no second-hand market); unnecessary TV integration for advertisement revenue. What was Kinect about? Fun? Games? MS doesn't give a flying fuck about those; at heart, they are not an entertainment company. No---it was about selling your information.
Moreover, MS doesn't win at anything because of the quality of its products; they win by all sorts of media, sales channel, and market manipulation. MS only entered the home-console market to redirect the growing PlayStation userbase back to Windows, enact DRM, and monetize this userbase in new ways. Office 365 was put online in the 2010-2011 timeframe. Full digital games were already available on the Xbox 360. The foundation to move console gaming to an all-digital (and anti-consumer) future had already been laid. Nobody asked for this shit. They can't even respect their own physical products now by putting playable builds of games on their physical media. It's called false advertising; that's grounds for class-action.
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A new court filing in Sony’s lawsuit against Tencent reveals that Tencent pitched a Last of Us game after Sony rejected its earlier Horizon project.
It’s strange that Tencent wants to make games that Sony makes already and does a great job. I could see asking about reviving a franchise but current franchises don’t make much sense.
It's not strange at all. They're big on copying successes, not on developing their own.
That was pretty much the norm for several years. a big hit gets released, then you start to see clones. God of War and then Dante's Inferno. Gears of War and then Quantum Theory. Those are just a couple but there are plenty more.
Its been the same with movies and tv shows for decades.
Its pretty much the standard tbh
I mean how many cinematic universes and multiverses have we seen in the last 10 years
Give 'em SOCOM/Killzone/Resistance/inFa mous? (defo: not Uncharted tho)
Guys when I am not gaming or watching media, I will read or listen to books for entertainment. There are a bunch of great books out there with stories that are super interesting.
I don't understand why these studios won't try to do an adaptation of some of those books instead of trying to copy each other.
Some of the best games around were adapted from some of these books.
Damn, I haven't been to RvB since the Great Ub3r Fry was the scourge of the forums!!! Man good days they were!!