Anita Break after this...

Anita Sarkeesian seems to be drawing a lot of hate and ire.  People are attacking her websites and disclosing personal information and all kinds of stuff.  For those that don't know Anita is a Feminist who is targeting video games saying that they portray women in negative ways.  Now I think she is full of it in just about everything she has to say and I am going to go into detail.  The link to her video that I am addressing is at the bottom of this post.

First off the bat she is a critic of pop culture-this is a major problem.  You can't be a feminist and give an objective criticism-you just can't.  Feminism from what I understand comes from a point of view that women are shafted (no pun intended) every which way by evil men and most feminists think that all men fall into this category.  I don't know how deep Anita's feminism runs but the fact that she thinks her gender is subjugated before she even knows what she is going to review makes her biased.

She believes that ALL female characters can be filed into 5 categories...this can be seen as more narrow minded thinking from Anita by some.  Five? Really?  Well first off categorizing anything means that you are not looking at something passed its surface.  Red Cars to the right Blue cars to the left doesnt matter if they are convertible, rear wheel drive, import, domestic etc.  Left and Right.  So we have five enormous categories Anita has made for us...nothing like letting one decide for themselves...So...Is she right?

1 Damsel in distress.  Most of us OGs conjure images of Princess peach
2 Fighting Fucktoy (as she calls it)
3 Sexy sidekick
4 Sexy Villain or "Villainess" which isnt even a real word but Anita uses it anyway
5 Women as background objects

Feminists have big problems with damsel in distress-they hate the idea that a woman might need to be rescued.  To a degree it's understandable.  How interesting would it be if Princess Peach was rescuing Mario this whole time?  In fact "This whole time" would probably mean a 2 game series.  But let's be honest most men are physically stronger, and faster than most women.  Nature selected us to be the protectors and equipped us as such.  That is a biological fact not some shit a man wants you to believe.  Forget the fact that the man must go through endless trials and tribulations and physical harm to rescue the girl HE isnt being exploited the girl waiting at the end is.  Hmm yeah.

Feminists hate the fighting fucktoy and this makes no sense.  Women are far sexier than men period.  They are graced and granted beauty that no man could ever hope for in this respect women are far superior to men.  Does Anita embrace this empowering attribute?  Well yeah-she wears make up in her videos and looks pretty nice for the camera I gotta say.  She knows the power of a woman's beauty and by virtue of looking nice in her videos she exploits it...thats fine or it would be fine if she wasnt a hypocrite about it.  She can look good for the camera but once Cammy comes out looking nice and showing some skin this is wrong only Anita can exploit beauty.  Now 99% of women's costumes in games make no sense and revolve around sexiness-yeah I agree.  But here's the thing:  Feminists overlook the sheer power of sexuality.  The fighting fucktoy...On the surface it's a woman in an outfit.  Underneath is a person who controls that sexuality and she can knock the crap out of anyone who reaches for her catsuit.  Feminists complain that they arent given power in games but Bayonetta, Cammy, and others are great examples of beautiful women you wouldn't dare mess with if they were real and they can beat the ever loving crap out of any man they encounter in their game.  Somehow Anita looks passed the power and beauty and sees only a stripper.

The sexy sidekick...uh I don't really know where this one is even coming from.  Does she mean the support role?  Like Mei Ling in MGS?  Ashley from RE4?  She was a chic in a skirt and sweatervest...yeah all the fratboys are talking about the sexiest sweatervests they've seen.   I dunno I can't think of any examples off the top of my head and you know I should be able to what with this being a full category and all...

Sexy Villain oh I mean "Villainess" we like to make up words when calling out the chauvinists.  Again I think Anita is failing to see sexuality as power.  Sex or sexiness is power when a sinister mind is in control.  It is yet another way to control or harm another if you are evil.  A sexy uh Villainess does something of this nature after all they are sinister.  I think Anita hates women being portrayed as villains more so than she hates the sexual connotations.

Women as background objects.  This is a common complaint from feminists.  A woman who stands in the background and says nothing is considered eye candy or something like that.  There are PLENTY of henchmen and minor characters in gaming that dont ever say a word and stand around all the time.  No one considers henchmen or 'extras' harmful.  Anyone care to elaborate on this one?  I sure as hell don't feel like wasting time here.

So let's look past all the things that makes these women what they are.  Heroic combat, rescue missions, self made billionaires man the list goes on.  There are some great back stories to women in gaming.  Nah screw all that positive stuff let's focus on how her blouse is low cut. That's the sign of a true review and intelligent fair mind.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and sometimes Anita makes a point or two and then she ruins it by going completely overboard.  She mentions the lego games where if the firefighters show up they're men and if the food delivery shows up they're women.  Well first off Anita they're plastic fucking toys.  This is like painting boobs on a rock and saying it depicts women-that is schwachsinn.  Also she doesnt even put up the right graphic for a lego female when mentioning it in her video...kinda makes me think it doesn't happen the way she says/thinks it does...or that she doesn't research...or know much about games...but no it's more likely she knows what she is talking about but is stretching the truth and telling white lies that suit her needs.  The outfit this toy is wearing helps Anita...too bad it isn't a lego figure.

In all fairness Anita does talk briefly about games that don't have "harmful tropes".  Problem?  well it's stuff like portal and other games where there are no humans at all or very limited exposure for human characters.  This means she seeks out "harmful" stuff and sees it everywhere...because she wants to see it.

I think she is a joke but I don't care-let her make a fool of herself.  I mean it-please do not attack or harm her or her cause in any way.  She has every right to do this and she is no threat to gaming I promise.  If a moron like me can dismantle her argument so easily no developer will give her or any group she happens to form what she/they want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8I0Wy58adM

Losing yourself the NIntendo way

"We're unwilling to sell a piece of game upfront and if you will, force a consumer to buy more later.  That's what they don't want to do and I agree" -quote the Regginator

"Doing such things (charging for DLC) might be good for short term profit but it will not serve our mid term and long term business developments." -quote Iwata

Guess what folks? guess.  Super Mario bros 2 on 3DS is gonna have DLC. You know the one where the first person to collect 1,000,000 gold coins get some kinda prize from Nintendo? that one.  I won't spend much time on an assumption but I assume the DLC levels have the most coins cuz if they didnt and I paid real money in the hopes to get a leg up on the competition I'd be really pissed how bout you?

I found these quotes on a video game news site and I thought about it.  Nintendo doesnt really go down the DLC path I mean hell they COULD and I wouldn't know it since I dont Wii..........ever but as I mentioned they are the king of extra crap.  The N64 saw expansion packs rumble packs controller expansion packs and bla bla bla.  The Wii has roughly 9,298 peripheral add ons to date.  So we have been buying DLC from Nintendo for a while now we just never called it DLC.  (So what you dont actually download it you are still spending extra).  But I will say Nintendo games never DLC'd you.  I can't think of a zelda or mario game that wanted or NEEDED you to spend extra money...oh wait the rumble pack on N64 for Ocarina of time if you wanted to hunt the Skulltulas....whatever.

It's no secret Iwata says it all the time-the WiiU is draining their bank account.  They need to recover the cash somehow.  This is more than likely an experiment in how much they can get out of ehem "extra" content.      Nintendo always comes off as cuddly and friendly and on the players' side.  I can completely see how this happens.  Put some friendly faces up there-they show you their Mii, everyone laughs they tell a joke and now it is much easier to convince you that they havent already sold out the mature gamer they raised.  You can't picture these nice guys being anything less than on your side.  Well the simple fact is they are business men and they will always be on Nintendo's side unless they don't like eating food.

Nintendo is the top priority of Ninetendo; not how you feel as a gamer-shit that much is obvious just by the Wii's existence alone.  I think that Nintendo is moving towards DLC and calling it such not because of greed but simply because of survival.  It's no secret that Nintendo is a bit flustered right now.  While being flustered they are trying to release a console that should have been released at least a good 5 years ago.  Nintendo has lost faith in itself.  I remember when I was a kid SNES was (is) the pinnacle of gaming.  It was so good it kicked the ass out of everything Sega tried.  Sega 16 bit-buried. Sega CD-buried.  Sega 32X-buried. Atari jaguar-buried.  Snes was so good it beat the crap out of systems with far superior graphic quality.  Nintendo took their time and when it was ready the N64 debuted with success.  After that it seems like they have been running and falling a step behind their competitors every year and if you ask me it's because they fell in love with gimmicks rather than fun and quality.

What happened to the innovation?  What happened to being ahead of your time?  I guess when you no  longer are you squeeze the stone and see if blood comes out.

Why EA and IGN should get married

Ok look...I have a mind of my own.  My modern collection of games is fairly sparse.  I don't follow trends for the most part.  A game has to be REALLY good for me to shell 60 bones for it.  I don't even have titles I SHOULD never mind over hyped under programmed slap dashed pieces of crap (that look pretty).  So when I pull out my baseball bat and go to town on folks-you KNOW you screwed up.

EA and IGN is a match made in heaven.  I know that I have no where near the fan base as IGN but I'm gonna say it-I'm gonna tear this piece of dog crap article up before your very eyes.  Please check this out I'm going to pull excerpts and if you think I am being unfair here is the whole article...NOTHING is taken out of context.   http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/14/why-do-people-hate-ea?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

First and foremost this is not "News" asking why there is hate towards a company isn't news.  News is when they are announcing a new project or CEO or something.  This is coddling.

"Let's be clear EA is a corporation and its primary concern is making money."  I agree with that.  That is one hundred percent true and yes-yes I agree.  The writer goes on to say more or less "Hey if evil greedy people are in charge then 'whatever' they're gonna do bad things."  Ok sounds like you're making excuses but whatever I can let it slide even though I shouldn't.  The writer then goes on to say "EA is publicly traded"  OHHHH ok  then yes that DOES make all the poor quality and shady business practices ok.  As long as money is involved sure.  Once you have stock to worry about all is fair?  fuck you.  Facebook has gone public and has yet to openly screw over its fans/users.

Quote EA "...We employ over 9,000 people. We invest over a billion dollars a year in R&D, most of which doesn't see revenue until the following year, or in some instances, the year after that. And so you've constantly got to be making money to reinvest money to make great games.” There's one problem here...EA usually doesnt make a great game.  Sports, sports, sports, sports.  These things hit thrift stores sometimes only weeks after being released.  Is THAT where great games go?

This line is great proof that IGN took an envelope to write this article  "If EA was the only company in gaming trying to figure this stuff out (day one DLC and other buying add ons), in a way that suits its shareholders and its customers, and sometimes getting it badly wrong, then there would be an easy explanation for the hate. But it’s not. Every company is trying to figure it out, because if they don’t they’ll go broke."  Do not adjust your monitors there is nothing wrong with them.  You read that.  This frickin jakinape  thinks that if people DON'T buy the DLC and add ons EA will go broke?!   What the hell?  seriously?  What happened in the days BEFORE DLC?  You know Genesis SNES etc.  EA GREW exponentially! HOW? Not through DLC or add ons.  What-NOW if they dont get 80 bucks per game they're done for?  Shut the hell up-just shut the hell up.

"They are feeling their way through the dark and they are afraid."  yeah I'd be afraid too if I were a billion dollar corporation that in order to make money all it needed to do was make mediocre crap.  Cancel that-THIS line is proof they took an envelope...how can this guy know EA is afraid?

This writer also makes mention that the 60 dollar game is dying.  He's kinda right but I wholeheartedly doubt it is for the right reasons.  Look as I mentioned in the opening of this post I should have stuff that I don't.  I really wouldn't mind shelling out 60 if I felt I got my money's worth.  And that's what all these morons don't get.  Its not the PRICE of the game but the QUALITY!  Price has nothing to do with it.  Lamborghini isn't going under because their cars cost too much.  They must make a car worth every penny it costs in order to be around and have such a rep.  So using that logic what can we conclude what about lowering the price of games?

It gets better folks check this quote out.  "Unfortunately EA is slightly different, and this is the second reason for the hate. EA is the only company where you can buy Madden. Mass Effect, Battlefield, and Need For Speed. Those games all have competitors, but you are invested in these particular games because they have stories and characters and modes that you care about. So the ‘don’t buy it’ mantra makes way less sense. This is a phenomenon that works equally well with, say, George Lucas. If you want a different sort of Star Wars movie, you’re kind of powerless."  Right so if you don't like it just buy it anyway?  is that what you mean?  Or is it more if we didn't want it it couldn't be made?  Well ok let's see he's right they are the only Madden franchise for all those guys who are gonna care about it for a month after it comes out.  Mass Effect is over.  The story is done-with a great ending all the fans enjoyed.  Battlefield is still sort of reeling from certain issues.  Need for Speed is always need for speed...drive fast in cool cars.  Could it be that most of their franchises suck and THAT'S why EA has garnered a lot of ill will?

But back to what he said "the consumer is powerless"  How wrong you are.  How woefully wrong you are.  if EVERYONE said you know what we aren't buying anything EA puts out for two years-they'd be done for.  I'm not saying that SHOULD happen I have no personal beef with EA (only media hand jobs like this one) I am only saying that consumers DO have power.  Back to your wonderful dog analogy cuz that was beautiful. If you give a dog crappy dog food and you just expect him to eat it over and over-he's gonna get sick of it.  He may in fact piss on your carpet or run away entirely.  Customer loyalty can only be pushed so far.  During a CG scene less than 5 minutes  long EA learned that the hard way.

When speaking of Origin EA's digital game distribution site the author writes. "And its done some very stupid things, like banning accounts for no good reason or failing to invest sufficiently in customer support."  Money first customers second.  This is the fastest way to piss off costumers and yet this guy still doesn't seem to get it or is told that he is not going to get it by his boss.

"I know that I place myself in the firing line by daring to suggest that EA is flawed, imperfect, sometimes idiotic, but not hateful. I know it’s uncool to side with a corporation and say ‘well, they have good reason to behave in this way’. And I also know that EA’s phalanx of PRs will not thank me for bringing this whole subject up again." uh no they wanted this article they obviously paid for it with it being so one sided.

When I was at EA's rival I felt like I was treated like garbage.  I really did.  Then one day in walks a girl named Joy and she says she used to work for EA.  One of the things she couldn't stop saying was how much better treated that she felt here.  I was not the only one who laughed and thought she was kidding at first.  Then I thought...damn...

If you want to know how well a company is doing talk to its customers and LOW level employees.  Neither of which pay EA any praise...yet IGN and its writers do.  Please stop the nonsense-no one believes this crap  anyway.

Diablo 3 and Fandom

Diablo 3 man I remember playing 2 as a teen and not being able to get enough.  The simple yet addictive gameplay was amazing.  So obviously I was stoked to hear  that D3 would be coming out.  If you havent played it or seen it in action you wouldnt have read this far so let's get into it.

The horror of the launch cannot be understated.  When you have customers shell out 60 bones and find out they cant play the game this is the same as buying a car and needing a cab to get home from the dealership-Blizzard should be completely embarrassed about this but somehow I dont think that they are.  When you have the fat cash that they do there is no excuse as to why your customers should have a want as simple as being able to play the game.  Blizzard experienced login errors during Beta and bug testing so one of two things happened.  Blizzard said too bad the fans will have to deal with it OR they said we are not spending the money to fix this crap so our fans will have to deal with it.  Basically I am saying they expected their fans to shoulder this nonsense,,,and they did.

Many fans didnt want to sound spoiled by raising a stink about this-you people are 100% at fault for supporting bad behavior.  Game companies seem to screw their fans every chance they get and if you LET them-they will. There is nothing spoiled about being pissed about spending 60 bucks and not being allowed to play a game.  Again I metioned that if you buy a car and "It isnt ready" or whatever and you need to walk home or something.  That we can agree is completely unacceptable.  Blizzard tested for launch they knew this sort of thing would happen and rather than invest the money or whatever they needed to do they decided-actively decided to disappoint their fans.  That is a ridiculous barrel of monkey farts-what kind of business model IS that?  On release day we'll have some very pissed off folks and I'm ok with that how about you Steve? Sure as long as we get their 60 bucks up front.  If you experienced this and DIDN'T complain then shame on you.

One of the things I adored in Diablo 2 was single player offline.  This allowed me to stay away from lvl 99 Barb morons who aggroed everyone.  It also allowed me to grow a proper skill tree and learn how to develop a character properly and learn skill chains and combos and such before partying with others.  Uh I can't do that here.  I am required to be online at all times. That's fine but if I am required to be online at least have the servers ready huh?  Demanding I be online yet not providing me with the capability is like demanding a guy in a wheelchair to run a marathon-it's flat out moronic and rude.  Also experiencing lag in a single player game is really stupid.  Again if you find this acceptable please feel free to open a game studio.

Blizzard says that they designed this game this way so that it can help defend against piracy.  If you believe this then please ask me about the dinosaur bones I have for sale.  Maybe it DOES help fight piracy but it also screws paying customers right in brown town.  Blizzard is afraid of piracy? THAT'S BLIZZARD'S PROBLEM! not mine or yours.  Blizzard seems to think that it is acceptable to shift their problems onto their PAYING customers.  what a bunch of buffalo balls.  Again who came up with this business model?  I have news for Blizzard: if someone wants your game and doesnt want to pay for it-they will get it you cannot stop it.  You basically keep the people who would have paid for it anyway good and straight.  Not that any hack would want it solely for single player anyway...and remember by being quiet you let them think this is ok.

I dont have much experience with the real world money (RWM) auction house and I remember people bitching that it would screw up gameplay.  I thought these folks were over reacting.  I am starting to think differently.  Since RWM can be gained in this game the drops are ridiculous.  Basically any item in blue letters is a piece of crap-you're looking for legendary and yellow objects.  In D2 you could carry a decent blue item for a while and you'd be alright or better than alright.  Yeah not here.  As I mentioned since RWM can be made the drop rate has been lowered to nearly insane levels.  But let's think about this.  Let's say I really need a new sword to continue.  Let's say after 10 hours of playing I dont get the weapon I need...let's just say...let's just say that I am so frustrated of not being able to continue that I buy that sword for 10 bucks...I find that it gets me out there pretty nicely but I am taking too many hits...I need to find or buy some armor.  Well with the gimped drops I have one option...more money.  You're not paying Blizzard but you are still paying and paying sucks.  No monthly fee? yeah well Blizzard will pay for those servers through the percentage they shave off those auction house buys.  Brilliant really.

I will infinitely say it: Video games are a business.  It seems that most of the bigger dogs understand and exploit this fact.  It seems that most fans havent caught up to this.  They are afraid to hold developers and publishers accountable for bad consumer practices.  Gamers aren't stupid-typically we are more intelligent and creative than the next guy but majority of gamers have one fatal flaw as a consumer: Naivety.  Most have a hard time accepting that beloved developers would screw them over for extra cash or simply not give a damn about their gaming experience.  It IS a bitter pill to swallow-it is.  Most simply dont want to swallow this pill-ignorance is bliss...it also makes the next gaming experience that much shittier since devs will feel that their deplorable behavior is acceptable.  I've never been one to deny the obvious-and most of this BS is obvious if you just remove your fanboy glasses.

Businesses are SUPPOSED to make money that is their goal.  However where I draw the line is sacrificing quality or putting your customers out in order to make that money.  Games are supposed to be fun and make you feel happy not frustrate you needlessly and rob you blind.  Sadly Blizzard hasnt learned anything from this.  When Diablo 4 comes out my son will visit my grave and tell me all the horrible things that happened.  Don't think that major devs werent watching and learning from this colossal blind goat orgy.  Major devs want to know just how much bologna you will put up with.  Turns out its quite a bit.  The major releases can follow suit and know that they can be just as bad...some may even take it a step further...you may not raise a stink but I am wondering what it will take-what you open the dvd case and there is no game in there at all? is that what it might take?

Video Games the new slave labor

So as it turns out Free Radical Design (FRD) were supposed to make a game for "free".  Well according to gamespot http://www.gamespot.com/news/lucasarts-wanted-star-wars-battlefront-iii-to-fail-says-dev-6375176 that seems to be the case and you know I trust gamespot I like to think they have their ducks in a row.

So LucasArts (LA) wants them to make a follow up to the Star Wars Battlefront series.  But someone somewhere screwed up when for 6 months no one is being paid.  Six months half of a fiscal year.  It also seems that LA changed their tactics when dealing with FRD.  I can't say for sure since I wasnt there but apparently LA stopped sending people who like video games to meet with FRD and began sending a team accompanied by at least one lawyer.  I cant WAIT to jump on to that issue but for now let us focus on the salt mines that are FRD.

38 Studios in Providence Rhode Island failed to pay their employees for a month before laying them off in a very brave and courteous manner (it wasn't).  Now FRD does this for six months.  FRD AND 38 both cite that their parent company or investor with held sufficient money in order to pay these people.  Let us look at both sides of this shall we?

I want you to make toys to sell.  You have many workers.  I give you money to cover all expenses paying your workers buying tools and materials etc.  We all know that when these toys go to sale I will make more money than what I gave you (that's the plan anyway).  Sounds simple.  No not according to FRD.  They claim that LA intentionally sunk them and that it was malicious.  Because look at it through LA's eyes: making money is stupid and not the goal of business at all.  I am no Lucas fanboy by any stretch of the imagination but it just doesnt seem like a wise investment to kill a studio that has proven to turn a profit in the past.  Makes about as much sense as this...

So no I personally don't think FRD is being completely honest here.  38 claims the same though citing that the governor of Rhode Island short changed them.  Their ridiculous story is found here: http://lazyepsquared.blogspot.com/2012/05/38-studios-big-huge-games-and-curt.html
Now will I sit here and say that I know all about the inner woes for both companies?  nah.  Will I sit here and say that they don't budget correctly? yes I absolutely will.

When you fail to pay employees it is this thing called "illegal".  A business should want to avoid illegal activity. To avoid situations where you may be doing things that are illegal in this business takes this other thing called "care".  Let's say a fat publisher dropped some cash on my company and said to make the next Iron Man game or whatever.  First thing's first.  Figure out how many workers you need and figure out their equipment and hourly rate.  Next figure a time frame.  If the payroll portion exceeds how long it would take to make the game then you're good.  If the payroll portion is projected to dry up three months before the game is finished you may need to reconsider or seek an audience with your investor BEFORE WORK BEGINS.

What I dont understand is  "Hey boss I punched the numbers and we just dont have enough-payroll will be shortchanged by three months before launch."....  "Ok let's go ahead anyway." .  OR not doing any projections. OR we budget correctly-everyone will be paid yet somehow when we get down to it the money is still gone.  This means they are not adhering to their own budget they are breaking a cardinal law of business.  Even here where I am at if we punch the numbers and a purchase is made and we end up saving 10 bucks on that purchase we do not allocate the extra ten somewhere else.  Why?  We planned on it being gone so to us it IS gone but not really.  We seem to do the opposite in larger companies.  We're running over budget in a few areas.  Ok take it from...payroll? dafuq????

Just goes to show you that while video game making is a fun job it is still a business and the minute you forget that and the minute you rely on daddy war bucks to keep you alive you are living on borrowed time.

Now on to the lawyer business.  A lawyer is in a room of people who havent been paid in a month this shit is laughable.  This lawyer should be advising whoever that unpaid employees can get you sued or possibly thrown in jail.  Yet there he is watching unpaid guys making sure THEY arent pulling anything fancy.  God I love this world.

38 Studios Big Huge Games and Curt Schilling what a fellow business owner thinks

38 Studios...seems to be all the talk right now and it's for all the wrong reasons.  No one can shut up about this...not even me and it's for a damned good reason.  I am mad as hell.

Now I'll begin by saying that I am a huge Red Sox fan and I love that Curt Schilling was able to break the curse.  What he couldnt do?  Break even after 75 million was dropped in his lap along with 30 million of his own money.  Now Curt is personally worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 110 Million or 80 after the investment.  He was loaned 75 Million by the city of Providence.  So he puts in 30 and somehow gets others to put in more than double what he did...when he can damned well cover it all.  Why not cover it all? you pay no one back and if it fails you still have enough to have a nice life with.  That's some amazing bullshit powers.  "Hey buddy I have a great idea and I really believe in this project all I need is lots of your money.  Huh? what? no this idea is SO great and I believe in it so much that my money isn't good enough for it!"  Providence probably swooned over the Red Sox legend who expressed interest in their town.  However when creating a video game one's resume should read more than just "Good baseball player"...you would think anyway.  Even here at my company a good idea alone won't land you the job.

So we have 105 Million to make ONE game with.  Again I will be blunt and tell you that it does not take 105 million to make a game-hell you could nearly invent a new console with that money.  Well that's if you weren't an idiot anyway.  So Curt is a huge WOW fan-okay.  So he wants to create a WOW like game-okay. And he's going to do this even if he doesn't know how-okay...actually that isn't.  He's never made a game before why such a big one why so ambitious?  Hell that's like never shooting a gun before and being sent off to a World War...ok that shit happened bad analogy but you get my point.  No one should take on such a grand ambitious game as their first title.  Even Darksiders was a smaller scope project and largely because of that Vigil games gets to live on.

So anyone who pays at least a little attention knows that WOW makes billions of dollars.  What people forget is that WOW didnt happen over night.  Blizzard put out a bunch of titles and spin offs and sequels and other crap prior to WOW.  When WOW came out Blizzard had a customer and fan base.  It took YEARS of products already to market to allow Blizzard to release WOW.  38 Studios had no previous fan base and no proven track record so let's go huge and try to muscle in on some of that WOW money...what could go wrong?  Surely this won't be a decision that ruins my studio before we even have fans...surely.  WOW's players are notoriously loyal and typically despise competition-Curt had to have known this going in to this.  Why would anyone in their right mind want to go toe-to-toe with a game like WOW as their first project?  Sure someone will de-throne WOW one day but 10-1 says it wont be a company's first project.  Even BioWare with SWTOR couldn't do it and they have an established reputation and a fat war chest worth billions.

I hate to say this about a man I admire but I think there may be some crooked business practices here.  The more I find out about this company the more I feel like this was a snatch and grab.  I'd love to see records of payroll.  Who got paid what to do what because I guarantee that the 400 people who were fired were not making 6 figures.  Let's be honest (because I like to be) Kingdom of Amalur or KOA did not implement new technology meaning they did not have to create technology from scratch.  So we're using existing programming engines linking scripts etc.  Art? Art has to be created so from concepts to final renders we need people on cintiqs and maya or 3DS Max or whatever program the studio chooses.  EVEN IF all 400 employees that were fired were artists we come out to just shy of 1 Million to equip them all. Need to use existing engines and software? ok even with licensing fees and software we again come just shy of a million.  This puts us at 2 million IF all 400 employees have BOTH programming and art software and equipment...KOA took two years to make and at 15 bucks an hour for a 40 hour work week for two years all 400 employees (and you KNOW some got way less than 15 an hour) comes to 13,5 million. 13.5 plus the 2 to equip them we're at 15.5.  Providence wanted a pay back of 1.2 million per month for two years we'll round it off to 38 million...we're at 53 million. Not only that this equation pays people more than what they got AND gave them equipment they didnt need so we're more around 40 something million...That is of course rough math but a discrepancy of roughly 35 million?  I'm gonna have a ball after this tax season after the numbers are released.

Also let us not forget that a man worth 110 (80)Million supposedly did not use any of his personal finance to help his employees-so much so that he fucked his workers for a month.  No one was paid for the month of May before the studio was shut down.  Now not for nothing but personally if I am worth 110 (80) million and my company can't pay the employees for the month I would shell it out of pocket for as long as I felt necessary. These are human beings with lives and responsibilities and they depend on me for their money to survive.  I did the math it costs just over 1 percent of Curt's worth per month to pay all 400 employees at 15 bucks an hour.  Wow dude, I don't know what to say.  And I dont want to hear this crap that he's broke.  if he put in 110 million (all of his money) and RI put in 75 million then we're REALLY messed up on the accounting books.  So yeah I don't think Curt really cared for his actual employees, not as humans anyway. Proof- you need proof?

Sure well 38 Studios opened in Massachusetts and was lured to Rhode Island by the money.  The employees were told there would be a relocation program.  If you owned a house in Mass then dont worry just buy one in providence and 38 studios will take on the task of selling your old home in Massachusetts.  Well no, they didnt.  Many employees are being slapped with double mortgages turns out 38 didn't sell their old homes for them like they promised.

So what? need more proof? Ok well in addition to not paying people that work for you i.e. slaves we had a lay off policy that looks like it was hatched in a coward's ass.  An email was used to lay off 400 people.   What follows is the actual email-no joke.  So you know you come into work, get your coffee, shoot the breeze a bit, sit down at your station open your email and read:

“The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary. This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012.

Or maybe you're like me when I was at a major video game publisher and don't read your emails. (I am different now) so you don't know this is going on and you see all of the people down the hall with their personal items and maybe tearing up or something and you think "Whoa shit! they're fired!" so you go out there to find out what's going on and you ask them why they're fired.  They tell you that you are fired too.  Shit!  Where was the leadership here?  Nothing like treating your employees like people.  Would have been nice if at the beginning of the month someone of power rounded everyone up and said something like "Hey it isn't going so well here.  We're not sure how long we can keep at this.  It might be a good idea to put your resume out there-list me as a reference."  But no.  No the ship is sinking so you chain everyone to it?  What happened to the captain goes down with the ship?  Nice move Curt.


Who cares about fallout and bad publicity if employees go home and talk about the company dying?  What does it matter?  Nothing can be hidden forever obviously so you might as well be honest.  I'm sorry I am angry at this type of thing.  As a business owner myself and after being treated like garbage most of my working life I can't imagine how or why someone could do this to their workforce.  If you can think of excuses please by all means start a video game company since this looks to be par for the course.

I mean it.  Although we are small and fledgling I mean it-we treat all employees with dignity and respect.  We see them as humans first and workers second.  I swear and I have sworn numerous times that I will not follow this model.  Hold me to it-be hard on me, do whatever you want I'll never surrender this promise.

Profits go up Challenge goes down

Why are video games today not as hard as the ones I had as a kid?  I mean yeah sure shitty controls and half baked programming was a big time culprit making games harder than they should be back then but no-no.  Games, great games like Megaman and Contra were hard as shit and they had fluid controls and solid programming for the day.  Ninja Gaiden II and III? yeah-add those too.  It seems like games today can be beaten in my sleep.  Most rely on cheap shots to kill you and once you figure out how they set them up the game becomes predictable.  OG's like myself have relatively no problem cruising through popular titles-why is this?  I think well rather I know that it boils down to one factor: Consumerism.

When I was a kid gaming was nothing like today-you had to wait for a game worth buying to come out.  There were only a handful of major labels and once in a while you found a nice small development sleeper hit.  It wasnt like today where there is a plethora of developers and choices and a new game comes out every week...whether you have heard of it or not.

So I'm a kid I get bored easily and the next installment of double dragon wont be out for a while...so...make the game hard.  Make it so that I have to soak days worth of time hell weeks even.  Make it so that I have no choice but to play unfair levels and ridiculously tough enemies in late stages.  Bullshit timers that run out way too early.  One life and no continues?  yeah I suffered that shit.  By time you beat it you felt satisfied and wanted to tear a hole into the next game...you would still have to wait but you remember that challenge and you counted the days-you checked up in Nintendo Power as to when you might expect the new game you wanted.  You were gonna make the next game pay-oh yeah.

Nowadays?  Pfh who cares?  Add some multiplayer and we're done.  Let them play against hackers and people who memorized the gameplay.  So let me get this straight...You as a developer are supposed to provide fun and challenge to your gamer yes? Yes.  Ok and you do this by allowing me to duck behind cover and wait for my health to replenish in a game that focuses on and sells the "realistic combat feel"?  Yeah ok.  So your fun and challenge doesnt really come from the game itself but rather the PLAYERS you play against or with?  Hmmm doesnt sound like any real care went into level design and balance.

Now when I say level design I dont mean "It looks realistic with the trucks by the house" and bla bla bla.  No I mean like designing the level in such a way to either trick the player into a trap or making them solve a problem either with force or smarts you know something like that...it allowed us to play in a way that was unique to oneself.  Nowadays you just kinda wander the map looking for a guy to shoot-boring.  Major snooze.  In the unlikely event that I do get hit it is nearly impossible to die in Single player these days.  Just duck and wait.

We don't have to go back very far where the standard was health pick ups.  And you couldnt grab that health when you were at 100% to save for later.  No you had to leave that crap there and hope to be able to get back to it should you need it.  A lot of times I would survive a bad ass fight and on my way to the health previously in the level I would be fragged.  This was aggravating but part of the game.  I had the PATIENCE to play the game as designed.

I say patience because a lot of us arent.  So to regenerate health just sit there...you are now a bad ass gamer with great tactical mindset.

And before I forget about balance and design...typically in these shooters you take five maybe six bullets and within a seven second window and you die.  Ok so the 9mm handgun is noticeably weaker than the shotgun...Part of what a game is supposed to do is frustrate and scare you.  Where is the health bar?  When I was younger and you saw a bad ass enemy for the first time you would gasp in horror as you saw your health bar drop by 80% in one hit.  Hell sometimes you took the hit just because you were curious.  And when that health was gone it was gone baby.  Nowadays-no health bar no way to really gauge how much fight you have left...just lay somewhere quiet until your sight straightens out.

 My original point is that these games are designed like cotton candy.  It's sweet goes down easy and there is always more of it.  Franchises launch titles sometimes twice a year you can't tell me that isnt catering to people's impatience.  There is also fear.  There is so much competition out there that if you take too long to put out a game the fans may find a new favorite and your sequel will meet bitter middle fingers.  Back then it wasnt so.  There was competition yes but not like today where literally dozens of major labels are slugging it out.

Because of this we are left with milktoast games that most of us veterans can clobber with one hand.  I know some people that will not play a hard game since they have become too spoiled.  They dont see the challenge as a reward.  They'd rather play some easy crap and feel that they are a bad ass gamer.  Developers also cater to this mindset as well.  Back then games were fun and if you played them you werent judged on your skill but rather HOW you played them.  The wannabe badasses who stomp easy games?  back in my day you'd be reserved to Sesame St on NES...in my opinion you're doing that anyway with these hold your hand easy to beat games so...say hey to Oscar on the way to pick up your uh "Plasma Rifle".