Support Games Developers

The game developing days of the ZX Spectrun, Amstrad, Amiga and Commodre 64 were pretty cost-effective. The only real tax for game developers was time and patients. Forward to present day and you need an average of around £18m/$30m to successfully develop a AAA game title…and that doesn’t even include the millions necessary for essential marketing campaigns. Games may be an enjoyable hobby to you and I but always remember that to developers, they’re a product that fund a business and its employees. This means that the money they invest in such games, MUST be made back (at the very least). Development costs are the first thing that must be covered by games sales. Then, it’s publishing costs (it costs to produce millions of those games covers and discs) and marketing campaigns. Once these are covered we obviously have our profit margins and these are invested into future games, enabling developers to push the boundaries of gameplay and engines with every future release. Profit is extremely important to game developers (and the future of the games industry) and ALL gamers should strive to help developers and publishers where possible. How do I help support game developers? Just like any other business, Games developers need profit to survive. This means games sales, and will require you and I to visit our local high-street store, online games retailer, PSN, Games Marketplace (formally XBL), Nintendo eShop, Steam, Origin and u play and purchase our games. Of course, there is still an on-going battle with pre-owned games and piracy and because of this, we’ve prepared a guide to help you support game developers and keep them producing quality games for years to come: New or pre-owned games? New games support developers 100%. This is because games stores purchase their game stock via their wholesaler, who buy their stock directly from the developers/publishers. This simply...

Dear Sony – Latest Demos on PSN

The playable demo is a huge part of game developer marketing. A simple downloadable trial, can be more powerful than any magazine or TV ad campaign. We all remember having to pay £5-6 for that hot-off-the-press games magazine, with it’s irresistible demo CD. Now we simply sign-in to our Xbox Live or PSN account and start downloading them, instead. It couldn’t be more convenient and easy to use…or could it? PSN is currently in need of a little tidy-up and update. The US version of PSN has a clear “Demos” category within it’s main menu. However, after selecting this you’ll notice that your simply presented with an A-Z of PS3 playable demo titles…but what if you’re looking for the latest demo releases? Latest demo additions are essential not only for gamers, but for developers and publishers who wish to market their up-and-coming games. But…if you think that’s bad, the UK version of PSN totally lacks a demo category! Yup, if you’re after a latest or sought-after game demo, you’ll have to scroll through the entire library of PS3 games…and by that we mean every PS3 full game, arcade game, Mini game and demo! C’mon Sony… The UK PSN clearly requires a demo category (with latest additions), while the US PSN simply requires exposure of the latest playable releases. These updates are sure to help potential purchasing gamers, as well as developers and publishers (by marketing demos for new releases). Have you any suggestions for PSN? Let us know via the comments board, below:...

Developer Note: Single Player VS Multiplayer…Why?

Axel’s Magic Hammer, Alex Kid, Magic Pockets, Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario, were just a few examples of how gameplay started to evolve and become more and more addictive. Sinclair, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore and Nintendo, all stood tall in the market and gaming was suddenly becoming more popular. But there was still a problem…if you too, feel in love with such gameplay, and were over 25, you had to get used to strange and judgemental stares. Yes, as hard as it is to admit, we all know what that felt like. Sonic, Mario and many others, while being endlessly entertaining still gave off a “Toys and Games” vibe to many people. In fact, it’s only been during the past couple of years, that catalogue traders have taken such items out of their “Toys and Games” range and placed them in Electrical”. No matter how you defended your hobby, or who else you knew who enjoyed the same pleasures, it was always seen as “childish”. Well…they simply never knew what they were missing! Suddenly Sony released the Playstation (we still can’t refer to it as the PSone…early attachments, we guess). Games such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 7, brought games to older age groups. Games had moved from run n’ jump platformers and had spawned into character development and creative story-telling. When the Dreamcast, Xbox, PS2, xbox 360, Wii and PS3 each took their turn, developers suddenly started letting their creative juices really flow and we finally had interactive movies (Blue Stinger, Gears of War, Dead Rising, Halo, Metal Gear Solid 3, Killzone 2, Heavy Rain, Yakuza 3, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories etc.). During this amazing development in gaming, developers had always experimented with online play. This enabled players to compete across the Internet and with co-players or competitors all over the world. This...

Who Should Play Bayonetta?

First there was Devil May Cry, a Gothic fast-paced action game that re-defined 360 combat. The swift and precise manner you could maneuver Dante, gave the PS2 analog stick it’s true purpose. Four games on and with a reboot in the works, (the trendy new word for both movie directors and game devs) Devil May Cry gave birth to a new heroin…this time with awesome visuals, boot-mounted guns and a butt you could stare at all day! Bayonetta was created from the mind of Hideki Kamiya, who was also responsible for the birth of Dante (Devil May Cry). While Bayonetta was very similar to Devil May Cry, it also offered fans a sexy new heroin. Bayonetta was Lara Croft with attitude and everything from her simple strut, to her wicked weaves, oozed sex appeal. Of course, Bayonetta was a truly awesome game in itself, so we all had an excuse for our girlfriends (when they’d always walk-in during “that cutscene”). Who Could Play Bayonetta? Lets pretend we’ve all just heard news on IGN, that Platinum games have offered the rights for a Bayonetta film. The legal paperwork has been dealt with, the script is being penned…but the main actress is yet to be finalized. Who should play Bayonetta? We don’t want this to be the first good actress who signs-up for it. She must be able to have that well spoken accent (convincingly), have the build of Bayonetta, give that trademark sexy-vibe (with minimal effort) and look stunning in a pair of glasses. Once the look is out of the way, the successful actress must be able to move like she was born to kick-butt. We’ve taken a few names and would like to run them by our readers: Kate Beckinsale as Bayonetta Probably one of the strongest on this list, our first pick is Kate Beckingslae. If you’ve...

Unlockable Costumes or Priced DLC?

Beat um’ ups, wrestling games and well…many other games all offered us a similar, but welcomed incentive…unlockable costumes. Yes, how many hours did you rack-up trying to unlock a certain colour or design for your much-loved characters? It all began with simple colour adjustments. Simply hitting a different button on a character select screen, would enable your favourite character to fight with either a new main colour, or colour pattern. As games progressed and detailed character models replaced 2D sprites, our favourite characters uniforms, ghee’s and battle suits, required more than just colour alterations…we wanted completely new outfits. Great fighting games such as Dead or Alive 2, gave us good reason to play through the game again and again. While the legendary ‘Game of Death’ outfit (worn by Bruce Lee) played a major part in multiple play-throughs, the realistic…er….”Bounce” technology of the DOA babes, offered an even greater incentive to unlock costumes. Resident Evil 5 offered players new costumes for both Sheva and Chris. Once the game had been completed (or when a number of collectables had been acquired) you could begin the game again, in classic, tribal or sexy clubbing outfits. Bayonetta also offered new costumes an outfits on completion, playing to the stylish sex-appeal that game carried throughout. The gameplay and daring outfits, gave Bayonetta fans many reasons to enter the witch-weaving world, once again. Gamer Note: Once all chapters have been completed on Normal, load your clear-save data and go and see Rodin. You will need to purchase the “Super Mirror” in order to unlock all costumes. Unlockable or Purchasable? Unlockable costumes were a traditional addition to most games. They were much-loved extras and were a reward for not only beating the game, but playing through multiple times. As character models became more realistic and costumes were more life-like, unlockable costumes went from being small rewards,...