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THE CONVERSE CONS STAR PLAYER PLUS SNEAKER

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visit gameinformer.com daily for the latest and greatest, and follow @gameinformer on Twitter

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ANDY McNAMARA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF andy@gameinformer.com

Read my column or comment on this letter at gameinformer.com/mag or follow @GI_AndyMc

can’t get any voice-command devices to

work. Apple’s Siri randomly calls people

from my contacts whenever | ask for direc- tions. If | ask for the score from a sporting event, Siri is sure to start playing a track from a band | haven't listened to in ages.

| have the same problems with Kinect’s voice commands. Sometimes some commands work, other times they do not. | have no idea why — | don’t have a particularly thick accent. It seems to have a mind of its own. | share my frustration with voice control because | want you to know I’m biased. | hate the Kinect.

For all my dislike for the product that makes “you” the controller, | admit Dance Central was an amazing piece of software. That game, and thus far that game alone, figured out how to make the Kinect an interesting gaming device.

So when Microsoft announced that a new and improved Kinect would be sold with every Xbox One at a higher price point than its competitors, | immediately thought Microsoft was crazy.

But what do | know? I’ve been wrong about plenty of things before. Microsoft must have all these great examples of the hardware making amazing software available. But at the Xbox One launch we got Fighter Within, which cur- rently carries a Metacritic score of 23. For those who don’t use Metacritic, that’s real bad.

On the horizon we have... ummm, | can’t think of a title on the horizon save for Harmonix and Disney’s Fantasia, which magically got delayed. When | ask third-party developers how they are leveraging Kinect for their new games, most laugh out loud, like itis a punchline to a joke.

Sure, Microsoft has used the Kinect in other ways. Plenty of people love its entertainment options, especially the way it integrates with their cable service. Others enjoy the little touches, like how it recognizes you and auto- matically logs you in or allows you to rouse zombies in Dead Rising 3 by making a sound in real life. The Kinect is not without its moments.

But at this moment, none of these posi- tives are required for doing what most people purchase an Xbox One for - playing games. Microsoft is resolute in keeping the Kinect in the box. | wish it were optional. | literally can’t make it a part of my home entertainment system where | play games, as my consoles are too far from the TV. For consumers like myself, who want that option, we are basi- cally throwing away extra dollars to choose the Xbox One with services and hardware we don’t want or need.

Perhaps Microsoft has an ace up its sleeve that will show the power of Kinect and why it needs to be a part of every Xbox One sold, but | wish it would just move on, make it optional, and get us back to the business of playing games.

Cheers,

Y) — CG. O — ie O O

py 4 4

Batman: Arkham Knight

We’ve spent plenty of time walking through and flying above the streets of Gotham City, but for the first time in the Arkham series, Batman is bringing along his Batmobile for the ride. For his new- gen debut, Rocksteady returns to take back the mantle, and we have the first look. by Bryan Vore

26

Stepping In: A Glimpse Into Upcoming Open Worlds

regulars

6 Feedback Readers have nothing but compliments, adoration, and high-fives for our top 50 list. For the first time in history we didn’t receive a single complaint. We didn’t leave any games out, and we made everyone happy. At least that’s what we keep telling ourselves.

10 Connect This month, we’re taking a look at the future of the industry by reporting on the recent DICE conference. We also examine the trend of difficult, survival-focused games, and debate whether it’s time for Nintendo to test the mobile waters.

64 Previews We’re taking final looks at two new-gen console exclu- sives that might just put you over the purchasing edge with Titanfall and Infamous: Second Son. We also take a look at Sonic’s latest rede- sign, check in on Everquest Next, and build our own world in Project Spark.

84 Reviews The long-awaited Thief is finally in our hands, as well as the latest DLC for The Last of Us, and the final chapter for Professor Layton. We also review the new Strider, and see how the years and an HD makeover suit Final Fantasy X and its sequel.

100 Game Over Regardless of your feelings about the quality of films based on video games, they are big money-makers. We take a look at the numbers to see how some video game franchises have fared on the silver screen.

contents 3

games index

Wedded

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky.... 96

Bad Piggies

Banished

Batman: Arkham Knight Castle Doctrine, The Chaos Reborn Clockwork Empires Crew, The

Destiny

Division, The

Don’t Starve

Dungeon Defenders II Dying Light

Earth Defense Force 2025 Elder Scrolls Online, The EverQuest Next

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Galak-Z: The Dimensional Golf Club, The

Hail to the King: Deathbat Heroes of the Storm

Highlights: My First Hidden Pictures

Infamous: Second Son Jazzpunk

Last of Us: Left Behind, The

Lego Movie Videogame, The Mercenary Kings Motion Math:

Hungry Guppy NASCAR '14 Next Car Game (working title)... . Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Project Spark

Shovel Knight Sniper Elite 3 Sonic Boom

Soul Fjord Starbound Strider

Super Time Force Terraria

Volume Watch Dogs Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The .

Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 — Smoke & Mirrors, The

CORRECTION: In issue 250’s Fall of the Empire feature, a caption on the photograph of a statue incorrectly identified the subject as Ray Harryhausen posing i with a model of King Kong. In actuality, the statue depicts Harryhausen’s mentor, Willis H. O’Brien. Wolfenstein: The New Order

4 contents

iF youre playing with cigarettes, you’re harming your teeth.

Smoking cigarettes can cause serious gum disease that makes you more likely to lose your teeth than someone who doesn’t smoke.

THE REAL CosT&

Find out more at TheRealCost.gov

—, Brought to you by the FDA. (¢ FDA

Contact Us

feedback@gameinformer.com

New Game Plus | love how your cover stories don’t just give us the basic information about a new game; they also take the time to explain the his- tory of how the game came to be. A great example of this was the in-depth explanation of how Turtle Rock Studios overcame what seems to be dozens of obstacles in order to finally create Evolve, a game that | am greatly looking forward to. It really makes me stop and appreciate the massive amount of effort people put into a game just so | can kill off the remainder of my brain cells. It also makes me stop and think how some of my most memorable moments in gaming came dangerously close to never happen- ing. Thank you for giving me an insight to the extraordinary people who craft my extraordinary adventures.

Aaron Allen

via email

It’s easy to forget that video game develop- ers aren’t just faceless companies; they’re made of passionate individuals who try their best to create entertainment that they hope their fans will love. Players should remember that the next time they fire off

a hate-filled email over some aspect of a game they don’t like. To learn more about the creators behind Evolve, watch our History of Turtle Rock video documentary at gameinformer.com/evolve.

op 50 brought forth the expected amount of hate mail, as readers share their jilted picks for the best of.2013. Readers also weigh in on the best new-gen controller and ask what it will take to fix Battlefield’s single-player offerings.

Like Clockwork

There are two issues of Gl every year that | absolutely love to receive: Your Top 50 issue and the one after that. Your Top 50 always sheds light on new games and clues me in on what to look for. If not for this year’s issue, I'd have never found gems like The Stanley Parable and Device 6. Then there’s the issue after the Top 50, where | get to read all kinds of joy-pukingly neurotic rants, like “Where are my Nintendo games,” and “I’m canceling my subscription,” and “Why didn’t you include Game X (which eerily is almost always a Sonic the Hedgehog game)?” Thanks for providing such great reading material; it’s easily in my top 4,000, maybe even 3,700. Certainly not 3,600, though.

Doug Coolidge

via email

Oh crap, is it that time of the year already? Just kidding! We could never forget about the annual backlash to our Top 50 list - mainly because our inbox is full of it. Here’s a brief assortment of the angry letters

we received...

Nixed Picks

| feel you guys should apologize for not includ- ing Saints Row IV on your Top 50 list. The pop- culture references, the music, the gameplay variety, even the story — it was awesome, and

reminded me of the goodness that was Army of Darkness. | feel like Saints Row IV was game of the year — way better than GTA V, which felt so stale in comparison, no matter how good the story was. You even put Assassin’s Creed IV on that list, and it had a lower score than Saints Row IV. What gives?

Christopher Cavanaugh

via email

Come on, Game Informer, Splinter Cell: Blacklist should have been on your Top 50 list. It’s hands down the second-best Splinter Cell of all time. With a great story, the return of Spies vs. Mercs, and co-op, Blacklist was great. Do you really think Lego City Undercover is a better game than Blacklist? Not even one of your editors chose it. So why no love for Sam?

Shavarda Scott

via email

| just read your Top 50 list, and | am simply baffled by the absence of Shin Megami Tensei IV. Please give me an explanation for why this game was not included. While | can agree with most of the list, not putting that game in there just isn’t right. Instead, you put in Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, two of the most overrated games in history! | know you feel that it is one of the best games of 2013, because you gave it a very good review score, so why isn’t it in there? PS. | am happy with 75 percent of the list. Trevor Pickett via email

This year’s abundance of great games made it harder than ever to trim our list down to just 50 entries, and the sheer variety of gameplay experiences led to a lot of disparate opinions even among the GI staff. We still consider that kind of diversity to be a good thing, but if you don’t agree, just remember that there’s no shame in being wrong.

In the Top 10 Disappointments of your Top 50 feature, you talked about Nintendo not having a universal friend list, and annoying friend codes. The Wii U does have a universal friends list that can be accessed from any game that wishes to use it, like Call of Duty, Monster Hunter, etc. Also, the Nintendo Network does have a friend code feature, but you don’t actually input them. They’re for Nintendo’s security reasons, and users have usernames just like PSN, Xbox Live, and Steam. Matt Neal via email

| saw that Nintendo was on your Top 10 Disappointments list for its gimped online infrastructure. However, your complaints were a bit misinformed. The Wii U does have a universal friends list and does not use annoying friend codes. Now, that doesn’t mean that the infrastructure still doesn’t suck. It is incredibly unintuitive to send someone a message or a game invite. | can’t just click on someone’s Mii from the friends list and invite them to come play; | have to sit through another loading screen to get to the Miiverse, then send them a message, and then they have to stop their game and sit through the same loading screen to read that message (which they probably missed anyway because the only notification is the flashing blue circle on the GamePad). This is a horrible system. Regardless, the next time you critique a video game console you should try to give the impression that you have actually turned it on.

Curtis Puryear

via email

While we admit our description of Nintendo’s online shortcomings was confusingly worded (our complaints weren’t meant to be read as specific to the Wii U), our criticisms still stand. Nintendo’s friends lists don’t carry over between systems (i.e., between Wii U and 3DS) the way Sony and Microsoft accounts do, and hence are not universal. Additionally, whether you are dealing with Friend Codes on 3DS or Nintendo Network IDs on Wii U, Nintendo’s approach to adding and interacting with friends is still annoying.

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“| was wondering if | could have your support on boycotting all Zynga games?”

No.

“Was it a happy accident

or pure twisted genius that your Top 50 article started on page 50?!”

We’re going to go with pure twisted genius.

“How come there was never a 64-bit console?”

There was. It was the Nintendo 64.

“Are Y'all Drunk?! RE: Top 50 2013 Picks”

What’s the most important characteristic a video game villain should have and why?

Last month Ben Hanson, Tim, and Dan interrogated famed Japanese developer Hideo Kojima for new Metal Gear Solid V intel. Find out all about the game at gameinformer.com/mgsv

Later, the trio tranced out with a robot in a Japanese dance club. They were deported the next day

continued on page 8

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@ 38% Best Controller Debate

@ 28% Top 50 Omission Complaints ™@ 16% Evolve Love

@ 10% Fall of the Empire Praise

08% Alien: Isolation Excitement

Who needs superheroes when you’ve got the crew at Rocksteady, who assembled

to give us our first look at Batman: Arkham Knight?

We also sat in ona

mo-cap session with Rock- steady’s cinematic director Paul Boulden and senior cinematic animator Art Lenavat

Between Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4, I’ve read countless reviews (including Gl’s) blasting DICE’s single-player campaigns. While | agree that they have been lacking, what | never see are any suggestions as to what reviewers would actually like to see from them. We know you don’t like them; how about some more ideas in the feedback just once? Doug Newton Brooklyn, NY

DICE already has an excellent blueprint of what we'd like to see from Battlefield’s single-player campaigns: more Bad Company. The spinoff series’ wide-open levels, destructive environments, vehicu- lar combat, and entertaining characters were a great alternative to the standard military shooter formula. After all of Battlefield 4’s troubles, bringing back DICE’s foursome of misfits and making it a cooperative affair might be exactly what the series needs.

1 Jason Linder We have to assume that Cranky is telling boring stories and Funky is super wasted

2 Demosthenes Wiggin Neku has always hated the paparazzi

3 Michael Barrett At this point, we think Snake is auditioning to take over in the “Most Interesting Man in the World” ads

4 Hyde Ruth Franco For a dude who lives in a sparkly puffball world, Kirby pulls out those angry eyes an awful lot

Submit your art for a chance to win our monthly prize. Please include your name and return address. Entries become the property of Game Informer and cannot be returned. Send to: Game Informer Reader Art Contest | 724 First Street North, 3rd Floor | Mpls, MN 55401 or Email to: ReaderArt@gameinformer.com

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Naughty Dog’s Christophe Balestra and Evan Wells had plenty to be happy about at this year’s D.I.C.E. Summit, after The Last of Us swept the show’s awards ceremony Lat- er, Andy found some appropri- ate mood lighting to chat with Bethesda’s Todd Howard

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~ —_— NOTABLES.

416

a Classic

“stepping invaglim glimpse

into upcoming open worlds

all ages: five for five” (and younger)

burning issues facing gaming in 2014 and beyond

FOR PUBLISHERS AND DEVELOPERS, it used to be so much simpler. You selected your target platforms, created the games, and released them to brick and mortar retail stores. But in today’s landscape, where new platforms are constantly emerging, digital distribution has opened up new revenue models, and developers don’t even need a publishing partner to get their games made, the number of choices is downright dizzying. Do you stick to the tried- and-true consoles, or do you forgo them altogether to pur- sue the much larger install bases on mobile phones and tablets? Do you stick with a traditional price model, or test

ae

the waters with free-to-play or paic

several of them aside at the annual DILC.E. Summit in Las Vegas to hear their thoughts on some of the bigger ques- tions facing the game industry.

4%

by Matt Bertz

Industry imsiders discuss the

Will thisnew console generation _have more or fewer new IP than_

hen Sony and Microsoft launched the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, publishers came out of the gate with an avalanche of new franchises. Over the first three years of the consoles, gamers were inundated

with bold new concepts, from legitimate blockbusters like Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted to critical darlings like BioShock and Portal. But as the years dragged on and mid-tier publishers like THQ started biting the dust, pub- lishers began relying on established franchises rather than pushing innovation with new games.

With two new consoles offering devel- Opers untapped power, we expect Creativity to pick up again in the early years of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But will we see the depth of bold new ideas that we enjoyed last gen- eration, or will market conditions dic- tate that major publishers take fewer chances with their lineups?

“| think you're going to see the same thing you've seen before as far as the AAA space where initially you’re going to see a lot of new IP, and then it’s going to slow down drastically as the generation continues,” says Naughty Dog creative director Neil Dr'uckmann. “The successful ones will stay, and maybe if a few fail then you might see a couple new ones, but it won't change a lot toward the end.”

Naughty Dog game director Bruce Siraley thinks that the steep financial investments attached to large-scale game development makes it tough for publishers to take as many chances as they did in the past.

“The triple-A [publishers] still have the issue of the budgets — they have to create that scale of game versus the profit they have to turn around to justify that development again,” Straley says. “We have a luxury at Naughty Dog that Sony trusts us and we're able to push and challenge ourselves in what kind of games we want to make. But my understand- ing — and | don't know because I've worked at Naughty Dog forever - is it doesn't sound like other people really

have that kind of flexibility. That will be interesting and definitely affect whether or not you will see more sequels or new IPs — whether or not the upper management of those com- panies feel comfortable in trying and testing new ideas. Maybe that comes down to scope of game. Maybe if

the scope is reduced down they can justify smaller teams, smaller devel- opment cycles, and getting some- thing out the door a little bit faster [when] there’s not as much at stake. So maybe it’s not about new IPs, it’s about new scoping of games.”

With both Sony and Microsoft making inroads to creating more inviting platforms for non-established developers to release their games on the consoles, some creators think that - even if we see less new IP from the big publishers — a new era of innovation could spring from these smaller teams.

“One thing that’s interesting right now is there are indie developers that had their first big hit last generation like Braid or Bastion, and they’re making their follow-up games now, and almost none of it is like Braid 2 or Bastion Returns,” says The Fullbright Company co-founder Steve Gaynor. “They are creating new IPs to follow their successes. Obviously, there’s still going to be continuations; there will be more Mass Effects. At the same time, year-over-year, there will be more new prominent IPs that are going to come out.”

connect 11

Can second-screen gaming be anything more than a marketing gimmick?

ith the proliferation of mobile and tablet devices over the last several years, more and more studios are brainstorming ideas that allow gamers to use their other devices while playing console or PC games. Battlefield 4’s second screen app allows you to tweak load- outs mid-match or assume the role of commander. Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world shooter The Division also leverages the second screen to give a player control of a drone, work- ing in tandem with his or her friends playing on console.

12

Will Steam Machines seriously disrupt the PC market?

alve finally revealed the first lineup of Steam Machines at this past CES, and many were left scratching their heads at the strategy. Introduc- ing 14 different consoles ranging from $500 to upwards of $6,000 gives consumers a lot of choice, but it also could potentially create confusion around the platform. Why spend all that money for a system that has a much smaller game library than the Windows-based Steam?

“That’s one machine | don’t quite get yet,” says Ed Fries, the former vice president of game publishing at Microsoft. “When I’ve talked to Gabe [Newell] about it or heard Gabe talk about it, [Steam Machine] was done sort of as a defensive measure against a fear that [Microsoft] would close down the Windows platform in kind of the same way Apple has to some degree closed their platform. They didn’t close the Mac, but their portable devices are closed. It’s kind of a hedge against that. As a strategy, it makes sense. As a consumer point of view, | have a Windows machine and | have Steam. | don’t need this box.”

The majority of developers we spoke with shared Fries’ sentiments.

“I'm kind of skeptical just because there are 14 of them coming,” says Media Molecule’s creative lead

These concepts are certainly interest- ing, but ultimately seem more like

a back-of-the-box bullet point than a game-changing feature. We asked other developers what they thought of this concept. Some find it very intriguing.

“I’m quite interested in it because to me we have to remove some user interface from the screen,” says Media Molecule designer Christophe Villedieu. “I never like blinking things when I’m playing. | love games when there is no Ul at all and you’re trying to guess what’s happening. It depends on the game, because some games you can’t take your eyes off the screen or you're dead. | think it’s something new — we haven't explored it yet. | think that’s a new way of playing.”

While the concept holds potential, the fact that you need a player who owns the console to have another device could limit the effectiveness of this approach.

“To have this additional experience

Rex Crowle. “It just feels a bit like 3DO or some other systems that really didn’t quite work out.”

But even though many don’t understand what need the Steam Machines are potentially filling, not everyone is ready to outright dismiss Valve’s endeavor.

“It’s sort of hard to really predict where it’s going to go,” says CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson. “I’m not sure we need another console. It seems it will have to be very expensive to even compete with a PlayStation 4 with its crazy memory architecture and all that. And they backed away from the crazy con- troller. | just don’t know, But what | know is it’s going to become some- thing. Valve has a thing in their head, and nobody knows where it's really going to go.”

you need to have mobile or tablet hard- ware, and that’s great and everything, but that means that by its very nature, it’s going to be an optional feature,” says The Fullbright Company’s Steve Gaynor. “If your feature is optional, there’s only so much of an impact it will have on the overall design.”

Naughty Dog’s Bruce Straley agrees.

“Everything I've seen so far — maybe | haven’t seen enough of those games — has been a little gimmicky,” he says. “| think it's going to take someone to find a feature that really has depth. The problem is if it’s always this optional thing, then no one is going to invest resources into making it integral to the experience. If it’s not integral, then you ask, ‘Well why do | have it at all if it’s just optional?’ Maybe it will take someone who makes it integral - you have to have the second screen and then people will see the value in that, and then really invest and find a feature that's worthwhile.”

Games like Blacklight: Retribution (left) and Warframe (top right) are testing the waters on console for the freemium model, which Clash of Clans (bottom right) proved so

lucrative on mobile devices

Can the free-to-play economic model gain widespread acceptance on consoles?

ver the past few years, more and more publish- ers have experimented and found success with new economic models for digital games on PC and mobile platforms. Success stories like Supercell, which generates roughly $2.4 million per day from just two games - Clash of Clans and Hay Day - are spurring the old guard to think about packaging their games in new ways instead of simply sticking a $60 pricetag

on each game.

With Blacklight: Retribution, Warframe, and DC Universe Online already testing console gamers’ appetites for these types of experiences on the PlayStation 4, the tide for free-to-play is rising. Whether or not this approach will take hold on con- soles is still a charged topic of debate within the industry. Some believe the change is inevitable.

“The numbers are very clear — the old models are continuing to decline,” says EA founder Trip Hawkins.

While any bottom-line oriented busi- nessmen can’t help but think this is the future given the massive success sto- ries, many of the developers we talked to were less convinced.

“There need to be some new methods created in the game design to support it because it feels like nearly all free-to-play

games are the same core model re- skinned and reused again and again,” says Media Molecule’s Rex Crowle.

“I do not enjoy playing them myself at all because for me it's always been about investing in the game, and if it’s great you are getting more value for your money and you enjoy it more. It’s noble. Whereas with that model it’s like the more you are enjoying it, the more it costs you.”

Naughty Dog’s Bruce Straley is wary of the model as well.

“I'm not a huge fan of freemium, what that means to players, maybe where that takes games, and more specifi- cally what that means for single-player, narrative based games,” Straley says. “| hope that never becomes a hindrance to us and the kind of games we like

making. I'm a little fearful of that.”

Making such a drastic change to a valuable, moneymaking franchise is a daunting task. Games where the majority of their users play online, like Call of Duty and Battlefield, seem to be natural candidates for conversion to freemium, but doing so could endanger their standing with the current fan bases. EA Studios executive vice president Patrick Sdderlund told MCV this past November that he doesn’t anticipate flagship EA franchises to wholly adopt a free-to-play model any time soon. “When | pay $60 for Battlefield, | know what | am getting,” he said. “And | think there are players that prefer that. And it’s not a case of one or another; they can both exist, and there may be hybrids, too.”

Their hesitancy could open the door for a competitor to make a bold move.

“It's hard to detach from $60 until you're really sure you're going to come out ahead,” says Trip Hawkins. “Take World of Warcraft — they run a subscrip- tion model. It’s not as potent in the MMO market as free-to-play with virtual goods. Blizzard made the mistake of waiting too long and having competitors do it to them instead of them disrupt- ing themselves. | saw a list recently of the most lucrative games and Warcraft was number seven. It used to be a really dominant number one. Everything ahead of Warcraft is free-to-play with virtual goods. They kind of blew that window.

“So when does it happen with a Call of Duty type game? Maybe it will happen with a disrupter. Then they'll say, ‘We’re losing that $60 anyway because nobody is playing the game, | guess if you can't beat ’em you better join ’em.’ But the smart guys just finally say ‘Screw it, let’s take the risk, let's make the commitment, let’s make shift and just believe in it.’ It’s just hard for people who have an established inter- est to let go of what they have. You can tell that all the big companies continue to struggle. They have a hard time trying to pry their hands off the old way of thinking. It’s human nature; | can see why it's so difficult.”

The most likely scenario ts full-priced blockbusters, cheaper downloadable games, and free-to-play titles will find room to co-exist on the new consoles.

“The good thing about digital distribu- tion taking off and moving away from just buying boxed games at a retailer is it affords for all kinds of different games,” says Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann. “Different game lengths, different kind of pricing models for games, and that's good for gamers because you can allow all these creators who gravitate to dif- ferent experiences to get it directly to the fans. Yes, because of that you will see more freemium games taking off, but hopefully that's balanced with the big AAA experience, with smaller indie games - that they all can be successful in this market.”

connect 13

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Starbound

Will major publishers adopt the paid alpha model espoused by indie developers?

otch first started making Minecraft in his free time, and he didn’t have a lot of money to sup- port the project. Instead of seeking out a pub- lisher or venture capital like many developers do, he took a new approach by opening up the

game to the public and charging for access to the alpha. Even though the game still had years of development to go, curious gamers flocked to the world building game, making it a runaway success well before its “official” launch in 2011.

Given the extreme criticism a game

like Battlefield 4 received after having

a rough launch, it’s hard to imagine major publishers opening up early ver- sions of its games to the public and charging for access. But looking at the Steam top sellers chart, several alpha titles like DayZ, Rust, 7 Days to Die, and Starbound constantly rank in the top 10. Clearly a market exists for games that are a little rough around the edges.

“1 can’t imagine that platform holders and publishers are not looking at the suc- cess of things like the DayZ alpha,” says the Fullbright Company’s Steve Gaynor. “That was alpha, alpha, alpha, yet it was the top seller throughout the entire Steam holiday sale at full price over all of the games that were discounted. They made money, and their game isn’t going to be at 1.0 for a long time.

“In some ways, that’s been the model for MMOs for a long time. When did World of Warcraft hit 1.0? Its experience is very different three years after release than it was on release. They continue

14

to refine it, change things, and add fea- tures, yet they are making money the entire time. Again, it seems like some- thing that with these consoles that are always connected, there’s not a huge reason that we can’t have download- able games from the PlayStation Store that have a flag on it that says ‘Hey, this is an alpha.’ Maybe it’s discounted or maybe it’s not. | don’t see a reason why it couldn’t work in the same way it works on Steam.”

The market clearly exists for these types of games, but to some develop- ers, the concern about this approach goes beyond the business model. Introducing players to your world early on and receiving feedback could affect the rest of the development — for better or worse. This could be a double-edged sword for products that already have a clear vision.

“| think as a developer it’s quite risky because sometimes you can end up with a different game if you show the game to anybody,” says Media

Molecule’s Christophe Villedieu. “Is it better? | don't know. | think it's sharing the experience with the players and fans. The sharing aspect | like. We have a strong community with LittleBigPlanet who support us, but do we want them to have tons of input in the next thing? It's a tricky thing. Sometimes you want it both ways, sometimes you don't. There are already some betas on con- soles, but alphas are a bit too [rough].” Even if publishers and developers are keen to adopt the paid alpha approach to game design, it’s still ultimately up to the platform holders whether or not they want to allow these types of experiences on their consoles. Microsoft and Sony have traditionally had closed platforms with quality control, and alphas cut against the grain of that philosophy. “This is a bigger conversation than

[Naughty Dog], but if | were in some room with a bunch of dudes talking about what the projections are for what our culture is that we're trying to create for the platform, do | want to create this sort of open-ended feeling [that] the community is integral and part of this iteration loop, or am | trying to say when you get a game on this console it is the best f---ing game you're going to get?” asks Naughty Dog’s Bruce Straley. “It needs to be polished and it's well exe- cuted and only certain games are even going to make it on this console — where are the boundaries, where is the line that you draw that says good enough?”

This is a question we’re likely to see answered by Sony and Microsoft in the next few years as PC games and mobile games continue to push the paid alpha model forward.

Will streaming services ever gain traction?

treaming services have had a hard time making headway in the gaming space thus far. Despite lining up more than 50 publishers for its cloud gaming service and building a considerable server network across the United States, OnLive failed to catch on with gamers. It’s hard to pinpoint one exact reason why it failed, but it likely came down to a com- bination of inconsistent performance, an underwhelming game library, and general lack of interest from consumers.

This past January, Sony officially unveiled its Gaikai powered streaming service, dubbed PlayStation Now. When it launches later this year, the service will stream back-catalog gaming content

to Sony branded televisions, mobile devices, the Vita, PS3, and PS4. Users can pay for access to PS3 titles ona per-game basis, or sign up for a sub- scription service. In the future, Sony

eam or-are they des

plans to offer PSone and PS2 games, and could leverage the technology for game demos of upcoming titles as well. The plan is certainly ambitious, and given that of the PlayStation users number in the hundreds of millions, Sony already has a large install base. So is this the year streaming takes hold? Some believe the change is inevitable.

“Everyone’s so used to that model now with Spotify and Netflix that it feels like a natural step,” says Media Molecule’s Rex Crowle. “I would be way more interested in a model where you’re paying a subscription and you can just jump into a library and play whatever you want to play rather than getting into free-to-play games.”

But not everyone sees it as a winning idea.

“lve always been a skeptic about this cloud play kind of thing,” says Ed Fries.

‘d

tined to be

“As a way of playing retro games for backward compatibility, that could be nice, but this idea has been around for a long time and it’s never really made sense.

“My problem is it makes less and less sense every year. The hardware is getting faster and faster and cheaper and cheaper, so having local hard- ware run your game and have instant response with no latency problems and no network problems is a great thing. Why would you park something up in the cloud and have those problems? | don’t see what problem it is solving. | see what problems it is creating. | think the speed of light to Los Angeles to New York is like nine milliseconds or something like that, which is almost a frame at 60 frames per second. And that’s like a direct line with no switches in between. Speed of light is areal problem and it won’t go away.”

che devices?

he momentum behind virtual reality has stead- ily increased over the past few years. Sony is working on its own VR headset, Valve is actively exploring the potential, and Oculus Rift contin- ues to grow supporters from within the industry. In the past six months, it lured legendary game developer John Carmack away from id Software to become its chief technology officer and brought on former EA Partners chief David DeMartini to spearhead the company’s publishing divi- sion. Internal expectations are incredibly high, with Oculus founder Palmer Luckey boldly proclaiming that VR headsets will go down as “one of the most important technologies in the history of mankind.”

But even with all the hype, several ques- tions still surround the device. How much will it cost once it launches later this year, will Oculus be able to procure a must-play game that will serve as a system seller, and will the install base grow large enough to attract more devel- opers? All of these questions need to be addressed if Oculus wants to move beyond being a niche device and tread into the mainstream consciousness. Several technological hurdles need to be overcome, as well.