Value has revealed a great understanding for the way technology is changing the video game industry. Instead of getting mad about piracy and used game sales, the company recognizes it needs to give fans a reason to pay and support their products. Valve launched one of the first digital distribution systems for the PC and supports a thriving modding community and has played with a variety of game prices including special free weekends (which led to higher retail sales).

Valve managing director Gabe Newell thinks another future business model for video games can be fan-funded games:

One of the areas that I am super interested in right now is how we can do financing from the community. So right now, what typically happens is you have this budget - it needs to be huge, it has to be $10m - $30m, and it has to be all available at the beginning of the project. There’s a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative.

What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, ‘Hey, I really like this idea you have. I’ll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I’ll also get a copy of that game.’

So move financing from something that occurs between a publisher and a developer… Instead have it be something where funding is coming out of community for games and game concepts they really like.

Several musicians and labels are showing this fan supported model can be quite successful, providing a business model that ensures the creators get paid and fans get something worth paying for.

Musicians like Jill Sobule found great success offering a tiered system of fan support where fans paid different amounts for different rewards including $10,000 to sing on the album (which someone paid). Game developers can offer many useful and scarce products to entice fan support from test early builds of the game, add their voice or likeness to a character, create a monster, access to design documents, art books, and creator Q&As.  All of these are already offered by many game developers after development.

The numbers are more than scalable, even for blockbuster games.  $50, less than the price of most console games, from 100,000 fans would raise $5,000,000, more than enough for a quality game.  More popular developers could easily raise more.  And developers might even keep costs down by getting rid of their retail marketing costs and allowing fans to contribute to the game’s development.  Valve itself released Counter-Strike, a fan-modification of Half-Life, at retail.  That fan modification, released for free online has sold more than 9 million copies.

A blockbuster game budgeted at $20 million could be built off $20 from 1 million fans.

The best part – since the game development is already paid for, piracy is no longer an issue.  The fans who paid received extra benefits and the ability to support the game’s creation. Anyone who downloads the game for free has the chance of becoming a fan and supporting the next game. This model encourages the game to be spread to as many people as possible. Not everyone will pay, but the more that play it, the more people who might contribute.

Just because you have a legal right to something doesn’t mean it’s always the right decision.  Copyright allows the creator of a work to control derivative works – creative works based on the original work.  This is a legal right of content creators, but enforcing it hurts the content creators more by alienating the very fans who keep them in business.

Let’s look at two examples.  First, fans of the Lord of the Rings created an impressive film telling an untold story using the characters and lore from the books.  “Hunt for Gollum” was a labor of love by people who love the Lord of the Rings so much, they spent their own time and money producing a film of amazing quality and storytelling.  Thankfully, Tolkien’s estate allowed the film to be released as long it was always non-profit.  But why only non-profit? These fans made this movie (and others will see it) because they already love the Lord of the Rings.  Fans know it’s not an authorized edition or cannon to the storyline (and if you ask most geeks, being cannon is the most important thing to get our interest).  This means if Tolkien’s estate comes out with their own telling of the same story, it will still have the same audience, plus more who found out about the fan-made film – it’s a win-win situation.

But not all companies see the benefits of fan production.  Video game publisher Square-Enix sent a cease-and-desist notice to a fan-made sequel to the classic game Chrono Trigger.  Square has taken down several fan productions related to Chrono Trigger, this most recent takedown happening mere weeks before the game’s release.  But what is the threat? Square is still free to release their own cannon sequels – this fan production only serves to increase the value and attention on this 15 year old franchise.  The people making this massive game are fans – the people Square should be supporting not suing.

Video games especially have shown how fan labors of love can help the series.  Many video games include modification tools to allow fans to create their own games and stories, either expanding on the official material or creating worlds of their own.  While Square has the legal right to stop these fan-games, they are hurting the very people who keep them in business.

The gaming world got some giddy news to mull over at last week’s Game Developers Conference. OnLive unveiled a new gaming console and platform dedicated to streaming games over the internet. There will be no discs – just a constant internet connection bringing a variety of games to computers and televisions. Most interestingly, all the processing of the games happen on some server, allowing basic PCs to play the most graphically intense games.  Displays at GDC showed basic laptops playing Crysis, a game that taxes even the most top-of-the line PCs.

Very little is known about how the system works, especially details like pricing. But in continuing the hype machine, OnLive is an exciting endeavor and even more thrilling experiment into the future of video games and digital distribution. There are many technical hurdles, specifically how fast connections will be. Streaming high-definition games at the demanded 30 frames per second requires a rapid and steady connection. It’s possible OnLive is a few years too early with broadband speeds no up to their challenge.

The experiment itself is in launching a new business opportunity for video games, and even a model for the entertainment industry.  OnLive is offering a microconole for gamers who want to play on their televisions, but they are also offering a browser plug-in so people can play right on their computers.  No hardware requirement means an instant customer base open to the product.  Hardware’s a tough business as movie-streaming services like Blockbuster and Netflix are learning.  Screenshots show options to rent or buy games, showing flexible pricing, though I’d prefer a subscription option similar to GameTap.  There are no details about downloading content onto hard drives to play offline, but that also would be appreciated.

OnLive boasts impressive support from leading game developers and now the debate begins of will it succeed or lose. Too many details are up in the air (how open is the system, how much value does the service offer the user, how comfortable is the controller). Certainly a slick interface and high-profile (if not out-dated) library makes me think OnLive is on the right path.  The case study alone will be worth the price of admission.

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Comic book video games have well documented crapiness with a few shining gems.  The problem is comic book geeks (like me) want these comic book games. We want to feel like Spider-Man, and Superman, and Batman.  These are the comic books game that will best bring to life a new super hero experience.

7. Flash

A sandbox Central City might not be on everyone’s Christmas list, but it’s the only way to do Flash justice.  This speedster needs a huge environment to zoom through, fighting Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master, and Reverse Flash as he tries to save his wife and kids (this is the Wally West Flash, Barry Allen’s unlockable). Key battles pit you against teamed up villains for high pressure boss battles.

6. Real Iron Man game

The recent Iron Man game unfortunately sucked. But this awesome character should be a video game staple.  Let’s revamp the controls (more control, less speed) and focus the campaign on the Mandarin and his rag-tag group of baddies. The twist is this is an action/business simulation game.

In Mega Man-esque level choosing, you fight Whirlwind, Dreadknight, Crimson Dynamo, and more. Give us some epic boss battles with Fin Fang Foom and Ultimo and even a Dr. Doom sidequest.

The business sim comes from Tony Stark. You choose how to run Stark Enterprises, with some investments making the company more valuable and other investments making your armor more powerful.  By running the company well, you make money in order to buy those upgrades and other armor types. If you run the company badly, Justin Hammer will buy it up and you won’t be able to upgrade your armor.

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Gamers love their love/hate relationship with video game critics.  When the critics agree with us, we’re happy. When they don’t, they’re trash. But the problem with video game reviews is not the reviewers, but the games.

The problem with video games is they often have problems: technical problems.  You never see a movie, no matter how cheap or out of the mainstream, released in theaters with bad audio, poor lighting, or people getting stuck in walls. Sure you’ll have a bad actor and some bad artistic choices, but most of the “bad things” were some director’s bad choice.  Video games, however, haven’t achieved that baseline to legitimize the medium as a storytelling and artistic form.

This means video game critics must assess the quality of the game in addition to its technical prowess, namely, does it break?  Bad camera, unresponsive controls, chugging frame rates, graphics pop-in/out, and more hurt games more than a crappy story or repetitive gameplay.  A game might be awesome, but enough glitches can turn it into a dud. Games like Advent Rising, Enter the Matrix, and Two Worlds were rushed products buried under paragraphs of reviews attacking the terrible technical quality of what could have been great games.

With the technical specs out of the way, reviews could devote their time to reviewing the actual game.  We all hate bad frame rates, so reviews need to explain gameplay, story, visual style with greater depth.  Doing so would help develop video game criticism, giving us time to discuss themes and methods rather than glitches and bugs. With flawless technical presentation inline with films, video games can start being looked at for their richer and deeper qualities.

Bug checking video games, especially the epics we now have, is hard to impossible.  But the industry needs to work to find a baseline of quality guaranteed by every game so games don’t have to fear buying a game only to have it crash because they went left instead of right.

Video games have made mundane jobs like mayor and farmer fun, so just think how good good jobs can be. These are the jobs we’ve gotten to taste in video games and realized we really like them and wouldn’t mind getting paid for our labors. Hell, for 20-40 hours, getting paid to play video games is the real number 1

7. Treasure hunter

The swamps might be gross and the monsters might be terrifying, but just think of the excitement. Now the best you can hope for is to vicariously live through your slutty friend’s dating drama. I’ll take Indiana Jones style tomb raiding over slutty friend’s any day.

6. Rock star

Color matching like a 2-year-old was never so fun. And add the cheering crowds, wild parties, and maybe even a psycho circus you’ve got a recipe for awesome fun and inappropriateness, which is by default fun. So let’s get ready to rock.

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After $60 and 20 hours of effort, I want to feel closure. I do not want a dark, to be continued screen. More games seem to end with an anti-climatic final battle only to find out the real big-bad was kept hidden until the next next, yet-to-be announced sequel. I enjoy my franchises, but waiting two to four years for a conclusion is just cruel. Video games take too much time to play and sometimes (not always) longer to make for half a story.

Halo 2 infamously left players floating (and only partially resolved in Halo 3). But several cliffhanger games have yet to get sequels like Shenmue II and Beyond Good and Evil, a cruel act since these are great games with amazing stories. And who knows if we’ll see real answers to God of War and Kingdom Hearts ever.

A recent trend has started announcing games as trilogies. Halo had that distinction as has the recently released Mass Effect and upcoming Too Human. This will only make things worse.
Too Human is a great example of the dangers in video game development. This yet-to-be-released action title first appeared back in 1999 as a Playstation title (Playstation 1 to be precise). Then it moved to Nintendo’s GameCube until recently showing up on the Xbox 360. Of course, now the developer is mixed up in a lawsuit with Epic, the makers of Unreal 3 engine powering Too Human. It’s unknown if this lawsuit will further delay the game.

And this is all for part one of three. At this rate of development, assuming the game even sells enough for a sequel, we won’t see the conclusion until almost 2020. No story is that good.

Movies have figured out how to make cliffhangers work - film movies at the same time. Lord of the Rings and the Matrix left short windows between releases to alleviate the cliffhanger sting. Video games don’t have that luxury. Compared to movies, video games don’t have the variety of revenue opportunities to make up money badly spent. A Hollywood blockbuster has theatrical release, DVD sales and rentals, enforcement deals, and cable and TV royalties to help pad the bottom line. This means Hollywood has more wiggle room when thinking about how much ticket sales alone bring in. Video games, however, have initial sales and rentals and that’s it. It makes taking a financial risk that much riskier.

On top of that, gamers require each part of a video game franchise to provide some kind of enhanced experience. This prevents simultaneous development of a game and its sequel. Though it’s unknown if gamers would accept less advancement if release windows were shortened.

Since simultaneous development like Lord of the Rings seems unreasonable at present, video game companies need to rethink how to develop game stories. Stop thinking about games as trilogies and more as series or franchises. We all know Halo won’t end as a trilogy. Aside from the cliffhanger ending in Halo 3 (which kinda defeats the trilogy idea), the game makes too much money to not make a fourth. So let’s model games more like an X-Men comic and less like an episode of Lost.

Basically, each game can be a self-contained story. With 10 to 40 hours of gameplay, there’s no excuse you can’t fit everything in one game (I’m looking at you Mass Effect). That’s called bad editing.

But self-contained doesn’t mean the story totally ends. Older comics had the major villain die after every issue with some hint that they might, just might come back (which they always did next month). Allusions to sequels are okay, but closure is required. Similarly, it’s okay to leave some questions unanswered. It only adds to our love of Master Chief not seeing his face or questioning why Marcus Fenix was in prison in Gears of War. Just make sure the game we play has a beginning, middle, and a real end. I don’t to beat the final boss only to find out they were just a pawn (much like - LIGHT SPOILER - Gears of Wars’ ending).

Basically, when I pay $60 for a game, I don’t expect half or a third of anything. I want the whole story. Just like wouldn’t accept half of the gameplay (like waiting a year for combos to be added to Street Fighter) I don’t want to wait forever for the story.

One of the greatest Star Wars video games owes it all to those little building blocks called Legos. Lego Star Wars gave the duel trilogy a hilarious and enjoyable romp through the galaxy with tons of collectables, vehicles, and playable characters. More Lego games including the just released Indiana Jones and upccoming Batman lead me to wonder what else can the franchise build.

7. Power Rangers

They might be campy and kiddy, but they still have awesome video game potential yet to be realized. Awesome martial arts moves with cool weapons and giant robots all to fight a bizarre assortment of monsters. With hundreds of monsters, Zords, and different kinds of Power Rangers over the years, there’s tons of unlockables to give this game long legs. Just remember co-op. This is a team effort.

6. South Park

Let’s see the mature side of Legos by turning the foul mouthed kids of Colorado into colorful blocks of fun. Let’s even risk the cliched sandbox approach, rebuilding the entire town of South Park in Legos with missions from the show, like fighting vicious turkeys and Mecha-Streisand.

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Playing video games requires intense concentration, physical exertion, and mental strain. Being interrupted by hunger can ruin the experience or worse, your high score. Keeping a stash of efficient and fulfilling snacks can be the key to successful, marathon gaming. Important factors to consider are the food’s greasiness (no slippery fingers), healthy (the worse, the better), crumbliness (less is more), and the fullness factor.

Bagel Bites

Filling and bite-sized, Bagel Bites give you the awesomeness of pizza on a bagel. And when pizza’s on a bagel, you can eat pizza anytime.

Peanut M&Ms

They melt in your mouth, not in your hand. Plus, the peanut makes them healthy.

Pringles

The least greasy and best tasting (in this blogger’s opinion) potato chip. Stick with original over other flavors to limit finger discoloration.

Oreo’s

They can crumble and are better with milk, but if you solve lots of problems by keep them in the fridge, then eating each one in one mouthful. It’s challenging and fun.

Wheat Thins

A little healthy, but these cracker treats provide some fiber to offset the other crap you’re eating.

Foods to avoid

Buttery popcorn

Grease, messy, and it gets stuck in your teeth

Anything with a wrapper

Sadly, Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, Rolos, and other bite-sized candies lose out

The mature rated MMORPG Age of Conan sold itself on the key selling point of “You’ll see titties.” The game has unsurprisingly been selling quite well.

News is leaking (ha) that the game’s buxom female characters are suffering shrinkage an it’s not even cold outside. Publisher Funcom made code changes in a patch that accidentally resulted in shrinking the size of character’s breasts.

Funcom can confirm that some of the female models in the game have had the size of their breasts changed. This is due to an unintended change in data that was introduced in an earlier patch, data which controls the so-called morph values associated with character models and the size of their respective body parts. We are working on a fix for this and your breasts should be back to normal soon.

I will repeat that:

Your breasts should be back to normal soon.

I doubt college prepares you for writing press releases like this. How fast Funcom takes to fix this problem will be telling about how much boobs are to selling this game. Also makes me wonder how many women actually play it. Any thoughts?