Activision has just sent British retailers the information that Modern Warfare will have the SRP of £54.99 ($90.00). This is a £5.00 ($10) increase from the usual SRP of big games. In an interview with MCV UK Ian Curran, THQ EVP of worldwide publishing, says, "Exchange rates between the Euro and the pound are making it very difficult for publishers to show an acceptable operating margin in the UK."
Ending a lengthy period of inane speculation, Infinity Ward has confirmed that its forthcoming sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will indeed retain the popular Call of Duty branding.
The IPO for Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) has been rolled back due to an erroneous IPO price. We apologize for the inconvenience. The GLS stock will IPO on July 6 at 850 DKP.
@ixaarii, I do agree that more obscure games and makers of games are now more able to create. That may be due to a larger industry, but it also may be due to new distribution channels. Those aren't 100% exclusive perhaps, where new distribution opened up maybe because of the industry's size to some extent. So it is easier to see games like Flower & Braid made.
On the flipside, the large AAA games I think still become more mainstream and many not created because studios and budgets are spent on casual and shovelware. Instead of more games like God of War, we'll see more Eyetoy titles for example. Instead of more games like Splinter Cell Conviction we'll see more Imagine games, etc.
@Joe80, dont' get me wrong, i totally agree with you: i often feel almost ashamed to be labeled a gamer seeing how many 'casual' games are there that I see no interest in whatsoever... and i don't mean just like genres i don't like: i may not be nuts about car games and do try to avoid war games and never play sports games BUT I totally see amazing quality titles in those genres that i can respect in terms of production value, technology and even artwork & content... but there's these games out there these days that make me totally go like non gamers: "what strange and weird timewasters"... still if people like it, who am I to say they're wrong.
So in short i feel quite like you if i understood you right, but i can only hope that a larger industry means more oportunties too. I keep making paralels to books: while printing a book was a big deal the odds of some obscure writer cutting through with something like say Discworld or Pandora were low, but now when theoretically anybody with a passion can self publish I can only hope that out there ... still, in this example too i see an echo of what you said: for example these days great writers might have moved onto games or movies despite the many oportunities in books, because the audience has moved too.
In the end I'm afraid that as we grow and mature so do our expectations, and the general media doesn't really: there will always be the need and success of the shallow cheesy say romance movie, because there's always young people to super admire that even though the veterans of the medium have already seen 100 titles like that and wished it would be spun deeper and more complex. So on average i expect like 1-2 titles a year that i really like, and every 2-3 years a title that moves me to the point where i keep playing games hoping all games were like that
@ixaarii, Yes it is pessimistic, depending on how you look at it. To me I see it as optimistic if the casuals stop playing, that way more games I like will be made instead of so much shovelware. And it's not about Wii, it's every system. Wii merely did it the best for casuals first. Apple is doing the same.
Look at Crimson Gem Saga for instance, it is niche and a great core game, it is not even being carried by almost every retailer, while lowest common denominator fluff is. The only places I've seen the game available since launch are Amazon & Newegg with 2-3 weeks shipping & sold out respectively.
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