On January 21 2024 10:09 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: The more they sell the more vindictive I see Nintendo becoming. But I will say that somehow Nintendo supporters stating that somehow Nintendo owns the idea/concept basis of parachutes, and open world concept in video games is beyond laughable. If that was true Fortnite, and Battlefield. Hell Medal of Honor series would have sued them into Bankruptcy long ago.
I feel like this is attributing emotional attributes to Nintendo when, as a company, they don't actually have emotions.
Nintendo doesn't own the concept of parachutes. They COULD try sue someone for that, but they'd have a shitty time of it because they couldn't prove they own the concept of parachutes, much less that anyone stole their parachute concept and used it in video games to make money.
Nintendo does own the concept and icon of pokeballs, similar to how Mcdonalds owns the golden arches, and the Red Cross owns their iconic logo. These companies have a RESPONSIBILITY to protect their IP, because if they stop doing so it stops being their IP. The Red Cross is a solid example, as in that case the organization NEEDS it to represent unbiased medical aid regardless of where they use it, so when people try use a red cross in a video game to represent the flag of a fascist army (or something), The Red Cross needs to step in and send a Cease and Desist, to protect the symbol that is their IP.
Similarly, if a game (as this one appears to?) uses some kind of orb-like object to capture and contain collectible monsters, Nintendo has some responsibility to protect their IP, or it stops being theirs. It isn't about some kind of vindictiveness or emotions-based decision, it's about protecting the value of their IP. If they do nothing now, they have even less of a case the next time. If they think they can win the case, they'll sue. How much Palworld sells isn't part of the conversation, which is why we've seen Nintendo be very protective of their IP in the past.
Okay this game is fun as hell. Started in the evening when the little one was in bed and somehow played almost until morning (who needs sleep anyway). Got sucked in real good. Only problem is that this week "Enshrouded" releases which was my planned survival/ crafting game to scratch that itch. Can't play two of those
Yeah I logged 53 hours over the past three days, although that includes leaving the game running overnight, twice. Probably played for 30-35 hours since release. I've unlocked all non-Pal tech, hit max level 50, and have all three fully-upgraded, automated, self-sufficient bases. Only things left to do are explore the rest of the map, beat any remaining dungeons/bosses, and catch the remaining Pals, which I'm looking forward to. A couple weird glitches here and there, even playing single-player mode, but I've been pretty addicted.
On January 21 2024 10:09 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: The more they sell the more vindictive I see Nintendo becoming. But I will say that somehow Nintendo supporters stating that somehow Nintendo owns the idea/concept basis of parachutes, and open world concept in video games is beyond laughable. If that was true Fortnite, and Battlefield. Hell Medal of Honor series would have sued them into Bankruptcy long ago.
I feel like this is attributing emotional attributes to Nintendo when, as a company, they don't actually have emotions.
Nintendo doesn't own the concept of parachutes. They COULD try sue someone for that, but they'd have a shitty time of it because they couldn't prove they own the concept of parachutes, much less that anyone stole their parachute concept and used it in video games to make money.
Nintendo does own the concept and icon of pokeballs, similar to how Mcdonalds owns the golden arches, and the Red Cross owns their iconic logo. These companies have a RESPONSIBILITY to protect their IP, because if they stop doing so it stops being their IP. The Red Cross is a solid example, as in that case the organization NEEDS it to represent unbiased medical aid regardless of where they use it, so when people try use a red cross in a video game to represent the flag of a fascist army (or something), The Red Cross needs to step in and send a Cease and Desist, to protect the symbol that is their IP.
Similarly, if a game (as this one appears to?) uses some kind of orb-like object to capture and contain collectible monsters, Nintendo has some responsibility to protect their IP, or it stops being theirs. It isn't about some kind of vindictiveness or emotions-based decision, it's about protecting the value of their IP. If they do nothing now, they have even less of a case the next time. If they think they can win the case, they'll sue. How much Palworld sells isn't part of the conversation, which is why we've seen Nintendo be very protective of their IP in the past.
On January 21 2024 10:09 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: The more they sell the more vindictive I see Nintendo becoming. But I will say that somehow Nintendo supporters stating that somehow Nintendo owns the idea/concept basis of parachutes, and open world concept in video games is beyond laughable. If that was true Fortnite, and Battlefield. Hell Medal of Honor series would have sued them into Bankruptcy long ago.
I feel like this is attributing emotional attributes to Nintendo when, as a company, they don't actually have emotions.
Nintendo doesn't own the concept of parachutes. They COULD try sue someone for that, but they'd have a shitty time of it because they couldn't prove they own the concept of parachutes, much less that anyone stole their parachute concept and used it in video games to make money.
Nintendo does own the concept and icon of pokeballs, similar to how Mcdonalds owns the golden arches, and the Red Cross owns their iconic logo. These companies have a RESPONSIBILITY to protect their IP, because if they stop doing so it stops being their IP. The Red Cross is a solid example, as in that case the organization NEEDS it to represent unbiased medical aid regardless of where they use it, so when people try use a red cross in a video game to represent the flag of a fascist army (or something), The Red Cross needs to step in and send a Cease and Desist, to protect the symbol that is their IP.
Similarly, if a game (as this one appears to?) uses some kind of orb-like object to capture and contain collectible monsters, Nintendo has some responsibility to protect their IP, or it stops being theirs. It isn't about some kind of vindictiveness or emotions-based decision, it's about protecting the value of their IP. If they do nothing now, they have even less of a case the next time. If they think they can win the case, they'll sue. How much Palworld sells isn't part of the conversation, which is why we've seen Nintendo be very protective of their IP in the past.
Yeah that modder is dead the moment Nintendo legal team finds out where they live. It also highlights why Nintendo fans are so pissed. This is what Pokémon should have been for well over a decade ago, but Game Freak and, but let's be honest at Nintendo's approval albeit silently, have allowed the IP to become stale. This is what they want and are pissed that and another game has beaten them at. Despite Nintendo having a head start for well over two decades...
Also imagine my profound angst when I discovered you lose stamina when flying your Pal...
Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week. While Microsoft is primarily laying off roles at Activision Blizzard, some Xbox and ZeniMax employees will also be impacted by the cuts.
The cuts work out to roughly 8 percent of the overall Microsoft Gaming division that stands at around 22,000 employees in total. The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer that confirms the layoffs:
Blizzard OG Adham is also gone. He started up a bunch of "incubation projects" in 2016. After 8 years we've seen the results. Damn, why can't I get 8 years to complete my software projects?
Making software in SoCal is too expensive. M$ will pull part of Blizzard out of SoCal and then secure some sweetheart tax breaks from the state. If the state of California calls M$'s bluff then M$ will lay off more people in SoCal. https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/irvine-ca/buffalo-ny/130000 With global warming Buffalo weather feels like California any way!
When you have chronic morale problems like Blizzard does the best thing to do is to just fire all the unhappy people.
So... by all accounts Blizzard, now Microsoft, had a Luminous engine situation on their hands. Ffs lol
Also since when has the Unreal Engine had a technical problem with players up to a hundred on a map...?
Video-game maker Blizzard Entertainment canceled one of its biggest projects on Thursday as part of a reorganization under new owner Microsoft Corp. that led to mass layoffs of 1,900 people, or 8% of the gaming division’s total staff. The cancelation of the game, codenamed Odyssey, left Blizzard employees reeling as some lost their jobs and others were left wondering about the future of the studio.
Microsoft announced the news in an email to employees early Thursday morning, and many members of the Odyssey team were subsequently informed that they were being let go. The news arrived three months after Microsoft closed the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the largest video-game deal in history.
As part of the reorganization, Blizzard also parted ways with President Mike Ybarra and Chief Design Officer Allen Adham, one of the company’s co-founders. Blizzard said its new president will be announced next week.
The maker of many hit games, including World of Warcraft and Diablo IV, has mostly focused on its large, existing franchises. But in recent years, the company made a big investment in Odyssey, building up a team of more than 100 people to develop it. The game, set in a new universe, was in development for more than six years and outlasted many other Blizzard incubation projects. Now, the future of such efforts outside of existing franchises is uncertain.
In a statement, Blizzard spokesman Andrew Reynolds said the game’s development had ended “as part of a focus on projects that hold the most promise for future growth” and that the company would “move some of the people on the team to one of several exciting new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”
Odyssey started in 2017 as a pitch from Craig Amai, a Blizzard veteran who worked on World of Warcraft. It was conceived as a survival game, like Minecraft and Rust, but with more polish and fewer bugs. In subsequent years, the team working on the game expanded, and it was announced publicly in 2022 as the company began hiring more staff.
Despite the additional resources, the project struggled largely due to technical issues surrounding the engine, or the suite of tools and technology that developers use to construct a game, according to people familiar with the process. Odyssey was originally prototyped on the popular Unreal Engine, from Epic Games Inc., but Blizzard executives decided to switch, in part, because it wouldn’t support their ambitions for vast maps supporting up to 100 players at once.
Blizzard instead directed the Odyssey team to use Synapse, an internal engine that the company had originally developed for mobile games and envisioned as something that would be shared across many of its projects. But that led to significant problems as the technology was slow to coalesce, and Odyssey’s artists instead spent time prototyping content in the Unreal Engine that they knew would have to be discarded later, said the people.
When the Microsoft acquisition was finalized, some Blizzard staff were hopeful that they might be able to switch back to Unreal Engine rather than trying to finish the game on Synapse. In an interview at BlizzCon in November, Ybarra said that their new parent company would offer them the freedom to use the technology of their choice without having to go through the board of directors as in the past.
“The tech leaders will decide what the engines are,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Odyssey appeared to be making progress. People who played early versions of the game enjoyed it and thought there was a lot of potential in the market for a survival game that hit Blizzard’s bar for quality. Still, Odyssey was years away from completion. At one point, Blizzard was looking to expand the team to hundreds of people in hopes of targeting a 2026 release, but even that seemed overly optimistic to some developers.
Instead, the project was canceled as the company concluded that Synapse was not ready for production.
“As difficult as making these decisions are, experimentation and risk taking are part of Blizzard’s history and the creative process,” spokesman Reynolds said. “Ideas make their way into other games or in some cases become games of their own. Starting something completely new is among the hardest things to do in gaming, and we’re immensely grateful to all of the talented people who supported the project.”
Managed to capture a Mammorest 16 levels higher than me because Pals, for whatever reason, fight each other in the "wilds". So I just sat idly by and waited for one of them to get very low on HP and used the 4 Mega spheres than I had picked up and managed to catch the last one using a regular Palsphere... only sucky thing is it automatically sync to your level lol
And only cost $6.7 million to make, or around a billion yen to make. Pocket Pair just made bank on this game. Hopefully they are hiring more staff, apparently Xbox is helping them with server space. I mean a rough estimate, counting the Steam sale, means Pocket Pair got around over 400 million dollars on this game from Steam alone. Insane.
On Xbox’s part, we’re working with Pocketpair to help provide support for Xbox versions of the game. We’re providing support to enable dedicated servers, offering engineering resources to help with GPU and memory optimization, speeding up the process to make Palworld updates available for players, and working with the team to optimize the title for our platform.
On February 01 2024 05:06 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: And only cost $3.6 million to make, or around a billion yen to make. Pocket Pair just made bank on this game. Hopefully they are hiring more staff, apparently Xbox is helping them with server space. I mean a rough estimate, counting the Steam sale, means Pocket Pair got around over 400 million dollars on this game from Steam alone. Insane.
On Xbox’s part, we’re working with Pocketpair to help provide support for Xbox versions of the game. We’re providing support to enable dedicated servers, offering engineering resources to help with GPU and memory optimization, speeding up the process to make Palworld updates available for players, and working with the team to optimize the title for our platform.
Now if someone at Xbox had any brains you would think they would pay Pocket Pair a sizeable amount to keep the game exclusive to PC, and Xbox.
Agreed. I don't think Nintendo would allow Palworld on Switch (or its next-gen console), so I think its potential to be released on PS5 would be the main issue.