Alex Heat Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 I suppose I don't have much room to talk since I will occasionally stream a game for some friends if they want to see it or wouldn't play it themselves. I definitely can't stand watching other people play video games very much, especially if they're not very good at them. Way too frustrating. Puts me at odds with watching Game Grumps (which eventually became having it as background noise because holy shit, Danny and Arin suck). I heard the sucking is deliberate because manufactured internet rage gets hits, which I find that much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) Like most of you, I never understood the popularity of streams... until I did watch (and participated) one time, and I realized what it was all about. Of course, everyone watches what they watch for their own reasons, but I think the thing that keeps people watching and coming back is the community behind the stream, like Mal said. There are mods, regulars, newbies on chat, and people talk, and post gifs, and post ascii art (hearts, swastikas, dick pics). It's like... going to see a live band or something. The band is there, playing music, that's who you went there to see, but you go there with friends and hang out too, drink beer, talk about stuff and all. You should also participate and not just watch, it'll be better. I was watching this streamer once playing Dark Souls, and she's not that good. People on chat were suggesting things and she was reading it and trying them out. I think she died about 5 times on this 1 boss, you could see the frustration building up, as people were talking about their own experiences and strategies in the game, and when she finally won you could feel the sense of accomplishment. I'm not even interested in Dark Souls one bit, but I found it really fun to watch that (both the chat and the stream). That's one game I'd say I'd rather watch on a stream than play it on my own. I still rarely watch streams, but yeah I get why they're popular. For me, streaming is not about skill, it's just about creating a cool environment one can hang out. It's a show. Edited May 21, 2015 by Eleven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 I like the GiantBomb quicklooks to get an idea of a game and experience new games I might not have bothered with otherwise. Seeing a game in action is a quadrillion times better at helping me decide whether to buy a game than reading about it in reviews. I like funny Let's Play videos, but there are very, very few of them, and I hate 99.9% of video game YouTube videos. PewDiePie is anathema and his popularity disturbs me to no end until I remember that people are, in the main, both idiotic and terrible. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 If you think PewDiePie is bad, look up Markiplier. I kept seeing his name pop up all the time so I looked him up. I'm not sure how to even describe what I saw. I can't process how that shit is so popular. It's just painfully unwatchable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Markiplier is more watchable than PewDiePie of what I've watched of him. This is going off of personal experience of watching a good sizable portion of their content in the past (PewDiePie) and relative present (Markiplier). I'm subscribed to Game Grumps and Super Best Friends (formally Two Best Friends). However, I rarely watch Game Grumps and I find the banter of friendship between the "Zaibatsu" more entertaining. I just can't always be ass'd to watch 40 minutes videos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Yeah, in the fee circumstances (listed above) that I would watch a let's play it's nearly always the GB quick look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 What steaming pile have you laid on my doorstep, FLD? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 I had to share the pain. I'm sorry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Not sure if that is markiplier's fault or the fault of "YouTube Fodder" titles. All FNaF videos are like that. He's obviously found a niche, I don't get forced to watch it so c'est la vie. I find Boogie/Franklin's popularity equally mystifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 It's got to just be little kids. Kids like annoying things, right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 I still don't get how FNaF got such a huge following. Granted it is alright and original, even after three separate games. The fandom of it... Uh, hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 Holy shit, XSEED just announced that Sen no Kiseki I and II are coming out in the west! They mention this fall, which is presumably only the first one. For those not in the know, those are the two most recent games in the "Trails in the Sky" series. Sen no Kiseki II came out just last September in Japan. It's a bummer that they're skipping 3rd, Zero and Ao but my mind is actually blown with how fast they managed to sneak this one up on us. I have to assume they either got some serious outside help or they've been working on it for quite a while. Only disappointment here is that PC versions of these games don't exist (yet?). But hey, that means more stuff to play on Vita! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 Hopefully they'll be ported eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) That's my hope as well. I'm glad to have more games to play on Vita in the near future but I'd love to eventually have the entire series on Steam. Likewise Ys and Memories of Celceta. And it seems like there's a decent chance considering Falcom recently made a statement about how they were pleased with the performance of their games on Steam. Some of them apparently outsold their Japanese console versions. Edited June 5, 2015 by FLD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 Falcom, remember your roots! Back in the 90's and even in the 00's they were quite PC oriented. It was only around the last decade and a half that they moved away from PC. I for sure have hope that they'll get ported. With Steam/GOG and with XSEED being Falcom nerds, getting stuff out to the West is the easiest it have ever been. For outside help for text heavy games like Trails in the Sky, I think XSEED might still be working with Carpe Fulgur, which to be granted is only two guys but it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 Yeah. My first Falcom game was on PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) Yeah, I don't think them returning to being PC exclusive is realistic but like I said, they're pleased with their success on Steam. I really hope that's enough to make them at least reconsider their Playstation-only focus and move towards multiplat development. Also, XSEED just put up a blog post about the current status of the Trails series in general. Sounds like the games they skipped aren't necessarily being written off entirely, so that's good to hear. And TitS SC is still coming before Cold Steel I, so I'm guessing it's still planned for a summer release. Speaking of SC, I'm really not sure what to do with that one. I was initially planning on getting it for my Vita but at this point there's just no way they'll be able to release PSP versions of future games (it's also why they're doing Cold Steel now, since the PS3 is on its way out). So I'm really tempted to just grab FC in the Steam summer sale and replay it to have a save file ready for SC. :/ Edited June 5, 2015 by FLD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 This whole business of having jump around different platforms to get the whole overarching story is a bit annoying to be honest. Really reminds me of the situation with Kingdom Hearts but with the Trails series, the plots between games kind of matters. I only have so much money for all my interests. If I get Cold Steel, chances are it'll be for the PS3 since I don't see myself getting a Vita due to cost concerns. Then again, if I get it for the PS3, I would effectively lose my games once my PS3 is dead (it could be any year now, it is a MGS4 one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 I'm with you on that one. That's why I'd rather have everything on Steam: (mostly) infinite backwards compatibility. I'm in for the Vita versions personally, but it's not like it's a much more permanent solution. "Legacy platform" and all that nonsense. My PS3 is still hooked up but I don't see myself making any serious game purchases for it anymore, either. Persona 5 is pretty much the only exception if I don't own a PS4 by the time it comes out, which seems increasingly likely as it's a purchase I find myself prioritizing less and less. On the bright side, the XSEED blog post I linked mentions the PC versions of Zero and Ao that exist in Japan and China, so there's at least a chance for those. Sen I and II are also fairly recent releases in Japan, so I guess it's still possible they might get PC ports for the Chinese market or something. I imagine XSEED will be interested in bringing them over if that happens, since the localization work will already be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 http://www.pcgamer.com/descending-into-uncharted-territory-in-hellblade/ This is very interesting, though it does make me wonder whether they'll cover the full, honest range of schizophrenia symptoms, rather than just hallucinations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted October 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2015 China has topped a list of the world's biggest markets for video games, beating America into second place. The worldwide games industry accounts for £59bn in revenue, with £53bn of that - roughly 90 per cent - coming from the top 20 countries. 1 China £14.4bn 2 US £14.2bn 3 Japan £7.9bn 4 South Korea £2.6bn 5 Germany £2.3bn 6 UK £2.2bn 7 France £1.5bn 8 Canada £1.1bn 9 Spain £1bn 10 Italy £0.9bn 11 Brazil £0.9bn 12 Russia £0.8bn 13 Mexico £0.7bn 14 Australia £0.7bn 15 Taiwan £0.4bn 16 Turkey £0.3bn 17 Netherlands £0.3bn 18 India £0.2bn 19 Poland £0.2bn 20 Switzerland £0.2bn Not sure what I excepted from this list but I'm guessing how China spends that money is very different than the rest of the list. Would be interesting to see how each country splits that money between mobile, online subscriptions, boxed retail and digital console/pc downloads etc. What I do wonder is if Japan's market was ever bigger than usa's as people are always going on about its decline - is that from an export point of view or domestic sales. Since USA has nearly 3x the population but less than 2x the spend then proportionally Japanese still spend significantly more on vgs. Also, I know Germany is a larger country than uk (80m vs 64m) but I still kind of expected us to spend more, I just don't really imagine Europeans being that into video games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 19, 2015 Report Share Posted October 19, 2015 China is mostly mobile / Free to Play PC. Korea is a lot of F2P PC as well. Japan is strong on console and mobile. US and UK console+PC and mobile and Germany is Console+PC and mobile with a bit more than average premium PC. Basically mobile is everywhere. Console / PC / F2P PC depends on where you are. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Open Critic is posting countdown timers for review embargoes. So far they've got Halo 5 and AC: Syndicate, both of which are letting reviews be published a day early. Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 it would be useful if they had a countdown to release timer next to it so it was more obvious how close the embargo was to release, but it's interesting to hear the positive side of embargoes, as I've only ever hear negative reasons for them. Can anyone here think of any good games that had severe embargoes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 I agree that would be helpful information. I had to work out for myself that both embargoes were dropping 24 hours early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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