Snippets released today from a Game Developer Research survey indicate that development for the Wii has declined in the last year. The firm polled more than 800 members of the development community about which platforms they were working on, among other topics.
Roughly 41 percent of the respondents said they made games for consoles, with 30 percent of them working on the Wii. That’s down from the 42 percent of console developers who said they made Wii games last year.
One possible warning sign of that decline came last month, when Ubisoft said it was refocusing resources on making games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Some 69 percent of console developers reported making games for the Xbox 360, with 61 percent working on the PlayStation 3. Both of those figures were in line with console developers’ responses from the previous year’s survey.
But the most shocking news:
However, easily the most popular platform for game development was the computer. More than 70 percent of developers said they were working on at least one game for the PC or Mac. As for why the game makers chose the systems they did, ease of development and market penetration were the most often cited factors in their decisions. Also relevant to the developers were their team members’ skill sets, the cost of development kits, and how easily code for one platform could be moved to another.
Wii losing support and PC gaining? 2010 may have some surpises and changes in store.
[Via Gamespot]
Mass Effect 2 Is Not A Better Iteration- It Is Simply A Different Game
My playthrough of Mass Effect 2 clocks in at roughly 15 hours at the moment, and may not include all that the title has to offer… yet. However, what remains in the forefront of my mind is that if so much has changed, is the game actually a sequel or just a re-imagining of the franchise with a number attached to the end?
The only component that remains from Mass Effect is the Normandy(now the SR2). Even though it is visually and aesthetically different from its prior counterpart, it remains as the player’s “hub” world. Used as a primary anchor, the starship adequately serves its purpose while mostly everything outside has been refashioned.
Make no mistake- Mass Effect 2 is a third-person shooter first and foremost, unlike it’s predecessor. The first time a player fires his or her Heavy Pistol in the sequel, it just feels right. The addition of ammunition management as well further supports this claim. Weapons overheating may have indeed been annoying, that mechanic is more akin to role-playing than worrying about ammo reserves.
The armor and weapons have also been reworked from a “rune” based system to a more streamlined “augmentation” one- an obvious step away from RPGs. Each armor piece now has a unique inherent attribute instead of player customization whilst elemental damage has been reduced to a mere technique.
All of this being said, the title is indeed tremendous. BioWare should be applauded on creating a landmark product but we should not overlook just what that product truly is. For better or worse, the Mass Effect franchise has indeed shifted its focus from 20-sided die to western Attention-Deficit Disorder.
February 4, 2010
Categories: Articles, Commentary . Tags: BioWare, EA, Gamesmen, jsslifelike, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, PC, PS3, The Gamesmen, Xbox360 . Author: jsslifelike . Comments: 2 Comments