Headline RePLAY – 5.3.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: ‘notch’ slams EA for its ‘indie bundle,’ The Elder Scrolls series goes MMO and the creator of Firefall proclaims that consoles are “dead.”


Markus ‘notch’ Persson, the man behind Mojang and Minecraft, blasted EA today over its release of the ‘indie bundle’ on Steam, claiming that the publisher is “methodically destroying” gaming.

“EA releases an ‘indie bundle’? That’s not how that works, EA,” Tweeted Persson at the news. “Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards.”

Persson went on to define what constitutes as ‘indie’ while downplaying his own studio’s status as one. “I don’t even call Mojang indie any more. Vlambeer is indie. Polytron is indie. Stephen, Ed, Terry, Derek, Tommy and Chris are indie.

“Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it.”

|Source: Develop


Many have demanded it, and Bethesda is delivering it: The Elder Scrolls series next installment is a MMO aptly called The Elder Scrolls Online.

“It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years,” said Matt Firor, the game’s director and MMO veteran whose resume includes Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot. “The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made—and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

The Elder Scrolls Online is set a millennium before the events of Skyrim and players will be thrust into the machinations of the daedric prince Molag Bal as he tries to pull the world of Tamriel into his demonic realm.  

Developed by Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled for a 2013 release on PC and Macintosh.

|Source: Game Informer


If it’s not someone prophesizing the doom of handhelds, it’s someone predicting the death of video game consoles. Mark Kern, the creator of the upcoming MMO Firefall, explains why the publisher-led model is “broken” and free-to-play titles are the future of the video game industry.

“The model is transitioning away from these big boxed games where you’re pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a title, to these sorts of games that don’t count on the distributor,” Kern explained to Eurogamer.

The former World of Warcraft lead argued that free-to-play titles can risk “middle ground innovation” while AAA titles have to continually play it safe with “rehashed” gameplay when “hundreds of millions of dollars” of investment are on the line.  

“I think the model is broken,” Kern continued. “You keep making these bigger and bigger bets and what that forces you to do is play it safer and safer. And if you play it safer and safer with your gameplay, people will get tired of the crap you’re serving. When that happens, they get bored and they will leave. And you haven’t fostered any of the middle ground innovation and new ideas that you need to tap into next.

“So something has to change. Consoles, I believe, are dead.”

|Source: Eurogamer

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