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So after being told of the reasons why there was no Minecon last year everyone’s been waiting for the announcement of Minecon 2015, especially the British players due to the fact that at the same time it was explained why there was no 2014 Minecon it was also said that they wanted to hold Minecon 2015 in the UK but that it wasn’t yet confirmed. Well, today it has been confirmed: Minecon is coming to London in July!
In a blog post the details of the con were announced, including the dates (July 4-5 2015), the location (the ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre) and other things besides. Tickets will be sold sometime this month, with the exact date and times to be confirmed. Mojang have said that they’re releasing the tickets in two batches though so that more people have a chance to grab them. No word yet on what guests of exhibitors will be attending, but I dare say all that stuff still needs to be finalised.
You can bet that some of us here at the Sanitarium.FM will be attempting to make it there, so wish us luck and see you there if we make it!
In an announcement posted the the H1Z1 Reddit by SOE_Legion, it was revealed that Sony Online Entertainment which is responsible for a good number of games right now, has been acquired by an investment management firm named Columbus Nova. This makes it effectively now an independent studio, renamed Daybreak Game Company.
The announcement revealed the news of the acquisition and name change, as well talking about continuing to “focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world” as well as developing games for multiple platforms including the Xbox. As for the existing games, Daybreak are going to continue with them and hopefully be able to improve them thanks to the availability of more resources from Columbus Nova.
We’re not sure about future plans, but if a tweet from one of H1Z1’s staff is to be believed, it’s going to involve the Xbox One…
Today, we are pleased to announce that we have been acquired by Columbus Nova, an investment management firm well known for its success with its existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multi-platform gaming company. Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile and more!
As part of this transition, SOE will now become Daybreak Game Company. This name embodies who we are as an organization, and is a nod to the passion and dedication of our employees and players. It is also representative of our vision to approach each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward.
So what exactly does this mean for you? It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation. In fact, we expect to have even more resources available to us as a result of this acquisition. It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.
Our games and players are the heart and soul of our organization, and we are committed to maintaining our portfolio of online games and pushing the limits of where we can take online gaming together.
Thank you for your continued support. See you in game!
An interview given to IGN has revealed some of the plans for the Star Wars: Battlefront game that’s in the works. Speaking was Design Director Niklas Fegraeus. With a new piece of concept art he spoke of the decisions made about the maps for the game.
“We have actually made the decision to specifically tailor certain maps to certain game modes, and what we get from that is not only incredibly varied scales, but also gameplay that will allow players to live out some of their most memorable Star Wars battle fantasies.”
There will apparently be great variety in the maps, with some maps such as Hoth being much larger than the foresty Endor map. Different vehicles will probably be dotted around the map as well as turret positions if it’s anything like previous Battlefront games. Many a happy hour was had between my brother and myself when in co-op play we would take a two-man tank on what was basically a suicidal charge into enemy territory. I was a dreadful tank driver, but if I wasn’t we’d never have had that moment when we realised it was possible to drive the tank up the mountains near the Rebel base on the Kashyyyk map of Battlefront 2. The thrill of that moment was amazing and it’d be a shame if the new game lacked that sort of potential for daft actions that actually pay off.
Levels have been given that extra graphical shine too, using a technique called “photogrammetry” which is a technique that uses photographs to give texturing to environments in-game. You might be too busy trying to kill and not be killed to fully appreciate them, but it’s good to see that the team is putting in the effort to make a beautiful game.
The release date for Battlefront right now is “holiday 2015” so we’ve still quite a wait to have before release. Also means plenty more news to come though, so get excited for that.
Sega have announced that its planning to cut around 300 jobs as part of a major restructuring within the business. Staff will be offered voluntary redundancy as the publisher begins to move away from boxed retail copies of games and begins more of a focus on mobile and PC online gaming.
As part of the restructure the Sega of America office in San Francisco is to close and the team moved to a new headquarter in Southern California. Downsizing will begin next month and last through until the first months of summer.
“Personnel will be repositioned in Digital Games and growth areas of Group mainly as development personnel, in order to establish a structure which can constantly generate profits. The purpose of these measures is to improve the business efficiency of the Group,” said Sega in a statement.
“We are sad to say goodbye to some of the best people in the business and are indebted to them for their hard work and dedication through the years,” added Sega of America head John Cheng.
No upcoming game releases are to be affected by the lay-offs says Sega, but the impact felt won’t be clear until the restructuring is completed and the effects have taken place.
After hearing that Nintendo might be thinking of releasing an affiliate program for Youtube creators, it’s fair to say some were optimistic. After all, Nintendo’s crackdown and claiming of revenue for Let’s Plays of Nintendo games has become fairly well-known and criticised. Now the program has launched, details of how it’s going to work have been made clear and… well, if it’s a step up it’s only a tiny one.
Under the program content creators can sign up either individual videos or their entire channels if they want to be devoted to just Nintendo content. Nintendo will then take some of the ad revenue for the video, 40% per video or just 30% if your channel is signed up. Sounds okay right?
Problem is, they aren’t the only ones who take revenue. When a video receives money from ads placed in the video the first to take a cut is Google themselves, who claim 50-55% of the revenue so that’s already half of the money gone. Then if you’re part of one of the big multi-channel networks like Fullscreen or Polaris (and in order to be making monetised game content you kind of need to be), they can take from 10-40% of what’s left. Most creators will see only 20-35% of the original 100% of the money made from ads in the first place, so why sign up to have even less of it come your way for your work?
Then there’s the fact that Nintendo are going to ‘okay’ each and every video in the program. This could take around 72 hours they estimate and in terms of the Internet, that’s like a month. Content sent to Nintendo one day won’t be as relevant 3-4 days later when Nintendo finally release the video for publishing. And that’s not even to get into the business that is, what if they use this process to reject videos that say things they don’t like? Point out bugs or a broken game? Journalistic integrity is enough of a thorny issue on Youtube without one of the biggest gaming companies in the world getting involved.
Nintendo seem at first to be trying to win back the Youtube gaming community with this program. Maybe a little revenue and the freedom to play Nintendo games for content again will be good enough for some, but many I’ve heard from have already said they won’t be playing Nintendo games for videos anymore after looking at exactly what the program would mean for them. After all, many creators are making very little money off their hobby/job already.
And we at The Sanitarium.FM are going to follow them and say that we will not be signing up for this program, and therefore will not be making videos based on Nintendo content. We’ll use official videos and post trailers, but that’s all.
If you want to hear this explained much better than I could do in text, I suggest you watch the first part of TB’s latest Content Patch video below:
