Hosts Dandr0id and Jack McBastard deconstruct the anatomy of a scary game, and discuss why certain particular games can scare us right off the sofa.
Alone in the Dark developer Pieces Interactive has been hit with layoffs a month after its release, as per the latest information.
That genuinely, genuinely sucks. The reboot has clear flaws, but it really felt like a solid first step for this team to receive *greater* investment.
That's standard. Teams are together for a Project, after its done some..and sometimes most devs are fired until the next Project is in the works and people are needed again. Only the core members stay in the time between the hot phase of the game development.
What’s annoying is people don’t understand how contractors work, either. All of this is uninformed knee-jerk reactions without any understanding of how employment works in this industry. There are key developers and staff that stay with a studio/publisher, but often times it’s a hire per project and then seeking new employment for a project. That’s how it’s always been…
That's a fair point too. I would say that in light of its tepid critical/commercial response and ongoing mass layoffs across the industry I think it's understandable for fans to worry about the longer-term implications. We'll see how it plays out in the future.
An executive of Electronic Arts Japan has criticised the Japanese video game ratings board for allowing upcoming action game Stellar Blade to be released uncensored while EA's own Dead Space was banned in the country.
He’s got a point. If a game is M-Rated, which is the equivalent of an R rating, I don’t get why you need to censor anything. The rating is the indicator of the content and the age appropriate. If it’s appropriate for adults… why treat them like children? 🤷♂️
This is about gore... not about anything sexual. And specifically I think it is about the realistic depiction of gore. Unfortunately I don't know the nuance of the CERO board or how it is relevant their specific culture (as a prohibition on gore may transcend age) so I hesitate to make a statement. Can anyone else provide insight to what kind of gore is considered unacceptable?
Yea, I know this is about gore, but thanks for pointing that out.
My point still stands, if a game is essentially rated for a mature audience then why censor for them as if they’re too young to view it? Makes no sense.
To answer your question: Decapitation, dismemberment, like… anything gore. They have been censoring that since CERO was established. Look up RE4 chainsaw decapitation or any MK games that made it there.
Yet, the Oneechanbara series (y'know, the game with half-naked samurai females slicing up zombies to bloody pieces) get released in Japan uncensored.
The CERO ratings board is an equilibrium.
This confuses me since I've seen so many gory Japanese movies and anime. For example, Battle Royale.
I don't know if the EA executive is going off the one close up of an arm being cut off in the demo. Maybe it's uncensored because it's the arm of a cyborg or it doesn't happen that often (didn’t see EVE dismemberment when killed in the demo) .
In the states there's a certain amount of swear words allowed to a PG13 movie before it is deemed R. So maybe it's the same in Japan for gore?
Yes I think you may be on to something. The violence is gory but I wouldn't call it gruesome.
Does EA Japan actually make games at all? Or are they just a regional publisher?
VGChartz's Lee Mehr: "In one sense, it feels strange to even think Pieces Interactive had big shoes to fill with this series' legacy. Given what's come before, did it really? And yet, even when considering the last two flops over a two-decade span, there's still something about Alone in the Dark emblazoned on a title screen that carries a sense of revered history. In that respect, perhaps this reboot's best accomplishment is in honoring that spirit through its inventive world. It's also fair to emphasize knocks against its survival-horror design, some puzzle-solving, and so on; it certainly won't be considered a trendsetter like the 1992 classic. Still, the amount of goodwill wedded to its brighter qualities makes for something that dawdles the line between unfortunately-flawed and impressively-enticing."
Time codes for Digital Fiasco Episode 32: The Anatomy of a Scary Game
(0:23) There's always time for joke intros and Mother's Day
(2:14) Dandr0id plays Metro Last Light
(4:47) Jack McBastard plays Shock Tactics
(8:28) Jack McBastard plays Prey
(15:33) Doing Stuff is Fun! - debrief on Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
(20:13) Discs, Downloads and DLC
(26:38) Anti-releases
(31:37) E3 Rumor Roundup
(33:05) Rumor #1: Assassin's Creed Origins
(38:04) Rumor #2: Batman: Arkham Insurgency
(41:33) Rumor #3: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
(44:51) Rumor #4: Star Wars Battlefront II PlayStation VR support
(47:24) Rumor #5: Halo 6 will not be at E3
(47:48) Rumor #6: Halo 5 DLC? Halo spin-off? Scorpio strategy for Halo
(50:50) Rumor #7: Why is everyone thinking about Far Cry 5 instead of Ubisoft's other Wild West franchise
(1:03:30) Phil Spencer steals Home (IT'S A PUN!)
(1:08:48) Beam as a streaming service on the Xbox Live platform
(1:12:19) Alan Wake leaving Steam and other services May 15th, 2017 (potentially forever)
(1:14:17) Google actually hires Job Simulator developers
(1:15:48) Square-Enix wants to sell IO Interactive and Hitman may come with them
(1:19:51) The Options Menu - Checkpoint: The Anatomy of a Scary Game