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340°

Adam Sessler on Game Reviews, New Games Media, and X-Play

On this week's episode, former co-host of G4’s X-Play and the current president of TheoryHead, Adam Sessler, joins host Josiah Renaudin to talk about the new games media landscape. They cover modern game reviews, how we talk about games, the importance of sites like Waypoint, how X-Play was done from episode to episode, the brilliance of Horizon: Zero Dawn's design, and what Adam's up to now.

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MONOLITHICIDE2544d ago

i prefer extended play and tech tv haha.

OldGuyStillGaming2544d ago

F this clown
He ruined God of War Acension because he's easily offended and sucked at playing it so they had to dumb it down for his sappy ass.

TheUndertaker852543d ago (Edited 2543d ago )

Uh...

Sony Santa Monica develops the game while Sony publishes.

If it was dumbed down it was by those two parties. Stating that they changed the game due to one individual is asinine as either

1) Sony Santa Monica and Sony then gave into the supposed demands of one individual and altered the game
2) Sony Santa Monica and Sony dumbed down the game based on their own opinion
Or 3) Sony Santa Monica and Sony wanted to push multiplayer with God of War Ascension then dumbed down the game to get individuals into the multiplayer with the micro transactions they introduced with the same title.

Either way it didn't come down to Sessler. He wasn't directly creating the game, publishing the game, or even involved outside of critique.🙂

Lionheart3772543d ago

That's not how video game development works, dude.

Fullmetalevolust2543d ago

I don't think his sphere of influence can impact a game and its development. However, he has made some statements I do not agree with but it doesn't take away that Xplay was fun to watch. They'd both shit on JRPG's almost every time and I'd shrug and still play them, lol.

dirkdady2543d ago

Actually if Adam did a mock review for Sony it could have heavily influenced aspects of the game.

Mock review for those that don't know is when a publisher hires a game critic to do a mock review for internal use/feedback only. It gives them a sense for how it will review upon release.

TheUndertaker852542d ago

@dirkdady: For them to want a mock review they'd had to have doubts with the product. Further for them to change aspects of the game comes down to Sony & Sony Santa Monica. They wouldn't do so unless they thought the feedback was valid.

Even still Sony & Sony Santa Monica would be involved in a green light. Not Sessler, again.

rainslacker2542d ago

Huh? Only thing I recall getting changed because of him was the name of a trophy.

Hardly something that would ruin the game as a whole. They didn't even remove the trophy....just renamed it.

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Pantz2543d ago

Hope they are together at E3 again. It warms my heart.

TheOttomatic912544d ago

I've never been a personal fan of Adam Sessler but hearing his insights about game industry (or specifically in being a gaming journalist) is quite interesting.

medman2544d ago

X-play and Aots all day every day.

fenome2543d ago

I used to watch both those shows all the freaking time. I lost a lot of respect for Sessler after some of his ridiculous rants though. God Of War was the first wtf seriously moment, and then the whole backing out of the industry because of the share button thing was just the icing on the cake.

OoglyBoogly2543d ago

His review of Bioshock Infinite did it for me. He talked about that mediocre game play experience like it was the greatest game he had ever played. Didn't make sense to me honestly.

TheUndertaker852543d ago

@OoglyBoogly: Yes, god forbid someone enjoys Bioshock while you don't.

fenome2543d ago

He literally just started contradicting himself and having little meltdowns toward the end, it would almost be funny if it wasn't kind of sad. Like I said, I used to watch X-Play all the time back in the day.

I'd post links just to show you what I'm talking about but my phone is ghetto and it's not worth the effort. Just look it up, it's not hard to find, he started slipping bad.

rainslacker2542d ago (Edited 2542d ago )

I lost complete respect for him the day he was at some E3 post conference show completely drunk off his ass, barely coherent, and just cynical as all hell. Claimed he had a cold, and was on cold medicine, even though he was fine early that day, and the next day seemed like he was not sick at all.

I've only enjoyed about half of the content he ever was a part of, and I did enjoy when he did interviews, because he was always fair, and even pushed hard on some questions at times, but his reviews either seemed shilled or extremely biased.

After that though he just started thinking his own opinion on how the industry should behave made him intolerable. Particularly his rant about not getting free stuff from the console markers. It's like the guy went off his meds, and all you ended up seeing what the bat-sh*t crazy side that just makes you uncomfortable to watch or be around.

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Segata2543d ago

Aos was trash. Screen Savers was better. Extended Play stomps X-plays crappy skits with interns and lame jokes.

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70°
6.0

Rauniot Review - Jump Dash Roll

Rauniot is a post-apocalyptic point-and-click from Finnish developer Act Normal Games. JDR puts on a hazmat suit to find out if it's worth playing in today's review.

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390°

Former Blizzard President Suggests Players Should Have Option to Tip Developers

Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra recently suggested an interesting concept that has sparked a debate among gamers - the idea of being able to tip developers after completing a game.

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LG_Fox_Brazil4d ago

If I had a 100% way to be sure that this money would go to a fund or a reserve dedicated only to the guys who develop the games, be them designers, artists, programmers and so on, I could think about it.

But we all know that this 'tip' would only end up in a publisher's CEO pocket to buy a new yacht, so, no, I ain't tipping anyone anytime soon on this industry

neutralgamer19923d ago

Exactly these companies were raising money for good causes and gamers were donation and come to find out they are keeping a good chunk of be pie

PapaBop3d ago

Yeah tip your developer, 5% proceeds go to developer, 95% to the publisher or whoever. Isn't tipping for staff not making minimum wage? How about they just pay their developers properly and like you know, give them fair bonuses? Too much to ask from Blizzard these days, Kotick saw to that and is now laughing all the way to the bank.

MrDead3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

It's the t**ts at the top looking at ways to cut devs wages and get the players to tip them like waiting staff, and I'll guarantee a percentage is skimmed and kept by Activision Blizzard. This is 100% for shareholder and CEO playouts.

Popsicle3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

I have to agree with this. On the surface tipping devs sounds like a great idea, but in the end it leads to pay cuts and subsidization of pay. Tips then become an expectation or the devs “can’t make a living.” Lastly, especially in the US, tip culture has gotten out of control, and it serves as an excuse not to properly pay employees. Sounds good but doesn’t end well.

drizzom2d ago

@ Popsicle

I think your right on the nose with how much tipping has become rampant. Instead of it being a relationship directly between the customer and the developer or employee, it now has a middle man ingrained in the system. DoorDash is one example. It ends up becoming a metric where the company can measure 'just how much more money you are willing to part with' before raising the price on the main product.

1Victor3d ago

Uh so they’re trying triple dip or more we buy the game that they’re already withholding/cutting content for dlc we was told that season pass would help the developers thrive we felt for it.
Now on top of all that plus their sales bonus they want tips enough is enough whatever happens to you create/built a good game get a bonus for sales milestones you care about your game and community we reward you with more sales not for doing 3/4 of a game then save the other 1/4 for dlc and passes after

raWfodog3d ago

The 'tip' is me buying your game in the first place.

S2Killinit3d ago

Very well said. If it was possible to send the money to either the developer or some organization for the betterment of gaming, sure. But we all know that will not be the case.

Rynxie3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

No, it would go to those on the top. They will still fire developers, have a bunch of microtransactions, raise prices of games and so on.

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H94d ago

So they eventually don't pay their workers and depend on our tips to pay them like the case with waiters!

Deeeeznuuuts3d ago

That kind of practice is only normal in the states, as far as I know anyway, what a backwards system

H93d ago

No it's as well in a every country that wants to amercanize

bloop3d ago

Ireland is literally the first stop across the pond and we don't have a tipping culture. The only establishments here that would expect a tip are the tourist haunts that Americans visit. Other than that, you might tip in a restaurant as a sign of gratitude for great service and waiting staff would be paid a full wage anyway.

Rebel_Scum3d ago

Tipping is not customary iin most countries dude. Get a passport lol.

Jin_Sakai4d ago

Is this a joke? How about the big wigs giving up some of their pay for their hard working developers.

MrBaskerville3d ago

Maybe the CEO could earn his money based on tips.

mastershredder4d ago

good god. The devs are not baristas dude. Total 1% ideals. Fing Chadosaurus.

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90°

The Reason Sega Lost The 32-Bit War? The 32X, Says Yosuke Okunari

"The company was unable to focus enough on its main hope"

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ApocalypseShadow8d ago

Nope. Going back to the 32X as the reason Sega lost that generation doesn't go back far enough before the Saturn.

Sega executives need to blame themselves as to why Sega lost that generation. Not Saturn. Not 32X. Not Sega CD. Nope. Executives were the reason why. It wasn't the hardware. Those devices were either dropped early or released to soon resulting in a developer backlash the hurt the game catalog. They really shouldn't have been made at all because they should have planned their next move more carefully. It has nothing to do with the devices. Poor leadership decisions and lack of unity within the company are what happened.

Love how blame is always shifted away from what is the truth. Writing a book placing the blame on the 32X isn't the truth.

solideagle7d ago

I am pretty sure there are documentaries (Youtube) around it which highlights these points. I had Sega Mega drive and NES growing up but that's about it. I didn't even know there was a war going on between these companies but I do remember thinking why I can't play Sonic cartridge on Nintendo or Mario on Sega :D

FinalFantasyFanatic7d ago

I had the Genesis and the Saturn, also had the SNES and 64, I never got a Dreamcast for some reason, but I never saw one in the stores either.