For the past few years, conventional wisdom in the videogame industry has dictated that the best way to reach gamers is directly. That's why the tradeshow E3 has long kicked off with the Big Three: Console manufacturers Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo stage massive press conferences, livestream them, and fill social media and YouTube with trailers, promotions, and any and all marketing slogans they've dreamed up.
This year, though, all three publishers hit their respective stages—in the case of Nintendo’s online-only stream, that stage being metaphorical— without much of anything to announce. That conventional wisdom, it seems, has its limitations. In fact, if this year's show tells us anything about the state of the gaming industry, it's that the major gaming press conference might be obsolete.
The premium Sony Inzone earbuds are designed for PC and PS5, and they're finally getting a discount after launching in late 2023.
These seems like one of the best options for use with a PS5, high quality sound and design. However, you will likely need a dongle for use with many of your bluetooth devices such as an iPhone as it requires a LE signal.
The first three Tomb Raider games are coming to an Evercade Cartridge!
Their newer giga cart tech should make for even bigger games coming to the platform. I'm hoping for a Resident Evil collection with the first 3 games.
Huzaifah from eXputer: "With Larian Studios washing their hands of the IP, what is the ultimate fate of the legendary Baldur's Gate series?"
If anybody's gonna mention BioWare, then look at Archetype Entertainment, they're the new BioWare
or else
Obsidian is still a good choice but not independent anymore.
No, WoTC is pivoting to mobile. They can use Larian's work to justify DnD Go and everyone will accept it.
Correct answer. Most people don't realise that the companies that are still making good games using common sense and a customer focus are generally not American. They are from Poland, Belgium, Japan, or other countries that have not yet become completely corrupted by 'extreme capitalism'.
Before you down vote me into oblivion I am not anti-american. I just don't like greed and corruption which unfortunately seems to correlate with power.
I would guess the next Baldurs gate will probably be filled with GaaS.
Honestly, we're talking completely new engine and none of Larian's built-in stuff with regard to environments and the like that they had from their past divinity game. No one is going to have that just ready to go. So, they need to shop for a dev studio that has a past game that shows what they want.
Obsidian doesn't have that, maybe the closest being Dungeon Siege 3 or Pillars of Eternity, but those are very basic, not as open, very little environment related and altering capabilities. So, we're talking a step way back on what Larian delivered. Zero scene experience to line up with what was done in BG3. Okay conversation tree designs, but still needs more complexity.
inXile has Wasteland 3 as a base model engine, and I think that's better than Pillars of Eternity from Obsidian. But, still needs to be more open world, more environmental effects, and a much heavier rules set adaptation. But, not a bad overall engine as a base, but still a ton of work. Zero scene experience to line up with what was done in BG3. Needs a ton of work on that entirely.
Tactical Adventure did the Solasta game. Really good and more accurate as far as 5e rules than BG3. But, again, if the expectation is similar to what made BG3 a big hit, engine isn't designed for moving the camera, is a bit outdated in graphics, doesn't have in-game scene elements, and needs much better writers/voice actors.
Owlcat of pathfinder games is another choice, even though they've recently moved on to WH40k licensed games. Again, though, the engine is the biggest issue here to match up, but it's a much better option overall than Tactical Adventure. Another question is writers/story telling, as much of their overall story telling bits are very limited with a lot of random worldbuilding elements that are just +\- of some attributes.
TBH, no matter who takes over, it's just not going to be like BG3 much like how BG3 isn't at all like BG1/2. And BG3 was so successful because of how much Larian was able to put in with their engine and how focused they were on players having ridiculous control over the story being told. I just don't see the next BG being the same and depending on what it is, it might be good but I'm not as big of a reach as BG3. It's way more likely players are going to go into BG4 (or its spiritual successor if it moves away from Baldur's Gate and into Neverwinter or something like Plansescape) expecting much of what is in BG3 with more options, new and older characters, and the same level of control over what they're doing. If it doesn't have that, regardless of who makes it, it won't be as successful, IMHO.
Yes, I completely concur.
As good and talented as inXile and Obsidian are in their own specific way of making their particular games, none of them have Larian's attention to detail, dynamic worlds, and reactivity, so even if they end up making a new Baldur's Gate, it's going to be a significant step-down in terms of gameplay if not narrative.
100 percent agreed. Time to take a few years off and let companies and devs work on things without the pressure of having to show it off half finished or announced too early.
"There's nothing inherently worthwhile about announcing titles years before their release; as with movies, less hype means less consumer fatigue, less backlash, less inevitable disappointment."
You don't say....tell me more...
"But the industry continues to invest millions in stoking the hype cycle, setting itself up to fail when June rolls around and uh, actually, we don't have anything that important to share right now."
There's always a sense of being let down because for the whole year we discuss what we want to see and 99.9% it never happens. Time for devs and companies to get on a set schedule and then start releasing trailers and generating hype closer to release.
No.
As long as there is an "E3" that will NEVER happen.
It's quite a decent read and does make you ponder about the role of E3 in the industry.
At first, I was thinking about saying how this guy blows but after reading the article I have to say that he has some really good points.
Like how companies invest millions in the hype machine of E3 just to have deceptions in the ends (Scalebound comes to mind).
No way. Love the excitement of watching the press conferences. Every conference had a surprise hype moment for me. DBZfighters at Microsoft, shadow of colossus at Sony, evil within 2 at Bethesda. Just love the 50 min long conferences where I'm wondering what I'm going to see next.
The writer is just complaining because she had an extra busy couple of days and wants all the meetings stretched out over weeks. Ugh hate it when "journalists" say something needs to die when so many people still love it. Had to be wired.com. I still remember the Chris Koehler article on how final fantasy is dead. Just made me stay away from the site with its hate magnet articles.