** Havok interview is on p 57. **
Havok's place in the games industry is almost unrivaled and no doubt enviable. With its Physics code widely used around the world, a second Animation product out and its Behaviour AI software currently in beta, it's the perfect example of the world of Middleware 2.0. Michael French catches up with CEO Dave O'Meara...
A few months back we wrote about the world of Middleware 2.0, with developers favouring modular technology solutions. As one of the middleware market leaders, how do you think the market and model for that has developed?
With the new generation of consoles – and particularly on the PS3 – things have really taken off because it's a difficult and complex architecture, but a brilliant one to have at your disposal and get a game right for. So the number of PS3 titles we are on is growing very quickly. In terms of physics, studios definitely want that approach to the business so they don't have to rely on such technology to be made in-house. What studios want is risk minimization and to be confident that there is help if they need it. This hasn't happened overnight, though. It wasn't until 2003, particularly with the release of things like Half-Life 2, that it really made itself work. Also, I think it's a great model for new middleware companies to break into because the customer wants to know that technology is financially viable and stable and that you won't run off or be signed up to just one publisher. There are a lot of things to do with resiliance and reliability, which means new companies can step in to offer that.
Non-playable characters in certain games are meme material, thanks to their foolish behavior. These are the big-budget games with the dumbest NPCs.
Bethesda makes the most consistently stupid NPCs, like really bad... yet I still can't help but love playing their games. Guilty pleasure, I guess. *sigh* 😩
Every Bethesda game and Every Halo game. This list needed to have Cyberpunk somewhere.
Microtransactions have been around since the advent of gaming itself, but the mechanic has evolved a lot to reach its present-day stage.
Let me re-introduce you to the scum of our industry.
Activision Blizzard
EA
Bethesda (you started it you son of a...)
Thanks, Bethesda! How fitting that you jumped into bed with the company that brought to us 'paying to play with friends', despite already paying the internet service providers. Awesome contributions, now standardised across this wonderful industry.
The rise of "DLC" started when Microsoft wanted to maximize profits by charging for online and allowing companies to sell crap like horse armor on the console space.
If it wasn't for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony wouldn't be charging for online play and neither Sony nor Nintendo was putting any kind of "DLC" in their games until market pressure forced it upon them.
So thanks Microsoft from the beginning you have made console gaming worse.
IDK I think eventually they would've done it regardless but yeah MS started a lot of crap and smeared all around.
I believe that if it wasn't for Microsoft console and PC would have had a much more divergent path like they had up to that point.
Switch is basically the first generation on Nintendo to embrace DLC, and the PS3 barely had a store early on and it was pressure from outside that forced them to have those things. And paid online didn't even start till PS4 at which point it was just about having the revenue stream that Microsoft was getting, and even then it was much more relaxed than on xbox where you even had to pay to play f2p games and PS+ gave you free games (including day 1 games), while xbox didn't offer any games at the time.
Horse Armour - "Ahh don't worry it's just silly armour, don't like it don't buy it, you've got nothing to worry about"
Loot Boxes - "Ahh don't worry, if you don't like them you don't have to buy them, you've got nothing to worry about"
Microtransactions - "Ahh don't worry it's just an optional thing, don't like it don't buy it, you've got nothing to worry about"
GaaS Games - "Ahh don't worry, clearly the game isn't for you, don't like it don't buy it, there's other games out there you've got nothing to worry about"
And everytime it gets worse the same people will say
"How did this happen, we should have done something"
Online passes too…those were an annoying few years trying to stop the second hand market.
Videos of the canceled Dead Rising: Dia De Los Muertos have come to light, giving us a look into what the game could have been.
Shame loved the Dead Rising series. Even enjoyed 4 but not sure why they removed the campain co op.
Dead rising 1 was one of my favorite games back in the day. I never got into the others like I did DR1. DR2 was ok but 3 and 4 were kinda lame.
Absolutely agree with you 100%. 1 was A MASTERPIECE even though it had several things that were not that good. But still a very solid title. And the ending was EPIC.
I agree. I’ll never forget grinding the zombies in the parking tunnels to get the mega buster weapon. Its uniqueness will always stand out to me and is high up on my all-times.
When I got over the rather bland art direction of Dead Rising 3, I actually fell in love with that one. Dead Rising 4 on the other hand.... :(
It's a real shame the Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX + Alpha DLC isn't available on PC. It was one of the best DLCs I've ever played, it was so fun! But alas... I no longer have my Xbox One :(
I should give it another try on the newer Xbox controllers. I remember jumping over to the Xbox controller was a big peeve for me. I loved the 360 controller and dead rising was one of my very first games on it. The Xbox one controller felt cheaply and loose and it bugged me. I don’t feel that way with the series x one.
Crackdown uses Havok and it sucks. Nothing special I can tell you that.
with version 4.5. Something like 5~10 times the performance of a typical triple-core CPU. (their figures, not mine)
I'll read it again i though they said 5 to 10 times of current PS3 titles