tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41360207538265027892011-12-21T06:29:38.185-08:00Musings and Confusings of the Video Game IndustryRussell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-79521364336489642222010-04-16T08:39:00.000-07:002010-04-16T08:48:40.668-07:00

Well, as a rule I am trying not to comment on the works of other people. But one thing I can tell you is that I really appreciate the variety of different videogames that are being made by so many different types of people. However, many people are working solely in a single genre that is concentrated on excessive violence, and the only competition there is who can come up with the most violent

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-87385380541263481792009-10-29T09:32:00.001-07:002009-10-29T10:14:49.285-07:00

It's a common phrase, and increasingly it's one I think applies to the Game Industry as I note how relatively unknown the game industry is among the older generation.Background:I had a neighbor, a friend of my wife, who came by as my kids were playing Airport Mania on a Wii test kit I'd brought home for testing. When my kids shouted triumphantly that it was Airport Mania, but on the Wii! The

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-37051535146405901842009-06-29T13:46:00.001-07:002009-06-29T14:07:21.107-07:00

I'm curious to see how the new Wii Sports does.Well ok, I'm sure it is going to do well, but I don't know if it will be #1 game of the year well or #5 game of the year well.Certainly it is following up on one of the biggest games ever released, but...and this is a big but...it's actually a very expensive game.WiiMotion Plus is $20/unit.WiiSports Resort is $50 (includes one WM+)Altogether it's

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-82436945600725143382009-06-24T11:15:00.000-07:002009-06-25T08:38:41.592-07:00

Finding Neverland is a movie about J. M. Barrie, his life, and his creating of Peter Pan. I always found one of the moments in the movie to be poignant. Frohman, Barrie's producer and financier (played by Dustin Hoffman), is talking to Barrie (played by Johnny Depp) after the failure of a recent Barrie play.J.M. Barrie: It was never meant to be taken seriously.Charles Frohman: You know what

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-69128390427278651302009-06-13T07:57:00.000-07:002009-06-13T07:58:21.940-07:00

I've been unable to post recently, but wrote-up a psuedo-review of the new Indiana Jones Wii game on my other poorly updated of recent blog.http://dustfreewii.blogspot.com/

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-26178009313886014672009-03-03T08:18:00.001-08:002009-03-03T08:50:25.852-08:00

I'm unabashedly a huge fan of the LEGO games. There are absolutely some problems with them, such as re-spawning you on the edge of a platform after you miss a jump, a location where your character will slide and fall off the edge if you don't immediately move, but overall, they are just good fun.LEGO Star Wars has been my favorite of the series. Once two games, each with its pluses and minuses,

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-24879754558214784772009-02-24T16:17:00.000-08:002009-02-24T16:38:23.572-08:00

Gamesindustry.biz just posted a great interview with Jenova Chen (flOw, Flower).It hit on a lot of points that I've mentioned about the industry in this blog, and it was interesting to see a known industry developer discussing some of the same points I've been thinking about of late in relation to 'adult' gaming.When talking about games for adults we're not talking about Gears of War (why does a

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-54905969888644602462009-02-11T08:55:00.000-08:002009-02-11T09:36:49.288-08:00

We all know the name Copernicus. He is that guy that found that the Earth wasn't the center of the Universe. Today we have a similar problem in gaming. There is a certain niche in gaming that seems to believe the gaming universe revolves around them. This is the same group that is angry at the Wii selling in greater numbers than any console ever. This is the same group that that sees casual

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-52990502625649810392009-01-29T17:11:00.000-08:002009-02-02T10:18:31.551-08:00

Kind of a weird way to look at things, but interesting at the same time.There were 14 million WiiFits shipped last year. (gamasutra)Every copy came with the Wii Balance Board.There were 10.8 Million Xbox 360s shipped last year.Total 360 distribution sits at 28.45 million shipped. (gamasutra)So, taking a lookt at that, I would say that it seems well within reason that within the next two years (

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-68008694091911216042009-01-02T08:32:00.000-08:002009-03-03T09:36:44.983-08:00

I've pondered a lot of different ways to approach the same subject - the Wii. I've enjoyed the Wii this year more than I've enjoyed any console I've ever owned (...and I been playing since the Atari 2600s, so the list goes back a long ways).I've considered doing an end of year post about the Wii games that really delighted me this year, but it feels like I'm talking to the wind. The common

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-81039393634546790312008-12-23T10:21:00.000-08:002008-12-23T10:37:58.147-08:00

Metacritic has put together a list of the top 5 Wii games of the year: http://www.metacritic.com/games/bests/2008.shtml1 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl2 - World of Goo3 - MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade4 - Okami5 - Tetris Party#3 hasn't been released in the states yet, but looks really interesting...and is likely to show up on Monday, just making the end of the year. Interestingly, after all the

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-24862508763477430352008-12-15T09:39:00.001-08:002008-12-15T11:02:32.217-08:00

The latest NPD numbers for North America are out and guess what? Video Games have never been hotter or sold more. 2008 is still on pace to be a record year for the industry!So why is it that every other day we are hearing about layoffs and how the studio closures. Why are they fighting to stay alive when the industry is doing better than ever? Why is everyone so glum?A few thoughts:1 - The

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-71626622886754854432008-11-25T17:34:00.000-08:002008-12-02T23:25:33.024-08:00

The game industry needs to grow up.It's young and as a medium, games provide so many opportunities that aren't being taken.I think the industry needs the gaming equivalents of Driving Miss Daisy and Life is Beautiful, but increasingly, it seems gamers and game developers, when considering making games that appeal to "grown ups" are limiting themselves to Saving Private Ryan. That narrow-minded

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-13905671268213455732008-06-09T14:06:00.000-07:002008-06-09T14:50:09.694-07:00

I recently made my first DVD viewable on my TV through my DVD player. The process took nearly a year.In going through it all, I found myself frustrated at Microsoft for the same reasons I'm always frustrated with them, and wondering why so few people are mentioning the problems I saw (and why there doesn't seem to be a solution through Movie Maker!?).So the short of the story, we have a miniDV

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-87514121388142583482008-05-27T13:38:00.000-07:002008-05-27T14:32:54.738-07:00

In finishing up Airport Mania, one of the things that was really a struggle was the difficulty. As the designer/producer of the game, I had played it a bizillion times by the time we were ready to go to beta. I used my scores as the starting baseline of what a 'good' score was to be on a level. (if you haven't played it, every level of the game has 4 skill levels that are based on your level

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-1675704495956465512008-05-12T14:01:00.000-07:002008-05-12T14:37:45.428-07:00

With WiiWare launching today I've been feeling like a kid again. I only got a short play session with Lost Winds, but I was just thrilled with the innovative game play. I was playing something unique and fun that continually made me smile. However, the truth is that most people won't be playing Lost Winds today or anytime soon because they'll have trouble comprehending it simply because it is so

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-78873161705353789712008-05-05T11:51:00.000-07:002008-05-05T12:09:45.510-07:00

I'm a big fan of what Nintendo is doing. I think their focus on Innovation and Fun is right on the mark. So, I rarely make any effort to note where they are missing the mark, but with WiiFit mania soon to come upon in the US, I can't help but think Nintendo has made a mistake.The box on the right is what WiiFit looks like in Europe and Japan. I love it. It says so many things without cluttering

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-92190849395778128932008-04-08T14:36:00.000-07:002008-04-08T15:11:26.910-07:00

I read through The Casual Games Manifesto on Gamasutra today and I got all the way through despite wanting to respond immediately to some of what I saw. I guess I'm a little jaded and I'm sure it didn't help in my reading comprehension.I do agree with one underlying point of the article, you should use the portals in the casual games market to create customers for you if you are a developer. I

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-77284523339386943052008-04-07T12:10:00.000-07:002008-04-07T12:16:17.630-07:00

The programmer who I've been working with on Airport Mania sent me the following image as a gag, which considering the light-hearted nature of Airport Mania contrasted with Daikatana's in-your-face approach only makes it all the more funny. I couldn't resist but to share :). If you're not familiar with Daikatana's famous ad, check it out here.Incidentally, Airport Mania is set for limited release

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-29496661749224536352008-02-19T09:30:00.000-08:002008-02-19T09:35:41.439-08:00

I'm at the GDC this week and will be hanging out at the Indie Games Summit Monday and Tuesday, and the IGF booth some of the rest of the time (Reflexive's own Axiom Overdrive is a finalist).I kept somewhat copious notes of the first day of the Indie summits. There were some great presentations, including a very solid basic marketing presentation by Introversion. You can ready my highlights,

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-88725815849417190862008-02-13T14:25:00.000-08:002008-02-13T15:20:54.949-08:00

My latest article has been published over at Gamasutra, and it has create a good bit of stir. I'm actually pretty happy about that as I really hoped it would be the springboard to some good discussion.I thought I'd put in some additional details here in my blog. I ended up cutting 3 pages from that article while writing, which is very abnormal for me, but it was just TOO dry a read to keep all

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-26835319273783187592008-01-16T16:26:00.000-08:002008-01-16T16:43:10.937-08:00

I read about how AppleTV will enable Movie Rentals with great interest. The Movie industry is of course quite mature and they have learned a thing or two about how to maximize the money from their movies.Consider the following revenue sources:- Theaters- DVD- Pay Per View- Cable Movie Channels- Network TVNow consider those sources in terms of time. They don't happen all at once. The movie

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-28908528980511480042008-01-10T15:37:00.000-08:002008-01-10T16:00:09.178-08:00

My newest article for Gamasutra went up yesterday, if you haven't read it you can find it here.as games have become more mainstream, our understanding of who is buying thegames has become increasingly niche.The point may have been overstated a bit, but I think the topic is very interesting. Essentially the idea behind the article is trying to take a deeper look at who casual gamers are and what

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-70986750558701995762008-01-02T13:08:00.000-08:002008-01-02T14:18:16.439-08:00

Two of the hottest things in the gaming industry in 2007 were casual games and advertising. So adding them both together should equal bliss shouldn't it?I was reading an article on ClickZ and it is timely as Reflexive considers advertising.Casual game sites including RealNetworks and Microsoft began offering developers a share of ad revenues. Many publishers earned stronger revenues from

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-57286006456075702842007-12-14T16:11:00.000-08:002007-12-14T16:39:14.131-08:00

The latest NPD numbers are out, and aside from Guitar Hero 3 selling best on the Wii out of the next-gen consoles, the response to Nintendo's lack of units has been the most interesting piece of information. From Gamasutra:Nintendo has upped worldwide production of the Wii to 1.8 million systems per month, twice as much as at the console's launch. "We’ll keep production at that level for quite a

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-65108247141852359842007-12-04T14:57:00.000-08:002007-12-07T10:06:54.950-08:00

Great article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogames/342095_casualgames.html.The first part of the article talks about how Seattle is where much of the casual games industry is found, which is interesting, but doesn't lead to any additional insight. The second half of the article is out-standing, with some insights into what casual gamers are looking

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-63267117444664364482007-11-21T08:57:00.000-08:002007-11-27T09:19:33.734-08:00

Thought this post from Seth Godin was particularly interesting and have wanted to share it for a week or so.http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/who-pays-the-me.htmlIt talks about retail, where the last mile, getting your good or service to the consumer:accounts for the bulk of the cost of the service or good being sold.Retailers get half. Insurance people get commissions. Distributors

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-61436432650177915402007-11-16T16:19:00.000-08:002007-11-16T16:32:02.829-08:00

A goal of marketing is to control the message. I found the messages near the NPD October results particularly interesting.Microsoft's Message - You may have sold more, but our stuff sold for more money. Therefore we are king. (Just overlook the fact that all 360 stuff costs more, hence the higher gross...)Sony's Message - October was bad, but it's also in the past. Forget the past, live in

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-16995383562423869242007-11-13T09:49:00.000-08:002007-11-13T11:38:59.974-08:00

Recently the NPD had stated that they would no longer be providing their estimates of hardware and software sales to the media, which meant that the public wouldn't be seeing them. The public was outraged and NPD was surprised by the widespread backlash.This phenomenon is really quite interesting. After all, if you've already bought a Wii or X360, why should you care how many are selling each

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-66870939334794936722007-11-08T11:03:00.000-08:002007-11-08T11:41:08.142-08:00

After reading an interview from Eidos' CTO Julien Merceron I couldn't help but blog about it. The thought put forward is that if 3rd party games don't sell on the Wii this Christmas, 3rd parties will decrease their support, and that will hurt the Wii sales. (read it here)The Wii is really leaving people scratching their heads as it seems that most 3rd parties aren't sure what to do. However, I

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-42739088968440046692007-10-31T13:19:00.000-07:002007-10-31T13:46:10.725-07:00

Well the NPD numbers have been out for a bit now, so I thought it was worth re-visiting some of the numbers.The big story is just how many consoles were sold. Over a million between the X360 and the Wii. September is typically a pick-up month as sales start to move slightly upwards before the big holiday spike. The last time a console sold 500k+ in September was 2002 and the PS2. That was the

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-9324142761074182122007-10-24T15:20:00.000-07:002007-10-24T16:36:36.809-07:00

With the announcement of the Xbox 360 Arcade version of the console this week, there has been some noise about how Microsoft is going after Nintendo's 'family' market. While I do think the family market is worth going after, I find it amazing how many people seem to have no understanding as to what the family market is.Quotes from recent press releases:...the Xbox 360 Arcade system features the

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-81290383227507816142007-10-15T15:41:00.000-07:002007-10-15T16:26:56.376-07:00

With US (and it's just US let's not forget that) console sales numbers (estimations) about ready to come in, I thought it might be fun to take a look at what the numbers might be this month. Will the Xbox 360 outsell the PS2 for the second time this year? (that would be the 3rd time ever!) How will Halo change things? Did the PSP slim release affect sales?Here are Michael Patcher's numbers: (who

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-76436590401151637062007-10-01T14:26:00.000-07:002007-10-01T15:31:11.348-07:00

With the continued success of the Casual market on the PC and the Wii thoroughly dominating console sales, the casual movement, once thought to be a nice side business, is starting to feel like a Threat to many gamers. (with a capital 'T')What is a threat? It is the expectation of future trouble.When gamers first started playing casual games, their numbers were few. However, as the money and

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-8692385021578722622007-09-25T14:38:00.000-07:002007-09-25T15:13:29.008-07:00

There is a strange division currently in casual games, that continually mystifies me. Answer the following questions for yourself. [I added my 'answers' in ()]What is EA's most valuable casual property?(You could make an argument for Pogo, though it's probably the Sims)Who are Pogo and the Sims targeted at?(I'd say they have the same audience, casual gamers)Can you buy the Sims on Pogo.com?(no)

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-46606365056092800772007-09-21T15:51:00.000-07:002007-09-21T16:24:46.148-07:00

Gamasutra published an opinion piece today that talked around the same topic as the article yesterday, but with a different approach to making more money per user. This article focused on making more money per game with a nice slant to helping spread around more money to more developers.The suggestions on possible areas for attack are:1 - In-Game Ads2 - Using social networks to directly connect

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-84683401101339586132007-09-20T16:16:00.000-07:002007-09-20T16:59:20.526-07:00

GameDaily Biz had an interesting (and unfortunately difficult to read) article today on the Conversion Rate within the casual games industry being too low.I've written before at length on Gamasutra on going beyond Conversion Rate to increase sales, and I don't want to repeat that discussion here, but I do want to consider the numbers from the GameDaily article, which if representative of the

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-48219400753975604042007-09-18T13:42:00.000-07:002007-09-18T14:39:33.112-07:00

I was going to finally post my thoughts on last week's NPD numbers today, but the IAC acquisition of GarageGames being made public pushes me to another topic as Independent Games have been so near to my heart for so long.There is no question that GarageGames was near the heart of the most recent Indie revolution. The release of Torque seemed to put game-making within the grasp of anyone who

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-60042074928117559302007-09-14T12:13:00.000-07:002007-09-14T12:42:10.453-07:00

A video of my marketing session from this year's Independent Games Summit (as part of the GDC) has just been posted up at GameSetWatch. It's also embedded below for easy viewing. I was really excited for the chance to speak at the IGS and right around minute 10 you'll see me jump on a subject that I really wanted people to think about. Most developers shun the portals as bad for them, but few

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136020753826502789.post-26713193653079236662007-09-13T08:47:00.000-07:002007-09-18T14:37:04.288-07:00

Halo 3 is a big deal.It is the franchise that people identify (for better and worse) with Microsoft's game console. It is increasingly recognizable and creates tremendous buzz for Microsoft.But, does it sell hardware?Everyone is quick to answer 'yes.' Games sell hardware.While that is true in a broad sense, I'd suggest that the answer of whether or not Halo 3 will sell consoles isn't quite so

Russell Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065247256638013560noreply@blogger.com0