Penny Arcade Game Sees Record Breaking Numbers 124
Kotaku is reporting that the new Penny Arcade game is showing record breaking numbers, earning $330,000 in the first three days, surpassing previous record holder Worms HD. Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik was very pleased with the result saying: "Given that our price point was double the other games on that list I'm pretty f***ing happy. We fully expected some people to complain about the $20 price tag but we honestly felt like our game was worth it. Pricing something like this is tricky. Obviously you have to look at the length of time it will take someone to complete the game but you also need to factor in the quality of the experience."
a little clarification (Score:5, Informative)
Re:a little clarification-even more (Score:5, Informative)
Re:a little clarification (Score:5, Informative)
Actually what they said is rather funnier than that - he said that at first they were doing it for the money, but then it turned out there really wasn't any money, so now they are just doing it.
He did say they are hoping to actually see some profit around episode three, hopefully good sales of the first one moves up that timeframe for them. It's obvious they, and the game studio, put a lot of work into the title.
Port it to WiiWare (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Port it to WiiWare (Score:4, Informative)
So if you buy it for Xbox Live, you won't be able to play it anywhere else. If you buy it anywhere else, you'll be able to play it anywhere but a console.
Might still be worth it to get it on Live, just saying...
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There's going to be some "Fucked 100 Fruit Fuckers", isn't there?
And probably a Testikill [penny-arcade.com], just so they can.
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Which is pretty sad because otherwise this game would have no problem running on the Wii.
You can still hope they'll release the whole game once all episodes are completed though. That's what they're doing for Sam & Max Season 1.
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Missing mouse pointer (Score:1, Interesting)
Sigh. Maybe I'll actually play more than 10 minutes of it when the first patch is released.
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Best $20 spent for a game (Score:4, Funny)
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It's not Portal... (Score:3, Insightful)
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This really isn't.
Oh, and Portal was a better game. Quality over quantity.
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Portal does have all the challenge levels too, you can easily double your playtime trying to beat those, excluding those 3rd party maps Bethesda made.
Oblig. (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm not suprised. (Score:5, Informative)
-It is for more platforms that most mainstream games (Mac/Windows/Linux/Xbox360).
-The animated cutscenes were brilliantly done, especially how they used an animated version of the character you created at the start.
-The script was hilarious.
-The popularity of penny-arcade lent to easy advertising.
-It was only $20
Figures are 360 only!! (Score:4, Insightful)
-It is for more platforms that most mainstream games (Mac/Windows/Linux/Xbox360)...
I agree with the game being amazingly well done, and a lot of fun to play. But the reported figures are from one platform only (the 360) so they don't even really go so far as to show the benefits of the multi-platform release...
One thing it does go to show is that the value of the game lies in the artistry and storytelling, and since (in my opinion) the Penny Arcade guys are great at both it was a natural the game would be good - not to mention that as gamers they would know if the control scheme sucked and make them fix it.
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And that is why this game rocks. Without the writing it's just a fairly well-thought-out stereotypical RPG game, one that I would bore of within a half-hour of play. The writing is something else though, just enough intrigue to keep you going, and many bust-out-loud laughing moments.
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No.
It was sub-par writing. "Shit....as in Poop?" Seriously now. The plot was typical PA, but without the writing, it almost felt dull since we have seen most of the scenarios in PA comics already. The cutscenes kept up the tempo, and the way your customized character got included in the cutscenes (exactly as the character was designed) was a technically interesting exercise. The dialog never really picks up until the last "zone" with the intro the NPC gives, completely outshining t
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Having said this, it's not as bad as the GP poster made it out to be. I certainly don't think it's all that and a bag of chips too- but it definitely was worth the $20 I paid for the thing. I'm looking forward to getting the next episodes, myself.
Where? (Score:3, Informative)
Bought it... (Score:1)
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Re:Bought it... (Score:4, Informative)
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I loved the game. (Score:1, Informative)
An excellent example (Score:3, Interesting)
Will their example inspire less visible developers to explore distribution? I hope so.
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And obviously since this is episodic the next episode is not two years away (I hope).
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And it supports Linux!
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In all seriousness, there is Gametap and TotalGaming.net as Steam alternatives. TotalGaming (the stardock thing) has no DRM too, which is quite nice.
[yes, I know with Gametap you only rent games, but it is an alternative]
How many games on your hard drive... (Score:5, Interesting)
Its not like Penny Arcade descended down from heaven yesterday and declared "And let it be possible to sell video games, for money, over the Internet! So it is written, so shall it be done!" Its been done. The overwhelming majority of folks who do it fail to make any significant amount of money relative to the fair-market value of the time invested.
http://www.gameproducer.net/category/sales-statistics/ [gameproducer.net]
Those statistics aren't representative -- everyone likes hearing about the success stories (hint: most of the ones with numbers in the title). Vastly more numerous are results like these folks:
http://www.gameproducer.net/2006/09/20/sales-statistics-pharaohs-curse-gold-2000-yearly-sales/ [gameproducer.net]
Several man months of labor. $2,000 worth of sales.
Games are just a tough, tough market to make money in. Your core customers don't want to spend money and fly the Jolly Roger by default. Your product will be obsolete in 3 to 6 months, even for "casual" gaming. You have enormous expenditures for assets to remain competitive. Your customers have rather little loyalty and it is difficult to turn them into ongoing revenue streams.
Compare this to selling software on the shareware model: your core customers have problems and are willign to pay to solve them. Your core customers don't have LimeWire installed. Your product will last for years. Your expenditures on assets may cost less than a date (I started my software business with $60... working on hitting $20k this year, on about 2 hours a week). Your customers provide a built-in base of people to sell upgrades and new related products to, and they are often fanatically loyal to you.
It was a gold mine waiting to happen (Score:5, Funny)
yeah i bought it (Score:2)
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Yep! (Score:2)
I'm glad that they're letting me transfer the key between my desktop and my laptop and my work computer. I'll gladly drop a few gold shekels for that.
Nice game (Score:4, Interesting)
It shows some symptoms of fetch quest syndrome, but the combat, art style, and shear volume of amusing things to see kept it from dragging.
Overall it's a very enjoyable game and I'm looking forward to the next episode.
For those interested in getting this for Xbox... (Score:4, Interesting)
PS3 and Wii? (Score:2)
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Doesn't work too well, does it
Re:If you're thinking about the PC version: DRM (Score:5, Informative)
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As for my "information", it's from the EULA. Read it.
The guy from Twenty Sided has a post up which talks about some of the distinctions between they're DRM and the stuff from EA:
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1677
It's worth reading, although I'd be curious to know if anyone has actually tried installing it more than 3 times? If I have to ca
Re:If you're thinking about the PC version: DRM (Score:5, Informative)
After the initial activation, you never again need a check or even an internet connection to play. That's the kind of copy protection I am comfortable with, and that's why it didn't stop me from purchasing it.
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I can safely say that I will never buy a brand-new machine -- or reformat -- without an active Internet connection.
Consider, also, that this is a downloaded game. So for your example to work, you'd have to replace your laptop, copy the downloaded installer from your old one to the new one, and try to play it, without having a net connection available.
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Once the validation system goes down, the next time you install the game it is dead.
Vendors that put out this kind of validation should be required to post a bond that would keep the validation service up for at least as long as the current copyright period.
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Both sides of the DRM debate are really irrational about the whole issue; it's not a "moral" issue on either side. The seller wants to be fairly compensated for their product, the buyer wants to have full access to the thing that they buy, and they don't want to lose access at some later date because of issues with the DRM.
If these issues can be worked out, then there is no problem. So saying that people are losing their morals as the hassle goe
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The seller wants to be fairly compensated for their product, the buyer wants to have full access to the thing that they buy, and they don't want to lose access at some later date because of issues with the DRM.
And that's exactly the problem here. If it requires online activation to play, that means I won't be able to play the game I bought after their server is taken down.
And chances are that will happen sooner or later. And the company doesn't even have to go bankrupt for it. Microsoft recently took down a music authentication server, which means that a lot of people who bought music from MS won't be able to play that music on any other device than on which it's currently enabled.
The same problem will happen to
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So copy protection is immoral? No one is forcing you to buy it.
Well, that's my opinion, but I guess it's an unpopular one today. GP posted AC, so it seemed logical that he probably would have agreed, at least in public. For the record I don't foresee myself buying this game and I'm sorry you don't like my choice of flavr-aide.
Both sides of the DRM debate are really irrational about the whole issue; it's not a "moral" issue on either side. The seller wants to be fairly compensated for their product, the buyer wants to have full access to the thing that they buy, and they don't want to lose access at some later date because of issues with the DRM. If these issues can be worked out, then there is no problem. So saying that people are losing their morals as the hassle goes away is pretty ridiculous.
Well, you're right that the extremists on either side are a vocal minority, but it most definitely is still a moral issue. To use a car analogy, if your brand-new sports car emailed the dealership a picture of you the first time you started i
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Re:If you're thinking about the PC version: DRM (Score:5, Informative)
Quote from a dev:
We don't anticipate having to limit the number of redownloads but remember that each new machine or major hardware change may trigger a new key to be issued against your license. Our plan is to allow multiple installs and to be generous in that regard to cover murdered systems, planned upgrades, people wanting to play it on their PC and their Mac or even Linux box etc. Even if the limit is reached--a limit that we have not determined yet--we will be flexible in resetting or increasing the limit for paying customers. If you are registered, we will keep your license keys stored for you in your profile and you will be able to see the number of times that license has been used for various systems so there will be no surprises.
Original thread:
http://forum.playgreenhouse.com/jforum/posts/list/302.page [playgreenhouse.com]
Not quite as bad as our old friend SecuROM methinks.
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"The limit on the number of installs is solely intended to prevent casual copying of the game and sharing of license codes. If you have more than three machines that you want to play the game on, send an email to support@playgreenhouse.com explaining the situation and we'll up your limit straightaway."
-http://forum.playgreenhouse.com/jforum/posts/list/45/302.page#3569
And, if you check the EULA, it says you're only allowed to install 3 times. So, eviden
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Think I'll wait for the inevitable binary patch before purchasing and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Binary patch to what?
I can understand waiting for a patch to let you run off an ISO, or without a CD at all. I can understand waiting for a patch to remove the rootkit crap, so you're not risking your machine. I can understand waiting for a patch to enable offline mode.
But face it: You're already online, and on their website, to download the game. It's a trivial step to type an activation key, and you're still going to be online for that. After which, your game is activated, for all time, with no more phon
Re:And if you're thinking about the Xbox version.. (Score:2)
Yes, it's called visual style.
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Remember, this isn't a movie where there's One True Aspect Ratio and something must be lost to fit it on another screen. This stuff is rendered in real time.
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I'm about to tell you...
Remember, this isn't a movie where there's One True Aspect Ratio
No, it's not a movie. But chances are you may have seen a movie. And having seen a movie, in that aspect ratio, helps provide previous visual context and helps the format feel more comfortable.
Beyond that, framing is totally up to the artist - in photography, some things look better totally square, others look better wide. It all depends
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I'm about to tell you...
Remember, this isn't a movie where there's One True Aspect Ratio
No, it's not a movie. But chances are you may have seen a movie. And having seen a movie, in that aspect ratio, helps provide previous visual context and helps the format feel more comfortable.
You're right, I have seen a movie. What an astute deduction, good sir.
But I've also seen TV. Lots more TV than movies, in fact. And I've seen games, every one of which (that I've seen) manages to fill the entire screen. So on the context and comfort scale, 4:3 wins out.
Beyond that, framing is totally up to the artist - in photography, some things look better totally square, others look better wide. It all depends on the content. And because the game is heavily built around art by artists, it simply would not look or feel the same if you simply arbitrarily hacked the thing to fill your ancient screen.
Gee, maybe they should've thought about that when they were coming up with the design. But it's funny - this sort of thing doesn't seem to stop everyone else from designing games that work equally well on 4:3 and 16:9 screens.
And that brings me to me last point, is that basically Penny Arcade would say you are a wanker for using such an ancient display device with modern consoles. Get with the program, it's not like small 720p sets cost that much at this point.
Why would I b
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There is no winning. It's a different choice, and one they did not make. Sorry you can't understand that, but some of us do.
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There is no winning.
Then why did you bring up the context and comfort nonsense in the first place?
It's a different choice, and one they did not make.
Actually, it's a choice they didn't have to make either way. Like I said, every other game manages to fill the screen whether you play it in 4:3 or 16:9. The developers of the Penny Arcade game would've done the same thing if they cared about providing a quality product.
Sorry you can't understand that, but some of us do.
That's funny, because you really don't seem to understand the issue here.
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Re:activation (Score:5, Insightful)
- Creating an account at the game's website
- With an email address!
- And a real name!
- And a credit card number!
- And a billing address!
to get the game in the first place.Re:activation (Score:4, Informative)
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Although, it definitely plays better on the 360 than on the PC. The interface is pretty much designed around a controller, and not a keyboard and mouse.
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I've liked other RPG's in the past (like Disgea) but what I liked about the Penny Arcade one is that it can be picked up and worked through a lot quicker, with very little grinding (every now and then I had to smash a few crates to replenish my bandage supply).
Basically it was just a really enjoyable light RPG/adventure game with a good story.
Re:Perhaps I Didn't Get the Memo... (Score:4, Informative)
Here's a tip: Click and hold the button down. At least one reviewer never figured this out. I admit it took me awhile.
Designed around a controller. . . (Score:2)
Which is why I was extremely surprised to discover that on Windows/Mac/Linux, *gamepads are not supported* (I found this out by searching on the games support forum, but I don't have the link handy now). I've got a very functional Logitech USB gamepad, which I would *love* to use with Rainslick. Oh well. I'm cutting them some slack because they created a game which does run substantially the same
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I just finished the demo, and it's not bad. The writing is okay. The animation is quite nice. A couple of years ago, I finally got hold of a copy of Grim Fandango and this game is nowhere near the same league. The visuals are of similar quality (slightly depressing, since Grim Fandango ran on a 133MHz Pentium while this game spikes the load on my 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo), the writing and voice acting in Grim Fandango were far better and the interaction felt more immediate (in this game you seem to be able to
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5 hours of gameplay != $20
Heard of Portal?
People bitched that Gears of War was 15-20 hours at $60. Not to mention Mass Effect around the same amount of time. So the PA game is the same 'quality' as GoW and Mass Effect?
Having played some Gears of War, I had a lot more fun with this. GoW was without meaningful plot and had kind of OK gameplay -- but really, it was all about the graphics. I'd rather watch a tech demo.
Let's not forget this runs off of the Torque gaming engine with the whopping price of $750 to use the engine commercially...
And what does that have to do with anything? At all?
Do yourself a favor -- download the demo. It's at least a third of the game, anyway. Then tell me it's not worth $20.
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If it were, then RPGs with scrooge-like experience awards forcing hours mindless of grinding would be the way to go.
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