Sordel

Isn't it time to segue from rage to sorrow on this story?

Everyone (with the exception of Sony) wanted a good Microsoft console. A good Microsoft console forces Sony to be better, and vice versa. Moreover, next gen games are going to need to depend for the most part on massive cross-platform sales, so we need compelling reasons for people to migrate. Anyone happy that the XBox One is weak is crazy.

Microsoft has failed us twice in a row: a tablet that can't compete with Apple and now a console that can't compete with Sony. Even for someone like me who was burned by Windows Vista, this shouldn't be a reason to celebrate.

Good that they've apologised and taken responsibility. Other than, y'know, an adequate service, you can't ask more than that.

I'm excited ... but when I think back to the things I loved about that game (such as moss arrows and water arrows) I wonder whether a similar mechanism might not seem impossibly dated these days.

People always act as though Nintendo is just Mario & Zelda, but it's interesting how they consistently use the early period of a new console to bring back and strengthen old/minor IP. Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Kid Icarus ... all significant little jabs until they have roundhouse titles available in their major fanchises.

I don't know anything about this particular project, but I have supported other projects on Kickstarter and I think that - especially in the games world - it is important that projects do fail to raise their money. There's a big "gold rush' mentality from new Kickstarter backers, and you see a lot of projects being floated that are very weak or speculative indeed. Project starters need to realise that this is not money for nothing and their kicks for free.

The project that I am carefully watching is Godus. Now, personally I think that Peter Molyneux is someone who has never been "punished" for making promises that he didn't keep ... I would love for this project to fail. But, bystanders cannot make a project fail ... they can only watch, and I find it amazing that the project is half way through and less than 50% funded. If nothing else, that shows that the same community that massively overfunded Project Eternity is at least sceptical when it comes to this game.

That's great ... that's how it should be. Backers should back the projects that they want to see funded, not just the ones with star names attached. The failures are just as important as the successes.

Obviously we want to see as many developers and software programmers in work as possible, and I can feel for the guys who lost out on their funding here, but the success of non-viable projects is in no one's interest, and it's pretty clear from the article here that the project could not have succeeded with only its minimal funding.

This topic is a classic example of no lose for one side of the argument and no win for the other. Of course sexism is bad, and it's in every gamer's interest that the people who have successful careers in games development be the most talented people rather than the most talented people of a particular gender.

The problem is: the games industry as a whole is in thrall to women. Out of a gaming population that is overwhelmingly male, women are disproportionately represented in games media. Of course no one's saying that women on the development side should pay a price for the simpering "girl gamers" in low-cut tops on the media side. But a woman entering for a career in the games industry should surely have her eyes open about entering a grossly sexist industry, where being a woman is likely to be both a help and a hindrance.

Historically, women entered the games industry later than men, because it was overwhelmingly boys who were playing games back in the eighties and nineties. They will definitely catch up: remember, J. K. Rowling took a gender-neutral name because she was told that boys wouldn't buy fantasy from a female author; as women developers become more successful, no orthodoxy that devalues them can stand.

@Droop said:

Faith is "one of the most memorable protagonists"? I fucking LOVE Mirror's Edge, but come on. That's there is just straight up bullshit.

So true. Faith got a mention as a nice piece of "positive discrimination": created by a woman, therefore the canonical example of a great female character. Jade (in Beyond Good and Evil) created by a man ... probably a good example of male sexist stereotyping.