Today’s GDC highlights are full of what you would expect; some financial data, a preview of two new games, some development lessons, and some drama. Ok, maybe you didn’t expect drama, but are you surprised? While I would like to stick to relative game news, I love me some drama.
- After a screening of Indie Game The Movie, which went over quite well apparently, the panel, including Phil Fish, designer of the upcoming platformer Fez, spent some time answering the audiences’ questions. When asked about what he thought of modern Japanese gaming, Mr. Fish replied, “your games just suck.” Apparently this didn’t go over too well, as the Japanese, like most people, don’t like being told they suck. – Source: Develop
- Game Hunters spent some time playing the upcoming Lollipop Chainsaw by Grasshopper Manufacture. So far it looks like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but way more crazy.” Most of the humor looks like it comes from making light of horrible amounts of death and gore, which, to be honest, is exactly what I want when playing a game like this.
- Gamasutra is reporting about a session at GDC today titled “Failure Workshop.” Lead by 2D Boy’s Ron Carmel, the panel explored the importance of dealing with failure, specifically how to learn from it. A handful of developers, including Bastion developer, Amir Rao, told stories about their failures and how they worked through them.
- Touch Arcade has the scoop on the latest game from NibleBit, you know, the guys who made Tiny Tower. It’s called Pocket Planes, and alliteration aside it looks fairly robust for not yet being in the beta stages. I’ll set aside some time to write about the inevitable release of Zynga’s upcoming Dream Planes.
- Taking up in the anchor spot tonight – it looks like Capcom Senior VP, Christian Svennson, is predicting that over 50% of their revenue will be generated through digital distribution by 2017. His reasoning is that increased ease of use will change retail’s role “from planned purchase to impulse purchase,” with an increase in planned purchases online. I would disagree, but then again I’ve never even heard the phrase “planned purchase” before today.
