Posted by: Drew Sikora at November 5, 2009 10:01:41 PM
It's time for another Late Night Daily. I'm not trying to make a habit of this, I swear. As always though, it'll be worth the wait.
Studio News - Microsoft, Square Enix, Polyphony Digital.Microsoft has completed its current round of layoffs by letting go of 800 employees, pushing the finally tally to just over the 5,000 estimated to be cut back in January. Of course, there's nothing to stop future layoffs from hitting the company, but for now at least things are back in equilibrium. Square Enix has also been reducing its workforce after being bought out by Eidos, most likely largely due to redundancy. So far the global headcount reduction across SE offices has be pinned at about 10% - Square says the integration with Eidos is proceeding "smoothly". Polyphony Digital's main man, Kazunori Yamauchi, was at SEMA motor show, where he did a rough calculation of the cost of GT5 over its 5 year development cycle. The result? Around $60 million. That's about 35 Bugatti Veyrons.
Education News - Penny Arcade, Abu Dhabi, Activision.Penny Arcade has awarded its 2009 $10,000 scholarship, which means it's time for all you kids out there in school to mark your calendars to find out details of the 2010 scholarship, which will be announced this spring. Abu Dhabi, best known as the city Nermal always ends up in, is now starting up a games academy to help grow and attract industry. They've already got Gazillion dabbling in an MMO studio over there, so seems like they're off to a running start. Activision is taking a slightly different tack, creating a video campaign that aims to educate parents on game ratings and the benefits games can have for their children besides teaching them how to get money back from hookers.
Litigation News - Activision, Sony.Activision can't seem to catch a break. First Courtney Love sues them for allowing players to actually play her late husband Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5, and now No Doubt are hopping on the bandwagon based upon the fact that their characters can be used to play any song in the game's album. Now - the key in both these lawsuits is that the artists in question did not expect their virtual selves to be able to sing anything but their own music. So, is it Activision being purposefully (and evilly) sneaky in their contract wording, or did both Love and the group No Doubt (and their lawyers) simply have no understanding of the game at all? Either way looks like a chunk of their massive profit will be going to legal fees. Sony is dealing with another class action lawsuit from PS3 owners who had their consoles bricked due to a firmware update, perhaps spurred on by this one I reported back at the beginning of October. The complaint and charges are much the same, although they've listed every PS3 system owner who installed the firmware. No word on whether the install had to be successful or not. Sure, I'll take a few bucks in restitution for all my non-problems with my PS3.
Symbian App Store open for business. If you like going against the grain, or forging out into new territories, or whatever you use to describe your pioneering spirit (or are simply a Symbian developer) then Symbian has details for developers about their new "Horizon" app store, which has launched with 50 apps already in the catalog.
Daily Remainders - more cool stories that didn't make the cut along with game dev articles/features.
Everyone loves pinning the Devil horns atop Microsoft's head, but every now and then they pull a great PR stunt out of their tails, like this story of the dog who spent $60 on XBL while he chewed up the controller. Instead of ridiculing the guy for leaving his console on overnight and wasting electricity, MS refunded his money (and then some), gave him a new controller and even created a Gamertag for his dog. I have 4 dogs, and one of them is bound to gnaw on my controller if I leave it on the floor overnight. Now, I wonder if Sony would be so generous...
Hey, if you were one of the apparently many indie developers that were put off by Game Lawyer Tom Buscaglia's stance on the Langdell issue, he's trying his best to apologize to you. Tom's a personal friend and a great guy, he can do a lot to help you and your business and really does have the best interest of indies in mind.
Finally, here's a quick follow-up to the image I used in my last Daily - the orgins of the shirt and the Mac versions.
In related news, Linux users would make shirts with the words 'highlight' and 'middle click' for their twin children, but no Linux users actually meet women, let alone have children.
Ha ha, I kid, I kid (Linux user with wife and son here).
In all seriousness, $60 million for Gran Turismo? That's insane! I wonder how much Forza 3 cost to develop, since only half the time has passed since Forza 2.
Original post by lmelior
In all seriousness, $60 million for Gran Turismo? That's insane! I wonder how much Forza 3 cost to develop, since only half the time has passed since Forza 2.
I'm guessing less than half the cost. $60 Million? That has to be setting some sort of record for the most expensive game ever made...
HodgmanMember since: 2/14/2007 From: Melbourne, Victoria
Posted - 11/8/2009 1:09:51 AM
Quote:
Original post by Moe
Quote:
Original post by lmelior
In all seriousness, $60 million for Gran Turismo? That's insane! I wonder how much Forza 3 cost to develop, since only half the time has passed since Forza 2.
I'm guessing less than half the cost. $60 Million? That has to be setting some sort of record for the most expensive game ever made...
I thought GTA4 set that record at $100 Million (which they made back 5 times over, in the first week of sales).
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lmelior
Member since: 6/16/2008 From: Phoenix, AZ
Posted - 11/6/2009 1:43:04 PM
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