45: Great App Recession
15 April 2013
Things get real this episode as the guys look at the market pressures that are creating the conditions for a console like the Ouya, and it’s discounted software titles. Plus Mike’s results from playing the “free” game. Plus observations from the shuttering of LucasArts, and the drama of an always on future, your questions, and much more!
Hosts
Episode Links
Show Notes:
Feedback
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Khali asks if we think Jolla will take off
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Brandon’s email: Culture Clash
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Ashish writes:
Now, onto the Ouya. I am not the biggest fan of The Verge, they really like to go down on Apple’s ’little Apple’. But they did bring up one good point: because all the games need a free version, most games are plauged by nagging for DLC and freemium content with ads. That’s a huge loss and would drive anybody insane, and would discredit the Ouya as a ‘serious’ gaming platform. Another thing is I don’t think Ouya’s upgrade frequency will help them, the way that processors are exponentially getting faster, people will start expecting better and better graphics. And devs would find it hard to keep both ends of the spectrum, high graphics and compatibility with old versions of the console, in balance.
Also, I don’t think that you have the demographic that will buy the Ouya correct. Gamers will still buy consoles and PCs, but the WalMart crowd that buys cheapo tablets and smartphones would love the Ouya and all of it’s free games.)
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Chrome / Blink feedback
Mike’s Grand Experiment:
Code Journal has done extremely well on the Mac App Store recently. It reached as high as number 31 for free apps overall and number 2 in its category. Needless to say I was shocked by the sheer number of users downloading the app
LucasArts Shutdown:
“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games,” LucasArts parent company LucasFilm said in a statement. "
Always Online:
But recent reports indicate that the idea behind the working of the Microsoft Xbox 720 could cause big problems to the company in terms of sales, popularity and revenue. Recent reports indicate that the Microsoft Xbox 720 will always have to be connected to the internet in order to use the gaming console. So even if you are playing alone at home, you will still need an internet connection to keep the console running.
With a public Twitter account comes great responsibility—a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t tweet anything your mother or your boss would object to seeing. According to GameInformer, Microsoft Creative Director Adam Orth’s tone- deaf comments regarding his inability to understand why rumors of an always-connected Xbox were causing some customers angst have led to his becoming former Microsoft Creative Director Adam Orth.