Malfador Machinations hits Strategy First!

Fyron · #1 May 13th, 2005, 04:03 AM

Only took 3 days. Interesting.

Too bad Strategy First and the Wargamer don't seem to have their authors look at the games they write about these days... 4X game, feh! At least this one doesn't mention a massive online component of the game like the Wargamer one does...

Jim_Zabek · #2 May 16th, 2005, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:
Too bad Strategy First and the Wargamer don't seem to have their authors look at the games they write about these days... 4X game, feh! At least this one doesn't mention a massive online component of the game like the Wargamer one does...

Thanks for pointing that out. Our news editor was unfamiliar with Star Fury specifically and misread Strategy Firsts' press release. The error has been corrected: http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=2007

N.B. that the review itself acurately describes the game as a space sim with RPG elements: http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/spac...ry/default.asp

Next time we make a mistake, please write us directly at editor@wargamer.com. We'll hustle to correct the error

Renegade 13 · #3 May 31st, 2005, 01:35 AM

Please, do share. I love sarcasm.

Instar · #4 May 31st, 2005, 01:49 AM

"We only hope he makes enough changes in his game to allow for a broader audience"
That statement struck me as very condescending. No offense, but man...

Phoenix-D · #5 May 31st, 2005, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Instar said:
"We only hope he makes enough changes in his game to allow for a broader audience"
That statement struck me as very condescending. No offense, but man...

Not really. It fits with Shrapnel's general concept of retail as a place mostly for the shiny titles that sell a million copies and appeal mostly to the LCD, with everything else struggling to even break even.

Wolfman77 · #6 June 2nd, 2005, 01:29 PM

There is a large user base for the SE games, pretty much all will buy SEV regardless if its online or retail. Retail is the way to get the game infront of as many people as posible. I found the SEII demo on a group diskin the late 90's. I now have II,III,and IV, so it does get the game out there. If they don't overspend on advertising, they should do well. as far as the market for the game, civilization (just to name one) is still making new games, so there is most likely a good market for 4x games. as far as the lasting appeal to the geleral gamers, it needs alot of AI improvement over IV. not just for the opponents, but so you can do less micromanaging (if you want to) and have the computer do things apropriately. Bottom line though is, unless they overspend on advertizing the game will make more money going retail.

Phoenix-D · #7 June 2nd, 2005, 01:57 PM

Civilization is an exception. A decade long extremely well-selling exception..

Gandalf Parker · #8 June 2nd, 2005, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Wolfman77 said: Bottom line though is, unless they overspend on advertizing the game will make more money going retail.

That will probably be true but it doesnt always make it a good move. Some games going retail dont REALLY reach more of the correct audience than it would just being mentioned in magazines that target the same niche as the game.

Also more money doesnt mean more for people like the developer. Retail means a much longer wait fro profits and a much smaller slice of the overall pie.

There are other pros and cons to the change which makes it a possibly good thing for THIS developer and THIS game at THIS time. But I would for example not have considered the same action to have been a good thing for SEIV to have done, nor is it necessarily a good thing for SEVI. Luckily it seems that Aaron knows that.

Hugh Manatee · #9 June 2nd, 2005, 06:31 PM

Question, will Dungeon odessey ever hit retail? I always wanted to buy it, but it was lower on the list then SESF or SE4G, and last I checked it was only available for download....

CRAP! It doesn't even appear to be downloadable now....

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

Wolfman77 · #10 June 3rd, 2005, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Also more money doesnt mean more for people like the developer. Retail means a much longer wait fro profits and a much smaller slice of the overall pie.

Good point, Gandalf, having a retail store trying to make money off the game as well might cut into profits some, but then they will probably also raise the price to cover that. If you get a smaller piece, cut it from a bigger pie.

As far as the longer wait for profits, were you talking about longer development times to get the bugs fixed, eliminating (or at least reducing) the need for patches, or were you refering to something else.

No, narf, I just like wolves alot