Issue : People : Boycott

A Story About My Uncle is a story about the movement.

So Verizon is getting into the cloud game streaming business huh? Cool. It's funny how the future is in plain sight at the moment and people who make their livings on the moment not changing look at it and go, "Ah, the meteors coming, good thing I'm not a dinosaur."

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Sony are all going in on cloud streaming. Usually, when the heavyweights limp into a pot it's not that big of a deal, they are just putting seed money in to see what grows. This is different, here's why.

Game streaming for video games has tried and failed to be a thing for the last ten years. A lot of problems with the concept in general, but the biggest one is latency. The service streaming the game needs to be really fast to be worth a shot or else the game looks choppy and unplayable. The service has to be really good at digital delivery and stock the best stuff or else the service is just another shitty platform charging you for wack things. And the business has to be trusted and rich and powerful in order to get developers to bend the knee.

Google fixes those problems, Amazon fixes those problems, Microsoft sort of fixes those problems. They are not some rando dreamer coming out of left field, they watched the Onlives and Gamefly's live and die. They have a long term plan,  and I'm with it.

And this situation allows everyone to eat. Game consoles still get to eat and no longer have to worry about stocking disks, developers still get to eat through licencing with the cloud service and more people have incentive to play their game cause it's not 60 bucks, and fans get to literally eat because they don't have to buy expensive equipment and can pay for all the best games with a Netflix style subscription.

There are some losers in this but well, is what it is.

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, A Story About My Uncle. It came out in 2014 but it's free on Steam today. It's platforming bliss, worth checking out. Shouts to info, rip TB, rip TC, rip Tall-T. Love is this and hate is that, mess with this. Also Jobs.

The Protocultue Mixtape : Issue : Games : Perspicacious  

Issue : Games : Syllogism

Resident Evil 2 is a game about houses.

Jesus Epic is thirsty. It's like they hired some marketing agency with a political lean and their plan is to attack, defend, and befriend everyone in the industry and take pictures of it all like a teenager on Instagram whenever they buy any kind of food.

I have been reading about this Epic and Improbable situation everywhere, and just like everyone else I imagine I read it as "Epic is in an Improbable situation." I didn't realize I am expected to know who Improbable is, and if I don't, I am just a fucking moron that shouldn't be reading these deep state communications about the super important SpatialOS issues going on that have the industry teetering on the brink of collapse.

Let me save you a Google (pun sort of intended).

Improbably is a tech company that makes simulation software. Simulation software uses math to fake real life shit. For instance, the software can make an algorithm that can visually show you how a wave will behave when the wind is like this and the moon is like that. Or show you how traffic moves in LA, which is something a still life painter could do as well, but whatever.

Anyway, that all leads into a video game engine called Unity. A game engine is a development environment people use to make video games. Literally two wack games have been made with SpatialOS technology in Unity so far. At the end of the year, Unity decided to make it so people can't make games with SpatialOS. People got hurt by that, because of feelings.

Epic makes Fortnight, and they make a video game engine called Unreal Engine. They really, really want people to use Unreal Engine. So when Unity stopped being friends with SpatialOS, wonder what Epic did. Oh, wait, yeah they made a big deal about how everyone that has not been using SpatialOS since 2012 to make games should be using SpatialOS to make games and we will give you 20 something million dollars to not use Unity anymore and make games on Unreal Engine.

Hopefully one day these companies will realize that the infighting is the problem, it ain't cute and the net-net is a lack of fun games which will kill them all one by one as they fight while the kids are in the room. Also, people don't play procedurally generated simulation games because life isn't fun, we don't want a recreation of it with a medieval coat of paint on top.

Developers of true skill are eating top ramen and struggling to create compelling experiences, not roll the dice on the idea that players will flock to the new tech on the "hot" platform. This is crazy town and the crazy town chamber of commerce are deciding to have fistfights on the floor of city hall and for the love of god what is going on with Randy?!? Messy. Just. Messy.

Anyway, did I even link to a game today? Oh shit I did, coo. It's a 30-minute demo for Resident Evil 2 upgrade. It's got better graphics so you should buy it. Which is what I have been saying this whole post. If something has better graphics then you should buy it. Oh, and make all of your personal greviances public, oh and hire a marketing team outside of your industry, and buy one of my books, and be at  my fuckin TED talk.

Also rip TB rip TC rip Tall-T. Love is a tall order in this world but its worth it, hate is a warehouse full of worthless nic-nacs. Get out there and do great things I believe in you. Keep going, you got this. Also Jerbz.
 
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Specious

Issue : Games : Venal

Katamari Damacy REROLL is a game about the corporation.

Bungie split from Activision, and they get to keep the kid. That legit just happened. I don't know what to say. I'm not aware of too many things, I know what I know if you know what I mean, but this is major.

This is more than a shot across the bow, this is more than a strongly worded response to a AAA publishers dismissive and reductive comment. This is looking the problem right in the eye and saying, "This isn't working."

But much like the Lybians learned revolt is the easy part. Freedom is a totally other shit show. Which parts of the mess were Activision, which were Bungie. Why did Microsoft let them go, why in the world would Activision? Can the team of heroes go it alone?

Who knows, but now they have a chance to try.

What happens next for Blizzard? No one in media is going to talk about it until someone talks about it. So I'll talk about it. Activision's Chief financial officers and half of the heroes of destiny (no pun unintended) on the finance team jumped ship a while back. Bobby crowned new lords of the realm in a desperate attempt to keep power, Now a marquee developer for the company is gone. Taking on hella water, they are.

How is the stock doing welp down 6 as of the end of trading yesterday well shit man, Activision is legit in the muck. I would say about time, but this happening is a precursor to the "course correction" in gaming all of the analysts have been talking about. Everyone is gonna have a bad time. It's the 80's all over again. 

Course correction in its simplest terms mean people have been making a lot of money and taking a lot of risks for a really long time and now there is less money to be made so less risk will be taken and also less money to be shared among people waiting on the long term benefits of said risk to pan out.

All of the risk-taking and money making started around 2008, this is around the time Activision acquired Blizzard and Bungie, this is around the time people decided esports and VR was going to dominate in ten years. Shit is just not working out the way people that have no idea how things work predicted things would work. Time to scale back, bout fucking time if you ask me.

Video game kids, don't sell your works to corporations, you will need your soul later. Thank you Bungie, this is hope. Best of luck.

Also I see you information waddup also rest in peace TB rest in peace TC rest in peace Tall-T. Love is love hatred is not love, off the rip go out and do great things I literally believe in you, personally. Not kidding, Also Jerbz.

The Protocutlure Mixtape : Issue : People : Venum 

Issue : People : Behest

SteamProphet is a game about the game of submission.

Didn't I just talk about this? How would Epic attract developers on the enterprise level? Turns out it is easy, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Turns out Epic is just gonna brute force its way in through the grand sales of The Division 2. Oh, wait the marquee is Division 2? Oh. Ok.

I can't call it, man. Video games mostly suck nowadays, and to be 100 stack emoji with you all Steam has been fucking up for a long time. It's just too much shit on there of crap quality, and when it was a walled garden there was just too much-controlled crap on there. Fine, I admit it.

But is this street fight the answer for independent developers who are crying for better curation of their games and better opportunity to make a buck? Sure the cut on Epic is lower but once again what does that matter when no one can find your game? What does that matter when a publisher is charging 80% before the cut Epic takes. Say any of them win, what does "Amazon for digital delivery" do to help the industry over the company that becomes it?

You could have all the money in the world, means nothing you can't keep the people that cared about you from the start happy. Shouts to Bezos.

The answer is none of it matters because the digital platform is out for itself, the major developers are out for themselves, and the indies are out for themselves. Only two of those variables have the money and pull to survive out there alone in this real-time survival sim.

Which sucks because the possibility of indies even existing is a very small window, from when console-based games on cartridges controlled the industry to when PC's and PC developed games got inexpensive enough to allow the garden to grow. Then we see the Majors losing ground, then we see the Minecraft outselling the Warcraft, then we see the yoke beginning to slip off the little guys and girls with big sell dreams. None of that, kiddos.

Who knows, maybe this is just the market correcting itself, maybe this is a sign that the independent gaming market is about to enter a golden age of freedom and profit. Maybe young black kids can go to the corner store at night in a California street and not have to worry about gangs or cops or lions or tigers or bears. We can dream.

Either way, let's all just see what happens.

Shouts to information, rest in peace TB rest in peace TC rest in peace Tall-T. Love is snoochie hatred is boochie, get out there and do great things I believe in you also jerbz and shit.

The protoculture mixtape : Issue : Games : Bidding

Issue : Games : Malinger

Aground is a game about digging in.

Paris is burning, has been for a bunch of weeks now. Is what it is, everywhere is burning, so I hear.
Other interesting situations in Paris, let me tell you. Well, I only know about the burning thing and this actually, I oversold.

Ok, so there is this video game company called Eugen Systems. They make the most middle of the road wargames a company can make like Steel Division and not many others. The staff of Eugen systems went on strike because their pay was looking funny. A few days ago the people that went on strike got fired. It happens.

The thing about the layoff though is that Eugen Systems says they fired the people because of "inappropriate tool use." That's weird, I wonder if this is the first time a company has used superfluous reasoning to fire agitators in the organization.

I wonder if this act will discourage employees in the company from speaking up. I wonder if the act of firing them is a tool to control the situation. The story has about four spins in gaming media outlets. Literally, no one cares about this issue except the people being hurt by it. Outrage over shitty industry practices get clicks, workers dying cold and hollow deaths in the middle of the night is just sad. Where is the spice?

STJV cares, bless their hearts. On the subject, I am kinda like a preacher that has lost faith in God but is hanging on to faith in time. It can't be like this in gaming forever but it's not gonna change in my lifetime, I get that. And the people fighting for change right now will all lose, and I get that, and there will be no parades or remembrances for them, and I get that. And money and opportunity will all flow down the wrong end of the stream for a very long time, and I get that, and that's ok.

Doesn't make it right.

Anyway, Aground is fun check it out, and good luck, Frenchies. Also rest in peace TB rest in peace TC and rest in peace Tall-T. Love is wise hatred ain't worth the time and Jerbz.

The Protoculture Mixtape: Issue : People : Surplus 

Issue : People : Demotic

Blade and Sorcery is a game about perspective.

Course correcting the video game industry is at times literally the easiest job in the world. The narrative is so easy to manipulate all you have to do is listen to what people say they want, give them the complete opposite, and then tell them that what has been provided is what they really needed all along.

Case in point, this new "PC platform war" that is totally necessary and totally heating up.

Prior to the launch of Epic's new launcher, the problem with digital delivery platforms from the public was that there were too many of them. Forums full of people complaining about having to launch through Battle.net, and Uplay, and Steam, and everywhere else. People wanted a unified library for their games and a unified platform to shop on.

Prior to the launch of Epic's new launcher, the problem with digital delivery platforms from small developers was curation. Steam became an open fire hose and no amount of marketing was going to get them noticed. Revenue share means nothing if the game isn't pulling in revenue.

Prior to the launch of Epic's new launcher, the problem with digital delivery platforms from large developers was greed. Why work through a unified launcher on a company who is putting out a competing product? Why share the money with my rival? Why work together with anyone at all?

Post launch of Epic's new launcher none of these seem to be problems anymore. Turns out the real problem was that there were not enough digital delivery platforms fighting for market share? Go figure.

Epic's talking points won. Shout's to Epic PR for convincing every journalist in the gaming industry to lockstep with the idea that its launcher is not only necessary but that the idea of its existence should not be challenged as possibly a bad, destabilizing, troubling step back for the industry at all. I know it's not a hard job. Just send out the press kit, sauce up the wording, and wait for a couple established chains to push the agenda and the rest of the industry will fall in line.

Then it is just a matter of paying for a really loud bullhorn and screaming about how cool the games are and how much golden wheat and honey developers are going to get. Loud enough to make sure no one notices curation on the platform has not only not been addressed, but it is also demonstrably worse than the industry standard.

That revenue share has been paid lip service but there are no bullet points on how small developers will get more people to see their game in order to benefit from the share, or how any large developers would benefit from jumping ship to the platform en masse to work with Epic on an enterprise level for the benefit of growing the gaming community, not just Tencent's YoY.

Because at the beginning when there was literally not this industry in existence and Valve went hat in hand to developers begging them to take a chance on unity, risk and all, that is what they needed to have in the deck. The entitlement this industry displays at times is staggering.

Anyway, Blade and Sorcery is lit, you should pull the VR rig out of the attic and dust it off. Then put it back up there till another VR title worth your time comes out in 2024. Also, rest in peace TB (who disagreed with me vehemently on this issue), rest in peace TC, rest in peace Tall-T. Love is smaht, hate dum. Do great things, I believe in you. Also Jerbz.

The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : Games : Stilted 

Issue : Games : Paradigm

Log Jammers is a game about jammin' on logs. Don't overthink it.

Soulja Boy Tell'em. For fuck sake man why did you do this?

I don't want to have to talk about how Soulja Boy lent his name to rip off video game consoles and then doubled down by telling Nintendo, one of the single most litigious and brand protective companies in the world to eat a dick up until the hiccup, only to have that company blow his mind by doing exactly what every single human being in the world except him knew they were going to do, which is, to eat his dick up, till they hiccupped.

I should take the advice I laid out in the second sentence and not overthink it. Some dummy tried to reach for a quick buck and got his hand slapped. Big deal.

Problem is that the video game biz is super racist, another mind-blowing revelation, I wish it was about a dumb guy out for a quick buck, but to those folks, it's going to be seen as black predator molests innocence or some shit. So now every business-minded black entrepreneur in the gaming industry has to address the Soulja Boy scenario just like ever black music promoter has to vocally disavow JA Rule to swerve Fire Island questions.

It's not like every baseball player who wants to make a video game needs to explain why they are not Curt Schilling. Oh, shit, I just realized Curt's name is a pun for what he did, that's fire I'm gonna write that one down. Not Ja Rule Fire, it's like fire... oh shit I'm doing it right now.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, how Activision-Blizzards CFO's are jumping ship fast as they can. I don't blame them, a blood sacrifice was required and the writing was on the wall. One for Netflix, one for Square (Not that Square, the lame one), and nine for the realms of man.

It's almost as if the mainstream business industry that got on board in 2008 is realizing that the video game industry is a toxic shit show run like Lord of the Flies and practical business methods bounce off it like good advice posted on a Reddit thread and are running away full stride from a Tinder date that seemed super chill till they started full throat yelling at the waiter at Denny's cause their Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity was "Comin' too slow." Whoda thunk?

Wait, I was talking about Soulja Boy, wasn't I. I don't know man... That is just kinda funny now that I think about it. It's not that serious. Anyway shouts to Information, Rest in Peace TB, Rest in Peace TC, Rest in Peace Tall-T. Love is wise hatred ain't worth the time. If you wanna make a game lets do great things, also Jobs.

The Protoculture Mixtape: Issue : People: Pattern