Easy Allies Podcast #81 - October 11th 2017

Bit late now but I just wanted to say that blue shells are evil because they come from randomised loot boxes... Just kidding. Blue shells are CLUTCH when in first place. No matter who you are playing you'll usually find one or two players at a distance behind you who could benefit from you being hit by a blue shell. Luckily for you, your the person in first place. Watch the blue shell. How long does it have to hit? Start slowing down, abruptly if needs be (depending on time till impact), but ideally so those hot on your heels look at their opportunity to overtake you and ignore the fact doing so will lead to their demise. If you time this right you simply hit the brakes! If done right you'll now be in second but you'll also have started accelerating at the moment the greedy buggers have past you. They'll take the hit and you'll swiftly retake first place. Then, with a bit of skill and a smug grin, you'll be rolling across the finish line in reverse.

I don't think Jones picked something to have a final word on.

Tony

Please on the next podcast discuss the ethical nature of Lootboxes and how it is manipulating adults and even children into gambling tendencies because that is exactly what lootboxes are. And you should be mad at publishers, they earn more than enough money, there is no way that they are losing money unless the game is a complete flop.

I do believe there can be a line drawn before things going too far without preemptively killing anything that "might" go too far, experimentation is key to innovation in the long run. In fact I believe that a company should go too far so that the backlash resulted can awaken the player base to where the line should be drawn from then on, it is important not to kill an experiment before results are in, doing so will only cause the topic to stay controversial way longer than it should be.

BHL

There is just one other thing I wanted to say. I think I’ve probably made my stance on loot boxes pretty clear, I despise them, and I do so because I believe them to be a predatory tactic designed with the sole purpose of gouging the people who are likely a game's biggest fans. As you guys pointed out, these companies need to make money, and I’m all for that. I want them to be successful because at the end of the day, they are the ones making the thing I love, the games. As Kyle rightly pointed out, if we removed loot boxes then that would be less lucrative for some companies, but I don’t think that’s necessarily as bad a thing as it sounds at first. Did Blizzard really need to make 3.6 billion dollars from microtransactions alone last year? Did Fifa, a singular game, really need to make 800 million pounds (a little over 1 billion dollars) from them last year? As Jim Sterling so eloquently put it in a video he made a few days ago, “at some point a need, has been overtaken by a greed” The problem I have with this, is that greed is going to end up not only just hurting consumers, but also other smaller companies and developers too. Now when a smaller or independent studio i.e. the one’s who genuinely really do need that extra income, tries to add microtransactions, they will be slated by fans, because they are seen to be doing exactly what the bigger companies are doing, and will be labeled as being motivated by that same greed. I firmly believe, that there are simply better and fairer ways these companies can be profitable without treating their fans like dirt in the process, and maybe that results in a little less profit for the big boys, but personally, I’d be okay with that.

BeatenDownBrian

So, I’m glad you guys at least broached the subject of loot boxes, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed that you didn't actually dig any deeper into the issue, instead of just offering solutions on how to fix them, which personally, I don’t think is even possible. This is the attitude that I’m afraid of, one where people sit back and accept them as an inevitability, I still think we are at an early enough stage to address these exploitive business practices, if enough voices speak up. In my opinion, and as another commenter pointed out, there was a far more interesting conversation to be had here, involving the morality of loot boxes, and I wish you hadn't backed away from it. It’s not that I want you guys to talk about this stuff all the time, that's not what this is, but rather that this week I believe you had a golden opportunity to address the issue, but choose not to. Sometimes I like suggesting these types of subjects for L&R, that are maybe not fun, and will hopefully challenge you, but it’s not because I want to see you squirm, or make you uncomfortable, it's because I respect your opinions, and I believe you all to be more than capable of having an intelligent, and insightful conversation that covers these topics in a meaningful way, just like you did with the whole Pewdiepie debacle a few weeks ago. L&R

BeatenDownBrian

A wrong needed to be made right.

CORRECTION: The bad Nintendo IP is Mario Party. A collection of garbage games, inside a larger garbage game, does not a quality game make.

Now that's a really interesting idea. I agree with you

Mango

While not loot boxes I think Nintendo has something to model on the FTP market that could be adopted (assuming that the boxes are not going away). They make a soft cap of how much to spend in some titles where after x dollars you get a set amount of the premium currency daily forever. That way devs get the cash they want and players stay engaged because they need to log in to cash out on the currency. Magicarp and Pokemon Picross did this model and while I never bought anything of the currency it seemed more fair for players who would or could.

Zugdar

Great podcast hard to believe the year is almost up. I feel like I just got to know the purple platopie(you spell it).

Princess Bride! :)

jif52

Correction: Capcom said that people buying launch would never have to buy a new disc version again. Which is true. The point was in the past the new versions of Street fighter IV would make the old one obsolete and force people to upgrade and thus fracture the user base. Arcade Edition is just a GOTY edition by another name. All balancing and gameplay aspects stay unified regardless of the version purchased. See also Mortal Kombat XL edition

Greg Kettering

The Squaresoft "Fighting Fantasy" rights clash in Europe was with a line of Choose Your Own Adventure books (and later board games) of the same name. The books were co-created by one Ian Livingstone who used the money he earned to fund a video games company that would later become Eidos Interactive... who in turn were bought by... Square Enix. O.o

Thanks for the help with the research, Allies! I'll be sure to acknowledge you all. If anyone else has thoughts on the Blue Shell feel free to let me know :)

Alex McMillan

Jigarbov is a hero for putting in that Princess Bride line

Nicholas Poer

I would have really liked if you guys would have discussed the morality of loot boxes as apposed to trying to "fix" them, because they will never be fixed. They are specifically designed to be exploitative - to prey on the human nature of addiction and validation. Also, I personally think video games with loot boxes should be given an 18+/M rating. It is gambling through and through, no question or shadow of a doubt in my mind, no matter what technicalities the ESRB and PEGI want to feed us with.

CORRECTION: P.T. was mentioned as an example during the working title game. Silent Hills was not a working title though and P.T. is just the name for the demo.

Tetsujin

How much of the loot box problem is publishers rather then developers? What would happen if more devs made games without publishers? What about if devs didn't have to worry about shareholders?

Chris H

Loot boxes should never be tied to real money.

Chris H

60 may not be enough on its own but they make deals with other brands/companies like food brands for cross promotion and make money off then as well. Look at CoD and FFXV.

Chris H

Laughed out loud many times during this podcast.

Backlog Crusader

I like the new setup, but the lighting needs some work, you look like four raspberries on a bench.

Question for next week : In regards to the fighting games success or failure in the videogame charts and relevance after 1/2 years, I got one question. Do you think fighting games are failing because they concentrate on E-sport features, modes, and depth of gameplay, instead of focusing on accessibility, fun, and a meaningful content (like we saw with Injustice 2) ? Bonus question : Am I the only one thinking journalists and youtubers should stop judging fighting games on whether they have an e-sport future, or whether they are big in the e-sports community ? L&R Terence

Térence Caron

I think if they implemented the Pokémon Trading Card game model it might fix loot boxes. For those unfamiliar there’s three ways of acquiring Packs in game. You buy real life packs (which nets you ten cards and a code that you enter in game), you can use in game coins (which you earn by winning card battles) or you buy (with real money) in game diamonds and spend them on packs, you can also receive random packs here and there (every 5 log ins you get a pack). So what exactly from this would fix loot boxes? The ability to TRADE loot boxes for items you actually want. So Within PTCGO any code you purchased can be traded (so let’s say you want a rare card, the marketplace might deem its value at 10 packs so you buy the real life packs and trade for it in game). Packs/cards from said packs bought with in game coins cannot be traded but those bought with diamonds can be. Generally you open the packs you get free or with coins. Another thing is that you can earn tickets (by winning card battles) which can then be used to enter tournaments. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th place will earn packs that can be traded. Keep in mind that the Pokémon game is free, and buying packs is how you play the game. I’ve gotten by with spending minimal amounts and while meta decks can be found often they’re beatable.

My problem with Pay 2 Win loot boxes in single player games is that it sets a bad precedent. I want to paraphrase the streamer CohhCarnage. He's talked about this, most recently with Shadow of War but also about the latest Deus Ex where you could buy skill points for real money. Sure, it helps speed up the game for people who don't have enough time as everyone else but still want to experience it. But what happens when the "corporate suits" start to invade more and more on the design of the game. We see it in Shadow of War for example. You hide the so called "true ending" behind a giant grind that encourages people to pay to skip it. They make parts of their game boring to get you to pay for a way to get past it faster. What if, like in Deus Ex, more companies start implementing paid skill points and then make leveling up a really bad experience?

Olf Himself

CONFESSION: In Overwatch PvP, I’ve placed in 1st with Junkrat’s death explosion as my final kill on more than a few occasions...and it feels so good. To balance karma, I strictly play as Doomfist after I get my weeklies, since I am terrible with him.

Larry DuPreez III

confirmed by Batman himself. worth it.

CORRECTION: There were 2 Blinx games: "Blinx: The Time Sweeper" and "Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space" (Check out the cover art for the second game, btw. Pretty epic)

Larry DuPreez III

battlefront 2 seems crazy as a full price game and frankly lazy, it seems like they can't put in the effort to make cosmetic upgrades appealing enough so they had to tie the lootboxs into progression and they are not small things either, one example is a card that lets you take 50%/60%75% and 100% less damage(aka 0 damage for that last one depending on rarity) while using one of bobba fetts skills. not to mention the rate seems very slow

Michael James Hudson-kohlmeyer

CORRECTION Capcom did not say they will not release another version of Street Fighter V. They said this is the only copy you need. All they did was make a GOTY edition. What they did in Street Fighter 4 is that the player base had to buy the latest version because the old games didn't get the updates, character and new modes.

Ibrahim Sozer

I never buy any loot boxes, but I would definitely buy costumes or other stuff without the randomness. And 60$ is simply not enough any more. Games in Germany often cost around 70-75€ (83-89$). That's normal and considering that prices hardly changed over the years, this is also appropriate.

Timo Arnken

The reason why almost nobody hated the loot boxes in Injustice 2? Because you can't buy them with real money! They must all be earned ingame. The randomized system might suck but at least you aren't tempted to open your wallet every time you get crap...

Dang, I keep forgetting!! I really need this to happen

Easy Allies

Entertaining show again guys. I forget, but wasn't the segment "what's in Damianis cup" supposed to come back the next time he was on the show?

Derrick DesRoches

Alsoooo...Princess Bride is better than Shrek

Bdun912

that batman voice

That Batman voice sounds more like that Rockstar trailer voice.

Eric C.

Hear, hear. While I can myself manage to ignore lootboxes, the fact that loot box systems inherently make their massive profits by taking advantage of people who are susceptible to impulsive gambling is deplorable. Just because something doesn't negatively affect oneself, doesn't mean it should be shrugged off or tolerated when it actively takes advantage of others.

Brandon your faith in publisher principles is amazing. I wish I had that kind of optimistic outlook on it. My issue with loot boxes is that I don't believe that they are ever about making the budget balance. It's not about making it so that they can keep making more games, or atleast it doesn't feel that way to me. It seems to me it's all about making the absolute most money you possibly ever could. Which as a business principle I can understand but fundamentally disagree with. Another issue is that video games already can be an addictive trigger for some people and this introduces a very negative opportunity to prime youth towards gambling practices which again is a personal disapproval I have on the whole thing. I appreciated the discussion you guys had on the topic, it was interesting to hear your thoughts and I agree that it isn't going anywhere but that only serves to make me feel sad and old as I pine for the good old days of gaming

Mango

The red's just a gel. Easily changeable if it doesn't work out. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I know you guys just spent a bunch of money on the new lights...but I'm honestly not a big fan of the red coloring

Brandon Ray

The part with Jones and the bug was so so so cute!

MBUN

The creators of Assassin’s Creed at least expressed that loot boxes cannottttt be bought with actual money, only in game money as part of the economy in it. :)

Private video :'( Edit: Its up now :)