The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

[Spenny]

  On 4/2/2014 at 4:22 PM, Bjorn said:

Of course the biggest difference with Amazon is that they own their own game devs plus publisher, and they are probably a lot better situated to work professionally with both the big players and indies.

 

Yeah, you're totally right about that part. They are great to work with and do throw a lot of resources behind developers they're courting to their platform.

[JonCole]

The only apps it has at launch is Amazon and Hulu Plus. They promise all those other apps, but I'm not interested in buying it until it has them.

 

Good to know they are using an RF/wireless remote.

[SecretAsianMan]

This fills basically zero gaps in my life so I have no interest in buying one, but the fact that they have a game studio to actually make games for it means I'll keep an eye on it.

[Henroid]

Microsoft is having some sort of conference right now, and I'm trying to gather info on it. But a couple things.

 

They're dropping the licensing fee on Windows Phone, so there's a good move.

 

And if this tweet is to be believed, Windows 8 is finally going to have like a traditional Start menu. Sort of. It still has mobile-phone shit attached to the side it looks like? Or maybe that's in the background on the "desktop." I can't tell. Also Windows 8 is still shit in my mind and I'm not convinced.

[JonCole]

They dropped the license fee on Windows Phone, and they license fee of regular windows on devices with screens smaller than 9".

 

Windows 8 is indeed going to have a traditional Start menu that does integrate the live titles found on the Start screen.

 

I'm excited about Windows 8 Update mostly because 1) Metro apps that run Windowed in desktop mode increase the value of those apps to me by infinity percent and 2) cross-form factor apps mean that I may get interfaces for my Windows 8 tablet that are a little more tablet-friendly and are a little more desktop-friendly in their desktop mode, instead of an app that appears like it'd be good on a tablet but isn't and also is shit on desktop.

[SecretAsianMan]

Have they mention Siri Cortana at all?

[JonCole]

Extensively - 

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/2/5570866/cortana-windows-phone-8-1-digital-assistant

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/2/5570700/cortana-for-windows-phone-8-1-hands-on-video

 

The buzz on Twitter from tech journos was that it's basically the one thing that WP8.1 has over Android and Apple in a serious way. In every other way, WP8.1 seems to be playing catch up, though this latest update seems to be it's Android 4.0/iOS5 in terms of cohesiveness and vision.

[Zeusthecat]

So is the Windows 8.1 update going to be available for all phones currently running Windows 8 or will it only work with new hardware?

 

After having had it for over a year now, I still really like my Windows 8 phone but I haven't heard much about their phones in recent months so I've been a little concerned that interest has been waning. I'll be up for an upgrade soon and I'm on the fence about whether I should stick with the Windows phone in the hope that it will continue to receive support and gain more features/apps or if I should jump ship back to Android.

[JonCole]

All phones running Windows Phone 8 will be upgradeable to Windows Phone 8.1.

[SecretAsianMan]

Looks like Kim Swift and Clint Hocking have both joined Amazon Game Studios.  Their console thing is suddenly looking much more interesting.

[Bjorn]

  On 4/2/2014 at 8:05 PM, SecretAsianMan said:

Looks like Kim Swift and Clint Hocking have both joined Amazon Game Studios.  Their console thing is suddenly looking much more interesting.

 

Seriously, not some post April Fools joke?

[Dewar]

  On 4/1/2014 at 5:38 PM, Bjorn said:

I'm only partway through this, but this piece on the absolute implosion of the GAME_JAM is super interesting. 

 

Thank you for all of the posts regarding this. It was in my peripheral vision, but I hadn't actually read any of the information out there about it.

[Dewar]

  On 4/2/2014 at 7:05 PM, Zeusthecat said:

So is the Windows 8.1 update going to be available for all phones currently running Windows 8 or will it only work with new hardware?

 

After having had it for over a year now, I still really like my Windows 8 phone but I haven't heard much about their phones in recent months so I've been a little concerned that interest has been waning. I'll be up for an upgrade soon and I'm on the fence about whether I should stick with the Windows phone in the hope that it will continue to receive support and gain more features/apps or if I should jump ship back to Android.

 

I've been feeling the same way Zeus.

[Justin Leego]

  On 4/2/2014 at 8:09 PM, Bjorn said:

Seriously, not some post April Fools joke?

 

For really reals.

[sclpls]

  On 4/2/2014 at 8:05 PM, SecretAsianMan said:

Looks like Kim Swift and Clint Hocking have both joined Amazon Game Studios.  Their console thing is suddenly looking much more interesting.

 

Well that was... unexpected.

[Bjorn]

  On 4/2/2014 at 9:45 PM, sclpls said:

Well that was... unexpected.

 

A grenade rolls down a hill and through a portal...

[SecretAsianMan]

  On 4/2/2014 at 4:55 PM, JonCole said:

The only apps it has at launch is Amazon and Hulu Plus. They promise all those other apps, but I'm not interested in buying it until it has them.

 

Good to know they are using an RF/wireless remote.

 

It looks like the Fire TV is going to use the existing Amazon Android app store to deliver content, which includes things like Netflix.  Maybe the Amazon and Hulu Plus apps will come preloaded, but it seems like the other stuff is available now.

[JonCole]

Huh, I wonder if there's any optimization for those Android apps. I think Google rightly tried to develop two separate ecosystems for TV and mobile, but ultimately failed in their TV offering so they moved Android apps to Google TV. Without optimization, I can imagine that certain apps certainly may work but I don't know if I'd actually want to use them if their interface is comparably poor to the baked in apps from Amazon.

[Bjorn]

This is an unexpected headline:  Halo, Destiny composer O'Donnell says he was fired 'without cause'

[Denial]

Because a lot of games journalists don't have much HR experience, so this might not be said, it's worth noting that "terminated without cause", which is what o'Donnell says, is not the same as "terminated without explanation" or "terminated unfairly". Washington state is not (yet) a right-to-work state, so if you terminate someone (outside certain situations) you need either to compensate them according to their contract/state law or demonstrate that you have "just cause".

 

"Without cause" here is o'Donnell clarifying immediately that he wasn't terminated due to wrongdoing or poor performance, for example, but rather that he was terminated for a reason that doesn't legally count as "just cause". It's an assertion that he was a good employee, essentially.

[Bjorn]

I was just honestly surprised they let him go at all, he's been as iconic a figure at Bungie as any developer there.  And that it wasn't handled in a better way, seems like there was a real opportunity there to do something positive, and instead you get headlines like that.

 

It's always been surprising that Bungie had a staff composer in the first place. 

[JonCole]

  On 4/16/2014 at 4:03 PM, Denial said:

Because a lot of games journalists don't have much HR experience, so this might not be said, it's worth noting that "terminated without cause", which is what o'Donnell says, is not the same as "terminated without explanation" or "terminated unfairly". Washington state is not (yet) a right-to-work state, so if you terminate someone (outside certain situations) you need either to compensate them according to their contract/state law or demonstrate that you have "just cause".

 

"Without cause" here is o'Donnell clarifying immediately that he wasn't terminated due to wrongdoing or poor performance, for example, but rather that he was terminated for a reason that doesn't legally count as "just cause". It's an assertion that he was a good employee, essentially.

 

That's actually a very interesting point. I've lived in right-to-work states all my life, so it didn't quite click that being fired in a non-rtw state could mean something different.

[tberton]

Yeah, from what I understand, most terminations are classified as "without cause." If you give cause, that opens up all sorts of legal issues.

[Dewar]

Washington is also an "at will" state though, so they can terminate you without explanation if they so choose.

 

http://www.lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/ComplainDiscrim/Termination/

[Denial]

Absolutely - you can terminate someone for any reason or no reason in Washington state, unless there's a contract prohibiting that - in which case you'd need to fire them "for cause", or persuade them to leave or accept a buy-out or other settlement. Uncontracted workers are usually terminated without cause, for ease of administration, I think. But "with cause" would mean something very different...

(Contrast that with e.g. West and Zampella at Infinity Ward - they were contracted employees Activision terminated with cause, and the legal dispute between those parties was in large part about whether that cause was actually a just cause - whether they had done something that entitled Activision to fire them. The argument was basically "who violated the contract first?")