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[Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division's future goals. "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," Booty told employees]

#11

Gaming HQ / Re: News from the lovely world...

Last post by Jacob - Today at 01:50:04 PM

Some mixed signals:

Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division's future goals. "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge.

For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.

Hi-Fi Rush, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the PS2 era. Just four months after its release, Hi-Fi Rush hit 3 million players. During the 2023–2024 awards season, the game went on to win a Game Award, a Game Developers Choice award, and a BAFTA.

While Microsoft hasn't shared sales data, it was apparently happy with the game. When rumors swirled that it wasn't doing well commercially, Aaron Greenberg, vice president of Xbox games marketing, wrote on X that Hi-Fi Rush "was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations."

By all accounts, including Microsoft's own, Tango Gameworks made a hit and something wholly unlike anything it's made before. Before Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks was known exclusively for its survival horror games, including The Evil Within series and Ghostwire: Tokyo. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke about how important it was for Xbox to allow studios to make games outside their comfort zones.

"I want to give the teams the creative platform to go and push their ability, push their aspirations," Spencer said.

Hi-Fi Rush also represented Microsoft's commitment to bringing Japanese exclusives to the console. In an interview with Game Watch, a Japanese video game media outlet, Spencer praised Hi-Fi Rush for its "high quality" and said that players could "expect" to see more AAA titles from Japan, evoking the days when Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon were both exclusives on the Xbox 360. "While there are titles we can't announce yet," Spencer said in the September 2023 interview, translated by VGC, "we are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies." It's worth wondering if that's still the plan now that Tango is shut down.

Right now, small single-player games like Hi-Fi Rush are having a huge moment. Balatro, a poker roguelike made by a single developer, sold over 1 million copies in its first month. Manor Lords, another solo-dev project in early access on Steam, has also sold over 1 million copies. Hades 2 just released in early access and doubled its predecessor's all-time peak player count on Steam in a single day. Even the original Hades is climbing back up the Steam charts, breaking its all-time peak player count record just today almost four years after its initial release.

While we don't know exactly what sales goals Microsoft had for Hi-Fi Rush, clearly there is a demonstrated appetite for this kind of game, with Tango Gameworks positioned perfectly to deliver it. In fact, according to a report from Bloomberg, Tango Gameworks was in the process of pitching a sequel to Hi-Fi Rush before it got shut down.

With Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks gave Microsoft just what Booty says he wants: a small, creatively unique, highly praised, award-winning game. Booty's comments, then, suggest that Xbox's leaders couldn't recognize what they had on their hands — or simply didn't know how to take advantage of the success they were seeking out.

We reached out to Microsoft for comment.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/24152137/xbox-hi-fi-rush-tango-gameworks-matt-booty

#12

Off the Record / Re: Vote for your favorite Aus...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 01:06:58 PM

FPO guy looks exactly like expected.

#13

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Syt - Today at 12:42:25 PM

https://twitter.com/robertkennedyjr/status/1788311221776568666

#14

Off the Record / Re: 2024 Portuguese snap Legis...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - Today at 11:52:10 AM

Not that much these days, it seems. Either because of financial fair play regulations or because the Fosun money has dried up, or both, the relation with Mendes seems somewhat distant. The flop of Fabio Silva did wonders for that as well, alongside a very competent manager that seems outside of his orbit.

Seems you are trying to rationalise it. 

There is still a strong Portuguese presence that helps, of course, and while it has diminished recently, the football played has improved which compensates for that. I don't think it's related though 

Well, I am still skeptical.  No strong opinion though.

As you may know, in our generation at least, one doesn't chose a football club, he inherits it from his family. Mine (patrilineal line) is Sporting through and through. Not because of class, since they were at best, non-agrarian rural working class, but maybe because they were at its peak while my grandfather was young.

Seemed a bit freer up North, though I can see lots of people I know who went along. My father was not that much into football, though following it distantly. The Clubes do Regime slogan I picked from him, however.

Regarding Estrela, got to see them a couple of times this season and it was nice, relaxed when compared with what I was used to. One of them was a 2-1 win over Estoril in the last minute of overtime, which was epic.

(Un)fortunatelly since I'm moving to a different area this summer (one that doesn't support a football club in the first 2 divisions for tenths of kms) and I'm not a native of Amadora, not sure if I'll keep the interest in the club forward.

I thought they had gone under, I'm happy to see if they are still alive. They are one of the historicals after all, not among the Greats, of course. Waiting for Académica to resurrect. 

No thoughts about André Ventura, an infamous pro-Benfica troll on a trashy TV "news" channel? 

Yes, plenty of thoughts. Not nice ones though.

I would not have it any other way. 

[1 Bruno Fialho]

#15

Off the Record / Re: 2024 Portuguese snap Legis...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - Today at 11:45:27 AM

So what were the conclusions - who won, in what ways, and what does it mean for Portugal's future?

... and who were each of the people?

N° 1 Bruno Fialho

A loony candidate of the ADN party (sorry I did not come up with the idea), COVID skeptic if not denier who got his 15 minutes of fame on Portuguese TV by talking of the elephant in the room (the anti-COVID measures) during a debate with the other very minor candidates.


N°2 Inês de Sousa Real

From the PAN (Pessoas Animais Natureza) The Green candidate, more or less.


N°3 André Ventura

The Chega (Enough!) leader, a former PSD local politician who saw there was an opening after the collapse of the real conservative party, the CDS-PP (CDU light, German-style but pre-Merkel). Populist right, with a very effective social network communication and/or propaganda, but not exactly on the same page as Marine or Zemmour in France regarding the EU and NATO. He is anathema to the left.


N°4 Rui Tavares

Leader of the Livre party (free). Leftish, grass-roots centre-left/left green party.


N°5 Pedro Nuno Santos

PS leader. Spent the whole campaign contradicting himself, but given the horrendous hand he was given, did well. Almost on parity with PSD


N°6 Luis Montenegro (no connection with the Balkan country  )

™The Beach Boy™ PSD leader.
Refused to ally with André Ventura's party and is now paying the price for his political correctness. He won, but barely.
Seems to have some family connection not far from Bragança, from a village I know for having been there some times. Plu


N°7 Rui Rocha

Iniciativa Liberal leader, classical Liberal party (you can find them on LinkedIn!  ). Will and has supported the PSD (centre-right), from time to time.


N°8 Mariana Mortágua

Bloco de Esquerdas. Left-Wings Block
The far-left party, with Trots, Maos, whatever far left. Left of the PS, and not disciplined (stalinist?  ) enough to be part of the PCP. 
Oh, and one last thing:
Languish Darling vote is a lesbian, sorry.  Which may or may not turn some people on, at least here on Languish.

#16

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Barrister - Today at 11:24:23 AM

I believe it's a well established fact that obesity etc is becoming more widespread across Europe. There are some North-South trends (and East-West ones too?), but I believe overall everyone is getting fatter at varying rates.

So this is just a pretty low sample size of the 20 guys I play hockey with, but the younger guys are mostly all fat while the old guys aren't.  But also fitness can only make up for age up to a point.

#17

Off the Record / Re: 2024 Portuguese snap Legis...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - Today at 11:21:27 AM

I do not understand the results of this election:

Fair enough.

The Government, some kind of centrist alliance, has 80 seats

Centre-right, though by US or Texas standards, pinkos. 

The opposition has 150 seats

Extreme-left, communists, whatever Greenish/lefty, Centre-left, and "right of the right" (for lack of a better word.
So there is not much common ground. Mind you, the PSD leader refused to ally with the right of the right (populist right), under pressure from the PS, while some PSD barons disagreed.

Um...how does that work?

Minority government, so it does not, really, except on a case-to-case basis.

#18

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Jacob - Today at 11:20:22 AM

I believe it's a well established fact that obesity etc is becoming more widespread across Europe. There are some North-South trends (and East-West ones too?), but I believe overall everyone is getting fatter at varying rates.

#19

Off the Record / Re: 2024 Portuguese snap Legis...

Last post by clandestino - Today at 11:17:45 AM

I do not understand the results of this election:

The Government, some kind of centrist alliance, has 80 seats

The opposition has 150 seats

Um...how does that work?

So far, it doesn't.

I'll write a longer explanation answering Jacob question.

But regarding the math, it's pretty simple, since none of the top 3 parties ally each other, there isn't any viable stable majority, only ad-hoc alliances and jockeying for victimization so they can reap some possible rewards in an upcoming election, maybe still this year.

#20

Off the Record / Re: 2024 Portuguese snap Legis...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 11:04:50 AM

I do not understand the results of this election:

The Government, some kind of centrist alliance, has 80 seats

The opposition has 150 seats

Um...how does that work?