Morning DLC: Video Games News And Rumors 7/16/13
By Nick Tylwalk
"Ubisoft’s senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key has said that unless a game can be turned into a franchise, Ubisoft will not make it.During an interview with [a]list daily Tony Key revealed that it is too expensive to simply “fire and forget.” If a game doesn’t have franchise potential, Ubisoft will not begin development.Key says that the plan is to “absolutely” have Watch Dogs be the foundation for a larger franchise, explaining “that’s what all our games are about; we won’t even start if we don’t think we can build a franchise out of it.”"
"Imagine a video game that doesn’t aim to pass the time but instead to slow it down. One that doesn’t encourage binging, but rather asks the player to inhabit time and feel its passing more intensely. There are already movements for slow food, slow travel, even slow parenting. Why not slow games? Games that aren’t merely nonviolent or cerebral but that purposely take their time, that resist players and delay gratification, that reveal themselves only gradually and require more deliberate engagement. Games that emphasize texture, tone, and the very experience of time itself, both in and outside the game."
"American McGee has abandoned the attempt to crowdfund his warped vision of the land of Oz in favor of another project: to secure the film rights to the Alice franchise.McGee had originally included the film rights as a stretch goal for the OZombie game, as well as some Alice goodies for higher pledge tiers, but funding was slow and it was obvious that goal would not be reached. In announcing the cancellation, McGee said the Alice film rights had to take precedence for crowdfunding, so the Oz project needed to be terminated. He said that, while the decision was difficult, he was being realistic."