Firstly if you haven't already be sure to check out the respective podcasts of:
They are good...sometimes they are funny...and occasionally...they talk about games!
Busey promotes Saints Row, Bill Roper Interview, EA: "Packaged Goods Won't Go Away"
After the jump...
From Joystiq & Gametrailers:
The Busey Promotes The Saints Row:
Okay...i love Gary Busey [pause], as much as the next sarcastic net-malcontent, but really? You're using this guy to push one of the bigger budgeted games of the year? True it is no GTA IV, but the fact that you have an 'ad campaign' would suggest that A) You have a good grip on your demographic's needs/wants and surely have hired the right people to execute properly the reflection of said needs and wants or B) You have a good grip on some booze and a healthy some of money and have decided to give up on a 'standard' marketing approach and go...as they say in Coolville, OH "Balls Out"
Here Digest Some Vids:
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Bill Roper speaks
"GFW: So Comerica's control is the IP...
BR: IP, code, tech, and tools. So to be honest, if I personally had the money, I'd buy it back out. The technology and the toolset that we built is a really powerful platform for creating titles. That was really the goal of what we were going to be doing at Flagship. We were going to be using the tech and tools -- using the platform -- [and] creating games based off of that as our core moving forward.
GFW: It has got to be painful to have been the creator of something, even just the tech and the code, let alone the game itself, and have that be owned by somebody else...
BR: Yeah. It really is. It was a decision that we made because we needed to get more money into the company. Comerica's been very good to work with. They've done a lot of movie funding, but funding game development is a new area they wanted to move into. We worked something out with them that worked pretty well for a while, but then, eventually, we weren't going to be able to meet the rest of the commitments. But we continue to work with them, even through this part of the process, really closely. I think that's another big difference now. I've talked with Comerica pretty much constantly. I haven't heard from Hanbitsoft in two months. So I'm not really sure what they're going to be doing. I know most of what I know reading the Internet."
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EA: Packaged goods won't go away in the next 20 years
So apparently games are getting huger. More enormosity, which pisses off the average downloader on a PC/Xbox 360/PS3 [come on were you really expecting to say the Wii?] this as a chain effect will keep the monopoly that is Gamestop printing money for years to come.
Article Link Here.