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Originally Posted by Porksta
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Hilarious website. I am wowed by the ridiculousness of the offenders. Xbox Live Enforcer seems like a fun job for the first four to six weeks. Definitely not something I'd want to do for any long amount of time.
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In regards to the Double Fine Kickstarter adventures, it's interesting to see a developer kick the publisher out of the equation. Publishers do still have relevancy, tho. What Double Fine raised is nice for a point-and-click adventure game, but they'll still need real money to produce high-level games and for marketing and production costs.
While production costs will plummet when digital distribution takes over, I think marketing costs would have to increase—especially if companies implement systems into the next generation of consoles that discourage and prohibit friends sharing games with friends. Outside of storing games on discs, what the physical copy does is market and get that game out there in the public. People visit places like Wal-Mart and Target, and browse the video game aisle for their kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews. Remove that section, and game titles, not video games, will lose exposure. A good example: The Imagine series. I imagine many not-quite-so-video-game-savvy parents and grandparents bought those games while just browsing the store.
Times will be interesting when video game consoles evolve to where physical media is dropped in favor of digital distribution or streaming. However, that won't be any time soon. There have been recent news polls that state around 40-percent of people in the U.S. don't have broadband internet. I think technology adoption will improve to where the next-next generation will be ready for digital distribution and streaming-based consoles.