The article says Double Helix is being acquired for "both talent and IP," which... I can't fathom what IP Double Helix owns, unless it's IP from a game or games that haven't been released or even announced yet. They've worked on mostly licensed games, and I don't think Shiny owned the Earthworm Jim IP when the merger happened.<p>As for this rumored $300 Amazon console... huh? That's more than a 360, which still is getting some new games and has a massive back catalog. It's more than a WiiU, which has support of some of the most popular video game IP ever and some really good first-party developers and is still struggling from lack of third-party support. An Amazon console priced like a Ouya and targeting that niche, I can see. But a full-priced console? It's going to take far more than one AAA developer that has focused almost entirely on licensed IP to support that.
I've always felt a bit awkward about people from Shiny, who used to create ridiculously creative games back in the day, churning out games based on Hollywood film franchises. I'm not really sure how to feel about this development, too.<p>(Note: I haven't played anything from Double Helix's current output, so I could be very wrong about feeling awkward here.)
Has Double Helix done anything really good? Last time I heard they tried to remake Killer Instinct into a cheap cash in where you have to pay to buy characters.
Sad to realize the studio behind Messiah [0] and Earthworm Jim [1] has ended up specializing in shoveling out licensed trash [2][3].<p>0: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(video_game)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(video_game)</a><p>1: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_jim" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_jim</a><p>2: <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/battleship" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/battleship</a><p>3: <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/gi-joe-the-rise-of-cobra" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/gi-joe-the-rise-of-c...</a>
If Amazon wants to "compete directly with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo," they'll need to do more than make an Android console. If they can't get cross platform titles, then all they are is an overpriced Ouya.
One interesting part of the story is amazon having a sub $300 console that competes directly with Sony and Microsoft.<p>My guess about that that it would be:<p>(a) a console financed by ads or amazon product sales on the tv<p>(b)A weaker console with quality content being offered through cloud gaming<p>(c) A combination of a,b. Also this console will be somehow tied to prime.<p>And my guess that the price would be substantially less than $300.<p>Does anybody have other rumors or guesses about that ?
Seems like Google and Amazon are building similar companies baselined on revenues from disparate sources (AMZN: Merchandise/GOOG:Search -- realize this is not the complete picture but certainly the starting point). Interesting to see these types of companies emerge (ones willing to dilute/evolve from their original core competancy in order to sustain). Will traditional (large) companies do the same?
"As you can tell by the titles, it specializes in large-scale action games based on blockbuster franchises." - makes me sad when companies have to do this to survive :(.