Author Topic: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"  (Read 80698 times)

Quinch

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #280 on: April 11, 2013, 02:37:48 AM »
I'll suggest one up; if NCSoft called and said, "Hey, we'd like to sell COX to you and here's the price we'd have to have"-- and it was a reasonably good deal-- and Cryptic/PWE turned to the CoH playerbase and said, "this is the price they'd like to have, can you help us fund it?"

I think wallets would be thrown.

JaguarX

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #281 on: April 11, 2013, 02:43:58 AM »
I'll suggest one up; if NCSoft called and said, "Hey, we'd like to sell COX to you and here's the price we'd have to have"-- and it was a reasonably good deal-- and Cryptic/PWE turned to the CoH playerbase and said, "this is the price they'd like to have, can you help us fund it?"

I think wallets would be thrown.

Indeed.

Triplash

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #282 on: April 11, 2013, 02:57:46 AM »
I'll suggest one up; if NCSoft called and said, "Hey, we'd like to sell COX to you and here's the price we'd have to have"-- and it was a reasonably good deal-- and Cryptic/PWE turned to the CoH playerbase and said, "this is the price they'd like to have, can you help us fund it?"

I think wallets would be thrown.

Yup. I'm just waiting for something genuine to throw money at.

damienray

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #283 on: April 11, 2013, 01:33:25 PM »
(Gets piggy bank... gets hammer) Ready !

JWBullfrog

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #284 on: April 11, 2013, 01:43:24 PM »
I'll suggest one up; if NCSoft called and said, "Hey, we'd like to sell COX to you and here's the price we'd have to have"-- and it was a reasonably good deal-- and Cryptic/PWE turned to the CoH playerbase and said, "this is the price they'd like to have, can you help us fund it?"

I think wallets would be thrown.

If somebody respectable said that, I'd build a wallet launcher to get the money to them quicker.
As long as somebody keeps making up stories for it, the City isn't gone.

MindBlender

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #285 on: April 11, 2013, 06:23:08 PM »
Our game is locked up tight...CO is flopping around like a fish out of water.  I think Jack could make a great argument that a hybrid could be created.  I am not saying I want CoX to be that cartoonish, but if there is a way to get the band back together, I'm in.  The only fear in this hybrid beast is just what would they take from each game and what would get lost.
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JaguarX

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #286 on: April 11, 2013, 06:28:33 PM »
Our game is locked up tight...CO is flopping around like a fish out of water.  I think Jack could make a great argument that a hybrid could be created.  I am not saying I want CoX to be that cartoonish, but if there is a way to get the band back together, I'm in.  The only fear in this hybrid beast is just what would they take from each game and what would get lost.
Yep. I like some things in ox and I like some things in CO.
I actually like CO art work better than Cox after looking at some old shots and comparing the two.(Don't shoot me! Its illegal to shoot a Jaguar without a license!)

Golden Girl

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #287 on: April 11, 2013, 06:30:06 PM »
CO is flopping around like a fish out of water.

It's been a failure since day one.
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TonyV

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #288 on: April 11, 2013, 10:07:12 PM »
Well, isn't that depressing  :'(

The CEO of a game development studio publicly says that he'd be willing to discuss acquiring the game and multiple people in the industry agreed that City of Heroes never should have been shut down, and that's depressing?  Guys, if you watched the video, you would know that Jack's comment was an off-the-cuff remark with the best of intentions, but you cannot possibly interpret from it that it was more than what it was.  I got no impression from the video that Jack was making plans to acquire the game.

But that's not depressing.  What I did get from it is that if the opportunity presented itself, he'd talk to them.  To be blunt, that's more of a commitment than we've gotten from any other company since the game shut down, and it shows that at least people in the industry aren't sitting around saying, "City of Heroes?  Oh yeah, it was about time that clunker shut down and made way for shiny new games," which is the narrative that NCsoft has been pushing.

This was never anything close to a done deal, but make no mistake, it was a very good thing.

Stormy Weathermaker

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #289 on: April 11, 2013, 11:34:55 PM »
The CEO of a game development studio publicly says that he'd be willing to discuss acquiring the game and multiple people in the industry agreed that City of Heroes never should have been shut down, and that's depressing?  Guys, if you watched the video, you would know that Jack's comment was an off-the-cuff remark with the best of intentions, but you cannot possibly interpret from it that it was more than what it was.  I got no impression from the video that Jack was making plans to acquire the game.

But that's not depressing.  What I did get from it is that if the opportunity presented itself, he'd talk to them.  To be blunt, that's more of a commitment than we've gotten from any other company since the game shut down, and it shows that at least people in the industry aren't sitting around saying, "City of Heroes?  Oh yeah, it was about time that clunker shut down and made way for shiny new games," which is the narrative that NCsoft has been pushing.

This was never anything close to a done deal, but make no mistake, it was a very good thing.


When I said "Well that's depressing", what I took away from the comment that was posted was that Jack said what he said because he has an emotional attachment to the game and nothing more.  Which meant to me, that even IF NCSoft called there would be nothing to discuss.  I apparently misunderstood the comment originally and for that I apologize. 

If, by some miracle, NCSoft is ready to let it go and makes that phone call, it will be a wondrous day!!  :D

JRVthatsME

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #290 on: April 12, 2013, 11:00:48 AM »
I have an idea that may allow NCsoft to save face and return City of Heroes to us in a fair way. What if NCsoft tried to make an arrangement with Cryptic Studios where Cryptic basically rents City of Heroes From NCsoft. Cryptic could maintain the game like it was before the shutdown but with membership active again (maybe even doing a superhero bundle deal with Champions Online & City of Heroes membership) and in return Cryptic would pay NCsoft a fairly agreed percentage of the monthly profits City of Heroes generates. Since it would be Cryptic maintaining the game there will be no expenses on NCsoft's end and NCsoft would make some monthly profit without having to do or pay anything. This would end the negative public relations and the effect it's had on profits and stock value caused by shutting down the game as well as allowing NCsoft to earn money from it without City of Heroes having any connection to the "Realignment of Company Focus".

Maybe we should see we could push for this to happen as it would be easier for cryptic (who may be willing to host City of Heroes again under the circumstances) and it could get around NCsoft want to sell CoH for way too much with unreasonable conditions attached. Plus Cryptic created the game and have some Paragon staff working for them so the are capable of maintaining and hosting it. If cryptic just hosted CoH as a legacy game (like how it was leading up to the shutdown) with membership active again but no new content to be added, then make it so that instead of buying membership in CoH buying membership in Champions online gives membership in CoH as a bonus so instead of the games competing CoH would boost profit for Champions Online. The money for renting CoH from NCsoft could then be an agreed percentage o Paragon store sales profit (which I guess will be changed into a Z store). I know this would mean there would be no updates or expansions for CoH but at least we could play again and both Cryptic and NCsoft would make some profit from it.

Ironwolf

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #291 on: April 12, 2013, 12:39:28 PM »
That was basically the agreement that Cryptic made in reverse with NCSoft.

They sold the game for $10 million to NCSoft and had a short profit sharing relationship.

dwturducken

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #292 on: April 12, 2013, 01:15:15 PM »
It's not a bad idea, in principle, but it would almost be as hard a sell to get PWE/Cryptic on board for a deal like that. I can't say I know Jack (*rimshot*), but I know I wouldn't want to make something, sell it, and then "rent" it back.
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

Captain Electric

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #293 on: April 12, 2013, 02:31:57 PM »
I'm not sure who would be the harder sell in that case, NCSoft or PWE. PWE owns Cryptic and you're outlining a situation where Cryptic funnels money over to one of PWE's competitors. That's not something to gloss over. And while it seems like NCSoft would only stand to benefit, they might not favor such an entangled arrangement.

And frankly, this is also nothing we can act on. We can't do anything with this. All we can do with those four sentences above is speculate on our little Internet forum.

In my mind, we have one job to do, and the odds of us getting organized and getting it done on time are slim. Our only role should be to persuade NCSoft to call Jack. Getting NCSoft's attention through an ad campaign or some other crazy scheme and suggesting they call Jack is a goal we can act on.

If we can get them to call Jack, everything that happens beyond that point will be negotiations between business owners and managers. We wouldn't have any involvement in it and we could only possibly jeopardize talks by attempting to involve ourselves. We shouldn't fool ourselves that these companies would be seeking advice from us or using our ideas.

Ironwolf

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #294 on: April 12, 2013, 03:10:48 PM »
Understand our task is both very simple and extremely hard.

We must convince it is in their best interests for NCSoft to sell the game to another entity.

Everything else is secondary and the way to focus on this is that anything that does not help us do this - harms us.

Miyamoto Musashi says:

To hold down a pillow:
The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions. However, doing this alone is defensive. First, you must act according to the Way, suppressing the enemy's techniques, foiling his plans and thence command him directly. When you can do this you will be a master of strategy. You must train well and research "holding down a pillow".

To become the enemy:
"To become the enemy" means to think yourself in the enemy's position. In the world people tend to think of a robber trapped in a house as a fortified enemy. However, if we think of "becoming the enemy", we feel that the whole world is against us and that there is no escape. He who is shut inside is a pheasant. He who enters to arrest is a hawk. You must appreciate this.

In large-scale strategy, people are always under the impression that the enemy is strong, and so tend to become cautious. But if you have good soldiers, and if you understand the principles of strategy, and if you know how to beat the enemy, there is nothing to worry about.

In single combat also you must put yourself in the enemy's position. If you think, "Here is a master of the Way, who knows the principles of strategy", then you will surely lose. You must consider this deeply.

To Injure the Corners

It is difficult to move strong things by pushing directly, so you should "injure the corners".

In large-scale strategy, it is beneficial to strike at the corners of the enemy's force. If the corners are overthrown, the spirit of the whole body will be overthrown. To defeat the enemy you must follow up the attack when the corners have fallen.

In single combat, it is easy to win once the enemy collapses. This happens when you injure the "corners" of his body, and thus weaken him. It is important to know how to do this, so you must research deeply.



saipaman

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #295 on: April 15, 2013, 03:53:27 AM »
So...

I guess this rules out Statesman bursting through the NCSoft logo like the Kool-Aid Man?

Kool-Aid Man is getting a makeover.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/oh-yeah-kool-aid-man-getting-makeover-1C9324740

This could almost be a CoX commercial.

Segev

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Re: Jack Emmert re: CoH - "Tell NCsoft to call me"
« Reply #296 on: April 15, 2013, 08:22:04 PM »
It wasn't in CoH, but in a private PnP game, but I ran a plot arc in a superheroes game wherein somebody was basically handing out super powers to anybody who wanted them. All the new super-crooks (most of them WAY too lacking in style to be called "villains") and wannabe superheroes made the PCs' lives a lot harder, as supers kept tripping over each other. Especially if they were on the same side.

One of these was an individual who was a giant red pitcher with arms and legs that wore a cowboy hat and leather chaps. His main power was, in fact, to bust through walls. He called himself the "Kool-Aid Kid," and when not transformed into that form was actually a kid. His blood was red kool-aid, though, and he was immune to diabetes. ;)

Mostly a harmless character, he made the wolverine-wannabe in the party feel bad since the guy threatened to punch the next super to show up right before the kid did...and promptly shattered the pitcher and K.O.'d the kid. (Who was ultimately not badly injured.)