Gameroom • Hacker News Board

Re: Gameroom

#61

Post by j2bax » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:14 AM UTC

firasd wrote: post #32

j2bax wrote: post #22

Facebook could do something so powerful and fun by seamlessly combining their social platform and games... But this is what they've come up with?

This kinda happened in 2007... hence Words With Friends, FarmVille, etc. In retrospect it seems bizarre that random developers were able to publish updates with our own icons to the main Newsfeed.

I suppose I am speaking of a far more integrated portal for friends to play casual games together. More realtime than the newsfeed volley of 2007. If Facebook could create a really nice lobby platform and then have a handful of casual games, board games, card games etc. It would be very locked down and focused on friendly gaming, not the spamcity that was/is "Facebook games".

Re: Gameroom

#62

Post by jakebasile » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:17 AM UTC

kerbs wrote: post #60

barbs wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it just me or is the "Install Now" button broken? I'm on a Mac but I would've assumed I could download the .exe file.

It literally says "Available for Windows 7 and above" with an unmistakable Windows logo :).

Maybe they meant that it would still just download the EXE even if it was on a non-compatible system.

Re: Gameroom

#63

Post by CaptSpify » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:20 AM UTC

WildGreenLeave wrote: post #8

serge2k wrote: post #5

I'm really getting tired of Facebook et. al trying to insert themselves into every facet of my existence. I'll keep using Steam and Gog. Steam is pretty bleh, but it does the job and I don't have to put up with Facebook.

Personally I think Steam is one of the best game platform (for a lack of a better word). It is fast, easy to use, nice sales/cheap in general, downloads are quick. While on the other side Playstation store is the exact oposite of what I just wrote.

> It is fast, easy to use, nice sales/cheap in general, downloads are quick.

I feel like we're using different clients. My steam client is slow, clunky and often gets in the way of games. Yes, the sales are cheap, and the downloads are quick, but that's irrelevant to the client.

Re: Gameroom

#64

Post by jakebasile » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:25 AM UTC

eva1984 wrote: post #55

I think PC gamer hate Facebook, or barely find it relevant? True?

I don't think the ratio of Facebook hater to Facebook user is significantly different among PC gamers than it is among any other technical crowd (HN, for example).

I am a PC gamer, and I use Facebook for some things and don't think they're inherently evil. I also don't think this product is meant for me.

Re: Gameroom

#65

Post by jakebasile » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:26 AM UTC

lai wrote: post #48

Why is this Windows-compatible only?

If it's targeting PC gamers, there's almost no reason to release for anything but Windows.

Re: Gameroom

#66

Post by Axsuul » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:28 AM UTC

This is obviously a strong play by Facebook taken from the WeChat playbook. Furthermore, it helps connect the dots with their Oculus purchase. Believe it or not, any company... even Facebook, can brand themselves as a gaming/entertainment company over time. It was not too long ago that Facebook was the de-facto platform for games such as Farmville.

Re: Gameroom

#67

Post by ipsin » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:39 AM UTC

In case anyone else is curious, you can't actually play any games unless you have the Facebook Apps Platform enabled, and you can't play any games unless you share public profile info.

What I can't figure out is who these game developers are and what they do with that info (beyond displaying my name in multiplayer games). Can it be used to build remarketing lists, etc?

Re: Gameroom

#68

Post by Daniel_Marcos » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:43 AM UTC

socialist_coder wrote: post #52

Daniel_Marcos wrote: post #2

This looks like a glorified browser for games that are already playable on browser. It doesn't seem to be optimized for gaming at all (it even feels laggier). Is the purpose of it just to increase discoverability of Facebook games? This is disappointing. When I read Facebook bought Gameroom.com a couple weeks ago, I expected something related to their VR platform. Not this.

Games are less playable in the browser now than they were 2 years ago though. Unity webplayer and Flash are both getting blocked by browsers now. I imagine this Gameroom app supports both of those. Edit: Yeah, look at this: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2016/11/01/unity-e... So, now we have a way to target the web before web assembly is live and adopted.

Thank you! I see the rationale behind this now. I still think the approach is wrong, though.

Re: Gameroom

#69

Post by BowBun » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

niftich wrote: post #43

They rebranded! This was previously 'Facebook Games Arcade Beta' [1], then officially unnamed, but occasionally referred to as 'Facebook Arcade' [2]. At the time TechCruch wrote about this in August [3], it was less clear what their gaming portal ambitions were, and I lamented why they'd push this product with the Facebook brand so strongly instead of de-emphasizing it in favor of a different brand [4]. Since then, t…

I disagree, I still very much feel the Facebook brand through this product.

The URL, plus the title of the tab, plus the recognizable FB logo next to the primary title of the product, and then it's still called the 'Facebook Gameroom' in the tab of the application. http://imgur.com/a/XIZVX

Re: Gameroom

#70

Post by arcanus » Wed, Nov 02, 2016, 2:00 AM UTC

Origin, steam, battle net, uplay...

And now gameroom.

Is steam so profitable this makes sense? What possible motive does FB, one of the largest companies in the world, have to compete? The revenues should be paltry.