Life at an underground game company.
Community
The sad tale of Squeenix.
1I was asked by a couple of people I know to say a few words about Square-Enix. While I have a great deal of mixed feelings regarding this company, I’m going to set down how I feel about it, because it does relate in some ways to Double Cluepon, how Emerald Kingdom got some of its start, and where Square went wrong. (Hint: It was not North American fans, or Japanese fans, or inferior NA releases over better JP releases)
The impetus for Emerald Kingdom has some of its roots in Squaresoft titles. I personally was amazed at the story on Final Fantasy VIII. It grabbed me, but then…so did the battle system. (Yes, yes…a great many do not like junction/draw, but I did, and that’s a topic for another post…)
But there is something to be said for Square in it’s heyday: they had the balls to try new things, to throw it all on the table and take chances…take risks. They had no choice, really; the RPG space was a wild and dangerous frontier on consoles. It was fast becoming a better genre on the PC side of things too.
But after that trilogy of VII, VIII, and IX, something began to change. The beginning of the change was Final Fantasy X, and the height of the change came when Square bought their last real competitor: Enix. The end of that change came when they had finally squandered everything they had, lost their way and released unfettered crap.
We can extol the virtues of Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9 all we want. Everyone who played in that golden age has their favorite. I will tell you right now, that the Gel, Mark and Weaves in Emerald Kingdom have their spiritual roots in the draw and junction system of Final Fantasy 8.
When Final Fantasy X came out, I immediately purchased a Playstation2, and a copy of it. I was relocating at the time, so I rigged it up to the hotel TV, and went at it. Now, I happened to think it was a very compelling story. The Sphere Grid was about as close as you can get to a pure RPG; you could plan your characters with the same finesse as you could in pen and paper. But Final Fantasy X ushered in a trend that has only grown with time and new FF titles. The trend of evolving from real RPG games to that of interactive movies.
It started with Final Fantasy X. It was subtle, but it was there. They were sacrificing their pedigree in RPG’s by upsetting the awesome balance between story and game play. You could see it in many ways: the side quests were weaker, and not as fun. The battle systems limit breaks were really kind of rehashed, dumbed down and not worthy.
Don’t get me wrong, that first night? I stayed up till about 3 AM playing FFX. I was enthralled. I happen to love story, but I also happen to like seeing how well I can do damage, or fight strategically.
Then came XI, and X-2. XI was a halfway decent foray into Online Gaming with the Final Fantasy franchise. Final Fantasy X-2 was absolutely terrible. X-2 was Hot TopicRPG. It actually lowered and somewhat debased strong female characters in games. It’s battle system was terrible, the characters were weak, the story was contrived and its environments were wretched. I realize there are fans of X-2, and I am not saying that, for those fans…it does not have redeeming qualities. What I am saying is: it’s a weak title when held up to former Square titles, and other contemporaries. But one thing was certain: the Interactive Movie nature of Final Fantasy titles was well on it’s way to becoming a firmly grounded thing at Square.
I stopped playing the Final Fantasy series after X-2. I’ll be even more direct: I stopped playing X-2 less than 1 quarter of the way into it. Stuffing band members into the elevator in the right order? Seriously? I was done. It was wretched.
Kingdom Hearts was a breath of fresh air. Ironically enough, it had an awesome battle system, great story, and revitalized characters from two old stalwarts in their respective areas: Square and Disney. Kingdom Hearts was an amazingly fresh game. Tetsuya Nomura rarely misses the mark when it comes to character design, and you’ll notice that my favorites are typically the ones where he’s left his mark.
So, what happened? Why is XIII rated the way it is, and why was XIV practically D.O.A? Why was Kingdom Hearts II inferior after all of the hype, and the awesome that was the Deep Dive trailer?
It’s simple really: Square bought and merged with Enix. (I dont expect things to get better since they have aquired Eidos either. Although a glimmer of hope was released this year in Deus Ex, so you never know)
I’ll say it right here: buying Enix was a bigger mistake for Square than making that ridiculous “Spirits Within” movie which almost bankrupted them.
Why was it such a big mistake? I’ll tell you why: by buying their main competitor, the drive to innovate stopped to a large degree. There was no need to take big risks. Square “won”. They could rest on their laurels knowing they had come out on top. There are some problems with this attitude. Chief of which is arrogance that your view is the only view that really matters. The next problem is, complacency sets in and begins to stagnate you.
Don’t believe me? “After release, director Motomu Toriyama felt that the lower-than-expected review scores for a main Final Fantasy series game came from reviewers who approached the game from a Western point of view.” If that’s not the height of arrogance, I really don’t know what is. It couldnt possibly be the designers, no…it was the players, they’re wrong. How dare they?
But the real proof in the pudding here is what Yoichi Wada had to say on the same subject, which goes to the point of stagnation:
“Some value it highly, while others really don’t like it.” He added, “Should Final Fantasy become a new type of game or should Final Fantasy not become a new type of game? The customers have different opinions. It’s very difficult to determine which way it should go.”
Even Square does not know which path to follow at this juncture. Lost, rudderless on a tumultuous sea of a changing game landscape. But this was not even the worst thing.
No, the worst was yet to come. It’s name was Final Fantasy XIV. A game so bad the company has issued not one, but two official apologies for it. Square has lost it’s way. From the aspects of design, game play…and most recently…they have lost their way financially as well:
Arrogance, short-sightedness, complacency. You can think whatever you want about their audiences. You can think their failures are because of North American players, or Japanese Players, or people who are hating on them for whatever reason. But the facts are this: Square-Enix has been waning for a long while. Their slide has been going on for years, and they have only themselves to blame. It’s the direct result of not listening to players, and thinking that, having bought all the competition, they are king of the hill. The problem with this is, eventually you have to defend the hill, and there are plenty of people sharpening their swords right now to challenge Square in what has traditionally been their bread and butter staple: the immersive RPG. There are people trying on brass knuckles right now, to steal Square’s milk money in another genre: MMORPGs. XIV is an utter failure, it has harmed the Final Fantasy brand badly. It’s going to take years of development, and release to fix the harm done to the brand itself. (Not XIV, even if they fix the problems, it’s D.O.A. and I am nearly 100% certain it will never break even, and will close with a net loss)
When you remove all competition, and you remove the need to be competitive, and you lose your objectivity. You lose your ability to think in terms of “My competitor just did this, well…I’ll show them…I’ll do THIS. HA HA!”. This, more than anything has salted the soil at Square. Their complete and wholesale dilution of the Final Fantasy franchise is going to haunt them for years to come. At some point, a Mark Zuckerberg or Sergey Brin of RPG’s is going to come along and knock Square the hell out. That’s how the market works…the weak die, and get swallowed up.
Square needs to get their house in order. They need to do it quick. They can start by listening to the players, and perhaps…going back to the basics. People have been telling square for years what they want, and Square has arrogantly time and again told them they know what’s best. It’s time for them to take a step back, listen, and grow.
The opposite of growing is dying. The choice is theirs.
Advice for Writers
22 months ago
I hope all you American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I know I did. It was wonderful to go back home and see my family and my pets! But most of all – the weekend signaled the end of my Fall Quarter at University… So that means, I SURVIVED FINALS. \(^o^)/
I wish I had that much dedication...
I took three screenwriting courses this quarter. I know – I’m a masochist.
And tugging in the back of my mind was the fact that Emerald Kingdom was waiting for me. I felt so bad that I hadn’t written anything for the story in days.
But I’m here now and ready to go!
So I’d like to give you guys some advice to fellow writers that I’ve discovered while on my little hiatus. I was aiming it more for screenwriting advice, but luckily most of these overlap for all kinds of writing!
1.) Write every day. I know it can be a little tricky, especially if you have work, school or both – but it is crucial. I made a promise to myself that I would write at least a page or two every night before bed whether it is for my classes or for some short stories to keep the creative juices flowing. NaNoWriMo is a good example of having a deadline with a certain amount of content that needs to be reached per day. Did any of you participate? Leave a comment and tell me how you’re doing!
2.) Keep going. This one can be a little hard to get one’s head around, especially if you’re so passionate about your project. It’s so easy to keep going back over the pages you’ve written and keep editing. But guess what – you’re not going anywhere! Keep typing and just finish it. You can always go back later. Trust me, you’ll end up rewriting the first ten pages of your story before you realize you don’t even have an ending and your deadline is tomorrow. And you’ll probably edit your whole thing about one hundred times anyway; so just spare yourself the agony. Speaking of agony…
3.) Hurt your characters. From watching many of his productions, Joss Whedon has an unspoken rule: “If your audience likes a character, kill him. Or at least maim him.” Probably the most recent example of this is in Game of Thrones. Oh man, do people get trampled in that show. But I always come back for more. That’s what’s so great about it! As Kurt Vonnegut said, “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters are, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” Without that, the characters aren’t challenged and they don’t grow. If you’re not feeling particularly evil that day, you can always hurt them psychologically or emotionally. You have my permission to ruin a character’s life. d(^.^)
4.) Raise the stakes. Things need to happen in stories, if you didn’t already figure that out. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, something always has to happen. In each little “chapter” that I write for a character, I make sure there is some sort of conflict that the character has to overcome. It creates a little mini-movie that also builds the character’s personality. Without that, I can’t make things worse and worse for the character to overcome in the grand scheme of things and then become something different at the end. Without raising the stakes, my characters can’t change – they, and I, become complacent.
5.) READ. Author John Green said, “I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you’re trying to be a writer because it’s the only apprenticeship we have – the only way of learning HOW to write a story.” Read good books; read bad books; blogs (Look, you’re already ahead of the game!), articles, friend’s stories, scripts – just do it! You’ll learn what to do, what not to do, and how you would do it differently. Hell, read John Green’s Paper Towns while you’re at it! It’s one of my favorites.
Andromeda's best writer is Bleepblurp of the Ninth Sector. High five, buddy!
So there you have it! It’s a little short, but you’ve got the general idea. But don’t take just my word for it. After all, the best advice doesn’t come from anyone else but you. You can look up so many articles on how to be the best writer in the galaxy but it will never teach you what you can learn yourself.
Today’s question of the day is as follows:
What are you reading lately? I need some new stuff. I really should read A Song of Ice and Fire, though…
See you soon!
<3 Castiel
P.S. You might want to be on the lookout for a special sneak peek into the first chapter of the story with a little bit of art to go along with it! ^_~ More info on the way!
Salute to Three Rings Design. I bid you adieu.
23 months ago
It might come as no surprise to some folks that I am sad to see Three Rings Design get snapped up by Sega. It might also come as no surprise that, in an industry of prima donnas, arrogant and idiotic people bent on exploiting players rather than servicing them…Three Rings, and more specifically Daniel James was, at least for me, an inspirational figure…worthy of admiration for his accomplishments.
In the same way people dream of being the next Babe Ruth, or Michael Jordan…I looked to Three Rings as an inspirational model of what a good independent game developer should be. I learned a great deal from them, and in the end…while they showed me a great deal of what to do, they also showed me what not to do. Daniel James was a great leader in that he published not only his successes, but his failures as well. He opened his books on several occasions. Before Puzzle Pirates, micro-transactions in games were a very untested niche. Doubloons changed that. Doubloons changed the landscape, and paved the way for new business models that did not depend on getting a box on a shelf.
When that happened, James didnt cover up the numbers. He did not try to obfuscate or throw up obstacles…he showed people how it worked, and how he did it. In an industry that loves keeping secrets of success close to the vest…Three Rings came out and said, “here is how we did it, and here are the metrics which can help you understand how we did it.” Before Puzzle Pirates, ARPU really didn’t exist.
But they did other things too. They built games which required strategy, planning and cooperation. They created multiplayer online games whose measure of success did not immediately depend on how many times you were willing to click a mouse. They designed games with low, mid and high end content. They created challenging puzzles and thinking games. Some were hits, some were misses. They were not the messiah of independent game design any more than Mojang are. But they were willing to try new things, explore new ideas…and more importantly, refused to listen to reasons why it couldn’t be done, in favor of listening to their hearts as to why it could be done.
We don’t know what possibly led Three Rings down the path of instability, which invariably may have resulted in Sega acquiring them. I saw some signs of faltering with titles like Whirled, and some of the things James has pointed to over the years made me wonder if they lost some of the magic. While a press release may be glowing, its always good to remember that there are three sides to the truth. While these kinds of things, good or bad, happen… It’s important to remember that it does not take away from their many accomplishments though.
I don’t expect Three Rings Design to remain too much of a bastion of independence under Sega’s stewardship. Sega, in my opinion tends to ruin a lot of what it touches. That’s okay too. All things end, and change is always happening and inevitable. That said, if the folks at Three Rings are happy, then I am happy for them too. While I am sad to see them go I also realize and understand that “started and ran an Innovative Multi-million dollar making game developer for 10 years which was aquired by Sega” does not look bad on any resume. No matter what your personal feelings are.
But in the end, Three Rings Design has always been my high water mark for what it means to be successful in this business. Not for the amount of money made or lost. But because they challenged a status quo. Many of them in fact. For that, they deserve nothing less than to be held up as an example of how great it can get, and how far you can fall sometimes in the underground/independent game developer world.
I am sure there are people who think, well TRD will remain as a part of Sega and do more cool stuff. They could be right, but somehow I have my doubts. This industry has a track record for swallowing innovative companies and watering them down into irrelevancy. It’s that very reason that I wanted to say: Thank you Three Rings, for being something awesome, and worth admiration. I hope you continue to be awesome and worth admiration, but even if you don’t…I can always look back and look at your success and failure, as a guide for my own path.
A couple quick blurbs on Exploitative Engineering and Ethics.
04 months ago
1) Adamatomic has his say here.
And..
2) Tim Rogers hit the nail on the head here, with a pile driver.
I ask the simple, and honest question, when it comes to ethical and moral values in game design.
Could Pavlov’s experiments with dogs, be considered a “game” for Pavlov, the Dogs, both or neither?
- If it is a game, why is it so hard to accept that a lot of F2P games are engineered to provoke a conditioned response from the people who play it?
- If it’s not a game, then why is it so hard to accept that a lot of F2P games are engineered to look like a game, but are in actuality simply very pretty condition/response systems?
Why is it, some folks have such a hard time understanding that there is a difference between something that is fun, and something that is psychologically engineered to elicit a response?
And before you start in with “people have a choice”…you’re ignoring the last 100 years of scientific research into getting people to do things counter to free will. Choice can be directed, engineered. There’s a reason why psychological warfare, propaganda and push polls , and even Three Card Monte and The Shell Game work. I get why people use “Free Will” as an counter argument here…we like to believe we’re always in control. We have trouble as human beings, admitting and accepting that we can be manipulated, that while we have reason, and logic…we’re also animals…
Now, if you think psychologically engineering conditioned responses from people is in any way ethical when it comes to game design, and contributing positively to the art and mechanical design of game play…please do us all a favor…find another industry. Or rather, go back from whence you game: wall street and brokerage houses. Those are the places where mathematically and scientifically engineering money is accepted practice.
Just my $0.02.
The definitive guide to why executable evironments are never “dead”
05 months ago
By: Azrael & Raguel
There has been much hay made of the recent announcement over Windows 8 Metro not having support for all plugins. While this is an interesting move by Microsoft, it’s not completely unexpected. Like many they are enamored over the promise of HTML5, and what it can do. However, this has re-ignited the “Flash is dead” idiocy across the internet.
Yes, it’s idiocy. Hand-waving freak-outery aside… I’ll go one further: proclaiming an executable environment dead instantly shows to the world that you do not understand the technical issues of the debate, in which case you should really stop posting. Or, to put it in the way Raguel put it: Flash has evolved, but the arguments have not. Talking about Market Share, native support for Execution Environments… irrelevant. Especially when it comes to the PC.
Why is this lunacy? Because, for the most part, true native support for outside code interpretation has always been something that is an add-on. The argument that “Flash is dead” conveniently ignores the fact that Flash is no longer just a program for making banner ads. It shows a complete and utter lack of understanding of how Flash has evolved, along with the Flex environment, AIR, and ActionScript 3.
To understand it, you need to understand the underlying components of what makes Flash, Flash:
- ActionScript 3 is an ECMAScript-based, compiled, Object-Oriented programming language. It’s syntactically very similar to its sibling JavaScript (another ECMAScript-based language).
- ActionScript is compiled into bytecode into a SWF file.
- The ActionScript Virtual Machine is the interpreter/run-time environment for compiled ActionScript programs.
- Adobe AIR, the Adobe Integrated Run-time, provides support for JavaScript, ActionScript, MXML, and HTML to be used to build Rich Internet Applications which can run in a browser or as standalone desktop applications.
Now, let’s take a look at Java:
- Java is a compiled, Object-Oriented programming language. Syntactically, it’s very similar to its predecessors, C and C++, and even moreso to its sibling C#.
- Java is compiled into bytecode, in the form of a JAR file.
- The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is the interpreter/run-time environment for compiled Java programs.
The similarities do not end there either. Here are some fun quotes about Java from 1998 (bold emphasis is ours):
-
JAVA truly is the great equalizing software. It has reduced all computers to mediocrity and buggyness.
- –Anonymous at NASA
-
There are a few things that are in the way of Java becoming a well-established platform for applications. IMO, one obstacle is the CLASSPATH stuff. Another is the fact that applications are not as easy to install as native ones. Performance is a consideration too, of course.
- –Jose H. Solorzano on the advanced-java mailing list
-
Standards are, among other things, supposed to provide islands of stability with a minimum life of five years. Currently Sun seems to be shipping new (not entirely compatible) releases of Java every year. To my mind that is clear evidence that the product is not yet stable enough to be standardised.
- –Francis Glassborow on the SC22JSG mailing list
-
Sure, Java’s great for distributed enterprise applications, and maybe even for embedded systems, but it simply hasn’t lived up to its promise of “write once, run everywhere.” And on the Web, even the smallest Java applets drive surfers crazy as they wait for their Java Virtual Machines to load. That’s why many people turn off Java in their browsers. They’re simply unwilling to wait for something that isn’t that interesting in the first place. And let’s face it, the vast majority of Java applets on the Web are a drag. Most Java applets don’t do anything but look cool.
- –Fredric Paul
-
Java on the client doesn’t work, and we at Netscape have done an about turn on client-side Java in recent months. But on the server side, Java is taking off quite quickly.
–Marc Andreesen
-
So Java applets crash my browser, and the Java technology that’s supposed to be cross-platform plainly isn’t. A good portion of the blame for this surely belongs to Sun; the company has declined to release its hold on Java to an independent standards body, and Sun and Apple have been extremely late in delivering this so-called cross-platform technology to Mac users.If this is what Java is all about, I’ll take decaf.
–Joanna Perlstein
And on and on and on… But wait! Java is still in use practically everywhere. Java didn’t die then, and it’s certainly not dead now. Proclamations of it’s demise were, at the time, greatly exaggerated. Even if you count Microsoft’s attempts to Embrace, Extend and Extinguish Java. Java, in the mid to late 90′s was just as — if not more than — reviled as Flash is now. It was proclaimed dead many times. It was slow, buggy, inhibited performance of the browser, crashed browsers (and machines). Yet here we are today. Java is still around. Contrary to the worries of the pundits, it’s thriving.
Starting to see where this is going?
Now, let’s look at some other examples.
- Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language.
- Perl requires an interpreter, which is not included with Windows, in order to run Perl scripts. This must be installed by the user.
- It is also dead. Though the Perl is not dead campaign is gaining momentum.
How about another?
- Python is a high level, general-purpose multiple paradigm programming language.
- Python requires an interpreter which is not included with Windows, and must be installed by the user.
When you begin to understand the technology, you start to realize Flash is not just about the Flash IDE, creating easy SWF’s with tweened graphics for a banner ad, or a menu bar on a website. If you don’t understand by now that Flash’s core ActionScript is an Object Oriented language executable environment then you do not have the technical knowledge required to make a judgement on technology.
Alternative executable environments are a staple of modern computing. They almost never ever die. Proclaiming that one is dead is akin to announcing to the world, “I’m an idiot who does not understand technology” while wearing nothing but clown shoes and chaps. Think we’re wrong about this?
Try this on for size:
- While the original DOS was an operating system (and we use that term loosely) at the core these days, it’s a code execution environment. Good Old Games, Steam and others bundle DOS Box to run legacy games. While DOS is no longer supported by Microsoft, it still lives on to this day.
- Z80 Environments, which have a long and storied history, live on in the MAME Project. MAME is the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator. Like DOSBox, it’s a legacy code execution environment.
- Many other computing environments have been virtualized and have homebrew communities, like Atari 2600, NES, and others.
These are examples of how environments to execute programs never really go away. But let’s get back to this argument over how a lack of native support somehow is a death knell for these environments. People who make absolutist arguments about technology are the ones who typically have no grasp of technology beyond their own limited scope. They suffer from a very real tunnel vision. There are dozens, if not hundreds of sites offering cheap Apache/PHP hosting. Does that mean Perl is dead? How about the Microsoft IIS server? Apache is still in the lead. Especially when you throw in Tomcat. Does that mean IIS is an ailing and dying duck? No.
A lot of the arguments made about Flash these days (Sadly, by many an Apple fan, and others who should know better) are the same as the ones that were being shouted out back in the 90s when Gil Amelio was at the helm at Apple. Apple’s dead. They’re not relevant, they aren’t used in business, Microsoft won. Without vendor and software support, Apple is doomed. Yet, look at where they are today. (Disclosure Note: Azrael was once a devout Mac head, who spent many years in the wilderness with a PowerBook, and other assorted hardware, and still has his Newton. Raguel laughed when Apple died and now lives on current Apple laptops, and owns a half-dozen other devices in the Apple ecosystem.)
The problem with absolutist arguments when you work in technology is this: they preclude you from understanding the most basic rule in technology, which is use the right tool for the job you have before you. It also keeps you from seeing something else: technology evolves and matures.
When you start talking about a lack of native support in this context…you already lose the argument. We have news for you: with every Windows machine any of us have ever owned, We have had to install the Sun (now Oracle) branded Java JRE/JVM to run the things we want/need. You’re often auto-prompted to do so. We have installed the AIR framework to run AIR Apps, prompted to do so when the things needed to run the apps are not there. Like TweetDeck (which is a standalone app, btw)…which have no bearing on browsing. Oh, and we install Chrome, Opera and FireFox. With Chrome or Firefox being often being selected as the default browser. We rarely, if ever use IE. So, native support is not an issue here when it comes to non native code execution environments. It does not matter what Microsoft does with Metro on Windows 8. The landscape is not changing much, if at all when it comes to running the things you want to run.
Flash/Flex/ActionScript/AIR are far from dead. They will continue on, in spite of the continued pining of people who have not one jot of a clue.
With all that said, there are a few people who have pointed out the flip side to the coin. Seantron makes a very good point: Flash developers should be doing more to “get out of the box” that is the Browser. The “What Games Are” blog asked, “So where does this leave browser based games? Has Microsoft just announced their doom?” rather than just proclaimed doom and gloom. They also pointed out, this affects all browser games that are not HTML 5. While Flash is a most favored whipping boy…where does the no plugin policy leave Unity? By some people’s logic… Unity must therefore be dead. But, hey… Unity is a development environment, it has a code execution environment too. It uses a plugin! It’s not going to die anytime soon, and neither will Flash/Flex/AIR.
In closing, remember… absolutist statements when dealing with technology are often the telltale sign of someone who does not, in fact, understand technology. While some things may be more immediately apparent than others, remember this: at least once a day, your browser receives an answer from Perl, and PHP. You’ve received the results of Python in your time. You use Java more than you’re probably aware of. Every time you hit Armor Games, you’re using Flash. Oh, and for what it’s worth: most Flash games these days are not created in Flash CS. They are created using the Flex environment, or other open environments, or with free compilers outside of Adobe’s sphere.
There are a lot of people who think minimalist websites laden with quasi intellectual prose somehow stand as an authority to all that is. In our experience, it’s these types that talk a great deal, but say nothing. They’re willing to tell you the cost of everything, but omit the value of anything that stands in the way of their meager, tactless (and often factless) argument.
Despite Microsoft’s positioning, and in spite of the wishes of many, Flash, and its various components such as Flex, AIR, etc are going to be around for a long time to come. ActionScript and AIR are maturing, and getting better. So is Python, and Perl. (we use all three here). We apply the tech that makes sense for what we do. We do not make sweeping, absolute declarative statements when it comes to technology. Nobody should. When you see people do this, remember…it’s a sign they do not understand what it is they are talking about.
Ja Mata!
EDIT: It seems Microsoft has indeed clarified this positon: “Open distribution: retail stores, web, private networks, individual sharing, and so on” will be allowed, Microsoft says. Metro apps, on the other hand, will be “Distributed through the Windows Store. Apps must pass certification so that users download and try apps with confidence in their safety and privacy. Side-loading is available for enterprises and developers.”
Which basically nulls the “flash is dead” debate. The debate over whether or not a company should have the right to control what you may, or may not install on a mobile device is a separate one, and is still raging hard.
