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Things seem to be regressing to a point - going back to the "good old days"
VespaGuy:
--- Quote from: Gatt on April 03, 2011, 04:15:08 pm ---Very good point, you bring up something I've been terming as Gamer Fatigue, an overabundance of extremely similiar titles, much like what occurred with Atari and later with the Genesis/SNES generations. Combined with the lack of a hardware refresh to lead people in with more Flashy. I agree that we're looking at an Industry crash, I feel the Industry is overextended, and due to too many ultra-similiar offerings they're starting to get desperate to keep afloat, converging to the genres that have traditionally sold well as an attempt to stave off disaster at the expense of releasing new IPs. Which ultimately just leads to the disaster as it's an overabundance of Shooter/RTS that got us here.
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Well said. However, I think this is a problem that has occurred with just about every other generation though, so I don't necessarily see it as an end of gaming. I just see it as an end of some of the current genres. The FPS games of today that seem to be inundating the store shelves are no different than the side scrollers of the NES/SNES era. The titles are already getting stale and repetitive, and when sales start to decline - which they will - people will migrate to the "next big thing". Maybe it's motion gaming, or 3d gaming, or smaller mini-games that harken back to the arcade days. Whatever it is, the gaming industry isn't going anywhere.
--- Quote ---I'm with you 100%. The EA model of leave things out of the game and hit people for another $20 on release is unacceptable. They're essentially increasing the price of a game to $80, especially as alot of the time this DLC is actually already on the disc and all it does it unlock it.
I was very much angered by the way EA handled Dead Space 2. Multiple rooms in the main game accessible only if you bought the DLC prior to the game's release with many desireable items contained within. It was even more obscene because I bought the PC version, the DLC never existed for the PC version, so I have no way of ever opening those doors and experiencing the full Dead Space 2. It was such a huge middle finger to me as a PC Gamer, especially as I bought the Collector's Edition and was still permanently locked out of the whole game.
I much prefer the Capcom Dead Rising method. D/l a demo that is itself a short prequel, that gives you small advantages if you get the main game and have bought the prequel, and then another short game as a epilogue. I felt my money was very well spent on Capcom's DLC. Fable 2's sat well with me as well, small contained games that had a small impact when the title finally released.
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I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with the way that Dead Space 2 handles DLC, but I think that EA is certainly fighting an uphill battle, simply because of how people personally define "The whole game". If a game contains 30 levels/stages, and a year after the release 5 additional stages are offered through DLC, is the "whole game" now 35 levels/stages? Should a buyer be entitled to those 5 extra stages even though he only paid for and expected 30? Would it make a difference if those 5 extra stages were created/written at the same time as the original 30? What if the DLC was offered 6 months after the release? 3 months after? The same day?
RandyT:
--- Quote from: Cynicaster on April 04, 2011, 10:27:34 am ---Regarding the whole iOS game craze, my position is one of cautious support. Clearly, I’m the type of gamer who seeks out quick bursts of pick up and play action (as opposed to long, boring audio-visual wank-offs that require no skill at all—Uncharted 2, I’m looking at you), so many of the iOS games would seem to be right up my alley. I’ve got a handful on my iPod Touch and some of them really are quite cool. But there is definitely a hype machine behind games like Angry Birds, and it makes me feel uneasy. I can’t even remember the last time a single game—console, arcade, or otherwise—generated that much buzz. Hell, Conan O’Brien staged a live action game of Angry Birds on his show. Stuffy co-workers that fancy themselves way too sophisticated for videogames have it on their iPhones. I’m not anti-success, but whenever something gets THAT big, it seems like it is always followed by a million copycats and derivatives that want their piece of the pie, until finally, you’re left with piles and piles of sterile, lifeless trash with no personality or soul. It happens in music, too. Angry Birds seems to have garnered the elusive “hip” status as a “killer app” on what happens to be the trendiest and most “stylish” electronic gadget possibly ever. It’s a perfect storm of marketing brute force, with great power to influence the path forward in the game industry. As they say, with great power and influence comes great responsibility—let’s hope Angry Birds doesn’t go down in history as the beginning of the end.
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I think you might be over thinking this one a bit. I had similar thoughts about the game until I played it (I play the Windows version on a tablet, BTW) AB is simply the first of what will likely become a new gaming genre, due to the same type of successes seen previously in gaming history. Some games just "click". It's no different than Pac-Man, Super Mario, Tetris, or any other game which had mass appeal, and spawned a number of copycats. These titles didn't ruin gaming in the slightest, rather helped to bring others who might not have been interested, into the fold. Were it not for the large numbers of gamers, the blockbuster production values seen in todays titles would never have been possible, so games with this kind of mass appeal, which help to create new video gamers, only help to insure that the industry remains viable. It may not be the type of game some prefer, but anything which makes the industry look more attractive, particularly at this moment in time, is a "good thing".
As for the "is this the last generation of consoles" question posed above by Gatt, no, I don't think there will ever be a last generation. But I do think we will see the 360 and PS3 consoles around longer than any before them. I think a lot of the problems seen on current consoles are a simple matter of how far ahead they reached with the hardware. As such, being that it is nearly a necessity to do so, these types of issues will be the price we continue to pay for the performance we expect from the machines. And there is evidence to back this notion up. Nintendo has never been one to push the envelope by stuffing brute power inside their machines, and they have, IMHO, had the least amount of hardware problems. Just like NASA's use of 20 year old technology for mission critical functions, Nintendo seems to take the approach of making something bulletproof, but not on the cutting edge. This excludes them from a good chunk of the so-called "serious gamer" market, but it has worked for them. Whether it will continue to do so in a major way, remains to be seen. But if they can put together a string of exclusive "casual" titles with the success of the AB franchise, and at least bump up the capabilities of the next machine to full-HD, they will find another niche in which to successfully co-exist with the edge-riding, sometimes prone to failure, consoles most others are demanding. The key word here, of course, being "exclusive", as these types of games are already available through the online services of all current consoles, cell phones, tablets, etc...
RandyT
Paul Olson:
I like the Angry Birds model, and I think it will help to keep from spending money on the crappy games that will try to copy it. The free version seems to be fully functional, but ad supported, so you can really experience the full game, then drop a little coin to get rid of the ads.
There will be a ton of crap to follow. All game studios seem to know these days is that they should copy successful games. They do not seem to have a clue what makes them successful though. I work at a game studio, and it is really frustrating that they just cannot seem to grasp why some games are fun. It is not fun working on a game that is not fun to play. I think the problem is that studios don't feel that these small games deserve a game designer, so the games are designed by programmers, artists, and marketers. Those are not the right people for the job. You end up with good looking and technically great games, but there is zero gameplay. I don't know what the answer is. It is hard to step up with a game idea because if they agree to go with it, and it isn't a huge success, you are most likely out of a job. I think small games are best developed by just a few people working at home. The costs are low enough that they can survive on games that don't make millions. Once you are in a studio, it is always shoot for huge paydays, which usually ends up in layoffs while they try to find money to fund the next project. Ugh. Now I have to get ready for work. :(
Epyx:
There are still companies that do games right. Bethesda still make fantastic western style RPGs...just recently began playing the now almost 5 year old game...I udpated the graphics and added a few mods (Oscuro's and dungeon mods) and got a whole new experience out of it. I have to say I am looking forward to Skyrim in November (sequel to Oblivion).
Another company I enjoy is "From Software" and their last few offerings..Demon's Souls is a hell of a challenging and fun RPG and they are coming out with a new game this year (Fall). And yet another great game company is Stardock Software and their games..Galactic Civilization II and Sins of a Solar Empire.
ids:
--- Quote from: RandyT on April 04, 2011, 11:51:48 am ---...helped to bring others who might not have been interested, into the fold
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I think there is more to this, however - how many of those girls that put quarters into (Ms)Pac Man back then continue to be gamers today? Some stayed, some didn't. I'd be curious to know more details (e.g. percentage).
--- Quote ---...Nintendo has never been one to push the envelope by stuffing brute power inside their machines...
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Wasn't the N64 a bit of a push - maybe the exception to prove the rule? RISC cpu, SGI graphics, RDRAM? I agree on all other points, however.
I do see the gaming world changing - and EA would be as much to blame as anything, with their crappy repeat games designed by marketing fools, explicit loathing/disrespect for the consumer, and soon they'll run out of good development shops to buy to keep them going. The big blockbusters will probably keep doing what they're doing - new versions of last years money makers. While the small and mid sized games will also have their hits. I don't why, but I've lost interest in games ;)