The upcoming* video game crashFollow

*possibly



So I think I have mentioned it a few times in various posts, and I've noticed the general trend in gaming. Constant DLC, unfinished games* etc.

I found this video on the forums of the Jimquizition, as I watch a plethora of online videos and do reading, most of it concerning gaming or the industry in general(What can I say I love my hobbies). I watch TB, MikeB, Lore, TWIMMO, Jimquizition, also watch the TGS podcast, and Gametrailers (Reviews,Invisible Walls, Annoyed Gamer, Pach-Attack) I like listening and reading opinions/posts (overall im a lurker) and I love debates as long as they are real debates and not mudslinging contests.

But that aside I felt this video was very well thought out and while it does have some opinion of the creator, I felt like he did a good job of giving the facts and explaining the situation while not sensationalizing it (Ala my thread subject).

The game industy to many people is "to big to fall" but as his video shows a slow decline is still falling, it comes down to which straw will break the camels back? I mean we have Capcoms on-disk DLC, we have Activisions map pack price gouging, EA's Microtransactions and DLC, Square Enixs general lack of innovation/innovating in the wrong areas.

To go a bit deeper, I bought CoD4:MW1 back on PC when it came out, The map packs were free you were able to have servers catering to niche (Gungame) and dedicated maps, while having your normal game servers. Then with MW2 they raised the map prices for really no other reason to get a few more dollars, dedicated servers are all but gone.

And Overall you have this feeling, like was stated in the video, of more and more games feeling rushed, banking on fanbases and uninformed sales, some have technical issues, and some have terrible DRM.

Part of this issue I attribute to developers not knowing how to finance their own games.You see many companies say they need Pre-orders and DLC to offset "The large cost of games". Well stop making high budget only games! If you have a feeling a game might only do decently, dont put tons of money into it, so If it is a huge seller you make a good profit, and if it does decent or low sales you lose less money.

I don't understand why every game now days has to have a 10 million dollar budget, how many indie games with almost no budget go on to make tons of money? Yes they don't always have HD graphics and hype but in the end the game stands on its gameplay and fun. A good example is Journey, it was a Downloadable title, value priced new, had decent graphics and probably not a huge budget, but using what they had they made a extremely fun and profitable game.

A couple other examples Katamari Damacy, Silent Hill 1. These games had both technical and money limitations yet are classic. Instead of looking at the limitations as a barrier they chose to figure out ways to make the games fun while still working within the confines.

IDK, these are some of my opinions and thoughts on the matter and as such are not always correct or right, and also are ever changing and evolving. But I would like to see your thoughts on this matter, I know many of you articulate your posts better then me and are a tad less scatterbrained.

ib4: You're not joph your opinions/contributions don't matter.





Edited, Mar 11th 2013 8:16pm by BeanX

It is? Honestly since I've bought my 3ds(traded up to an XL, original cramped my hands) I've regretted it. I have like 5 games, and haven't seen anything coming up that looks interesting. (Tales of the Abyss 3d, the new Fire Emblem, OoT, and Kingdom Hearts 3D) I've rented one game from Gamefly, Mario Land 3D. Otherwise the system has been a bust for me.

I don't know I havent looked up any stats or anything, but it just seems to be a lack of content for it, less so then the Vita mind you. But the Vita while having limited content has Persona 4 Golden which got 9.5~ 10 at many reviewers, That game alone makes me want the system. But overall I cant name one 3DS game coming out this year, other than Pokemon.

Vita is quickly becoming an indie darling and both Vita and PS4 have been getting kudos for their ease of developing as of late. I don't own a 3DS, but I will probably be getting an XL at some point this year, probably at black friday. My backlog of games right now is so goddamn ridiculous, I could go to next Thanksgiving (2014) and still have unplayed games if I skipped buying any new. Please don't confuse that though, I don't give a **** about 3D. I care about the core games. As of right now, I have no plans or urge to buy a WiiU. PS4 will likely be day one and I need to pick up a 360 at some point as there are quite a few titles since I ditched mine a few years ago (Dust: An Elysian Tail and Shadow Complex for starters).

Here's the most recent list of upcoming Vita Indies:

Hotline Miami
Bit.Trip Runner 2
Binding of Issac
Frozen Synapse
Dragon Fantasy
Lone Survivor
Velocity HD
Machinarium
Rainbow Moon
Starlight Inception
A Virus named Tom
Vektropolis
Divekick
Guacamelee!
Luftrausers
Snapshot
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N' Tasty!
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee HD
Kick Beat
Thomas was alone

This is a hobby that major businesses have turned into a cash cow. To them it isn't about making a good game, it's about making the next million and milking the consumer any way they can. I understand the rising costs to make games, but that doesn't justify a lot of the practices that have sprung up. Day one DLC is one thing that really bothers me. There's no reason that content ready for launch at the launch of the game should not be included with the game. And the "We had people sitting around" excuse is ridiculous. If you have people sitting around, you over staffed your project. If you want to break your expansions into smaller DLC and sell them for a reasonable price, fine. But stripping everything extra out of a game and drip-feeding it to consumers at ridiculous prices is going to kill the industry. What will keep it from crashing is the army of indie devs willing to fill the gaps.

No one really goes into a game saying "We're going to make back the money we put into it!" More often it's about when they get near release time that it starts becoming apparent that the game they've been hyping for the past four years isn't going to do decently. Then there's expenses in developing new technologies, extensions, licensing, etc etc. Look at what happened to Aliens Colonial Marines.

Sure, but there's a difference between mortgaging the building and saying "Eh, let's not spend a lot on this game." Modern AAA titles require investment. If your game looks cheap, it's going to get dinged heavily for it.

Agreed.

I miss the glory days of Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 2, Doom, Quake, etc. You didn't have to spend a fortune to buy DLC because the game engines were simple enough that anybody with the desire to learn could figure them out. I can't count how many hours I played these games mainly because of user generated content (my own included). Was also some amazing user generated content for several of these games. Remember the Aliens addon for Doom?

I also despise single player games that require internet connections to "prove" you own the game. Sims 3 is probably the worst I have for this. One night I couldn't even play the game because EA's server was lagging/offline. When I can't play a MMO because internet is down first thing I turn to is a single player game and now more often then enough can't even play them!.

I haven't really been online except at work the last few days so I have not.

One thing I've noticed (again, again, not directed at you) is that a lot of people ***** EA out for "ruining" the studios they purchase but no one ever seems to cast any blame on the studios which cashed out to EA. It's not as though EA took over Bioware by stealing the deed to their property in a daring midnight raid or something. Rather, it was a ~$860mil deal and the founders apparently cashed out and left gaming all together. It doesn't sound as though they were looking to develop the next breath-taking chapter of Mass Effect or Dragon Age with or without EA.

On a slightly related topic microtransactions are coming to Call of Duty. At first glance they are claiming it will be just cosmetic items but excuse me if I have my doubts that it will stay that way.

OMG HATS!!!

QFT



Yep, remember how I said Activision made map packs 15 instead of 10, like the norm was pre MW2. As for "Cosmetic only" in MW3 i dont know what they would sell "power" wise. I mean From what Ive played Ive been using the 2nd SMG, and never died saying "Oh its because his gun is more powerful etc" Note I do play on Hardcore most times. If they sell a gun that can see/shoot through walls for cash, Well they deserve the backlash from that. Overall Im sick and tired of them selling me sh*t in a game I already paid for (even if i did buy it for 50% off).

Honestly though Blackops 2 has been out for almost a year, I guess I can understand it now rather then day one DLC. DLC is ment to keep a player playing your game and not moving on, putting it day 1 IMHO is just double dipping, your not trying to get the person to play your game longer your trying to charge them more for the game period.

Least 'cosmetic' items dont tear apart your user base as much as map packs. I mean instead of having all your players in one big pool with map packs (paid ones) your splitting your players up into different pools, limiting the players they can play with, which is fine when you have tons of players but like MMOs when one server dries up, suddenly you have part of the playerbase that no longer can get much enjoyment out of the game and are way more inclined to just leave rather then deal with it.

Least thats my issue with WoW and their server transfers, I transferred to an Oceanic server when I was working a late 2nd Shift job, since I could come home and the server would be busy. I made 10 toons got them all to max (85). Now that Im on more of a 1st/normal 2nd shift schedule, when I play the server is dead, I cant do barely any group content. But I cant afford to transfer all my toons to a normal time US server because it would cost 250 bucks, yes I could transfer 1 toon or maybe 2 but then my income(in game) dries up, because my lesser toons have all my feeding crafts. And as for leveling another toon, Im completely burnt out on that notion. 12 times is way more then enough times.



Edited, Mar 12th 2013 5:03pm by BeanX

If it makes you feel better I wouldnt have read it if Joph posted it either.