The Official "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU PLAYING!!!?" Thread

[Cactus 83]

First of all, I'm having a real difficult time grasping the "nickel-and-diming" argument when there are games that now cost over 100 million dollars to make, and an average AAA title costs at least 15 to 20 million. Fifteen years ago, games that cost 10 million were exceedingly rare, and games that cost 20 million were imaginary.

 

The problem is non "AAA" games are resorting to these techniques. Anytime companies resort to anti-consumer techiniques it results in the decline of the industry, the music industry is a prime example. Also, of course the budget for these games are going to cost more, because demand from the industry has skyrocketed.

 

Second, the idea of extended console life has nothing to do with bad industry decisions; just the opposite, it's probably the only thing keeping the industry from bankrupting itself.

 

Launching a new console is fantastically expensive, on a scale that's hard to imagine. When the PS3 launched, Sony's game division lost 3.3 billion dollars over a two year period just from costing the PS3 at significantly less than it took to produce them. And they had to do that, because it was the only feasible way to compete with the cheaper Xbox 360, which had launched earlier and had already obtained some level of market share, and the substantially cheaper and more family friendly Wii. And despite operating at that loss, they still finished 3rd in this generation's console wars.

 

I don't know, they have been launching different components/upgrades (Kinect, Move, possible WiiU) so they know new technology is profitable. Short term, its absolutely good for the company to milk what they can out of a system, but in my opinion it'll kills development and progression in the industry. Just think of all the PC games technology held-back because of its console counterpart.

 

As for the "stuff was better in earlier times" argument, popular entertainment is almost always hot garbage. We remember stuff as being better from those eras, because the stuff that's still around from those eras was the awesome stuff.

 

For instance: in 1969, The Beatles released Abbey Road. Led Zeppelin released Led Zeppelin 1 and 2. The Who released Tommy. The Rolling Stones released Let It Bleed. CCR released Green River, Willy and the Poor Boys AND Bayou Country. King Crimson released In The Court Of The Crimson King. Neil Young released Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The Band and The Stooges both released their self-titled albums. It was a *****ING AMAZING year for music.

 

You know what the #1 song on the Billboard charts for 1969 was? This piece of ****:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o

 

 

If you watched that video, and were waiting for the amazing to happen, you'll notice that it never did. It's because that song is by a piece of absolute hot garbage, sung by a band of annoying cartoon characters.

 

So yeah: looking back through rose-tinted glasses is something you of which you always have to be wary. Relative to its era, Wasteland might be my pick for the best RPG of all time, but as a game, it's grossly inferior to even the first Fallout, which came out a decade later, and for obvious reasons: purely from a technical standpoint, Fallout had thousands of advantages that Wasteland couldn't match.

 

Well I know for a damn fact there is no Led Zeppelins or the Who in this era, nor anything close. I get the Rose-tinted glasses argument, but you can't deny the fact of all modern games moving like an Amoeba to a pile of hot CoD mush. Creativity has stagnated. The best games coming/are out currently are either sequels (Skyrim, Max Payne 3, GTAV, ME3) or remakes (Arkham Asylum). Few companies are willing to take risks if games don't fit these criteria, and its a damn shame. This is why kickstarter could be great, or it could just be another colossal failure.

 

I don't expect much from Microsoft, all of their new ideas seem terrible to me. The windows 8 and metro interface just looks atrocious, zune and windows phones were just failures, Kinect, just awful. There exlcusive IPs are what? A news gears and halo every 3 years? I just hope someone steps up and takes up the mantle from them in the console realm next gen

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

There is a ton of good music and video games available. The problem is there is more music and more video games being created and with the power of the internet you can be exposed to more stuff than ever before. So you get more of the "bad" through the internet than you would if you only relied on word of mouth.

[TheREALBrooksThompson 157]

Also, there are no Led Zeppelins and Whos now because those bands were products of their time, just as all culture is. I like that era of music as much the next guy, but I also realize that those bands were who they were because of the music that influenced them and the things that were happening in the world at the time. It would be impossible for a band to do that today because different stuff is happening and they have a much wider range of music influencing them.

[Berto 338]

I like that Archie's song. Well, in a singing it in the car when no one's looking kind of way that is.

[Live or Die Magic 383]

I like that Archie's song. Well, in a singing it in the car when no one's looking kind of way that is.

 

What's your problem, buddy? You don't like PMs?

[Berto 338]

What's your problem, buddy? You don't like PMs?

 

My B, broseph. I didn't know. I didn't know.

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

The problem is non "AAA" games are resorting to these techniques. Anytime companies resort to anti-consumer techiniques it results in the decline of the industry, the music industry is a prime example. Also, of course the budget for these games are going to cost more, because demand from the industry has skyrocketed.

 

Demand skyrocketing is a good thing. That props up the industry.

 

And actually: digital media is making games cost less to make, not more, for smaller titles. That's one of the reasons why this kickstarter idea has worked so well. Wasteland 2 is being funded entirely by fans who get a free copy of the game for donating X number of dollars. If they make the game, give out those copies, and never sell another copy beyond that, they broke even. If they sell one copy, they made a profit. I'm concerned with the sustainability of that model, but as a model we get better games, more interesting games, and decidedly cheaper produced games. That's great for the industry(if it proves sustainable).

 

Also: adjusted for inflation, video games are currently sold more cheaply than at any point in history, so it's really silly to complain about costs.

 

 

 

I don't know, they have been launching different components/upgrades (Kinect, Move, possible WiiU) so they know new technology is profitable. Short term, its absolutely good for the company to milk what they can out of a system, but in my opinion it'll kills development and progression in the industry. Just think of all the PC games technology held-back because of its console counterpart.

 

Launching peripherals to extend the life of a console is not new, it's just never been done to this scale. But the Super Scope for the SNES? The SegaCD? They were basic attempts at the same thing.

 

And PC gaming is being held back by piracy 5000x more than it's being held back by consoles, because piracy eats into their profits so badly that they have to make console versions. It makes sense: console versions are substantially harder to pirate, and game companies need to recoup their investment.

 

Well I know for a damn fact there is no Led Zeppelins or the Who in this era, nor anything close. I get the Rose-tinted glasses argument, but you can't deny the fact of all modern games moving like an Amoeba to a pile of hot CoD mush. Creativity has stagnated. The best games coming/are out currently are either sequels (Skyrim, Max Payne 3, GTAV, ME3) or remakes (Arkham Asylum). Few companies are willing to take risks if games don't fit these criteria, and its a damn shame. This is why kickstarter could be great, or it could just be another colossal failure.

 

My favorite band of all-time is Pearl Jam, and I will gladly rep that their first 3 records are classics. I'm also smart enough to realize that none of those three records would be successful if they'd been first released now, because they were as much a product of the era that produced them as the popularity of those records was. It takes a time, a place and an emotion for popularity of that level, and all of the bands you mentioned were outsold in their era by other, ****tier bands. Hall and Oates outsold Simon And Garfunkel. It happens.

 

And the idea that most video games are crap isn't really news. Most video games have always been crap. ET for the Atari was so bad it almost killed videogaming in the 80s, and the truth is that if you were to go through and list the 50 greatest games of all time, at least 40 of them would be sequels, remakes, or licensed titles. And that's FINE. You can remake a story or continue a story if you want, the important thing is to have something to say about it. And if it seems like there are more crap games now then there were in 1992, or whenever, go back and actually play some of the games from that era that you DON'T think about nostalgically, and really even some of the ones you do. I loved Toe Jam and Earl as a kid. It's almost unplayable now.

 

I don't expect much from Microsoft, all of their new ideas seem terrible to me. The windows 8 and metro interface just looks atrocious, zune and windows phones were just failures, Kinect, just awful. There exlcusive IPs are what? A news gears and halo every 3 years? I just hope someone steps up and takes up the mantle from them in the console realm next gen

 

Kinect is stupid, but it's not intended for me or, I'm guessing, you.

 

What it has been though is massively successful at extending the life of the console which was its purpose. Kinect Star Wars is the stupidest thing I've seen on any video game console this decade, but it sold almost a half a million copies in its first week, and Kinect Adventures sold almost 180k last week despite having been out for almost a year and a half.

 

And if selling 16 million+ copies of Kinect Adventures and other crappy shovelware means I get more games that are as deliciously original and strange as Journey, then they can make Kinect Adventures 2 thru 12 for all I care. If that helps support the industry, then great. I don't need to be the target audience for every game, just like I don't have to want to ever see a Jennifer Aniston movie to understand why it's a good thing that they exist for the movie industry as a whole.

[jec 427]

 

And if selling 16 million+ copies of Kinect Adventures and other crappy shovelware means I get more games that are as deliciously original and strange as Journey, then they can make Kinect Adventures 2 thru 12 for all I care. If that helps support the industry, then great. I don't need to be the target audience for every game, just like I don't have to want to ever see a Jennifer Aniston movie to understand why it's a good thing that they exist for the movie industry as a whole.

 

EXACTLY.

 

Oh, and the Pearl Jam thing. I think all of their albums are outstanding except for the most recent one.

[Makin' Cutestory Bacon 24]

You guys game good. All I have is an original modded xbox and Halo 2. Surprisingly, a lot of people still play it on Xlink Kai and some on xbox connect as well. That's about all the gaming I get in. About an hour or two of Halo 2 slayer matches with a lot of lag and sh*tty teammates.

[VCplusD12 91]

New God of War game confirmed

 

Trailer is on YouTube

[O Town Terror 11]

Playing NBA 2K12 My Player mode with the Eminem Show. Talk about zoning out.

Happy 420.

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

Diablo 3...

 

Open beta all weekend long.