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| Social Networking, DLC, Fitness, etc. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 24 2012, 08:46 AM (192 Views) | |
| Brick Mage | Jul 24 2012, 08:46 AM Post #1 |
I'll be there every step of the way...
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So, I figure anyone who's interested enough to click on a topic in this forum knows how the gaming industry is going. No longer are gaming consoles for only gaming--no, they are now truly entertainment systems. Stations for internet, movies, music, social networking, fitness programs, sports... And of course, games. I think a lot of people would agree than games aren't exactly what they used to be. It's sequel after spin-off after sequel, and many of the new series that are there are simply indie games... And I can't be the only one who doesn't care for any old typical indie game. Plus, the whole downloading aspect doesn't feel as accessible in the same way that your local GameStop does. But that's not necessarily the point here. Look at the overall direction of the industry, as most strongly evidenced by this year's E3 and more subtly evidenced by the introduction of of add-ons like Kinect and PlayStation Move... And well, the Wii itself. Our society is absolutely obsessed with convenience as well as social computing, and it really shows. I'd say that the guys at the gaming companies are trying to market $50 and $60 games to people who can buy games for $3 on their smartphones and never even have to shell out hundreds for a console before gaming. It's like downloading a game for your toaster. What's ironic about that is that now, DLC has become extremely popular. Content can be released in increments... For additional pay of course. All in all, the price of these games has probably often skyrocketed to probably about $80 or more on one before you're done having fun with it. I figure the gaming companies are pouring all these extras onto their systems to try and capture that audience because they know that's where the money is. They seem to have forgotten, though, that they're abandoning a loyal fanbase of die-hard, dungeon-crawling, street-fighting, star-cruising gamers in gearing their work to this mainstream culture. And I think many of these attempts at drawing in this new audience are simply foolish. Who wants to bother with hooking their Xbox up to... Their smartphone... And then... Hooking that to their tablet? And then... Browsing the internet from the... Wait, what do you do again? THERE'S A REASON WE ALL HAVE COMPUTERS. I mean, come on, they want to replace our computers and our mp3 players and our TVs and whatever else... I don't think that's going to go over very well in the long run, because convenience isn't the only issue here--familiarity is, and convenience isn't very convenient when you're not familiar with it. Really, one can say that it has always been this way. But back in the 90s, the gaming industry found itself a niche, and now it's abandoning that niche. Will that be successful? I don't think so, because they're changing the content of what made gaming such a spectacle in the first place. Games. But it seems like they almost got this new, "socially beneficial" gaming thing off the ground back around Wii's early days and the rise of Xbox Live + Call of Duty, but I feel like it's all progressively being looked upon as a dead fad now. I think I miss it being as simple as popping a cartridge in or popping a disc in and getting right to the game. And that's not nostalgia, that's simplicity. But that's just my opinion. What does =SB= think? Edited by Brick Mage, Jul 24 2012, 08:51 AM.
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Neo Metallix
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Jul 24 2012, 09:58 AM Post #2 |
~Doomsday Overlord~
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I agree that not everything is going pretty in the industry but there have been many new IPs I've played that started THIS generation that are all good games. inFAMOUS, Resistance, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Heavy Rain, Motorstorm, Demons Souls, etc.... Plus there are still more to come with Beyond, Ni No Kuni, and The Last of Us. |
   Puncture the Porcupine, my fancharacter! | |
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| Brick Mage | Jul 24 2012, 10:29 AM Post #3 |
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I'll be there every step of the way...
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Hmm, I really didn't think about those... I've always been a Nintendo guy, though, so I guess that's what I'm seeing the most of, and... Well, I'm not so sure I was alive for the birth of any new IPs from Nintendo. I do find it odd, though, how new series like the ones you listed are struggling to claim the same fame that earlier series did. It took one game for Sonic to make himself a worldwide icon, and that was back when the video game industry had already been rolling for a few years. Same with characters like Cloud Strife and... Well, it took Master Chief two games. I guess Sackboy is something of an icon, though. But then, having an iconic protagonist is not necessarily the measure of success, either. EDIT: A Nintendo series started in my lifetime--Pikmin! Edited by Brick Mage, Jul 24 2012, 10:34 AM.
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| Lady CL4P-TP | Jul 24 2012, 10:35 AM Post #4 |
Now with 50% extra Wub
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I agree too, I feel as though all this convenience on your consoles is just boring. Why do you need to access Facebook on your PS3/Xbox 360/Smartphone when you can just use your computer? Not to mention being able to connect to the internet on your console/phone kind of negates the point of having a PC/Laptop anymore.  But hey, it's kinda what the public wants and in order to keep your business thriving you gotta do what you gotta do. Oh, but all these boring spin-offs and sequels do kinda make me lose interest in buying new games, though. Then of course, the DLC, half the time it's just not worth it. Why do you need to buy costumes and stuff for a character on a video game? Stage packs, I can see because those contribute to the overall replay value of the game. But costumes, I cannot really see paying real money for those... Well, I guess some people like stuff like that, I just don't see the point though. Well with the exception of a few games, I can admit I do purchase DLC for some games though. ^^'
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Neo Metallix
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Jul 24 2012, 11:08 AM Post #5 |
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~Doomsday Overlord~
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Well Nintendo really do just rely solely on old franchises. They never make horrible sequels albeit some might not like them as much. One that has started after you were born was Nintendogs if you count that. Also I'd say Nathan Drake from Uncharted is an icon and up there with Lara Croft. Gamers that don't even have PS3s know him and the series has sold multiple millions. The others not so much icons except sackboy. |
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Puncture the Porcupine, my fancharacter! | |
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| Devy The Mutt | Jul 24 2012, 12:50 PM Post #6 |
'Ello, lad!
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I can see what's going to happen to this DLC bull crap. It's going to skyrocket, and then, Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony is going to have some ridiculous idea to make a new system that only does DLC (kind of like how Sony made the PSP GO and shit hit the fan) and nobody's going to want it. For one thing, not everybody has internet, so they are most likely not going to buy it. Another thing is shit gets corrupted or it could just end up accidentally deleted. I miss CD's and Cartridges. I miss how the older stuff was in general. If you wanted something added on to a game, either wait for a new game, or get something to install it on. That's what it was with Halo 2 and the Multi-player Map Pack. Also, cartridges aren't the ones that usually break. It's the system itself so that's another reason why I miss them. The only newer games I like anymore are Uncharted, Dante's Inferno, Deadspace 1 and 2, and only one Sonic game, which is Unleashed. Though, I do like the Sonic Adventure downloadable content for the Xbox and PS3. What pisses me off is, WHY NOT MAKE AN HD COLLECTION OF SONIC ADVENTURE ON AN ACTUAL DISK??? THEY DID IT WITH METAL GEAR!!! But still, overall, DLC is a no no. Disk and cartridge is WIN. |
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"The life I live will never be the same without you here..." | |
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| SuperShadowgal | Jul 26 2012, 07:11 PM Post #7 |
The Female Ultimate Life Form!
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I think DLC and mircotransactions can be good, but only when done very well. It's just that as of current, the way things are trending, we may be straying down the more negative line of DLC. I don't think it's necessarily just a fault with gaming companies, or "money-hungry" corporations. I think some fault does lie with the player-base as well. When people eat these things up, they just further push game companies to pull this crap. And I'll mention things such as Eve's $70 monocle -- an item for the eye that is probably a mere spec in-game and people apparently ate it up. I mean if I were a company and saw something like this, where people are willing to just throw money at little things, I'd probably turn around and do the same. Because if my player base is stupid enough to go crazy for a tiny change to their avatar, they'll be willing to buy other things. (Also, I would toss FB in here, but I don't play any of the games on their site, because I don't think highly of them. Although, I tried one that was a rip-off of another game, which was pretty much the same original game, but extremely overcomplicated, laggy, terrible graphics, and required money to play any length of time over like 30mins) Now, silly things such as pony armor, or monocles for tons of money are things I think need to go, as well as first-day DLC. I don't care how much companies might think otherwise, but if you had the time to crank out that content, it might as well be part of the game I'm paying 60 for, not 60 + 15 DLC. If we're going to be doing DLC and micropayments, they should be worthy of being bought. DLC should be either: cheap, if it adds a bit of content/cosmetic additions, or a bit more pricey when they are more like expansion packs and actually add more gameplay/replay-ability. Microtransactions should be on the same page as the first DLC: cheap, in-expensive and are normally cosmetics items which have no game-changing features. When you start throwing in things like paying to win, you're heading down a more negative path. |
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| Lord Master of Darkness™ | Jul 26 2012, 11:28 PM Post #8 |
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Valve and Apple should take a lot of the blame for digital distribution being so effective(Steam store in particular this weekend being very popular). But in Steam's favour, it more often than not detects your user settings and tailors you a patch package that works for you so the game is actually more likely to work. Before I got Steam, PC gaming was pretty unreliable for me. Now, it's become my main focus of gaming because it just doesn't crash any more. I'm becoming a fan of F2P(free to play) games, so long as they don't have P2W(pay to win) items in their stores. I don't mind losing to someone who's better than me, but if they bought their equipment I feel cheated - how dare this person just start playing today, buy all the best gear and the XP needed for highest level, and come mash someone like me who might have played for a good month or two? Microtransactions are the devil, my friends. Finally, it's all very well having these conveniences... but so long as people buy what is being offered, it's only going to get worse. I only use my consoles as gaming platforms, as my PC is my workhorse. Why would I want to perform multiple tasks on my 360 when I'm doing more than it's capable of right now? However, I'm in the minority it seems as a lot of people don't have/need a PC thanks to the consoles being able to do various tasks. Admittedly the chances of someone not having a computer are fairly low but they're still out there. |
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