quote:

Originally posted by CONNERMAN2000 RJT, I wanna go on a rant, and it'd be interesting to hear your addition to it, but I dont have time to type it out. I will tonight.

I look forward to reading it

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last minute disco dot net

Now, I am well aware of the fact that I am not extremely well-rounded when it comes to my knowledge of both economics and business finances. Hell, most of the time during my econ class I didnt pay attention one fucking bit. Despite this, I'm still going to express my utter disappointment in the amount of games that are going multiplatform. I'm not necessarily saying this just for the PS3, but any console in general. I understand that a company needs to make money to make ends meet, but doesnt anyone think this constant multiplatform frenzy is, in a way, damaging the state of the game industry? Maybe games are selling like crazy, true, but its mainly because casual gamers run the market, and they'll buy just about anything, even if it is a sports game that adds nothing new to its previous addition with the exception of updated stats. I'm talking from the perspective of a hardcore gamer whom wishes for nothing more than a solid amount of titles that introduce something new whilst entertaining me.

It just irritates me to think that the gaming industry is now all about rehashing the same shit and feeding it to every single platform. I look at the upcoming games list for all the systems of today and realize that a staggering amount of sequels and additions to previously-created franchises comprise the majority of each. Now, I know that money is everything. If something makes money, why not keep doing it? Well, I have this gut feeling that if game developers continue to use this mentality, the future will be nothing but bleak. Thoughts? I know I'm saying something extraordinarily vague here, but it'd be interesting to see some others stem their thoughts onto this as well.

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Conner, you make an excellent point, I'm not sure I agree with all of the details, but the general message is spot on. Let me see if I can elaborate...

First, I think your issue is primarily with 3rd party developers, and primarily successful third party developers with large amounts of money behind them (EA certainly comes to mind). I absolutely agree with you that it does nothing good for the gaming industry to see constant rehashes of games with nothing more than a minor facelift and statistical changes i.e. every EA sports/World War 2 Shooters?RTS game ever released. Unfortunately, those are the money makers - and as you say, business comes first, and many people do unfortunately want the same game year in and year out.

Conversely, smaller or more innovative multiplatform developers may be given exceptionally more support by supporting all 3 major consoles. Take Rock Star games for instance, a company that lives and dies by their GTA series. Each installment, in my opinion, has added enough new content, and told enough of a new story to warrant my purchase. Now, however, the cost of developing games (especially massive games like GTA, RPG's, etc.) has become so absolutely insanely high, that there is no guarantee what you spend developing this blockbuster game, will see enough return at the end of the year (given all sorts of factors like market share, new technology, etc.) to keep your study afloat and staff paid. Furthermore, even if you do make enough cash to stay open and developing, the quality of title you may be capable of producing is drastically reduced. Essentially, developing multiplatform can have a profound impact on the quality of a title in the hands of the right studio.

Now, I do realize that's a rather idealistic appraisal of the industry, so to offer another possible solution to this dilemma, let's discuss the slow death/necessary return of the first/second party. In days past, first party developed games were absolutely untouchable with comparison to the quality seen in 3rd party developers. Unfortunately, those titles seem to be fewer and further between with each year. I think what's needed now more than ever is strong competition from companies like Nintendo and Microsofts in-house development studios. It's become far too easy for console games to get published, and even though you have games like God of War & Gears of War that come out every few months, the number of high quality titles like those is so infinitely small that people still end up buying crap pretty regularly, thus propagating craps existence within the scene.

So I'm not hopeless for this situation, but I definitely see where you're coming from

PS: If Microsoft announces tonight that IV is a 360 exclusive for at least a year, maybe more, how bad does that hurt Sony?

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last minute disco dot net

The Xbox 360 Elite was officially announced late last night at midnight. It comes with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port among other things. I also read that the 120GB hard drive is standalone, So you can buy it for your current Xbox 360 also. There is a video about it right here.

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MarkusSchulz.com Party107.com 160k 32k

quote:

Originally posted by RJT Conner, you make an excellent point, I'm not sure I agree with all of the details, but the general message is spot on. Let me see if I can elaborate... First, I think your issue is primarily with 3rd party developers, and primarily successful third party developers with large amounts of money behind them (EA certainly comes to mind). I absolutely agree with you that it does nothing good for the gaming industry to see constant rehashes of games with nothing more than a minor facelift and statistical changes i.e. every EA sports/World War 2 Shooters?RTS game ever released. Unfortunately, those are the money makers - and as you say, business comes first, and many people do unfortunately want the same game year in and year out. Conversely, smaller or more innovative multiplatform developers may be given exceptionally more support by supporting all 3 major consoles. Take Rock Star games for instance, a company that lives and dies by their GTA series. Each installment, in my opinion, has added enough new content, and told enough of a new story to warrant my purchase. Now, however, the cost of developing games (especially massive games like GTA, RPG's, etc.) has become so absolutely insanely high, that there is no guarantee what you spend developing this blockbuster game, will see enough return at the end of the year (given all sorts of factors like market share, new technology, etc.) to keep your study afloat and staff paid. Furthermore, even if you do make enough cash to stay open and developing, the quality of title you may be capable of producing is drastically reduced. Essentially, developing multiplatform can have a profound impact on the quality of a title in the hands of the right studio. Now, I do realize that's a rather idealistic appraisal of the industry, so to offer another possible solution to this dilemma, let's discuss the slow death/necessary return of the first/second party. In days past, first party developed games were absolutely untouchable with comparison to the quality seen in 3rd party developers. Unfortunately, those titles seem to be fewer and further between with each year. I think what's needed now more than ever is strong competition from companies like Nintendo and Microsofts in-house development studios. It's become far too easy for console games to get published, and even though you have games like God of War & Gears of War that come out every few months, the number of high quality titles like those is so infinitely small that people still end up buying crap pretty regularly, thus propagating craps existence within the scene. So I'm not hopeless for this situation, but I definitely see where you're coming from PS: If Microsoft announces tonight that IV is a 360 exclusive for at least a year, maybe more, how bad does that hurt Sony?

Very, very solid synopsis of the industry, RJT. I wanna add something to it, but I have to leave for work in 3 minutes, so I doubt Ill have time to type something even worth reading. I'll get back to it.

On your PS comment...if IV goes exclusive to the 360 even in the smallest way, I cant imagine a PS3 franchise that'll be anywhere near as big as the ones we saw on PS2, except for maybe Gran Turismo...which I dont think is hitting until 2008. So, to answer your question, Sony will be fucked. If GTA is anywhere near as popular as it was in the early '00's, the PS3 is gonna have to deal with some SERIOUS competition if things go that way.

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I bought the Xbox 360 VGA cable to hook it to my Gateway 19" widescreen monitor.

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MarkusSchulz.com Party107.com 160k 32k

damn tha looks nice man...how much was tha cable?

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Originally posted by fmodena369 damn tha looks nice man...how much was tha cable?

$39.99 at Gamestop.

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MarkusSchulz.com Party107.com 160k 32k

Whats the best price i can get for a new 360 perferablly the upgrade model

too human looks like a badass game