The Industry Is Going To Hell

[Shaggy the Atarian]

It's interesting that Warner is interested in video games again. It would be more interesting if they bought Atari back and it'd be just like old times, right?

 

I disagree with part of that article there. I thought that The Chronicles of Riddick wasn't as great as he says it is. I don't see why it's so critically acclaimed. It is so much like a movie that it has little replay value, no multiplayer either. It's just pretty to look at and that's about it.

[Tickled_Pink]

The only thing that surprises me about this move is that people seem surprised by it.

 

It's been a long time coming. It's a period of amalgamation for the video games industry. There are now only a few large players left on the publishing side of things, so the time is right for someone with plenty of financial muscle to get into the industry due to lack of competition.

[Jamcat]

Who cares! Today's video games have already gone to hell. Nothing but the same old me-too re-hashed fighting, racing, RPG, and FPS games.

 

The industry IS headed for another crash, and I can't wait for it to happen. And I hope when the second crash does happen, the industry STAYS DEAD this time.

[AtariDude]

Ay Carumba! What is next? The Simpsons being made into a video game....oh wait...that has already been done

 

Isn't it interesting that as soon as games become more and more mainstream and start making lots of money how everyone wants a piece of the pie?

 

It is hard enough to make a good quality game and then having to spend a lot of money in advertising to get it noticed. I am not sure what would happen if someone like Rupert Murdoch would get into the business. They have no idea of what the videogame market is all about.

 

I would hate to think the kind of games that might be produced. I think I would prefer if they just invested money in the companies and allowed the companies to keep the creative control of their products.

[hex65000]

The idea of independent game makers is novel, but it seems generally impractical in the modern console environment.

First of all, you have to buy the big (very expensive) development kit for that platform. Then you have to get CDs pressed in the proper format, AND you have to convince all the GTA-thuggies that it's worth looking at even though they have never heard of your game. Or generate enough media hype through hook or crook to make people care. You _could_ sell it cheap enough, but then recouping cost would be harder. It's not impossible, but it would be way harder to do than an independent movie I'd think.

 

Lastly, to comment on the article in the original post, the argument that originality will be lost (moreso) is quite believable. Really, the marketing droids come up with these demographics and then tailor a title to them. I like seeing something different out of left field, even if it's not _great_ the fact that it's some idea that I've not seen before adds to the cool factor. Katamari Damancy is definately up there on the weird factor and stateside, one of the more original concepts to come through in a while. Does this mean I want a bunch of sequels and clones of the series -- uh.. no. The thing is that if this was hit with heavy levels of 'market research' the title may not have ever made it to the US or could have been so horribly sanitized or thugified that it would have looked like something totally different than the very Japanese culture centric title that was presented.

 

The fact that bigger money keeps crawling into the industry is beacuse they smell a bigger return on investment. In a way it's the one way humans are like sharks, if we smell money, the greed kicks in and any civility tends to go away. The possible loser will be the consumer who will have their options of what is available limited by this 'big money'.

 

Hex.

[ Not the expert on any of this... there I said it. ]