Gamers Unite! What can we do!
Wednesday, November 12th, 2003 - 3:03pm
Ok ... I know this sounds a bit overly panicky and sensationalistic ... but i really don't believe so. Sorry to be brining up another website here .. but serious gamers ... you gota read the new nite call at GoneGold.com. I know this has prolly already been said gajillions of times all over the place ... but Activisions new trend is truly, IMHO, frightening. Yes ... we've seen many good gam releases, but I truly believe that overall game quality is going down, and it's corporate decisions like this that are going to help bring gaming down completely. (Now once again .. i remind you that I recognize I'm going a bit overboard here 
)
But what can we really do? ANy suggestions? I love gaming sooo much. I've been a gamer since the ealry 70's ... I've played games on virtually every gaming system that has ever been made. I don't want to see more Matrix's or more Lowest Common Denominator game production. 
So Gamers unite ... help me figger a way to save an industry that's getting eaten up by the corporate bottom line bug.
Whew!!! that felt good ... ok .. now it's off my chest. I feel much better now 
Lrets
Theres nothing to be done...Publishers are the ones that decide what will get published and right now we are at a strangle point in the industry.
Big name franchises will continue to recieve the bulk of the funding as will all types of MMORPG/MMOG''s.
Everyone loves the monthly revenue stream a successful MMOG can bring in especially with the fairly low monthly recurring cost associated with them.
Their biggest problem is the glut of them.. the sameness of them and the huge cost associated with getting them off the ground.
Several publishers will get whacked... many many dev teams will get whacked but in the end it will all be ok.
Theres always another id, Blizzard, or Epic around the corner. A small team that eats cornflakes every day and essentially creates a hit game on their own that spawns a huge host of hits and elevates a publisher to a higher ground.
What was Activision following the crash of the 80''s ?nothing...they rode out the fallout for years beforing becoming big with the release of Quake 2.
There are new markets to be cracked...like it or not..wireless handheld gaming will be huge over the next 5-7 years..Handheld gaming will be a renewed focus for both Sony and Microsoft. New consoles will launch in 2005 creating a new steady stream of rehashes and a few nuggets.
The PC platform will continue to be the cutting edge in terms of raw graphic and processor power. Combine that with the relatively low cost of production and you have a strong platform.
Publishers and Dev''s will adapt and change... lots and lots of crappy games will be published..some will be huge financial success and others will be even bigger bombs..
Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarter
85's face the truth you're too dumb.
http://www.myspace.com/armyofthepharaohs
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Vote with your wallet.
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I generated a virtual world in the toilet bowl this morning.
-- Podunk on the PS3's mystical, magical abilities
Let''s just hope that big companies will still gamble a *little* bit on the longshots. Look at BF1942. DICE must''ve been an afterthought for EA until the Spitfires hit the fans (har har). Now they''re golden boys.
Xbox Live: hubbinsd
I wish there was some way that we could rebalance the equation that says that its easier to can a project and development team of a less than spectacular product than to release said game and retain the dev staff to try and recoup production costs.
Of course, as a gamer this could mean more mediocre titles being released. However, you never know when you might find a real gem.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.