And yet, Minecraft...

Thats like in the middle, I'd say.
Or at least the 1/3 of whats on Notch's agenda, 3rd thing being VACATION!

Gaming became all about money towards the end of the PS2 era...

I could go on and on and on..about it, but I've said such on other boards and don't feel like saying it again. Skyrim(>_>)/SR3 is pretty much the last games of the modern gaming era I will buy. My library of old stuff will last another 20 years.

I just play a lot more indie games than I used to. I always get a nice sense of surprise when a game I paid very little for turns out to be fantastic.

Working Designs.

That's what I think about when it comes to "who is for the gamers". But sadly they went the way of the dodo, BECAUSE they couldn't generate enough profit. But they always thought about the lunar fans(and other games they helped bring over).

Some aren't all about numbers..Crystal Dynamics...but I don't know how long Lara Croft can go before she's used as a six symbol and TR is nothing more than a pervertized platformer and no longer about ruin crawling...

When did she STOP being a six symbol to appease lonely male gamers? >_>

That is unfortunatly how a business is run. Profit margins come first ahead of a real top quailty product. As long as they can get away with selling material of a lower quality than they otherwise could produce they will do so

Compared to other female mascots? She's on the light side.

Gaming is a business, a business' bottom line is as much profit as possible, it's always been about the numbers.

What people are alluding to is a more subjective approach that the gaming industry is pulling a Metallica-like sell-out, and they have a point, as well as those who mentioned a crappy economy causes businesses (read: devs/publishers) to take less risks on a product that might not sell as much.

It's being driven by numbers now, which I would argue is a huge mistake. Guess that's why I love BGSgames so much, they don't aim for COD numbers they just make a great game.

Because music hasn't been a big business for the past 85 years...

It all depends on what you play, or what you listen to. I like having fun with big budget games and music, but consistently the most expressive examples of both media come from studios with lower production value and higher inspiration.

So Capitalism is inherently bad? I think not.

It's not exactly doing well at the moment.

Well compared to other systems of gov't like communism and/or socialism, it is better. That doesn't mean however, it does not have its certain set of flaws, but the positives definitely out weigh the negatives.

Don't be turning this into a politics discussion...this thread is quite an interesting read, would be a shame for it to get locked!

@Terra Nova, I completely agree...Skyrim and SR3 are probably the last games that I'll buy for a good long while. Which is a shame really...

I just miss the days where I'd be all excited for a game, get it home (having read the manual on the bus/in the car on the way back) to then jump onto it and have a blast. Now, you get it back, open it up to find a 3 page manual...start up the game, play through Single-player, check out other features, realise half of them are expensive DLC, try playing online with friends, they have all the DLC so can't play with you, you buy unnecessarily expensive DLC to play with said friends who are already onto the next overly-hyped game. Rinse, wash and repeat.

I'm the biggest Halo fan around, and even I'm thinking that a Halo 4 isn't the best idea in the world :rolleyes:

Can't say I buy into all this doomsayer hoopla to be honest. I continue to find games that I genuinely enjoy year in and year out. Sure there are some less than ideal business practices out there in the industry but I don't think it is as bad as some people make it out to be.

I agree that it seems to be all about looks now. I want a game with a nice story, good character development, or a little personal touch to it. Good graphics was always a bonus to me. You just do not find those deep stories, those touching quotes, or even the same feel of playing with a true objective anymore. I brought this up in an earlier thread about the sequelitis person. I cannot link it as it has a bunch of foul language, but if you want to have a good idea of a game with a simple objective with a feeling of having a reason to play, and teaches you as you play, go on youtube, search Megaman vs Megaman X. it will be the first video. It explains about good character development, a simple, yet good story, and overall, a feeling of accomplishment that newer games for some reason cannot successfully pull off, with a couple exceptions.

The reason I think many games cannot do the good character development in exchange either for sheer simplicity, better graphics (and that budget has to come from SOMEWHERE...), or for the ability to give the player his own choice in a storyline. That reason is acceptable as there usually is a tradeoff in that area. The other ones I find are not acceptable, but who am I to tell you what to think? I do not look like FOX news last time I checked. Watch the video, think about it, and draw your own conclusion.

I think there was an article explaining how some games actually have the DLC content on the disc but you have to buy it on the online marketplace for it to become activated.

One thing I furiously hate is when they create content only to cut it and release it a week or month later after the official game release. Those [censored]ers.

Microtransactions is not there for the sake of earning, it's in fact there for sake of survival. Give them monthly subscription and they would die in less than 3 months. With so many MMO titles out there, there only so many players willing to pay subscriptions. WoW took out the majority of it, others are casual players who can't devote 3 hours a day to a game. Microtransaction is the perfect match for them. The pie is simply too small.

Gaming goes through trends and right now the trend is to have really great visuals and voice overs, and consoles are really where the money is at in terms of game development. So along comes the PC gamer who wants better visuals, better and more voice overs, and really great game play with lots and lots of options, however 90% of games are now designed for console gaming and then ported to the PC. When they really should design the game for the PC and then port it to the console, which would in the end produce a much higher quality game for both platforms.

I think a serious contender for the top spot in the MMO market is about to be released and that game is Bioware's Star Wars the Old Republic. This game has the top notch developer with Bioware, and has more then enough financial backing from EA to become a serious contender for top spot in the MMO market, in beta the game ran pretty much flawlessly for me for the last month. TOR is ready to go.

I'm less worried about the graphics issue. Games have always used graphics as a marketing point, nothing new here.

What I agree is pandemic level is the DLC (and Achievements). Both of these things are relatively new to the industry, brought about in the current generation of console by none other than the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. I give Xbox Live sole responsibility for the creation of DLC and Achievements, which have by now permeated every platform in the worst way. They are mortal sins.

Gaming is not over nor is it dying, but it's definitely gotten some bad habits.

Tune in next time for the post about Episodic Content!

I'm still waiting for SiN Episode 2. I'm sure it'll be out before the end of time itself. Possibly.

Edit: yes, I know the developer got bought out by another company and the entire staff departed, but that's a trivial obstacle!

And that's the problem. Developers or publishers will announce episodic content and it'll sound awesome, and then as times goes on you never get the next episode. Look at what happened to Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

I can almost guarantee without a doubt that Blizzard isn't going to release the last episode of StarCraft 2 this decade either.

And I'm just on the edge of my seat waiting for the announcement that Diablo 3 is going to be episodic.

As far as I recall the achievement idea came from some old Asian MMO titles.

I had always consider DLC as pay modules like the NWN mods. There were digital downloads for some old game expansions around 2003. I don't see where the hate comes from. Since when expansions had became mortal sins?