Future Looking a Bit Bleak

[thegamepeddler]

I was looking over the lists of titles being shown by Activision and EA, and noticed something a bit disturbing. Out of some two dozen games, only TWO are original titles. The rest are either licenses, franchises or sequels. I think this represents a dangerous and rather boring trend which closesly mirrors whats been going on in Japan for a while now. The industry over there has actually been shrinking because of it. Personally, I'm pretty bored with what most companies have to offer. Even when a game is an "original" title, it often has some lame context and execution. How many times do I have to play as an amnesiac? How many more formulaic first and third person shooters, racers, and sports games can I take?

[Duke]

Thing is, this is what people buy. W/ the cost of making games ever going up, and the retail price of console games staying where it is (thank god), less and less publishers/studios/etc. are going to be willing to take their chances on unproven genres/formulas/titles.

The industry is basically what we, as consumers, have made of it.

Still though, don't see it as bleak. I can think of at least 5 or 6 titles that I'm just waiting for release on.

[CRAYMAN]

Yeah, like Parapa the Rapper!!!!

[CRAYMAN]

And the Dance Pad!

And the Eye Toy!

[GreenWeenie]

Yeah, like Parapa the Rapper!!!!

I actually kinda...liked this game....

GreenWeenie runs and hides in a dark corner

[Unreal]

Still though, don't see it as bleak. I can think of at least 5 or 6 titles that I'm just waiting for release on.

I can think of even more then that and since I have some time to kill before I go out. I am going to list them

1. Metal Slug 3
2. Thief: Deadly Shadows
3. Full Spectrum Warrior
4. The Chronicles of Rid****: Escape From Butcher Bay
5. True Fantasy Live Online
6. Sudeki
7. Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow
8. Halo 2
9. Fable
10. Kameo: Elements of Power
11. Def Jam Fight For NY
12. Dead Or Alive Ultimate
13. Mercenaries
14. Silent Hill 4: The Room
15. Star Wars: Battlefront
16. SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom
17. StarCraft: Ghost
18. Call Of Duty: Finest Hour
19. Doom III
20 Star Wars: Republic Commando
21. MechAssault 2
22. and Half-Life 2

There are more games, but I will stop there. BTW, the games in bold are the ones I am on the fence over.

[Jet]

Personality I like the idea that there are roughly only about 1-2 titles every month that I'm looking forward to. Puts a less hurtin' on the wallet.

[sped]

I personally like the fact that companies are making sequels to the good games and arent spending so much time on new dance and makeup games like they are in japan. The amount of original games coming out is at a good level.

[TOTTEN]

sequels are very nerve racking things like halo 2 in which you got so mush faith in the game to be good but it could turn out that the series is ruined.

[LTM360]

Alright am I to come in this and see people bashing "dance" games!?

I'm just kiddin, I like Dance Dance Revolution.

anways.... on topic. I like the idea of sequel, for the most part we know what to expect if we've played the first, and 99 times out of 100 we get a better game (with the exception of Devil May Cry). I, however, hate video game movies, if a movie rules, alot of people will think the game will, the only situation I think a game and movie are gonna both be awesome is with The Chronicles of Rid****... see? They did it, should either/both of these suck, they've got one person sucked in into wanting to see the movie and play the game, which seems to be what they want. Sorry if im ranting, I'll stop there.

[CarGuy]

I disagree completely.

[thegamepeddler]

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with sequels per se. Moreso that extended sequels, and reliance on name-brands are terribly boring. It also leads to clones and a general lack of creativity in the industry. I mean, the things that set games apart now are ridiculous. Yeah, the hero in our game can make stuff move without touching it and he can jump around and stuff. Wait a sec, isnt that like Star Wars? Nah, our guy has "psychic abilities", not "force abilities". oh, I see. Or like... hey, in our racer, you can crash your car and wreck it into twice as many pieces as any other racing game. wow. Or like you know, in this RPG the map is 8 billion square miles instead of 7 billion like the competition. What was it I saw in some interview? I think it was for Street Racing Syndicate. The guy was bragging that other games had like 50 billion combinations of accessories, but SRS was going to have 700 billion. As if 50 billion wasnt already completely excessive. And thats how you set yourself apart?! I mean, they're all basically the same game, but because licenses sell, and because games with 2's, 3's, 4's etc on them sell, the games that actually DO set themselves apart are far and few between. Do I feel there are NO interesting games being made? No, I dont feel that. Do I feel there are enough being made? no. Do I wish there were more being made? Hell yes. Like for me man, I'm going to have a couple of fairly long waits between purchases this year, especially if Fable comes out later than sooner, and that sucks.