Modern AAA gaming

[[130.Pz]S.Lainer]

do you play on console or PC natty ?

PC

$70 for BF3 and premium....You really should give it a go on the PS3.  Unless you are shit on the PS3 controls I think you will like it.  I might actually sell one of my copies to fund this since on PSN I can basically get 2 premium memberships for the price of one.  Wish my wife had held off on buying her copy now. 

[cannonfodder]

@Natty: Yeah, but the selective spawn doesn't always work...ever been pinned in the Russian main on "Hackjob Of Oman"?

Ok, so that's a bad example (there are no protected places at the Russian main), but I've been killed shortly after spawning plenty of times by tankers/snipers camping near heavily-contested flags.


I don't think retail will ever disappear entirely as a distribution method for PC games, it'll just decline to the point where the only games available in-store will be AAA titles. I'm sick of seeing the PC section of the local games shop shrink every time Sony or Nintendo fart out a new platform.


One more thing I'll say about about BF3 is, all it's faults and failings amount to nothing compared to it's worst feature: the ability to strafe while sprinting.

I'd like to find the person(s) responsible for this, because they need a swift kick in the backside.

They've turned every other FPS I own into a clunky pile of shit...

 


FPS MMO? Sounds great, it'd have to be a war scenario. I guess the biggest hurdle would be the need for so many maps.



@Zoo: Everyone quickly points to modern warfare as an overdone theme, but what about zombies?

How about a different type of mindless horde? Aliens? Robots? Who gives a stuff as long as it's not zombies.



@Dukat: I too find this somewhat confusing.

The average gamer is 30-odd years old, yet the amount of brain cells required to play AAA titles seems to be on a steady decline.

I blame the easy money console market.

[Zoologic]

@Zoo: Everyone quickly points to modern warfare as an overdone theme, but what about zombies?

How about a different type of mindless horde? Aliens? Robots? Who gives a stuff as long as it's not zombies.

Well, you don't say overdone, if it is done right.

IMO, they might probably say that there is not enough coverage for WW1 and Korean War era theme. So what's the telling? Are the audiences not interested in the era? Are the AAA game developers unwilling to risk their big titles? They are all followers then, not a trend setter.

I tried to reason about the popularity of WW2 and modern (current day) theme:

Usually, people will love something that they can relate to.

WW2 is such a grand conflict, that many can relate to it by their older relatives. Perhaps their grandpa ever served in the army or air force units or the mechanics, or a sailor in a convoy, submariner. Maybe their grandma was working in the factory, welding tanks and ships.

Modern conflict is nowadays, you can turn on TV, read news and quickly relate to it as an event happening around you today. Somebody like you in Syria or Somalia might be experiencing a war at the moment, while you are here sitting in a couch listening to your favourite music while browsing funny stuffs. You can talk about it even deeper at social hang outs, from your learning of something while experiencing the conflict through the video game's point of view.

[cannonfodder]

The 75th anniversary of the start of WW2 isn't far away.

Perfect opportunity for someone to cash-in by spitting out a WW2 shooter.

[[130.Pz]S.Lainer]

The 75th anniversary of the start of WW2 isn't far away.

Perfect opportunity for someone to cash-in by spitting out a WW2 shooter.

I doubt an anniversary is going to help in that department.  We need another SPR type movie to bring back the genre.

[Kelmola]

Forget about WW2, everyone is too preoccupied in making near-future shooters now: Bläck Öps ][, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (I vomited in my mouth when I remembered that the first Ghost Recon was actually a good game at the time), with more to come with absolute certainty.

[|7th|Nighthawk]

The first Ghost Recon was really intense and deadly. I prefer it over the GRAW series even if they are not too bad. The thing is that they are not Ghost Recon anymore.

[Kelmola]

Yeah, GR1 was baws. Encouraged by that, I actually bought GRAW hoping it would not be a neutered console shooter (as had already happened with the once-great Rainbow Six franchise), but gave up hope on it when I noticed that my supersoldier could not jump or climb onto a ledge that was whopping half knee-height. That was after the AI broke down and a rebel started slowly creeping across an alleyway while my team and the bad guys were exchanging full broadsides at respective ends of said alleyway and was not hit by a single bullet during the mad minute it took him to cross the street, but before I managed to go where I was not supposed to go and USS Enterprise beamed down a full away team of rebels right in front of me.

---

I'm rather surprised that the "it" trend is now "relatively near but scifistic enough" future, I would have thought that Halo and Gears of War would have "inspired" the other teams to make far future shooters instead (like that BF2143 that was teased in BF3 easter eggs). Oh well, maybe the new Deus Ex and reboot of Syndicate were the "insipration" this time.

[cannonfodder]

Yeah, in the current FPS environment, I think the only chance a WW2-based shooter has is to go down the alternate history path.

Not likely, but hey, one can always hope.

[Zoologic]

I hope this is a worthy necro...

An article that Natty would pray for

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-reasons-internet-has-made-everyone-entitled-dick/

Our expectation for "AAA" games are too high for a cheapskate pocket. Because some publishers dick around with pay2win schemes, while their full-priced $50 AAA titles are struggling.

[DLFReporter]

An interesting read.
I can also suggest these two:
Dead Space 3 has microtransactions because of mobile gamers

Fee-to-pay, a new name for a hot new business model

[Zoologic]

It is like making cheat codes commercial.

Back then, we got websites like gamefaq, cheatheaven, 123cheats, planetcheater that list cheat codes for games. It provides gamer with much easier experience, such as, instant cash/resources, which actually needs to be traded with more playing time. But now, it is made available using what they call microtransactions.

I am alright with that. But since the game is being sold at full retail price of $50-60 range, they should include ways to go over that and make sure that the money is just a quicker alternative, not to hide anything for non-cash ridden audiences.

Yet people are angry when Ryanair wanted to charge passenger for using the lavatory. Hey! Carrying water cost money too, the plane burns more fuel and creates more pollution. Why not pee/take a dump in the waiting room and be more responsible? All the sensibilities of gaming companies are there.