Another Golden Age of Gaming? 150
An anonymous reader writes "Julian Murdoch over at Gamers With Jobs thinks that this is the best time ever to be a gamer. In his conversation with a (one suspects hypothetical) kid in a library, he engages in a bit of a rant on the topic: 'He's me when I was 16. Everything sucked. But I'm glad I talked to him, because it turns out I needed to hear myself say it all. For all of my daily kvetching, this is the best time ever to be a gamer, because the games are good. We can bitch all we want about console wars, prices, fanboyitis, and those games which do, in fact, suck. But at the end of the day, there are more different games out there than ever before, from the oh-so-pretty Oblivion to Guitar Hero to Dwarf Fortress. From Magic: the Gathering to Pokemon (laugh all you want, it's a good game). From Heroscape to Warhammer 40k.'
So what do you think? In the midst of all the negative campaigning in the console wars, is this another golden age of gaming?"
For boardgaming, maybe (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I'll take what he's smoking (Score:4, Informative)
Oh yes, very snappy comeback. (*rolls eyes*)
Artificial Intelligence was one of the defining goals of Computer Science. It's been on the table since computers were first developed. Yes, most of the concepts developed alongside CompSci in the 60's and 70's. But to call the 60's the "Golden Age of AI" shows a distinct lack of understanding to what "Golden Age" means in a modern context.
The "Golden Age" is the period of discovery proceding the invention. It's usually offset by a period of time while the concept of the invention is assessed. Using the example of the Telegraph, the invention was the Optical Telegraph in the 18th century, but the "Golden Age" (sometimes referred to as the "Victorian Internet") didn't occur until the electric telegraph caught on in the 19th century. The "Golden Age" ended when the telegraph system became highly automated, thus disbanding the large network of operators. (The telegraph operators were a lot like the BBS users of the 80's and 90's.)
Similarly, videogames as we know them were invented in the early 1970's, but didn't experience their "Golden Age" until the 80's when the concept truly took off.
Except this is the pit. (Score:2, Informative)
For nintendo fans. They are getting EXACTLY what they want and deserve a great console, great games, great controller. But let's look at the other two.
Sony has now forced the market into blu-ray and is now beating the consumer with the price. They have failed in every way possible and the only one who suffers is the consumer. No rumble, a weak and late motion controller, they might have more power but it's significantly harder to program for.
On the other hand Microsoft now is owning the business. That's fine but they have touted online and graphics way too much. There are unique games coming but for the most part the 360 doesn't have a great first year line up, it'll get better though.
This isn't the glory days of great games, this is the hell of big budget titles forced advertising, and if you don't sell over a million copies of a game you don't make a profit. The gamers assume glitches are everywhere and they accept them no matter how big. You're paying out your butt for anything related to the console (even Wii, 60 bucks for a controller, and then you need more for Virtual console controllers), and the gamer gets hurt.
If that doesn't make you see a less then rosy outlook, add in the fact that now we have the both over powered horses are getting into the dvd wars. The PSX over headed, the Ps2 has had major hardware failure particularly in the laser, and now the PS3 will have a even newer laser system. Microsoft 360s are dropping like flies from the early shipments. And this is the golden age?
This isn't the golden age, This is the dung heap that people are telling us it's the golden age. The golden age was when games were good consoles were solid, and games sold like hot cakes. Super Mario Brothers 3 sold 40 million, because it was a great game on a system that everyone had, not because it broke systems, required you to pay 50 bucks for a second controller and then had glitches after all that.
The next generation could be a golden age, when everyone takes a step back from the power race and focuses on the gamer, not beating their opponents bloody.
Re:Steam (Score:3, Informative)
People who bitch about Steam suck. It's by far one of the best things to happen to the gaming industry. Just read hear for more:
Interview with Troika Games [rpgcodex.com]
"Why Steam... the reason Steam is so fantastic, is because the game can be developed and distributed without any publisher involvement. Laidback will get to keep the IP, which means that the idea and world the game takes place in will still be ours. Laidback can make a great title, put it up there and people can download it for less than they'd pay in the stores. On top of that, Laid Back will only need to sell a very small number of copies to recoup its cost and keep the company going.
To help everyone better understand, I will explain Publisher funding vs. Developer return process. I'm going to simplify it a lot, but this is more or less how it works.... and it's really quite amazing...
After they agree to fund your game for 6 million, you begin production. They give you 500k a month upon receiving, reviewing, and approving your milestone. They are basically checking every month to make sure the game is actually being made and going in a good direction Fair enough. To keep things easy, let's say the game ships on time and they've given you a clean 6 million bucks.
Ready?.... You get 10% of the royalties of the game! So like if the game sells 1 million units at Electronics Boutique for 50 bucks a piece, you get 5 million dollars coming back at you right?!??!
WRONG
EB bought the game for 40 dollars and sells it for 50. Now the publisher takes away their expenses of producing the full color manual and the pretty box and such which we'll say is 10 bucks (usually more like 7, but let's keep the math easy). So now we are down to 30 bucks, and you get 10% of that... 3 bucks.... but WAIT!!! Your 3 dollars doesn't go into your pocket, your 3 bucks goes to pay back the publisher what you borrowed to make the game. They did give you 6 million dollars. So before the developer see's a check in the mail, you would have to sell 2 million units!!!!! So the developer before the developer gets a check, the publisher gets 30 million dollars coming in.
Crazy huh?
So why choose Steam? I have chosen Steam because if you buy Valves engine to make your game with, you get to keep 100% of what you sell on Steam. That's right 100%. So using our math from above, if I can sell the game on Steam for 30 bucks and cost 6 million to make, I'll be seeing a check after the game sells 200k units instead of 2 million. AND the check I get for the units I sell will be 10 times more than it would be from a publisher AND after all this wonderfulness, you guys all get the game for 30 bucks instead of 50....
It's an all around winner.
If Troika was able to sell the games they made through Steam and sold only a 1/4 of the units they did, they'd be thriving today and everyone would have really cool RPG's to play. The more people who download, install, and actively use Steam the better. It's really small developers only hope to get their games out to people.
As far as the game being in a boxed version, it's possible... but I would wait until the game is close to completion before I entertained the idea of a publisher putting it on the shelf. If the game is done and there is a lot of buzz around it, then the developer holds all the cards could get a better deal out of it. Valve would also have their concerns as well and I would want to make sure the wonderful world of Steam would take TOP priority. "
Re:The Golden Age or the Revolution? (Score:2, Informative)
1) For MMOs, when it comes down to it, subscribers will consume content far far far quicker than you can make, test and deploy it, so MMOs need something repeatable that offers rewards after x repeats to keep people playing. No matter how much innovation you do, youll eventually hit this wall. If you cant keep your players playing, it doesnt matter how many awesome advancements you have made, your players will leave. The real trick is making the grind enjoyable. WoW has dismally failed in some cases (Cenarion Circle) and succeeded in others (IMO Argent Dawn rep succeeds, since there are 2 zones to earn it off normal mobs while levelling, 2 5 mans and a 40 man instance that gives rep)
2) Well...duh. Pure FPS games have always been shoot shoot shoot upgrade and shoot some more. Its what a pure FPS is. Its when you start mixing genres that the formula changes, but then, your not talking straight FPS games anymore.