Games That Threaten The Industry

[Eclectic Dreck]

There have been many games that, by virtue of their success, have fundamentally altered gaming for years to come.

Starcraft was hardly the first game to use it's particular style of RTS but it's enduring success (and that of the sister property Warcraft) have ensured that the majority of RTS titles use the same basic mechanics and concepts. Sure, the occasional Dawn of War or Total War style game trickles out but the bulk of the titles use the same concepts and mechanics developed more than a decade ago.

Counterstrike almost certainly popularized the notion of the "realistic shooter" such that the older style epitomized by Unreal Tournament or Quake have all but disappeared from the world.

Halo's vehicle segments and regenerating health has alterned FPS games further, to the point that most games feature regenerating health and often insist upon a vehicle section, even if the game is worse for it (Gears of War for example).

WoW's enduring and astounding success has ensured that virtually every mainstream MMO that has been produced since shares most of the concepts and mechanics of WoW.

This is not to say that any of these examples represent bad games in any way, simply that, because of the success of the titles listed, entire genres have changed to the point that advances have slowed to a crawl. The games themselves are all excellent - so excellent in fact that most games since are heavily influenced as a result.

 

[Souplex]

Half Life 2 is a threat to other games, not in that it takes their sales; but in that it corrupts them, twisting them in it's own average image. Before Half Life 2 we had few games aboot power-armored non-characters fighting generically evil aliens, using generic weapons, while assisted by an annoying shoe-horned in minority sidekick/love interest.
Also: Valve is a proponent of digital distribution which is also bad.

Way to confuse Half-Life with Halo or better yet Doom, you pathetic troll.

Ah but the difference is, nobody copied it when doom did it, Halo at least has a reason for the aliens to do what they're doing, some of the weapons in Halo are inventive, and all the characters serve a purpose. I can honestly say Half Life 2 would be significantly less average if they offed Alyx.

 

[Thyunda]

I think most of the people that argued against my point misinterpreted it. When people limit themselves to one game for a lengthy period of time, other gems wind up in the bargain bins before they take note of an external world. This isn't an attack on CoD. I would write in identical fashion about my favourite game if it halted videogame sales in the way CoD has. Borderlands, for example, would be easily overlooked by anybody that plays CoD like my brother, and there are no isolated cases. If he plays this often, so must other people.
And the 'it's illegal' argument: get off my thread. Censorship is for whiny children and overly protective parents. I'm merely seventeen, and I've been playing games like GTA since its birth.

 

[Mechsoap]

i have far to few friends, 2 real infact, and im proud to see they both play classic and epic
games

else i find the wii the biggest thread,

 

[Feriluce]

Well, World of Warcraft obviousy (yes, it's, I know it's an MMORPG, stop throwing your Captain Picard figurines at me)

How is a flexible, balanced MMO, in which the company LISTENS to its fanbase, a danger to gaming? Because its popular, and does MMOs right? If MMO's want to compete; they should come up with original ideas, and get them to work. WoWs idea was accessability, and it worked pretty damn good.

I agree with you. The wow devs listen to its fanbase. The catch here is that most of the WoW fanbase is a whiny mess of entitled casuals. Just look at how horrible Wrath turned out.
I agree with you again on your second point. MMO's should indeed come up with original ideas. Problem is that they dont anymore. Why? Because they look at WoW, see its 10 mill subs and decide that if they does the same things as WoW they'll be just as successful. WoW has singlehandedly stagnated the whole MMO genre and that is why its bad for gaming in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2oxt7Nrxo
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkuZLxAWBo
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EVE Online
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DUST 514

You want originality? New ideas? Think all MMO's juts copy WOW?

Take the largest single gaming universe in the world, then make it the most player-driven game ever created.

Then make another game entirely devoted to one aspect of the first, for a different platform, a completely different genre

Then combine the two.

CCP Games has your answer.

I already said that eve is from 2003. Its older than WoW and doesn't apply.

I also never said that EVERY SINGLE game copies WoWs formula, but for every eve or guildwars there is 10 WARs, AOCs and Aions. Those few innovative games are the exceptions that prove the rule.

I'm a big fan of eve and CCP myself although I dont play it anymore. Quite looking forward to the WoD MMO that they are working on and have been for AGES.

 

[SimuLord]

I don't know about MW2 threatening the industry if the best you can come up with is a 13-year-old (a breed of human best known for its constant belief that the latest thing they've done/seen/played is the "best EVER!") developing a taste for it.

Meanwhile, speaking of Rome: Total War, one of the first signs I had that my ex-wife was perhaps a bit more of an airhead than previously believed was that she wanted to play it to see what I saw in it (it's my all-time favorite game), and she couldn't wrap her brain around the city management and battle segregation. It's not like she'd never played an RTS before (she was, and as far as I know remains, a Starcraft addict), she just didn't have the attention span or the intellectual capacity to connect the two elements of the game.

 

[Baneat]

WOW is the most addictive game out there and is an easy scapegoat for people who want to blame all the world's ills on gaming. I even saw a Dr Phil episode about couple whose lives were 'ruined' by WOW.

I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but my own gaming group was ruined for about three years because of WoW. They were too busy grinding and raiding to play anything else.
And they never once sounded like they were having fun; just endless bitching.
But they kept playing anyway. I have no idea why someone would put up with that for so long.

That's my axe to grind with WoW.

Ah, the age old debate. Do those that use/play games/whatever your vices are at these levels do so because they are unhappy/whatever mental malady you're carrying , or does it work the other way? I believe it works the opposite way you do, that people don't get sucked down by the substance/game, it arises as a symptom of something else.

 

[Gindil]

Well, World of Warcraft obviousy (yes, it's, I know it's an MMORPG, stop throwing your Captain Picard figurines at me)

How is a flexible, balanced MMO, in which the company LISTENS to its fanbase, a danger to gaming? Because its popular, and does MMOs right? If MMO's want to compete; they should come up with original ideas, and get them to work. WoWs idea was accessability, and it worked pretty damn good.

Now that Im done with THAT; the CoD series spawns a wide host of teenagers who grow up, only buying "Gritty, realistic, War Shooters". All of which suck. People like your brother are the reason we see so few new ideas in the FPS department; any company can squeeze out a mediocre, gritty shooter in 6 months, and profit from it. Why put thought into something, when you can get more money for less effort?

Despite being a fan of Halo's multiplayer (which, I think gets ragged on entirely too much, but everyones allowed their opinions), Halo and CoD are single handedly killing the gaming franchise. They bring teenagers into the Mature gaming audience, and developers target them because these teens are more numerous then people Mature games are intended for. Games arent being developed for content, there being developed for flair. And, if your into the arguement "Games are Art", these games would rank with Finger Paintings; compared to a Mona Lisa like Golden Sun.

Uhmmm... MMOs have tried to be unique and failed miserably. Tabulas Rasa was great. Too bad no one played. Same thing with Conan. Most of the user said, "Well, it's not Warcraft..." invalidating their reason to play good games EVER!

I mean Tabulas Rasa I liked personally. I wanted a sci-fi game that actually had a world that ebbed and flowed as you left. But then, people weren't interested in a game that had sci-fi elements. Much to my chagrin. *sigh*

Conan... I don't know where to start. Suffice to say, the only other ones that are around right now are Dungeons and Dragons Online and the new ones such as APB.

Halo I won't start on because I could make a page about that all by myself.

 

[Ieyland]

How is MW2 a threat? Sure, it's the best place to hunt if you want to find whiny, immatured people. But MW2 broke the record for most sold video game of all time.

 

[Thyunda]

How is MW2 a threat? Sure, it's the best place to hunt if you want to find whiny, immatured people. But MW2 broke the record for most sold video game of all time.

Because people like my brother will sit and play only MW2 for months. During those months, they're not even going to give a passing glance to any other game that comes out, so Infinity Ward is effectively crippling the competition through distracting the consumers.

 

[Thyunda]

Since the release of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, my thirteen year old brother has played nothing else.

He needs to be taught that all games have their own shining points. I assume he only plays multiplayer mostly?

He only plays multiplayer. He will play it for hours, shouting, screaming, cursing at the screen, all sorts. I reckon it's a serious problem, but I'm too lazy to care. So long as I get my own time on Borderlands, he can rot his brain out.

I've tried to teach him that other games even exist, but you can just tell that even while he intently listens to your explanation, all he can think about is what challenge he'll complete next.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Ah, the age old debate. Do those that use/play games/whatever your vices are at these levels do so because they are unhappy/whatever mental malady you're carrying , or does it work the other way? I believe it works the opposite way you do, that people don't get sucked down by the substance/game, it arises as a symptom of something else.

It's probably both. The question is which way it starts. I don't think I'm being unreasonable when I say most games are used as a form of relaxation or pleasant distraction (like any other hobby). So the person being unhappy to begin is plausible, though not guaranteed.

On reflection, I think it's an instinctive response to positive reinforcement that made them keep playing for so long. The benefits of achieving a goal are heightened if the task is particularly stressful.

The problem arises in that WoW's case, the grind is simply an artificial substitute for difficulty. It may take an eternity to get that next tier of armor, but the actual process to get it is not difficult; just time consuming.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a parody of Stockholm Syndrome, where the brain adapts to the stress in such a way that the grind is both stressful, unfun, yet paradoxically satisfying for reasons described above.

Amidst all this, I still say that WoW completely changed the gaming industry.
In a bad way for that matter (unintentionally or not).

 

[Daipire]

Half Life 2 is a threat to other games, not in that it takes their sales; but in that it corrupts them, twisting them in it's own average image. Before Half Life 2 we had few games aboot power-armored non-characters fighting generically evil aliens, using generic weapons, while assisted by an annoying shoe-horned in minority sidekick/love interest.
Also: Valve is a proponent of digital distribution which is also bad.

My internal monologue had a canadian accent for the remainder of reading your post


My opinion is that there is no industry threatening games. If someone makes a very popular shooter like CoD6, you try to make a better shooter like BC2!

Someone makes an action packed game about space marines that sells awesomely? (halo)
Someone else makes another one that sells well? (Gear of War)
You make EVEN COOLER SPACE MARINES! (haze and a whole hell lot more)

If the industry is ruined due to a certain game, well, the industry isn't very competitive.

 

[The_Graff]

you mean besdies the Sims franchise and everything Nintendo touches?

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Well, World of Warcraft obviousy (yes, it's, I know it's an MMORPG, stop throwing your Captain Picard figurines at me)

"GASP!" They are captain kirk figurines OBVIOUSLY! "nerd rage"

Joking aside I would agree, i put down MW2 to play mount and blade, an absolute classic for £7 thats basically oblivion with improved fighting controlls and massive army battles. Its fantastic. I love playing new and different types of game, the exception being Tom Clancys End War that thanks to a mis labelling of price in HMV I got for £10 on release day new. God it was a terrible rock paper scissors RTS.

 

[GiantSpiderGoat]

Games that ruin the game industry are ones that think they can revolutionize it by only adding one small niche to it. Such as Red Faction, where all it really was, was GTA with building that crumble. Now I must say intentionally braking the supports of a building with a sledge hammer to see it come crumbling down on someone is fun. But it only stays fun for a few short hours.

I think a game that is helping the industry is eve and dust. It's similar to my idea of having a Rts game where players can be the big overlord and another player can be a single ground unit in a 3rd or first person view.