Is it me or it getting harder to not look at games/gaming in a negative light?

[tippy2k2]

Can you name a movie that locks even "fluff" on the disc behind a registration/paywall?

I'd be seriously interested if you could.

I actually think I could. The cheap answer would be rentals because now if I rent something from Redbox, I am getting nothing but the movie. No extras, no commentary, no nothing. If I rent a game, I have no blockage at all now that $10 is dead. However, since that's a rental, I can't "technically" count it (and EA lost a Battlefield sale from me because to rent BF3, you would need a season pass to play online. My CoD buddies stuck with CoD because we couldn't test if we liked BF3 instead).

A lot of movies require codes and whatnot for the digital copies. For example, I have "Pain & Gain" here (you should see it btw! It's great) and if I wanted to use the digital copy, a function the disc says I get for buying it, I have to sign up for Ultraviolet.

More in spirit for what you're specifically asking though, I've seen quite a few series doing the "Exclusive content IF you buy at Best Buy/Target/Wal-Mart/whatever. Best Buy had a special edition of Dexter's Final Season that came with exclusive stuff but only through them. You see this with music like Justin Timberlakes new album, which came with exclusive tracks if bought at Target. I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for but (I think at least) that it's similar in spirit.

I swear as well Game of Thrones had a special "If you go to this website you get special behind the scenes stuff" that you had to input a code to get but my copy is being borrower out so I can't actually confirm that at this time.

I suppose that was a roundabout tap dancing way to say "No, I can't think of any concrete examples; you are correct on that point"

That's true, but I feel gaming still gets the very shortest end of that stick though. Movies and TV have an exceptionally well-rounded middle ground between "amateur indie project" and "200-million blockbuster" that gaming sorely lacks.

Schindler's List wasn't made by an indie studio in someone's basement. It was Steven Spielberg and Universal Studios.
And speaking of Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan won 8 Academy Awards and was a blockbuster full of explosions and gory deaths.

Where are gaming's HBO, and Showtime, who don't have to compromise for advertisers and still put out high production values?
Where are gaming's Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who make a business out of funding "artsy" movies to win awards (something else gaming lacks, and don't you dare mention the VGAs) as well as "grindhouse" stuff (through Dimension films)?
Now that I think about it, pretty much every major Hollywood Studio has a secondary studio specifically for funding riskier projects. Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage, Focus Features (Universal), Sony Picture Classics, New Line Cinema (Warner Bros.)... And let's not forget Disney/Marvel Studios, which was risky until it turned out to be one of the most lucrative ventures ever.

I think we're starting to see that now. I think a lot of people forget that gaming is really really really young. Movies have really just now hit major strides with the indie companies and television series like "Game of Thrones" and movies have been around for over a century now.

Gaming is now at a bit of a cross-roads like the movie industry was. Gaming's graphic ceiling has more or less been struck. Yeah, it can go higher technically but realistically, we're pretty much there. I think we're starting to see that shift of focus where there are AA games (like The Walking Dead). Games that are not the big blockbuster Call of Duty but they are not the indie tiny guy either. Frankly, I think now that we're at the ceiling, we're going to see a lot more of this. Obviously I could be wrong but that's my prediction.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hell, the issue has plagued the PC for 20 years. Unfinished games that require patches. Games that have significant hardware conflicts that were almost undiagnosable. Let's not even talk about the 3dfx era of PC gaming.

*cough*Glide Rendering*cough*
*Cough*Power3D*cough*

Excuse me, I seem to have a cold or such.

Yeah, so, not to be condescending at all, but it's mostly just more obvious now... to you. It's always been there, though.

Yeah, the bad shit has always been around, (shovelware etc) but it was largely ignorable following the crash.
Most folks quickly learned to not buy anything associated with TV or movies (sans Goldeneye).

Though in 25 years of gaming I don't remember a time when the future for mainstream seemed quite as boring or bleak.
Fewer and fewer games are developed with respect for their customers in mind; there's more overt price-gouging now than ever before, games are sold as opportunities, and incomplete; online is increasingly required to get ANYTHING out of a game.

That's in addition to the usual Tit-for-Tat game cloning, Sturgeon's Law garbage and hyperbolic advertising schemes.

But at the same time, I see great things happening outside of the mainstream. Not all are success stories, and there's always boatloads of exploitative crap (who wants another zombie game?) but it's not impossible to find diamonds.

 

[Something Amyss]

I actually think I could. The cheap answer would be rentals because now if I rent something from Redbox, I am getting nothing but the movie. No extras, no commentary, no nothing.

Again, you're trying to compare apples to oranges.

If I rent a game, I have no blockage at all now that $10 is dead.

Unless you grab an online pass game, which is still alive outside of EA games. Or similar locked content that's not explicitly called project 10 dollar anymore. And even better, those are the same for the purchased version of the game.

Hell, with EA games that used Online Passes and other 10 dollar content, you still have to have an account just to download the now free pass. And I think a couple of their games require you to log into servers for single player material.

A lot of movies require codes and whatnot for the digital copies. For example, I have "Pain & Gain" here (you should see it btw! It's great) and if I wanted to use the digital copy, a function the disc says I get for buying it, I have to sign up for Ultraviolet.

I don't think the disc says that you're getting the copy. It's also not a core function of the movie, the analogue here.

I swear as well Game of Thrones had a special "If you go to this website you get special behind the scenes stuff" that you had to input a code to get but my copy is being borrower out so I can't actually confirm that at this time.

I have the material for seasons 1-3 here. There is digital copy material, bu I can't find any online registration or the like.

I suppose that was a roundabout tap dancing way to say "No, I can't think of any concrete examples; you are correct on that point"

I think that's kind of the problem, though. There are limits the other industries don't push. With Ultraviolet/digital copy, they've been adding functionality. Hell, all three seasons of Game of Thrones I have include BD/DVD/Digital copy, which I redeemed to two services. Is there any reason to expect an iTunes or VuDu version of the movie along with the purchase? No. Wouldn't it be awesome if the games industry actually did something similar? This has been a talking point of mine since the Xbone's DRM removal where people were complaining about how the complainers ruined digital content for everyone. But while game companies have tried removing features to force people to buy, the movie industry and even the music industry has attempted to adopt more incentives to purchase. This strikes me as smart. I mean, ideally I'd rather my movies be like my CDs, where I can legally rip them and listen to them on my computer, but that's not happening. Same with the games industry overall. I appreciate that there ARE DRM-free games, at least, but you're not going to see that all that widely adopted by big publishers.

But think about that: at a time where more and more movies have Digital Copy standard (or possibly a slightly more expensive version), Microsoft wanted to make your game discs useless. And there's no doubt this was pressure that came from the industry as a whole. I mean, the movie industry isn't openly and vocally losing their shit about the possibility of used games or trying to launch a platform that locks them out or ties you solely to online. You can opt to go online, and yes, even the discs are DRM, but that's nowhere near as far.

 

[Erttheking]

Gamers communicate mostly through the internet, and the internet is a place where passive aggressive pessimism is the norm. Probably the best to get some viewpoints from another source.

 

[Do4600]

I think your problem is that you're looking too much at larger developers, who are going crazy. You need to check out some indie stuff, that's really where the hope and sanity is.