With the advent of online gaming, one question must be brought forth; Is the internet ruining gaming?
I don't mean like Gamefaqs or anything like that. More effecting the games themselves. My thoughts are three fold.
1. Patches - Back in the good old days of gaming, a game wouldn't be released until it was complete. Yes, even if they had to push back the release date in order to fix all of the flaws. After that, the game was either good or bad. The flaws were either fixed, or made the game terrible.
Such is not the case now.
With the rise of patches and downloadable content, developers can rush out a game. Then, when we find these flaws, they will respond with a 'we'll release a patch for it later' remark. Some do, some don't. Regardless, it forces gamers to reserve their judgment on a game until said patch is released.
Remember what a terrible game Angel of Darkness was? Poor controls, and a terrible camera. The story, however, was interesting, and the graphics, for their time, were pretty good. Imagine if Eidos had said 'we'll release a patch to fix those errors'? Would the game still be lauded? Would they have even released said patch?
I think games shouldn't be released until they're finished, but thats just my opinion.
2. Downloadable Content - Again, rising internets have given game developers a long list of possible options for extending a game. This comes in the form of downloadable content. I don't really have as much of a problem, but I do have one major complaint.
Certain things shouldn't need to be downloaded. Street Fighter 4 has downloadable costumes for the characters. Why was this not on the original game? The disk could have handled it. Instead, Capcom wants us to shell out our hard earned money to make Ryu's gi a slightly different color.
Of course, some companies do it well, or as intended. GTA4 recently had a DLC released, but unlike SF4, it was an actual gameplay addition, one that actually made the game longer, added large scenarios, rather than simple costume changes.
Hopefully, Capcom will use DLC smartly. Add new characters instead of costumes, that way we don't have to shell out another $65.16 for Street Fighter 4: Hyper Turbo Excalibur Edition. Then again, this IS Capcom, and they know we'll pay that price for a slightly updated version of the same game. Just like we did with Street Fighter 2. *SIGH*
3. Online Multiplayer - The big one. I know a lot of fans of the Halo series, but I just never got on board. Really, the only thing I like about Halo are the books by Eric Nylund (and no one else). The games are just run of the mill FPS games, with nothing new. Some people praise the story, but as an avid reader (and writer) I found the plot of the games to be predictable and uninteresting.
So everyone told me the fun in Halo (specifically Halo 2) was in multiplayer.
Not that I'm against multiplayer. I'm not. I just don't think it should get in the way of the single player experience. I was a gamer back in the single player days. The NES, the SNES, and so on. They all had amazing single player campaigns. When one had a multiplayer option, it was in addition to the single player, the complete opposite of modern gaming.
Some games do it well. Left 4 Dead is enjoyable in either single or multiplayer (at least, I think). Call of Duty 4 has an amazing single player campaign, and a very well done multiplayer mode.
Some games don't. The Halo series shuns the single player for multiplayer. Resident Evil 5 does the same. If you play alone, you're pretty much dead, because your partner has about as much sense as a zombie from the ORIGINAL RE on Playstation. Of course, they steal your ammo and waste your bullets more, but....wait, that sounds a bit like the RE zombies. Anyway, in RE5, the multiplayer also destroys much of the experience. RE5 is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than RE4, mainly to compensate for the fact that you may not be able to play with the same person every time, so it needs to be short and flexible.
Thats just this one pen's opinion. I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts on this.
I don't mean like Gamefaqs or anything like that. More effecting the games themselves. My thoughts are three fold.
1. Patches - Back in the good old days of gaming, a game wouldn't be released until it was complete. Yes, even if they had to push back the release date in order to fix all of the flaws. After that, the game was either good or bad. The flaws were either fixed, or made the game terrible.
Such is not the case now.
With the rise of patches and downloadable content, developers can rush out a game. Then, when we find these flaws, they will respond with a 'we'll release a patch for it later' remark. Some do, some don't. Regardless, it forces gamers to reserve their judgment on a game until said patch is released.
Remember what a terrible game Angel of Darkness was? Poor controls, and a terrible camera. The story, however, was interesting, and the graphics, for their time, were pretty good. Imagine if Eidos had said 'we'll release a patch to fix those errors'? Would the game still be lauded? Would they have even released said patch?
I think games shouldn't be released until they're finished, but thats just my opinion.
2. Downloadable Content - Again, rising internets have given game developers a long list of possible options for extending a game. This comes in the form of downloadable content. I don't really have as much of a problem, but I do have one major complaint.
Certain things shouldn't need to be downloaded. Street Fighter 4 has downloadable costumes for the characters. Why was this not on the original game? The disk could have handled it. Instead, Capcom wants us to shell out our hard earned money to make Ryu's gi a slightly different color.
Of course, some companies do it well, or as intended. GTA4 recently had a DLC released, but unlike SF4, it was an actual gameplay addition, one that actually made the game longer, added large scenarios, rather than simple costume changes.
Hopefully, Capcom will use DLC smartly. Add new characters instead of costumes, that way we don't have to shell out another $65.16 for Street Fighter 4: Hyper Turbo Excalibur Edition. Then again, this IS Capcom, and they know we'll pay that price for a slightly updated version of the same game. Just like we did with Street Fighter 2. *SIGH*
3. Online Multiplayer - The big one. I know a lot of fans of the Halo series, but I just never got on board. Really, the only thing I like about Halo are the books by Eric Nylund (and no one else). The games are just run of the mill FPS games, with nothing new. Some people praise the story, but as an avid reader (and writer) I found the plot of the games to be predictable and uninteresting.
So everyone told me the fun in Halo (specifically Halo 2) was in multiplayer.
Not that I'm against multiplayer. I'm not. I just don't think it should get in the way of the single player experience. I was a gamer back in the single player days. The NES, the SNES, and so on. They all had amazing single player campaigns. When one had a multiplayer option, it was in addition to the single player, the complete opposite of modern gaming.
Some games do it well. Left 4 Dead is enjoyable in either single or multiplayer (at least, I think). Call of Duty 4 has an amazing single player campaign, and a very well done multiplayer mode.
Some games don't. The Halo series shuns the single player for multiplayer. Resident Evil 5 does the same. If you play alone, you're pretty much dead, because your partner has about as much sense as a zombie from the ORIGINAL RE on Playstation. Of course, they steal your ammo and waste your bullets more, but....wait, that sounds a bit like the RE zombies. Anyway, in RE5, the multiplayer also destroys much of the experience. RE5 is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than RE4, mainly to compensate for the fact that you may not be able to play with the same person every time, so it needs to be short and flexible.
Thats just this one pen's opinion. I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts on this.
Sorry for your loss, hopefully they get on it and patch that! IMO stability patches should ALWAYS be priority number one because your customers are sitting there in the dark.
