Poll: Less is more

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I would have to say fewer games with more content. Like I said in another topic, I'd rather play a good game in a few months than a lousy game right now. Besides, for those uber-environmentalists out there: Having to buy fewer games means less waste material on the packaging.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

Quality over quantity.

I don't mind only 1 new game a month but I hate only 1 good game a year.
Yes thay aren't terrible but I like something I can really get into and be able to spend something like 30+ hours at least working on and enjoying. Not something that might be really fun but only last 6 hours. I guess online makes up for this in most cases but I don't do online so I always feel a bit upset when I only have the same campaign to go through every 5 hours. Every 19 hours I wouldn't mind but if I can finish a game twice in one day I am not a happy chappy.

 

[Novajam]

I want less, but longer games. Being the son of a banker that I am I only want to buy something if it's worth the money, so a game has to have some staying power if I'm going to buy it.

But enough about me. My real concern would be that if we end up getting a lot more games that are roughly ten hours long with little replay value, then publishers would still charge us the same price as one with 25+ hours, and worth a few replays. In other words, a mass shift from longer quality games, to shorter, more quickly released games. Am I making sense?

 

[clarinetJWD]

Less games more content!

Damn you, Half Life 2 Episodes, you're so so good but so so short!

I feel half life sort of escapes this as they follow (or try to) the route of "episodic gaming"... But as Yahtzee once put it, they continue to struggle with the "released more frequently" aspect of it...

Yes and no. Each episode has a development cycle about as long as most full games, but compared to other Valve games... Keep in mind HL2 was in development for 6 years.

 

[haruvister]

A special thank you to all those who used the phrase "fewer" rather than "less" games on this thread

 

[Blind Punk Riot]

That was the landslide I expected from the wonderful [mostly] patient people of Escapist!

phoooyar! Awesome games ftw!
But seriously, I think everyone would prefer and awesome and indepth game that takes forages, almost to real life time, realy gets you into the game, you want to gain compassion for the characters. Unlike the first fable when I was happy to kill my estranged sister and childhood companion. Infact I've been incredibly quick to decide on fame/fortune/awesome killing weapon/sammichs to killing friends/family/allies...


Which leads me to the most obvious point ever that Harvest Moon is the greatest game ever. Its the only game I have left for the gamecube, and the only reason the old thing is still here! Fingers crossed for macroshaft to buy out namco and many others so I can finally play Harvest Moon in all four of the glorious D's! [the fourth D being HD! [PS don't point out the obvious stupidity of that statement]]


I can only think of the possibilities of having Harvest Moon as an MMORPG... Stealing other peoples crops/animals, burning down barns, getting drunk together in the local bar, harrasing the town's residents and generally having an awesome time!

Harvest Moon for president!
I may have gotten slightly sidetracked there, but content and depth to a game with awesome gameplay, awesome graphics so I can stop curb stomping people to look at the brains on my shoes and the sun on the horizon glowing up the sky a beautiful red like the streams of blood slowly trickling into the gutters, the lack of bugs, the realism and most importantly... the ability to be the biggest jerk you can to any and all NPC's in the game.


I'd rather wait a few more months for a game, for it to not be a giant dissapointment.

 

[karmapolizei]

Less games, more content.
Since I'm mainly a FPS gamer, I guess I'll use that as my argument.
A good 8-10 hour game on the first playthrough is worth my 50-70 euros, and IMO I'm not asking for much*. A decent story(optional, if going for a Painkiller or Serious Sam type game) with good 'normal' controls, a bit no regenerating health, levels without fake difficulty [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty] and respawning enemies used in a plausible way.(not like in CoD4 and a lot of other games: an infinite amount of enemies coming out of a bathroom)

Why on Earth did you have to post that link? Now I spent half an hour on that site and forgot what I wanted to say.

Doesn't matter anyway, though, I'd just repeat other people. Less and better games, it is.

Irrelevant wimp comment: Oh, and less scary shooters, please.

 

[DeadlyFred]

I'd like to see games which take so long actually have the content to justify it. Seems like development cycles are getting longer and games are getting shorter.

 

[NeedAUserName]

Hey!, its not the size that counts, its how you use it.

 

[Mister Benoit]

That was the landslide I expected from the wonderful [mostly] patient people of Escapist!

phoooyar! Awesome games ftw!
But seriously, I think everyone would prefer and awesome and indepth game that takes forages, almost to real life time, realy gets you into the game, you want to gain compassion for the characters. Unlike the first fable when I was happy to kill my estranged sister and childhood companion. Infact I've been incredibly quick to decide on fame/fortune/awesome killing weapon/sammichs to killing friends/family/allies...


Which leads me to the most obvious point ever that Harvest Moon is the greatest game ever. Its the only game I have left for the gamecube, and the only reason the old thing is still here! Fingers crossed for macroshaft to buy out namco and many others so I can finally play Harvest Moon in all four of the glorious D's! [the fourth D being HD! [PS don't point out the obvious stupidity of that statement]]


I can only think of the possibilities of having Harvest Moon as an MMORPG... Stealing other peoples crops/animals, burning down barns, getting drunk together in the local bar, harrasing the town's residents and generally having an awesome time!

Harvest Moon for president!
I may have gotten slightly sidetracked there, but content and depth to a game with awesome gameplay, awesome graphics so I can stop curb stomping people to look at the brains on my shoes and the sun on the horizon glowing up the sky a beautiful red like the streams of blood slowly trickling into the gutters, the lack of bugs, the realism and most importantly... the ability to be the biggest jerk you can to any and all NPC's in the game.


I'd rather wait a few more months for a game, for it to not be a giant dissapointment.

Harvest Moon 64 and Friends of Mineral Town is where it's at.

Its fun to see hard work and dedication put into a game.

 

[Serious_Stalin]

It seems to take so much time for even new games which are short to be released in good quality. Gears of War is relatively short but amazing and has no bugs, but Force Unleashed is well buggy (perhaps released in anticipation of clone wars?) and army of 2 and kane and lynch as well are too buggy but still very good fun. I'd like to see more short games released I just guess it costs millions to make a bloody game on a nex gen console nowadays whatever the content.
I don't care about the content more about the quality I dislike trawling through samey missions killing the same brers with the same moves in the same enviroment.

 

[Caliostro]

It seems to take so much time for even new games which are short to be released in good quality. Gears of War is relatively short but amazing and has no bugs, but Force Unleashed is well buggy (perhaps released in anticipation of clone wars?) and army of 2 and kane and lynch as well are too buggy but still very good fun. I'd like to see more short games released I just guess it costs millions to make a bloody game on a nex gen console nowadays whatever the content.
I don't care about the content more about the quality I dislike trawling through samey missions killing the same brers with the same moves in the same enviroment.

I agree that there's no point in making huge games if they're lame or repetitive, but if they're good, I prefer a game that keeps me entertained for quite a while.

 

[Blind Punk Riot]

I love you for agreeing with me Mister Benoit!

Have yourself a beer, on me!

 

[H.R.Shovenstuff]

Less is more, more or less.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Content over numbers, always. I'd prefer 2 hours of near-orgasmically good gaming over 20 hours of 'Meh'. Truly good games get replayed over and over again anyways. Or corvsersely, one great package over 3+ sequels.

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

Hmm. I prefer less frequent releases to episodic gaming if thats what you mean.

 

[shatnershaman]

Less game releases more content to a point. I'm not waiting more than 3 years.

 

[LesIsMore]

By simple nomenclature I had to comment on this post, and it's a happy fact that I agree completely with the statement in relation to games. As a rule games tend to be expensive and take up a lot of your time, so it makes sense it'd be better to have fewer of them (easier on the pocketbook) and well-developed (more of a rewarding experience). I mean, it's obvious that when a lot of games are released there's more variety, but there's also more utter garbage produced to waste your time (for key examples of this, check out the Angry Video Game Nerd at cinemassacre.com). For my money, I want something that time and effort went into and that promotes substance over style - preferrably both in equally high measure.

 

[Caliostro]

By simple nomenclature I had to comment on this post,

I noticed your name on the forums a while after I did this, I lol'ed.

Hmm. I prefer less frequent releases to episodic gaming if thats what you mean.

Not exactly what I meant. Episodic gaming is, as Yahtzee accurately described it: "Less games, at cheaper prices, released more frequently". In essence, it's 1 big game split in several pieces, so instead of buying a full game, a full "story", you buy several "episodes" of it at a time. This also allows for companies to launch each group of "chapters" as they finish them, instead of waiting on the whole game. It's a marketing strategy really.

It's easy to get a bit confused though, with the most "famous" developer of episodic gaming nowadays being, IMO, Valve, and they tend to overlook the whole "released more frequently" aspect of it...

What I meant was games, full games, that are basically a clone of the older version with only a few changes, but nothing major is really changed, released more often (i.e: EA Strategy) or games that take longer to develop, so you have to wait longer between each new game, but that develop more or have more content each time.