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"Hype and Comparison"

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Mon 12/02/01 at 20:02
Regular
Posts: 787
Your going to have to bear with me a bit on this. As I start on a completely different topic from which I end. Right here I go. Since Grix raised the topic of genres I would like to state my view. So many games are being made in one particular genre that people are starting to lose interest in that kind of game.

People have a short attention span right? (Don’t even bother trying to deny this) and when games developers start churning out game after game after game in one particular style then the public will start to say "I've already got three in that category and that ones going to be like the one I've already got"

This is happening more and more often in games today. Take the N64. Count how many racing games we've got on it. No, don't bother I'll tell you. 52. Yes fifty two. Do we really need all these racing games? Which nutter is going to buy 52 racing games? It seems to me that these developers are trying to make as much money as they can out of the N64 before it dies. Either that or they're trying to influence us all so much that we go speeding across a traintrack in a cute little kart™. It's the same with American sport games. It seems every single month another basketball game is brought out with nothing new to offer apart from a brand spanking new number at the end of the title. Wow!

Could it be this lack of originality that is forcing so many N64 players to jump ship to the Playstation, PS2 etc etc? But if they want originality then why are they going to the Playstation? It's got about as many original games as I have braincells (i.e. very little) it seems to me that Syphon filter is an attempt to get everyone thinking "hmmm, it's going to be as good as Resident Evil. Better buy it." Technically they're both exactly he same game. Maybe Resident Evil has gorier deaths or Syphon Filter has a few extra graphical tweaks. That got me thinking. Games are all about hype and comparison. Finally I get on to the title topic ;-)

Every game is a good game until it goes on commercial release. Or until the media gets its hands on it; Media hype either makes or breaks a game. If a game is good in its particular genre then it's inevitably going to be compared to the already ruling game in that category. Say a magazine got hold of a basic code copy of Perfect Dark. I mean very very basic code. The games graphics would have been below par to say the very least. The gameplay was jerky and uncomfortable. Say the magazine then claimed to have previewed a nearly finished copy of Perfect Dark. It would have rebuked PD for all these reasons and then published this. What’s the public going to think when the game gets released? There going to avoid it because some fat cat thought it would help boost his ratings to get his hands on a copy of the most highly anticipated game this century. Most Highly Anticipated. Where does that phrase come into this? Under the media hype section. How do the public know that the games going to be good? The ruddy magazines of course. Then when they hear that the games rubbish what are they going to think? You tell me.

Next onto comparison. Like I said a game is inevitably going to be compared to the already ruling game in that category. (Nice bit of pasting there or what? :) But what if the already great game in that genre is just unsurpassable? If a game is compared to it it's going to pale in comparison. The result? A game that’s good, not great gets forgotten. Possible consequence? The developers cry because that was their best effort and because it wasn't as good as say Perfect Dark it gets cast aside. They go out of gaming and everyone misses out on a great game.

Every games a great one before it's commercially released.

RBS
Mon 12/02/01 at 20:02
Regular
"You've upset me"
Posts: 21,152
Your going to have to bear with me a bit on this. As I start on a completely different topic from which I end. Right here I go. Since Grix raised the topic of genres I would like to state my view. So many games are being made in one particular genre that people are starting to lose interest in that kind of game.

People have a short attention span right? (Don’t even bother trying to deny this) and when games developers start churning out game after game after game in one particular style then the public will start to say "I've already got three in that category and that ones going to be like the one I've already got"

This is happening more and more often in games today. Take the N64. Count how many racing games we've got on it. No, don't bother I'll tell you. 52. Yes fifty two. Do we really need all these racing games? Which nutter is going to buy 52 racing games? It seems to me that these developers are trying to make as much money as they can out of the N64 before it dies. Either that or they're trying to influence us all so much that we go speeding across a traintrack in a cute little kart™. It's the same with American sport games. It seems every single month another basketball game is brought out with nothing new to offer apart from a brand spanking new number at the end of the title. Wow!

Could it be this lack of originality that is forcing so many N64 players to jump ship to the Playstation, PS2 etc etc? But if they want originality then why are they going to the Playstation? It's got about as many original games as I have braincells (i.e. very little) it seems to me that Syphon filter is an attempt to get everyone thinking "hmmm, it's going to be as good as Resident Evil. Better buy it." Technically they're both exactly he same game. Maybe Resident Evil has gorier deaths or Syphon Filter has a few extra graphical tweaks. That got me thinking. Games are all about hype and comparison. Finally I get on to the title topic ;-)

Every game is a good game until it goes on commercial release. Or until the media gets its hands on it; Media hype either makes or breaks a game. If a game is good in its particular genre then it's inevitably going to be compared to the already ruling game in that category. Say a magazine got hold of a basic code copy of Perfect Dark. I mean very very basic code. The games graphics would have been below par to say the very least. The gameplay was jerky and uncomfortable. Say the magazine then claimed to have previewed a nearly finished copy of Perfect Dark. It would have rebuked PD for all these reasons and then published this. What’s the public going to think when the game gets released? There going to avoid it because some fat cat thought it would help boost his ratings to get his hands on a copy of the most highly anticipated game this century. Most Highly Anticipated. Where does that phrase come into this? Under the media hype section. How do the public know that the games going to be good? The ruddy magazines of course. Then when they hear that the games rubbish what are they going to think? You tell me.

Next onto comparison. Like I said a game is inevitably going to be compared to the already ruling game in that category. (Nice bit of pasting there or what? :) But what if the already great game in that genre is just unsurpassable? If a game is compared to it it's going to pale in comparison. The result? A game that’s good, not great gets forgotten. Possible consequence? The developers cry because that was their best effort and because it wasn't as good as say Perfect Dark it gets cast aside. They go out of gaming and everyone misses out on a great game.

Every games a great one before it's commercially released.

RBS
Mon 12/02/01 at 20:20
Posts: 0
Good point, a bit like TWINE on the N64 a great game but it will never live up to the reputation of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark.
Its one reason why the N64 did so badly sales wise, it had to many good games from the go, e.g.

FirstPersonShooter: Goldeneye
Platform: Mario64
RPG: Zelda
Racing: MarioKart64

with games costing £40 a go, it was easy for most developers to see that potential customers would pay at least £160 on those great games before theyld ever buy their games,...so the N64 didnt have alot of third party support.
Mon 12/02/01 at 20:22
Regular
Posts: 23,216
Good post.

(You like any post with your name in.)

Yeah... but it also has to not insult me either.

(Ah.)
Mon 12/02/01 at 21:47
Posts: 0
Grix Thraves wrote:
> Good post.

(You like any post with your name in.)

Yeah... but
> it also has to not insult me either.

(Ah.)

what you talkin about grix you madman.

nice post rasta i think you've got a good point there. whatshischops follow up was making a good point aswell

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