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"Sony Killed The Games Industry"

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Thu 13/02/03 at 15:27
Regular
Posts: 787
I posted this in "Prime" then I realised no-one would read it...so i decided to post it here as well...bring on the vitriolic comments.


Controversial headline eh? I know what you're thinking - "Unbeliever has clearly lost his mind. The games industry is better than it ever has been and with games like Vice City and Pro-Evo, Sony has single-handedly revitalised the games industry. So stuff that in your pipe and go away you Nintendo zealout."

Not so.

I'll explain why....

Cast your mind back to the halcyon days of the Megadrive and the SNES, when there were a wealth of good playable games out there. Some games were lucky enough to be ported over to another platform but generally they retained their host platform and were enjoyed by persons who owned either console. Yes, there were the usual mundane arguments over one console being "better" than another but as anyone knows, the strength of a console can only be judged on the quality of the games for the console. Anyone got a 3DO?

Developers were given free reign with their games without producers looking over their shoulders muttering about reaching projected sales targets and threatening to can the game before it gets released due to "rising costs" or "bad previews". Everyone was happy. Games got released, sometimes a few weeks late, and honest reviews came out because games mags didn't have to rely on companies' advertising to keep them in business - it was the gameplayers that supplied them with their money based on how many mags were sold.

Going off on a tangent for a moment, I don't know if anyone remembers, but THQ was one of the worst games developers ever and constantly received major criticism due to their lack-lustre poor games that were released. Nowadays it amazes me how far THQ has come but they were rubbish ten years ago. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, games weren't necessarily better than nowadays BUT (and this is a big but) there were far less below average, sub-standard rushed releases. People stuck with either Sega or Nintendo and didn't trust any other games company do to the industry justice. Any companies that thought otherwise soon found out the hard way - The Amstrad GX-4000 sank without a trace, the Amiga CD-32 disappeared without a whimper, the Jaguar was scuttled faster than Titanic. These being just a few examples. I remember when a company tried to release a handheld to rival the monchrome Gameboy (the name escapes me). The games were poor and it soon failed like its' predecessors.

So who do I blame for this? Sony, of course.

So why the heavy heart? Well, games were a niche market - much smaller than the vast profits in other entertainment industries, platforms were cheaper to develop for and a company's success wasn't marked by the amount of games franchises that it could get hold of - games didn't generally sell on the basis of the name of a game (although the Mario games were an exception as were the Sonic range) - they got judged on the playability. If a company released a bad game, it wouldn't sell well but the company wouldn't be forced out of business by it. Indeed, they'd re-double their efforts to get a quality product out and to tweak and refine it until it was perfect and then release it to the unsuspecting public and sit back and bask in the glow of critical acclaim when they'd satisfied gamers with their product.

We also saw a new age in re-invention and originality. Prince of Persia featured the most amazing fluidity ever witnessed, Flashback and Another World took the same feature and improved on it, Disney games were GOOD. Yes, hard to believe but Castle of Illusion was one of the Megadrive's finest moments. 2-D shoot-em-ups were in their prime and platformers constantly strove to establish the essential purchase, from Decap Attack to Quackshot - there was something for everyone. Populous entered the fray and everyone wanted to be God. Sim City amazed with it's accurate management system and FIFA reared its' ugly head! There was a game to satisfy everyone's tastes.

So, backtrack to 1995 (or rather, fast forward to 1995) when the Sony Playstation was first released. It came out with games like Ridge Racer and Destruction Derby that amazed gamers with arcade style graphics and soon became one of the biggest, most successful gaming platforms of all time. It lasted for over 7 years, something almost unheard of in such a volitile market and the company went from strength to strength. Marketing sold more Playstations than anything else and "casual gamers" got recognised for what they were. Parents played their son's/daughter's (let's not discriminate eh?) consoles. More people got into games and the industry as a whole got bigger with vast turnover margins.

So, what gives? Why the "ill-informed pompous" rant against the company that allegedly "kick started the games industry"?

Simple. People noticed. Games had more turnover and generated more income than any other entertainment industry in 2002. Bigwigs realised that it was big business rather than in the old days when they wanted to please customers with a great product. Even Bill Gates sat up, noticed and decided to get in on ther act. Games sold these days are more often than not on their title rather than quality. It's all a question of style over substance. Nowadays, games companies generally spend less time on developing games for consoles (of course there are exceptions). They obtain big licenses (James Bond, anyone?) and make a game to fit the license. They have deadlines to meet and if they don't reach them, there's no more financial support from the producers. So they release a substandard game that sells on its' name when they could have taken longer and released a great game. The Two Towers and Harry Potter are prime examples. Games developers are judged on their success by each release. Indeed one bad selling game could force a company out of business. Look at Rage Software, for example.

The hype associated with games and consoles was too much - Sega's Dreamcast breathed its' last breath while the PS2 was lauded. Why? The DC had the same, if not better architecture (don't argue with me on this one because I don't care about system stats as I said before) and the game were as good, if not better - Skies of Arcadia, Rez, Virtua Tennis etc. Sony forced Sega out of the market with its' slick marketing campaign and a load of false hype - the "emotion engine" turned out to be nothing but a chip, the "Third Place" was a foolish notion that no-one understood and only the success of killer titles sold it well. The Getaway was a flawed concept that couldn't live up to the hype it generated. Developers release sub-standard games that are hurriedly rushed into development for the host platforms. Then they get the multi-format treatment in an effort to maximise sales so now we don't get one below average game released, but THREE. On every console. So now we get three rubbish versions of Turok Evolution instead of one.

So what do we have these days? An over-saturated market with a wealth of generic games. Generic racing games, generic fighting games, generic sports games and generic 3-D adventure games. All below average, all wasting space on the shelf...and all selling mostly due to its' title name. I could count the number of decent games on each console on my hands. Why? When each console had over 100 games for it? Why are only about 5% of those games any good?

So who ruined the games industry? Sony. By selling so many consoles with their debut console, they shot themselves in the foot. Games players deserve better than this.

I don't care if no-one agrees with me on this touchy subject but i'll vent my frustration as much as I like about this subject. Next time you go into your GAME or EB shops (that probably weren't even there 6-7 years ago) look around you and look at the games everywhere. Look at the shelf space designated to poor games. Look at how the industry is suffering and then laugh as you buy your copy of Nightfire - because you're not to blame are you?
Sat 15/02/03 at 21:54
Regular
Posts: 9,848
Some of the games were simple, but so were the PS2's games, and the DC actually out performed the PS2 long after it's demise.

The PS2 did finally get some decent games and when GTA3 rolled into town, Sony's new console did finally prove it's worth, but the DC was already long dead by then.

It was the PS2's hype that killed the Dreamcast, not games.
Sat 15/02/03 at 10:50
Regular
"Comfortably Numb"
Posts: 5,591
Strafex wrote:
> Sony did more good than bad, and yes, I am a biased Ninty.
>
> Basically, look at the N64 launch.
>
> Nintendo were cocky after owning the market with the Snes.
> There were few releases, the games and hardware were VERY expensive
> and they generally treated third party devellopers like crap (one of
> the many reasons most of them opted to devellop for the Playstation
> instead).
>
> As brilliant as Nintendo's game design department was (Mario 64 proved
> that much), the business and marketing department needed a kicking.
> They got that kicking, and learned the hard way.
>
> THAT'S why the Gamecube is so cheap and consumer friendly.
> You should thank Sony for that atleast.

Also, the mini doscs are easy to develop, and are cheaper than, CD's.

>
>
> It was wrong that the PS2 destroyed the Dreamcast, especially as it
> was purely down to hype and advertising (the Dreamcast had some great
> games and the PS2's were generally awful - Pre-Grand Theft Auto 3
> era), but hey, that happens.

The Dreamcast doesn't deserve the title next gen console, after playing some games on it, i realised that their was good reason for PS2 destroying it, i mean the games were so simple.(Excluding Shemnue)
Sat 15/02/03 at 10:34
"The Will of D."
Posts: 5,643
Well if Sony had finsihed their deal that they made with Nintendo to build a CD upgrade for the Snes then Ninty wouldn't still be taking money off Sony's hands for the ill use of the name Playstation.
Fri 14/02/03 at 23:42
Regular
Posts: 9,848
Sony did more good than bad, and yes, I am a biased Ninty.

Basically, look at the N64 launch.

Nintendo were cocky after owning the market with the Snes.
There were few releases, the games and hardware were VERY expensive and they generally treated third party devellopers like crap (one of the many reasons most of them opted to devellop for the Playstation instead).

As brilliant as Nintendo's game design department was (Mario 64 proved that much), the business and marketing department needed a kicking.
They got that kicking, and learned the hard way.

THAT'S why the Gamecube is so cheap and consumer friendly.
You should thank Sony for that atleast.


It was wrong that the PS2 destroyed the Dreamcast, especially as it was purely down to hype and advertising (the Dreamcast had some great games and the PS2's were generally awful - Pre-Grand Theft Auto 3 era), but hey, that happens.
Fri 14/02/03 at 21:36
"For the horde!!!!"
Posts: 3,656
Sony hasn't killed gameing because gameing STILL EXSISTS and anyone who blaims Sony are fanboys and that is a fact.
Fri 14/02/03 at 21:02
Regular
"no longer El Blokey"
Posts: 4,471
Bottom line:

Sony have not killed the games industry. They've just expanded it. There are probably more great games being made now than there were before Sony, but there's also more crap. So it all evens out.
Fri 14/02/03 at 20:52
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Basically -

.If Sony hadn't brought about change, then someone else would have.

.This is not a console wars topic - all three consoles are fantastic.

.Gaming has changed for the better in most cases, the main difference is that there are very few bedroom coders, most are still young people with fresh ideas, but have gone through college or university first.

.There are still as many good games around as there always were and magazine reviews reflect this.
Fri 14/02/03 at 20:31
"The Will of D."
Posts: 5,643
Good point, but now we just need to lower the rage of the posts in the topic to a non-fanboy status.
Fri 14/02/03 at 19:01
Regular
"Just Bog Standard.."
Posts: 4,589
Psyİho Fox wrote:
> I can say this with me knowing that you will hate me calling you
> this, but i think all of you who are disagreeing in a big way (mostly
> everyone) are Fanboys.

I do admit I am a Fanboy, but I know it. I am a huge fan of the X-Box, I also have a PS2 and a GC but I just find the X-Box to be best.

The funny thing is though, before I decided to get an X-Box, I was all like, 'yea, the X-Box is cr@p, it's just gonna go the same way as the Dreamcast' but I now realise how wrong I was. So if people would actually start to give consoles a chance, things would be a lot better.
Fri 14/02/03 at 18:39
"The Will of D."
Posts: 5,643
It's a great post, but the only thing that has spoiled the mood is everyone else's attitude toward 1/2pint's opinion.

*Build up confidence and calm attitude towards what I am about to say*

I used to be a Ninty fanboy but no longer, so I am just saying "Who F-ing cares?", just reply to his post and get out of
here before you explode with your anger towards his "Sony ruined the gaming industry" post.

I can say this with me knowing that you will hate me calling you this,
but i think all of you who are disagreeing in a big way (mostly
everyone) are Fanboys. That's right Fanboys, that word you are calling
1/2Pint at this very minute when you too are also fanboys. It doesn't
matter which console you are Fanboys for because you are just one.

Finally I didn't say anyone who doesn't think that what 1/2pint said was true, but they are fanboys for what other people believe in and the way that they take it out on their opinions.

*Overload of collecting rage averted*

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