I guess games come down to personal preference. And maybe I'm getting kind of crochety about games in general. It just seems to me that there's so much that the game industry has lost. Maybe it just hasn't lost them but there's not that much more innovation left in the medium. Not being a football follower, it baffled me how Madden Football could come out year after year and be, essentially, the same, though I guess it does make cleaning up the rosters easier.
The cynic in me looks at something like XBox Live and thinks, "You know, one coppy of Madden, and with the right interface you could automatically update that copy of Madden to the latest and greatest stats and rosters!" Well, no, that's the technophile in me. The cynic in me says 'Shyearigh, like that's going to happen!' EA is pretty much garaunteed sales of Madden every year, so why should they go to a cheaper subscription system when they can make people pay full price for games?
But I'm not one to talk, honestly. The entire gaming industry has just... moved along. I guess updated rosters/stats/teams is reasonably justifiable to make a new game each year, especially if they update the graphics, textures, engines, etc. It sure beats Deer Hunter. (WARNING: Rants commencing!) I still can't believe Sierra cancelled Into The Fire for *choke* DEER HUNTER. Augh. And I remember when Sierra made games like King's Quest, and Space Quest, and, Mother of All, Gabriel Knight. Epyx had Summer Games, and Winter Games, and the wonderfully oddball World Games (who here remembers CABER TOSS?!) and several flavors of Temple of Apshai. Electronic Arts had Archon (I want Archon's box art as a poster!) and Bard's Tale, and Pinball Construction Set, back when they had the Cube-Sphere-Pyramid logo that everyone was sure was representative of 'ECA' or ElectroniC Arts.'
And, oh my lordy.... Origin Systems. We Create Worlds. Wing Commander was great but there's something else. ULTIMA IV. Let me repeat that: ULTIMA IV: Quest of the Avatar. Has any game anywhere ever done anything at all like what U4 did? No world-shattering danger, no hordes of evil monsters, no cataclysmic hordes of demons. Just you, your companions, and a quest to better yourself and achieve a sort of enlightenment. And then U5, well, let's not go there. But then U6 comes along and turns it upside down: whoops! There are other ways to enlightenment!! And then there was U7 which had, bar none, the second-most-coolest box art in gaming history. Ultima VII: The Black Gate. I got chills just looking at the box, and the game delivered. U6 and 7 were a return to the roots of 'destroy the evil menace!' but 7 had some really great themes in it.
*sigh* Guess I just miss games like that, and am a bit jaded by games that come out, and just don't grab me like older games did, and are just seen as quick money makers for their companies. And I guess EA cancelling UX pushed a button with me, sinc eI see it as just another 'make money fast' decision on the part of EA. But I suppose this is symptomatic of modern capitalism. The goal is to just make money in whatever way is best rather than make money by selling a superior product.
'Scuse me while I shuffle off to relieve my grumpiness somehow. ^^
Re: Legasus
I guess games come down to personal preference. And maybe I'm getting kind of crochety about games in general. It just seems to me that there's so much that the game industry has lost. Maybe it just hasn't lost them but there's not that much more innovation left in the medium. Not being a football follower, it baffled me how Madden Football could come out year after year and be, essentially, the same, though I guess it does make cleaning up the rosters easier.
The cynic in me looks at something like XBox Live and thinks, "You know, one coppy of Madden, and with the right interface you could automatically update that copy of Madden to the latest and greatest stats and rosters!" Well, no, that's the technophile in me. The cynic in me says 'Shyearigh, like that's going to happen!' EA is pretty much garaunteed sales of Madden every year, so why should they go to a cheaper subscription system when they can make people pay full price for games?
But I'm not one to talk, honestly. The entire gaming industry has just... moved along. I guess updated rosters/stats/teams is reasonably justifiable to make a new game each year, especially if they update the graphics, textures, engines, etc. It sure beats Deer Hunter. (WARNING: Rants commencing!) I still can't believe Sierra cancelled Into The Fire for *choke* DEER HUNTER. Augh. And I remember when Sierra made games like King's Quest, and Space Quest, and, Mother of All, Gabriel Knight. Epyx had Summer Games, and Winter Games, and the wonderfully oddball World Games (who here remembers CABER TOSS?!) and several flavors of Temple of Apshai. Electronic Arts had Archon (I want Archon's box art as a poster!) and Bard's Tale, and Pinball Construction Set, back when they had the Cube-Sphere-Pyramid logo that everyone was sure was representative of 'ECA' or ElectroniC Arts.'
And, oh my lordy.... Origin Systems. We Create Worlds. Wing Commander was great but there's something else. ULTIMA IV. Let me repeat that: ULTIMA IV: Quest of the Avatar. Has any game anywhere ever done anything at all like what U4 did? No world-shattering danger, no hordes of evil monsters, no cataclysmic hordes of demons. Just you, your companions, and a quest to better yourself and achieve a sort of enlightenment. And then U5, well, let's not go there. But then U6 comes along and turns it upside down: whoops! There are other ways to enlightenment!! And then there was U7 which had, bar none, the second-most-coolest box art in gaming history. Ultima VII: The Black Gate. I got chills just looking at the box, and the game delivered. U6 and 7 were a return to the roots of 'destroy the evil menace!' but 7 had some really great themes in it.
*sigh* Guess I just miss games like that, and am a bit jaded by games that come out, and just don't grab me like older games did, and are just seen as quick money makers for their companies. And I guess EA cancelling UX pushed a button with me, sinc eI see it as just another 'make money fast' decision on the part of EA. But I suppose this is symptomatic of modern capitalism. The goal is to just make money in whatever way is best rather than make money by selling a superior product.
'Scuse me while I shuffle off to relieve my grumpiness somehow. ^^