Death to the Games Industry

[horrorkid64 0]

This week's edition of The Escapist, an online video game magazine, has a very interesting article by Greg Costikyan.

Be sure to check it out here .

[Thunderman 30]

Man! That was one heck of an article!!! Thanks for sharing it!

This article has proven that this is true, the gaming industry needs to evolve!

 

 

Greetz Thunderm@n

[EAGCE 2]

Here is my favorite part:

Does anyone seriously think anyone other than Will Wright could have gotten EA to publish a game like The Sims? And actually, EA tried to kill The Sims many times before it was finally released. From what I've heard (and this is definitely hearsay), Bing Gordon's comment at the meeting where publishing was approved was: Well, it'll only sell a hundred thousand copies, but it'll get Will off our backs.

We're only talking about the best-selling PC title of all f****** time.

[Thunderman 30]

Yes, but they didn't knew that The Sims would be an best-selling game of all times, and I think they regretted that they thought it wouldn't sell... The management of the industry thinks too fast that a particular game won't sell and Will Wright has proven that they were wrong

 

Greetz Thunderm@n

[EAGCE 2]

Date: 9/3/2005 7:10:10 AM
Author: thunderman

Yes, but they didn't knew that The Sims would be an best-selling game of all times, and I think they regretted that they thought it wouldn't sell... The management of the industry thinks too fast that a particular game won't sell and Will Wright has proven that they were wrong

Greetz Thunderm@n

quote>

Yes, but thats the point. The best selling game of all time almost didnt even make it out to the people because idiot people wont give games a chance. Think about all the games that could have been great but didnt even make it out because of stupid people like that. We will never know...

[legodude121 0]

well, sometime someone will come up with a almost perfect game for our time, and encourge other companies to do the same.

[horrorkid64 0]

Part II is up.

[Compromise 1]

Date: 9/5/2005 1:37:08 AM Author: EAGCE

Date: 9/3/2005 7:10:10 AM Author: thunderman

Yes, but they didn't knew that The Sims would be an best-selling game of all times, and I think they regretted that they thought it wouldn't sell... The management of the industry thinks too fast that a particular game won't sell and Will Wright has proven that they were wrong

Greetz Thunderm@n

quote> Yes, but thats the point.  The best selling game of all time almost didnt even make it out to the people because idiot people wont give games a chance.  Think about all the  games  that could have been great but didnt even make it out because of stupid people like that.  We will never know...

quote>

Yes, some things are unpredictable but they should have givin it more of a chance.

 

Profanity is not nessasery thougth.

[TheCrybKeeper 301]

Compromise: I have been watching you and you are one great moderator, friend! Your posts are well thought out and tempered with wisdom, of venerable quality, for such a young tot. hehee.

 

I read that, I read all the links and I even perused the website.

 

 Okay Greg is just saying what is happening in many other industries as well. Greg is also, just saying, exactly what I said to my boss 12 years ago and yeah, I got fired. I was hoping I would and didn't give a hoot.

 

 Since then I have found a new career. one I enjoy for the most part. Newpaper publishing.

 

 Now I am stuck in another corporate, slave, conundrum. That is correct a riddle within a riddle. the same old play by play. They ask for more, we give them more. They see we can get the job done, so they ask us for even more! Corporate giants are constantly upping the barr and always in the wrong directions. Why? because they have gotten too big to stay in touch with the consumer/customer! they instead rely on joe blows charts and graphs that say such and such about jack jerks charts and graphs and not a single one of them has the time or know how, to actually ask the public they serve one well meant question:.....

 

What is it you really want, because we care about you the consumer first and foremost?

 

Still I believe the article is correct in what it states, but it is also dated by now. As Will Wright stood there and gave Greg those thumbs up, he was probably thinking, You just wait, because in just a few months, I am going to blow the lid off the gaming industry.

[timotheus4 39]

He mentions, in the second article, to move funding from the publisher to the developer. That's what Maxis tried doing. They got whipped at it and sold themselves to EA to stay afloat. They wanted to be the next EA; instead, they were assimilated. Personally, I'm not worried. The laws of supply and demand will always work. If EA keeps churning out bad titles, eventually the human instinct will take over the sheep one that dominates most gamers. And they'll kick EA out the door, and someone else will take their place. In the meantime, relax, get a good game, and wait for SimCity 8.

[TheCrybKeeper 301]

I still believe in the employees of our society; that they want to be appreciated and will give 110%, out of knowing there boss, actually does appreciate the efforts put forth.

I would love to see, a corporation that would reward that hard effort, a boss that would push his boss, to amend the bonus program, even if it meant giving up his raise this quarter.

 

there I go again, that is another universe I am talking about. hahaa

[NicolaiS 8]

I want to thank horrorkid64 for pointing me to this great magazine. So far I have read a number of articles ... and especially the one that founded this thread. After reading both part of the article I have to sit back a bit and let the content soak in. At first glance I agree with Greg Costikyan about the current state of the gaming industry. Heck ... I am starting to realise only now that the industry does have problems.

 

You could call me a leisure suit gamer/ I do not look much further the the obvious and not to miss ads about new games. Real life stops me most of the time to dig deeper into any subject then the headlines. This is a problem that Greg recognises as the two weeks of shelf space. During an entire year I might step into a store that sells games only 5 or 6 times. The calculation how many games I will miss during that year is easily made.

 

Therefor I agree with Greg that the entire industry is in need of change ... simply beacuse I know more and more gamers face the same problem I have. The is caused by the simple fact that a new generation of older gamers have arisen. The thirty plus generation which started playing pong in the seventies. They still want to play games ... and computer games, but don't have the time to invest in the gaming world as youngsters have.

 

I sincerally hope the industry will recognise the problem and try to solve it. Although and old gamer I am, as most old gamers are, open to new game developements ... new area's that will once again win our hearts like in the early years, when I could buy Panzer General I on CD-rom, but couldn't buy a CD-rom player yet, as they were very hard to find.

 

In another thread we are discussing the path Will Wright has taken ... although I am skeptical I do see that his approach of stepping outside the bounderies of mainstream gaming just might save the industry from becoming very very boring. I can only hope that the Young Turks in the gameing world will find the way to break down the barriers that keep their probably great games away from my hard drive.