mainstreet62: ITT: Lots of single men

In this quote: Bad video game players fail to defeat complex systems of computer code designed for personal amusement and take this out on those who demonstrate better command of reflexes, timing, and mental abilities.

A Leaf in Fall: The industry as a whole needs to rethink its pricing points. If Steam Sales and mobile app sales have not proven that, I don't know what will.

They don't want to rethink their pricing points. Why bother? If Michael Morhaime or Bobby Kotick or John Riccitiello or Yves Guillemot watches their company go under, they probably get a compensation package and sail off into the sunset. And more importantly, they really can't. Their business model currently relies on getting as many people as possibly to mistakenly go out in the opening week and pay sixty dollars for a video game before buyer's remorse sets in. So long as they can continue to get slightly more and more of the remaining people playing console video gamers into the fray (a market that is creating very few new players thanks to the rise of mobile and broswer-based video games), they can keep it profitable. When that stops being profitable, they'll gradually increase the percentage of copies sold at digital (whether on consoles or a proprietary service such as Origin), which allows them to get a greater profit margin from each sale. When that goes under, they're screwed. The timetable for that occurrence is uncertain, but they'll need new hardware to keep doing it on consoles, and the investment that's going to be required in order to wean people off the 200-or-so-million Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game consoles and towards new hardware is going to be immense. The hardware manufacturers will have to stack their development resources towards those devices and they'll have to convince publishers to do the same thing, eating big losses in the process. They really did screw themselves.

I bought Skyrim at launch, and probably wont buy another game until Mass Effect 3. I still have some backlog to play. I need to finish Gears of War 3, Bayonetta and try to get back into LA Noire (which may be difficult, I didnt like it as much as thought I would).

Are these numbers accounting for all the huge electronics sales that went on in early November with all those big titles? Maybe everyone bought their games for Christmas in late November rather than pre-Christmas December.

anfrind: 1.bp.blogspot.com

In this post: When confronted with the realization that their opinions on various video games are often indefensible (usually stemming from a perception that "accessibility" equals "quality"), they invoke the tired argument that they are entitled to their own opinions and tastes, not realizing they are not entitled to bad, indefensible opinions.

anfrind: You seem rather defensive.

Of course I'm defensive. I prefer to play a turtle style against bad posters. It's easier to let them speak and remove all doubt.

anfrind: 1.bp.blogspot.com

Back to /b/, please.

stewbert: Dude, you seem to be a gaming hipster.

Hardly. Most of my favorite video games have been made by mid-to-large-size publishers and developers, and I currently share as much scorn for the indie game scene (Super Meat Boy, Braid, etc.) as anyone out there. I like well-designed video games regardless of company site or company disdain. And fortunately, these larger companies are making it very easy to ignore their products right now (Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft), since very few of their games are absolute-must-have affairs.

stewbert: I'm sure I've never heard of whatever game you think is best. And I'm sure I don't have the leet skillz to even play it on novice.

Some of the best games I've ever played include Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime, Deus Ex, and Grand Theft Auto III. And I wouldn't classify any of those as difficult games, even on their hardest settings. I just like well-designed games that use creative and complex game systems. A high difficulty level usually provides the incentive necessary to explore those creative and complex game systems, but it's not mandatory.

stewbert: Just remember that you're a minority, and its losers like me that allow your games to get made in the first place.

That was the case for about four years from 2006 to 2009, before casual video game players realized they could play crappy games on their phones and Facebook for far, far cheaper than they could on a video game console. The major third-party publishers have been scrambling to make up for that lost revenue. All I want is 1) good video games, and 2) for people to be open to the idea of playing better video games, rather than defending bad video games on the premise that "I PLAY FORE FUN" or "IM ENTITLE TOO MY OPINION" or "STOP LIKIGN WHAT I DONT LIEK" or whatever meme it is that they're parroting out in place of a proper, reasoned opinion.

This isn't just a problem for casual gamers. A great deal of the interest in StarCraft II stems from the fact that the game's tournament scene usurped a predominantly-Korean StarCraft: Brood War scene and gave all the wannabe athletes a clean playing field to try and make their name on. I actually read a post that since StarCraft: Brood War's tournament scene is fizzling out, the game no longer has a reason to exist. In other words, "Why play the far superior game when everyone else is playing a worse game?" The same mostly applies to Capcom's new fighting games, to the Call of Duty game that comes out every single year. And linking back to the point of the article, that's how come your sales have dropped for the third straight year, and mostly flatlined since 2006. They're releasing the same nonsense over and over, which is not to say that releasing the same game over and over is a bad thing. A five-out-of-five game re-released with minimal alteration is still a five-star game. What we're getting are mediocre games which don't take risks because they don't want to have large audiences miss the point when someone shoves a gem in their faces. And people will defend these mediocre games with eight and nine-figure development budgets by saying "Well, you should be thankful for what you're getting!"

Fark that. I'll go find the dozens and possibly-hundreds of already-released video games already out there that I've yet to play and yet to explore and yet to master. If that makes me contrarian, if that makes me a hipster, pfft. I'll deal with it. Contrary to the negativity I may voice about the games, at the end of the day, I'll be enjoying the games a hell of a lot more than someone who doesn't have the faintest understanding of the games or the capacity to understand the games. Who is going to have more fun playing Mario? The player who doesn't understand the mechanics and just makes every move for the purpose of getting closer to the finish line? Or the player who can quickly understand the theory behind the placement of every block, every item, every platform, and have an appreciation for the arrangement of those items within the context of a larger series of game levels and game worlds, within the context of a skilled lever designer's goals?

Less-knowledgeable gamers may finance the games these days, but just like any art form or entertainment medium or political opinion or religious worldview, they're not entitled to defend that opinion simply because it's the one they hold dearest. And if someone wants to come into a video game thread and mock those who deride their indefensible opinion, then I'm going to call them out for it. That's how it works. I like good games. I make recommendations. Which is not to say that I'll actively assault and attack those who enjoy games other than what I enjoy, they're allowed to be entertained by things that don't necessarily entertain me. But if people don't want to take up those recommendations because they've settled into a bubble that nobody is allowed to disturb, that's a problem.

Tyrone Biggums: TeddyBallGame: Wendy's Chili: "I just bought Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Arkham City, and Assassin's Creed in November so I can't really justify shelling out money for... *browses December releases* the video game adaptation of Apples to Apples."

Done in one. Picked up Battlefield and waiting for another 6 weeks or so for Mass Effect 3. $120 from HalfAssAssasin and that's about it for me.

I've been playing Mass Effect 2 for the past few weeks and I have to say it is probably one of the best games I have played in at least 15 years...probably since FFVII on the PS1. I am not a big gamer (work + wife + kids = no time for gaming) and I am definitely not one to drop $60 on a new release. But I am really considering it when ME3 comes out.

Yeah, my brother turned me on to ME2 so I played through #1 then 2 and now I'm hooked through the bag. I have three very young kids and my wife is well aware of the date circled on the calender. You really need to treat yourself to ME3.