The State of the Video Game Industry

[DocEmrick]

I don't normally go off on rants like this, but this is something that has been bothering me ever since March of last year.

I am a casual gamer, I don't own a supercomputer capable of rendering amazing graphics, I have an Xbox 360 that I play in spurts, and then forget about for months on end. That being said, I do follow the video game industry as I have dabbled in C# and some other languages that are commonly used in the game-o-sphere.

This whole thing started last March when I picked up a copy of Mass Effect 3. Some of you might be familiar with the Mass Effect trilogy; the critically acclaimed sci-fi role-playing trilogy. For those that aren't, this was a series that was likened to the new generation's "Star Wars" in the video game entertainment industry. I tend to disagree with that statement, but just to give an idea of how popular the series is considered to be, I use that analogy. In any case, the first two games of the trilogy were bar-none, never-before-seen action, drama, great script/character writing, etc.

At some point, a company a lot of you are probably familiar with took the reigns on the studio that was producing Mass Effect. This company of course, is Electronic Arts.

In between the first and second games in the series, EA bought-out the studio that produced ME (BioWare)...these effects were not seen until after Mass Effect 2 however, as most of the pre-production, planning, and some dev. work had already started.

Longer story short, the third game (along with several other BioWare titles including another popular Role-playing fantasy game, and the new Star Wars online game) completely bombed. Star Wars was an absolute failure, being one of the quickest subscription-based models to fall to Free-To-Play (F2P) within a mere 8 months (maybe even less), after it's debut.

So where am I going with this? I finally got my hands on a copy of NHL '13. Now, I don't go crazy over stuff like this normally, but after playing for about 3 minutes, I'm thinking to myself...Why didn't I just hang on to NHL '12? And in that case, NHL '11? NHL 13 is identical, save for a few jersey, roster and team updates. That stuff can either be overlooked or handled without shelling out $60. I've been reading over and over about difference between 12 and 13 and everyone is saying it has a new physics engine, this and that...it's the same freaking thing I bought last year. There hasn't been any commentary change since 2007. That's 6 years of Gary Thorne and Bill Clement saying the SAME stuff OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER.

Can't they at least record some new dialogue?

There's a laundry-list of other things that are wrong with the video game industry, specifically gaming journalism. Popular game sites like IGN and their deep pockets have, in my opinion, deeply skewed rating systems, giving horrible, crap games 9/10's most likely because the game in question paid for multiple advertising spots.

There have been stories of game journalists fired for negative reviews.

And in Mass Effect 3, of course they had to include a 3-D character model of a former IGN reporter. And low and behold, IGN gives Mass Effect 3 a perfect raiting 10/10, Game of the Year, etc. It's all a media/advertising frenzy now, and little to no REAL reviews slip through on the major video game news outlets.



tl;dr: The video game industry is in shambles because of advertising

[ulf]

video games are dead to me until MVP baseball comes back.

as for gary thorne and bill clement..

Spoiler:

PING PANG PONG

[itissteeltime]

The most recent NHL I have is 2011. They recently disabled it for xbox live, so I'm going to have to get a new one.

[She'sTheFastest]

Doc, I came to the same conclusion with Madden several years back. Eventually, there won't be any consoles because televisions will be "smart" enough to have games run directly through them.

[Willie Kool]

You could always try playing a non-video game. You know, something like Seven Seaz Warz for instance.

[columbia]

You could always try playing a non-video game. You know, something like Seven Seaz Warz for instance.

Pretty soon, that's going to be online only.
Wait, what?

[Digitalgypsy66]

At least you have an option to buy a new NHL game. They haven't made one for PC since 2009, and the Wii (my current console) since 2010.

To be honest, I've never found video game reviews terribly compelling. Each reviewer brings her/his own bias into a review (like with any review, naturally), and probably know if they're going to like it or not before they open the package.

That said, it is scary that EA has so much power in such a tightly controlled industry.

[Kovy27]

I'm with you Doc on NHL. There really isn't much difference between 12 and 13...and Thorne hasn't been relevant for 8 years (last time ESPN had hockey, I think). Time to change it up and do something better.

However, this has happened with a few games. I looked so forward to Diablo 3, and Blizzard released a crap of a game. They made it online only, which sucks. Supposedly, they fixed some issues with patches...but ho hum.

I never trust IGN's reviews anymore since they are paid by these companies to do the review.

As far as EA having so much power, they own the sport market except for baseball and that was their best game IMO. MLB: The Show was fantastic last year, I hope Sony continues to improve it.

[Pops16]

If you want a good place (and for the most part unbiased) to go for news on the industry, try the escapist.

[Idoit40fans]

I didn't get 13 because I realized it was going to be the same game. If they released roster updates(they may, but I'm not aware of it) for the old games, I would never get the new ones. I got NBA last year, I think i'll get FIFA this year(If Blackburn gets promoted) and then NHL next year. I'll just keep rotating them like that moving forward.

[DropEmJayBird]

Pendulum as swung - PC gaming is back now because it has the most capability, that will probably last until next gen consols get into their groove.

The free to play model has really been successful with titles like League of Legends and World of Tanks. EA is now pushing a new platform for their command and conquer series which will be an RTS game that is free to play. I'm pretty excited about this not so much for the free to play aspect, and the online community that will generate - but because they are going back to the roots of original CNC Gold and then on to Generals 1, which were pretty solid RTS titles. I think they learned "Innovating" for innovations sake doesn't work well when you don't think it through.

But yet, consols are on cruise control until next generation.

[newarenanow]

I don't see anything different. Heck, 25 years ago, Nintendo Power gave the games they wanted to sell 9 and 10/ 10 even if the game was crappy.

Madden games have been pretty much the same for 15 years.

Typically the further you go into a series, the less "unique" it becomes.

I dont' think there is much different in the gaming industry other than after X amount of years, ideas start to slow down and technology can only go so far.

[Idoit40fans]

I'm pretty sure Madden fell apart after the genesis generation.

[newarenanow]

I'm pretty sure Madden fell apart after the genesis generation.

Agree. The first year or 2 with the Playstation was great because it was new and 3D, but since then, it's been the same game.

[PensFanInDC]

I don't normally go off on rants like this...

can't....stop.....laughing....

[Idoit40fans]

I'm pretty sure Madden fell apart after the genesis generation.

Agree. The first year or 2 with the Playstation was great because it was new and 3D, but since then, it's been the same game.

I still play through a Madden 96/97 season every football season. Still have to finish up the playoffs this year.

[cheesesteakwithegg]

I do think that the physics engine changed NHL this year. It wasn't a huge change to the game, but a positive change nonetheless. I do agree about the Throne and Clement, they really need to record some new stuff. I can't remember some of the stuff that they say, but I remember saying to myself that some of it was flat out incorrect information.

[AlexPKeaton]

PC is where it has been at for the past few years. If you are a console only gamer I feel bad for you. Paying $60 for games that last 10 hours, lololol.

But yeah, I agree with the OP rant about the console game industry. I'm like really sick of "cinematic games" like Mass Effect or 3rd person cover based shooters. Look at the new Tomb Raider. It is getting 9/10 type of reviews but it looks like every other 3rd person shooter out there. Pass.

Currently I only play Paradox games and other strategy games, other than maybe L4D2 or TF2 for maybe some quick multiplayer action.

But if you want a recommendation for a decent console game, I'd try out X-COM. I played it on PC but I heard the console version was fine. You can get a decent 20 hours out of that, maybe more if you replay it on higher difficulties. It is a genre that is not beat to death like the others on console.

[skullman80]

I'm a console gamer and I've loved this generation of console games. There have been some clunkers, but there has been some awesome series of games as well.

[66 Fighters of Foo]

I'm a console gamer and I've loved this generation of console games. There have been some clunkers, but there has been some awesome series of games as well.

I agree. Granted, the sports titles haven't been drastically improved year-to-year, but I have noticed improvements in each release. I chose to spring the $60 for 'em, but understand why some don't.

As for Mass Effect 3, I enjoyed it.

[skullman80]

The mass effect series were 3 of the finest games I ever played. The ending was blah, but it didn't ruin what otherwise were 3 masterful games, that I invested probably hundreds of hours into.

[Idoit40fans]

Yeah, I'd say I put at least 125 hours into that series. The ending sucked, but oh well. I'm sure there will be more games anyway.

[Spangler]

It seems like every game is trying to be like every other game instead of sticking to what made there franchise great in the first place. I haven't played Dead Space 3, but it looks evident that they were trying to be more like other games instead of what Dead Space is.

Perhaps a better example is Resident Evil 5 and, to a slightly lesser degree, RE6. Despite all the trash people say about those games, they sold millions of copies, so why would Capcom change anything?

[Idoit40fans]

Did they change RE6? RE4 and 5 were my favorite RE games.

[AlexPKeaton]

I'm a console gamer and I've loved this generation of console games. There have been some clunkers, but there has been some awesome series of games as well.

The generation was much better in like 2008-2009. It has gotten stale the past few years imo.