What are the worst problems with the video game industry?

[Nex]

How are map packs the biggest offenders?

If you buy a game and enjoy its multiplayer but you start to get bored with the current maps isn't a map pack exactly what the fans would want. It seems more of an issue of price more then anything.

Your last sentence hit the nail on the head.

They charge 15 bucks a map pack when collected. So yo get about 6 maps. And have already dropped 2, with a 3rd on the way.

That'll be $45 in addition to the $60 already spent on what was essentially a map pack to begin with.

That's freaking ridiculous. $105 on maps!
Of course people don't hav to buy them, but in my experience, people prefer to play on the newest maps available.

And the thing that really gets me is the speed with which they churn these out. It's obvious that they have most of these made by the time the game is released, or they are incredibly easy to make. Either way, it's the developer taking advantage of the consumer.

Now is the developer really to blame here, shouldn't the consumer be smart enough to not encourage this? Yes it's the developer's fault. They obviously could care less about the consumer; all they want is money.

If they did care, they would release a quality product.

each map should not cost just over $2

[andre]

Shoot, I just think video games are too expensive.

[deltabrain]

They charge 15 bucks a map pack when collected. So yo get about 6 maps. And have already dropped 2, with a 3rd on the way.

Well that seems to be more of a problem with activision and its consumers then with map packs in general.

Off the top of my head

Mass effect has had two dlc with 4 maps for free

dead space 2 had 2 free

bioshock 2 had one $10 map pack with 6 maps

uncharted packs were usually a few bucks and came with extra game types

Other then call of duty I don't really see any map packs that expensive.

[Darkstorm]

I once checked this for witcher 2 and all I could find was little things like adding a barber or a quest to get 200 harpy feathers for some guy.

That's because proper dlc actually takes time to make.
Look up "enhanced edition".

Unfortunately there's nothing really that can be done about DRM, at least in the foreseeable future.

Well, their GOG site now offers drm free software from ubisoft of all people, like assasains creed. If GOG.com keeps getting more popular, the industry will take notice.

And I feel as if a lot of the DLC on the market is the developers taking advantage, with map packs being the biggest offenders, but that really is a personal thing.

Not arguing with you there. I miss the expansion packs of the nineties.

[Silent K]

I must have missed 60 Minutes...Exactly how is a well-planned, well-detailed, and well-structured original idea considered "risky"?

I was talking about companies whoring out proven franchises till they die instead of taking the risk of thinking up new stuff that could be excellent but easily turn out to be a commercial flop through lack of a solid advertising campaign, like Beyond Good and Evil.
That game's one of the best I've ever played and I think it's fairly popular nowadays and yet it bombed hard sales wise at release. That's what I mean with "risky".

[Green_vs_Red]

Now is the developer really to blame here, shouldn't the consumer be smart enough to not encourage this? Yes it's the developer's fault. They obviously could care less about the consumer; all they want is money.

If they did care, they would release a quality product.

Just because you have to pay a little bit of change to get more maps doesn't mean your getting a product of zero or lesser quality.

[Hattori]

The only people I know who are obssessed with specs and graphics are PC owners, console gamer's on the other hand aren't if gamer's were that fonds of rich and detailed graphics there wouldn't be a market for indie games.

That's a silly generalization. Just as there are console gamers who support the indie market, there are PC gamers who do the same. What do you think sites like Newgrounds and ArmorGames are for? And just as there are PC gamers who obsess over graphics, there is a LARGE faction of console gamers who do the same. The people you know personally are irrelevant. I could just as well say that a lot of people I know care only about specs and graphics, and a lot of them do, but that doesn't mean anything. Fact of the matter is, a lot of younger gamers (and surely some older ones) do, in fact, care about the hardware's sheer power.

On a somewhat related note, I fully support indie developers. They definitely create more for the sake of "art", for lack of a better word.

[Sakonosolo]

I'd say I like games that push the graphics barrier but I also have 40 indie games sitting in my Steam library. Problem is I haven't gotten around to playing a lot of them .

Shoot, I just think video games are too expensive.

SNES and N64 games could cost $80, so while I agree that $60 is a lot of money for new games (PC games are still $50 a lot of the time), it's not like the price hasn't gone down.

[Cyber-Robin]

What is ruining the gaming industry?

Ignorance. Simple as that. The yearly games have being going for years now. And at the end of the day. The ones paying money year after year for Fifa and Call of Duty were never really going to play the Tales Of games or Dragon Quest or what-have-you. Hell I know people who buy those two games and that's it for them for the full year. Possibly delving into Uncharted, GTA, Mario or Assassin's Creed or whatever should it take their fancy. The problem arises from words like 'Hardcore gamers' and that being tagged to certain games.

Take this scenario. I dunno. Lets say that people think that Mass Effect is a Hardcore game. A man spends 5 hours a week playing Mass Effect. He enjoys the plot but is only using it as a way to spend some time while waiting for his wife to come in from work. Does this make him a Hardcore gamer because he is playing a 'Hardcore' game? Not at all. On the other hand. A woman spends 20 hours a week playing Cooking Mama. She knows the recipies, she knows how to perfect them all. She has 100 on all of the missions and still loves playing it. Does this make her a casual gamer because she is playing a 'Casual' game? Yet in a lot of places this very scenario is being played out and I know for a fact that it would be the one playing Mass Effect in general would be the one considered Hardcore (I'm not using Mass Effect as a example here. Was just the first game I could think of. Change the name to something else if you find it offensive) I'm sure most people do it. (Remember people. The kiddies buying Horrid Henry's Puzzle Party may someday be the ones buying proper games. Games like that are just a way to weeen them onto it. Kinda like drugs)

and stuff like this. Lo and behind I finish typing this and find this on another forum I frequent. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00s9jly (should work out of UK too)

But other forms of ignorance when it comes to games too. For example in the UK. The leading (or at least was at one point) high street game shop is Game. However they wouldn't pick up a good portion of titles that they themselves didn't think would sell. Niche titles of course. Yet these are the titles selling for higher amounts on trade sites due to the higher demand. Or helps boost online sales. Now fair enough. If they bought even 5 copies each they could have them for sale forever. But surely that is better than big empty boxes filling up a shelf with a simple advert for Homefront or Bulletstorm....right?

[Sakonosolo]

GTA is not yearly. Not sure if you were trying to say that or not.

[Cyber-Robin]

When did I say GTA was yearly? The only mention I gave of that is that people who primarily play Call of Duty may play that too

[GuetaMinute]

I like how I'm the only one who's mentioned Capcom and Japanese developers. Japan's not perfect, guys.

Also, hardcore is a very vague term. While some people think it refers to those brogamers who only play "hardcore" M-rated games, others think it refers to the core crowd in general, those who refrain from buying casual games and mostly buy mainstream games from well-known franchises like Mario, Assassins Creed, Zelda, etc.

[Nex]

Personally I think a "hardcore" gamer is anyone who plays videogames more than say 5 hours a week.

Casual gamers are the ones who play in their spare time for an hour every now and then.

This is still a pretty lose generalization that doesn't really work (like I have a friend who doesn't play much in the way of gaming, but when Skyrim came out he was playing for hours a day, and now he's back to only playing sparingly. By my definitions he went casual -> hardcore -> casual which is something that can happen I guess, but then you need to start being more defining of time in general.)

It seems odd to categorize gamers by games played, as I enjoy things like SKyrim, GTA, Batman, Dead Space, Zelda, Mario, Borderlands, and various DS games and do not enjoy FPS for the most part, but at the same time I spend a lot of time playing Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and whatever other app game has my fancy.

If I were to be categorized by the games I play, I'm all over the board, which I'm sure is true of most gamers.

It's stupid, and inconsequential.

[Sakonosolo]

Well I don't have much experience with Japanese games so I can't have much of an opinion. And I'm not going to say them just because I in particular don't like them. They don't seem to be affecting most of the games I do play so there's that too.

[The Beast]

here's a great issue that's too broad to be anything but vague about

no one understands their medium of interest and everyone develops hilarious critical perception because we take everything under this giant mantle "VIDEO GAMES" and then treat all these products as if they are similar and fit into established roles

we have reached a point where many products are not in any way "games" (i.e. Flower, which is what I would call an awesome activity) but "are" anyways, and people have warped perspectives and ideas about narrative and there's all this false logic and fake dichotomies that work their way into the beliefs people have about what they like and dislike and

damn son

the interactive medium of the vidya is held back by the past by incapably defined genre enforcing how things are developed (almost all of which was defined by like, old arcade games and the NES), by dumb critics who have terrible theory and can fuck off with their numerical grading scales, by the people who make these products who rant and rave about stupid stupidness

it's all a big mess, partly because we lump everything together.

But anyways, ask somebody if Silent Hill 2 is a good game

Ask yourself that

You will find that there are components of it that you like, components you do not, and parts of it you fucking hate. You might say "oh well the music and atmosphere and monster designs and storyline and the character of James are all great"

But how do you feel about everything in the game that is solely interactive. The GAME part of it. It's shit lol.

So what makes a good video game

a good video game

this might be different for a lot of people, but I think that since interactivity is the most important component since it defines what the fuck these things are

that's my personal biggest issue with ~~video games~~

there is a lot of really weird methods of development that have absolutely nothing to do with modes of interactivity or game rules. I like things like xenogears, which is only a good "book", and Silent Hill 2, which is a good "movie", but there's this really tiring tendency for people to not accept that there are serious flaws to how things are analyzed.

Oh random tangent I'm gonna jump on out of nowhere, I'm also sick of all these developers who grew up on platformers using platformers as their method of delivery (i.e. fez or braid and etc). I'm bored of dat shit

I can't wait until we get a crop of developers who grew up on like, simulators like System Shock 2 or deus ex who make-- haha funny joke it'll never happen :(

[GuetaMinute]

but system shock and deus ex are in the first-person perspective, beast!! and we all know first person thingies are what's killing the game industry!! :((((

[The Beast]

Man immersive sims are so awesome

There will never be a better game this generation than System Shock 2

[Sakonosolo]

There's a game called Dishonored coming out this year that is co developed by the creator of Deus Ex and is an "immersive sim" as you put it. You should look it up.

[The Beast]

The last good entry in that idea of a game was STALKER (with mods), a favorite of yours

So if you think Dishonored looks good I'll be on the lookout as well.

on a phone right now so I can't look it up myself

[Sakonosolo]

In the game you're an assassin. The game is linear but each level is open and allows you to approach the assassination however you want. Your character can freeze time for a few seconds, do a sort of teleport, and possess anything or anyone. Want to strap a bomb to a rat, possess it, and use it as a suicide bomb? You can do that. Want to sneak past everyone and only kill the target? You can do that. You actually can complete the game without killing anyone. Each mission has a way to get rid of the target without killing them.