Modern Games Industry: How'd We Get Here?

[samsonlonghair]

On the bright side it means that the new Star Trek series by CBS is very likely to not be part of the reboot universe.

Thank god. Jar Jar Abrams's movies were entertaining in a "pew pew lazers" kind of way, but they just didn't feel like Star Trek. There was no social philosophy. There was no commentary on cultural and social evils. Just explosions and pew pews.

It also did everything I hate. I HATE prequels. I HATE alternate timelines. That sub-series is a fucking alternate timeline prequel. No. Just...no.

Somewhere in the mirror universe, there's a version of ElkinFencer who loves prequels and reboots. Whenever you grow a goatee he shaves his, and vice-versa.

[ElkinFencer10]

On the bright side it means that the new Star Trek series by CBS is very likely to not be part of the reboot universe.

Thank god. Jar Jar Abrams's movies were entertaining in a "pew pew lazers" kind of way, but they just didn't feel like Star Trek. There was no social philosophy. There was no commentary on cultural and social evils. Just explosions and pew pews.

It also did everything I hate. I HATE prequels. I HATE alternate timelines. That sub-series is a fucking alternate timeline prequel. No. Just...no.

Somewhere in the mirror universe, there's a version of ElkinFencer who loves prequels and reboots. Whenever you grow a goatee he shaves his, and vice-versa.

Clean shaven bizarro-Stephen is an idiot. He probably hates the Dreamcast and thinks that Super Mario Bros 2 US was a great game.

[samsonlonghair]

Thank god. Jar Jar Abrams's movies were entertaining in a "pew pew lazers" kind of way, but they just didn't feel like Star Trek. There was no social philosophy. There was no commentary on cultural and social evils. Just explosions and pew pews.

It also did everything I hate. I HATE prequels. I HATE alternate timelines. That sub-series is a fucking alternate timeline prequel. No. Just...no.

Somewhere in the mirror universe, there's a version of ElkinFencer who loves prequels and reboots. Whenever you grow a goatee he shaves his, and vice-versa.

Clean shaven bizarro-Stephen is an idiot. He probably hates the Dreamcast and thinks that Super Mario Bros 2 US was a great game.

In the Mirror Universe that game is called "Doki Doki relax".

[ElkinFencer10]

In the Mirror Universe that game is called "Doki Doki relax".

The American version is called "Ordinary Mario Siblings Again"

[Exhuminator]

Digital games potentially becoming the standard. Fuck, please no.

I hate it as much as anybody, but it's the inevitable future.

Reasons?

Average joe gamer is addicted to instant gratification, they want that new game now right now and digital lets them have just that. Average joe gamer does not care about playing games that are more than a year old, so physical preservation is meaningless to them. Average joe gamer does not care that with most digital platforms they are actually leasing games, not owning them.

Digital gives publishers full and constant control of the pricing, distribution, and virtual shelf life of their game. There's no discount middle man or used games market in digital land, it's up to the publisher entirely. Also there are no manufacturing or shipping costs in digital gaming, so the publisher makes even more profit off a digital sale versus physical. Also being digital means publishers can push out a half baked product, and finish it later via patches, or decide the initial sales weren't strong enough to bother patching up the beta game they sold as retail-worthy. And digital means publishers can push cripple patches, to start making a game's stability or multiplayer less reliable, in order to make its properly working new sequel more attractive as an alternative.

As it stands then, for average joe gamers (many more of them then there are of us) and greedy publishers, digital is win/win. And that's why it's the inevitable future.

Do you know how many books were published just in Spain last year? Over 68 000. Are there too many books?

Do I really need to systematically break down for you, why comparing books to video games is not a proper analog?

[Erik_Twice]

Do I really need to systematically break down for you, why comparing books to video games is not a proper analog?

If the reason is any other than "Video games are special and cannot exist in the same numbers as any other piece of art" then yes

[Exhuminator]

Explain to me why you think video games and books are on equal terms insofar as demographics, consumption, distribution and ease of availability.

[Gunstar Green]

Sometimes I wonder how many masterpiece novels are lost in the whirlwind of publishing.

On the flip side, how many amazing books are never published because publishers just didn't understand them?

There are arguments that can be made for both the pros and cons of gatekeeping. In the age of the Internet however, gate keepers simply don't exist anymore anyway.

I'm not saying storefronts like Steam should take a hard line stance on quality, but I am saying they should show more responsibility in weeding out stuff like fraudulent early access schemes and asset flip garbage.

[ElkinFencer10]

Explain to me why you think video games and books are on equal terms insofar as demographics, consumption, distribution and ease of availability.

Not only that but books are for more than just entertainment whereas video games are a purely entertainment medium. Books can provide advice, instruction, reference, images, activities, etc. They also read a MUCH wider audience. Very few people, for example, would play a video game adaptation of Bernie Sanders' memoir or of a cookbook (let's be honest, Cooking Mama isn't exactly a culinary how-to).

[Erik_Twice]

Explain to me why you think video games and books are on equal terms insofar as demographics, consumption, distribution and ease of availability.

So the reason why one can't find the good games out of the few thousands sold by Steam despite being easy to find the good books amongst millions is...demographics?

Nah, man. It's absurd.

Not only that but books are for more than just entertainment whereas video games are a purely entertainment medium.

There's far more to games than entertainment, dozens of educational games, game biographies, opinion pieces...No different than any other medium, really, it's just young and smaller

Very few people, for example, would play a video game adaptation of Bernie Sanders' memoir or of a cookbook (let's be honest, Cooking Mama isn't exactly a culinary how-to).

Actually there are a lot of video game cookbooks for the DS and they all sold very well. There's the Personal Trainer series, Cooking Guide...lots of stuff like that.