From 1up.com - The Decade That Was: Tragic Missteps

[fingersmaloy]

How about PS3 losing its backwards compatibility?

[dsheinem]

How about PS3 losing its backwards compatibility?

Considering sales continue to trend up for the console, it seems like a wise choice, not a misstep.

[AppleQueso]

Yeah, doesn't seem like the lack of ps2 b/c has hurt ps3 sales much at all. People just held on to their ps2s... Still stupid though I think. May not have been a misstep, but I doubt I'd call it a "wise choice".

The thing about the failure of Spirits Within more or less sucking the life out of Square is pretty eye opening though, it's something I never even considered. I mean I'd noticed the cheapening of the Final Fantasy franchise and the company becoming somewhat of a parody of itself, but I'd never even thought about it starting right there. I guess it's because for some reason I always thought that movie came out a few years earlier than it actually did.

[fingersmaloy]

How about PS3 losing its backwards compatibility?

Considering sales continue to trend up for the console, it seems like a wise choice, not a misstep.

You've won this round.

[the7k]

Hmm... now that I actually read that part on Spirits Within, I see that it could be responsible for Square becoming... well, let's be frank, becoming crap. Didn't realize it was directly responsible for the sacking of Hironobu Sakaguchi.

By the way, what is the deal with Mistwalker? I thought they were owned (albeit partially) by Microsoft Game Studios, but they made games like ASH for the Nintendo DS.

[alienjesus]

Rare have made a couple of games for DS too. Maybe Microsoft doesn't mind them developing portable games as they dont have a portable games console of their own?

[MrPopo]

Rare have made a couple of games for DS too. Maybe Microsoft doesn't mind them developing portable games as they dont have a portable games console of their own?

But they're also making a Wii game set to be fully revealed in March. It could just be the nature of the contract that Mistwalker had with Microsoft in exchange for money; it could have been that they get some money and make X amount of 360 games, and after that they're free to do whatever if they still have any funds left (i.e. the games sold well enough).

[aaron]

Ahhh yes, I remember my RROD experience with extreme clarity. It was right after I sat down to play some Fable 2. Much raging commenced.

I have another one now (which is interesting to note, because sooo many gamers bought another 360 after their first one RR'd, something like 25% if I remember correctly) and I have an extreme distaste for it. Whenever I think of dropping $60 on a new game I'm always afraid my X-Box will kill itself.

So instead I spend $60 on boxed copies of Genesis games, yay!

i actually benefited from a RROD. a friend of mine had one, it RROD'd, he got a ps3 and gave me his 360. i called microsoft, registered the serial in my name, and got a brand new one. for free. still kicking but i'm waiting for it to finally give in, i'm sure it'll happen with the amount of netflix and peggle hours my girlfriend racks up.

[skyknight]

I would say going into the PS2 era, Square (+Enix) definitely took the "play it safe" path, I mean if you looked at the games that were released in Japan and North America, there are some missing, such as Front Mission 5. And the branching of franchise series, such as Final Fantasy (X-II, DoC: VII) and Kingdom Hearts (what's so great about KH? ) well keeping "original" games at minimum (who here had played The World Ends with You?). And as gamers, I do feel at times we do have ourselves to blame when Capcom is releasing another Mega Man, while closing studio that came out with Okumi.

And the sad part is that those who left didn't find much success on themselves, i.e. Monolith, which comprised of staff that worked on Xenogears and Chrono Cross, did released the Xenosaga series on PS2 with Namco Bandai, but they were bought out by Nintendo, yet I don't think they will succeed with Xenoblade on Wii (is that ever surprising?). But hey, I think Xenosaga's Genosis where much better defined than Spirits Within's Phantoms.

And to this day, I am hoping for the third (and perhaps the final) part of the Chrono series; and I do wish SqEn could released a SRPG that combines the good elements from FFT and Ogre Tactics, along with a storyline that can challenge Suikoden II (is that a tall order?), and please no more kiddy FFT, please...

And the harsh truth is the current global economy isn't doing very well, so I think in the next few years, everyone is going to play it safe.

[AmishSamurai]

Spirits Within was bad. Real Bad. However, in my opinion this wasn't what lead to Squenix declining. I've actually liked some of their more recent stuff, such as FFTA, FFTA2, and TWEWY. However, both the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises have had their run, and should be laid to rest. The only reason they're kept IMO is because it's easier to cash in on the names (like how Mana and SaGa were referred to as Final Fantasy Legend and Adventure stateside).

The industry has gotten kind of franchise-heavy though. I'm not saying that no game should ever have a sequel ever, but some old faces like Sonic and Lara Croft need to go to the nursing home and die from neglect by indifferent nurses.