Marek

Why BG&E failed - written by an UbiSoft PR employee

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Now that you mention it, that name didn't make any sense.

I agree with what marek says. Sequels are to the consumer always a sign that there must have been some merit to game to warrant a sequel and thus it's worth picking up. It's true.

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Well, erm ... then you could just name it Beyond Good & Evil 2 and pretend there was a first one. :shifty: What I mean is that the first game creates a little buzz, maybe lands in the bargain bin, etc. The people who play it will then be the first adoptors and evangelizers of the sequel.

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Or, you can take a page from the Ron Gilbert book, and use your first game as an elaborate advertisement for the sequels. He talked about BG&E in that interview on Thumb and said that what UbiSoft should have done was hit people with BG&E2 and 3. They'd likely be a big success because of the BG&E fanbase that now exists. He said the first Freddy Fish game sold badly but as they created more of them and the character became more recognized the series started selling shitloads.

What's most curious about this idea is that it isn't even taking a page out of Ron Gilbert's book. It's taking a page out of Ubisoft's book, since it's exactly what they successfully did with PoP:SoT.

They had a serious winter of discontent that year. From what I recall, all their Christmas titles flopped - XIII, BG&E, PoP. I guess some executive somewhere had to decide, if they could only make one sequel, which franchise would be the best bet. I think they probably made the right choice.

Now that you mention it, that name didn't make any sense.

It's not just that it doesn't make any sense. It's one of those names that someone might randomly make up if they were looking to take the piss out of endless badly named games. The only thing it's lacking is a colon and a subtitle. It doesn't say anything about the game and when I first heard it, I expected it was some generic fantasy game about orcs and elves.

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"Super Photosnap Magic Universe" would have been much more apt.

Instant best seller. The strapline could be:

Help Jade gather photographic evidence to uncover a dark and twisted evil--her mother had sex with a pig!

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I loved the world and even the characters (although non-pig would have been better, probably). I thought it was too easy, and the story was the weakest part.

I agree with polytope...

The title made me hope for something deeper, like a huge twist later on where a much larger problem is revealed that transcends the standard "fight the evil" problems.

Not only was there nothing like that, but there weren't even any twists. You find out basically right from the start who the enemy is, and what they're doing. That's it. They should have kept you wondering the entire time up till the end, and then have you finally discover what the truth is.

While I don't think it's the best game ever, I still love it and have fond memories of driving around in the hovercraft talking to the rhinos, etc. And I loved taking pictures. I really want a sequel, and they could easily fix the problems of the first.

Oh, and the problem with pitching Psychonauts is that it's impossible to explain how every level is completely different. I wouldn't want to ruin the game for people by describing them all.

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Oh, and the problem with pitching Psychonauts is that it's impossible to explain how every level is completely different. I wouldn't want to ruin the game for people by describing them all.

I wonder if a lot of the trouble in pitching weird games could simply be bypassed by the person pitching being really excited about the game and eloquent in pitching it.

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I have this tendency to sometimes get all sad and think about all the games that should have had sequels or more games like it, but didn't.

Imagine if the standard for games was the opposite of what it is today. The shelves filled with original games, weird games, experiments, Beyond Good & Evil Fucking Two.

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That's not how I understand the derailment of the GameCube at all. It was a lack of interest in - and therefore support of - third party developers by Nintendo themselves that choked the supply of games. Nintendo effectively condemned the system with their suffocating rules on standards, quality control and themes--actively shunning adult themes (until near the end of the console's artificially shortened lifespan) when the mainstream was getting ever-more hooked on guns and virtual car jacking.

This might have applied during the N64 years, but not at all for the GCN's life. Nintendo made the Resident Evil-exclusive deal, and released Eternal Darkness within the first few months of the console's life, and a shooter-esque "Metroid Prime" shortly after. Killer7, P.N. 03, and Resident Evil 4 were all signed as exclusives BY NINTENDO as the system was launching. (Capcom later bailed on them, but that's besides the point.) All the while, games like BMX XXX, which Sony and MS censored, Nintendo allowed with no censorship whatsoever. Nintendo screwed the GCN up in many ways, but actually spent much of this generation trying to undo the 'kiddy' image from years past. Unfortunately, as evidenced by your post, it seems almost no one noticed.

As for the BG&E as exclusive, or timed exclusive...Maybe. It worked for Tales of Symphonia and Viewtiful Joe. But you'd have to release in a month when Nintendo didn't have any big games coming out. But, since releasing in November 2003 was part of the problem anyway...why not just change the release date and keep it as multi-console title?

For what it's worth, though, Ancel's latest - Rayman Raving Rabbids - is now a timed Wii exclusive, so maybe you're on to something.

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Oh, and the problem with pitching Psychonauts is that it's impossible to explain how every level is completely different. I wouldn't want to ruin the game for people by describing them all.

Yeah in that aspect other games are much easier to explain. Explain the first part of the game and "the rest of the game is pretty much like it".

nah.. in psychonauts every level gives you a complete new and exciting experience.

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Nintendo screwed the GCN up in many ways, but actually spent much of this generation trying to undo the 'kiddy' image from years past. Unfortunately, as evidenced by your post, it seems almost no one noticed.

The way I recall it, Nintendo launched this 'we r not kiddy' campaign a year after launch. They still fucked up at launch - purple as the main console colour, no games with even the slightest 'mature' style, etc. It wasn't until it was hurting the Cube that they started doing something about the kiddy perception, pushing out Metroid Prime (whose art style got a lot more 'gritty' during its development) and pushing 'platinum' as the new main colour for the console.

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The way I recall it, Nintendo launched this 'we r not kiddy' campaign a year after launch. They still fucked up at launch - purple as the main console colour, no games with even the slightest 'mature' style, etc. It wasn't until it was hurting the Cube that they started doing something about the kiddy perception, pushing out Metroid Prime (whose art style got a lot more 'gritty' during its development) and pushing 'platinum' as the new main colour for the console.

This was my perception also. What I meant by 'artificially shortened lifespan' was that people had already written off the machine long before titles like Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 turned up. Both of these key titles were released late in the GameCube's life, because Nintendo realised by then that they'd failed to capture the mainstream games market (outside of Japan).

I appreciate where you're coming from, lobotomy42, with the Metroid Prime instance. I'd argue it wasn't enough of a title to make the mainstream sit up and take notice though, whereas both Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 on GCN really set the media alight. But too little, too late.

Wii will be completely different, and bring Nintendo back to its glory days of the SNES. I've little doubt of this, as do many others.

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Wasn't Killer 7 originally one of the Capcom 5? Actually, wasn't RE4 as well? These were announced at either E3 2002 or 2003 (can't quite remember) but that was still around the middle of the lifespan. Yeah, it took them a while to come out, but they were making a go at a bit more maturity back before public perception really bit them in the ass. Either way, yeah wii = win. It's only one letter off.

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Just bumping this thread because Ubisoft comes under the spotlight in the latest issue of The Escapist. In particular, Jim Rossignol has written an interesting piece that centres on the character Jade from Beyond Good & Evil; it's entitled Green-Eyed Grrl and it's well worth a read.
It's a nice article.

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Not much new stuff in that article, well except maybe the American prejudice about European creations.

Is there that much difference between America and Europe w.r.t. game\movie creation? Wasn't Psychonauts created in the US?!

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Didn't Psychonauts also bomb in the US? Don't get me wrong, it sucks that it did, but just because a developer is in tune with European style gaming doesn't mean that the country they're from is.

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I don't think it bombed, it just didn't fly to the top of the best sellers.

That's one of the problems these days. if a game isn't in the top 5 then it's considered a failure :(

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That's one of the problems these days. if a game isn't in the top 5 then it's considered a failure

Isn't it that if a game isn't a top 5 seller it's a financial failure? As in not breaking even? (Roughly speaking, ofcouse)

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Breaking even is not a financial success. Most games cost more money than they make, so publishers need games that do a lot more than break even to stay afloat.

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Isn't it that if a game isn't a top 5 seller it's a financial failure? As in not breaking even? (Roughly speaking, ofcouse)

No, a game can be perfectly successful and never reach the top 5 or 10.

If a game sells slowly but steadily, it can eventually out-sell many games that debut in the top 5 and then quickly disappear.

Starsiege: Tribes is a great example. Counter-Strike is another one (although that later hit the top 10). Both were tremendously successful.

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It's sad that such 'evergreen' sellers are pretty rare. (Not counting bargain bin sales, obviously.)

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