Sequels, Sequels, Sequels

[Murdoc]

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62296

ugh. I guess that quality innovation thing Ubisoft tried didn't really maxamize profits.

[Patters]

I don't know if it's still doable, but with the Splinter Cell games they were released damn quickly:

1: 2002 Ubi Montreal

2: 2004 Ubi Shanghai

3: 2005 Ubi Montreal

4 I: 2006 Ubi Montreal (Xbox, PS2, GC)

4 II: 2006 Ubi Shanghai (360, PS3, PC)

[Thyroid]

I don't know why publishers opt for one of two extremes: the boring, repetitive sequels and licenses, or the all-out "New franchises! NEW FRANCHISES!" More interestingly, both tactics presume that you just have to release the big AAA tiles in Q4. There has to be some smart theories on Gamasutra or something that explain why that is.

[DanJW]

I don't know why publishers opt for one of two extremes: the boring, repetitive sequels and licenses, or the all-out "New franchises! NEW FRANCHISES!" More interestingly, both tactics presume that you just have to release the big AAA tiles in Q4. There has to be some smart theories on Gamasutra or something that explain why that is.

Because the business analysts at the publishers are from the same college classes as the investment bankers who brought us so much joy these last couple of years.

[syntheticgerbil]

I don't see any Beyond Good and Evil 2 on that list, so Ubi can get fucked.

[Kolzig]

I don't see any Beyond Good and Evil 2 on that list, so Ubi can get fucked.

Agreed.

Also Activision is of course doing the same crap decisions with sequels and so on.

http://shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=62315

[Thyroid]

Activision now have a third studio to make even more Call of Duty games. Better graphics! Bigger weapons! Explosions so extreme they'll come out of the monitor and whiplash your pants. KABOOM. VIDEO GAMES.

These two men just came.

Gamers extraordinaire.

[syntheticgerbil]

Gamers extraordinaire.

His head.... it's like putty!

[gdf]

I don't know which one I'd like to slap more

Kotick, obviously.

[Gabbo]

I don't know which one I'd like to slap more

Kotick, obviously.

Try and get both in one slap and feel good about it

[elmuerte]

I don't know which one I'd like to slap more

Kotick, obviously.

That's quite obvious for me, it's Kotick. Because he influences what Blactivisionzard does.

[Nachimir]

Eventually, this man will go out in public and be mistaken for a suicide bomber.

[miffy495]

Or attacked by the Ghostbusters.

[syntheticgerbil]

Or attacked by the Ghostbusters.

Perfect call!

[Thyroid]

Activision Blizzard confirmed its plans to "continue annualizing" the first-person shooter franchise with the still-unnamed seventh entry in the billion dollar Call of Duty series, offering little new info. But executives did talk briefly about the game's release window and their desire to see some subscription-style revenue from the series.

"If you think about the successes we have had in other categories on subscriptions, you can get a sense of the direction we want to take that franchise," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said during today's quarterly earnings call, not specifying exactly when it planned to take such steps.

Source.

Bobby Kotick, seen here a mere minute before weeping with joy. Notice the reddening eyeballs.

[gdf]

Capitalist bastard. Look at his smug fucking face.

[Murdoc]

It's not really capitalism that's the problem;capitalism pays me, so I'm happy for it. The desire to make money might be the problem, but it's not a solvable one.

And really sequels to things I like, or things other people like isn't necessary bad, it's just the rate of fire on these things doesn't really suggest quality. The fact games take so much money to make and are infinitely more complex to do "right" these days, a one year deadline will either suggest crappy unrealized innovation or small iterative changes with inconsistent quality.

I know Ubisoft can throw a ton of monkeys on the type-righter, but good games, good entertainment, and good art doesn't get made that way and if you fluke out and achieve such goals; awesome, but it won't last long.

[OssK]

On the two man question, that's a hard one…*I'd say I would gladly take one to slap the other with the first…*And I guess, I'd take the second one to slap the first, for two obvious reasons.

[Xeneth]

Is my primary reason for wanting to slap that second guy kinda weird?

Here, lemme lay some Xeneth-vision on ya:

There's something that just GETS ME about picking the player's guide up alongside the game...

On a logical level I know that:

• You get a discount on the guide for doing that
  
• There's multiplayer/strategy stuff in there that's less hint/map/cheat and more experiential
  
• Sometimes there's good concept art or development notes in there too
  
• Some developers hide easter eggs so well that it's unreasonable to try and find them without a guide (here's looking at you, SquEnix!)
  
• A guy with willpower could refer to it only on the second playthrough or as needed
  

...But, on some emotional gamer level I can't help but nerd rage: "You're not even going to TRY to figure anything about the game out on your own? Are you playing those or are they playing YOU?!"

[OssK]

...But, on some emotional gamer level I can't help but nerd rage: "You're not even going to TRY to figure anything about the game out on your own? Are you playing those or are they playing YOU?!"

That and "do you really need a guide to finish MW2 ? I would then allow myself to lol at you my good sir."

[miffy495]

I picked up a guide with a game once. It was LittleBigPlanet. I figured that the fact that half the guide was dedicated to teaching you how to use the level-making tools made it worth it if/when I decided to dabble in creation. Never created anything worthwhile, but at least the guide helped me fuck up in style.

[Xeneth]

Aha! You're so right...

Any "game" that's more than 50% CREATING STUFF doesn't have a "player's guide" so much as a freaking advanced tutorial/manual.

As against hint books as I tend to be, you'd better believe I had the Mario Paint Player's Guide!

...Does anyone else remember the section of that guide that showed you how to time and dub your own Mario Paint visuals over music videos onto VHS using two VCRs? Holy hell, I had forgotten about that.