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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The Next Big Thing

In the rising cost of production now we are seeing developers trying to generate new ways to create the next big thing. Halo is now going the way of Half-Life 2 and Sam and Max with episodic content. I think this new development method is designed to spread production cost, and take advantage of casual gamers who lack large amounts of time. Break the game experience up and dish it out in small doses. Seems smart enough, will it become the future of big franchises?

Another process now being employed is also aimed at spreading development cost and consuming people into a larger experience. That would be the Trilogy. Mass Effect and Too Human have already promised to be the first part of three part experience. This in some ways is interesting in the effect that the first process seems to mimick tv and this one seems to mimck movies as many films such as lord of the rings X-men Matrix, Spiderman have been signing up three films at a time. Will we be getting more trilogys?

 Now we are all familiar with MMORPGs but how about a Handheld MMORPG? Maple Story looks to be the first for the DS it looks like a side-scrolling action rpg sort of reminds me of Jump Superstars. Quirky and fun looking enough to have mass appeal, but will people want the MMO experience on a handheld? If it explodes into the next big thing, we may see a whole lot more, how about Pokemon or Animal Crossing as a MMO?

 While it seems games are getting bigger, some are getting smaller and cheaper with cheap fun mini games likes of Wii Sports/Play, yet it seems 3rd parties have yet to adopt this concept, with the almost assured success of Wii Health/music will next year see an explosion of this type of content? Even the idea that the VC can be used to download small new games through the internet too. Also I don't see Nintendo as the only company with this logic, Sony and Microsoft have their own version of VC, and Sony has games like FLOW, and Calling all Cars, the developer of Calling all cars also developed God Of War 2 and seems to feel drained from the massive game making experience and relieved to be working on smaller projects, this could be a trend to develop across all systems.

I'm sure no one trend will dominate the market but it will be interesting which ones see success, either way they all seem to be motivated by cost, as this is a business model as much as a entertainment product, I just hope in the end us gamers win.



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I'm going to bump this in hopes that my subject isn't completely ignored. I feel like I have to throw in some fanboy comment to get a match lit under a thread around here. Or maybe my posts are boring and long.



they're not really boring or something, but i would like to ask you with what point you made this thread.
Yea so we get trilogies, o happy joy, we will also see final fantasy VXXLM soon so, we already know making sequels to games is an almost guaranteed succes. Well, if you don't screw up that is. Also this MMO for the DS will likely be a succes but i don't see the interesting part in it since MMO's on the pc will always be better. And Sony learned last gen with the ps2 that casual games = $$$$, so Nintendo is also grabbing that up so they'll be releasing their sort of casual games. Atleast this is the first time Nintendo copies something..

 

P.S im guessing you didn't want an answer like this, but then again, better A answer then no answer eh :P 



Neos - "If I'm posting in this thread it's just for the lulz."
Tag by the one and only Fkusumot!


 

Episodic content doesn't work for really big games (look at Half Life), but for smaller stuff (Sam and Max). Trilogies sound good to me, if I really like a game I would welcome a continuation of the story and improvements on the game and would buy them. As for smaller games, I am for and against them: remakes of old games that I love I will get (not always), and original new small games are worth it if good, but then there are games that are really pushing it with the whole download and pay for more stuff in the game over and over... Also, I think some games should be reserved to being released on Xbox Live and PS Network, cause they are just not worth getting for 60 bucks, but would be great as downloadable games. Monster Madness that is coming out for 360, I played the demo and it was ok, but paying 60 dollars for that game is just insane. Paying 10 bucks for it I would do in a second because its fun to play but not too much more...



Thanks to Blacksaber for the sig!

There tends to be two things that can potentially fudge up either of those ideas, namely episodic content and planning trilogies before you even make the first game.

The problem with episodic content is what we're seeing with the Half-Life 2 episodes. The idea I guess is that people would rather have three small cheaper chunks over the course of a year and a half or two years rather than a brand new giant game every two or three years. The problem is that when you force yourself into a schedule like that you end up with delays, and that causes part of your "episodic advantage" to fizzle out.

The second is a similar problem that I like to call the Xeno Problemation....you see, with Xenosaga Monolith Soft planned to make six games over the course of however long time it took to make said games, the saga would involve a sweeping epic overarching plotline that would largely be divided between the first 3 and last 3 episodes( I think). So Xenosaga came out, it was awesome, got generally great reviews and sold well, but apparently not quite well enough. Episode II was an attempt to bring more casual Rpg players into the mix that couldn't stand the long cutscenes of Episode I( even though that's the whole reason you play a Xeno game, THE PLOT!!!) and subsequently they kinda fudged the game up trying to streamline it and subsequently the game got worse reviews and sold much less. As a result, the six episodes got cut down to three and the makers were forced to cram more than they expected into Episode III with a lower budget as a result of Episode II's lesser success but luckily Episode III did much better critically and still sold mildly well, though still not as well as they likely hoped.

Basically, you can't just expect to make three great games in a row, you have to make a game, if the game sells well THEN make a sequel, you can't just assume you're gonna make three blockbusters in a row. And on that note I'm hoping Xeno Ep. III turns out better than Ep II, cause I'm planning on buying it soon.



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Neos said:

they're not really boring or something, but i would like to ask you with what point you made this thread.
Yea so we get trilogies, o happy joy, we will also see final fantasy VXXLM soon so, we already know making sequels to games is an almost guaranteed succes. Well, if you don't screw up that is. Also this MMO for the DS will likely be a succes but i don't see the interesting part in it since MMO's on the pc will always be better. And Sony learned last gen with the ps2 that casual games = $$$$, so Nintendo is also grabbing that up so they'll be releasing their sort of casual games. Atleast this is the first time Nintendo copies something..

 

P.S im guessing you didn't want an answer like this, but then again, better A answer then no answer eh :P


 The point was that the industry is changing, particularly because of cost, and expansions. It seems all generations prior were pretty much set and locked, you came out with your game for 50 bucks, that's it. But now we have a price range, episodic content, subscription fees Promises for future releases. I thought it was interesting to talk about the trends I saw coming up and get peoples take on either they would be a success or not, or if there were other trends they saw as being implemented in the future.

what Sony casual games are you refering to?   I thought this trend really took off with Brain Training for twenty bucks.

BTW I'm fine with you answer  I don't need nor want someone agreeing with me for the sake of agreeing with me, just like to get various opinions and discuss the new business models for games being sold in the future. The success of these models is going to reshape alot of franchises in the future. Look at another trend open sandbox worlds are becoming a standard now, even in nonaction games Test Drive tried it with success, now Burnout is doing it too, if it's hugely successful with it I'm sure we'll start seeing more driving games go in this direction, that's my point. After the x-men movies success there was a glut of superheroe films, after Survivor's success there was a glut of reality tv shows, so looking at these fresh concepts and their fate gives us an idea of where  this industry is headed.

ps. sorry that was so long. I really need to shorten my posts. 



kalent said:

There tends to be two things that can potentially fudge up either of those ideas, namely episodic content and planning trilogies before you even make the first game.

The problem with episodic content is what we're seeing with the Half-Life 2 episodes. The idea I guess is that people would rather have three small cheaper chunks over the course of a year and a half or two years rather than a brand new giant game every two or three years. The problem is that when you force yourself into a schedule like that you end up with delays, and that causes part of your "episodic advantage" to fizzle out.

The second is a similar problem that I like to call the Xeno Problemation....you see, with Xenosaga Monolith Soft planned to make six games over the course of however long time it took to make said games, the saga would involve a sweeping epic overarching plotline that would largely be divided between the first 3 and last 3 episodes( I think). So Xenosaga came out, it was awesome, got generally great reviews and sold well, but apparently not quite well enough. Episode II was an attempt to bring more casual Rpg players into the mix that couldn't stand the long cutscenes of Episode I( even though that's the whole reason you play a Xeno game, THE PLOT!!!) and subsequently they kinda fudged the game up trying to streamline it and subsequently the game got worse reviews and sold much less. As a result, the six episodes got cut down to three and the makers were forced to cram more than they expected into Episode III with a lower budget as a result of Episode II's lesser success but luckily Episode III did much better critically and still sold mildly well, though still not as well as they likely hoped.

Basically, you can't just expect to make three great games in a row, you have to make a game, if the game sells well THEN make a sequel, you can't just assume you're gonna make three blockbusters in a row. And on that note I'm hoping Xeno Ep. III turns out better than Ep II, cause I'm planning on buying it soon.


 I would say I pretty much agree with you. Although with a huge franchise like Halo I could see this working. I think a big advantage of episodic content is it's much cheaper to produce. No fiddling with the engine, no stress to provide some great technical leap between episodes. You can cheaply focus on story and consistent gameplay experience. I can see a bigger risk with Mass Effect promising a tilogy, what if it sells like Xeno as you mentioned. Microsoft is now stuck funding two sequels just to hold to it's deal, while it may be more advantagous to make something else. But as a gamer I will say I'm excited by the idea of Mass Effect being a trilogy, I plan on buying the books coming out telling the pre-game story only because it promises to be this epic gaming trilogy. It's the kind of thing that sucks you in, because it has this hope of feeling like Star Wars or any epic plot that expands multiple outings(meaning more then one book or movie), where you can become consumed in this larger then one game kind of world. And that's a feeling that can be lost if you don't make that promise upfront. By only creating a solo game with no promise of a sequal the story has to be self contained , and may lose the 'epic' appeal. But there risks are there, will they pay off? I have no idea honestly.



I think the best part about a trilogy (if it's actually a good game) is that you won't have to wait as long for the next instalment.



Proud Member of GAIBoWS (Gamers Against Irrational Bans of Weezy & Squilliam)

                   

This also goes to show just how diverse gaming is becoming. Did any of us imagine at the turn of the century things like the DS, Wii, Gametap, Downloadable Content, etc. The industry is clearly becoming more and more segemented and specialized and as a result its able to reach sectors of the market it never could before. I love cars so I'll throw out a auto analogy. There's no longer a Model T of videogames. Or in other words, there's no longer one product that appeals to everyone and everyone must have. Instead you have a bunch of different offerings that are all pretty unique. In previous generations there has almost always been one very dominant player in the market and you got your games basically in one traditional package. Now there's multiple competent players and games are being packaged and marketed in so many different ways, which reflects the different tastes of all the gamers out there.

This isn't all good new though. At least not in my opinion. With greater market segmentation, it's now harder (i.e. more expensive) to get a top notch diverse gaming experience. When there was one truly dominant console, you could buy that one system and get pretty much all the great games. If you really wanted, you could buy a second console, but in most cases it wasn't necessary. I think the next step for the console makers is to produce cheaper systems, so more people can own multiple systems.



My Top 5:

Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger

My 2 nex-gen systems: PS3 and Wii

Prediction Aug '08: We see the PSP2 released fall '09. Graphically, it's basically the same as the current system. UMD drive ditched and replaced by 4-8gb on board flash memory. Other upgrades: 2nd analog nub, touchscreen, blutooth, motion sensor. Design: Flip-style or slider. Size: Think Iphone. Cost: $199. Will be profitable on day 1.

I don't like the idea of episodic and multi-sequel games.  I don't mind games being connected but I don't like having to play game 1 to know what the heck is going on in game 2 or having to read an hour of back story from game 1 while playing game 2.  Also I usually want to play a complete game and be essentially done with it.  Lastly, it reeks of how can we sell less of a game for full price.  The problem is once dev's start they won't stop.  Next thing you know when you buy a $50 racing game you'll get 1 track, the others cost $50 to unlock.  Your FPS will only have a short "main quest" and no multiplayer, unlocking the full game and multiplayer will cost you.  All the must have items in your RPG will start being priced in dollars, yen, or euros and not gold coins.  We're already seeing the gamer hell that micro-transactions are leading the 360 in to, the last thing we need is more of it.  However, it makes money and most gamers will just buy it anyways so more of it is what we will get.