Same Engine? Same Gameplay? Same Basic Features? In a New Game?

[mirgro]

richardhutnik said:

Now that you are all done remembering, let's look at what we have today. Best example is Modern Warfare 2. Same engine, same gameplay, a handful of additions and tweaks, $60. Look at Uncharted 2 (yes, I went there), same engine, same gameplay, a handful of additions and tweaks, $60. Left 4 Dead 2, same engine, same gameplay, FEW MINOR additions and tweaks, $60 (or $50). It seems only Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13, and Gran Turismo 5 are a few of the handful of true sequels this generation. Everything else would have fit right under Expansion Pack, and cost accordingly, 10 years ago.

Excuse me a moment here.  Uncharted 2 is an entirely new story, with a bunch of new dialog, and they also threw in a multiplayer mode.  Left 4 Dead 2 is in the same boat, and also upgraded, and has new weapons and added a melee attack.  I won't comment on MW2, but it is similar.  Hiring voice actors and doing a new storyline isn't free.

The issue now is that the costs aren't in the engine, and the hardware, but in the paying the talent to utilize the engine, and craft a new storyline. 

So in Uncharted, MW1, L4D1 I got the following:

-Graphics engine, by far the most expensive part of developing HD games

- Many brand new developed characters

- New gameplay

- Paid $60

 

WHat you get in UC2, MW2, L$d2:

- Slightly upgraded engine, nowhere near the cost of the intial's development.

- Few new characters

- Few gameplay additions

- Paid $60

 

Does that not seem little effed up to you, if you have your head on straight?

@Onyx

Yeah I meant 87% for DK64... freudian slip or something....