rocketpig said:
Jesus, there are so many problems with your logic. First off, PCs don't have licensing fees and they largely dumped the retailer model long before consoles began dabbling in it. No retailer markup=more profit for the developer. Online download model=no need for large publishers. No physical disk=no need for thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars in physical media, shipping, and warehouse space. Do you see where I'm going with this? You want consoles to emulate PCs but you only want them to emulate the "good stuff". It's a nonsensical stance. It is inevitable that consoles were going to go through these kinds of growing pains. When even simple games cost millions of dollars to make once licensing fees for engines and whatnot are factored in, there was going to be a streamlining of the process and we were bound to be exposed to cloned games (though, as pointed out, this has ALWAYS been the case), shorter games, and more focus was going to be place on online multiplayer. What you're failing to acknowledge is that this is just the beginning. XBLM keeps raising the size allotment for games. PSN doesn't really have one. As developers figure this out and as consoles reach a maximum saturation of online capability in homes, we're going to see a total rebirth of gaming. Instead of seeing only top-shelf developers pump out the latest and greatest, we're going to get simple $10 games (which we already have) and games that stretch from every price point from $20-$50. There will be no limits to how much technical prowess a developer wants to add to a game and there will be games at every price point, something we've never had in the console world before. It seems to me that you just want to complain about the bad stuff that came along with this generation instead of looking at all the great stuff that's in the pipeline as the HDD/online console matures. |
I really hope it goes that way. Certainly that's my expectation. If things go well I'd hope to see more titles releasing on PSN/Live at lower prices - stuff like Flower (or even titles like Portal) - coupled with of course the big titles.
My concern is that, so far, both PSN and Live seem to be lagging Steam in terms of really getting to grips with the model, getting good titles there in a steady stream and having solid pricing guidlines. However, both services are pretty new really, and I hope to see things settle down with every passing year.
A bigger concern though is the current DLC model and rapid fire sequel model that's settling in on consoles. I love L4D and I love L4D2, but I have no doubt that L4D2 is far less a sequel as I view it and more another iteration that should really have been available as an expansion rather than a full price title. ODST I felt the same way about and MW2 also looks anemic in terms of building on CoD4. DLC prices have also been high IMHO. Still, this is perhaps inevitable when linked to the rapid expansion of console gaming and the ability to use these models - if the consumer seems fine with it then its hard to knock developers for making hay while the sun shines.
My other concern is that too many developers try (and no doubt fail) to land a big title instead of focusing on PSN/Live and the like. I guess time will tell, as it is very early days in many ways.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
