JayWood2010 said:
I'll agree with a lot of things you say but if I dont think the game industy or movie industry necessarily works that way. A lot of movies that are popular are the ones that stand out. Sure every once and a while you will have something like twilight which doesnt deserve it's fame but other in recent years like Inception, The Dark Knight, Avatar, etc are the ones that grow popular and for a reason. |
The Dark Knight; a gritty superhero film, hmm, we haven't had a lot of those lately. Avatar is Pocahontas and has a story that has been told a dozen times with slight variation, the selling point there was the amazing visual design, CGI is likely the most overused and generic thing in movies today. Inception is original enough, I'll grant that, but every rule has exceptions (like I have mentioned when I say "most" instead of "all"). Its (Avatar) the movie version of CoD, full of gloss and shine and impressive noise but with a severely lacking core offering.
Call of Duty got more popular the less it innovated and the more hollywood bells and whistles were thrown in, lowest common denominator cannot be demonstrated in a better way than Call of Duty today. Uncharted and Gears of War, well its not like 3rd person cover based shooters are rife in the 7th generation, huh? Quippy main character with one-liners, Tomb Raider inspiration, Indiana Jones etc combined with cover based shooting (mind you, I love the Uncharted games but not beacuse they are amazingly original, the pacing and seamless gameplay are what lures me in). Gears of War; cover based shooter with oversized space marines and gore, terribly original as well. Halo and GTA? GTA is moving backwards and even implementing cover based shooting and "realistic" physics and ragdoll animations all over the place, the missions are also bland and uninspiring (GTA was fresh and unique at one point but those days are long gone), Halo is as generic as every other alien based shooter we have today, the first one innovated, the others are cash-in's with decent multiplayer. It is also noteworthy that Halo keeps selling more the more base and generic it gets.
Assassin's Creed is very similar to Prince of Persia, not much groundbreaking and the two first ones were repetetive as well, especially the first one if filled with poor and arbitrary writing, predictable plot twists and overused gameplay elements such as counter-attacks and "remove all skills and power after letting the player be all powerful and cool in the opening". God of War, 3rd person action button masher, done before, lots of gore, ridiculously oversized bosses and painfully manly lines and setting for maximum effect. These aren't bad games at all but they are generic in one or more ways and at the very center of design, there's no denying it. If you apply the same eye to every game, there are few that escape the same "generic" label but that's my whole point to begin with; the vast majority of games are generic.
Good games get popular? No, they don't. There is no such default in the industry and market and there are plenty of shitty games that sell well. Its not that black and white and simple, I'm afraid. King's Bounty games aren't selling very well, the Settlers games don't sell well, Metro 2033 didn't sell well, Mount & Blade hasn't sold very well, Risen has sold poorly, plenty more examples of good games that don't get popular. Flashy ads, gimmicks, celebrity voice acting, shiny visuals, hollywood effects, gore and other cheap means sell many games, a lot more than raw talent, good writing and solid gameplay. I'm sorry but that's the way it is.
Most of the time, generic elements draw in more customers, whether it be music, movies or games. Games have existed before the PS3 and 360 and Wii.
