Why the big deal? The OP seemed to be trying to stir up a shit storm. Many of the major companies over-use their franchises, if by 'over-use' you mean re-use them every year or two. EA, Capcom, Nintendo, Sony-they're all guilty of it, in different ways.

With Nintendo, I'd have to say they don't 'over-use' their franchises. They do however, over-use the Mario license. I've no interest in the sports titles he appears in, and wish they'd release a new 2D Mario on DS instead. As for Nintendo's other major franchises, the only one I can think of with release every year or 2 years is Fire Emblem. Zelda is in no way over-used. I count main 14 games since 1986, on 5 home consoles and 3 handhelds. Also, nobody bothered to mention the Wars series, F-Zero, WaveRace, Kid Icarus, Ice Climber, Kirby, Warioware, Pikmin-all franchises that see relatively few (if any) updates. Metroid is another one. Punch-out!! Pilotwings! Starfox! Gwah. I've no idea where I'm going with this. lol.

I don't see Sony over-using any of their franchises to a particular degree either. I just see updates after a couple of years. Why the big deal? As long as these games are good, I don't have a problem with it. Take some chill pills, and play what you like. I'm off to play Advance Wars.

C'mon people keep this thread alive.

Anyone called on Pokemon yet?
How about Final Fantasy?

 I singled Sony out because I think they get a free pass from the gaming press while other publishers are generally blasted for over using franchises in by the gaming press.

In reality, when I play a sony franchise game like Ratchet or GoW, I know for a fact that a sequel will be made in 2 or less years; it's clock work. However when I play a game like Mario Galaxy... i have no clue what so ever if another game like that would be made in the next decade.

Why the descrepancy? Why is it okay for sony to make the same games once every 2 years but its wrong for Activision, MS, or EA to do it, and its wrong for nintendo to do it once every generation? There's an obvious double standard.

<center><table bgcolor="#bbbbbb" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="90%"><tr><td bgcolor="#ffffff"><b>Asriel said:</b><br />
    <p>Why the big deal? The OP seemed to be trying to stir up a shit storm. Many of the major companies over-use their franchises, if by 'over-use' you mean re-use them every year or two. EA, Capcom, Nintendo, Sony-they're all guilty of it, in different ways.<br /><br />With Nintendo, I'd have to say they don't 'over-use' their franchises. They do however, over-use the Mario license. I've no interest in the sports titles he appears in, and wish they'd release a new 2D Mario on DS instead. As for Nintendo's other major franchises, the only one I can think of with release every year or 2 years is Fire Emblem. Zelda is in no way over-used. I count main 14 games since 1986, on 5 home consoles and 3 handhelds. Also, nobody bothered to mention the Wars series, F-Zero, WaveRace, Kid Icarus, Ice Climber, Kirby, Warioware, Pikmin-all franchises that see relatively few (if any) updates. Metroid is another one. Punch-out!! Pilotwings! Starfox! Gwah. I've no idea where I'm going with this. lol.<br /><br />I don't see Sony over-using any of their franchises to a particular degree either. I just see updates after a couple of years. Why the big deal? As long as these games are good, I don't have a problem with it. Take some chill pills, and play what you like. I'm off to play Advance Wars.</p></td></td></table></center><br />
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I wasnt trying to start anything... like I said. I hear alot of complaining about other publishers doing it, but no one cares that sony does it, and is actually one of the worst offenders.

If anything, Sony doesnt use their franchises enough.

The Ps3 is almost 3 years old and there's been very little to no speak of:

Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Syphon Filter
Twisted Metal (just rumors, nothing solid)
WipEout
Ape Escape
PaRappa Da Rappa (considering DDR and GH popularity, I think this game would be popular again)

not as bad as Nintendo and Mario games. In the end successful characters and IPs generate sales which is what game companies are all about

god you people are so easy to troll its not even funny... may you never have the misfortune to stumble upon a video game forum...oh wait