Im sorry I didn't catch the real meaning of the article at first. I would say that it raises some good points about restructuring needed within the industry in terms of how they make their games. They really do need to take a look at how they make the games, especially in relation to prototyping early designs. They'd probably be better off having 10 groups of 4-5 developers split off to test different game designs and then select from the best one or two rather than going all out at a concept that they have no idea of its worth until well into the development cycle.

And where has that happened? The top selling games are all full price, Wii Fit, all the music games, Sports Resort, Tony Hawk Ride ad a bunch of others are now charging prices we've never seen before and people are buying at record pace. Again, sales are near all time highs, so the economy isn't effecting the game industry in the same way it's effecting other industries. 

The troubles faced by current developers is in small part the lending crunch, but largely a result of an unsustainable model and a console generation that didn't pan out like anyone thought it would.

The top selling games are, because nobody wants to take a risk since they don't have as much disposable income. You shouldn't be looking at the demand for the top selling games, but the demand for the entire industry as a whole. Since you look at the numbers, unlike me, you can judge if the sales of the entire game industry, are up or down.

I'm just making the safest bet here, that the demand for games, as a whole, is not inelastic and recession proof. It's a luxury, and luxuries are the first things that get cut.

I mean, you're really saying that the sales, compared to the last gen, went up? With no 100 million PS2s, $60 games, and a recession? The total ammount of games sold had to have gone down, or else my head will fucking explode.

I'm saying look at the guys' chart (provided it's accurate of course). While down from last year, revenue is at it's second highest in a generation. Or look at our own website. You'll notice a crap load of games are selling a crap load. Based on the industries phenomenal performance, this shouldn't exactly be the troubling time it is.

Like I said though, I think that the only games that are selling are the "AAA" ones. The fucking Guitar Heroes, Modern Warfares, WoW, Wii fits, etc.

I'm not afraid of the game industry collapsing, like I said in my last posts. I'm thinking that it's gonna shrink, as we're going to see nothing but those generic "AAA" games, instead of games like Heavy Rain, Mirror's Edge, Demon's Soul, etc.

The revenue, I'm guessing, is being concentrated into companies like Activision, who's not only breaking even, but making a profit, while other companies who aren't even breaking even will drop out. I know that's business, and that's the free market, but it fucking sucks. We're going ot have fewer companies, fewer games, and the few games we get are probably going to be the "AAA" ones.

I mean, it's already been fucking happening. Fuck Activision, and its milking of Guitar Hero. Fuck the revenue, if it's only going to a few select companies. We as consumers, are gonna suffer, and there's nothing we can do about it.

*slits wrist*

Alright, I'm not THAT pessimistic XD... actually I sorta am O.o

Hopefully huge ass companies like Sony will keep experimenting, and EA will be able to make both good games, AND market them well *crosses fingers for Bad Company 2*

No, EA is not the next casualty.

That's probably THQ.

You know this is suprising for me

NO 1st place console, 2nd place console or 3rd place consoles has EVER done as well as the Wii, Xbox 360 & PS3 are doing in their respective "place"

It was the first year where all 3 CONSOLES sold over 1 million int he december NPD, with wii near 4 million.

despite all this, its shocking things have gone wrong

Hmmm, where have I read this before?

what the gaming companies need to do is come up with something new. Sequels after sequels are fine,but I also want to see some new ip's!!!!! There have been some,but not enough in my humble opinion. They also need to think outside the box and change the way some types of games are played. Make a fps are any kind of rpg play a different way!!!! Something like natal can be successful if done right-end rant!

I'm just using natal as an example of changing the way a game is played!!!!!