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Sell your Xbox 360s it's all over!

Some good bits of info. Especially since I knew nothing of the busiiness side back in the '80s.

The problem is that everyone is missing by design, and high fliers are indeed popping like zits. Companies that have been around for 25 years are dying like flies, or are so weak they are desperate for anyone with a checkbook to suck them up. Acclaim was a recent victim, one with a long rich history, and a quick death. Even the biggest of names are teetering on the edge, and no one is happy. One miss, and it is, pun intended, game over for even the big guys.

You have the new gen consoles pushing costs up, economics pushing risk taking down, and prices going up. The XBox 360 titles, and presumably PS3 ones, have gone from $50 to $60, but I am at a loss as to what that 20% buys you in terms of enjoyment. To me, you get eye candy limited by the TV you play on and gameplay that did not change from the original Playstation version.
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I give this thread 3/4 one-armed frogs.
 
DaCocoBrova said:
The whole 'bannable phrases' thing is stupid, FTR.
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not when you get a thread that literally is 90% "Sell your gamecubes, it's all over folks!" or some other asinine saying. It's good to keep stupidity from spreading too rapidly.
 
Seems like The Inquirer is in lockstep with Nintendo.


Mark my words, in 3-4 years from now, gamers am cry when the crash of 2012 happens in 2008.
 
Didn't even bother looking at the article, but on the topic of games prices, I got confirmation from my friend in GAME that X360 game prices here will be 70 and 80 euros ($83-95) :lol

next-gen & gofreak am cry.
 
i don't see a crash happening anytime soon...at least not as BAD as ATARI. Speaking of which, the problem with Atari was it's monopoly of the industry and when they crashed they took everyone with them. Nintendo swooped in on Atari's demise...the same will happen if Sony royaly fucks up, the void will be filled by Microsoft and/or Nintendo....and life will go on.
 
I know I ain't buying shit unless it's quadruple A in quality, or drastically reduced. Expect other educated gamers to follow.
 
DaCocoBrova said:
I know I ain't buying shit unless it's quadruple A in quality, or drastically reduced. Expect other educated gamers to follow.
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you dont buy games unless they are a 9-10? your collection must be rather small.
 
Pretty good write up.

I think all of his points are valid. Will it lead to a crash or not? Who knows...I hope not (altho I would like to see 70% of the companies out there be forced to either shape up or get out of the biz)....either way, it's hard to argue with some of his points.

Here's hoping we get the best of both worlds: a non-crash event that keeps the industry going but still forces it to scrape the crap off the bottom of its shoe that has been accumulating there for a long, long time...

David
 
Here is a picture of angry Xbox 360 owners infront of my local walmart, all hoping for a refund.
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Its certaintly not a bad article, he mentions a lot of good points, I think some of you are just trashing it because its on the inquirer. Although most of what he has said has been said before by many people, there all just waiting for the crash to happen.
 
For 60 bucks, I'm certainly not going to take as many chances as I did this generation. Hell, I stopped taking 50 dollar chances a long time ago. A game has to be 30 bucks or less for me to impulse buy. The last time I bought a 50 dollar game was Doom 3, and I even kind of regret that.
 
8bit said:
The guy that founded the Inquirer was booted from the Register for being rubbish. It's inspiring to see that he's employed the retarded to write for him.
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You make it sound like The Register is credible.
 
The PS1/N64 Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The PS2/GC/Xbox Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The newest Gen will have ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.

There was nothing in that article that wasnt true for the last 10 years, and yet here we still are.
 
Helznicht said:
The PS1/N64 Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The PS2/GC/Xbox Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The newest Gen will have ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.

There was nothing in that article that wasnt true for the last 10 years, and yet here we still are.
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Except for exponentially rising development costs.
 
He makes some good points, but I don't see a market crash happening this generation.
 
Except for exponentially rising development costs
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Sorry, we have had that every generation jump aswell. The Expanding market has allowed the costs to rise. And seeing the demand for a $400 (try $1000 on ebay) console, this gen is gonna expand aswell, allowing the increased costs.

Nothing at all new here.
 
Helznicht said:
The PS1/N64 Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The PS2/GC/Xbox Gen had ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
The newest Gen will have ALOT of crap games, many overrated for various reasons.
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The NES/8bit era had ALOT of crap games, as did the SNES/16bit era. Can we all stop pretending that just because the industry grew a lot then that all the games were good? I mean really. It sure seems like there is a lot of crap out there, no? However, I don't think the percentage of crap on each system has gotten much worse (if at all) than any other era. The main exception is that I would say PC gaming has lost a lot of talent to consoles, but that's a whole different discussion... Overall, the game industry has just as much crap as ever.
 
What's with acting like The Enquirer is a joke...? I think they are a decent site.

EDIT: \/\/\/ Sorry for the double post.
 
Drinky Crow said:
What the market needs is a Revolution, LOL AM BITTER GAMING NERDS RITE?
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Hilarious Nintendo commentary aside, do you really think the industry will continue to grow over the next 2 generations?
 
Mihail said:
Hilarious Nintendo commentary aside, do you really think the industry will continue to grow over the next 2 generations?
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I think it already STOPPED growing. Wasn't there a small contraction in sales this year?

Gaming seems to have reached everyone it can in its current form. I've started asking people who don't game why not and a lot of them say the controllers scare them away. That's not to say the Revolution can change that, but it sure can't hurt.
 
Dave Long said:
I think it already STOPPED growing. Wasn't there a small contraction in sales this year?

Gaming seems to have reached everyone it can in its current form. I've started asking people who don't game why not and a lot of them say the controllers scare them away. That's not to say the Revolution can change that, but it sure can't hurt.
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What is the statistical relevance of one year? Nothing. Certainly not enough to contradict the consistent growth in the industry that preceded this year.
 
I'm glad he takes a stab at gaming mags/websites being in bed with game companies, because it really is the case.

Review scores are negotiable. Game companies are told well in advance by mags/sites what score their game will receive. And if they're not happy with it, a few money hats are sent, up to a point where the game company is satisfied with it, or the mag/site no longer finds it safe since it's putting their credibility at risk.

This is how a shitfest like Driv3r ends up scoring a 9.
 
Dave Long said:
Gaming seems to have reached everyone it can in its current form. I've started asking people who don't game why not and a lot of them say the controllers scare them away. That's not to say the Revolution can change that, but it sure can't hurt.
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i think gameplay/game content is more the issue than the controller itself. my wife is more accurate playing Monkeyball than Project Gotham Racing yet the same control principles apply to both games.
 
Drinky Crow said:
What the market needs is a Revolution, LOL AM BITTER GAMING NERDS RITE?
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It's like listening to a broken record. One that's been crapped on by a mule.

Get a new shtick. This ones worn thinner than the hair on your head.
 
Yup, the industry will most likely grow money made next gen, just like always, but, the number of companies making games will as always drop... This will especially be the case with the increased price on games.... Customers will make buy less games and the lower budger games from the smaller companies will most likely get ignored even more by most gamers because of this.... I guess it's just a matter of how hard this hits bigger companies.... :-/
 
lets not forget that the distribution model for games is evolving. there are PLENTY of avenues for the indie dev to get their games out there

i see no crash
 
Ever since Nintendo went into second place and beyond, the end of video games as we know it has been predicted. And in almost everyone of these articles, it is Nintendo that is pointed to as the only company heading in the correct direction to save the industry.

So when's it suppose to happen? First it was in the 32 bit gen, then it was the 128 bit, now it's the coming gen. And when all the people point to the slight decrease in game sales this year as proof, they never seem to mention that last year saw so many blockbuster AAA quality games released compared to this year. Sorry, but do you really expect this years sales to be anything compared to last years when we saw the release of Halo 2, GTA:SA, Half-life 2, etc. The fact is last years releases not only sold staggering amounts but were some of the best games ever created which flies in contradiction to the notion that not only are the quality of games in a state that hasn't been seen since the waning days of the atari 2600 but that no one is buying them anymore.

When viewing the facts i come up with a different oppinion. I don't think the industry has ever seen a year like 2004. The sheer number of quality games released that year bests any year in the videogame industries history in my oppinion. Which is a far cry from all the doom and gloom articles like these try to paint the industries current condition.
 
The first crash came because the market was flooded with unbelievable, utter crap due to game developers not understanding the patience of the gaming community. That's not happening now, and it's not likely to happen in the future. There will always be crap games, but never the level of shit that flooded out the gates in 1983.

People can town-cry the neuvo-gaming-doomsday all they want, but it's not going to happen.
 
..The problem with his reasoning is that every single generation of console gaming has been polluted with a plethora of mediocre games. I guess he feels creativity is too much of a risk in this coming generation due to development costs. Thats the life in a technology based field, this is a fast moving industry, consoles are tech toys its all about the latest and greatest graphics and sound ...but how does he explain the phenomenon that is GTA and WoW?
 
I guess he feels creativity is too much of a risk in this coming generation due to development costs.
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This is precisely why the time is right for things like Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade. Platforms that small developers can code for without needing to consult with Michael Bay and lease out an airport hanger for your mocap studio.
 
I'm kind of glad not every tom dick and harry can afford to make games. It keeps the junk quantity lower. The big companies will find more efficient ways to keep the Final Fantasies and Half Life's coming along and the less visually spectacular, more fun niche stuff like the Katamari's and Nintendog's don't need to blow a zillion dollars on rendering artists and the like so there will still be lots of those too I'm guessing.
 
As someone who was around during the First Crash I can assure you it's not as bad as they make it out to be.

All I knew was suddenly I could get Atari games for 99¢ and I kept playing the shit out of Donkey Kong Jr., Smurfs, and other awesome games on my Colecovision.

Then one day the kid down the street showed me his NES with Super Mario.

For the most part, I agree with the article. :\

I'm not afraid though.
 
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