<A href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/">Duck and Cover</a> has posted <A href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=65">their end of the year editorial</a>, written by <b>DorkOverlord</b>. It covers lots of things, like the whole <a href="http://www.interplay.com">Interplay</a> silliness, games requiring patches, something about some Russian vaporware game with mutants, and more. Here's a clip:
<blockquote>Is the solution then, to cut back on features? Instead of 250 spells, how about just 50? Instead of lip-synching, how about just a solid game that works without crashing or voice-overs that don't drop 10 decibels and become inaudible right at the most important bit? Let those things be added with the expansion pack. The other 200 spells, the extra voice-overs that couldn't be completed in time, the great new area you had an idea for, those extra quests. Throw them all in and charge gamers more. Then again, is it really possible to replace one disease with another? Does that fix anything? Is Expansionitis the solution to Patchamitosis?
... or am I as a gamer expecting too much? Am I too demanding of today's developers? Is what I want some unattainable level of gaming bliss that exists only in my mind's eye? Oh sure, we want great physics engines and super-copol graphics but Jesus Christ All Mighty, we're still playing the same games we had back in '92. It's Wolfenstein 3d all over again, only it's not as much fun. Where are the classics of today's era? </blockquote>
Well, you could say that games have cost around $50 for the last twenty years. Meanwhile, production values for games have gone up which require more people working on the game. That would be a great argument for publishers if the game industry wasn't reporting record profits each and every year!
<blockquote>Is the solution then, to cut back on features? Instead of 250 spells, how about just 50? Instead of lip-synching, how about just a solid game that works without crashing or voice-overs that don't drop 10 decibels and become inaudible right at the most important bit? Let those things be added with the expansion pack. The other 200 spells, the extra voice-overs that couldn't be completed in time, the great new area you had an idea for, those extra quests. Throw them all in and charge gamers more. Then again, is it really possible to replace one disease with another? Does that fix anything? Is Expansionitis the solution to Patchamitosis?
... or am I as a gamer expecting too much? Am I too demanding of today's developers? Is what I want some unattainable level of gaming bliss that exists only in my mind's eye? Oh sure, we want great physics engines and super-copol graphics but Jesus Christ All Mighty, we're still playing the same games we had back in '92. It's Wolfenstein 3d all over again, only it's not as much fun. Where are the classics of today's era? </blockquote>
Well, you could say that games have cost around $50 for the last twenty years. Meanwhile, production values for games have gone up which require more people working on the game. That would be a great argument for publishers if the game industry wasn't reporting record profits each and every year!