Fuck!! Creative Assembly goes console

[Sol Invictus]

Spotted this at TW Center: http://twcenter.net/

Thats right, our worst fears seem to be coming true. CA and SEGA have announced they are planning a new title: Spartan: Total Warrior for the Playstation, Xbox and Gamecube. The new game will not be a strategy game in the sence of M:TW or S:TW but will instead be a third-person Action/strategy game.

Sega of Europe has today announced that they have signed a deal with Total War developers Creative Assembly to publish the team’s forthcoming console title, Spartan: Total Warrior.

The game, which is set for release on Xbox, PlayStation2 and GameCube in September 2005, switches the action away from the strategy PC franchise to a third-person action/adventure strategy game set in the battles of the Roman Empire.

Commenting on the move, Sega’s European Marketing Director, Matt Woodley said, “Creative Assembly has delivered outstanding games from day one and Spartan: Total Warrior is another quality title befitting the exceptional standards of the team.”

FUCK.

 

[PennyAnte]

We will just have to hold out hope that CA continues to produce good games for a variety of platforms. EA has done it. Blizzard is working on doing it (SC: Ghost). There has been at least one consolized Unreal, but the PC versions remain king. The same is true with Counter-Strike.

Also take comfort in the fact that this seems to be a game customized for consoles, not a full-fledged TW game. These "franchises" can probably co-exist just fine.

Assuming CA produces more console games after this one, we also can hold out hope that the next gen of consoles will be quite powerful. A lack of power, HD and the controller are the major elements separating PC and console power and game quality. If console power, at least, is high, the games might be almost as good, at least for a year or so.

 

[MarFish]

A smart move. PC games will continue to decline in sales when the next console generation gains momentum. Not good to have all your eggs in one basket.

I'm sure someone will bring up Interplay as example on why this is bad however.

 

[Fez]

The new game will not be a strategy game in the sence of M:TW or S:TW but will instead be a third-person Action/strategy game.

Ouch!

Shame this isn't April 1st.

 

[DemonKing]

Bummer.

 

[Vival]

The end of pc gaming is near! Confess your sins!

 

[Mendoza]

Spotted this at TW Center: http://twcenter.net/
FUCK.

Or, you know, possibly they're now successful enough to make 2 games at a time, and want to make other games as well as strategy?

 

[Spazmo]

Spartan: Total Warrior set in Roman battles? Odd.

 

[Fez]

It's probably an action game about a mighty Spartan warrior leading Roman troops to victory and having sex with boys in celebration.

The Romans and the Spartans existed at the same time and were close geographically. It's all possible.

 

[Spazmo]

Oh, sure, but if I buy a game called SPARTAN, I somehow expect to play a game about SPARTA (and probably Greece and stuff).

 

[Fez]

But that's because you are not thinking like a game publishing/design genius.

 

[PennyAnte]

leading Roman troops to victory and having sex with boys in celebration.

I am sure it will have a great deal of extremely enthusiastic sodomy. It might even have an RTW battle map type screen for sodomy, with all sorts of "formations" and such. And olive oil. Don't forget the olive oil. This is a Mediterranean setting.

 

[DemonKing]

Has anyone heard about "Rise & Fall" from Stainless Steel Studios?

There's a hilarious video at Gamespot which shows how you can take control of a hero during a battle and you get to go beserk in a close-up 3rd person mode chunking enemies in all directions.

In the video you can only see Alexander the Great (who is not only a master swordsman, but a deadly archer now), but apparently one of the heroes is Cleopatra! I'm wondering what she can do to "turn the tide". Seduce the enemy general? Asps down their codpiece?

Video: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/risefallcivilizationsatwar/media.html

 

[triCritical]

A smart move. PC games will continue to decline in sales when the next console generation gains momentum. Not good to have all your eggs in one basket.

I'm sure someone will bring up Interplay as example on why this is bad however.

Do you have plots? Hell haven't PC games always been a niche audience? God to love the internet, where you can say all sorts of facts, without a damn thing to back them up.

Oh, BTW, consoles have always been game systems that have reached a mainstream audience, whereas PC have had the more niche audience. Hell the only thing that has had a major impact on PC games is probably the rise of PC in homes. Whats changed the most is the cost of developing a PC game, which has sky-rocketed lately.

And this is bad because CA will be making a potential trashy action/strategy hybrid.

EDIT: At least they won't have to worry about AI comlaints on consoles, LOL!!!!

 

[triCritical]

Nothing like playing a game about an army that ritualistically had all male orgies before they went to battle. Oh and for there has never been a country called greece since they revolted from the Ottoman empire, but instead sparta was just a city that like to opress their local inhabitants, was led by elders, required strict military service, and liked to fight wars against athens when they weren't being invaded by Persians.

 

[MarFish]

A smart move. PC games will continue to decline in sales when the next console generation gains momentum. Not good to have all your eggs in one basket.

I'm sure someone will bring up Interplay as example on why this is bad however.

Do you have plots? Hell haven't PC games always been a niche audience? God to love the internet, where you can say all sorts of facts, without a damn thing to back them up.

Oh, BTW, consoles have always been game systems that have reached a mainstream audience, whereas PC have had the more niche audience. Hell the only thing that has had a major impact on PC games is probably the rise of PC in homes. Whats changed the most is the cost of developing a PC game, which has sky-rocketed lately.

And this is bad because CA will be making a potential trashy action/strategy hybrid.

EDIT: At least they won't have to worry about AI comlaints on consoles, LOL!!!!

Talking about no clue, eh?

If you think creating a console game is cheaper than creating a PC game, you are wrong. It's probably going to be even worse for Next Generation consoles.

 

[triCritical]

Talking about no clue, eh?

If you think creating a console game is cheaper than creating a PC game, you are wrong. It's probably going to be even worse for Next Generation consoles.

no clue? Well at least I can read, since I never said that PC games are more costly. I was just point out the only trend that wasn't pulled out of your ass.

The worldwide game industry is a 28 billion dollar a year industry, with big budget games cost nearly 20 dollars per game to make. For a niche market this sort of cost flows does not make sense. Hell why do you think R:TW has the latest greatest 3D engine for cinematic effects. I have played that games for probably over 300 hours, and I have zoomed in to watch the "cinematic battles" since the first 20 minutes. Meanwhile things like AI, and a subcategory are completely overlooked, since that in reality does not help sell games. In an industry in which profit margins are becoming the deciding factor in which games are made, there is not room for niche, and hence why people like you think PC games are a thing of the past. The reality is the biggest selling games have all been on the PC. What on the consoles have sold more then the Sims. Hell the Sims have sold more copies then the Playstation 2 console.

So keep pulling figures and trends out of your ass, meanwhile budget games will still sell like crazy on a PC, as well as the more niche titles that have a fairly large market, or following.

 

[Ekodas]

. In an industry in which profit margins are becoming the deciding factor in which games are made, there is not room for niche, and hence why people like you think PC games are a thing of the past. The reality is the biggest selling games have all been on the PC.
.

Dunno ; consoles games sell pretty well. I mean, a pos like "Spiderman 2" (can't remember the exact title ; published by Activision) sold about 6 million copies. Basically : licence + PS2 (or XBox) = a hit for the editor. There's a reason why console represent 70%+ of the publishers's activity.

But you're absolutely right when you say that PC games often got an interesting profit margin. The market's just smaller than the console's market. I also agree with you on another point : PC will still be a niche market and is not going to 'die'.

Still, I believe that the PC market's size will grow smaller. Cross-platforms developement is already current nowadays (if you don't want to see your company go down) ; the next gen console will make cross-platforms developement even more attractive for developers. Of course, that sucks (well I'm a PC gamer, so I'm kinda biased).

On a side note, one of the reason why PC games are not going to disappear is that huge companies like Nvidia, ATI (or whatever the next big GPU designers and manufacturers will be), INTEL or even Microsoft profit from these games (i.e PC gamers are the one always looking for the news graphic card, the fastest CPU ; they are the one who need 1gig+ of RAM etc..A console's hardware doesn't need constant change and updates)

 

[triCritical]

Dunno ; consoles games sell pretty well. I mean, a pos like "Spiderman 2" (can't remember the exact title ; published by Activision) sold about 6 million copies. Basically : licence + PS2 (or XBox) = a hit for the editor. There's a reason why console represent 70%+ of the publishers's activity.

Yeah, I think the latest figure on the Sims is around 52 million, heard it on NPR, although that probably includes expansion pack. The game industry is a weird thing and in general I would say that mainstream console games probably sell better then their PC counterpart. But that is not to say that console game sales are a sure thing. There is a plenty of games that do not do all that well and a lot of console games are just down right flops. Again the same can be said for PC games.

Consoles have been around for a long time, hell does anyone remeber coleco (sp?) or intellivision, I don't even remember how to spell these competitors to the Atari 2600. And at this time, was the text games of PC world. I would say the major difference betweem now and then, his the market share, and the cost it takes to make games.

 

[Fez]

The C64 is where it was at!

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Word.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Fo' sho'.

 

[Elwro]

Meh. My Amstrad 1512 pwned all. It ran PC games (I mean, PC XT games) and 8-bit Amstrad games!

 

[Greatatlantic]

Don't forget "platform" fees. Basically, to sell a game for a platform a publisher has to pay mircrosoft or sony or whoever about 15% of the take. Thats a hefty chunk of upfront costs not found on the PC, which makes it a pretty good looking market at times.

 

[trystero]

Humm...

Actually, Sega flat out bought them for $30 million.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7293


- trystero