Gaming Gaffes of 2003 Pinpointed?

jvm writes "It seems that every gaming website has a Best of 2003 feature going now, and we felt that was just too cheery for our tastes. To counter that positive energy, we've assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2003 over at Curmudgeon Gamer, a list of the most embarrassing, disheartening, and bone-headed developments in the game industry over the past year. We've tried to give everyone a little frank criticism, from Sony's PlayStation 2 Online service through the lack of a Loki successor for Linux gaming, as well as specific products like EA's The Sims Online. Did we miss any?"

Comments

Biggest...

[rhs98]

IMHO this is the most embarrassing, disheartening, and bone-headed developments in the game industry over the past year: "one of the participants went to his car, got a gun, and pointed it at the head of a staff member"

Originality vacuum filled with money

[incompetent_bitch]

I guess you can't really blame the makers of games for the originality vacuum, if those games MAKE MONEY!! Just look at #10 for the reason that there's not more original games - game shops are closing, and the ones that have been bought by EA or whoever, is going to put out titles that make money. We've seen this with movies and now that games are getting bigger and bigger and more and more money is being spent, this should not come as a surprise. Makers will take less chances, and bank on proven titles.
But it does suck!

One gaff overdone.

[Inoshiro]

And that'-s #11, "The Originality Vacuum"

I think this is only a perceived problem, not an actual problem. Why? Because there were plenty of original games out this year, games like Magic Pengel: The Quest for Colour. However, because they weren't sequels to popular games, they weren't hyped up as sequels. That's why most people didn't know about them.

Last year, was there a big, "GET READY for JAX and DAXTER" hype? No, because it was an original game, and most people just didn't know. This year, Jak 2 was Jak 2 and hyped as such. The new, original releases this year (I-Ninja, Metal Arms) aren't hyped up at all the same way, so it's pretty easy to think they're not being hyped when you're just being inundated with advertising that's relying on sequel strength alone.

Re:Diablo II LOD patch 1.10

[Tofino]

So, you're saying that the 1.10 patch, which was intended to make the game more challenging, made the game more challenging? And also gave you replayability in the form of something to strive for (better armor, a couple more levels)? Sounds horrible to me!