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The 50 Biggest Gaming Events of 2007
The Next Generation site has up an article looking back on the 50 biggest gaming events of 2007. From the launch of Burning Crusade in January all the way through to 'Gerstmann-gate', the list is highly eventful ... it's been a big year for games. "The removal of Super Columbine Massacre RPG from the Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker competition sent shockwaves through the independent game community, but the event did bring two very important things to light. Firstly, it showed that even the independent art community has a clear delineation between how it treats games and how it treats other mediums. But even more importantly, the voluntary withdrawal of many other entrants in the competition showed the solidarity of the independent community, and emphasized their dedication to the progression of the medium."
Why limit yourself? Man!
Howzabout the 10,000 most important events in gaming for 2007?
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Never been known to fail..."
As if to justify all those people who claim these lists come too early to include all the big events of 2007, 3D Realms had to go and release a Duke Nukem Forever Teaser. I certainly think this qualifies to be on a revised version of the list.
Demented But Determined.
Sorely missing - the abyssmal sales figures for Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3. Neither game managed to sell 100,000 copies the first month, November 2007. THAT was a big, unexpected news item considering the hype.
Read, e.g. "Crysis and UTIII sales bomb" at http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=177667
Most speculations on why concern too demanding graphics.
I thought Activision merged with Blizzard, not Vivendi as the heading for that section indicates. Am I wrong, or is the article inaccurate?
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I don't trust that list. Instead I only play games endorsed by the Oprah Game Club - all the games that the big Op' plays and recommends.
System requirements that are too demanding could definitely be an issue. Though what about the holidays right around the corner? I'd like to try crysis and UT3, but I didn't buy them because I figured I'd ask for them for Christmas, see if I get them and if I don't buy them later.
Today a new teaser was released for Duke Nukem Forver was released.
Since it's been 6 whopping years since the last one I think this could qualify as one of the 50 biggest Gaming Events this year.
You can find links to it at http://www.3drealms.com/ but beware, there is some servermelting going on right now (and a slashdotting wont help either).
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Who would have thought that a list of events would be, you know, "eventful"?
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
no mention of the release of Rail Simulator, game-of-the-year-in-waiting?
The system requirements on PC games are getting out of hand. Basically nvidia hands XYZ a system with the top tier next generation graphics card and tells them to go at it. The company then expects everyone that buys it to have that card. Then doesn't realize that graphics card generations are basically 3-4 months apart and people aren't willing to pay $500-600 that frequently to upgrade systems. Game never quite catches on. If the game developers would just do what console developers are required to do most of the time and develop on outdated gear once in awhile, we might get an optimized game that runs well. Instead we get crap.
I suspect it has more to do with the huge number of good FPSes that were just released, from Halo 3 to Orange Box.
The cake is a pie
Considering the torrent traffic Crysis generated I would 'speculate' that piracy hit them hard. Of course PC gamers will never admit that.
What, not Quakecon?
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I honestly wonder how much of the success of World of Warcraft is due to this. WoW isn't the best looking game out there by a long shot, but it runs on junky hardware just fine if you turn down the graphics a bit. It doesn't require any funky OS version or patch level either, nor DX10. Couple that with the "I don't need to find a CD and stuff it in the drive" insta-play and perhaps the eye candy just isn't worth the hassle.
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good FPSes that were just released, from Halo 3
does... not... compute...
The Halo series sucks and always has.
The system requirements for UTIII aren't too bad - it will run on my 3 year old mid-tier machine with an upgraded graphics card and I consider 2-3 years a necessity if you want high volume sales. The problem is I don't think it generated a lot of buzz, and the demo didn't wow me like the 2004 demo did (a demo of the new mode or at least would have helped). The significantly higher retail price doesn't help, either (UT2004 released at about $20-$25, III at $50+).
Crysis is all about system requirements. My 7 month old $1500 laptop with a Dual Core 2.0GHz processor and an 8600M GS doesn't even meet them because it has Vista (requiring a minimum of a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo). Yes, if I loaded XP I should meet minimum, but I lose the ability to use DX10, and I expect most gamers with 8600 or 8800 cards are running Vista just for DX10. Since the 2.0GHz part is one of the most common, they probably lost a lot of sales right there. If a fairly high end 7 month old machine can't meet minimum specs, you're not going to sell much. I spec'd out a laptop on a couple sites and one that meets minimum requirements is still around $2000 (so I expect a desktop to be about $1400-1600). Again MINIMUM specs.
Maybe you're right. I don't buy Microsoft products so I'll never play it. I assumed it was good given the sales. No accounting for taste, I suppose.
The cake is a pie
I think the FPS is a dying breed of game personally. I haven't played a single one since Battlefield 1942 that came out 5 yeas ago that I thought was truly revolutionary. Many have even regressed, in terms of having a truly sandbox like experience (CoD 4 I'm looking at you).
It's been years since GTA III came out - I want open worlds with lots of vehicles and toys dammit.
As for UT3, lack of marketing, lack of hype and confusing titling definitely hurt it. Why buy UT3 for $60 when you can buy the UT collection pack for $50? And UT2004 is better than UT3 by 2001!
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No, he's not right. He's a retard. (And an anonymous coward, so I can call him whatever I want.)
Halo is a good series. Not fantastic. Sometimes great, but always at least good.
If it weren't for Call of Duty 4 being a better game, Halo 3 would be the best console online-shooter available.
No reason to lie.
Not discounting your opinion...because you are right, a lot of FPS are not sandboxy.
But I for one do not like sandbox games. I would much rather have a shooter with a *few* options, but a lot of set-piece battles. Rainbow Six Vegas was a perfect example of this. It could not be done as a sandbox game, yet it was an incredible single player experience.
To me, saying that every game should be a sandbox game is like saying every game should be first person. A lot of RTS players would disagree very strongly with that.
No reason to lie.
If you don't think that WoW is one of the best looking games out there, you should really play it on a nice machine with everything cranked up. I play it on my late-2006 20" iMac with everything maxed out except for antialiasing and still manage framerates of 30fps ... and it's gorgeous. Simply stunning.
Well, it's a long way from Asheron's Call, anyway.
Why do I M2 everything negatively?
Actually I like the point Crysis is at even if I have to update my hardware. I see buying Crysis a little like buying a technical book just a bit above me. I can always grow into the book, or the game. I can even easier grow out of a "for dummies" book, or game. Plus with me being the minority that uses game engines for more than just games, the toolbox that's Crysis2 is eagerly added.
Of all the things that were mentioned in that article, not once did I see anything on the controversy surrounding Jade Raymond and Assassin's Creed. In particular, the comic depicting Jade whoring herself out to geeks just so they would buy the game. It was a disgusting and misogynistic piece that discourages women's involvement in video game development. I can't for the life of me understand how this was ignored.
No mention at all of the Orange Box? They have the friggin BURGER KING crap games up, and not one mention of the Orange Box? Whats up with that?!
July 24th: Activision Becomes Industry Sales Leader
November 13th: Atari Exits Production Business
While I do know these aren't the same companies as they used to be, it would be highly amusing if Activision finally bought out Atari.
Revenge of the third parties!