Since Bioware is releasing their Star Wars MMO shortly after SWG shuts down, LucasArts would want this old abomination out-of-the-way before that one releases.
I don't blame them. There have been few MMOs that have gathered such hatred and discourse as SWG did after a complete game architecture "patch" mid-stride.
That isn't the reason the product has performed underwhelmingly. Here are the reality-check reasons:
- Price point is still high
- Screen is smaller than the previously newly-released DSi XL
- No backward compatibility with previous DS games.
- For an additional $100 and beyond you can get yourself a tablet or pad that plays games AND computes, browses the web, has useful applications, and extensive other capabilities.
My prediction is that the portable game player market is on the decline and will only bottom out when portable tablets and pads take over the industry. Consumers want choices and they just don't get that anymore with dedicated portable game consoles.
Honestly speaking, Apple's iPad has made the PSP and DS obsolete. The iPad revolutionized the portable device capabilities and drove an innovative industry to create other tablets and devices and applications that are light-years ahead of the capabilities of Sony and Nintendo handhelds.
I do agree with pretty much everything you said. I too am a mainly single-player gamer with not much attention spent on multiplayer (with very few exceptions). However, over the last decade there has been a downward trend in single player campaigns becoming shorter and shorter and streamlined to the point where you feel pushed along with no decision-making required.
Honestly? I cannot think of very many games that I've played in the last few years whose single player campaigns would have been worth $30. Maybe Mass Effect I.
You are 100% correct, however, in that companies today are bolting on cookie cutter multiplayer games to watered-down single player games and we somehow arrive at the same $59.99 the industry commands for titles.
It would be very interesting to see companies begin to separate the two and sell them as completely different SKUs on the market. I, for one, would be picking up the single player discs happily without ever touching the digital download of multiplayer on most of the titles I play.
I am a game renter through Gamefly. Why? Because I was tired of shelling out $59.99 for crappy games. I was tired of reading the paid-for over-inflating reviews of titles, only to get it home and discover that they were not worth their production costs. I was tired of an industry that had moved towards a "no demo before release" standard where I had to roll the dice on knowing what was behind the wrapper before dropping $60. And I was tired of spending $59.99 on a title to have it be beaten in 10 hours of game time and in less than a week's time take it to Game Stop and get $20 for it (and for them to resell it for $55). So now Gamefly buys all of my games for me. I rent them from Gamefly. And if I really love the game, I have the option to buy it -- which I've done a couple of times now.
Every single one of those titles are RPGs and/or have extensive online play. i.e. they have significant replay value.
Try any first person shooter title that has come out in the last decade that isn't an RPG.
And btw, the main storyline in Fallout 3 was fairly short, especially in light of it being an "open-ended RPG" title. Sure you could run around the world and explore, without walking into the last room, but the game lost it allure when you know the main storyline has ended. And, yeah, you cannot play your character once you walk into that room and finish the main storyline. But wait! They plan on releasing for-purchase content to continue the story...Honestly, I loved Fallout and the quality was high. But I feel like I'm paying more and getting substantially less in the way of playable content these days.
So totally agree to everything written in this post. It is spot-on to the whole problem.
Just a decade ago, you could purchase a video game and get a guaranteed 25+ hours of gameplay out of it. These days you barely scratch 10-15 hours of gameplay; especially if the game has multiplayer/online capability -- Which seems to be used as a crutch more and more by companies who want to spend less and less time and money on developing a game's actual content.
It seems as if game development companies have lost their sites on what makes a fantastic game that players want to own; not just trade-in for the next title. Hint: This is why MMOs are so popular: replay value.
You can name the biggest titles of released games in the last few years, minus any MMORPG titles. And I challenge anyone to find one of the major hit titles, on any platform, that gives players a solid 20+ hours of good gameplay. There are very few exceptions to this rule today, but when they are found they shine in sells and in ownership. A good example of that would be games like Bioshock (which I received over a year ago and still own today).
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=101425 " Official Statement on Recent News (06/11/08) Hello, I would like to respond to some of the recent coverage that Flagship Studios has received as a result of the publication of Guy Somberg's blog.
Everyone has good days and bad days. Guy was having a bad day. It was his friend's last day of internship and he found out another friend was thinking of leaving. He vented, exaggerated, and posted information that was inaccurate.
We will be the first to admit that Hellgate: London did launch with some problems. The game would certainly have benefited from a couple more months in the oven, but as an independent developer we didn't have the ability to delay our ship date. It can be difficult to stand by and see something that you put your heart and soul into, week in and week out, get the initial reception Hellgate got. It can put a strain on any developer and some days it can get to you. Thankfully, after some very hard work by all the people here, including Guy, the game is much better now and we believe in the future of Hellgate.
Both our studios are currently fully staffed, with our San Francisco studio working on ongoing content for Hellgate: London and our Seattle studio working on our free-to-play MMORPG, Mythos, which should go into open beta within the next couple months. In total, we have over 100 employees working for both studios. As is typical in the industry, after a game is released some people naturally want to work on something else and they leave the company to do so. But in total we have had less than 10% turn-over and have rehired for all needed positions.
All our Directors and Founders are still working at Flagship, and all of them are working on Hellgate: London or Mythos. The team size for Hellgate is as big now as when we shipped. We are putting all of our efforts into these projects and I think it will show in the upcoming Hellgate Abyss Chronicles.
Also important to note, here in the US, is that many states (such as PA) have laws that require electric companies to comply with residential renewable energy metering (aka "backward metering"). This backward metering comes at NO cost to the residential owner to ensure that the meters on their home are capable of accurately recording power sent back on-grid. There are also laws in place that state the electric company must pay the residential owner for the power they generate back to the grid (by subtracting it from their electric bill, etc).
Also, please, please, please look at your state incentives, rebates, offers, etc before you make a decision on renewable energy for your home. Go to http://www.dsireusa.org/ to learn more about your state's assistance and laws.
The downfall of solar power generation back to the grid that many consumers do not take notice of, until it is too late, is that the price per KW they generate during the day is substantially cheaper than evening power costs. What does this mean? It means that the electric company will pay you an (almost) absolutely ridiculously low price for KW you generate and return to the grid during the day. Why? Because during the height of your power production with solar (middle of the day), the power draw from the grid is not at it highest, therefore they have surplus. In the end, you will still be paying for grid power in the evenings. Any alternatives? Yes. Obtain a battery bank and store/use your energy when you need it and keep the extra energy your system generates for yourself. Because the chances are that selling it back to the electric companies will not save you any more than you storing/using it yourself in the evening.
Slashdot Mirror
If it is written on a business card, it isn't "private"...
It is just another example of how corporations are ruling every aspect of our lives and the rights of the individual are dwindling...
Since Bioware is releasing their Star Wars MMO shortly after SWG shuts down, LucasArts would want this old abomination out-of-the-way before that one releases. I don't blame them. There have been few MMOs that have gathered such hatred and discourse as SWG did after a complete game architecture "patch" mid-stride.
That isn't the reason the product has performed underwhelmingly. Here are the reality-check reasons: - Price point is still high - Screen is smaller than the previously newly-released DSi XL - No backward compatibility with previous DS games. - For an additional $100 and beyond you can get yourself a tablet or pad that plays games AND computes, browses the web, has useful applications, and extensive other capabilities. My prediction is that the portable game player market is on the decline and will only bottom out when portable tablets and pads take over the industry. Consumers want choices and they just don't get that anymore with dedicated portable game consoles. Honestly speaking, Apple's iPad has made the PSP and DS obsolete. The iPad revolutionized the portable device capabilities and drove an innovative industry to create other tablets and devices and applications that are light-years ahead of the capabilities of Sony and Nintendo handhelds.
I do agree with pretty much everything you said. I too am a mainly single-player gamer with not much attention spent on multiplayer (with very few exceptions). However, over the last decade there has been a downward trend in single player campaigns becoming shorter and shorter and streamlined to the point where you feel pushed along with no decision-making required.
Honestly? I cannot think of very many games that I've played in the last few years whose single player campaigns would have been worth $30. Maybe Mass Effect I.
You are 100% correct, however, in that companies today are bolting on cookie cutter multiplayer games to watered-down single player games and we somehow arrive at the same $59.99 the industry commands for titles.
It would be very interesting to see companies begin to separate the two and sell them as completely different SKUs on the market. I, for one, would be picking up the single player discs happily without ever touching the digital download of multiplayer on most of the titles I play.
I am a game renter through Gamefly. Why? Because I was tired of shelling out $59.99 for crappy games. I was tired of reading the paid-for over-inflating reviews of titles, only to get it home and discover that they were not worth their production costs. I was tired of an industry that had moved towards a "no demo before release" standard where I had to roll the dice on knowing what was behind the wrapper before dropping $60. And I was tired of spending $59.99 on a title to have it be beaten in 10 hours of game time and in less than a week's time take it to Game Stop and get $20 for it (and for them to resell it for $55). So now Gamefly buys all of my games for me. I rent them from Gamefly. And if I really love the game, I have the option to buy it -- which I've done a couple of times now.
Every single one of those titles are RPGs and/or have extensive online play. i.e. they have significant replay value. Try any first person shooter title that has come out in the last decade that isn't an RPG. And btw, the main storyline in Fallout 3 was fairly short, especially in light of it being an "open-ended RPG" title. Sure you could run around the world and explore, without walking into the last room, but the game lost it allure when you know the main storyline has ended. And, yeah, you cannot play your character once you walk into that room and finish the main storyline. But wait! They plan on releasing for-purchase content to continue the story...Honestly, I loved Fallout and the quality was high. But I feel like I'm paying more and getting substantially less in the way of playable content these days.
So totally agree to everything written in this post. It is spot-on to the whole problem. Just a decade ago, you could purchase a video game and get a guaranteed 25+ hours of gameplay out of it. These days you barely scratch 10-15 hours of gameplay; especially if the game has multiplayer/online capability -- Which seems to be used as a crutch more and more by companies who want to spend less and less time and money on developing a game's actual content. It seems as if game development companies have lost their sites on what makes a fantastic game that players want to own; not just trade-in for the next title. Hint: This is why MMOs are so popular: replay value. You can name the biggest titles of released games in the last few years, minus any MMORPG titles. And I challenge anyone to find one of the major hit titles, on any platform, that gives players a solid 20+ hours of good gameplay. There are very few exceptions to this rule today, but when they are found they shine in sells and in ownership. A good example of that would be games like Bioshock (which I received over a year ago and still own today).
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=101425
"
Official Statement on Recent News (06/11/08)
Hello,
I would like to respond to some of the recent coverage that Flagship Studios has received as a result of the publication of Guy Somberg's blog.
Everyone has good days and bad days. Guy was having a bad day. It was his friend's last day of internship and he found out another friend was thinking of leaving. He vented, exaggerated, and posted information that was inaccurate.
We will be the first to admit that Hellgate: London did launch with some problems. The game would certainly have benefited from a couple more months in the oven, but as an independent developer we didn't have the ability to delay our ship date. It can be difficult to stand by and see something that you put your heart and soul into, week in and week out, get the initial reception Hellgate got. It can put a strain on any developer and some days it can get to you. Thankfully, after some very hard work by all the people here, including Guy, the game is much better now and we believe in the future of Hellgate.
Both our studios are currently fully staffed, with our San Francisco studio working on ongoing content for Hellgate: London and our Seattle studio working on our free-to-play MMORPG, Mythos, which should go into open beta within the next couple months. In total, we have over 100 employees working for both studios. As is typical in the industry, after a game is released some people naturally want to work on something else and they leave the company to do so. But in total we have had less than 10% turn-over and have rehired for all needed positions.
All our Directors and Founders are still working at Flagship, and all of them are working on Hellgate: London or Mythos. The team size for Hellgate is as big now as when we shipped. We are putting all of our efforts into these projects and I think it will show in the upcoming Hellgate Abyss Chronicles.
Sincerely,
David Brevik
CVO
Flagship Studios "
Correct.
Also important to note, here in the US, is that many states (such as PA) have laws that require electric companies to comply with residential renewable energy metering (aka "backward metering"). This backward metering comes at NO cost to the residential owner to ensure that the meters on their home are capable of accurately recording power sent back on-grid. There are also laws in place that state the electric company must pay the residential owner for the power they generate back to the grid (by subtracting it from their electric bill, etc).
Also, please, please, please look at your state incentives, rebates, offers, etc before you make a decision on renewable energy for your home. Go to http://www.dsireusa.org/ to learn more about your state's assistance and laws.
The downfall of solar power generation back to the grid that many consumers do not take notice of, until it is too late, is that the price per KW they generate during the day is substantially cheaper than evening power costs. What does this mean? It means that the electric company will pay you an (almost) absolutely ridiculously low price for KW you generate and return to the grid during the day. Why? Because during the height of your power production with solar (middle of the day), the power draw from the grid is not at it highest, therefore they have surplus. In the end, you will still be paying for grid power in the evenings. Any alternatives? Yes. Obtain a battery bank and store/use your energy when you need it and keep the extra energy your system generates for yourself. Because the chances are that selling it back to the electric companies will not save you any more than you storing/using it yourself in the evening.