Just consider the Developers to be like the Rockefellers or Kennedys of the real world, they had a better starting position than you, not much you can do about it. To be fair comparing them to Rockefellers or Kennedys is a huge understatement. With the ability to to control time/space of the virtual world, they are much closer to god.
But your right, god does have a better starting position than me and there is not much I can do about it. But I would feel a little more unhappy trying to compete with god than the Rockefellers.
Hate to say RTFA, since your points are valid, but the limitations your talking about are not what the article is referring to. These are download-able casual games, they don't need to-the-metal access for bleeding speed. The obstacles being presented revolve around user installation experiences (requiring admin account user/password and lots of 'scary warnings').
For casual game developers these are very real issues. The target audience does not know about access levels. They do not know about proper security procedures. They just see big scary warnings popping up making them question if they should really install this game. Many of them will not know the admin account information even if this is their own personal computer.
These are real fears for the causal game developers, not the ones wanting bleeding edge hardware and ultra fast access to it.
IANAOR (I am not an obesity researcher), but it seems to be that this does not indicate lower IQ, but rather a lower energy level. I think it is a rather uncontroversial statement that those suffering from obesity have a much lower level of energy. I have experienced it myself during extended periods (several weeks or more) of not having regular exercise: You become lethargic, tired, and find it difficult to concentrate on things.
I would imagine that this is a good indication of why those suffering obesity would score poorer on an IQ test.
The common sentiment seems to be that the video game industry churns out nothing original, and has not for years. The article certainly reflects that. I suppose it isn't difficult to feel that way when you see so many licensed games and sequels on the market. Regardless, I have to voice my dissent.
If you look deeper at the underground independent games you will see a totally different situation. Just check out the one source for independents that sometimes gets kinda-sorta media attention, the Independent Games Festival. Look at last years winners such as Gish and Wik and the Fable of Souls. Intensly original and very fun. How about Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, a charming little game designed to be replayable, with each game finishing in about 5 minutes.
Go to The-Underdogs and just browse around their top-rated titles. There are tons of freebies that are top-notch, very fun, and quite original.
I feel that this situation can be compared to looking out your in your backyard vs traveling to the rainforest. If you sit at home and look in your yard you see tons of squirrels, moles, etc. You get jaded and start to say that there are no unique animals. Occasionally perhaps a deer, and you get worked up over something that isn't really that spectacular. But if you go out and really explore the more wild area you will find tons of great stuff. It is not brought to your doorstep, and it is quickly being eroded away, but it is out there. Just go look for it.
Actually while I do feel that the independent underground is the best source for creative original titles, there are tons of published games that 'fit the bill'. People loooooove to spoute Katamari left and right, and it is an original game, but how about.. Mizuguchi's line of original games (Lumines, Meteos, Rez). How about Wario Ware? How about Dance Dance Revolution? Even the Battlefield series added major innovations into the FPS genre (the huge scale of combat and variety of vehicles) and Guild Wars is an MMORPG that pretty much seems to go contrary to every other MMORPG on the market.
Finally, the 80's were not the golden age of game innovation that people give them credit for. Currently I am intently reading through a great book The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon. Long story short (I realize my post has already crossed from '?interesting? comment' into 'psychotic rant') the 80's original and innovative games were simply original and innovative because there were so few games created yet! Once any succsessful game formula was established, there were an incredible amount of clones. The fact that is true now, is true then. Popular games are copied, repeated, and sell like hotcakes. Pac-Man, for instance, was beat in coin-op sales only by Ms. Pac-Man! There is constantly an influx of new game ideas, the 80's arn't so special.
/prepares to be modded into oblivion by the legion of/.ers weaned in the arcades.
This is precisely why I wish more pc developers would take open-source engines more seriously. A key goal of many open source libraries is to maintain cross-platform portability. Just take OGRE for instance. This 3D Rendering engine is fully cross-platform and supports the latest wizbang features (it even implemented parallax mapping before Unreal3 Demoed that technology). There are libraries for every area: Sound? OpenAL. Physics? ODE. Networking? RakNet.
There are already numerous projects that are trying to create a wrapper-engine to integrate several components.. My favorite is Yake which is trying to take a plugin-based approach. The idea is to create a cross-platform API which would allow the change of one subsystem (for example graphics) to be switched as easily as a DLL is swapped.
Of course many Open Source libraries are already seeing limited use - but if game developers would put more faith into the engine (and effort into bringing them up to professional level if they aren't already) then they can have a low-cost solution that is cross platform at no extra investment. I have no idea what the installed gamer base for Macs or Linux is, but I would imagine it is worth the (near nothing) investment.
They simply are thinking to small. Smarter enemies, smarter units in RTS games, smarter comrades in team-based games.. Sure - all these things are the realm of AI.. But they are simply thinking too small!
One area of AI-usage that I have not seen explored yet is crafting an AI that would respond to the players actions and modify the flow of the game. In example: suppose I was developing [yet another] fantasy-based MMORPG. Perhaps this one involves 3 kingdoms caught in a never ending struggle (remind you of DAoC perhaps?).. Suppose there was an intelligent AI that created the quests?
Perhaps I get a quest to scout an enemy position. I do this and am spotted by a guard, and a quest is generated by the enemy side to send a group to assassinate me before I can report back. I get back safely and a quest is generated for a group to escort me to the nearest city to ask for reinforcements, all the while the previous group's quest (the ones to assassinate me) is altered to now prevent us from reaching that city. Etc etc
Obviously this doesn't need to be on the MMO-scale to work. If an intelligent AI could be crafted to make your goals and missions accurately reflect your actions in the game then you could theoretically have a game that is totally open ended while still feeling story-driven. A lofty goal, but one I would love to see done. AI of this type could really revolutionize things.
The current atmosphere of the industry is so open and friendly that it almost reminds me of the open source community. GDC is an excellent example of game developers gathering to share insights with the common goal of helping each other make better and better games.
Sadly, there is no doubt there are some companies, namely megalithic publishers such as EA and Ubisoft, that will be eager to pursue these legalistic battles to establish an atmosphere of anti-competition.
Can you imagine how things would be if such things were patented as the author suggests would have been great to grab? "concepts such as the mouselook control scheme, "rag doll" physics, and real-time resource gathering simulations". Real time resource gathering simulations?!? This would put a patent on nearly all RTS games, and could theoretically be expanded to include friggen Mario (he gathers coins, after all).
Such patents would be great for the company that snatches them up - they would have absolutely no feat of competition. "You can not make an RTS game unless you license from me, biatch".. End of a genre. All the while not helping the gaming community at all.
The author indicates that patents are not currently popular in the gaming industry. Clearly he is out to try and persuade more developers to go that route.. I can only hope they resist the dark side.:\
Half of the gamers are now over age 18, and almost a quarter are over age 50.
So only about a quarter of gamers are between 18-50 years old? Come on! Don't make up statistics out of your ass and expect me to take them seriously.
Not an MMO, but Natural Selection really comes very close to what your describing. Another 'RTS with real-people as the units' game is Savage. I would suggest trying them out, they are both great games.
As other posts have pointed out, TFA describes the system as a large scale siphon. It would probably take some initial pumping to jump-start it, and perhaps a little bit to keep it running.. But it claims to basically pump it's self.
The only group of people that will benefit is the people who did not own the previous console, but do the new one, and are intrested in buying games for the old console
There, you answered your own question. I don't suppose starting a post with "Does anyone benefit?" and almost immediately outlining exactly who benefits seemed like a red flag that your post was meaningless did it? No? Didn't think so.
Yes, I fall into that category. There are tons of XBox1 games I would like to play, but I have decided to wait for the next generation consoles. I also don't think your assumption about it driving up the price is going to be very accurate: the price of consoles is totally market driven.
Re:For anyone who is sick and tired of MMORPGs...
on
Guild Wars Launches
·
· Score: 1
If the main progress for your character necessitates entering an instance to which you teleport instantly, then what are you playing?
Not unlike World of Warcraft's instanced dungeons. It is just taken to extremes. No one seems to think that just because you get a dungeon to yourself WoW suddenly loses it's MMO status.
I would argue that GuildWars is more 'massive' then WoW/EQ/etc because it doesn't split you into servers. Every person playing in America is playing in one massive server and everyone can interact with each other if they choose. They just arn't always bumping into each other whenever they do anything.
Exploring vast areas considered a negative!
Other citizens hindering one's progress!
Forming groups with new or unfamiliar people!
Safe from PVP combat when not specifically looking for it!
All of these strike me as some of the logical consequences of playing a "massively multiplayer" game.
Really this was the point of my original post. These are things that are thrust apon you in every other MMORPG, and they are often irritating. This is what I mean by saying it is fixing everything I hated about MMO's.. and it does a lot of fixing by giving me the choice.
"Exploring vast areas considered a negative!", for example.. Anyone who has played much GuildWars will tell you there is a lot of wilderness in the instances to explore if you want to. If you don't want to be forced to get through this wilderness everytime you jump between an outpost and town, you don't have to. Choice.
I would recommend looking up the story posted on slashdot about how many inexperienced users have come to accept adware as a part of getting free software.. it is the same thing. MMO players have come to accept these annoyances as a byproduct of being in a MMO world.
They are an independent developer. They were closed down, because their current project was cancled.... by themselves!
Simple equation going on here: They didn't make enough money from their other games to support the costs of developing a third game, so they had to shut house. You think just because they are not some publisher's lapdogs that they can ignore financial reality?
If you obtain a client there is an option ingame to 'purchase an account'. The preorder client is floating around everywhere (since it is like 50kb), so it shouldn't be hard to track one down.
Not sure if this is thier plan, or if they will start selling it on their site soon.. Or if they already offer the client download on their site (and then you open the account in the game..
You could also stop at your local GameStop/BestBuy/Walmart/etc
For anyone who is sick and tired of MMORPGs...
on
Guild Wars Launches
·
· Score: 4, Informative
... You need to play this game. Guildwars has literally taken every element I dislike about MMORPGs and fixed it.
Never actually owning the game, just renting it via monthly fees? Nixed that, since there is no monthly fees.
Down time between battles? Nixed that, since after your out of combat your health/mana regen shoot through the roof.
Crowded dungeons, trading spawns, etc.. Yep, every zone is intanced. You will only be playing with friends and never have to worry about your adventure getting interrupted by anyone else.
Like PVP occasionally, but hate getting griefed or risking losing items/time from death penalties? Well your in an instance so your safe from griefers, and if you do want to PVP just go to an arena and battle your heart out.. when you leave it is as if you were never there (save for the gained rank points).
Even the smaller things I never even really knew I hated until they were not there.. Spending half my time running from location to location - Gone (just open up map, click on destination, and bam you teleport). Spending the other half of my time trying to form a group - Much easier now, since a 'gathering stone' type system is built in.
There are some other things I really like, but it might irk some MMORPG fans.. For one your power in the game is mostly dependent on your playing skill. You will get a bit stronger by gaining levels, but by and large it is a skill based system. Combat is skill based and very fast paced, as most debuffs/buffs last for about 15 sec. PVP is ruled by a balanced group, rather then 4 people spamming the template of the week.
I would encourage everyone to give it a try, this is not like any MMORPG you have seen yet.
The one-paragraph 'article' is just a tagline for a 250 dollar document. Quite dissapointing to read that lead in and find that I won't actually be aquiring any new information on the topic.:\
I can't help but be impressed by Mizuguchi's accomplishments. He has innovated the gaming industry by using sound in a way that is incomparible. While some of the more important music-game innovations he is unable to hold in his credit (DDR anyone?) that doesn't take away from what he has created.
But as interesting as Mizuguchi is, that interview was just dull. As another poster pointed out, it shouldn't have been conducted in English. Mizuguchi definently didn't seem comfortable in English, and I think there would have been much more in depth responses with subtitled Japanese. Let the man speak his native language!
The interview (I took it in totally from the videos) had far too many dead spots. I was afraid to fast forward since I did not want to miss anything, but edited you could cut it down to about 1/4th size and not lose anything.
But the most dissapointing this was that there was not much insightful info going on. It was a stroll down nostalgia lane for Mizuguchi, and didn't really have a lot of great information about what thought process goes into his design.
I am confused as well. The game was a huge success on all 3 consoles - I am extemely surprised they are cutting out that kind of installed user base, regardless of what back-room dealings Sony has been whoring out.
Another reply commented that it may be due to Microsoft and Nintendo being more forthcoming about their new systems, scaring off users from buying current-generation games.. But what sense does this make when you consider that Nintendo has officially announced that Revolution will be backwards compatible with GameCube?
My only hope is that this is a 'for 6 months' type exclusitivity deal, otherwise Nintendo and Xbox fans are getting royally screwed over.
Indepent games are alive and well. Just look at the IGF and you will see some of the most creative and original games to come out each year are independents. The only problem is no one, apparently (as you have anonymously shown) including those pining for indepents to return, will take notice of this.
Slashdot Mirror
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar-mass_black_hole
There are different categories of Black Holes. The very wikipedia article you linked to mentioned this in the 'Formation' Section:
- Black holes of this size can form in several ways. The most obvious is by slow accretion of matter (starting from a black hole of stellar size).
TFA refers to an unexpected size for a Stellar-class Black Hole.
Hate to say RTFA, since your points are valid, but the limitations your talking about are not what the article is referring to. These are download-able casual games, they don't need to-the-metal access for bleeding speed. The obstacles being presented revolve around user installation experiences (requiring admin account user/password and lots of 'scary warnings'). For casual game developers these are very real issues. The target audience does not know about access levels. They do not know about proper security procedures. They just see big scary warnings popping up making them question if they should really install this game. Many of them will not know the admin account information even if this is their own personal computer. These are real fears for the causal game developers, not the ones wanting bleeding edge hardware and ultra fast access to it.
IANAOR (I am not an obesity researcher), but it seems to be that this does not indicate lower IQ, but rather a lower energy level. I think it is a rather uncontroversial statement that those suffering from obesity have a much lower level of energy. I have experienced it myself during extended periods (several weeks or more) of not having regular exercise: You become lethargic, tired, and find it difficult to concentrate on things. I would imagine that this is a good indication of why those suffering obesity would score poorer on an IQ test.
This is enough to finally convince me to boycott paypal. My question is: What are the alternatives? There has got to be at least one??
For me 2MB down, 30KBs up Not so hot in Plano
They just can't leave the games alone. When will games finally be recognized as the expressions of free speech they are? Meh
The common sentiment seems to be that the video game industry churns out nothing original, and has not for years. The article certainly reflects that. I suppose it isn't difficult to feel that way when you see so many licensed games and sequels on the market. Regardless, I have to voice my dissent.
/prepares to be modded into oblivion by the legion of /.ers weaned in the arcades.
If you look deeper at the underground independent games you will see a totally different situation. Just check out the one source for independents that sometimes gets kinda-sorta media attention, the Independent Games Festival. Look at last years winners such as Gish and Wik and the Fable of Souls. Intensly original and very fun. How about Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, a charming little game designed to be replayable, with each game finishing in about 5 minutes.
Go to The-Underdogs and just browse around their top-rated titles. There are tons of freebies that are top-notch, very fun, and quite original.
I feel that this situation can be compared to looking out your in your backyard vs traveling to the rainforest. If you sit at home and look in your yard you see tons of squirrels, moles, etc. You get jaded and start to say that there are no unique animals. Occasionally perhaps a deer, and you get worked up over something that isn't really that spectacular. But if you go out and really explore the more wild area you will find tons of great stuff. It is not brought to your doorstep, and it is quickly being eroded away, but it is out there. Just go look for it.
Actually while I do feel that the independent underground is the best source for creative original titles, there are tons of published games that 'fit the bill'. People loooooove to spoute Katamari left and right, and it is an original game, but how about.. Mizuguchi's line of original games (Lumines, Meteos, Rez). How about Wario Ware? How about Dance Dance Revolution? Even the Battlefield series added major innovations into the FPS genre (the huge scale of combat and variety of vehicles) and Guild Wars is an MMORPG that pretty much seems to go contrary to every other MMORPG on the market.
Finally, the 80's were not the golden age of game innovation that people give them credit for. Currently I am intently reading through a great book The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon. Long story short (I realize my post has already crossed from '?interesting? comment' into 'psychotic rant') the 80's original and innovative games were simply original and innovative because there were so few games created yet! Once any succsessful game formula was established, there were an incredible amount of clones. The fact that is true now, is true then. Popular games are copied, repeated, and sell like hotcakes. Pac-Man, for instance, was beat in coin-op sales only by Ms. Pac-Man! There is constantly an influx of new game ideas, the 80's arn't so special.
This is precisely why I wish more pc developers would take open-source engines more seriously. A key goal of many open source libraries is to maintain cross-platform portability. Just take OGRE for instance. This 3D Rendering engine is fully cross-platform and supports the latest wizbang features (it even implemented parallax mapping before Unreal3 Demoed that technology). There are libraries for every area: Sound? OpenAL. Physics? ODE. Networking? RakNet.
There are already numerous projects that are trying to create a wrapper-engine to integrate several components.. My favorite is Yake which is trying to take a plugin-based approach. The idea is to create a cross-platform API which would allow the change of one subsystem (for example graphics) to be switched as easily as a DLL is swapped.
Of course many Open Source libraries are already seeing limited use - but if game developers would put more faith into the engine (and effort into bringing them up to professional level if they aren't already) then they can have a low-cost solution that is cross platform at no extra investment. I have no idea what the installed gamer base for Macs or Linux is, but I would imagine it is worth the (near nothing) investment.
They simply are thinking to small. Smarter enemies, smarter units in RTS games, smarter comrades in team-based games.. Sure - all these things are the realm of AI.. But they are simply thinking too small!
One area of AI-usage that I have not seen explored yet is crafting an AI that would respond to the players actions and modify the flow of the game. In example: suppose I was developing [yet another] fantasy-based MMORPG. Perhaps this one involves 3 kingdoms caught in a never ending struggle (remind you of DAoC perhaps?).. Suppose there was an intelligent AI that created the quests?
Perhaps I get a quest to scout an enemy position. I do this and am spotted by a guard, and a quest is generated by the enemy side to send a group to assassinate me before I can report back. I get back safely and a quest is generated for a group to escort me to the nearest city to ask for reinforcements, all the while the previous group's quest (the ones to assassinate me) is altered to now prevent us from reaching that city. Etc etc
Obviously this doesn't need to be on the MMO-scale to work. If an intelligent AI could be crafted to make your goals and missions accurately reflect your actions in the game then you could theoretically have a game that is totally open ended while still feeling story-driven. A lofty goal, but one I would love to see done. AI of this type could really revolutionize things.
This made my stomach churn.
:\
The current atmosphere of the industry is so open and friendly that it almost reminds me of the open source community. GDC is an excellent example of game developers gathering to share insights with the common goal of helping each other make better and better games.
Sadly, there is no doubt there are some companies, namely megalithic publishers such as EA and Ubisoft, that will be eager to pursue these legalistic battles to establish an atmosphere of anti-competition.
Can you imagine how things would be if such things were patented as the author suggests would have been great to grab? "concepts such as the mouselook control scheme, "rag doll" physics, and real-time resource gathering simulations". Real time resource gathering simulations?!? This would put a patent on nearly all RTS games, and could theoretically be expanded to include friggen Mario (he gathers coins, after all).
Such patents would be great for the company that snatches them up - they would have absolutely no feat of competition. "You can not make an RTS game unless you license from me, biatch".. End of a genre. All the while not helping the gaming community at all.
The author indicates that patents are not currently popular in the gaming industry. Clearly he is out to try and persuade more developers to go that route.. I can only hope they resist the dark side.
Half of the gamers are now over age 18, and almost a quarter are over age 50. So only about a quarter of gamers are between 18-50 years old? Come on! Don't make up statistics out of your ass and expect me to take them seriously.
Not an MMO, but Natural Selection really comes very close to what your describing. Another 'RTS with real-people as the units' game is Savage. I would suggest trying them out, they are both great games.
As other posts have pointed out, TFA describes the system as a large scale siphon. It would probably take some initial pumping to jump-start it, and perhaps a little bit to keep it running.. But it claims to basically pump it's self.
There, you answered your own question. I don't suppose starting a post with "Does anyone benefit?" and almost immediately outlining exactly who benefits seemed like a red flag that your post was meaningless did it? No? Didn't think so.
Yes, I fall into that category. There are tons of XBox1 games I would like to play, but I have decided to wait for the next generation consoles. I also don't think your assumption about it driving up the price is going to be very accurate: the price of consoles is totally market driven.
Let me guess.. You could tell me what show it was, but then you would have to kill me?
You could always, yano.. RTFA and find out.
Not unlike World of Warcraft's instanced dungeons. It is just taken to extremes. No one seems to think that just because you get a dungeon to yourself WoW suddenly loses it's MMO status.
I would argue that GuildWars is more 'massive' then WoW/EQ/etc because it doesn't split you into servers. Every person playing in America is playing in one massive server and everyone can interact with each other if they choose. They just arn't always bumping into each other whenever they do anything.
- Exploring vast areas considered a negative!
- Other citizens hindering one's progress!
- Forming groups with new or unfamiliar people!
- Safe from PVP combat when not specifically looking for it!
All of these strike me as some of the logical consequences of playing a "massively multiplayer" game.Really this was the point of my original post. These are things that are thrust apon you in every other MMORPG, and they are often irritating. This is what I mean by saying it is fixing everything I hated about MMO's.. and it does a lot of fixing by giving me the choice.
"Exploring vast areas considered a negative!", for example.. Anyone who has played much GuildWars will tell you there is a lot of wilderness in the instances to explore if you want to. If you don't want to be forced to get through this wilderness everytime you jump between an outpost and town, you don't have to. Choice.
I would recommend looking up the story posted on slashdot about how many inexperienced users have come to accept adware as a part of getting free software.. it is the same thing. MMO players have come to accept these annoyances as a byproduct of being in a MMO world.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Simple equation going on here: They didn't make enough money from their other games to support the costs of developing a third game, so they had to shut house. You think just because they are not some publisher's lapdogs that they can ignore financial reality?
Not sure if this is thier plan, or if they will start selling it on their site soon.. Or if they already offer the client download on their site (and then you open the account in the game..
You could also stop at your local GameStop/BestBuy/Walmart/etc
... You need to play this game. Guildwars has literally taken every element I dislike about MMORPGs and fixed it.
Never actually owning the game, just renting it via monthly fees? Nixed that, since there is no monthly fees.
Down time between battles? Nixed that, since after your out of combat your health/mana regen shoot through the roof.
Crowded dungeons, trading spawns, etc.. Yep, every zone is intanced. You will only be playing with friends and never have to worry about your adventure getting interrupted by anyone else.
Like PVP occasionally, but hate getting griefed or risking losing items/time from death penalties? Well your in an instance so your safe from griefers, and if you do want to PVP just go to an arena and battle your heart out.. when you leave it is as if you were never there (save for the gained rank points).
Even the smaller things I never even really knew I hated until they were not there.. Spending half my time running from location to location - Gone (just open up map, click on destination, and bam you teleport). Spending the other half of my time trying to form a group - Much easier now, since a 'gathering stone' type system is built in.
There are some other things I really like, but it might irk some MMORPG fans.. For one your power in the game is mostly dependent on your playing skill. You will get a bit stronger by gaining levels, but by and large it is a skill based system. Combat is skill based and very fast paced, as most debuffs/buffs last for about 15 sec. PVP is ruled by a balanced group, rather then 4 people spamming the template of the week.
I would encourage everyone to give it a try, this is not like any MMORPG you have seen yet.
The one-paragraph 'article' is just a tagline for a 250 dollar document. Quite dissapointing to read that lead in and find that I won't actually be aquiring any new information on the topic. :\
I can't help but be impressed by Mizuguchi's accomplishments. He has innovated the gaming industry by using sound in a way that is incomparible. While some of the more important music-game innovations he is unable to hold in his credit (DDR anyone?) that doesn't take away from what he has created.
But as interesting as Mizuguchi is, that interview was just dull. As another poster pointed out, it shouldn't have been conducted in English. Mizuguchi definently didn't seem comfortable in English, and I think there would have been much more in depth responses with subtitled Japanese. Let the man speak his native language!
The interview (I took it in totally from the videos) had far too many dead spots. I was afraid to fast forward since I did not want to miss anything, but edited you could cut it down to about 1/4th size and not lose anything.
But the most dissapointing this was that there was not much insightful info going on. It was a stroll down nostalgia lane for Mizuguchi, and didn't really have a lot of great information about what thought process goes into his design.
An interesting man, but a boring interview.
I am confused as well. The game was a huge success on all 3 consoles - I am extemely surprised they are cutting out that kind of installed user base, regardless of what back-room dealings Sony has been whoring out.
Another reply commented that it may be due to Microsoft and Nintendo being more forthcoming about their new systems, scaring off users from buying current-generation games.. But what sense does this make when you consider that Nintendo has officially announced that Revolution will be backwards compatible with GameCube?
My only hope is that this is a 'for 6 months' type exclusitivity deal, otherwise Nintendo and Xbox fans are getting royally screwed over.
Indepent games are alive and well. Just look at the IGF and you will see some of the most creative and original games to come out each year are independents. The only problem is no one, apparently (as you have anonymously shown) including those pining for indepents to return, will take notice of this.