What video game company do you think will Die Next

[PDorr3]

I dont think EA is going anywhere LOL
But im just curious what you guys think, ill post my opinion later.

[Habeeb Hamusta]

I hope EA goes down. I hate sports games.

[max 330 mega]

989 studios would be a candidate

[-hellvin-]

Acclaim

Oh wait.....they already DID. Got in a notice at work that juiced may not be coming out....awwwwww. I'm so sad :*(

[mhsy2a]

Eidos. They should have died after they released the 12th version of Tomb Raider. I can't think of the last good game they published.

[Tank]

Eidos or 989. :o


Oh...cant decide between the suckyness LOL

[Half Japanese]

I think some of these are on life support:

- Working Designs

- Infinium Labs

- Eidos

- Xicat

- THQ


Most of them are there quite deservedly, as it's hard to feel sorry for Xicat or THQ when the majority (or in Xicat's case, whole) of what they put out is garbage that should never have been released. Eidos has relied on sequels for far too long and banked on sequels to get them by (not only for Tomb Raider, but wasn't Hitman Contracts a disappointment at retail also?).

Some don't really deserve it, like Working Designs, but it's hard to make money when your audience is very niche. Perhaps they should take a page from Atlus, who isn't a top-tier publisher by any means, but they are willing to release games other than RPGs once in a while.


Also, and I don't mean to suggest that Sega is going under or anything, but what the fuck of note have they done lately (Astro Boy notwithstanding)? Matrix Online? Who cares? Sonic Heroes? Sega seems like, metaphorically speaking, a once-popular band that's now relegated to the state-fair-circuit and is content to play the same old songs over and over again. Even when they do mix things up (Amazing Island), they're not grabbing the market share they need to in order to make a buck. It's almost like post-Dreamcast, they've tucked their tail between their legs and have been content to unravel sequels or mediocre niche efforts that haven't been all that impressive. (Of course, there are exceptions, such as 90% of their Xbox output, but as a whole lately, they're not looking so good).

[racecar]

989 studios would be a candidate
i heard something about a merge between 989 and some other company, can't remember which one...
also are we talking about developers or producer companys???
THQ should be top of the list

[tholly]

I hope EA goes down. I hate sports games.

BUT....they do realease the Need For Speed games which are amazing......but, other than that i wish they would die too, but they arent going anywhere

[evildead2099]

Well, Interplay recently folded.

If it wasn't for the Red Faction games that the company published on behalf of Volition, I'd love to see THQ go under.

I'd like to see Sega and SNK flourish. Conversely, I'd like to see EA's impending monopolization of the industry fall flat on its face. Nintendo may have pullled some deplorable moves back in the day, but a monopoly notwithstanding, I have to give the Big N credit for many original and *gasp* fun games.

[Tritoch]

Well, Interplay recently folded.

Why is it that everyone thinks that? Did I miss something? Last I heard Interplay hasn't folded yet...supposedly they're working on a Fallout MMORPG and licensed the single player titles to Bethesda. They are on severe life support though.

THQ's most definitely not going under anytime soon...they're still one of the strongest video game companies in fact. Their stock is currently trading at $18.25, and is rated a good buy by most analysts. They have a ton of profitable licenses, and successful original IPs like Full Spectrum Warrior and Tak.

[dbiersdorf]

How has no one said Midway!?

[Ed Oscuro]

How has no one said Midway!?
Midway ~~~> Area 51 FPS.

I hope Midway sticks around for the new times. Sega too; looking forward to Altered Beast...3D...myself.

[Graham Mitchell]

How has no one said Midway!?
Midway ~~~> Area 51 FPS.

I hope Midway sticks around for the new times. Sega too; looking forward to Altered Beast...3D...myself.

You know, speaking of Midway, Eugene Jarvis just finished a new coin-op game called Terrorist Attack or something. It's a gun game, and it doesn't sound too phenomenal, but at least he's doing something...I don't think he's been behind any game I would call a total steaming turd. (Quite the opposite, in fact. I think Robotron is quite possible the closest example to the perfect game I have seen.)

The reason the mention of Midway made me think of this was that I think they're the only company to whom he's currently employed...which is odd because I was under the impression that Midway officially left the coin-op industry this last year...anybody else know anything more about this?

[Graham Mitchell]

Okay, there's something incredibly screwy going on with that post, and I didn't intend it to be that way, so I apologize. :D

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Fixed.

If you're going to draw an arrow, please don't use a row of dashes and then a > ...because everyone's browser will interpret it as the closing statement of an HTML command.

~~~> there's your arrow right there. <~~~

:D

[evildead2099]

"Last I heard Interplay hasn't folded yet...supposedly they're working on a Fallout MMORPG and licensed the single player titles to Bethesda. They are on severe life support though."

Several websites that I've visited declared that Interplay was out of business. I was reluctant to believe such information but became semi-convinced upon discovering that Interplay's website has been down for a long time.

I hope what you say about Fallout is true. I admit that I lost a lot of confidence in that company following the almost total lack of marketing that Decent Freespace 2 received, but the Fallout series, as far as I'm concered, has always been Interplay's saving grace. I may not be crazy about the direction that the last two installments of the series took, but I'm always thankful for their development whenever I compare the sophisticated nature of their combat systems with that of, say, your typical Final Fantasy installment.

[Iron Draggon]

Nintendo.

(DUCKS)

Seriously.

(DUCKS)

I think they need to pull a Sega and just sell games from now on. The GC is a big flop compared to the PS2 & XBOX, and I don't know why they don't.

(OUCH!)

If it can happen to Sega, it can happen to them. They can't continue to ride on their successes with the NES & SNES after the flops of the N64 & GC too.

(OUCH!)

World's... Biggest... Failing... Game... Company... Ever...

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me that time!

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me again!

(OUCH!)

OK, I'm sorry!

(OUCH!)

OK, I mean it!

[MegaDrive20XX]

Eidos, 989 *they need to die...seriously*

Midway would be gone if it wasnt for the release of the Midway Arcade Treasures Vol. 2 I think..

Nintendo? Nah Iron...they can't...GBA alone can do circles around Sony's sales...I say, if they back out....they should support the HELL out of GameBoy in full force with how much they save by pulling out of the home console industry...and sit back and smile...because Nintendo is never going to die because a world without Mario, Metriod, Pikmin, Pokemon, Kirby, or Zelda...is a sad world indeed...

The day I see Mario on another platform....is the day I stop gaming man..straight up..

[Iron Draggon]

Yeah, well I said the same thing about Sonic & Sega. Now look who's on GC.

:angry: :bad-words: :grrr: :devilish: :grrr: :bad-words: :angry:

[lendelin]

I hope EA goes down. I hate sports games.

I hope EA goes down, too. I hope one of the most reliable and best game developers today will go out of business. I hate good games, I want more average games and bad games. I don't like their first-rate sports titles, I don't like that they introduced new successful and great franchises, I don't like that they produced two good LOTR games not merely relying on a movie franchise, I don't like their innovations in SSX3, and I don't like that they made a great franchise like Burnout even better in Burnout 3.

I don't like EA because they are very successful based on good games. As I said, I don't like good games.

[soniko_karuto]

Nintendo.

(DUCKS)

Seriously.

(DUCKS)

I think they need to pull a Sega and just sell games from now on. The GC is a big flop compared to the PS2 & XBOX, and I don't know why they don't.

(OUCH!)

If it can happen to Sega, it can happen to them. They can't continue to ride on their successes with the NES & SNES after the flops of the N64 & GC too.

(OUCH!)

World's... Biggest... Failing... Game... Company... Ever...

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me that time!

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me again!

(OUCH!)

OK, I'm sorry!

(OUCH!)

OK, I mean it!

oh, and you forgot teh rest of the mob, not only the ones listening at that point.

I'd watch my back if i were you.

[PapaStu]

989 studios would be a candidate
i heard something about a merge between 989 and some other company, can't remember which one...
also are we talking about developers or producer companys???

Dont you mean Sony, the Company that owns them? They were within the last 2 years brought back into the fold after Sony let them run free, and produce shitty sports titles. All Fall series (NHL NFL and maybe even NBA) are all getting benched for some needed RnR to try to stop the already sunk ship.

If I had to say one company was on its way out, that would be Working Designs, the company that cant hit a release date to save its life. Growlancer Generations on its way to a MID 05 release if at all... (after only being pushed back for well over a year).

[tholly]

Nintendo.

(DUCKS)

Seriously.

(DUCKS)

I think they need to pull a Sega and just sell games from now on. The GC is a big flop compared to the PS2 & XBOX, and I don't know why they don't.

(OUCH!)

If it can happen to Sega, it can happen to them. They can't continue to ride on their successes with the NES & SNES after the flops of the N64 & GC too.

(OUCH!)

World's... Biggest... Failing... Game... Company... Ever...

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me that time!

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me again!

(OUCH!)

OK, I'm sorry!

(OUCH!)

OK, I mean it!



you better duck if your gonna be saying comments like that around here....throws a shoe at you

[Daniel Thomas]

Is it just me, or does it seem like the only publishers left are large conglomerates? What happened to the small development houses? Gobbled up in absurd multi-million game budgets, that's what. The days of a small team (like, oh, those shoot-em-up geeks from Texas) coming out of nowhere and revolutionizing videogames are passing. It's all being replaced by giant corporations that only repeat past successes and follow the easy money.

Which is pretty much like everything else in this country.

At this point, I'd say almost any small development studio will eventually be in trouble or become bought out.

I also say Nintendo will eventually exit the console hardware business and just develop software. They'll still have the Gameboy brand, because it will still be very profitable (the PSP will never be competitive if it's priced over $150). They don't even make games anymore, just a lot of gadgets that scam customers out of hard-earned money. It's a short-term fix to a long-term problem, and it can't be sustained.

Also, remember that Miyamoto is getting older and he won't be creating instant classics forever. Nintendo needs to offer more than sequels and $20 NES carts.

I will say this once more: Nintendo needs to cut a deal. Go to Sony. Go to Microsoft. Cut an exclusive deal with one of them, and do it now, while their brand name is still warm enough to extract some real money. Five or six years from now, kids won't remember who the hell Mario was. The console wars are over; I say lock in the money now while you can.

[potatobob]

I hope EA goes down. I hate sports games.

But most of America doesn't and they're the ones who keep EA in business.

[zmweasel]

Is it just me, or does it seem like the only publishers left are large conglomerates? What happened to the small development houses? Gobbled up in absurd multi-million game budgets, that's what. The days of a small team (like, oh, those shoot-em-up geeks from Texas) coming out of nowhere and revolutionizing videogames are passing. It's all being replaced by giant corporations that only repeat past successes and follow the easy money.

Which is pretty much like everything else in this country.

At this point, I'd say almost any small development studio will eventually be in trouble or become bought out.

Bill Swartz, "Head Woof" of Mastiff, says (and I agree) that the days of the MEDIUM-sized publisher are over, and that the game industry will very soon resemble the movie industry, with a handful of major studios and a handful of teeny-tiny independent studios that can scrape by with skeleton crews.

I've been predicting the death of Working Designs for three years now, but Victor keeps on truckin'. He had to relocate from the posh (for Redding) offices he acquired after the success of Lunar: SSSC back to the converted upstairs bedroom of the company's TG-16/SEGA CD era, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

-- Z.

[zmweasel]

How has no one said Midway!?

Midway floundered for a while when it phased out its coin-op division, and killed a few games I really wanted to see (such as Crank the Weasel), but it's doing okay now. Turning Blitz and SlugFest into semi-sims was a blunder, but at least the MK franchise has been restored to greatness.

-- Z.

[EnemyZero]

Yeah, 989 won't go "out of business" becayse they are a subsidary of sony so unless sony closes them down then it won't happen..oh...and didnt you here? sega canned altered beast apparently.

And interplay didnt go out of business...there parent company titus did, interplay closed for a short few days and were under investigation for not paying employee's and a few other things, but they are open, and are working on a new game, and did indeed hand there single player games to bethseda....i cant wait for a new fallout..as long as its not first person like i heard....

Anywho..yeah...i dont think eidos will go out of business anytime soon....even though they hardley release anything and what they do release is bad..it still sells...esp to all those poor saps who worship lara...

Id love to see EA go out of business, they are praised as one of the best gaming companies ever..but ...if they never would of put out sports titles...would anyone of heard of them today? probably not.

I can see midway bouncin out next...personally i havnt enjoyed one midway game since the 16-bit days

[Tritoch]

Several websites that I've visited declared that Interplay was out of business. I was reluctant to believe such information but became semi-convinced upon discovering that Interplay's website has been down for a long time.

According to NASDAQ investors are still buying and selling stock in something: http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/summaryquote.asp?symbol=IPLYE&selected=IPLYE

Interplay's website was down a long time before they announced the Fallout deal and had the fiasco with not paying employees on time. I think that's actually one of the first cost-cutting measures they took, which is pretty darned sad when you think about it.

I can't guarantee that they're working on it, but the last press release Interplay issued indicated that they were: http://pc.ign.com/articles/526/526505p1.html

[pookninja]

i really hate to say it,but i think working designs are next to go as well.you know,its hard to sell games when you dont release anything to sell.where is goemon for ps2?i was waiting for that one.is growlanser still coming out?i have not heard alot on it lately.i remember them releasing gungriffon blaze and silpheed for ps2,on launch day.and arc the lad for ps1,is that all they have released lately?thats been a long while.what working designs needs to do is get some of these japanese import shooters that are out in japan for the ps2,and bring them here.and some other jap stuff that most likely wont make it out here in the states.sell them at a good price point,or add some cool extras(since they are famous for that)and sell it at a slightly higher price,and get back in the game.

[swlovinist]

At first I thought Sega was going to clean house when they became a software only company, boy was I wrong. I really feel that the company is heading in the wrong direction. I am sure that their Sports line will sell well at $20.00, but can they make any money off of that in the long run? As far as thier other games, ouch :( . I truly think that the company needs to screw thier head on tight and focus on what made them great. I dont care about a 19th fing Sonic title, I want more titles that are actually fun to play! A complany with such a diverse history that isnt tapping it already, sheesh. I know about their remakes in Japan, but I hear that even those are only so-so. Otagi and Virtual On games are ok, but the general population is not going to give a shit. Hell, they even made a sequel to the Shinobi game, and with all of thier brilliant brains, they omitted Shinobi from the title...that was stupid. I went to thier website and reviewed their past games that they have released, truly awful lineup. They once were a great company, but lets face it, they just cant get thier shit together.


I third Working Designs...living in Redding and having pepole that worked(and work) there, it is the end of the road in my opinion.

[zmweasel]

Id love to see EA go out of business, they are praised as one of the best gaming companies ever..but ...if they never would of put out sports titles...would anyone of heard of them today? probably not.

Uh...Electronic Arts had been around for a long while, and published many classic games, long before it delved into the sports genre. Archon, M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold, etc., etc. EA has always developed and/or published much more than sports games. You need to edumacate yourself in gaming history.

I assume your hatred of EA is because it's a "mainstream" company, as opposed to all those game companies who want to cater exclusively to the hardcore.


I can see midway bouncin out next...personally i havnt enjoyed one midway game since the 16-bit days

With MK: Deception virtually guaranteed to be one of the biggest sellers of 2004, Midway ain't bouncin' out anytime soon.

-- Z.

[Oobgarm]

Eidos appears to be the next up, after seeing that their most recent financial statement was kinda crappy.

I haven't seen much out of THQ other than wrestling titles.

And, all you EA bashers, try to remember that this thread is "Who do you THINK is next to go", not "Who do you WANT to go". If you want to bitch about EA and how 'evil' they are, go dig up one of the old threads. You're bound to come across a few of them. Kthx.

[NintendoMan]

Yeah, I was whating for this to happen to Acclaim, even though I do like a few of their titles alot like Extreme G series.

Midway might in a few years.
989 used to create great games on PS1, but never since.
Edios used to as well, not anymore!

[zmweasel]

i really hate to say it,but i think working designs are next to go as well.you know,its hard to sell games when you dont release anything to sell.where is goemon for ps2?i was waiting for that one.is growlanser still coming out?i have not heard alot on it lately.i remember them releasing gungriffon blaze and silpheed for ps2,on launch day.and arc the lad for ps1,is that all they have released lately?thats been a long while.what working designs needs to do is get some of these japanese import shooters that are out in japan for the ps2,and bring them here.and some other jap stuff that most likely wont make it out here in the states.sell them at a good price point,or add some cool extras(since they are famous for that)and sell it at a slightly higher price,and get back in the game.

Goemon failed to get through Sony's concept-approval process because it's a first-generation Japanese PS2 game, plagued with technical issues that WD, with its one-man programming staff, was unable to correct. It might be possible to publish Goemon as a budget title, but I don't see Victor ever turning WD into a budget publisher. (Then again, the Lunar: SSSC Fan Edition was a sort-of Greatest Hits release.)

Growlanser: Generations is still coming out, although I fear it's going to struggle this X-Mas against Star Ocean: TTEOT, Phantom Brave, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, SMT: Nocturne, et al. And it didn't help Victor that Sony forced him to bundle Growlansers 2 and 3, originally intended for separate releases (GL2 would already be out!), into one package.

Gungriffon Blaze actually shipped a day or two *after* the PS2's launch, but in any case, it bombed. Silpheed shipped several months later, and bombed. Arc the Lad Collection did alright, but nowhere near Lunar: SSSC or EBC numbers.

Victor's biggest obstacle, other than his well-earned reputation for super-slow localization (which cost him Hoshigami), is that the Japanese video game market is struggling. There simply aren't many independent Japanese developers/publishers left. And when there *is* a decent game for Victor to acquire, he's likely going to be outbid by a larger publisher. WD certainly can't price-match Ubisoft.

Also, Sony wouldn't allow him to publish niche shooters at premium price points, not when Mastiff is publishing Gungrave: Overdose with a $15 MSRP.

The video game business is not for the squeamish.

-- Z.

[suppafly]

Square ...oh wait...thats just one of my dreams...

I hope they die and stop making GAY games like FF

[zmweasel]

I haven't seen much out of THQ other than wrestling titles.

THQ does very well with its kid-oriented tie-ins and its GBA titles--the mainstream stuff, in other words.

-- Z.

[kainemaxwell]

THQ's most definitely not going under anytime soon...they're still one of the strongest video game companies in fact. Their stock is currently trading at $18.25, and is rated a good buy by most analysts. They have a ton of profitable licenses, and successful original IPs like Full Spectrum Warrior and Tak.
That's prett yintresting considering they used to put out sucktastic Genesis and S/NES titles back in the day.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Yeah, well I said the same thing about Sonic & Sega. Now look who's on GC.

:angry: :bad-words: :grrr: :devilish: :grrr: :bad-words: :angry:

That's what I said too sadly :( I knew tons of Sega Hardcore Fans...but I just don't want to see that to one of the strongest empires out there.

[SegaTecToy]

I think that Nintendo's next console will be the last one. They are doing dumb things now that will hurt them hard in the near future (GBA-GC connectivity: Who cares?; Lack of online support; The damn "kiddie games" they nourished for so long that now they can't get free of it)

I hope I'm wrong. A market divided by M$ and Sony will be a Hell on Earth.

[Oobgarm]

I haven't seen much out of THQ other than wrestling titles.

THQ does very well with its kid-oriented tie-ins and its GBA titles--the mainstream stuff, in other words.

-- Z.

I didn't even think of the GBA at all when I was typing that. Silly me. If they've got a strong foothold there, I don't see them going away at all.

[PDorr3]

Id love to see EA move to gamecube only...that wall all the sports loving casual gamers have to buy their much hated "kiddie system :angry: but EA is good for the AWSOME lord of the rings games they make, best-movie-based-games-ever, but after they release this LotR rpg id like to see them perish...which is most likely not happening :(

[DigitalSpace]

Eidos. They should have died after they released the 12th version of Tomb Raider. I can't think of the last good game they published.

I'm going to take a guess and say you haven't played R-Type Final or Mister Mosquito.

I'm a little annoyed that a lot of this thread devoted to "Company X sucks!!!" rather than the original intent.

My only gripe against EA is that they didn't bring Burnout 3 to the 'cube. No reason to shut 'em down, though.

Here's what I'm reading from all the EA bashing:



EA sucks because they make sports games. And they're the big guy so that automatically makes them EVIL!

lendelin's post is so nice, it's worth being posted twice.



I hope EA goes down, too. I hope one of the most reliable and best game developers today will go out of business. I hate good games, I want more average games and bad games. I don't like their first-rate sports titles, I don't like that they introduced new successful and great franchises, I don't like that they produced two good LOTR games not merely relying on a movie franchise, I don't like their innovations in SSX3, and I don't like that they made a great franchise like Burnout even better in Burnout 3.

I don't like EA because they are very successful based on good games. As I said, I don't like good games.

</rant>

Back on topic, I'm going with Infinium labs, and if they don't count, Working Designs.

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

I think that Nintendo's next console will be the last one. They are doing dumb things now that will hurt them hard in the near future (GBA-GC connectivity: Who cares?; Lack of online support; The damn "kiddie games" they nourished for so long that now they can't get free of it)

Nintendo's next console might be their last, but if they get their act together they might be able to get through at least 2 more generations of consoles.


I hope I'm wrong. A market divided by M$ and Sony will be a Hell on Earth.

No Microsoft haveing the control that Nintendo had in the Late 80s would be Hell on earth. At least Sony Makes compition.

PS Eidos might be next

[Kamino]

Nintendo seriously needs to stop screwing themselves over.
Nintendo's problems:
1) Kiddie stigma. This is hard to break. Of people i talk to outside of this community, gamecube is pretty well known as a piece of crap kiddie system. And as far as nintendo themselves' releases, i'll concur. Super mario sunshine? Jesus. granted, mario is doomed forever to be a child's hero, a "E for everyone" character, but they COULD try to do something in the vein of super mario brothers 3, or super mario world. Now THOSE...were REAL mario games.
2) Poor game-making decisions. Nintendo has lost my respect, if not just for doing the endless stream of re-releases, but for putting each one on a separate cart. The NES classics series is an utter waste of plastic. Put 10 games on a cart at LEAST. shit, the whole NES library could most likely fit on a gamecube disc.
Nintendo is also making poor choices as to what titles they release. As i scan the games i currently own for cube, the only two standouts are F-zero GX, an update to one of their old ideas, and Ikaruga, a third-party translation of a japanese dreamcast shooter. Jeez.
4) Crappy controllers. I do not have three hands, and neither do you, mister miyamoto, so what the heck was up with the n64 controller? "innovation/creativity" and SENSIBILITY need to balance. The gamecube controller came closer back to SENSIBILITY.....but still comes up short IMO. i'll take two normal sticks, not a normal one and a painful yellow nub kthx.
The only thing I see nintendo still has is their death grip on the portables market. I'm watching the DS to see what happens. If the DS indeed only plays gba games, and not gb/gbc, they've already screwed up one thing....there's bound to be more...if the DS flops, i seriously see nintendo folding in the future. They won't give up their next console; they've already stated their blind stubbornness that they will not give up the hardware business.
I used to be a nintendo fanboy. NES and SNES still hold high places in my collection. But that was the past. Nintendo is showing it's age; they're worn out. even after playstation 1 kicked n64's ass from here to timbuktu, they still didn't get it together, and I doubt they will.

[Oobgarm]

1) Kiddie stigma.

I can actually agree with this somewhat. But I can honestly say that their fanbase from NES/SNES era has matured and most likely lost interest in games altogether or picked up a Sony or M$ system. They target the only demographic that the other companies don't: Kids.

That said, I'd love to play games that harken back to the older stuff, but honestly, those games aren't as interesting to kids these days, with such powerful tech. Gotta go where the money is. That's business.



2) Poor game-making decisions. Nintendo has lost my respect, if not just for doing the endless stream of re-releases, but for putting each one on a separate cart. The NES classics series is an utter waste of plastic. Put 10 games on a cart at LEAST. shit, the whole NES library could most likely fit on a gamecube disc.

Many people, including myself agree on this statement regarding the GBA NES games. That's why I only bought one of the titles, the one that I enjoyed most as a kid. I'll get the others when they're much cheaper, if at all.


Nintendo is also making poor choices as to what titles they release.

Animal Crossing? Pikmin? Wario Ware? They might be the powerhouse that's gonna bowl everyone over like they used to be, but it's very very uncommon for a first party title of theirs to be sub-par or lacking. Even Pikmin, as a newcomer at the Cube launch, did well enough to warrant a sequel-and a good one, to boot.


4) Crappy controllers. I do not have three hands, and neither do you, mister miyamoto, so what the heck was up with the n64 controller?

I personally found the N64 controller to be the most comfortable controller they've done. Very ergonomic. The complaint about needing 3 hands is pointless, how many games can you count required use of all 3 handles on the controller? I can't think of any.


The only thing I see nintendo still has is their death grip on the portables market. I'm watching the DS to see what happens. If the DS indeed only plays gba games, and not gb/gbc, they've already screwed up one thing.

Please explain this one. I don't see how phasing out a platform that is so ancient by today's standards is considered wrong. Most folks already have the old GB and/or GBA, so that base is covered. If it plays GBC titles, cool. If not, go get the GBA instead.

I'm no Nintendo fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, I'd just like to see some backup on your arguments.

[Kamino]

Oobgarm:
While nintendo is making a few decent games, their efforts are JUST NOT ENOUGH. yes, wario ware and many other gba games are nothing short of digital crack. Unfortunately it is the frequency, or lack thereof.
As for the n64 controller...
The question should not be what games use all buttons, thus demanding shifting of the hands from prong to prong. The question in my mind still remains...
WHY THE HELL ARE THERE THREE PRONGS?!?!?!?!
There is no good reason for this. Look at ANY OTHER GAMEPAD IN HISTORY OR CURRENT. look at the saturn 3d pad, or psx, dualshock or not. the ONLY n64 controller i ever saw that made ANY sense was an offbrand one that reduced it to...you guessed it...TWO PRONGS!!!
it looked a bit like a mesh of the saturn 3d and psx controller...BUT IT WORKED.

As for the DS issue...it's just a poor sales tactic for the gb line. The GBA originally didnt sell me; when the SP came, it's backlit screen sold me. Some people i know were waiting on DS. until I informed them that it won't play their old games. So they bought a gba instead. It's going to hurt sales, for sure.
The n64 controllers above all are what angered me the most about nintendo. Unlike King Midas, all Miyamoto touches is not gold..and until he digs his head out of his ass, and realises this, he's up a creek.

[Psycho Mantis]

989 has to go down. i'll make sure it does. i hate them.

[gamestage]

Hi!

I think its very hard to say who will be shot down next. We have so many examples of GReat enterprises that fell off the cliff.

However there are several strong companies that may last for a long time. Those are EA( the biggest of the world ), Activision (The second or third bigger), ATARI (before known as Infogrames - yes, infogrames bought changed its name to ATARI) and many more.

Activision, for example, such as EA came from the 8-bit world. They Still rule the modern videogames' world and probably will last for many more time. Codemasters is also another example of those companies who still exist since 1980's. :)

by the way...
the history of games also is written here: www.gamestage.net

[digtempest]

Is Atari really that strong? The stock was around $7 in Feb 2002 or 2003 I think. Now it's above $2.

[Jared_Vibelicious]

N64 was dead SOOOOOOOO many years ago. get over. everyone makes mistakes. if there was a perfect game company we would have never heard of sega, nintendo, etc ... Some companies will go down, but everyone has their ups and downs. I for one believe Sega will enter the console biz again. Why? they haven't given away too many of their top serious (streets of rage, golden axe).

[Berserker]

I'm going with Infinium labs, and if they don't count, Working Designs.

They don't.

I'm of the opinion that you actually have to MAKE a video game before you can be referred to as a "Video Game Company". To assume that this company is anything more than a farce, made specifically to line the pockets of professional scam-artists, would be laughable.

And yes, Working Designs seems like the most likely candidate. But let's not underestimate the determination that seems to be very present in the one man keeping that ship afloat.

Eidos and Interplay, maybe, if they fail to get their shit together.

The rest of the candidates I've read here are just pipe-dreams, for the moment anyways.

[DynastyLawyer]

Victor's biggest obstacle, other than his well-earned reputation for super-slow localization (which cost him Hoshigami), is that the Japanese video game market is struggling. There simply aren't many independent Japanese developers/publishers left. And when there *is* a decent game for Victor to acquire, he's likely going to be outbid by a larger publisher. WD certainly can't price-match Ubisoft.


"Cost" him Hoshigami? I don't know what game you were playing, but losing Hoshigami is like "losing" an ulcer. The game played like absolute ass, despite being addictive as hell. I don't doubt working designs could have done a better job with the translation, but losing Hoshigami is no loss at all.


Square ...oh wait...thats just one of my dreams...

I hope they die and stop making GAY games like FF

Very mature. Your opinion is very valid in my mind.


Hell, they even made a sequel to the Shinobi game, and with all of thier brilliant brains, they omitted Shinobi from the title...

True fans of the original still watched for the release date, and picked it up not soon after it came out. You can trust me on that one. Sega's pretty bad off in the industry these days, but who isn't? The crap to actual goodness ratio is pretty high. Most games we hailed as classics on 32 bit systems are getting sequels that are equal at best, vastly inferior at worst. Most of the games that haven't been adressed in that manner have slid off the map. No one really wants to mess with creativity anymore (barring rare miricles like Katamari Damacy) and everyone over-relies on already established liscences. Show me any company's last 5 games, and I'll point you out a stinker in there, either sales or creativity wise.

I'd have to vote Nintendo as most likely to crash and burn these days. Nintendo has always been in a very similar situation to Sega, as it watched giants like Sony and Microsoft approach and eventually overtake. Nintendo is putting out hardware that is now undeniably not up to industry standards (See the PS2 and Xboxes being OUT, and people not being able to push cubes for 100 bucks.) And in my opinion, the only reason they really outlived Sega as a hardware contender was their access to Pokemon. I don't see them going out of the industry completely, but I can see them taking Sega's route rather clearly.

[evildead2099]

I'd have to vote Nintendo as most likely to crash and burn these days. Nintendo has always been in a very similar situation to Sega, as it watched giants like Sony and Microsoft approach and eventually overtake. Nintendo is putting out hardware that is now undeniably not up to industry standards (See the PS2 and Xboxes being OUT, and people not being able to push cubes for 100 bucks.) And in my opinion, the only reason they really outlived Sega as a hardware contender was their access to Pokemon. I don't see them going out of the industry completely, but I can see them taking Sega's route rather clearly.

I agree with your prediction in the sense that Nintendo's consoles stopped doing well in sales around the same time that Sega saw its success threatened by monolithic corporations, but hasn't the Big N more or less continued to dominate handheld sales? Then again, Nintendo now has Sony's portable system to contend with... :-P

Addendum: I see that Krazy_kamino already got around to noting Nintendo's remarkable success with handheld systems.
The only thing I see nintendo still has is their death grip on the portables market. I'm watching the DS to see what happens.

[Richter Belmount]

Nintendo.

(DUCKS)

Seriously.

(DUCKS)

I think they need to pull a Sega and just sell games from now on. The GC is a big flop compared to the PS2 & XBOX, and I don't know why they don't.

(OUCH!)

If it can happen to Sega, it can happen to them. They can't continue to ride on their successes with the NES & SNES after the flops of the N64 & GC too.

(OUCH!)

World's... Biggest... Failing... Game... Company... Ever...

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me that time!

(DUCKS)

HAHA, you missed me again!

(OUCH!)

OK, I'm sorry!

(OUCH!)

OK, I mean it!

Personally I dont think so , They so to many gameboys to go out of the biz and the ds sold alot since realease even though noone really noticed ( i think like 500 ,000)

[EnemyZero]

interplay isnt out yet, according to many websites they fixed there financial problem and are working on new games, and handed a few others in the series to bethseda ....

Altered beast is only being released in japan Ed :angry: anywho...

id like to see EA but that won't happen unless maybe there HQ is bombed lol...

989...won't go out of business because there a sub sony company...if anything sony will just disperse them...

Eidos hasnt done much on current gen systems...have they...i can def see them falling...as well as midway...depending on the new area 51 game