The loser lost me after the 3rd or 4th profanity. Always a good indicator that you can't properly express yourself, especially in an article about a hobby.
I'd really like to know when the industry was perfect, 'cause it seems that for as long as I can remember there has been something to bitch about. Movie translations used to be the big thing. Now it's sports games of course. Maybe Nintendo and their Mario-itis should be next. Isn't it Zelda XII and XIII (Wii and DS) we're expecting soon?
Time will be when the broadest river dries
And the great cities wane and last descend
Into the dust, for all things have an end
I was thinking more about the idea of releasing a 2D beat-em-up in this day and age when (aside from Metal Slug) the genre is basically dead and buried. Although I guess with the Wii's virtual console and XBLA, some of these old genres are going to be coming back.Originally Posted by Sothy
--Zero
What an utterly horrible column.
I don't even know where to start. The first paragraph was OK but the second leads off with "I'm leaning towards" the game industry should die and immediately follows up with line after line of extremist statements, hardly leaning. And what's with all the censored expletives? It's juvenile - hardly the way I want to be represented as a "hardcore" gamer.
I also happen to disagree. Gaming is my life. While I'm upset that some iconic game characters haven't received proper treatment in recent years (where have you gone, Sonic Team?), others have emerged and flourished (has this guy played anything on the DS lately?). I still look forward to new releases from my favorite franchises.
If this writer has been around from the start, then he must know that this sort of thing has been going on from day 1. We were pissed when Pac-Man appeared on the 2600 but Ms. Pac saved the day. Donkey Kong was dead when the most awful version ever appeared on the Intellivision but guess what? It made a comeback too. A bad game from a popular franchise doesn't spell doom for gamers, just a disappointment that often rebounds or rebirths. You can't just give up on them.
Don't think that because you're a "hardcore gamer" that you're in any different a position as you were 20 years ago. 20 years ago you were playing the games and franchises that were popular in that era. Just because the world has moved on doesn't mean it's all crumbling down. It probably just means you're getting old. Enjoy your old games, embrace and support the new ones that tickle your gaming style (and don't tell me there are none because that means you aren't playing enough) but don't shoo away the industry that you love... the one that makes you passionate enough to write about.
I'm hopeful that the Steam platform or that manifestogames thing will put a bit of the old "wild west" spark back into video games. But will I stop buying?
Maybe. If there's nothing out there to interest me. I have to admit that it's becoming more and more seldom that I see something that tickles my fancy.
You are startled by a grim snarl. Before you, you see 1 Red dragon. Will your stalwart band choose to (F)ight or (R)un?
Gamers Unite! responds to some of the comments:
http://www.j2games.com/new/forum.php....msg195#msg195
Be sure to check in on J2Games.com!
I can see his perspective on the issue. I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but it's his opinion. However:
Why are you pretending you didn't write this article? It's so very very obvious and I'm wondering why you didn't state that. If "what some may class as anger I call passion" is true, and if you are in fact "passionate" about it, then why not defend it here?
You are the winner! I'm surprised nobody got this sooner. I thought I was well known on DP but I guess not as well as I thought.I can see his perspective on the issue. I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but it's his opinion. However:
Why are you pretending you didn't write this article? It's so very very obvious and I'm wondering why you didn't state that. If "what some may class as anger I call passion" is true, and if you are in fact "passionate" about it, then why not defend it here?
I didn't identify myself simply b/c I didn't want "tainted feedback." I didn't want people to go easy or hard on their feedback simply because it was me and so far they haven't.
For instance, I consider Joe (Digital Press) and S1lence friends of mine but they were pretty hard on my work which is "great." I'd rather have folks be honest as opposed to sparing my feelings.
I didn't get into defending the article against each negative post simply b/c I don't have the time or energy. My work speaks for itself and as I mentioned I'll be doing a "Robcast" aka podcast addressing the feedback I've gotten from here and elsewhere while clarifying certain gripes.
I don't want you to hate me, I want you to want to hate me - GamersUniteMagazine.com
No, you just like living in the third person. Come on Rob, just admit it.
Ken Edwards
Blogcritics.org Editor
THE ONE, THE ONLY - IN THE THIRD PERSON
Sorry, couldn't resist
Re: GAMERS UNITE ARTICLE #1: I CALL FOR THE END
He might as well ask people to stop eating meat or to all become perfectly fit. You can't change the nature of business, something that's clearly a foreign concept to this d00der.
Game companies should innovate! They should make games that the human brain can't comprehend.
Solution: Game companies need to create games for longtime gamers. Wouldn't be hard, relatively speaking, to use assets from an a-rank title to create a "classic style" game. Right now all that game companies bother to do is throw a halfassed minigame (the shooting minigame from Jade Empire, anyone?) or emulate a game from their archives.
Yes, let's burn the Constitution, too, while we're at it.Let's stop Gamestop. Those f*cking bastards. They make their money off the blood of some great (and not so great) developers. They pay nothing to developers when they buy used games for next to nothing and sell them for $5 less than a new title. Piracy may f*ck with developer’s bottom line, but so does Gamestop.
Solution: digitial distribution (which I loathe, but it's here to stay). Incidentally, the last time I walked into a GameStop (just last week) I walked out with three freebies. I love my catalogs. I haven't bought anything there in probably half a year.
Yes...elitism and smugness, the hallmarks of a true fanatic...wait, no, that just makes you an asshole.I wrote this with a smirk as I do just about everything unless otherwise noted. I wouldn't consider myself angry as some have accused. What some may class as anger I call passion.
Why was RCM unbanned? He is a two bit troll.
<Evan_G> i keep my games in an inaccessable crate where i can't play them
He is an 8-bit troll, thank you.
I knew RCM wrote the article. I thought he was disowning it.
I'm afraid that is all too true.
I hold my breath.
Let me be straightforward. These kind of "complaints" about the industry are as old as the industry itself. Your "contribution" is neither something new and refreshing, nor is it intelligent criticism. It falls short on all fronts.
There is valid criticism about phenomena you addressed, and there were very intelligent discussions on this board about the balance of profit and innovation, micro- and macroeconomic aspects thereof, the role of successful franchises for game design and economic structering of the industry.
Your rant is two classes below the 'serious acceptance'-level.
Being provocative is one thing, producing mere short-sighted babble is another thing.
Quoted for truth.
Lendelin, you've summed up my feelings on the matter quite nicely.
Possibility is infinity! You must be satisfied!
You just can't handle my jawusumness responces. -The Sizz
I have a question about the quotes:
"EB and GameStop make basically no money from new product" and "Even though used games are only 30% of GameStop's sales, they generate 45% of gross profits"
How much *is* generated by new games? I realize it wouldn't be 55%, but what is it?
BTW: I love it when an author says "some folks get it while others don't" - like disagreeing with them makes us wrong in some way...
Time will be when the broadest river dries
And the great cities wane and last descend
Into the dust, for all things have an end
Gamers Unites Article 2: We Must be United!
As the first of the Gamers Unite! articles seemed to garner an opinion from everyone, we'd like to let you know articles #2 and #3 are now posted:
http://www.j2games.com/new/forum.php....msg196#msg196
and Gamers Unite The Show (G.UT.S.) will be coming to J2Games.com and on Podcast shortly!
Please chime in, tell us what you think!
Be sure to check in on J2Games.com!
Yawn.
This year's Madden rocks, btw. So there.
And because i'm usually slow on the things in article three what does IP stand for?
Internet Protocol!
I believe it is "Intellectual Property".
Possibility is infinity! You must be satisfied!
You just can't handle my jawusumness responces. -The Sizz
Re: Gamers Unites Article 2: We Must be United!
I read some of #2 and I've gotta say that RCM just wheels himself out there like he's the second coming of Dave Halverson (but even Dave Halverson shows more restraint these days). What makes magazines like Play easier to stomach than writing like this (when both are targeting the same 'hardcore' demographic) is that Play doesn't feel the need to constantly remind you exactly who it is that they're pandering to, but instead let the writing speak for itself. The casual and Madden gamers won't get anything out of it and will move along to safer waters, wheras all I'm getting out of the pieces above is "HEY MAN I'M ON YOUR SIDE, FUCK THE CORPORATIONS, RAH RAH RAH!" People with a brain will figure out which side to root for regardless of the tenacity of the cheerleaders.
Maybe if the writing weren't so self-serving and showed a true "passion" instead of someone's hunger for attention then there wouldn't be so much negative feedback so far. The fact that a podcast is taking place in order to commemorate the feedback from this "article" says all you need to know: someone wasn't afraid to jerk off their own ego for a little bit.
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