He's correct in his assessment of the casual/mobile gaming industry. Now I'm not totally blaming them for having the opinion of their audience being mindless, in fact I kinda agree. After all, most people play these games during their in between time (in between work, school, etc) and don't really want to do much that works the mind or reflexes. They just want a quick and fun diversion. But once you start getting into it, they definitely throw out carrots for you to chase, and unfortunately most go for it. It was/is like that with the games you see on Facebook too. Hell I got caught up into it for a while but once I noticed I was paying for power ups I had to pause and stop what I was doing because a free side hobby and/or distraction turned into a paid activity just like that. I'm glad that he has that attitude; hopefully it'll spread to console and PC developers and they'll make sure not to turn their mediums into an outrageous cash grab.
The only problem I really see with this is if it's seriously successful, there will be another sad practice that will prevail over console gaming: CONTRACTS. It's one thing that they have subscription based content, but making someone commit to a contract leaves much to be desired. I am off my cell phone contract and need a new phone and I'm loathed to go back because once in, the only way to get out is to pay a crazy severance fee; I can see console companies adding that factor in and that ain't cool. It's bad that it'll cost you more in the long run, but worse that you are locked in and have no choice but to pay more. All I have to say to anyone who buys this is make sure you know the ins and outs of the contract. Hopefully though Microsoft won't go that route with it and punish unsatisfied customers.
I guess he speaks from bitter experience. I think the problem is the pricing point more than the software. Not defending the Vita, but the start up games and the games that have dropped recently don't look as thin as the 3DS. I just think that the cost and the "allure" of cross platform gaming isn't enough right now to draw people into getting a handheld, especially when you consider how much gaming people do on their phones now. I honestly don't expect any more handhelds to sell like they used to. The handheld gaming landscape has unfortunately shifted.
@khazadx what Bioware did wasn't a promise, it was salesmanship and promotion. Besides, can you honestly say that in their minds they didn't feel that the way they ended the game (whichever ones, or all of them, that people have the biggest issue with) would be satisfying to people? Nobody intends to go out and make a game that doesn't entertain or pleases people. It pretty much comes down to your personal preference. You didn't want that type of ending and you were unhappy with it, that's perfectly fine, you have that right to be pissed and unhappy. My thing is how much of an impact should this be making on people's lives? Say Bioware does change the ending, does it feel a hole or void in it that was missing because you didn't like it? Will the way you ever feel about gaming and life change? This isn't something like SOPA. The only good out of this is that money was raised for charity, however insincere the motivation was behind it.
@talestra attaching it to a charity was ingenius, no doubt. It gives an excuse to fire back at people who find their argument very outrageous. Personally that just smacks of insincerity to be honest. After all, why did it take their outrage for the game's ending to find giving to charity a worthy cause? You mean to tell me there wasn't a good enough reason before to donate money to a charity?
The fact that people are demanding that they change the end of a game is just a sign of the times. People put more thought and effort into so many things that bear no real consequence to life nowadays that it's a shame. I'm kinda disturbed at how passionate a lot of people are about not having a video game end in the manner in which they think it is. Changing the game's ending would set a very bad precedent. If Bioware caves in, that means that everything, books, movies, tv shows, etc, will now have to consider being redone because a particular group feel that it isn't what they would have liked or seen fit to done. I hated the ending of No Country for Old Men, but I'll be damned if I will demand the Cohen(sp) brothers change it. It's just my opinion, and that's exactly what your feelings about the ending are as well, just your opinion; it's not the gospel law set down by the video gaming gods up high or anything like that. At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3's ending shouldn't hold such an impact in your life that you want to make a cause of it. I see a lot less passion over way more important things like drugs, crime, poverty, etc. Those things have a lot more impact on life than what the Bioware writers put together. Honestly people, get your damn priorities straight.
Pause. Like seriously, Why not call it Medal Of Honor: Warior, or Medal of Honor: Soldier, or something to that effect? After all, isn't that what a "warfighter" is by definition? Way to use that kindergarten level vocabulary.
I can understand why companies would love to push cloud gaming. Production costs would drop because you don't have to manufacture boxes, booklets, discs, etc, which would also be a nice little environmentally bonus as well. That being say, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not interested at all in having to constanly download and store data on a physical hard drive let alone have someone else manage my stuff on a virtual one. Physical discs are a part of the charm of being a video gamer to me. Call me crazy, but I like looking at my pile of video game cases; they're nice collectible items in themselves and bring back fond memories of gaming past. And even when you look beyond nostalgia, it's just much more safer having your entire game on a hard disc than a virtual hard drive. Unless you beat them to hell, the discs will last forever and won't degrade; meanwhile, your cloud gaming is safe only as long as they monitor and maintain it properly. Cloud gaming is one Sony-like hack away from falling totally to pieces.
The response to the results of this contest is epic LOL Never have I seen so many people rage quit a competition or page because of the characters that dominated. Even the editors of Gamespot are ticked off; you can tell by way this article is written ("Launchpad won by virtue of votes and is ready to receive all your cheers and adulation (if any), while the other sidekicks leave through that other door.") LOL Yeah a duck won, but who cares? It's all a popularity contest, and I'm sure a lot of people who voted Launchpad in did it to p*ss the masses off anyway. It is the internet after all, people live to f**k with one another. The more stock you put into this, the more joy you give to those whose aim was to upset your world. Unless they eliminate characters that everyone doesn't look at as "serious" video game characters, this will be happening again, trust me. I'm thinking though, maybe if they featured Launchpad as a Darkwin Duck game sidekick, people would take him more serious LOL Yes? Maybe? No? LOL
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