1080p, or lack thereof
When the 360 and PS3 were announced, much fanfare was made of their ability to do ‘Full HD’ gaming. Both supported 1080p, both would, at some stage we were told, have 1080p games. What did we get? A handful of showcases (thank Polyphony for GT5!) and PS2 HD re-releases. Many games were upscaled to 1080p, but the lions share were 720p native, or even less. All-in-all, the HD era belonged to 720p.
AAA or bust
Sure we got some of the greatest games ever played out of this generation - I’m not complaining about that and I don’t need to name them here. But we also got a console culture that came to rely more-and-more on review scores and big budget production values than original and unique games. Your game didn’t take a team of 80 highly paid developers, artists and animators 3 years and $500 million to make? It must be a 7. Oh it’s a 7? I’m not buying anything that IGN doesn’t give a 9 or above.
Pre-ordering
Since when did it become standard practice for everyone to have to pay for a game months before they even have it? I recently saw articles about how Xbox One pre-orders are outdoing Xbox 360 pre-orders. You know why? Barely anyone pre-ordered anything in 2006. You wanted a game? You waited until it was out in the store before you paid for it. Now we’re so fearful we’ll miss out on launch day that we willingly hand over money to the store without even knowing when the game will come out. Guess what? The games will still be there and the money is better off in your pocket, for something else you need like, now.
The Hype Machine
I’m all for developers creating buzz about their game, but this gen, the hype whipped up by things said and done by developers (and it must be said, gaming journalists) reaches such a fever pitch that the games never meet the expectations generated by their creators. How many times have we heard phrases like ‘maxed out’, or read articles making claims like ‘most realistic ever’ or just generally overselling a game. My pet hate? Reviews so blind about creating hype they completely gloss over major technical issues, and hey while I’m saying it...
Patching
Remember when games came out and they were, for all intents and purposes, finished?
While patching isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se, it is when you release a glitch ridden pile of junk knowing full well your team will be working on it after its hit store shelves! Yes, if you buy a game day one, these days you’re not an early adopter and loyal fan! No, you’re a beta tester! Yay!
Side-by-side comparisons
We get it, nobody knew the hell how to code for PS3 in the beginning and we got a bunch of sub-par 360 ports. But if I have to watch another side-by-side of the same scene in the same game and try play a game of spot the difference, in a moving scene, when most ‘differences’ just look like one screen has the brightness up too high or dynamic contrast turned off, then I give up.
Seriously, its the same game. Get over it.
With Arkane Austin no more and Lyon living for who knows how long, the superb Dishonored is in serious danger; Microsoft cannot be trusted.
I love the Dishonored series so much and really want Dishonored 3. Microsoft better not screw this up.
I mean, I think the fans will probably kill Arkane Lyon by cooking up reasons to hate whatever they do next without playing it. I've never seen a game so artificially disliked as Deathloop.
A renowned industry insider has suggested the rumored PlayStation May 2024 showcase featuring Silent Hill 2 could happen this week.
Bogus!
Why would Sony do that and how would this benefit them?
1) It would piss off their media partners (IGN, Gamespot, Edge, etc.) since they would have to allocate resources fast to cover the event.
2) Risk of not having great coverage or proper coverage from the various source
3) It could give the impression that they are not confident in their own stuff.
4) They would miss the chance to hype the event losing viewers and losing free marketing time.
Again I'm calling it bogus unless it's a small showcase before the big one or because they want to announce that Hellbalde 2 is also coming on PS5.
As far as I can remember, they typically give a week heads up for these sorts of things.
Last year it was a weeks notice.
https://blog.playstation.co...
May 17th announcement for may 24th show.
Nintendo always tweets that a direct is happening tomorrow but no one cares.
Sony gives a week or days of notice and we get anti sony type fake outrage like this.
But good luck trying trying to get some Sony hate going...
You just mention it!
Sony gives a week in advance NOT just a couple of days.
So I fail to see what Sony's hate movement I'm trying to start when it's a basic business strategy to not piss off your partners (ask Sega).
And I doubt it's hate to ask how it would benefit Sony in doing so.
Here is a look at the new Joker Trailer. Warner Bros. Games today released a new MultiVersus trailer revealing the first look at gameplay for The Joker, who will join the roster as a playable character when the upcoming free-to-play platform fighter videogame launches on May 28th.
Great post and all true! You only missed milked DLC. Although I would also put forced multiplayer and social features, and the era of timed exclusive content (or maybe it can go with DLC?)
Man, someone has seen the light.
*round of thunderous applause*
This stuff is ridiculous.
So much went wrong this gen.
Here's the #1 thing this gen I hate that was developed; Massive Fanboyism. Back in the SNES/Genesis days the level of stupidity over gaming was no where near of this magnitude; now unless you swear alliance to one side or the other your labeled, ignored, and sometimes laughed off as a gamer in general. Real gamers don't "pick sides" they pick games, with 0 alliance to any one company.
My #2 piss of that was also formed; patches and DLC. I understand there's moments a game may have glitches that may be found later (which should be at a rare case), however a game like Fallout New Vegas is unacceptable and as gamers we need to be vocal that this is bad practice, and their QA needs to be re-evaluated. Games like Batman AA and MGS 4 (offline at least) proved they didn't need post game patches because testers actually performed their job; MGS 4 the only offline patch was for trophies.
The DLC route is a double-sided coin since some content can be argued post production (and in some cases free under certain conditions); however day 1 DLC is not only bad practice it shows how greedy a company can get.