[Flyingfly]

i was wondering what people mean by that. i just looked at some revenue figures and it said they made 19.66 billion dollars in 2009. i know that that is LESS than before, but does making LESS necessarily mean dying? nearly 20 billion a year isn't "dying" to me

This post has been edited by Flyingfly: 07 December 2010 - 03:37 AM

[coastie65]

Flyingfly, on 07 December 2010 - 03:30 AM, said:

i was wondering what people mean by that. i just looked at some revenue figures and it said they made 19.66 billion dollars in 2009. i know that that is LESS than before, but does making LESS necessarily mean dying? nearly 20 billion a year isn't "dying" to me

Hi and welcome to the forums. I haven't heard that and from all indications, it seems to be doing well. They are making less primarily because it costs more to develop the games these days ( if it is done right ). This is not to say that lots of games aren't being released, because they are. The big Franchises such as Fable, Uncharted and others, take longer to develop, nad thus are fewer in number, although you do get Add ons / Expansions to existing games at times. You will hear that it is dead or dying ofr the PC platform, but I don't think that is the case either. I play on the PS2, PS3, and PC equally. There are some games that, in my opinion, are better suited for one platform rather than the other. For instance, I much prefer playing Tomb Raider on the Playstation rather than the PC because of the control factor. Other games, I prefer playing on the PC for the same reason. I have played Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on both the PS3 & PC ( also Oblivion ). These don't seem to matter which platform you play it on, except that the cheaters won't have the advantage of the Console in the PS3. In short, the Video game industry is alive and well from what I've seen. Just taking longer to release fewer good titles.

[DavidBadurNeto]

if, in 30 years or more, we want to be proud of what we have done as gamers so the industry will not be this mess that it is right now.
First we must change how video games are sold.
We need a broader demographic, we can't rely on our fanboyism and keep defending "nintendo, microsoft, sony, sega or whatever the hell company is your favourite" like they're the origin of life. Selling a video game for 2000 dollars in some countries is not the answer. We also need to stop with exclusivity and how every couple of years we get a new console or some new stuff for it.
You don't see other, more successful, medias, like movies, for example, selling their products on a "oh, this game is only for this new console that just came up and it costs the price of your soul" policy. You don't see the movie industry doing that. You don’t see a movie being released for just a few select dvd players, do you?
This only shows us that the gaming industry is a money grabbing no good industry.
If video games are to be considered a true form of art, it still needs to be much more democratic than it is, and selling gimmicky stuff every year is not the way.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 04 September 2011 - 11:05 AM

[coastie65]

DavidBadurNeto, on 04 September 2011 - 03:27 AM, said:

if, in 30 years or more, we want to be proud of what we have done as gamers so the industry will not be this mess that it is right now.
First we must change how video games are sold.
We need a broader demographic, we can't rely on our fanboyism and keep defending "nintendo, microsoft, sony, sega or whatever the hell company is your favourite" like they're the origin of life. Selling a video game for 2000 dollars in some countries is not the answer. We also need to stop with exclusivity and how every couple of years we get a new console or some new stuff for it.
You don't see other, more successful, medias, like movies, for example, selling their products on a "oh, this game is only for this new console that just came up and it costs the price of your soul" policy. You don't see the movie industry doing that. You don’t see a movie being released for just a few select dvd players, do you?
This only shows us that the gaming industry is a money grabbing no good industry.
If video games are to be considered a true form of art, it still needs to be much more democratic than it is, and selling gimmicky stuff every year is not the way.

People have their favorite platforms. I have both a PS2 & PS3 as well as the PC. Xbox has their "Exclusives" ( Halo & Fable ) as does Sony ( Uncharted ) and Nintendo ( Zelda ). As for movies, that is poor analogy. You probably don't remember the Beta Max - VHS wars and later the HD - BluRay wars with the DVD format. In the latter, some studios adopted HD and others BluRay and the consumer was the only loser. A large majority of the games are cross platform, with a few "exclusives" for each platform ( with the possible exception of the PC ). I do agree that selling games for $2000 is a bit much and the reason why they are being pirated and thus raising the cost, not to mention the DRM schemes being used that only hurts the consumer and doesn't stop the pirating of those things. The fanboys can be a nusiance. With the level of the games being released today, it costs a lot to make them and they have to make that cost in sales, to break even. As for gimmicky stuff, things such as MOVE for the PS3 is just another facet and you need not get it if you don't want to.

[LiveBrianD]

Honestly, I've heard people who say that DRM ENCOURAGES them to pirate the game. I totally agree. If they're going to use PITA drm, which might hinder your ability to use the game someday, then I won't buy a copy, I'll use a pirated copy that lacks drm. They never get that even with drm, pirates WILL get around it anyway. Happens every time...

[BLuRR]

I would say that honestly IMO as long as Microsoft and Sony are competitors, and games like COD - though they get millions of "fanboys" - are great for the industry.

Remember (if you are not video-game savvy you may not know) but supposedly next year the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles are supposed to be unveiled, along with the WiiU.

[coastie65]

BLuRR, on 04 September 2011 - 05:42 PM, said:

I would say that honestly IMO as long as Microsoft and Sony are competitors, and games like COD - though they get millions of "fanboys" - are great for the industry.

Remember (if you are not video-game savvy you may not know) but supposedly next year the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles are supposed to be unveiled, along with the WiiU.

Yeah, Microsoft and Sony are big competitors. So far Microsoft has been able to hold its own, even if they have stubbornly held on to the defunct HD format, thus rulling out the playing of movies. Sony on the other hand, with their PS3, can also be used to play Movies ( BluRay & Std. Def. ). Wii on the otherhand, has it's fans as well. There are a lot of folks that love Zelda ( I was a big fan of that game ) as well as other stuff. Nintendo has managed to hold on and still be viable. They're all good. Just depends on what you like.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 26 October 2011 - 10:04 AM

[opbee]

Hi, So far the games lately are more based on the internet cloud like mmorpg but other games on the desktop are yet not obsolete for some users it can still be used as extra multi-entertainment to your life.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 26 October 2011 - 10:02 AM

[smax013]

DavidBadurNeto, on 04 September 2011 - 03:27 AM, said:

You don’t see a movie being released for just a few select dvd players, do you?

Yes and no.

No, you don't see they releasing movies for just a "few select DVD players".

But...with BluRay, some players will have trouble playing newer movies. Usually this is resolved by updating the firmware for the BluRay player...but not always.

More importantly, you will not find all movies (or TV shows) available on all digital download/online sites. For example, NetFlix's selection of current movies available through their streaming service ain't all that great. Then there is iTunes. While they do get most movies, they do have a delay on some. I have not paid attention to what Amazon has available through their On Demand.

The point is that you tend to have a wide variation as to what is and is not available for the various "online" video services. And since we are moving more and more in that direction, it becomes more noticeable as time marches on.

Part of this is due to DRM BS, but most of it is just due to contract issues...and the movie studios wanting to get paid. And so you see some contracts that get "exclusive" content for some services because they can then get that service to pay them more. The same reason why you see exclusive mobile phones on specific carriers.

[amphi]

Flyingfly, on 07 December 2010 - 03:30 AM, said:

i was wondering what people mean by that. i just looked at some revenue figures and it said they made 19.66 billion dollars in 2009. i know that that is LESS than before, but does making LESS necessarily mean dying? nearly 20 billion a year isn't "dying" to me

The video game industry won't die unless developers and gamers will boycott gaming altogether. I don't think that's gonna happen soon.

[MAcUser21]

LiveBrianD, on 04 September 2011 - 12:36 PM, said:

Honestly, I've heard people who say that DRM ENCOURAGES them to pirate the game. I totally agree. If they're going to use PITA drm, which might hinder your ability to use the game someday, then I won't buy a copy, I'll use a pirated copy that lacks drm. They never get that even with drm, pirates WILL get around it anyway. Happens every time...

thus circle of pirate vs developer
below is summary of what you just done...
http://penny-arcade....omic/2010/02/19

[coastie65]

MAcUser21, on 26 October 2011 - 08:37 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 04 September 2011 - 12:36 PM, said:

Honestly, I've heard people who say that DRM ENCOURAGES them to pirate the game. I totally agree. If they're going to use PITA drm, which might hinder your ability to use the game someday, then I won't buy a copy, I'll use a pirated copy that lacks drm. They never get that even with drm, pirates WILL get around it anyway. Happens every time...

thus circle of pirate vs developer
below is summary of what you just done...
http://penny-arcade....omic/2010/02/19

Yeah, I think that said it all in three panels. I remember in the 80's when I had the Commodore 64. The manner of copy protection was simple. It was in the way the stuff was put on the 5 1/4" floppy. You would load a game and that read / write head in the disk drive would bang like crazy against the stops as it was jumping from sector to sector on the disk. You would have to eventually realign the head as a matter of normal maintanance. Trying to make a usuable copy of anything was difficult if not impossible. Loading stuff was pretty straightforward though, just Type in Load"*",8,1 and hit Return ( Enter).

This post has been edited by coastie65: 26 October 2011 - 10:14 AM

[LiveBrianD]

MAcUser21, on 26 October 2011 - 08:37 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 04 September 2011 - 12:36 PM, said:

Honestly, I've heard people who say that DRM ENCOURAGES them to pirate the game. I totally agree. If they're going to use PITA drm, which might hinder your ability to use the game someday, then I won't buy a copy, I'll use a pirated copy that lacks drm. They never get that even with drm, pirates WILL get around it anyway. Happens every time...

thus circle of pirate vs developer
below is summary of what you just done...
http://penny-arcade....omic/2010/02/19

That couldn't have said it better.

[Szczecinianin]

Most certainly not. Otherwise they wouldn't make more and more advanced graphics/video and music cards. Video games (the other is sex) is what propells it. All those new DirectX versions, ever better textures etc. Apps such as Office, Corel Draw, or even CAD don't need all this stuff. So, if one day this card race stops then you may say the industry is dying but, for the time being, it's ON. You may say, say, the sales of PC games are lower, but there are other platforms so, on the whole, it looks pretty good.

[coastie65]

Szczecinianin, on 29 October 2011 - 12:14 AM, said:

Most certainly not. Otherwise they wouldn't make more and more advanced graphics/video and music cards. Video games (the other is sex) is what propells it. All those new DirectX versions, ever better textures etc. Apps such as Office, Corel Draw, or even CAD don't need all this stuff. So, if one day this card race stops then you may say the industry is dying but, for the time being, it's ON. You may say, say, the sales of PC games are lower, but there are other platforms so, on the whole, it looks pretty good.

As Long as you have stuff like what CD Projekt Red is putting out ( The Witcher ) there will be PC Gaming. Those games will really test your system with their graphics and stuff.

[Evildave]

With game 'rental' and 'exchange' now more or less universally offered, yes, you're not going to see as many big, new games published as in the past.

Especially not new 'kinds' of games. Too much 'risk' for too small a margin.

There's still plenty of crap being released. Something with a big, fat number on the end of the title.

Consoles need to move to an 'app store' model as their primary means of selling through games, and bring the prices back within range of consumer expectations.

$60+ for a craptastic sequel to a game that wasn't all that great to start with, with practically nothing BUT sequels to choose from is like going to the store and finding they only have cream corn and white bread, and they want $50 for a can of cream corn, and $55 for a loaf of white bread. But you have 18 different brands of cream corn, and a dozen brands of white bread to choose from.

[coastie65]

Evildave, on 05 November 2011 - 05:51 PM, said:

$60+ for a craptastic sequel to a game that wasn't all that great to start with, with practically nothing BUT sequels to choose from is like going to the store and finding they only have cream corn and white bread, and they want $50 for a can of cream corn, and $55 for a loaf of white bread. But you have 18 different brands of cream corn, and a dozen brands of white bread to choose from.

Apparently, you haven't played any of the Uncharted games on the PS3. I just got Uncharted 3 and they just keep getting better. Granted there are few if any games that reach the level of quality of the Uncharted franchise.

[Evildave]

And that, there is the problem.

The 'crap' games should be more unusual, not prevalent. There should be more than a few 'exceptions' to be cited for 'good' games.

The big companies that can afford the big investment for the big run of games and force them onto the shelves get some profit. They like to grind out sequels.

The little studios who innovate can't compete at all, so they focus on the tablets and phones.

This post has been edited by Evildave: 06 November 2011 - 11:45 AM

[waldojim]

Evildave, on 06 November 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

And that, there is the problem.

The 'crap' games should be more unusual, not prevalent. There should be more than a few 'exceptions' to be cited for 'good' games.

The big companies that can afford the big investment for the big run of games and force them onto the shelves get some profit. They like to grind out sequels.

The little studios who innovate can't compete at all, so they focus on the tablets and phones.

Apparently you have never heard of Steam. I have played many Indie games from steam. More so than anything on the Android market place. Developers get a terrific leg up with Steam. They just have to be willing to use it, and actually make a fun title.

[Evildave]

And STEAM is based on what model that I cited earlier?

Oh, yes. The direct download (aka 'app store') model.

This post has been edited by Evildave: 06 November 2011 - 01:42 PM