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Games Entertainment

25 Dumbest Moments In Gaming Concluded 26

Posted by simoniker from the just-in-time-for-slashdumb-and-dumberer dept.
Thanks to Gamespy for finishing up its 25 Dumbest Moments In Gaming set of articles by picking their Top 5 mistakes of all time. We ran a story on these articles earlier in the week, and congratulate Slashdot commenter Saige for correctly guessing Gamespy's No.1 pick, Atari passing on producing and distributing the NES Stateside. Plus, well done to, uhm, pretty much everyone for guessing a certain long-haired FPS designer might make it into the Top 5 somewhere.
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25 Dumbest Moments In Gaming Concluded More

25 Dumbest Moments In Gaming Concluded

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  • John Romero (Score:5, Informative)

    by fredrikj ( 629833 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @07:12PM (#6196353) Homepage
    long-haired FPS designer

    Damnit, get your facts right! John Romero cut his hair [rome.ro]! (scroll down)

  • It's very easy to be smart in hindsight (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13, 2003 @08:46PM (#6196781)
    These gamespy people are pretty smarmy. They make it look like they are true business experts and were more or less able to tell the future.

    Doing business in the gaming market is a risk. Doing business in any market is a risk. You can do studies and demographics and all that crap and still get products that people don't want, while bizarre pieces of crap become insanely popular.

    Case in point: Tamogochi

    They point at Romero and laugh at daikatana like they knew from day one it was going to suck ass. Look at it at the time, Romero and Carmack had made perhaps THE game of the century, and now he was making another. Imagine! If Daikatana had not sucked everyone would be eating crusty turds out of his toilet and liking it.

    • Re:It's very easy to be smart in hindsight (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Friday June 13, 2003 @11:33PM (#6197400) Homepage Journal
      "These gamespy people are pretty smarmy. They make it look like they are true business experts and were more or less able to tell the future. "

      I know what you mean. I'm a little surprised they felt that the GBA shoudln't have been launched without a light. They obviously don't understand that Sega, Atari, and NEC all learned lessons about that. All four systems had backlights (Sega had two, the Game Gear and Nomad), and all of them ate 6 AA's like they were candy. They also cost a good hunk of cash each. Game Gears ran $160. Lynx was $180. The Turbo Express was... what, $400 I think? (That was a niche item, though) And the Nomad was launched at $200.

      My point? The GBA, as it stood, ran for $99 when it was launched. It only takes two AA batteries and it lasts for ages on it. Yes, the screen was the weak part. Nobody's arguing that. However, What if Nintendo had changed that? What would the rechargable battery plus the backlit screen have run if it had launched back in 2001? How many people would have paid $150ish for it?

      Yes, it would have been nice if Nintendo had launched the SP and skipped the original GBA. I doubt that many people would have paid the extra price for it. If sales weren't good, you can bet that the game selection that makes everybody glad to have a GBA would have suffered.

      I wouldn't consider that one of the 25 bad moments in gaming history, especially when there are plenty of other unsuccessful portable gaming systems that sported dumb designs.

      • I can't believe the non-backlit GBA sold so well.

        When I heard the GBA was coming out I was ready to buy it. I was thinking WOW, all these great SNES games portable (I never copuld afford a SNES). Then the reviews rolled in. Barly playable on a bus, unplayable on a subway. I tried one in a store and it was awful.

        Anyway the SP came out and I was happy, but $99 dollors was my price point, and probably a lot of peoples. $100 just seems too high (sad yet true, I am a sucker). I do wish the GBA had six bu
      • My point? The GBA, as it stood, ran for $99 when it was launched. It only takes two AA batteries and it lasts for ages on it.

        I think battery life was (one of) Nintendo's main concern with the GBA. However, the technology for white LED's should have been well known to them, and I don't understand why they didn't end up using it... it would mean a relatively small increase in price, possibly a slightly larger product, and have maybe a few hours less battery life. I think that's a small price for a better sc

        • Re:It's very easy to be smart in hindsight (Score:4, Interesting)

          by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Saturday June 14, 2003 @03:37AM (#6198089) Homepage Journal
          ". The only possible reason I can think of that they might decide not to do this was because they thought it would make the machine too complicated."

          Actually, I think it had to do more with the little room they had for them. As it is, people find the unit too small. Gotta admit, tho, it's damn mobile. I think Nintendo's the only company that's ever made a true pocket-sized portable system. I haven't messed with a GP32 or Neo Geo pocket before... More buttons would have been nice, but I'd want a bigger system if they did that.

          One other possibilty comes to mind, which touches on your point: Nintendo's lately been focusing on making games more direct. The Game Cube is a good example. It has a bunch of buttons, but it's got that big red A button smack in the middle. Zelda, for example, stopped using a jump button back in Ocarina of Time. Why make the user jump in an adventure game? Just have the system know where to jump. Mario Sunshine was all about jumping, and that's what the A button did. The rest were secondary functions.

          I don't think it's because Nintendo's assuming people are idiots, but rather because they'd rather the games be more enjoyable by demanding less from the user. That sorta make sense? Game design really affects Nintendo's controller designs. (as opposed to making a controller with a lot of buttons and hoping developers make good use of them. *cough*Jaguar*cough*)

          • "It has a bunch of buttons, but it's got that big red A button smack in the middle. "

            They definatly learned their lesson from the SNES pad. Wasn't it like only Street Fighter that actually used all those buttons? And it could be argued up until SSFII that you really didn't need the MED punch and Kick. Ditto the Samuri Showdown ports.

            But then, they do need to be available if the designer needs them.
          • It has a bunch of buttons, but it's got that big red A button smack in the middle.

            A nitpick: the A button is green. Isn't Zelda an amazing game, though?
            • "A nitpick: the A button is green. Isn't Zelda an amazing game, though?"

              Oh yeah. Duh. ehheh Pretty sad considering I have a GameCube.

              And yes, Wind Waker is awesome. I didn't enjoy Ocarina that much, but Wind Waker's really entertaining me. I like the semi 'real-world' solutions to the problems to get through the dungeon.
      • I agree with the GBA stuff so far and wanted to add another point on top. Battery life was a major point to shipping without a light, but the other major point is that Japan is a commuter country. Most people take long train rides twice a day and have little to do while on the train. This is the reason that cell phone games are so hot there. GBA is also a hot item in Japan. The original machine was made for these kinds of people who travelled in the day and needed no additional light. American can buy their
    • They're not lauging at Romero because he took a risk with Daikatana. They're laughing at him because he took 5 years and several different gaming engines to release a crappy video game.
  • In 5 years, the mass attempts at online venture by Electronic Arts will be included in at least the top 20, if not the top 10. Majestic, The Sims, canning Ultima 2...the list goes on.
  • Focusing on the Sega thing was quite odd, in my opinion. Although certainly a blunder, they didn't even mention some of their really bad business decisions:

    * Buying what's-their-face, the graphics board manufacturer, in order to gain market share. A neat idea, except when you consider that requires moving from a high-margin business to a low-margin one, and the company didn't even have the OEM presence required to pull it off.

    * Thier insistence on focusing on 3D-only chipsets, rather than buckling dow

    • remember that Gamespy was focusing on dumb moments in gaming history, not dumb moments in graphic card manufacturer history.

      since Sega is involved, it becomes directly related to gaming.

      however I do think that Glide should get a mention as well, because of it's proprietary nature. Both OpenGL and DirectX are not locked into any graphic mfg chipset.

      • Actually, Glide was a very good thing for them at the time. DirectX was a horrible pig, and OpenGL was only vaguely supported on most consumer boards.

        I added Glide support to the engine I was building, and the game ran significantly better on a 3DFX card than any other because of it. (And yes, I'm an actual game programmer working for an actual game company. Not some college kid who has an opinion because they read it on John Carmack's .plan file.)

        Sure, it would be stupid nowadays. But back then (cir

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