2007's Ten Biggest Gaming Letdowns 232
Game|Life offers up an anti-top-ten list, noting the three blog authors' biggest disappointments from 2007. Chris Kohler's biggest letdown echoes my own feelings on this topic: "No LittleBigPlanet. PlayStation 3's software library got significantly better this holiday, but there's no killer app. I honestly don't know if LittleBigPlanet would have been one. But I think it's going to be mine. It's going to be the thing that glues me to PlayStation 3... when it ships. I was all ready to start building worlds and sharing them with my friends and generally start being a jackass by now, but it won't happen until next year -- late next year, if you believe the rumors. I hope they're not true. And I do hope LittleBigPlanet sets the planet on fire when it releases." Any gaming 'event' this year an epic fail for you?
My biggest let down of 2007 (Score:3, Interesting)
Without compare, the biggest gaming letdown of 2007.
Re:My biggest let down of 2007 (Score:4, Insightful)
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Another big let down (Score:5, Funny)
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*AKAImBatman envisions FredFredrickson's Freak list growing at hundreds of links per second, while hackers trace back his IP address and "put him out of business".
Personally? (Score:5, Funny)
I still haven't managed to beat VI. You know, that console game where the object of the game is to edit a file and then quit? That's a really hard one, and I'm so disappointed that I got so close, but didn't finish it this year. Ah well, there's always 2008.
Re:Personally? (Score:5, Funny)
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When I say, "even more cheats," what I mean is relative to ed, the true original version. vi is like wallhacking.
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Some disappointments (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, my disappointments:
1) Smash Bros Brawl being delayed until next year. Mr. Iwata personally told me that he was hoping to make this game a release title for the "Revolution" (this was in 2005). We're now more than a year overdue, and for something like Smash that really doesn't imply 6.5 solid years of development time. They were simply slow to start on it.
2) Lack of availability of the Wii. I'm not used to having to put so much work into acquiring a $250 piece of technology one year after its initial release; my mornings are usually quite busy. As a result I still don't have one.
3) FFXII: Revenant Wings (DS). I expected much better than what it turned out to be. Even looking at videos of the game on IGN didn't quite get across the abysmal pacing and unbelievable lack of variety in this game. Its supposed depth doesn't amount to anything in practice.
4) Mario 3v3 Hoops (DS). I think this came out in 2007. If not then nevermind. Anyway this game is a giant turd.
5) ArenaNet slowly turning Guild Wars into a grindfest. The one MMORPG that let me play PVE at my leisure and not "fall behind" decided that it's a much better idea to just go into WoW me-too mode rather than stick with the original tenet of skill over time played. The Eye of the North expansion released this year completed the transformation.
6) Bioware going to EA, Blizzard merging with Activision. Let's just say that these *cannot possibly be good things* considering Bioware and Blizzard haven't exactly been in need of an improvement in any way. (Well, Blizzard graphically perhaps but Activision doesn't help there.)
7) Forza Motorsport 2. Great racing engine, cool graphics, good customization, good online mode. But... what is with no music during races? Or having to play your ass off to unlock even the ability to *purchase* a lot of the cars? This isn't supposed to be a 100-hour RPG, it's a freaking racing game. Nobody wants to spend days driving cars they don't like to get at cars they do; there's no storyline or change in gameplay to keep you interested in the meantime. Seems the developers forgot they were making a *game* rather than a training sim for racing teams to study tracks.
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3) FFXII: Revenant Wings (DS). I expected much better than what it turned out to be. Even looking at videos of the game on IGN didn't quite get across the abysmal pacing and unbelievable lack of variety in this game. Its supposed depth doesn't amount to anything in practice.
When Square followed up to FFX with FFX-2, they set the par for all other main Final Fantasy game spinoffs. I don't think it was much of a surprise, personally.
:)
It's a damn good thing they start fresh with each sequel of the main franchise, is all I'm saying.
Re:Some disappointments (Score:5, Interesting)
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I'd rather have a great game late than a shitty game early. Every game you mentioned after this point could have been better if it was delayed longer. Delays are a good t
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Re:Some disappointments (Score:5, Informative)
The problem with SSB Brawl is Iwata made a promise he couldn't possibly deliver. Iwata publicly announced a SSB game as a Wii launch title in late '05, THEN went to the designer of the previous games in the series and asked him to make the game. The guy had left Nintendo a few years prior. So, Nintendo had 1 year to get the guy to agree to make the game, get a dev team for him to work with, and create the game. Once this became public knowledge, it was pretty clear it wasn't going to be a launch game. In the end, it took them a little over two years to put it together, assuming no further delays.
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I'd actually recommend against getting GT3 or GT4, or at least get them along with FM2.
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Bioware and Blizzard haven't exactly been in need of an improvement in any way. (Well, Blizzard graphically perhaps but Activision doesn't help there.)
Blizzard chooses to make games that can run well on your average PC that's been around for a few years. Blizzard has "our games are fucking fun" going for it, they don't need to also have the "give your fancy new hardware a workout!" selling point. And WoW STILL looks beautiful. They don't need a change a thing there either.
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Don't make excuses when there really aren't any to make. You can cater to a broad range of hardware if you put in the effort. Blizzard doesn't *need* to from a business perspective, but I wouldn't be bothered if they tried.
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A number of my friends are regretting the purchase of the Wii because of this reason, wishing they'd bought a 360 instead.
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2) Lack of availability of the Wii. I'm not used to having to put so much work into acquiring a $250 piece of technology one year after its initial release; my mornings are usually quite busy. As a result I still don't have one.
Okay, so why not just buy a Wii from one of your friends who apparently doesn't want one anymore and would love the $250 to put toward a 360?
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On Super Smash Brothers... well... I can't claim to have be bouncing off the walls in anticipation of this game. That said, it highlights the biggest weakness of the Wii and, ultimately, the reason why I think its momentum is now going to ebb away.
The games just aren't there.
Nintendo are doing their usual trick of putting out one or two of the
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It's a setup that clearly works ok for some pe
The Biggest Disappointment (Score:5, Funny)
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Assassin's Creed (Score:5, Insightful)
The voice acting is
But seriously, I was looking forward to being immersed in the role of an assassin stalking his target patiently, taking just the right moment to strike, then blazing a bloody trail out of town. But nope, I get to listen to "Thief! I'll have your hand for that!" over and over and over and over and over again until I get sick of it and decide to have my two-dozenth very high-profile swordfight in the middle of the street -- which the guards will mercifully forget all about when I walk away for a couple minutes to climb the next Generic View Point Tower.
Talk about a wasted opportunity.
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It'd be nice if doing that kind of thing had an impact on the difficulty of the game over time (ie, you got rewarded with easier sneaking and blending because you weren't going on a rampage).
Instead, I got to spend 3 days honing my counter-kill timing (btw, those are really challenging if you limit yourself to using the hidden b
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More of a feedback system. Of course, this needs to be carefully balanced, and should be com
Wii (Score:2, Insightful)
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(my favorite wii games, right now, are wii sports, wii play, sonic, mario, and nights. just got mario and nights, a
Halo 3? Disappointing? (Score:4, Insightful)
All of the Halo games have had wicked awesome explosions, sure. But they also have a deeply engrossing storyline, fantastic multiplayer, good AI, and unsurpassed world physics. Halo 3 is the best game in the series and was my favorite shooter (and many other people's) of the year. By no stretch of the imagination was it a bad game. Star Wars is full of light sabers and lasers - but obviously, if you look at it more closely, there's an intricate storyline with fantastic characters (in Episodes 4-6).
Sure, BioShock and Portal are arguably better games than Halo 3 but they didn't sell nearly as well. The reason? Exposure. Most people haven't even heard of Portal. There certainly aren't Portal trading cards, helmets, action figures, and TV commercials.
For christ's sake, you can't even BUY Portal on a console -- at most, an hour long game -- without buying a $60 package that includes another game I've already beaten (Half Life 2) and two expansion packs I don't want. If Joey asks for Portal for Christmas, his mom won't be able to find it in a store.
Sales figures are a result of many other forces besides the quality of the game itself, and that's reality. Microsoft went to bat for Halo 3 with their pocketbook, executed very well, and they reaped the rewards from it. BioShock and Portal did not pony up, and since most people don't know what they are, they aren't purchased at nearly the same rate. It has nothing to do with the average American only liking "wicked awesome explosions."
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Multiplayer games also tend to generate bigg
What About The Wii Lineup? (Score:2, Interesting)
The Wii's the only next-gen console my wife and I own, and while we've played a lot of the tennis game, some Zelda, some of the first Rabbids game but no other titles have really grabbed our interest. I bought one of those 'maze in the air' games that came out early on, lent it to a friend and haven't cared to ask for it back.
The lineup (outside Nintendo) seems pretty weak, but I've not paid a lot of attention lately.
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Zack & Wiki is great, if you can get past the style/title. Very, very solid puzzle/adventure game. Joins Ico, Okami, and a bunch of other titles in selling abysmally but being really damn good.
Trauma Center: New Blood, surgery sim. Remarkably fun for what it is and the co-op is a blast.
Guitar Hero 3. The Wii guitar is the best guitar. No one seems to stock the thing though(not that I would've bought it, since I
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Wither Spore? (Score:5, Insightful)
Years passed.
Still no Spore! It's an ambitious game, yes, but once you hit the third or fourth year of development, it starts seeming like it'll never get here. Games with extremely long dev times have a history of disappointing. I reckon "No Spore This Year" should be on the list as a disappointment of 2007.
Wither Spore?
Re:Wither Spore? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I present to you: Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. Granted both games were made by Blizzard. However both of them, especially Warcraft 3, were delayed quite a while and still turned out to be blockbusters.
Sometimes it's good to let the developer release a game "When it's done". I'm surprised EA, the unoriginal, limited-risk cash-raker that it is is even letting Will Wright take is time with it rather than just pushing it out at a time and
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According to Wikipedia, out of the 68 games that Bethesda has played some part in developing, publishing, or producing, only 14 of them actually appeared on an Xbox console...those 14 games include BOTH Xbox AND Xbox 360...on top of that, on just a quick skim through the list, only a handful of those games are actually FPS (and no, Oblivion was NOT an FPS. If the previous Elder Scrolls games were not considered an FPS, neither was Oblivion)
What the hell are you talking a
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Morrowind was a PC game that got ported to console. Oblivion was was a Console game ported to PC. A "port" as commonly known with PC players. And as most "Ports" it sucked in the same ways like them. The RPG part dumbed down overall with more emphasis on fights, made more lowest common denominator accessible for the "casual gamers", had simplified controls due to the lack of keyboard and mouse, horrible user interface, again due d
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On the other hand, we have the Witcher, and NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, which makes it one of the best CRPG years in a long time. Which brings us to my disappointment, mirrored nicely by this article: This was a great year for PC games, the best in a long time, but online media seems only to care about consoles.
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It's not like it's a big deal, they made their choice so they could run at framerate and get the lighting they wanted, but at least some of us could tell immediately. By the way, the reason they do this reduced framebuffer s
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Bungie could only manage to get Halo 3 to run at 640p resolution and not the minimum standard 720p for real next gen games.
No one with a lick of sense gives a flying fuck. Unless you're counting the lines, rather than playing the game, you can't tell if there are 640 lines or 720. Give me a break.
Side by side screenshots of Halo 2 and Halo 3 had gamers scratching their heads as to which one was supposed to be the next gen game.
BULLSHIT. This was true for the beta only. Playing the finished Halo 3, there's a clear improvement in graphical quality. You might want to get with the times on this one.
Bungie didn't bother to bring Halo 3 out of the dark ages of online gaming and implement dedicated servers. And Bungie because of the lack of dedicated servers Halo 3 could only handle 16 players at a time for online games. There are pc shareware games with better online setups.
Agreed 100%, but consoles aren't the place to be looking for good FPS multiplayer gaming anyways.
Nope, single player also runs only at 640p with the same last gen looking graphics.
See abo
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Are you in the same article that the rest of us are in? Or are you just a little too emotional about HALO for some reason?
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640 is not HD, sorry.
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I'm not "crying over 80P" here, I'm pointing out the fact that Halo 3 looks a lot more like "Halo 2.5" and that other games on the same system look much nicer.
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Actually, 480p is the minimum for HD. Because it's not massively different to 480i though, people usually mean 720p and up when they refer to HD resolutions. 640p is a lot closer than 480p to 720p anyway.
Disclaimer: never played any Halo game (Score:2)
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b) Isn't Deus Ex generally considered an RPG, not an FPS?
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I blame it on the increase in the cost of developing games. No one can afford to make lots of
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Go back and play them again today. You'll find they're not quite as long as you remember and as a more experienced FPS-player, you'll blow through them even quicker now than you did in the past.
People throw this 8 hour number about way too much. IIRC, that came from a playthrough on normal. Playing on Heroic will take longer (though not much longer for an experienc
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Then we'd play them again. Because they were fun. I don't remember where this whole "games must be 40 hours minimum" idea came into everyone's head.
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Realistically, no, it doesn't matter much. At this point, graphics increases don't mean much, as we're well past the point where adding graphics power lets you create game play you couldn't do before. But the Xbox 360 and PS3 are sold on the premise of HD resolution graphics. To the people who bought the systems for that reason, anythi
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In what way is Halo 3 far over on the linear side of things? What would be the vast swathe of FPSes that you would give as counter-examples? Are you talking about the way you work your way through a level?
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However, I don't agree with this comment:
but consoles aren't the place to be looking for good FPS multiplayer gaming anyways.
I think that Xbox Live really set the bar in this last gen and you can see games like Warhawk (split screen
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The people who can't see the difference but still care are idiots. I know that's not the most logical response, but it's the only way I can seem to rationalize a stance like that. In my opinion, elitism like that is nauseating. As for the 5 or 6 people who CAN see the difference, good for you. That's quite an impressive skill. However, if a lapse of 80P is enough to ruin a game for you, maybe it's more of a curse t
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Stating that the average player took 8 hours to beat each of the HL episodes to give the unfair impression that the Halo 3 campaign is as short as an episode of HL without actually having research to back it up is unfair. Maybe citing my own anecdotal evidence wasn't the best way to counter such an argument, so I'll use some real stats.
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/19/1739223 [slashdot.org]
According to these stats, the average pe
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Wait, what? How is that a "minimum standard" for "real next gen games"? You know that the Wii's maximum is 480p, right? If you consider Halo 3 to be even borderline "next gen," then you can't say Metroid Prime 3 isn't, as its single player mode blows Halo 3's away.
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And no, I won't block AC posts because sometimes ACs do in fact make insightful comments...when they aren't pasting in responses that were written months ago, that is.
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If it were purely about the hype machine, I would have modded it underrated (if it haden't been an AC, of course). But it was the same cut and paste crap that has been tossed at Slashdot readers for months, and as such, I posted a comment stating that it's point
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As far as "people with different opinions" go, reread the post a bit. The entire post is constructed in a way that smacks of paid badmouthing. If you think it is an opinion of some random person, you are far too trusting.
Re:more about "The Internet and Jade Raymond"? (Score:4, Funny)
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While they let me speak on it, I couldn't convince the higher ups to let me post that image on the homepage.
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Yes, Pol Pot committed more atrocities than the computer game industry ever will and that's even when you look at Jack Thompson's estimates. However if this didn't set you off as deliberate ironic hyperbole maybe the phrase "snacking on some babies with their friend Hitler" should flag me
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The Internet and Jade Raymond. Yeah, it's obvious she's quite an attractive woman, and when I realized she would be attached at the hip to one of the most high-profile releases of the year, I assumed there would be the usual sexist comments on the Internet, but nothing could have prepared me for the ridiculous amount of cruelty, sexism and misogyny displayed during the launch of Assassin's Creed.
I'd like to think the Internet isn't comprised almost entirely of 14-year-old misanthropes, but based on the unmentionable events surrounding that game, I could be wrong.
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First, what study have you read indicating that Xboxs released in the past year still suffer the same number of hardware malfunctions as their predecessors? I play close attention to gaming news and I haven't seen a study like this anywhere. Please tell me where you get this information so that I can be as informed as you are.
Second, Bioware was bought out. It's
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183773.html?tag=result;title;1 [gamespot.com]
Here's a quote from the article - "With Bungie no longer tied to Microsoft, many speculated on whether the developer would lend projects to consoles other than the Xbox 360. While the option remains, Bungie lead writer Frank O'Connor has said that the developer isn't going to make the move any time soon."
As for the rest of your comments, I might not agree with you 100% but I recognize that Halo, Mass Effect
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While I agree the tone of the original response was a overtly harsh, and the person's obviously frustrated with the 360 (perhaps his/her unit died on them right at Christmas time).... I still think that MS is potentially los
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Re:Xbox 360 Hardware And Software (Score:4, Interesting)
They took a billion dollar hit to their bottom line to STOP the bleeding of consoles... they admitted (in no uncertain terms) that EVERY console they sold (up to that point) was potentially destined to fail... and fail for the SAME FLAW.
20% not high? 30%? How many consoles have to go back to Microsoft (and how many times), before you admit there's a flaw in the 360 that is VERY troubling and VERY problematic for their goodwill and future as a gaming company.
The failure rate of the PS3 is infinitesimal. Google is your friend. The Wii's also a solid performer. Compared to the 360 the PS2 launch console is more reliable.
You've been nursing Bill Gates' ballsack too long to notice the facts DO support his statement... and it's NOT fanboy rhetoric when the VERY company extends the warranty for a _SPECIFIC_ failure to 3 YEARS, for FREE. That had "class action dodge" written ALL over it, chum.
AC, indeed. Sometimes your asinine insinuations really get to me.
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