Video Game Trends In 2008 81
Gamasutra is running a feature looking at some of the most important trends that have cropped up or become popular over last year in the gaming industry. Gamers' outrage over the DRM controversy built up a great deal of steam over the past year, and will likely remain strong in 2009. This year also saw downloadable content being used for new and varied purposes, and many developers are banking more heavily on user-generated content, as in LittleBigPlanet. They point out the increase in retro and neo-retro gaming after the success of Mega Man 9 and anticipation for the new Bionic Commando. What trends do you expect to see more of in the next year?
Eh (Score:2, Interesting)
The video game industry lost me a while ago... all I play now is old SNES games (emulated, of course), Guitar Hero, and a few open-source strategy games.
Lower prices on the consoles does a lot for me. 400 bucks is hard to justify for an entertainment, when that's a semester's worth of books... :\
50 bucks is a lot easier to justify.
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No, for me, a while is as far back as I can remember >.
Which, unfortunately, isn't that damn long :( Usually 1-2 years tops anymore :(
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Re:Eh (Score:5, Funny)
The video game industry lost me a while ago...
Ah yes. The day the videogame industry lost Mewshi_nya's buisness was a dark day indeed. They still call it "The saddest monday ever." Miyamoto wrote on twitter that day "Today I let down Mewshi, had to up the prozac dosage :-(".
I personally wept for hours upon hearing the news.
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My PS2 was $250 new when I bought it 7 years ago and I still use it often to this day. Factor in the thousands of hours on the PS2 I have playing across those 7 years and you have an extremely cheap dollar per hour cost ratio for entertainment.
Do you go to restaurants? Do you go out to the movies? Do you buy music CDs?
Two $30 meals might satisfy you for four hours at most, but a $40-60 video game, might take up anywhere from 30 to 1000 hours of your time. Which is actually cheaper if you weigh the cost and
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Two $30 meals might satisfy you for four hours at most, but a $40-60 video game, might take up anywhere from 30 to 1000 hours of your time
The movies? You spend $10 on that ticket for a three hour film? Those music CDs? You'd have to listen to them an awful lot to get the same hourly value out of a CD than you would get out of a video game.
Yet, the purchase of cinema tickets, going out to eat and a music CD could be the most memorable experience you have for a lifetime.
Video games (and PC games) are still one of the best bangs for your buck in terms of entertainment. People will complain about the price of consoles until they die and come back as zombies but it's a one time purchase and it's more like an investment.
The best bang for your buck when it comes to entertainment will always depend on the consumer. The price of some consoles are too high just like the price consumer grade petroleum. Most people would rather wait until the demand for the product drops thus lowering the price of the product than purchasing the product at the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
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I'm going to examine your post completely based just on your username and user id.
Your id is really high, I can't accurately estimate when you joined, but it must have been recently, so thus you consciously chose your username recently.
Now about your username, it's a combination of three words: mew, shi, and nya. I'm guessing here, but mew is probably Mew, the 151st Pokemon, shi is probably the last syllable of Yoshi, and nya is how cats "mew" in Japanese, and also Meowth's (another Pokemon) basic sound on
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Nope, actually, I'm known as mewshi on IRC because of a weird thing we were doing in a channel one day, where we were adding -shi to words. I said "mew" because it was a channel for, of all things, catgirls, so it came out "mewshi". the "nya" bit is just because I think I registered an account as "mewshi" once... so I couldn't re-register.
I had an old account, but got tired of always having "excellent" karma ^-^'
netcraft confirms it: (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft was wise to do a console. PC gaming was the largest source of MS apologists, next to business users (but more militant).
But PC gaming is dieing because of factors like DRM schemes, insane requirements and costs, laptop popularity, and Vista.
2008 was the year that built the coffin, 2009 will probably nail it shut. Linux for the PC, games for the console, mac for the spoiled Emo kids.
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"Linux for the PC" - Yep...2009...the year of Linux on the desktop. Indeedy.
In other words, the same as was predicted for 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, ...? ;)
Re:netcraft confirms it: (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, those 11 million WoW players don't count. In THE YEAR 2009!!!1 they'll all use WINE to play WoW in Ubuntu :rollseyes:
The Orange Box sold very well [ign.com] on the PC, according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, surpassing 360 sales. I'm sure Valve wishes they never wasted money on that whole Steam thing; it's clearly going nowhere...
And I'm sure StarCraft II and Diablo 3 will flop. Blizzard may as well throw in the towel.
Someone better tell Stardock that making PC games is a bad idea.
I also heard that Dawn of War II and Empire Total War are being canceled and removed from Steam in anticipation of the great Linux migration of '09.
FYI: PC games would cease being made if they were unprofitable.
But I agree: idiotic DRM needs to go and publishers need to stop blaming piracy for their inability to make good games. I own a 360, Wii, and gaming PC (that dual-boots Ubuntu) and have plenty of great games for each platform. You're missing out if you write-off PC gaming.
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The Orange Box sold very well on the PC, according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, surpassing 360 sales.
Wow! 360 sales! That's particularly amazing, since there's only a world market for five computers.
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Funny this is that im using wine and ubuntu to play wow.... and it graphicaly lags less than same hardware with a normal XP.... maybe i should try tinyXP...
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Yeah, those 11 million WoW players don't count. In THE YEAR 2009!!!1 they'll all use WINE to play WoW in Ubuntu :rollseyes:
You do know that WoW is available for OSX, right? Obviously, there are not 11 million WoW players that play on a Mac, but your claim that there are 11 million WoW players that play on a Windows OS is flawed.
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But I agree: idiotic DRM needs to go and publishers need to stop blaming piracy for their inability to make good games. I own a 360, Wii, and gaming PC (that dual-boots Ubuntu) and have plenty of great games for each platform. You're missing out if you write-off PC gaming.
Idiotic pirates and whiny crybabies need to stop blaming publishers for introducing DRM as though it wasn't in retaliation to a frustratingly high level of piracy of their games. And before the inevitably obvious response, the fact that th
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The modern games industry came about because of the breakaway success of games like Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, and other massive shareware hits.
None of those games had DRM or copy protection of any kind, yet managed to sell millions of copies in a much smaller market than today.
What's different now from then?
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Games seem to be running towards short-and-crappy on consoles. Desktops do seem to be struggling all round, off the top of my head I can only think of 2 major releases to exclusively use this hardware: Spore, which sucked, and the WoW expansion, which isn't really a new game.
But then I prefer older games on my PC, which have stood the test of time and have been shown to be winners. I like to battle the game itself, and not some foul-mouthed 12 year old who kicks my butt by default 'cos his mom uses the Xbox
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Spore, which sucked,
I've been playing spore fore about ten hours now (which is more than I've spent in a video game since Quake 3 Arena) and I've had a good time. I don't understand why people say Spore sucks when I've watched my friends playing WoW, and I think WoW is lame. (I've played 9Dragons so I'm not totally ignorant to the whole level your guy up to get a new special attack, skill, spell, item or whatever scenario.)
Spore might not be as good as Mario64, or Portal, but I don't think it sucks.
Re:netcraft confirms it: (Score:5, Interesting)
If you've played it for 10 hours you've seen the whole game, it literally has nothing else to offer you.
This is contrary to what was communicated (and subsequently overhyped) where spore would feature far deeper gameplay. In earlier version there weren't stats per se for your creature but rather function followed form. The actual shape and layout of your creature determined it's attributes. This got gut to a fairly superficial equipment-esque system.
I think it's going a bit far to say Spore sucked but it certainly wasn't the revolutionary experience that could have been.
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I would say that compared to Spore's hype, it definitely sucked. Viewed just as a standalone game, it is incredibly mediocre. I have a review on my site if anyone is interested.
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While 9 Dragons is superficially a similar game to WoW it has all the bad things about MMOs and none of the good things. Comparing the two is like comparing Doom with Extreme Painbrawl [wikipedia.org].
Re:netcraft confirms it: (Score:4, Insightful)
But PC gaming is dieing because of factors like DRM schemes
Yeah, that sucks. That's why I support games like Sins of a Solar Empire, which don't do that BS. Insane requirements and costs: maybe if you want.
insane requirements and costs
Uh, if you have a compulsive need to run games at maximum settings, maybe. I get by just fine on hardware that isn't bleeding-edge, you can too.
laptop popularity
Huh? What exactly does this have to do with gaming, especially considering desktops still far outnumber laptops?
and Vista.
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and throw down the BS flag here. Your intentions may be good, but you are at the least woefully misinformed. I game on Vista, and it's fine. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or has been lied to.
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Actually there seems to be a trend with the 64 bit vista ultimate being better then the 32 bit vista ultimate. Even with 3GB of RAM in both.
I know a few people with 32 bit vista ultimate laptops who had disk I/O issues. They switched to 64 bit vista ultimate on the exact same hardware and no issues.
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insane requirements and costs
Uh, if you have a compulsive need to run games at maximum settings, maybe. I get by just fine on hardware that isn't bleeding-edge, you can too.
My laptop was 2k dollars 3 years ago. It barely runs Team Fortress 2 at all.
laptop popularity
Huh? What exactly does this have to do with gaming, especially considering desktops still far outnumber laptops?
Laptops outsell desktops, and are generally incapable of proper gaming. See my exmple above. The gaming companies seem to be target
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Why would you create an optimized gaming rig on anything other than XP? That perception just isn't good for pushing the future of gaming.
Yeah! Who needs more than 3.25GB of RAM? Or latest DirectX?
Games in Vista (provided you have a relatively new rig and at the very least 2GB of RAM) run VERY smooth. In fact, Vista with DirectX10 outperforms XP with DirectX9 in many NEW games (fps wise).
Of course, if the question is "could Vista have been much better that it is?" the answer is "hell, yes!". But for new games, which already require a powerful rig, Vista is fine.
I also think that making DirectX 10 Vista only (yes, I know there are unofficial o
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When you have articles like this one [hardocp.com] floating around, vista takes a perception hit. The kinds of hardcore PC gamers who form the financial base of this hobby (and spend an extra 200 dollars for a few extra FPS) would look at the 20% speed penalty and freak out. We're talking about the kind of people who would plunk down an extra 100 dollars for a mouse with 2,000 DPI in order to gain a slight edge. Any performance numbers that put XP above Vista makes it the gaming rig of choice.
DX 10 as Vista only is ba
HardOCP (Score:2)
I think his point stands.
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I play TF2 on a desktop I built almost seven years ago. Besides adding another stick of RAM (1GB now!) and plopping in a used Radeon 9800 Pro, it hasn't changed.
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Don't lie, Vista is a hog for unnecessary reasons. I'm upgrading the RAM on the PC as we speak so hopefully that problem goes away. It sucks when you see that your PC needs 1GB extra RAM on the sole fact that you run Vista over a different OS. It is not a big problem to many people who frequent this site but it IS a problem to more casual players!
First of all, I'm not lying. I do game on Vista, and have no issues with it whatsoever.
Besides, anyone gaming on their PC is probably willing to spend the $30 or $40 for a memory upgrade, so I don't think it's fair to call that a barrier of any significance.
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About all I know for my part is, as long as I am working on a PC, use a PC and have a PC in my house, I will want a game to play on it.
Plus, consoles such as the Xbox 360 continues to lack a straightforward way to upgrade its graphics card, processor, memory, and run two screens with a browser on one side, and a game on the other. (I like to read while I respawn, what can I say?)
And once you can do all those things, why not just call it a computer that hooks up to your TV and uses a controller instead of mo
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One of the great things about consoles (and one of the reasons I game almost exclusively on my Xbox360 now, when 5 years ago I refused to even consider a console) is that everybody has the same hardware. Except the TV of course.
and run two screens with a browser on one side, and a game on the other.
I always have my laptop on my table next to my couch while I'm gaming.
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Well, one of the issues with the same hardware argument is that, if there is buggy hardware, and everyone gets it, you get for example, what we had with the red ring of death plague a few years back.
With PCs and Laptops you have something that at least helps mitigate possibly crippling quality issues. Where as with an Xbox360, generally, it was made under one brand. If that console has some technical or quality issue, well, everyone was getting it. With say, a pre-built laptop or desktop, you could mitigate
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With say, a pre-built laptop or desktop, you could mitigate the chances of widespread hardware failures because if you got it from Dell, HP, Toshiba or what ever brand you prefer, chances are they aren't getting their parts from the same sources.
Bad Capacitors [slashdot.org]
Re:netcraft confirms it: (Score:4, Insightful)
PC gaming is dieing because of factors like DRM schemes
You have this point exactly backwards. Game developers are moving to consoles precisely because those consoles offer stronger DRM.
Consoles are designed to prohibit the user from running any code not signed by Sony or MS. That's more onerous DRM than anything which exists in PC-space. Publishers perceive this as a strength, because it makes console games more complicated to "pirate."
If anything, gamers and publishers are running toward DRM schemes, not away from them.
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The difference with console DRM is that it's transparent. I'm not saying that makes it more right, of course, but it makes it far more bearable.
I don't even think about DRM on my console but I'm afraid to put MUSIC CDs in a Windows computer. That says something.
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Another problem with a shift to the console that's been getting a lot of press lately is the issue of used game sales.
While the problem of intrusive and or disruptive DRMs leaves players when they shift to the console, developers are being forced to take greater notice of the fact that consoles see a LOT of used game sales, which sees no profit what so ever going to them. Its never been uncommon for people to just wait for a game to go onto the used rack and get it rather than get it new. [it just requires
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I don't believe the GP was complaining about how DRM doesn't work on the PC but rather that it is invasive and alienates users in a way that console DRM does not.
Adventure games (Score:2)
2008 was a great year for adventure gamers, with lots of new titles coming out. This will continue in the next year. We will see the return of Chris Jones and Aaron Conners to the adventure genre with their new game Three Cards to Midnight. Also Jane Jensen will finally return to the scene with her new game Gray Matter. We will also see more episodal series emerging.
Hmm... 2008 (Score:5, Interesting)
A few observations:
* All three major consoles are competitive. This is good news, as a massively dominant player tends to get complacent (see Sony/PS2)
* Markets continue to open up. Now, smaller, casual, quirky, and retro games are available on all platforms, not just the PC.
* Despite predictions of doom, the PC remains strong in the online gaming (MMO and FPS) and casual markets.
* Hardcore PC games no longer hold the dominant market position, but it's hyperbole to say it's dead. Fewer PC games from big publishers leaves more room for smaller developers.
* Linux still isn't a popular gaming platform, but still enjoys support (directly or indirectly) from some developers.
* Most games are still DirectX9/10 switchable (and will be for years to come), thanks to a bone-headed move by MS to limit DX10 to Vista.
* Co-operative gaming seems to be having something of a resurgence. I really missed co-op gaming from my Doom II days. Gears of War II reminded me of the fun that can be had in a co-op game with a friend.
Predictions for 2009?
* Sony@Home will flop, but Playstation 3 sales will still likely eat away at Microsoft's lead.
* Playstation 2 sales and games will finally start to fall off more seriously near the end of the year.
* The Xbox will still dominate among console games with an online component of any sort.
* The Wii will remain strong, but sales will probably sag just a bit relative to the other two consoles.
* More developers will finally start figuring out how to make games that take good advantage of the Wii's controllers.
* Online gaming and interactivity will be the topic of discussion in the press, as a slew of new MMOs are released or are close to release by 2010.
* More PC games than ever will be reliant on some online component (some MMOs, some with an integrated online component), in order to combat the effects illegal copying.
* Details will be leaked about Microsoft's next console, codenamed "NoMoreScrewupsDamnit"
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Interesting predictions, which are mostly plausible. As making predictions is always a fun game to play here are a few of my own, broken down by platform...
First, the PC:
* The relatively long lead time on game development will see one or two big PC releases in the back half of the year whose system spec requirements wipe away the upper limit set by Crysis. These games will turn out to be expensive flops (nobody will be buying top-end PCs) and potentially fatal for the companies responsible.
* Pretty much eve
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Steam is actually close to doing this already. If you ignore the games that are repackaged for Steam (games like Bioshock, Fallout 3) but focus only on the made-for-Steam games, they all have achievements (well, those released after Achievements wer
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Technically right on the second point, although I understand that Polyphony is now clenched rather less tightly to the Sony bosom than it has been at the time.
Not necessarily right at all on the first point. The cost of development depends more upon the game in question than on the platform. Developing something like Crysis on the PC, where the engine is built specifically for the game and where the technology is at the absolute bleeding edge will cost more than developing a PS3 or 360 game which uses estab
Trends 2009 (Score:5, Insightful)
More DRM, more publishers strong arming the used games market.
More angry comsumers switching to consoles as a result.
Online registrations for console games because they are sold used more than PC games.
More buggy releases for consoles, justified with downloadable content (patches) once you have registered online (see above sentence).
Once consoles really catch on, they will experience the same hardships as PC gaming.
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More DRM, more publishers strong arming the used games market.
More angry comsumers switching to consoles as a result.
I've been wondering for a while what portion of gamers actually care about DRM even in the most draconian forms. The consensus on /. seems to be that any DRM is a boycottable offense. The consensus on gamefaqs on the other hand seems to be "n00b! LOL!"
I get the sense that most of the migration to consoles is driven by not knowing how to use a computer/laziness and fewer games being released on the PC, not anything so high minded as getting fed up with DRM.
Online registrations for console games because they are sold used more than PC games.
More buggy releases for consoles, justified with downloadable content (patches) once you have registered online (see above sentence).
Once consoles really catch on, they will experience the same hardships as PC gaming.
Sure, and I think once cars really catch on, they
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I've been wondering for a while what portion of gamers actually care about DRM even in the most draconian forms. The consensus on /. seems to be that any DRM is a boycottable offense. The consensus on gamefaqs on the other hand seems to be "n00b! LOL!"
That part made me wanna mod you up. I truly believe that anyone on /. who believes DRM will be the downfall of the industry are failing to realize just how many gamers don't give a rats ass about those couple of CPU cycles consumed by Starforce.
Sure, and I think once cars really catch on, they'll start experiencing some of the problems horse and buggies have!
That part made me wanna mod you down. WTF.
A horse is an animal = living being, requiring care, subject to illness, in possesion of some degree of personality, at it's core functioning because nature made it, and some scientists would sorta like to be able to replica
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That part made me wanna mod you down. WTF...Point being - horses and cars have nothing in common (except one particular use).
You must be new here, it's essential that you use a car metaphor.
My point was that consoles are already dominant over computers when it comes to videogames, just as cars are already dominant over horses when it comes to infrastructure.
I say it's arguable whether or not consoles are already starting to experience the same problems, but what is not arguable is that "Once consoles really catch on, they will experience the same hardships as PC gaming" is at least 5 years too late.
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I've been wondering for a while what portion of gamers actually care about DRM even in the most draconian forms.
Probably a minority but it doesn't make the concerns invalid. Some of more notorious forms of DRM goes beyond merely checking a disc in the drive. It shouldn't be paranoia if one is moved to consider the full extent to what the DRM system does on one's computer. Issues about DRM extend to consumer rights; this encumbrance shouldn't brushed off.
I get the sense that most of the migration to consoles is driven by not knowing how to use a computer/laziness and fewer games being released on the PC, not anything so high minded as getting fed up with DRM.
It is not a lack of ability or "laziness" when people prefer a specialized machine to provide interactive entertainment. People who want to use separate devices
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I didn't say they were. I myself play games on consoles because I don't want to mess around with computer settings to relax. A lot of idiots on /. would call that laziness though.
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It is not a lack of ability or "laziness" when people prefer a specialized machine to provide interactive entertainment.
Yeah, actually it usually is.
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I'm one of the people who moved to console partly due to DRM. Not due to any high-minded ideological reason, but simply because the locked-down nature of consoles mean that the DRM system is standardized and designed for. There's no super-duper untested new version that might have incompatibilities with something else, and even if it did the only job of my 360 is to play games.
On Windows, there's no guarantee that the latest Starforce variant isn't going to have a fight with the latest SecuROM variant over
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While I completely agree that DRM is essentially a non-issue in the world of "OMG VDO GAMEZ", I think that there are some extremely ligitimate and obvious reasons that many are switching to consoles:
- Price (of upgrades, upkeep, innitial increase of getting a "gaming PC")
- Compatibility
- Offline multiplayer / party gaming
- Higher attition to single-player gaming on consoles
- Power of Consoles (being much closer to PCs than they were a few years ago)
- Online console games / servies
The reality is, most of the
Will 2009 be the turning point? (Score:2)
A game can be purchased much before it's released. Based on videos made without a single in-game image, previews and interviews with the designers, people are ready to spend money on a still non existing game.
Will 2009 see the turning point between "Pay to be sure to have your copy as soon as it's out and get some little extra" and "Pay so the game is made"?
I would advance money on many games like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Anything that ends in (Total War), etc.
Maybe not everyone can do it at first, just as no
Disagree on the user generated content (Score:2)
"and many developers are banking more heavily on user-generated content, as in LittleBigPlanet."
I understand LittleBigPlanet is very good but I do not see how one game defines it as a trend. Quake series, Half-Life series even Farcry series on consoles have had strong support for user generated content so it really doesn't seem to be something new, nor does one or two games make it a specific trend when one or two games per year realistically seems to be the norm for this type of thing.
I'm not even convince
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No, the Quake games didn't on the consoles, I was talking generally.
The original Farcry, Farcry 2 and one or two other games have on the consoles. Games like Halo offer machinima content and such too although that's not gameplay content of course!
Even with consoles only the rate of games released with support for user generated content hasn't grown in 2008 over any other year, this is even more prominent when you factor in other platforms. That's why I'm not sure it can reasonably be called a trend for 2008
Retrogaming (Score:2)
I'm hopeful retrogaming's popularity will continue to increase. There's something more in retrogaming than just nostalgia, something that could be also linked to the tremendous success of the Nintendo DS. It's the simplicity, the attractiveness and efficiency of straightforward 2D gameplay with clear 2D graphics. The 360 and the PS3 haven't been unanimously adopted so far; it's because technological achievement isn't everything, people don't buy new games like they buy new computers, based on the performanc
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Retrogaming has reemerged simply due to the fact that those games weren't sold solely on mind blowing graphics and sound... the games had STAND ON THEIR OWN. Gameplay, challenge and replay value were paramount. When you had less than a megabyte (sometimes as low as 4 kilobytes) to wedge your game into, visuals and sound often took a back seat. Hell, one of my favorite games is Star Trek for the 2600 where the Enterprise is nothing more than the letters O and I next to each other, but the game is challenging
Bungie Sets Examples (Score:2)
One thing I think is missing from the discussion is what Bungie is doing to console gaming. There are a couple features in Halo 3 that used to be reserved for PC gamers. The ability to edit maps, take screeen captures, and save and review gameplay films is pretty huge in my opinion. Plus their integration with their website for these features is great. Early next year, they will launch their own version of "YouTube" where in game video is automatically uploaded to the user's channel and converted to usa
steam? (Score:1)