Wave bye-bye to the Starcraft series...

[Mad Max RW]

...cuz it's exclusive to the console market now. Blizzard's latest incarnation of crap, Starcraft:Ghost, was announced about an hour ago. It's gonna be a 3rd person, tactical shooter, made for the PS2 and possibly XBox. If you're a fan of the PC game, you're gonna love this. You play a female ghost named Nova, who has all the super powers a ghost has. BUT, there's always a couple new and "innovative" features thrown in. Nova has the ability to move in bullet time exactly like Max Payne, AND can see through walls!! Yay! That r0XX0rZ mY b0xx0rZ! 1337!

Feel like you're gonna throw up? Yeah, me too. I expected this to happen. The Starcraft community has been waiting something like 5 years for a new game. Who the hell bought Starcraft64? Seriously. 99% of Blizzard's fanbase is PC only. They took the biggest fucking dive in gaming history. Nothing less than a stab in the back. Another one of my all time favorite franchises goes straight to hell.

[Takeshi666]

How strange, since for my knowledge most of X-box games are going to come out for PC as well. It's only about when.

And I don't even LIKE consoles.

[PumaY2K]

Well... that sux Max... but im sure that Blizzard people arent foolish... I believe they will bring another StarCraft RTS... they wont leave such a big franchise get fucked up in a 3rd person shooter and only in the consoles...

Every RTS in a console sucks... StarCraft 64, C&C 64, Allied General PS (not Real Time but strategy anyway), etc...

And although this wont be a RTS, they wont be that foolish to let Microsoft beast them with their horrible Age of Empires (I really hate those games)... or Westwood and their marvelous (you can notice that i really like C&C games) Command & Conquer games... such as Red Alert 2...

[PumaY2K]

Takeshi666:

How strange, since for my knowledge most of X-box games are going to come out for PC as well. It's only about when.

And I don't even LIKE consoles.

I believe that too... but thats why the GameCube rocks ... most games made for the Cube are exlusive to that console... and many others not but what the hell...

[Mad Max RW]

More bad news. According to leaked information from within Blizzard, by 2006 all their games will focus primarily on consoles. Even if they start a Starcraft 2 right now, it will take a few years to finish.

After 2004, most game companies will devote their energy to console-only products. Makes sense in a business point of view. It costs less money, and they'll make a greater profit. Less bugs, and no pre-release support. That's the way things are going, believe it or not.

Although, smaller independent companies will continue developing software for the PC and Mac. It's like we're going back to the way things were in the late 80's. All the big companies make only video games, and virtually unknown companies make the computer games. Maybe a cycle is being created within the industry?

[ September 21, 2002: Message edited by: Mad Max RW ]

[The_Devils_Avocado]

im not a console hater or anything (got a ps2, gettin other two), but being as i just forked out £1500 for a new pc that im gettin on monday this news kinda pisses me off. i think that something should be done to try and keep the developers on pc's too. not to mention i love tinkering with games that are editable

[Slayer]

the gaycube sucks..... it is a very powerful machine, but i don't see any real quantity of good games coming out for it..the only thing i'd want if for right now is resident evil and that's it, nintendo's older stuff had a reputation as being "kiddie"..and the gamecube is no different, they only get the occasional mature game that comes out to make it not so obvious that its for kids.. it's an awesome system if your like 7 years old...and yes it has many exclusive games and i hope it stays that way.. 80% of them blow

[The_Devils_Avocado]

indeed you are right about the kiddie factor but i dont think that it totally sucks. i like to think of them as all having some differing appeal to differing gamers (and they all relate to me because i am a no-life havin life, hardcore gamer )

[Takeshi666]

I don't care what kind of game I play, just as long as it contains blood! Blood, blood, BLOOD! MWAHAHAHA!!! urm...sorry about that one.

[CADster]

This is weird news, seeing how the end of warcraft3 shows starcraft units as low poly real time units. I guess i just assumed this was a preview of StarCraft2 units.

Its all about money (or makng the most).

I remember about 8 to 10 years ago the same thing happening .. everybody and there brother getting on the the console bandwagon. Tons of games comming out, but almost none of them new or innovating... hence the bottom fell out of the market.

I see this happening again and it will be for the better (usally after a big fall, the really new and innovatinve companies start pushing the envelope again and wa-la, the insustry is back). Of course the bean counters get back in the picture and start making games based of profit and the cycle starts over again.

Its a shame how this business works.

[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: CADster ]

[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: CADster ]

[PumaY2K]

Slayer:

the gaycube sucks..... it is a very powerful machine, but i don't see any real quantity of good games coming out for it..the only thing i'd want if for right now is resident evil and that's it, nintendo's older stuff had a reputation as being "kiddie"..and the gamecube is no different, they only get the occasional mature game that comes out to make it not so obvious that its for kids.. it's an awesome system if your like 7 years old...and yes it has many exclusive games and i hope it stays that way.. 80% of them blow

Hey!! it doesnt sucks!! (I own one... ...)... but it is preety cool... you may believe its 'kiddie' but its preety good... and not all games are kiddie... they now have a lot more different games:

Racing - Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, Burnout 2, Pro Race Driver, NASCAR Thunder 2003, Driver 3, Smuggler's Run, Rally Fusion, F-Zero, etc... not only the awful Mario Kart... argh...

1st person shooters - Die Hard Vendetta, 007: Agent Under Fire, Metroid Prime, etc

Action - Reign of Fire, Star Fox, Robotech Battlecry, Rogue Squadron 2, Fireblade, Top Gun, Defender, Turok Evolution, etc

Fighting - Smash Bros. Melee, Capcom Vs SNK2, Mortal Kombat, etc

RPGs - Final Fantasy, Star Fox Adventures, Zelda, etc

Sports - All those EA titles...

Survival Horror - Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil...

And the kiddo games... Mario, etc...

...etc... I got a bit excited with the listing here... heh... but the point is that Nintendo's GameCube is a very good console and with a really HUGE difference between the games they had in the N64 and the GCN... a lot of more stuff... so resuming dont blame Nintendo!! I like it ...

Tho it will NEVER be better than the puter... nor any other console will!

[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: PumaY2K ]

[Noodlez]

The GC's controler is just so uber crap the way it's layed out, I hate it 5mins of useing it and I want to toss it at the TV and run away to the fridge for a beer.

On a side note in my opion RPG's just suck ass for the most part

[Takeshi666]

I hate RPG's too. Dammit, I don't want to THINK my way out of the situation, I want to SHOOT my way open!

[Mad Max RW]

The only RPG I'd consider kickass is Fallout1/2. Don't wanna talk? Fine. Pull out your sawed off shotgun and kill everybody in the room to get what you need.

[PumaY2K]

I never said that RPGs are great... I only said that the GCN has a lot of different game types to choose from...

But I do like MegaMan Battle Network for the GBA... and its an RPG...

[Boose]

I agree with everything that was said (whatever you think it was said, ppl have different points of view here). But no one actualy mentioned any massive online games. I don't think that consoles will replace that factor. Massive online games are blooming right now, while there were Everquest & Ultima Online for a few years now, only in the past year were released such nice things as MCO (needs some tweaking, but has potential) or Anarchy Online (which totaly blew me away, the first thing that you can really live in). And a few more coming up. For example Earth and Beyond from EA (already out), which is damn promising! And all this games need serious networking resources which are currently avaluble only on PCs. And since all MORPGs that exist are on PC, game industry will stick to this platform in future, for sure.

I don't really care much about single player games, cause i don't play anything 'cept good ole carmageddon, but online gaming does strong on PCs. Or i am wrong?

[Mad Max RW]

MMOG's have so many crippling bugs. E&B has promise, but the initial launch was as fucked up if not more than Anarchy Online.

I, for one, cannot stand massive multiplayer. It used to be interesting when it wasn't so mainstream, but now it's a joke. Developers make promises they can never backup, lag from crappy servers ruins the experience, repetitive leveling treadmills that exist in every MMORPG, and assholes who treat the game like another Quake. If it was simply a $50 down payment and no monthly fees I wouldn't complain.

[Deep_Blue]

Right on, Takeshi. Most people that stop to think in a for real combat situation die.

Slugfest! Slugfest! Screw that 'figure out the puzzle' shit...

[toroid]

Hell yeah, Mad Max RW. I agree with all that you said 100 percent. MMOG's are not EVEN going in the direction that they should be. I've played most of the MMOG's out there and all of them end up doing the same thing eventually: Exist to make money, and to piss off the addicted lifeless subscribers by catering to the hard-core (uber) players and reducing in-game progression to a crawl. The only MMOG I still respect is World War II Online, those guys seem to have their heads on straight for the most part. They still seem to have the right attitude = Making the game FUN!! There is always action and you don't have to "build up your character" for months to get it. It's the only MMO I still pay a monthly fee for.

I'm going to give the MMOG genre one last chance with "Star Wars: Galaxies". If that game starts to frustrate me to the point where the game seems more like a job than a game (like the other MMOG's), then that's it dammit. None of those jerks will ever get any of my money again. Oh, and so far it looks like Verant (the makers of EverQuest) will totally mess SW:Galaxies all up. We'll just have to wait and see. If I may make a prediction, I bet that: 1. Star Wars Galaxies will piss off more people than Anarchy Online and EverQuest combined. 2. Star Wars Galaxies will make more money than Anarchy Online and EverQuest combined. 3. The average "casual" gamers will get screwed in the long run because a lot of PC games will go MMOG-style and it will be too damn frustrating to have any fun in any of them. 4. People will shoot themselves in the face.

So I guess I'm agreeing with the topic of this thread. Wave bye-bye to not just the Starcraft series, but to the concept of "fun" as we know it. It seems the "fun" is now in making the money.

Why make the "diversified whole" of gamers truly happy by making unique "niche" games, when you can make more money off of a trend that appeals to a specific type/generation of hard-core gamers instead ?? Marketing will screw us. It already has. It will get worse.

oops, I ranted

[Mad Max RW]

Another MMOG was announced a few weeks ago. It's somekind of post apocalyptic driving type game where you kill people and upgrade your car. Here's the Press Release. There's also an interview at HomeLan Fed.

[ October 27, 2002: Message edited by: Mad Max RW ]