Now more than ever, gamers are getting a little wiser. You may argue against that, but that's really besides the point. We're critical, we whine, and we "boycott" (lulz). We entered the information age a while back and the effects are still strong. Nothing escapes our twitchy internet-surfing fingers. Our voices can easily be heard for the juggernauts that fuel our favorite pastime. So why don't they seem to be listening?
Recently, THQ announced that the Red Faction franchise will not be continuing in "any meaningful way". This is presumably due to the lackluster performance of the most recent game in the series, Red Faction: Armageddon. Now, if you know anything about the release history of this gen, you'd know that the previous installment, Red Faction: Guerilla did very well. It boasted open environments and fully destructable structures throughout. It was arguably one of the games that we were imagining could be possible when we were starry-eyed about the "next generation". To top it off, it cleared one million units in just over a month.
Then comes Armageddon. A linear "sequel" with limited destruction and is what many would consider a step back for the series. Now, you'd THINK this would tell THQ that abandoning the selling-points of your previous game was a major factor to Armageddon's failings. Instead, they figure, "Well, guess people just aren't into this anymore." Did they not see or hear the criticisms? I think when people heard about a RF sequel, they got pumped. Why wouldn't they be? Give us more of what we love!
THQ: No.
Let's take a look at the Kingdom Hearts series. Here, we have a quote reported not too long ago of the "difficulty of getting new players into KH." I'll say so right now that I've been wanting to see a KH3 sliding into my PS3 for the longest, so call me biased if you want, but this stuff is real. Why have they been ignoring what so many fans have asked for? Square Enix cannot possibly be so self-absorbed that they cannot see the internet craving for a proper console sequel... could they?
The rising costs of productions and the harder failings of flops means game companies are less willing to take risks than ever before. That's understandable to a certain degree. But when does it become too much? When does it go from us being a stray thought to not even being considered at all? Do our opinions even matter? Whether it's Lucas Arts' inability to give us a proper Battlfront sequel or EA's desire to tack on multiplayer where it wasn't asked for (Dead Space 2), it seems that publishers are becoming so ignorant to the pleas of the hardcore to the point of not only disgusting us, but hurting their finances.
Could it be that they are taking the wrong approach to their business? The gaming industry is similar and disimilar to other industries in specific ways. In this case, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Do gamers always know what's best for the next upcoming multiplayer game? NO. But it's only for so long we're going to let ourselves get herded around to places we never wanted to go while expected to stay in line.
As the sole reason these people are where they are today, we should have more say in what games are released. We need a setting where we don't get corporate fingers in our faces telling us, "You don't know what you want. Take this and be happy." It's easy to blame the rise in casual gaming for this, and maybe we should, but that's another thing altogether. Ultimately, we are the driving force behind this industry; and it's a fragile one. When we don't like something, havok ensues and can mean the closure of a studio and the loss of jobs.
As much as the majority of us may be in the dark about business essentials, we all know the role of the rodent in the maze. Eventually, he's going to learn to find out what he should do. Publishers... I'd hate to one day have to say that they didn't meet the prestige of the lab rat.
Son Heung-min Fortnite collaboration confirmed for June 21 with exclusive skin and Snap Ceremony emote bundle.
The Nintendo Switch 2 may receive support for docked mode 4K and 120 Hz output at some point in the future.
hopefully VRR via a firmware update is released for docked play as well (like the PS5 did post release)
Not a knock on Switch 2 but it’s not made for it. Maybe a lower resolution at 120fps or 4k at a low fps but it’s not capable of both.
There's actually a pretty long list of games on PS5 that support 120hz. Even more with 60+hz unlocked, and that isn't even counting PS5 Pro.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PS...
Yes, according to the dock teardown. It contains HDMI hardware chip of Realtek RTD2175N that supports 4K 120hz. And the HDMI included on the Switch 2 is HDMI 2.1.
Nintendo Switch 2 breaks US launch sales record, selling over 1.1 million units in its first week. This breaks the record set by PS4.
Could be a 3DS though. 3DS outsold DS by 2:1 in its first year in the United States yet lifetime sales ended up being less than half.
I'm happy for Nintendo. Even though the Switch 2 has received so much hate just to bring it down, it hasn't won. Even though some are saying they'll boycott Nintendo, it hasn't affected sales. Especially now, with word of mouth that the system is good, demand for the Switch 2 will definitely increase more.
Considering the record sales the Switch 2 is seeing around the globe its clear a portion of the loud minority clearly bought the device.
But But the internet told me the switch 2 was going to be a failure.
Such a good system im having a blast with it and really enjoying my first ever playthrough of yakuza 0
Sold through or to the stores? Asking because they're tons of them at my local Best Buy. When the PS5 and Series consoles launched, you couldn't find them anywhere.
The article clearly says sold. If it were shipped, it would say shipped.
Nintendo had been saying the last year or so that they would be flooding stock so that scalpers would not be an issue. They've followed through with their word. It's not cutting edge tech, so it's been easier for them to sit on stock for a while until it accumulated to a massive number available to be shipped.
Companies often use shipped and sold interchangeably. Regardless of what it is, supply hasn't been an issue at all.
What is the location of the Best Buy you speak of? We can find out if they have units or not. If they do, I can put something out there on Twitter/X for those in the area looking for a Switch 2.
Good for them, I'm still not buying.
Looks to be a pretty safe and boring upgrade over Switch 1 which I don't think they can top it on how plain looking it is design wise.
Shame since Switch Lite showed they still know how to make a handheld that looks good and is actually portable in a classic Nintendo sense.
That's why I got one over Switch 2's block of charcoal.
Then there's the prices of it all and the whole Key card thing destroyed any sense of game ownership.
There'll be a number of revisions for the s2 like a s2 lite or oled also seems inevitable
Unless they drop the prices and actually has a more portable variant that can also dock then maybe I'll reconsider but as of now, nope too big too boring and expensive to make it worth this early, not enough of its own games atm as well.
Who knows removing the dock capabilities would lower the cost of the unit pretty significantly.
The cost of the dock, reduction in shipping costs etc bug savings which will enable a cheaper system
Very well put, they think they make gaming grow as an industry, but they only flock in when it's already profitable, leech it, then destroy it, again and again.
Be it Atari ET, Sega of america in the late 90's, Nintendo's shovelware decline, or casual gaming where truly complete works of art are being replaced with 2~$ low cost/quality clones for Iphone.
Many publishers make pretty dumb decisions and usually dont really care much about bringing an inovative product to the market and instead they settle down and bring more sequels after sequels which usually tends to decline in quality.
On the topic of customers I dont think we're always right. Sometimes we can confuse developers and we can be pretty obscure or contradicting.
However, its just a matter of publishers taking the wrong business moves. maybe they're worried about cost or sales. Maybe someone else's ambition is getting in the way. Maybe they just dont care that much about certain products. But when it comes to kingdom hearts, they'd be foolish not to give us a PS3 port or Part 3. Its wanted by all the fans. DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND.
THQ just made a very poor business decison regarding Armageddon..
Very well written article.
That's very sad to hear. While it could be THQ being stupid about not remembering how well Guerrilla did, I think it honestly comes down to a budget thing. What with Armageddon and Volition really flopping hard, THQ has taken some serious financial hits. My brother-in-law works with networking equipment, and THQ is one of his clients. They have one Nteworking guy to manage all the servers where they store all the data to make a game. Can you believe that? They have one guy that gets flown around to different places to manage their networks. But maybe they don't have enough money to hire some more IT guys, which is sad (Plus an upgrade to their network could help their games...).
Gamers' opinions do matter, but it seems publishers really want to use the opinions that end up most profitable. Take DS2's multiplayer, for instance. Luckily, I don't think it dampened the story at all. However, it wouldn't have mattered if MP wasn't in the game. I do recall a minority of people years ago saying Dead Space MP would be awesome. Well, given EA's new 'Online Pass' system and some small support for DS MP, they could easily 'please gamers' while at the same time making a profit on the normalization of their new way of doing online.
I do think all the big boys (especially Activision) are after the $$. It's so sad, but to me that's why we're also seeing some really good Arcade games being released -- super small companies that won't make millions, so they're making games they can passionately fuel with fun and have a largely free amount of creativity involved.
I understand what you are saying, but at the end of the day they are running a business and can do whatever they want. They don't really have any obligation to do what you want them to do, regardless of whether you or anyone else buys one of their games. They are selling a product - a game - and if you want to buy it, fine, buy it, but buying that product gives you no right to say what games they should be making.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't listen to fans, but if they don't want to they don't have to. If you don't like it, don't buy their games or make your own publishing company.
And then you can have fans complaining about the games you don't make as well :)