#8 and #7 REVEALED!!
TOP 10 CURRENT TRENDS IN GAMING I WISH WOULD DIE ALREADY:
#10. PASSCODES FOR RETRO RE-RELEASES - its 2009 folks, not 1985. Passcodes were rediculous and frustrating eons ago, and they have no place in retro re-releases today. If you're going to charge any sum for a 15-20 year old game, please take the 5 minutes and 1 block of memory to offer a proper save function.
#9. SUBSTANDARD "COLLECTOR'S EDITION" JUNK - anyone who purchased the Assassin's Creed Collectors Edition knows exactly what I'm talking about. Who wants an Altair figurine that comes broken? Useless posters that I get for $5 anywhere also don't augment the pricing of a "collector's set". A disc of interviews and extra content is nice, but c'mon, lets take more than 5 minutes to throw it together eh? Back in the day, a collector's Edition might have come with leatherbound artbooks, soundtrack CD, interviews, and extras (Lunar & Lunar 2 had ALL of that!). Many come in spiffy tin cases (Halo2, FFXII etc) which is cool, but I need more. It seems people can be bought with cheap posters, plastic figurines, and little else. Look, if you want me to pay upwards of $20 extra for a "collector's edition", a leatherbound art book and disc of extra material is the bare minimum of my expectations.
#8. SHOVELWARE - though the 360 and PS3 certainly have thier share of sub-par titles (anyone played "vampire rain"?) it seems to be the Nintendo Wii that is being most heavily plagued by this issue. Every time I'm ina video game shop, I can't help but marvel at the sheer amount of crap lining the walls. Games that nobody's heard of. Games that nobody's advertising. Games made by companies I've never heard of. Jeebus, go into a GameStop, look at the Wii wall, and actually try to pick out more than 10 games you wouldn't consider a waste of shelf space!! Look, not every game is going to be a masterpiece, but there's a pretty fine line between a failed effort, and an effortless fail.
#7. THE CRAPTASTIC ENDING LEADING TO A SEQUEL - nobody can blame a company for wanting more out of their efforts, and turning a single successfull title into your flagship "franchise" is certainly common practice, but its gotten to the point where you don't even expect a proper ending anymore. At what point did the obligatory sequel-tie-in become a qualified ending to a game!? At this point, none of use are expecting the next Prince of Persia orResident Evil to be the last game in the series by any means, but does that mean we don't deserve a proper or rewarding ending!?
#6. coming soon
#5. coming soon
#4. coming soon
#3. coming soon
#2. coming soon
#1. coming soon
Comments
Effortless fail = Win!
#9. Yeah, these days, CEs are pretty lame. Like the PAL CE of Devil May Cry 4, which only came with a bonus artbook, nothing more. Looking at the Lunar 1 and 2 CEs.....wow! Gotta love Working Designs.
#8. Yeah, I'm always very ashamed when I look in the Wii section of shops. I already either have the game, or they're all crap ones.
#7. Another one I can agree with. I also hate the closed endings which lead to sequels (FFX-2, as a good example). The new Prince of Persia doesn't need a sequel, but that Gold trophy says otherwise.
In general though, I agree.
@ N8A - thanks Nate, lol, I thought it sounded pretty good when I wrote it, glad you caught it.
@ SHADOW LAGUNA - Glad its not just me ahsamed of that Wii wall. Nintendo used to proudly place that golden "Nintendo Official Seal of Quality" on games, and now look at how many of those Wii shovelware titles you have to sift through just to find a decent game. Its kinda sad.
@ DARKY BEING - exactly my friend, and a great example. Silent Hill has a way of making you feel like your experience has been wrapped up nicely, even if the ending isn't super flashy or grandiose. An ending doesn't have to be overdone to be good, but an ending actually being there is a nice touch sometimes, lol.
@ 3K-RANDY - Mass Effect is a different bird altogether though, because it was so well written as a whole, and as an RPG it was rewarding in its feeling of overall immersion. Its a bit different when your average action or horror title leaves you hanging and feeling unsatisfied.
I especially hate when games end on a cliffhanger but the company never makes a sequel.
@ DCHISPIRTLE - exactly!! i'm not saying not to set up a sequel or leave a few unanswered questions, but at least give each title some kind of relevant closure or feeling of accomplishment.
@ T-PRIME - I hadn't even considered games left hanging for a sequel that subsequently get cancelled!! Good call Prime. That definitely sucks.
@ SAVOY PRIME - Ron, good point. At one point, the teaser-ending was kinda unique and not a negative, but it just seems to be a plague at this point. Especially when a company knows its going to pump out some sequels, its almost a "get out of jail free card" of sorts for the writing team to not have to impress all that much with the "ending".
@ KINGRICH - LOL, I figured with the size of your impressive collection, you'd appreciate that one.
@ PAPITAR - yowza! cool deals! I guess if I was finding the collector's editions on sale like that, I wouldn't worry as much about thier quality. You're very lucky. I don't seem to catch those types of deals myself unfortunately.
lazyhoboguy