i disagree R2 and M2PR were good games there just not GREAT games. i know a few people who really like R2. i think its just a personal preference.

The biggest problem is MS buying game makers instead of directly hitting the competition with there own studios. They haven’t released anything big outside of Halo and Gears of war.. with Gears not being there own studio. Yes, that move forced Sony to step up there game, which has payed off but its slowly getting better. Nintendo is another animal on its own,with its own fan base. There issue, is that they cant make anything thats not Mario, Zelda, starfox.. now there doing nothing besides releasing classics with new graphics but still the SAME. There as much to blame for not innovating new IP’s.

3rd parties need to separate the capabilities of the system. If the 360 lacks memory than TO BAD they lose out and not use the storage medium of the weaker system as a stopping point. if one system has the extra memory and more capabilities than go for it.. don’t hamper the original design just to make them the same.

Awesome info you have here. Thanks for sharing….

Agreed. I actually am not a fan at all of the GTA series, but I think that if IGNs ratings are a measure of the industry as whole, I don’t think we’re doing that bad at all. If you look at all the games at 8/10 and above there is enough to satisfy everyone’s taste and is an indicator of significant progress in the industry. So I think your rant is a little harsh IMO.

I think the differences in the two “hardcore gaming” platforms (PS3 and 360) has had a detrimental effect on the the quality of high-end games and the fact that the Wii is creating a new sub-category but still being measured against the rest of the market confusing less informed consumers.

In light of that, I share your frustrations in the fact that we don’t have many more high quality games, like MGS4, that push the boundaries of the industry. I don’t want to hate on any system, but I think this has to do with the following:

1. The fact that the Nintendo went in a different direction which took away a lot of market size and capital away the main market participants. (Good on them for helping themselves and contributing to shareholder value, but not great for industry.)

2. And the so call harcore systems being so differnt. You can choose to blame that on Microsoft for not delivering a system that is as cutting edge as possible which sets the quality of cross platform games at a low level or blame it on Sony for introducting a system that was too cutting edge which exceeded the price range of the majority of the consumer market and the cost range of the developers, take your pick.

I do agree that MGS4 deserved to be in the 9-10 range easily. The only complaint I had is that it left me wanting more, but is that really a bad thing? But when it comes to GTA I couldn’t disagree with those reviews more. There is no way that it deserves a 10 or even a 9 IMO. It is a solid 8-8.5 though I think. But this is just my opinion, but isn’t that what reviews are anyways.

I completely agree with the statements regarding multiplatform releases resulting in worse overall quality than the qualify level possible. I can’t help but believe that the industry would be so much better for gamers if the 360 didn’t have their large user base to attract developers or at least if the 360 matched the capabilities of the PS3.

when a new game comes out- unless its a game that i’ve really been waiting for (LBP-cough-fallout3-cough-) i wait a good while before i pick it up until its price drops either significantly (i can pick up haze now for 20$ and not feel bad cause it didn’t live up tot he hype) or still stays at or very close to the original 60$ launch price (uncharted?)

in this way i can easily see which games were great- and which weren’t so great.

Welcome to the world of Gamecube and Xbox owners, ca. 2001-2005. GTA still sold a jillion copies, so apparently, the customers didn’t mind too much. Companies will make what customers will buy. If you’re dissatisfied, do what I do–play old games. There are hundreds of old console and PC games out there you’ve never played that are quite fun.

Prime example is braid. A fantastic game where the creator didn’t go, hmmm why should i make a mario clone when mario on the ds does it so well. Yet they took the platforming the obvious homage to mario platforming and made one of the best games of the year, for less than a big mario game is made.

I would never ever encourage people to stop trying to make games better, competition fuels innovation and drive to make better games.

Thats right folks, crappy games make games better for everyone.

It’s weird that Sony doesn’t want to protect their exclusives, but FFXIII loss should’ve open their eyes or maybe if L.A. Noire is loss that needs to really open their eyes (Brendam McNamara, Team Bondi’s head, worked for Sony on directing The Getaway), Sony has already expressed their insatisfaction in “giving” money to companies to have exclusive stuff, it’s practically “support us without us giving you money”, maybe Sony did give money to EA for the DLC of Mirror’s Edge.

Talking about the quality, EA has proven itself to develop great games (except Mercs2), something that amazes me is that developers that would’ve never be associated to EA 5 years ago are developing games for the future years. Something that dissapoints me is that big companies are just selfish, take for example Activision Blizzard, they skipped AAA titles, for franchises that actually lost their shine, and small or medium companies are actually giving quality games, look Take-Two and Ubisoft with titles like L.A. Noire and Shawn White Snowboarding.

Again, this was a great article maybe one of the best I’ve seen in the industry.

Microsoft wanted to rule the market (and how else to win a race than jump the line by a year?), but like the stock market, the faster you rise the harder you crash. (on a side note, I was insulted the other day for owning a PS3 and not a 360, solely on how much I paid for it. He was on his 3rd bought and paid for system- all bricked outside warranty without the RROD. I told him i can’t afford a system that costs a grand to play for 3 years. I support gaming of all types: as long as it’s quality gaming.)

The PS3 has taken the slow and steady approach, which is fine, but I’d like to see a bit more push to get the quality companies producing for the system. Just because Sony’s being a turtle doesn’t mean that 3rd party can’t kick it up a notch. We all want our “major” titles (Final Fantasy, etc.) which aren’t under Sony’s immediate wing, and we see the sheer content that the 360′s pulling, but I don’t recall the 360 having more than one title I wanted to try at 2 years of being on shelves (excluding the ones that were also on the PS2 at the time).

And speaking on quality because of cross platforms, the PS3 is becoming the “main platform” for upcoming games, something that I would assume would mean if they can’t fit it on a smaller disc, that smaller disc’s content will go through graphic and content compression, while the PS3 version will remain in tact. If I were to develop a game I personally would push to get as much of my quality content out as possible, even if not everyone can see or play it. example- If Crysis was made for everyone we’d have a basic flash game with isometric shapes.

that’s my piece.