Why do we keep paying $50-$60 for the same thing over and over?

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Gawd
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Jun 11, 2003
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Is it just me, or is it rare to have a new game that's actually something new and unique? Take Battlefield 3 for example. I played the open beta on xbox and while I admit it's a good game, and it will be fun to play, it's really not that much different from Bad Company 2. Modern Warfare 3, how is it really any different from MW2, or Black Ops?

It's like a year goes by and they release the same game with different maps, maybe a slightly better AI and slightly updated graphics, give it a new name or slap a different number on the end of the title, but it's essentially the same game.

And due to the popularity of console gaming, since a majority of games are developed for the console, and ported to PC, the limitations of the console hardware restricts the advancement of games. While it's nice on my pocketbook to no longer have to constantly upgrade my hardware to keep up with the latest and greatest games, I feel as if the quality of games have gone downhill, yet the price tag is still the same.

Maybe its just the entire entertainment industry. They have run out of ideas. Movies are constantly being remade, albums are re-released with maybe one extra track that wasn't on the original album. But somehow, we keep on buying the shit. Maybe I sound like a grumpy old fart, but am I the only one who feels this way?
 
It comes with wisdom. The younger crowd always takes the place and consumes what the older generation leaves behind.
BF3 will be the greatest game in the world to noobs. It'll be just "meh" to me. I'll kill some noobs, it'll be fun!
 
Considering that consoles cant be upgraded hardware wise, what you get is what you will pretty much always get, if you played BF3 on the PC you would realize how much better it looks.

Edit: BF3 will be great because it is finally putting new systems to the test and offer up the classic large scale, large map action.
 
I smoke. I hate smoking. I hate smelling like smoke. I hate that I waste money on cigarettes. I hate that it has severe implications on my future health. Yet, here I am, still smoking.

I know that analogy doesn't directly correlate with what you're saying, but I think you get the idea.

Behavior as you mentioned above is commonplace, across a multitude of situations and scenarios (politics, etc). Quite simply, when people are comfortable in their lifestyle, they will do little to change it. Apparently, everyone is quite comfortable, hence the redundancy.
 
I'm not necessarily just talking about only BF3, and looks only take you so far. I don't care about looks that much, if the gameplay and story sucks. You can have a one night stand with a pretty lady with a hot body, and it might be fun for a few hours, but if she's a cold-hearted bitch with no personality, you'll toss her in the trash like the rubber you wore while you were banging her.
 
Not really a new trend... Take Mega Man, for example. That's been pretty much the same game done over and over for almost a quarter of a century now.
 
Good old William Shakespeer(spelling? is wrong, I apologize literary fans), once said there's only 12 plots. His meaning was basically that all stories follow roughly the same 12 plots reworked, blended, with character changed or places/locations and that all stories in the future would likely continue to copy earlier works.

How does one generate an entirely new game concept when there's already been 50,000 games made over the last ten years? Sometimes, we can rely on stealing concepts from foreign markets: Ie. Shenmue 2! Look at this awesome game based of the yazukaaaa!!! but were only prolonging the evitable reality that basically every settting/timeplace has been done. We can just hope to see it done better or in a more imaginative way. This problem haunts books, movies too as you've said. One example of a haunting book might be Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc to the fantasy genre. Once these books have become big, popular and grandiose, you have to compete with these epic tales that have used pretty much every plot device imaginable related to magic, fantasy, etc.

To an extent, one of the problems with modern day gaming is the large budgets too which produces the copy-of-last-years-game syndrome. Gaming budgets for a triple-a blockbuster now adays might reach 50+ million dollars requiring the game to move a minimum of 1+ million units or so to have a decent return on your investment. Companies are all about profit and naturally worried about losses.

The worst thing that could possibly happen for a gaming company would be to use its capital say making an unknown title like 'Unique Genre Never Before Seen Here' at a cost of 50 million dollars and findingo ut the public does not want to play it and it selling a mere 100k units causing a nice 40 million dollar loss of capital. Thus giving them little to no money to fund their next game.

One guarantee a game will sell pretty well, is if it uses a tried, tested and true formula. See Cod2 - present. Same formula, new coat of paint, new storyline designed to seem more like an action film and more grand scale.

If you want original gameplay, you pretty much have to look at games with small development budgets that are able to risk, risk. The downside, is these games will usually have low production values. Small models, repetitive use of models, bad sound effects/music. For example: Angry Birds. It's a bit of a unique game, fun, simple, small budget and the company that gambled making Angry Birds did really well. Had it bombed, the company probably still would have survived and been able to make a few new variations.

On the plus side, I personally think the rate at which graphics are increasing is increasing. Aka the second derivative is a high value... Realistically, hardware keeps doubling in speed every 2 years or so by what amount an actual 'doubling' in computation power is increasing over time. IE the 5870 was about 2720 Gigaflops according to wikipedia. By the time two years has passed and the 7970 comes out, we might potentially reach 5,000 gigaflops and have increased our processing power by 2,500 gigaflops roughly.

The interesting part about expotential growth and the doubling time is, the increase that occurs over that timeis more than all the increase previously since the beginning of the history of computing. So another 2 years, we might see 10,000gigaflops, 20,000, 40,000, 80,000, 160,000 etc. I remember as a child that our best war-time simulator was Contra 3 on the Nes. Battlefield 3 already looks incredibly realistic as far as I'm concerned. I expect to be amazed again at what gaming companies can do with 160,000 gigaflops in maybe as little as a decade and a bit from now.

Hopefully, once we reach a level of near absolute realism with lots of enemies on the screen at once/people/AIs to interact with, gaming companies will need to require on innovation to drive sales. Sadly, I think that eyefinity/3d surround has brought this 'step' // level' at least another 20 years away as people will want absolute realism across 3 screens. Then 6. Then 12. Then 24. then enough screens to make a 360 degree viewing screen.
 
keefusm said:
I smoke. I hate smoking. I hate smelling like smoke. I hate that I waste money on cigarettes. I hate that it has severe implications on my future health. Yet, here I am, still smoking.
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I definitely know this feeling. I've been fighting this my whole life. I'm currently on around 1 month not smoking but relapse is so easy with cigarettes for me (relapsed close to a dozen times in my life). I avoid drinking and even being around any smoke in general. If you want to be reminded how evil cigarettes really are, go jog 2 miles, that's the perfect way to reflect on why it's death. I love the thought of being healthy, exercising (jogging), smelling good, and being able to breathe, I have to fight it everyday!


BOT:

Maybe we expect too much? We watch these movies about how the future will be so different and awesome and then as we get older we see very little of it. Or maybe even that it's just moving too slow to satisfy us. When I was 10 I thought I'd see games that are like real life by now, guess not. :(
 
You missed all the Fail threads did you? :p

Anyway, I think innovation in gaming is a bit over rated. Yeah, its nice to have some innovation, but at the same time there's often occasions where I'd rather just play more of the same.

Fact is, people buy games because they're fun, and that's really about all you can say. People buy BF and COD games not because they're new and innovative, but because they're more of the same thing they enjoyed last year. First Person Shooters as a genre really doesn't have much innovation in it. Same with racing games, people keep shelling out to buy the new game in a series which varies only slightly from the previous with a couple new cars and tracks, maybe with slightly better graphics, but sometimes even with the same old graphics.
 
TECHNICAL innovation has merit, but we've been held back by people who won't pay $15-$20 a week to own "tough" PC's and instead want the full 768p experience on their shitty TN LED laptop screens.
 
Frog2 said:
TECHNICAL innovation has merit, but we've been held back by people who won't pay $15-$20 a week to own "tough" PC's and instead want the full 768p experience on their shitty TN LED laptop screens.
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PC gaming has always been pushed forward by the high end enthusiast, but been propped up by those with average PCs.
 
Yea well, unfortunately for me, I was running near 5 minute miles while smoking a pack a day while in the military. My last 3.2 mile run was 16:34. My time is not that good these days, but I can still pull a low 19 minute 3 mile. But yea, it does hurt, I'm just too accustomed to the "I feel like I'm going to die" running feeling so it doesn't bother me much.

Quitting is constantly on my mind, so it is a start... I've tried about everything, patches, gum, Chantix, etc.

One day, one day cigarettes... your day will come.


J32P said:
I definitely know this feeling. I've been fighting this my whole life. I'm currently on around 1 month not smoking but relapse is so easy with cigarettes for me (relapsed close to a dozen times in my life). I avoid drinking and even being around any smoke in general. If you want to be reminded how evil cigarettes really are, go jog 2 miles, that's the perfect way to reflect on why it's death. I love the thought of being healthy, exercising (jogging), smelling good, and being able to breathe, I have to fight it everyday!


BOT:

Maybe we expect too much? We watch these movies about how the future will be so different and awesome and then as we get older we see very little of it. Or maybe even that it's just moving too slow to satisfy us. When I was 10 I thought I'd see games that are like real life by now, guess not. :(
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darkstarcow said:
Considering that consoles cant be upgraded hardware wise, what you get is what you will pretty much always get, if you played BF3 on the PC you would realize how much better it looks.

Edit: BF3 will be great because it is finally putting new systems to the test and offer up the classic large scale, large map action.
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Provided you have a PC that can make it look better than the console, for the overwhelming majority of people that own computers, as in non upgradable laptops, and all in one desktops, the console version will look better.

And large maps aren't classic, Quake is classic. BF is noobed up large map, no personal skill involved, garbage. Bring on a new tribes if you want a truly classic large map game. You kids and your BF.;)
 
sd11 said:
Provided you have a PC that can make it look better than the console, for the overwhelming majority of people that own computers, as in non upgradable laptops, and all in one desktops, the console version will look better.

And large maps aren't classic, Quake is classic. BF is noobed up large map, no personal skill involved, garbage. Bring on a new tribes if you want a truly classic large map game. You kids and your BF.;)
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Trollololololol :rolleyes:
 
Story based games, I'm happy with shelling out $50-$60 each year. The Uncharted Series, God of War series, Half-Life series (Every 10 years) etc.

Crap-tastic multiplayer games with a shitty single-player game thrown in, Nope, not buying it. I'll play it if a friend has it, but that's about it.

^He said it all. Stop buying them, and they'll make different stuff.
 
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is usually a symptom of insanity.
 
scojer said:
Story based games, I'm happy with shelling out $50-$60 each year. The Uncharted Series, God of War series, Half-Life series (Every 10 years) etc.

Crap-tastic multiplayer games with a shitty single-player game thrown in, Nope, not buying it. I'll play it if a friend has it, but that's about it.

^He said it all. Stop buying them, and they'll make different stuff.
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this. I love rpgs with great stories.

I do enjoy multiplayer fps but recently it seems like settling with an older game and finding a good server to play on is more feasible then buying cod 8.0 every year.
 
Because everyone else goes to the New Thing (TM) and in order to find populated servers you need to follow them unless you like solo play.
 
I say that to myself every time I buy Call of Duty but yet I still buy it lol. I guess it's because no one would be playing the old ones online anymore so I have to get the new one as well. I don't like it because it costs me money but I feel like I have to get it.
 
Vote with your wallet, if you don't like it then don't buy it, that actually means making the sacrifice of sitting out a game which you might otherwise get some enjoyment from, stick to your principles.
 
lilxskull said:
I say that to myself every time I buy Call of Duty but yet I still buy it lol. I guess it's because no one would be playing the old ones online anymore so I have to get the new one as well. I don't like it because it costs me money but I feel like I have to get it.
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Seriously? Or are you just joking? Since when did video games become the hard drugs of nerdy kids? lol
 
I've fought with this question before, its easily answered for myself... content and game play... I don't think "most" consumers take how a game looks in to consideration.

I buy every new Madden and NBA 2K every year... Graphics have improved very little, if at all... BUT, gameplay, rosters and new content keep the games fresh. Trust me, I put hours upon hours in to these games. I get my money worth every year...

Same for the COD series... People know how its going to play, all they want are new maps and new guns to keep things fresh...


This question is just like saying why on earth would someone pay $15 for an mmo.. 1. Game play. 2. Content / upcoming content... Why do you think WoW is still around? Its still using a DX9 engine and they have millions of subscribers. Warhammer, Aion, RIFT, LOTRO and many others have failed no matter how better they look... I can attest, Aion and RIFT look far better, but the game play, its just not on par to how WoW feels.

Graphics are of very minor importance to me, how the game plays is of very high importance to me.

Owning a PC gives me the advantage over console to have the ability to max out textures and advancements a console will never be capable of. Visual improvements are just the cherry on top, if it is on a PC I will always buy it over console for that sole reason.

If people are going to buy it, they will keep shelling out the same game until people stop buying it.
 
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Llama[Style];1037828087 said:
I've fought with this question before, its easily answered for myself... content and game play... I don't think "most" consumers take how a game looks in to consideration.
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I think most people do actually look at graphics, they just dont look at it in the same way as an enthusiast gamer would. Things like overall polish are more important to the uneducated than the number of lights or the fancy ambient occlusion. Example, I showed Crysis 1 to a friend back when I was playing on my 8800GTS, most settings were on high and a couple on very high. He immediately commented that it didn't look as good as COD4, why? Because of things like noticeable pop in, trees didn't look as sharp and some textures looked blurrier. Technically, Crysis is miles ahead of COD4, but my friend who doesn't spend his days analysing the lighting techniques of games didn't see the technical brilliance of Crysis, he saw the overall polish and consistency of COD4 and how Crysis lacked that.
 
Tudz said:
I think most people do actually look at graphics, they just dont look at it in the same way as an enthusiast gamer would. Things like overall polish are more important to the uneducated than the number of lights or the fancy ambient occlusion. Example, I showed Crysis 1 to a friend back when I was playing on my 8800GTS, most settings were on high and a couple on very high. He immediately commented that it didn't look as good as COD4, why? Because of things like noticeable pop in, trees didn't look as sharp and some textures looked blurrier. Technically, Crysis is miles ahead of COD4, but my friend who doesn't spend his days analysing the lighting techniques of games didn't see the technical brilliance of Crysis, he saw the overall polish and consistency of COD4 and how Crysis lacked that.
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oh god... Yes, this is what I was trying to get at. You just said it far better than I did with an example. :p Outside of the enthusiast world, the every day consumer does not look at every little detail. Hell, same situation here, BFBC2 looks insane with DX11 enabled... A friend of mine tried to argue that it looked better on his Xbox. Lol, I'll never buy an fps game on console though, mouse and keyboard for me!
 
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Whats a new and different kind of gameplay that we haven't seen?

fps, rpg, rts, figher, sim, mmo, platform, puzzle, some blending of any of these? I'm sure I'm missing a few genres but honestly what else can you do? Certain shit just doesn't work, some shit works really well, i mean i can think of billions of things that haven't been made into games that i would never play. How many things do you want to spend time 'virtually doing'?

The shit and stories that get remade so often happen because people find them appealing alternatives to real life. gamers would rather pretend to be a space marine or sniper or chinese general or some shit. Not a school teacher going over english essays.

I get that that was an extreme example but seriously, what topics are really left to explore? I can think of a few ideas that have had their day and were poorly executed and since haven't been properly revisited, but they have still been made. If someone went back and made an amazing vampire rpg that everyone loved you'd still have Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines as a foundation, or probably some older shit before my time.

All that shit plus the risk of "reinventing the wheel". Why make a brand new unproven product when you can simply alter or enhance a proven product and profit?

I dunno, just some food for thought
 
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As you get older 50-60$ is pocket change, that's why i don't mind paying it over and over again! as long as I get my 5-6 hours of fun i'm happy!
 
The people you see complaining about the sameyness and repetitive design of modern popular games are an extraordinarily small minority in the market. The console gaming market is driven by core gamers. They aren't the casual retards who play Farmville and cellphone games, but they aren't hardcore enough to have ever tweaked an .ini file for a PC game. They are professional software engineers, dudebro fratboys, the occasional weird gamer girl, not the hardcore nerds who browse internet gaming forums and complain about mouse acceleration and letterboxed 16:10 resolutions.
 
Because we are suckers :D

Just look at the lineup for the Nintendo 3DS. All rehashes of old games.
 
Maybe it's just me, but with a house payment, two car payments, a 2 year old, and another baby on the way, I really only can afford a game every month or so.
 
[F8];1037832452 said:
Maybe it's just me, but with a house payment, two car payments, a 2 year old, and another baby on the way, I really only can afford a game every month or so.
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I feel sorry for you. I'm on a researcher's scholarship which pays sweet fuck all and I could if I so desired buy a game a week if I really wanted it (which I dont, coz I dont have the time and patience to play every damn game anymore :p). Gaming is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment, next to reading a book, watching TV or playing a sport (a sport that doesn't have any expensive equipment involved ;)). I've also never had a problem in gaming where I HAD to buy a game, maybe I'm just more stubborn than your average gamer, but I have never had an issue saying to myself "I'm not going to buy this game at full price" and bought it anyway :p
 
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[F8];1037832452 said:
Maybe it's just me, but with a house payment, two car payments, a 2 year old, and another baby on the way, I really only can afford a game every month or so.
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Move into a cheaper house, sell a car, and wear a condom.
 
[F8];1037824559 said:
Is it just me, or is it rare to have a new game that's actually something new and unique? Take Battlefield 3 for example. I played the open beta on xbox and while I admit it's a good game, and it will be fun to play, it's really not that much different from Bad Company 2. Modern Warfare 3, how is it really any different from MW2, or Black Ops?

It's like a year goes by and they release the same game with different maps, maybe a slightly better AI and slightly updated graphics, give it a new name or slap a different number on the end of the title, but it's essentially the same game.

And due to the popularity of console gaming, since a majority of games are developed for the console, and ported to PC, the limitations of the console hardware restricts the advancement of games. While it's nice on my pocketbook to no longer have to constantly upgrade my hardware to keep up with the latest and greatest games, I feel as if the quality of games have gone downhill, yet the price tag is still the same.

Maybe its just the entire entertainment industry. They have run out of ideas. Movies are constantly being remade, albums are re-released with maybe one extra track that wasn't on the original album. But somehow, we keep on buying the shit. Maybe I sound like a grumpy old fart, but am I the only one who feels this way?
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PC Gaming isn't as lucrative for developers as it once was, so they need to develop on a platform that will keep them in business. Now a days that's the console, which is slowly integrating a lot of the features of PC Gaming like online multiplayer and customization. A bigger audience means games will need to appeal to more people.

And btw, the COD series is nothing like BF. Those two games actually illustrate what I'm talking about pretty well. COD has turned into a much more casual "arcade" style game since it's found so much popularity on console, while BF is still very much a PC oriented game. There are superficial similarities but the way the games are played is very different.
 
[F8];1037824559 said:
Is it just me, or is it rare to have a new game that's actually something new and unique? Take Battlefield 3 for example. I played the open beta on xbox and while I admit it's a good game, and it will be fun to play, it's really not that much different from Bad Company 2. Modern Warfare 3, how is it really any different from MW2, or Black Ops?
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not every game has to reinvent the wheel, it's ok for some games to be iterative. the highlighted part above is all that really matters when it comes to gaming, isn't it?
 
Its the current business model in the gaming industry, if it sells well make it again and add a number behind it. Many people cry out for something new and unique but when something like that comes around the vast majority of those people aren't willing to throw down cash for it. Minecraft is the only indie game in my mind that has had any sort of mainstream success when compared to larger titles from big gaming but, its only one of many great indi games or rather unique games that have come along in recent years. So if your complaining about lack of variety you only have your self to blame because variety in gaming is out there, just look a little closer.
 
OP: OMG SHOOTERS ARE DERIVATIVE :eek:

Try a different genre. Try some indie games.

Magicka
Dungeons of Dredmor
AudioSurf
PvZ
Amnesia: TDD
... the list goes on

[edit] Oh yeah.... Possess yourself with patience (read: Steam backlog) and wait for sales.
 
Really, what's with this "we" stuff? Stop buying things on launch date unless you actually know it's going to be good and really ask yourself if you want the game.
 
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