I hate this recession and want to punch it in the face

[Bebpo]

-Promising looking games getting canned left and right
-Good studios getting shut down
-Companies getting bought by other companies that will screw them up
-Tons of people at many studios losing their jobs
-Arcades closing
-TVs stopping being made
-Magazines going extinct
-Wii party games still selling millions
-Watching the end of the industry that you grew up on....

I hope in 10 years kids still remember what a videogame was before it meant WAGGLE PARTY TIME

[Oblivion]

Well, in all fairness, most of those games probably woulda bombed anyway.

Still sad for everything that's happened, tho.  :'(

[Great Rumbler]

-Wii party games still selling millions
-Watching the end of the industry that you grew up on....

I hope in 10 years kids still remember what a videogame was before it meant WAGGLE PARTY TIME

u mad?

[archie4208]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

[demi]

What are you referring to Bebpo, with your companies buying companies? You don't want Squeenix to buy Eidos, or Namco to get D3?

[Bebpo]

What are you referring to Bebpo, with your companies buying companies? You don't want Squeenix to buy Eidos, or Namco to get D3?

I don't want Aliens rpg canned.  It's the only western rpg I'd been really looking forward to.  I don't want unannounced Sega games canned.  I don't want Turok 2 canned even if the first one sucked.  Etc...  I don't want Namco to buy D3 (EDF4 will never come to America now) ...I'm not sure if I want SE to buy Eidos but probably not.  There are tons of examples of bad things that are happening in the industry right now, far too many to name.

[Bebpo]

yeah sad stuff, blame japan.

In real talk, the Western devs seem to be getting hurt as bad as the Japan ones right now.  Doesn't really seem like either country's fault.  Just the fault of HORRIBLE RECESSION

[demi]

Blame the republicans like we all do

[Great Rumbler]

Blame the republicans like we all do

But I thought Obama was supposed to fix all these problems? Another campaign promise broken.

[MMaRsu]

Fuck SE if they get Eidos. Then we won't see a new Hitman game ever.

I'm sure of it

[Himu]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

What the fuck.

[WrikaWrek]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

What the fuck.

It's true.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

I've never actually seen this happen.  Could you post some examples as to better fuel my now palpable rage?  

There's consolidation going on in JP land, but I don't recall hearing nearly so much about massive and shattering layoffs like we're getting here.  They could be weathering the storm better because most of them are already focused on low-risk handheld and cell phone games and the like.  That sucks for gaming as a whole as well, that SNK (for example) is making more DS and PSP games then anything else, but at least they're still around and kicking.

[Bebpo]

There's consolidation going on in JP land, but I don't recall hearing nearly so much about massive and shattering layoffs like we're getting here.  They could be weathering the storm better because most of them are already focused on low-risk handheld and cell phone games and the like.  That sucks for gaming as a whole as well, that SNK (for example) is making more DS and PSP games then anything else, but at least they're still around and kicking.

You mean like how Sega fired 20% of their staff? 

[drohne]

videogames are dying just as i'm getting too old to play them so much. the solipsist in me likes the symmetry of it

[pilonv1]

its not going to get better any time soon either

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

You mean like how Sega fired 20% of their staff? 

oh yeah.  I forgot about that amid Midway's Chapter 11 filing, Square's and BandaiNamco's takeovers, and Obsidian Software's layoffs.  All that happened TODAY.
Damn, the news is really that bad.

I'm guessing the Western developers and publishers will continue to contract because there just isn't any easy money left to be made.  The PC market is shit, the HD consoles are too risky, the Wii is drowning in shovelware, and PSP-DS stuff can only support a small, lucky studio.

Any good news out there.  Anything?

[archie4208]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

I've never actually seen this happen.  Could you post some examples as to better fuel my now palpable rage?  

There's consolidation going on in JP land, but I don't recall hearing nearly so much about massive and shattering layoffs like we're getting here.  They could be weathering the storm better because most of them are already focused on low-risk handheld and cell phone games and the like.  That sucks for gaming as a whole as well, that SNK (for example) is making more DS and PSP games then anything else, but at least they're still around and kicking.

Nintendo's success is what has brought the its current state, and not anything sony or microsoft have done so far.

What I have seen as a general rule in every generation is that there HAS to be a winning console, one. That console should be the recipient of most casual and hardcore games, regardless of quality. All other competitors would then have to moneyhat publishers to get exlusives in their console, just exactly like last gen with PS2/XBX/NGC.

Nintendo has won this generation, PERIOD.

The Wii should have been this generation's have-it-all console.

Publishers/developers of hardcore games should have then started to put their best efforts and best teams on the Wii like a year ago at least, if not for their sake then for the sake of the industry. They refused to acknowledge this generation's top console because, according to them, the Wii is garbage, a fucking piece of shit.

Now they die.

[Oblivion]

started to put their best efforts and best teams on the Wii

BUT it's not a guarantee of success.
what does this guarantee though? Look at the games that are selling and the ones that are bombing then let me know whether the hardcore games would have sold or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

[ToxicAdam]

Well, at least it dispels that stupid myth that video games (and all entertainment) are recession-proof.

People forget that America went through a nasty recession around the time of the great "videogame crash". They blame it on Atari's stupidity, but people just didn't want to lay out money for the 5200 or spend 30-40 bucks on a 2600 game.

[Rman]

-Promising looking games getting canned left and right
-Good studios getting shut down
-Companies getting bought by other companies that will screw them up
-Tons of people at many studios losing their jobs
-Arcades closing
<b>-TVs stopping being made</b>
-Magazines going extinct
-Wii party games still selling millions
-Watching the end of the industry that you grew up on....

I hope in 10 years kids still remember what a videogame was before it meant WAGGLE PARTY TIME

Huh? Do you mean manufacturers are going out of the business?  Sony, Panasonic, Samsung are still relevantly healthy.

[Great Rumbler]

I think the big problem this generation is a severe split between hardcore gamers and casual gamers, whereas in the past they were much more united on the "winning" console. This time around, the Wii is heavily favored by a [growing] casual market and the Xbox360, and to a smaller extent the PS3, by the stable, steadfast hardcore audience. Why this is hurting publishers is that big-budget hardcore games are being ignored by the casual audience, which would provide at least some support for those titles if they were on a system that the casual audience owned.

There are two potential solutions here, both seem equally unlikely to happen given what has happened over the past two years: Publishers drop support of HD consoles and bring big titles to the Wii or Sony and Microsoft give casuals a real reason to own the Xbox360 or PS3. Publishers, for whatever reason, seem determined to largely ignore the Wii or give it only token support and the casual audience seems content to the play the Wii or DS.

If things don't change, it could be a rough next two years for a lot of companies. It certainly doesn't help that the economy is in a major slump, either.

Well, at least it dispels that stupid myth that video games (and all entertainment) are recession-proof.

Well, spending on videogame hardware, software, and accessories were all up compared to January 2008.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I think the big problem this generation is a severe split between hardcore gamers and casual gamers, whereas in the past they were much more united on the "winning" console. This time around, the Wii is heavily favored by a [growing] casual market and the Xbox360, and to a smaller extent the PS3, by the stable, steadfast hardcore audience. Why this is hurting publishers is that big-budget hardcore games are being ignored by the casual audience, which would provide at least some support for those titles if they were on a system that the casual audience owned.

That's a damn good point.  Back in the day when we had full monthly NPD reports (nerdtalgia coming) you could see that lots and lots of hardcore games were selling steadily month to month even years after their release.  The PS2 got to be such a juggernaut because the casual base and the hardcore base was there, and very often the games did overlap.

Now we've got three active console systems, two active handhelds, and the PC market.  The divisions run deeper then they used to and the market is just too stratified to target everybody unless you carpet bomb all the systems like EA does with Madden and Need for Speed.

[ToxicAdam]

Well, spending on videogame hardware, software, and accessories were all up compared to January 2008.

lol, yea I clicked the NPD thread after this one and thought about editing my remarks.

[Oblivion]

Toxic Adam annihilated...

[pilonv1]

i don't see publishers dropping support of HD consoles. Not until X360 games sales fall through the floor.

Perhaps we'll just see a whole host of safer titles and maybe more companys push multiplatform download games (wii, PSN, XBLA) as one alternative.

You'll see safe big titles, and downsized other titles that can be ported to the Wii. Much less exclusive HD games, everything will have a Wii version.

I think the ones to move to PSN/XBLA/Steam will be the smaller developers who don't want to take a chance on a retail game bombing.

Re: the STUPID arguement put forth by Nthings that best teams on Wii would be more successful, lets look at the third party performance on Wii...

Carnival Games - best 2k studio? If you don't count Rockstar then maybe internally.
Big Beach Sports - best THQ studio? Nope
Mario & Sonic - best Sega studio? hardly
Guitar Hero - port of a PS2 game,
Boom Blox - good game that bombed, and EA is fucked now although not as a result of this
Rayman Raving Rabbids - #2 and TV Party bombed like no tomorrow once they weren't there on launch. Not surprisingly Ubisoft now focusing on Petz & Imagine games for Wii. And if Red Steel did so well why isn't there a sequel yet? Because it's not viable.
DeBlob - failed miserably despite being good
Game Party - cheap as shit game from Midway that did decent

I'm still yet to see anyone with indisputable proof that putting your best efforts on Wii gives you any sort of positive result. The reality is you either put out shit at low cost and try to make money that way or fail. Anyone trying a big budget game on Wii is going to get stomped down by not only Nintendo's marketing and absurd brand loyalty, but also by retail who aren't going to take a punt on something unknown when they can stock Nintendo titles and shitty ports/shovelware that will move off the shelf.

Anyone saying otherwise is just talking fanboy shit.

[Oblivion]

Re: the STUPID arguement put forth by Nthings that best teams on Wii would be more successful, lets look at the third party performance on Wii...

Carnival Games - best 2k studio? If you don't count Rockstar then maybe internally.
Big Beach Sports - best THQ studio? Nope
Mario & Sonic - best Sega studio? hardly
Guitar Hero - port of a PS2 game,
Boom Blox - good game that bombed, and EA is fucked now although not as a result of this
Rayman Raving Rabbids - #2 and TV Party bombed like no tomorrow once they weren't there on launch. Not surprisingly Ubisoft now focusing on Petz & Imagine games for Wii. And if Red Steel did so well why isn't there a sequel yet? Because it's not viable.
DeBlob - failed miserably despite being good
Game Party - cheap as shit game from Midway that did decent

I'm still yet to see anyone with indisputable proof that putting your best efforts on Wii gives you any sort of positive result. The reality is you either put out shit at low cost and try to make money that way or fail. Anyone trying a big budget game on Wii is going to get stomped down by not only Nintendo's marketing and absurd brand loyalty, but also by retail who aren't going to take a punt on something unknown when they can stock Nintendo titles and shitty ports/shovelware that will move off the shelf.

Anyone saying otherwise is just talking fanboy shit.

Ahem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

[EmCeeGrammar]

I hate the smug nintards who are celebrating studios who made PS360 games closing.

No, alot of us are just pointing out its extremely dumb to not support the market leader. They made their choices, ignored the wii for two years and dug their own grave.

And very few waggle party games sell "millions" Bepbo. I can only think of wii play and carnival games.

edit: Pilonv, do some research before you type anything again. Last I heard deBlob is at 250,000 and Boom Blox was at 400,000 back in summer and already has a sequel.

[pilonv1]

EA have done this for some time though and it simply isn't working.

I never said it would work just that it's the next step. Publishers will be all "why isn't there a wii version" without understanding why there isn't one. They'll still fail but they'll rationalise it by saying "well we had a Wii version".

Again, there is this crazy X factor to Wii games that sees some absolute garbage sell by the boat load, yet even recognised titles aren't doing anything.

Definitely, and I wish I could pinpoint what it was. You could say minigame complilations since Game Party, Big Beach Sports and Carnival Games have done well, but there's thousands of others that haven't. There's no consistent indicator of what third party crap will and wont sell.

I heard a market analysis call it the "wal-mart" effect the other day.  You have mom's doing shopping at wal-mart/target who buy a consistently strange range of products, including videogames.  It muddles the picture somewhat.

That's similar to what's happening here. Now retail are taking less sku's and they're only taking what's proven to sell or they think will sell. So the shelf space for Wii isn't shrinking, but the titles on display are.

[EmCeeGrammar]

God even my company had a toss off Wii title sell a million plus.

When did it release?

[Oblivion]

fear not bepbo. Nintendo's got your (and the industry's) back:

While the video game industry grew by $150 million (12 percent) year-on-year, Nintendo’s total sales grew by $300 million in January, offsetting declines on other platforms.

[pilonv1]

i wish

i'd so play it....

it could play like a sort of Tapper style game where you have to beat each customer off before they leave.

Sort of like Dinner Dash... but with c0cks.

Cock Tapper?

[Great Rumbler]

Boom Blox - good game that bombed, and EA is fucked now although not as a result of this

Boom Blox actually did fairly well in the months after release. There was a press release a while back that said 500k had been sold worldwide and was still "continuing to sell".

[pilonv1]

yeah I forgot about it getting to 500k. but still i cant imagine that was what EA had hoped it would do when it launched.

[Great Rumbler]

yeah I forgot about it getting to 500k. but still i cant imagine that was what EA had hoped it would do when it launched.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm sure it more than covered its budget, though, and it is getting a sequel.