Magic the Gathering is flippin' ridiculous.
If they did 2 expansions a year, it would be boarderline too much for me to play. They do 5 expansions with every couple of years hitting a magic moment when they do 6 expansions in one year. That is just blatant stupidity. You have to commit to that game and no other if you want to play Magic. I am not up for that. What you get is cycles of players coming and going through Magic instead of a steady stream of fans. You get those reports if you read and listen to interviews. "this expansion had a lot of return players, we hope the next one does too" then you read "our return players left and we were left with the core players."
The only way to play Magic is to come in during the start of a block, buy a ton of whatever "edition" they're on, and play that block only. By the time the next block rolls around in 7 months, all your players and friends will be sick of buying cards and will look and say "so all those cards I just bought... are... old? WTF?" And then you move on to the next game you want to play.
Anything else will just cause tension and hatred as some friends decide to skip this block but keep playing with new cards. Some will want to play only the new block. These blocks are made in a way where a new mechanic must be used to compete, so now its the haves and the have nots. Great for Wizard when you read it on paper, forcing players to buy the new stuff. Horrible in the long run for keeping people around.
These are the same guys trying to find a way to make the cheapest game on the planet(D&D) profitable by releasing 1/3rd set of books a year so you only get the full game in 3 years. So I'm not surprised. Just frustrated. Because I like Magic. Its just too far beyond itself. There is no casual playing of Magic. Only degrees of hardcore.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Goodbye Guitar Hero
I've been saying this for years, putting your eggs in the basket of casual gamers is gambling.
I would make an argument that the casual gamer has only ran the market 3 times in videogame history. The early 80's, the later part of the NES, and now the Wii era. The early 80's lead to a crash. The post-NES era almost killed Nintendo and allowed Sony and Microsoft to enter the market. We've yet to see what will happen post-Wii, but we've seen the Move and Kinect added to the "hardcore" consoles, we'll likely see it be the basis for the PS3 and Xbox720whatever.
Anyways. Casual gamers. I myself like Guitar Hero, especially in a casual setting, like a group at a party. That's the same time I liked the Wii. The total shitstorm that happened after Guitar Hero created an entire cash cow centered around it. Instead of keeping a level head and pushing a new genre forward, they freaked out and milked it for what they could. The era lasted only half a decade or so.
Instantly the companies behind the first Guitar Hero split, and so you instantly got a competitor called Rock Band. You also got every record company in the business pushing "new" talent to go into these games that were originally about rocking out to the classic songs you always wanted to play. Suddenly you're playing a mish mash of bands you'll never hear from again, along with hip hop songs.
The worst part is, they turned out sequels like CRAZY with few improvements. So you had TWO franchises, putting out sequels, and they all did basically the same thing. That doubled the perceived amount of guitar games.
The difference between casuals and hardcore games is easily seen in the name themselves. Hardcore fans would buy the new and improved instruments, would buy the extra track lists for their favorite genre. The hardcore says "I've played these 40 songs to master, I need more to challenge me"
The casuals look and say "I already have 2 guitars, and the game comes with 40 songs, why do I need more? I wanna play Smells like Teen Spirit again, I know that one, its comfortable, I get 5 stars every time"
So Guitar Hero 3 sold something like 1.5 million copies in its first month.
Guitar Hero 6(the heavy metal looking, no licenses, "return to hardcore gaming" one) sold 180,000 in 6 months.
I think they thought they were catering to the usual gamer. Its the only thing I can think to justify things. In most game series you get a new one every other year. In 5 years we had Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero the 80s, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero Van Halen, Guitar Hero 4, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero 5, and Guitar Hero 6.
Now add all that to 6 different major Rock Band releases, and 2 DJ Heros. There are hardcore gamers that would not buy that many games in so short a time. Even Madden fans, arguably the most rabid niche group, wouldn't buy Maddens released that fast.
They forgot who they were making games for, and for that they have lost their shirts and killed the genre within 5 years. Now they have to wait and find the next casual friendly genre, and who knows how far that is away. It could be 20 years, especially after the bad taste people have in their mouth about the whole band game thing. They think Dance Hero or whatever its called is going to save them. I some how doubt it.
But then again, this is not my demographic.
I would make an argument that the casual gamer has only ran the market 3 times in videogame history. The early 80's, the later part of the NES, and now the Wii era. The early 80's lead to a crash. The post-NES era almost killed Nintendo and allowed Sony and Microsoft to enter the market. We've yet to see what will happen post-Wii, but we've seen the Move and Kinect added to the "hardcore" consoles, we'll likely see it be the basis for the PS3 and Xbox720whatever.
Anyways. Casual gamers. I myself like Guitar Hero, especially in a casual setting, like a group at a party. That's the same time I liked the Wii. The total shitstorm that happened after Guitar Hero created an entire cash cow centered around it. Instead of keeping a level head and pushing a new genre forward, they freaked out and milked it for what they could. The era lasted only half a decade or so.
Instantly the companies behind the first Guitar Hero split, and so you instantly got a competitor called Rock Band. You also got every record company in the business pushing "new" talent to go into these games that were originally about rocking out to the classic songs you always wanted to play. Suddenly you're playing a mish mash of bands you'll never hear from again, along with hip hop songs.
The worst part is, they turned out sequels like CRAZY with few improvements. So you had TWO franchises, putting out sequels, and they all did basically the same thing. That doubled the perceived amount of guitar games.
The difference between casuals and hardcore games is easily seen in the name themselves. Hardcore fans would buy the new and improved instruments, would buy the extra track lists for their favorite genre. The hardcore says "I've played these 40 songs to master, I need more to challenge me"
The casuals look and say "I already have 2 guitars, and the game comes with 40 songs, why do I need more? I wanna play Smells like Teen Spirit again, I know that one, its comfortable, I get 5 stars every time"
So Guitar Hero 3 sold something like 1.5 million copies in its first month.
Guitar Hero 6(the heavy metal looking, no licenses, "return to hardcore gaming" one) sold 180,000 in 6 months.
I think they thought they were catering to the usual gamer. Its the only thing I can think to justify things. In most game series you get a new one every other year. In 5 years we had Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero the 80s, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero Van Halen, Guitar Hero 4, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero 5, and Guitar Hero 6.
Now add all that to 6 different major Rock Band releases, and 2 DJ Heros. There are hardcore gamers that would not buy that many games in so short a time. Even Madden fans, arguably the most rabid niche group, wouldn't buy Maddens released that fast.
They forgot who they were making games for, and for that they have lost their shirts and killed the genre within 5 years. Now they have to wait and find the next casual friendly genre, and who knows how far that is away. It could be 20 years, especially after the bad taste people have in their mouth about the whole band game thing. They think Dance Hero or whatever its called is going to save them. I some how doubt it.
But then again, this is not my demographic.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Diversions
Well, I was making headway at getting better at Fatal Fury 2 when I got distracted by my new television. My laptop gaming has been put on hold while I'm learning and trying things out on the new tv. Dragon Age looks phenomenal on it, though I see much more the glaring problems the PS3 version of Dragon Age has with its graphics. Nothing game breaks mind you, and I still fully have enjoyed myself through several full on play throughs.
I did both dwarf origins in the last few days. I had finished my ambitious human mage run through and still wanted to see more of the game on the new TV. While I played a dwarf in World of Warcraft, but never considered myself the dwarf player. I've known dwarf players, they hardly ever think of playing anything other than dwarfs even in multiple MMO's. I am not a dwarf player. So I didn't mind making some throw away characters to go through these Origins.
If you have played the game only once, and you care about the story at all, I beg you to play all the Origins. They explain SOOOOOO much that you will not understand in a single play through. Particularly the Dwarven Noble Origin, which has had the most to do with the main story line than any of the other Origins. It explains what has gone on in the Dwarf kingdom in much less rumor and whispers than just going through in the main story.
I did both dwarf origins in the last few days. I had finished my ambitious human mage run through and still wanted to see more of the game on the new TV. While I played a dwarf in World of Warcraft, but never considered myself the dwarf player. I've known dwarf players, they hardly ever think of playing anything other than dwarfs even in multiple MMO's. I am not a dwarf player. So I didn't mind making some throw away characters to go through these Origins.
If you have played the game only once, and you care about the story at all, I beg you to play all the Origins. They explain SOOOOOO much that you will not understand in a single play through. Particularly the Dwarven Noble Origin, which has had the most to do with the main story line than any of the other Origins. It explains what has gone on in the Dwarf kingdom in much less rumor and whispers than just going through in the main story.
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