An interesting converstation with my Girlfriend...

So I saw this morning this post on gamespot, so, thinking I was being funny and would get a funny response I emailed the link to my girlfriend. The following is transposed from the ensuing email conversation:

ME: The DS officially has a lot to answer for…

GF: the people that use gamespot are c*cks. So what if the game industry wants to appeal to different people. Its not all about fancy graphics and gamer respect - they should be grateful people will be willing to put stuff like this out cos without diversifying the gaming industry may soon die out.

ME:  Did you copy that from somewhere?

GF: No - i just think those people need to remove their heads from their backsides. The games they want to play cost a fortune in development so why criticise the cheap to produce spin off games which will essentially be funding it.

ME: Because this will not be a good game and brings absolutely nothing to the industry. It’s a cash produced on the cheap by people who have no love even for the license, let alone making a great game. If one guy can make a game like braid, which won numerous awards as best downloadable game of 2008 etc on a small budget, cheap cash in games that go after people who don’t know any better shouldn’t be made. It is possible to make great games on the cheap with a small team, which will do the same job, they don’t have to farm stupid licenses to do it.

GF: i cant be ar*ed arguing with you

ME: I thought it was more of a discussion.

GF: i dont have the energy and lets face it nothing will change your mind

I personally thought I had a good point, but it got me thinking that without those cheap to produce cruddy cash in games, could the games industry really survive?

 Well yes, surely if the games produced are of a higher quality, and done by smaller and more dedicated teams with a passion for what they are doing, they can be both cheap to produce and great titles. I can’t agree that putting out games like the coronation street game is diversifying the industry, cause its not, if anything, its diluting and not moving it forward.

What do you guys think? who is right and who is wrong? Am I going to get a kicking when I get home?

So I saw this morning this post on gamespot, so, thinking I was being funny and would get a funny response I emailed the link to my girlfriend. The following is transposed from the ensuing email conversation:

ME: The DS officially has a lot to answer for…

GF: the people that use gamespot are c*cks. So what if the game industry wants to appeal to different people. Its not all about fancy graphics and gamer respect - they should be grateful people will be willing to put stuff like this out cos without diversifying the gaming industry may soon die out.

ME:  Did you copy that from somewhere?

GF: No - i just think those people need to remove their heads from their backsides. The games they want to play cost a fortune in development so why criticise the cheap to produce spin off games which will essentially be funding it.

ME: Because this will not be a good game and brings absolutely nothing to the industry. It’s a cash produced on the cheap by people who have no love even for the license, let alone making a great game. If one guy can make a game like braid, which won numerous awards as best downloadable game of 2008 etc on a small budget, cheap cash in games that go after people who don’t know any better shouldn’t be made. It is possible to make great games on the cheap with a small team, which will do the same job, they don’t have to farm stupid licenses to do it.

GF: i cant be ar*ed arguing with you

ME: I thought it was more of a discussion.

GF: i dont have the energy and lets face it nothing will change your mind

I personally thought I had a good point, but it got me thinking that without those cheap to produce cruddy cash in games, could the games industry really survive?

 Well yes, surely if the games produced are of a higher quality, and done by smaller and more dedicated teams with a passion for what they are doing, they can be both cheap to produce and great titles. I can’t agree that putting out games like the coronation street game is diversifying the industry, cause its not, if anything, its diluting and not moving it forward.

What do you guys think? who is right and who is wrong? Am I going to get a kicking when I get home?

Yes, the gaming industry can survive without these cruddy games.

The gaming industry DOESN'T lose money as in going in the red. It just makes less money. They just look for the easiest way to make as much money as possible which are these cheap spinoffs.

I think your right dude. Your GF is the one that's not open to discussion btw. She dismissed you straight away as if your a little kid = immature. She's afraid of getting convinced that these cheap spinoff games are worthless which so clearly appeal to her so she shuts down all conversation.

Just ask yourself, what's more important. Staying with your GF or starting 'arguements'. Most men in relationships shutup because they realise that it will slowly contribute to the breakdown of their relationship.

i think your right, i dont think pimp my ride was a good game.

For one, Jon Blow didn't have a tiny budget like most indie developers do when they go out to make games, and he spent several years on different prototypes before Braid.
I don't necessarily think your girl is right in this case, but at the same time it's pointless arguing over these sorts of titles. People have had bad ideas in the film industries and for television in the past and they always will, the games industry is no different. If you have a platform which is able to appeal to a wide casual market then it's guaranteed that you're going to have some developers who are going to try and cash in on that.

You're totally right, but your girlfriend definitely does have her own point as well.

LoL i will let her know all of your opinions, thanks alot! and HashHeesh, didnt start arguement, like I said I thought it was more of a discussion! lol

"LoL i will let her know all of your opinions, thanks alot! and HashHeesh, didnt start arguement, like I said I thought it was more of a discussion! lol"

"optimusprime223 said:

"LoL i will let her know all of your opinions, thanks alot! and HashHeesh, didnt start arguement, like I said I thought it was more of a discussion! lol"

And that's why I said arguement in    '           '. Because to you it is a dicussion, to her it's an 'arguement'. It's all perception."

I believe your girlfriend has it right on this one.  While games like Braid and Everyday Shooter are well produced, innovative, and fun to play they can not deliver the same amount of profit that a licensed property game can to a developer.  Whether it's a Hannah Montana game or a British soap opera on the DS, these style of games are bought by huge numbers of people in Wal-Marts across the world.  And while every company would like to have a successful original IP, all of them see the value in game titles based off well known properties.  Comic books, movies and TV have long been the source of these games and while not all of them are "AAA" titles, more often than not they appear on the NPDs.  Games created for the DS or Wii can be made for a relatively low cost, and in the end, that means more people who work at these companies get to keep their jobs.  As Free Radical's Haze illustrated, put all your effort into creating what you hope to be a blockbuster, and you might get burned if you have no fall back plan.  Perhaps if they were making some of Ubisoft's "games-that-end-in-Z" titles, they would have been able to weather Haze's disappointing sales.

For the most part, I think your girlfriend is right about people bellyaching about these type of games.  EA, Activision, and all the others are in business to make money.  Just like Hollywood, they can't just make big budget blockbusters and expect to survive these days.  And while maybe they can get by on just small "art-house" films, the general movie going public wants to be wowed.  People want "The Dark Knight".  But a movie like that is expensive and can be risky as well.  Games are the same in that regard.  Big expensive games that take years to reach the public need other, cost effiecent games to fund the studios and publishers between triple-A releases.  So, while the gaming elite may detest their existence, these games are a fundamental part of the games industry economy.  

Perhaps the question that you should have asked your girlfriend is "ok, I understand why they make games like this, but why must so many of them be so bad?" I can only assume this is do to time and budgetary constraints, the ol' cranking-them-out methodology.  There are only so many really talented people available to create game, and in the end, would you prefer those skilled resources working on a "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" or on a "Imagine: Babysitting"? 

Braid...what an example! I didn't even like that game.  If people want to buy crap games then they will get built.  They're easy to produce after all.  Not making them just opens up a niche market for some other junk game vendor to produce.  Some people just want something quick & mindless to pass the time with.

LOL IM PIMP MY RIDE GAME FOR 360 THE PPLZ AND XIBIT LOOKED LIKE THEY WERES MADE OF PLASTIC!!!!

"LOL IM PIMP MY RIDE GAME FOR 360 THE PPLZ AND XIBIT LOOKED LIKE THEY WERES MADE OF PLASTIC!!!!"

yeah thats right. quote me
i said that SikhCuz said:

"LOL IM PIMP MY RIDE GAME FOR 360 THE PPLZ AND XIBIT LOOKED LIKE THEY WERES MADE OF PLASTIC!!!!"

The bad games make the good ones seem better ;)

Your girlfriend is pretty quick to give up. Hopefully she's jot enough to compensate.

I sorta agree with your girlfiend, myself.  I don't see why every game has to be targeted at us.  I also think that we are sometimes very quick to assume a game will be bad because it doesn't happen to appeal to us.  It may have good gameplay, we don't know, and sometimes the community gets surprised by something that seems like a hack job but turns out to be better than expected, even if its standards might still not be as high as we'd like.

I'd prefer to see gaming become more ubiquitous, rather than be something that only a few people can get into.  If it does, it means understanding of the medium will increase, people will be less likely to condemn it, and it will bring even more people in, which will help raise awareness for the types of games that can be made, and the possibilities that exist in the medium that people never figured out before because they were too busy catering to people with an inflated sense of entitlement.

umm im one of those "c*cks" that uses gamespot....

Your girlfriend was right. PenguinDust put it perfectly. Where the hell do you think your big companies get the money for riskier titles? From selling heaping shit tons of shovelware produced en masse for pennies on the dollar. Sorry.

The woman is always right, even if she's wrong. This is something every man needs to learn and will learn eventually.

I think your girlfriend is amazing and completely correct.  She should dump your sorry ass and get someone better if you don't apologise and agree with her  :P

"

GF: the people that use gamespot are c*cks.

"

"umm im one of those "c*cks" that uses gamespot...."

Same thing has happened to the movie industry and it's survived. Cheap and crappy movies have flooded the market and it's still doing pretty well for itself. People go to the blockbusters and usually the bad shit goes straight to DVD. One hasn't really effected the other.

Cheap and crappy games doesn't automatically lessen the impact of expensive good ones, it just gives more variety. Everybody wants a slice of the pie and who can blame them? Surely it will just stimulate the industry, especially during these tough economic times. People are getting picky about their games, they want value for money and most people I know research before they buy. So the shit games and their manufactures will slowly die out because consumers are looking in depth into their products and the market for them. Well,smart consumers are. Basically survival of the fittest but with non-organic games.

If it's good, people will buy it. If it's bad, people won't. Don't worry about the in-betweens of it all because there is no way the gaming industry will go kaput because of the Pimp My Ride franchise. And if it does, I will personally see to it that MTV is made pay for crimes against humanity.