Aquinas

No, it really is not.  At least, not yet.  Certainly not for the fighting genre, in particular.  SF4 and SF2 HD being prime examples.  The more casual player base becomes frustrated and quits because of the uber players/SRK types.  Thus those hardcore players are the only people left, creating a glass ceiling no one else who buys the game in the weeks after release can break through.  They hop online, play lets say, SF4.  Choose equal skill, and look for a match.  They get paired with a guy with 2000 BP who wipes his ass with them in all of about sixty seconds.  The match is over so fast they can barely register it's begun, and they have no idea what the hell is going on.  They learn nothing, they have no fun, and they turn the game in shortly afterwards.  No competitive game has anything near a truly functioning matchmaking system that pairs up people of a similar skill level.

Especially in the case of fighters, the established hardcore players run things, and their is absolutely not any room for anyone else to play the game online, unless they play strictly with friends they know to be of the same skill range.  I myself have a continual interest in fighters, but gave up actually playing them in any competitive manner online quite some time ago now.  For all the promises by certain devs to open the genre to new players and keep online sustainable for them, history always repeats itself, and the frame counting arcade stick using elite players are the only people who can get real long term enjoyment from the game.  I look forward to the day I can play fighters online again with some regularity and have fun, but that day is not coming any time soon, at least not until better matchmaking systems are implemented.

The hardcore players aren't doing anything wrong, they just play a different way for different reasons, and playing against them isn't any fun.  It's on the developers of the games to find a way to make the games better able to match up everyone else together with consistency and keep them around for more than a month after the game comes out.

" IGN  also gave that Castlevania fighting game like a 7.5. "

" Damn. I bought KOF 99' for my PSP. I'd feel too dumb for buying this. "

Click the link.  SNK is releasing these games to close to each other.  They'll end up competing with each other instead of against Capcom and ArkSys games like SF4, SF2 HD, and BlazBlue.  Garou will only have been out a week when this is up, and it's online userbase is very small as is.  When a chunk of them either moves to KOF '98 fully, or splits their attention to both games, it will shrink further.  Please, space 'em out, SNK.

Most recently, Infamous.  Mission variety is non-existent, and the difficulty is just plain brutal, to the point of being just cheap, unfair, and player punishing.  The most frustrating game I've played all year, by far.

Final Fantasy 11 is the worst offender.  Not only is it an MMO, it's a very hardcore grind fest.  The exp loss for death made it for some especially long nights.  I'd go home early from work, skip family activities, and spend literally 24 hour periods playing the game, going afk to run to Subway and eat while chatting before going back to work.

" @Red said:

" I have an early 80gigger, so I'm fine, and don't really care about this. "

Same here, and besides, if people wanna play PS2 games so badly, then why not buy a PS2? The PS3 already plays PS3, PS1, Blu-Ray, DVDs, CDs, SD cards, etc., that's more than enough. "

" @Aquinas said:

" The first two games had no staying power despite all their good qualities.  I'm not going to let myself get excited for another one. "

Seriously? Fable 2 was one of the most fun, pure enjoyment games I've played. Each to their own. "

All questions about his personal life aside, (keeping that to myself to avoid getting caught up in all the trolling going on in here) he was a musical talent likes of which we are only able to see and hear once every fifty years or so at best.  It's his music that he will be remembered the most for.  RIP, MJ.  You were a big part of why the 80's were so awesome for me.

" Garou will make up the long wait. "