I just read this massive load of bollocks and felt the need to post about it.The article is IGN speculating about what the games industry would be like if Sony had never decided to exploit the opportunities Nintendo and Sega's arrogance had given them and entered the console market. To sum it up, basically no exciting games were ever made and gamers were stuck with immature games cute furry animals collecting coins.
All this was written without mentioning one significant platform: the PC.
It asks if Resident Evil would've been made if Sony hadn't pushed Capcom to make it? Well, as RE was a rip-off of Alone In The Dark combined with loads of ideas Capcom had been having for a long time (check out GameTrailers' recent RE Retrospective for the proof), I suspect it would have.
Even more infuriatingly, IGN suggest that without Sony's push to make gaming more adult and mainstream, it would've meant that Mass Effect would not have been made. Excuse me?! Yes, it would have, and it would've been PC-only.
Without Sony though, the "consolisation" of gaming might never have happened. Without the casual gamers and the "mainstream" entering the market with lots of money, publishers would never consider dumbing their games down.
In short, despite it never appearing on a Sony console, according to IGN we have Sony to thank for Deus Ex: Invisible War.
- Chris Capel
As far as I'm concerned, if you continue to buy PlayStation products, you're a scat fetishist, as you gleefully accept the bullshit Ken and Kaz feed you.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am a Ninty fanboy. But if you(and by that I mean anyone, not you personally Chris) start telling me I'm biased just shut the fuck up now. I am passionate about the games industry, and have followed ALL systems closely since '94 (was gaming before that, but the passion began then). I was eagerly awaiting the next generation of Saturns, PlayStations and N64s, but over the years it's just become clear to me that Sony are scum. Again, this is a formulated opinion, based on YEARS of close scrutiny. And you know what? If I really had to back it up, I could probably find enough online sources, files on my PC and old mags to back it up. But I can't be bothered right now.
I've only read a third of it, but the whole analysis is pointless based on what I've read here. Basically the point is this: great ideas don't just happen once, or indeed twice. Heck, even normal ideas occur to several people at the same time. So basically, if Capcom hadn't made Resident Evil, someone else would have. And that goes for the rest. We'd probably be in just about the same place we are now, give or take a couple of years.
P.S. Here's my proof to back up that last statement I made, although no one'll ever believe me: I myself had the idea for Resident Evil before it was announced, and WipeOut came to me in a dream.
P.P.S. Hey Chris, here's an idea: Should we think about writing our alternate version of this "what if?" article? Or indeed just list everything Sony has done wrong? You're ideas on a napkin please; I could actually get fired up for this...
Current jollies derived from PC and Wii. Thought I should mention that up front because I'm going to say that when I read the IGN article at the weekend I actually thought there was a lot of truth in it. There's no doubt that Sony pushed gaming into new markets to maximise PlayStation sales. They reached out to new demographics and made gaming (and I apologise in advance for this) cool. Pop culture's definitions changed as a result of the PlayStation and Sony's marketing. Nintendo Thumb became PlayStation Wrist. The PlayStation name became synonymous with gaming. It was in the media, but not with some fat kid with spots and glasses playing Mario while Dominick Diamond dazzled us in his red pyjamas or Violet Berlin thaying how gweat thony were (sorry, cheap shot but it made me chuckle), it was Premiership footballers playing racing and sports games.
ReplyDeleteWhether that was for better or worse is down to opinion, personally I like the fact that there are more gamers now than ever, and surely there can be little doubt that without Sony being on board gaming would still be niche. Sure we may have ended up with a Wii anyway, but I can't help think that Nintendo's drive to appeal to the everyman was influenced by the loss of so many of the hardcore they'd appealed to previously.
The article was written from a Sony fanboy's perspective, and the connection to the likes of Mass Effect and RE is tenuous, though again, without the revenue streams Sony furrowed would the budgets have allowed those franchises to develop and flourish?
The article, I think, certainly overstates the case but I still think we wouldn't be were we are today, again for better or worse, without Sony.
I'll buy a PS3 when they drop to a reasonable price for what in this house will a Blu-ray player we could play a few games on, though I do so hate the pads (Xbox 360 pad FTW).
I'd love to see a counter argument, though I fear the confines of a blog may not be big enough :)
Hehe, yeah!
ReplyDeleteI would say that all major companies have their share of scumminess (just look at Nintendo's consistent attitude towards Europe for example), and would say that with the first Playstation Sony genuinely tried to do something well, and got plenty of great games.
Nevertheless, I wanted to counter the anti-PC (thank you Sony for giving Bioware permission to make great games), ridiculous statements (Sony created mature games??), and over-positivity (like, no negative comments? Where Sony actually did bad things to the industry? Like, now?) of that article. We should do the same...
I do like the irony that if it wasn't for Sony, Halo would've actually been a great game.
ReplyDeleteWell let's be fair; I think it was somewhat inevitable that Microsoft would decide to infect home entertainment with the Xbox, and then hijack Halo's release. Especially since the game had already jumped platform before then (was originally supposed to be a Mac release, or something similarly insane).
ReplyDeleteAs for a counter-argument, I'd say that a simple post listing all the PC classics would serve. At least in the eyes of anyone who thinks of Thief before Metal Gear Stolid, when asked about the stealth genre.