Saturday, March 13, 2004
Does Bonk count?
Today I will talk about a topic that really pissed me off... and in the process, I will anger Nick. Win/win situation, I'd say.
I was at Nick's place a few days ago. There, in his room, was an issue of PSM. Now, I don't read video game magazines by rule. The rule is: if the magazine sucks, it isn’t worth my time. Ever since Next Generation became Next Gen I have not been able to find a decent, well written video game magazine for adults. But seeing a new PSM on his bed, with pretty pictures and colors, I couldn't resist.
There, on the cover of the magazine, was the headline "The Top Game Series of All Time!!!!!" or something close, maybe only three exclamation points. It may have also said "Exclusive" somewhere in there.
While leafing through the mag to find the article, I started hypothesizing about what would be on the list. In my ignorance, the first thing out of my mouth was "It's either Mario or Zelda, I wonder who they'll chose." Nick was quick to jump on me with the ultra obvious "It's a PlayStation list."
I continued to guess, finding it increasingly difficult to locate the actual article. "Well, Twisted Metal will be on there for sure. That series is money. And Tekken will… what else? Final Fantasy better not be number one seeing as it’s been on a million Nintendo systems." Nick: "You're not going to be happy."
So I see this bullshit list and guess what 10 series PSM included for Best PlayStation Series of All time? Go on, guess. Twisted Metal seems like a good choice. Ape Escape is fun, maybe that is on there. Or Jak or Ratchet or something. They're all good. Maybe they'd even choose something in its infancy, like Red Faction. I hate it but Nick seems to love it. Let's see, what else is a great PlayStation exclusive title... And there was my mistake.
In order, the list reads as follows:
Number 10 - Ridge Racer
Number 9 - Tekken
Number 8 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Number 7 - SSX
Number 6 - Resident Evil
Number 5 - Metal Gear Solid
Number 4 - John Madden Football
Number 3 - Grand Theft Auto
Number 2 - Gran Turismo
Number 1 - Final Fantasy
Ok, I can't remember the last game on the list, but it certainly doesn't help their case. When I do find it out I will edit this.
Anyway, what do you notice about that list? That's right, none of the games are exclusively PlayStation games. Sorry, sorry - one of them is only available on the PlayStation.
The rest? Ridge Racer first made it's jump to multiplatform four years ago with Ridge Racer 64. And don't forget about R: Racing Evolution released for all three systems just last year.
Next up is Tekken. This, it could be argued, is pretty much exclusive. All five major titles have been released for the PSX or PS2. But, then there's that one game: Tekken Advance. Not really exclusive if it's on a Nintendo system as well, eh?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has appeared on everything from the PC to the N-Gage and the Dreamcast. Not an exclusive.
SSX: Tricky was actually a Gamecube launch title way back in the day.
Resident Evil 0 was a Gamecube exclusive and Resident Evil 4 will be as well.
Metal Gear Solid is another obvious example. The first in the Solid series was just re-released for the Gamecube. And don't forget, the series originated on the NES and MSX in 1987.
Phew... this is exhausting...
Ok, John Madden Football has been on just about every system.
Sense a trend?
Grand Theft Auto was released on the Xbox last year. And, of course, Final Fantasy has been on ever Nintendo system minus the N64 and Virtual Boy.
Which means that, out of 10 series, only one, Gran Turismo, was actually exclusive to the PlayStation.
Why does this anger me? First of all, if they are including any series with even one game on the PlayStation why not include Street Fighter over Tekken? And Castlevania has been amazing, why not include that somewhere in there?
But I guess what really frustrated me is, in a lot of ways, this is what Sony has brought to the industry. Yes, the PSX and PS2 are hugely popular consoles, but as far as exclusive content, well, they just don't have it. If there was a top Nintendo Games List you can be sure they wouldn't have to resort to multiplatform titles. Heck, you can have a top 10 Nintendo Published series that would be pretty impressive.
But with Sony, since they don't actually make most of their games, they have no control where they go. They own the rights to Gran Turismo, but other than that, at least according to PSM, their best games aren't even theirs.
I guess this makes me think Sony might be in trouble long term. Yes, they are doing great now, but more and more games are going multiplatform. Without a strong in-house development team I don't think Sony can really succeed long term.
I know you think that's bullshit. The PlayStation name sells to all the mainstream gamers. They don't know about multiplatform or exclusive, they only know what's "cool" and the PlayStation name is still cool. But let's just say, for example, that next generation, Sony and Microsoft continue to do what they are doing now. They have an amazing, set top console. It has DVD playback, a built in hard drive and TiVo; not to mention backward compatibility. I know, there are rumors that MS will not include a hard drive, but this could still happen so bare with me.
On the other side, Nintendo releases a console that will be just as powerful, but will once again not have any extra features. Just a stripped down console. Made for games and games alone. This could also happen, in fact I would bet on this.
In my hypothetical example, all three systems will come out between September and November of 2006 with a launch lineup of 10 games. Now, in theory, all three systems are out at the same time and all have basically the same games, except Nintendo has a new Mario and Smash Bros., Xbox 2 has Perfect Dark 2 and Sony has the new GTA, exclusive for 6 months. This is not a reach at all.
Only real difference? Xbox and PS3 will be $300, GC2 will be $200.
Without exclusive games there is no way to differentiate yourself from the competition. And right now, it doesn't look like Sony has the exclusive firepower of Nintendo, and it seems like MS is still more eager to purchase series/developers to make games their own.
I might be wrong about this, but seeing as they have so few real exclusives anymore, it did make me think. If Sony doesn't release their system a year earlier, they won't have 20 million systems in home before the competition comes out and it will be even more difficult to shore up exclusive titles.
I was at Nick's place a few days ago. There, in his room, was an issue of PSM. Now, I don't read video game magazines by rule. The rule is: if the magazine sucks, it isn’t worth my time. Ever since Next Generation became Next Gen I have not been able to find a decent, well written video game magazine for adults. But seeing a new PSM on his bed, with pretty pictures and colors, I couldn't resist.
There, on the cover of the magazine, was the headline "The Top Game Series of All Time!!!!!" or something close, maybe only three exclamation points. It may have also said "Exclusive" somewhere in there.
While leafing through the mag to find the article, I started hypothesizing about what would be on the list. In my ignorance, the first thing out of my mouth was "It's either Mario or Zelda, I wonder who they'll chose." Nick was quick to jump on me with the ultra obvious "It's a PlayStation list."
I continued to guess, finding it increasingly difficult to locate the actual article. "Well, Twisted Metal will be on there for sure. That series is money. And Tekken will… what else? Final Fantasy better not be number one seeing as it’s been on a million Nintendo systems." Nick: "You're not going to be happy."
So I see this bullshit list and guess what 10 series PSM included for Best PlayStation Series of All time? Go on, guess. Twisted Metal seems like a good choice. Ape Escape is fun, maybe that is on there. Or Jak or Ratchet or something. They're all good. Maybe they'd even choose something in its infancy, like Red Faction. I hate it but Nick seems to love it. Let's see, what else is a great PlayStation exclusive title... And there was my mistake.
In order, the list reads as follows:
Number 10 - Ridge Racer
Number 9 - Tekken
Number 8 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Number 7 - SSX
Number 6 - Resident Evil
Number 5 - Metal Gear Solid
Number 4 - John Madden Football
Number 3 - Grand Theft Auto
Number 2 - Gran Turismo
Number 1 - Final Fantasy
Ok, I can't remember the last game on the list, but it certainly doesn't help their case. When I do find it out I will edit this.
Anyway, what do you notice about that list? That's right, none of the games are exclusively PlayStation games. Sorry, sorry - one of them is only available on the PlayStation.
The rest? Ridge Racer first made it's jump to multiplatform four years ago with Ridge Racer 64. And don't forget about R: Racing Evolution released for all three systems just last year.
Next up is Tekken. This, it could be argued, is pretty much exclusive. All five major titles have been released for the PSX or PS2. But, then there's that one game: Tekken Advance. Not really exclusive if it's on a Nintendo system as well, eh?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has appeared on everything from the PC to the N-Gage and the Dreamcast. Not an exclusive.
SSX: Tricky was actually a Gamecube launch title way back in the day.
Resident Evil 0 was a Gamecube exclusive and Resident Evil 4 will be as well.
Metal Gear Solid is another obvious example. The first in the Solid series was just re-released for the Gamecube. And don't forget, the series originated on the NES and MSX in 1987.
Phew... this is exhausting...
Ok, John Madden Football has been on just about every system.
Sense a trend?
Grand Theft Auto was released on the Xbox last year. And, of course, Final Fantasy has been on ever Nintendo system minus the N64 and Virtual Boy.
Which means that, out of 10 series, only one, Gran Turismo, was actually exclusive to the PlayStation.
Why does this anger me? First of all, if they are including any series with even one game on the PlayStation why not include Street Fighter over Tekken? And Castlevania has been amazing, why not include that somewhere in there?
But I guess what really frustrated me is, in a lot of ways, this is what Sony has brought to the industry. Yes, the PSX and PS2 are hugely popular consoles, but as far as exclusive content, well, they just don't have it. If there was a top Nintendo Games List you can be sure they wouldn't have to resort to multiplatform titles. Heck, you can have a top 10 Nintendo Published series that would be pretty impressive.
But with Sony, since they don't actually make most of their games, they have no control where they go. They own the rights to Gran Turismo, but other than that, at least according to PSM, their best games aren't even theirs.
I guess this makes me think Sony might be in trouble long term. Yes, they are doing great now, but more and more games are going multiplatform. Without a strong in-house development team I don't think Sony can really succeed long term.
I know you think that's bullshit. The PlayStation name sells to all the mainstream gamers. They don't know about multiplatform or exclusive, they only know what's "cool" and the PlayStation name is still cool. But let's just say, for example, that next generation, Sony and Microsoft continue to do what they are doing now. They have an amazing, set top console. It has DVD playback, a built in hard drive and TiVo; not to mention backward compatibility. I know, there are rumors that MS will not include a hard drive, but this could still happen so bare with me.
On the other side, Nintendo releases a console that will be just as powerful, but will once again not have any extra features. Just a stripped down console. Made for games and games alone. This could also happen, in fact I would bet on this.
In my hypothetical example, all three systems will come out between September and November of 2006 with a launch lineup of 10 games. Now, in theory, all three systems are out at the same time and all have basically the same games, except Nintendo has a new Mario and Smash Bros., Xbox 2 has Perfect Dark 2 and Sony has the new GTA, exclusive for 6 months. This is not a reach at all.
Only real difference? Xbox and PS3 will be $300, GC2 will be $200.
Without exclusive games there is no way to differentiate yourself from the competition. And right now, it doesn't look like Sony has the exclusive firepower of Nintendo, and it seems like MS is still more eager to purchase series/developers to make games their own.
I might be wrong about this, but seeing as they have so few real exclusives anymore, it did make me think. If Sony doesn't release their system a year earlier, they won't have 20 million systems in home before the competition comes out and it will be even more difficult to shore up exclusive titles.
// posted by Tom @ 9:46 AM 
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