Apparently Cliffy B really disagrees with me

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Sunday, March 03, 2013, 10:02 (4287 days ago) @ Avateur

I think I agree with Cliff.

I was home sick one day this week. While lying in bed I watched Bungie's Brave New World vidoc again. I was struck by Marcus Lehto calling Reach the ultimate Halo. This week I played a few levels, and my gosh, I think he's right. In so many ways it is. It does so many things well.

What are the financial conditions that allowed for that game to be made? You had to have the audience that was willing to buy a Halo game on day one. You had to have a studio with the experience necessary to make such a game. You had to have the hardware and systems to support such a game. If Halo games had not made the money that they did, Reach would not have been possible.

I like when ambitious games also have commercial success. (Fingers crossed that Destiny fits that bill.) The landscape is always changing, though, and that affects what is made. It used to be that movies stayed in theaters for six months at a time, and triple-A games used to have a longer "tray-life." I fear that model is changing in a way where games like Reach can't afford to be made, yet, if film is any indication, regardless of what the new normal is financially, somebody sooner or later makes a truly excellent movie. On occasion that movie makes enough money to justify itself financially, and on rarer occasions it might be wildly popular. The landscape might have changed, but excellence finds a way.

People complaining about how this trend or that is ruining their gaming hobby remind me of people who complained that STAR WARS ruined filmmaking or serious science fiction or what have you. First of all, the world doesn't owe you a hobby. Second, despite STAR WARS turning Hollywood into a whizbang special effects showcase (or whatever the argument is), you still have films like BLADE RUNNER or more recently MOON. (The former probably would not have been made without the success of STAR WARS.)

If you care about great games, buy only great ones. Better yet, if you really care, work your way into the business so that you can make the games that you want to play. You might get lucky and have your faith rewarded.