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lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:45 am
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An interview is up over at GameInformer:

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200512/N05.1207.1352.38672.htm

For the past month or so, I was wondering: "Oh no! Black might not have onli....wait a minute. Does this game really need online gameplay? and if so....would it even work?"

Before reading this, I was afraid they WOULD have online play. I questioned whether the games design had room for this type of feature, and whether the developers could make it work before the game hit store shelves.

If you have seen the videos of this game in action, how would online gameplay even work at all? Can you imagine even 8 people in a map trying to do deathmatch with all that crap flying all over the place? I can't. The console would most likely explode right when everyone first fired their weapons. There would be no gameplay. It would just be a big mess.

This game is supposed to ship early next year. Do I think this game could oneday have online and have it work? Yea of course, but it would take a long time to get all the online game design worked out. Simply because nobody has done anything quite like this before. Atleast to these extremes.

Your thoughts?
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
OmegaChrono
rank 7
Posted:
Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:18 am
quote : #2
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Posts: 57
Type: NTSC-U/C
I can understand how it might now of worked onilne and its not like there are a bunch of great online shooters that are already out that can satisfy our needs until a game like BLACK goes online.

I was wondering, do you know you if there is word for split-screen or co-op gameplay in the game? I was thinking that co-op might work in a game like this.
 
chicagodave
rank 7
Posted:
Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:52 am
quote : #3
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Posts: 57
well heres the bottom line now that theres no online i wont even consider getting the game. same thing happened with darkwatch, ssx, medal of honor you take the online aspects out and you will lose a huge fanbase, those games sold considerably less because they took out the online portion. even though they reduced the price.
  _________________
battlefield 2 site: www.bf2home.com
lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:40 pm
quote : #4
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Posts: 2839
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chicagodave wrote:
well heres the bottom line now that theres no online i wont even consider getting the game. same thing happened with darkwatch, ssx, medal of honor you take the online aspects out and you will lose a huge fanbase, those games sold considerably less because they took out the online portion. even though they reduced the price.

Recent trends show dropping online support will have no current impact on final sales figures. This is why EA has decided to pull the online functions from many of their top franchises as of late.

Need for Speed Most Wanted for the PS2 had its Online functions pulled, and it is currently sitting at the top of the PS2 sales charts:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/charts.php?tag=charts_ps2_full

and is #1 on the All platform top 40:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/charts.php?tag=charts_top40

-------

Here are the sales charts for the months that MOH Rising Sun, and MOH European Assault were released:

November 2003
1) Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
2) Medal of Honor Rising Sun (PS2)
3) Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2)
4) Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (Xbox)
5) SOCOM II: U.S. Navy Seals (PS2)
6) Need for Speed Underground (PS2)
7) Tony Hawk’s Underground (PS2)
8) True Crime: Streets of LA (PS2)
9) Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA)
10) Madden NFL 2004 (PS2)

June 2005
1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Xbox)
2. Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
3. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PS2)
4. Medal of Honor: European Assault (PS2)
5. Conker: Live and Reloaded (Xbox)
6. LEGO Star Wars (PS2)
7. Madagascar (PS2)
8. Madagascar (GBA)
9. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (PS2)
10. Destory All Humans! (PS2)

Here is a bit more information to put things in perspective: MOH Rising Sun was released as the PS2's 40th Online Game, at a time when the PS2 had only Tribes, Twisted Metal and Socom 1 + 2. These were the only shooters available, and the online functions were PS2 exclusive at the time. So there was a definate demand at the time for Rising Sun. Now, with tons of online shooters on the market, and the big wave JUST hitting during the 3-4 months before European Assaults release, it still ranks in as #4 on the charts bringing in well over $11 Million dollars in sales. On top of this EA didn't have to impliment a multiplayer mode, OR an online mode. Saving tons of man hours on development and technical support.

Also out of Area 51, TimeSplitters Future Perfect, Snowblind, Cold Winter....none of these games broke into the top 10 sales charts during their month of release.

Also MOH European Assault for the PS2 was in the EBgames.com top 10 for sales 5 straight weeks in a row:

Week Ending June 12
Week Ending June 19
Week Ending June 26
Week Ending July 3
Week Ending July 10

Darkwatch upon release had the PS2 and Xbox versions jocking for position for 2 straight weeks on EBgames.com:

Week Ending August 21
3. Darkwatch (Xbox)
4. Darkwatch (PS2)

Week Ending August 28
5. Darkwatch (PS2)
6. Darkwatch (Xbox)

Xbox version has Online, PS2 version does not. I can't really see where the loss of online is making a dramatic impact here.

-------

The fanbase for these games hasn't gone anywhere. Online Gaming is not as important as you think it is. In-fact there are only roughly 1-2 million gamers playing PS2 or Xbox online right now. I believe in April of 2004 the tally was at 1.2 million network adaptors sold. You have to factor in how many gamers actually play games regularly online. Then how many gamers own certain games, and how many gamers play only sports games, and only FPS's, or just play FFXI even. Then you really start to see this number splinter off. The emphasis being placed on online gaming right now has more to do with the future rather than the now. When you see big headlines in the news about online games, its usually talking about the revenue being generated from MMO's. Also Microsoft really tries to play up their Xbox Live service, however its total active numbers are on part with how many active gamers are playing the PS2 Online. In-fact most of that population is blurred, with people owning both systems playing them online back and forth.

Online gaming is but a fraction of the console industry. When a game gets its online functions stripped, you have 15 angry gamers posting on an internet message board about the loss of online functions and how its the end of their world. Then on the outside you have 1500 run of the mill game consumers, who get most of their industry news from GamePro. Most rarely browse the internet, and they are anxiously waiting for the new game to get released to buy it...online functions or not. In-fact there is a large demographic of gamers out there that buy online enabled games, and don't even know they can take them online.

When consoles get closer to the numbersof PC Online gaming, THEN the loss of online functions will impact sales and franchise reputation. However, right now, online console gaming is but a small small small fraction of the industry, and online functions have very little impact on the big picture.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
killer-elite
rank 7
Posted:
Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:37 pm
quote : #5
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Posts: 57
Nice read, very in depth.
 
kontact
rank 4
Posted:
Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:07 am
quote : #6
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Posts: 21
I was suprised to find that no online did not bother me at all. I played about a half hour worth on PS2 in a store and its looks great! (been playing the rest of it on my friend's xbox) but the game in general is one of my all time favorite games. It's not just another FPS, it gives me feelings of Counter Strike but with more of a "me against the world" type feel. The missions are perfect and not monotonous which I hate in games these days. My only complaint is the enemies taking round after round with an AK before finally dying but I think they were just trying to up difficulty level of sorts, hard to say what's up with that but still doesn't hinder the experience enough to really bother you. Another solid game by Criterion worth every penny, ironic the game that was getting the most play before this from me was Burnout 3.
 
lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:18 pm
quote : #7
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Posts: 2839
Type: NTSC-U/C
Yea this is a cool game. However I can't pay the full price for it because it is more like a tech demo than an actual full on game. You could finish the game in about 7 hours, and the gameplay is pretty cut and dry. Once you get past the guns firing and particles, the novelty can start to wear off a bit. I would want to play through it 1 or 2 times, but I can't see myself playing through it say 3 times. So because of that I have to wait until I can find it for rock bottom prices.

The games graphics though are top notch and it just another example of how hardware specs do not dictate the final result. Developes do.

I still have to get either of the Burnout games. I will most likely own both, as well as Black when it is all said and done. They will probobly be titles I will wait to buy when they get marked down at retail over the summer or next fall.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
kontact
rank 4
Posted:
Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:22 pm
quote : #8
profile : pm
Posts: 21
I agree it's not worth the price, and you could see it as a tech demo. However, another reason I am so pleased with the game is I really haven't thought about the effects etc... it actually sucked me into the game itself so much so I didn't even care about the graphics, its just a damn good game and perfectly balanced missions. I just feel like a vigilante badass on my own making my way through these dark missions which feel a mixture of run and gun and stealth.
 
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