Comments on: Game of the Year Corruption? http://www.backhandofjustice.com/game-of-the-year-corruption/ Luke Stillman's thoughts on videogame design, trends and business Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:55:15 -0700 hourly 1 <img class='wavatar' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=036f4e80d45639509a3c61343e5a0dee.jpg&r=X&s=72&d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.backhandofjustice.com%2Fwp-content%2Fcache%2Fwavatars%2F036f4e80d45639509.png' width='72' height='72' alt='Wavatar' />By: LAS http://www.backhandofjustice.com/game-of-the-year-corruption/comment-page-1/#comment-348 Wavatar LAS Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:49:49 +0000 http://www.backhandofjustice.com/?p=981#comment-348 I agree that Japanese and American games have different styles and the audiences are certainly different given the games that are successful there and not here and vice versa ... although I think there is going to be some convergence given the success of some recent Western games. I agree that smaller platforms are going to allow low budget games to compete, you saw some of that this year with people putting Flower forward as a great game, and Shadow Complex ($15 Xbox Live game) even won Xbox game of the year from many sites. I also think that given the changing model of games where more developers are going to have subscription models / free to play and pay as you go games, you're going to see many more successful franchises spread over the course of a few years with no real delineation in terms of what's a major release and what isn't, making it difficult to decide whether a game even came out this year or not. Should be interesting to see how things develop. I agree that Japanese and American games have different styles and the audiences are certainly different given the games that are successful there and not here and vice versa … although I think there is going to be some convergence given the success of some recent Western games.

I agree that smaller platforms are going to allow low budget games to compete, you saw some of that this year with people putting Flower forward as a great game, and Shadow Complex ($15 Xbox Live game) even won Xbox game of the year from many sites.

I also think that given the changing model of games where more developers are going to have subscription models / free to play and pay as you go games, you’re going to see many more successful franchises spread over the course of a few years with no real delineation in terms of what’s a major release and what isn’t, making it difficult to decide whether a game even came out this year or not. Should be interesting to see how things develop.

]]> <img class='wavatar' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=ed323b6b8bd926016f6f19a9f79686af.jpg&r=X&s=72&d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.backhandofjustice.com%2Fwp-content%2Fcache%2Fwavatars%2Fed323b6b8bd926016.png' width='72' height='72' alt='Wavatar' />By: JJ http://www.backhandofjustice.com/game-of-the-year-corruption/comment-page-1/#comment-347 Wavatar JJ Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:27:12 +0000 http://www.backhandofjustice.com/?p=981#comment-347 Gamespot's demon soul's pick is absolutely more of a way to get more hits to the article. Granted I haven't played it (surprisingly), I do hear good things so there certainly is the possibility it is valid. However, I think games are in a different league that media like film or books. It is hard to compete against the huge budget and staff assigned to huge games like Uncharted and shine through. It does happen, but when you have that many resources theres a strong possibility that your game is going to be good. Thats why it isn't surprising to me that those games win game of the year and, in fact, are very good. You mention a lot about the rise of the indie game scene and I think the iphone and ds and simpler platforms will open the door for some gems to take on teh big boys. However, don't forget that demon soul's is actually a Japanese game developed by Sony in Japan and then brought to america through the notoriously indie publisher Atlas. Gamespot’s demon soul’s pick is absolutely more of a way to get more hits to the article. Granted I haven’t played it (surprisingly), I do hear good things so there certainly is the possibility it is valid.

However, I think games are in a different league that media like film or books. It is hard to compete against the huge budget and staff assigned to huge games like Uncharted and shine through. It does happen, but when you have that many resources theres a strong possibility that your game is going to be good. Thats why it isn’t surprising to me that those games win game of the year and, in fact, are very good.

You mention a lot about the rise of the indie game scene and I think the iphone and ds and simpler platforms will open the door for some gems to take on teh big boys.

However, don’t forget that demon soul’s is actually a Japanese game developed by Sony in Japan and then brought to america through the notoriously indie publisher Atlas.

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