Hey all, just trying to make a new blog and wouldn't you know that I deleted a big post I was making because a hit a few keys in some magical sequence. It must have been my subconscious doing it, that's the ticket. Anyway, I'm going to quickly discuss what I was talking about before.
There is something affecting video games everywhere....corporate sponsorships.
It takes a lot of money to develop video games. Let us examine a well known franchise, Halo. It took $20 Million to develop Halo, $40 Million to develop Halo 2, and finally $80 Million to develop Halo 3. If anyone didn't catch that pattern, please begin counting to a million and we'll be right back with you.
So, as development cost rise, game companies have a couple of options, in my opinion:
(They are in order of what actually happens to what needs to happen)
1. Cross Platform Development: This is the case for most current-generation (current-gen) games on the market, they are released for multiple platforms,
Xbox 360,
Playstation 3, or Nintendo
Wii. Although this costs a little bit more money (more often than not they outsource one or more system's development duties to another company) they make up the money by profit from offering to a wider crowd.
2. Corporate Sponsorships: Anyone who has played Fight Night Round 3 knows about corporate sponsorships. You had the Burger King King as your corner man. That creepy bastard knows no mercy. Anyway, companies love to shell out the big bucks to be put in a popular video game. Don't remember seeing this in game? Next time you play a game that is "realistic", look for the ads, they're there. I'll go into the reason why I'm bringing this up later, but just know it is a lazy development tool that some things could do without. Although, we'll use the Fight Night Round 3 as a reference, sponsorships do add something to the realism. Boxing has sold out long before and it was kind of cool to see it in a game about boxing, but I digress...
It is worth noting that Fight Night Round 3 was a beautiful and fantastic playing game.
3. Make Good Games! I really shouldn't have to explain this, but lets take a look at some numbers: Halo 3 sold 300 million copies in one day, Grand Theft Auto sold 350 million copies in one week, and
Facebreaker (a terrible boxing game on
Xbox 360 and PS3) sold 42,000 copies to date. That's not a lot. I'm not saying make nothing but
sequals, take first time game Dead Space, it's selling really well now and it's a
sequal to nothing. Take your time, spend the money, put the passion into, and above all, make it fun! You'll get your money's worth out of the game.
So, those are just my opinions. Now, onto my reason for posting on this topic: Guitar Hero World Tour. I don't have too much time to discuss it, seeing as how it is 4:37 in the morning, but I'll say a little bit. I am not a fan of Guitar Hero World Tour. It is way too commercialized. In every stage Jason and I played on, there were at least 2 separate corporate logos. While that was kind of silly, I have to mention that we had corporately sponsored
tshirts that we were required to wear during the midnight launch. This was in addition to the Level 5 gum that we had to distribute and the Coke Merchandise that was provided to guests attending the midnight launch event. All of this might have flown over my head, but when I noticed a
KFC sign and a red Coke bottle in the game, the dots became connected.
I don't care about those things you might say, it doesn't affect the game play. Yeah, ask a politician if Special Interest Groups with a lot of money affect their attitudes towards issues. The fact is that Guitar Hero is a billion dollar revenue franchise. Advertisers know that and want a lot of people to see there stuff. That's fine, I'm a businessman and I can respect that model. What I can't respect is putting forth a substandard product in the midst of all that advertising. Guitar Hero World Tour fails at what it's supposed to do, allow you to have fun.
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