Poll: We need more exclusive titles

[segataDC]

There are a lot of gamers that are against exclusives. They say it divides the community, it punishes you for not choosing a particular console and it is bad for our wallets.

I don't agree and I will tell you why.

I know you can't survive without third-party support, but I think companies should strive to develop better exclusives in order to raise the standard for gaming.

Back then, each platform had a defining characteristic, had a personality: pc was the home of adventure games, FPS's and offered complex games, the dreamcast combined good graphics with old-school flavoured gameplay, it had many fun multiplayer games and that Pick Up & Play mentality that we all love; the ps2 was the holy grail for jrpg fans and had unique franchises(gta,gow,mgs,gt,etc...).

I own these three platforms and love them equally- I still play my ps2 and my dreamcast on a regular basis- and each offered a distinct and unique experience. The competitions was healthy for the industry, it was all about making good games- system sellers-.

Nowadays it is all about the graphics, about making all-in-one consoles.
Sony and m$ think that their consoles are going to replace the personal computer.
That why they offer the beefed up graphics, that why they are more expensive and offer, essentially, the same games(FPS'S). The market is flooded with post-apocalyptic fps's and fantasy rpg's.

Consoles shouldn't be competing directly against pc's, because they will always be a couple of steps ahead in terms of hardware. Do you guys really want our consoles to cost 800/900$ in future generations just to be able to play cod:mw8 in 3d?

There's basically no difference between current platforms, ps3 and the 360 have the same games, pc just gets crappy ports- no one wants to take advantage of the extra power to make ambitious titles-, we are getting only one flavour and to be honest i'm starting to get sick of it.

If Nintendo doesn't stop with the gimmicks and step up their game(pun intended) I don't think the industry is going to change.

 

[DJDarque]

I have no problem with console exclusives. I have both consoles so it doesn't really matter. What I do not like is retailer exclusive preorder DLC.

 

[ScoopMeister]

Yeah, I don't mind. I've only got an Xbox, so I'll miss out on the other console exclusive titles, but I don't really care to be honest. As long as I've got Halo.

 

[Lordmarkus]

Yes, yes, oh God yes!

I am a firm believer that exclusives is the way to go if you want the best of quality. All of my favourite games of each platform is an exclusive afterall.

PS3: Uncharted 2

360: Mass Effect 1 and Gears of War 2

PC: Crysis

So, please, please, please make more exclusives.

 

[similar.squirrel]

No, fuck that. I don't want to be denied the chance to play Shadow of The Colossus just because I own a console that is identical in almost every respect to the PS3 except in name.

In the same way that I shouldn't have to learn Swiss-German in order to be able to read Perfume.

 

[segataDC]

I mean, if consoles are only concerned about having the best graphics, they will get more expansive and each generations is going to be shorter.
My parents bought me a dreamcast in 2000, i played that religiously till 2005, then i got a ps2 and i'm still playing both in 2011. Because they offer games that you don't get in the current generation.

Two consoles in 11 years is not that expansive...

 

[Puddleknock]

Not a fan of console exclusive titles.

This is for two reasons, first exclusive titles deny some from playing game, I don't want to buy another console just for a handful of games. Second exclusive titles further create divides between 360 or ps3 fans. The debate between the two is tiresome and anything that promotes more discussion of 360 vs ps3 is bad in my books.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

Or one console all games all happy?

 

[Rawne1980]

Yes, yes, oh God yes!

I am a firm believer that exclusives is the way to go if you want the best of quality. All of my favourite games of each platform is an exclusive afterall.


360: Mass Effect 1

PC: Crysis

So, please, please, please make more exclusives.

I'm not quite sure you understand what exclusive means. It means it's released for that platform and no others.

Mass Effect 1 is out on all 3 platforms. Will leave a correction here, can't find it on PS3 but it is definitely on 360 and PC which removes it's exclusivity.

Next week Crysis comes out on PS3 and 360.

Neither of those are exclusives. Mass Effect 1 nearly was but was ported to PC and Crysis was until recently now it's not.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1073013/crytek_crysis_on_console_looks_better_than_pc_version.html

Just for those wanting to check.

Witcher 2 was also going to be PC exclusive but now it's going to console.

On Topic.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I gave my 360 to my son, not enough interest in it to keep it for myself. I've never wanted a PS3 and i'm more than happy with my PC.

 

[segataDC]

that's actually a good idea. I'm not really agaisn't third party games, it's just that back in the day, when it was all about witch console offered the best games, developers strived to innovate and make the best games.

 

[segataDC]

consoles were competing with each other to offer better games and that contributed to raise the standard for video games.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

No, fuck that. I don't want to be denied the chance to play Shadow of The Colossus just because I own a console that is identical in almost every respect to the PS3 except in name.

In the same way that I shouldn't have to learn Swiss-German in order to be able to read Perfume.

Thank you, kind sir or madam, for expressing my opinion better than I could.

OT: No, I'd love to be able to play InFamous or uncharted or killzone on my 360, and I know a few people who'd love to get ME1 on the PS3. And PC exclusives? Are you off your fucking rocker? What if people DON'T want to have to constantly upgrade their system to keep up with the latest technology to be able to run a fucking game.

 

[weker]

No I would rather not have a large variety of games.
Exclusive don't seem that above normal games multiplat games and in the end it just creates games i can't play

 

[mitchell271]

I like that most games come out for both consoles. It unifies the community when a great title comes out and people who own different consoles can talk about it. People who have 360s PS3s or PCs talk about Battlefield 3 for example.

Exclusives are nice for bragging rights, that's about it for me.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

This is a system only beneficial for those with the monetary power to actually buy all of these consoles.

With the rise of powerful microcomputers like smartphones and consoles becoming more like PCs, I am fairly certain it's possible to have a central device you could both plug your TV and your monitor into/use it as a gaming platform or as a full-fledged PC. The key to achieving this status is an advance in technology that makes this computing station mobile, but also powerful. This development will not only happen as part of a general trend, but especially because of the electronic market's focus on smartphones.
In addition, cloud-computing grows more effective by the minute. This doesn't just extend to the Steam Cloud of Dropbox. There are "blueprints" available for services that don't share disk space, but processing power. This way, you'd only need one very powerful centralized mainframe and the users would stick to cheap, little terminals. They send the data to be processed to the mainframe, it does the bulk of the work and sends it back. The main hurdle here is infrastructure limitations, but we're getting there.

I doubt however, that if this technology arrives, we will have a unified gaming platform. The whole purpose behind exclusive titles is because the publisher wants to increase their income by giving an incentive to buy their specific platform. This way they increase sales and income while also shortening the development cycle and saving money elsewhere. It's a working concept.

Cross-platform development alone does not make your game worse in any way or shape. The actual reason is multicausal. If your development team is honestly interested and passionate about their project, they will always find ways to improve their work and make changes. Unless you're self-publishing like Valve however and can make your own deadlines, your publisher sets the deadline and expects your in a way most efficient for their wallet. EA is notorious for putting dev studios under pressure like this and it's this pressure that has already ruined a lot of games with great concepts.
It's not always the deciding factor and not all devs are angels, but I believe the role of the publisher is a major one here as they not only make the deadlines, but also make specifications about platform compatibilities. The second hurdle is the platform's developer-friendliness. You should get a nice large list when looking for reasons why Valve cooperates with the PS3 and the XBOX version of TF2 is stagnating. There are easy ways around this issue however if you have the right motivation and resources. The DXHR team couldn't do a proper PC version on their own, so they hired other people in order to not deliver a bad port - and that worked really well, as opposed to the outsourced boss battles.

From a consumer perspective, a unified gaming platform is the way to go because of it's simplicity. Even tho the PC is notable for having so many variables and error possibilities you sometimes need to patch to hell and back to play what you want, it's a very popular chassis for console emulation.

Also, new hardware doesn't necessarily become more expensive since old hardware gets cheaper very fast, so the new hardware quickly becomes contemporary hardware and the prices "normalize" like with everything on the market. If it didn't, we'd pay thousands of bucks for simple calculators (the size of cupboards).

TL;DR
- prices of new tech always "normalize" eventually
- focus on multiple platforms doesn't lower the overall quality
- pressure and marketing strategies from publishers often hurt the development significantly instead
- your variant is only beneficial for people rich enough to buy multiple gaming platforms
- consoles become more like PCs, small computers (i.e. smartphones) grow more powerful, cloud computing grows more effective -> future unified mobile gaming platform possible if certain suits stop being money-hungry dicks.

 

[bakan]

Yeah! Lets force everyone to get another console just for a few new games!

thank you, my god theres a lot of elitists here having a go at people who have the audacity to spend money on sensible things rather than owning all three platforms.

Just my thoughts - btw exclusives don't have to mean that they are of better quality it just means the big console manufacturer threw out money to make a game an exclusive.

edit:

[was bollocks I'm sorry]

edit 2:

scrap what I wrote @Marik Bentusi, I mixed up your post with a post above you

 

[Conza]

There are a lot of gamers that are against exclusives. They say it divides the community, it punishes you for not choosing a particular console and it is bad for our wallets.

I don't agree and I will tell you why.

I know you can't survive without third-party support, but I think companies should strive to develop better exclusives in order to raise the standard for gaming.

Back then, each platform had a defining characteristic, had a personality: pc was the home of adventure games, FPS's and offered complex games, the dreamcast combined good graphics with old-school flavoured gameplay, it had many fun multiplayer games and that Pick Up & Play mentality that we all love; the ps2 was the holy grail for jrpg fans and had unique franchises(gta,gow,mgs,gt,etc...).

I own these three platforms and love them equally- I still play my ps2 and my dreamcast on a regular basis- and each offered a distinct and unique experience. The competitions was healthy for the industry, it was all about making good games- system sellers-.

Nowadays it is all about the graphics, about making all-in-one consoles.
Sony and m$ think that their consoles are going to replace the personal computer.
That why they offer the beefed up graphics, that why they are more expensive and offer, essentially, the same games(FPS'S). The market is flooded with post-apocalyptic fps's and fantasy rpg's.

Consoles shouldn't be competing directly against pc's, because they will always be a couple of steps ahead in terms of hardware. Do you guys really want our consoles to cost 800/900$ in future generations just to be able to play cod:mw8 in 3d?

There's basically no difference between current platforms, ps3 and the 360 have the same games, pc just gets crappy ports- no one wants to take advantage of the extra power to make ambitious titles-, we are getting only one flavour and to be honest i'm starting to get sick of it.

If Nintendo doesn't stop with the gimmicks and step up their game(pun intended) I don't think the industry is going to change.

I was all set to vote in your poll, but I must make comments here first before I do.

Firstly, I'm a huge proponent for polls, thanks for adding one. Secondly though, you didn't conclude your OP with a final question (to then be answered in the poll).

Then, there's the OP in question.

Well, PS3 and 360 are different consoles, they are obviously chief competitors, and have various pros and cons. One thing though, they are 'nothing' when it comes to PCs for graphics, they are extremely antique by modern PC standards, and are due to be replaced and thrown out. And I'm almost certain, that neither Sony nor Microsoft are stupid enough to think for a second, these will replace PCs. They may replace gaming PCs, in time, but that's a whole different can of worms.

You've also given no evidence to support your stance on consoles having exclusive games. Playstation 3 has Gran Turismo 5 as an exclusive for example. This benefits the PS3 gamers, but leaves the 360 and PC gamers disadvantaged, because now if they want to play the best racing game on the market, they need 'that' console, and as a PS3 owner, I still think thats fucking bullshit, I'd rather play this on my PC and turn up the graphics, or have more than twice the amount of online players, by opening it up to 360.

This truth is, the only people exclusives really serve, are the console manufacturers, Sony likely has a few more people who own a PS3, because of GT5. But in terms of the industry? Nu-uh! It serves no one, or in a better phrase, its a disservice to the people who do not own a PS3, since the game won't be available to them until they do.

So, what should companies do instead? Release games for PC, PS3, 360 and Wii - in that order, program for highest powered, then port down, not port up as has been seen in the past.

Battlefield 3 is a great example for how developers 'should' develop games, its been said they are starting with PC, then working their way to console, hip-hip-hooray!

So I'm not going to vote yes on your thread. I wish this was what I thought it was going in, namely 'We need more individual title games' (or less sequels to games).

 

[Lordmarkus]

Yes, yes, oh God yes!

I am a firm believer that exclusives is the way to go if you want the best of quality. All of my favourite games of each platform is an exclusive afterall.


360: Mass Effect 1

PC: Crysis

So, please, please, please make more exclusives.

I'm not quite sure you understand what exclusive means. It means it's released for that platform and no others.

Mass Effect 1 is out on all 3 platforms. Will leave a correction here, can't find it on PS3 but it is definitely on 360 and PC which removes it's exclusivity.

Next week Crysis comes out on PS3 and 360.

Neither of those are exclusives. Mass Effect 1 nearly was but was ported to PC and Crysis was until recently now it's not.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1073013/crytek_crysis_on_console_looks_better_than_pc_version.html

Just for those wanting to check.

Witcher 2 was also going to be PC exclusive but now it's going to console.

On Topic.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I gave my 360 to my son, not enough interest in it to keep it for myself. I've never wanted a PS3 and i'm more than happy with my PC.

I agree that Mass Effect is a stretch but it was planned as an exclusive and would have stayed that way if EA hadn't bought BioWare. And on Crysis, wow, you get a port 4 years after it was released on the PC. The same thing happened to Deus Ex, Quake III and Half-Life 2. They were developed as exclusives and released as exclusives thus relieving them from the taint that is multiplattform. You don't exactly think "Consoles!" when you mention Deus Ex or Crysis.

But essentially, I'm not really asking for more exclusives. I just want that the developers make the games to each platforms strengths. Dragon Age: Origins didn't suffer from consolitus and it was still a multi-plattform game. That is what I'm asking for.

 

[DoubleFlip]

I am so fucking sick of the whole "I don't want to have to upgrade my PC" argument. I have a laptop which I use to play PC, which i use every single day and cost me less than $1000 AUD last christmas(probably worth about $600 USD in comparison) which plays every game i throw at it and will do for the next few years, plus i have a ps3 which i adore. I'll bet you'd buy another xbox 360 after it red rings for the 5th time. it is no more expensive to play PC. games are cheaper too.

 

[Rawne1980]

I agree that Mass Effect is a stretch but it was planned as an exclusive and would have stayed that way if EA hadn't bought BioWare. And on Crysis, wow, you get a port 4 years after it was released on the PC. The same thing happened to Deus Ex, Quake III and Half-Life 2. They were developed as exclusives and released as exclusives thus relieving them from the taint that is multiplattform. You don't exactly think "Consoles!" when you mention Deus Ex or Crysis.

I apologise I was a bit harsh saying you don't know what an exclusive is.

You were right in a way all of them were planned exclusives.

Crysis was to be PC exclusive but i'm thinking they see a bit of extra money doling it out on the console .... even if it has taken them 4 years to think that up.

Pretty much like Blizzard suddenly going for the console market aswell.