The Final Showdown Has Begun - BioWare versus Mojang

[jbajcar]

Mojang beating Valve is absolutely retarded, just shows how retarded people are. Minecraft is good and all but seriously...put it up to TF2? Portal? Half-Life?!?!?! and Valve's crown jewel at the moment STEAM (it's not a game but it's pure goal in the industry)?!?!?! Ya f*cking right..../facepalm

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Wow, there's a lot more love for minecraft than I thought there was and I do mean minecraft, not mojang, as that's the only game they've made...
I really expected Valve to be here, but maybe they're being punished for Half Life ep.3 delays...?
Anyway, go Bioware!

 

[Lillowh]

Who the heck are the monkeys voting for Mojang?? If the thought of Mojang being better than Valve, VALVE, just about the greatest developer ever, you need to be caught and shot.

 

[Levethian]

Blizzard and Valve should be here.

What we have instead is virtual-duplo and sell-outs. Ugh.

 

[Levethian]

EDIT: sorry. Post wouldn't show up until I re-posted. Awesomeness.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Bioware beat Blizzard?

Wow, just goes to show you can throw out shit like Dragon age 2 and still be loved the world over.

You haveto remember the casual gamers now outnumber all others, and they just want something simple be stamped out yearly, it's a sad state of things but that's just good business.

I just looked up who Zynga are... people voted for the spam company that now makes spam "games"?
Sad state of things doesn't even begin to describe it...

 

[The.Bard]

You've never actually played a Blizzard game, have you? You're just spewing the Cliffnotes version of every reason anyone has ever disagreed with Blizzard. World of Warcraft has nothing, I repeat, nothing in common with Farmville.

Given how difficult it is to convey tone across the internet, I prefer putting jokes into everything I say... it helps ensure someone doesn't think I'm screaming my head off whilst I type. So yes, I'm lacing my jokes with all of the standard Blizzard stuff.

Seriously, though, Warcraft II was my God in high school, I played WoW for ~1 yr from '05-'06, and I think that even after six Mass Effect playthroughs, I've still logged more hours on Diablo II.

And in terms of behind-the-scenes gameplay, Blizzard and Zynga have a LOT in common. Both strive to get people playing their game, placing little cash-inducing niblets in front to keep them going. You think Blizzard just makes WoW w/o regard for how many hours you play? Heck, no. They want you addicted. I would never honestly compare the two games meaningfully, but behind the scenes... they do share concepts.

1/3 of a game? No, one third of a story perhaps, but not one third of a game.

True, but it's less funny if I admit that.

Rainbowbrite III? Now that's just sad, really. You're playing your hand too quickly, good sir, and showing the fact that you really know nothing about Diablo 3 but heard an emo kid bitching about it this one time, so you're just going to go with his talking points.

I'm not entirely on the emo kid's side, but I do think as a whole, Diablo III's art style is meh at best. I want nothing of the shadowy grascapade that was Gears of War I. Color is our friend. But for my tastes, Diablo III looks waaaaaaay too much like WoW... it has a silly cartoon look. I understand it keeps load times faster and all that hooha, but I prefer Diablo with a more realistic look, at the very least. It's their game and their imperative, but it turns me off enough to not buy it.

They pass off their good franchises to Obsidian half the time and they end up sucking horribly. If you actually care about your franchises, you don't pawn them off.

To a point, yes, but they wanted to play in their own playground. KotoR & NWN were both someone else's franchises, and they were beholden to someone else with the stories. Plus, I think the games they made in place of the sequels have been stellar. Again, personal taste.

Honestly though? There's nothing groundbreaking about what Bioware does.

Honestly, I'd claim the same for Blizzard. Inspiring Koreans to starve themselves from 12 hr sessions of SCII is hardly groundbreaking, nor is the WoW beast. I agree WoW is the best MMO out there right now, hands down. But for people who fundamentally hate MMOs (like me), WoW is akin to Dynasty Warriors IX at this point. Same idea, done over and over and over.

I would love to hear genre that Bioware redefined in it's history, to counter the three that Blizzard has re-built in it's.

By your own admission, we're not talking about the long gone past. So let's go back no further than 7 yrs... 2004. Since 2004, what has Blizzard redefined? The MMO (mostly by incorporating the best features other MMOs offer, but I'll still give them credit for this.)

I'd like to really focus on that for a moment: What has Bioware done except make a dirty dozen RPGs? I can't recall them ever working in another genre. They've pretty much been updating the same game over, and over, and over again for their entire history, putting it in different settings with different faces and with different menus, but underneath it all they're a bunch of one-trick ponies.

I very much want to avoid typing "You are wrong" here, so let me try to work through this without resorting to such a hideous tactic. Blizzard turned a pre-existing world they originally copied off of Tolkien into an MMO. SCII had some nice features, but I wouldn't call it "redefining". I would call it the same rehash of SCI with upgrades.

And now is the part where I'm tempted to ask how many Bioware games you have actually played. When it comes to world building, let's say they are equal w/ Blizzard (I'm being VERY generous to Blizzard here), but I would argue Bioware is much better with story when it comes to engaging the player IN that story. WoW has plenty of books lying around the world with story in them, (I rely heavily on two WoW-addicts for the recent updates, since I've been off it for 5 yrs... they both lead me to understand WoW is still sorely lacking in terms of narrative) SCII has plenty of cutscenes, which again, TELL you a story, but something you are able to engage in, feel a part of, and influence beyond being told something? Not much.

Again, sticking with 2004 as our date, Jade Empire featured one of the freshest concepts of a game world I've ever seen, and whether you like them or not, Mass Effect and Dragon Age both come from insanely well crafted universes. It makes me weep for your soul to hear you call Mass Effect boring. It's certainly not for everyone, but it has certainly merged a shooter and an rpg into a more seamlessly beautiful beast than anyone else has. I would certainly call that groundbreaking. They were also one of the first developers utilizing good/bad choices and allowing the player to drive the narrative by making choices to impact it.

But they aren't Blizzard, they aren't even Bethesda, and they aren't the best in the industry, even at their specialization.

You.... I just... you can't.... RARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHH!!!!!!!! HULK SMASH!!!!!!

*ahem*

You're being completely subjective here. Blizzard is inferior for all of the myriad reasons I've stated prior. As for Bethesda... Oblivion was a broken game. The leveling system can't even be called a bug; it just didn't function. Also, Fallout 3 was Oblivion in the future. In the admittedly little I played it, they didn't do much to change the basic game mechanics. Dragon Age & Mass Effect have completely different gameplay.

Thus my book is written. And lo, for its beauty is wondrous to behold.

 

[Harmondale2]

Oh come on now, this has to be an april fools joke right? I mean valve has made many amazing games for years and years not to mention steam, and Minecraft tops all that? I mean I love minecraft as much as anyone, but I wouldn't trade everything valves made just for minecraft? This is madness?

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

*Generic fanboy rage*

*hits post*

Oh hey, my post is identical to everyone else's now!

I'm voting for Mojang because I figure they'll win and I want the points. I originally had Valve here though...

 

[Sutter Cane]

Here's a question to everyone, If we're supposed to base our voting solely on the previous year, why was Team Ico included in the bracket at all? They haven't released a game since 2005.

 

[lokiduck]

Damnit I knew I should have voted Mojang all the way on my bracket. That last two rounds have none of the companies I voted for D:

I should have just supported the game I actually own instead.

 

[lokiduck]

Oh come on now, this has to be an april fools joke right? I mean valve has made many amazing games for years and years not to mention steam, and Minecraft tops all that? I mean I love minecraft as much as anyone, but I wouldn't trade everything valves made just for minecraft? This is madness?

Madness? It's sounds like March Madness to me *shot for lame pun*

 

[Freddyqaqualung]

I love Minecraft, but Mojang doesn't deserve to win. They've only produced ONE game, and Bioware has been doing it for over a decade. Saying you won't vote for them just because of Dragon Age 2 seems a little unreasonable to me.

 

[GrimHeaper]

The mods in mine craft let you copy other games in block form pretty much.

 

[DrMrSrTeacherSr]

MOJANG ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I thought it would be a lock that Bioware and Valve slug it in the final but people love their one-hit wonders. In a true miscarriage of gaming justice Mojang will probably go all the way now that the anti-console fanboys will jump on them as their precious Valve was taken down. Enjoy your "cool points" jerks.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Come on Bioware, yes Minecraft is awesome, but Bioware almost gave me a heart attack with the awesomeness of KOTOR, and they have consistantley created so many other awesome games.

And the kicker is that they are in charge of making the Star Wars MMO.

 

[Comma-Kazie]

I'm mostly baffled that a developer gets past Valve -- and looks like it'll get past Bioware -- based on a single major work, no matter how excellent.

I agree. Minecraft is a good game, but it's not THAT good by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[killamanhunter]

well my entire bracket is ruined... even though I like Minecraft it's only in beta... Time to vote for Bioware!

 

[LandoCristo]

I'm really disappointed that Mojang somehow beat Valve. I don't even think Mojang should be eligible, they haven't actually released any games yet.