Video game websites.

[Samurai Goomba]

Yeah, this is pretty much what the title says. Also, it's my first topic. Whoo hoo. So anyway, I like to research the games I buy online. No surprises there. Sometimes I even check out the official website for a game. Usually I get some crappy flash thing that tells me I should go buy the game, and that's about all. However, sometimes I find totally awesome official websites. This makes me think the developers must have REALLY liked their game, because they took the time to tell you absolutely everything they could about it.

Link to example here:

http://www.darkwatch.com/#

This is the official website for a game nobody played called Darkwatch. Hey, I haven't played it either (I will), but I can instantly tell the creators of Darkwatch must have loved their game. Look at the detail in the descriptions of, well, everything! Just about anything you could possibly want to learn without actually playing the game is there!

Free Radical also earns some major points, as they give out their soundtracks free right on their official website. Impressive.

So, my question is this: What game websites have you seen that absolutely blew you away? Maybe they were informative, beautiful, full of extra content, or maybe you could just tell the designers really cared and took the time to craft a unique page (rather than some generic gray thing with a bland nav bar in the upper corner.) Whatever, I wanna hear about 'em.

Oh, and I'll add a secondary discussion point, but it's pretty obscure (so feel free to ignore it.)

Does anyone else think that Darkwatch is a shameless ripoff of the graphic novel series Priest? I mean, I think that's mostly a good thing (because Priest is distilled awesome), but sometimes it seems a little too obvious what they're paying homage to.

Not-quite-human hero? Check. Undead enemies for him to slice through with ease? Check. Undead horse that carries the main guy around? Check. Hardened hot chick who fights off the forces of evil? Check. Biblical references? Check, check and check.

Edit: In light of the direction this topic is taking, I'll add a third question. When has advertising been the deciding factor for you in buying or not buying a game? Has it EVER been an issue for you? Why or why not?

 

[The_Deleted]

Darkwatch is a fantastic game as FPS go. One of my faves of the last gen. with some great gameplay and ideas. It came out on the XBOX & PS2 so if you get a chance to pick it up, it should cost feck all and be worth every cent / penny.

The Rise of the Argonauts site is fairly decent, but Idon't bother with official websites unless said company keep fecking about the release date for a game I'm actually excited about.
http://www.rise-of-the-argonauts.com/index.php?territory=EnglishUK#/home/

 

[geldonyetich]

The game could be great, but if you think that the developer's website quality has anything to do with it, you're a tool. It's under the same logic that if a movie has a great trailer it must be a great movie because the creators love it so much. Bzzt! Wrong! If a movie has a great trailer, they hired talent capable of creating a great trailer, nothing more. If a game's official website looks good, they hired talent capable of creating a great website, nothing more.

Sorry, not to be dick, I just took offense to the massive failure of logic that made up this topic subject. When a stranger walks into the room and starts bashing his head against a cement wall, and is attempting to get other people to join him in rendering their faces into a misshapen heap, a conscientious fellow will find it responsible to comment on the futility of the act. Apparently, I dislike the impact of advertising on the ignorant enough to liken it to bodily harm.

 

[SimuLord]

The game could be great, but if you think that the developer's website quality has anything to do with it, you're a tool. It's under the same logic that if a movie has a great trailer it must be a great movie because the creators love it so much. Bzzt! Wrong! If a movie has a great trailer, they hired talent capable of creating a great trailer, nothing more. If a game's official website looks good, they hired talent capable of creating a great website, nothing more.

Sorry, not to be dick, I just took offense to the massive failure of logic that made up this topic subject. When a stranger walks into the room and starts bashing his head against a cement wall, and is attempting to get other people to join him in rendering their faces into a misshapen heap, a conscientious fellow will find it responsible to comment on the futility of the act. Apparently, I dislike the impact of advertising on the ignorant enough to liken it to bodily harm.

I wouldn't go that far, if only because I think that having a bunch of ignorant fuckwits around to absorb advertising at face value because it looks pretty helps contribute to the strength of the American economy, pumping plenty of capital into the system so that entire industries don't go tits up, leave everyone out of work, and have us boiling stones for soup because people who are too media-savvy to get suckered by a pretty webpage don't buy enough to sustain any sort of consumer economy.

 

[geldonyetich]

I wouldn't go that far, if only because I think that having a bunch of ignorant fuckwits around to absorb advertising at face value because it looks pretty helps contribute to the strength of the American economy, pumping plenty of capital into the system so that entire industries don't go tits up, leave everyone out of work, and have us boiling stones for soup because people who are too media-savvy to get suckered by a pretty webpage don't buy enough to sustain any sort of consumer economy.

That seems to be the popular sentiment amongst the business world as well. The only trouble is I figure ignorance is the root of all evil, and to perpetuate it for personal gain sort of seems a tad morally irresponsible. However, considering exploiting the ignorance of others is the backbone of many a corporate giant, I suppose I'm just a candle barking madly into the night.

 

[Silver Patriot]

I would have to say Bungie does a great job of keeping their website updated and detailed with all the latest updates, statistics, and random stuff. Though that might just mean they like their fans.

 

[Pseudonym2]

That's great but the people who make the game usually aren't the ones who design the site.

 

[SimuLord]

I wouldn't go that far, if only because I think that having a bunch of ignorant fuckwits around to absorb advertising at face value because it looks pretty helps contribute to the strength of the American economy, pumping plenty of capital into the system so that entire industries don't go tits up, leave everyone out of work, and have us boiling stones for soup because people who are too media-savvy to get suckered by a pretty webpage don't buy enough to sustain any sort of consumer economy.

That seems to be the popular sentiment amongst the business world as well. The only trouble is I figure ignorance is the root of all evil, and to perpetuate it for personal gain sort of seems a tad morally irresponsible. However, considering exploiting the ignorance of others is the backbone of many a corporate giant, I suppose I'm just a candle barking madly into the night.

Forgot the /sarcasm tag in my post, but it would be an interesting thought experiment to wonder what would happen if the big corporations went away. Of course there'd be a catastrophic economic depression at the outset, and some big corporations couldn't be disposed of easily. Agribusiness, for example, is the only thing standing between humanity and a famine that wipes out a third of the planet---as Penn & Teller pointed out, if the entire world farmed using organic methods there'd only be enough food to feed about 4 billion people (I say the tofu-munching organic dipwads should volunteer to die first) while modern agricultural methods mean we're about 75% of the way to having enough food for everyone in the world to eat like Americans and get fat (src: O'Rourke, All the Trouble in the World, chapter on Famine)

Anyway, I'm getting off point. I'd love to see what would rise from the ashes of the broken consumer economy if everyone adopted, say, the saving habits of the Chinese and Japanese and only bought what they absolutely needed (and, for that matter, what would happen if we rejiggered the First Amendment so we could outlaw advertising.)

 

[The Rusk]

I've got to say that if I had not already played the game, I would be quite tempted to now after just looking through the website. Though to answer your question: I never visit official game websites, simply because they are too biased. An obvious point I know, but I tend to get sucked into media advertising too much if I'm not careful.

Going slightly off-topic I thought Darkwatch was a pretty cool game. The story was probably the worst point about the game, but other than that it was one of the finest western games of last generation.

 

[imPacT31]

I have to agree with "The Rusk", I really don't see the point in visiting the website of a game to learn about it when I could go to a "respected", review site or similar and not, strictly, face a wall of propaganda.

I liked the idea behind Darkwatch but remember being nonplussed with the demo - I really can't for the life of me remember why.

Curious though that that page still offers access to the UK site when the domain appears to be up for sale; darkwatch.com anyone?

 

[dcheppy]

I hate when people rag on advertising/promotional material.(Except when the marketing is brazenly dishonest or misleading) Yeah, advertising helps sells me on games and that includes game demos, great box art, nice website, good trailers, and appealing television advertisements. For all you d-bags out there that say marketing doesn't effect your buying habits, fuck you. It does; think about the last five games you bought and I bet at least four had great promotional campaigns. You might say that reviews and whatever sell you on the game, but really reviews only serve to prevent people from buying games. There are exceptions of course, like Braid, but games like Braid also sell millions less than Gears of War 2. The difference is the power of advertising.

 

[SimuLord]

I hate when people rag on advertising/promotional material.(Except when the marketing is brazenly dishonest or misleading) Yeah, advertising helps sells me on games and that includes game demos, great box art, nice website, good trailers, and appealing television advertisements. For all you d-bags out there that say marketing doesn't effect your buying habits, fuck you. It does; think about the last five games you bought and I bet at least four had great promotional campaigns. You might say that reviews and whatever sell you on the game, but really reviews only serve to prevent people from buying games. There are exceptions of course, like Braid, but games like Braid also sell millions less than Gears of War 2. The difference is the power of advertising.

Good guess, but wrong. Since I don't own a television (except the one hooked up to my PS2, which doesn't have a tuner or cable box attached to it), I never see commercials, and since I don't read game magazines and have ad-blocking enabled in my web browser I don't see game ads online either.

I make most of my buying decisions based on buzz, word-of-mouth, or a company's level of goodwill and reputation with me from games they've made in the past. I bought Mount & Blade because of buzz on the Paradox Interactive official forums, I bought Civ 4: Colonization thanks to...well, the fact that one of my favorites from the old days got a remake. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was another "I like the series" buy, Disgaea DS came thanks to GameFAQs message board posters telling me "if you like FFTA2, you'll love Disgaea" (they were right), and I bought Out of the Park Baseball 2007 because I loved Strat-O-Matic as a kid.

Absolutely none of those games had "great promotional campaigns", so blow it out your ear.

 

[dcheppy]

I hate when people rag on advertising/promotional material.(Except when the marketing is brazenly dishonest or misleading) Yeah, advertising helps sells me on games and that includes game demos, great box art, nice website, good trailers, and appealing television advertisements. For all you d-bags out there that say marketing doesn't effect your buying habits, fuck you. It does; think about the last five games you bought and I bet at least four had great promotional campaigns. You might say that reviews and whatever sell you on the game, but really reviews only serve to prevent people from buying games. There are exceptions of course, like Braid, but games like Braid also sell millions less than Gears of War 2. The difference is the power of advertising.

Good guess, but wrong. Since I don't own a television (except the one hooked up to my PS2, which doesn't have a tuner or cable box attached to it), I never see commercials, and since I don't read game magazines and have ad-blocking enabled in my web browser I don't see game ads online either.

I make most of my buying decisions based on buzz, word-of-mouth, or a company's level of goodwill and reputation with me from games they've made in the past. I bought Mount & Blade because of buzz on the Paradox Interactive official forums, I bought Civ 4: Colonization thanks to...well, the fact that one of my favorites from the old days got a remake. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was another "I like the series" buy, Disgaea DS came thanks to GameFAQs message board posters telling me "if you like FFTA2, you'll love Disgaea" (they were right), and I bought Out of the Park Baseball 2007 because I loved Strat-O-Matic as a kid.

Absolutely none of those games had "great promotional campaigns", so blow it out your ear.

Well you still see box art, and buzz is another form of marketing.(Who do you think creates/attempts to control the buzz) Another powerful form of marketing is branding, which is when A company builds the reputation of a name in the hopes that consumers will purchase a product solely on the name associated with it, so when you buy your Final Fantasy or Civilization, you are doing so because of a successful branding. OOTPB(excellent game btw) and Disgea are expectations, but even Mount & Blade you made your decision on official forums, where the output is at least partially guided by the makers of the game. So it turns out your not so 'above the fray' when it comes to marketing.

 

[geldonyetich]

I'm not denying that exploiting ignorance sells, I'm just boxing the original poster in the nose for being so flagrantly inflicted that he'd actually write a topic with this subject title. Again, no, a talented web developer does not indicate the game developer loves their game more.

What we've got going on right now in the states is a bit of blacklash from deregulation. A lot of people bought into campaign promises that if only those pesky government regulations would be removed, our business would be dynamite and everybody would benefit. Our massive recession was the result - big business is just as vulnerable as the rest of us that if you make it easy to be so greedy as to shoot yourself in the foot, you will.

So, what I'd be pushing for is not so much getting rid of big corporations - chucking our businesses in the fire is silly - so much as reinstating regulation. I'd be pushing harder if this wasn't something we're already doing because we learnt the hard way - again - that the dribble down theory is and always has been a load of bunk.

 

[D_987]

Lionhead has a fanastic official site...the team constantly disscuss their games with the fans on their forums (one of many examples).

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I hate when people rag on advertising/promotional material.(Except when the marketing is brazenly dishonest or misleading) Yeah, advertising helps sells me on games and that includes game demos, great box art, nice website, good trailers, and appealing television advertisements. For all you d-bags out there that say marketing doesn't effect your buying habits, fuck you. It does; think about the last five games you bought and I bet at least four had great promotional campaigns. You might say that reviews and whatever sell you on the game, but really reviews only serve to prevent people from buying games. There are exceptions of course, like Braid, but games like Braid also sell millions less than Gears of War 2. The difference is the power of advertising.

Good guess, but wrong. Since I don't own a television (except the one hooked up to my PS2, which doesn't have a tuner or cable box attached to it), I never see commercials, and since I don't read game magazines and have ad-blocking enabled in my web browser I don't see game ads online either.

I make most of my buying decisions based on buzz, word-of-mouth, or a company's level of goodwill and reputation with me from games they've made in the past. I bought Mount & Blade because of buzz on the Paradox Interactive official forums, I bought Civ 4: Colonization thanks to...well, the fact that one of my favorites from the old days got a remake. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was another "I like the series" buy, Disgaea DS came thanks to GameFAQs message board posters telling me "if you like FFTA2, you'll love Disgaea" (they were right), and I bought Out of the Park Baseball 2007 because I loved Strat-O-Matic as a kid.

Absolutely none of those games had "great promotional campaigns", so blow it out your ear.

Maybe you're a bit confused about what I was saying. See, it's not the promotional material I think is great, it's all the other stuff. Did you check out the website? There are in-depth histories of every weapon, enemy type, character and environment. In it's own way, this site is actually contributing to the overall immersion of the actual game. This content is actually the kind of thing I can enjoy.

I too tend to snub the official websites (because of lack of useful content,) but it's nice to see the company care enough about their game to spend some decent money designing the site. Yeah, I know it doesn't mean they "love" their game (which is what I said, I know), but it made for a better topic title than, "You can sorta, sometimes guess that a developer kinda loves their game by checking the official website."

In general, yeah, hype is stupid. The thing is, this is Darkwatch. Nobody bought it, nobody played it. In theory, they could have scrapped the site long ago. Why did they put so much money or effort (or both) into a website that nobody visits? It's a stretch of logic (but not a huge one) that they probably liked the game they made quite a bit.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is another game that seems like it was crafted quite lovingly. It was rushed, sure, but the way the game devs talk about it... You can tell they had some serious fun making the game.

 

[CoverYourHead]

I loved the Prototype website, it's down for a while pending updates, probably because they're going to release a ton of new content seeing as the game should be released this year and they haven't updated anything since their delay, but still, the old site was great, included a mini-game that let you discover some tid-bits about the story by matching DNA, complicated, but still cool.