Why do we keep doing this?

[Rule Britannia]

I won't be getting black ops 2. The perfect CoD for me would be: MW2 without noob tubes or boosting. Of course if these things were removed it would reveal something just as irritating ¬.¬.

Boosting in MW2 was not a problem until the Cage Match playlist was removed. Stupidest move ever. Free For All lobbies are littered with boosters :'(

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I never bought them myself, but I think a lot of it is the marketing campaigns. They are marketed fairly well.

 

[Xanadu84]

CoD is not, "The same game every year". Sure, it has the same mechanics at heart, but the levels, set pieces, and overall content are completely different. Yes, you can accurately say that there is a lack of innovation in the CoD series, but that's because they keep exploring a pretty robust rules set that keeps giving players something fun to play. If exploring the same rules set was never fun, then a FPS shooter would stop being fun after you use a weapon to kill a single enemy. People aren't sick of CoD because of the CoD games, they are sick of the glut of IMITATORS, which choke out new ideas.

CoD continues to be a highly polished if slightly predictable, thoroughly fun game that consistently has a short but stellar single player, some refinement to a very strong multiplayer component, and an offshoot game mode that tries to utilize the rules set already in place in a different way (Such as Spec Ops, Zombies and the like). All together it provides a well rounded, fresh experience. It's no longer the genre-shaking force it was with CoD4, but it is very consistently good. If you disagree, I'm prepared to say that that is your taste, not an objective measure that an be generalized to any larger population.

 

[Goofguy]

I don't play them myself but as long as record numbers of people keep buying and enjoying the games, it won't stop. What's the big deal anyway? Sure, each new iteration does little to innovate the genre but if people are entertained by them and find them fun, is that not the point?

The fear is that since one genre can make stacks of cash with very little creative innovation besides a new five hour long campaign, eventually every game developer will attempt the same things. Eventually we'll see new Tetris where the only innovation is different colors for the same type of block /hyperbole

A bit of an overstatement there. There is no shortage of game developers (mostly indie, of course) out there that are legitimately interested in innovating and trying new things. There is plenty of passion and attention to detail that gets put in to many games these days. Don't be so quick to assume that all game developers will follow suit.

Besides, what would the OP hope to accomplish? If the masses want to buy up every new CoD, who's going to stop them? Even he stated that he buys them to play with his friends. Regardless of his reason, he still bought it and he feels he should act indignant about it? Hard for me to take this seriously.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

I think they're part of an attempt to bring back Darwinian evolution. The idea was the create two series of the same game with different but similar and, in some cases, overlapping titles and then shoot all the idiots who spent more than an hour of their lives arguing about whether Call Of Warfare 7 or Modern Battlefield 6 was the better game. They're made the indistinguishable games. They've confused the numbering systems. They've got idiots to shout at each other from six feet apart about which game's "more realistic" and which is doing better in which charts and so on. They just haven't got round to shooting the bastards yet.

 

[AdamRhodes]

snip

A bit of an overstatement there. There is no shortage of game developers (mostly indie, of course) out there that are legitimately interested in innovating and trying new things. There is plenty of passion and attention to detail that gets put in to many games these days. Don't be so quick to assume that all game developers will follow suit.

Besides, what would the OP hope to accomplish? If the masses want to buy up every new CoD, who's going to stop them? Even he stated that he buys them to play with his friends. Regardless of his reason, he still bought it and he feels he should act indignant about it? Hard for me to take this seriously.

I didn't say it would happen but the fear that it will still exists. Gamers can be pretty paranoid about their hobby.

 

[Realitycrash]

Buying the new Call of Duty? Why? It's the same exact game every single year repackaged in a different setting. I'm guilty of this myself, my reason being is all my friends buy it for whatever reason and it gives me a standard fps to play with them. Will this chain ever break?

Keep doing what, you say? Breaking the Code of Conduct by not having a clear thread-title but instead an ambivalent one, a title that says nothing about the contents of the thread?
I don't know.
I just. Don't. Know.
But it sure is a pet-peeve of mine, and people sure keep doing it.

OT: Extra Credits has a nice episode concerning this. It's mostly due to people wanting to be able to level up and earn new achievements again. Kinda like why a MMORPG must release expansions or die.

 

[Anget Colslaw]

Seriously? Going up against a damn chopper? With nothing but small arms?

Apparently, three MP5 mags to the side of a fully armoured attack chopper brings it straight down. Who'da thunk it?

What pisses me off even more is that you can't just shoot the pilot with a sniper like the series has had you do before. Because apparently the pilot for the chopper is either purely cosmetic or just not there

and the fact that the survival is only two player. Almost all the other games I own that have their own survival mode have double the player count. Hell, even Call of Duty tops itself with a 4 player zombie mode. Just... what the hell? Also, why did it take them so long to implement this?

The maps are just the multiplayer maps which I quite frankly find terrible? I'd rather hold in Makarov's hideout from MW2. Hell, one of the few times I actually had fun with the multiplayer included working with the random strangers on my team on that one map with Makarov's hideout, taking refuge in the house while the enemy team kept coming in to try to kill us while us pummeling us constantly with missiles and air support (as per usual MW2 game)

 

[Blunderboy]

I think they're part of an attempt to bring back Darwinian evolution. The idea was the create two series of the same game with different but similar and, in some cases, overlapping titles and then shoot all the idiots who spent more than an hour of their lives arguing about whether Call Of Warfare 7 or Modern Battlefield 6 was the better game. They're made the indistinguishable games. They've confused the numbering systems. They've got idiots to shout at each other from six feet apart about which game's "more realistic" and which is doing better in which charts and so on. They just haven't got round to shooting the bastards yet.

Except there seem to be far more people that yell at fans of either series for playing them. Calling them stupid sheep with alarming frequency. In fact I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone that I know who plays those games that has had these discussions you're talking about. Most of them have at least played both, if not own both.
Really I've seen a lot more people like yourself then I have the people you view as 'the problem'.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

It's fairly simple, look at McDonalds...

Most towns have half a dozen at least different restaurants, yet there's always a queue in the local McDonalds.

People like what they know and they'll queue up for more of the same, knowing that they're not going to get a new type of cheese or a different sauce in their burger that could be amazing, but might not be their thing.

 

[Goofguy]

I didn't say it would happen but the fear that it will still exists. Gamers can be pretty paranoid about their hobby.

Honest question here, do you have this fear?

I like to believe that despite it being a money making business, there is enough integrity and passion amongst many of the game developers to ever let this kind of thing happen across the board.

 

[AdamRhodes]

I didn't say it would happen but the fear that it will still exists. Gamers can be pretty paranoid about their hobby.

Honest question here, do you have this fear?

I like to believe that despite it being a money making business, there is enough integrity and passion amongst many of the game developers to ever let this kind of thing happen across the board.

Like you said, indie developers will always have a passion and drive to make games better. Until they get bought by EA or Activision or whichever. Just remember that for every Valve, there is an EA. And indie developers, being independent, may not be able to get the exposure and sales necessary to stay active.

 

[frizzlebyte]

I just wish they'd have kept doing that with Splinter Cell. Instead, they see fit to make shaky-cam beat-em-up moral nihilist Sam Fisher Splinter Cell, and it's ridiculous.

 

[StriderShinryu]

LOL, not really. I'd say sports games are the worse offenders. At least with FPSs they try to make each one different enough to get noticed.

Not that I play either genre. They're just not my thing.

This...

... is really the biggest problem. People love to pick at FPS games, particularly the military ones, and sports games for never changing from year to year. Most of the people who do that, however, don't actually play the games in question. If you actually played the games you'd realize that there are more changes than there appears to be and some of the changes, even if minor, can make a very large difference in how the games actually play. This is even more true when you're looking at largely multiplayer focused titles like CoD, Halo, sports games, fighting games, etc.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Please don't. Really the games aren't "exactly the same game" unless your criteria is "You shoot stuff with guns lol military"

They are the same concept, with differences to keep the fans coming back. Instead of patching the games and updating them, they release a new game every year.

And really, why did you have to make a thread that has been done like 40 bajillion times on this site alone? Did you really need our opinions that badly?

Ok, yeah they aren't exactly the same, but speaking from a strictly outsider's perspective, it seems to me that saying that is like saying that NHL 2012 isn't "exactly the same" as NHL 2011.
Bear in mind I'm speaking from a strictly outsider's perspective here, which basically means I'm openly admitting to my ignorance.

 

[TehCookie]

Do you really have to ask other people why? I hate CoD, Madden and all that ilk but if I'm buying a rehash it's because I like it. I don't care if all they did was update two mechanics, change the story and throw a new coat of paint on it, I'll still enjoy the game.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

I think they're part of an attempt to bring back Darwinian evolution. The idea was the create two series of the same game with different but similar and, in some cases, overlapping titles and then shoot all the idiots who spent more than an hour of their lives arguing about whether Call Of Warfare 7 or Modern Battlefield 6 was the better game. They're made the indistinguishable games. They've confused the numbering systems. They've got idiots to shout at each other from six feet apart about which game's "more realistic" and which is doing better in which charts and so on. They just haven't got round to shooting the bastards yet.

Except there seem to be far more people that yell at fans of either series for playing them. Calling them stupid sheep with alarming frequency. In fact I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone that I know who plays those games that has had these discussions you're talking about. Most of them have at least played both, if not own both.
Really I've seen a lot more people like yourself then I have the people you view as 'the problem'.

I have no problem with people who buy them, like them, play them, like them, play them more, still like them and buy sequels. That's fine with me. It's people who try to shout each other down for two hours a week where I'm trying to have a relaxing break that get on my nerves. After the 100th hour of them shouting at each other about where each game is on which chart I'd quite happily shoot the pair of them ... with a longbow and broadhead arrows for irony's sake. Everyone else can carry on playing and enjoying the games. It doesn't bother me that much as long as I don't have to hear about it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Buying the new Call of Duty? Why? It's the same exact game every single year repackaged in a different setting. I'm guilty of this myself, my reason being is all my friends buy it for whatever reason and it gives me a standard fps to play with them. Will this chain ever break?

Simple Solution: Stop having friends.

I joke, but if your rationale is the same each time, it will continue as long as your friends like it.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think they're part of an attempt to bring back Darwinian evolution. The idea was the create two series of the same game with different but similar and, in some cases, overlapping titles and then shoot all the idiots who spent more than an hour of their lives arguing about whether Call Of Warfare 7 or Modern Battlefield 6 was the better game. They're made the indistinguishable games. They've confused the numbering systems. They've got idiots to shout at each other from six feet apart about which game's "more realistic" and which is doing better in which charts and so on. They just haven't got round to shooting the bastards yet.

Shoot them? Why would they need to shoot them? They'll eventually fall victim to prey at the watering hole. >.>