This VC BS is partly (along with long laundry list of tacky/dopy things 2K has done over the years) why I stopped buying 2K games brand new after 2K11. $30-35 is my best offer. I got 2K17 digitally for $25 a few months ago, so that might be my new best offer. Microtransactions in 2K have gotten worse every year. By…

Pulling out is unrealistic. No major company is doing that. What’s much more realistic, significant bonuses/advantages to the platforms with cross play. Ex: More GTA Online content, exclusivity on story DLC (Which Rockstar already did last generation with Microsoft for GTA IV), etc.

In fairness to Microsoft, last generation, it was a fundamentally different situation, as PSN was free. Cross play with a free service when you’re charging $50-$60 a year for XBL, unwise. Now all three manufacturers have a paid service, thus there’s parity, making cross play make more feasible.

Obviously not in terms of actual company size (and of course they’re owned by TakeTwo Interactive) , but in terms of leverage, Rockstar Games. The best selling game consistently on both platforms, what’s likely the most played game weekly/monthly/annually on both platforms with the highest retention, Grand Theft Auto…

Was just about to mention this. You beat me to it. For sure, Netherrealm excels at story.

I don’t think you’re being naive. If you check out the Digital Foundry Xbox One X stuff on YouTube, this sounds like a realistic possibility. They designed X1X so well to make sure most games that don’t even get X1X patches see varying levels of improvement as well. I’m crossing my fingers that Cities Skylines…

Cheating and the culture around it is complicated. It’s always been there, but I feel like the rise of home Wifi and internet connected consoles, as well as social networking and sharing last generation really took it to a different realm. Of course, focusing on cheating in a multiplayer environment. Single player…

I love you.

Could be worse. Could be Baltimore Ravens analyst Gerry Sandusky and the vitriol he’s gotten everyday for years for having the same name as a certain someone. I’d rather be mistaken for an idiot who doesn’t respect his talent than a child molester. Names can be a pretty unfortunate coincidence sometimes.

As someone who has been playing madden for over 20 years (I’m 26. Started with Madden 94 or 95) and gradually eased into FIFA in recent years (360 era, initially started playing the demo every year with FIFA 12, X1 era, FIFA 15 was the first full product I bought. Have been playing every year since) having never…

Yes and no. I’m a diehard MK/Netherrealm fan (which doesn’t contribute to my answer here. Speaking objectively). I felt the same as DC fans feel with the DLC characters not servicing the content and lore of the main product when Alien/Leatherface/Predator/Jason were added to Mortal Kombat X instead of MK characters…

I’ve been examining this shift for awhile. Pretty fascinating/crazy how radically things have shifted, only a generation removed from the advent of online gaming and social networking. I think the biggest culprit is party chat (wasn’t added until halfway through the 360 cycle, which meant the default experience even…

Activision is in another realm as far as this stuff goes, but Warner Bros is a close 2nd. $20 unlock all krypt items for Mortal Kombat X/purchasable easy fatality tokens, DLC for Arkham Origins but no patches to improve the broken game (they’re not developers obviously, but it was their mandate, I’m sure), notoriously…

The Long Dark, Stardew Valley, Metro Last Light, hunting leftover Rise of the Tomb Raider tombs, knocking out more sidequests in Witcher 3, Rocket League!

“The only “physics” involved in bball games is the uniforms.” Yeah... No. 20+ years experience playing sports games, 5-8 years studying them. Physics are a huge part of sports games. The physics involved in a contemporary basketball video game include contact animations and contact physics, ball physics, specific…

Flawless point. Amazon arguably is worse. They don’t have the excuse of cratering stock price and fiscal losses as an excuse for the low wages they pay, and they’re also heavily using Robots in place of paying workers already in any facet where it can be done and are very soon set to cut into the postal service…

“out of respect for company employees and their families.” Amazon eating your lunch on the physical retail product side, digital distribution eating your lunch on the used game front. Feigning of decency goes out the window real fast when you’re industry is on its death bed.

Yeah, I can understand that feeling. Always a little surreal. Watching deep mechanics driven genres engulfed overnight by whatever the flavor of the month is. Especially now where everything has morphed into MMORPG/survival/open world hybrids. The more niche genres being absorbed by the big genres, but only the most…

Whether it was or can be interesting was never in question. Of course, any game design tenant presented effectively and in the right game can catch fire with mass audiences and be interesting. Don’t disagree with your second point. I provided a small modicum of the “why”, and your second point addresses at least a…

“Survival” has become a sticky (trendy) design and marketing aesthetic in the industry in recent years. To your point, most games draw upon the aesthetic more than the actual survival sim template. The reality, true survival isn’t going to appeal to a lot of the mass audience. Pure masochism, it can be. Most people…