This week is maybe the biggest of the year in the world of entertainment. This is when all of the games you'll be playing for the next 12 months are unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. This year's event, however, will more likely be remembered as the precise moment video gaming as we know it died a tragic and embarrassing death.

spheresword wrote:I don't own any of these consoles, but I do notice the lack of new games in my friend's basement. What are your opinions deathy? I still think the ps3 has some potential though.

Draconizard wrote:I have been and most likely always will be a PC gamer, so the dearth of console creativity is of only tangential concern. That said, PC gaming is hardly in any better shape. I am no seasonsed industry analyst, but even a rube like myself can see that most video game ventures are simply not profitable. This is why Blizzard is putting in a multitude of unpopular stipulations into SC2's EULA and why they seem to be going out of their way to incense the end consumer.

Years ago, video games cost roughly the same as they do now (~$50), and most gamers would raise hell before they are willing to swallow a price increase. How else can the industry keep pace with inflation or meet shareholder expectations? The old model is simply no longer sufficient.

On the one hand, I decry the quality (or lack thereof) of recent productions, but I cannot help but acknowledge the strain the industry faces. I am (and others like me) simply not a very profitable customer, and everyone knows it. Perhaps we have all come to expect too much for too little?

spheresword wrote:The new business model revolves around micro(and not so micro)-transactions. E.g. wow with their optional fees to change factions or buy items and such. With bnet, they can do the same thing for starcraft 2.
You want to play in europe with a us key? 10 bucks. You want a new avatar, 5 bucks. etc, etc.

DeathMasta wrote:

spheresword wrote:The new business model revolves around micro(and not so micro)-transactions. E.g. wow with their optional fees to change factions or buy items and such. With bnet, they can do the same thing for starcraft 2.
You want to play in europe with a us key? 10 bucks. You want a new avatar, 5 bucks. etc, etc.

Oh what? Are you sure they are charging to change realms? In that thread Dan linked to it only says the ability to change realms will be available via a patch in the months after the game is released. Correct me if I'm wrong.

spheresword wrote:

DeathMasta wrote:

spheresword wrote:The new business model revolves around micro(and not so micro)-transactions. E.g. wow with their optional fees to change factions or buy items and such. With bnet, they can do the same thing for starcraft 2.
You want to play in europe with a us key? 10 bucks. You want a new avatar, 5 bucks. etc, etc.

Oh what? Are you sure they are charging to change realms? In that thread Dan linked to it only says the ability to change realms will be available via a patch in the months after the game is released. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It's all rumors right now, but it is what I believe is to come. We will be able to change realms and get LAN support, the question is just how much it'll cost us. (from free to xxx$).

Kuroikaze wrote:Want to know why Blizzard sucks so much now?

Google Bobby Kotick. He's the man in charge of Blizzard/Activision. He's a stockholder's wet dream, and the devil incarnate to people who see games as more than salable widgets.