Game Ranter Banter: Halo 4, Vita Price Cut, Mass Effect 3 Ending & COD Sales
by Anthony Mole
(6 of 5)
Game Ranter Banter: Halo 4, Vita Price Cut, Mass Effect 3 Ending & COD Sales
Midway through April video game releases have slowed down considerably, leading into a busier May schedule. There's isn't as much of an influx of big name retail games, but there's no shortage of games to play, as the magical platformer FEZ finally released this week amidst our time to catch-up. And if that doesn't interest you, there's always the Game Ranter Banter.
In this weeks discussion, the Game Rant crew delves into Halo 4, a possible Vita price cut, the quality of fan-made shorts, dwindling Call of Duty sales and last but not least, we continue to beat the Mass Effect 3 controversy ending to death.
Let's begin.
In this weeks discussion, the Game Rant crew delves into Halo 4, a possible Vita price cut, the quality of fan-made shorts, dwindling Call of Duty sales and last but not least, we continue to beat the Mass Effect 3 controversy ending to death.
Let's begin.
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ok, call of duty is a good game and good franchize. the games are always exciting and since it is the “cool” game to have, there will always be new experiences as far as multiplayer goes because everyone has it. i sure as hell enjoy the game, it does its job as far as keeping me entertained goes. however, part of the reason the game is starting to loose its likability is because all the games are, are “copy and paste” games. meaning every new installment of the franchize is more or less the same thing with MINOR tweaks. so you’re paying $60 to get a game that you already have with a few minor modifications. i could compare this to the guitar hero series. they come out with too many games too fast which makes it no longer original, so it doesnt give people much a reason to buy new games. cod has to take more time into making the game rather than pumping them out as fast as possible, and try to think of new creative ways of making the game worth buying rather than just keeping the one they already have, because if they keep doing that, dont be suprized if battlefield takes over as the “cool” game. i like both franchizes, but cod is getting dry and old. i cant wait for the next installment of battlefield but black ops 2… eh
call of duty in general has lost my heart. i thought that modern warfare 2 was actually the best. black ops was a subtle down step. with downgraded classes such as last stand, and maps that foster “run and gun” instead of skilled battle strategies. i don’t care who you are, in real life you are not going to charge a room when you know there are people in it. real warfare is a little more cautious considering that you don’t have a re-spawn. the games weapons where downgraded, and it had many bugs that MW2 didn’t have. MW3 however is a massive downgrade from black ops. even more so highlighting these flaws. to even add to this, its “exciting” change of care packages was nothing more than a subtle tweak, more things like that and it may have felt like a new approach, however the game it self feels exactly like MW2 but with cruddier guns, downgraded classes, and more irritating maps. the thrill of using military techniques has been lost to an unskilled “run and gun” atmosphere. not only am i not downloading the expansion packs, but i very well may be done with the call of duty franchise. and its a shame, because i remember many good nights having a few friends over, and playing some split screen MW2 as we eat pizza. but i fear that these will only be memories as the series progresses…
Sounds like you need to convert to Battlefieldism, friend. We welcome all new converts with open arms!
^ Yes.
Mass Effect 3 ending… Nah, It’s done. We will get what we get from the extended cut. Nothing else will be done about it at this point. Tired of all the self entitled gamers telling us to get over Bioware’s failure of art/product.
ME3 Ending really, there is no explanation, you got 98% asking for a change and 2% who decide to let it stay, well the 2% do have a right to keep they product the way it built, but if this was like a an art on the wall or a car, the 98% would not be upset because we get to examine the product properly before we make a purchase, basically we was cheat and lied to in the building up of ME3.
PSP Vita as much as i love the system, with the way economy is right now etc.. the price is just too steep, moreover i don’t believe no handheld should have a price range next to an home console, an laptop, and television, etc… just too expensive.
COD MW3 got a very well knit story mode but the online is just the same and it suck real bad, You got the same maps over and over and what i mean by that they all small- medium, so you only need one gun class anyway,MW2 you feel more comfortable mixing up the classes and they was generate better every weapon class have a board to play on, Wasteland was good for Sniping, High wire good for both Medium and Short range weapons, With that said i aint interested in no more COD anytime soon.
As for Halo not a fan but i aint going to even lie i love first one and it was the only time i play Xbox in my life but after part one i did follow up part two and it just feel weak for some reason too much focus on Multi Player and that is with all these FPS now
So you’re saying you want to know the end of the game before you purchase it? What’s the fun in that? The ME3 ending wasn’t perfect but I don’t feel like Bioware lied or cheated…they put out an incredible trilogy. Why complain about the ending? They don’t owe us anything…you really think a director will change the ending of a movie because people don’t like it? No, because it’s HIS vision. If you didn’t like the ending, then remake Mass Effect 3 the way you thought it should be…and then when people complain about the ending..you’ll know how it feels.
“Writers have two jobs; to create something enthralling for readers/viewers/gamers, and at the same time to get us to think, as that’s what great literature is all about.”
There is a clear problem to this.
1) I completely agree with the statement about creating something enthralling, but the artist needs to understand that what they think is enthralling is not what the player will always think. Telling someone that your project is fun will not change their opinion on whether THEY think it is fun. So when a whole ton of people say they did not have fun watching the ending, that means the artist did not achieve this goal no matter how proud they are of their work.
2) I agree too with wanting to leave people thinking, but the problem was that the ending made everyone think for all the wrong reasons. Rather than speculate the future of the series and interpretations of what happened, people reflecting on what was presented immediately came face to face with plot holes, contradictions and nonsensical explanations. For something to leave an audience member thinking for the right reasons, it needs to have substance, structure, coherence and relevant themes/issues that can carry on in the audience member’s mind.
Bioware instead gave unnecessary attention to a minor theme that was more or less resolved before the ending and suddenly made it the crux of the story. This thread was already very light relative to the themes of political unity and such, so it had less weight to their outcomes. It distorted the thematic structure of the story, made certain assumptions that the game’s logic supported suddenly irrelevant and played a mean game of role reversal where the player no longer had a say in the ending. The logic suddenly presented also suddenly turned the player into a sort of bad guy, which would have been fine if there was any indication of that before the last ten minutes. KOTOR did it brilliantly because it was actually a theme to the grand story and presented early on. It did not work here.
Honestly the sales of the CoD series isn’t really that impressive. Only reason it broke records is because the game is over priced.
COD games are the same price brand new as any other brand new console game, so your comment makes no sense.
No, he’s right. CoD is in fact overpriced even if it is sold at $60, it’s like paying for any really crappy console game i.e like Hanna Montana the game
That’s true, but it would just look bad if they sold their games for cheaper than other games. Only really low budget games or games that don’t have all of its features yet are sold for less than $60 when they release, and if COD started selling at less than $60, that would put it right with those lowly games.
It still doesn’t make sense to say the sales aren’t impressive. They are impressive. All the more so, considering the franchise’s creative bankruptcy. Impressive in a depressing kind of way.
Haha that’s true.
Wait, if COD sales aren’t impressive, than what game has impressive sales?
Modern Warfare 3 marked the single biggest entertainment (not just games, all entertainment) launch EVER.
I traded back all three ME games within a week after finishing(?) ME3. I could care less if they come up with an understandable and a couple of alternate endings. The ending they presented is how the series will be forever etched in my mind: A fifteen minute, ambigous, green, red, blue WTF? moment.
(I seriously believe that EA thought they could sell a real ending as dlc, which is probably the most deceptive practice a Video Game producer has ever stooped to.)
The Extended Cut DLC is going to be free, so your belief is completely untrue.
The Extended Cut DLC is just deleted scenes and is not adding anything new to the ending at all. If you’ve seen some of the scenes they removed that have popped up on Youtube, then you know what the “extended cut” will be, and considering they’ve said they have extensive dlc plans for the game that haven’t been announced yet, I think Maric has a point.
I didn’t say it was going to be a new ending. I said it was going to be free, so Maric’s belief that EA (I think he means BioWare) purposely made a bad ending for ME3 so they could sell a real ending is not true. Unannounced extensive DLC plans? How does that mean Maric has a point? The DLC isn’t going to be new endings, it’s probably going to be expansion packs (that don’t affect the outcome of the original campaign). Chris, your whole comment was just idiotic.
Hence why I put that EA (who bought Bioware four years ago) THOUGHT they could sell the full version of an ending as dlc. I think my theory is better than “we are just artists that the world doesn’t understand”. And why not? The beginning of ME3 was sold as a dlc last year. People bought it, and if you didn’t, you started ME3 with a big plothole.
No, I think “we are just artists that the world doesn’t understand” is a better theory than yours. If BioWare (the developers of a game make most of the design choices not the publisher, but you seem to think otherwise) thought they could sell a real ending as DLC, then they would’ve announced a new ending by now and it wouldn’t be free. So your theory is wrong.
selling parts of the game for dlc, whether its the beginning or the ending, or a certain character, is up to the publisher. That’s not an artist decision, they work for EA, who incidently only has DA2 and ME3 as the only two Bioware games that were developed under EA. Coincidence that these two games are Bioware’s only rotten eggs? Nope. Its because EA is making many design decisions. That’s why the director of DA:Origins refused to direct DA2 and left the company.
Even if what you said is true, your theory is still wrong, and you didn’t even try to defend it, so you must realize now, too.
I can’t defend what I believr because you are a true scholar and rethorician. It has been an honor to be shown the folly of my assumptions. I thank you, good sir.
You are most welcome, my erroneously-assuming adversary.
In all honesty, Zombies are the only thing that kept me interested in Black Ops. If they didn’t have Zombies, (And Believe me I know how broken those maps/modes are haha), ultimately I’d be far less inclined to buy a copy. It’s just been a staple, why get rid of it now?
same here. the only reason i kept my black ops and bought the map packs was for Zombies. ive had some of the best times just playing some Der Riese or Ascension with my friends. I can tell you right now that the only way i will be buying the next CoD is if it has Zombies in it. Otherwise, forget it. Plus, i like Treyarch much better than IW. In my opinion, they just have much more imagination and creativity. Their graphics may be a bit inferior, but i like them just fine. That’s not what makes a game, anyway.
They can keep it in because it can be fun. It’s just so boring to me – I’d like other, additional modes with more players, more objective-based stuff. I think it’s why people really enjoy Gears 3 and ME3 horde multiplayer and I expect people will dig Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for the same reasons.
Seriously, they don’t need to cut the price of the vita, for the power the system has it’s worth it. What they do NEED to do however, is add all this support for PS1 classics that they promised. Once they do that I guarantee the sales will go up.
Actually, they kind of do need to cut the price of the Vita so they will sell better.
My point is that the sales will go up if they just add the ps1 classics. Maybe not as much as they’d like and a price cut would certainly help, but the fact that they still haven’t added that has added a sour taste to a lot of peoples mouths. The Vita is at LEAST twice the system of the 3ds so the price is not unreasonable, but a cut to 229 or something would help out I imagine.
Makes sense.
I disagree. I think a huge number of PS Vita-prospective customers are PSP owners. And the PSP can play ps1 games.
Even if one doesn’t own a PSP, they can get one for a WHOLE lot cheaper than a Vita if ps1 games are what they want to play.
Also, psp has video out, and Vita doesn’t. Honestly, Sony seems to have taken a number of baffling steps BACKWARD with the Vita.
Until it becomes cheaper, I think it’s obvious why nobody thinks it’s even worth looking at.
I’m going to have to disagree with this. I do not own a psp and never liked the psp to be honest. I won’t buy a psp for even 75 bucks when i can get a vita for a bit more. It isn’t the only reason I bought a vita but it would be nice. Also vita has an expansion port on the top of it, who’s to say that this port can’t be used as a video out in the future? We don’t even know yet what that is for and depending on what that port accesses it’s quite possible with the right cord it can be used as video out.
You can get a Vita for a bit more than $75? If that was true, I would buy one.
Midway through April video game releases have slowed down considerably,