So much for recession proof: U.S. video game sales take a 17 percent dip in March
venturebeat.com
venturebeat.com
At any given point in a normal year I would have a want-to-buy game that's coming out shortly. So far in 2009 I have not bought a single game simply because none of them are that interesting. I was looking forward to both HAWX and Resident Evil 5, but playing the demos for them convinced me not to buy.
The movie industry has been through this before - prompting predictions of the end of cinema as we know it. Except then Hollywood started producing movies people wanted to watch, and last I checked the industry is thriving.
I'm sure the recession has something to do with it - but I don't think it explains all of the 17 percent drop.
Let me paint you a picture: There are escort missions that are actually really fun.
Aircraft handling felt sticky, and I found myself fighting it constantly just to point the plane in the right direction - which may do well in a realistic sim, but this is an arcade game. The "evasion vector" feature is also kind of pointless - if you relied on it to get an attack vector on every opponent you would never pass the missions, seeing as it takes a solid 30 seconds to lock onto your opponent.
Both art style and setting could use some work also. Ace Combat 6 (which is the only real same-gen same-platform comparable game) had the skies filled with hundreds upon hundreds of enemies, and it felt like a real battle (unrealistic as that may be). HAWX felt like miles of nothingness with a few bogeys (which is more realistic, but less fun).
The game seriously picks up a couple of missions past that. You don't even have the ability to disengage your alpha limiters until mission 5 or 6 (the one presented in the demo). As for the HUD vector thing? It's useful at certain points in the game, but it's best employed in the campaign during a couple of really awesome sequences where they require you to use it.
My biggest gripe is that it was short. But I think there's some major replayability in there, particularly if you get some buddies to fly wingman.
I got out of reviewing when I felt there was too much pressure to rate certain companies high. I got to play some genuinely great games, but some were flat out awful to the point that it was painful to play. When I felt like I couldn't tell people not to buy certain games (hello EA) and when it got to the point that review material was being embargoed to give certain companies the advantage (I presume for giving high reviews) I couldn't take it anymore.
I believe it may take major layoffs and some companies going bust before we see some improvement. I doubt it would get as bad as the '83 crash, but then perhaps it should. This does seem to cycle in that so many games come out and then companies start trying to sell the chaff as grain and people stop buying.
Like you said, this happens in the movie industry. No movie has hit quite as high as Titanic, however the fan following for Star Trek could help it along, not to mention that I know a lot of people (including my wife) want to go see this despite my doubting they'd ever want to go see it. My wife can be particularly annoying to convince to watch a DVD or TV series, so the fact that she actually told me she wants to go see it (seconds after the trailer finishing in the cinema) gives me the impression it could do huge. My wife is literally a fan waiting to happen, so if Abrams can pull it off I might have a free ride for the rest of the franchise's life. Then there's just Stargate left to get her fully converted on and I'll have the three Stars (Wars, Trek and -gate).
I would find it quite ironic if the release of Star Trek saved the economy by getting sales well beyond the $2 billion mark.
http://trends.google.com/trends?q=video+games%2C+santa+claus
The only actual new game (not a sequel) that appeared to be good to me was H.A.W.X.. However, from the demo I couldn't say higher than an 8/10.
Resident Evil has always done reasonably well, however I've never liked the series. Empire: Total War interests me, but I gave up on trying to follow PC games after the whole DX10 only games and now they're bringing out D3D11! That leaves GTA: Chinatown; I'd be interested in Pokemon Platinum, but these ones always feel like such a cheat.
This leaves the only games I'd have bought as H.A.W.X. (not at $70 for a game I don't trust to be amazing) and a DS game.
It doesn't help that prices of some of the big games haven't dropped in over 6 months from their original release price. Hopefully the recession and now this huge drop in games sales might get them to drop the prices of games to get their sales up. What seriously pissed me off was when the recession started, Fallout 3 went up in price.