Topic: You know, you could play free games until the end of time.

[Quemaqua]

Seriously.  Why do we even buy games?

[K-man]

That's a good question, and one I've often asked myself.  I also continually ask myself why I continue to buy games when I have a backlog that's embarrassingly huge and will most likely never get through as it is. 

I mean I have a handful of games that could keep me occupied indefinitely and have fun doing it.  Oblivion, Morrowind, Diablo 2, among others. 

I'm most likely not going to buy as many games this year as in years past.  One because of the economy, and two because i'm finding less time to play them.

[Quemaqua]

That's an equally good point, and more thoughtful than I had intended.  It was really just shocking to me how many good free indie projects are out there, but like you've said, I have a huge collection of games, a huge backlog, and barely any time to actually play games anymore.  It drives me a little insane, but I have most certainly cut down on what I buy.  I'm down to about a game a month now, or several smaller games (basically a $60 limit per month).

[K-man]

Yeah, I kinda took it off topic and I apologize.  With a little bit of digging, one could keep themselves in free gaming forever.  And honestly due to the economy you may actually see it happen more and more. 

[Quemaqua]

Oh, don't apologize.  It's a perfectly valid point and a stimulating side-topic I wasn't even thinking about when I started the post.  I wonder how many other folks are in the same position we are, with a game jones like nothing else, but not enough good time to indulge it.  That's another advantage of a lot of the free indie titles - many of them are easy to pick up and play for a short time while still being satisfying.

[W7RE]

I'm in the same position. I was lying in bed last night thinking about all the games I have and that I haven't beat, and how many I'm looking forward to. I'm starting to build up a big backlog. I've got tons of stuff from the PS2 and GCN, even the original Xbox that I never finished, but just looking at recent stuff:

CoD4
Assassin's Creed
Fallout 3
Dead Rising
Dead Space
Gears of Wars 2
The Orange Box (mostly HL2 stuff, I'm right at the end of Portal)
Halo 3
Braid (grabbing puzzle pieces as I go, or I'd have hit the end long ago)
Megaman 9

In the next 2 months I'm looking at picking up F.E.A.R. 2, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5 (maybe), Riddick 2, and possibly Halo Wars.




BTW, is that the same Zelda type game that was recently posted here? I can't believe I overlooked that, it looks so nice. I would love to have a full length 2D platformer like that. It looks so oldschool in style, btut he graphics are up to date. Why the hell don't we get games like that anymore?

[idolminds]

I love free games. And if the DRM trend doesnt reverse itself I can see myself playing a bunch more of them.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, that was the game idol posted about before at the top of that link.  It does look awesome.

[Cobra951]

Yeah, I kinda took it off topic and I apologize.  With a little bit of digging, one could keep themselves in free gaming forever.  And honestly due to the economy you may actually see it happen more and more. 

That's me right now, buddy.  If it isn't free or as cheap as a lunch or 2, it isn't happening.  My 360 backlog is still on the other side of a purchase (except Mass Effect, which has me spooked because my RRoD happened when I was playing it--well, there's Lego Star Wars 2 also).  I have no PC backlog.  That requires a real PC first, and that's not happening either.

That first game reminds me a lot of Gods, the Bitmap Brothers sidescroller from the SNES and Genesis days.

[MysterD]

You know, we all could play free games forever b/c they are free -- but often, those free games don't have the high-level of voice-acting, graphics, and other production values games with much higher budgets have that games you purchase on the retail shelves have.

On another end, a lot of the huge studio-made games with much higher budgets just don't have some of the innovations and soul that some of the free and/or pure Independent games have. I mean -- could you really imagine a big-name company taking a risk with having something made the likes of say World of Goo and Mount & Blade? Probably wouldn't happen, as much as I'd like it to see publishers take a big risk on these kind of titles.

As good as Mount & Blade is already (as an Independent game), I just could imagine how much greater that game could be if the game got some of those higher production values involved. Say, for starters -- a bigger company pumping a lot of money into it. Maybe the publisher would call for the game ALSO having one unique main quest to do with all sorts of unique voice-acting, characters, and stuff that we're accustomed to. The game could use that addition to it, as long as they also keep the sandboxy-ness of the game alive, too. Also, imagine Mount & Blade also injected with some stellar voice-acting talent and names; say the likes of Jennifer Hale, Malcolm McDowell, Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman, Patrick Stewart, and any other excellent actor you can think of. I also would find it interesting if Mount & Blade was made by a company with more resources for $$ to also pimp out the graphics to its fullest extent -- and hopefully still as well as it does right now.

[K-man]

You're absolutely right D.  However, in an age where a game like Peggle can keep me just as occupied and entertained as a 60 dollar blockbuster, I think you're going to start to see a shift in the way games are made.

I hate to keep harping on the economy, but it's really having an effect on the video game world.  I think companies have started to struggle with putting millions into the development of a title only to see it underwhelm, so you're going to see less blockbusters in the following years.  The Wii success does nothing but facilitate it unfortunately.

So yeah, I agree with you that we all want the big budget titles.  But I can also tell you that the money I spend on them will decrease.  Either by not purchasing or waiting until they get cheap.

[MysterD]

You're absolutely right D.  However, in an age where a game like Peggle can keep me just as occupied and entertained as a 60 dollar blockbuster, I think you're going to start to see a shift in the way games are made.

I think also, with even bigger publishers like EA and 2K Games using Steam, GOG, and other digital distribution methods, we might see more games and publishers avoid retail period. Maybe publishers will publish limited copies of these kinds of products to retailers, in the future? I like to have my games in a case, printed manual, and all that jazz, too -- but, is it really necessary with most games? Most games, you can pick up and play, these days -- especially since they have built-in tutorials and all.

Also, why would a publisher print say a game manual, a game disc, get a case to toss all this in, and other things if they can save money and feel they don't really need to? We can do most of that ourselves, as long as they supply us PDF digital manual and the full game EXE file/folder/GCF file(s)/whatever.

I hate to keep harping on the economy, but it's really having an effect on the video game world.  I think companies have started to struggle with putting millions into the development of a title only to see it underwhelm, so you're going to see less blockbusters in the following years.  The Wii success does nothing but facilitate it unfortunately.

This could be very likely, yes. With a lot of companies cutting staff members, we might see more games made by much smaller teams.

So yeah, I agree with you that we all want the big budget titles.  But I can also tell you that the money I spend on them will decrease.  Either by not purchasing or waiting until they get cheap.

I usually wait for most of them to get cheaper.

Every now and then, I'll break the piggy bank and pay full price for a PC game upon their release date -- i.e. Bioshock ($40), Fallout 3: Collector's Edition ($70), and The Witcher ($50).

Most games, I try to spend $20 or less on.

There's a handful of games I will spend $30 on.

$40+ games, I try to not buy many of those. Only something I deem extremely special or been waiting on for a long time where I feel I get a lot out of milage out of, do I spent this kind of cash on a game.

[scottws]

Seriously.  Why do we even buy games?

I haven't really dug for any gems among the free games, but I will say that I probably buy and find more satisfaction with games on XBLA and other indie games than I do the high production value games.  I thought the World of Goo demo was fantastic and am planning a purchase if they ever get to the e-mailed question I sent them.  I will probably buy Aquaria soon.  I've bought countless games on XBLA and love almost all of them.  I even recently reinstalled Crimsonland and have been playing that again.

I'm going through a period of disappointment in the gaming establishment.  There have been too many letdowns and missed opportunities.  Game development budgets have skyrocketed as gamers expect better and better visuals.  Something had to give and it's been game length, well thought-out design, and new ideas.  I've definitely found some solace in games competing in the lower cost markets.  In these more indie markets, design and creativity is paramount and it really shows in the products.  XBLA stuff isn't always completely creative, but some of it is old ideas from the 2D days spiffed up with better audio and visuals.  I love it.

[Ghandi]

I remember a time when we used to be able to play free stuff every Friday....

[PyroMenace]

Man I remember the days of playing Crimsonland, god what a great game.