Topic: Strategy games are just not contemporary

[idolminds]

Some people should learn to not speak.

Last year 2K announced cult turn-based strategy series Xcom was to return – but this time as a first-person shooter. Fans recoiled at the apparent bastardisation of their beloved series, but Hartmann says there’s good reason for the change of direction.

He explains: “The ‘90s generation of gamers all love Xcom and we own the IP, so we thought OK, what do we do with it? Every studio we had wanted to do it and each one had its own spin on it. But the problem was that turn-based strategy games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth. But this is not just a commercial thing – strategy games are just not contemporary.

“I use the example of music artists. Look at someone old school like Ray Charles, if he would make music today it would still be Ray Charles but he would probably do it more in the style of Kanye West. Bringing Ray Charles back is all fine and good, but it just needs to move on, although the core essence will still be the same.

“That’s what we are trying to do. To renew Xcom but in line with what this generation of gamers want. The team behind it is asking themselves every day: ‘Is it true to the values of the franchise?’ It’s not a case of cashing in on the name. We just need to renew it because times are changing.”

Ok, strategy games aren't as popular as other genres. Thats true. But then why feel the need to take the name and make something completely different with it? Just make something else.

That whole Ray Charles analogy is just...wtf.

[Cobra951]

He needs to be whipped for the strategy-games comments.

He needs to be killed for his musical insensitivity and ignorance.

[scottws]

What an idiot.

[Cools!]

Haha. Clearly they don't follow the StarCraft scene (which at the last MLG had more viewers than Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Whatever).

[Pugnate]

hahaha Ray Charles would be like Kanye West.

He needs to be whipped for the strategy-games comments.

He needs to be killed for his musical insensitivity and ignorance.

aww... and you used to hate the Taliban so much. 

[Xessive]

Haha that Ray Charles comparison is pretty funny.

So basically, he's saying that nobody wants to listen to the blues anymore? Jazz? All gone.. For Jazz to be competitive with today's music it has to become Techno Pop!

[Cobra951]

Yeah, right.  Why master the art of music when you can trash talk to a beat instead?  Even the kids should take offense at that suggestion.

Ray Charles may not have thought so, but he lived in better times, musically anyway.  That moron's comment still has no place in serious conversation (except to call him a moron).

[MysterD]

Some people should learn to not speak.
 Ok, strategy games aren't as popular as other genres. Thats true. But then why feel the need to take the name and make something completely different with it? Just make something else.

That whole Ray Charles analogy is just...wtf.

WTF at that analogy. If he's trying to say they're both great musicians, fine.
But Kanye is also extremely full of himself, very sarcastic, curses like crazy, and is bat-shit crazy. I don't think Ray ever embodied ANY of that in his music.

About X-Com becoming a shooter - didn't they already try to make X-Com shooter games, sometime ago?

[iPPi]

What bullshit.  It's a clear attempt to make more money with the IP, but since strategy games don't work on consoles well, they just changed it to a genre that does.

[gpw11]

I think you hit the nail on the head.  I do (don't yell at me here) agree with him in some sense though.  Starcraft 2 got boring for me fast and felt like almost every other RTS game I had played, just without the freshness of certain offerings such as Ground Control (haha, yeah, ten years old?) and Company of Heroes. I'm obviously not the biggest RTS gamer, but I used to enjoy them.  And I kind of think that maybe that's what he's getting at;  except for the small percentage of people who absolutely love them, RTS games are stale and no longer attract audiences who weren't going to go out and buy every major strategy game anyways.


Yet, thinking about it now, I know nothing of Xcom and don't think it's even close to RTS.  So you're right: He's probably just a retard, because shit like turn based strategy is kind of timeless.

[Quemaqua]

I haven't heard too much that's on par with that level of stupidity. Whatever this guy is doing wrong in life, he's doing it very, very, very wrong.

[Xessive]

I remember Xcom as a turn-based tactical game, kinda like SWAT2 but with a larger cult following.

I appreciate certain games that tried to change the formula for strategy games like Tom Cancy's End War and RUSE. Granted they aren't quite as successful but it's good to see someone trying to do things differently.

My favourite RTS developer is Relic Entertainment; they're quite innovative with the genre and they deliver quality.

EDIT:
I forgot to mention: one company that has been making some unique strides in strategy games (real-time or turn-based) is Stardock. They haven't messed with the traditional formula but they find ways of making it deeper or more complex without being overly complicated.