Another game down the drain

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
That was a very interesting article General. Thanks for posting a link to it.

What really got to me was the part about Hasbro making the buyout offer to AH, forcing them to settle with Microprose, then buying Microprose 3 weeks after they ate AH.

Could be a coincidence, could be uncoordinated duplication of effort, but I'm a suspicious person by nature...

[ August 11, 2003, 17:50: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[Roanon]

Yes, the golden days for game software are over. Cheap but graphic-heavy junk doesn't sell that much any more. The kiddies all have played dozens of them and are growing tired of it. Gone the days when you could sell virtually anything as long as you could get a 99% in graphics from the reviewers. The reviewers being another problem, as they continue to lie and cheat for game producers money, they are biting the hand that feeds them - the reader's hand. Only one of them publicly apologized for their overly positive review of MOO3, for instance.

Especially difficult is and was selling junk to hardcore strategy gamers who above all expect a game and not colorful clickfeasts. So, as we do not provide the market for fast-money-for-nothing, the big companies are leaving, now that they have found out the truth. I hope smaller companies with less expectations and more willingness to work for their money will now have a chance to take back that niche.
I can live with 10 less MOO3-type games while getting 1 more SEIV-type game instead. But, the sad truth is, while the quality may increse the quantity will surely decrease. Do not expect a new good strategy game every year - or even every two years.

What happend to MOO3 is a different thing - the problem is it got into the hands of a company that didn't intend to do a 4x strategy game. Sold as SimGalaxy, which it really is, it would have caused less uproar - but also much less sales probably. Beaten to death this way, I doubt that anyone will be able to revive the series.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
I know MicroProse published Birth of The Federation, but didn't they also publish Moo and Moo2?

All three of those games were good games. So what happenend with MOO3?

Yes. They also published Civ and Civ 2, and Colonization, and some other awesome strategy games (as well as a few dozen other good games). Sadly, they are gone.

[oleg]

There is a fundamental difference between Publisher and Developer. I tend to ignore publisher' label and look who is really behind the game.

[Fyron]

Yes, but Microprose was the developer of most of those games. MOO and MOO2 were developed by Simtex, but the rest by the Microprose team.

[Iron Giant]

Wow, this is sad, sad news. I played that demo, and it was awesome.

You felt like you were in the middle of a real space battle.

If I could get that feeling, with the tactical game of SEIV.... *goosebumps*

[Loser]

I live in Colorado Springs and we have an airport. Once upon a time a ambitious company called Western Pacific decided to make us their hub for their new airline. This was during the boom and the city was growing wildly as companies brought technical and customer service jobs to the area. They made a lot of money and were quite successful while they stayed in their niche.

Then one day Westpac decided it was time to grow, time to take risks, time to make more money. They moved their hub to Denver International Airport, where they could reach more, where they had a larger local pool to draw from, where they had more prestige, and where they got beat down by TWA. Westpac was not ready to play with the big boys. TWA beat the snot out of them and the company went under.

The moral of this story "stay in your place" in this case does not apply to the developers or the publishers but in a fit of personification, to the genre itself. Right now maybe this genre does not belong on somewhere that it has to compete with click-fests, walk-through adventures, MMORPGs, RTSes and racing games. To attempt to design a 4x game that will compete for the attention that is typically given these other genres has resulted in failure.

As long as a 4x game stays with its, admittedly limited, 4x audience it can still be successful. That's my opinion and wacko theory for this specific moment. I might be wrong, and I might just let it go.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

you want to feel like your in the middle of a battle?

homeworld.

yeah, i agree. people who play strategy games don't want a click-fest 4x and people who don't play strategy games don't want to sit for up to an hour to play there turn. on the other hand, i don't really want to sit for an hour either.

[solops]

I hear a german firm is still doing Imperium Galacta 3.

I guess until someting better comes out I'll play a bit of SEIV. I did find a really delightful and simple game called "War! Age of Imperialism" that fills in the idle time. Quick and not complex...kind of an upgraded Risk. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for some quick strategy fun...no heavy brainpower required.

[Paul1980au]

If this style of game is neglected by the mainstream publishers - the open source community is still pushing ahead - freeorion is a start - im sure a equivalent should SE5 be the Last - that a free open source alternative will arise.