Call of Duty 4

[Vermicous]

I love COD4 so far. Just an all around well-done game.

I've played Battlefield since 1942 (skipped Vietnam). I love the play style, but EA has been pissing me off. They just seem to have a history of being slow to patch major glitches. Currently playing 2142 because the planes in BF2 were just too much.

 

[kornkob]

Quality is money... time is just a factor.

Negative, negative.

Quality is NOT money. There are a lot of games that did wonderful thigns, were high quality and didn't make much money at all.

Time IS money in development. Keeping 20-60 people working on a project for a year costs millions. Do that for 2 or 3 years and you are talking abotu a budget that is getting out of hand.

Then you have a stack of costs on top of salary, equipment and overhead.

Never mind that each console game you sell sends $10-15 to someone who is NOT your company (the owner of the console gets that off the top of each sale).

Add 3 months to specialize for a specific platofrm and you're spending nearly a million just on that platform's specific version. And add to that the factors of market penetration and household response to new games within those markets.....

It's all very well and good to talk about it as a simple thing to decide to do but the fact is a lot of time and effort goes into deciding what platforms are worth the money to develop for. Just because its an awesome platform doesn't mean that it makes sense to pull people to develop for it.

 

[Brakeman_Brewing]

the NES platform rocks any other system out there, 'nuf said

the zapper gun was way ahead of its time

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Negative, negative.

Quality is NOT money. There are a lot of games that did wonderful thigns, were high quality and didn't make much money at all.

Time IS money in development. Keeping 20-60 people working on a project for a year costs millions. Do that for 2 or 3 years and you are talking abotu a budget that is getting out of hand.

Then you have a stack of costs on top of salary, equipment and overhead.

Never mind that each console game you sell sends $10-15 to someone who is NOT your company (the owner of the console gets that off the top of each sale).

Add 3 months to specialize for a specific platofrm and you're spending nearly a million just on that platform's specific version. And add to that the factors of market penetration and household response to new games within those markets.....

It's all very well and good to talk about it as a simple thing to decide to do but the fact is a lot of time and effort goes into deciding what platforms are worth the money to develop for. Just because its an awesome platform doesn't mean that it makes sense to pull people to develop for it.

So what about the big name games? MGS 4, FF XIII? These are taking years of development, and the producers are hugely successful. Are you saying htey don't knwo what they are doing?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

man this game is so addicting...

 

[attitude]

video games and beer brewing............ i knew i joined the right site:rockin:

 

[Whiskey]

Yeah, downloaded the demo earlier today, definitely a title I'm going to have to buy.

Here are few screenies I took from the demo, for the folks who want to see what it looks like.

This is the PC version obviously.

 

[kornkob]

So what about the big name games? MGS 4, FF XIII? These are taking years of development, and the producers are hugely successful. Are you saying htey don't knwo what they are doing?

That's not at all what I said. What I said was it is a lot more complicated than 'because a console CAN do more it makes financial sense to develop for it'.

It also depends on what you mean by 'hugely successful'. Spending 3 years and 30 million to make 40 million might seem to make sense until you look at making a game in 1 year for 6 million to make 12 million.

Critcal success does not always equal financial success.

Massive unit sales does not always equal financial success.

High quality does not always equal financial success.

 

[Warped04]

video games and beer brewing............ i knew i joined the right site:rockin:

I dunno...you are Raiders fan

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

That's not at all what I said. What I said was it is a lot more complicated than 'because a console CAN do more it makes financial sense to develop for it'.

It also depends on what you mean by 'hugely successful'. Spending 3 years and 30 million to make 40 million might seem to make sense until you look at making a game in 1 year for 6 million to make 12 million.

Critcal success does not always equal financial success.

Massive unit sales does not always equal financial success.

High quality does not always equal financial success.

True, true. Not always equal financial succes, (Lair) but FFXIII and MGS4 are going to be huge. When you put a lot of time in it, and do it right, it can and will be successful and make a game that is way better (which is what I care about) than those that are spit out real quick.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Yeah, downloaded the demo earlier today, definitely a title I'm going to have to buy.

Here are few screenies I took from the demo, for the folks who want to see what it looks like.

This is the PC version obviously.

It may be hard to believe, but the ps3 and 360 versions look just as good.

 

[Warped04]

Some actual gameplay.

 

[ScubaSteve]

That timeshift demo on PS3 is also pretty sweet. Nothing like slowing down/stopping time and wasting 30 dudes with assault rifles.

 

[Whiskey]

It may be hard to believe, but the ps3 and 360 versions look just as good.

Not hard to believe at all, the 360 and PS3 are on par with the average game PC. My current PC (and the one the screenies were taken from) is running 2 year old hardware, and the game still runs very well, at least the demo.

 

[kornkob]

True, true. Not always equal financial succes, (Lair) but FFXIII and MGS4 are going to be huge. When you put a lot of time in it, and do it right, it can and will be successful and make a game that is way better (which is what I care about) than those that are spit out real quick.

Lots of money, lots of talent and lots of time doesn't mean you can and will be successful. It does mean that if you AREN'T wildly successful you will loose your ass. Just ask Romero

There are several really good games out there that were 'spit out real quick'. Because quality, depth of play and good work doesn't have to take a long time every time. Not every game needs to innovate to be good (and in fact a very small percentage of games touted as 'innovative' actually innovated anything). Nor does a game have to push the limits of what is possible to be a good game.

Back to the subject of developing to specific platforms here's someone in the industry in a leadership role saying stuff simliar to what I've been saying:

Notably, Lazard's Colin Sebastian stated: "We expect THQ to remain more closely aligned with Nintendo and Microsoft platforms over the next couple of years, reflecting THQ’s historical strength on handhelds (GBA and DS), increasing development slate for Nintendo’s Wii, early success with titles on the Xbox 360 (e.g. Saints Row) and a slower ramp on the PS3."


His statement is not unlike words I have heard uttered in 2 other major game studios by people in positions to make those kinds of decisions.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

We can go back and forth with game studio's perspectives all day. We have to remember that Microsoft and Sony have different pulls with different studios. here we have Ubisoft's president talking about how its no harder to develop for the ps3 than the 360: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=30375

The fact is, they are both superior machines. The ps3 has a much smaller chance of breaking and it comes with all the bells and whistles (bluetooth, wireless controllers, wifi, HDMI, free internet play and so on). The ps3 will be around for a long time, and has a killer line up of games out and coming out.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Epic head, Mark Rein: http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/09-11-2007-6856.html

 

[John Beere]

ok, I take it all back - COD4 is one bad ass game... I don't play FPS on anything but the PC and decided to download it from Steam (no CDs to muck with). I've only played the first few levels but that is one intense game...

 

[kornkob]

We can go back and forth with game studio's perspectives all day.

You are certainly right on the talking head quotes. We could find a series of those and all we'd know is that people who talk to reporters give memorable quotes.

On the other hand when you talk to actual developers and you look at actual development schedules it becomes clear that you need special time devoted to PS3's Cell tech to come to market. This is not the case with the 360, whose assets and tech convert to the PC build effortlessly.

 

[kornkob]

ok, I take it all back - COD4 is one bad ass game... I don't play FPS on anything but the PC and decided to download it from Steam (no CDs to muck with). I've only played the first few levels but that is one intense game...

Single player is a tad short as I see it but it was intense and the gameplay was certainly varied.

I have to say that I was earnestly disappointed at how scripted and linear the sniper mission was. I really wanted to be able to try differnet angles, different hides, different approaches. None of that was really allowed for.

 

[RadicalEd]

Two guys at another site I frequent held a competition to see who could get 1000 achievement points first; the winner re-recorded the completion of the mile-high club award (clear the plane in 60 seconds in Veteran difficulty) that effectively decided the match. Thought you might enjoy.

http://www.roosterteeth.com/members/journal/entry.php?id=1867979

 

[ScubaSteve]

Okay, Okay.......I know I said I was sick of shooters....but, I was trading in my XBOX and games at GameStop for store credit....and I saw this game everywhere. Thought that there's gotta be a reason for all the hubbub...so I got it. Let me tell you....it ROCKS!:rockin: It has got to be the most realistic game I've ever seen! I swear I have PTSD from just playing the first level! I got online for the first time last night, and like a total NOOB, pretty much got humiliated. Nothing worse than getting knifed from behind when you're creeping around I can't seem to get my headset to work, which kinda sucks. I also picked up Armored Core 4 which is also pretty badass. Holler at me....I'm SCUBASTEVE51. Don't laugh, I pretty much suck, but I'll get better, I promise!

 

[Drunkensatyr]

I have to wait till after Santa swings by to purchase any more games damn it...

 

[Orpheus]

Anyone playing on the PC is welcome to come to our CoD4 hardcore server:

COD4 Realism server at: 66.199.232.101 Port 28960

 

[kornkob]

Or ours:

-=DGA=- HARDCORE 69.12.96.135

We also have a Ventrillo server for voice chat:
74.86.96.12 port 5254

 

[Vermicous]

I'll have to remember those, but I can usually only play after midnight EST.

Look for MorphMonkey, I'll be the one dying frequently.

 

[ghostofdavid]

I just picked this up for 360 today for 40 bucks after beta-testing it a few months back. Add me to your 360 Live account if you want: KnightOfYeshua

See ya in the game!

 

[MikeInCtown]

I've had it since the day it came out. Played that for a while, but I'm back to MoH Airborne for now. I just love the old WWII shooters and while the graphics aren't as real looking, the ability to roam around is a lot more fun IMHO.

 

[Dude]

OMFG. I rented this as my first game for my new PS3. Wow, wow, WOW!!!!!

It is amazing. I finished the game in like a day and a half. The AC-130 mission is the cat's ass. I liked the sniper mission too. Wish you had more opportunities with the long distance sniper rifle though.

The attention to detail is just astounding. You stand behind a tank, you can see the exhaust fumes. You can see soda bottles rolling around in the street. The enemy AI is pretty tough. The battles can pretty damn hectic. I die A LOT.

 

[Phideaoux44]

That game...wow. I loved it. The details and the gameplay were certainly impressive though I do agree that the sniper thing should have been embellished. Overall, amazing. Also, (spoiler alert) did anyone else find the scene with the nuke aftermath creepy? Climbing out of that heli and walking around the smoldering ruins was surprisingly chilling to be a video game.

Just my $0.02.