Anticipated Games

Not really. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I think the most popular franchise going away would be overall bad for the industry. If CoD goes away, it's just going to be replaced by another MP FPS that'll get milked just like CoD is now.

And we all have our own CoD. There's been a Pokemon every year since 2009 with the formula going mostly unchanged, but I'm still loving them. To say that CoD is needs to go away when I'm enjoying a yearly sequel that never changes would be downright hypocritical of me. And I can almost guarantee everyone in the club has a series like that.

I don't think Call of Duty does any harm to anyone. There's always going to be a Least Common Denominator game out there and right now, COD is exactly that. And the games might increase in quality now that there is a 3rd studio working on them and they will be releasing games every 3 years/studio. I got Ghosts this year and even though it was reviewed poorly, I still enjoyed it, because I hadn't played a COD in years. Just because its a yearly release doesn't mean you have to get it every year if you don't want to.

I wish the IDEA of Call of Duty would go away. I think as a game itself, CoD is nothing horrible, hell, parts of it are very well designed. But on a design level, having this thing with new entries every year is kind of lame. I'm not big on yearly franchises in general but Assassin's Creed is another big one. I think like the guys up above said, there'll always be something to fill this space that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Hollywood has blockbusters, video games have CoD (among other things). On a purely ideological level, all CoDs storywise to me are really weird propaganda. I mean, it's REALLY well equipped modern fighters fighting some (always vague) terrorists...or russians. It's pretty racist and pretty horrible.

Lucky for us, about 3 people have played the campaign of a given CoD game and most of them are smart enough to realize what it is.

volvocrusher wrote:Not really. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I think the most popular franchise going away would be overall bad for the industry. If CoD goes away, it's just going to be replaced by another MP FPS that'll get milked just like CoD is now.

And we all have our own CoD. There's been a Pokemon every year since 2009 with the formula going mostly unchanged, but I'm still loving them. To say that CoD is needs to go away when I'm enjoying a yearly sequel that never changes would be downright hypocritical of me. And I can almost guarantee everyone in the club has a series like that.

I don't disagree with the first point. But do we really all have our own CoD? I don't think so. Any game that I have ended up playing yearly sequels or close to it this last gen, I have ended up being pretty critical of.

@Kay: Very well put.

To what Greenie said, I'm a Toejam and Earl fanboy and would blind buy anything having to do with it. Outside of that, meh. Even Zelda and Mario have all but worn out their integrity with me.

Actually Trip, right after I posted that, I then thought how you don't really have one like that. But I still think everyone, or at the bare minimum 90% of gamers, likes something enough that they'd buy yearly sequels of it if they existed.

Diablo 3's Reaper of Souls expansion comes to last and current gen this August. That news was the best part of yesterday.

TripOpt55 wrote:

I don't disagree with the first point. But do we really all have our own CoD? I don't think so. Any game that I have ended up playing yearly sequels or close to it this last gen, I have ended up being pretty critical of.

With Trip on this. I can't think of any series I buy that's yearly. Worried that the Souls series has that fate ahead of it.

I'm not sure if I agree entirely with Greenie's point. There was a point where a new Final Fantasy would make me buy it no matter what but now...not so much. Just got cynical I guess, or beyond that, just a lack of time has made me be infinitely more picky for good experiences.

That said, if you're saying that we all have a series that isn't perfect that we still tend to gravitate towards and forgive faults within...well, that's probably true. Can't think of what it is for me personally, but I'm sure you all could probably tell me better than myself.

I mean I would buy games in certain series if they released every year probably. And I have bought yearly sequels for a time this gen. But I don't think I'm happy with (or would be happy with) any of them doing that because in the cases I've tried they have suffered. Like I'd gladly trade a couple of those Ratchet spinoffs to make Into the Nexus a "full" game so to speak. I'd have loved if Assassin's Creed skipped the two Ezio sequels and put more work into AC3. I know it hasn't been yearly, but NSMB slowing down wouldn't hurt either.

I also think this was much more doable in older generations due to shorter development cycles.

If you're going to keep a series going, sometimes too much time between iterations is as bad as annual entries.

For a three-year period, we got a Final Fantasy a year (1999-2001) and the series was definitely at a high point.

Do I'm pretty excited for Far Cry 4, but not as excited as most seem to be. If they have Yetis though (based on how this game seems to be set in the Himalayas), I'm in day one. Otherwise I'll probably wait.

I continue to be completely underwhelmed by The Order 1886. Shows us some cool weapons and combat against werewolves or something. The footage today was sleep-inducing.

Weapons that could have been invented for that time sounds like an awesome idea for a movie. In a game, they just seem kind of lame. I'm with Trip, show me some werewolves.

I have a Target gift card so I'm thinking about picking up Watch Dogs or Mario Kart this week. Thoughts?

Mario Kart! I know a few people on here that are picking it up. Should make for some pretty sweet racing nights. But this is coming from someone who has zero interest in Watch Dogs.

I vote Mario Kart too, but like Matt I'm not excited for Watchdogs. Though I'd say to ask yourself if you want something new which could be a dud or more of the same that's guaranteed to be good.

What you just said, Greenie, is my dilemma.

Would it help you decide if I mentioned the last time Ubisoft hyped a new IP this much we got Assassin's Creed 1?

Ahahaha! Yes. But...but...Black Flag was so good...with the sailing...le sigh

Watch Dogs will be in the bargain bin within a year--possibly free on PS+. Nintendo games very rarely drop in price--especially Mario Kart. If you want to get both at some point, MK8 will be the best value right now.

Thank you, Matt! You reminded me I still don't have Wind Waker or ALBW! Decision made. /applause @Matt

I'm gonna hold off on Mario Kart since the WiiU is the wife's and I know she'll buy it sooner or later. It is tempting seeing as how many here are jumping.

My plan is to grab ALBW and a $20 PSN card for Transitor. If they don't have Zelda in stock then I may jump on Mario Kart.

And what Greenie said about Watch Dogs really did put it into perspective. This ain't the Ubi of old. Also, Matt's point rings true too.

I don't think the AC1 comparison is totally apt. At the time Ubi had never made a sandbox game (or had little experience with them) and it showed. Now they've made a ton. I do expect a flawed experience and much improved sequel which seems to be the case with their other open world games.

It seems like you'll be going a different route altogether anyway, but even though I'm getting WD, I'd actually advise Mario Kart!

WD isn't even in my wheelhouse anymore. Even with Trip, Greenie, Matt, and Kay having valid arguments I ordered it with amazon credit. Fuck it. It was that or more security lights and batteries.

I do, however, like my Zelda and psn plan as opposed to MK. Besides, you'd all hate me for either whoopin you or saying it's my wife playing on game nights. (That and I'm too fun for you bitches to handle!)

Glad we could help with your decision... haha.

Mario Kart is COMING.