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In fairness, I'm not sure that it's entirely 'the industry's' fault. As we expect games to become ever-faster, more immersive, more re-playable, and more polished, the cost of developing them has grown along with it...and thus the cost of failure if a game doesn't sell. I think it's made major studios more risk-adverse and geared more toward sales and other units that directly make money than support.

The good news is that thanks to the internet and crowdfunding smaller studios or even teams have been able to better compete and to experiment with more innovative games that major studios would be too afraid to touch, and for major games DLC has significantly expanded the lifespan of games. We're still playing Skyrim from 2011 and Fallout 3 from 2008...as little as a decade a go the support lifespan of a game may have been a few months to a year before cut off support and started working on the next sequel.

Speaking of "fuck Silent Hill," were we ever given a clear reason as to why Silent Hills, the MOST anticipated horror game in development due to P.T (Playable Trailer), was canceled?

I don't know, from a business standpoint, I guess it sort of makes sense for them to kick Kojima and cancel Silent Kill, since he was costing them a shitload of money with his extravagant projects, but then they went ahead and became full retards by announcing they were going to tackle mobile gaming. Idiots.

But honestly, Kojima just wasn't getting enough sales.

Still. Fuck you, Konami. May you die a slow and horrible death. Silent Hills was my reason for buying a goddamned PS4 in anticipation. I only recently found out it had been cancelled.

I don't know, from a business standpoint, I guess it sort of makes sense for them to kick Kojima and cancel Silent Kill, since he was costing them a shitload of money with his extravagant projects, but then they went ahead and became full retards by announcing they were going to tackle mobile gaming. Idiots.

But honestly, Kojima just wasn't getting enough sales.

Still. Fuck you, Konami. May you die a slow and horrible death. Silent Hills was my reason for buying a goddamned PS4 in anticipation. I only recently found out it had been cancelled.

Like I said, most anticipated horror game.  Even people who had never played P.T were talking about it for various reasons (Norman Reedus being in it, Del Toro directing it), so that was quite a bomb to drop.

And I don't blame Kojima not getting enough sales.  After the god awful 3DS title and the shitty reception Downpour, Homecoming, AND Shattered Memories got (as much as I actually enjoyed each), there was really no way to save himself, though I think he could have if they hadn't canceled Silent Hills.  It was really looking like it'd be one of the best Silent Hills game since 3...possibly 2 (I liked 3 quite a bit as well as others in the series, but 2 is hands down THE best Silent Hill in my opinion).

Well, from what I've read, there is talk of someone else buying the Silent Hill franchise and finishing Silent Hills. Just a rumour, maybe its nothing, but hey, we can hope right?

Even if that's true, I wouldn't play it for two simple reasons: no Hideo Kojima or Guilermo del Toro.

Even if that's true, I wouldn't play it for two simple reasons: no Hideo Kojima or Guilermo del Toro.

Actually, from what I heard, Guilermo del Toro might mahe something to do with it. So might Kojima. But then again, its only a rumour.

Also, I just heard that the new MGS game will have micro transactions. No, just.... just no, Konami.

Well I know there's a "spiritual successor" in the form of Allison Road.

However, it's not a true successor, and actually kind of a slap to the face for PS4 users.  P.T was a PS4 only trailer-release, and Allison Road is a PC-only game.  So even if anyone wanted to play this fan-made "spiritual successor," they'd have to buy a PC despite the trailer for the inspired game was specifically to PS4 players.

Everything is shit when it is made simply to turn out a profit. Managers of major publishers aren't dev guys, they're marketing guys who do not know shit about game development. They are middlemen bankrolled by moneyed interests to deliver stale shit for profit. That's all it is.

There is stuff we still read 2000 years after they were first written because it just is that excellent. We won't be playing Fallout 8, Final Fantasy XXIII or Elder's Scrolls XI : Tsaesci Edition in 4015, but Hell, maybe we'll still be reading the Iliad.

I wholeheartedly agree.

The problem is that making AAA games is now incredibly expensive, and takes a great deal of talent and hard work. If we remove the profit motive, we'll no longer see things like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or the always excellent GTA series, or even Red Dead Redemption.

I'm not quite sure how Sony has the balls to make stuff like Heavy Rain happen, but I'm pretty sure that is also partly driven by personal profit.

For me personally, I have no problem with the companies doing well, as long as they actually respect the consumer, which many devs and studios no longer do.

It is no accident that Rockstar has such a loyal, and absurdly huge fan base. We can see the love they pour into every aspect of the GTA series. It is therefore not surprising to see them break records with sales.

The same is true of CD Projekt Red, although in that particular genre, breaking sales records is a fair bit more difficult.

I wholeheartedly agree.

The problem is that making AAA games is now incredibly expensive, and takes a great deal of talent and hard work. If we remove the profit motive, we'll no longer see things like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or the always excellent GTA series, or even Red Dead Redemption.

I'm not quite sure how Sony has the balls to make stuff like Heavy Rain happen, but I'm pretty sure that is also partly driven by personal profit.

For me personally, I have no problem with the companies doing well, as long as they actually respect the consumer, which many devs and studios no longer do.

It is no accident that Rockstar has such a loyal, and absurdly huge fan base. We can see the love they pour into every aspect of the GTA series. It is therefore not surprising to see them break records with sales.

The same is true of CD Projekt Red, although in that particular genre, breaking sales records is a fair bit more difficult.

They made something like Heavy Rain, if not better according to people who played it: It's called Until Dawn, and it's actually quite well done (I ended up buying it).  I don't know how it is gameplay wise compared to Heavy Rain since I've never played that one...but I was quite amazed at how the game itself was.  It's quite ballsy in the department that it's more like an interactive movie than game (the gameplay is mind-numbingly simple, and there's no way of actually losing/getting a game over), but it's still one I was very happy with, regardless of their motivation for making it.

I agree to an extent that many AAA games are pretty bad because of the usual motivations for making them and the outcome (many coming out buggy as all hell on day one, for example), however, there are always exceptions out there.

The Tales series continues to impress with each game that has come out.  There are ones that I prefer above others, but I've yet to run into a Tales series that I actually didn't like...and trailers for the new upcoming games still have me wanting more.

Kingdom Hearts has its flaws like most games, but overall I think Square has been doing a pretty decent job with that series.  Its biggest flaw is its empty massive worlds (which I hope changes with 3)...but I've honestly seen worse.

Batman I think did a terrific job with the series throughout, and I was actually quite impressed with it.  While I'm a little sad that Arkham Knight was the last game (so they say), I'm actually quite glad because I don't want to see them drag it into oblivion.

Tomb Raider, despite its changes with its origin story, still holds my interest because it's still a gripping and entertaining series.  I actually quite enjoy the fact that they made it more a "survival" type of game in its later titles than a "let's shoot everything" game...especially since these later ones are centered around her BECOMING the Tomb Raider.  Unlike Final Fantasy's direction, I'm quite impressed with where Square is taking Tomb Raider so far, and I've been actually really looking forward to playing Rise of the Tomb Raider (it was literally the only game I was up in arms about being a "timed" exclusive for Microsoft).

Ratchet and Clank is still quite a fun game series.  Full Frontal Assault and All Four One were horrible attempts at Multiplayer...but I think this didn't go unnoticed as Insomniac quickly went back to the original formula with Into the Nexus, and are keeping it with the new reboot.

The only gripe I have with AAA titles on consoles these days is all the Definitive Editions and Remasters/Remakes.

Don't get me wrong, for some games it really works.  Last of Us, Tomb Raider, and even DmC look amazing on the PS4 compared to their PS3 counterparts.

However, there was no reason to "remaster" them in the first place since they're available on the PS3, and could have just been part of PS Now.  The same goes for FFX/FFX-2 Remaster (which is less noticeable of a difference between consoles), God of War III (I didn't understand why they went for III compared to the first titles),  Devil May Cry 4, and many of the other titles that have been or are in the process of being remastered.

If they were PS2 titles that aren't on the Marketplace (Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5 HD for example), then I'd understand and I support that since the only way to get them would be to already have a PS2 or buy one, and get the games in a retro-game store or online.  However, remastering games for a console in which you can still buy the games at a local game store (Gamestop still sells them, for example) just seems quite a bit silly.  It's like "Oh, here's that game you probably just bought on your PS3 some time ago, but now here it is even prettier on PS4."

I mean, at least Nintendo even offered extras for their re-release of certain games (Both Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask offered the regular and master quests on top of a complete graphical overhaul, and tweaked certain gameplay elements, for example).  Sure, some of the DA games such as DmC had the incentive of coming with ALL DLC, but others like Last of Us you still had to dive into buying them all.

One of my biggest gripes, however, is with games that don't even offer DLC anymore (or do, but still go onto this next part), but then they offer a large gameplay fix as well as an expansion to the game (either large or small)...but you have to re-buy the entire game WITH those attached to be able to get those fixes and that expansion (Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, Diablo III Reaper of Souls for consoles).

That and "Legendary" editions, or "Game of the Year Editions" of games, or the like.  Oh, you just spent how much money on DLC for Skyrim?  Well now you can buy the entire game plus all the DLC for a discount with the Legendary Edition.  You spent HOW much on all that DLC for Darksiders 2/Dragon Age/Batman?  Well here are some Game of the Year Editions/bundles that have all of that DLC on it for a lower price, good job spending all that money when you could have just waited!

Also, day one DLC, retail-specific DLC, and Season passes.  Because I really wanted to buy a game to where there was certain content (even extra quests/areas!) that was only specific to if I had bought it from Best Buy, and I REALLY wanted to spend 20-40 dollars on upcoming content that I didn't even know would be good or not.  And everyone loves a game that you buy an expansion to it on day one...because it couldn't just be something that was already in the game for people to play.

I dont know about all y'all but this was my reaction after playing SimCity and Sims 4:
 

Goddamnit, EA.

Meh, I've never liked Sims. But I get the impulse.

And I'll definitely give Until Dawn a try at some point. It seems like my kind of game.

I also loved Indigo Prophecy back in 2006, which is also something of an interactive movie, made by the people behind Heavy Rain.

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