Second Take: Good Games, Bad Sales

Ben and Rob discuss why certain games, despite good reviews and buzz, don't sell as many copies as they should.

Watch Video: http://www.twitchguru.com/site/fla [...] sales.html

It it surprising to YOU that these games didn't sell well? What are some titles you would have expected to sell better then they have?

As always, general feedback is also appreciated. This week's theme: length of episode. Is Second Take too long, too short, just right or just depend on the topic?

-Ben

One of the games I adore to bits is Arcanum: Of Magick And Steamworks Obscura. An excellent RPG in terms of storyline, depth, and gameplay, though it was pretty buggy and not exactly a great looking game, even for when it was released. But it was such an amazing game, and still is, because the world that is created is so deep and wonderful, that there is hardly any game out at the moment that can match it. However, it wasn't a mainstream game, in fact, it was a pretty hard game. It took me months to complete it the first time around, and I hadn't even gone through the majority of the side-quests. And it just didn't get the praise it deserved. A lot of people bashed the game for its poor graphics and bugs, and didn't see the game for what it was, and in the end, it didn't sell at all well. Overall, it was a brilliant concept and had one of the best storylines I've played through in ANY game, even to this day. A sequel will never come to light now, as the company who made the game, Troika Games, no longer exist, something which made me very sad to hear.

Nopes... just goes into why some games, though highly acclaimed, just didn't sell well.

Aw, come on, Joe. I didn't blame piracy for PC gaming's woes; I just said that if you're ripping cracked games then you're not really helping the situation. Is that really hard to grasp? Did my assertion that downloading PC games for free doesn't help an already-slumping PC gaming business really upset you?

BTW, did you watch it yet?

If you have a GameCube, then I suggest trying Eternal Darkness. It can be confusing and it may take a couple hours to really, really get into it, but it's worth it. Especially if you're a fan of the horror survival genre.

Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil, I believe, are both available on the PC. But if you're talking strictly PC only games, I'd nominate Blade Runner, PlaneScape: Torment, The Longest Journey, and Clive Barker's Undying. There are plenty more -- check out this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] lat-bombed for others -- but those are the ones that I've played myself.

Great stuff guys, Ben and Rob, I thoroughly enjoy watching you guys talk about video game stuff! This last installment about unsung games was great but I think you guys missed an extremely awesome game that really never quite made it sales wise but I think should have. I am speaking about PREY!! I am sure you guys have played it and I believe it was built on the Q4 engine and or Doom 3 engine. Graphics were great and I thought the story line was addicting. This game actually scared the crap out of me when I first started playing it...The sound effects are so creepy added to all the bloody and gory visuals WOW!!! Seriously this is the game Doom 3 should have been! It built on the strengths of Doom 3 and cut out the bad ideas while still maintaining a scary fun game to play! To see this game never catch on was very sad I thought it rocked especially for an FPS.