State of the computer strategy games industry.

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Has it ever been this depressing? No real exciting titles and
absolutely nothing original coming out and not a helluva lot to look
forward to. I mean I thought it was bad back in 2001 but at least I had
Zeus and Emperor, Civ 3 and Warcraft 3 to look forward to. When you
have nothing to look forward to that's really depressing.

Has computer gaming become such a niche that it's simply unprofitable
any more? The PC games section of my local store keeps shrinking and
shrinking. Most of the title are rehashed stuff or unoriginal sequels.
How many bad "Tycoon" games are there?

>From the looks of this forum, there is still a market for good,
compelling games. Why aren't the makers responding to the demand?

 

[David]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

"Joe the Aroma" <schizam2001@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1110061778.219377.244820@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Has it ever been this depressing? No real exciting titles and
> absolutely nothing original coming out and not a helluva lot to look
> forward to.

It does look bleak, but there are some titles I'm looking forward to like
GGWaW, Dominions 3, F.E.A.R, Civilization 4, GalCiv 2, Freedom Force vs.
Third Reich, and several other Matrix wargames. Also, there's always that
chance that a game that wasn't on your radar will surprise you.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

"David" <nospam@home.net> wrote in
news_2dna1xCuoHpbffRVn-pw@adelphia.com:

>
> "Joe the Aroma" <schizam2001@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1110061778.219377.244820@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>> Has it ever been this depressing? No real exciting titles and
>> absolutely nothing original coming out and not a helluva lot to look
>> forward to.
>
> It does look bleak, but there are some titles I'm looking forward to
> like GGWaW, Dominions 3, F.E.A.R, Civilization 4, GalCiv 2, Freedom
> Force vs. Third Reich, and several other Matrix wargames. Also,
> there's always that chance that a game that wasn't on your radar will
> surprise you.

You named most of what Im waiting on. Oh yeah, also VGA Planets 4 and
Space Empires V.

Particularly Im waiting for Dominions 3 and Space Empires V. What I find
interesting about THIS newsgroup is the interest in sequels to GOOD
strategy games over trying yet another new flashy hope-its-gonna-be-good
shelfware. Makes this group worth reading ESPECIALLY during the slow
times

Gandalf Parker

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

In article <1110061778.219377.244820
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, schizam2001@yahoo.com
says...
> Has it ever been this depressing? No real exciting titles and
> absolutely nothing original coming out and not a helluva lot to look
> forward to. I mean I thought it was bad back in 2001 but at least I had
> Zeus and Emperor, Civ 3 and Warcraft 3 to look forward to. When you
> have nothing to look forward to that's really depressing.
>
> Has computer gaming become such a niche that it's simply unprofitable
> any more? The PC games section of my local store keeps shrinking and
> shrinking. Most of the title are rehashed stuff or unoriginal sequels.
> How many bad "Tycoon" games are there?

http://philsteinmeyer.com/modules/news/article.php?
storyid=8

Which is a bit depressing. You prolly won't be seeing
anything like HOMM from Steinmeyer for some time though.

- Factory

 

[dweeb]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

"Joe the Aroma" <schizam2001@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:1110061778.219377.244820@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Has it ever been this depressing? No real exciting titles and
> absolutely nothing original coming out and not a helluva lot to look
> forward to. I mean I thought it was bad back in 2001 but at least I had
> Zeus and Emperor, Civ 3 and Warcraft 3 to look forward to.

You complain that no original games are coming out but you look back fondly
on the days when we had Civ 3 and Warcraft 3 to look forward to. What was
original about those games?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Civ 3 was utter tedium, but Warcraft 3 is still the high water mark for
RTS games. It smashed the domination of the defensive, turtling play
of the AoE tripe and Total Annihilation style games. WC3 is all about
the winning attack, with sharp decisive conflicts rather than banal
attrition build contests. The game has ushered in a new paradigm of
RTS style play and is still unmatched. Pretty much everything else RTS
these days (except for Rise of Nations) is an inferior clone; but
they're still much better than the build up and wait build up and wait
AoE style games.

I blame the developers and publishers of games like Super Powers and
Master of Orion 3 for the current draught. And games like DOM 2 and
Rome Total War are carrying the torch for the genre. I'm really
looking forward to DOM 3, but more so for Space Empires V, to heal the
wounds moo3 did to my inner childe!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

littlemute wrote on 8 Mar 2005 15:06:11 -0800:
> Civ 3 was utter tedium, but Warcraft 3 is still the high water mark for
> RTS games.

No, that was Starcraft. Starcraft was released in 1998.



--
"Sometimes I stand by the door and look into the darkness. Then I
am reminded how dearly I cherish my boredom, and what a precious
commodity is so much misery." -- Jack Vance

 

[dweeb]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

"littlemute" <littlemute@woodenmen.org> wrote in
>
> I blame the developers and publishers of games like Super Powers and
> Master of Orion 3 for the current draught. And games like DOM 2 and
> Rome Total War are carrying the torch for the genre. I'm really
> looking forward to DOM 3, but more so for Space Empires V, to heal the
> wounds moo3 did to my inner childe!

So you're looking forward to more sequels as the answer to the current
drought of good games?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Starcraft is great too, and still one of the best, but it's still got
that boring attrition factor at times and the battles don't require
much micromanagement. WC3 is all about practicing doing the right
thing at the right time the moment a battle starts. So you've got
strategy in scouting, what to build and where to fight, resource
management and tactics once in battle. There's no fire and forget with
units in WC like starcraft where you just send a big clump off to die,
every unit death in a WC game is a big deal. You have to practice with
your army the same way you would practice moves with Ken or Ryu in
street fighter.

 

[alex]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 06:29:53 -0600, Dweeb <dbohnenberger@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>So you're looking forward to more sequels as the answer to the current
>drought of good games?

Just because they're sequels doesn't mean they can't be refreshing.


--
Alex
atheist #2007

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Of course. How can I know if there are two guys in a basement
somewhere creating the next big strat game? You don't hear about it,
there's no hype and so it's only a vague hope. With sequels one at
least has some information you can latch on to.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

littlemute wrote on 9 Mar 2005 07:02:58 -0800:

Please quote text you are replying to.

> Starcraft is great too, and still one of the best, but it's still got
> that boring attrition factor at times and the battles don't require
> much micromanagement.

.... but they still benefit from micromanagement.

> WC3 is all about practicing doing the right
> thing at the right time the moment a battle starts. So you've got
> strategy in scouting, what to build and where to fight, resource
> management and tactics once in battle. There's no fire and forget with
> units in WC like starcraft where you just send a big clump off to die,
> every unit death in a WC game is a big deal. You have to practice with
> your army the same way you would practice moves with Ken or Ryu in
> street fighter.

Sounds like WC3 would be better described as a real-time tactics game.



--
"Sometimes I stand by the door and look into the darkness. Then I
am reminded how dearly I cherish my boredom, and what a precious
commodity is so much misery." -- Jack Vance