Episodic..bi-annually?
by covert.c. on Jul.06, 2006, under games design, games industry
So the whole world has presumably played (and perhaps even completed) the latest incarnation in the Half Life 2 universe. My experience with it was quite enjoyable. I downloaded it, played it, and completed the entire enterprise in about three hours. Great! So what do I have to complain about?
Well, its the new entry in the market sloganeering that’s been tossed out into the world of gaming. Episodic Content. Supposedly, this is the “wave of the future”, solving all sorts of nasty little problems in both developing, producing, marketing, selling, buying and playing games. And to some degree, I believe this to be true.
Reasoning it out, bite-size bits of our games get made and sold, freeing us from waiting a year for a “full expansion” to get cooked up pig-on-a-spit style, and forced down our throats in one gulp. Makes sense. Smaller price, smaller timeframe, smaller gameplay. I like it.
I just wish they called it something else.
To me, the notion of “episodic” invokes a somewhat nostalgiac image a small boy… tuning in to the radio each week for the next installment of his favourite serial superhero drama. Or in a more modern sense, scrambling to mininova to download the next episode of “Lost” (present company included).
With the ridiculously named “Half Life 2 Episode One”, its essentially a contradiction. It was half a year late, reduced in scope, and didn’t advance the story in any significant manner. OK, you say, its a game, games don’t tell stories. Then where is the “new gameplay”?
Give me episodic. I’ll pay for it. But give it to me fast. If you’re telling a story, then tell it. If you’re giving us more “game”, then finetune the gameplay. HL2E1 does none of this.
I say lets rename it. How about, Half Life 2 Nano-expansion 1?
5 Comments for this entry
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Quake Live (CTF) by iD Software
July 7th, 2006 on 1:59 pm
I think it had bug fixes and a new cutting edge way to check if you payed anyone money or not.
July 9th, 2006 on 9:54 pm
Sup B1! Hope you're enjoying your summer.
What you described sounds more like what just comes with Steam - bugfixes, fastpay, etc. instead of new gameplay, a storied expansion, or new characters, and so on.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Episode 1... but only if the end result were a little more..."episody"?
July 10th, 2006 on 2:56 pm
Yo!
Yea, im hinting that its more cash grab tactics that get people buying the same game remade. For the late adoptors.
July 22nd, 2006 on 8:07 am
B1 is absolutely correct.This is a cash grab. Steam is not the only company to do this as we all know. EA released several "booster packs" (you like that name better?) These boosters provided new maps and weapons and tanks n stuff. After paying my cash I simply felt cheated.
July 22nd, 2006 on 9:17 pm
I certainly agree with you guys, yet there is some promise in what I described as "storied expansion".
I think "booster packs" (and the like) for multiplayer games are a monumentally bad idea. They dilute the audience, reducing the number of players capable of playing the same game at the same time.