If they want a game out every year ala Madden then two developers make sense since you give each company about 2 years to make a single game. But coupled with aforementioned beta testing issues is the fact that there is absolutely no consistency between games. I say build one company with the best and most creatives and release a game every 2 years with a nice big update in between.
Yeah, IW made the guns too easy. SMGs shouldn't have had half the range they did. AND YES PATO quick scoping was total bullshit, especially when you see how fucking big a real life .50 Cal is. But that doesn't stop Black Ops from sucking. I don't think beta testing would have really changed too much since 90% of people use beta testing as a fucking demo anyway.
I'm still on the fence as to whether I like Black Ops more overall, but it does have one huge thing in its favor. Sticks and Stones is so much fucking fun. I play that shit as much if not more than regular matches. Having every game pretty much come down to the wire is just awesome. Bankrupting people in the final seconds and hearing a stream of curses and groans brings me so much joy. I get giddy over doing it. And considering I walk around most days like fucking Eor that is saying something.
Tha This reminds me of a high roller match I had. I'm not too good in Sticks and Stones to begin with but I was absolutely raping that round. 30 seconds left and I get a Tomahawk to the chin from a lucky bastard aiming for another guy and completely failing the throw. He didn't even see me. Fuck S&S.
Do you think they can charge $50 for an update and have the majority of people buy it? As long as they can get away with pushing out a new game every year and have the majority of players buy it they will continue to do so.
That's the ugly reality when art and business meet. I can't help but think Activision is more concerned about the bottom dollar than they are about putting out the highest quality product possible. In part, that's what they should be doing, as a business. But as a creative entity, they should take greater pride in this franchise that couldn't fly off the shelves any faster. At this point, the games sell themselves. Just putting "Call of Duty" on the cover is going to garner ridiculous sales. That's partly why Black Ops has sold as well as it has, despite being made by a different company from the other games (save for World at War). When you go to the store and buy a Call of Duty game, you have certain expectations. For the maps, the storyline, the gameplay, the guns, the perks, the graphics...everything. And when the games are made by two (potentially three) different companies, it makes the whole thing a crapshoot. There are so many marked differences between Call of Duty game by IW and those by Treyarch, that they may as well be two separate franchises. I'm with Kubla on this one: stick with one company and release a game every 2-3 years. The inconsistencies piss off far too many people. If they want to use multiple developers, maybe they could release a game every other year, alternating between Infinity Ward and Treyarch. That would allow each game 4 years for development. After all, do we really need a new Call of Duty game every year? It feels like these games have such a limited mileage to them before we're getting hustled to cough up $65 for another one. And of course most of us do it, because all of our friends do it, and nobody wants to be left behind with last year's news. If done right, each release would hold up better over time, so I doubt many people would be upset about 2 years of playability. They do it with World of Warcraft, so why not this? In the end, I guess it's about money.
If you're a nerd like me who watches YouTube commentaries, you'll appreciate this dual comm with Hutch and Blame Truth. They primarily discuss some pros and cons of Black Ops relative to the previous games.
Yup, it is. Could you imagine one of the creative guys going to a board meeting and having the following exchange with majority shareholders: Creative: We really feel that the constant push of new COD games is diluting the market and we should switch to releasing once every two years to create a better product for the hardcore fans. Board Member: Great, what kind of profitability increases are we expecting with this new model? C: Well, profits would actually go down you see, because people keep buying these games every time they are released even though it's a flawed product. But our team would really feel better about getting the best product we can instead of spamming every Christmas with a rushed game. BM: You're fired. The hilarious part is that they could probably do what we want them to do, make a much better product and charge $90 (number pulled directly from ass) for the game every two years instead of $60 every year and keep profits the same assuming the fans stay on board, but no one would fucking buy it because they can't justify spending $90 on a video game even though they'd save money over time and get a better product.
I never thought I'd say it, but I'm bored with BO. After singing its praises for so long It's lost its luster. I'm just... bored. Here I come MW2.
I just tried out the AUG for the first time and went 50-13. It's love baby. I'm a fan of the dogs killstreak, it's most effective when you wait for someone to get a cobra or huey so the enemy is already distracted.
I got a 11 ks copter in a care package the other day on demolition...that shit was fun as hell. After doing playing with that I have no idea why anyone would get dogs, its the funnest shit in the world. Now if only I could have 5 bars of connection and not notice terrible lag hit-detection I'd eventually be content with the game.
The AUG has turned into my gun of choice. I loved the gun in MW2 but now that it is considered an assault rifle instead of a LMG, it's almost impossible for me not to use it. What are people's thoughts on the shotguns? I know they are kind of pointless now that they are primaries, but I put the Stakeout on my run & gun class (lightweight/SOH/marathon) and holy fuck do I giggle like a little bitch when I shoot that thing! Due to Treyarch's piss poor hit detection you can shoot somebody point blank and still only get a hit marker, and if I reached double digit kills with the thing it's a miracle, but still... Played with some of the TiB guys last night (Dmix3 & crew) and did decent considering we kept getting thrown in lobbies from Puerto Rico for some reason. I will probably be back on tonight I after happy hour so hit me up if you are playing. rectum_inspector on PSN.
I am in love with the Olympia shotgun with Sleight of Hand/Marathon/Hacker all pro. Completely rapes on objective games. Theres something really satisfying about shooting people with a gun that looks like it should be knocking clay pigeons out of the air. I've found that if you aim down the sights you almost always get one hit kills, compared with two shots from the hip.
I have been loving the absolute goddamned shit out of One in the Chamber. It's my favorite aspect of the game by far. Any of you fucksticks care to join me in a friendly/shit-talking game of it this weekend? I'll most likely be on Saturday afternoon/evening if anyone wants to play.
Hutch had a video on Machinima's channel today taking a close look back on the good as well as the bad of MW2 and what ultimately ruined it for many people. It's well worth a watch:
I've got fuck all to do this weekend. I've been recently hitting a 3.0+ KD after unlocking the pro perks.
By the way, the guys at Machinima are doing a 24/7 live stream of a lot of guys on the crew playing in shifts, as part of some collaborative effort to get to level 50 of the 15th prestige. It's pretty nuts. Be sure to check out the custom controller they got from ProModz. It's really slick.
It should be noted that those crazy bastards have been playing non-stop since the game came out, and they JUST reached 15th prestige today. Granted, it took them (along with everyone else) a little while to get accustomed to the game, the controls, general strategy, etc., but still that is a crazy feat. The sad part is I have watched consistently since the beginning.