Hey everybody, DK here hoping you had a nice weekend and kicking off another week of Member BattleCries here on EpicBattleAxe.com. Now, in the most recent edition of EpicBattleCry (going live later today here on the ‘Axe), we discuss several different console-exclusives throughout the show. It got me to thinking about the importance of console exclusives and which ones you all think have the most value in the industry. Which exclusives are the biggest in all of gaming? Which ones are guaranteed system sellers and which of your favorites have stood the test of time? So with that in mind, I pose the following question to you in this week’s MBC Topic Starter:
WHICH CONSOLE-EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE(S) DO YOU LOVE THE MOST AND WHY?
Now, remember, we’re talking about past, present, and future here. Perhaps a good side question to keep in mind when commenting would be, “Which franchise is most likely to make me buy a console in the future?” Of course, the discussion is open to any game, any genre, and any system. Just speak your mind and if you have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT subject you’d like to sound off on, feel free to do that in the comments section below as well. As always, we’ll feature a new Member BattleCry each day here on EpicBattleAxe.com and then highlight the Member BattleCry of the week on the next skirmish of the EpicBattleCry video podcast. Oh yeah, don’t forget to vote in our poll this week on the console that you think has the best exclusives overall!
Cool gang, I’m really looking forward to hearing what you all have to say! Let’s kick off another great week of Member BattleCries right NOW!
Peace,
DK
My Battle Cry goes out to cross platform games (woot first post). I think exclusives are stupid, they only hurt developers and, much more importantly, gamers, because they limit the content that people can experience (and pay for). For example, something Michael Pachter said on the Bonus Round was that the Gears of War franchise would sell millions of units if it got a good port to the PS3, and I completely agree! Hell I might even buy it.
I am hoping that in the future the exclusives are games that are incompatible with other hardware (Wiimote, Natal, PS3 Arc etc.) and first party games Like God of War and Mario.
I have always been a PC Gamers for well over 15 years, and I have basically been fourced into playing on the lesser consoles mainly because of Specifications required to run newer games, After keeping up to date and spending many thousands of pound on PC equipment I felt the game was up.
I bought into the Xbox360 way of thinking mainly because of its close releationship with the PC side of things, how very different this reality actualy is, The 360 is desgined for people who have never owned a PC nor have spent thousands of hours Playing real PC Games.
I used to play Joint Operations Typhoon Rising with over 100+ players per level (What a Game) now I am subjected to online games (XBOX live) with less than 20 people per level (Now thats not a Battle).
Consoles in general need to catch up and look at what worked with the PC and build it into there servers and consoles back in the late 90s and early 2000 most PC games supprted 30-64 online players with the consoles we are sadly going backwards than forwards.
I still stand by the 360 over the Wii and Sony PS3 for there better games, better libuary of games & cheaper consoles, but forget Progect Natal and open up the online gaming side of things MW2 with 64 players per level would make a much better game .
My Battle Cry goes to the bullshit Microsoft and Xbox 360 fanboys calls “Console-Exclusives” Meaning everything that is not on the PS3 but on the PC is exclusive to the Xbox 360.
This includes games like Mass Effect 1 and 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Gears of War 1, Biohock, Metro 2033 and many other games
This was obviously made up by Microsoft and Xbox 360 fanboys to bulk the dry list of exclusive games on the Xbox 360.
Previous generations never had “console exclusive” games
What’s more annoying is that you, the media, are taking part of it and by doing so you are also always ignoring the PC version (which is almost always better) but then you care how much you care for the PC gamers
Alan Wake, the first true exclusive game to the Xbox 360 comes out in May. That 5 months into 2010.
Now that fucking embarrassing.
I guess I don’t necessarily agree. Without exclusives you never get a chance to see what hardware is capable of. Your always just getting games that don’t really provide the experience that the hardware is capable of. When you get internal studios that know the system hardware inside and out they program their code to utilize the hardware to much more of its potential offerings.
I understand that most of the time this only affects graphics but I think with something like God of War 3 or Halo Reach were are going to see things that you would not have if you were making it for the lowest common denominator. I doubt you would have 40+ people on the screen at once for Halo Reach if they needed to make it work on all platforms. I doubt you would maintain the scale of God of War 3 if they needed to make it work on all platforms.
I think exclusives tend to get much more tender loving care in terms of quality that I don’t think you would get if all development studios had to keep all other hardware in mind and have to spread their resources to develop three different versions.
On topic:
Which company has the best exclusives? Thats pretty hard to say. It obviously depends on your gaming tastes. Nintendo has all the great classic titles from Mario to Zelda. X360 is shooter heavy with Halo and Gears but also has Forza and the every so popular Mass Effect. Sony has an all over the place approach with GT to Uncharted, to the ico family.
When I was a child I purely enjoyed Nintendo. In college I was a FPS nut and primarily gamed on the Xbox platform. Now I primarily game on the PS3 but still do use the X360 from time to time. The variety of PS3 exclusives keeps gaming fresh for me right now at this point in my life. Gaming died out after I got tired of FPS after FPS.
My battlecry goes to the Rachet and Clank Series.
I think for most part of the cycle of the PS2 and the current one on the PS3, this is one of those franchises that you can’t skip on your way to the next generation of consoles. Is one of those rare gems that if you go and buy the second or third part of the series, you get hook up too much and makes you go back and buy the past games to experience the franchise as a whole. The crazy ass weapons, the sci-fi funny world and the involvement of the characters that surrounds them, makes this universe likable to most 3D action/platform fanatics.
Franchises I Love Most
Nintendo – The Legend of Zelda
If any game could make me buy a Nintendo console, it’s definitely Zelda. Ocarina of Time was my absolute favorite Nintendo game. The art style and music in the game was amazing. Those ocarina tunes made me feel the emotion that most games fail to. But nowadays it seems that Zelda is the ONLY game I would buy for a Nintendo, unfortunately.
Sony – Final Fantasy
Every iteration of Final Fantasy is a fresh new world, with a story that draws me into playing the game for hours at a time just to see what’s next. (FF12 was the only one that didn’t). While the Final Fantasy franchise has jumped from Nintendo exclusive to Sony exclusive, and now multiplatform – The reason I bought a PS3 in the first place was for Final Fantasy. That said, I don’t regret it at all.
Microsoft – Mass Effect
Even though I don’t have an Xbox 360, this is the game that almost got me to buy it until the PC version was announced. Bioware did a great job in creating a universe and story in the sci-fi genre – a genre that isn’t explored too often, especially on this scale. It is EPIC. And I think any RPG lover, that doesn’t have an up-to-date computer, should strongly consider getting a 360 for the Mass Effect franchise.
According to GameRankings.com Sony has most games on the first page of ”Best Games Of All Time”…
Sony has 16 games, Nintendo 12 and MicroSoft 8…. Sure, MS are new in the videogame-world comparing to Sony and Nintendo… So it’s not fair to go with this list.
But it should not be to hard to figure out who has the best exclusives. If someone can make a list of exclusives from each platform the “problem” is solved…
Example.
FPS
Halo , L4D, Perfect Dark VS Killzone, Resistance, Haze
Racing
Forza VS MotorStorm, GT, WipeOut
Platformer
Banjo Kazoie, Kameo VS Rathcet & Clank, LBP
Action Adventure
Too Human, GOW VS Hevenly Sword, Uncharted, GOW
RPG
Blue Dragon, Fable VS White Knight, Demons Souls
Etc, etc, etc… EDIT, I just took the first games that came to my mind in this list. It’s not official
For the rest I think Sony have most interesting exclusives. Heavy Rain, Last Guardian. LBP and Flower are 4 very interesting titles. I think the PS3 Library has more to offer and got more variation from title to title.
My battlecry goes out to a dream of mine. I was one day thinking that if a game is multiplatform, then why cant the online experiences be link. I know why because the whole M$ private server hosting they do, but i would like to see a day where if i have a game on my ps3 and my bro has the same game on his x360 taht we can play together. It probably wont ever happen but it would be a pleasant suprise if it did infact occur.
Onto exclusives, exclusives are great way to diffrientiate one system from another but i believe that exclusives shoulld be restricted to 1st part developers so that generally speaking we can all enjoy the games regardless of which hardware we buy.
Sony has a great variety of exclusive titles ranging from racing, to action adventure , shooters, etc
M$ exclusives tend to be shooters, along with some otehr genres like rpgs
Nintendo has tons of exclusive shovelware and they havent evoled in years, tehy are still stuck on the same mascots as great games tehy make i believe nintendo needs something fresh
OK, i know it’s an aquired taste and on more than one platform but it’s by far and away my favourite franchise.
METAL GEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you know what? i can’t even be bothered to begin explaining why, but with Peacewalker coming out this year, i’m pumped. that said, i do hope it draws a line under the Snakes, it’s time for them to die. i have little to no interest in Rising however.
fuck it, vote with your thumbs, up or down.
and if any are in doubt as to the overall quality of the game, look at the top 20s on metacritic for PS1, PS2, PSP AND PS3. this basically puts it up there with Mario, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Gran Tourismo as one of the greatest franchises in console history. Personal feelings about the game aside, and not putting too much emphasis on metascores cos stats can be twisted to suit any argument (irony?) the only other franchise to better this is Mario.
Wear it bitches.
My Battle Cry goes out to World of Warcraft. Not because i am a WoW player, hell i dont really like it, because of the grinding, but because this is the most HUGE, massive and well known exclusive game on the PC that has ever been released by the company know as Activision-Blizzard. If you think of PC-gaming, WoW gets in the picture. Every month millions of PC-gamers log in on their account and play the game for hours. No exclusive game ever! managed to get the numbers Blizzard gets with this one. Because of a good online support by the company, lag and problems are reduced to a minimum. No other exclusive game of any console has had a community around it that is so big. Even bigger than Halo, Mario, Zelda, Uncharted etc. They say PC-gaming is dead. Well this sucker says otherwise. If exclusivity would have a face, it would bare WoW’s resemblense
My Battle cry goes to God of War. A franchise that defined the meaning of “Scale”. A Franchise that had some amazing story from start to finish. A franchise where you get to kill gods.
This is my favorite franchise. Everything from pioneering QTE’s which are commonplace anymore to most games in some way or another. The game was amazing as is perfectly paced with great systems for upgrades and otherwise. Pacing is something that should not be overlooked. God of War has a very good formula for story delivery and a great story too. Steal Pandoras box to find forgiveness for slaughtering your own family and kill the god that created you and trained you to be the most bad ass guy around…
There is just too much good to be said about the God of War franchise. Huge boss battles, great controls, great story telling and delivery, Great characters, Great atmosphere and scale… even on the PSP. I could go on for a while but I just feel that all around it’s a pretty damn good franchise.
My Battle Cry goes out to the Halo franchise for the Xbox. Yeah it’s a bit cliche and a generally overrated franchise. But Halo is also one of the best at what it does. No console shooter last gen was even in the same league, and now it’s still one of the best, balancing vehicles and on foot action better than even Battlefield. If there’s one exclusive franchise good enough to build an empire off of, and go toe to toe with Nintendo and Sony, it’s Halo.
I’m just going to say that regardless what you think the Halo franchise has brought current generation of gaming to the masses and by that I mean to the media. you saw it with the Halo 3 release. Halo is like what mario did. The mario name is STILL the most recognized in the gaming world and it definitley brought gaming into the spotlight first. IM just saying no current/new franchise has done the that to anywhere close of the extent Halo has done/ weather you think its a good thing or not. Thats how I personally see it
Exclusives, to me, are a double edged sword. They create competition which usually means better games, but they also make me spend more money. I have a preference for Nintendo, but I own all three consoles because I want to experience all of the good titles coming out. And all the systems have something to offer. In a perfect world, one system would be left or there would be no exclusives, but then competition exits the equation and we’re probably stuck with shitty games like Mario Party 47.
Nintendo has the most console seller franchises. The main reason I bought a Wii was for their classic franchises. I got some cool perks like Madworld and No More Heroes and whatnot, but overall I think the major reason many buy a Nintendo are for their established franchises.
My favourite exclusive franchise is the semi defunct Jak series for Playstaion. Solid platforming, gun play, and racing. It had everything. And the personality and great animation of all the characters, gave it real polish. I would kill for another console iteration, but I can settle with Naughty Dog giving me some more Uncharted.
Oh boy. What have you done DK? This will get messy.
My Battle Cry goes out to all of the console exclusives. Seriously think about it console exclusives are usually the best of that console generation and where would the gaming industry be without console exclusives. They are usually the games that reinvent the wheel (Super Mario 64, MGS, Halo). I’m not saying that if Super Mario 64 was released on the original PS1 it wouldn’t be as good it just wouldn’t have been worked on so hard because console exclusives are meant to put the other console to shame and make you want to buy that console. Would you have bought the N64 if Mario 64, Goldeneye, or Zelda: OoT was on the PS1. I thought not.
But since you asked, I am quite fond of Zelda. Open world, puzzling dungeons, and awesome bosses. Whats not to like.
My battle cry goes to Monster Hunter Tri being a Wii exclusive.
I LOVE the Monster Hunter games, once you get into them it is like video game crack, and all my friends who have played it will agree. The amount of time you can put into the games is just insane, and you are truly challenged by the game at many points.
What really makes me give this game my battle cry is the fact that I think that it will be the first 3rd party Wii game to actually do well in sales, because Monster Hunter is a amazingly great franchise that I would suggest to anyone, and I know a lot of people who are looking forward to it despite it not being as big in the states as it is in japan where it is bigger than poke’mon.
Combined with the fact that it will be bundled with the Classic controller Pro (which is awesome since the “wings” means it will actually be comfortable to hold and it is f*cking black) will possibly do what the free wiimote did for Wiiplay, I think it has a really good chance of being the game that breaks the 3rd party wii game curse. I know a few people who will be buying the game simply for the controller (mostly due to the fact that America stores cant sell GC controllers anymore and it will be nice to have a “real” controller that actually works on the system menu)
OK i gotta “little” something to add here regarding system sellers like you alluded to in EBC 63.
it’s an epic face-palm for PS3 NOT having GT5 out NOW and to have missed Xmas’09. IMO it’s the last truely great PS exclusive franchise. GT was a formative title on the PS1 and every title since has set the bar for driving sims. it is a global franchise that is synonamous with Playstation. With the franchise selling 55M units to date, GT5 is an enormous gaping hole in the PS3 library.
i know people who will buy a PS3 when it comes out. If Halo: Reach was coming out on the next Xbox then that would be a system seller too, but it’s on the 360 and Halo fans already have a 360, so there.
GT5 will sell in excess of 5M copies I guarantee (i expect 10M after 2 years), and i have to say it’s a far more popular franchise in EU and JP than it is in US (any of you yanks who haven’t heard of GT academy should check it out, you only get tickets to the indie 500 or some shit, right?).
GT5 is the last and the only console selling game on the horizon, and it will be huge. it is really hurting PS not to have that out now, now, now, now, NOW damnit!
it’s been pushed back to the later half of this year i believe, and i’m calling it now in so much as i believe the delays are to coincide with 3D functionality on the PS3 (that and the motion controller for Xmas’10, but not for GT5, that would suck) for an all out assault on Xmas’10 and to try to knock the wind outta MS’s Natal fails, er… i mean, sails. sorry.
Moving on to another point Tony made about franchises in EBC63. You guys made a point about SC:C changing some gameplay elements but also trading on it’s name as much as innovating.
Splinter Cell, more so Sam Fishface, had to be reinvented. the reason being that he’d have lost in a fight with Solid Snake and everybody knew it (seriously, look it up), basically, the character had no real depth. they had to give him a human interest back-drop so people could make some emotional investment in SC and actually give a shit about the game.
the problem they faced was that fleshing out a character over so many games is hard. MGS had to use multiple characters and even two (make the four if you wanna be picky) Snakes rather than one main character.
In short SC:C could be any other IP and it wouldn’t really matter. they’ve milked SC and have been forced to make changes. FF has how many main characters? exactly.
So here’s what i’m gettin at (sorry ’bout all this). One of my and many other people’s most anticipated games of ’10 is the Last Guardian. other than a big freaky kitty-dragon and a kid, we have very little idea of what to expect, despite it being the third game in a trilogy. Nuts eh? How’s that?
well, rather than concentrating on one character, Ueda is exploring themes, and so is free to create a totally fresh experience but still in the same Ico-universe and lacing them together with elements that aren’t integral to the story (Wander and the horns and shit, i think after Wander is “reborn” is when he becomes Ico and is trapped in the castle. Also see Ico, Nico and Trico). this is something we have seen in film before (the three colours trilogy and the vengence trilogy most notabley) and probably other art forms, but there are precious few examples of this in gaming. i blame the publishers to a degree, but also ourselves as gamers for endorsing the most commercial and shallow gaming experiences (MW2 – there, I said it).
as a result of this, Ueda and Team Ico haven’t backed themselves in to a corner by creating a character, they’ve created a medium through which they can explore any aspect of human (or non-human) nature that they choose.
thatgamecompany deserve and honourable mention here as well. i’m very much looking forward to their next project having enjoyed both flow and flower. they try to explore and evoke an emotional response from the audience rather than a twitch response (which has it’s place).
i’ll wrap this up with God of War (thank you for your patience lol). it’s a more traditional take on a trilogy and if focuses mainly on one theme: Vengence! one of our more intriging emotions as it’s somewhat of a taboo and one that we tend to supress, that’s what draws so many of us in about it: you get to take out that guy who really pissed you off that time. It does of course mix it up with action, twitch events, cut scenes and i’m expecting some sweet graphics, so it offers a lot in terms of a game.
Sam Fisher’s life is a walk in the park compared to Kratos. Sam’s daughter is dead? yeah well Kratos was tricked in to killing his, and his wife, and all in the first game of the franchise and wears their ashes as a constant reminder.
It just begs the question: why so serious, Sam?
thank you for reading.x
My battlecry goes out to 1st party exclusives and 3rd party multi-platforms. As Wheat_Thins talked about earlier, the extra performance and knowhow the first party devs can make use of in their exclusive games really help the big 3 keep innovating.
As for the 3rd party studios, I’d like to see more multiplatform games, simply because most of my friends that game occasionally don’t have a need for both 360 and ps3. It would be nice for them to be able to experience the games they will currently miss.
On topic of which are console selling games for me, when I bought a slim PS2 it was for God of War and San Andreas. I bought the 360 for a ton of great games that were already out, Gears, Dead Rising, Mass Effect etc. (also knowing that GTAIV was coming to both systems). Uncharted 1 & 2 definitely sold me on the PS3 and the slim was the icing on the cake, but also knowing that Heavy Rain was nearing release. The only thing that keeps drawing me into thinking I should get a Wii is the Sega collection and the titles on virtual console… But I think I can hold off… (sure do want some toe jam and earl though!)
My battlecry goes out to my least favorite current gaming system, Nintendos little white box the Wii. While I personally have more fun on my 360 and PS3 with games like ME 2 and Uncharted 2 I simply cannot deny the console selling power of the Wii’s exclusives. Literally the ONLY reason I got a Wii was so that I can play the new Zelda that was announced, the new Mario that I knew would be coming eventually and maybe even a Metroid and Star Fox game. You see, the only one I really knew about was Zelda, but the THOUGHT that any other of the franchises coming to it was enough for me to shell out 250 bucks for such a pathetic system. To date I only own LoZ: TP, SSBB, SMG, and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Thats it, and I’m fine with that. Sure No More Heros and MadWorld looked entertaining but I’m not made of money so I picked games I thought I would enjoy more on consoles that mean something and don’t force me to make a fool of myself while playing. But even with all the hate I have towards the Wii I still own one, and it wasn’t an impulse buy, oh no. I made 3 separate trips and plenty of fucking calls before I got this thanks to soccer moms who would not stop flooding Gamestop, all for games I NEEDED to play. So while I can’t argue that the Wii is a better system I certainly will argue it has games people will willing buy an entire console to play.
[...] Member BattleCries. If you haven’t watched EBC Skirmish 063 as of yet or checked out this week’s topic starter post (What the hell is wrong w/you?), then lemme clue you in. This week we’re taking on the [...]
If I had to pick one, I’d have to give it up to Metal Gear Solid. I know that the series is not truly exclusive to one console but the last two games were so it arguably qualifies.
MGS is not and has never been my favorite series of all time. To me personally, there are some major problems and annoyances in each one of the games, and to be completely honest, I don’t even know what they are about half the time. Nevertheless, MGS4 was the only game I ever bought a console for (not technically the ONLY reason but a big reason).
The main draw of MGS and the reason I keep coming back is because the developers always seem to have fun with their games. There is always something interesting, something unexpected, and something remarkable about each one. Whether it’s the legendary boss fights, the hilarious codec glitches, the innovative stealth mechanics, or the numerous gameplay twists, there is always a surprise waiting behind every loading screen.
I can’t resist my curiosity about the crazy characters and unique situations Kojima cooks up for each MGS game and that is the reason I could never pass up another one.
My battle cry goes out to what used to be an exclusive franchise, Final Fantasy. Although I can’t say the FF games alone sold me on the Sony systems they were probably the biggest contributing factor in my decisions.
I was debating on an N64 or PS when I saw FF7 and I knew I had to have a Playstation. I made the right choice not only for FFVII but also for FF Tactics, two of the genre defining games for JRPGs and SRPGs respectively.
When the decision started coming around between the PS2 and the Xbox (yeah I didn’t even consider the GC), I knew where the next FF game was going and I bought a PS2. I won’t say I wasn’t disappointed in FFX or FFX-2 but my faith was reconfirmed in FFXII.
The only handheld console I’ve ever purchased has been the PSP. I’ve purchased about 6 games for it and half have been in the Final Fantasy franchise.
I waited to buy the PS3 over the X360 because at the time I believed that FFXIII would be exclusive to the Sony console. This turned out not to be the case, which I think is great for X360 owners as they will get a chance to play another game in this great franchise.
I’d have to give my battlecry to the Metal Gear Solid Saga… I mean, even though it’s not actually all exclusive, every time a major mainstream title from the franchise hits the stores playstations are sold, whether it was the PlayStation 2s with MGS2: SOL, the PS2 ( the compact one) with MGS2: Substance (the same game with just a few stuff more!) the PS2 AGAIN with MGS3:Snake Eater and then AGAIN with Subsistance, then PSPs with Portable Ops, PS3s with MGS4, I mean, COME ON!! MGS series is a money printer, and every once in a while the other companies get to cash in as well (I don’t know but I’m guessing Twin Snakes got some GameCubes sold).
oh, and BTW: peace walker is gonna sell A TON of PSPs, and I’ll be right there to get it for my good old reliable PSP 3000.
PS: AC!D games and the digital comic books probably sold a couple of PSPs on their own, but I’m not currently counting those.
Well, we definitely can’t say Final Fantasy anymore, because it has spanned many consoles, from the good ol’ Nintendos, to old Playstations to now Xbox 360 and PS3.
My Battlecry goes out to the God of War series. It’s reinvigorated the “win button” genre where you mash one button to win, although it seems repetitive, the gameplay is flashy and highly satisfying. I love it because of the highly addictive combos and gratuitous violence, all from essentially one button. It goes to show that games in this day and age can still be simple and fun.
this was very close to my oriinal idea for a bettle cry before I remember MH3 was gonna be a wii exlusive
there are of course other wii games I own but I bought my wii soley for My favorite game series, Super Smash Bros.
I would have to say that some important aspects of an exclusive that is a system seller is to give an experience done better than any other game, something like Halo and its multi-player, or Final Fantasy being sonys original bread and butter, not counting Wii Fit being a system seller for probably more than 50% of Wii’s bought. Aside from hardcore gamers who already know what their going to get a year or two in advance. I have all three systems which I bought with my own money, but often regretting my purchases being I dont have much money in the first place, but one game that has convinced me that I made the right choice is Mass Effect 2. Not just because I beat the first one, but it is so innovative in what it offers. Its story is deal and engaging, the choices you make shape how the game will later unfold. The Characters have alot history and their unique personalities that make you actually care about them. The RPG aren’t as deep as one would hope in an RPG but it stream lines the experience so that you done have to think about it that much and can really focus on the action and story. The environment is also breathtaking with a lot of variety in each that sucks you into this believable world that is threatened by the Collectors. And the customization of each class and choices makes you want to go back and play again. Aside from not having the staple of a multi-player, Mass effect contains all aspects of what makes a game great.
In short Mass Effect 2 has something fir everyone and when given a chase has alot to offer, story game-play, graphics, re-playability.
My battle cry goes out to- AWW crap i just remembered Diablo was on ps1….ok Diablo 2? Yeah that works. Metal Gear was gonna be my battle cry but that was on nintendo and now gonna be on xbox. Anyway, god damn that game was addictive. Diablo 2 that is. It defined the ‘skill tree generation’ and was the first game that made me fall in love with ‘pets’ in a game. You would always just want to go ONE level higher cause there was a spell or weapon you couldn’t use and as soon as you got that, the NEXT level would have something that sounded cool and so forth until you realise it’s 3 o clock you haven’t picked your girlfriend up and your in deep shit as you run out the door. Ah the year 2000…
And seriously this game was worth upgrading a PC for! I have friends who bought a ps3 for mgs4 and GOW, and one sad fellow who bought an xbox for….halo. But true dedication to a game is saying “oh look, the new Diablo game is out, gonna need a new graphics card and RAM…..fuck it, I know it’ll be WORTH IT!”
And it WAS!
My Battle Cry goes to Sony franchises
What I mean is that for me the biggest franchises are in sony
Nintendo and Microsoft has wonderful games like mario, zelda, metroid prime, massefect, halo, forza, gears of war etc…
But none of these franchises are compared with what I’ve played in my playstations, games that often made me cry of joy as metalgear, shadow of the colossus, kingdom hearts, uncharted, god of war, final fantasy 7, ico…
Metal Gear for example, started playing Snake Eater, I was so addicted to that game that made me buy the Metal Gear solid for ps1, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and made me buy the playstation 3 to play Metal Gear 4, and before that I had bought the gamecube to play Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes …
God of War, a game that in my opinion is the game that changed the way of thinking in action games…
And the Shadow of the Colossus, my God, I have no words to describe what I felt when I played that game for the first time, and I think the one who will make me feel that way again is The Last Guardian, which also will be exclusive to Sony …
I love my 360 and wii but my playstations are the ones that bring me the best franchises
My battlecry goes to a game that hasn’t come out yet, that no one knows nothing about, and might not even stay an exclusive. Agent for the ps3, now it’s not exactly my best franchise at present, but it has the promise to possible become it. Rockstar north are excellent at what they do, they basically created the sandbox genre we take for granted in a lot of games like RF guerrilla, saints row 2 etc. They’ve shown they can create humour whether it be silly or a serious story like we saw in gtaiv.
With Agent i know that Rockstar north will do something amazing again, and if not create, redefine a genre like they did with gta and create something special. The first game may not be the best in the franchise, like gta3 was, but it will be the one everyone remembers as the start of what could be the next big franchise in the gaming world.
The strongest lineup of exclusive titles this generation is held by Nintendo.
Now before you laugh at my face consider this:
A PS3 owner who is really into shooters may not be able to play Halo or Gears of War, but there are still plenty of fish in the ocean: Uncharted, Killzone, Modern Warfare, Battlefield etc.
A 360 owner may not be able to play God of War, but is that really so bad? 2010 alone has given him both Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta.
Finding a platformer on either system that holds up against Super Mario Galaxy though is a lot harder. And neither systems have even tried, much less succeeded with a decent supplement for Legend of Zelda or Super Smash Bros.
You can say what you want about the Wii’s game lineup, but as far as exclusiveness goes it’s superior to both the 360 and the PS3. Because the type of games that you find on the Wii, you can’t find anywhere else (at least not in the same quality).
(semi related: WHY THE HELL ARE WE MISSING A RELEASE DATE FOR NO MORE HEROES 2 IN THE PAL REGION?!)
My battle-cry goes out to the Halo Franchise and especially Halo: Reach. Halo was THE console exclusive that turned gamers to Microsoft’s machine, pulling Playstation gamers away from their trusted console and into the grinder of Microsoft. It not only defined what first person shooters would become on consoles it set a bar so high with it’s first introduction that Halo 2, 3 and ODST, massively high selling games, were pretty much exactly the same gameplay as the original. Having said that, Halo: Reach now looks to be taking an entirely new approach, reworking that which was stale into new crispy freshness, retooling every conceivable aspect of this game to make Reach the next genre defining step of console shooters.
My BattleCry will have to go to Nintendo’s ZELDA and MARIO franchises. Yeah, I know, hardcore games nowadays are made for the 360 and ps3, but who cares about that? Just because the video gaming industry is evolving to something and we can’t really change that doesn’t mean I have to like it! I don’t, actually, and the only console for me that has managed to bring old school gaming to our gaming generation in the true-est sense is Nintendo. I feel that they refine their core franchises to a point that they elevate immersion the the highest level we have experienced till today and, in all honesty, that’s what made me buy a Wii and a DS without even thinking about what I’d be missing out from the other companies.
It’s not that hard remembering the first time I visited a buddy after school to check out Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty. I had played the first MGS on the PC having bought the game some years earlier i think. Enough time to have a hype for the second installment nonetheless.
It took about 5 seconds after watching the intro of the game to realize that i had to have a PS2 and play this. It was awesome beyond anything else for short. It was for me and is still today the defining game of the first Playstation 2 years. And it totally hooked me onto the franchise.
After that, the news of “Portable Ops” shining light on the years after “Snake Eater” got me to buy a PSP. And of course, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The patriots led to the Playstation 3.
Worth mentioning is that after the influence of MGS 2, God Of War also played it’s part in my decision to get the PSP and after that, the PS3.
Worth mentioning however is the future. With both the God Of War and the Metal Gear Solid franchise nearing their ends, it’s kind of uncertain what the future holds for me in the Sony line of consoles.
My Battlecry goes out to Final Fantasy, the only game that made me buy a console. Back in the happy days I could play almost everything on my PC, no stupid console exlusives, but then came Final Fantasy X. I had already played through 7 and 8 for like 20 times then on the PC(which were only ported over from playstation), and I’m not counting 9, so you can say I was in to it! And because those were the PS2 years I had no other choice but to buy one. And believe it or not I bought a PS3 just for Final Fantasy 13! And yes I know its not a PS3 exlusive anymore!
By the way I still remember my first console exlusive game that I played. It was Golden Axe and it was fuckin’ awsome!!
My Battlecry goes out to the Halo Series. Say what you will what happened to the series after Combat Evolved but you simply can’t argue with the numbers of copies sold and the number of people still playing online today. I’m curious to know how many people would still be playing Halo 2 online if Halo 3 had not yet been released. I feel that Bungie has consistently given their supporters plenty of reasons to keep coming back for more in terms of gamplay mechanics, support post release, & a good mix of SP & MP.
I have no doubt that Halo Reach will be extremely successful but I don’t know if it is fair to compare how many consoles it sells comparing it to a game that is realsed within a year or two since the console is realeased. I am now only curious of how Halo Reach Online will do against Halo 3 Online. I’m sure Reach will overtake but I wonder if the success of Halo 3 hinders Reach’s success?
My battle cry goes out to games developed by team ICO and by extension The Last Guardian. I’m not ignorant, I know games like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus aren’t system sellers, I know God of War 3 is going to sell more PS3s than The Last Guardian. But the reason why Team ICO’s games are my favourite exclusive titles is unlike many exclusive titles, for example halo or killzone, there is nothing like these games on any other console. Team ICO creates stories and gameplay that has a purity of focus and design that places priority on building emotion and atmosphere, rather creating an adrenaline rush. I can’t think of many games that do this, I can think of far fewer that do it well. These games are great exclusives because they truely are unique to sony’s console and you aren’t going to find this kind of experience anywhere else…..for now
For the PS3 i think systemsellers are/were: Uncharted2, MetalgearSolid4 and the up and coming God of war 3, Gran Tourismo 5.
For the X360 same could be said of Mass Effect2, Halo and the gears of War series.
They are systemsellers on their own. Getting high recognition by game sites and as such are being immensely hyped most of the time. This usually results in selling systems with the game.
My Battle Cry does go out to God of War for the PS3.
And i’ll probably try a new Xbox360 when GearsofWar3 comes out. (Sold mine after 5 breakdowns, 6 is a charm?)
for Exclusive Franchises pre say i think i would have to ninja gaiden because though if you remember how much this franchise has given regular Xbox such a big boost sales back in the day with the master ninja tournament and all the dlc plus the releasing of black how much it improved sales for that console as well as it did for ps3 when it was in it funk of not selling at all and not having it’s “many games of epicness” it does now.the sigma series did melt the the cold shoulders of the sony fans being mad of not having enough good games out an broke this barrier. and i’m sorry to say how many people don’t really noticed how the sales did boost ps3 consoles over the summer when sigma 2 drop. i think this franchise has boost up many consoles not only because of it’s sales only but because it’s such a great series either you loved the classics or the current series. which both still stay stuck in our minds of how great the series is. and i’m hoping to see this classic series get a revamp for the psp or for xbl like the alot remakes are doing nowadays.
Obviously the halo franchise for Xbox and the Zelda franchise for Nintendo with be major sellers. For me personally, I bought my PS3 for the Last Guardian. After my time in SOTC I really wanted to get more from team ICO. I have also seen more than enough people say that they are going to buy or have already only bought their PS3 for the same reason. It’s cool to see a more underground game getting such a great following.
My battle cry goes out to God of War 3 as I myself (as a PC player and 360 owner) is considering buying the rumored(?) Gow3 PS3 bundle. The game looks awesome, and a console bundle with such a high profile game is always good. Having that said, I really hate exclusives as a whole, awesome games are awesome games and should be available on multiple platforms, exclusivity only sparks the moronic console / fanboy wars.
I would also like to mention Metrod other M as a game I consider buying just to play on my roommates Wii as I’m a big fan of Super Metroid (best game for the snes) and i haven’t played the Prime series (I’m generally not that optimistic about great 2D games going 3D.
I would like to say, as I am a new member here, great show, love your intro / outro / whatever music and your industry insight. Hails from Norway.
My Battle Cry Goes out to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It really shown why a company should make an exclusive game for a console. Uncharted 2 was not a marketing move or something like that but instead it was PS3 exclusive because It just wouldn’t run on an XBox 360. An exclusive game should exist only to overcome specs limitations (this does not applies to the Wii however). Uncharted 2 used 95% of the PS3 potential (as Naughty Dog said) and it looked brilliant. It was really technically innovative, they built their own engine and they could did that only on a PS3 because of its power and blu-ray support.
My Battle Cry for best game franchises, are all series that have been under the radar for quite some time.
For Nintendo, it was StarFox. I must have played Starfox 64 until my thumbs hurt. The corny dialogue was a barrel-roll of laughs.
XboX doesn’t have many titles but i always liked Mech ASSAULT. not MechWarrior
I however do not a PS3 mostly because Playstation games always bored me and I could not get into enjoying them. However, there was always one game that I played. I would pick up a PS3 for this game alone! Sry, Brent, it’s not GOW.
This franchise is the Twisted Metal series. I loved the crazy action driving, the different characters, the music, the bosses, and I will never forget the first time playing twisted metal 2 and blowing up the HOLLYWOOD sign
I would have to say the best exclusive was Halo 2. Not because it was a great game(even though it seriously was), it was the game that made the console and made online play popular. The Xbox not only got a great game, but essentially invented a new way for people to interact with each other through Live.
Sure God of Wars fun, and Uncharteds great, but neither of these games got nearly as many people to pick up a console as the king of multiplayer and creator of online in-game trash talk, controller abuse, mother insulting, and death threats. We have to admit that if Halo 2 weren’t so popular online, Call of Duty would never have broken all those records.
My battle cry for best game franchise goes to the both most selling franchises from Sony (PS2 and PS3), which is Uncharted and God of War.
I think when a game is talked so much about the innovations that they are bringing to the industry, and how the other games following their footsteps, it shows how much those games helped the console they are supporting to sale or increase the popularity of the console.
Also when those games are quoted to have movies adaptations (Even though most game adaptations should have never left the script papers), I think that shows how popular the game is in the media in general and in consequence the console their are supporting.
All Console Exclusives are good for the industry, it’s a simple fact. Consider this – If there were no exclusives to any platform, and you could buy any game for any machine, The Wii wouldn’t exist. We would be left with One of the following – Sony PS3, due to its more powerful hardware Or Xbox 360 due to its ease of programming. Why would anyone choose to buy a different console if all games were equal? The biggest problem with this is it would create a monopoly – and if you think games cost a lot now.. imagine how much they would cost if there was only one machine to buy them for? It has been mentioned in previous Crys, that these exclusives are pointless as most are released a few months after on the competitors machines anyway (barring the obvious first party exclusives) This still keeps consoles competitive between each other, and YES it does create customer loyalty by doing so. If you only have the one console, having the exclusive gives you confidence in your purchase. Its satisfying to know you have the game before other people, just like its frustrating wishing a different game was on your platform. This is what makes people talk about games and consoles. As annoying as fanboyism can be, having it causes awareness – and the old adage of all publicity is good publicity is true. The more people disagree about which console rules them the better we are for it. Without this banter and competitiveness, we would have one console which would charge double or triple the price for games,and would only have to produce a customer service to their own standards.
I’ll end my comment with a simple comparison.
Microsoft Windows.. 90% of the world uses it, its inferior in many ways to both linux and MacOS but due to its commonality everyone puts up with the crap they keep pushing out. Its only been due to them dropping the ball so drastically with Vista that Mac and linux have all of a sudden become viable alternatives. Now compare this to what would happen to the gaming world, if Mircosoft(Xbox) Or Sony had the same dominance… games would get worse, more expensive and bugs would become vastly more common. If like Microsoft it could take more than a DECADE for a something (Windows 7) to regain customer confidence – That’s a potentially long time to live with half baked games no?
As long as there’s exclusives, competitiveness and quality is *almost* guaranteed.
Cheers
RO
My battle cry this week goes to Nintendo and to the Zelda franchise.
Even though every game is always about a little boy dressed in green trying to save a princess Nintendo always manages to make every game feel different either with time travel or with with a magic wand.
There is no other game that would make me want to buy an all new console just to play it.I’m always looking forward to solving its smart puzzles or just experiencing the new gameplay tweak the developers have added.Generally even though Nintendo is milking their franchises until they’re dead their console is the one with more variety in its games.Most of the Xbox 360 exclusives are shooters and even though some PS3 exclusives like Demon Souls or Heavy Rain are new and interesting games no other console has as many innovating games.Even though most of them fail its nice to see that they at least try, not like other developers that go with the safe choice and make a first person shooters.Games like Mass Effect 2 are a little different but at the end of the day all you end up doing is shoot this ,watch this cut scene and then shoot that.Another thing that Nintendo does is that it throws the realism out the window.Think about it what are 2 plumbers doing in a magical kingdom saving a princess.Game developers these days try too hard to be realistic and fail in it.I mean take this scene as an example you are playing a first person shooter and you need to find the red key to open a door and even though you are equipped with heavy weapons like a bazooka you cannot break the f***ing door.When things like this happen i just can’t take games like this too seriously.Either you’re realistic or you’re not
But that’s just my opinion
Peace
Of course one could name the big brutes of videogame history like Mario, Final Fantasy or even Halo. But for me alot of these series, though they are still good, are getting stale, since it is often just more of the same. Taking the Zelda series as an example, I must admit that I am dead-tired of wrestling with the Gorons, saving Zelda, beat the shit out of Ganondorf and finding the same eight Triforce of Courage pieces all over again (Somehow they keep on losing this frigging thing!). And it doesn’t get more innovative, if you just exchange the Triforce pieces by some music instruments or other shit, Nintendo.
On the other hand we got some (relative) new brands like God of War or Gears of War with well balanced gameplay mechanics and perfect playability. They brought a breath of fresh air into their respective genre and delivered an awesome gaming experience, leaving the crowd begging for more. More importantly, they still feel unspent, thus I would gladly buy a new console, just to play new parts of these franchises! Another good example are the games by Team Ico. I just love both ICO and SotC and The Last Guardian will be THE game, for which I will finally purchase a PS3. Beside that we got one phantastic re-invention of a classic series. IMO Metroid Prime is just golden and one of the best games of all time and easily outrival other classic series brought to next-gen until today. KUDOS to Retro Studios to take this beloved brand and successfully moving it from 2D to 3D. The music, the story and the gameplay were just stellar. The third installment, Corruption, made me buy a Wii, although 99% of the other games on Nintendos piss-poor home console are utterly crap.
So, my Battlecry goes out to all developers who have the balls to create new franchises, so we have new brands to look forward to for each console generation to come, and NOT just replay iterations of basically the same game over and over again.
My BattleCry actually goes to games that are multiplatform. For many years I haven’t been able to enjoy some of the better games of the time, just because I never had that one console. Well, I say that is absolute BULLSHIT. I love the God of War franchise. However, I never owned a PS2. I had to ask a friend to loan it to me. Now, I don’t really have any friends that have a PS3, so how can I even hope to play God of War 3, or the Lost Guardian? I’ll probably never play them because of console exclusivity. And I’m sure a lot of PS3 owners are pissed off that they won’t be able to play games like Halo, or Gears, or Mass Effect 2 (which has been rumoured to be ported, but not announced) or any other game. I feel bad about this, and I would like to see more developers moving onto multiplatforn so more and more people can enjoy gaming as a whole. And if we can’t play games, how are we even gamers?
P.S. Even if I haven’t mentioned the Wii, I bought one and I have never considered swapping it for any other game system, even if I hardly play on it. Metroid: Other M is totally gonna kick ass, and Zelda Wii is going to blow away the rest of the ass that will be left behind. Nintendo Power!
Console exclusive games have always been a problem in my case since I pretty much have been limited to one console each generation. I was a vivid Playstation fan until I saw the first fotages of Halo: Combat Evolved. So I traded in my Playstation 2 and got an Xbox instead.
Because of that I realized how many awesome Playstation titles I’ve been missing out on. The Playstation 2 exclusive lineup was huge – Ico, Shadow Of The Colossus, Metal Gear Solid, God Of War, Final Fantasy.. I could go on forever, not even mentioning the current gen exclusives of the Playstation 3.
Xbox have many cool exclusives, no doubt about it, Halo, Gears of War or Mass Effect. And I can’t say I regret I went the Microsoft way in the end but when you have to chose between two equally great girlfriends, what do you do? Well, you could cheat…
That said – Being limited to only one console is.. heartbreaking.
P.S: God bless Rockstar for making GTA IV cross platform!
My battle cry goes to Metroid: Other M, since I believe that only first party developed titles should be exclusive. To me, Other M returns to the good old days of glorious 2-D Metroid, the masterpiece that was Super Metroid. This game represents the greatest achievement for the Wii, and really would push me to buy this console for just one game.
I did not own a Gamecube or a 64, solely for the reason that either no Metroid was on the system or it was a FPS. Now I really enjoy FPS’s, this is no hate, but Metroid should have always been a 2-D side-scrolling adventure. Also, I do not have any GBs or DS, so I cannot enjoy some of the Metroid titles on that system.
Which leads me to Other M, a console Metroid that has the 2-D elements back in place, sells the Wii for me. If I do not get another game for it, I do not care.
My battlecry goes out to Prey. If you mix Doom 3′s close corridors and atmosphere with the gameplay of Portal and cover it with spectacular graphics, you’ve got Prey. It was dark sci-fi shooter but managed to be humorous at the same time. It was definitely an acquired taste because many people don’t take to its strangeness and incoherent story. But its insanity is exactly what made it fun. One moment you’ll be walking on the ceiling and the next you’ll be taken miles away through a conveniently placed portal. If you die, you play a mini-game where you shoot down ghost birds with a bow and arrow to decide how much health you come back to life with. No other game I’ve played has made odd ideas and crazy concepts come together as well as they do in Prey.
I think that exclusives are good for the console makers because talking in the case of 360 and PS3 they differentiate one console from the other by the line up of games. It is because they want people to buy their console so they try to give them reasons like only we have God of war 3 or only we have Halo Reach. Console makers want their consoles to be as different as possible because if you take away all the PS3 and 360 exclusives they are really similar and that could cost the console makers if they sell to very close product with no reason to by both.
Why would I buy both consoles if they play the same. Already owning a 360 I want to get a PS3 because of its exclusives mostly never mind the fact that it is a Blu-Ray player. It is the people with one console and the game makers that feel the squeeze money wise.
My battlecry this week goes out to Nintendo because they have, always had and always will have the best exclusives
Back in the 8 bit era they had the most advanced games and were some of the only games trying something new. Zelda was the first game to have a save feature making it the first truly epic game, Super Mario Brothers was a sidescroller with the most precision to be released up to that point and added many features that we take for granted but were scarsely seen before then such as; secret levels, extra lives and hidden power ups and Metroid gave us the first atmospheric game taking place on a creepy planet while simultaneously giving us the first heroin of gaming.
Next they brought us the gameboy the first handheld gaming system done right. It sacrifised color for an extremely impressive battery life and gave us the most widely played game of all time, tetris. Also the amazingly simple yet addicting game Pokemon that could last for 20+ hours for a handheld game thats incredible.
Then the SNES, Games like Super Metroid gave us a crazy atmosphere and a story to boot. DKC gave us insane 3D models we had never seen before. And then we got games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy V and VI, Super Mario World, Secret of Mana, A Link to the Past, Star Fox and Castlevania IV.
Next my personal favorite console of all time the Ninetndo 64 innovated pretty much what the industry is today. Super Mario 64 gave us the first true 3-D exprience complete with maybe the most important innovation camera control imagine if we didn’t have that? Almost equally important the creation of the modern console FPS with my personal favorite game of all time Goldeneye. It added so much including different objectives and varying objectives based on difficulty level, Aiming and scoping, stealth gameplay, different damage done depending on where the bullet hit and of course its multiplayer options. Then there’s what many people consider the best game of all time, Ocarina of Time. It pretty much gave us a blueprint of how to create an epic 3-D adventure title.
There wasn’t much with the gamecube or GBA.
Then there was the Nintendo DS which gave a touch screen and a regular screen which led to some creative games such as the new Zelda games and scribblenauts.
Then finally we came to the Wii of course the console that brought motion control the main stream while bringing gaming to a whole new audience. It then gave us the exclusives Zelda Twilight Princess which was crazy with the motion control even though it was tacked on late in the development. Super Mario Galaxy gave us a truely unique platforming experience with gravity and spherical worlds. It also revitalized the light gun shooters and the very unique games like Madworld, No More Heroes and Tatsunoku vs Capcom. And with the current Wii motion plus and the new Zelda game coming out which will use it its lookin great for Nintendo. I like them because they are the most innovative and they try the most unique things without them the world of gaming would be a very different place.
My EBC is this: When the term console-exclusive comes to mind, I think of one thing right off the bat; Kirby.
Nintendo’s little puffball is one of the best franchises to date because it offers something for everyone. It’s simple gameplay makes it accessable to new players (and even new gamers), it’s style makes it easily recognizeable, and it’s expansive enough for the hardcore audience to be pleased.
The Kirby franchise is definitely one that deserves a bit more face time in the industry (seriously, no new Kirby for Wii after 4 years?) and will always hold a special place in any gamer’s heart.
My BattleCry goes out to any of the Blizzard’s PC franchises and Blizzard themselves. Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft are all franchises that I will upgrade my PC just to play. Not only because of the games themselves, but because of Blizzard’s dedication and support behind their games. And also beyond the quality of their games, Blizzard is one of the only Developers that is sticking with PC exclusivity (Diablo on PS1 and Stacraft 64 never existed and Ghost literally never appeared) and that is worth support.
My battle cry goes out to Infamous. I was excited for it the moment I heard the word lightning. I was really excited for all the possibilities a superhero game where the hero uses lightning as a weapon. At the time, a majority of games with a super powered protagonist usually used the usual stuff, flight, super strength etc. While Infamous didn’t use the lightning very creatively, what it did do with the lightning was still great. It was a nice change of pace from the average open-world game as well.
Infamous was one of the defining reason I bought the PS3, and I can’t wait for the sequel
My battle cry goes to mass effect. First thing i hate exclusives games i think is a waste of money to have that game to that console, why not give great games to everyone. Now why i think is the best because it was very different from the shooters you see on the Xbox exclusives or on 2007. It gives a story and world very original. Voice acting to every charters even people you will see once. Every action, ever side quest, ever mission makes a difference in the game and beyond. Characters that have life in them not just a stupid AI, you care who lives or died and what happen to them. A game where it continues WHAT you do it’s a game where I think is the best and will continues to be bioware finest
My battle cry goes out to the real first party games that will always be first party games.
Sega had Sonic, but after a while the dominance faded and now we see Sonic on all major platforms.
Remember Crash and Spyro? They used to be HUGE first party games for Sony, they’ve since showed up on Nintendo and Xbox games. Yes Sony has Uncharted, Killzone, and God of War, but how long until they fade off or go to other consoles? GTA anyone?
Microsoft has Halo, Gears of War, and Fable. Halo will probably always be on the Xbox, but Gears could move soon and Fable is just not impressive.
Nintendo is the only company that will NEVER let any of their exclusive games slide to other consoles. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda will ALWAYS be triple A titles that will sell Nintendo consoles. Kirby, Yoshi, Donkey-Kong, the list goes on for ever. What exclusive games sell systems for me? The only company that actually has REAL exclusives.
My Battle Cry goes out to Crash Bandicoot on the original Playstation. In a time when all Mario was doing was throwing parties and going kart racing, and Sonic was going down hill with no chance of return, Sony made a new platform mascot. That mascot was Crash Bandicoot, once again we found ourselves controlling an odd looking animal through and even stranger world, and yet it felt so familiar. I was so mad when Naughty Dog stopped making Crash Bandicoot games, and I could say the same for Insomniac and Spyro. Fuck Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted, buy back the rights to Crash Bandicoot and make that series fun again.
My battle cry goes to: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem only for the Nintendo Game Cube.
This game was not a commercial success at all, but a sleeper hit, and I think to all of us “hardcore gamers” was a true hit.
The game was most memorable for the insanity effects such as the bleeding walls, monsters that aren’t really there, and the famous “Memory Card Error: Save Lost” gag.
It was a great survival/action/horror game and very worthy of a battle cry for exclusive franchise.
My BattleCry goes to Shadow of The Colossus…
The game is just epic,the sensation of being in the back of a giant monster while he run/fly/swim or whatever is just great, you really feel that you are in the character’s skin, passing all trough an forbidden land forgotten by the gods that is so extense and lonely with just a sword an bow and your loyal horse to fight giant beasts that you see you have no chance against is just epic
and you pass all trough this just to revive your beloved girl…
And the game make you think you are the good guy till you know that the Colossus where the guardians of the land protecting everyone of the creature that suposelly is helping you,and you reallize that he is really trying to free himself and use you as a vessel.
It’s just EPIC.
My Battle Cry goes out to the Zelda and Mario series trying to continue their success on the Wii. I know its not a very original battlecry, yet, if it wasn’t for these two franchises, I would have sold my Wii a very long time ago.
Super Mario Galaxy was an absolute masterpiece…a perfect game in my eyes. It really changed the way I looked at platformers. This also holds true for most Mario platformers such as Super Mario 64, Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3.
Zelda has always been my favorite franchise. Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever created. It’s sheer scope and wealth of things to do made it an incredible journey that I will never forget. Windwaker and Majora’s Mask were also solid entries along with some of the earlier 2D entries (Didn’t like Twilight Princess too much…)
It’s because of these two franchises that I still have my Wii. As I said before, they’re the only reason my Nintendo Wii is still in the house. When the time comes, I’ll take out my Nintendo Wii, brush off the cobwebs and play me some Mario or Zelda.
First off, who the fuck does Microsoft think they are with this good for nothing piece of shit bundle for Final Fantasy 13. I mean the console doesnt even get a new skin/color let alone maybe something that has to do with the fucking franchise. But aside from that nonsense my Battle Cry goes out to those money-hungry sadists that call themselves game developers. I want to really understand why developers dont give two shits for the gaming community with these half-assed “new ip’s”. I’m truly glad these geniuses figured out how to make a new game, but are they that selfish to just ruin it? I constantly have high hopes for these big new games that work so hard on making you want them with the unnecessary amount of hype it provides and then it turns out complete garbage because they dont even give a real shit(or two). And im not only talking about new ip’s, im talking about sequels as well that become more of a 1.5 instead of a 2. Developers need to start worrying about pleasing their audiences with the games they want rather than focus on making a game they think will be good because of the “innovation”. Sorry I cried twice.
edit: Sorry axe community, mine got posted twice by mistake.
My BattleCry goes out to Gears of War. The game was an instant hit when it launched back in 2006, and had a huge impact on the gaming industry. The graphics were the best out there at the time, really setting the bar for the first time this generation. The cover system was nothing new, but the way it was implimented definently changed the industry, as evidence by the many games that copy it. Gears of War 2 had a similar effect with Horde mode, now a super popular mode found in any shooter worth it’s salt. It’s the halo of this gen, and hopefully when we see a third game it will have as big an impact as the first 2.
My battle cry goes out to those crazy kittens over at ‘Insomniac Games’. Their hilarious Ratchet and Clank and the terrifying Resistance fanchises are by far some of the best console exclusives ever.
Some may say that god of war or halo are better than these two gaming goliaths, but they are soooo wrong. Resistance is cheap and can entertain you for months with its amasing singleplayer story line and its groundbreaking multiplayer (with 64 players online at the same time, with no lag!!!)
Resistance was made to (almost) perfection and it was the first game that i bought for my PS3
ps. before u think that i am a PS3 fanboy, i have a PS3 and a xbox 360 (but id never get a wii unless i wanted to see two gay plumbers jumping on harmless mushrooms!)
My battle cry goes out to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Sony wasn’t afraid to take a major risk. They were not afraid to go out on a limb and try something truly unique and original. It worked. It worked EXTREMELY well.
These two games were dripping with style. The games are both strong arguments for video games being an art form. They are beautiful games that will stand the test of time and always be beautiful games because of their look. The architecture in the game looked both highly original and ancient. It definitely looked like ancient ruins and that made the world an absolute joy to explore
Both games had top notch soundtracks as well. Ico was more ambient with it’s music. It was understated on purpose. It was beautiful but not overbearing. The game mostly had a lot of ambient background noise, but the music kicks up at the right moments to intensify the action and suspense in the game. The Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack is heavily orchestrated. It is gorgeous. Each creature has it’s own theme that kicked up when you started fighting and climbing onto it.
The gameplay in this series is unique. ICO does not have many enemies. IT is all about puzzles and getting you and the girl through the castle. Enemies will appear every once in a while to try to drag the girl away, and you will have to chase them off with your sword. Shadow of the Colossus is, also, about puzzle solving in a truly unique way. Every single colossus is a puzzle to solve in and of itself. Trying to take them down presented a new kind of puzzle solving.
Both games were truly special. Not only were they two of the best console exclusives. They were two of the greatest games ever made. They were excellent all around and prime arguments for games as an art form.
Well after watching this weeks EpicBattleCry, I’m almost certain that you guys seem to have bi polar disorders on show. Now dont take this the wrong way but could you explain what Franchises need to stay exactly they way you liked from ones that need a complete overhaul. So Halo series need to stop but Splinter cell is not true to self because they went slightly left on the franchise come on. Can i insert that a Game MGS4 went in different direction as far stealth and game play , even thou you didn’t have to play the game stealthly at all. Maybe we have opposing opinions on where Splinter cell conviction is going as franchise but i think in this industry its alot better, than hmmm say, rockband ten thousand and Call of Duty 25 : Back in action. from what i seen of the game it still has core elements but its moving from being hmmm sly cooper stealth. like how long are we going to be afraid of exclamation point !
and on the Halo series how much different is it from the God of War series. At its core for both of them exact same game over the years. only difference enhanced visuals, and tighter gameplay. I rarely see the press , or fanboys call for end of Kratos. i personally own all halo games and God of war games. so im not biased in anyway. it just little strange how we call for master chiefs head.
My battlecry goes to Final Fantasy.
Imo the FF series WAS the biggest exclusives Sony had, and is a big reason why I am a Playstation player. (still dont have a 360)
When I first heard that FFXIII was giong to be multi platform, I was kinda pissed. But I dont really see the point of console exclusives. I wish all games would be multi platform. I hate the fact that I or others cant play a game, just cause they dont have the “right” platform.
So: MAKE ALL GAMES MULTI PLATFORM!!
My Battlecry goes out to anything that Blizzard releases and the potential I see in them to push hardware in accordnace with their games. Historically, Blizzard has been somewhat kind to us in not making their game’s running requirements too high. However, imagine if Blizzard made the decision to port their games to the consoles but still allowed cross platform interaction?
There are many senarios I could use but lets look at the one that has the most potential for success. What if Blizzard released WoW 2 (which allowed players to import their old characters) as a release title for the next Xbox, Playstation, as well as on the PC. Assuming that there is cross platform interaction and the control scheme on the consoles is acceptable, how many consoles/PC Upgrades do you think that would push? Considering WoW has about 10+ Million subscribers that PAY $20 a month to play…I can’t think of another series that could match it.
One last comment…what if we took the same above senario but replaced WoW with World of Starcraft or World of Diablo? Imagine the hype that would come from that?
Buddy I do not think you know what you are talking about AT ALL.. exclusive games have been around since Atari & Nintendo they have always been around. In fact MOST games before xbox & ps2 came out were only on the 1 system not cross platform. Also A lot of people ignore the PC due to over 50% of people just downloading games on it. Also there has not been a good PC exclusive title in a loooooooonnng time except for MMO’s.
Also if you do not like the 360 Don’t buy it there is no need to call everyone who likes the 360 a “fanboy” :.. you’re just making yourself look like a fool & jealous of its exclusives lol
My member battle cry goes out to the mass effect series as it was a huge reason i bought the 360. I have loved almost every Bioware title and this is a great addition to their library
. I really enjoy that they came up with the idea of carrying over decisions you made in the first title & have it effect this new one. Also looking forward to all the new bioware games that are soon to come out including their MMO! not a huge fan of star wars at all but after playing the KOTOR games I have earned a new appreciation for the franchise. Also Love that they are taking MMO’s in a new direction with actually having a non-laughable plot line & fully dialoged (WELL) lol as a couple other mmo’s have tried at this but failed XD. I am also excited that they are applying some of their rpg elements into this game such as decision making even with other players! I just really hope they can balance the classes well & the pvp is fun as that is what always sells me on a mmo. If not then I’m off to FF14!(which i hope actually has some pvp this time round)
Peace out!
Looking forward to another great ep & some more battlecry’s
My Battlecry actually goes out to the Ratchet and Clank series. Simply because they are bad-ass. And by the way, wouldn’t it be fucking trumendously awesome if they made a really bloodey, gorey and violent Ratchet and clank? And how about, Left 4 Dead, in the future! With all these awesome laser/plasma weapons and hi-tec shit that makes brains explode!
My epic battle cry goes out to the final fantasy series!
I have to say that this Series is one of the best I’ve ever played; I’ve got each consul that has ever had a final fantasy game for it. I freak for these games like a 12 year old girl freaks for the twilight series. I’m a huge…HUGE RPG fan and these games have always satisfied my RPG craving, yet it’s not only the RPG aspect about these games that make them so epically awesome. There’s also the fighting system that I’ve always loved.
If you just swing a sword and hit an enemy that’s ok, but if your sword becomes three stories high and you continue to slam the enemy with the sword until you see the words overkill on the screen. You know you just rapped something. T he story behind the game is always awesome; each game has a story that keeps you playing. You could kill an enemy and think it’s over but then another enemy appears and it’s worse than the first and you’re like “I have to bet that fucker now!?” but not only that, the sound track for the games never disappoint.
Final fantasy 7 had the best sound track of all hands down. The character design for the games is awesome, each character is awesome. No other series could do what final fantasy did. Now, even though this series is awesome. It still has its draw backs. I’m not going to mention what *Cough*Final fantasy X-2 *Cough* you know playing final fantasy X-2 made me feel like WOW and Charles angels fucked each other and this pile of Bullshit happened. I can’t wait for final fantasy 13; I’ll play it for both the 360 and the PS3 just so I can get my Drug-infused final fantasy acid trip on!
My battle cry goes out to the entire Mass Effect franchise. The first two entries have been absolutely suberb, and I believe that the third and final entry will surpass both of them. Mass Effect is such a great franchise because it is a hybrid of two different genres of gaming. The role-playing elements, such as dialogue, character development, and exploration, are far ahead the rest of the pack. Also, the shooting elements, especially the ones in Mass Effect 2, stand toe-to-toe with best third-person shooters out there such as Gears of War 2. Mass Effect 3 will have the opprutunity to further imporve these elements to near perfection. The combination of these two elements make the Mass Effect franchise very approachable to the average gamer. A first-time Mass Effect player can easily be sucked into the sci-fi atmosphere, epic story, and unique characters. The Mass Effect franchise will go down as one of the most influential and best game franchises of the current generation.
My Battlecry goes out to the Red Dead Redemption pre-order debaucel which is an absolute shame. What is being done by distributors such as gamespot and amazon and all these other companies are limiting the consumers to what they are all entitled too, ALL GAME CONTENT. When games are purchased at prices of 60$ to upwards of 100$ for special editions is it to much to ask to get all game content? Just another pill too swallow as a gamer. All of us gamers need to stop preordering games from these companies to show them that this is total bullcrap.
On topic of the best console exclusive is by far the exclusives that are present on the Wii. By looking at the Exclusive Content of both the 360 and the PS3 there is not a “single” exclusive title that would drive a gamer to buy that one system. Each system has various exclusives that all rival eachother and there is no clear winner between ps3 and 360. However, in the case of the Wii there is simply no bigger driving force in terms of console purchases than Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. When one of these games is announced/released everyone rushes out and purchases not only the games but consoles as well.
Mario is the most recognized name in naming so it is only fair to name Mario as the bets exclusive title. However, Metroid Other M and the new Zelda title can generate just as much buzz and personally Metroid is probably the most consistent and well made francise of the last 20 years.
My BattleCry goes to Atlus and the Shin Megami Tensei series, specifically Persona 3 and 4 (PS2 Exclusives). To me these are very important games, not only because they took the JRPG formula and shook it up a bit. But because they were being produced for the PS2 while next gen systems where busy releasing endless streams of 3rd and 1st person shooters.
While these games don’t appeal to everyone I think that it shows integrity on the part of the developer to forego a more powerful system to simply deliver a terrific gaming experience. I just like the idea that good franchises can still go on and co-exist with next gen games. At least for a time. There is obviously a large amount of gamers who feel the same way, as we often see homages in the gaming world to days gone by, Megaman 9 being a prime example.
We talk about God of War 3 making people want to buy a PS3 but God of War 1 and 2 is one of the reasons I still own and frequently play my PS2.
So while my battlecry doesn’t adress a game franchise that would make you want to buy a new console, it gives props to a franchise that makes me want to keep an old one.
Gonna keep it short and sweet
my favourite exclusives of the last two years has to be the uncharted games. These had amazing visuals, good voice acting and exciting action sequences.
The detail in the levels immersed the player and the gun fights kept you on edge. The cut scenes put some films to shame. Also the game has one of the best soundtracks.
The games demonstrated the PS3′s capabilities on a technical level as the games had very little, if any lag or frame rate issues.
thanks for reading
My battle cry goes out to Project Natal and Milo.
I know that you guys don’t care at all for Milo and what he can do for the gaming world but I think it will really be a console seller. Milo might not be a step forward in games as much as a step sideways, widening what games for consoles could be. Sure this could be the next virtual boy or it could really change gaming like how wolfenstein did with the first 3-D game. As a PlayStation 3 owner I am truly thinking of purchasing the 360 when project natal comes out.
Sorry guys, this is a little off topic. Scratch that, very off topic. My battle cry goes out to pre-order bonuses. In last week’s EBC you talked the upcoming RDR pre-prder bonus of better horses or guns available at the start of the game. Doesn’t this just amount to a dressed up cheat code. If I’m a fan of the IP surely i want to play the game in it’s purest form and beat it fair and square. Doesn’t it in fact ruin the experience if you can just breeze through the early missions, let alone lose respect from your friends who beat the game without it.
Give me cheap DLC or early DLC or better still something cheap, plastic, and tasteless to show my fanboydom and annoy my girlfriend.
Thanks for listening, and when is EBA gonna release some cheap, plastic, and tasteless merchandise of it’s own. Looking forward to the line of ‘Game pun-dit’, ‘Cadre of chaos’, and ‘My name’s Tony and I need a gimmick fast’ T-shirts.
My epic battlecry of the week goes to game developing. I totally agree with you, they should make new games or change something, the gaming industry is getting repetitive. Franchises like Halo should make something new… WE ARE GETTING TIRED OF THE SAME SHIT! We want new ideas, but developers are afraid they won’t sell, I truly don’t understand that beacuse there’s a huge amount of games that the first one sucked and the second become a master piece, that selled a lot of game. We want a new expirience! Nice episode guys!
[...] well, it’s probably due to the fact that we’ve asked you all to sound off about your most beloved console exclusives! There have been some great BattleCries thus far, but of course, we only select one each day to be [...]
My battlecry goes to the new IP for the Ps3 Heavy rain. I take it beacuse i think that is trying something new instand of the old Space Marine soldier saving the planet but this story is more down to earth. I played the demo and for the first time since 2008 i got a Adrenaline rush. Personly i can not wait until next thrusday when it comes out.
My Battle Cry is about Blu ray and its closest competitor HD downloading and its significance to Gaming with DLC.
I just recently watched The Proposition again on Netflix in HD and I have to admit it looked really good. I’m not talking about the movie’s story which is good but the HD video quality of the film on Netflix. I didn’t have the Blu ray to compare the picture quality but it looked really sharp and if this is the future of online renting could it kill Blu ray before it even gets a chance to get started in the average home? Alot of people have yet to adopt Blu ray and I have a feeling many people are going to move (if they haven’t already) to Netflix for their HD entertainment instead of Blu ray. For me I prefer the sense of ownership you get from a disc. You get better production values out of a Blu ray disc like director’s commentary ( a near must have for me) as well as other added goodies like featurettes but if you are just looking for a straight HD movie experience with no added features this is could be the future of mainstream home video entertainment.
Am I being too paranoid in thinking that my Blu ray player could be the new eight track tape of the film industry and the HD DVD vs Blu ray war was useless to begin with? Apple may seem to think so since they have yet to adopt Blu ray. Look at what has happened to the music industry. I saw a report saying the music industry has dropped dramatically since the 1990′s. Analysts didn’t want to wholly blame video downloading for it but it definitely was a factor. I’d personally like to think that music just isn’t as good as it used to be and that was a factor as well. But then again, many may say the same about the current film industry too. See Transformers and Indiana Jones and the crystal skull as reference.
No matter how big Hard Drives may get in the future they will never be able to handle large HD video libraries like you can with your mp3 music but with online video rentals like Netflix you CAN have large video libraries at your finger tips. But then what happens to OWNERSHIP? Will it be dead in the future?
This brings me to another industry falling victim to downloadable content, Video Gaming. I’d like to consider myself a old school video gamer and when I make my game purchases the priority is the single player experience 1st with the multi-player experience coming 2nd or 3rd or maybe not at all. Because 1: there is a chance my friends wont have the same game as I do and 2: I am a antisocial old cuss who prefers my video gaming like my drinking -ALONE. But with DLC (Down loadable content) and multi-player servers being the new industry standard what happens when the server to your favorite multi-player game shuts down or you get bored of that DLC game you have on your hard dive? They are now un-sellable because it is on your hard drive and unplayable because the server is down? So again, what happens to ownership? Will the future of video gaming turn into kleenex tissues or an even worse example a condom? You use it once and throw away like you sort of do when you watch a film on Netflix?
What do you guys think? Is there room for both Blu ray and HD downloading or CAN THERE BE ONLY ONE?
*crank up Queen’s Princes of the Universe song from the Highlander movie*
My battlecry goes out to the Mass Effect franchise as i think that not only is it a great rpg in general but it also shows that developers can create great experiences with new IP’s instead of making another Halo or another Call of Duty. Yes they’re making the sequels now but Bioware took a risk when creating the franchise and its paid off handsomely, i hope that other developers will continue to follow suit. Shephard jammies plz
I’m going to go out on a limb here and dedicate my battle cry to the Yakuza series. The mix of Shen Mue style exploration/interaction and fast paced brawler combat makes for a pretty neat game. Combine that with some great storytelling and a solid script and you’ve got a classic. In the media flurry of titles like Halo, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect and what not it’s easy to miss some of the games that don’t have millions set aside for media campaigns but are still really good. With Yakuza 3 coming out in a few weeks i think it’s about time it got some praise.
Well there are a ton of great franchises for the next gen consoles, I have to say that my all time favorite console exclusive franchise has been Super Mario Brothers. Now this isn’t my favorite game franchise of all time, but for what Nintendo was from my youth and how those games grew and changed with each technical development in the console in question; fans were almost always rewarded for their dedication. Even with major gameplay tangents taking place the core characters and atmosphere remained familiar and just felt like another level to the deep universe of the Mushroom Kingdom.
My EBC of the week goes out to EA for trying to do something different with DLC. With a Dr. Pepper promotion, scaled back pricing for some DLC, and the announcement of a VIP card for BF:BC2 it shows that they want to try and find a middle ground for gamers to get cool content while not losing their profits from the materials.
With a near meltdown in the Battlefield Heroes Community over pricing structure changes made in the fourth quarter of 2009, EA/DICE seem to have something more manageable in mind for BF:BC2. The longevity of a game can be increased by DLC but I think the ability for gamers to gain advantages from buying “legal” cheats through DLC is sketchy at best. There are so many vanity and customization options for maps and avatars that some game companies may be looking at the wrong approach in general. BF Heroes would have been much more successful in the microtransaction realm if they allowed for the gamers to create some of the cool stuff via an application much like the Dragon Age: Origins tool. Once their gear was uploaded to an iTunes like submission front, other gamers could vote on it and then buy it with a small portion going back to the designer. Though somewhat harder to accomplish on the consoles, paying small fees for unique gear makes more sense than handing over your car title to make sure you don’t lose an advantage in a game.
I don’t like the DLC deals with Gamestop either and was floored at the amazing variety of DLC special items for Star Trek Online. The problem was that each vendor had something different and seemed to make it harder for a gamer to just buy the basic game.
DLC should be there to make the game world expand but not decrease the fun for yourself and others playing. I heard someone say that paying for an advantage is a flawed system but it’s just mimicking real life. Do we really need to uphold that level of reality just because other economic systems play out that way. I mean I don’t lose my leg from a land mine if I step on one in the game, why should the less well funded gamers be forced to watch those with a large credit card account pwn the plebeians.
My battle cry goes out to Nintendo first-party titles. I’m a hardcore gamer who mostly plays on my PC and PS3, but I have a lot of non-gamer friends who I invite over. I enjoy getting non-gamers immersed in video games, and Nintendo does social games best. Many of their games are easy to pick up and don’t have to be played for extensive periods of time, including the Mario Party series, Smash Bros. series, Wii Sports, and others. They are wonderful gateway drugs that have helped convert my girlfriend (and others) into new gamers. I even got my parents enjoying video games! Next time, though, I’ll make sure my mom is not standing anywhere near the lamp.
[...] the work week with yet another epic Member BattleCry here on the ‘Axe. This week we’re discussing console exclusives and specifically, we’re asking you to chime in with your favs! Obviously, you know this [...]
I feel that Nintendo has the best console exclusive sellers for it’s Wii system. The Wii exclusively has some of the craziest games on the market right now. For single player games, Nintendo brings the originality and entertainment with its No More Heroes series (and Madworld, but I haven’t played that yet so…). And for multiplayer stuff, the Wii has the WarioWare series, so that you and all your friends can look like idiots together! These are the kinds of games that sell consoles because there is nothing else like them.
Oh yeah, and there’s also the Wii Fit. Never have middle aged housewives been so interested in video games. But the Wii Fit is fun to use with a bunch of friends, so it still counts.
[...] ODST, Halo: Reach Hey gang, how goes it? DK here with today’s Member BattleCry pertaining to this week’s topic which is all about your favorite console exclusives. After yesterday’s look at God of War, [...]
I know this is supposed to be about console exclusives exclusively (hey!), but I have to mention Blizzard and their pc-exclusive Starcraft franchise.
I think this game is going to blow new life into the pc community.
I am not a PC gamer. I play 99% of my games on either the 360 or PS3, but Starcraft is one of the games I am looking most forward to this year. I’m going to upgrade my rig with a new graphics card just for this game and I’m probably not alone. That should count as “buying a new console” since upgrading a PC costs pretty much the same (probably more..) as buying a new console.
So I guess my point is that Starcraft is such a good franchise that it makes non-PC gamers blow the dust off of their rig and maybe tempt them to try some other PC exclusive titles as well.
My battle cry goes out to the folks over at Nintendo for having the most pocket-wringing, money-sucking, nostalgia-invoking exclusives.
My very first system was the good old NES, and ever since I’ve just chased my favorite characters from platform to platform. Mario in space? To whom do I make out the check to? Samus Aran kicking ass in fluctuating -dimensions? Here have my allowance!
Seriously, as far as console purchase-inducing IPs Nintendo has the market in its 8-bit, touch-pad, low-def clutches! And the price has always been right! I shelled out money for the Wii after its price drop without even blinking, and immediately picked up this generation’s versions of Metroid, Super Mario, Smash Brothers, and Mario Kart. Just 4 of the many many franchises that Nintendo holds.
My battle cry goes to the little known Nintendo exclusive “Wars” series that started during the NES era but later on went to handhelds only. Growing up I traveled for days in car trips around Europe, most portable games are ok for an hour or two but the Wars series (especially the more recent Advance Wars games) were endless Turn Based War fun. Right now I’m still playing the underrated Advance Wars Dual Strike game, which has been my favorite DS game since it was released… If there is a DS2 in the near future and they release a Wars title for it.. day one buy for me.
My BattleCry goes out to the PSN Trophy System and DLC!
As of late it has become fashionable for devs to offer DLC to lengthen our game experiences, which I of course am all for!
What bugs me however is that, if you choose not to download these packs their respective trophies ARE added and shown in your list.
Now I’m far from a trophy whore, but if I’ve spent what little time I have to reach 100% platinum in a game I find it really frustrating that when DLC comes along I might not find interesting my 100% Platinum turns into a 56% Platinum on my list.
The sense of achievement is completely gone, all that remains is a big, gaping, unsatisfying hole…
Games like Borderlands, Fallout 3 etc… have fucked us over many a times, why not just add the extra trophies upon installing the DLC, and leaving the rest of us who can’t afford to spend +200 hours on a single game feeling emasculated.
Grtz
NoFunAtAll
ok, this has nothing to do with the question on your last battle cry. but I wanted to ask what you guys think could be the next venture games (in particular shootdsa) take? what I mean is whats the next horde/firefight or next gold rush/wingman?
WHat I think would be really cool, but couldn’t take over the single player (because some people may never be able to complete it) is if we had a multi-single player experience. so basically how it works, is if you would picture say halo ODST or CoD:MW2 and one mission where its jus waves of AI in your able of complete the chapter objective, and you have to march through any “bot” that stands in your way. ok, so thats how all Single-player games are, but what if they changed bot to “human-player” and have some humans firing back at you. so the player can choose the side they want, and each side has its story but is reverse-parallel to the person on the other side. so as you move forward through each mission you would meet a few real players vs say 3 to 4 of your buddies, mixed in with some bots as well. and each chapter would have 3-4 sections of new players that enter that area of the story, whoever wins can reload and march onto the next area. and if you die you go back to the beginnin of the chapter (because your new solider picking up the slack that was left behind your former character) and then as you complete each chapter you get more of the story.
whats more it could have objectives for each side, that they are trying to complete so its just not always kill kill kill.
anyways, that was about 2min of random thinking after watching the battlefield BC2 trailer. hope you guys see this and let me know what you think
This question makes me sad, My first thought is Nintendo. I grew up with Nintendo and their franchises, sure Mario Galaxy was great. Zelda TP, was pretty good, but failed to recapture the magic of past entries in the franchise for me. Sadly it’s my experience with Zelda TP that really typifies my experience with recent releases from Nintendo’s big names.
I was loyal to Microsoft and their 360, but after 4 RRoD’s I’ve lost a lot of love for Microsoft and their console exclusives as well. (Though I was never a big fan of Halo to begin with)
So my battle-cry goes out. Not to a franchise, not to a big company, or a console. But instead to those without loyalty to an aging franchise, or to hardware. To any gamer who values originality over fond memories of our favorite games from the past. To the next Portal like experience. A game so unique that it catches everyone by surprise, and further surprises us by not rushing in with a sequel.
I think my epc goes to the first God of war since before that I was living under a rock and it was the first exclusive i played and got me back into gaming, i didnt really buy it my older brother gave to me with his ps2 but anyways that game was, no it is awesome i got really got into it cause of the puzzles i really like those games it has cool graphics cool gameplay and amazing story.
I am really excited for gow 3 i think its gonna be as cool as the first and second.
[...] go off the rails a bit here and actually NOT talk about this week’s topic (which was “favorite exclusive franchises“). After all, we’ve already covered God of War, Mass Effect, Halo, and [...]
@jesuno: If you had played Metroid Prime you’d understand why first person was the way to go….
My battle cry goes out to Goozex. A game trading service that avoids the rip-off that is GameStop or GAME/Gamestation here in the UK. I just learned that it’s also available in Europe (goozex.eu) – I think this is great, because the other two alternatives we have – ebay and amazon are quite poor alternatives.
My battle cry goes out to the people on the most recent edition of Bonus Round, talking about micro transactions. I can’t believe the things Jason Rubin was implying. I understand that his business model works for people with not much money, but what about in the long run. It still is about maximizing a profit. Games like Dantes Inferno and Need for Speed Shift are early indicators of a scary future in gaming. What happens when developers design games that are so hard that they pigeon hole you into buying more souls or fake cash. It scares me to death to even think about.
my battle cry goes out to not an exclusive game but rather to exclusive dlc.sure you can get a game on you’re system but getting exclusive dlc is a tip of the hat to people who bought the game. it may seem like a finale Squeeze for money but realy it’s a compliment saying we Support the buyer.
to pay extra for content is some thing specail and in return for the only for me dlc I will go back and buy a game for there console instead of the others
I realy like my ps3 but they have to get ahead on dlc xbox is mercing them. so many game the xbox has the dlc fallout 3 and even a origanal exclusive playstation game gta 4 the x box gets the dlc
my battle cry goes out to all the people who get screwed by video game companies. I have a cousin who did interviews with blue castle games in Vancouver for the job as a writer for dead rising 2.
being his first time in the video game Business he told them all his ideas in the interview. he told them how to do the story and even gave them the idea about create you’re own. after bringing him in for multiple interview the told him they would hire a student to do the story and didn’t give him the job.
now there using his idea to sell the game and he didn’t get a penny
My battle cry goes to All Console Exclusives
Simply beacause all of them are great and im not just talking about Exclusives such as
Metal Gear Solid,Final Fantasy,Mario,
Ninja Gaiden,Street Fighter,Mortal Combat,
Tekken,Sonic,Uncharted,Halo,Left 4 Dead (series)…etc.All of these titles are great in every way.
most of you say that there should be multiplatform games,yes at one point of view i agree.But like Profuture said without exclusives,games would be boring and cost alot of money and have alot of bugs and etc.I have all of these consoles not beacuase i can play Halo 3 or God of War or any cool game for that matter ,i bought them to play these games because i like games and i like to play them beacause they are fun to play ,it doesnt matter to me wich console has better graphics or games all of them are fun to play.Plus in my opinion if there were no exclusive games nothing would make Sony or Microsoft or other gaming Companies to make games like Halo,Mario,Gears of War,Crash Bandicoot and many many other great game exclusives.You name it. Games would not be like this,like they are now without competitiveness between consoles and companies.Face it without exclusive games ,there probably wouldnt even be all of these great game franchises.Whether its Mario or Halo,Final Fintasy,Mass Effect these games are the foundation for future games.But i do have one game series that i really like its God of War Series mostly because of its setting and main character Kratos ,it has a great story thats very deeply thought out in every detail and of course of Kratos he is a hardcore character oh and im very fond of Greek Mythology.
P.S its very sad that most of the people cant play God of War beacause its a Playstation Exclusive i would suggest to later port to other consoles.If you truely are a gamer you will not look at what console it is you will look at the games,it will be great to kill all of the greek gods in God of War 3 cant wait for it to come out.
This is my point of view!
I’m a PC gamer but if I HAD to buy a console I’d get PS3 over a 360 any time.
Big reason is OpenGl which Microsoft has no affiliation to. OpenGl is multiplatform ready where as DirectX is not. Thus even platforms like Macintosh (mehmeh) could get some games in.
Also the Khronos Group, which cradles OpenGL, is composed of many and varied companies of hardware and software developers.
IP and Franchise-wise PS3 has the upper hand in my book. But that’s a matter of taste.
My Battle Cry is directed towards Cliff Bleszinski and all of the members of Epic Games responsible for gears multiplayer. These people have shown us that there is such a thing as “Over-patching” a game.
Gears of war, as you know is an amazing game and the multiplayer is equally brilliant. Gears of war 2 had great multiplayer, and I have many fond memories of playing it late into the night with my friends. However the reason why I use the term “Had great multiplayer” is because they patched the hell out of it and now it is (in my opinion) un-playable.
The hit detection is completely useless because an active reloaded shotgun shell can pass right through a stationary enemy at point blank range and not do a single bit of damage several times in a row. The concussive smoke grenade (which by my understanding was supposed to be a big improvement) has been completely taken out of the game once again making the Smoke grenade completely useless. and they even had the audacity to change the amount of time you experience knock back from a melee, essentially making the world famous “Two Piece” non existent.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Gears of War franchise and I cannot wait until Gears 3. But I do believe that other developers and even Epic Games should take note here. A Patch is meant to fix a glitch or an exploit that “breaks the game”. The proper way to determine whether or not something is a “game breaker” is to test how much skill is required to pull it off and most importantly how easily it can be countered.
An example of this is the aforementioned “Two Piece”. Wherein the player would melee an enemy and then shoot them while they are essentially “Dead in the water”. Some would argue that this is a game breaker, but you must also realise in order to pull this off successfully you have to dodge all incoming fire by your target and their teammates(it was a good improvement by adding stopping power into gears 2) AND not get two pieced yourself. Furthermore if you are the target you have options on how to approach this situation:
1. two piece him before he can do it to you
2. Wall-Bounce away to get a better shot
3. NOT LET HIM GET THAT CLOSE TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
In closing, I ask all game developers:
Please do not change games because of some noob saying that “The sniper rifle is way too effective at long range Boo Hoo” or “He set a mine around the corner, so when I went charging in before looking to see if it was safe I died!! HE CHEATED WAHHHH!!”
Gears of war 2 multiplayer used to be like a very simple game of chess. For every move there was an appropriate countermeasure. But thanks to Epic’s over patching it is more like Russian Roulette, you squeeze the trigger and hope for the best.
(I know this Battle Cry turned into more of a Battle “Cry” but that doesn’t make it any less true, and I’m sure thousands of gamers would agree with me. just think how a game like CS source would change if every noob got to change something about the game)
I would really like to have this in the podcast so I could hear your guys’ opinion on the subject
What the fuck happend to this website ? Ever link or section is a copy of the previous page ! all the links to other websites are all gone Life hacker,Jesabel etc…..
There is nothing but empty pages and all page linked you back to the Homepage …
Fill the site with content guys …It look a little bare