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. TalonoftheSilverHawkQuote
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 . alunfennellQuote
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. HypeKillerQuote
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. Wheat_ThinsQuote
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. SilverJCQuote
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. SerafymQuote
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. HerederQuote
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 SmallsterQuote
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. superfartburgerQuote
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 TimOverkleeft1986Quote
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. JinxstarQuote
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. Gun_Metal_TigerQuote
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 NightsnipeQuote
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. fatninjaQuote
Oh boy. What have you done DK? This will get messy. boysangurQuote
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. BoogerQuote
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) OathQuote
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 superfartburgerQuote
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!) rinseoutQuote
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. script-zQuote
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. boysangurQuote
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. SilverQuote
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. MonkeyBot9000Quote
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. Master ChefQuote
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. OathQuote
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. NightFace-a-QuiltedAffairQuote
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! OurLordDespairQuote
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 ArcaniusbrQuote
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. kelQuote
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?!) LittalyQuote
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. SoldierFirstClassQuote
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. draickinQuote
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. MetalChefQuote
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!! BhaalQuote
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? Aggie ErbQuote
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 combine hunterQuote
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?) RquiemQuote
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. geminidarksoulQuote
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.
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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. GjeltenQuote
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. EngineQuote
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 SquadNightOpsQuote
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. Dr DownsQuote
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. LeoloyQuote
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
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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
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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. torhalQuote
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! iastreb93Quote
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! MLethQuote
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. jesunoQuote