Careful What You Wish For......

So it's finally happened. After years and years of gamers complaining about the yearly franchise model for sports games and how it would be easier just to download an update for a an existing game. EA have released a premium price DLC instead of a  new summer tournament FIFA game. Unfortunately it hasn't been met with an entirely positive reception.
There have been complaints about the lack of new features. But without the pressures of creating a new game and having to deliver new content the publishers may have thought all people really want is a updated roster and fancy new kits.
The price has also been condemned (costing £19.99 or 1800 points depending on your poison). I hate to get on the side of these so called greedy publishers but come on, who thought it was going to be super cheap. The licenses cost an immense amount and that cost is always going to get passed onto the end consumer.
Companies need to make money and a massive update for a massive franchise was never going to be a small purchase. Hell, you have to go out of your way to get an indie game for less than 1200 points now. The potential niche of Euro 2012 game is also a point that shouldn't be overlooked."But football is the biggest sport in the world!" you may cry. But it's not. With Olympic year rolling round (especially in the UK with the games being based in London) erstwhile football fans may be tempted away from their impulse purchase of a football game with I dunno something with Jessica Ennis plastered across it.
It's interesting that EA have dipped their toe in the water and I hope that the numbers work out because I think this a really good model for these sorts of annual games. The possibility of just summer tournaments being released as large updates could be a turning point for the annual sports series is an exciting prospect and on which could defiantly kick start the digital distribution of full games.

Why Games shouldn't have boob jobs.

I got into the Halo series a little bit late. I got Halo 3 on the cheap for the X-Box and had an excellent time. So I went and bought ODST and really enjoyed that even with all the weird flash back plot. I grabbed the special Edition of Halo: Reach and really got into that. It became my on-line shooter of choice for six months. Having just played Halo: Anniversary Edition, I've come to the conclusion that I don't like H.D. remakes. 

I didn't mind at first, I loved the lush graphics marvelling how far we'd come with every stab of the select button. I started to get into the story and was itching to know how it played out. 

Then an hour or so in, like an ageing Hollywood star with a few wrinkles it started to show it's age. The Ghost couldn't boost which ruined my main tactic of running over grunts when faced with a group of Covenant. The corridors of the Covenant ship were long and windy and it felt like a decade old game no matter how gorgeous it's visuals were. It was was the little things that really showed it up.

Now I think that 343 Industries have shown a remarkable amount of respect towards the franchise and this was obviously a stepping stone to show they can do great work before they make Halo 4. Maybe it would have been a poisoned chalice to mess with a such a revered game and they didn't want to risk the wrath of the Internet forums by changing it. But they could just ironed out the wrinkles maybe done a bit of a directors cut and put in some of the features of the newer games in the series. I would have much preferred that to bumping up the graphics to eleven.

This experience put me off getting The Metal Gear H.D. collection because that is a franchise I love and I don't want to sully my admittedly rose tinted memories of it. 

I do love older games and I think that certain games will always hold up.. We have medium that is more than just looks. I spent an whole day completing every level in Super Mario 3 on the NES a few weeks ago. It's game play still holds up and the graphics although simple are still clean and cartoonish enough to work. I also got a bargain bin copy of Zone Of The Enders on the PS2 and smashed through that in short order.

So I think that games shouldn't have boob jobs. I think we should appreciate the ones we love in all their gorgeous sagging glory.