Borderlands would have done a LOT better if anyone could find a damn copy of the game here in Canada.
I have a feeling that once Take Two noticed the game was going to sell, and that Walmart and friends (Best Buy, FS) were running it at 39.99 for the first few days, WHICH was advertised on Xbox Live for Canada, they cut supply.
The walmart beside my apt got zero copies. The one 20 minutes away had seven. SEVEN. On launch day, at 9am.
Futureshop had a few, I grabbed mine there, but then they didn't have anymore for a bunch of days.
Most buggered launch ever, and my conspiracy theory brain tells me it was on purpose. SEVEN goddamn copies at walmart? ZERO at the store next to me? #retail
Brutal Legend received the sales it deserved. Double Fine has ALWAYS been about form over function. Their games are never mentioned with awed reverence over the genius of the game mechanics, control schemes, or innovative gameplay. Their games are strong in art style, quirky characters, running through an eccentric story. Had they stuck with their strengths, I and many others would have been happy campers. Instead they decided to play to their weaknesses, which is gameplay and the title suffered for it.
I think that Brutal Legend would have done better if released at a different time, like the late spring/early summer lull. How many people out there, like me, are interested in the game but have passed on it because of all the amazing options right now? #retail
@Curse lily: Bought it, loved it! And if it hadn't sold out everywhere, who knows? it could have broken the top 10.
Impressive performance for a game that isn't mainstream by any stretch of the imagination, especially at this time of the year. Beating Brütal Legend is amazing, considering the strong marketing push behind Schafer's game, as well as the insane amount of hype and free promotion that blogs gave it.
I hope the success of Demon's Souls will inspire "big name" developers and publishers, both for the level of challenge and the very unique online capabilities. #retail
@Curse lily: Not me!!! Although I can't, for the life of me, gather up the desire and energy to play NG+. The thought of having to go through world 5 again fills me with bile and tears. #retail
@Curse lily: Cut across platforms as much as possible and expect to repeat a lot of your time pad actions to cut the time. The first one is the hardest. The third is the easiest; I think I ended up having a few seconds left over on that one. The first two, I've beaten with 0 seconds remaining (but have since improved my times). #retail
Okay I'll bite. Aside from a probable AC 2, I'm looking at either Borderlands, Demon's Souls, or Ratchet and Clank. I've heavily invested in R&C, but I can wait to play it. I've heard Borderlands is addicting, but also heard the same thing about Demon's Souls.
@crabperson really wants Uncharted 2: Demon's Souls is gonna be harder to find much faster. Get it now. Borderlands won't disappear nearly as quickly, nor will Ratchet. #retail
@crabperson really wants Uncharted 2: Atlus is notorious for low print runs. Their games get discontinued very quickly. Demon's Souls sold so fast that Atlus had to print an entirely new run of copies in the first month of launch.
@Archaotic: Oh ok. I'm reading the review IGN has up. You can't pause the game and it gets harder the more times you die?
That's badass, in a good kind of way. Although not really.
A game has yet to be punishingly hard for me this year, although I haven't tried Uncharted 2 on Crushing. I think I'm leaning towards Demon's Souls. #retail
@crabperson really wants Uncharted 2: Let's put it this way, Demon's Souls is a game where I've played for a four hour sitting and ended up making absolutely zero progress (losing all my souls), but the next day I'm still itching to try again.
I hear Borderlands is fun, but it really shines in co-op. Demon's Souls has online play, but it's a solo experience at its core. That may affect your decision. #retail
@crabperson really wants Uncharted 2: There's no pause because of the online nature, but you can save and quit when alone and you'll load back where you left off even if it's in the middle of a level. #retail
Traversing the halls, I find more ghosts than foes. Villains and heroes alike, we are lost in these endless depths hunting for our elusive ends. To hear that the spirit horde grows numerous is emboldening, but it too is frightening. Liars leave their glowing runes among those which read true, and distrust spreads to all. The black phantoms are countless, relentless in their nature. No one alive is spared from the hunt. Friendship is rare, and some allies are unsavory.
We are many who have chosen the path of Demon's Souls, many more than would have been believed. We walk this path of blood. Our cold comfort measured in ghosts, our equals, all lost and damned together. #retail
@Psudonym: wow
the most interesting thing about this game (outside of its cruel awesomeness) is the level of inspiration it has given to the musings of critics' and fans' the game.
Some really beautifully written comments and reviews were because of this game.
Considering Gim Frandango was called the death of the adventure game and Psychonauts came in just after all platformers died. I wonder he if gets down about it much :( #retail
Brutal Legend had great sales for a Tim Schaffer game.. but awful sales for a EA game, full of celebrity voice actors and almost 4 years in development.
I am sad that the most creative game I have ever seen this year is #12.
Let's hope Tim doesn't come down with some disease of not being able to make a huge sales hit with his games. #retail
@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Here to Create a Star Commenter Empire: Tim's problem is that he doesn't seem to understand a game can be original and creative without having horrendous gameplay that is a poor attempt to be unique.
The game could've been a lot better had they been more traditional with the gameplay. The demo? Fantastic. The actual game? Ehh.... #retail
@Rampage: Poor guy, he really had the ball rolling this time around, with the massive advertisement around it.
I blame the poor sales on them not advertising it as an action-rts from the get go. They should've focused more on it so you wouldn't have these whiners going "waah EA tricked me, I can't handle RTS-type playing waah!".
The driving parts are solid, with the Mouth of Metal setting the mood right and the impeccable art design of the whole land nailing it.
I don't think that people are playing the RTS portions correctly, it's all about being down there with your troops dishing out the pain because the strongest attacks in the game are the Double Team attacks! If you pit 4 squads of Headbangers against each other, it's an even match, but if you put Eddie Double Teaming with one of the sides, it's a complete steamroll. Double Teaming, be it with the Drowning Doom's Brides, the Tainted Coil's Pinboy or Ironheade's Razor Girls, is what puts the "action" in "action-RTS" here.
Plus, the multiplayer online battles are a ton of fun. There is a deep imbalance with Fire Baron rushing, but Double Fine's on it.
@Ethereus: "I blame the poor sales on them not advertising it as an action-rts from the get go. "
I would agree with this. I was totally planning to buy it the whole run up to the launch, thinking it was all action-adventure style the whole way through. Then it launched and there was all the RTS talk and Schafer saying "Don't play it in traditional RTS style" and suddenly I had to step back to re-evaluate a decision I'd thought was already made.
I had no idea before then that there were any RTS elements in it at all. And it's not that I have anything against RTS games, but the fact that it was a completely conflicting image with what I thought the game was, I completely froze up and still haven't bought it. #djhero
@ShadowOdin of dubious snowiness: I'm not sure that's true. Perhaps in the US, where dance music isn't all that popular outside of major conurbations, that's the general trend. I find that where I live in Europe though, I know about as many amateur DJs as I do amateur guitarists.
I think one issue is that, for a lot of people, the urge to DJ only really takes off once they're old enough to get into the kind of clubs where serious DJs practice their art. Whereas it's easy for a teenager to get along to rock gigs in a lot of (though not all) venues. Which means that amateur DJing is perhaps a hobby that tends to begin in a person's twenties, rather than teens, and so maybe that under-20 market that Guitar Hero has proved so popular with just isn't there for DJ Hero.
Also, DJ Hero is more about turntablism than about dance music DJing, so even a lot of people who are interested in DJing won't be interested in DJ Hero, because they're not into the hip hop side of things. If I was a heavy metal fan, Guitar Hero might be just what I'm after. But if I was a minimal techno fan, to whom DJing means the precise building of sets, managing the emotional and physical highs and lows of a crowd over a period of hours, then DJ Hero is about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking contest. #djhero
11/17/09
I have a feeling that once Take Two noticed the game was going to sell, and that Walmart and friends (Best Buy, FS) were running it at 39.99 for the first few days, WHICH was advertised on Xbox Live for Canada, they cut supply.
The walmart beside my apt got zero copies. The one 20 minutes away had seven. SEVEN. On launch day, at 9am.
Futureshop had a few, I grabbed mine there, but then they didn't have anymore for a bunch of days.
Most buggered launch ever, and my conspiracy theory brain tells me it was on purpose. SEVEN goddamn copies at walmart? ZERO at the store next to me? #retail
11/17/09
/Pre-ordered Brutal Legend
//Sad panda #retail
11/17/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
ok who forgot to buy Demon's Souls?
Just tell me, i swear that i won't be mad at you ^_^
11/16/09
11/16/09
*cries* I just don't know if I can handle anything that difficult right now!!!! #retail
11/16/09
Pfft try beating the Sigmund challenge in Ratchet and clank, i swear that s*** is impossible ヽ(`Д´)ノ #retail
11/16/09
Impressive performance for a game that isn't mainstream by any stretch of the imagination, especially at this time of the year. Beating Brütal Legend is amazing, considering the strong marketing push behind Schafer's game, as well as the insane amount of hype and free promotion that blogs gave it.
I hope the success of Demon's Souls will inspire "big name" developers and publishers, both for the level of challenge and the very unique online capabilities. #retail
11/16/09
@Curse lily: I didn't buy it.
Go ahead and attack me NOW. #retail
11/16/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
SOMEONE HELP. #retail
11/16/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
Damn this is just asking for a lmgtfy.com link... #retail
11/16/09
That means the game is going fast. #retail
11/16/09
That's badass, in a good kind of way. Although not really.
A game has yet to be punishingly hard for me this year, although I haven't tried Uncharted 2 on Crushing. I think I'm leaning towards Demon's Souls. #retail
11/16/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
I hear Borderlands is fun, but it really shines in co-op. Demon's Souls has online play, but it's a solo experience at its core. That may affect your decision. #retail
11/16/09
11/16/09
We are many who have chosen the path of Demon's Souls, many more than would have been believed. We walk this path of blood. Our cold comfort measured in ghosts, our equals, all lost and damned together. #retail
11/16/09
the most interesting thing about this game (outside of its cruel awesomeness) is the level of inspiration it has given to the musings of critics' and fans' the game.
Some really beautifully written comments and reviews were because of this game.
this is one
11/16/09
I shot an email at Kotaku's tips line: if this doesn't make Week In Comments... #retail
11/16/09
Has Tim ever actually made a game that sold well?
Considering Gim Frandango was called the death of the adventure game and Psychonauts came in just after all platformers died. I wonder he if gets down about it much :( #retail
11/16/09
A shame. #retail
11/16/09
Let's hope Tim doesn't come down with some disease of not being able to make a huge sales hit with his games. #retail
11/16/09
The game could've been a lot better had they been more traditional with the gameplay. The demo? Fantastic. The actual game? Ehh.... #retail
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/13/09
I blame the poor sales on them not advertising it as an action-rts from the get go. They should've focused more on it so you wouldn't have these whiners going "waah EA tricked me, I can't handle RTS-type playing waah!".
The driving parts are solid, with the Mouth of Metal setting the mood right and the impeccable art design of the whole land nailing it.
I don't think that people are playing the RTS portions correctly, it's all about being down there with your troops dishing out the pain because the strongest attacks in the game are the Double Team attacks! If you pit 4 squads of Headbangers against each other, it's an even match, but if you put Eddie Double Teaming with one of the sides, it's a complete steamroll. Double Teaming, be it with the Drowning Doom's Brides, the Tainted Coil's Pinboy or Ironheade's Razor Girls, is what puts the "action" in "action-RTS" here.
Plus, the multiplayer online battles are a ton of fun. There is a deep imbalance with Fire Baron rushing, but Double Fine's on it.
The game is brutally fun. #djhero
11/13/09
"It didn't deserve this." #djhero
11/13/09
I would agree with this. I was totally planning to buy it the whole run up to the launch, thinking it was all action-adventure style the whole way through. Then it launched and there was all the RTS talk and Schafer saying "Don't play it in traditional RTS style" and suddenly I had to step back to re-evaluate a decision I'd thought was already made.
I had no idea before then that there were any RTS elements in it at all. And it's not that I have anything against RTS games, but the fact that it was a completely conflicting image with what I thought the game was, I completely froze up and still haven't bought it. #djhero
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/13/09
Oh well, Tim Shafer still has a chance of landing a gig for Telltale Games. They always make cash, even if it's partly due to low overheads. #djhero
11/13/09
11/13/09
I think one issue is that, for a lot of people, the urge to DJ only really takes off once they're old enough to get into the kind of clubs where serious DJs practice their art. Whereas it's easy for a teenager to get along to rock gigs in a lot of (though not all) venues. Which means that amateur DJing is perhaps a hobby that tends to begin in a person's twenties, rather than teens, and so maybe that under-20 market that Guitar Hero has proved so popular with just isn't there for DJ Hero.
Also, DJ Hero is more about turntablism than about dance music DJing, so even a lot of people who are interested in DJing won't be interested in DJ Hero, because they're not into the hip hop side of things. If I was a heavy metal fan, Guitar Hero might be just what I'm after. But if I was a minimal techno fan, to whom DJing means the precise building of sets, managing the emotional and physical highs and lows of a crowd over a period of hours, then DJ Hero is about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking contest. #djhero