Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 7:51 AM
Tue Dec 1
65 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us:
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
| AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
| AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
| AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
08/06/09
08/06/09
That's OVERKILL!
08/06/09
Stuff like this brings back memories of working in advertising. It's sometimes heartbreaking to see what a client prefers when you present them with a set number of choices. Fortunately easy way out is not to give them a large choice and always narrow it down.
06/30/09
House of the Dead 4. The arcade game that came out a few years back. With House of the Dead 1 on the same disc, completing the collection for the Wii. I LOVE those games!
06/30/09
Not to mention the fact that "we" are quick to swear off consoles and developers, and quicker still to go back to them, if only to vindicate our initial scorn. "Ah-HA! I knew it was going to blow! Take my money and suck on it, Sega!"
06/30/09
Anyway, MadWorld is a black & white ultra-violent brawler! It would sell as much on any console, and would have cost at least 2 times more to be developed for HD consoles.
06/30/09
06/30/09
Unless someone leaks comprehensive NPD data, a quarterly or yearly report is published, or a company boasts about sales in a press blast then there is not much to talk about beyond "it is not in the top 10 and it sold less than [10th game of the month]."
06/30/09
Gamers like to think that the game world revolves around them but it doesn't. It doesn't revolve around the not the kid market, core gamer market, casual market, etc... It revolves around the people who walk into stores and don't sit on video game websites and just want to play something fun and cool, also known as the mainstream market.
MadWorld is a blast, but it appeals to a small segment of gamers. Even if it wasn't on the Wii it's a basic brawler that's dependent on people wanting to rack up high scores. Anyone expecting high sales was...high. I bought it it's release day and it's fun, but it doesn't have mass appeal.
06/30/09
06/30/09
combine the best of the two. a mature sonic game.
06/30/09
Sega already did that. He's called Shadow the Hedgehog.
06/30/09
Sonic can piss off, what we want is Shinobi, Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle, 2Spicy, Virtua Cop, Spikeout any SEGA arcade classic.
06/30/09
06/30/09
In the end, it's not an easy decision, but I'm glad they're not throwing in the towel just yet.
06/30/09
However most people blame the marketing on everything and most of the time they are right, but sometimes you have to think, Madworld is one of those niche games that most people will look at and maybe forget about the second later.
I do support Sega in trying these new IPs and I will support them in anyway I can. Although I have to say The Conduit was a meh experience for me. :/
06/30/09
06/30/09
I hear people buy things. True or false? Obviously, people want it. Sonic Rush was nice as were the day levels in Unleashed. Not my ideal Sonic game, mind you, but then I haven't truly loved a Sonic game since the second one on Genesis.
I will say there was a time when Sega's gaming focus wasn't aimed at "mature" titles beyond House of the Dead, which itself would be no more than a PG level game. Seems like the company is too focused on being a publisher of late -- admittedly, on some excellent games -- instead of developing its long neglected existing IPs. Yet, for all the clamoring for a new Streets of Rage and the like, what makes anything think the whining and groaning over each successful Sonic release wouldn't adapt itself to Sega's other franchises? Feels like the bulk of Sega's development studios are in disarray.
06/30/09
Now it seems as though they are more concerned with getting something out the door than they are on whether it's a realyl good game or not.
06/30/09
It still does seem that Sega's development studios are largely MIA. AM2 only has two games released this generation in VF5 and Ghost Squad. AM3 has Virtua Tennis 3 and Initial D. The only other non-Sonic console game developed in house is Valkyria Chronicles. Everything else is getting farmed out. Why? Where is everyone?
06/30/09
06/30/09
I tried Madworld. It was sub-par. It was short. It was bloody.
But I didn't buy it.
I'm not paying top bill for a 5 hour game.
Maybe if someone other than Sega made mature games for the Wii. I mean, if SK would get off their lazy butts and make Eternal Darkness 2 for the Wii... geeze, that would be amazing.
But lets just say that besides NMH, Sega hasn't had the best track record.
06/30/09
06/30/09
And I've been enjoying The Conduit non-stop for the past week.
06/30/09
@SaanZ: I think that's part of the problem, I saw NMH for $15 three months after it came out. Now don't get me wrong, I'm more inclined to a deal as the next guy, but at the rate the good games are relegated to the bargain bin, any increase in sales probably won't help make up what they lost when it was selling at full price. I just hope Sega and others stick to their guns, but I'm sure, most people anticipate the price drop anyway.
@Witzbold: As always, thanks for the knowledge!
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
IMHO anyway.
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
Gears wasn't that fun. I found it ugly and colorless. And the steroidal anti-heroes were completely immature. Or rather, what a 15 year old might consider mature. And the cover system was anything but revolutionary. Kill.Switch came out years before and was nearly identical. Even games like 007 Everything or Nothing had already done similar cover systems. No, Gears of War was hugely successful because it scratched that itch that the majority of teen males have to shoot big guns held by bigger, freakishly muscled space marines. And the online community was really solid.
01/20/09
01/19/09