You CoD bashers sound like ungrateful morons. Would you be happy if it wasnt released on PC at all like Halo games? Less PC games is a good thing? Would it be better if they waited 12 months after releasing console version to release the pc version which some poorly tacked on dx11 effects like some developers.
COD is one of the worst things to happen to gaming, period. It introduced the dreaded DLC, it introduced the idea that you can rehash the same game for 5 years in a row with minimal improvements in physics, AI, graphics. It made it seem normal that games should cost $60+$40 DLC = $100. It made it seem acceptable to have uninspiring linear FPS campaigns with no thinking involved. It meant that other game studios decided to copy the COD formula: make games even more accessible (health regeneration), hand-holding, guiding you throughout the entire game. In the process games like MOH and Crysis followed this path and got ruined too. The same thing is happening to Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, etc. It's not COD but the entire model that it brought that changed gaming forever. COD is like Justin Bieber and Britney Spears - it's crazy popular but once it fades, the industry will find itself in a rut since for 10 years they never bothered to learn how to make an interesting game. They are putting all their marbles into COD and if it goes the way of Guitar Hero, then what's their contingency plan? You can't make a totally different game if all you know how do it is make linear corridor style FPS games like COD. The COD model assumes future gamers will want games as watered down as COD is. They may be right as COD franchise is growing.
It would be better if COD was released every 3-4 years, with brand new graphics, animations, improved AI, physics and a solid campaign, no health regeneration, no hand-holding, no scripted events asking you to press a mouse button to watch 2 minutes of movie like sequence. You know like FPS games were made in the past. Go play Half Life 1 Black Mesa mod and then play COD and tell me which game is more innovative. COD now is just like a Transformers Hollywood movie - explosions, non-stop action, but after you finish the game you feel 0 satisfaction, you learned nothing, you didn't get challenged once.
It's like having 8 Transformers movies released in a row. Imagine 8-10 more COD games for next generation consoles. COD has now become the Madden of FPS games.
The graphics have improved compared to other COD? Not really. MW1 looks no worse than BO2. Besides, BO2 is not competing against older COD games, but against modern FPS like Crysis, Metro 2033. Even Unreal Tournament III and Far Cry 2 look better than BO2 and those games are from 2008.
People do not want to think anymore. People do not want games that challenge them to have to think. Go look at all the thousands of threads for any challenging game (even some non challenging ones) of people asking for walkthroughs, guides and how to beat X missions. Nobody wants to take the time to accomplish it for themselves anymore.
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Ultimately the game makers will go where the money is and COD is a cash cow. The will continue to make it and rip it off because the masses will buy it. Since the games sell millions of copies they won't care about pushing the graphics envelope they'll just keep pushing out a mediocre product and raping in the rewards.
Excellent post.
The sales of Witcher 2 and Dishonored are an eye-opener at the sad state of gameplay young generation of gamers desire today. I don't think our generation wanted mindless/brain-dead shooters all the time only. I guess all the young kids being born don't know any better since they never started gaming in the 80s and probably missed a large part of the 90s. Like seriously health regeneration in a game? That's the most ridiculous thing in modern games. If a person gets shot in real life, they don't regenerate health. When I used to play Goldeneye 007, we always set it to Hardcore mode - 1 shot you die.
Witcher 2 only sold 530K units on Xbox 360. Dishonored barely cracked 550K on P3 and only 750K on 360. Ouch!
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/52941/dishonored/
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/46887/the-witcher-2-assassins-of-kings/
There is nothing wrong with COD per say, but because so many millions spend $ on COD annually, and gamers have limited funds, there is not enough $ to be left over for great games like Dishonored and Witcher 2 to be made because COD fanboys give $60-100 to Activision every year! If gamers aren't rewarding small studios who make unique games, what's the future, the entire FPS genre will become MMS COD style clones, with BF being the only other alternative?
This video is hilarious:
If Doom was done today (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NURfvG0lfpA
I hope Far Cry 3 will sell well as it looks like a huge sandbox style game. There is nothing we can do really, besides voting with your wallet. If 25 million people want to buy COD, and that's the type of games the masses want, then the average FPS game will try to aim to be like COD. We've already seen many franchises being watered down.