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Next-Gen.biz: Gaffes and Blunders in 2006
>> From next-gen.biz:
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It's that time again. The videogame industry has commenced its end of year back-patting ritual, congratulating itself for another year of fine games and good business. While it's true that some good things did happen, we should also recall those dubious achievements that set new standards for failure.
10. Phantom: Four Years of Nada
09. Microsoft's Non-Exclusive Exclusive
With third parties granting fewer platform exclusives, Microsoft scored big. The two primary soccer franchises, Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami and FIFA from Electronic Arts, would be found only on the Microsoft Xbox 360 for an entire year. Industry analysts were impressed that the Xbox 360 was proving so attractive. Sony fans were in deep shock that the PlayStation 3 had been passed over before it had even been properly born. And Konami executives were similarly floored that Microsoft had a lock on their game without cutting them in on the deal.
Konami put out a short press release to set the record straight, and confirmed to reporters that Microsoft had in no way secured a next-gen exclusivity deal. Microsoft with the own goal. Well played.
08. Jack Hits Gulf States
07. Nintendo Says 'when hand gets sweaty, simply wipe 'em'
06. When Hollywood Schemers Attack
Microsoft is a big and sometimes implacably nasty company, but it could not beat the wiles of Hollywood's deal-makers. The Halo movie looks to be dead, done under by dirty deals.
05. Gizmondo Crashes, Exec Follows Suit
04. How much do you want for Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A?
Sales of nothingness -- virtual items and downloadable games -- are booming this year. However, consumer frustration with the evolving system may be increasing at an even greater rate, and that's bad business.
Really, can you blame the poor videogame consumer? Here we have Electronic Arts trying to sell cheat codes, Bethesda asking $2.50 to put virtual armor on a virtual horse. Consumers can already see where this is headed: publishers lure players in with a low fee up front and then bleed the wallet dry with a thousand tiny downloads.
03. Bill of Rights -- Void Where Prohibited by Law
The state governments of Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and of course Illinois each passed a law restricting the sales of videogames, and each has been stopped by the courts. Apparently there are things called "constitutions" which grant "rights" like "free speech" which "activist judges" are using to strike down the very laws which will protect our children from rock and r...videogames.
02. E3 'Really Not Dead' Say Chumps
01. Headline Writers Conjoin 'Sony' and 'Woes'
Sony's 2006 was mainly about an absence of things to sell, which the company said would be there but which weren't even though lots of people wanted to buy them. Oooof.
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Read More: next-gen.biz (3 pages)
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