Comments on: Making the case for epic video games

Some developers think epic video games will be long gone in a few years, but Don Reisinger wants to save them. Will it work?

[CARPAINTER69]

I can relate to the lack of time to play I work 11 hours a day and have a family. Money is always tight so I don't have a lot of money to blow on games so I want bang for my buck. I have Oblivion with almost 100 hrs in it, it took 6 months to get there but that just means I spent $10 a month for entertainment. I've played COD2 and GoW and they were fun but I rented them I don't want to drop $60 on something I can beat in a weekend. The DC idea is cool but not if they charge me $60 for 10hrs and then $10 a pop for every 2hours worth of add-on.

[BiggerFatterScott]

The average person never finishes or never bothers to play an epic game; they have too many other things going on in life to waste that kind of time on what is essentially not all that stimulating but incredibly time-consuming. Games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, GTA IV, Shenmue, don't really appeal to them at all. Such games look like 100-hour yawn-festivals.

[BlitzBoy1120]

It's kinda true, but only time can tell.

[kaycon11]

I don't understand the point of this article, I can't remember playing many games that are longer than 50 hours. I mean, Final Fantasy, other JRPGs in general, and some western RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series are a good solid 50+ hours, but thats about the only games I play for more than 50 hours. All the other games I play are no longer than 20. Gears of War, Halo, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, and many others are not that long, in my opinion, I believe games are getting shorter nowadays, only a few still have that 50 hour gameplay tag, and even some that do are kinda cheap in a way, like Grand Theft Auto, You can say that game is a 50+ hour experience, but really, its more like a 20-30 hour experiece if you just do the main mission, the rest is just fooling around, which is fun, and thats what video games are all about.

Bottom line, if people stop making epic games to make short 4-6 hours experiences, some developers will decide to make an epic game in a plea to take over and capture an audience, I mean, could you imagine unleashing a game like MGS4 or Grand Theft Auto 4 when the only games in the market are short 4-6 hour action games that try to imitate movies, I mean sure MGS is kinda like a movie, but there is a certain charm to it that makes it very video gamey and totally reminds you why you like video games, because there are no limits, there are absolutely no rules except have fun.

[techned]

I wish Sega would commit to finishing Shenmue.

That game was waay ahead of its time, literally - it was the first game to use time as part of the environment - changing from day to night and limiting the activities of certain gameplay to a specific time; this is a feature that GTA IV would use a year later that would catapult PS2 to win last-gen console race.
It also was the first game to use the element of stealth in 3D gameplay, before MGS made it popular.

I loved the first game and I bought Shenmue II for Dreamcast, from the UK, with a PAL converter and Headhunter (which only sold only in the UK for Dreamcast, at the time).

Shenmue has an epic storyline that really match the intensity of Final Fantasy VII and it is a shame that it has not been brought to a conclusion.

Whichever console gets Shenmue III - the conclusion - that is the console I'm going to buy!