Comments on: Why I'm boycotting first-person shooters

Don Reisinger is boycotting first-person shooters until something changes in the video game industry. He wants more unique games and he's willing to bet he's not alone.

[mikerentas]

Saying that Nintendo's winning because of innovation is leaving out a lot. Price is a huge factor there, too.

[moopenguin32]

It has to be more than price. If price is the reason Nintendo is winning, then the Gamecube and Nintendo 64 would have won during their generation.

A lot of people are tired of the same old games (I'm one of them). Having played video games for over 20 years, it's nice to see something different out there like the Wii and the games it offers.

[Ugotownedo]

The reason price matters now is because back then, nobody would have gotten into gaming because it was still widely viewed as being "uncool/nerdy." Now, with games like Guitar Hero, Rockband, Wii Sports, etc, it's "cool" to play those games. All the chicks love em', that's for sure.

[brianowright]

Unfortunately the Wii with its wii-mote seems to be more of a fad than a gaming revolution right now. I don't own a wii but when I see my roommate playing games it seems that most of them have you waving your wii-mote wildly about. Plus, many people own Wii's since they are cheap but lose interest in playing quickly after purchasing a new game.

FPS's are still very fun and enjoyable on the PC. FPS's really lose that edge on a console. Maybe you should say that FPS's on consoles are sagnant?

[aztec92154]

Show me more games like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" that people can feature at parties to enhance the night (Wii, PS3, XBOX360). Show me more games like Wii sports, or Wii fit. I love games that are simple to play and tough to master! There are examples of games are the true innovation of our times.

I hope Nintendo (and innovative third party publishers) move the gaming industry away from what has become a sequel based orthodox (Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Command and Conquer, Age of Empires, The Sims, Sim City, Pokemon, Need for Speed, Grand Turismo). Don't get me wrong, some of the game sequels are great, but I just want something NEW.

[Ugotownedo]

While I admit that there are a lot of movie-wannabe games out there, and that a lot of games are unoriginal, you'll be missing out on some great games if you boycott FPSs.

[Dragon_Myr]

While I agree with most of the points in this article, I have to disagree on the way sequel is used. Yes, the majority of games have derivative products which are sequels. However, some treat their name as a brand instead. It would be nice if more franchises became brands instead of endless derivative sequels. However, the suits know what has sold in the past and want to go with the same sort of stuff endlessly. Changing their behavior is not going to work, which is why barriers to entry into the market need to be lowered. The console market, in particular, has relatively high barriers to entry. There are always the exceptions to poor sequels as well.

FPS games are a dime a dozen these days. I don't see why anyone would even fathom playing them all.

[avermeer]

I played guitar hero decades ago. It was called "Simon" then, but it's pretty much the same.

[MarkButler1000]

I love fps games but I never understood why they always sacrifice gameplay for cutting edge graphics. I would be happy with Half-Life 1 graphics if the game were good. Stop worrying about bizarre new weapons and useless weird powers and just make a good game!

p.s. don't give up on them, just pick and choose and wait for good ones, they will arrive albeit slowly.

[Acjaz]

I wish you would have pushed this viewpoint in the twit podcast a bit more. The entire panel seemed to poopoo the Nintendo products as if they were insignificant. The panel seemed to get a lot of facts wrong such as the Wii not selling much software. However if you look at the actual statistics, software for Nintendo platforms is selling quite well.

I don't really blame you, the panel was a bit biased towards hardcore gaming and there should have been someone to represent the casual gaming movement.

[hexjones]

About First-Person Shooters being derivative: I used to think the same thing, then Unreal came out. Then Half-Life came out. Then Deus Ex. Then Halo. Half-Life 2, Portal, Fallout 3 all hit the scene. I won't be boycotting FPS because then I'd be turning my back on some great games.

Boycotting FPS is like boycotting a film genre like comedy and then missing Borat or 40 Year Old Virgin.

* Please excuse me if the release sequence is out of order, this is the order that I played those games in.

[hexjones]

P.S. I thought you gave up the Wii, Reisinger? I guess a blogger doesn't really have to be internally consistant.