End of Indie Games?

[indiemaker]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050427/media_nm/media_videogames_turner_dc_5


Turner Broadcasting announces they will launch an online netowrk that will let subscribers play classic video games.

[Coyote]

Just like cable TV's channels like AMC showing tons of classic movies brought an end to the indie movie industry...

[Ricardo C]

Yeah, I'm not sure I follow indiemaker's conclusion. If anything, Turner's venture might awaken the retro gaming fever in more mainstream gamers, the kind that don't mess around with emulators, and end up widening the market for indie remakes of old classics.

[indiemaker]

thousands of classic games for snes, nes, pc for download.

how can indie gamers compete with that?

[Chaster]

thousands of classic games for snes, nes, pc for download.

how can indie gamers compete with that?

Uh, the same way any other game maker competes with it? Make games which are different?

You seem to be of the opinion that "indie games = classic games" when that's not really true most of the time.

[adamw]

I see this as really good news. It's a way to broaden the market for downloadable games. And that means people who will see the old games, tire of them, and long from something different - that's where we step in.

It's also good because it means PC gaming might get some new life. What I've been fearing lately is the end of PC gaming, replaced by essentially closed (to Indie developers and channels) console gaming.

[indiemaker]

I see this as really good news. It's a way to broaden the market for downloadable games. And that means people who will see the old games, tire of them, and long from something different - that's where we step in.

It's also good because it means PC gaming might get some new life. What I've been fearing lately is the end of PC gaming, replaced by essentially closed (to Indie developers and channels) console gaming.


End of PC gaming? Nah..I doubt that will happen. Console games are quite limited in what they can do. They are very good for arcade games but not much else. PC's are much more versatile since it has a hard disk, and keyboard. And you can always play games on a laptop.

[KNau]

The fuel behind most of the online indie games market is mature gamers ("soccer moms") and if they can't be troubled to learn how to right click the mouse during a game they aren't going to bother with retro-games at all. The younger market (<18) also isn't likely to be interested so I wouldn't worry too much about this turn of events - if it ever materializes as anything other than a novelty.

[Reactor]

While they download, Turner will serve up streaming video clips with news, entertainment, and cross-promotions for movies and other properties.

Yes, as gamers are always happy having their downloads slowed with what they could see on the TV.

[GBGames]

Because NES titles were always known for being more than a single MB. B-)

I think the ads will have to be really quick, or the player might be annoyed that they have to wait for an ad to play when the game has been downloaded and ready for minutes already.

[Nexic]

In general I'd say most indie games, based on classics are better than the original. This is simply because the old games don't have the whole easy to use thing going for them, and they certainly don't have better graphics.

[Coyote]

I have some emulators and old classic games (in fact, I still have some of them in their original boxes, I'm a nut that way).

How will BreakQuest and Ricochet compete with Breakout?!?! Or Aquanoid? If you don't have an answer to that question, you aren't paying attention. Go to the back of the class. I have Aquanoid. I also purchased Ricochet: Lost Worlds a few months ago. Lost Worlds was a new, in many ways better, and certainly a different game. I love Galaga. I also enjoy modern "Galaga"-style shooters.

If you are creating independent games, you should have a vision that you are not only competing against current indie offerings, but also current MAINSTREAM offerings, as well as the entire history of games stretching back to whatever someone can run on an emulator. If you haven't been doing that, start. Keep thinking:

* Newer
* Better
* Different

[impossible]

End of PC gaming? Nah..I doubt that will happen. Console games are quite limited in what they can do. They are very good for arcade games but not much else. PC's are much more versatile since it has a hard disk, and keyboard. And you can always play games on a laptop.
While this was true 10 years ago, I dont think its true at all now, and will be an even less valid comment in the next generation. Consoles are getting more and more PC style games, genres that were once almost exclusively PC are now very popular on consoles. While a keyboard is nice, its not really necessary for most games. I don't see PC gaming going away, but I do see a situation where almost all games, with the exception of a few hardcore strategy titles, available for PC are also available for a console.

[cliffski]

consoles mean TV, and in my case, If I sat playing games all night on the TV, my other half would miss her TV shows. I also like being able to check email and surf and so on, at the same seat where I blast bad guys in Call of Duty.
I can't ever see a day where I would be tempted to play a console game. Consoles mean some board of directors deciding what games are allowed to be made for that machine. Screw that. I love the free-for-all anarchy that is PC games.

[dan]

I don't have an issue with retro gaming for download. Different distribution schemes have possibilities all by themselves.

But even assuming this avenue is shut off from indies, you still have far less competition from the big software houses in the niches. The money is in massive online games and the occasional AAA shooter.

It's never perfect, but there are some options to explore.

[Fry Crayola]

For years, ROMS have been illegally available, both for download and in certain cases in stores.

That hasn't had any impact on indie games. I fail to see why this will either.

Indie games will always offer something, even when the entire industry moves to online distribution (if that ever happens).

[terin]

The Sky is Falling! Run for it!

*Hides under his desk*

(I've had too much sugar today)

-Joe

PS: Thanks for the newspost anyway, I think we should all thank anyone who takes the time to post important news, even if it isn't as "End of the Universe" as they may suspect. Still good to know who's innovating... or in this case "Reinnovating."

[Coyote]

Renovating, maybe?

:)

[DangerCode]

thousands of classic games for snes, nes, pc for download.

how can indie gamers compete with that?

Hasn't that been the case for the past 10 years or so now anyway?

[Coyote]

The trick being that you had to know what you were doing to get the ROMs for emulation - the publishers who owned the IP started cracking down on that sort of thing about 4 - 5 years ago. That is NOT very accessible to a non-hardcore audience.

[DangerCode]

The trick being that you had to know what you were doing to get the ROMs for emulation - the publishers who owned the IP started cracking down on that sort of thing about 4 - 5 years ago. That is NOT very accessible to a non-hardcore audience.

Yeah, there's something to that but I have my doubts that anything Turner Broadcasting puts together will be too accessible either. I bet you dollars to donuts there going to try to have people play these games using their remote control much like the gaming service already provided through Time Warner Cable. It's pretty lame.

I'm not worried. Surely I'm not the only one old enough to remeber when the movie theatre industry was all doom and gloom over the introduction of the VCR? ;)

[Sparks]

I also tend to think that new is better than old in most cases, and if You look at teh quality of games like Ricochet, You will instantly see the difference to Arkanoid.
As casual as gamers come, I doubt that playing a 20 year old game with blocky 4 colour graphics will make them happy, if they can play prettier games on their handy ;)

[Greg Squire]

I happen to think that this might be good thing. It could bring "legitimacy" into the emulation scene and further open up a legal market for ROMs (Note: some of this market has been created by StarRoms.com, but they only have some Atari ROMs at the moment). Also, as Coyote mentioned, this would also make emulation accessible to a more casual audience, thus making retro gaming even bigger. Overall, I think this will have an effect of increasing the demand for smaller, simpler, easily accessible games (sound familiar), and some of that will be independent games. I don't think that GameTap would be our competition any more than MAME (and other emulators), or other indies are our competitors. I think it will only compliment. As for emulators (like MAME), I think it will also bring them out of the gray area that they are in. It could very well increase emulator use across the board.

[Anthony Flack]

I also tend to think that new is better than old in most cases

Look at it this way. If you take the 3 best games of the year from each of the last 20 years, you'll still have more fun than you would with the best 60 games from this year, regardless of tech.

[gpetersz]

What worries me is MY own attitude!

I haven't cared about freeware stuff for long, but recently (1 month ago) I was recommended some sites (incl www.sourceforge.net, where, I was suprised, games can be found as well).

Usually I thought of freeware games as low-quality in graphics, sound and many times in coding as well. But as I see now the amount of freeware titles just reached so high that even if 1 worths a look from 20 then there is huge numbers where you can find quality games.

I've just bought a dance-mat for my wife (you know, asian guys and girls just love it, you might see it in Jean Reno's "Wasabi") with the supplied software, but I found an open source one (www.stepmania.com) what is a WAY BETTER then the "official one", and FREE. It is so with lots of casual freeware titles (has anybody see the adventures of Sven the sheep?) that I was shocked.

I think I have to think of "extras" to my indie-shareware model I am just starting right now, to make it really successful. The challenge is great.

I know there are many cons beside the pros with Freeware but one thing is sure: the quality and amount of good freeware titles has just grown a lot in the last 5 years!

And what has it got to do with my attitude? Since that I am browsing lots of freeware game sites and my (and my family's) needs of new games satisfied by them utterly....
:eek:

[Battleline]

The trick being that you had to know what you were doing to get the ROMs for emulation - the publishers who owned the IP started cracking down on that sort of thing about 4 - 5 years ago. That is NOT very accessible to a non-hardcore audience.

I don't know, there are a lot of people I know who are still running amok with ROM downloads.

[electronicStar]

I also tend to think that new is better than old in most cases, and if You look at teh quality of games like Ricochet, You will instantly see the difference to Arkanoid.
As casual as gamers come, I doubt that playing a 20 year old game with blocky 4 colour graphics will make them happy, if they can play prettier games on their handy ;)
Ah! I take it you didn't play MULE on an atari 800 emulator...;)