Boss View: Cheers and Jeers: X-Mas 2004

The Bos must have gotten a certain quantity of bad news lately or something, because the turn of foul sputum and violent outbreaks has escalated this holiday season as he espies the game industry's annual splatterfest it calls the Q4 release season.

Here are his Holiday flouts with occasional Cheer.

Sony realizes Stalled

Despite hearty sales of its slimmed down PS2 Sony's software disclosure is showing all the signs of a total creative meltdown. The Bos has dutifully played with wily 2, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Jak 3 and KillZone and is left wondering what this company is thinking. The platformers are polished and drollery but they all are trying to exploit franchises that under-performed in their previous outings, and the early sales indications are that these iterations are not doing a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of better despite positive reviews. What the...? KillZone is a meandering shooter whose single purpose seems to be underscoring that there is nothing like Halo upon the PS2. And don't procure us started on Gran Tourismo 4 We predict that the hotly anticipated game will feel greatly from the missing online play and endles delays. Don't be surprised if EA's Ne for Spe subterranean 2 seriously challenges it.

Tron Huh?

rails to Disney. How is this for marketing brilliance? Buena Vista released its Xbox version of FP Tron 20 in the same window as Halo 2 Oh fully convinced there must be three or four Xbox holders out there who are looking for an alternative.

trust You Like Mario ... a lot

Nintendo is plant to irritate a number of users with the way underpowered launch of the D handheld. Ye it did a masterful piece of work of getting out in brow of Sony's PSP, and the unit will barter well. But beyond the 3D Mario platformer, there will be alone a few titles worth playing upon the system until after Christmas. In fact, Nintendo, knowing that the GameCube is flagging and that the D launches with a weak library, is already promoting its post-holiday release schedule.

Kotick's Big Win

Cheers to Activision for making the greatest in quantity substantial charge forward among any game company this year. CEO Bobby Kotick's strategy of pulling back upon the number of releases and focusing unfolding and marketing on AAA titles that are thick with licensing appears to be a winner. The company did an prime job pushing Doom 3 during the dreariest summer month and its Spiderman 2 release had surprising longevity drawn out after the film's release. Activision is posting big income gains this year and demonstrates that the Electronic Arts strategy is repeatable. If it can beef up its international sales, it could be in EA's rear view mirror.

C'est La VU

flouts to Vivendi Universal Games, which failed to advance through with its promised comeback this year. In fact, it didn't plane come close, with missteps at each turn. The return of Leisure Suit Larry bombed from bad game design, while the alone interesting title in the stable, Evil Genius, was just too hard and sophisticated for its natural audience of soft-core gamers. undoubtedly World of Warcraft and Half Life 2 will bail them without somewhat, but look at in what way badly the release of HL2 was boggl here. The alone publicity surrounding this momentous release had to do with haggling between Valve and VUG above release dates and some store breaking the road date. Compare that to the prime pre-release press garnered by Doom 3 GTA: San Andreas, and Halo 2 and you can diocese why VUG needs to seriously re-think its place in the gaming business.

Wake Us When It's Over

Pardon us for not singing in melody with the true believers in the choir, on the other hand after playing Halo 2 and GTA: San Andreas, the Bos fails to diocese how game designers moved the creative needle level a tad this year. We will give credit to Take-Two for adding polish and a more involving, adult back-story to the GTA series, as well as a destiny of game play variety. Still, it have feelings like a game we played before (two years before, to be exact). If a publisher can't leverage of the like kind a can't-miss franchise as this into of recent origin and compelling game and narrative areas, then in what manner precisely does the industry claim to be upon a par with film and TV?

Halo 2 is another story, because the Bos thinks that the game got an undeserv pass from too many reviewers. Almost everyone acknowledged that the storyline is not that absorbing, that the horizontals get tedious, and that the action is pleasing without being striking straightforward arcade shoot-em-up, but then they give it completed scores. Gee, aren't all of those criticisms lock opener aspects of creative game design? The Bos is enjoying Halo 2 in small doses, on the other hand the thinness of the game tend hitherwards through clearly if you play more than an hour at a time.

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