Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, A-Rod discovering how to play in the post-season, Apple’s $999 unibody MacBook, or T-Mobile’s mysterious Project Dark, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Borderlands is one of those games that I hope sells likes crazy, but probably won’t. While I won’t go as far as to say the game has been “sent to die”, like Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter did, I acknowledge that it has several things going against it. Even though it’s an action-RPG, a lot of people view it as a shooter based on screenshots and Gearbox Software’s history. This is an extraordinarily crappy time to release a shooter — especially a new franchise. Halo 3: ODST recently came out and Modern Warfare 2 is a few weeks away. While all three games are different enough, there’s definitely a lot of audience overlap and a limited amount of dollars that can be spent. Most people are going to go with the sequels to established franchises instead of the new game with the funky art.
I hope I’m wrong — I really do. Borderlands is the kind of game we should all be supporting. The developer has a strong track record, the reviews have been great, the game is unique, and the art style rocks (well, it rocks me anyway). A lot of people complain that the gaming business is too sequel happy and not enough effort has been made to generate new IPs. Well here’s your chance to stand up for originality and against sequel-itis!
Of course it’s your money and you should do what you want with it. You should buy whatever game you think will entertain you the most. It’s just upsetting that a good, original game from a quality developer is likely to get brushed aside in favor of sequels. Again, I hope I’m wrong and Borderlands sells millions of copies.
With all of that in mind, here are my questions for you this morning. Does supporting originality or developers come into play when you buy games? Or is it all about entertainment for you?
I like to support originality. Even more so when that new IP is really entertaining. To be honest though, I consider high production values almost as much. I bought 3 games in the last week and have MW2 Prestige Edition pre-ordered on the Amazon. I don't really have the funds to snag Borderlands. Bad time of the year to release a new IP. Holiday season is all about big names, and sequels.
I see Borderlands and I think "I just put 100+ Hrs into Fallout 3." Maybe that's not fair to the game, but I'm just not ready to dive right back into another Post-Apocalyptic Action RPG. I kinda feel the same way about Rage to be honest, but at least that's far enough off that perhaps I'll be more openminded when it finally comes out.
Either way, I've got Borderlands in my Gamefly Q. But so far in this fall's lineup I bought Madden NFL 10, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Brutal Legend, & FIFA 10, plus I've got Dragon Age: Origins & Assassin's Creed 2 on preorder. There comes a point when I've gotta just say, "No more. It's a rental."
do video game companies really need to sell their games for 60 bucks to turn a profit?
if this game were 30 bucks id get it, just cant see myself paying 60 when i just bought 5 games and i still have to buy GOW hd, assassins creed and mw2 next month
if you are confident youve made a great game, get us to buy it by selling it cheap. If the game turns out to great, youll have lots of repeat customers when the sequel drops
that being said, maybe these guys are great devs, like ray seems to believe, but why couldnt this game come out in august? Do you realize how desperate i was for a good new game in august?
as it stands this game is being added to my back log
seriously, why the hell would you drop this game now?
metacritic 85, so it IS a good game….whoever decided to drop this game in november is a complete tool
@Thundercracker: they can't push EVERYTHING off…..
release it earlier then…reading the ign review, this game sounds like a blast, i will get this game…eventually
ill shutup in a second, but i thought id share this tidbit
got an email saying that if you preorder mw2 through amazon, you get a 15 dollar credit towards a future amazon game purchase….so you COULD get this game for 45, or God of war HD for 25…
I'd assume that it wasn't done earlier. Or at least no early enough to get out over the summer. I'd rather have to play it later than to get a game that's not finished just so I have something to play.
you are right, the release date was brilliant
@Thundercracker
That was my sentiment…why release a new game right now? It seems that alot of titles were pushed back for various reasons (read MW2 releases this fall). If this game would have dropped at the beginning of summer or something, i'd have been all over it. Right now, I have bought Demon's Souls, Brutal Legend, UC2, pre-ordered MW2 prestige and am trying to find the funds to get NBA 2k10.
Oh no, I'm not saying it's a great date either. But you don't want it early if it's not finished. And with all the big games coming out in Q1, when are they supposed to release it? are they supposed to hold it till Q2? Q3?!? At some point they've gotta try and get some return on the investment they put into making the game.
i just think they should have timed the release for earlier this year, if that meant starting the game earlier, or working harder on it to get it done. If it had been released in sept, i would have bought it. Right now, my wallet is kind of angry at me, and i dont have the heart to tell it that its gonna have to drop another 160 ( at least) next month. Ive gotta let this one go, for now
R2 was rushed I felt
Hindsight is always 20/20. But I'm sure when they started making the game 2-3 years ago they didn't know how crowded the release window was gonna be.
this game will be 40 bucks next month
I hope it is 40 bucks next month. That will make things a bit easier.
@thunder, I agree about Resistance 2. I loved the first one but I think 2 just got caught in the middle of all the AAA releases of last holiday season and got left behind. I bought it and only ended up playing a couple of hours of it. I don't think there was enough improvements over the original. truth be told I liked the way the story was told in the first more than anything. and that was gone.
On topic. I would like to play borderlands but the timing is off for me too. I don't plan on getting MW2 but between playing Uncharted 2 and ODST I just don't have time to put in to this game before Assasin's Creed 2 and Dragon Age comes out. I'll definitely get it sometime as I've added it to my back log but maybe it is a rental? most FPSs can be completed in 8-12 hours and I'm not really interested in multiplayer. I just wonder how much replay value it has
The SP of R2 was fun, but the MP just blew
BORDERLANDS – I rented it yesterday and thought I wouldn't have any time to play it. But after class last night around 9 i popped it in for what i thought would be just a second. I played until almost 2am. Its very fun and at time tough (if you aren't leveled up enough. It does feel very much like Fallout 3 with some MadMax. The variety of weapon I have already encountered is staggering. And there is a ton of stuff to do. Missions come from everyone. I like the graphics on it. At first they were noticeably cel-shaded graphics, a few hours in and I didn't even notice. I like it. Probably going to buy it once my rental has to go back. I only played the SP stuff so no clue how the MP is, but it does offer real person sitting next to you co-op.
im just upset i never got to share a pokeball with brian leahy
whatever the hell a pokeball is
@thunder
I wouldn't poke your ball… it might ooze
@slicky
I didn't like Fallout 3. If I didn't like Fallout 3 would I like Borderlands?
disliked fallout 3 because of VATS and the fact I couldn't shoot people and make it work.
Best portrayal of a Pokeball was on RobotChicken. Pikachu went back inside his and partied like crazy with a bunch of girl Pikachus and when it was time to come out he grab a drink and I think he did a line and came back out to fight. It reminded me of Barbara Eden's bottle on I Dream of Jeannie when they showed the inside.
@smart guy
well you've got an RPG with FPS elements and an FPS with RPG elements. I wouldn't have recommended Fallout to anyone that was an FPS fan but Borderlands seems to have minor RPG elements. the core is definitely still FPS though
Yeah it has no VATS. Also the guns have accuracy, damage and fire rate stats and then you can build proficiency on each type of gun by using it more so you rely more on that stuff for how well a gun will work.. Also the random gun generator it kinda of like on Too Human. You can have a base model gun and then randomly find an identical gun but it has 43% more damage and can set ppl on fire.
There is no storing stuff up and saving it to sell really since you can only hold 12 item in your backpack at one time. You get more when you level up i think. No one drops armor and stuff it generally ammo, money, maybe a gun, when you it they drop health, and rarely a shield generator. You get skill points to spend on things like more bullet damage or more health.
I'm getting a great game regardless, but if I like the dev I will buy a good game because of it.
@slicky
Thanks. That game sounds great actually. I prefer the RPG elements to be on the gun itself not the character necessarily.
Its a very fun game and I hope everyone gives it a chance. Like I said I will be buying Borderlands in a few days.
Well I just sent back the steaming pile that was Wet to Gamefly yesterday, so maybe I'll get lucky and get Borderlands next.
@Nightshade
I wrote Wet off when I saw the hot girl on the cover. Wouldn't need to do that if it were a good game. Also ZeroPunctuation's review was the nail in its coffin for me.
@Slickyfats: I was hopeful, yet realistic about it. I liked the concept of the action game with a grindhouse feel. I was hoping it would be more than just Stranglehold 2 with boobs though.
@Thundercracker There's still time to share a Pokeball with him. You never know what will happen in the future. Ha! 2K pushed a bunch of games to Q1 and wanted to keep something for this year. The good news is that it won't be competing with BioShock 2 within the same company. The bad news is that there's tons of stiff competition out there.
WET was horrible. I played the demo and felt the game failed because of the slo-mo. Just a bad game in my opinion.
I have a late confession to the guilty gaming pleasure: I can't wait to buy the Fitty Cent game after Christmas. The first one was good and just so over the top…the sequel should be just what I am looking for.
@ray
are you and berghammer friends or at least friendly?
just wondering what hes up to. I personally dont really like the guy, but dude has a killer resume, but so do you
@Thundercracker He's taking some time off to travel and do fun things. Professionally, he has some things in the works. Hopefully I'll be seeing him soon. Dude has my limited edition shirt that the people at Yuke's Yokohama gave me.
I've known Billy for like nine years and have had lots of fun with him. Here's a pic of him from my favorite dive bar in San Francisco (Chinatown!!!).
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1355/729101578_7da…
ok, well im off, ill see you tomorrow
i love you all
I've read that the PS3 version of Borderlands has a broken co-op component. That's not good.
I hadnt preordered MW2 yet gonna order through amazon for the 15.00 credit may use it for borderlands.
Christmas is fast approaching so games are gonna be on hold until after the holidays Mw2 borderlands and GOW HD probably my last games of 09.Though I really want demons souls!
Off topic I read Bayonetta got a perfrect score from Famitsu.On 360 38/40 on PS3.That one wasnt even on my radar may have to rent it.Never cared for devil may cry which bayonetta looked like to me.
I guess PS3 had some framerate issues.
PS3 version was ported by SEGA and hasn't been running as smoothly as the 360 version, which is the platform the developers built the game on.
A perfect score on the 360 though? I find that somewhat laughable.
@RRODisHere Patch is already in the works.
@Trikkey It is extremely difficult to go "off topic" in Coffee Talk.
@ Ray Well I will drop that prefix from future posts then :) I was about to respond to RROD about a patch hopefully it comes quickly.
Heres the link for Bayonetta for anyone interested.
http://news.spong.com/article/19541/Famitsu-Gives…
@Trikkey Ha! It's all cool. Hell, I think 33% of the Coffee Talk comments are NFL related.
Yea I saw that yesterday but didnt really have time to throw my hat in the ring.Good games Both Sunday and Monday though.
I realized after I posted my list of 09 games I neglected to add R&C future …..
Im so broke and Q1 not looking good either lol or my Q1 anyways.Too many games too little time too little dough.
I know a patch is coming but still, that's just unacceptable. Did they not test the PS3 version? That's the problem I have with small devs, they don't put 100% effort into the PS3 version. You never hear of the PS3 version of EA, Capcom, and Ubisoft games having problems because they take pride in their games and won't release broken games. Speaking of Bayonetta, the small dev that made that game won't even attempt the PS3 version. They just passed it to Sega and said do what you want. Where's the pride? Needless to say, they won't get my money.
@Ray
Tis the season for gridiron talk though. It happens. Especially with damn Falcons fans in the forums.
the video review is awesome, looks like resistance co-op, but much better
dont tell anyone, but i was kind of disappointed with resistance 2. It was still a good game, but i felt it had big time flaws…thats just my opinion though
I’m always willing to try something once. I will rent this and try to make time for it. i’m not a big RPG gamer so who knows but i agree that this is bad timing for Borderlands.
RROD: I agree with RROD they never really take there time on the ps3 version. Ps3 always get shafted!
Bayonetta won't get my money either. I don't think many people will even get that game.
Speaking of football, The Steelers (fresh off of 2 citations) are playing The Almighty Favre and the Vikings this week. We have a predominately healthy team… but I'm still sweating it.
Favre v Polomalu should be interesting though.
@N8R;
Good luck with Farve and the Vikings. They are a great team this year. But be sure not to miss the upset in Miami as the Dolphins put Drew Brees in his place! I'll be at the game making sure the 'Fins win.
-M
@RRODisHere I wouldn't say it's a lack of pride. Platinum Games isn't a large company. Furthermore, it's not really up to them. That's the publishers call.
@Smartguy I'm happy about all the NFL talk. I like that the discussion is more diverse here. Just wait until January, when American Idol starts. Ha!
@N8R Favre > Thor
@Iceman
HAHAHAHAHAHA. Crewe de'Drew in Miami my friend.
@N8R
Steelers should win. Vikes have barely held onto 4th quarter leads and should have lost two of their last six games. Though Favre is a monster and shows why he is a living legend every week, I still think Steelers pull it out.
@Iceman
You aren't bitter that Saban pissed Brees off and he never gave Miami the chance to really sign him are you?
@ Smartguy
First off… the french euphemisms are awesome.
We aren't so great at holding on to the 4th quarter either this year. If the Steelers are the first to put St. Favre in his place, it will totally make my week. I'd love to see Troy swat down everything he throws and cripple his rating.
@ Iceman
Sorry, my money's on the Saints this week.
P.S. The bet will transfer to here since I haven't commented on TheFeed in over a week.
I think Dolphin meat would taste awesome with cayenne.
@N8R
Thanks lol.
I see the Fins and the Saints game coming down to how well the Wildcat runs against the Saints. If it goes no where like I think it will, The Saints should handle Miami pretty well, especially if Scott Fujita comes back next week. I personally am really excited with the Saints this year, everyone on the team that has been interviewed has been speaking about the team and not about themselves.
@Arguello
Yeah, I don't see Miami winning a shootout with the Saints. Even if they do ball control, Manning showed he only 15 minutes to beat them. Gonna be tough for Tuna's team to pull it out. Unless Sparano has some super secret insight into the mind of Payton since they worked together and are good friends.
@RROD
Geaux cowboys!
@Smartguy
Geaux Dolphins.
I added a polling feature to the site. Polls can be found in the sidebar, but I'll also be breaking them out into standalone articles like this:
https://rpad.tv/2009/10/22/windows-7-poll-are-you-…
"Borderlands is one of those games that I hope sells likes crazy, but probably won’t."
I can't wait for the sequel!!!