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?
