Spector: 100-hour games are out

Gamefly my friend.

Oblivion, Final Fantasy 7, 8 & 9. All games I spent 100+ hours on.

Tales of Symphonia, Morrowind

Not joking in any way I've probably played over 1000 hours of Tertris (Gameboy). not sure if that counts.

Not joking in any way I've probably played over 1000 hours of Tetris (Gameboy). Not sure if that counts.

Replay value doesn't seem to count. That's an argument I bring up a lot when people trash on games I love, like God of War for example. God of War is about 8-10 hours of sweat inducing, edge-of-the-seat, controller throwing, awesomeness. It seems like just the perfect length for me. Any longer and it'd be too overbearing, or just get boring and drawn out. And because of that sweet spot on the length, I go back and replay it every so often.

There's a reason why movies aren't typically 5 hours long. Just because you could stretch something out, doesn't mean you should, or that it would be better for it.

Diablo 2 is another game which isn't super long, but I swear I must have beat it 100 times.

I think that the industry is headed in the direction of interaction period, moreso than just interactive stories. Between motion controls, user-generated content, the advent of quick-time events in movies, character customization, upgrades, patches, dlc, cameras, etc, that's where the industry's headed

Absolutely. That's why I dont mind shorter games because there are so many more dimensions of value from the interactive experience.

The long game is a creature of pre-internet distribution system where you bought a physical object and evaluated it on how long you played with it.

Today you buy into a concept, an experience and, if you enjoy it, you can extend it at additional cost. Its actually a lot better for the consumer but makes that initial presentation all the more important for the designer - hence the talk of more competition.

In a way, he is being very safe by talking about 100 hour games. Those have long gone.

I am sure he meant 100 hour games you pay once for, not subscription-based games.

Actually it is moving away from interactive fiction. Games like Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, etc. in the Sierra days were marketed as interactive stories (and they were), but their whole genre fell apart in the face of multiplayer deathmatch and shoot-em-ups.

Oh, and sleeveless sweaters are out, too.

people on the fringe meaning people who actually care about games, and not joe average who bought a wii for his kids or a 360 to play the Kung Fu Panda game

No not the people who care about video games theturtle363, they will continue to play video games regardless.

Im refering to the self titled hardcore, core or whatever ridiculous buzzword they are calling themselves today. The visual and audiophiles who apeared few years ago then started to denounce any game that didnt fit into their narrow view. Not the people who care about video games.

LoLz.

tmac, who is this "we" you speak of? You act as if the majority of gamers want 100+ hour games. Some do, sure, but this article isn't a poll. No one is whining about long games here. Companies are seeing that gaming consumer trends are changing and that shorter games are usually more financially viable than long ones. It's not like Bethesda one day saw some bad feedback on their message boards and decided to cut the length of their next game due to a few "whiners".

There's a reason there are far more 2 hour movies than there are 3 1/2. Were LotR and Gladiator great movies? Yeah. Will more 3 1/2 hour movies be made? Sure. But expect 1 1/2 - 2 hours to remain the norm and not because Joe Schmoe whined to Paramount that he didn't have enough time to watch the whole movie.

I couldn't agree with you more T3kNi9e. I hate short games. For example, I like GoW alot, but the short campaign bothered me to no end...

Yeah, I want to finish some before I die from old age. But really, the Holy Grail for me is a MP game with a storyline. If they do that, I will pay hundreds for it. I have already spent that much on MMOs and they have static worlds for most part.

I think you're missing the point. It costs an incredible amount of money to produce a long game, and if it's not successful it will ruin the company. It's an awful risk. Really, 100 hour top-quality games should be more like $100. But people won't spend that much, so us consumers are getting a steal. We're getting an extremely good value, because they're banking on selling millions of copies just to turn a profit.

There are certainly some games that should be cheaper from the start. But it definitely shouldn't be based on some arbitrary value like play-time.

You're old-school game references are quite odd to me. I remember buying games and them lasting for months, but I was kid... I was easily amused for one thing, and my time was a lot more limited by my parents. Going back and looking at these games that lasted a whole summer, I realize that the actual content isn't that much. Most actually only take about 30 min to beat. They traded content for difficulty back then.

Games in the old-school vibe still come out today, like Geometry Wars for example. You're just doing the same thing through the entire game, with no real strategy or thought involved... it's very old-school, and back then you'd definitely waste an entire summer playing it. The game has pretty low production cost as well, making it a less risky venture for developers... me personally, I'd rather see more new-school games along the lines of MGS4, with ungodly production costs, which progresses me through a complex story with deep characters and provides engaging gameplay, instead of just wasting my time shooting shapes for hours on end.

Not that Geometry Wars isn't entertaining, but it's on a whole different level than stuff like MGS4. But MGS4 is a steal for $60, for how much went into that game... while Geometry Wars, rightfully so, is cheaper. It has nothing to do with the length at all, it's all about production costs. Heavenly Sword was fairly short, but I was happy to pay $60 for it because again, it's not about the length. If you're so obsessed with length=value (which it does not), then play something like tetris... you'll get great value from that.