Info on the new X-Box and it's not looking good.

[Kamahl]

You can only have so many indie shmups before it gets old...

And they mostly suck compared to retro shmups, like really lame poorly thought out gameplay and level designs.
Trying to look/sound retro is also pretty lame. I don't have an unhealthy obsession with pixels, old games were pixelated by necessity.

For every awesome indie game (like say... bastion or braid), you have tons of utter garbage.

[Chilly Willy]

For every awesome indie game (like say... bastion or braid), you have tons of utter garbage.

It's that way for ANYTHING. You might as well say "For every awesome EA game, you have tons of utter garbage." It's Sturgeon's Law, and It's the LAW!

[Knuckle Duster]

And they mostly suck compared to retro shmups, like really lame poorly thought out gameplay and level designs.
Trying to look/sound retro is also pretty lame. I don't have an unhealthy obsession with pixels, old games were pixelated by necessity.

For every awesome indie game (like say... bastion or braid), you have tons of utter garbage.

Unhealthy obsession with pixels does more to describe the retro gaming scene, than the new indie scene. The only reason modern indie games are designed around that style, is because those games are usually built by programmers with minimal art skills, and no money to fund better looking assets.

[Kamahl]

Unhealthy obsession with pixels does more to describe the retro gaming scene, than the new indie scene. The only reason modern indie games are designed around that style, is because those games are usually built by programmers with minimal art skills, and no money to fund better looking assets.

Pixel art (unless it's NES style art or even more basic) is substantially more difficult to make than some shitty flash drawing.

[Knuckle Duster]

Pixel art (unless it's NES style art or even more basic) is substantially more difficult to make than some shitty flash drawing.

That's subjective to circumstance. It's easier to draw good pixel art, no matter how tedious the process, than it is to actually draw assets that look good, if you are a programmer with no talent for art and no budget to pay an artist. It's also easier to judge pixel art as being acceptable when it all looks aesthetically limited anyway.


For everybody dismissing indie games, they need a reality check:

[gamevet]

If you have Netflix, you can check out a movie called Indiegame: The movie. It talks about the struggles of the artists behind FEZ and Meatboy.

FEZ was under developement for over 2 years. The guy that made that game is either wack, or just went bonkers from all of the pressure being put on him to complete the title.

http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/

[kool kitty89]

This has nothing to do with Microsoft being greedy, this is about game publishers wanting this change, and MS has to be catering to them as they are the ones giving the console its life blood (ie. games).

Which is kind of ironic given MS's software distribution model targets for Windows Phone and Windows 8 . . . to the point of several big-name pulishers effectively boycotting those platforms. (at least so long as XP/Vista/7 remain viable -which, of course, Win8 is mostly compatible with)

Albeit those same developers are NOT the ones who've been pushing most prominently for the "no used sales" thing. (hell, Steem has even facilitated alternatives for used sales of DD software)

That said, the whole "no used sales" thing would probably work if said publishers actually understood the nature of the used software market sector and provided a roughly equivalent "new" software distribution alternative. The problem there is that you'd still probably only address the buyer end (those interested in budget pricing) and not the seller end. (including the many sales/trades that lead to increased purchases of other games in general -including new games of the same publisher)

In my family's case, we pretty much never sell our old games, but the vast majority of games we've purchased were either budget releases or used. That sort of consumer could be addressed with tactful budget priced "new" sales in general, but that's only one facet of the used game market.


There's also the whole issue of the massive risks of repercussions from making software less and less convenient to obtain/use for the consumer . . . among other things, making casual piracy more and more attractive. (in some cases there's already some combinations of installation/DRM/DLC/etc that make piracy attractive from a sheer convenience standpoint, even if you own a legit copy of the software)