Wii U isn't worth my time, let alone my money.

In other words they'r joining the chorus of sleazeball devs/publishers who live by the motto "Drop your pants and prepare for what's coming"

@THizzle7XU Those titles are a dim reflection of the former glory the franchises had.

Mega Man is dead. Sorry.

@THizzle7XU And where are the mega man and Tomb Raider franchises now?

They were both dead until Tomb Raider just got rebooted. The only reason Madden isn't dead is because EA bought up exclusive rights to the NFL. Sports games also work better annualized because there's no need for creativity - iterative improvements to mechanics and gameplay are all that is needed.

Annualization is bad for franchises and bad for gaming as a whole.

@bledsoe45sbc @The_Beanster @THizzle7XU @Gallowhand The industry was fine before this annualization started, and it would be fine without it.

In fact, it might be better. Quickest way to creative stagnation is to try to release a game every 1-2 years; it doesn't give a dev team time to do anything other than iterate.

@THizzle7XU @Gallowhand @bledsoe45sbc Meh... I have yet to see an "annualized" game/franchise that I think is anything other than utter trash. I'd prefer that trend to die a swift death.

@GOGOHeadray @THizzle7XU But the article simply assumes that "better graphics = more expensive development". That's a simplistic and reductionistic assumption that makes the article not credible as anything other than an uninformed fluff opinion piece.

@parkurtommo The "industry" is in no danger of collapse... some big name AAA devs may collapse but that's it. The industry will adapt (and it already is adapting).

I understand what is trying to be argued here, but this article more or less attacks a straw man.

Tomb Raider etc sold more than enough copies to be profitable; the issue there is bad management more than anything else. Other devs have made games with similar production values, sold fewer copies, and turned a profit. I think that it's a bit of a reach to say that those games didn't make money simply because of the graphics.

@Stogin @The_Beanster He DOESN'T mention story. That's my point. He's not saying "look all those other aspects of games don't matter" and if he is saying that his comments are nonsensical. He's saying that graphics enable greater immersion in games.

EVERYONE agrees with this in principle.