It's not a Sony game though.
The way you're having to shift the goal posts around so much to include certain games in your argument basically proves the OP's point.
Microsoft hasn't had a multi GOTY-winning critical darling since 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved
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It's not a Sony game though.
The way you're having to shift the goal posts around so much to include certain games in your argument basically proves the OP's point.
I would credit their platform as having an exclusive, that's all that matters in the end. Customers don't care who made it, just what it's available on. Anything more is for console wars
What goal posts have been shifted lmao? What matters is what's on the platform. The only reason to take into account of the exclusivity of a game is from Sony / MS and a 3rd party is for console wars
Instead of viewing it from the perspective of GOTY, I think about how many big deal games they released. For instance, Halo 3 was a big deal. The Gears of War trilogy was a big deal. While I'm not sure how to consider the annualized nature of the two Forza games, those are consistently very good or great and among the best in the genre.
The problem then is when you think about Xbox One. Halo sells well still, but it's clearly not the event it was or as critically loved. Same with Gears of War. I don't think there is going to be that standout game for Microsoft for this entire generation the same way Sony has Bloodborne, God of War, Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, likely The Last of Us 2, etc. Nintendo has Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Ultimate and most likely will have a couple more within the next few years.
I guess you could say Sony and Nintendo are still producing cultural touchstones - Microsoft isn't. Is that a fair way to say it?
The problem then is when you think about Xbox One. Halo sells well still, but it's clearly not the event it was or as critically loved. Same with Gears of War. I don't think there is going to be that standout game for Microsoft for this entire generation the same way Sony has Bloodborne, God of War, Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, likely The Last of Us 2, etc. Nintendo has Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Ultimate and most likely will have a couple more within the next few years.
I guess you could say Sony and Nintendo are still producing cultural touchstones - Microsoft isn't. Is that a fair way to say it?
I can't see that changing for a long time still. The Bungie (Halo) and Epic (Gears) games of the 360 era were in the discussion for GOTY which is when they were in their prime. This gen Forza Horizon 3/4 and Ori are as close as they've gotten and I agree with some posters here that it's a tad unfair that racing games get snubbed, but it is what it is. You can't force people to get more excited about some genres than others.
What I think is stranger is Microsoft hasn't introduced a new IP which has become as big or encompassing to their brand as Halo, Forza or Gears of War since 2006. That's 13 years. I think they're going to need a new franchise that is as big as any one one of those if they want Xbox's first-party reputation to grow.
What I think is stranger is Microsoft hasn't introduced a new IP which has become as big or encompassing to their brand as Halo, Forza or Gears of War since 2006. That's 13 years. I think they're going to need a new franchise that is as big as any one one of those if they want Xbox's first-party reputation to grow.
Gears of War was big for them back in 2006, and the sequels were a big deal. But like Halo interest has waned in the last decade. They just haven't cultivated the kind of exclusives people get passionate about compared to Sony or Nintendo. MS doing a smash Bros clone would be tragic...Half would be gears and halo guys ...forza car would have to make an appearance.
They've bought up a bunch of studios so they're trying to turn it around, but it's gonna take years to change that perspective from
being Worse PlayStation My Friends Aren't Playing On.
They've bought up a bunch of studios so they're trying to turn it around, but it's gonna take years to change that perspective from
being Worse PlayStation My Friends Aren't Playing On.
Yeah, but I think Microsoft has a couple "robbed" ones too like Gears and Halo 3
GOTY awards is a pretty terrible way of examining whether a publisher has released great games that were a big deal.
There are four Halo games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Halo 1-2-3-Reach) with Halo 4 at 87 and Halo 5 at 84.
There are three Gears games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Gears 1-2-3) with Gears 4 at 84.
There are six Forza games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Forza 1-2-3-4 and Horizon 3-4) with every other game except for Forza 5 being rated between 80 and 90.
It is odd that Microsoft has created more high quality IPs over this time. But in the games I've listed with Meta scores over 90, I'd argue that nine would be worthy of GOTY consideration. They publish arguably the best FPS franchise, the best TPS franchise and the best racing franchise.
Halo and Gears don't seem as culturally important as they once did but that may reflect the sales of the Xbox rather than any argument about the quality of the games. Mario and Zelda didn't seem particularly important either during the Wii U years because nobody owned that system. But a few years later and a successful Switch and suddenly they are on top of the world.
If the next Xbox does well then Halo is once again a 10m seller with hundreds of thousands playing MP at any one time. These things can quickly change.
There are four Halo games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Halo 1-2-3-Reach) with Halo 4 at 87 and Halo 5 at 84.
There are three Gears games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Gears 1-2-3) with Gears 4 at 84.
There are six Forza games with a Metacritic rating over 90 (Forza 1-2-3-4 and Horizon 3-4) with every other game except for Forza 5 being rated between 80 and 90.
It is odd that Microsoft has created more high quality IPs over this time. But in the games I've listed with Meta scores over 90, I'd argue that nine would be worthy of GOTY consideration. They publish arguably the best FPS franchise, the best TPS franchise and the best racing franchise.
Halo and Gears don't seem as culturally important as they once did but that may reflect the sales of the Xbox rather than any argument about the quality of the games. Mario and Zelda didn't seem particularly important either during the Wii U years because nobody owned that system. But a few years later and a successful Switch and suddenly they are on top of the world.
If the next Xbox does well then Halo is once again a 10m seller with hundreds of thousands playing MP at any one time. These things can quickly change.
Low install base didn't stop Halo CE from being the talk of the town. The Wii U had 3 Zelda games, 2 of which were remasters of old games, and 1 brand new one that ended up being a little game called Breath Of The Wild. That did have an impact and was getting hyped up before to no tomorrow when people got their hands on it at E3 2016, before the Switch was even announced.
The driving is a blast but the completely aimless nature of it along with the lack of incentive to win races rather than just participate in them kills my motivation to play for more than a couple of hours
This place is starting to look more like neo...
Those of the year awards are meaningless, games that i take for being crap have stickers saying it was the best here, of the year here...another waste of a post, with a fanboy headline.
Those of the year awards are meaningless, games that i take for being crap have stickers saying it was the best here, of the year here...another waste of a post, with a fanboy headline.
I do think you make a valid point, you can't simply look at games from the past and make adjustments tbecause you have the benefit of hindsight.
Because then you would need to start applying stupid fanboy criteria that says a game isn't "exclusive" until it's remained exclusive for a number of years because we know there are always a bunch of undisclosed timed exclusives going on.
"Nobody cares about Xbox and Xbox IPs"
ViewtifulJC said:
ViewtifulJC said:
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This doesn't really matter when Microsoft had many of my personal GOTY for various years like Gears 2 and 3, for example.
I think a part of this is because they don't appear to value talent. They only value IP. And the problem with that, is IP's tend run their course and fall out of favour with gaming masses or the Devs themselves simply grow tired of making those games.
In the case of bungie, they should have given them the flexibility and the freedoms to move on from halo on their own terms. The same way Sony has let naughty dog move on from jak, and move on from uncharted and how they will allow them to move on from last of us. Instead MS let go of the talent in favour of setting up another halo factory with a bunch of people who clearly don't get the series. They did the same with gears. They did the same with killer instinct...they seem to think anyone can make sequels to any franchise and it maintain quality and consistency. But that isn't how things work. And you're never going to achieve greatness if all you're doing is interating on the same thing over and over long past everyone getting tired of a franchise.
Imo 343 and coalition should be making their own original content that they're genuinely passionate about. Not just carrying on someone else's work. It's a huge waste.
In the case of bungie, they should have given them the flexibility and the freedoms to move on from halo on their own terms. The same way Sony has let naughty dog move on from jak, and move on from uncharted and how they will allow them to move on from last of us. Instead MS let go of the talent in favour of setting up another halo factory with a bunch of people who clearly don't get the series. They did the same with gears. They did the same with killer instinct...they seem to think anyone can make sequels to any franchise and it maintain quality and consistency. But that isn't how things work. And you're never going to achieve greatness if all you're doing is interating on the same thing over and over long past everyone getting tired of a franchise.
Imo 343 and coalition should be making their own original content that they're genuinely passionate about. Not just carrying on someone else's work. It's a huge waste.
I think taking the literal "consensus GOTY" but replacing it with a much more vague "GOTG contender" I think Microsoft suffers a lot. They are AAA in some cases like the original gears couple of entries or halo 2 and 3 but even they are just... like big shooting games? They aren't metal gear solid. They aren't Mario's or zeldas. They aren't uncharted or last of us.
I know it's debatable but as someone who has owned every model of Xbox and PlayStation I actually never played past gears 1 or halo 3 and I couldn't care less and I remember being quite underwhelmed by both of them. The Xbox puts in work by having many, many good games but none on the same level as Sony or Nintendo for me.
I know it's debatable but as someone who has owned every model of Xbox and PlayStation I actually never played past gears 1 or halo 3 and I couldn't care less and I remember being quite underwhelmed by both of them. The Xbox puts in work by having many, many good games but none on the same level as Sony or Nintendo for me.
Halo 2 and Gears of War were pretty strong contenders in their respective years too. Won a lot of awards though they weren't the consensus picks.
In general though, I don't think Microsoft wants to really fund the kind of games that are likely to win awards much. Maybe that'll change with Ninja Theory and Obsidian though.
In general though, I don't think Microsoft wants to really fund the kind of games that are likely to win awards much. Maybe that'll change with Ninja Theory and Obsidian though.
You know i never thought of it like that, but your 100% right. Most sony first party studios are given The freedom to move on from an IP ( usually after a trilogy is completed) and able to tackle new IP.
Killzone -> Horizon,
Jak -> Uncharted -> Last Of Us
Ratchet -> Spiderman ( Not first party)
Infamous -> Ghost Of Tsushima.
Hell even god of war, whilst its the same ip is a different beast altogether. Im sure theres more examples. But sonys commitment to growing its talent and allowing its teams to express the selves creativly after a certain time really has paid off. Nintendo may use its large bank of IP's, but give the creative room to innovate. The focus for both is always on the studios and making there respective IP strong
Microsoft 3 main pillars of gears, halo, and forza worked well for the 360 gen, but arn't as strong either as IP now to be able to hold an entire console launch.
Were just ignoring that Microsoft has dominated a genre this gen? Horizon 3 and 4 are clear GOTY contenders in a fair world.
I was going to say they had the GOTY OF MY HEART back in 2007 with Lost Odyssey, but then I remembered that TWEWY and Persona 3 released that year...
Still, that's their last exclusive that I absolutely loved, and it's been 12 years and I'm an old man and where has all the time gone :/
Still, that's their last exclusive that I absolutely loved, and it's been 12 years and I'm an old man and where has all the time gone :/
Correction: Microsoft IPs are hype when they buy those franchises, do nothing good with them for fifteen years, and then allow Nintendo to bask in the nostalgia of Rareware pre-Microsoft days on a non Xbox console
Plenty of Microsoft games have won awards including GOTY awards from various game publications. Even then awards are not the most important factor. Games like Bioshock and Dragon Age never had the same impact as Halo or Gears for example.
Can people stop with these crackpot accusations that 343 and the coalition are unhappy working on Halo and Gears? The Coalition chose to work on the Gears IP and 343i was formed from the beginning to be a dedicated Halo studio. The devs are genuinely passionate about those IP's otherwise they would never have opted to work for said studios.
Can people stop with these crackpot accusations that 343 and the coalition are unhappy working on Halo and Gears? The Coalition chose to work on the Gears IP and 343i was formed from the beginning to be a dedicated Halo studio. The devs are genuinely passionate about those IP's otherwise they would never have opted to work for said studios.
They limit their choice so its not fair. Nintendo websites dont review Playstation exclusives and vice versa.
Yeah, you're right, but so is TWEWY in the West (2008 that is) :( Still, fab game, and while I understand why they had to cut that Japan initiative, it's still a shame, since we got some pretty cool titles from it.
C'mon, MS have completely mishandled the Rare catalogue.
It's fine if Rare themselves don't want to return to old franchises but for years we've been starving for another Conker or Banjo.
Sure it wouldn't sell 10 million+ but like the Smash announcement, it would be a huge PR win and mindshare boost.
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The Wii U was a total failure yet Nintendo still had games in the GOTY discussion more than Microsoft has. In 2014 alone they had 3 games win 20+ GOTY awards. Microsoft hasn't had a game win a good amount since Halo 4 in 2012 and it was only a total of 20. Sales have nothing to do with this. It's not like people aren't handing Halo 5 or Gears 4 GOTY awards just because the Xbox One has only sold 40 something million consoles. It's because those games were just more of the same and really did nothing special.
Do you not know Killer Instinct exists or something?
Microsoft would have a better fighter roster than Sony would lol.
Unless you want a fighter with 4 or 5 "generic brunette white dude" as characters.
This is a hall of fame post. I knew of those things separately but never put two and two together like that.
Chief, Arbiter, RAAM, Fenix, anyone from Killer Instinct, any of the Battletoads, Banjo Kazooie, Kameo, Joanna Dark, Conker, Agent From Crackdown. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of.
They need to stop focusing on multiplayer games and reusing their IPs, and think of something original for once.
Like that totally original game released last year called God of War /s.
They delivered my favorite racing and fighting game this generation. Two of my three favorite genres. Based on that I really hope Microsoft don't change too much.
Yeah except it became GOTY and took longer than a year to make 👍
Microsoft's first party developers take more than a year to make games, also, your moving your goalposts as you stated...
God of War is reusing an old IP and definitely not original.
No one in their right mind thinks of Inside as an MS exclusive, and no one thought of it that way during GOTY voting that year. It literally came out 2 MONTHS later on PS4. Your logic is so absurd.
It was a complete overhaul of both the characters and gameplay of that IP to resounding success
I thought inside released later on PS4. My bad.
Chill out lmao
It is reusing an old IP and not original. Again, goalposts are being moved.
you can have the same IP and be completely original and groundbreaking
see BOTW
Horizon: Zero Dawn, Death Stranding, Days Gone, Ghosts of Tsushima.
You could say the same for Nintendo up until 2017 when BOTW came out, and this includes the period where they were dominating the industry with the Wii. I do think Microsoft has to release better games, but aiming to get the most GOTY awards is a weird goal.
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