Five Console Games That Need to Take a Break

Pokemon

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t understand why these games do so well. The best I can figure there a young kid gets into 2-3 of the games for about four years and then moves on as they age; in there place there is just more kids to get into it.Others believe it is because of the amount of characters and children typically are obsessed with collecting anyways. In the past it has been baseball cards, comic books, POGs (remember them?), just about anything that there is a great variety of.

However Pokemon is overkill in every sense of the word. Insanely popular across the world for quite sometime and still seen as a kind of Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny in Japan, their has been over 47 titles released since the series debut in 1996—or over three titles a year on average. Since many of these titles come in pairs, especially on Nintendo’s various handhelds, it is even more insulting that they have gamers buy a $30-40 game each, when both are released at the same time. Then there is the long running anime, still seen on the American Cartoon Network, a card game, and even more. While it is understandable that the game is very identifiable to people of all ages thanks to their bright colors and basic designs, enough is enough. The series is one of the two most profitable game franchises after the Super Mario franchise another series that would have made the list if only for the fact that Pokemon more than any Nintendo franchise, epitomizes what it means to wring out dry a family-friendly franchise.

Every Single Sports Title Out There

I’m sure a lot of you have asked yourself, “Why do we need a Madden NFL or NBA 2K every year? Why not give us the choice of updating the previous title with roster changes and new modes?” I had the opportunity to ask a publisher this very question before and of course, the answer was doing this makes them no money.

I think what gets me the most is what is promised by a publisher and what is actually delivered is widely different. It doesn’t help that several publishers, most

Madden can be..maddening.

notably Electronic Arts will shutdown the servers of older sports titles essentially providing more incentive to go out and buy the newest title. Also, the resell value on these titles instantly go down; Madden NFL 11 is currently $59.99 at GameStop’s website, while last years game is $9.99. Great if you want to buy last year’s title that is about to get it’s servers pulled, bad if you are trying to sell the game so you can buy next year’s version.

Much of these dealings, are done because the publishers have no other choice but to publish a new title year after year, however this has had many ill effects to the publishers and will continue to do so. The Tony Hawk franchise has been suffering mostly from the Hawkman not even being a skater anymore, the series being done to death, and the “try to make you buy another controller” scheme that worked for Activision with Guitar Hero doesn’t seem to be working for them now. The series itself has strayed from it’s free styling roots and has gone into the territory of action adventure until the recent Tony Hawk Ride titles. Tiger Woods is so far passed his prime and has been ruined by his personal problems, and John Madden is to old and to busy selling foot powder that he barely even does any voice work. These names slapped on the games no longer have meaning, they are simply brands, and not very well done ones at that. Even more insulting is EA is apparently trying to cash in on the Madden curse.

There have been instances where it has been to much for the publisher or gamer to bare however. Probably a little of lack of interest and lack of innovation, the NASCAR franchise can now be seen exclusively on Gran Turimso 5. Gamers tired of playing the same Madden year and year out have filed a class action lawsuit against the publisher claiming anti-competitive practices and EA has at least admitted that this year’s canceled NBA Elite title just wasn’t all that great.

There are quite a few other offenders out there however these are the franchises that currently transcend over the rest. Just a word for anyone that thinks this list might be unfair and that includes any developers or publishers out there: Look at how many times Tomb Raider has “rebooted”. While it hasn’t been pumped out like it has since the original PlayStation days, can anyone honestly say they can’t wait to play what is possibly the third upcoming “reboot” we have had for the series this console generation?

Then you have Twisted Metal. A title that went yearly between Twisted Metal 1-4, only taking a break for it’s PS2 debut with Twisted Metal: Black, many gamers grew weary of the games. Between Black and now, there has only been updates to older titles, and a PSP title that also made its way by port to PS2. In between that time, Sony wised up and canceled several Twisted Metal game ideas until the current developer of the game finally came up with a quality title, all the while building up gamers request to get back behind the wheel with Sweet tooth and ruin their opponents’ vehicles. These games all have one thing in common; they are still all very popular, and their publishers insistence on shamelessly selling them sometimes with little to no added value over previous installments is no less evil than a tobacco executive selling cigarettes. They know they are bad for you, but profits are up and they just don’t care.
Have a comment or a bone to pick? You can comment below or email me at johnwolin@gmail.com. Check out more “Top 5 Game” articles coming next week!