Historical Video Game Blunders

Name some of the biggest mistakes, in your opinion, that the video game industry has seen.

Nintendo going cartridge for the N64

There are several others I can think of, mostly from Sega, but this one mistake from Nintendo had to be the biggest.  I don\'t know whether it was a result of their stubborness to conform or it was just the entire piracy issue.  Games were moving forward needing more storage and the CD was the solution, not to mention it\'s cheaper.

Here\'s one: Nintendo censoring the blood in Mortal Kombat I.

As far as I\'m concerned, that created the kiddy image that it struggles with today. Every console has its Pokemon-type kid games, but only Nintendo has to struggle to gain market share with that stigma.

-Dan

Dual CPU architecture for Saturn

Sega failed badly at making the Saturn an easy to platform system.  Intended to be a 2-D powerhouse, Sega freaked when they saw how good the Playstation could do 3-D.  Added the extra chip and rushed the system out the door early.  We all know what happened to Sega after this.

It was all downhill

ATARI passing the chance to buy the NES in the early 80\'s

Originally posted by Styx
ATARI passing the chance to buy the NES in the early 80\'s

Really?!  Why didn\'t they go through with it?

Im not proposing anything but i didnt realize that the Saturn had dual CPU\'s - duals are sexy when done right. Then again im biased due to my friends PC when i was a kid - wont go into that.

I wonder what would have happened had nintendo stuck with sony in making the joint cd console project. They showed concepts in an older magazine i had but where that is i dont know.

Virtual Boy was a semi-neat idea but the technology wasn\'t up to par.  Only 1 color, you had to rest it on the table instead of strapping it on your head, and you had to take breaks every 15 minutes!?

*edited to satisfy Ginko\'s wacky request.  Someone mention 32X dammit.

[Evi]

The Sega 32x sucked ass I don\'t even know why they bothered. That thing was gargantuan and horrifying. Why would you want something like the 32x sticking out of your Genesis? Kind of reminded me of how ridiculous the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge add-on thing was. 1 cartridge was enough for me.

[Paul2]

During the 16 bits era,

Sega Genesis should be left alone until a true next generation arrive (Sega Saturn).  But, Sega made several failure attempts.

Sega CD - an add on to the Genesis, fail badly (thanks goodness).

Sega 32x - boring.

Here is my list... some historical..and other personal....sorry but i vented after my first choice and just couldn\'t stop.


highlight the block below if you want the full list...but my chioce isn\'t in the [sp] tags

[sp]

• Fable = 10 hours + PM saying that it would be the be all and end all of RPG\'s
• Black and white =  same as above
• EVERY Mortal Kombat game since Mortal Kombat 2
• Doom 3 = yawn
• The canning of Sam & Max and Full Throttle 2
• Rare Going to M$ and then not anything...worth while
• Every Rare game since Perfect Dark
• And more to the point every Bond game since Goldeneye on the N64
• EA ....Nuff said
• Torok series AFTER the Second game (1&2 still every good)
• Team ninja finishing DOA2:HC for the PS2... leavibng for the X box saying... yeah its a launch gamebut we HAVE maxed out the PS2 capabilites
• Da Phantom.... da everything kuller :rolleyes:
[/sp]

• Nokia Ngae and their launch at E3 when they said something along the lines of "we will be the death nail for the Gameboy"

[sp]

• PAL gamers still getting it up the rectum (with either late games or games not being release over here at all)
• Halo 1\'s Frame rate on the X box and Gearbox\'s piss poor conversion to the PC
• peter molyneux for no good games sice dungon keeper
• Peter Molyneux\'s mouth for not learning WHEN to STFU *coff*Black and white & Fable *coff*.
• Lorne Lanning ...i am starting to think that he\'s Molyneux\'s drinking buddy.
• Online games and how just about every in game server is blighted with fCuktards of the highest order.
• Pay to play MMORPG\'s....look i just spent £40 on your game and now you want more money...what are you a Whore or something
• Pay to play anything that you already own other than MMORPG games (see above)
• IMO a certain concole with two X\'s in it name ;)
• The Gameboy DS...for not being released in the UK first (only j/k Nintendo... i still love ya)
• Nintendo not release\'n  Super Metroid for the Gameboy yet....comeone boys whatsthe hold up
• Every resident evil (RE 4 excluded) game after number 2...the series went stale after the mighty 2...
• Them Damn piss poor Resident Evil light gun games
• light gun gamesi n general (when  played at home and not played on a arcade Machine)
• Voice com\'s in online games that are either (a) so piss poor you can\'t make out that the other person is saying.... or (b)the game server your on is full of fcuktards and you wish it was option (a).
• Games with online play just for the sake of online play
[/sp]

will add more later.

This is sort of a backwards extension of Ginko\'s initial blunder: Nintendo not going through with their Sony collaboration.

Also, Duke Nukem Forever. \'Nuff said.

How about Atari flooding the market with crap and almost destroying video games altogether.

The best is when they made developers rush an E.T. game to capitalize on the movie. The game came out and basically had E.T. falling into holes and jumping out until a boy showed up and killed him.

Atari thought it would be such a hit that it produced more copies of E.T. than there were systems to play it on.

When gamers found out it sucked, Atari was stuck with tons of left over copies and ended up burying them in some infamous landfill in New Mexico.

-Dan

*edited to satisfy Ginko\'s wacky request. Someone mention 32X dammit.

 Now seeing ooseven\'s extensive list I\'ll let go of the request.

-Sega not including a DVD drive in the Dreamcast
This would have sold ALOT of DC\'s in Japan and also make the idea of DVD playback for the PS2 a "me too".  I still think that the DC would have eventually faded seeing as how the DC would be underpowered compared to the PS2, Xbox, and GC, however it would have survived much longer.

-Sega going with the Japanese designed Dural(NEC) instead of the American designed Blackbelt(3dfx)
EA basically requested that Sega go with the Voodoo powered 3dfx design and Sega didn\'t listen.  Every effort should have been made to get major players like EA in their corner.

-Sega not allowing themselves to be bought up by interested parties other than Sammy
When Sega was focused on one console they did an outstanding job.  Sega going multiplatform sounded like a good idea however it\'s turned out quite different.  The quality and innovation of the DC era is gone and I\'m sad because of it.

It\'s been some time since I wrote my essay on videogames but these are some of the books I used as reference material :

* Trigger Happy : Videogames & the Entertainment Revolution by Steven Poole ISBN: 1559705396 - superb book imo. covers videogames from various viewpoints like traditional arts, film and litterature. Gives very nice insight into the symantics of gameplay systems and how all form of play evolved in our society. Well written and witty humour.

* Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds
by J. C. Herz ISBN: 0316360074  - this is a more historical book on videogames. It only goes as far as 1997. If you read it today you can notice that. Her viewpoints are kinda dated. But it captures all the old stuff pretty well. Not as good as Trigger Happy but nonetheless a good read.

:thepimp:

[Living-In-Clip]

Dual CPU for Saturn   - but that improved greatly with a better SDK, so I am not sure that is a blunder.

Nintendo censoring blood in Mortal Kombat

Cartridge format in N64

Surprise launch for the Saturn.. One of the main reasons for the failure of the system.

Atari\'s "Do the Math".

Panasonic launching the 3DO at $700.

Microsoft buying Rare. What has Rare done for them? What has Rare done LATELY for anyone?