Playstation Gamer UK

And I’m back for another entry in my article series The Real Word because if I don’t write it, it’s a fake word. I’m not really sure why I include the year in the title, I guess I’m thinking this will be going for more than a year. Anyway, I said last week that for the next few “The Real Words” I’ll be giving my opinions on upcoming games, this week’s is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Well, my initial impressions are this: this game is going to be awesome, potential game of the year contender. After the great Killzone 2 debacle at the beginning of the year, I’m hesitant to say that a game is awesome without playing it but, if it lives up to the hype, it will be. The first game still stands as one of the best playing, and best looking, games on the PS3. It’s quite sad that this game gets very little recognition outside of the PS3 community but that’s a different matter. Uncharted 2 is being set up to be an even better game. The graphics are getting an upgrade from the stunning graphics of the original game and the gameplay is going to become even more expansive, including new stealth techniques and being able to shoot when hanging off anything. The enemies vision is going to be more limited so they wouldn’t be able to see that one hair sticking a millimeter out from behind a rock two and a half kilometers away [obvious exaggeration]. The game is going to follow what supposedly happened between the time Marco Polo left China and when he finally made it back to Italy. What’s even better is Evan Wells, one of the heads of Naughty Dog teased on his twitter that a demo is “getting closer” so that’ll be cool. Anyway, on to some questions! Even though I actually forgot to ask people on my twitter (available here) for questions.

Our first two questions of the week come from rtd again because he (or she, I don’t know) has nothing better to do than ask me questions (I’m just joking around, dude/dudette).

Do you think that Killzone 2 has sold as well as it could/should have?

Well, there’s really two questions in there. First off, for the should part. I don’t think you can really say how well a game should sell. I consider a successful game is a game that ships 1 000 000 copies and Killzone 2 has achieved that, so it’s done well. Do I think it could have done better? Absolutely. If there’s one thing that all Sony games have in common it’s that they have no marketing campaign behind them and Killzone 2 is no different. The Killzone 2 marketing campaign consisted of one tv spot, some theatre advertisements and some posters that were put up at bus stops (and ended up creating controversy in several cities). Not only was their only the one tv spot for the game but it wasn’t even very good. The Killzone 2 tv spot should’ve been high action shots of headshots and grenade frags showing off just how good this game looks. It’s nice that the tv spot that can be done in game but really, who cares? Anyone who cares about that is already going to buy the game. So ya, if Sony’s marketing campaign wasn’t incompetent then it would’ve sold more. Also, as sad as it is to admit, if the PS3 had the Xbox 360’s North American install base it would probably have sold around 2 and a half million units in North America. But, to calm the fanboys, I don’t think that Killzone 2 could be done on the Xbox 360 because the lighting and graphics are set up in a such a power hungry way that the Xbox couldn’t handle it. So calm down!

When games like MAG, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Modern Warfare 2, etc are released this holiday season, which game do you think will do best on the PS3 with all the competition they’ll have? or will they all sell into the millions?

Well, I think they all will sell into the millions. This isn’t the 1990s anymore, most games sell into the millions these days and some games have such high budgets that they have to in order for their developers to break even. Now then, which game will sell the most? Well, Modern Warfare 2 will sell the most just because of the success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Despite losing the name, it is still carrying the reputation of the Call of Duty franchise so it’s going to sell a lot. I think Uncharted 2 will be the highest selling PS3 exclusive simply because I think it’s going to be the best game released this year (yes, even better than Halo 3: ODST).

My next question comes from a very cold hearted criminal, IcyGangsta asks a question but then goes on a rant so I’m just going to give you the whole rant. “The marketing hype, that has been shoved down the throat of millions by Microsoft. Halo, mountain dew anyone? Even I fell for it.

Do, you think SONY is wasting some of the biggest EXCLUSIVES, like MGS4, KZ2 by not investing MORE into this type of bullshit?

Think about GT5, GOW III, especially GT5 SONY’s biggest title, regardless fans will purchase it and it will shift systems, but…If they let it pass like MGS4(which sold well), KZ2, MotorStorm 2, Resistance 2, LBP…Other blockbuster hits will it damage its sales? Will they invest more into marketing? I mean I’m not a sales hog, but jesus look what this bullfuck has done to Halo. All, 360 fans say are “we have more gaemz” when I ask them they just say HALO, for the love of fucking god.”

Incase you didn’t catch it the actual question is “Do you think Sony is wasting some of the biggest exclusives, like MGS4, Killzone 2, by not investing more into [marketing]?” Will the lack of marketing hurt God of War 3 and Gran Turismo 5’s sales? Or will they invest more into marketing?

Well my angry, angry friend, the answer is yes, yes and probably not but it’s possible. Now then, let’s qualify those answers, yay! Well, I don’t think that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (whenever I use acronyms I try to include the full phrase somewhere in the article), Killzone 2 and even LittleBigPlanet could’ve sold more than they did if they weren’t so poorly marketed. Not only could’ve the games have had sales numbers rivaling those of Gears of War and Call of Duty they could’ve had a bigger impact on system sales. I’ve already gone over Killzone 2’s marketing campaign so I’m not going to talk about that but LittleBigPlanet’s “fun” campaign was horrible and MGS4’s… I don’t even remember MGS4’s marketing campaign, did it even have one? Assuming Sony doesn’t change their ways then it’s impossible to say that the sales of games won’t be hurt by it. People won’t buy a game if they don’t know it exists, while games like Gran Turismo and God of War are BIG name titles, even they can be hurt by an extreme lack of marketing. And finally, I do believe Sony will start to get better with their marketing, but only limitedly. Sony, like all other companies, are feelin’ the crunch of the hard economic times, so while I do think their marketing is going to get better, it’s not going to get as good as it should’ve been.

So that’s all for the week. I’ll be back next week with more answers to the questions no one cares about. If you have some questions leave them in the comments section or hit me up on twitter (link above) every friday (unless I forget like this week) and I’ll answer your question.