411 Games Fact or Fiction 02.22.11: Voltron, Dead Space, Mirrors Edge 2 and More

Posted by Adam Larck on 02.22.2011

Would a Voltron game sell great? Is Bungie making an MMOFPS? Would Dead Space 3 sell 5 million units? 411’s Stephen Randle and Jeremy Thomas debate these questions and more in this week’s 411 Games Fact or Fiction!

Welcome back to another week of 411 Games Fact or Fiction. I'm Adam Larck, and I finally picked up Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. Been playing that and You Don't Know Jack lately.

This week we have a regular, Stephen Randle, going against a first time contributor to the column, Jeremy Thomas. Let's see how we'll these two will get along. Time for banner!





1.) A new Voltron game would sell great.

Stephen Randle - Fiction: No, I don't think there's the nostalgic fanbase there was for, say, Transformers. More importantly, Voltron was a single series (as far as I know) nearly two decades ago, it's not like, again, Transformers, which has had like fifteen different cartoons, ever-present toys, and two feature films that made a hojillion dollars. I mean, it'll sell to that niche of fanboys who were kids when Voltron was on TV, but I'd put its sales on the level of the latest third-party Wii "party" game: decent enough, but nothing to write home about.

Jeremy Thomas - Fiction: I love me some old-school Voltron, but I don't see a huge market in this franchise. Gaming seems to accept nostalgia more than most entertainment mediums, but when I think "sell great" I think of selling well to the casual gamers as well as the hardcore gamers who would be more likely to buy into the game. Now obviously if the game is made very well and it has solid gameplay, visuals and challenge, then it would do fine. But I just don't see the franchise having the mainstream appeal to make it sell really well along the lines of some of the stronger game titles to come out over the last several years.

Score: 1 for 1 - I think some older gamers would like the nostalgia factor, but younger gamers probably wouldn't have a clue what it is.



2.) Bungie actually is making an MMOFPS game for Activision.

Stephen Randle - Fact: Why wouldn't we expect the people behind Halo to make an FPS? I mean, unless they really, really badly want to get away from the concept that made them millions of dollars. But I doubt Activision is looking for any "creativity" from a potential cash cow development group, especially since they canned two of their usual "churn out a new edition ASAP" franchises last week.

Jeremy Thomas - Fiction: Maybe Bungie's making an MMOFPS. It's certainly possible. My guess though, since a guess is required here, would be no. Activision has no need to dilute its MMO player base for the cash cow known as Blizzard and World of Warcraft and the fact of the matter is, if you put Em-Em-Oh in front of anything, it's an instant WoW competitor. One of two things happens at that time; either the mystery game does what no one else could do and challenge WoW or it falls to nothingness. Either way it's a loss for Bungie and Activision. I think it's more than likely some kind of single/multiplayer hybrid game, and probably not an FPS. Sure, they're the modern masters of FPS but that's the point. Anything else they do in the genre will be another Halo clone. Again…totally possible but not seeing it.

Score: 1 for 2 - I'd love to believe this is what they're doing. It sounds fun.



3.) A third Dead Space game would sell 5 million units.

Stephen Randle - Fact: I guess. Eventually. Of course, by the time Dead Space 3 comes out, I'd fully expect 5 million to be an expected number for any big release, and I entirely believe that a different game will hit that mark first, possibly within the next year.

Jeremy Thomas - Fact: I think it certainly makes sense that it would. Dead Space 2 has sold two million units in one month, where it took Dead space two years to do the same. The sequel's gotten insanely good reviews, which means that anticipation will be high for a third game. I don't think there's a good chance that a third one WOULDN'T sell five million copies. Sure, it's conceivable if they handled it drastically wrong and initial word of mouth was very bad, but otherwise I think it would be close to a lock and furthermore, I think that EA would be stupid not to make it.

Score: 2 for 3 - After seeing the sequel make the NPD list in January, I think the third game would have a good chance.

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4.) EA will never release Mirror's Edge 2.

Jeremy Thomas - Fact: Let's see…first game sold a bit below expectations (even if it was commercially successful)? Check. Sequel prematurely announced and then later clarified that it hasn't been 'officially' announced? Check. Development canceled? Check. BS corporate buzzspeak about how it's "an important franchise" as if that's going to convince anyone? Check. Yeah, this thing's not seeing the light of day. It's too bad, too…the first game got a lot of critical love and as I said, it may not have quite hit overly optimistic expectations, but it was still a success. I think that a sequel had a lot of potential, but obviously that potential isn't something that they think they can realize, so maybe it's better than they just shut it down than release something subpar.

Stephen Randle - Fiction: Never is a very long time and EA likes money. It may get pushed way back on the schedule to a dead period between installments of Madden, but eventually, some form of Mirror's Edge 2 will see the light of day. Then it will be bought by a small number of people, be relegated to a single copy in every EB, and we'll go through this all again for Mirror's Edge 3.

Score: 2 for 4 - I'm not disappointed by this. The game just didn't click for me, and I had quite a few bugs when playing.



5.) It's surprising to see a small company like Double Fine making a game about Sesame Street.

Jeremy Thomas - Fiction: Not at all. TV franchises go to small companies all the time. Generally they're terrible rip-offs that don't even work—ask me about the House M.D. game that was critically panned and bug-ridden to the point that some people couldn't even play it. That was put out by Legacy Interactive, and House is a major primetime network show that is a huge ratings cash cow for Fox. A Sesame Street game will be for kids, which means we don't need huge graphics or heavy processing power. So yeah, outsource that crap to the lowest bidder, get your game out there, grab a few bucks and move on. It sucks, but the fact remains that TV and movie properties generally (GENERALLY, not ALWAYS) don't care what games are made on their projects, long as it gains some money and increases visibility. Didn't American Idol have a crap cheapo game put out? Yeah, Grover and Aloysius Snuffleupagus don't have a chance in hell of getting a thumbs up, but they'll have a game.

Stephen Randle - Fiction: No, not really. I would theorize that the bigger companies are more worried about pumping out their money-making teen-based franchises than a kid's game, which have the potential for decent profits, but an equal chance to crash and burn because the video game market for the 6 and under crowd isn't exactly large or stable. It would take a smaller company with everything to gain to say "sure, we'll make that", even with an established kid's brand like Sesame Street.

Score: 3 for 5 - I really figured they'd do something else unique, not an interactive episode.



6.) You're disappointed that Batman: Arkham City will be single player only.

Jeremy Thomas - Fiction: Frankly, I don't worry much about multiplayer in games like this. MMO's and the like is obviously another matter, but what would multiplayer in Arkham be? Four Batmen running around? And if it's different characters, how do you determine who's stuck as Robin? Yeah, I don't see that working out. I loved Arkham Asylum and I played the hell out of it, and I will play the hell out of Arkham City. But I won't be upset that I'm getting my ass handed to me from some twelve-year-old jackass with a headset on.

Stephen Randle - Fiction: Batman works alone. I don't care what they tell you about Robin, he was a hallucination of people who had deep-seated emotional issues. Anyway, a second player doesn't really fit into this style of game, which prizes sneakiness, intelligence, and the idea that Batman is a one-man army. Plus, by making it single player only, you avoid total gamer warfare when nobody can agree which player gets to be Batman. Smart move.

Score: 4 for 6 - I was actually looking forward to some co-op, but the game will probably still be great.



Bonus Question.) With Baba Yetu winning a Grammy, video game music will start getting respected more in the future.

Jeremy Thomas - Fact: I think it will somewhere down the line, and I'm ecstatic to see Baba Yetu take home a much-deserved Grammy. I still think it's going to be a slow process. This is the crack that's going to eventually open the floodgates…later. We needed one and then people would start taking it seriously. Don't expect to see a domination of the Grammys or massively improved game soundtrack sales in the next year or two, but it's coming down the line.

Stephen Randle - Fiction: First of all, it's a Grammy. The only reason people are happy to win one is because they're made of chocolate wrapped in gold foil. Secondly, giving the award to Baba Yetu, although deserved, is a complete joke because Baba Yetu was the awesome theme to Civilization IV, which came out six years ago. I'll say it again. Six. Years. Ago. Civilization V came out this year, that's how long ago it was. Did the Grammys suddenly decide their categories had six year eligibility periods? Video game music, no matter how incredible, will never get the respect it deserves for the same reason people keep making movies about video games without actually using the plot, characters, or settings of the video game: "they're just video games".

Adam Larck - Fiction: I would love to say fact to this, but I think that video games will continue to be overlooked. It's disappointing, though, considering the great scores many games often have. Hopefully, I'm wrong on this and we start seeing more pieces enter the mix in the future. I just don't think it will happen anytime soon.

The pair goes 4-for-6 this week. What do you think? Agree or disagree with their answers? Let us know. See you in seven!