The Digital Pulse 04.27.07: Exclusively Not Exclusive

Posted by Joshua Richey on 04.27.2007

Games stop being exclusive sometimes... deal with it.

It's final exam week and I've just about gotten to the point where I just want to climb on top of the closest building and just yell to the top of my lungs. But before I do that, I'm here to offer you up another dose of this little thing that I like to call The Digital Pulse.



Exclusive – If you would, stop and think about what that word means for a second. According to the Webster's Dictionary, the word means ‘an exclusive right or privilege'. What things in our everyday lives are ‘exclusive'? Well, hopefully your boyfriend or girlfriend is exclusive to you and you alone. Your toothbrush is exclusive to you, unless you're grotesque like that. But in video game terms, the word ‘exclusive' has lost all of its meaning.

You see, these days, when something is ‘exclusive' – it merely means ‘an exclusive right or privilege… for now'. For example, in the last year, we've seen Grand Theft Auto, Devil May Cry and Kane & Lynch go from being ‘exclusive' to one console in particular – to going multi-platform. My only complaint is this: why do gamers get so damn mad when these things happen?

I can see why people become outraged when a game goes exclusive to just one console. It means that you're going to have to deal out another small fortune just to play that said game. I understand that. For example, I'm a huge fan of the Metal Gear franchise, but in order to play Metal Gear Solid 4 – I'd be forced to buy a PS3; which I'm not ready to do at this point. So, basically, this means that I'm going to have to skip playing the latest game from one of my favorite franchises. So I can understand the irritation that gamers get when a game does in fact go ‘exclusive' – what I don't get however is why they get so damn mad when a game stops being exclusive.

Now I'd use Devil May Cry as an example of this, but I happen to think that the series sucks ass – and I'm not excited at all that it's going to be on the Xbox 360. But just to prove my point I'm going to use it; because the fanboys response to the news that it wasn't exclusive anymore was quite hysterical, I thought.




When it was announced that Devil May Cry 4 wouldn't be released solely for the Playstation 3 anymore, Sony fanboys shit a brick. They called for an explanation and threatened to boycott the game entirely. Why? Why the hell does it matter? We're all die-hard gamers, so why would you not want everyone to enjoy that game? Why would you not want the developers to make as much of a profit off of it as they possibly can? I guess in order to figure out something of that nature, you'd probably have to break down the mystique that is the fanboy; but we'll save that another time, another article.

I'm an Xbox 360 owner, and one of the games that I was most looking forward to this year was a game called Kane & Lynch. It's a game made by the masterminds that brought us the Hitman series, and at one time was ‘exclusive' to the 360 and PC. Well, earlier this week, it was announced that the game will now be released at large – and that it would be available for the PS3 as well. Now did I cry about it? Did I write angry e-mails to IO and demand explanations? Did I threaten to boycott the game that I was looking forward to for over a year now? No. Actually, I didn't do any of those things. I'm happy actually. IO Interactive are the makers of some damn good games. They're dark, realistic, and play out a lot like a David Fincher movie. I love their games. I want them to have as much success as they can. Success in their eyes is ultimately going to come in the form of how many games they sell. Now tell me this, in which scenario is IO likely to sell the most copies of their game? A.) Release it exclusively for the 360 – which has a market of about 10.4 million gamers… or B.) Release it for both the 360 and the PS3 – which would then be a market of about 15 million gamers. It doesn't exactly take a rocket-scientist to see which the safest way to go is.

If it were announced today that Halo 3 was going to be released for the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, I wouldn't say a damn thing in protest. It's a great game that every gamer of every age should get the opportunity to play at some point. Now if Bungie were to come out and say ‘hey guys, Halo is only going to be for the PS3 from now on' – then okay, then we have an actual argument.

I just wish that gamers would realize how damn ridiculous they look and sound when they bitch about such petty things as this. Seriously, it's embarrassing to those of us that don't sink to those levels. You don't see adult men ages 14-40 spamming internet message boards and voicing their opinion on whether or not Quizno's is superior to Subway, do you?

The point of all this ranting is this: with the state of our economy and with the way that the gaming industry is booming, we're going to see more and more of this. It is just a matter of time until Metal Gear Solid 4 is announced to be heading towards the Xbox 360 – just as the 360 is bound to lose a few more of their so called ‘exclusives'. Deal with it gamers. Stop bitching.



QUICKIE: It's exam week, people. I haven't played a video game in about 2 weeks as I've been dotting all my ‘I's' and crossing all of my ‘T's'. I've been meaning to play me some Command & Conquer 3, but like I said, I've been way to busy. So for this week's Quickie, I'm going to recommend a game that I played during my previous 2-month hiatus – but never gave a proper shout out to.

I wasn't a fan of the X-men Legends games, but Marvel Ultimate Alliance had a really difficult time finding its way out of my 360. Sure, it's a bit of a button masher and it's essentially the same thing over and over again… but, dammit, I loved it. They really captured the magic of the Marvel Universe. It's fun playing as the characters that I grew up reading, and watching them interact with one another. Extra credit points for getting Deadpool right. He's been my favorite character from the Marvel Universe ever since I was 10 years old.

If you were avoiding Marvel: Ultimate Alliance because of Legends, you need not worry; Ultimate Alliance is good… damn good.

Final Score: B



EYE CANDY: This is a really impressive fan film made by Monty Oum; who uploaded it to GameTrailers.com. It's a ‘dream match' between the Master Chief and Metroid. It's pretty damn cool for most of the film, but it takes a bizarre twist about ¾'s of the way in – and I didn't care much for it.





PIMPIN': Another week, another movie to pimp the hell out of. Hot Fuzz is a film that reunites the director of Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright) with his leading men of the same movie: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Now let me tell you this, my expectations were huge for this movie. Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite movies, and I was assuming that anytime you combine Wright, Pegg and Frost that what you would get is 2 hours of unbelievable wit.

I was not disappointed.

Hot Fuzz has the timing and the charm that made Shaun of the Dead the modern-day masterpiece that it's become. I'm not too big on comparing films to one another, but I would even go as far as to say that Hot Fuzz is in fact even better than SOTD. I won't stop there either. Hot Fuzz is the best film to be released so far this year; and that's saying something when you take into account how incredible this year has been for movies. (Reno 911, 300, Grindhouse, Zodiac, Blades of Glory)

Closing Arguments: I appreciate you people being patient with me over the last few weeks. I'm running behind on responding to reader-mail, and I'll try and get that caught up here in the next week. As I've mentioned, final exams are no joke. Thankfully, this time last week it'll all be over with and I'll have the entire summer to piss people off.

I'm working on some article ideas that have got some real potential. I'm also working on a new blog that'll work in unison with this article. So stay tuned, and please continue to be patient.