Biggest games disasters from Yahoo Games

[Davidbld]

Heres the link:
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/big-budget-disasters/1218872

I barely even remember ET and have never even heard of The Getaway or Shenmu. Wonder what you guys think. Are there any other big budget games that should have been on that list...perhaps something like MOO3?

Dave

[EngineNo9]

You've never heard of Shenmue or The Getaway?  I'm guessing you don't play console games at all or follow the industry in-depth.

[Davidbld]

I'm mostly a PC gamer, I started with the C-64 when really young, then dad got the Atari 400 then 800 ect... (up untill the modern PC). I have a DS (currently playing Shiren the wonderer), once had a Playstation 1, thats about it, so no I'm not much a console guy thus I dont follow that industry in-depth. Thanks for asking.

Dave

[Canuck]

Yes what kind of a rock have you been living under if you don't know of Shenmue?  It's not a big name now but in its time it was THE console release.  Was it really that much of a disaster?  I've never played it but I thought it was supposed to be half decent.  Also The Getaway may or may not be good but it is definitely not an unknown title.  It was basically a GTA ripoff if I recall.

[Canuck]

Good article by the way-very interesting

[Mithridates]

You've never heard of Shenmue or The Getaway?  I'm guessing you don't play console games at all or follow the industry in-depth.

Yes what kind of a rock have you been living under if you don't know of Shenmue? 

I play console games and I don't live under a rock and I haven't heard of either.  Just because you're familar with something doesn't mean its common knowledge to the rest of the world. 

[Scraper]

Yes what kind of a rock have you been living under if you don't know of Shenmue?  It's not a big name now but in its time it was THE console release.  Was it really that much of a disaster?  I've never played it but I thought it was supposed to be half decent.  Also The Getaway may or may not be good but it is definitely not an unknown title.  It was basically a GTA ripoff if I recall.

Shenmue does not even remotely belong on this list. It was a very good game for its time. It wasn't a GTA ripoff at all. Mostly because it came out prior to GTA3 and it wasn't nearly as open ended as GTA is. It was however, one of the first console games with a 3d open world design. The thing that set Shenmue apart from other games of it's time is that had a very strong story that was meant to be told in several installments. Unfortunately only 2 installments were released.

It was a ground breaking game for its time and set the stage for games like GTA3, Mafia, and even other heavily story driven games.

[wonderpug]

Wow.  The geek rage meter is off the charts today.

[Scraper]

Wow.  The geek rage meter is off the charts today.

Just be glad that U2K isn't on this board. His Dreamcast rage would be unstoppable. 

[EngineNo9]

Yes what kind of a rock have you been living under if you don't know of Shenmue?  It's not a big name now but in its time it was THE console release.  Was it really that much of a disaster?  I've never played it but I thought it was supposed to be half decent.  Also The Getaway may or may not be good but it is definitely not an unknown title.  It was basically a GTA ripoff if I recall.

Shenmue does not even remotely belong on this list. It was a very good game for its time. It wasn't a GTA ripoff at all. Mostly because it came out prior to GTA3 and it wasn't nearly as open ended as GTA is. It was however, one of the first console games with a 3d open world design. The thing that set Shenmue apart from other games of it's time is that had a very strong story that was meant to be told in several installments. Unfortunately only 2 installments were released.

It was a ground breaking game for its time and set the stage for games like GTA3, Mafia, and even other heavily story driven games.

They're talking about financial disaster, not the game as a whole. 

[Big Jake]

Engine#9 is correct, they're speaking in a business sense, not whether the games were any good. 

Shenmue has a 90% ranking at gamerankings - it was a gaming landmark at the time of release.  They had an entire ad campaign promoting the Dreamcast based around it.  I had no idea it was so expensive to make though.  $70mil?!  I see that the only game that might have surpassed it is GTA4.

While Moo3 was from a beloved franchise, I don't know if it cost all that much to develop.  I'm also sure there's been a few AAA-games that were supposed to be huge sellers that didn't do it. 

[Zarkon]

The Getaway wasn't that good, IMO, but the sequel was pretty decent. 

[hitbyambulance]

so what's the deal with Shenmue 3?

[Scraper]

so what's the deal with Shenmue 3?

As far as I know Sega is done with the franchise.  By the By I would be curious to see what the actual sales numbers are for 1 and 2 combined on the Xbox and Dreamcast compared to the overall expense for the games. I know they completed Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast, translated it to English then failed to release it in the US when Microsoft bought the rights to have the game on the original XBox. They did release part 2 for the Dreamcast in Europe though.

[SwampIrish]

so what's the deal with Shenmue 3?

As far as I know Sega is done with the franchise.  By the By I would be curious to see what the actual sales numbers are for 1 and 2 combined on the Xbox and Dreamcast compared to the overall expense for the games. I know they completed Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast, translated it to English then failed to release it in the US when Microsoft bought the rights to have the game on the original XBox. They did release part 2 for the Dreamcast in Europe though.

I have the import copy and the boot disk to play it.

[Laner]

I'm not sure how the math works that makes Ultima 9 nine years in development... that would mean they started development around the time Ultima 6 was released (which I seriously doubt). 

And of course they have the mandated-by-law Worst. Game. Ever. nonsense in the E.T. bit.  Financial disaster?  No question.  Worst game ever?  Not by a long shot.  Using this particular outplayed meme is just lazy writing at this point.

[baelthazar]

I own the ET cartridge, and I have since near when it released. I may have bought it in a yardsale a few years after (along with a bunch of Atari games), as I was only about 4 at the time. I played it quite a bit, because it had pretty colors, neat sounds, and ET in it (I loved ET as a kid). I agree though, it isn't the worst. game. ever. like everyone says. It is a freakin' Atari game, none of them ever made sense. They were always just blocky colored pixels bumping into other blocky pixels and pressing the button to interact in some way. Anyone who ever played the Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Atari cartridge will tell you that ET was practically clear on what you should do in comparison. 

I think they just talk about it so much because of the funny story of the Almagordo dump site. Yeah yeah... atari cartridges in the desert... we know.

Bael