Is this the cause for today's drop for both PS3 and X360 version of May futures ? I think people are expecting 50%+ drop for US NPD, which seems reasonable based on first week vs first month data (World Wide) we got from this article.
"The first installment of downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 will be a full extra 'episode,' and is set to hit in the first quarter of 2009, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder revealed on the company's call to investors today. Take-Two's fiscal year starts in November. Feder declined to provide any further details, but now we know the DLC is forthcoming for Xbox 360. No mention was made of PS3 DLC."
"Grand Theft Auto IV has sold 8.5 million units to date, with 11 million shipped to retail as of May 31, the company's second quarter financial results revealed today. [These numbers reflect sales on both the PS3 and 360.] In its first week, GTA IV sold 6 million units, to the tune of $500 million in net sales."
I have a different perspective on review score creep. Let's imagine I'm a videogame developer (I'm not, but lets pretend). I'm fully aware that high review scores correlate with higher sales. If I was clever, I'd perform a deep and thorough anlysis of what kind of qualities in a game lead to a high review score, then I'd do my damnest to ensure that I imbue my game with those qualities to the greatest extend possible given my budget. I'd learn lessons from each game I produce, and apply those lessons to future projects.
My point is this - perhaps we should consider the possibility that the top tier of game developers are getting better at their craft. Is Bungie of today a smarter developer than the Bungie of 2000, back when Halo was in development? I should damn well hope so, or they've not been very clever about running their business.
Reviews are an integral part of the videogame business, and it makes sense that a smart developer will 'game' the system over time, producing games that are subjectively 'better' according to the mostly static criteria of the average review.
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Back on topic, sure GTA4 has many flaws, but compare the number of flaws to the number of things it does right, and the 10/10's start to make more sense. The real joy of the game is in how many things it attempts, and the suprisingly high number of those things are done really, really well. Given the sheer volume of well implemented features, a few minor niggles seem forgivable.
i agree about the scores/numbers. i am also of the mind of reading the actual review instead of basing purchases off some arbitrary number.
and it's interesting that you brought up the point of review-score creep. i was thinking that same thing the other day.
i started thinking maybe we should just be on a boundless system and rate it kind of like in dragonball where they have some power level. and then people could eventually give a game the internet meme's "over nine thousandddddddd?!"
The problem has been steady review-score creep. Games are being compared to previous efforts, rather than being judged on their own merits. As most publishers will improve their titles over time, the scores keep increasing, leading inevitably to crowding at the top scores.
A recent Zero Punctuation review made an excellent point...why should you care about the number at the end of a review? Reviews should point out what the game does well, and what it does not. It should talk about what the game is like, rather than give it some arbitrary rating that is based largely on the taste of that particular reviewer. Would people not buy GTA4 if the review was the same but gave it a 8 or 9? If so, then they're missing the point of it all.
Scores are just fodder for the fanboy wars anyway.
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