If Ubisoft would have released Left 4 Dead

Let me start by saying that I only reflect the opinions of myself, some of my friends and some internet literature I have read along the way.

If Ubisoft had released Left 4 Dead, it would have been a very tragic day. Like the post-apocalyptic time that the game represents. The only four survivors to actually buy the game would have probably given up after only a couple of days with no mercy left for the blood sucking, air heads running a dead end company like Ubisoft; leaving it to its death. Only the harvest of games it created would be left to show for its efforts and when the bell tolls to summon the dead, Ubisoft will be the first to lay down in the trenches and be forgotten forever.

But, because Valve released Left 4 Dead, we forgive the bugs and lack of content. We know in our hearts that Valve loves each of us. Valve is like that grandpa that gives us free candy for not telling anyone he ate some too. We expect Valve to go above and beyond to release free-content add-on packs for its games. EA does not understand this concept when looking at the Sims as an example. Valve lets us host the servers and in return they give us more content. Servers available to the public for free means they can sell more games. More free content for us means we get our money's worth and an increased replay value. Left 4 Dead is missing content, no doubt about that; a $50 game means more than 4 hours of game play. Of course the online game play is good too, but with the bugs in the lobby and server searching, we can look into that later.

I don't mean to completely bust Ubisoft's bubble, but come on. They really failed the industry by franchising the name Farcry into a sequel without giving us a real game. I don't want to point out specifics about why Farcry 2 fails, because Blogger does not have the storage space for my rant. What I will do is say that Ubisoft should stick to consoles where details don't matter as much and people will blame the controller. Example: LOST Via Domus; not a horrible game, just an obvious Ubisoft game.

EA and Valve

Recently, Steam announced the addition of EA titles to its store. I feel this is a huge deal for both Valve and EA. EA being the largest and one of the oldest publishers of game titles, agreeing to let Valve sell its games through its online store. Steam was originally created as a DRM and store for Valve's games only.

I remember the early days with Steam and those were very dark days. Steam was buggier than a lamp post on a cool summer night. But time passed and because Valve is so well regarded, we overlooked it and put up with it. Steam became a very good means to purchase games from other developers. No CDs meant no CD keys, no scratched discs, no long, tedious installs. Steam was quickly becoming a convenience application because no longer did a new desktop or laptop mean going through a whole collection of game discs to install them all.

Steam has changed its look and feel to accommodate the increased library of titles and continues to increase it every week. Weekend deals are something to look forward to and the package deals are fantastic! It is so easy to just open Steam everyday, see what's new in the store or what updates are being downloaded (did I mention going to a developers website to download updates is a thing of the past :) ). I will then usually open the friends window to see who is playing what. Steam is GREAT!

In conclusion, EA on Steam makes my one wish for Steam one step closer to coming true. Back in the days of 2005-2006 (Freshman year of college) I played the Sims2 religiously. Having every available object at my sims' disposal was my top priority. A new "stuff" pack or expansion meant happy days for my Sims and I. For anyone who has ever installed close to 30 discs for a game, knows how this is a huge PAIN IN THE ASS. Needless to say, I have not installed them since my newest configuration of hardware on my PC. But if the Sims is released on Steam and I can just click "Install" on each of the packs or "Install All" I will be the happiest gamer alive :). Who in the world wants to install 30 discs worth of content? Not I!

Connecting Band

Here is a name that needs help. I am opening up discussion to anyone that is out there listening. A new website that I am a part of is being created to connect bands across the country. The connection is geared toward planning tours and filling venues with bands that want the gigs. We will also allow people to browse the website to check out the band's profile and listen to any music they might have uploaded. Fans of the bands will also be able to view upcoming shows that the band may have.

The biggest problem we have run into so far is a catchy name. Also, the name should be available as a Domain name and should not already be taken as a copyright, but that should be a given, right?

Popularity of a Videogame in Relation to its Abbreviation

I have been wondering lately about this topic and have put enough thought into it to make it worthy of a blog post. Games that come to mind are WOW, CSS, DODS, AOE, DOTA, L4D, GTA, NFS and many many more. We know what these are because of their popularity and common usage. What we don't hear about are games with names like TimeShift and Railroad Tycoon. And these are good games, but without a simple easy to say name, how can they be expected to catch on. I know there are many exceptions to this, such as Guitar Hero and Starcraft, but there has to be some correlation between an easy to say acronym and hard to say game name without an acronym. Marketing is all key when naming your next hit title, so spend the extra time to do so. Any other ideas on the topic, make a comment.

It is also worth mentioning that the rule applies to most things across the board, not just games, but that is where my interest is, so there.