The bad videogame predictions thread

[louisg]

I remember last generation some people would talk about how since everything is so high level, we won't see a big boost in performance in games released the last few years of the console's life the way we saw it for the 16-bit systems. This obviously didn't pan out: you only need to compare Ridge Racer V to Gran Turismo 4 or Expendable to Under Defeat to see a dramatic improvement.

What other bad videogame predictions have people made?

[Specineff]

I remember Ultra Game Players mag/rag predicting how the N64 disk drive would "rule the world". They ceased publication shortly thereafter.

Also, a certain british mag comparing all the CD systems that were coming out in the 90's: The Sega CD would "Implode in less than a year with the arrival of the SNES CD, and making Sega pack up and return to Japan." (You wish, f*ckers.) The 3DO "Being one of the systems that would survive the upcoming war, and the arrival of the SNES CD." and the "SNES CD revolutionizing/ perfecting the way multimedia was done."

(Guess on who's payroll they were.)

[Skykid]

Also, a certain british mag comparing all the CD systems that were coming out in the 90's: The Sega CD would "Implode in less than a year with the arrival of the SNES CD, and making Sega pack up and return to Japan." (You wish, f*ckers.)

The Sega CD managed to implode in less than a year without the aid of any competition whatsoever.

[Elixir]

Pretty much anything ever written in an issue of Edge.

Also, Sega fans thinking they're getting a new, worthwhile 2D Sonic game. Who are these people trying to kid?

Or people proclaiming how the Wii is "totally different from the Gamecube" due to "infra-red motion censors", and that it'll have a plethora of support and we won't end up having to wait 7 months per worthwhile game, just like the GC.

[nem]

and the "SNES CD revolutionizing/ perfecting the way multimedia was done."

tbh, this wasn't that far off the mark considering what eventually became of the SNES CD

[kengou]

I have an issue of Computer Gaming World from 2002 or 2003 that had quite a few bad predictions. There was a lot of hype over Star Wars Galaxies being the next big thing in MMOs, and we now know how that turned out. There was also some letters to the editor talking about the "death of PC gaming" which has been heralded since pretty much the PS2. Admittedly current consoles are sucking a lot of developer and gamer attention away from PCs nowadays, but I'm sure PC gaming won't actually die for a very long time, if ever. And regardless, in 2002/3 the PC was still getting bigger, considering Steam hadn't even come out yet.

[Ganelon]

I don't think the difference between first gen and last gen PS2 games was anywhere near as noticeable as in previous generations. The main thing technically that RRV and other first-gen PS2 games suffered from was complete lack of anti-aliasing causing jaggies all around. On the other hand, compare Ridge Racer to R4 on PS; it's almost unbelievable how much more detailed the latter is. Or compare Hard Drivin' with Virtua Racing on MD; from flatland to a real 3D world.

I remember when Sega told everyone they thought the 32X and Saturn could co-exist. Whoops. Or when Sony claimed the PS2 would be powerful enough to play Toy Story in realtime, which still hasn't even been approached and probably won't for another decade.

[Specineff]

^^ How about when George Lucas said that they could have done Episode 1 on the PS2? Yeah, right. And that's why the Ep 1 game looks exactly like the movie.

The Sega CD managed to implode in less than a year without the aid of any competition whatsoever.

True, but not because the other fabled add-on came out. Sega tried and failed. Nintendo didn't even try.

[Ed Oscuro]

Isn't the Ep1 game on PlayStation? Lolol. "STOP POOSHING MEEEE"

[Specineff]

I meant to say the Episode 1-based games on the PS2, like Racer Revenge and Starfighter. They of course IDENTICAL to the movie, ZOMG LOLROFLMAOARFARFARFBLAFARRRGGHH!111!!!!

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I don't think the difference between first gen and last gen PS2 games was anywhere near as noticeable as in previous generations. The main thing technically that RRV and other first-gen PS2 games suffered from was complete lack of anti-aliasing causing jaggies all around. On the other hand, compare Ridge Racer to R4 on PS; it's almost unbelievable how much more detailed the latter is. Or compare Hard Drivin' with Virtua Racing on MD; from flatland to a real 3D world.

I remember when Sega told everyone they thought the 32X and Saturn could co-exist. Whoops. Or when Sony claimed the PS2 would be powerful enough to play Toy Story in realtime, which still hasn't even been approached and probably won't for another decade.

The thing is that when the PSX came out, 3D was relatively new and standards were very low. By the time the PS2 came out 3D graphics had matured considerably and people knew how to make them. Which is why I think there's a greater difference between the PS1 and PS2 first and last gen games. Same thing happened with the NES and SNES.

Of course, graphics evolution is different depending on the game too. There's a much smaller difference between Crash Bandicoot and Crash Bandicoot Warped, for instance.

And talking about PS2, remember people saying you could launch missiles with them? .

[ROBOTRON]

Pretty much anything ever written in an issue of Edge.

Also, Sega fans thinking they're getting a new, worthwhile 2D Sonic game. Who are these people trying to kid?

Or people proclaiming how the Wii is "totally different from the Gamecube" due to "infra-red motion censors", and that it'll have a plethora of support and we won't end up having to wait 7 months per worthwhile game, just like the GC.

In my opinion, the Wii is a GameCube with a fancy controller...it also made my top 10 list of "Greatest Video game rip-offs" in history...a popular system for age 16 to 25 year old women who are trendy and like to work out.

[t0yrobo]

Not predictions, but just about everything Sony claimed leading up too the PS2 and PS3 releases. Jacking into the matrix on the ps2, and the ps3 running dual tvs at 1080p and having a built in router.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Not predictions, but just about everything Sony claimed leading up too the PS2 and PS3 releases. Jacking into the matrix on the ps2, and the ps3 running dual tvs at 1080p and having a built in router.

Yep, SCEI thought that it would be too expensive for the 1st-gen PS3 console to have two dedicated HDMI outputs and just lopped one off to cut down on production costs. Go figure. But then again, most folks wouldn't go out and buy two HDTV monitors for that very feature alone but the hard-core A/V customer base would. Sure would've been interesting to play two screen type of games any ol' day...surely better than just one. It surely would resurrect the days of the multi-screen arcade game hits like Ninja Warriors, Darius, Tecmo Bowl, etc. except bring that same experience to the home. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[linko9]

Don't forget that Kutaragi claimed that all games would run at 120 fps. I believe he called it "the most beautiful machine ever" or something like that.

I'd say the worst prediction I've ever heard is that the PSP would trounce Nintendo in the handheld market; quite a few "respectable" journalists were predicting this when the PSP was announced.

[No_not_like_Quake]

I remember reading somewhere (I think it was Gamefan) that the "Ultra 64" could display Babylon 5 CGI level graphics at 60 fps.

More recently, I think this article is full of absurd speculation:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... p2-article

Especially where they talk about the "PSP2":

"The raw potential of Sony's mooted solution is seriously impressive, to the point where you really have to sit down and take a deep breath before reading the next bit: we're talking about a GPU with the potential to be a halfway house between the raw power of the original Xbox's graphics chip and the Xenos GPU found in the Xbox 360, without factoring in all the advantages of running on a much lower resolution screen."

[louisg]

In my opinion, the Wii is a GameCube with a fancy controller...it also made my top 10 list of "Greatest Video game rip-offs" in history...a popular system for age 16 to 25 year old women who are trendy and like to work out.

Well, I'd like to steer this away from console wars. The Wii (and 360, and probably ps3 but I haven't looked into it) have a lot of good games. But, I think it's kind of sad that last gen Nintendo rolls out fairly close hardware to their current gen machine, at the same price, and nobody buys the thing. But, they market it differently and now they sell a zillion of them.

[Mortificator]

More rumor than prediction, but I remember hearing that the DS was just a stopgap gimmick (a la the Virtual Boy) for Nintendo while they planned to unveil the next-generation Game Boy.

[Dragoforce]

All those people that claimed that N-gage was a Gameboy for grownups.... And me saying that NDS was as stupid as a solar powered flashlight and that it would fail utterly.

[Ed Oscuro]

I remember some guy whose initials are DepMon from Digital Press who was getting in my face because obviously Microsoft is NEVER releasing a HD-DVD drive for the 360.

I was like no dude the info is right here

HD-DVD was a loser and the drive really didn't make much sense, but come out it did.

All those people that claimed that N-gage was a Gameboy for grownups.... And me saying that NDS was as stupid as a solar powered flashlight and that it would fail utterly.

A solar-powered DS would be pretty useless. Kind of like trying to play Boktai in the northern latitudes.

[EinhanderZwei]

More rumor than prediction, but I remember hearing that the DS was just a stopgap gimmick (a la the Virtual Boy) for Nintendo while they planned to unveil the next-generation Game Boy.

There are rumors that the same situation is currently with PSP Go - since it has the same hardware as other models, it's just a rip-off before the release of next-gen PSP

[Ex-Cyber]

More rumor than prediction, but I remember hearing that the DS was just a stopgap gimmick (a la the Virtual Boy) for Nintendo while they planned to unveil the next-generation Game Boy.

Well, that wasn't so different from Nintendo's official stance, which was that DS was a "third pillar" that would complement Game Boy rather than replacing it.

[doctorx0079]

I remember Ultra Game Players mag/rag predicting how the N64 disk drive would "rule the world". They ceased publication shortly thereafter.

Aww, I miss UGP. Their letters column was HILARIOUS, especially when they got out the EAG (Evil Antler God). That was around the same time that EGM published the infamous "ASTROD" letters that I can't seem to find on the intarwebs these days.

Sadly, most predictions made by Nolan Bushnell are bad, and Rick Dyer, the guy who thought up Dragon's Lair. The idea that everyone would want a Halcyon was a bad prediction. Probably anything anyone said about home consoles of 1983 in 1981 turned out to be a bad prediction.

How about Atari predicting they could sell more ET cartridges than there were VCS consoles? Or did Steven Spielburg predict that??

[BulletMagnet]

Well, that wasn't so different from Nintendo's official stance, which was that DS was a "third pillar" that would complement Game Boy rather than replacing it.

Come to think of it, has ANY "the new system and the old one can co-exist" prediction EVER come to pass? I'm having trouble thinking of one offhand...

[doctorx0079]

Well, that wasn't so different from Nintendo's official stance, which was that DS was a "third pillar" that would complement Game Boy rather than replacing it.

Come to think of it, has ANY "the new system and the old one can co-exist" prediction EVER come to pass? I'm having trouble thinking of one offhand...

That depends on if you count the 5200 as coexisting with the 2600. I think it's debatable.

To quote the AVGN: "Atari made other systems which came and went. And one of these was the Atari 5200. It was meant to replace the 2600, although ironically, it failed and faded away while the 2600 lived on."

[Ganelon]

Yeah, Nintendo is always overly optimistic about the future of deprecated, successful platforms. I still remember when they said the NES would co-exist with the SNES. Anyway, the Mega CD sort of co-existed with the Mega Drive for a time.

[ncp]

I still remember when they said the NES would co-exist with the SNES.

They sure co-existed in my room for a long time, does that count?

[Ex-Cyber]

I still remember when they said the NES would co-exist with the SNES.

NES actually did last a while; at least until 1994. That's pretty good compared to e.g. the Xbox -> Xbox 360 transition, which was practically over within a year (I think about half a dozen games got released after 2006, two of which were Madden ports).

[Ganelon]

And the MD lasted into the SS, SFC into N64, PS into PS2, PS2 into PS3, GBA SP into DS, etc...

But you're missing the context of the time at which Nintendo made that statement. Nowadays, with so many systems past, you expect older systems to die slowly as the new system phases away. At that time, this phase out period for outdated video game systems wasn't at all evident; being Nintendo's first system and with such dominant market share, they thought the NES would actually survive as a lower platform to the SNES. Now, we know old systems never have a chance co-existing with newer systems, no matter how popular they may have been; they'll simply die either slowly or quickly as technology marches forward.

[BIL]

Anyone remember this guy's proselytizing of FMV games during the early/mid-90s?



I remember an interview where he favourably compared whatever crappy B-Movie "FPS" he was working on to Doom, haha.