While it's not an announcement for the sequel, the recognition gained could very well help our whole situation. An article was written by a PR manager at Ubisoft writes about BGE's greatness, and why it tanked. The article is well-written, and you can tell this guy is very passionate about the game, much like us. It leads to some great insights on why the game failed. Here is one of the best reasons he brought up that I never thought of:

quote:

When you present a game to a retailer, you’re lucky to have their attention for more than five minutes. Sequels rely only on you quoting success stories of the previous iteration; sports and racing games utilise the sales of similar games in their genres to back their case; while licensed titles require that the retailer has faith in the license rather than the quality of the affiliated product. When you go out there with something entirely different and unique—a product that’s proving difficult for even the publisher to summarise in a sound bite—you may as well beg retail to take it.

The workers at EB, at Gamestop, at GameCrazy, at WalMart, at Best Buy, these workers never sold BGE because they didn't know how, and it was easier to plug the supid yearly re-hash titles that they KNEW they would make money off of. (Denden, you're the exception, and I'm sure you know that.)

But overall, the article does reaffirm what we allready knew, that Ubisoft screwed the game before it ever had a chance. The article discusses Budgets for marketing, and how the higher budgets are given to those games that they know will turn profit (Such as sequels and tried and true franchises.)

He ends with a great line:

quote:

Of course, there are some of us that are still wondering what happened next to Jade, Pey’j and Double H. What was the ultimate the fate of planet Hyllis and the orphans in Jade’s care? Did the rhinos get the garage repaired? And just how does a whale end up frozen in the Earth’s orbit? I hope we all get the chance to find out one day.

Now, this article was featured on Slashdot, which is one of if not the biggest online news site, generating so much traffic that whichever sites are linked to from it's pages usually have a server crash because user volume is too high. This site is a big deal. The fact that BGE is front and center on Slashdot means a lot. BGE is being communicated, very positively, to a HUGE audience. Although that doesn't mean a sequel, it does mean an increased awareness. Who knows, we just may end up with some new members here.

Check out those two links, they're stories that you definitely want to read. When on the Slashdot link, scroll down to read users posts in regards to the story. You'll find some idiots criticizing BGE for no good reason, idiots that literally have never played the game and hate it because it looks dumb or because it's unconventional. But almost every single person who actually has played the game and have a right to talk about it have great things to speak of it.

Yes it was. And true to slashdot form those that responded were childish and very vocal about how they hated or disliked it because of some small annoyance.

The majority voice of gamers really ticks me off. Unable or too shallow to find any value in art or say that they didn't like it without hyperbole, they choose to attack instead. It seems most think that the louder you type or say something means more people will listen. How wrong they are. To truly be heard, you must speak quietly.

Or I could just be in a bad mood that reactions toward BG&E hasn't mellowed through time even though (IMO) history will show it to be a landmark game.

-CA51

NO WAI

Why is it that I fear for BG&E. The fact it's getting all this attention is fantastic! It deserves even more, but If it became some mainstream franchise, I'd kill myself.

That yet again proves how much of an underdog BGE is. to me it was way better then any of the other cr** that came out in 2003.

quote:

The majority voice of gamers really ticks me off. Unable or too shallow to find any value in art or say that they didn't like it without hyperbole, they choose to attack instead. It seems most think that the louder you type or say something means more people will listen. How wrong they are. To truly be heard, you must speak quietly.

Very well said CellAgent. The majority of gamers - it's because of these people that the industry is in the state that it is. The majority are the ones who love graphics over innovation. It's the majority that have lead us to yearly rehash sequels and such. This majority is typically full of idiots who don't know when something truly great comes along, and it's because of this the industry turns to garbage.

Sirrus Black is right. BGE was one of the greatest games of 03, if not the best. Yet it'll never be viewed as that, viewed as what it deserves, becuase of this majority.

People just love games where they can shoot the hell out of some poor alien just *trying* to take over the world or a German soldier. All they wanted was to be loved. D:

If I had it my way, there would be a video game with E.T. in it. And your task is to assassinate him and his ship.

Look at that neck! It's hideous! Those big, human-like eyes...It's not human I tell you!

And what's worse! His finger can heal people! Can you imagine if you have a hemorroid? Do you want an alien to stick his finger between your crack for it to be healed?!

And I'm not even going to get into the ride at Universal Studios...

I went ahead and left a comment on the front page.

Heh. FlynnMP3.

I have a feeling that BG&E will see a the light of day again because the people who can do something about have a special place in their heart for it.

Well that and a few heartfelt consumers too. /hug

-CA51

quote:

Originally posted by Jerichowilks:
If I had it my way, there would be a video game with E.T. in it. And your task is to assassinate him and his ship.

Look at that neck! It's hideous! Those big, human-like eyes...It's not human I tell you!

And what's worse! His finger can heal people! Can you imagine if you have a hemorroid? Do you want an alien to stick his finger between your crack for it to be healed?!

And I'm not even going to get into the ride at Universal Studios...

lol pretty much.
My sister used to have an ET statuette that was about -oh- 10in/20cm high. I always used to read her diary (ZOMG) and she used to put the ET statuette ontop of the diary. I used the staff of the Toy Story Bo Peep she had to take that guy down. Pretty good for a first grader.

quote:

I have a feeling that BG&E will see a the light of day again because the people who can do something about have a special place in their heart for it

That's a good point. We keep posting about hopeful stories like this one because people, usually key people, haven't forgotten about the game. That is going to be our biggest chance of a sequel. As long as the people that have industry influence remember BGE and keep it near to their hearts then they can press for development of the sequel.

This truly a beautiful quote to remember:
"If you already have it and finished it, play it again. Or, even better, lend it to a friend. Let them know the truth about gaming: innovation hasn’t died; it just doesn’t always share the same amount of shelf space as mediocrity."

That's just awesome, and entirely true. I've read more than enough negative comments about BG&E the past few years to know what their based on most of the time. People think it's too different and because they see all basic gameplay elements, they just can't see how brilliant it's mixed into one fantastic gameplay experience. When people talk about how the story was a mess, they don't realize that it's just one-third of the story and it's a brilliant set-up for a story that could be one of the most beautiful stories ever told in the history of gaming. When people think the characters are weird, have they ever taken a good look at characters from popular franchises like Zelda? Aren't they at least just as "weird"? At least the characters from BG&E have personality, you feel their pain when something bad happens to them, you smile with them when something good happens to them.

There will always be people *****ing about BG&E as long as there is attention for BG&E. This article is great, there are negative comments and positive ones. That will always be the case with a game or movie which has fans calling it the best thing ever. Other people react aggressively to such positive comments, and they go into the complete opposite way, calling it the worst thing ever(often with bad spelling and grammar in their comment). I see it on IMDB all the time. Hyped, overrated, overlooked, underrated...it doesn't matter.

Lynx, I'm offended. I work at Best Buy, and after I started playing the game, I offered it to every customer who came by. Most just want more Madden, even though it's exactly the same game as last years.

Sorry for a late response, but it's great to see the guy I emailed have his article on such a big site! Perhaps I could mention this to him.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BGEVoyager,