Weekend Slowdown(Rant): On “idea stealing”, Splinter Cell Conviction, and core-gameplay change

This is this blogger’s minor, inconsequential take on the whole Splinter Cell: Conviction losing its core-gameplay, and that game franchises innovating by stealing gameplay concepts from other franchises debate that seems to be raging at the moment. Here it goes:

Adventure Island 2 sucks because it such a rip-off of Super Mario Bros. Yeah it is. I mean that whole moving from left to right, jumping thing is really so stupid. They just added the ability for the main character to shoot stuff. Oh, wait! Mario does that too when he gets a flower.

Oh and, what about that time manipulation in God of War 2? Isn’t that such a bad steal from of Prince of Persia Sands of Time? God of War 2 sucks. It isn’t God of War 2. It failed the franchise in spirit and genre. Yeah, just because it introduced something from another game.

Speaking of Prince of Persia, isn’t the timed button sequences and the stealth-kills in The Two Thrones such an annoying and blatant plagiarism of God of War’s timed button presses and the stealth genre’s stealth-kills? Execution doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the game friggin’ stole a concept from somewhere else. As long as the game did that, the core gameplay of the title will change. Change, mind you, not expand – expand to allow for other elements to be included.

Yeah, and what about that Gambit system in Final Fantasy XII! That’s stupid! That changes what Final Fantasy is all about? How dare Square Enix make a game where the commands aren’t executed/ordered step by step by the player? How dare Square-Enix make the game play itself! The Gambit system sucks!

I can say all these things, even though I don’t necessarily believe in them (ah sarcasm) because the mentioned games ARE OUT ALREADY.

A lot of the outcry about Conviction changing the core gameplay of the Splinter Cell Franchise is based only on what we know so far. Aside from what Ubisoft has advertised in their marketing ploy for the game, what we know so far about the game is very, very little.

Conviction could succeed, it could flop. Nothing’s certain. What is certain is that for now it is far too early to say that it Splinter Cell: Conviction lacks Splinter Cell. For all we know, the latter half of the game could have gadgets, and infiltration, and old-school hiding in the shadows stuff.

Okay, I’ve said my bit (albeit with a bit of sarcasm) on videogame franchises borrowing gameplay elements from other franchises. What’s your take on that? Does it contribute to the growth of a franchise? Does it make a franchise less than it is? Is execution the key? Let us know. Oh, and don’t worry. I won’t accuse you of -not- being a “core gamer” (whatever that newfangled term means).

This is this blogger’s minor, inconsequential take on the whole Splinter Cell: Conviction losing its core-gameplay, and that game franchises innovating by stealing gameplay concepts from other franchises debate that seems to be raging at the moment. Here it goes:

Adventure Island 2 sucks because it such a rip-off of Super Mario Bros. Yeah it is. I mean that whole moving from left to right, jumping thing is really so stupid. They just added the ability for the main character to shoot stuff. Oh, wait! Mario does that too when he gets a flower.

Oh and, what about that time manipulation in God of War 2? Isn’t that such a bad steal from of Prince of Persia Sands of Time? God of War 2 sucks. It isn’t God of War 2. It failed the franchise in spirit and genre. Yeah, just because it introduced something from another game.

Speaking of Prince of Persia, isn’t the timed button sequences and the stealth-kills in The Two Thrones such an annoying and blatant plagiarism of God of War’s timed button presses and the stealth genre’s stealth-kills? Execution doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the game friggin’ stole a concept from somewhere else. As long as the game did that, the core gameplay of the title will change. Change, mind you, not expand – expand to allow for other elements to be included.

Yeah, and what about that Gambit system in Final Fantasy XII! That’s stupid! That changes what Final Fantasy is all about? How dare Square Enix make a game where the commands aren’t executed/ordered step by step by the player? How dare Square-Enix make the game play itself! The Gambit system sucks!

I can say all these things, even though I don’t necessarily believe in them (ah sarcasm) because the mentioned games ARE OUT ALREADY.

A lot of the outcry about Conviction changing the core gameplay of the Splinter Cell Franchise is based only on what we know so far. Aside from what Ubisoft has advertised in their marketing ploy for the game, what we know so far about the game is very, very little.

Conviction could succeed, it could flop. Nothing’s certain. What is certain is that for now it is far too early to say that it Splinter Cell: Conviction lacks Splinter Cell. For all we know, the latter half of the game could have gadgets, and infiltration, and old-school hiding in the shadows stuff.

Okay, I’ve said my bit (albeit with a bit of sarcasm) on videogame franchises borrowing gameplay elements from other franchises. What’s your take on that? Does it contribute to the growth of a franchise? Does it make a franchise less than it is? Is execution the key? Let us know. Oh, and don’t worry. I won’t accuse you of -not- being a “core gamer” (whatever that newfangled term means).