Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts.

walsh2509 · 03-30-07, 05:22 AM

Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts.

Do you think other game houses will start to look at producing Sub Sims now ?

While SH3 was great , even better when GWX 1.02 was added, and SH4 will get there,with new Dx10 games coming out in the next few years (will take long for the next SH?). Don't you think its time for a new game engine, I think that this one has run its course. And with the Crytek engine going on licence the bar for damage and effects in games has just jumped way way higher than the current engine used in SH game can ever reach and even if they bring out an update version of the SH engine, I find it hard to imagine that it will get near the Crytek one? You never know but it would take some doing.

1. Other game house to look at Sub/Navy sims after SH4 tops the charts?

2. New game engine need, would Cryteks engine be the answer?

TDK1044 · 03-30-07, 06:19 AM

I think that if Silent Hunter 4 does well in sales and exceeds Silent Hunter 3 then Ubisoft will probably continue the Silent hunter series. But SH4 is not a 'shoot 'em up' game, and that's what most of the 16 to 30 demographic is looking for in a video game.

I would really like to see another game company produce a sub sim, if for no other reason than it would create competition and make Ubisoft step it up in order to compete. It's human nature that you don't go the extra mile if there's nobody pushing you to do so.

Platapus · 03-30-07, 07:33 AM

I was pretty surprised at learning that SH4 topped the charts. I honestly thought that submarine simulators had a small cadre of fanatics, but that it did not appeal to the majority of gamers.

My wife, a hardcore gamer, can't understand how I can play a sub simulator as she finds them boring.

When you think about it, sub sims are pretty accurate simulations of submarine service. Long periods of waiting followed up by short periods of rapid action.

I would have thought that a large part of the gaming community would not be attracted to submarine simulations simply because of the slowness of the game.

But I guess I was wrong. I am happy that Ubi was able to sell this many copies as it will help fund more software efforts from Ubi.

OneTinSoldier · 03-30-07, 08:06 AM

But you don't really have to wait all that long when using Time Compression. The action might not be non-stop like Battlefield 2 or something, but I can get to the action fairly quickly using TC.

gonzlor · 03-30-07, 08:34 AM

The graphics would have sold alot of players though, the effects and so on, I think that helped, prettyness sells games these days.

1mPHUNit0 · 03-30-07, 08:38 AM

Pearl harbour anniversary maybe,
and US market much more larger than European ones

And yes, Cryteks it's a must have.

Gorgon · 03-30-07, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonzlor

The graphics would have sold alot of players though, the effects and so on, I think that helped, prettyness sells games these days.

Prettyness always sold games, its not something new. The problem is not in prettyness itself, but when there's nothing more than it.

Personally, I'm all for excelent graphics, as long as the rest doesn't get the short end of the wand.

ryuzu · 03-30-07, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walsh2509

Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts.

Do you think other game houses will start to look at producing Sub Sims now ?

While SH3 was great , even better when GWX 1.02 was added, and SH4 will get there,with new Dx10 games coming out in the next few years (will take long for the next SH?). Don't you think its time for a new game engine, I think that this one has run its course. And with the Crytek engine going on licence the bar for damage and effects in games has just jumped way way higher than the current engine used in SH game can ever reach and even if they bring out an update version of the SH engine, I find it hard to imagine that it will get near the Crytek one? You never know but it would take some doing.

1. Other game house to look at Sub/Navy sims after SH4 tops the charts?

2. New game engine need, would Cryteks engine be the answer?

I think it shows that the "casual gaming" American is not interested in the Atlantic and Uboats, but they'll plonk down cash for American boats and setting more readily (no surprises there - any nationality would feel the same way).

1) Getting to No1 in a PC game isn't all that difficult these days - the numbers are nowhere near an equivalent console game sales, but the difficulty levels are the same and possibly even worse for PC games. So, no I don't think any of the big names will suddenly jump on the sub sim wagon (not that SH4 is a sim anyway, but ....).

There's a possibility (or perhaps it's more of a hope) that one of the established independent producers might look favourably on something - Battlefront....um....Valve through Steam....Matrix? Ok, Battlefront is the only company I could envisage off hand.

2) I don't think it is a good thing that SH4 has been so popular at this stage. That's a lot of people, the majority of which aren't active in places like subsim.com, who have a defective product. The end result may well be to turn them off the genre before they really got into it. The only hope, is that Ubi realise (belatedly) the bad PR at stake and put some super human efforts into patching to make this a post-release classic. I'm not optimistic about that...

r.

macky · 03-30-07, 10:40 AM

i would guess that for those not used to sub sims may well expect this game to be great, especially with good comments from pcgamer, but will find that its not for them. I personally took a "chance" on buying sh3 and loved it, hence i bought sh4. But those looking at graphics will soon be bored of the long wait times and the not-so-easy gameplay. Its a game that needs time to learn, even at 0 realism, and the glitches and freezes etc are going to add to the boredom.

So probably the advertisement has done sh4 well, tho for sh5 (should there be one) we may see less sales when new users think "wtf have i bought here" - not because if the glitches, but because its not an fps

Grothesj2 · 03-30-07, 10:42 AM

Pacific theater is bound to do better becuase it has AMERICAN boats. Same reason why you see wargames and flightsims (and even FPS games) often concentrate on DDay and the Battle of the Bulge, and other things well known to the American psyche. Not saying it's right or wrong, just that as long as American gamers seem to buy such a large percentage of the games sold, that's the way it's going to be.

Platapus · 03-30-07, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneTinSoldier

But you don't really have to wait all that long when using Time Compression. The action might not be non-stop like Battlefield 2 or something, but I can get to the action fairly quickly using TC.

I thought I read a post in the SH3 forum about using higher TC levels (>128) resulted in your missing ships. Meaning that if you use TC of 512 you will move faster but won't always recieve ship tracks or sightings.

Is this still valid in SH4?

Keelbuster · 03-30-07, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I was pretty surprised at learning that SH4 topped the charts.

I _can't_ really believe it. I expect it's some kind of marketing manipulation by ubi to increase the impression of sales for their shareholders. Same with the incomplete release, same with the buy-now-get-goodies ploy. It's a straight money-grab with this one - I wouldn't take a report like that to really reflect a) actual sales b) quality of the product. It must be fake, or else a short-term blip.

Elenkis · 03-30-07, 01:24 PM

Again, it was the Amazon.com sales chart it topped for one week and SH3 did the same thing (as did Falcon 4.0: Allied Force). It's nice, but let's not get carried away here guys.

Ark · 03-30-07, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walsh2509

Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts.

Do you think other game houses will start to look at producing Sub Sims now ?

All of this hoopla about SHIV knocking off The Sims is pretty funny.

The Sims has what, 15 or so expansions and has been around how long?

Don't mistake the present "Rankings" as a measure of profit. SHIV may be ranked higher for that day or week or whatever, but it is NOWHERE even close to the same in popularity or generated revenue as The Sims.

Revenue = New titles.

walsh2509 · 03-30-07, 01:31 PM

What do you think about a new engine for the next SH , not just a rehash of the engine they have just now. I seen a video interview about the Crytek engine and they are now putting it out on licence. Or do you think it will be the same engine with some new tweaks?

03-30-07, 05:22 AM	#1
walsh2509 XO Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 410 Downloads: 18 Uploads: 0	Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts. Q About SH4 Knocking Sims Of The Top Of The Charts. Do you think other game houses will start to look at producing Sub Sims now ? While SH3 was great , even better when GWX 1.02 was added, and SH4 will get there,with new Dx10 games coming out in the next few years (will take long for the next SH?). Don't you think its time for a new game engine, I think that this one has run its course. And with the Crytek engine going on licence the bar for damage and effects in games has just jumped way way higher than the current engine used in SH game can ever reach and even if they bring out an update version of the SH engine, I find it hard to imagine that it will get near the Crytek one? You never know but it would take some doing. 1. Other game house to look at Sub/Navy sims after SH4 tops the charts? 2. New game engine need, would Cryteks engine be the answer?

03-30-07, 08:06 AM	#4
OneTinSoldier Sonar Guy Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Denver, CO USA Posts: 382 Downloads: 46 Uploads: 0	But you don't really have to wait all that long when using Time Compression. The action might not be non-stop like Battlefield 2 or something, but I can get to the action fairly quickly using TC. __________________ "Variable this is EasyRhino, do you copy? Over." Loud and clear EasyRhino. "Do we have a gig? Over." That's a Roger, we have a gig. Target is painted, start the music. "Roger that Variable. Into attack. Pickling target. Target is acquired and lit. LGB comin' down!" EasyRhino, circular error probability zero. Impact with High Order Detonation. Thank You, have a nice day.

03-30-07, 08:38 AM	#6
1mPHUNit0 Chief Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 313 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Pearl harbour anniversary maybe, and US market much more larger than European ones And yes, Cryteks it's a must have. __________________

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03-30-07, 06:19 AM	#2
TDK1044 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 2,674 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	I think that if Silent Hunter 4 does well in sales and exceeds Silent Hunter 3 then Ubisoft will probably continue the Silent hunter series. But SH4 is not a 'shoot 'em up' game, and that's what most of the 16 to 30 demographic is looking for in a video game. I would really like to see another game company produce a sub sim, if for no other reason than it would create competition and make Ubisoft step it up in order to compete. It's human nature that you don't go the extra mile if there's nobody pushing you to do so.

03-30-07, 07:33 AM	#3
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,361 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	I was pretty surprised at learning that SH4 topped the charts. I honestly thought that submarine simulators had a small cadre of fanatics, but that it did not appeal to the majority of gamers. My wife, a hardcore gamer, can't understand how I can play a sub simulator as she finds them boring. When you think about it, sub sims are pretty accurate simulations of submarine service. Long periods of waiting followed up by short periods of rapid action. I would have thought that a large part of the gaming community would not be attracted to submarine simulations simply because of the slowness of the game. But I guess I was wrong. I am happy that Ubi was able to sell this many copies as it will help fund more software efforts from Ubi.

03-30-07, 08:34 AM	#5
gonzlor Bosun Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 69 Downloads: 36 Uploads: 0	The graphics would have sold alot of players though, the effects and so on, I think that helped, prettyness sells games these days.

03-30-07, 10:40 AM	#9
macky Machinist's Mate Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Dallas Texas Posts: 129 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	i would guess that for those not used to sub sims may well expect this game to be great, especially with good comments from pcgamer, but will find that its not for them. I personally took a "chance" on buying sh3 and loved it, hence i bought sh4. But those looking at graphics will soon be bored of the long wait times and the not-so-easy gameplay. Its a game that needs time to learn, even at 0 realism, and the glitches and freezes etc are going to add to the boredom. So probably the advertisement has done sh4 well, tho for sh5 (should there be one) we may see less sales when new users think "wtf have i bought here" - not because if the glitches, but because its not an fps

03-30-07, 10:42 AM	#10
Grothesj2 Medic Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 167 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Pacific theater is bound to do better becuase it has AMERICAN boats. Same reason why you see wargames and flightsims (and even FPS games) often concentrate on DDay and the Battle of the Bulge, and other things well known to the American psyche. Not saying it's right or wrong, just that as long as American gamers seem to buy such a large percentage of the games sold, that's the way it's going to be.

03-30-07, 01:24 PM	#13
Elenkis Nub Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 3 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Again, it was the Amazon.com sales chart it topped for one week and SH3 did the same thing (as did Falcon 4.0: Allied Force). It's nice, but let's not get carried away here guys.

03-30-07, 01:31 PM	#15
walsh2509 XO Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 410 Downloads: 18 Uploads: 0	What do you think about a new engine for the next SH , not just a rehash of the engine they have just now. I seen a video interview about the Crytek engine and they are now putting it out on licence. Or do you think it will be the same engine with some new tweaks?