Powerhouse franchises

So... This year will see the release of several follow ups to the big franchises in the games industry. We have Uncharted 3, Deus Ex, Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim and the long awaited Duke Nukem Forever.

These powerhouse brands are all at the forefront of their niches which begs the question... Are we slaves to these brands as the epitome of the genre they encompass, or is there hope for new IP?

Homefront was slated by several sources for being too short, but then... So is MW. Brink has been called a wannabe Team Fortress 2, but isn't that the basis of Battlefields multiplayer also?

I am not saying it is a bad thing to have a defining chairperson of a game at the stern of a genre, but I do think that when it is used to define whether another new IP is any good is a step too far. MW is a good game series sure, and it's placing is from a near future military view point. Homefront however is placing itself in rebel territory in an alternate far-near future. In fairness therefore it should only be compared in terms of immersion and aesthetics as all other cards are from differing decks.

I am an independent consumer with the luck to be able to afford more than one game purchase in a 6 month period without having to trade-in and fuel the flames of that industry destroying habit, but there are the unlucky few that have to base their occasional purchase on the opinions of others... And if those opinions cannot define a game within a genre without saying "it isn't as good as CoD" then shame on them.


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