Bestelling game franchises

[Aazealh]

Hmm you know what? I think you don't really know or care about this and are just reading stuff on the Internet (Wikipewhat!?!?) to argue about it. I don't find it a very good idea, especially when it comes down to such a trivial topic, and in a thread that's only loosely related. It's just not worth going to such lengths, your unedited post was perfectly fine.

well I'd say not sole reason, but major contributor.

The development of Internet in Korea was a major contributor to redressing the economy after the global asian financial crash, among other things (comic book rental shops were a huge drive and are still nowadays unique in the world, which is why the government can't really ban them in spite of the big damage to the authors and publishing companies). Online games were a major contributor to the development of Internet in Korea, among other things (you have no idea how high the quality of online services is in Korea). And Starcraft was a major contributor to the popularity of PC games in Korea. You've been taking big shortcuts so far, it would have been enough to say that the game was (mostly indirectly) a strong drive to a then-slowing economy.

The game sold 3.5 million copies just in Korea, which was a 1/3 of the total global sales for the game.

Yeah, that's neat numbers. I must say though, over 3.8 million copies of "The Legend Of Zelda" for NES sold in USA, which is more than half of its worldwide sales. It must have saved the country!

It got so popular that e-sports is almost the number one sport in Korea.

Hahaha, let's be serious please. The most popular sports in Korea are football (the real one) and baseball. Then there's taekwondo, golf, badminton, basketball, wrestling, dancing, swimming, athletics, archery, etc. Or maybe you have a special way to determine what is the "number one" sport?

with tournaments actually broadcasted on TV like a football game would be in the US.

No, not like a football game would be in the US. Or maybe you mean soccer in the US, which then could be comparable I guess. There's a couple cable TV channels that broadcast tournaments, it's not like it's on major channels each evening at 8pm or anything.

Hell, look where Madden NFL is in the list I posted. I think that speaks for itself when you know the game sells almost exclusively (something like 98.5%) in the USA.

Parents actually encourage their kids to play video games to relieve stress from academics.

Now that's the ultimate counterexample here. Videogames are very controversial in Korea and the phenomenons of addiction they provoke on some kids are being taken extremely seriously. It's a big issue, has been for quite a while, and parents aren't encouraging their kids to spend their weekends on Starcraft. Rather they'd prefer seeing them do outside activities, but the children prefer their games. Same story in every country... Anyway, you're talking like if Starcraft was still the hottest thing around, I hope you realize that its "cultural" popularity has vastly decreased years ago.

 

[Vaxillus]

Did you finish number four? It wasn't my favorite Silent Hill by any means but it was definitely a quality game. I liked how it had a fresh feel to it. The plot tie to the other games was pretty loose; the game is based on newspaper clippings from SH2. Still I thought the concept was neat, and that one chick's death scene was awesome. I also liked how it had a "The Ring" style boss.

Ug, I finished it, but I had to drag myself through it.  The levels were boring and you had to do them TWICE.  The enemies, cept the dogs, were far more generic than the usual bizarre cast you get in the series.  I hated fighting the ghosts, there's a room where there are two or three in very close quarters and it's nearly impossible to push past them (good luck trying to get the sword thing to work, it's way too finicky).  Furthermore (and this really killed it for me) the main character is a shallow, unloveable wuss who is extremely forgettable, alongside all the other characters who are killed off anyway.  I hardly cared when they died since they were so generic.  There isn't even an attempt at developing them.  The storyline was nothing worth mentioning; compared to the deep and metaphorical scenarios of any of the other games, especially number two, you get an unltimately uninteresting ghost story with the Silent Hill name slapped on it to make it sell better.  There is so little thinking involved, they actually tell you to kill the villain, for about 3 minutes!  Sorry if you disagree, but the game is a mess which doesn't even deserve its title.

I'm praying that SH Origins does something to redeem the series but, given the current screenshots and artwork I've seen so far, it doesn't look to impress.  The enemies don't have the same style as past games, and are rather just your standard monsters.  Also, the main character is a truck driver which doesn't lend itself well to him having any sort of attatchment to other people as most of the characters in the more successful games do (if you look closely, this theme of attatchment tends to lead to a lot more compassion and emotion in the characters).  We'll see if they can live up to the series' old standard.  If not, I can see Silent Hill getting on the best sellers list anytime soon.

 

[Serpico]

@ Vaxillus

Nah don't be sorry, It doesn't matter too much to me whether you liked it or not. Four is definitely the least captivating game in the series. It was made at the same time as number 3 so its fairly likely many of the people who make SH what it is where busy with that.

My problem with 4 was that Henry was way too strong, I actually killed most every killable enemy. And you are right about the plot, his story was not even a pale shadow of James'. (If only the SH2 boss was stronger it woulda been near perfect!) I did enjoy piecing together Walter's story though and learning more backstory about Silent Hill.

It's doubtfull I will play the PSP game unless it gets emulated for another system or something. I don't want to buy a PSP. I am waiting for next gen SH and RE.

 

[Vaxillus]

Ah, the simultaneous development explains it a bit, perhaps they were testing different direction the series could go. I personally just got bored of the game towards the end, so I concentrated on the whole ritual going on in the story, maybe I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I had. Personally though, I find the games with less of the original SH cult mythos tend to be better. The whole concept of personal discovery and finding a way out of your misery is by far the series strong point. Henry was too shallow of a character to begin with to discover anything (If Keanu Reeves ever played him in a movie, he'd have more personality), and the villain too generically insane to discover much about.

I don't have a PSP, and unless I hear astounding reviews about Origins, nothing will change for me either.

Since you bring it up I must say, having Silent Hill on a next generation system has the potential to be a truly awesome and disturbing experience. Hell, it could even get me to buy a PS3!