You know, if you want smooth… You want Steely Dan.
Edit: Ok aside from trying to derail somebody, I always think people complaining about costs can’t have spent much real arcade time. You know how @$#(*& expensive that got, especially if you were at a place with good players?
developers seem to forget this point entirely when it comes to DLC
I think that’s corporate pressure though. If a game isn’t profitable enough (it doesn’t even have to be losing money, just not making enough) the suits always want to bail on it and move on to something with a better margin.
Most developers don’t get to decide the price of any of their content, much less DLC.
Actually, I’m nowhere near finished writing about what needs to be fixed about fighters. 
I just think that it’s best to start off with general, wide-ranging changes and then focus on the more specifics.
Also! Just to clear things up, I think you’re missing the point on what I’m proposing. Maybe you’re not seeing the forest for the trees?
Part 1 isn’t just about tutorials, it’s about pushing information to the user instead of forcing them to get it themselves. This includes tutorials but it doesn’t mean it’s just tutorials. Tutorials are the easiest example I could provide to prove my point, but it obviously shouldn’t stop there. I also gave an example of how featured matches could be pushed to the user if they’re win/lose ratio was really good too.
Part 2 isn’t just about user-generated scenarios either, it’s about giving users tools to make their own stuff, which obviously includes scenarios. I also gave an example of how people could make their own combo challenges and upload them to the net, and then using push technology, have those challenges sent to the end user. I felt that create-a-scenario and create-a-combo would be easy enough to understand, but come on, it shouldn’t stop there.
Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up! I do have a lot more to say about the topic but yes, I do feel that there are problems with the actual game itself, but I want to tackle that at a later point because to be honest, most devs more or less get how to make a decent fighting game. The problem is that everything else is so terrible that no one wants to buy it. 
makes sense. Well, it’s pretty obvious then that Capcom is doing pretty bad financially, while Namco is doing just fine seeing as they will not be releasing any character DLC.
I can think of a few. I remember you weren’t able to play Halo 2 on Xbox live unless you had the latest map packs.
very interesting posts, Reno. You should give my article a read as well (in my sig). I talk about a lot of the same issues you brought up, but proposed different solutions. I’m curious to see what you would think.
i grew up in the arcade heavily. I had like 20 SF machines within a mile of me growing up so I spent a lot of time there playing. I didn’t run the arcade when I was living in hawaii but here in florida I could spend like 4-5 hours on .50 cents.
once games started getting accurate ports, saturn era, you didn’t need the arcade all that much anymore. Especially in my era, mvc2\3s\cvs2, we had dreamcasts to run 2 tournament games. @ that point, tournament worthy games were a 1 time investment. The game I bought was the same as any other top player not 1 thing more or less
when you start to introduce gems or DLC, now you have to spend more money to have the same game. What if someone keeps spending more money to keep getting the best shit? that means you have to spend money too if you want the game to be equal. That’s why sports have a salary cap. To prevent the game being a spending war rather than playing the game. You think the Capcom is going to care that someone is spending money to be better? they could give 2 flying fucks about that. As long as they kept making money, its the only thing that matters. For a company to not give a shit about balance and implement imbalance on purpose, there is no way they can show DLC any kind of integrity.
This DLC crap is in its infantile stages for fighters but we’re already seeing super powered shit become available via DLC like the auto block, auto tech throw, no chip damage gem. Its a slippery slope and once gravity starts to affect it, there will be no turning back. Games will cost 60$ to buy, then you will need to spend x amount of dollars to stay in touch with the DLC. Now X amount can be any amount, it can be 10$ or it could very well end up costing more than the game. All you have to do is look around and see how magic\pokemon\yugioh have done their business. They release DLC, booster packs, and they cost x amount of dollars and every so often some cards pop around that you MUST buy in order to stand up to tournament level competition. Rather than playing the game as a game, it has turned into a money war.
It hasn’t happened for fighters yet but anything else that allows money to be a part of the competitive nature ends up costing hundreds or thousands of dollars before you’ve even played 1 game. The examples are all around us, you just have to open up your eyes. Magic cards did not cost that much but over the years they’ve learned they can bleed their consumers for more money. Same with pokemon and same with yugioh
dlc can be a great thing but like I’ve said before, some of the older games that many people liked for 10+ years had no DLC available so how good is it for the longevity of a game? it seems like if you make a GOOD game to begin with, you don’t need DLC to keep it alive. People are stilllll playing ST till this day. I think stronger engine mechanics and good game play keeps a game alive longer than DLC can.
On a related note, I keep forgetting to post part 2 on the front page.
I would not consider a map pack a “ludicrous … investment”.
I do when not owning it prevents me from playing a game online. Especially when I need to paid a subscription for said online.
There’s more competition in video game market nowadays. New content and continued support keeps the game fresh so users are less likely to be swayed by other, newer, products. More people are buying more games than before, so you can’t compare the market that ST existed in to the modern one.
That’s a ludicrous matchmaking requirement, not a ludicrous investment. Also, they did make those maps free eventually, so they got the message.
$50 for game + $50 for live subscription + $5 for the first map pack + $11.99 for the second map pack + $4 for the third map pack. That’s about $120 if I wanted to keep up with Halo 2. If they didn’t purchase any of those map packs then the $50 invest for Live becomes useless for that particular game. The fact it become free eventually no longer matters. Players were locked out of online unless they paid for those maps. When they did get them for free, they were at a disadvantage to players to did pay for the maps who had the time study them inside and out and knew of all the weapon spawns, camp spots, etc.
To be honest, to me the single hardest part of any fighting game is also the skill that truly marks a good player and one who can gets those w’s and that is getting good at the neutral game with ur character/s of choice and that’s just something that can ONLY be obtained through playing and practice, not through any changes to the fighter itself.
$120 over the course of a year? If $10 a month is difficult for you (which, to be honest, it is for some people), then you might consider another hobby.
I can easily afford $10. The point is players were forced to pay those $10 if they wanted play online competitively. Battlefield 3 also pulling some dumb shit but I’ll be here all day bitching up that storm.
Part 3 of my editorial is up!
http://www.versuscity.net/2012/05/04/how-to-make-fighting-games-better-part-3/
Well indy games do the things they do because they got nothing to lose and though I do believe Indy productions do read forums and listen to fans which is why most have high regards to SkullG. But let me ask you a question (Not debating you just asking)…you said “teach bad players to play but don’t lower the quality” Isn’t this where Capcom does a decent job? If SF X Tekken played like the exact engine say like SF AE or Marvel bad players probably wouldn’t even pick up the game because they’ll deem it too hard, wouldn’t that hurt the Capcom Sales? So why not make a game for everyone to play? Particularly low level players because I’m sure Capcom reads what people put up on SRK. I just think SF X Tekken was more of a profit game more than something you can get serious with.