Wii Warm Up: Episodic

by David Hinkle { Oct 29th 2008 at 8:00AM }

Having gone through the first three episodes of SBCG4AP now and having thoroughly enjoyed them, we were thinking about other episodic games out there. There's LostWinds and its near-promised second installment. There's Penny Arcade Adventures, Sam and Max (which we received all on one disc), and those Half-Life episodes, just to name a few.

Are you a fan of episodic gaming? Have you taken the plunge, either through WiiWare, Steam, or the services of those other guys? Do you favor a smaller, more regimented gaming experience for less coin than the ticket price for a AAA title on the retail shelf? Thoughts?

Tags: episode, episodic, sbcg4ap, steam, strong-bad

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kevin @ Oct 29th 2008 8:11AM

I think it's great when it's actually episodic; as in smaller titles coming out at a reduced price more frequently. I'm looking at you, Valve.
Sam & Max and SBCG4AP are great though - they've hit their schedules and really make a great game. I'll keep buying them as long as they keep putting them out.

DaIllest @ Oct 29th 2008 8:28AM

"for less coin than the ticket price for a AAA title on the retail shelf"

Really? How much will Strong Bad have cost you when all episodes are out?

Plus:
- You can't enjoy it at your own pace, but wait until the next one comes out (if it doesn't get canceled)
- You can't stare at a marvelous white box on your shelf and have a nice booklet to read while on the toilet.
- You can't take it to your friends' house let alone lend it to somebody (that might be a positive, tho)
- You can't play it in your girlfriend's Wii.
- You can't pass it on when you're through or even sell it to get extra cash for another game.

Episodic gaming being better than retail? HELL to tha NAW. But if it's the only way to get my adventure fix, it's more than welcome.

Roto13 @ Oct 29th 2008 12:56PM

You're confusing "episodic" with "digitally distributed"

DaIllest @ Oct 29th 2008 2:43PM

Yes I am, but don't tell me they don't come together most of the time!

Roto13 @ Oct 29th 2008 6:31PM

Sure, but it's like saying you don't like fighting games because you hate arcade machines.

igorponweed @ Oct 29th 2008 8:44AM

In short, yes. we have new material every month instead of one-twenty years.

Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 8:44AM

I agree with DaIllest, it sets limitations on how much you can play at any given time, leaving you to wait for the next release

However, there are advantages to that model, too. You could use it as filler between larger releases.

lobotomies4free @ Oct 29th 2008 8:53AM

I usually have trouble with the small leaps made between yearly games to buy them monthly. SBCG4AP works because you don't EXPECT huge leaps in the gameplay.

I do miss the olden days of games like wolfenstein 3-D when you got the first level as a demo, but you could buy it level by level and effectively pay the developer by how long it entertained you for, but they were still developed as one complete experience, allowing those big leaps with the new engine or whatever the next time.

samfish @ Oct 29th 2008 9:45AM

I don't mind it. It has it's pluses and minuses. I'll ALWAYS prefer having it be disc based, just to avoid DLC.
I haven't really played any game yet that makes me love the episodic model, but the potential is there. Old school 2D games can be made for fairly cheap and quickly. If they gave us, say, a new Final Fight ever 6 weeks with 5 or 6 levels each for $10 bucks, that would be a killer deal.

My dream episodic game, however, is an episodic Viewtiful Joe. With it's TV/movie theme, it's perfect for it!

Eccentric-Servbot @ Oct 29th 2008 11:05AM

I like SBCG4AP as an episodic series because its just like waiting for more toons on the the Homestar Runner websits. The style of the toons means that the games don't need to be excessively detailed, and if I buy them as a subscription its a cheap, fun, and high-quality dose of fun every month. Unlike most people I know (who say they like the site but 'haven't been there in ages') I still check homestarrunner.com every week, so SBCG4AP just feels like a delightful extension of my monthly internet joy.

Garu @ Oct 29th 2008 11:07AM

Are you referring to games like "Monkey Island" coming on to the Wii? I think there would be a market for it, especially if they are priced right.

Still I wish we were getting more variation in VC downloads... when are we getting C64 games here in the USA? What about exact Arcade ports?

Feba @ Oct 29th 2008 12:57PM

Episodic only has a place if you're ready, willing, able, and ACTUALLY GOING TO release things on a consistent basis. As it is, it's basically just used as a way of breaking up the purchase to make it seem less expensive (SBCG4AP, FFCC:MLAAK, Mega Man 9, Space Invaders Get Even, I AM LOOKING AT YOU) instead of actually doing that.

There is ONE game I can think of that is actually episodic, and that is Kuma\War. If you don't know what this is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuma%5CWar . In short, they take real world combat missions, and make them into video game missions; sometimes within a month. Things which could not possibly be included in the game from the get-go, added every so often.

That is truly episodic in my view, whereas what we get now are more like miniseries which are practically straight to DVD. Except instead of having the excuse that they'd be too long to make into a movie, there's no valid reason to do the same thing in this medium [of video games].

If someone intends to make an episodic game that actually updates indefinitely and frequently, sure. If they want to make something based on real life events, sure. But using it as a way of breaking up games is just plain annoying. The whole 'it's a way of tiding people over' or 'it's a way of paying for development' thing falls apart when the entire game is made, and is going to be released ANYWAY, as with SBCG4AP.

Roto13 @ Oct 29th 2008 12:57PM

The only "Episodic" game I've bought is Lost Winds and there's not so much as an official announcement regarding a second episode.

Bah.

Brandisis @ Oct 29th 2008 1:04PM

The only episodic game I've gotten was the Penny Arcade title because I enjoy the comic so much, but it still took me until last month to get the first episode. I'd much rather get an entire game at one time and be done with it. Plus, it's not like it saves you any money, if anything you end up paying more for a less complex game just because it's "episodic" so they can get away with making it smaller.

That being said, I still enjoyed the hell out of the first episode and I bought the second one this very morning.