Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Inspiration Drain in Sequels

I've been playing Counterstrike: Global Offensive recently and it brought to my mind a certain trend I see with "refresh sequel" titles--games that get a new coat of paint and rerelease every several years.  That trend is inspiration drain.


A game's first iteration often comes from a passionate, quirky team with personality, delivering a product out of its own desire, intoxicated with the novelty of a fresh idea, and it shows.  It's often laden with quirky, memorable devices and content.  The following versions often strip these quirks out or reference them half-heartedly and then replace the missing content with generic, well-accepted industry fair.  I'm referring in this instance to the vehicles of CS 1.6.  Where did they go?  They were weird, glitchy, and a total blast.  Gone now, forever.

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