This Week in Gaming (Week 43)

[Sithaer]

Being denied actual choice is a very familiar experience in almost every sphere of life

Well aint that the truth.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede
Damn, sometimes I kind of feel bad for you cause theres always someone who points out that you missed this and that game and whatever else even tho its pretty much impossible to cover and know about every new game/genre,etc. 'I'm also in the dark about JRPGS and pretty much never played those..'

I know people play them and that's why I try to include them and maybe I made a mistake this time and it would've been the most popular game this week, who knows.
But based on how the TPU readership votes in the polls, there isn't a huge interest in that type of game, unless it's from a well known franchise in western countries. Maybe this was one of those games, but at least to me Sonic was a much more well known franchise and it did ok in the poll as well, as it got shared second place.
I can't please everyone here and I try to use my own opinion as the last resource when I pick the games.
For those that aren't in the know, there are actually media specific resources for upcoming games, not that those resources list the games by user interest, but it's one of the resources I use when I compile this list. Then there's steamdb, where you can see how many followers a game has in total and how many it's had in the past week, which is another metric I use when choosing which game goes before another game if it's a handful of new titles coming out the same day.
In the specific case of Sonic vs. Ys, that's a 4:1 ratio. Does the TPU readership have the same ratio? I don't know, but I would go for the game that seems to be the more popular one in this instance. Sadly this type of statistics isn't available for other platforms afaik.
I also put Worshippers of Cthulhu ahead of Railroad Corporation 2, despite the latter being more interesting for me personally, but it was a 3:1 ratio of followers and judging by the poll, it was the right call.

So to those that want to see more of a certain type of game, let me know and I'll try and favour those types of games for a couple of weeks and we'll see how they do in the polls. If they end up at the bottom of the polls, then I won't be favouring them in the future, as the polls and the comments are the only tools I have to see what the TPU readership likes. That doesn't mean I will stop posting major releases that might not be super appealing, as some of what goes into this is to help drive traffic to the site as well.

 

[Space Lynx]

But do it ahead of time, not after I've put up that weeks post. And yes, I'm more than open to suggestions, as long as it's a game that is interesting for more than one person here.


It's normally six, since one game is sort of a major/AAA release, when there is one, which is most weeks.

Personally, I like your curated lists. I usually find at least one hidden gem to add to my Steam wish list.

 

[Sithaer]

I know people play them and that's why I try to include them and maybe I made a mistake this time and it would've been the most popular game this week, who knows.
But based on how the TPU readership votes in the polls, there isn't a huge interest in that type of game, unless it's from a well known franchise in western countries. Maybe this was one of those games, but at least to me Sonic was a much more well known franchise and it did ok in the poll as well, as it got shared second place.
I can't please everyone here and I try to use my own opinion as the last resource when I pick the games.
For those that aren't in the know, there are actually media specific resources for upcoming games, not that those resources list the games by user interest, but it's one of the resources I use when I compile this list. Then there's steamdb, where you can see how many followers a game has in total and how many it's had in the past week, which is another metric I use when choosing which game goes before another game if it's a handful of new titles coming out the same day.
In the specific case of Sonic vs. Ys, that's a 4:1 ratio. Does the TPU readership have the same ratio? I don't know, but I would go for the game that seems to be the more popular one in this instance. Sadly this type of statistics isn't available for other platforms afaik.

I think thats fair, I mean TPU is not really a gaming news site so even having this select of games list is more like an extra imo. 'Personally I've found some interesting games on these list in the past that I wouldn't know about otherwise'

 

[TheLostSwede]

Personally, I like your curated lists. I usually find at least one hidden gem to add to my Steam wish list.

Well, I do try to include a lot of smaller games as well, sometimes I strike gold and sometimes it's a huge flop.

I think thats fair, I mean TPU is not really a gaming news site so even having this select of games list is more like an extra imo. 'Personally I've found some interesting games on these list in the past that I wouldn't know about otherwise'

Well, we're trying to have a bit more gaming content, but it's obviously not the sole focus of the site. Added a bit more context above as well.

 

[L'Eliminateur]

i was checking that "Worshippers of Cthulhu" and look at the amount of dumb resources you have to micromanage.
Which brings a pet peeve that i have about that kind of "survival city builder" that add a gazillion different resources just for the sake of diminishing your gameplay experience with micro BS, Surviving the aftermath also has that problem.
¿why can't they design a proper city builder that does not need to track 40 different interconnected resources?

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

I know people play them and that's why I try to include them and maybe I made a mistake this time and it would've been the most popular game this week, who knows.
But based on how the TPU readership votes in the polls, there isn't a huge interest in that type of game, unless it's from a well known franchise in western countries. Maybe this was one of those games, but at least to me Sonic was a much more well known franchise and it did ok in the poll as well, as it got shared second place.
I can't please everyone here and I try to use my own opinion as the last resource when I pick the games.
For those that aren't in the know, there are actually media specific resources for upcoming games, not that those resources list the games by user interest, but it's one of the resources I use when I compile this list. Then there's steamdb, where you can see how many followers a game has in total and how many it's had in the past week, which is another metric I use when choosing which game goes before another game if it's a handful of new titles coming out the same day.
In the specific case of Sonic vs. Ys, that's a 4:1 ratio. Does the TPU readership have the same ratio? I don't know, but I would go for the game that seems to be the more popular one in this instance. Sadly this type of statistics isn't available for other platforms afaik.
I also put Worshippers of Cthulhu ahead of Railroad Corporation 2, despite the latter being more interesting for me personally, but it was a 3:1 ratio of followers and judging by the poll, it was the right call.

So to those that want to see more of a certain type of game, let me know and I'll try and favour those types of games for a couple of weeks and we'll see how they do in the polls. If they end up at the bottom of the polls, then I won't be favouring them in the future, as the polls and the comments are the only tools I have to see what the TPU readership likes. That doesn't mean I will stop posting major releases that might not be super appealing, as some of what goes into this is to help drive traffic to the site as well.

I know a lot of people that play JRPGs, platformers, beat em ups, shoot em ups, and all that sort of thing. But there is a kicker. They don't play them on the PC. It's not that they don't have a PC or that their PC can't run them it's just that if at all possible they are going to avoid playing those games on PC. They'll play it on PS5, or on Switch, but they will not play it on the PC and if it's only on the PC they are going to skip it completely. The PC is for FPS, Starcraft, Diablo, and games that were traditionally PC. It's to be avoided at all costs for anything else.

I understand it. I have a PC, PS, and Nintendo along with a Mac at home. If something is a JRPG or a traditional console style game no way in hell am I going to play that on the PC. Yuck. Just as I'm not going to play an FPS or RTS on a console. If a JRPG came out only on PC I'm probably going to skip it completely because hell no on the PC unless it's a remake of something I absolutely love. Just as if an FPS comes out on console only I'm not going to pick that up.

Most people aren't locked into one platform. Especially the PC. Stuffs all over the map and people tend to purchase stuff on the platform that typically those types of games were originally intended for.