Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher: Valve Corporation, Microsoft Game Studios (XBLA-Xbox Live Arcade)
Formats: Windows (PC), Mac OS X, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Unfortunately I found it difficult to actually find any statistics within the production of Valve's 'Portal'. However, I believe I found a relevant excuse when I researched into some information from the IGN website. Portal was actually designed to be trialling a new form of code within game play, that had a short and sweet story with simplistic visuals. It was intended to be a demo or 'beta' to showcase this new idea but it ended up being made full game with the a budget increase from the programmers. It first appeared in Valve's 'The Orange Box' in October 2007, which included other titles such as, 'Half life 2' and 'Team Fortress'. The Orange Box itself did significantly well than a lot of other titles at the time, because of the highly awaited sequel to come out on console. The inclusion of the other two games also added to the hype and the sales, as you were ideally getting three games for the price of one. With this success Valve sold 1.5 million copies world wide, which indeed is a good amount, but after the experience of 'Portal', it became evident where the money was made.
Portal from there became one of the best innovative games of all time, and grew vastly popular amongst a variety of gamers. The clever new game play gave players new ways to think within the mind frame of a puzzle/FPS shooter. There is no overly complicated plot and needs no heavy cut scenes or graphics to explain what and how you should play. It's left with the decisions you make as the player in order to progress through the game. The simplistic environments left a vast space to experiment with the new mechanics, with left players to explore different outcomes depending on actions they made. Aside from the visuals and mechanics, Portal brought forth multiple elements that had massive appeal to the majority of it's players, which is another main reason it gained so much attention. Dialogue within the game was evilly humorous that it was virtually impossible to not want to progress on with the story.
With this success, Portal was re-released on it's own in Spring 2010 for steam on PC and Mac. Within the first week steam had 1.5 million copies downloaded off the system. From this first week, it was evident Portal has done far better than anyone could've imagined. Even Microsoft's Xbox 360 made an extended addition called 'Portal: Still Alive' that had just as many hits through the Xbox live's Arcade online facility.
So Portal was initially made with little intention to have so much success, and from that short example of new game play mechanics and personality, it has managed to be one of the most popularly enjoyed games within the 21st century. With it's great success, it has managed to not only make so many sales, but also has a featured soundtrack from the game and a vast amount of merchandise. Such as T-shirts, key rings, posters, toys and plushies. It is also the father of a very popular memory of gaming quotes, 'The cake is a lie' and also the inclusion of the end credit's song, 'Still Alive' that was sung humorously buy the evil AI within the story. It is safe to say, that through Portal's incredible character, it holds it's place as one of the most successful hidden gems in gaming history.
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Formats: Xbox 360, Windows (PC)
I chose the first Gears of war to compare to Portal because it is fairer on the basis of player response, as in being a new game/first of the series. So for example, if I used Gears of war 2 it would have a higher budget, more merchandise and a better following than Portal because it has been out longer and had chance to bloom within the gaming industry.
Gears of war has been a historical gaming landmark from it's release back in 2006. Within the first week it managed to sell an amazing 1 million units worldwide, which on it's own managed to claim the title as the fastest selling game at that time, and in doing so also managed to knock down their competitors 'Halo 2' as the most played game on Xbox Live. In relation to multi player hits, Gears of war managed to make an incredible 50% increase of subscriptions to Xbox live, which means 85% of Gears players played online within the multi player modes at the time. According to statistics from Microsoft they quoted (1) "more than 850,000 unique gamers have engaged in 10 million [Gears of War] game play sessions while unlocking an impressive 7 million achievements" From this I can highlight that through multi player focus, Gears of War managed to score popularity by paying special attention to that form of play. Which differs a lot from Portal, as it had no multi player experience at all, however, alters because Portal has appeals that are more unique, such as the overall gaming mechanics and visual style.
As terms of visual appeal and general production of Gears of War, there was a significant amount extra done for the game than Portal. It included a great deal of Mocap (motion capture) in order to make the gaming experience more relatable and realistic for the player. Mocap enables animations to have more life like features, such as facial expressions and lip syncing. There was also at much larger production team on Gears for factors such as it being an intended big hit, unlike Portal who started out with the idea of being a simple Beta/demo of new game play mechanics and had no intention of being as successful as it was. I watched a series of Youtube videos called 'The making of Gears of War', which gave me small pieces of information that highlighted production elements within making the video game. Here is part 1/5 to reference:
It was interesting to see how the production team went about making Gears of War. They seemed to be very level headed with how they approached making Gears an innovatively new shooter. The initial beginning was to get a playable demo ready for an E3 event, and shows how the team worked to perfect the game for it. There was heavy focus on the extent the team went through to make sure everything was perfect, such as Mocapping, a lot of play testing and construction of levels. It was emphasised how hard the team worked with the amount of hours/days they went through, with little sleep and a lot of effort. It helped me understand the length's companies go to really make their game stand out and successful. When i compare this to Portal, I think that there was some of this to an extent , but no where near as heavily focussed as what Gear's was.
| (1) Thorsen, Tor (2006) Gears of War spins a million worldwide Available from: <http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/gearsofwar/news.html?sid=6162230 > [Accessed 18 Jan]. . |
. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orange_Box (although i hate to use wiki, it was the only site i could find with statistical information >_<)
. http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/842/842671.html
. http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/gearsofwar/news.html?sid=6162230
. Youtube.com
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