Support NeoGAF

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

Child of Eden should have been an Xbox Live Arcade title.

Would have been good from a marketing standpoint too - the first AAA Kinect game on XBLA etc etc etc

Shows how poorly Ubi and MS handled the marketing.(the fact that so most people think its a Kinect game, opposed to a game with Kinect functionality )

 

[sixteen-bit]

Child of Eden should have been an Xbox Live Arcade title.

Would have been good from a marketing standpoint too - the first AAA Kinect game on XBLA etc etc etc

The first AAA Kinect game was Dance Central.

 

[freenudemacusers]

Then that's dumb.

EA had a really good opportunity to reference some games that would resonate with the audience likely to enjoy this game.

Yep. The film industry boosts movies using this trick all the time, I have no idea why the gaming industry doesn't follow suit.

 

[witchedwiz]

Mechanically its probably a better flowing game than the multi-million selling RE5...so its not a bad game at all. Its terribly short on replay value however. It's designed as a rental.

it's designed as basket bin/discount bin
A good game with no replay value should never go for more than 30 quid as launch price..
No offense, but considering the sheer amount of titles that offer high replayability on top of being good, a good game with zicht replayability ain't worth 50 quid, imho.
I feel bad that it bombed, but I guess that MAYBE finally gamers are starting to get more attentive when considering games with a 60$ price tag...
Heck I pray that publishers learn to give up on that price tag at all, since the unspoken rule that all games should retail for 60 is just wrong
And gamers nowdays are learning that it pays to wait say 7-10 days after release to get at least a 10$ price drop, plus if your lucky you can get even an higher discount give or take 20 days from release date..
Sure you won't get it @launch, but nowdays gamers have to face a huge issue called backlog

 

[Atomski]

I want Child of Eden but when I heard how short and repeatative it was I decided to wait for a price drop.

Shadow of the Damned.... the name alone did not spark any interest here :/.

 

[InternHertz]

Shadows of the Damned may have done only 24000 copies until a few days ago, but it's at least at 24001 now. My copy was shipped this morning, now that I have a bit more time to actually play the game.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I dont know if these numbers are either a reflection of poor marketing or the fact that most consumers nowadays wouldnt know a good game if it were shoved up their ass. Both titles have their ups and downs but overall each was a solid piece of work.

and you are surprised that most people aren't willing to drop $60 on games that they are going to find as simply "solid"?

 

[Darkkn]

I'm interested in both games but not as a full price releases. These days there are very few games that i would spend 60€ on(UC3 - Amazing SP AND MP, BF3 for MP). Too many great games to play for decent price(indie, steam sales etc.) that these titles are not attractive at all full priced. I'll pick them up on bargain bin.

HD movie rental - 4€
Great new book - 10€
Unlimited access to 13mil songs on demand - 5€/month
Shadows of the Damned - 59,90€

Most games are just way overpriced. No wonder people only buy a couple of major titles a year.

 

[Curufinwe]

Does anyone think just calling it Damned would have been a better name?

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I want Child of Eden but when I heard how short and repeatative it was I decided to wait for a price drop.

Shadow of the Damned.... the name alone did not spark any interest here :/.

Do you really care what a game is called, though? Anyone who's been playing games for a good while should be completely aware that game names are stupid or nonsensical A LOT of the time. It's not the kind of thing I even pay attention to and it's definitely not correlated with game quality.

Does anyone think just calling it Damned would have been a better name?

People assume that the mass market does pay a lot of attention to names (and I know that sometimes titles are focus tested, indicating that publishers believe this as well) but I wonder how much people really care. I have no sense at all about what proportion of the game-buying population does zero research and just buys whatever they happen to see on the shelf that looks/sounds cool.

My intuition is that calling it Damned instead of Shadows of the Damned wouldn't make much difference, but like I said, that's based on very little actual information.

 

[tusken77]

Eurogamer have just said Amazon and Play here in the UK will be selling PS3 Child of Eden for £14.99.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ravey motion-controlled shooter Child of Eden will sell for £19.99 when it launches on PlayStation 3 later this year – half the price of the recent Xbox 360 version.

Further to that, Amazon and Play have already knocked a further five quid off that price, offering it for £14.99.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-18-child-of-eden-ps3-to-cost-GBP19-99

 

[dallow_bg]

Does anyone think just calling it Damned would have been a better name?

Nah.

 

[Montresor]

You know what. I really like the outcry on Neogaf regarding the SotD sales. Seems to me a bunch of GAF members really loved this game. The game just oozes style and tight, polished game play controls, it's so fun and funny. Hopefully a lot of other members buy the game as a result of all these threads.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

Both games completely snuck up on me. Poor or no marketing.

 

[Curufinwe]

Nah.

Well, there must be someone in this thread who hates the name "Shadows of the Damned" who can suggest a better one. I don't hate "SotD" but it does come across as rather bland for such a stylish game, and "Damned" seems more striking to me.

Btw, I only saw your image when I quoted you.

 

[Theonik]

So...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437687
Seems they have learned nothing... Oh well still have an order for 15 pounds at Play.com...

 

[twinturbo2]

So...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437687
Seems they have learned nothing... Oh well still have an order for 15 pounds at Play.com...

And like I said over there, the PS3 version being released the same day as Gears of War 3 is suicidal overconfidence. Lumi sent out to be chainsawed in the back by the COG soldiers confirmed.

 

[gnat_]

Hearing about all the dick-jokes on various podcasts completely turned me off of Shadows of the Damned. I'm too old for that stuff.

 

[bone_and_sinew]

I find the idea of people buying a game based solely on the cover shocking. Not saying it doesn't happen but I would never do that.

My dad did for Deadly Towers. It was the one time he ever abused me.

 

[somesayyea]

Did my part and grabbed Shadows of the Damned - thoroughly enjoying it.

Picked it up for 39.99, which I feel is the perfect price for games like these (shorter, story driven games w/o multiplayer).

 

[Das-J]

I has a sad, but honestly I couldn't really get into the game...

As I told Furio, spending 20+ minutes of playtime without any real gameplay is NOT the way to get me hooked.

 

[Ricker]

Almost zero marketing for this game and the little there was was about a Big Boner so yeah...

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

In a few hours, this thread will have more views than what both games sold COMBINED :lol

 

[Dizzle24]

Here's the thing...
"Most" consumers buy games at Gamestop or similar retailers. These retailers DO NOT place large orders for games that aren't Call of Duty, Madden, or as compared to sales-wise in this case, Zelda. These 3 games will definitely sell, so the store will order at least 70 copies each.

Shadows of the Damned, is just another "random unknown game" or low-seller, to the people in charge of purchasing inventory. So when the store only receives 6 copies total, that's all it will sell. When those copies are gone, that's it. No reorders, because, well, there were only 6 sales of this game.

If a retail store doesn't order enough because they base sales solely on pre-orders instead of stocking that front shelve right behind the counter with ALL of the new releases that day, then the game's sales are doomed.

Tl;dr version
I blame the retailers for not stocking enough of unknown games, as opposed to gamers outright passing over the game for something else.

 

[Amir0x]

just got Shadow of the Damned for $14.99. K-Mart accidentally put a few on the discount game bin and honored it.

Seems right price for a Grasshopper Manufacture game. Let's see how this bitch plays

 

[Curufinwe]

just got Shadow of the Damned for $14.99. K-Mart accidentally put a few on the discount game bin and honored it.

Seems right price for a Grasshopper Manufacture game. Let's see how this bitch plays

Hell of a deal. It's still full price at Amazon four weeks after it was released.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I had no idea this game was even releasing, so I'm putting most of the blame on EA. I guess if you're not an internal studio of theirs, your game gets published and nothing more.
I mean, compare the way this was treated to Dante's Inferno.

I'm interested in SotD, but I might as well wait for the inevitable price drops.

 

[legbone]

just got Shadow of the Damned for $14.99. K-Mart accidentally put a few on the discount game bin and honored it.

Seems right price for a Grasshopper Manufacture game. Let's see how this bitch plays

you are in for a surprise. it plays better than any grasshopper game released to date. in my opinion it plays better than resident evil 4 and 5. but i'm not a resident evil fan. that is a steal. i paid full price and don't regret it one bit. great game.

 

[Rollo Tomasi]

Got it for $40 off eCrater. Can't wait to start playing. I loved RE4 and NMH.

 

[Owzers]

Put another half hour into Shadows of the Damned ( probably just over an hour total) and i'm liking it a lot more once i get settled into the controls and doing some brutal kills. Unless i end up souring on the game i'll probably buy it when it's $30 or so.

 

[DangerousDave]

First consequences.

Massimo Guarini, director of recent third-person thriller Shadows of the Damned, has left developer Grasshopper Manufacture to set up his own company. The Suda51-fronted development team confirmed to games blog Joystiq that Guarini has left to work on his new studio, called Ovosonico Productions.

 

[electroshockwave]

First consequences.

Apparently Guarini moves from studio to studio anyway and he was only at Grasshopper while working on SotD.

 

[Paches]

Apparently Guarini moves from studio to studio anyway and he was only at Grasshopper while working on SotD.

That is what they want you to think...

 

[killer666]

The game is really fantastic. I love the RE4 control and the boss design.

I think EA did not put so much money in the advertisement. EA suddenly announced the game and then suddenly made a release date. What a poor advertisement strategy.

 

[Nemesis_]

That is what they want you to think...

I hope this is just dumb sarcasm.

 

[Rolf NB]

Well, there must be someone in this thread who hates the name "Shadows of the Damned" who can suggest a better one. I don't hate "SotD" but it does come across as rather bland for such a stylish game, and "Damned" seems more striking to me.

Btw, I only saw your image when I quoted you.

Damned Shadows Of The Damned


Seriously though, the name's fine.