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The Armageddons and Deep Impacts of Video Games

Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
Armageddon vs. Deep Impact
Antz vs. A Bug's Life
Volcano vs. Dante's Peak

There are plenty more, but these are some notorious examples of almost identical movies that came out eerily close to each other, which of course confused consumers.

We had a very similar situation recently in the land of video games, with Battleborne and Overwatch being very similar hero-based shooters (a war that Overwatch won quite convincingly). But I wonder: how many times has this happened before in this medium? I can't really think of any good examples, but there are bound to be a lot.

Quake III: Arena and Unreal Tournament, perhaps? Both games managed to be very successful, though.
 
I know these aint what you're lookin for but remember this

apocalypse.jpg
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it was both the armaggedon and the deep impact of videogames
 
Blur and Split/Second come easily to mind. As it turns out the market wasn't ready for a new arcade racing game in May 2010, let alone two.
 
Valkyria Chronicles and Operation Darkness - The latter of which IIRC was rushed out to capitalize on Sega dropping the 360 version of Valkyria Chronicles and doubling down on PS3.

...And even exclusive to the platform that was losing the console war, VC still won.
 
I think this thread would be more interesting if we took it more literally

Armaggedon and Deep Impact are supposedly the product of the Armaggedon screenwriter talking about the script he was making to some other guy, and that other guy went and wrote Deep Impact from that memory

so it's basically 1 script or rather 1 idea for 2 different movies

I wonder if this ever happened in games
 
Neuromancer said:
Blur and Split/Second come easily to mind. As it turns out the market wasn't ready for a new arcade racing game in May 2010, let alone two.
Click to expand...
Also Alan Wake got crushed because no one saw the big *R coming.
It crushed ALL OF THEM.

recently its overwatch + battleborn.
Seriously folks can't stop comparing / debating the two even though they are completely different games.
 
MauroNL said:
PES vs FIFA
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Of course! How could I forget?

I'm not knowledgeable whatsoever when it comes to sport games, though: are there two particular entries in those two franchises that were particularly seen as rivals by consumers and came out almost simultaneously?

Good call on Rise of Tomb Raider and Uncharted (4, I guess?) and Okami vs. Twilight Princess as well, guys.
 
Interesting thread. I can't really think of any, but this phenomenon has always fascinated me in movies, so I'm curious to see what answers other people can come up with.

Sesha said:
Dante's Inferno and Darksiders.
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This is a good one. I remember thinking this was weird at the time. Both are God of War inspired action games based on Christian mythology. Darksiders is more action-adventure with some Zelda influence of course, but there's definitely a lot of God of War influence in the combat system.

And then God of War 3 came out just a few months later, kinda overshadowing both.
 
I think some people are missing the point of the thread?

They have to be games that, without looking into them too much, a consumer might confuse the two due to similar style/gameplay and release window. Infamous/prototype is a perfect example. This usually works for new IP or games with generic looking protagonists ("bald dude with gun").

Haze and timeshift for a little while:
256px-Haze_boxart.jpg
51083DyxQ4L.jpg
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Working at gamestop, we had people confuse these two games based on boxart alone (but that doesn't apply to this example, other than it created consumer confusion):
Dead_Space_Box_Art.jpg
Left4Dead_Windows_cover.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Wasn't Killzone specifically made (or at the very least: marketed as) the PlayStation's answer to Halo?
 
BigTnaples said:
I've always wondered HOW this happens and why?
Click to expand...

An event happens (lets say an asteroid hits Jupiter in 1994) then that thing is in the media and space rock fear is in vogue, and you are not the only one who wants to take advantage of it to make money, but then you are not going to throw away your money and work you already spent when you learn someone else is making the same thing.
 
MattyG said:
Infamous and Prototype.
Click to expand...

This is a great example, they also came out the same year too.

I really wish there were more superhero/super-villain video games.

I suppose another super-villain kind of game is Destroy all Humans, although there's nothing quite like it.

I miss Pandemic :(
 
Weren't there two super similar racing games that came out at the same time last gen?

Blur and something else?
 
Most of these suggestions don't work for this kind of analogy. Infamous/Prototype however is a perfect example - two new superhuman IPs released within a few weeks of each other.
 
massoluk said:
Man, it used to be Call of Duty vs Medal of Honor
Click to expand...

That's still the main WW2 battle if you ask me.

Movie-wise this was also a Volcano vs. Dante's Peak kind of thing, but I'm going to add:

Street Fighter series vs. Mortal Kombat series
Quake III Arena vs Unreal Tournament (oops, beaten)
Siren vs Silent Hill?
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
An event happens (lets say an asteroid hits Jupiter in 1994) then that thing is in the media and space rock fear is in vogue, and you are not the only one who wants to take advantage of it to make money, but then you are not going to throw away your money and work you already spent when you learn someone else is making the same thing.
Click to expand...

But say, Bugs Life and Antz? Was there some huge media buzz involving insects? Or Volcano's?



I feel like this happens SO often in the film industry.
 
BigTnaples said:
I've always wondered HOW this happens and why?
Click to expand...
In movies, the scripts get shopped around for a while inspiring the same ideas within different companies. Something similar probably happens with video games. Different companies get the same influences around the same time.
 
Halo 2 and Killzone. Killzone was created solely to compete against Halo. Released a week apart too. LOL

massoluk said:
Man, it used to be Call of Duty vs Medal of Honor
Click to expand...

Only issue is, the same developer made both.

Allied Assault and Call of Duty were created by the same team.
 
Neuromancer said:
Blur and Split/Second come easily to mind. As it turns out the market wasn't ready for a new arcade racing game in May 2010, let alone two.
Click to expand...

Infinite sadness.

Both amazing games (had split/second on 360 and Blur on PC) but were there not massive games released at the same time as well?

Vehicular combat and arcade racers like that have died out since then. Criminal.
 
Imbarkus said:
That's still the main WW2 battle if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Man, back in the day I remember waiting for a new WW2 game and being hyped for not only Medal of Honor and Call of Duty, but Men of Valor, too. Three almost identical games, thematically and visually.
 
Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank were thought to be rivals back in the day. As different as they are they were similar enough at first glance.
 
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