Revisiting Episodes

Back in April, I wrote about how "episode/chapter" released content would affect the gamer. I figure, now is a good time to revisit the subject matter.

It seems like there's a right way and a wrong way to do these episodic games. I do believe Half-Life got it right. Let's take a look at what they're doing right-

• Based on a solid story line in a solid universe, HL 1 & 2.
• Limited to only 3 episodes. So no dragging, milking feeling.
• Extra content. Like bonus material on a DVD.
  
• Replayablility per purchase. Network Games.
• Graphic/AI enhancements per episode release.
  

More specifically,
~ Episode 1 has:
The Episode 1 game
Developer Commentary
Half Life 2 Deathmatch (multi-player)
~ Episode 2 has:
The Episode 2 game
Team Fortress 2 (multi-player)
Portal (single-player)
~ Episode 3 Predictions
The Episode 3 game
Portal (multi-player)

How not to do episodes...

• Dull storyline.
• Lack of originality.
  
• Poor reviews on episode 1.
• Over 5 chapters .
  

Of course, I'm talking about SiN. They did all the above no-nos, and they have 8 more episodes to go. I predict it won't make it that far and will release as a bundled package if anything at all. Sam N Max, please make note!

Conclusion: I'm still gonna wait for them to be bundled as one release. I guess I was one of those people that was fine with the time between HL1 & HL2. Also good for those that aren't bleeding edge.