[General Discussion] Single games are now a "series?"

Why are single games referred to as a "series?"

1 game + a bunch of hype about an upcoming sequel/spin-off = 1 game
2 games = 1 game + 1 sequel
3 games = a trilogy
4 or more games = a series

I'm sorry, but I often hear gamers throw this word about to describe a single title, and it gets really old. I feel that it does injustice to true long-running actual series such as Ultima, Wizardry, Might and Magic, etc. that are true intellectual property franchises that have been going for decades. A single game is now a "series?" Give me a break...

Uh, what on Earth are you talking about? How about an example?

Eh? I've NEVER heard anyone calling one game a 'series.' I'd like to see some examples of what the heck you're talking about, please.

Originally Posted by speculative

Why are single games referred to as a "series?"

1 game + a bunch of hype about an upcoming sequel/spin-off = 1 game
2 games = 1 game + 1 sequel
3 games = a trilogy
4 or more games = a series

I'm sorry, but I often hear gamers throw this word about to describe a single title, and it gets really old. I feel that it does injustice to true long-running actual series such as Ultima, Wizardry, Might and Magic, etc. that are true intellectual property franchises that have been going for decades. A single game is now a "series?" Give me a break...

I can't really think of any single game titles that are refered to as series. If there are any, they are probably games that are confirmed(or extremely likely) to have sequels. BTW, a series doesn't mean 4 or more, 2 games would be considered a series.

Series is just another way of saying franchise.

I can't think of any single game that is often referred to as a series. I mean really, an example or four would be nice, otherwise I'm just going to dismiss you as a crazy person.

Originally Posted by Megalith

Series is just another way of saying franchise.

I think that still brings the question to mind:

How can you call a single game a [franchise]?

..which still bring that request: can you list some of the single games called as series/franchise ?

Sorry, since the forums have wiped (are these present ones even being backed up???) I don't have any examples at hand. I guess that makes me crazy? Yeah, crazy like a

It's not like it's a big issue anyway; just bored & curious on a Friday and wondering if anyone else had run across this on web forums...

This is one big ingenius trick question if I ever seen one. There is no one game to ever be labeled a 'series'. By your logic, Grandia is barely a series, but does anyone count Grandia Xtreme as part of it?;p

Either way nope can't say I've heard this.

People just refer to a series or franchise when they have certain plans to make more games of the same name in the future.

I've noticed this as well (Halo comes to mind; there have been a few other cases that I can't recall on the top of my head). It's no surprise, given the low level of game-journalism in general; like, how everyone feels the need to use ten cliches per article (did you know that pretty much every game is a ''mixed bag'' over at IGN?). Series, sequel, same thing.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by Bahamut Zero

People just refer to a series or franchise when they have certain plans to make more games of the same name in the future.

So it's acceptable to refer to a book as ''trilogy'' if the author possibly plans on writing two sequels sometime in the future?

I usually see people use the term "series" when talking about at least 3 or more games. I've also seen it used for a game and its sequel, but never for a single game.

It certainly makes sense to use it for only two games:

Quote:

series
Pronunciation Key (sîrz)
n. pl. series

1. A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession.

I wouldn't use it for less than 3, but it wouldn't exactly bother me or make me think of it as an affront to Ultima.

Look at StarCraft, any game that has staying power will be considerd a franchise. I just hope we can legitimately call it a series soon.
Of course some RPGs are so damn long, they might as well be a series in itself (Dark Cloud 2 comes to mind, so much to do). I think we can safely say though, that games like Tresspasser or Extreme Paintbrawl are not a series, simply because no one would buy enough copies to allow that to happen.

I can't think of any cases where an individual game has been refered to as a series. They've sometimes used the phrase to describe a new series of games that are planned, for example Too Human or Xenosaga (before the first one was released), but I've never heard anyone apply the term to a SINGLE game.

Originally Posted by Aardark

So it's acceptable to refer to a book as ''trilogy'' if the author possibly plans on writing two sequels sometime in the future?

No, the first one would be called "the first book in a trilogy" or "the first in an upcoming series of books". If they just say trilogy or series, then they aren't refering to the first book, they're refering to all the books in the series as a whole.

Really, I can't say I've ever heard people use the word "series" besides generally in a collection of at least two related objects. Where the related objects in this case would be the original, the sequel, its sequel, and so forth. We might refer to future objects as series, such as "first in an upcoming series" as Solis noted, but other than that I can't recall anyone using series for a singular thing. If they are called "series", the writers are more than likely using the word incorrectly.

The only time I can even recall a single game being called a series was when they announced CoD2 and activision also announced that they will be continuing the CoD franchise beyond just CoD2 and the Big Red One. But I thought that was somewhat justified since we're probably going to be seeing a few more CoDs.

Not to mention that the console CoD games were different to the PC one. And there was an expansion pack.

Starcraft could be called a franchise, but only because it has an expansion and various spinoff products (not counting the vaporware Ghost). I've never known of any games that are essentially standalone to be a franchise or a series, though. When companies smell money, they usually try to milk the cow for a sequel.