Gaming is bigger than ever now, no-one can argue that. Games are the highest grossing form of entertainment ever, reaching millions of people around the world. With all the money pumped into gaming and the huge number of people who now contribute to the creation of any game you’d think that gaming would be bigger and better than ever. Sadly this doesn’t seem to be the case, progression in gaming seems to have degenerated into a war of pixels and framerates, of engines and particle effects; big releases seem to be missing any real innovation or, dare I say it, fun.
First off I’ll admit that I’m making things sound a little more dire than they actually are. Gaming isn’t a pit of despair with no real value any more, there are still quite a few gems. I’m still excited for Halo: Reach, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Batman: Arkham City. Unfortunately there isn’t much that’s grabbed my attention after that right now, maybe Tekken X Street Fighter (and the reverse game), but that isn’t exactly out any time soon.
So what’s wrong with that picture? Given the huge sums of money that are spent on AAA games surely there should be more of those games that have me chomping at the bit. Sadly AAA games largely seem to appeal to the lowest common denominator in an attempt to recoup the significant sums of money that go into developing these titles. Sadly that means they often don’t really do all that much to blow me away.
It’s a very different story when you look at downloadable games, less investment means less risk and more freedom to try something new or interesting. Perfect examples of this are anything from thatgamecompany, Shadow Complex and Limbo. Small, downloadable games seem to be where everything genuinely new is now, compared to multi-million dollar games which are often ‘cookie cutter’.
I know I’m certainly not alone in losing some of my excitement for new titles, this topic was sparked by a Twitter discussion between our very own cc_star and Mr_Roynaldo. I’m sure lots of people are excited for everything that’s happening, we do seem to be in a period of change right now with the continued growth of online gaming and motion controls. Am I missing something huge that I should be excited for? And don’t say Gran Turismo 5, racers hold little appeal to me.
3shirts
Couldn’t be bothered to read this ;)
Amphlett
Yeah, yeah, whatever… ;-)
moshi
pah
Walker
Dead Rising 2?
3shirts
I do agree that small PSN/XBLA games are the trailblazers for new ideas while the big games tend to be the next big instalment of a popular franchise.
But there are original ‘big’ games too like Uncharted or LBP which refresh a genre and bring something a bit different.
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What we need is the creative, innovators to make enough money from their early, small titles to be able to develop bigger and better each time.
djhsecondnature
I think those that continue to batter on about how all games now focus on higher pixel counts and more explosions are as bad, as those who care if a game is sub-HD. Either way, graphics affect your opinion, albeit in a polarised way. If a game looks amazing, great; if it lacks the grass and blood of it’s console-counterpart, so what, I couldn’t care less.
I enjoy gaming now, far more than I ever did as a kid. Games are more accessible, thus more of my friends play as well. They are not as infuriating to play, and the advancements in sound design, story telling and creativity is astounding.
Eldave0
LOL when I was reading through the beginning of your article I was thinking “Limbo has tonnes of innovation thank you very much”, glad you covered your tracks later on ;)
I agree for the most part, most games do feel a bit “copy,paste” these days, and I’m only looking forward to a few upcoming titles (GT5, Twisted Metal, Gears3 and Hydrophobia). This is a good thing really given I’m going to be a Dad in March so it makes saving cash that little bit easier ;)
djhsecondnature
You say you feel most games are copy and past, yet you have GT5 and Gear 3 in you list… :-p
Eldave0
lol, ok I’ll admit neither of those look particularly innovative, but I reckon my mates will come up with innovative ways to kill me if I don’t pick up copies of these games to play with them :P
Amphlett
Maybe it’s an age and experience thing? My son plays Rag Doll Kung Fu on the PS3 for ages and he’ll be laughing out loud at every daft punch, kick, throw and smack. There’s no competition to win, no on-line play, the graphics are average (though cute-ish) and it’s certainly not pushing the PS3 at all. No, it’s just a plain and simple game with great playability and it appeals to the child inside.
cc_star
More pixels on screen may look nice, but once you’ve looked at it – what’s left?
Sequels to mega-franchises are all well and good, but they are only repeating the experience we’ve already have.
Is bigger and better actually better? That’s open to debate, I think not.
The only pre-christmas game I’m looking forward to is NfS:HP, and then there will hopefully be some Last Guardian details at TGS and hopefully a 2011 release, however I’m not sure what else I want.
The PSN/XBLA/Wiiware is a hotbed of creativity although many of these innovations are variations of indie PC games.
I think cost-wise the lower barrier to entry for Wii games development (you don’t need to spend 10’s of millions in the art departments for fear of getting a thrashing from fanboys on n4g) means that a few more of these innovations shine through and stand-out experiences are the norm rather than the rarity they seem to be on the HD consoles, with Heavy Rain being the exception that proves the rule. Of course people will focus on stuff that isn’t to their taste like Just Dance, or some waggle crap (which no one is forcing anyone to buy) but thats their problem, not the platforms which actually has many of the 7th gens best games.
Eldave0
To be fair, Uncharted 2 was miles better than the original though I take your point
tatoemonkey
agreed an naughty dog I think are one of the exciting companys but same here I usually have stacks on pre order but have found myself more an more going through the psn titles for something new and fun . Got Joe danger last week loving it!
cc_star
Yeah, Uncharted 2 was a timely improvement on the first… however, you only have to look at this gens so called best game (98%, I think, according to metacritic) GTAIV which many, many people say was no where near as enjoyable as its prequels.
so you could say the addition of realism (which is only possible on this generation of consoles) has eroded the experience that many loved.
aerobes
Funny how this is the general feeling, I loved Uncharted whereas I actually had to force myself to finish Uncharted 2.
But the it’s swings and roundabouts because I preferred Bioshock 2 to Bioshock.
I’m very apathetic in all respects of life by my very nature but I will say it’s true to say that I have certainly gotten a lot more out of new franchises as opposed to sequels this generation such as:
Dead Space,
The Sabotuer,
Darksiders,
Split/Second,
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,
Singularity,
Fallout 3 (it was new to me) and Borderlands.
And then there’s PSN games but that’s a whole other thing.
DRCD1
I wonder how can anyone even think Uc2 was better than the original? I can understand that people find MW2 better than Uc:DF, because they’re of difrent genres. However, in the same series, I find it strange how can someone differ in opinions about which one is better than the other. In my opinion, Uc:DF is the best game I played in a long time, and Uncharted 2 didn’t surpassed it. The hand to hand combat in 2 is, in my opinion, crap, you can’t shoot crouched, and the cover animations are mirrored when you turn yourself to the other side, there no longer exists punch-punch-kick in the arse combo, and Nate jumps weirdly , and I found much more glitches, such as: 1. Magazine respawning on the Assault Rifle while reloading, while in cover holding the weapon on Nate’s left hand, instead of respawning on his hand. 2. While reloading holding the weapon on the Left hand, Nate get’s his magazine from his holster.
djhsecondnature
That’s down to your taste though and not the quality of titles out there. With Halo: Reach, Sonic 4, Medal of Honor, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Vanquish, Rock Band 3, Enslaved, Gran Turismo 5, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, FIFA 11, James Bond: Blood Stone, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Quantum Theory, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, just off the top of my head, you can’t say there’s not some great titles coming out. Just ones you don’t want.
cc_star
If you’d have read my comment you’d have seen that I didn’t say there wasn’t great titles coming out.
jediryan123
im looking forward to gran turismo 5, civilization 5, need for speed hot pursuit, force unleashed 2 and little big planet 2. but like you said, nothing revolutionary just sequels.
Eldave0
I can remember the GotY awards last year on Gamespot. Out of the 5 nominees, only one of them didn’t have a ‘2’ on the end of it lol. Uncharted 2, MW2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Batman AA
Eldave0
edit: and some other game I can’t remember off the top of my head but I know it had a 2 in it ;)
DRCD1
The one who won didn’t have a two: Demon Souls
Charmed_Fanatic
Some many games … so little monies :(
Severn2j
Personally Im excited for Angry Birds on Android (and GT5) which is rumoured to appear this Friday..
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But generally, you’ve pretty much answered the question in the article, AAA games are built on the idea of more buck = more bang. It doesn’t, imo and once we finally reach that tipping point where people stop buying games based on graphics over gameplay enough that its no longer profitable (which I think we are not far from) then we will start seeing more and more games based on new ideas, which should be far cheaper than MoCapping A N Other Rock Stars for Guitar Hero 23, licensing countless hours of copyrighted music or the other endless details that cost an absolute fortune, but dont really add much to the game.. Of course, new ideas demand a bit more risk on the part of a publisher/developer, but then who said running a business was easy? Besides, if you’re not spending a fortune on each game, then it doesnt matter if they arent all platinum sellers.