After seeing the Xbox One reveal and seeing the games coming for them, I was wondering what is left for an AAA company, that hasn’t been touched upon in gaming. I think true emotional content and caring about my NPCs is something I think they could touch upon.
What else can they really do, iyo(in your opinion)?
Make more money.
At the moment its difficult to say.
We’ll get incremental increases in fidelity, physics, AI behaviour (though not necessarily better AI) etc, though nothing which PC’s haven’t been able to handle for a while. There doesn’t seem to be any really new input devices on the horizon either to play off.
Unfortunately whilst going for the more ‘emotional’ content and story telling sounds good on paper, it doesn’t really translate well into the popular gaming genre’s. It’s frequently all done in cut-scene’s to the point where it could just be cut out entirely and presented as a movie instead, not to mention the Narrative dissonance it frequently causes.
Obviously that’s not to say that emotional games can’t be done, just that so far the more successful ones have been where they break out into different genre’s (e.g. Walking Dead by TellTale Games). Though honestly at this point in time, having been wanting more mature games (proper mature, not tits and swearing) for many years I’m not even sure I can be bothered with it any more. Certianly not if it gets shoe-horned into practicaly everygame as the next ‘bullet point’ to add.
There are other avenues to explore, such as ‘experience’ games, but I don’t see those working within the restrictions or requirements of what makes or sells a AAA title.
The only upcoming game that seems to have been able to build on AAA games is Ubisofts ‘Watch Dogs’ and its open world (maybe non-linear solutions is a better term) type gameplay mixed with access to technological gadgets allowing remote control and information gathering. Its nothing really new, but it has broadened out the horizons of what similar games have allowed. Thus enabling a level of depth not previously seen or be playable at least not in the way its presented.
Im hoping, but i doubt anything new and shiny will emerge for a while. New technology doesnt make new games, it just makes them prettier.
“experience” is a good word i think, but then again it can mean anything to a player. I think i would like to see more story, and games that take their time to REALLY shape the game around the choices u make as a player. Not multiple endings,thats crap, im thinking solutions and problems u will put infront of urself for beeing good or bad.
Yeah we have games that has doen this in the past, but i didnt feel they did it well enough, it wasnt dynamic, it was very stiff anf the choices were few.
other than that, we will still see the same games beieng recycled,over and over, only much better looking.
I think HL2 did caring for NPCs just fine. That was 9 years ago now.
True now, but it didn’t use to be the case, where it frequently used to drive new experiences, and game mechanics. I think as an ‘older’ gamer and developer its one of the biggest things I miss, which is why i’m happy when something new technology wise does come along, even if its not necessary always good, say the Kinect or even musical instrument peripherals.
No I think what you alluded to pretty much accurately describes an ‘experience’ or experience game.
An experience doesn’t have to be devoid of gameplay, but it can allow far greater focus onto the emotion of a game as opposed to its mechanics, such as shooting. The real problem is that shooting mechanics are just so easy to implement (though sometimes hard to do well), they are universally understood by gamers and provide a clear metric as to your capabilities (dexterity, hand-eye co-ordination, skill etc). Finding something to replace them is going to be hard, if impossible.
I also can’t help feeling that apart from the normal and well discussed issues that often seem to hold back developers from making progress in this direction it is the lack of affirmation that we can make games like this, that they don’t all have to be about the current limited genre’s, that its ok to be experimental, to make mistakes.
For example ‘Dear Ester’, not a game I really enjoyed, though I did appreciate the experience, but more importantly it taught me that its ok for a game to be different, to be so different that people would even argue if it was a game or not.
Agreed, though a little ham fisted at time. Its sad that so little progress in so few games has happened since then.
9 years a go yeah, havent seen anything done better yet, and thats the point.
I think VR could be the new game space!
Well I just had an ideal a minute ago during another post that’s I’d like to share and for others with the proper resources to persue if you don’t mind:
New controllers allow for cardio fitness games to exercise ; not to mention home health diagostics.
If they were to add a TV tuner and DVDR/BRR HW they’d really could make the xBox a one stop living room device.
With HDMI and controls you could use SW to turn on TV and remind folk to take their medicine with load messages / videos and nice things like that.
Monitor for incoming tornados and other inclement weather and turn on the TV loud and load a video recording with proper safety procedures. You could make software that you could feed blueprints (or good photographs to) and create muster points in emergencies. You could have the software pull up a Bings Map and send people to the nearest underground bunker or safest place in a tornado.
With just a bit of extra HW it’s possible to be very creative helpful to people with the XBox One.
Now where are those folk that are always complaining that ideals are worthless and that the game market is flooded with crap in the same sentence?
Ideal people are very important. Steve Jobs was an ideal person. Bill Gates is an ideal person.
In some cases it’s better to try and publicize ideals free because it’s the right thing to do when it involves safety despite the urge to keep it secret and attempt to make money for myself for the ideal. Microsoft and others are better positioned to use the ideals to help people with resources I don’t have. And if that helps thir marketing angle, well I’m all for marketing safety.
LOL, Microsoft you can click my website link at http://thundercell.co/ and help my SEO traffic at my floundering hobby.
Actually I do like the safety aspects of how the XBox and other consoles can be utilized, especially with SW / HW timers and HDMI links being able to turn on and play safety related videos and plans for the typical home user.
So if you like that ideal, take it and run with it. Just send a note to jagrogan SPAM thundercell SPAM co and I will save it and if I get enough emails: say, 10,000 I will forward the emails to the console makers to try and get the needed HW and SW timers and HDMI autolinks programmed to create this kind of weather / disaster monitoring and safety instructions and plans possible.
Newer HW Consoles probably already allow this type SW for all I know. I just don’t have the resources to pursue this.
Im also and “older” gamer where NES and SNES really shaped my gaming view, and still does, and i find myself playing those games mor eoften than i play AAA titles. Im not even sure why, but they offer me an experience deeper than most new games can. this is weird, and i cant explain it.
I even cared for my little villagers in Actraiser alot more than i did any new RTS game, becasue it was so heavily focused on action maybe? Im not sure, cant put my finger on it.
Yeha i agree with the experience u mentioned, and the FPS controlling. I dont think it can be relpaced, but u can add to it. U ever played Operation Flashpoint? FPS game, but they weapon wasnt attached to the crosshair, it came slugging after once u turned, like u would in real life, this was awesome for me back then. Just a small example. U controlled ur eyes, the weapon came after,pretty neat.
Then u ahve Bulletstorm that tried to implement kicking and hitting, shooting and combos…worked to a degree, but i really didint feel it. Nor did the public if i remember correctly.
Man experience can be so many things, depends on alot, and the genre.
In my game im working on now, im doing a platformer, and we’re tying to out in small subtle things that might boost “experience” for a platformer…it sur eis hard, but fun to try. It can be anything form my animations to insects flying away if u jump on a tree. Music plays a big role in experience for me, dialog is very important.
I dont like games that tries to be movies tho, this is why ive stopped playing CoD campaigns…when i was done with the game is was like “well that was a awesome movie”, but it also left a bad taste in my mouth, wish it didnt because the shooting is phenomenal in those…ive just seen it so many times now, and it doesnt seem to change.
Im eeger to see what comes tho, hopefully someone will do something almost original.
Still not old enough if you were part of the NES generation. Though quite why I feel like bragging about being old is a good thing I don’t know 
Yep another ground breaking game in many ways, only its lofty ambition wasn’t matched by the technology and I’m not sure has yet. The one shot kill was a rude awakening and forced a whole new style of play. I would play for hours just flanking positions, doing stuff that most gamers would find down right boring, but it made for such an immersive experience.
Great fun game, certainly brought back the feeling of old arcade games, plenty of re-playability, but something felt off with it. I think whilst it had longevity and replayability, it lacked the depth which I wanted by that point in my gaming life.
Sounds good though i’m not sure i’d count it as an ‘experience’ as I feel the platformer is too ingrained as a genre. Don’t get me wrong it sounds like you are producing something with love and attention to detail and platformers like Braid, Limbo, Thomas Was alone and many others have all brought something new to the discussion and been damn good fun games to boot.
Yep I stopped buying around COD5, stopped renting a few versions after that, and having even played the last two or three. I still they they are amazing games, but i’d had my fill of them and the big set peices, I just felt I was playing the same thing again and again. I’ll probably pick one up again in the future once its been long enough to want a fun FPS again.
The whole idea of “new” is hard man, ive been trying so many things on paper and its…im loosing:P
all ur game replies of the ones i mentioend i agree with, OF was alot fo fun and i played it like u mentioned also, very fun. I was watching abuddy play ehm…Mw2? is that the latest? anyway, it didnt tempt me to try anymore., it looked like the last one, but this is just my opinion. I like FPS’s games when they bring new things to the table, or maybe if the world is diffrent, think im mostly tired of military shooters and the typical US marine eniroment.
Interesting point on the platformers. Oh btw i was alive when Atari 2600 and Commadore 64 was out:P stil not old enough?
Well im putting in more but dont wanna spoil it just yet, basicly trying to put other genres i guess in it and see how much a platformer can take before it breaks i guess:P
Yeah its hard, best way is to not think about it, ideas will come, either that or try out some lateral thinking excerises (Edward de Bono etc)
Maybe we should call it quits, it can only end in tears and one of us admits to be really ancient
More bigger better faster bla bla bla.
Being different for the sake of being different won’t get you anywhere. Trying to be better will inevitably lead you to try new things, and the differentness that comes from that is probably where the gold is.
Yeah have to agree, going all out i dont think will work, stuff will become alienated i think.
I dunno, gonna finish my small projects and see where they go, learn as u go.