Friday, June 11, 2004
Let's see some really NEW games!
BBC NEWS | Technology | Lara Croft creator speaks out
Nintendo 'fears for games industry'
A couple of pieces that talk about stagnation in the games sector, with publishers unwilling to take on innovative, original products. it seems like it's been a long while since anything truly original arrived on the scene. There is some novelty out there, such as the Grand Theft Auto and Hitman series, but even they have own series of tired sequels that do little, if anything, to improve on the original gameplay. Of course the games industry at its heart is about making money, and companies will generally prefer to keep selling what they know people will buy, but when this carries on too long we run the risk of getting long term ennui with the whole business (Nintendo's Satoru Iwata agrees with me). New directions, such as mobile and collaborative online games, offer some promising attractions, but it remains to be seen whether they'll catch on big time or whether it's another passing trend. I admit I'm of the age where I still have fond memories of some truly original titles for my Commodore 64, and it bothers me that to be considered a good game these days requires more graphics than gameplay. I recently got hold of the new Bond game, Everything or Nothing, and I've been impressed by the production quality of the title. There are real actors providing the voices and the basis of the animation models, and the plot is true to a bonafide Bond movie, but sadly the gameplay is nothing new. What it does, it does well, but it doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before. I'd like to see somebody take a risk and do something different. Gone are the days of home-coded games that became cult successes. This is big business, and the big bucks should be spent on innovation, not maintaining the status quo.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Lara Croft creator speaks out
Nintendo 'fears for games industry'
A couple of pieces that talk about stagnation in the games sector, with publishers unwilling to take on innovative, original products. it seems like it's been a long while since anything truly original arrived on the scene. There is some novelty out there, such as the Grand Theft Auto and Hitman series, but even they have own series of tired sequels that do little, if anything, to improve on the original gameplay. Of course the games industry at its heart is about making money, and companies will generally prefer to keep selling what they know people will buy, but when this carries on too long we run the risk of getting long term ennui with the whole business (Nintendo's Satoru Iwata agrees with me). New directions, such as mobile and collaborative online games, offer some promising attractions, but it remains to be seen whether they'll catch on big time or whether it's another passing trend. I admit I'm of the age where I still have fond memories of some truly original titles for my Commodore 64, and it bothers me that to be considered a good game these days requires more graphics than gameplay. I recently got hold of the new Bond game, Everything or Nothing, and I've been impressed by the production quality of the title. There are real actors providing the voices and the basis of the animation models, and the plot is true to a bonafide Bond movie, but sadly the gameplay is nothing new. What it does, it does well, but it doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before. I'd like to see somebody take a risk and do something different. Gone are the days of home-coded games that became cult successes. This is big business, and the big bucks should be spent on innovation, not maintaining the status quo.
Comments:
Post a Comment
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
Atom
RSS