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The Hookup on High-Def Gaming

Penny Arcade's semi-frequent column The Hook Up has published a new article, and this time around Stormy talks about the coming high-def revolution in gaming and the acceptance of gaming by the masses. From the article: "I'm definitely troubled about the 'dumbing-down' effect that bringing the casual gamers into our fold may have on the quality of games in the future. Sure, tight pants and big tits appeal to the hardcore elite just the same as the casual gamer, but I'm betting that Half-Life 2 on the Xbox will play a lot different than on its PC predecessor. For example, I really took it as a compliment when Valve simply threw me into the fray when I began the game. The beauty of it was that the storytellers assumed that we've all played a shooter before."

3 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Graphics are just the baseline... by Sefert · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The gameplay still has to be there. It goes without saying that it doesn't matter how sexy a game looks, if it's boring to play it won't be a hit. The comments the article made about high-def giving people an advantage is interesting though - you really could get more accurate shots off with a higher res larger display. I don't think it takes into account the natural 'tunnel' that people's vision has though. On a really big screen, it's easy to miss stuff off to one side (try sitting at the front of a movie theatre and see how much of the action you're missing, to get my drift). Basically, unless someone's playing a sniper on an FPS, I don't see a huge advantage - it'll just be tradeoff of clarity in the small area you're staring at vs the guy without the clarity who can see the whole situation better. Interesting observations, anyway.

    1. Re:Graphics are just the baseline... by __aailob1448 · · Score: 4, Insightful


      I keep hearing how graphics can't be improved all that much and it just makes want to punch people.

      Graphics have a LONG, LONG, LONG way to go before we get to photorealistic quality. It's not going to happen in 5 years, or in 10 or in 20. Heck, I'll be surprised if it happens within the next 50 years. So please shut up about it.

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion