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The Importance of New Ideas
Next Generation has up the first in a two-part article talking in-depth with members of the gaming industry about the importance of fresh ideas. Also discussed are the challenges of next-gen development costs and the impact of Hollywood/Intellectual Property on future titles. From the article: "Q: What role will original game concepts play in next generation development? A: (Todd Hollenshead) Technology is a gating factor to the experience of playing games. Whether it's visual quality or character interactions, you have to have the processing power to make more sophisticated and interesting entertainment. Certainly the next generation of consoles in the Xbox 360 and PS3 are far more powerful than their predecessors and that gives game developers broad options to do things we haven't been able to do before and provide experiences for players they haven't had before. For example, for our next generation Wolfenstein game, which uses the Xbox 360 as it's primary development platform, we are developing technology that will change the way people play First Person games by doing away with the whole concept of 'levels', which has been the primary progression mechanic every first person game has used."
"For example, for our next generation Wolfenstein game, which uses the Xbox 360 as it's primary development platform, we are developing technology that will change the way people play First Person games by doing away with the whole concept of 'levels', which has been the primary progression mechanic every first person game has used."
Ok, who's underwhelmed by this revolutionary idea. Looks to me like they're just taking a page from the GTA series. In fact, it looks to me like they're just latching onto the latest fad of openended gaming.
I agree with you, but I don't think consoles will "die on the vine" by embracing mediocrity. There are too many stupid people out there who will embrace lousy games, just like they do lousy movies. They get brain washed by a flash commercial, and then they half to have.
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Does anyone remember
I though the new consoles (I know the 360 was described as such in an Ars article) favored graphical power. That they really didn't offer any advances useable in more sophisticated AI or such? Bigger and better graphics are nice, don't get me wrong, but are we really going to actually see anything fresh and new until the hardware is capable of doing more than eye candy?
M$ it's whats for diner!!!!!
FTA:
...I once asked Mr. Miyamoto about Nintendo's strategy when it comes to making games. I was surprised when he said that Nintendo only makes games to sell hardware units
I think this is a really good point. Nintendo's primary goal is to sell Nintendo consoles. They do this by not only having good games, but having a good console as well. They focus on what matters (selling consoles) and adjust everything else so they can acheive this goal.
Companies like ID are already innovating, but in a different way. ID is not a game company. They are a technology company. They make engines for games which they sell to make money. They make games to sell the engine, picking up quite a profit on the way mind you. A good example of this is Doom 3/Quake 4. They used Doom 3 as a technology demo, and Raven software and Activision liked it so much that they wanted to make a game using that engine.
Innovative things that I am exited about:
A Metaverse type of game, using Virtual reality.
This guy's vision of Virtual reality to come true. I think it would be fantastic.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - I am really looking foward to this game. It is exactly what I want: a RPFPS Game (Role Playing First Person Shooter Game). It has the kind of fully interactive gameworld that I want out of a metaverse (only smaller). AI that reacts depending on the situation (another innovative technology?). Really good physics (watch the demo movies). And the gameplay looks good; you interact with the world in pretty much the same way that you do in real life (with obvious limitations, of course).
I believe that the next innovation of games will be to make them as realistic as possible. We are already getting that now, with the game engines. Soon, I hope, we will change the way we interact with the games themselves (Virtual Reality). Hollywood (may) actually write good original stories (doubtful, I know), rather than re-hashing old ideas. We may get to decide how the story goes (like a choose-your-path book), and the game can go in different directions according to our choices.
As the technology gets better, hopefully the ideas will follow.
Sure, technically, this has never been done before.
:).
So as far as I can see, this is nothing new (technically) and people have been doing this for well over 5 years. Heck even my personal engines have had this feature for quite some time. Haven't seen it in a lot of FPS games, but no reason why it wouldn't work directly in an FPS style game as well (cannot confirm this but I think the GameCube Metroid Prime has a streaming level structure?).
Well actually, that sounds very much like in-game content streaming. Many console games already do this. Granted, may be there no FPS games as such, but still games with massive seamless areas into which the gameplay is fitted nicely.
Some of them DO have fake loading screens, but they are hidden well enough (or are so far apart) thet the player rarely even notices it. One example is the Jak&Daxter game for the PS2. The game streams the next "levels" while you play, and the whole game is integrated into one smoooth running/riding excersice. Pretty sweet. And GTA does this as well, though for example the GTA:VC is divided into two parts. As for PC games, there are some. World of Warcraft springs to mind first
Ahyes: the expert... what about the Revolution though? Funny if you talk about the change in next gen consoles, and then leaving out the -only- company that's really trying to come forth with new ideas/experiences to play games.
For example, for our next generation Wolfenstein game, which uses the Xbox 360 as it's primary development platform, we are developing technology that will change the way people play First Person games by doing away with the whole concept of 'levels', which has been the primary progression mechanic every first person game has used.
You're not unique,Mr. Hollenshead. In fact, the Unreal engine announced thise feature -ages- ago (streaming level content on the fly, thus creating endless levels without loading). Nice feature nonetheless.