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Is HD Important To The Future of Gaming?
Gamasutra's weekly question to the industry taps the pulse of designers and developers on the importance of HD in gaming. From the article: " Absolutely. After seeing a game like Oblivion in HD, I think most gamers will never look back. That's going to affect the amount of time and money that gets put into top-shelf games. It's certainly going to increase the market for texture designers. -Morgan LaVigne, Classroom, Inc "
It is, and it will be... but not right now. At the moment, there isn't a large enough installed base of HDTVs in consumers' homes, but in a few years there will be. I'd predict around 2007 is when it will really start to matter, in the U.S. at least. This is assuming we are talking about consoles though, as high resolution graphics have mattered for quite some time in the PC market.
-Derick Eisenhardt, EMH Games
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
I'm a gamer, I read your post. I say, No.
See, I don't want to play a souped up version of Space Invaders.
I want to play FPS games (and do the aiming myself instead of relying on autoaim).
I want to play MMORPG's and use a keyboard to chat with people while I'm playing.
I want to play open source games and download mods and maps without paying a fee to Microsoft.
I want the freedom to upgrade to bleeding edge graphics far superior to the 360 whenever I want.
I want the luxury of choosing which CPU to install next upgrade cycle, at a time and budget that pleases me most.
I don't want to have to break the law to install Linux on my rig if I feel like it.
I'm not going to settle for 5.1 Audio, I much prefer my Audigy 2ZX.
I'm one of at least a million serious PC gamers. 360 is not good enough for me.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
1) Television usage has plummeted. Advertising dollars are slowly moving toward the Internet. Due to competing medias, people are watching less and less TV. Those who think HD is to the TV what Color TV was to Black TV do not get this. For many people, there is NO REASON to go re-buy their TV.
/ index.jhtml?headlines=true) To those who say, "development prices don't go up with HD", Cliffy B says the opposite. Nintendo says the opposite. Look at the prices for Xbox 360 games at $60 and you can see which direction this is headed. Even Electronic Arts has complained about the higher development costs. This means that all we can expect from HD games is LESS RISK. Since the market for HD games is much lower than normal TV games, they must either sell more games or price them higher.
2) Xbox 360 and PS3 are the very first consoles (that I know of) that are requiring the consumer to CHANGE their TV to get the most out of the console. No console has ever done this. This means many people will not think it worth buying a Xbox 360 or PS3 if they don't have HD TV. And face the facts: not too many people do.
3) HD increases development costs. From Gears of War developer, Cliffy B, said, "What other entertainment medium that's mass market is at $60 a pop?" said Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer at developer Epic's 360 title "Gears of War," due next year. "If video game pricing continues to go up, we will crash." http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1515122/20051128
4) Americans are obsessed with upgrading their televisions (they also have more money to do it). With the exception of perhaps a few other western nations, HD television is not catching on ANYWHERE in the world soon. While the American Market is very important to the games industry, we live in a global age. A console must work globally, not just in the American Market like the Xbox primarily has done.
5) The integration of 3d helped immersion. Rumble feedback helped immersion. Surround sound helped immersion. But how in the world does HD help immersion? While prettier pictures helped a LOT back in the 80s and during the adaptation of 3d, this was due to the console game industry being young (in the 80s) and adapting to 3d (in the 90s). Simpler a prettier image does not make the game more immersive but rather, less. This is why movies like Toy Story did not show the Humans in computerized graphics. It is the Uncanny Valley problem.
There is only ONE purpose of the HD console: that is to be 'technologically' elite with your HD TV. The problem is that video game console is based on bringing cheap entertainment to the masses. You get rich by selling to the poor, you get poor selling to the rich. This is why HD gaming is not important and, and why it will not catch on (at least this new generation).