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A New Golden Age of Gaming?
Calathea writes "The BBC has an interview with 'Elite' legend David Braben where he talks about the next generation of games that will herald a golden age and equates them with Hollywood of the 30s." From the article: "A similar transition happened in the early 1930s in the film industry. In the 1920s, films were almost pure spectacle, and that spectacle became ever more extreme to keep the audiences coming back - cars skidded around towns, people dangled and fell from buildings, cars were forever being smashed to pieces on railway crossings. The stories were light-weight justifications for linking the dramatic moments together ... But it opened the door for the golden age of film, where Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd gave way to Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles in the 1930s. With hindsight the contrast is immense, and I think we are on the cusp of a similar change in the games industry."
If this is what comes after the golden age, I'm not sure I want that to happen.
No way, the 16-bit era was the golden age, both in 16-bit consoles and the computers of the age. Before there was not enough processing power to do many things, after that 3D was more important than gameplay or story.
People consider the 'classic' era of great games has come and gone. The reality is games were so simple then that a great one could really stand out. There wasn't much to compare besides pure gameplay.
Now games are judged on Dolby 5.1 sound, 1080i graphics, broadband online abilities, and gameplay. It is harder for a great game to stand out because there are so many different elements to master that appeal to so many different people. Add this to the fact that the gaming industry is booming creating massive competition and things get really blurry.
If we aren't in a golden age, oh well. Madden 2006 on 360 may not have the best gameplay of any football game (I think it does) but the surround sound and native wisdescreen HDTV graphics makes an amazing gaming experience.
Future games just have to take a cue from Deus Ex, the first one (not the second one). You could have a repitition of maps, with different figures in different places, the advancement of the main character, and with a good story to bind them all together, these things become a very entertaining item.
Think "Rear Window."
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
Braben makes the oh-so-common mistake of comparing the development of film to games. But while there are certainly patterns to the development of a media format, their very format changes their maturation. Radio and TV developed very differently than film, for a variety of reasons. Likewise, so will (and have) games.
Perhaps the greatest weakness of Braben's argument for a "golden age" is that the type of games he believes will populate this golden age already exist. He writes that "[the] game character's objectives are defined rather than the overarching story narrative, to allow the story to unfold in response to the player's actions." He derides his own game, Elite, by saying it only hinted at this freedom. But I can think of other older games, like Pirates! or Ultima or Starflight or even Simcity, where the player does exactly what Braben suggests will happen in his next game.
Secondly, Braben chastises recent games for putting the player on "pre-defined railway-lines." Ok. Sounds good. But then the harbinger of this new age, his own The Outsider, apparently has its own railway-line: "This is a thriller where the player begins by being accused of a terrible crime but can respond in many different ways, from getting revenge, to proving his innocence, to joining the secret organisation that came after him." Seems like I was presented with similar choices in games like Elite or Pirates. So there are branches in the railway, but it's still a railway. What made GTA so fun for many was the player often created their own objectives. Maybe this was to kill as many innocents, or explore every nook and cranny, or make the boat jump onto land. But Braben has already up a set number of objectives. Ok, so there are 4 rather than one. Big whoop. So what makes this game better? Apparently, the very thing Braben prophesies against: graphical enhancements.
Elite certainly gives Braben some credence, and if The Outsider is anything like Elite it will probably be quite fun. But if it's open-endedness he's after, he needs to stop superimposing film onto the very different medium of the video game.