Square Enix and LucasArts Talk Next-Gen Positioning

A number of companies have released some small details about their plans for next generation gaming. This week, Gamespot has new information from Square Enix and Lucasarts about their upcoming plans. Square, it's reported, sees the need for dramatic change in the industry; a physical game device or something for the DS might be in the offing. Lucasarts, on the other hand, has partnered with MechAssault developer Day 1 studios for an unnamed title with signature multiplayer elements and episodic content. From that article: "However, while the Day 1/LucasArts mystery project will feature downloadable content, Thorley would not say if it would adopt an episodic model a la Half-Life 2: Episode One and its two models. 'With the way [console certification works] the challenge is the economics of [episodic content],' he said. 'While we're not prepared to say whether we'll have episodic content for this new title, under certain circumstances it makes a lot of sense.'"

Comments

Lightsaber

[UbuntuDupe]

I just want to know about the Wiisaber. :-(

For example, how are they going to handle the hitting-air-when-lightsaber-hits-lightsaber problem? I know there are a number of ways to resolve it, I just want to know which one they're going with.

Re:Lightsaber

[UbuntuDupe]

What ways are those?

well, combining those that others have suggested with some things I can think of, here are some (note that they aren't necessarily realistic but still have significant immersive effect)"

1) When you hit, your saber on screen fades, and is powerless until you pull it back through the point where you hit, effectively training you to act like you connected.

2) When you hit, the enemy doesn't move, but rather, you "push yourself back", and the camera moves back to your new position.

3) When you hit, the *enemy* is knocked back.

4) (hopefully not) There are no foes with sabers, so your saber just goes through everything.

And note to people who mention the vibration: it's great if the Wii vibrates when you connect, but the focus is here is on how to handle your living-room wiimote physically going through a point it should not be able to go through, *not* that you need to be informed you are going through another saber, although that does help.

Maybe someone can find the old thread where this was discussed?

Re:Lightsaber

[aichpvee]

And while we're at it, how about a first person Bushido Blade from Square-Enix? I've been waiting for a proper follow up (you know, without crazy load times) for years.

Rate of change in the game industry

[iota]

That the console video game industry must change is nothing new. In order to survive in the industry, game developers must have one skill more than any other, and that is the capacity to adapt to change. Fifteen years ago it was about getting the maximum value from the minimum number of sprites. A little over ten years ago programmers and artists needed to learn to make 3D models, animations, cameras, etc. very quickly in order to get the first generation of 3D games out the door. Since that time, "game designer" has become an accepted industry position and games are no longer designed on a whiteboard by the lead programmer and producer. And of course, network programming, multi-core programming, complex materials and shaders, etc. have all changed the way games are made.

"This is one of the reasons Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware," he said. "In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.' It's interesting in that it's not the sort of thing you expect from Square Enix."

The only real suggestion that's being made here is that the interface between the gamer and the game will change. But we've seen that happen as well. From the floor pad and the light gun to the eye toy and the Wii controller, the interface is being adapted all the time.

Certainly even integration with toys has been considered before - but it's often been rejected due to the expense and the low-profit margin for the developer (making an already niche application even more expensive.)

The real excitement now, I think, is that there are so many options at once for console games to connect with the other things. Games can potentially connect to cellphones via SMS (or even voice!); to the player while he's away using IM or email; post updates on blogs; control local bluetooth devices; or sync with handhelds and PDAs.

Yesterday developers needed to create the devices that changed how players interact with their games. Today these devices already exist in the hands of our players and what we need to do is find creative ways to take advange of that.

Re:Rate of change in the game industry

[jtwronski]

My first console was a coleco-vision that I had when I was about 5 years old. Since then, obviously, everything about gaming has changed. Graphics are "better" and in 3D now, the game worlds are enormous, and everything has become very complicated. Remember Super Mario 1? 8 worlds. I can beat that game in under 2 hours now, with the assistance of 20 years of practice :). Still one of the better games out there.

What I want to see is this: I want to be able to play the same game on multiple devices. Since SE is on topic today, I'll talk about FFXI, which I've been playing for about 2 years now. FFXI is huge. Its time consuming, and very complicated. I spend hours upon hours farming ingredients, then more hours crafting them into something I can use or sell. Then I gotta warp back to Jeuno, check Ye Olde Delivery Box for any cash, and refill the Auction House. Rinse and repeat.

I'd like to offload some of that onto a PSP. Hear that Sony? I'll buy a PSP, then buy another copy of FFXI for it, just so I can play parts of the same game mobile. Crafting is an obvious pastime that could be done anywhere, since it doesn't require any interatction with other players. Gardening and the soon-to-be-released chocobo raising lend itself well to that too. Perhaps fishing or choco-digging as well. Note that nothing here requires a psp, just makes the game more accessable, and possibly less tedious.

Technically, getting your PSP to sync up with your PS2 or PS3 doesn't look all that hard to me. There will be some issues with abuse (playing both at the same time, for instance) but those can be solved.

That's just one game. There are other, proabably better possibilities with other games, notably anything that isn't a MMOG.

Re:TIE Fighter

[atomicstrawberry]

The TIE Fighter, Bomber and Interceptor have no shields, yes. However you also spend a decent amount of time flying TIE Advanced and Assault Gunboats, and if you had the expansion, TIE Defender and Missile Boats. Those all had shields.

Besides, I'd argue that removing the shields made the game that much more challenging. And there's nothing quite like the feeling of blowing up rebel X-Wings in a TIE.

Or, the most obvious

[LKM]

Your on-screen saber behaves like a real sword would, e.g. it remains where it would remain if you had hit something hard. As soon as you move your controller into a position which would be physically possible again, the on-screen saber snaps to that position.

The on-screen saber could also constantly move to the "nearest physically possible" position without moving through any on-screen objects while you move your controller through "impossible" positions.