Right, but they're not making a game, they're making game technology. The end result of most FPS engines nowadays is not a single game, but a game engine that can be licensed. They make the tools, someone else delivers on the other things that make the game important.
Not a bad way of doing it really, when you don't have to care as much about the technical side, the artistic side benefits. Hopefully.:)
Last week was E3. I'm pretty sure that between all the video streams, blogs, previews, hands-on impressions, interviews, etc. that we would have stressed the infrastructure a bit wouldn't you think? Sure it's not ALL high def, but it had to have been a heck of a spike in someone's metrics.
That being said, I can barely go a week without having someone tell me that someone they know has just got cancer. It's so commonplace now it's not even funny, and I can't honestly remember that kind of news being so common back when I was growing up.
Make a Sith game. Playing as a Jedi is fun sure, but sometimes it's neat to take a walk on the Dark Side. Let us as players indulge in being a bad guy, it may untether the game design a bit since it's a side of Star Wars that's not focused in in any great detail for games.
Looks like I can choose from previewing smoking hole in the ground #1, smoking hole in the ground #2, and smoking hole in the ground #3. These poor people and their poor servers...
GRAW's 'sluggishness' was based more on the realism of getting in and out of cover as a guy wrapped in 60 pounds of gear and not being able to move like an acrobat. It's not really a detriment to the gameplay, just one of many things to consider when approaching situations in that game (like real life fighting, I'd imagine).
Does that matter? They're still blaming everything else, except for what counts. That is, their complete inability to develop new and interesting games, and their focus on regurgitating the same game every year and/or looking to movie franchises to help them out.
I'm sure EA's still a great company, they have a lot of awesome technical ability and the ability to wield it on all different platforms. But someone there needs to remember that technical prowess is useless without creativity in this industry.
Re:Why would I try most of these?
on
Forthcoming MMORPGs
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I think really what it boils down to is that fantasy games are a total no-brainer to design for, from the developer's perspective.
Classes are known and easy to do artwork and abilities for (mages cast stuff and wear cloaks, fighters wear armor and swing swords, etc.). The good vs evil thing makes it easy to come up with a basic plot. There's a ton of other games out there that have been successful and unsuccessful, so you've got a great big pool of ideas to either be inspired by or avoid.
All of this is instantly recognizable to the gamer, so the games are approachable more than a more unconventional MMO. Thus it's thought of as sure money.
Just my opinion of course, I've seen so many of these games come and go as cookie-cutter versions of the ones before that I'm numb to it all now. The only one that even looks appealing to me at all coming down the pipe is Vanguard, and then mostly because it's original EQ guys working on it.
You remaster it? I mean this just seems like a bit of a tacked on thing to be honest. It's nice to get the original versions and all, but it's also sorta pointless if all it is is a DVD version of the VHS releases.
That's an interesting point, but again I'm not agreeing with either case to be honest. Both required a third party to intervene in some capacity either through a hack to show content already there, or a mod to introduce the content.
Personally I don't think either company should be held responsible in their individual cases, but with the legal and regulatory systems so heavily based on precedence there's not much Bethesda can do here.
One could apply the same thinking to the original Hot Coffee debacle, that the content was only accessible via a third party hack. They got rerated, but somehow Bethesda wants to be treated differently?
I'm not saying I'm agreeing with this kind of crap, but it's nobody's fault but their own for including the content inside the game in some capacity and not cleaning it out after GTA suffered the same fate. They should just suck it up, and enjoy the free publicity.
Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release.
As someone who very recently subscribed for a year of XBL Gold, I'm inclined to agree with you. If they were to also extend our Gold subs by a week thanks to this promotion it would make sense, but right now the free weekend gets me nothing.
I don't think anyone's mudslinging the console itself in terms of it's ability to enable developers to create cool games. And I hestitate to say it was a "communal" opinion, since it's more plausible Gamasutra contacted them by email separately rather than fly them into a room together to get their opinions as a group.
Like it or not, the name is different. It won't define the types and quality of games that will show up on the console itself, but it does present a lot of challenges to Nintendo to market the hardware. If I were a developer, in all honesty I would stand up for the console itself, but I would probably also have my concerns with Nintendo's ability to market them properly.
Butkus and Humperdinck are fine examples to quote of strange and humorous names, but notice that nobody names products after it. If Humperdinck started his career *today*, no producer would take him unless he came up with a stage name. He'd be unmarketable otherwise.
Not sure about the PC, but on the 360 there's a demo available for download from XBox Live. It was enough to convince me to not buy the game, to be honest. Hell, I spotted some dude in Best Buy about to pick it up, and I told him to try the demo first.
The tearing alone was so utterly distracting I'm shocked this game even made it out the door. I find it hard to believe Ubi's QA department missed it.
Anyway, you can try before you buy, so take advantage of that.
I'm not disagreeing with you on any partcular point, and if you read my post again you'll see that I'm merely expressing distaste for the overshadowing that occurs.
I understand fully the WHY of it all, it's just silly that the whole event has devolved into a game of Hungry-Hungry-Hippos for press coverage instead of marbles.
Oh I agree.:) There's a lot of friends who picked up a Gamecube and started buying games for that instead. I think a lot more so-called "hardcore gamers" did that than they'd admit, and a lot of those guys will pick up a Revo. The price sure is right, and you can be sure to get an innovative experience out of the games there due to the controller. And after all, wasn't that what being part of the NEXT GENERATION OF GAMING was supposed to be all about?
That's a good point, but to be honest with the amount of brand loyalty Sony has in Asia (and North America too of course), even if the price was a hundred bucks above the 360's it will still fly off the shelves. I do agree though, if they can knock the price point down just that little extra bit, a lot more customers will clamor for it.
Keep in mind that even if Halo 3 comes out this year, it won't help the 360 in Japan since FPS-style games typically do not do well there at all. And if it comes out at Thanksgiving, Microsoft will have a single game and some more consoles selling. At the same time though, the entire PS3 console and lineup will be flying off the shelves here and in Japan.
All I know is it's a great time to be a gamer, but it's a nightmarish time to be in development of a game or hardware.:)
And if it's a no-show, or isn't as mind-blowingly good as everyone's hyping it up to be, then what? Will people pan the 360 as a crap platform and move on? Right now if I were Microsoft, I'd be filling my pants. With no killer app and supply problems that are only now starting to lift, they've got consoles on shelves without a large library of must-have games. And even then, the current batch of A-list titles are mostly all available on the PC or other platforms anyway.
At this point, Halo 3 has to be nothing but a huge annoyance to Bungie. If the PS3 and Revo make their November release dates and Halo comes out of the closet at E3 with anything but a Thanksgiving release, then any and all momentum it can afford the 360 will be lost. I'm betting we won't see it until 2007 to be honest. But even then, imagine the stress at Bungie HQ, now they have not only a huge game franchise on the line, but the success of an entire hardware platform to boot?
Isn't it sad that the only way they can maintain some kind of central focus of the press coverage is with a single game franchise? Surely there are other 360 things coming that are interesting to people. Gears of War for instance.
Don't get me wrong, I own a 360 and I'm looking forward to whatever news comes along on that front. But as a GAMER I'm excited about what Nintendo and Sony are going to be showing as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Right, but they're not making a game, they're making game technology. The end result of most FPS engines nowadays is not a single game, but a game engine that can be licensed. They make the tools, someone else delivers on the other things that make the game important.
:)
Not a bad way of doing it really, when you don't have to care as much about the technical side, the artistic side benefits. Hopefully.
Last week was E3. I'm pretty sure that between all the video streams, blogs, previews, hands-on impressions, interviews, etc. that we would have stressed the infrastructure a bit wouldn't you think? Sure it's not ALL high def, but it had to have been a heck of a spike in someone's metrics.
That being said, I can barely go a week without having someone tell me that someone they know has just got cancer. It's so commonplace now it's not even funny, and I can't honestly remember that kind of news being so common back when I was growing up.
Make a Sith game. Playing as a Jedi is fun sure, but sometimes it's neat to take a walk on the Dark Side. Let us as players indulge in being a bad guy, it may untether the game design a bit since it's a side of Star Wars that's not focused in in any great detail for games.
Looks like I can choose from previewing smoking hole in the ground #1, smoking hole in the ground #2, and smoking hole in the ground #3. These poor people and their poor servers...
GRAW's 'sluggishness' was based more on the realism of getting in and out of cover as a guy wrapped in 60 pounds of gear and not being able to move like an acrobat. It's not really a detriment to the gameplay, just one of many things to consider when approaching situations in that game (like real life fighting, I'd imagine).
Does that matter? They're still blaming everything else, except for what counts. That is, their complete inability to develop new and interesting games, and their focus on regurgitating the same game every year and/or looking to movie franchises to help them out.
I'm sure EA's still a great company, they have a lot of awesome technical ability and the ability to wield it on all different platforms. But someone there needs to remember that technical prowess is useless without creativity in this industry.
I think really what it boils down to is that fantasy games are a total no-brainer to design for, from the developer's perspective.
Classes are known and easy to do artwork and abilities for (mages cast stuff and wear cloaks, fighters wear armor and swing swords, etc.). The good vs evil thing makes it easy to come up with a basic plot. There's a ton of other games out there that have been successful and unsuccessful, so you've got a great big pool of ideas to either be inspired by or avoid.
All of this is instantly recognizable to the gamer, so the games are approachable more than a more unconventional MMO. Thus it's thought of as sure money.
Just my opinion of course, I've seen so many of these games come and go as cookie-cutter versions of the ones before that I'm numb to it all now. The only one that even looks appealing to me at all coming down the pipe is Vanguard, and then mostly because it's original EQ guys working on it.
You remaster it? I mean this just seems like a bit of a tacked on thing to be honest. It's nice to get the original versions and all, but it's also sorta pointless if all it is is a DVD version of the VHS releases.
That's an interesting point, but again I'm not agreeing with either case to be honest. Both required a third party to intervene in some capacity either through a hack to show content already there, or a mod to introduce the content.
Personally I don't think either company should be held responsible in their individual cases, but with the legal and regulatory systems so heavily based on precedence there's not much Bethesda can do here.
One could apply the same thinking to the original Hot Coffee debacle, that the content was only accessible via a third party hack. They got rerated, but somehow Bethesda wants to be treated differently?
I'm not saying I'm agreeing with this kind of crap, but it's nobody's fault but their own for including the content inside the game in some capacity and not cleaning it out after GTA suffered the same fate. They should just suck it up, and enjoy the free publicity.
Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release.
You've got to be kidding me. What's the point?
If you think you could do better, find it and submit it.
As someone who very recently subscribed for a year of XBL Gold, I'm inclined to agree with you. If they were to also extend our Gold subs by a week thanks to this promotion it would make sense, but right now the free weekend gets me nothing.
KumaWar, anyone? Yeah, real innovative, EA.
I don't think anyone's mudslinging the console itself in terms of it's ability to enable developers to create cool games. And I hestitate to say it was a "communal" opinion, since it's more plausible Gamasutra contacted them by email separately rather than fly them into a room together to get their opinions as a group. Like it or not, the name is different. It won't define the types and quality of games that will show up on the console itself, but it does present a lot of challenges to Nintendo to market the hardware. If I were a developer, in all honesty I would stand up for the console itself, but I would probably also have my concerns with Nintendo's ability to market them properly. Butkus and Humperdinck are fine examples to quote of strange and humorous names, but notice that nobody names products after it. If Humperdinck started his career *today*, no producer would take him unless he came up with a stage name. He'd be unmarketable otherwise.
Not sure about the PC, but on the 360 there's a demo available for download from XBox Live. It was enough to convince me to not buy the game, to be honest. Hell, I spotted some dude in Best Buy about to pick it up, and I told him to try the demo first.
The tearing alone was so utterly distracting I'm shocked this game even made it out the door. I find it hard to believe Ubi's QA department missed it.
Anyway, you can try before you buy, so take advantage of that.
For the Mac, you mean. Bungie was originally developing Halo as a Mac title, not for the PC.
I'm not disagreeing with you on any partcular point, and if you read my post again you'll see that I'm merely expressing distaste for the overshadowing that occurs.
I understand fully the WHY of it all, it's just silly that the whole event has devolved into a game of Hungry-Hungry-Hippos for press coverage instead of marbles.
Oh I agree. :) There's a lot of friends who picked up a Gamecube and started buying games for that instead. I think a lot more so-called "hardcore gamers" did that than they'd admit, and a lot of those guys will pick up a Revo. The price sure is right, and you can be sure to get an innovative experience out of the games there due to the controller. And after all, wasn't that what being part of the NEXT GENERATION OF GAMING was supposed to be all about?
That's a good point, but to be honest with the amount of brand loyalty Sony has in Asia (and North America too of course), even if the price was a hundred bucks above the 360's it will still fly off the shelves. I do agree though, if they can knock the price point down just that little extra bit, a lot more customers will clamor for it.
:)
Keep in mind that even if Halo 3 comes out this year, it won't help the 360 in Japan since FPS-style games typically do not do well there at all. And if it comes out at Thanksgiving, Microsoft will have a single game and some more consoles selling. At the same time though, the entire PS3 console and lineup will be flying off the shelves here and in Japan.
All I know is it's a great time to be a gamer, but it's a nightmarish time to be in development of a game or hardware.
The same way they decide who gets to be the giver: coin toss.
And if it's a no-show, or isn't as mind-blowingly good as everyone's hyping it up to be, then what? Will people pan the 360 as a crap platform and move on? Right now if I were Microsoft, I'd be filling my pants. With no killer app and supply problems that are only now starting to lift, they've got consoles on shelves without a large library of must-have games. And even then, the current batch of A-list titles are mostly all available on the PC or other platforms anyway.
At this point, Halo 3 has to be nothing but a huge annoyance to Bungie. If the PS3 and Revo make their November release dates and Halo comes out of the closet at E3 with anything but a Thanksgiving release, then any and all momentum it can afford the 360 will be lost. I'm betting we won't see it until 2007 to be honest. But even then, imagine the stress at Bungie HQ, now they have not only a huge game franchise on the line, but the success of an entire hardware platform to boot?
No pressure Bungie, take your time.
Isn't it sad that the only way they can maintain some kind of central focus of the press coverage is with a single game franchise? Surely there are other 360 things coming that are interesting to people. Gears of War for instance.
Don't get me wrong, I own a 360 and I'm looking forward to whatever news comes along on that front. But as a GAMER I'm excited about what Nintendo and Sony are going to be showing as well.
"Wii... not-so-Wii... and FRIGGIN HUGE!"
(Old SNL reference for those who didn't get it)