I think that Jaffe is probably hinting more at incorporating story INTO the gameplay, as opposed to using gameplay only as a segway between cutscenes. Including dialogue without taking away the player's control of the character will create a game that's fun to play, not watch. However, have no fear, you will always have the Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid games to tell you good stories.
I think the simple fact that Uwe Boll is nowhere near this movie will increase its quality compared to other videogame movies. Perhaps Halo will end up being more than another steaming Boll of horse crap.
It doesn't make any sense to say that Sony has to get it's act together because Xbox has better software when the PS3 hasn't even launched yet. Basing your opinions of PS3 on demos is just irresponsible. And some Xbox fanboy's edit of the e3 press conference is not really a great media source for predicting the success of PS3.
I keep hearing everyone talk about price comparisons for Xbox 360 and PS3, and everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that for the 360 to be "complete" in a way that is close to PS3 you have to pay more money for the HD-DVD drive that will not play games (look for about $100 minimum) the WiFi adapter (tack on another $50), not to mention needing to buy the premium system just to get a hard drive at all. After all that, the 360 hardware is still far less powerful and doesn't have nearly the functionality. And by my calculation that brings 360 cost to around $650. So, let's not talk price as a main argument, please.
I have talked with engineers at Tokyo University about this technology, and they are very confident that nanotube transistors are the future of electronics, not only because of speed, but also because they have fewer heat dissipation problems. And the prospect of having technology for electronic displays that can be rolled up like paper for easy transport just r0x0rz!!!
I do have to say that Microsoft's plan for gaming interCONNECTIVITY is quite impressive. Their press conference at E3 really demonstrated how cool connecting a Vista PC to a 360 to a Cell Phone could actually be. The portability of the GamerTag is truly awesome, but I'm still not sure if it will be enough to take the #1 spot from Sony. (Wii is in a class all its own.)
I think that it IS because the Wii will be something unique and different. I'm generally a Sony backer, and I will indeed be picking up a PS3 on launch day, but I will most likely also pick up a Wii a.s.a.p. simply because there is nothing else like it.
Many of you may look at this as I originally did. "So... it's a sequel, right?" Well, yes and no. Since they don't have to design a completely new game from the ground up and already have a working engine in place, it is just as they say, a new episode. And I love it. I think the future of gaming will involve more episodic content. Now just put in a good storyline, and you have a great game that can have episodes put out in short intervals, (much like the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies), and the decreased cost of development due to a re-used engine lowers the average price of each episode. Can you imagine playing a great game that you bought for $50, and then playing it again and again with completely new levels and storylines for only $20-30? I can. And I hope this is the first step.
Interesting that this news comes following an announcement that the video games industry is expected to double by 2011. I think analysts look at a sales slump that is most likely due to the fact that consumers are waiting to see where things lie in the next-gen battle, and extrapolate that slump forever. Just because sales are down now, doesn't mean they will be next year, next month, or even tomorrow.
Developers are responsible for making a game to the best of their abilities within the restraints of the design and hardware. In essence, their job is to MAKE GAMES. Publishers advertise and sell the games that developers make. In essense, they SELL GAMES. Publishers should realize that they can't do their job without the developers and visa versa. Then maybe publishers would realize that developers are working to realize a creative vision, and that poking them every day and asking, "Are you gonna meet our deadline? We must keep to the business model!" can only hurt the quality of the final product.
How can a company that's blown over $30M on advertising be so unheard of? I've only heard of the Phantom because Penny-Arcade makes fun of it. Are they advertising in Cosmo?
I know King Kong was hyped... the video game was hyped... and they both lasted about the same amount of time, but I enjoyed the few hours I got to play King Kong. Sure, spearing your way through 16,712 bats, caterpillars, and tiny-dinos got repetitive and was ridiculously easy, but I like to think of it as foreplay. You spend the majority of your time doing a tedious repetitive action and then as a reward, you get some quality time with your furry prize. In this case, that just so happens to be a 25 foot gorilla. But man, was using flying elbow drops and shoulder charges to kill "V" Rexes awesome. And smashing through a city, although brief and linear, was tons o' fun. So Petey, if you'll give us more monkey in the sequel, and less whiney screenplay writer, we'll keep playing.
It is true that experienced gamers can, and usually do, see through these pre-rendered ads as a bunch of BS, but then again, the experienced gamers already learned about that game online or through their magazine subscriptions to EGM or PSM or other gaming M's. These television ads are targeted at Joe-Couch-Potato, or more obviously, Joe-Couch-Potato Jr. And since the majority of people who would need TV ads to learn about games are usually the ones who are gullible and don't even understand what pre-rendered is, it is important for TV ads to not be misleading. And passing pre-rendered movies off as implied gameplay footage definately falls into the category of misleading.
I think the price drop is an amazing strategy. Not only do brand new games like Black seem like a steal at $40, but lower rent games like Arena Football seem like highway robbery at a brand new price of only $30. I for one am much more inclined to buy, and have done so, at these lower prices. Additionally, with the "throw a dart at the calendar" release date of the PS3, which will cost between $5-$10,000, people will still feel like they're saving money for the PS3 while still building their PS2 libraries. Brilliant.
"I'm a consumer whore!" "AND HOW!!!"
I agree that high level milestones in MMOGs are spread too far apart, and here's why:
In general, (which is to say in almost all cases), milestones are not skill based, but based on persistence and available free time. Now, I am a hardcore gamer, but I simply don't have the time it takes to achieve even what I would consider basic levels of usefullness. i.e. - I spent hours a day for months playing SWG and was still unable to face any sort of opponent that was remotely strong. After a while, crushing kittens just isn't fun. The same thing went for WoW.
The fact of the matter is this, as a full time engineering student who has to find time for games between homework, research, and my fiance, I am unable to derive much satisfaction from playing MMORPGs. I am, however, impressed by and enjoying BF2, although it also suffers from horrendus gaps between ranks. But at least all players in BF2 are balanced. If I am a PFC, my bullets can still kill a Sgt. because, unlike MMORPGs, he doesn't get a 5,000 point health and armor bonus for having spent 8 hours a day for 2 years on the game. The gameplay is SKILL based.
MMOGs need this aspect in order to attract and keep gamers that also have real-world responsibilities, but still love gaming.
P.S. - A note to all you game devs out there: These people are the ones who have the expendable income to subscribe to these massive games, and they should therefore be given appropriate levels of attention in order to attract their business.
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I think that Jaffe is probably hinting more at incorporating story INTO the gameplay, as opposed to using gameplay only as a segway between cutscenes. Including dialogue without taking away the player's control of the character will create a game that's fun to play, not watch. However, have no fear, you will always have the Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid games to tell you good stories.
I think the simple fact that Uwe Boll is nowhere near this movie will increase its quality compared to other videogame movies. Perhaps Halo will end up being more than another steaming Boll of horse crap.
It doesn't make any sense to say that Sony has to get it's act together because Xbox has better software when the PS3 hasn't even launched yet. Basing your opinions of PS3 on demos is just irresponsible. And some Xbox fanboy's edit of the e3 press conference is not really a great media source for predicting the success of PS3.
I keep hearing everyone talk about price comparisons for Xbox 360 and PS3, and everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that for the 360 to be "complete" in a way that is close to PS3 you have to pay more money for the HD-DVD drive that will not play games (look for about $100 minimum) the WiFi adapter (tack on another $50), not to mention needing to buy the premium system just to get a hard drive at all. After all that, the 360 hardware is still far less powerful and doesn't have nearly the functionality. And by my calculation that brings 360 cost to around $650. So, let's not talk price as a main argument, please.
I have talked with engineers at Tokyo University about this technology, and they are very confident that nanotube transistors are the future of electronics, not only because of speed, but also because they have fewer heat dissipation problems. And the prospect of having technology for electronic displays that can be rolled up like paper for easy transport just r0x0rz!!!
I do have to say that Microsoft's plan for gaming interCONNECTIVITY is quite impressive. Their press conference at E3 really demonstrated how cool connecting a Vista PC to a 360 to a Cell Phone could actually be. The portability of the GamerTag is truly awesome, but I'm still not sure if it will be enough to take the #1 spot from Sony. (Wii is in a class all its own.)
I think that it IS because the Wii will be something unique and different. I'm generally a Sony backer, and I will indeed be picking up a PS3 on launch day, but I will most likely also pick up a Wii a.s.a.p. simply because there is nothing else like it.
So, Agent Smith was right, humans ARE a virus. Replicating and spreading, consuming everything in our path. Who says movies aren't educational?
Many of you may look at this as I originally did. "So... it's a sequel, right?" Well, yes and no. Since they don't have to design a completely new game from the ground up and already have a working engine in place, it is just as they say, a new episode. And I love it. I think the future of gaming will involve more episodic content. Now just put in a good storyline, and you have a great game that can have episodes put out in short intervals, (much like the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies), and the decreased cost of development due to a re-used engine lowers the average price of each episode. Can you imagine playing a great game that you bought for $50, and then playing it again and again with completely new levels and storylines for only $20-30? I can. And I hope this is the first step.
Interesting that this news comes following an announcement that the video games industry is expected to double by 2011. I think analysts look at a sales slump that is most likely due to the fact that consumers are waiting to see where things lie in the next-gen battle, and extrapolate that slump forever. Just because sales are down now, doesn't mean they will be next year, next month, or even tomorrow.
Developers are responsible for making a game to the best of their abilities within the restraints of the design and hardware. In essence, their job is to MAKE GAMES. Publishers advertise and sell the games that developers make. In essense, they SELL GAMES. Publishers should realize that they can't do their job without the developers and visa versa. Then maybe publishers would realize that developers are working to realize a creative vision, and that poking them every day and asking, "Are you gonna meet our deadline? We must keep to the business model!" can only hurt the quality of the final product.
How can a company that's blown over $30M on advertising be so unheard of? I've only heard of the Phantom because Penny-Arcade makes fun of it. Are they advertising in Cosmo?
I know King Kong was hyped... the video game was hyped... and they both lasted about the same amount of time, but I enjoyed the few hours I got to play King Kong. Sure, spearing your way through 16,712 bats, caterpillars, and tiny-dinos got repetitive and was ridiculously easy, but I like to think of it as foreplay. You spend the majority of your time doing a tedious repetitive action and then as a reward, you get some quality time with your furry prize. In this case, that just so happens to be a 25 foot gorilla. But man, was using flying elbow drops and shoulder charges to kill "V" Rexes awesome. And smashing through a city, although brief and linear, was tons o' fun. So Petey, if you'll give us more monkey in the sequel, and less whiney screenplay writer, we'll keep playing.
It is true that experienced gamers can, and usually do, see through these pre-rendered ads as a bunch of BS, but then again, the experienced gamers already learned about that game online or through their magazine subscriptions to EGM or PSM or other gaming M's. These television ads are targeted at Joe-Couch-Potato, or more obviously, Joe-Couch-Potato Jr. And since the majority of people who would need TV ads to learn about games are usually the ones who are gullible and don't even understand what pre-rendered is, it is important for TV ads to not be misleading. And passing pre-rendered movies off as implied gameplay footage definately falls into the category of misleading.
I think the price drop is an amazing strategy. Not only do brand new games like Black seem like a steal at $40, but lower rent games like Arena Football seem like highway robbery at a brand new price of only $30. I for one am much more inclined to buy, and have done so, at these lower prices. Additionally, with the "throw a dart at the calendar" release date of the PS3, which will cost between $5-$10,000, people will still feel like they're saving money for the PS3 while still building their PS2 libraries. Brilliant. "I'm a consumer whore!" "AND HOW!!!"
I agree that high level milestones in MMOGs are spread too far apart, and here's why:
In general, (which is to say in almost all cases), milestones are not skill based, but based on persistence and available free time. Now, I am a hardcore gamer, but I simply don't have the time it takes to achieve even what I would consider basic levels of usefullness. i.e. - I spent hours a day for months playing SWG and was still unable to face any sort of opponent that was remotely strong. After a while, crushing kittens just isn't fun. The same thing went for WoW.
The fact of the matter is this, as a full time engineering student who has to find time for games between homework, research, and my fiance, I am unable to derive much satisfaction from playing MMORPGs. I am, however, impressed by and enjoying BF2, although it also suffers from horrendus gaps between ranks. But at least all players in BF2 are balanced. If I am a PFC, my bullets can still kill a Sgt. because, unlike MMORPGs, he doesn't get a 5,000 point health and armor bonus for having spent 8 hours a day for 2 years on the game. The gameplay is SKILL based.
MMOGs need this aspect in order to attract and keep gamers that also have real-world responsibilities, but still love gaming.
P.S. - A note to all you game devs out there: These people are the ones who have the expendable income to subscribe to these massive games, and they should therefore be given appropriate levels of attention in order to attract their business.