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Denver, 2:00 PM
Wed Dec 2
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/06/09
Yeah, not so much with the writing though... not even Bioware, surely among the best writers in the business, are really that great at telling a compelling, original story in their games.
They sure tell a good i>derivative story, but that's because they mine great source material, not because they're great storytellers. They just know who to steal from.
I rarely feel like any game character truly has a voice of their own. I sense the writers' voice much more than the actors, and that's uninspired direction as much as it is the writing.
Outside of perhaps Andrew Ryan or Fontaine in Bioshock, most videogame characters I've experienced in the last several years are renderings of well worn (which is putting it nicely) archetypes with almost nothing unique beyond their visual realization, who are subsequently voiced by the same six fucking voice actors that get cast in every freaking videogame and saturday morning cartoon under the sun.
(Tangent: Nolan North is a fine voice actor but how many fucking protagonists does he need to play?!?! Seriously!)
For videogame storytelling to evolve into what Zeschuk (and I) hope they will someday become, companies like Bioware need to lead the charge. Put something truly original out there instead of the typical design approach that involves putting a new coat of paint on what's essentially really polished Star Wars, Aliens, Tolkein, or D&D inspired fanfic ever four or five years.
It's getting embarrassing to try and follow the narrative of game stories the older I get. To be fair game stories have almost always been shit. Now there's just a lot more dialogue involved.
Why a melodramatic soliloquy when "You Spoony Bard!" will suffice? 'Because we can' is the worst answer a storyteller can give for why they make a decision, and games writers are doing nothing but these days because for the first time in the history of the medium they aren't constrained by the tech.
Sometimes constraints are good. Want to be a good writer? Try writing a good screenplay. It will teach you to have economy in your language and eliminate the bad habit of over-writing dialogue, which even Bioware (God love 'em) are absolutely terrible at.
End of line.
07/06/09
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07/06/09
Furthermore, look at the most critically acclaimed games in the past few years. Most have plenty of violence.
...although I can't think of one off the top of my head that has a pie fight. A game could use one of those.
07/06/09
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07/06/09
Name one game out there that's completely and totally devoid of combat which also tells a great story.
07/06/09
BULLSHIT.
There is not a single, one, exclusive path to a single future for an entire media/ art form.
There are MANY different options and that´s great.
Nice he wants to make certain types of games and sees that as the future path for his games but nowhere is that the future for all or even just most games,
when you look at history it actually shows that the opposite is the case for the majority of games.
Wasn´t it the case that adventure games were way more popular and the mainstream than they are nowadays and in those there was way less combat than in most big console titles today?.
Same goes for movie industry evolution as others pointed out.
Go to the cinema and you see the most watched movie is Transformers , which defeats his whole argument.
Just saying,
he shouldn´t make statements like that or otherwise he gets flamed where his actual ambition is a nice one.
Cause yes, it would be nice if there were more kinds of games and also more of the kind which actually has a really good story you want to experience and not just see as sensless break from the action parts.
07/06/09
They talk about how normal games are outdated now because you don't swing your arms around...
They're asking games to be narrowed into that one thing they prefer, rather than allowing it to remain open so there's not only something for everyone, but the one game that you want to play for everyone... Meaning everyone won't have to settle for second best to cater to the largest crowd, but they'll get their games that the largest crowd won't like.
07/06/09
I don't think he's arguing that the future of gaming will ONLY be what he's describing. He's saying that soon games won't need to rely on combat mechanics for their appeal.
There is nothing in anything Zeschuk is quoted as saying up there that suggests that he thinks there is any one thing which will be the singular future of the medium. His use of the term 'maturation' is more about the craft of game making as compared to cinema in it's infancy, and that now things are starting to mature creatively, not just technologically.
People rant and rave about the controller being a barrier for non-gamers when approaching the medium from the outside. Personally I think for most non-gamers the idea of pointing a disembodied gun at something and shooting it to death doesn't appeal to them, and therefore they don't bother because about 85% of the major game releases are just that. How are they to know there are a few games out there that tell great stories?
I can maybe think of five games in my lifetime of playing videogames which had a compelling narrative and no combat involved. Personally, I get real tired of the sound of machine guns and explosions filling my living room. So does my gamer wife, but then she'll watch me fart around in Oblivion for hours so long as I'm not fighting too much...
07/06/09
I'm...cautiously optimistic about this. If it gives more time to the writers to craft a well-fleshed-out narrative and world, as well as a better cast of characters with more interactions, I'm all for it. The rarity of real character to character interactions in Mass Effect was a HUGE letdown for me compared to the KotOR games, where it seemed you could initiate a conversation with any of your characters at any time and they'd always have SOMETHING new to say.
07/06/09
+ Watch video
[www.gametrailers.com]
[kotaku.com]
07/06/09
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07/06/09
Eech.
07/06/09
this can only lead to amature dwarf porn.
07/06/09
07/06/09
3 words
GAY. ELF.PORN.
07/06/09
07/06/09
Or heck - any of the old Sierra or Lucasarts adventure games? If anything, as the medium has evolved games have become less story driven.
07/06/09
It also doesn't help that most people don't like to think and would rather just shoot terrorists.
07/06/09
07/06/09
Doing that only narrows things... Instead say "Here's a new way to do things, to ADD to all the ways we have to do things now"
Broaden the industry, don't narrow it to cater to the biggest audience ONLY, and ignore the significant niches (or the insignificant ones, for that matter).
07/06/09
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07/06/09
I can see him having a point since we're only basically seeing hack and slash and shooter at the moment and storydriven epics without combat can relieve you of that, but that's more due to oversaturation than any maturation.
Plus, whether you're a core- or casual-player, alot nowadays are about either multiplayer or playing with someone else, and unless you're co-oping you'll need to battle them on some level or else no-one can win. And even if you are playing co-op then there's most likely battling needed to be done, because there's not a HUGE amount of games that let you co-op to solve riddles.
07/06/09
+ Watch video
07/06/09
@ShadowOdin isn't american:
So much negativity! You guys are all talking about this is narrowing the industry, when that's all that you are doing. This kind of talk broadens the industry!
When was the last time you had a game that didn't have "Press a to shoot"? We've completely lost sight of what games can do without such rampant violence. The sound of people playing COD4 at our student union comes to mind, just constant gunfire.
Sure that's fun as hell, but games can and should be more than that even if you lose some of the fun in order to create a more meaningful and artistic experience.
This doesn't mean the games will be boring, or dating sim soap operas, there's all sorts of potential for stealth, parkour, puzzle, communication, deceit, moral choices etc.
You're all just so sad that they're going to take your explosions away :(
07/06/09
It's not like movies clearly show if they allow it or not.
07/06/09
i bet early video game designers thought the same thing when classics like Tetris were lost beneath a pile of generic bodies in Yet Another Army Shooter starring Generic Homoerotic Guy On Steroids. does everyone have so much fucking blood lust that we have to kill a virtual person every few seconds? has humanity as a whole become collectively retarded? i sure hope not.
the game industry has been narrow for far too long. i would welcome something fresh. and if that doesnt pan out ive still got the classics.
(and your writing is fucking atrocious).
07/06/09
I said new types of games should be introduced alongside old types, they shouldn't be called a replacement, which is what they often are.
Your reading ability is atrocious.
07/06/09
What I'm saying is when people say this is "the future" it basically means the "old" way is dying, and this will replace it... It has nothing to do with being an action fan, because that's most definitely not what I'm about. I'm about variety, and NOT about saying that other stuff is "outdated"
07/06/09
All major genres of games should survive, even the ones you (or the majority) don't like.
You may not like:
Motion based games
JRPGs
FPS games
TPS games
adventure games
cinematic games
SRPGs
MMOs
Music Games
etc
Saying that one genre is the future and the others is the past means that one is inherently superior... It's not. THAT is the kind of thinking the game industry doesn't need. It needs thinking that says let's innovate, but we don't need to destroy older things.
Let's do new types of controls, new types of gameplay, make it look prettier, give it a better story, give it better music, do new things thematically... None of those things are wrong, none are superior to others inherently, none are more or less fun (since fun is a subjective thing)
Saying "THIS is what games should be" is a poor statement in ANY case... Whether it be MGS4, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, Scribblenauts, or Alpha protocol...
For the record, I'm excited about Heavy Rain. I'm also excited for NSMB Wii... I'm an old gamer, the only thing I DON'T want to see is a narrowing in the industry.
07/06/09
and after rereading your comment i agree. and will leave this discussion for the time being (so i dont put my foot in my mouth again).
07/06/09
01/21/09
01/20/09
01/20/09
"According to sales figures around 55 percent of those sales were done on the Xbox 360, 28 percent were done on the PlayStation 3 and only 17 percent on the PC. Looks like Bethesda was right to aim the game at the Xbox 360 then, from a financial point of view anyway."
[www.bit-tech.net]
Sort of speaking with a forked tongue when the best pc game makers make sure to hit all the consoles as well, like Valve does with the orange box and portal.
01/20/09
01/20/09
Harharhar!
01/20/09
Let me think for a moment...
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (got as a gift)
World in Conflict
XCOM Pack
Unreal Pack
X3 Pack
Civ 4 Pack (gave as a gift)
Good times... good times...