I read IGDA Session: Burning Down The House – Game Developers Rant and found myself agreeing with most of what the developers are ranting about particularly the opening gambit of Warren Spector.
OK. I don’t feel very ranty actually. I tried to bail on this panel. But I have to say something so I want to say how this business is hopelessly broken. Haha. We’re doing pretty much everything wrong. This is at the root of much of what you’re gonna hear today. Games cost too much. They take too long to make. The whole concept of word of mouth, remember that? Holy cow it was nice.
I’ve mentioned before of my own disatisfaction with modern video games, now I love Halo 2 as much as the next guy or gal but was it worth the money? I finished the campaign surprisingly quickly in fact it caught me by surprise that I had finished it as the storyline isn’t entirely completed it is left as a cliffhanger and I’m left waiting for the inevitable Halo 3.
But Halo 2 ain’t just about the campaign there’s the multiplayer mode which are fun as hell but are they really any different than in the original Halo, okay so it incorporates Xbox Live so you can play against people on the other side of the world, but is that any better than playing against someone who’s in the same room.
But at least Halo 2 does have the multiplayer option so it has some longevity to it, most games now have adopted the narrative format i.e. you play the part of a character in a story, gameplay has become secondary to the narrative, but the trouble with that sort of game is that once the story is over the game stops being fun.
With the improvement in graphics technology video games have moved more and more towards being interactive films which is apparently what game buyers want or is it? Maybe now that I’ve hit 30 years of age I’ve become a curmudgeon that is out of touch telling the kids that video games were much better in my day even though the graphics were shite and blocky and only two dimensional.
I’m currently seeking video game satisfaction via a regression to my younger self by purchasing via eBay a Nintendo 64 Console and
Mario Kart 64 for a total of £28 including postage which is less than I’d pay for a game for my Xbox and yet hopefully I’d get as many hours of fun from it as I did years back when I played it at a mate’s house. I’ve also considered a further regression by reliving my Sega Megadrive days and Sonic the Hedgehog in the form of the Sonic Mega Collection.
A possible solution to this problem is the MMORPG which allows a player to participate in an unending narrative but I’m even burnt out on this type of game having achieved a relatively high level on Asheron’s Call I lack the motivation to go through virtually the same experience on a newer version or a similar thing like World of Warcraft.
Tags: games
