[quote]It appears next-generation console rumors are coming to a consensus. Edge today reported that Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and other unspecified major developers are developing games for the successor to the Xbox 360 with a late 2012 launch expected.
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If this is true, I imagine Halo 4 will be launch game for the next Xbox. It also brings into question the fate of Project Draco - will it still be released on the 360, or be moved over to the next console? I’m guessing it will still be a 360 title since it appears to be quite far into development.
I think that changed when the Wii started losing a lot of momentum, forcing Nintendo to reveal their new console (probably earlier than they would have liked, as the hardware wasn’t finalized). Microsoft and Sony are just reacting accordingly. I don’t see Project Draco moving to the next XBox though, unless they decide to make a retail game out of it (which would be a dumb move).
[quote]It appears next-generation console rumors are coming to a consensus. Edge today reported that Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and other unspecified major developers are developing games for the successor to the Xbox 360 with a late 2012 launch expected.
[/quote]
If this is true, I imagine Halo 4 will be launch game for the next Xbox. It also brings into question the fate of Project Draco - will it still be released on the 360, or be moved over to the next console? I’m guessing it will still be a 360 title since it appears to be quite far into development.[/quote]
I doubt Halo 4 will be a launch game for the next box and I’ve always said that not matter what SONY or MS make out we would be seeing a successor to their consoles before 10 years with the 360 they is nothing more to give and after Uncharted 3 there’s not much juice left in the PS3 and I bet the Uncharted Team, Forza team ect are all now working on games for the next X-Box and PS. I really doubt Draco will move up to development , its quite clear Kinect is a fad and the average Kinect users as not interest in a game to that of Draco . Sadly Draco will bomb on XBLA imo
I just hope MS keep to the spec’s game and not try and go down the casual/kinect route
I am disappointed with the rumors of these new systems. I was actually looking forward to the prospect of my 360 lasting a few more years. With all the rumors of cloud gaming and the move to more entertainment and less concentration on gaming, I am just not sure if I am even going to participate in anymore console gaming. I really can get most of my gaming needs fulfilled by my PC these days and I really have a lot of old games I would love to replay. I am less concerned about fancy graphics, again because I can get that on my PC. I was hoping there would be more focus on quality games for the foreseeable future. I actually almost like that console tech has held back PC gaming a bit because it has saved me a lot of money in upgrades.
On the bright side, PC parts always come down every new console cycle to meet the demand of better graphics. It’s always a good time to upgrade if you don’t want to spend a lot.
I guess that depends how far into development they are. How long does it take to make a Halo game, and how long have they been working on it? They’ll need at least one killer app to launch the system with.
You might as well stick with your PC then. There are more games than you will ever have the chance to play through, and with services like Steam there are some excellent deals if you want to game on the cheap. It’s just unfortunate that the hardware costs are greater.
[quote=“Solo”]
You might as well stick with your PC then. There are more games than you will ever have the chance to play through, and with services like Steam there are some excellent deals if you want to game on the cheap. It’s just unfortunate that the hardware costs are greater.[/quote]
The main reason I got the 360 was because some of my friends had one and there were a few great games on it. It kind of allowed me to put off updating my PC because most of the games I wanted were on the 360. I do have a huge selection on my steam account due to the great sales they have had there. I got both Mass Effect games for 5 dollars a piece and the entire valve collection for 50 US dollars. That and about 40 other games on m steam account will keep me busy for a while anyway. I just thought we might see a little bit more focus on quality rather than tech for a few years. That is the main reason for my disappointment.
I hear you. When the focus is on the tech, sometimes quality in other areas is compromised. The games industry needs to focus on is higher quality writing to make the game stories comparable with novels, films, and TV series.
[quote=“Geoffrey Duke”]I wonder if releasing new consoles is a good idea during this recession too. I don’t foresee things getting much better by the end of next year.
We’ll see![/quote]
People say that and it never held back the I Pad the new I Phone ECT,The PS2 was launched in one of Japan worst ever recession . You make a product people want they’ll buy it and for the 1st year or so its be the Harwdare nuts and Big gamers that will buy the unit and they always tend to have money to spend.
No you’re really wrong . You don’t interact in a move or reading a book, in a game you do. What a game needs is great gameplay and good controls ECT with out that a game as nothing (even if it’s got the best witting around)
And tbh the scripts in the likes of Drakes is top quality and there’s plenty of quailty games coming out, but you can only do so much before you need new hardware . 7/8 years is more than enough life span for consoles and the Ram limits of the 360 and PS3 must be really hard work for the developers.
I think it’s all being built on BUNGiE’s Halo Reach engine so I can’t see it coming to the Next Box.
[quote=“Team Andromeda”]No you’re really wrong . You don’t interact in a move or reading a book, in a game you do. What a game needs is great gameplay and good controls ECT with out that a game as nothing (even if it’s got the best witting around)
And tbh the scripts in the likes of Drakes is top quality and there’s plenty of quailty games coming out, but you can only do so much before you need new hardware . 7/8 years is more than enough life span for consoles and the Ram limits of the 360 and PS3 must be really hard work for the developers.[/quote]
Games could still have great writing and yet be interactive. Half-Life 2, Bioshock, etc were devoid of cut scenes. But the stories were important for those games. Games currently have great gameplay and controls, but in the story department, they tend to lag behind. I haven’t played Drakes Fortune, but I can think of plenty of other games where the story has been well told - for a game - but still feels like an afterthought compared to the game mechanics. The story and gameplay need to be created in sync, so that the two work together to form a more meaningful experience.
[quote=“Team Andromeda”]No you’re really wrong . You don’t interact in a move or reading a book, in a game you do. What a game needs is great gameplay and good controls ECT with out that a game as nothing (even if it’s got the best witting around)
And tbh the scripts in the likes of Drakes is top quality and there’s plenty of quailty games coming out, but you can only do so much before you need new hardware . 7/8 years is more than enough life span for consoles and the Ram limits of the 360 and PS3 must be really hard work for the developers.[/quote]
Games could still have great writing and yet be interactive. Half-Life 2, Bioshock, etc were devoid of cut scenes. But the stories were important for those games. Games currently have great gameplay and controls, but in the story department, they tend to lag behind. I haven’t played Drakes Fortune, but I can think of plenty of other games where the story has been well told - for a game - but still feels like an afterthought compared to the game mechanics. The story and gameplay need to be created in sync, so that the two work together to form a more meaningful experience.[/quote]
It depends on the game, Does Mario need a storyline and fantastic script the story of the likes of DMC Ninja Gaiden make little or no sense what so ever, but they had the gameplay .
And to me Bioshock is one of the most overrated games of all time and where the story makes little or no sense. I’m playing and loving the likes of COD, Killzone III, Battle field III but it’s not for the story , its for the game play and the game levels.
Not every game developer needs to aim at being the next Shakespeare, but it would be nice if more effort was put into game stories. Right now there is so much wasted potential.
The shooters you mentioned are all action games. I like the occasional action film as well, but I appreciate films more that give reason to that action. I played through Black Ops last year, and while the gameplay was fun, the story was so fast paced there was little time to really care about the characters or why you were sent on the mission. COD was never about deep story telling of course, but it could be and would be more rounded experience for it.
BioShock’s twist involved interaction from player, and that mechanic made the game shine in a favourable light for me. Perhaps you and I just won’t see eye to eye on this, we simply have different priorities.
I agree with Solo, you can have great games that tell great stories. Panzer Dragoon is a perfect example of that. I personally don’t care for Killzone, COD, or Battlefield. That doesn’t mean I don’t like shooters, I just like some kind of background and characters that I can identify with in my games. The mindless action doesn’t really do it for me. I get my online shooter fix in Counterstrike (Source). The gameplay in CS shines for me which is why I still play that. the MW and BF type games really haven’t offered me anything new. I might even look past that if the single player story was rich with good characters and story, but they are not. The latest shooter I have played and enjoyed was Deus Ex Human Revolution. The gameplay in that is good if only for the amount of options available. It isn’t the most polished shooter, but the story and gameplay mechanics appeal to me. You might even say the graphics are nothing to write home about.
My hope in a longer generation was that developers would focus more on gameplay and story innovations rather than graphic fidelity and flashy online modes that really offer nothing new from a gameplay standpoint. I also know that computing power is on a rate of decline per year. It is becoming more difficult for companies to develop faster processors and more advanced graphic chips based on the current development cycles. I just don’t think releasing a new console this quickly is going to provide much of a leap graphically. Sure more memory and more access to overall faster system bandwidth will probably mean more games will stick to HD rather than have to sacrifice resolution for graphic fidelity. I just don’t think the leap will be as great as in past console generations.
As an aside, I hope that physical media really holds on for a while longer. I like steam and all, but I really feel much safter owning a physical copy of some games that I know that I will want to replay, such as PDS or even Deus Ex or Half Life 2. I am afraid that our rights to install and download a game might be taken away someday when a company decides it just isn’t profitable to offer said game anymore. This is really a separate argument though dealing with consumer digital rights or lack thereof. I just hope to be able to enjoy my favorite games without having it over my shoulder that I am not guaranteed the right to play in the future. So if consoles jump on the Cloud/digital distribution bandwagon, I will no longer participate in that market. I will stick to PC games and the ability to hack/backup everything I own.
Just what games are you playing these days ? . Gear of War, COD all have professional voice actors and scrip writers, Enslaved had the likes of Alex Garland and Andy Serkis working on it, Yakuza had professional voice and scrip t actors and writters on it the likes of Assassins creed, Red Dead, Mass Effcet LA Noire had a army of top talent doing the script and voice score and Heavy Rain as a story and acting that I would expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster , Hell even Assault Horizion as a story developed by best selling author
I don’t expect a game to be a film and I don’t expect a film to be a game . They make share a lot in common, but they’re still different medium
And yet CoD has a very forgettable action oriented storyline and Assault Horizon, although having a best selling autor behind it, has a clich? storyline that honestly even I could come up with.
Compare this to the story telling in Bioshock (which is by no means over rated), or Metal Gear Solid, or even the old Ace Combats that had deeper story telling and characters that you could relate to.
Now, i agree with Solo, not every game needs a complex or emotional storyline to be good, some times we just want to come home and have some pure fun without having to deal with other complex emotions or deeper level of thinking, but theres just to few Bioshocks or Heavy Rains or even Panzer Dragoons out there.
Bioshock’s story is definitely overrated imo. Half-Life 2’s too, I think that one lost charm from the original with having too many cut scenes and things like that, even if it’s still less than usual for games. They tried to add too much character to a silent protagonist via the reactions of others and it just felt off to me. Actually, Bioshock is all around very inferior to the System Shock games too (not that I’d say any COD compares favorably to these mind you, in gameplay or anything else). If I had to bring up a recent example of good video gamey story telling I would definitely go for the two Portal games, nevermind that they’re purely linear with no narrative based choices (though gameplay is almost never interrupted anyway), they’re executed nearly flawlessly. Valve definitely topped the original Half-Life with them. A good video game story doesn’t have to emulate the “depth” of movies or books, it just has to work well within the particular context and these two titles more than achieve that much. The lack of a large cast, complex motivations, intricate back stories, or whatever else, is not a flaw there, when what is there works so well. Amnesia: The Dark Descent also worked really well, though I have to mention the ending sequences were a little disappointing to me. The journey there was top notch though. Setting, atmosphere, and a generally minimalist approach that leaves a lot to the imagination or focuses on a few successful elements can be just as efficient in a video game as any complex narrative is in other mediums. Not that such a story would be bad in a video game, but there tend to be very, very few such successful efforts (and I can’t think of any recent one, just a few classic RPGs and point & click adventures that I probably wouldn’t have seen through without their gameplay, but of course I haven’t played every video game out there). Talented in that sort of thing authors seem to be involved in other mediums for the most part, or don’t do their best for games. Or perhaps they do but somewhere along the line the realities of game development gimp the result. That said, if you like Heavy Rain, there are many far better adventures, just look to the classics (a few modern ones too). Bonus: no (or next to no) silly QTEs as gameplay.
