Gaming industry moving towards Hollywood

[oskar-det]

And this got me worried.

I know, it's always been like this. On the NES we had Ninja Gaiden which tried to make itself look like a movie. But back then, graphics were so limited that cinematic games didn't really take off.

But today, cinematic games are the games everyone is talking about and buying. If the game hasn't professional voice actors, a Hollywood-esque story and quick time events then it's dismissed by many people. I think only Mario and a few other games survives this.

Of course, people enjoy games for a lot of different reasons, but for me it's all about gameplay and challenge. Let's take a game like Sin and Punishment. It's ugly, has no (good) story, but it's one hell of a gameplay experience. Of course, no one buys it.

People are always talking about "next gen", but when they do that, they often mean "better graphics and more cinematic games". Is that where the industry is heading?

I for one enjoy the Virtual Console maybe even more than today's games. And it's not because of the retro kick, it's because games were games back in the 90s. You didn't need to watch a 15 minute intro to understand what the game was about, and the game could be super fun even though it ran at 256x192 resolution.

I think this also transfers to the mentality.

Today most people just play through their games in order to experience everything. That's why they stop playing when they've finished a game once. They've SEEN everything, why bother go back playing for fun?

And achievements. That's one reason people keep coming back to a finished game. Because the bragging rights of achievements. Not because the game is fun to play. They get back because they want to reach that reward. But the road to that reward is often tedious and boring.

In non-cinematic games, you came up with new challenges yourself, and you did that because the game design and the gameplay was so great. Simply put, the game was a blast to play. Story driven games often have boring gameplay because the gameplay is adjusted to the story, and not the opposite. You play through the game because of the exciting story, not because the game is fun to play.

I wouldn't complain if there were room for both types of games, but to me it seems that games that only focus on gameplay and challenge are disappearing.

[Darkmoon]

Everyone gets something different from a game. For example, I won't platinum a game except by accident. I don't care about trophies. But I will dredge as much storyline and plot out of a game as I can, spending hours finding additional files that shed more light on the story. Gameplay isn't a huge issue for me, unless it's a type of game I have trouble playing. Action games like Uncharted are very difficult for me, even though I wanna play it. And I don't care at all about looks - I still buy PS1 games when I can. I bought Bushido Blade a few weeks ago, and am trying to get the origional Legacy of Kain game to start playing through that series.

Other people do love graphics, though, and a lot of people will equate better graphics with a better game. Which has a certain degree of truth - you do get some games that play like a dog but look gorgeous, and vice versa, but normally the better titles spend time polishing the graphics until they shine. It isn't automatically a bad thing, and the rise of PSN and Xbox Market Indie games has proven that there is still a solid market for simpler games with addictive gameplay, and if I remember right those same games have a profit margin that would make Alan Sugar weep.

This may just be me, but at the start of a generation the push is to see how much you can get out of the system. It's only in the second half of it's lifespan that creativity really kicks in, seeing what weird crap you can do, like Heavy Rain.

[Zombie Fred]

Got to disagree here but the gaming industry at the moment is at the point is damn great, especially to the whole range of indie developers getting their name across and more niche games coming out (hand held, PC, XBLA, PSN, etc) while still having those "AAA" titles coming. I will say Call of Duty has definitely hurt how some publishers think to do with their main series (to get that piece of the pie) but like all big things there's going to be something around the corner that's going to take its place. There's more innovation and content going around now than there's ever been, and I want this generation to last a few more years as the cost of big budget titles is now becoming a lot reasonable as new technology is helping tackle a lot of costs in several areas.

[oskar-det]

Got to disagree here but the gaming industry at the moment is at the point is damn great, especially to the whole range of indie developers getting their name across and more niche games coming out (hand held, PC, XBLA, PSN, etc) while still having those "AAA" titles coming. I will say Call of Duty has definitely hurt how some publishers think to do with their main series (to get that piece of the pie) but like all big things there's going to be something around the corner that's going to take its place. There's more innovation and content going around now than there's ever been, and I want this generation to last a few more years as the cost of big budget titles is now becoming a lot reasonable as new technology is helping tackle a lot of costs in several areas.

Indie developers are great, but series like CoD... or more like people's hysterical demands for those games, makes other genres suffer. You can't just replace the traditional shooter genre with indie games and call it a day. Indie games are good in their own way, but not as good as pro made games.

What I see happening is that a few genres take over everything. Just look what happened to Resident Evil. I can just imagine Capcom's CEO arguing like this:

"Look at those FPS games overseas, they're selling more than 10 million! Our own RE5 only sold 5 or so millions! Let's make a Resident Evil FPS!"

FPS has found its way into RE already, although not completely taking over the series yet. This is just one example of what happens when there are a few, huge actors on the market that dictates everything.

If video game market was nature, FPS would have been a huge predator that made many other spieces extinct. But this is not only about FPS, it's the genereal way of how to look at video games. For many people today, no matter how fun a game is, it won't sell if it's not Hollywood style (looks great, pro voice actors, rich story). It's very American, and it's eating up all markets except Japan.

[Darkmoon]

In fairness, Resident Evil was originally meant to be an FPS. That's how Mikami origionally intended to do it.

And if Hollywood style games are what people want, it's what'll get made. If the sales justify it then that's that.

[oskar-det]

In fairness, Resident Evil was originally meant to be an FPS. That's how Mikami origionally intended to do it.

And if Hollywood style games are what people want, it's what'll get made. If the sales justify it then that's that.

Really? I had no idea! When was that revealed?

Yeah, but the problem is that in the past, games were not so expensive to make so all genres could live and breathe. Today it's super expensive to make games because of graphics, voice acting and story, and so only the best selling games gets sequels and companies look at the market and decides they want a piece of the FPS cake as well.

So in the past, you could make a game that sold "OK" and make profit of that. That's not possible today, and that leads to one huge predator genre eating up everything else.

[Darkmoon]

It's mentioned in a art book, I think. I can't remember off the top of my head, I'm afraid.

FPS' make money. It sucks if you don't like them, and I can't stand most FPS games, but there's still plenty of other games coming out for other genres.

Besides, voice acting and story aren't a big cost unless the game is something like Fallout or Oblivion, games that are huge, open world and have a lot of options and characters to interact with. Voice actors aren't that well paid and story will be a couple of dudes with the rest of the staff chipping in. Mostly, graphics are the big issues, and for this generation at least those aren't too bad now. They've worked out how to get it all sorted so it doesn't cost as much time and money to do.

[Alexia_Ashford]

Yeah, I can't find the video now, but I've seen it before. Like a gun navigating the corridors with zombies in. Didn't look very good, that's why they binned it.

[TheSelfishGene]

Today it's super expensive to make games because of graphics, voice acting and story, and so only the best selling games gets sequels and companies look at the market and decides they want a piece of the FPS cake as well.

You're argueing yourself in circles
In that companies are making big elaborate hollywood style games because games are expensive because of voice acting and story needed to make a hollywood style game, which they need to make, because development is expensive because of all the voice acting etc...

If anything I think you're completely wrong. Look at the popularity of smartphones as well as casual games like plants vs zombies. I think games with great gameplay and little or no story are making a huge renaissance. And these kinds of games can be huge income streams for companies, with advertising paid models or microtransaction systems.
Look how much Capcom's own Smurf Village makes for them...

[oskar-det]

You're argueing yourself in circles
In that companies are making big elaborate hollywood style games because games are expensive because of voice acting and story needed to make a hollywood style game, which they need to make, because development is expensive because of all the voice acting etc...

If anything I think you're completely wrong. Look at the popularity of smartphones as well as casual games like plants vs zombies. I think games with great gameplay and little or no story are making a huge renaissance. And these kinds of games can be huge income streams for companies, with advertising paid models or microtransaction systems.
Look how much Capcom's own Smurf Village makes for them...

The only reason smartphones crap sells is because those games are dirt cheap. Charge more than $3 and no one will buy it.

If smartphone gaming is the future of all non-Hollywood titles, then I'll find a new hobby in that future.

[TheSelfishGene]

The only reason smartphones crap sells is because those games are dirt cheap. Charge more than $3 and no one will buy it.

If smartphone gaming is the future of all non-Hollywood titles, then I'll find a new hobby in that future.

Then I'd say you'd best start looking.
I'm not an expert, but there's a huge market there people are catering too. Probably worth alot more that the hardcore audience ever was. Look at the Wii this generation too.

[oskar-det]

Then I'd say you'd best start looking.
I'm not an expert, but there's a huge market there people are catering too. Probably worth alot more that the hardcore audience ever was. Look at the Wii this generation too.

Huge market as in number of people, yes. But how many of those thousands smart phone games makes a profit? Extremely few.

[Darkmoon]

As I understand it, a lot of the best selling ones make a ton of cash. Low overheads on the game plus such bulk sales means they rake in the moolah in comparison to the bigger games.

[oskar-det]

As I understand it, a lot of the best selling ones make a ton of cash. Low overheads on the game plus such bulk sales means they rake in the moolah in comparison to the bigger games.

No. There are not "a lot of" games that actually sell on cell phones. Most of the popular games are free even.

However, it's very easy to put out lots of games on smartphones because you don't need licenses or development kits. That's why there are so many games, so many people sit in their own room making a little game. The vast majority of these people don't earn money, and that's not their goal either. They just do it as a hobby.

Professional video game development seem to be more and confined to the Hollywood genre, and that's what scares me. Games like Sin and Punishment, Vanquish etc might not exist in the future because publishers see no profit in them and indie developer don't have the resources to develop such games.

That is the future that scares me.

[Wrathborne]

No. There are not "a lot of" games that actually sell on cell phones. Most of the popular games are free even.

In Japan there are.