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Over the past six months, we’ve seen a recent spate of A-list video game releases. Among them include Metal Gear Solid 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. (I can only comment on PS2 as its the only true next gen console out at the moment). Notice the trend here? Popular and successful games almost always follow a tried and true formula of its predecessor. Even the premier XBox killer app, Halo, treaded the well-worn first person shooter path to success. Nintendo, albeit with lesser success, went down the same road in their Gamecube launch to debut the sequel to Wave Race 64, Wave Race: Blue Storm.
The trend towards recycling successful game formulas and adding a slight enhancement in the graphics and gameplay departments is disturbing. To what end will this take the video gaming industry? Making money is unfortunately the top priority of all video game developers. And so it should be. As without profits, who will finance the next project? We can lament the desire of developers to allow their creativity to take a backseat in order to make a quick buck. However, why should creativity be put in the back burner in the first place?
Take Sega for example. Two years ago, they released a widely acclaimed masterpiece called Jet Set Radio. With it, Sega made full use of a unique graphical technique called cel shading. While critics wowed at the overall game package, JSR never took off in terms of sales compared to something worse but with a brand name, like Driver, which is a shame. Consider the flip side. If Sega made a ton of money on JSR, other developers will probably stand up and take note, driving more companies to let their creativity take over. To underscore their commitment to creating unique and creative games, Sega developed Typing Of The Dead and Seaman for the Dreamcast platform, and actually released them in the UK. Although based on the light gun shooter game, House Of The Dead, TOTD upped the ante on creativeness and made typing cool again. In terms of weirdness, Seaman takes the proverbial biscuit. The crass, tough-talking reptile-mammal hybrid made a name for itself by employing the technology of voice recognition in video gaming, spawning a new genre and the next significant step in console-player communication. How imaginative!
Then there’s the music-rhythm genre. Rhythm games have always been an arcade-only domain, considering the extra peripherals that are needed to play the game effectively. Konami decided to bring this genre into our living rooms with the fabulous Dance Dance Revolution series. Sega themselves brought their popular maracas-shaking monkey persona to our attention with the party game of the year, Samba De Amigo. Although a costly investment, those with the means quickly snapped up the maracas peripheral at £99.99 a pop. How can a game go wrong where you have friends come over and embarrass themselves by shaking their bon-bons in tune to a monkey? Priceless! Although the rhythm action games have been successful to a certain extent, they remained a niche product, requiring more than the investment of the cost of the game alone.
There is one game that I think exemplifies this perfectly. I think Sega’s Rez will become a cult classic (unfortunately like JSR it doesn't seem to be doing too well in sales with MGS2 just out). With gameplay that tries to fuse the gamer’s 3 senses of sight, sound and touch with the on-screen shooting action, I dare say that we are looking at the future of gaming here. Although its effectiveness of heightening your senses during gameplay is somewhat muted by the quality of your stereo environment, playing the game is an event that needs to be “experienced” to be believed.
The failure of Sega in the gaming hardware business has underlined the importance of profits in an increasingly brutal market-driven business environment. By changing their strategy to become a software-only developer, Sega has managed to crawl out of the well of red ink. With a more stable financial environment, Sega’s development houses will hopefully be able to pay more attention to feeding their creative juices, instead of worrying about their own future. To be fair, Sega has not been immune to the sequel syndrome too. The sequel to JSR, called Jet Set Radio Future is slated for a release on the XBox in just a few months. Hopefully, peppered in between such so-called sequel releases will be hidden gems like Rez that are just waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to take the chance on a new kind of experience.
Thanks for reading
RM18
The trend towards recycling successful game formulas and adding a slight enhancement in the graphics and gameplay departments is disturbing. To what end will this take the video gaming industry? Making money is unfortunately the top priority of all video game developers. And so it should be. As without profits, who will finance the next project? We can lament the desire of developers to allow their creativity to take a backseat in order to make a quick buck. However, why should creativity be put in the back burner in the first place?
Take Sega for example. Two years ago, they released a widely acclaimed masterpiece called Jet Set Radio. With it, Sega made full use of a unique graphical technique called cel shading. While critics wowed at the overall game package, JSR never took off in terms of sales compared to something worse but with a brand name, like Driver, which is a shame. Consider the flip side. If Sega made a ton of money on JSR, other developers will probably stand up and take note, driving more companies to let their creativity take over. To underscore their commitment to creating unique and creative games, Sega developed Typing Of The Dead and Seaman for the Dreamcast platform, and actually released them in the UK. Although based on the light gun shooter game, House Of The Dead, TOTD upped the ante on creativeness and made typing cool again. In terms of weirdness, Seaman takes the proverbial biscuit. The crass, tough-talking reptile-mammal hybrid made a name for itself by employing the technology of voice recognition in video gaming, spawning a new genre and the next significant step in console-player communication. How imaginative!
Then there’s the music-rhythm genre. Rhythm games have always been an arcade-only domain, considering the extra peripherals that are needed to play the game effectively. Konami decided to bring this genre into our living rooms with the fabulous Dance Dance Revolution series. Sega themselves brought their popular maracas-shaking monkey persona to our attention with the party game of the year, Samba De Amigo. Although a costly investment, those with the means quickly snapped up the maracas peripheral at £99.99 a pop. How can a game go wrong where you have friends come over and embarrass themselves by shaking their bon-bons in tune to a monkey? Priceless! Although the rhythm action games have been successful to a certain extent, they remained a niche product, requiring more than the investment of the cost of the game alone.
There is one game that I think exemplifies this perfectly. I think Sega’s Rez will become a cult classic (unfortunately like JSR it doesn't seem to be doing too well in sales with MGS2 just out). With gameplay that tries to fuse the gamer’s 3 senses of sight, sound and touch with the on-screen shooting action, I dare say that we are looking at the future of gaming here. Although its effectiveness of heightening your senses during gameplay is somewhat muted by the quality of your stereo environment, playing the game is an event that needs to be “experienced” to be believed.
The failure of Sega in the gaming hardware business has underlined the importance of profits in an increasingly brutal market-driven business environment. By changing their strategy to become a software-only developer, Sega has managed to crawl out of the well of red ink. With a more stable financial environment, Sega’s development houses will hopefully be able to pay more attention to feeding their creative juices, instead of worrying about their own future. To be fair, Sega has not been immune to the sequel syndrome too. The sequel to JSR, called Jet Set Radio Future is slated for a release on the XBox in just a few months. Hopefully, peppered in between such so-called sequel releases will be hidden gems like Rez that are just waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to take the chance on a new kind of experience.
Thanks for reading
RM18
Page:
Yeah, nobody answered within 15 mins!
*shakes head*
*shakes head*
Hello?
Over the past six months, we’ve seen a recent spate of A-list video game releases. Among them include Metal Gear Solid 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. (I can only comment on PS2 as its the only true next gen console out at the moment). Notice the trend here? Popular and successful games almost always follow a tried and true formula of its predecessor. Even the premier XBox killer app, Halo, treaded the well-worn first person shooter path to success. Nintendo, albeit with lesser success, went down the same road in their Gamecube launch to debut the sequel to Wave Race 64, Wave Race: Blue Storm.
The trend towards recycling successful game formulas and adding a slight enhancement in the graphics and gameplay departments is disturbing. To what end will this take the video gaming industry? Making money is unfortunately the top priority of all video game developers. And so it should be. As without profits, who will finance the next project? We can lament the desire of developers to allow their creativity to take a backseat in order to make a quick buck. However, why should creativity be put in the back burner in the first place?
Take Sega for example. Two years ago, they released a widely acclaimed masterpiece called Jet Set Radio. With it, Sega made full use of a unique graphical technique called cel shading. While critics wowed at the overall game package, JSR never took off in terms of sales compared to something worse but with a brand name, like Driver, which is a shame. Consider the flip side. If Sega made a ton of money on JSR, other developers will probably stand up and take note, driving more companies to let their creativity take over. To underscore their commitment to creating unique and creative games, Sega developed Typing Of The Dead and Seaman for the Dreamcast platform, and actually released them in the UK. Although based on the light gun shooter game, House Of The Dead, TOTD upped the ante on creativeness and made typing cool again. In terms of weirdness, Seaman takes the proverbial biscuit. The crass, tough-talking reptile-mammal hybrid made a name for itself by employing the technology of voice recognition in video gaming, spawning a new genre and the next significant step in console-player communication. How imaginative!
Then there’s the music-rhythm genre. Rhythm games have always been an arcade-only domain, considering the extra peripherals that are needed to play the game effectively. Konami decided to bring this genre into our living rooms with the fabulous Dance Dance Revolution series. Sega themselves brought their popular maracas-shaking monkey persona to our attention with the party game of the year, Samba De Amigo. Although a costly investment, those with the means quickly snapped up the maracas peripheral at £99.99 a pop. How can a game go wrong where you have friends come over and embarrass themselves by shaking their bon-bons in tune to a monkey? Priceless! Although the rhythm action games have been successful to a certain extent, they remained a niche product, requiring more than the investment of the cost of the game alone.
There is one game that I think exemplifies this perfectly. I think Sega’s Rez will become a cult classic (unfortunately like JSR it doesn't seem to be doing too well in sales with MGS2 just out). With gameplay that tries to fuse the gamer’s 3 senses of sight, sound and touch with the on-screen shooting action, I dare say that we are looking at the future of gaming here. Although its effectiveness of heightening your senses during gameplay is somewhat muted by the quality of your stereo environment, playing the game is an event that needs to be “experienced” to be believed.
The failure of Sega in the gaming hardware business has underlined the importance of profits in an increasingly brutal market-driven business environment. By changing their strategy to become a software-only developer, Sega has managed to crawl out of the well of red ink. With a more stable financial environment, Sega’s development houses will hopefully be able to pay more attention to feeding their creative juices, instead of worrying about their own future. To be fair, Sega has not been immune to the sequel syndrome too. The sequel to JSR, called Jet Set Radio Future is slated for a release on the XBox in just a few months. Hopefully, peppered in between such so-called sequel releases will be hidden gems like Rez that are just waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to take the chance on a new kind of experience.
Thanks for reading
RM18
The trend towards recycling successful game formulas and adding a slight enhancement in the graphics and gameplay departments is disturbing. To what end will this take the video gaming industry? Making money is unfortunately the top priority of all video game developers. And so it should be. As without profits, who will finance the next project? We can lament the desire of developers to allow their creativity to take a backseat in order to make a quick buck. However, why should creativity be put in the back burner in the first place?
Take Sega for example. Two years ago, they released a widely acclaimed masterpiece called Jet Set Radio. With it, Sega made full use of a unique graphical technique called cel shading. While critics wowed at the overall game package, JSR never took off in terms of sales compared to something worse but with a brand name, like Driver, which is a shame. Consider the flip side. If Sega made a ton of money on JSR, other developers will probably stand up and take note, driving more companies to let their creativity take over. To underscore their commitment to creating unique and creative games, Sega developed Typing Of The Dead and Seaman for the Dreamcast platform, and actually released them in the UK. Although based on the light gun shooter game, House Of The Dead, TOTD upped the ante on creativeness and made typing cool again. In terms of weirdness, Seaman takes the proverbial biscuit. The crass, tough-talking reptile-mammal hybrid made a name for itself by employing the technology of voice recognition in video gaming, spawning a new genre and the next significant step in console-player communication. How imaginative!
Then there’s the music-rhythm genre. Rhythm games have always been an arcade-only domain, considering the extra peripherals that are needed to play the game effectively. Konami decided to bring this genre into our living rooms with the fabulous Dance Dance Revolution series. Sega themselves brought their popular maracas-shaking monkey persona to our attention with the party game of the year, Samba De Amigo. Although a costly investment, those with the means quickly snapped up the maracas peripheral at £99.99 a pop. How can a game go wrong where you have friends come over and embarrass themselves by shaking their bon-bons in tune to a monkey? Priceless! Although the rhythm action games have been successful to a certain extent, they remained a niche product, requiring more than the investment of the cost of the game alone.
There is one game that I think exemplifies this perfectly. I think Sega’s Rez will become a cult classic (unfortunately like JSR it doesn't seem to be doing too well in sales with MGS2 just out). With gameplay that tries to fuse the gamer’s 3 senses of sight, sound and touch with the on-screen shooting action, I dare say that we are looking at the future of gaming here. Although its effectiveness of heightening your senses during gameplay is somewhat muted by the quality of your stereo environment, playing the game is an event that needs to be “experienced” to be believed.
The failure of Sega in the gaming hardware business has underlined the importance of profits in an increasingly brutal market-driven business environment. By changing their strategy to become a software-only developer, Sega has managed to crawl out of the well of red ink. With a more stable financial environment, Sega’s development houses will hopefully be able to pay more attention to feeding their creative juices, instead of worrying about their own future. To be fair, Sega has not been immune to the sequel syndrome too. The sequel to JSR, called Jet Set Radio Future is slated for a release on the XBox in just a few months. Hopefully, peppered in between such so-called sequel releases will be hidden gems like Rez that are just waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to take the chance on a new kind of experience.
Thanks for reading
RM18
Page: