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"Isn't it time for new ideas from developers?"

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Wed 21/07/04 at 01:04
Regular
"Gaming 1976-2004"
Posts: 11
For someone who has been playing games for over 25 years (and I'm only 19 ;)) the one thing that saddens me is the lack of new innovation in games.

To begin with take rally games for example - ok many of them are excellent - Colin McRae, WRC just two examples. But exactly what does the upgrade changes go each year. The answer - normally in graphics, speed, vehicles and scenery changes.

But taking the whole rallying concept as a whole nothing really has improved in over 5 years from the time Rally Championship appeared on the PC - that was the trend setter (I still own it) there is nothing new to see.

Drive down most tracks you still see the identical flock of birds flying off time after time. Spectators still look wooden and wave like demented clones and when you drive into a tree stump ok your car is trashed but the treetrunk - not a mark!

Racing games are great on the whole but it's about time we saw more randomness built in. Very rarely do AI vehicles have major accidents to the
extent they break down and block the track. Damage effects are good now but we should get more flames etc. No emergency vehicles either.

When you replay most driving missions in games - the same cars in the same places generated time after time. Hardly realistic

Athletic games such as Athens 2004 - have these really progressed at all in the last 15-20 years? We're still button bashing and getting repetitive strain injury trying to get some sad little athletes to cover a hundred metres. You can't even look at the darned screen because you're too busy looking at those darned buttons.

Golf games - take Tiger Woods - a superb game but again isn't it the little things that bug you like the cheers of hundreds of spectators but when those spectators can be seen all those cheers eminate from about 5 people?

First person shooters - the greatest recent innovation has probably been "Bullet Time" as in Max Payne but since then not much changes. In real life I don't condone violence but if I'm going to play a game like this I want to see blood spurting, a pool of it on the ground, a realistic looking death and bodies that don't fade into obscurity. Am I really asking too much? The technology is there to handle this - sometimes it just seems like lazy programming.

But in addition to new ideas within games we need new ideas for games.

Full Spectrum Warrior is a big step forward in giving us something different in a war environment but we need more ambitious releases like this.

Other exciting developments - errr Singles - an adult Sims-type-game where you can watch your pixelated people naked in the shower and having sex - wow! Is this all we can come up with?

As regards to On-Line usage the best way to increase usage would be with more prize tournaments to take part in there's nothing like sheer greed to get people interested.

While I'm mounted right up on my soapbox I detest games that are over-hyped, over rated and poorly programmed which turn out not to be worth even half their purchase price.

Some people may like it but I thought True Crime Streets Of LA was the most overrated game of 2003 - £39.99 what a joke? I don't see how every game no matter how dire it is should have the same RRP - crazy!

At the moment with most retailers (I stress not all) you can only return software if faulty. By law I think you should be able to return it within a reasonable period say 2 weeks. I the programming has glitches or the gameplay is poor. If not for a refund but an exchange as a minimum.

There is a future in gaming and certainly thre is no lack of technology to support great programming. But innovation, new ideas and a commitment to excellence is required otherwise the buying public will just get bored

Dave :)
Sat 25/09/04 at 17:28
Regular
"Braaains"
Posts: 439
Except that publishers don't want to take the risk. They know that if they publish samey sequels, Billy Mouthbreather and his mates will buy them. They're guaranteed sales to the lowest denominator. If they actually take a risk and publish a new original game then they're risking getting virtually no sales at all if it's a duffer.
Sat 07/08/04 at 18:41
Regular
""It's me u want""
Posts: 724
On the subject of "games"....

I am wondering if any of you fellow gamers know whether there will be a "I, Robot" game to be released. The film was pretty good, so a follow on game would be even better! (Depends on the game developers actually, but put rockstar at the top of the design headquarters and I think you'd have yourself a winner!)
Fri 06/08/04 at 15:58
Regular
"Gaming 1976-2004"
Posts: 11
ßulle†† wrote:
> I agree with most points there, purely because they are very good
> ones.
>
> True, genuine innovation is pretty scarce in the current generation
> of games. The main focus seems to be the graphics,although that is
> not necessarily the case in everything.
>
> Rally - You just have to take a look at Rallisport Challenge 2 on
> Xbox to see how it's meant to be done. AI that actually screws up,
> top-notch graphics, excellent sound, physics and detail - even the
> crowd don't look as constipated as usual!
>
> Still, there is the mysterious problem of indestructible trees. I
> heard that was down to Environmental Activists or something, not
> wanting developers to portray damage to natural objects. There's
> probably more to that, but that's the gist.
>
> As for FPS games, yes, the phantom Cleaner still makes an appearance
> and disposes of the bodies when you're not there (or sometimes even
> when you are there). This, in my mind, is purely to free up resources
> for future events in the game. If it remembered the location of every
> corpse, that would mean less space for anything to come - including
> more corpses. You'd rather have a CPU that is not fully used than a
> CPU that's overused, right?
>
>
> Anyhoo, as all games are right now, you cannot deny just how far they
> have come. Yes, things could be better, but right now, they could
> damn well be a hell of a lot worse!

I've got to agree that Rallisport Challenge 2 does break the mould. How refreshing that the bits of your car that get knocked off are still there on the next lap just ready for you to knock them to another position.

There is another touch I like that hasn't been done elsewhere (or not as well anyway). That is where you find yourself going the wrong way and the camera pans further and further away giving the distinct impression that you are way off track or going the wrong way, which of course you are.

Oh for more great touches of realism like this!

There's one more thing I would like to see in a Rally game though and that's a more realistic response from the co-driver in the event of an accident.

Take this example in current rally games. You are driving at 120mph you take a bend badly and plunge off a cliff. Your car does 16 somersaults and after about 45 seconds comes to a rest at the bottom of a ravine. The vehicle now resembles large peeled open baked bean can (and your scattered insides probably resemble the baked beans!).

In the game your co driver who sounds like he's barely bothered turns to you and calmly says, "Are you OK?"

Now is it just me but surely he'd either

1. Be critically injured
2. Be dead
3. Yell at you "Why the **** didn't you listen to my directions?"

One thing is for sure he wouldn't ask such a bloody stupid question ! :)

Dave :)
Fri 23/07/04 at 13:36
Regular
"RIP: Brian Clough"
Posts: 10,491
I'm suprised I won GAD for my entry. But not in a bad way! :)
Thu 22/07/04 at 11:11
Regular
Posts: 14,437
Looks like you're in a GAD battle then :D

both are decent posts.
Wed 21/07/04 at 19:04
Regular
"RIP: Brian Clough"
Posts: 10,491
D'oh. Just read this and it reads just like my post that I just put up. Been writing my article for days now though.
Wed 21/07/04 at 06:39
Regular
Posts: 14,437
I agree with most points there, purely because they are very good ones.

True, genuine innovation is pretty scarce in the current generation of games. The main focus seems to be the graphics,although that is not necessarily the case in everything.

Rally - You just have to take a look at Rallisport Challenge 2 on Xbox to see how it's meant to be done. AI that actually screws up, top-notch graphics, excellent sound, physics and detail - even the crowd don't look as constipated as usual!

Still, there is the mysterious problem of indestructible trees. I heard that was down to Environmental Activists or something, not wanting developers to portray damage to natural objects. There's probably more to that, but that's the gist.

As for FPS games, yes, the phantom Cleaner still makes an appearance and disposes of the bodies when you're not there (or sometimes even when you are there). This, in my mind, is purely to free up resources for future events in the game. If it remembered the location of every corpse, that would mean less space for anything to come - including more corpses. You'd rather have a CPU that is not fully used than a CPU that's overused, right?


Anyhoo, as all games are right now, you cannot deny just how far they have come. Yes, things could be better, but right now, they could damn well be a hell of a lot worse!
Wed 21/07/04 at 01:04
Regular
"Gaming 1976-2004"
Posts: 11
For someone who has been playing games for over 25 years (and I'm only 19 ;)) the one thing that saddens me is the lack of new innovation in games.

To begin with take rally games for example - ok many of them are excellent - Colin McRae, WRC just two examples. But exactly what does the upgrade changes go each year. The answer - normally in graphics, speed, vehicles and scenery changes.

But taking the whole rallying concept as a whole nothing really has improved in over 5 years from the time Rally Championship appeared on the PC - that was the trend setter (I still own it) there is nothing new to see.

Drive down most tracks you still see the identical flock of birds flying off time after time. Spectators still look wooden and wave like demented clones and when you drive into a tree stump ok your car is trashed but the treetrunk - not a mark!

Racing games are great on the whole but it's about time we saw more randomness built in. Very rarely do AI vehicles have major accidents to the
extent they break down and block the track. Damage effects are good now but we should get more flames etc. No emergency vehicles either.

When you replay most driving missions in games - the same cars in the same places generated time after time. Hardly realistic

Athletic games such as Athens 2004 - have these really progressed at all in the last 15-20 years? We're still button bashing and getting repetitive strain injury trying to get some sad little athletes to cover a hundred metres. You can't even look at the darned screen because you're too busy looking at those darned buttons.

Golf games - take Tiger Woods - a superb game but again isn't it the little things that bug you like the cheers of hundreds of spectators but when those spectators can be seen all those cheers eminate from about 5 people?

First person shooters - the greatest recent innovation has probably been "Bullet Time" as in Max Payne but since then not much changes. In real life I don't condone violence but if I'm going to play a game like this I want to see blood spurting, a pool of it on the ground, a realistic looking death and bodies that don't fade into obscurity. Am I really asking too much? The technology is there to handle this - sometimes it just seems like lazy programming.

But in addition to new ideas within games we need new ideas for games.

Full Spectrum Warrior is a big step forward in giving us something different in a war environment but we need more ambitious releases like this.

Other exciting developments - errr Singles - an adult Sims-type-game where you can watch your pixelated people naked in the shower and having sex - wow! Is this all we can come up with?

As regards to On-Line usage the best way to increase usage would be with more prize tournaments to take part in there's nothing like sheer greed to get people interested.

While I'm mounted right up on my soapbox I detest games that are over-hyped, over rated and poorly programmed which turn out not to be worth even half their purchase price.

Some people may like it but I thought True Crime Streets Of LA was the most overrated game of 2003 - £39.99 what a joke? I don't see how every game no matter how dire it is should have the same RRP - crazy!

At the moment with most retailers (I stress not all) you can only return software if faulty. By law I think you should be able to return it within a reasonable period say 2 weeks. I the programming has glitches or the gameplay is poor. If not for a refund but an exchange as a minimum.

There is a future in gaming and certainly thre is no lack of technology to support great programming. But innovation, new ideas and a commitment to excellence is required otherwise the buying public will just get bored

Dave :)

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