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It used to be that finishing a game was the ultimate reward for gamers, you'd get some kind of reward like a flashy FMV or CGI sequence showing the grand finale of a storyline, or a nice hi-score table to put your name in, and then some credits telling you who was responsible for entertaining you so much for the last 20 hours or so.
During games, more and more often, you get 'mini-rewards', maybe a powerup after you've quested long and hard for that elusive item, or an extra weapon, or a cut scene or two just to keep you going.
But what if they made the rewards 'really' interesting? How about if you actually 'won' something for your endeavours?
Kit Williams once wrote a book called 'Masquerade' which sent you off on a treasure hunt by following clues in his narrative, the reward at the end of it was a piece of jewellery fashioned in the shape of a rabbit. (It was worth quite a bit at the time too).
Myst on the PSX was a very good example of the type of puzzler game where, once completed, they could have given you an extra clue to send you off on a real hunt for treasure buried somewhere in the world. (USA/UK/JAPAN having different clues and locations for their respective releases etc.)
Other types of 'rewards' could be the fact that once you'd completed your game, you could transfer the data for your car (Gran Turismo), character (Final Fantasy), warrior (Quake III) into the next installment of the game complete with all the extras you had accumulated in the previous title. This would be especially lucrative in online games where, for example, you could take the character developed in Diablo and move it onto Diablo II without having to start all over again.
How about if you completed MGS2 within a certain time and under certain conditions you could win a prize? In the original you just got a ranking based on your kills/healthpacks used/saves/number of times sighted by guards and so on. How about instead of that you actually won a free collection of every Konami game for the PS2?
With the online capabilities of consoles now not very far away, it wouldn't be a lot of trouble to be able to upload your 'performance' data to a server somewhere and see how you compare with others and check your rankings against the world. (You can already do this with Unreal Tournament although the procedure is tricky to say the least).
In terms of how this would benefit the games industry the obvious points are:
People would be more likely to buy a sequel if they already had something of their own to add to it (like a character).
More people would be interested in gaming if they knew that the rewards for playing were greater.
Challenges would be increased as competition between rival gamers becomes more intense, thereby encouraging more people to try harder at gaming and not just see it as a way to pass the time.
Plus of course, if the prize were large enough, the publisher could probably get away with slapping an extra £5 onto the game's price, but the publicity surrounding the launch of such a game would cover the cost of the prize anyway I would have thought. (Like in Gran Turismo 4, how about winning a REAL Nissan Skyline if you manage to complete a set amount of tasks during the game?)
I think the current cgi/fmv rewards are enough for gamers like me, but I also think the industry could benefit by offering something just a little more valuable for all those hours of questing that many gamers go through to complete games these days.
During games, more and more often, you get 'mini-rewards', maybe a powerup after you've quested long and hard for that elusive item, or an extra weapon, or a cut scene or two just to keep you going.
But what if they made the rewards 'really' interesting? How about if you actually 'won' something for your endeavours?
Kit Williams once wrote a book called 'Masquerade' which sent you off on a treasure hunt by following clues in his narrative, the reward at the end of it was a piece of jewellery fashioned in the shape of a rabbit. (It was worth quite a bit at the time too).
Myst on the PSX was a very good example of the type of puzzler game where, once completed, they could have given you an extra clue to send you off on a real hunt for treasure buried somewhere in the world. (USA/UK/JAPAN having different clues and locations for their respective releases etc.)
Other types of 'rewards' could be the fact that once you'd completed your game, you could transfer the data for your car (Gran Turismo), character (Final Fantasy), warrior (Quake III) into the next installment of the game complete with all the extras you had accumulated in the previous title. This would be especially lucrative in online games where, for example, you could take the character developed in Diablo and move it onto Diablo II without having to start all over again.
How about if you completed MGS2 within a certain time and under certain conditions you could win a prize? In the original you just got a ranking based on your kills/healthpacks used/saves/number of times sighted by guards and so on. How about instead of that you actually won a free collection of every Konami game for the PS2?
With the online capabilities of consoles now not very far away, it wouldn't be a lot of trouble to be able to upload your 'performance' data to a server somewhere and see how you compare with others and check your rankings against the world. (You can already do this with Unreal Tournament although the procedure is tricky to say the least).
In terms of how this would benefit the games industry the obvious points are:
People would be more likely to buy a sequel if they already had something of their own to add to it (like a character).
More people would be interested in gaming if they knew that the rewards for playing were greater.
Challenges would be increased as competition between rival gamers becomes more intense, thereby encouraging more people to try harder at gaming and not just see it as a way to pass the time.
Plus of course, if the prize were large enough, the publisher could probably get away with slapping an extra £5 onto the game's price, but the publicity surrounding the launch of such a game would cover the cost of the prize anyway I would have thought. (Like in Gran Turismo 4, how about winning a REAL Nissan Skyline if you manage to complete a set amount of tasks during the game?)
I think the current cgi/fmv rewards are enough for gamers like me, but I also think the industry could benefit by offering something just a little more valuable for all those hours of questing that many gamers go through to complete games these days.
Wasnt there an adventure game in the eighties...
Where the publishers offered an enourmous casg reward for the first person to complete the game?
Where the publishers offered an enourmous casg reward for the first person to complete the game?
What i'd like to see is a game where you have multiple adventures. Say control two character alternatively, and where one characters actions effects the others tasks.
An example would be in an MGS scenario where Snake goes out all guns blazing, and then the commander, who also has to infiltrate the base, finds that there are more guards around as a result of Snake shooting rather than sneaking. So its harder for the commander to get in, but the guards from inside have been moved outside, thus creating a diversion for Snake...
Snake then gets to level 3, but causes loads of trouble, so the guards look for him... Commander can then get in because there are less guards...
More games should have Co-Op mode, dammit! I hope SOE is 2-Player... I have high expectations of this game!
Game
An example would be in an MGS scenario where Snake goes out all guns blazing, and then the commander, who also has to infiltrate the base, finds that there are more guards around as a result of Snake shooting rather than sneaking. So its harder for the commander to get in, but the guards from inside have been moved outside, thus creating a diversion for Snake...
Snake then gets to level 3, but causes loads of trouble, so the guards look for him... Commander can then get in because there are less guards...
More games should have Co-Op mode, dammit! I hope SOE is 2-Player... I have high expectations of this game!
Game
Someone already said that you can get early versions of the game after completing certain tasks in Donkey Kong 64, the same with Excitebike, you can play the original game from the NES which is actually still quite playable.
Anyways..
I remember Resident Evil 2 being quite rewarding once completed, you could play the adventure differently as the girl and there were other B missions which were just as good as well as completing the game within a certain time you recieved extra guns, infinite ammo/health etc.
So how about games giving us extra side quests once finished, I know some games do this already but we are all left wanting more with most games so a few extra missions, race tracks would be welcomed, these could maybe downloaded off the internet using a special password to unlock them given to you once you complete the game. How about getting different passwords depending on how well you do and only being able to unlock more and more.
This could be ongoing as you could also ge password for completing the newest quest or track and developers could keep making more levels, weaopns and so on.
Most games though more replay value is what is needed, some sort of time zone thing used in a few games is what is needed so there different reactions on different days at certain times depending on what you do.
I'm rambling so i'll leave it there..
Anyways..
I remember Resident Evil 2 being quite rewarding once completed, you could play the adventure differently as the girl and there were other B missions which were just as good as well as completing the game within a certain time you recieved extra guns, infinite ammo/health etc.
So how about games giving us extra side quests once finished, I know some games do this already but we are all left wanting more with most games so a few extra missions, race tracks would be welcomed, these could maybe downloaded off the internet using a special password to unlock them given to you once you complete the game. How about getting different passwords depending on how well you do and only being able to unlock more and more.
This could be ongoing as you could also ge password for completing the newest quest or track and developers could keep making more levels, weaopns and so on.
Most games though more replay value is what is needed, some sort of time zone thing used in a few games is what is needed so there different reactions on different days at certain times depending on what you do.
I'm rambling so i'll leave it there..
And yes, good topic FM. I've got something to add to this, but I haven't got the time at the moment.
Sibs wrote:
"and RC Pro-Am"
RC Pro-Am was in JFG? I know there was an arcade there... but RC Pro-Am?
I'll have to have another look at that.
"and RC Pro-Am"
RC Pro-Am was in JFG? I know there was an arcade there... but RC Pro-Am?
I'll have to have another look at that.
For most, gaming is a pleausre, but as soon as you have prizes and physical rewards, it could very well turn into a chore (Damn, I hate the word). If all these rewards that you speak of were to becone a reality, we could very well see gaming legends such as Yugi Naka and Miyamoto back out, pureply because the simplicity and light-hearted fun of gaming would be turned into a war!
People would see games as they do scratch cards... oppotunities for personal gain.
I'd rue the day this was ever implemented into games... I love playing games... it's probably my favourite pasttime, but I think I might just stop, or at least go back to SNES gaming because there'd be all sorts of 'bots' and 'Pro gamers' who ruin the fun, just to win prizes.
For me, like you, FMV's are enough... although some of your ideas are good, I think it'd be a case of 'one-up' with the developers and publishers, which could, and probably would take a chunk of the fun out of gaming.
You know how bots ruined Planetarion for you, FM! Imagine these 'things' winning all the rpizes... trust me, with all this Action replay crap, it could happen.
None-On-Line rewards, like extra options, FMV's etc, are great, but as soon as you talk about competitions, things could get too serious...
... Thank God for Nintendo!
Game
People would see games as they do scratch cards... oppotunities for personal gain.
I'd rue the day this was ever implemented into games... I love playing games... it's probably my favourite pasttime, but I think I might just stop, or at least go back to SNES gaming because there'd be all sorts of 'bots' and 'Pro gamers' who ruin the fun, just to win prizes.
For me, like you, FMV's are enough... although some of your ideas are good, I think it'd be a case of 'one-up' with the developers and publishers, which could, and probably would take a chunk of the fun out of gaming.
You know how bots ruined Planetarion for you, FM! Imagine these 'things' winning all the rpizes... trust me, with all this Action replay crap, it could happen.
None-On-Line rewards, like extra options, FMV's etc, are great, but as soon as you talk about competitions, things could get too serious...
... Thank God for Nintendo!
Game
yeah, but can you imagine how much it would cost for a company to give away a car to every person who did some tasks in a set time?
Also I think we should see more in game rewards.
I had an idea a while ago, about basically having a game, where in game (this would probably be an RPG game) you can buy various stuff for youyr character, for example a games console. When you buy the games console it comes with a free demo disc, including demos of some old games (that you can actually play!) The hidden throughout the game (In VERY difficult to reach areas, so only the true hardcore gamers reap the rewards) there are other discs. The best disc in the game would include a demo of a VERY high profile game, maybe something like (on a Nintendo game) the next Mario adventure, or one track of the new Mario Kart. That would really reward gamers. They could play demos of games that wouldn't be available ANYWHERE else. But for this to really work the company couldn't just release the demo on a real demo disc in a magazine, or people wouldn't quest so hard for the in game demo discs.
This has already been done to some extent with Rare including old Rare (or Ultimate if you are being picky...) games included in DK64 and Jet Force Gemini, like Jetpac, and RC Pro-Am, and also in DK64, Nintys own original Donkey kong.
Also I think we should see more in game rewards.
I had an idea a while ago, about basically having a game, where in game (this would probably be an RPG game) you can buy various stuff for youyr character, for example a games console. When you buy the games console it comes with a free demo disc, including demos of some old games (that you can actually play!) The hidden throughout the game (In VERY difficult to reach areas, so only the true hardcore gamers reap the rewards) there are other discs. The best disc in the game would include a demo of a VERY high profile game, maybe something like (on a Nintendo game) the next Mario adventure, or one track of the new Mario Kart. That would really reward gamers. They could play demos of games that wouldn't be available ANYWHERE else. But for this to really work the company couldn't just release the demo on a real demo disc in a magazine, or people wouldn't quest so hard for the in game demo discs.
This has already been done to some extent with Rare including old Rare (or Ultimate if you are being picky...) games included in DK64 and Jet Force Gemini, like Jetpac, and RC Pro-Am, and also in DK64, Nintys own original Donkey kong.
It used to be that finishing a game was the ultimate reward for gamers, you'd get some kind of reward like a flashy FMV or CGI sequence showing the grand finale of a storyline, or a nice hi-score table to put your name in, and then some credits telling you who was responsible for entertaining you so much for the last 20 hours or so.
During games, more and more often, you get 'mini-rewards', maybe a powerup after you've quested long and hard for that elusive item, or an extra weapon, or a cut scene or two just to keep you going.
But what if they made the rewards 'really' interesting? How about if you actually 'won' something for your endeavours?
Kit Williams once wrote a book called 'Masquerade' which sent you off on a treasure hunt by following clues in his narrative, the reward at the end of it was a piece of jewellery fashioned in the shape of a rabbit. (It was worth quite a bit at the time too).
Myst on the PSX was a very good example of the type of puzzler game where, once completed, they could have given you an extra clue to send you off on a real hunt for treasure buried somewhere in the world. (USA/UK/JAPAN having different clues and locations for their respective releases etc.)
Other types of 'rewards' could be the fact that once you'd completed your game, you could transfer the data for your car (Gran Turismo), character (Final Fantasy), warrior (Quake III) into the next installment of the game complete with all the extras you had accumulated in the previous title. This would be especially lucrative in online games where, for example, you could take the character developed in Diablo and move it onto Diablo II without having to start all over again.
How about if you completed MGS2 within a certain time and under certain conditions you could win a prize? In the original you just got a ranking based on your kills/healthpacks used/saves/number of times sighted by guards and so on. How about instead of that you actually won a free collection of every Konami game for the PS2?
With the online capabilities of consoles now not very far away, it wouldn't be a lot of trouble to be able to upload your 'performance' data to a server somewhere and see how you compare with others and check your rankings against the world. (You can already do this with Unreal Tournament although the procedure is tricky to say the least).
In terms of how this would benefit the games industry the obvious points are:
People would be more likely to buy a sequel if they already had something of their own to add to it (like a character).
More people would be interested in gaming if they knew that the rewards for playing were greater.
Challenges would be increased as competition between rival gamers becomes more intense, thereby encouraging more people to try harder at gaming and not just see it as a way to pass the time.
Plus of course, if the prize were large enough, the publisher could probably get away with slapping an extra £5 onto the game's price, but the publicity surrounding the launch of such a game would cover the cost of the prize anyway I would have thought. (Like in Gran Turismo 4, how about winning a REAL Nissan Skyline if you manage to complete a set amount of tasks during the game?)
I think the current cgi/fmv rewards are enough for gamers like me, but I also think the industry could benefit by offering something just a little more valuable for all those hours of questing that many gamers go through to complete games these days.
During games, more and more often, you get 'mini-rewards', maybe a powerup after you've quested long and hard for that elusive item, or an extra weapon, or a cut scene or two just to keep you going.
But what if they made the rewards 'really' interesting? How about if you actually 'won' something for your endeavours?
Kit Williams once wrote a book called 'Masquerade' which sent you off on a treasure hunt by following clues in his narrative, the reward at the end of it was a piece of jewellery fashioned in the shape of a rabbit. (It was worth quite a bit at the time too).
Myst on the PSX was a very good example of the type of puzzler game where, once completed, they could have given you an extra clue to send you off on a real hunt for treasure buried somewhere in the world. (USA/UK/JAPAN having different clues and locations for their respective releases etc.)
Other types of 'rewards' could be the fact that once you'd completed your game, you could transfer the data for your car (Gran Turismo), character (Final Fantasy), warrior (Quake III) into the next installment of the game complete with all the extras you had accumulated in the previous title. This would be especially lucrative in online games where, for example, you could take the character developed in Diablo and move it onto Diablo II without having to start all over again.
How about if you completed MGS2 within a certain time and under certain conditions you could win a prize? In the original you just got a ranking based on your kills/healthpacks used/saves/number of times sighted by guards and so on. How about instead of that you actually won a free collection of every Konami game for the PS2?
With the online capabilities of consoles now not very far away, it wouldn't be a lot of trouble to be able to upload your 'performance' data to a server somewhere and see how you compare with others and check your rankings against the world. (You can already do this with Unreal Tournament although the procedure is tricky to say the least).
In terms of how this would benefit the games industry the obvious points are:
People would be more likely to buy a sequel if they already had something of their own to add to it (like a character).
More people would be interested in gaming if they knew that the rewards for playing were greater.
Challenges would be increased as competition between rival gamers becomes more intense, thereby encouraging more people to try harder at gaming and not just see it as a way to pass the time.
Plus of course, if the prize were large enough, the publisher could probably get away with slapping an extra £5 onto the game's price, but the publicity surrounding the launch of such a game would cover the cost of the prize anyway I would have thought. (Like in Gran Turismo 4, how about winning a REAL Nissan Skyline if you manage to complete a set amount of tasks during the game?)
I think the current cgi/fmv rewards are enough for gamers like me, but I also think the industry could benefit by offering something just a little more valuable for all those hours of questing that many gamers go through to complete games these days.