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Why?
I remember how perplexed my mum was once when she was told that the FPS game, "that you haven't stopped playing for months" was in fact four different games altogether. Her mistake can be forgiven, but was her belief that they were, "all exactly the same" just ignorant, or was it merely highlighting an obsession we may all collectively possess? There are so many stale FPS's out there now (especially on the PC) and there are many more in the pipeline. When is the format going to get tired? When is it going to stop selling?
Halo has kept things fresh for many people, but addressing just how much progress can be achieved in the form, compared to our basic desire to shoot people in the head from a first person view, should really be taken into account. I tend to wonder whether it actually is as psychologically subversive as many of our moral guardians would have us believe. I guess they're so popular due to the viewpoint. There is just no other kind of game that makes you feel quite that involved or gives you that feeling of 'being there'. I've always thought it's a shame that developers don't do more with this type of game instead of having it always revolve around guns and shooting. There must be other forms of gameplay that can use this viewpoint. I suppose there has been a few (Morrowind, parts of Deux EX, Thief) but I'd like to see a few more.
I'd like to see other genres try using a first person perspective rather than just shootemups. How about a first person beat em up or platform game, or maybe even some sports titles, football etc. I know some games have first person view options but these are generally just badly thought out tacked on extras that make the games unplayable (Virtua Fighter 3 for example had a first person option) - if a developer took the time to develop a game from scratch specifically to be played in this way it could be excellent and open up all sorts of possibilities. I don't see why these type of games have to always be shoot em ups when there's so many other possibilities - a furst person footy game may or may not work but it would be good if someone tried and I'm sure with the appropriate thought, planning and effort it could be done pretty well.
FPS's, they're like Marmite. You either love them or hate them, there's no in-between. At the end of the day they are similar in the fact that they are all viewed from the 'first person' perspective but of course the game's are all different. No game has the same maps, the same weapons, the same missions.. (I could go on and on). FPS's appeal to us because they involve guns, killing people, strategy, skill, thought, cunningness and immense satisfaction when something goes right. We all know what it's like to be involved in a deathmatch and you get a 'kick' when/if at the end of the match you see your name on the top with the most kills . This genre appeals because it's our natural instinct to compete (especially online against fellow humans).
In the beginning FPS's centred around a story, but games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament proved people just wanted to compete in multiplayer arenas. Occasionally something like Deus Ex & Halo come along which raise the benchmark for the genre. Halo is one of the most talked about games in the last decade. Going back to my marmite analogy, if you love FPS's you will see Halo for what it is, if you hate FPS's then you won't like it, but of course those of us who can't get enough of FPS's saw just how advanced this game is. When something as magnificent as Halo comes along you know that developers are exploring/experimenting on making the genre bigger, better and move advanced. So in answer to your question, they are not going to simply stop selling when there's a continues improvement or evolution in this area of gaming.
Look at what's to come:
Halo 2
Unreal 2
Half Life 2
Doom 3
Unreal Championship (out next week)
Deux Ex 2
Yes, they are all sequels. Arguably they are all going to be everything we are expecting so long live the FPS!
Thanks for reading (this reasonably short topic)
Flux.
That and the fact that you get to kill people with big guns.
Look at the facts...
Games like Agent Under Fire with cack guns and weaponry don't do all that well compared to other games - including Doom and Half-Life - that give you things like Chainsaws, aswell-as bloody-great-big-things that can really do some damage.
If you couldn't play an FPS on-line then they wouldn't be quite as-great.
They'd still be loved by everyone though.
If one genre - perhaps Pro Evo when that goes on-line - can take-over as the number one on-line games to play, then perhaps there's hope...
I think it's true to say that the FPS community personify all that is bad (and probably good by extension) about internet people.
One of the major sticking points for Nintendo's online strategy, I guess, is that they don't want this stigma of having people connecting to their games and getting blown away by two year veterans without having the chance to learn the ropes. It's not an easy problem to tackle, but by no means insurmountable, and just takes some clever structuring of how players are assigned to games online.
> FPS's, they're like Marmite. You either love them or hate them,
> there's no in-between.
Yes there is, I don't like most PC FPS's (UT is the exception) but I love console FPS's, so that's an in-between so MEH!
Why?
I remember how perplexed my mum was once when she was told that the FPS game, "that you haven't stopped playing for months" was in fact four different games altogether. Her mistake can be forgiven, but was her belief that they were, "all exactly the same" just ignorant, or was it merely highlighting an obsession we may all collectively possess? There are so many stale FPS's out there now (especially on the PC) and there are many more in the pipeline. When is the format going to get tired? When is it going to stop selling?
Halo has kept things fresh for many people, but addressing just how much progress can be achieved in the form, compared to our basic desire to shoot people in the head from a first person view, should really be taken into account. I tend to wonder whether it actually is as psychologically subversive as many of our moral guardians would have us believe. I guess they're so popular due to the viewpoint. There is just no other kind of game that makes you feel quite that involved or gives you that feeling of 'being there'. I've always thought it's a shame that developers don't do more with this type of game instead of having it always revolve around guns and shooting. There must be other forms of gameplay that can use this viewpoint. I suppose there has been a few (Morrowind, parts of Deux EX, Thief) but I'd like to see a few more.
I'd like to see other genres try using a first person perspective rather than just shootemups. How about a first person beat em up or platform game, or maybe even some sports titles, football etc. I know some games have first person view options but these are generally just badly thought out tacked on extras that make the games unplayable (Virtua Fighter 3 for example had a first person option) - if a developer took the time to develop a game from scratch specifically to be played in this way it could be excellent and open up all sorts of possibilities. I don't see why these type of games have to always be shoot em ups when there's so many other possibilities - a furst person footy game may or may not work but it would be good if someone tried and I'm sure with the appropriate thought, planning and effort it could be done pretty well.
FPS's, they're like Marmite. You either love them or hate them, there's no in-between. At the end of the day they are similar in the fact that they are all viewed from the 'first person' perspective but of course the game's are all different. No game has the same maps, the same weapons, the same missions.. (I could go on and on). FPS's appeal to us because they involve guns, killing people, strategy, skill, thought, cunningness and immense satisfaction when something goes right. We all know what it's like to be involved in a deathmatch and you get a 'kick' when/if at the end of the match you see your name on the top with the most kills . This genre appeals because it's our natural instinct to compete (especially online against fellow humans).
In the beginning FPS's centred around a story, but games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament proved people just wanted to compete in multiplayer arenas. Occasionally something like Deus Ex & Halo come along which raise the benchmark for the genre. Halo is one of the most talked about games in the last decade. Going back to my marmite analogy, if you love FPS's you will see Halo for what it is, if you hate FPS's then you won't like it, but of course those of us who can't get enough of FPS's saw just how advanced this game is. When something as magnificent as Halo comes along you know that developers are exploring/experimenting on making the genre bigger, better and move advanced. So in answer to your question, they are not going to simply stop selling when there's a continues improvement or evolution in this area of gaming.
Look at what's to come:
Halo 2
Unreal 2
Half Life 2
Doom 3
Unreal Championship (out next week)
Deux Ex 2
Yes, they are all sequels. Arguably they are all going to be everything we are expecting so long live the FPS!
Thanks for reading (this reasonably short topic)
Flux.