Games don't reflect the feelings of consumers

[Morgoth]

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President of Oddworld, Lorne Lanning, has told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz that the majority of videogames do not reflect the passionate feelings held by consumers.

 

Lanning believes the race to develop new technology is holding back videogames from developing as a true cultural artform.

 

And he pointed to recent steps by the Videogame Voters Network as a prime example of an industry out of touch with its own consumers.

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"We're constantly under attack in the industry by politicians looking for cheap headlines, which is a very easy target. But all of a sudden we have the Videogame Voters Network which starts up and the politicians see that when they attack games they get hundreds of thousands of emails letting them know they're being watched," said Lanning.

 

"Here's a sector of the population that has a lot of strong feelings, but for the most part the games medium isn't reflecting any of that. What's popular in the game medium is just reflecting the propaganda line - 'These are the bad terrorists, go kill them.' Are we adding to the desensitisation or doing something to sensitise an issue and make the experience richer and give it more meaning?" he asked.

 

Lanning feels that opportunities are wasted in the games industry to really discuss the medium and its ability to inspire. He suggests that developers are too busy creating new features and new technology to look at the bigger picture of games as part of the cultural landscape.

 

"The audience isn't aware that you're rewriting all your tools, they just know that when they buy a 360 game it's similar to the last Xbox but with better graphics," he said. "The reason isn't because the industry is devoid of creative people, the reason is that the barrier to entry is so high, and the price to develop those new tools, as well as a title in the first quarter for release on a new platform, is so risky."

 

While Microsoft and Sony battle each other for dominance over new technology formats, Lanning believes that Nintendo is taking greater steps to expand gaming for developers, as well as consumers.

 

"Nintendo is showing some real intelligence and sensitivity in that respect because if you've developed on GameCube it's a pretty straightforward transition onto 'Nintendo next-gen', because the Wii is very similar but with more power.

 

"We could argue about whether it's enough power, but that's not the point. The point is that it should be an evolutionary process," he said.

 

The first half of the two-part interview with Lorne Lanning can be read on GamesIndustry.biz.

 

 

The question is will that technological race ever end? In Hollywood, you can now basically create everything with CGI.... for not very long. Since 5 years? I mean everything perfectly, not just "Looks good, but something's lacking". Doesn't mean we get better movies.

With games on the other hand, you have at least more elements (not just the visuals) that make the experience more exciting. AI in particular. Although nobody seems to make endeavours to pursue that direction. Graphics still sell better than smart NPCs, after all.

 

 

I'm wondering what Obsidian's two UE3-powered games (PNJ, PG) will have in stores for us. Yay or nay for us Obsidian fanboys? Even with the superior tools Unrealtech offers, will that also mean the game content will be superior?

[Diamond]

Visual perception accounts for 50% of information coming into the brain.

Hence better graphics is more important to make a first impression in order to make a sale.

 

Sad and simple.

 

P.S.

I don't see technological race ending in the near future (at least 2 years for sure).

[Morgoth]

Well currently it's all about getting better with graphics, wrting the code more efficiently to improve framerates and make the (art) tools more efficient. After photorealism is reached (if that is the goal), the industry will move on to get deeper with the content. Of course there're already companies like Valve that worry about multi-core solutions to create more interesting gameplay, but you need to convince the big boys like MS and Sony to make the push.

[Morgoth]

What potential improvement in tech me really interests is improvisational gameplay, adding a certain layer of unpredictability. That's what really excites me. I'm sure Bioshock is gonna be the king in that regard!

[Darque]

I have to agree, some companies are way to focused on "tech" and less so on the game itself.

[Arkan]

Even after "photo-realism" is achieved, tech companies will try to make it where you're actually in the game, ala a holosuite, or something similar (but to a lesser degree).