RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[Monte Carlo]

Station and generation rhyme. Keep up, I'm a gaming protest poet.

Edited March 16, 2011 by Monte Carlo

[entrerix]

Every genre is getting dumbed down for the Playstation Generation.

 

 

Demon's Souls was only released on a playstation. maybe its not playstations fault, but is the fault of the parents of the current 12-25 year older gaming generation

 

 

edit: do not take its deadly serious tone, deadly serious

Edited March 16, 2011 by entrerix

[Nightshape]

Operation Flashpoint Red River dev doesn't like military sims

 

I could have told you that.

 

They brought the guy in when Clive Lindop got pushed out.

 

Red River is just supposed to be a more serious gritty version of CoD, that's the desired direction, or atleast that's what the conversations I was having with the dev's boiled down to.

 

Also, PC gamers do moan alot... They're a very vocal minority.

Edited March 16, 2011 by Nightshape

[Malcador]

Also, PC gamers do moan alot... They're a very vocal minority.

 

With regards to ?

[Nightshape]

Also, PC gamers do moan alot... They're a very vocal minority.

 

With regards to ?

 

Anything thet don't like, like say DA 2...

[Malcador]

Well, was wondering how that figured into Lenton. DR's reaction from console folk was pretty mediocre as well.

[Niten_Ryu]

Also, PC gamers do moan alot... They're a very vocal minority.

 

When you're almost buried 6 feet deep and dirt is flying mid-air, no wonder that we whine and try to struggle to stay alive just bit longer. But outside few RTS games, MMOGs and casual facebook / flash crap, our goose is cooked. So tolerate us just bit longer before your all-console game Shangri-La.

 

Speaking of struggles and shifts in balance of power in games industry, mediocre Metacritic score (was it 75 or something like that) for Homefront plunge THQ's stock price down by 20%. THQ's reaction is to slash 10-20 dollars away from retail price. Dragon Age 2 Xbox360 version is just in the edge, at 80... anything bellow that will make stockholders nervous. But EA stock is already priced as such that investors don't expect massive hits (but not extreme losses either) - Stock is about same as it was in june 2000 or march 2009.

[Bos_hybrid]

Bethesda: 'people who say graphics dont matter are lying'

[Tale]

He's right and he's wrong. It's important to gain an audience's attention. It's not necessary for some specific individuals who make that claim.

 

It's the distinction "graphics don't matter (to the game's success)" and "graphics don't matter (to me)."

[pmp10]

people who think otherwise are lying

How dose that even make sense?

Edited March 17, 2011 by pmp10

[Gorth]

Is he talking about art direction or the amount of bloom/pixels they can throw at people?

 

Infinity Engine games still looks better than most 3d engine crpgs, yet that doesn't stop publishers from churning out one low detail 3D game after another, trying to save on assets

 

I guess I have to check the link eventually...

[WDeranged]

I've just noticed they got Stephen Merchant to do voice acting in Portal 2, that puts it to the top of my list.

[WDeranged]

Bethesda: 'people who say graphics dont matter are lying'

 

He's not wrong, artistic direction comes a very close second though, graphics are the first thing people see (ha!), you don't release audio clips, it's screenshots, it's got to be snappy if you're fishing in the mainstream.

[Hell Kitty]

Is he talking about art direction or the amount of bloom/pixels they can throw at people?

 

He talks about "good" graphics, so both.

 

I think plenty of people are lying, it's all too common to see people claim that graphics don't matter and then turn around and complain about low res textures and jaggies in the latest screenshots, but I also think there are plenty of people who just aren't able to appreciate visuals.

 

Infinity Engine games still looks better than most 3d engine crpgs

 

Hand drawn 2D art beats the pre-rendered 3D of the Infinity Engine any day of the week.

 

yet that doesn't stop publishers from churning out one low detail 3D game after another, trying to save on assets

 

You're sounding an awful lot like one of those folks who just isn't able to appreciate visuals... You make it sound as if 2D is the default option in game development, but outside of casual/mobile stuff I would imagine the opposite is true. Who is choosing 3D over 2D in an attempt to "save on assets"?

[Gorth]

You're sounding an awful lot like one of those folks who just isn't able to appreciate visuals... You make it sound as if 2D is the default option in game development, but outside of casual/mobile stuff I would imagine the opposite is true. Who is choosing 3D over 2D in an attempt to "save on assets"?

One of the original arguments I remember for dropping 2d in favour of 3d (like 10-15 years ago) was that it was cheaper just to create a 3d model that the engine could render in real time rather than having a horde of "painters" providing the art assets. Ironically the result wasn't cheaper graphics, just more sparsely populated (streamlined?) environments. Since the word "cheaper" was thrown around, noone dared suggesting using 2d artwork based titles to a publisher because you get shown the exit right away. 3d or nothing. 3d became the new black and was marketed as the thing every young hopeful game should aspire to purchase in order to be a cool kid. At least that's how my (occasionally) fuzzy memory keeps repeating it back to me. So it went the way of the Dodo, The Space Sim, 4X Games, The Isometric Perspective and Turnbased Tactical Squad Combat game.

[Nightshape]

Well, was wondering how that figured into Lenton. DR's reaction from console folk was pretty mediocre as well.

 

Yeah, that's no shock to me... I don't even know why it exists personally.

[Nightshape]

When you're almost buried 6 feet deep and dirt is flying mid-air, no wonder that we whine and try to struggle to stay alive just bit longer. But outside few RTS games, MMOGs and casual facebook / flash crap, our goose is cooked. So tolerate us just bit longer before your all-console game Shangri-La.

 

The problems with PC gaming, and PC gamers aren't anything to worry about. It's just some developers genuinely can't be bothered.

 

It won't sell enough copies to justify the development expenditure. That's a common one, along with the piracy angle.

 

Not that I agree, but I have noticed that PC SKU's tend to exist when someone is not only willing to fight for it, but also make it happen. That's how things seem to be in my experience, when you get the PC SKU, its a few developers on the team who've fought hammer and nail to make sure it happends, and they're usually the ones doing alot of the work. That said my experience is limited to a few products.

 

When I was at Codies, they dropped the PC SKU, for Bodycount, after about 6 months, I personally believe that was a terrible mistake, but it still happend.

[Hell Kitty]

One of the original arguments I remember for dropping 2d in favour of 3d (like 10-15 years ago) was that it was cheaper just to create a 3d model that the engine could render in real time rather than having a horde of "painters" providing the art assets.

 

When 3D graphics looked like this:

 

 

perhaps, but today? No way.

 

Ironically the result wasn't cheaper graphics, just more sparsely populated (streamlined?) environments.

 

Streamlined definitely isn't the right word here. The environments were sparsely populated because the 3D technology of the time was so limited. Sure, there was a time where things like 3D and FMV were often used because they were an exciting new fad, but those days are long gone, and I'm surprised that people still think it's the case. It'd be like thinking that the use of colour in film is a pointless fad. Games like Midwinter 2 (pictured), Thief, and Deus Ex use 3D because they offer an experience that can't be replicated in 2D.

[Gorth]

I've only played Midwinter (not the sequel), haven't tried Thief and Deus Ex

 

'Elite' was probably the first game where I thought that here was something you couldn't do with 2D. Would I be nitpicking if I emphasized the "dropping 2d in favour of 3d" part, I.e. where 3 dimensions isn't really a requirement for the game mechanics, yet was chosen in order to pitch a game idea anyway?

[Nightshape]

Mostly the 3D over 2D thing was related to memory consumption.

[Hell Kitty]

Would I be nitpicking if I emphasized the "dropping 2d in favour of 3d" part

 

That assumes 2d is the default choice, when I'd say the opposite is true.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Bethesda: 'people who say graphics dont matter are lying'

 

Yes and no. It's really weird that a company that has a fairly successful title under their belt that looks very bad (Fallout: New Vegas) would say that, but then again, it's a title that has special circumstances surrounding it (a strong brand, fairly quick sequel to a very very successful title, etc.). That said, it's not like that for every kind of game, but it certainly is like that for THEIR game since they tout "immersion" as the most important feature.

[Slowtrain]

Bethesda: 'people who say graphics dont matter are lying'

 

 

Nope, he's wrong.

 

There are some people, such as myself, who have been around long enough and played enough games to understand that no amount of awesome graphics ever made a bad game good. Not once. Not ever.

 

All Hines has to do is look in his own backyard at Bethie's total POS game Oblivion to see this truth.

[Hell Kitty]

There are some people, such as myself, who have been around long enough and played enough games to understand that no amount of awesome graphics ever made a bad game good.

 

Where are you getting this? Did you even click the link? No one is claiming that good graphics make a bad game good.

[Malcador]

Just so you don't have to click on the site

 

Bethesda's VP of Marketing, Pete Hines, has stated that good graphics in a game are important as it creates "a sense of immersion", and says that people who think otherwise are lying.

 

"There's a lot of people who say graphics don't matter. To them I usually say 'you're lying'," Hines said in an interview with Official Xbox Magazine via CVG.

 

"[People] will look at a screenshot and make a snap decision: 'that looks awesome', or 'I'm not interested'. So if you can make something look amazing just at first glance, it's so much easier to get them." Hines then said that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the company's upcoming RPG, is "looking for the best sense of immersion you can get".

 

Skyrim is scheduled for a release date of November 11th 2011.

 

I've never looked at a screenshot and thought a game was disinteresting, I must be odd, heh.