The great video game 'crumple' of 201x?

[Slothy]

Yes I did play through the game but to be fair to MGS4, I only played it once

I wasn't really questioning whether you played it since I knew you had, only that it not changing much from MGS isn't the reaction I expect from someone who played the entire game at least once, let alone more times. My point was really only that I've never seen a game merge so many disparate play styles so well. I played through it several times like it was a third person shooter, a stealth game, siding with the various factions, etc. and each was a substantially different experience. You don't really get that in any game, so that it was done so well utterly floored me.

I think motion controls might have a future in gaming. Will it replace the standard controller? Not very likely but I can see it being a feature built into future console generations, especially something like Natal.

I also feel that they create a level of immersion that is lacking in standard controllers. There is just something a bit more satisfying about swinging the Wii mote to instigate the final kill in No More Heroes that I don't feel a standard controller could ever have given me.

I agree with this statement up until you mention Natal. Because honestly, the biggest reason I see motion controls never working in any current form that they exist in is because of a lack of sufficient physical feedback. Our bodies and brains expect physical feedback when making the motions required of us for the purposes games ask of us but we never get it. Physical feedback is an integral part in reacting to swords clanging together, steering a car, or dribbling a ball but we get none of that feedback from Natal and almost none from the Wii-mote.

I'll agree that the actual motions feel more natural and immersive, but that immersion has always been immediately broken for me because of the lack of physical feedback. Because without it, everything in Wii Sports was based as much on luck and randomly swinging the controller as anything else and Mario Kart Wii was utterly unplayable with the motion controls. I agree there's potential in some genres and game markets for motion control, but until they workout the problem of physical feedback I have no problem saying that I don't think it will ever reach it's potential.

I won't argue that Nintendo has done very little in terms of innovating their major franchises and yes, Sony is definetly one of the better companies out there when you start to stack together their indiviadual games but I ask you where does their console design lead the industry? Heavy Rain for example is basically the PC adventure games of old (its been called the spiritual successor to Indigo Prophecy) it is hardly dependent on the technology of Sony or the PS3 to be the game it is.

I disagree actually. Were the developers not able to utilize the technology to make Heavy Rain look as good as it did and build the atmosphere as well as they did I don't think it would have worked as well. Not that lesser hardware can't make immersive games, but I honestly think that the sheer realism of it's settings helped to elevate the immersive qualities inherent in the gameplay.

But for a much better example, I can really just name Portal. By no means is Portal a technical powerhouse, but it couldn't have been made ten years ago in the form it's in. Not only is there some complex physics going on with the portalless games anyway, but I don't think anything could have handled some of the workarounds they had to make to get the physics working through portals if they tried to do it ten years ago, and certainly not 15 or 20 years ago. And even if you don't think GTAIV is innovative (I don't think it is nor do I like it), but it's hard to say it didn't benefit from more power by creating a much more believable and immersive world. And a more recent example of Battlefield Bad Company 2; it literally wouldn't be the game it was without the massive environments, seamless environmental destruction and vehicles, all of which would be difficult or impossible to integrate so seamlessly on 5 year old hardware let alone ten year old hardware. I could probably come up with more examples of games that legitimately benefit from more power, but I just woke up and thinking is hard.

But really, I'm not trying to say that hardware is required to innovate, but it certainly removes barriers to innovation so developers can more easily realize their game whether it's an innovative masterpiece or an iterative step forward.

This was what I was trying to point out with my second response about gamers sending the wrong message to developers, when you start to stack the best games from each console and the rare awesome gems like Ico, Okami, Katamari Damacy, and other great titles, you quickly realize they only make up a small percentage of the whole gaming library.

I won't disagree with you on that, but given the rise of the indie scene I think we're actually able to see the second coming of more innovative game design since game development is so much more accessible. That said, when it comes to innovation on consoles, I really don't think we're any worse off now than we were even on the SNES as far as innovation. I mean a lot of great games came out in that era, but how many can you think of that were truly innovative and didn't just make incremental steps in already established genres? I'm having trouble thinking of many right now.

I think my rant is partly due to how underwhelmed I am with the PS3. I've played the system off on and on since it came out, finally picked one up for myself a few months back, picked up a few titles I've been interested in and have not felt the desire to touch it since I finished FFXIII. Even going into game stores, I spend less time in the PS3 section cause there is very little in terms of games I want to own. I've played through MGS4 and despite my ranting, I really did like the game but I have no real motivation to go through it again and I have not felt a need to play the game since I finished it. I'm not sure what's up with me lately...

I can't blame you for getting through FFXIII and not wanting to touch a console (any console). It's pretty easy to lose any desire to play games after too much time with that.

But the PS3 has some legitimately awesome and creative titles even if not all of them are over flowing with innovation. I'd be happy to make some recommendations if you'd like (though that's probably best left outside of the thread).

Also, Portal is free on the PC and Mac until the 24th. If you haven't already then get it.