Controller Evolution

[Extra Consideration]

Controller Evolution

This week, MovieBob, Yahtzee, and James Portnow discuss the evolution of the controller and the difficulty in bringing non-gamers up to speed.

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[Fappy]

I don't know if I would go as far as to say gaming continuity is easier to get into than comic book continuity. Although this may be the case for some games, generally its not very hard to say, track down and play the entirety of the Halo franchise (sorry Bob!) than it is to understand every nuance and character arch associated with the current members of the Avengers (oh yeah, and which team?) without research the characters' pasts and recent universe events.

 

[Formica Archonis]

So, these installments are just segments of one epically long discussion thread? Wow.

(10 points to Moviebob for sneaking in a short movie review there.

Edit: Oh, yeah.

I watched two people fall in love over a game of Dance Central.

WHAT?

 

[czarevilsam]

there'll be no reason for companies NOT to put their back-catalogues online and rake in the microtransaction cash.

In terms of PC gaming at least, GoG.com can be said to already be fulfilling this purpose for a number of series. From Fallout to Duke Nukem, the old games that were the first games in these series are available digitally, compatible, and for a good price.

As for consoles, I don't really know much about that, but it doesn't seem to me like there's much out there for those games.

 

[i am not god]

The second to last post of James'. The last couple of paragraphs. Couldn't agree more. Wonderfully written.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Controllers and cloud gaming... interesting...

On the "back-catalog" point, a lot of the older games, primarily NES and older titles, had the problem of essentially being basic game mechanics (mostly-platformers) with half-cooked stories lumped onto them.

"Hey, let's have a princess get kidnapped by a turtle. Then, we'll have his Italian plumber boy friend try to rescue her." If you viewed this without any knowledge of the cultural significance, it would sound like an excuse to make a game rather than the basis for the most iconic franchise in history.

Just like it is hard to imagine the Cold War having known only the '90s and 2000s, the story-gap will probably be the most notable thing about gaming prior to the PS1 generation. I'll be honest, I can handle a game with a bad control scheme, but I can't handle a game without a plot.

Keep it up guys. I've seen many of your videos and articles and am looking forward to these conversations between you three.

 

[Meanmoose]

this is really great stuff, keep it up! you guys should consider doing a podcast I think =)

 

[RA92]

Oh dear...

Console gamers already see PC games being brought over to their platform being 'dumbed down' because of the constraints of the controllers. If the industry tries to cater to the novice to expand the market, won't they be simplifying the controllers even further if the current ones appear 'daunting' to a rookie?

 

[JEBWrench]

Why is it that whenever motion controls are brought up nobody mentions Flower?

That game is one of the most immersive gaming experiences I've ever had, and it works *because* of the motion controls.

 

[Irridium]

About older games and people discovering them, this is one reason why Good Old Games [http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/] exists.

Provides older games for $10 USD and under, all optimized for current systems, and no DRM, so there's little-to-no hassle in getting them to run.

Plenty of my friends have discovered great older games this way. And GoG's existence makes me happy.

As for console games, well the Wii Store has a HUGE storefront specifically for older Nintendo games. Plus its backwords compatable with Gamecube games. Although finding those games would be a challenge.

For MS & Sony, things are a bit more sad. Microsoft scrapped bringing Xbox games to the 360 long ago. They just don't seem to care anymore. Sony has put up quite a few old PS1 games on the Playstation Network, and is giving popular PS2 games HD remakes. For those that don't have HD remakes, well the PS2 is still around, and so are a lot of its games. And if you have any PS1 games, they're compatible with the PS3. But again, finding those games would be a challenge.

Still, I wish they would care more about older games. Specifically Microsoft. There's plenty of old Xbox games that I would love to get people today to play(like Timesplitters).

 

[Fappy]

I don't know if I would go as far as to say gaming continuity is easier to get into than comic book continuity. Although this may be the case for some games, generally its not very hard to say, track down and play the entirety of the Halo franchise (sorry Bob!) than it is to understand every nuance and character arch associated with the current members of the Avengers (oh yeah, and which team?) without research the characters' pasts and recent universe events.

your confusing superhero comics with the medium. Sure that is an obstacle to that sub-genre (and honestly its not actually necessary to do all the hunting around unless you want to, marvel writers have been learning to make jump on points recently so its kinda a null statement nowadays).

Equally you don't have to play any of the other halo's to understand halo 3 (mainly because the story is kill the evil aliens).

Yeah Halo is a bad example of plot complexity I know.

 

[The Imp]

Another week, another console focused episode. This sucks

 

[mjc0961]

and God forbid the Tutorial isn't 100% skippable or "hardcore" gamers are garaunteed to pitch a fit about it - as though it's inconcievable that people without their specific prior experience might want to play, too

What? You make it sound like there's something wrong with wanting a skip button, Bob. I have to disagree strongly: a skip button is what makes everyone happy.

If the tutorial is mandatory for everyone each time you start a new game, people who already know what they are doing are going to find it annoying.
If the tutorial doesn't exist, no players are going to get frustrated and turn the game off.
If the tutorial is there, but you can choose to skip it, experienced players can skip the tutorial and just play, while new players can take the extra time to pick up the basics.

With a skip button, everyone is happy. Every game tutorial should be skippable. It's just something that should be in every game these days, like an option for subtitles, and an in-game brightness adjuster so we don't have to change our TV's or monitor's settings if one game decides to be too dark or too bright by default.

 

[bobmus]

you guys should consider doing a podcast I think =)

Considering Yahtzee lives in Australia, and the other two presumably live in different parts of America, I suspect this would be one heck of a headache to do... :/

Also to quote James: 'Go back pre-DS and look at all the detractors who said a stylus was the worst input idea of all time...' - I can't stand a DS and would still say a stylus is the worst idea of all time...

OT: Have to agree with Yahtzee that game controllers will just become something people grow up understanding how to use, just as like a TV/DVD remote for today's youth (if you don't understand what I mean go watch your mum/dad/elderly neighbour/stalking victim attempt to play a DVD)

Great idea, very interesting to see what you guys have to say

 

[RTR]

People bonding over video games...
So beautiful

AAAAAAAAAANYWAY, great column this week. I love reading you guys go back and forth with these topics.

 

[Meanmoose]

you guys should consider doing a podcast I think =)

Considering Yahtzee lives in Australia, and the other two presumably live in different parts of America, I suspect this would be one heck of a headache to do... :/

I considered this...Then I was all like: You should have a few headaches for the betterment of the universe as a whole

 

[sir.rutthed]

I love the juxtaposition of the two most cynical people in gaming and a man with a very romantic view on gaming having a discussion about gaming stuff. Great read fellas.

 

[snowman6251]

I want to share two opinions on the things they discussed.

1. Motion controls. I think they, or at least the wii, was an absolutely worthwhile experiment. It might have ended up being the best thing that happened to gaming. It wasn't. Far from it. Motion controls, frankly, suck and BADLY. We need to drop them. They're a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

2. Cloud Gaming. I'm not huge on this either. I've used digital distribution services like steam and frankly I much prefer having a physical copy of my games. It's not just me liking "having" things either. Valve goes out of business, steam's servers go down, and I lose access to my games that I paid for. The same could be said for Onlive or any other similar service. I don't like that idea. I understand many game's online multiplayer will go down in the future but to lose access to the game entirely for similar reasons is a scary thought. I don't like that. I'd much rather just get a disk.

 

[Anachronism]

That said, I still think preserving our heritage and handing off the classic games to future generations has immeasurable value. It's sad how much of our medium's history has vanished amidst the march of progress. It impoverishes designers and future aficionados, and, in doing so, impoverishes the medium at large. It's a tragedy how much is already forever lost.

*applause*

Absolutely couldn't agree more. I used to not be a fan of digital distribution, but I'm getting more and more on its side as I've seen older games, which otherwise wouldn't run on modern operating systems, being released on them. GOG is the poster child for this, in my opinion, and the value of the work they do in preserving classic videogames is inestimable.

Videogames are the only medium which, up until recently, haven't made an effort to preserve their past. Books get reprinted, films get re-released on the newest format, comics get collected in trades, but old games have tended to languish in unplayability; at times, it seems like publishers have been in favour of their back catalogues becoming unplayable. The lack of backwards compatibility in the PS3 was a colossal error, in my opinion, and playing a pre-XP PC game on a modern computer is pretty much impossible without downloading a whole lot of user-made patches and fixes. God help you if it pre-dates Windows 95.

In short: I completely agree, and I think it's wonderful that services like GOG and, indeed, Steam, are now being used as a way of making old games playable again.