Games the Industry NEEDS.

[BentNeatly]

I'd like to begin with a quote I've found online in reference to surveys taken on gamers and gaming.

"In 2008, the average American gamer has been playing for 12 years, and is now, on average, 35 years of age."

If you fit into this group, as i do, i want to ask you a question.

Are you bored?

I, for one, am. The video game market is mirroring the movie market, which ironically enough... is mimicking the video game market. What i mean by that is that this is an era of remakes and sequels. Our Protagonists today are almost always one of two things. Suave, or ripped. They are either Phoenix from Gears of war, or Drake from Uncharted, apologies if i get the names wrong, I've played very little of either.

But i know you get my gist, because its been said before. Big men, big appeal, big armor, big guns, big swords. And that's ok, on a certain level. Most women in games are shaped like coke bottles, ones pinched in the middle, so of course the men of games might as well be build like stone idols.

But i for one am bored. I am 20, not 35 like my quote states, and have been gaming since i got an old used NES. I loved, starfox for the N64, and where the hell has a game like that gone? I loved Jet Force Gemini, when you could play as a dog who would later be settled in a jet boosting tank frame. Where is he?

There are no foxes and dogs. There are no flawed Protagonists. Not on the multi million billion dollar front at least.

So i propose these questions to you, the readers, the gamers.

Are you bored?
And if you are, what games on the horizon do you pray will break the monotony?


My answer is red dead redemption.
Months ago i posted my thoughts on why the gaming industry needed this western to be one of the more kickass things to be created in years, and today i stand by that point. You can find the original post here.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.114525-Do-we-NEED-Red-Dead-Redemption

And i think most view points expressed therein are still legit, especially those spoken by Russ Pitts.

So what do you pray for? what do we need? speak it up, because i think it's important.

 

[Ekonk]

The indie and mod scene is were it's at. Creativity is almost solely found there today. Check out "Dear Esther", which is more of a story than an actual game, or "Korsakovia", both Half-Life 2 mods, both awesome and different, the first one haunting, the second mind-fuckingly frightening.

So yeah, for creativity, find yourself some mods. Because people only will make what sells good, and what sells good is men with big guns etc.

 

[Alarien]

Err, no, I do fit in the demographic, except I've been gaming for a lot longer than 12 years, and I am not "bored."

Yes, most games are insipid crap. However, I remember the old days of PC gaming when PC games were as numerous and stupid as Wii games and I think that overall, the quality of titles has improved.

Has innovation? That's debateable, but it's like books. Have books innovated at all in the last... ohh... 1500 years? Not much, but there are still damned good books worth reading.

It's all about the presentation. Is the game fun? Is the story interesting? Is the atmosphere engaging? The game could be a complete re-tread of ideas but if those things fit and I am enjoying myself, then I'm happy.

We've probably seen most of the ideas for games at this point, at least given modern technical limitations, but I have yet to not be able to find at least 5-10 games a year that make me think "wow, this is why I love my hobby."

Just in the last year: all of which are NOT original ideas:

Mass Effect 2
Assassin's Creed 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Left 4 Dead 2 (well, ok, mostly because I started playing 1 a ton with my wife a year ago)
Rock Band: The Beatles
Prototype
Demon's Souls
Bioshock 2

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

The games the industry needs, are the ones floating around in my cranium.

Its just a shame I can't actually be bothered to actually go through the horrid processes that are programming and sprite drawing/model making! XD

 

[Subzerowings]

I have been gaming for 12 years but unfortunately I'm only 15 years old so I'm not in your demografic. Nevertheless I'm not bored at all! I'm riding the waves of awesomeness and difficulty of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and plowing my way through Cross Edge and Disgaea 3. There are still new IP's on the horizon and while creativity runs dry, quality doesn't.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

The answer to boredom is Red Dead Redemption! Seriously, this sounds like a viral advert.

I've been playing games for 25 years and there are still plenty of games that I enjoy playing even if I don't enjoy a lot of them as much as the younger members of this site.

 

[Kryzantine]

Have books innovated at all in the last... ohh... 1500 years? Not much, but there are still damned good books worth reading.

I wouldn't say this. Edgar Allen Poe was less than 2 centuries ago and a sizable majority of his writing was innovative. George Orwell can certainly be described as innovative. Let's not forget Mark Twain and his advancement in adventure. There are a LOT of innovations in literature, even in, and especially in the modern world.

That said, I'm waiting on Alan Wake and Alpha Protocol; the former for its story, the latter hoping to get my assassin fix in order.

 

[cheese_wizington]

The high five game, you walk around giving people high fives.

 

[Alarien]

I think we are approaching the idea of "innovative" differently. Writing an amazing story is not innovative to me, nor is inventing a new genre of literature (for example, Tolkien practically invented the High Fantasy genre) Literature on the whole is more or less what it has been mostly since the Romance era.

Just like I don't think you are being "innovative" by having an amazingly good story or atmosphere. For example, I don't think Bioshock was innovative at all, I just think it was outrageously good at presenting a fun and intriguing atmosphere and plot. The gameplay was rather sloppy and derivative.

For me,innovation in gaming means presenting more than just a story or atmosphere, which is all literature is about. Rather, innovation is in inventing a whole new mechanic or style of game.

A lot of people thought God of War was innovative for its integration of QTE's (which are now overdone to death), but really QTE's are just a mechanic straight out of the 1980s (Dragon's Lair anyone?).

I would argue that being innovative is more creating something so radically different either in a new genre or an existing genre, as to completely change how you approach a game. Is Heavy Rain innovative? Hell no, from what I've seen. It's just a pretty version of a Monkey Island style point and click. That's not bad, but it's not innovative, just updated.

So what is innovative? Well, hell, you got me there. Going through all of my games, I am having a hard time finding something that wasn't mostly derivative in some form or another.

That's not a bad thing though, so long as it's just done well and entertaining, because, in the end, gaming is about fun, moreso than anything else.