Poll: Have games started getting more innovative?

[crimson5pheonix]

Now I want to get this out of the way first, yes I know that there are plenty of sequels. Don't point that out as a counter point by itself.

Now here's where I'm inferring this. The last generation didn't have too much innovation in it. Most of the innovation came at the end of it's life after some of the new consoles had been released. But this generation, there have been numerous innovative games. Look at Little Big Planet, Mirror's Edge, and The World Ends with You. There were also late in life innovative games for the old generation like Okami and Shadow of the Colossus.

Do you think that innovation is starting to come back to video games?

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Absolutely not.

 

[Arsen]

Some titles are more innovative however the evolution of the gameplay experience itself is lacking quite a bit.

 

[curlycrouton]

Coming back? Creativity always existed in games. Well, the majority.

 

[Baby Tea]

It's a big maybe.

Innovation is coming back, but what we are seeing is the early mistakes before the goods really start rolling in.

Mirror's Edge? It was ok. No replay value (Or very little, at best). But darn innovative. STep in the right direction, but not the whole journey.

Little Big Planet? I personally haven't played it, but from what I hear across the interwebs is that it's a fun game, but the staying power seems to be lacking (Which is odd/too bad, considering it was supposed to be the PS3's killer app). Again: great step, not the journey.

I could continue, but the point is this: Certainly there are new innovations coming out mixed in with the piles of 'samey' crap that pollutes the game market, but we won't see the real impact or innovations until more developers are willing to take the leap of faith with more ideas. For now they are just stuck with 'Well it sold last year, let's sell it again, but 'new'.

Think of it like a model for a car: Every year they come out with the same crap that is barely an upgrade from the previous year and call it the 'all new' game part 5 or whatever. What we need is for more companies to finally just say: 'Let's start fresh. Let's do something different.'

 

[xitel]

It's a big maybe.

Innovation is coming back, but what we are seeing is the early mistakes before the goods really start rolling in.

Mirror's Edge? It was ok. No replay value (Or very little, at best). But darn innovative. STep in the right direction, but not the whole journey.

Little Big Planet? I personally haven't played it, but from what I hear across the interwebs is that it's a fun game, but the staying power seems to be lacking (Which is odd/too bad, considering it was supposed to be the PS3's killer app). Again: great step, not the journey.

I could continue, but the point is this: Certainly there are new innovations coming out mixed in with the piles of 'samey' crap that pollutes the game market, but we won't see the real impact or innovations until more developers are willing to take the leap of faith with more ideas. For now they are just stuck with 'Well it sold last year, let's sell it again, but 'new'.

Think of it like a model for a car: Every year they come out with the same crap that is barely an upgrade from the previous year and call it the 'all new' game part 5 or whatever. What we need is for more companies to finally just say: 'Let's start fresh. Let's do something different.'

I have to agree. What we're seeing is innovation beginning to start returning. It's just like the movie industry. I can remember last year and the year before not hearing about a single movie that wasn't either a) a sequel, b) a remake, or c) another mindless crappy horror movie.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

It's a big maybe.

Innovation is coming back, but what we are seeing is the early mistakes before the goods really start rolling in.

Mirror's Edge? It was ok. No replay value (Or very little, at best). But darn innovative. STep in the right direction, but not the whole journey.

Little Big Planet? I personally haven't played it, but from what I hear across the interwebs is that it's a fun game, but the staying power seems to be lacking (Which is odd/too bad, considering it was supposed to be the PS3's killer app). Again: great step, not the journey.

I could continue, but the point is this: Certainly there are new innovations coming out mixed in with the piles of 'samey' crap that pollutes the game market, but we won't see the real impact or innovations until more developers are willing to take the leap of faith with more ideas. For now they are just stuck with 'Well it sold last year, let's sell it again, but 'new'.

Think of it like a model for a car: Every year they come out with the same crap that is barely an upgrade from the previous year and call it the 'all new' game part 5 or whatever. What we need is for more companies to finally just say: 'Let's start fresh. Let's do something different.'

Which is why I said starting. But this is my sentiment (so don't get me wrong), we aren't going to have Iron Ninja and Gerald yet, but it's starting to happen. Incidentally, Iron Ninja, are you making a game about yourself?

 

[darthzew]

Yes and no. No in that there are so many sequels out there.

But yes in that games like Portal or Mirror's Edge exist. I mean, yes, Mirror's Edge sucked but as Yahtzee put it, at least they experimented.

 

[DangerChimp]

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Yes and No. There is a balance. I mean yes we're making prince of persia after prince of persia, but now we just have that for name recognition - now he's some final fantasy headwrap wearing guy who travels with some mystical lady who doesn't wear shoes (cuz she's magic).

GTA IV - put that title on your game, and you have 600 million dollar profit in week one. I don't think people give that much of a shit about "Originality" - they would prefer "as long as it's good, I don't care that it's in World War 2."

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Coming back? Creativity always existed in games. Well, the majority.

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

There! Fixed! Innovative is the word i was looking for. I don't want any more quotes about creativity and that all (or almost all) games have creativity, that's not the point of this poll.

 

[SmoothGlover]

Part of the problem is that a truly innovative game needs a lot of money behind it (advertising, working up the hype, etc.) But there aren't many companies willing to gamble such a large amount of money when they're guaranteed some money back by releasing "Insert Yahtzee made up generic game title here".


Hopefully when the 360 and PS3 come out with their own wii controllers we'll get to see something that might be new. Although, lets be honest. We probably wont. (not saying that the wii has not been innovative, just saying that with the 'Big Three' all producing motion sensing games, then maybe, just maybe, someone will make 'THE GAME OF THE FUTURE'.)

 

[almo]

Nah, innovation has always been around. It's just that when you have an "industry" it's necessary for a large number of people to pay their mortgages from it. That means doing what you know works, which is often not innovative.

 

[runtheplacered]

The platforms in which we play our games are definitely starting to get more innovative. Motion sensitivity, larger disc capacities, downloadable content and customizable user created content.

Now, as far as whether games are trying to get more creative with the content that's included, I wouldn't particularly think it's any more then any other time in gaming history. Games themselves have evolved fairly rapidly in relation to other forms of media. But, as far as I can recall it's always been that way and in my opinion we have yet to hit our peak.

 

[DirkGently]

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

Y'know, maybe Halo 3 sold like crazy because it was fun. I'll never understand why people are so down on it. Why can't we have games as deep as the Marianas Trench and games as deep as a swimming pool? I'm all for a seriously deep game, but I don't know if I want that at the loss of simple fun games like Halo.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

Y'know, maybe Halo 3 sold like crazy because it was fun. I'll never understand why people are so down on it. Why can't we have games as deep as the Marianas Trench and games as deep as a swimming pool? I'm all for a seriously deep game, but I don't know if I want that at the loss of simple fun games like Halo.

Halo 3 sold well because it was built on a brand name. My friends who own it play Halo 2 more than Halo 3.

 

[DangerChimp]

Y'know, maybe Halo 3 sold like crazy because it was fun. I'll never understand why people are so down on it. Why can't we have games as deep as the Marianas Trench and games as deep as a swimming pool? I'm all for a seriously deep game, but I don't know if I want that at the loss of simple fun games like Halo.

I think you're totally right. I love Marianas-deep games, but I would never part with my copy of Gears 2, which I got on launch day.

Games have to be fun. The way to arrive at fun is to experiment, and you can't experiment if you're not creative and original. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Lucifus]

In the days of old games were a lot more experimental but then gaming was a new idea back then. Now however the ideas have started to dry up. However more recently things have been looking up again.

 

[DirkGently]

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

Y'know, maybe Halo 3 sold like crazy because it was fun. I'll never understand why people are so down on it. Why can't we have games as deep as the Marianas Trench and games as deep as a swimming pool? I'm all for a seriously deep game, but I don't know if I want that at the loss of simple fun games like Halo.

Halo 3 sold well because it was built on a brand name. My friends who own it play Halo 2 more than Halo 3.

Those are your friends. What about all the people playing it right now? Surely they bought and play it because they have fun playing it. I mean, I don't I play it much; I am not in the habit of playing it, so I don't do well and don't have the patience to re-learn it. I do play the campaign on occasion when the mood strikes, though. Of course, your friends could just be playing Halo 2 because they like to BXR and BXB as well as the bullet magnetism and all that stuff. I don't mean to start anything but the people I know who still play H2 do so mainly because of that stuff.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

To make even the hokiest, most cliched and unoriginal piece of gaming dreck one needs a degree of creativity. So, in other words, creativity has never left the gaming industry.

There has, instead, been a choking of it. This is in large part driven by what sells -- which, in many cases, is hoky, cliched, unoriginal dreck like Halo 3. There wasn't a single original concept in that game, yet it sold better than sliced bread.

Until we decide we prefer depth of story, cogent narrative and exciting gameplay with none of the three sacrificed for the others, we will continue to see the choking of creativity in full effect.

I, for one, remain hopeful. After all, there are tons of games like Mirror's Edge, Fable 2, Portal and dozens of others that try to break the mold and do something original.

Y'know, maybe Halo 3 sold like crazy because it was fun. I'll never understand why people are so down on it. Why can't we have games as deep as the Marianas Trench and games as deep as a swimming pool? I'm all for a seriously deep game, but I don't know if I want that at the loss of simple fun games like Halo.

Halo 3 sold well because it was built on a brand name. My friends who own it play Halo 2 more than Halo 3.

Those are your friends. What about all the people playing it right now? Surely they bought and play it because they have fun playing it. I mean, I don't I play it much; I am not in the habit of playing it, so I don't do well and don't have the patience to re-learn it. I do play the campaign on occasion when the mood strikes, though. Of course, your friends could just be playing Halo 2 because they like to BXR and BXB as well as the bullet magnetism and all that stuff. I don't mean to start anything but the people I know who still play H2 do so mainly because of that stuff.

Yeah, but if you cut out the sails of people who went back to Halo 2, Halo 3 probably would have sold poorly. I don't know if my friends play Halo 2 for those reasons though, I don't play either.