Game Industry Innovation GameSpot Article

Skylander7

Skylander7

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Anybody else read this article:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141519.html

It's pretty interesting, as it has alot from Tim Schaffer in it (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, etc). I've got alot of respect for him, from his prior Lucasarts releases.

Innovation is truly dying in gaming, as fewer risks are being taken in fear of financial disaster certain for games that show new ideas (just look at Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, etc). The gaming industy has become much more of an "industry" as it was in the old days... hell, when you have Forbes analyzing game company stocks, it tells you something.

If it was previously posted, my apologies. However, I thought it would make a good discussion topic. What do you think?
 
Yea, I think the same thing. I like Nintendo for there upcoming console by taking a chance. A reaally big chance other companies wouldn't take. Just like the article states companies won't do it since its a great financial risk so they just re hash the games over and over again until they become a series like Mario Party.
 
This is why, for the most part, EA and companies like it are a detriment to the gaming industry.

Innovation gets swallowed up as soon as publishers see what sells (those titles and genres being safe to publish), and mimics; an endless cycle.
 
[quote name='pimpinc333']Yea, I think the same thing. I like Nintendo for there upcoming console by taking a chance. A reaally big chance other companies wouldn't take. Just like the article states companies won't do it since its a great financial risk so they just re hash the games over and over again until they become a series like Mario Party.[/QUOTE]


You know, that's the thing that excites me about the Revolution. Innovation may be discouraged, but it hasn't been encouraged by such a big banker as Nintendo before. I'm hoping they breathe fresh air into the industry. Nintendo is quickly becomming the "Apple" of video gaming.
 
[quote name='Skylander7']You know, that's the thing that excites me about the Revolution. Innovation may be discouraged, but it hasn't been encouraged by such a big banker as Nintendo before. I'm hoping they breathe fresh air into the industry. Nintendo is quickly becomming the "Apple" of video gaming.[/QUOTE]

Yea I can't wait since about 3/4 of the gamers when they saw the Revo Controller almost kicked a baby since it wasn't a mainstream controller.
 
This is nobody's fault but the consumer's. If more people bought the innovative games at full price, they'd make more innovative games.
 
I'm ashamed of myself for not buying Psychonauts until now. I started playing it last night and it has a swet Tim Burton/Disney feel going for it. Poor Tim Schaffer, he just can't catch a friggin' break. That being said, the more innovative games are usually the shortest, and I can't find it in myself to down $50 on an eight hour game. I think the DS is a good remedy for this in that the max price for a new game is about $35 and it already has a great selection.
 
[quote name='evanft']This is nobody's fault but the consumer's. If more people bought the innovative games at full price, they'd make more innovative games.[/QUOTE]

That's just it. No one wants to risk $50 on a game that haven't heard of before. They would rather feel the "comfort" of a name brand like "James Bond" or "Tony Hawk"

Can't say I really blame them. $50 is a lot of money to invest on something you are unsure about.
 
[quote name='Scahom1']That's just it. No one wants to risk $50 on a game that haven't heard of before. They would rather feel the "comfort" of a name brand like "James Bond" or "Tony Hawk"

Can't say I really blame them. $50 is a lot of money to invest on something you are unsure about.[/QUOTE]


True, But the Tony Hawk and James Bond series don't really make any feel comfortable anymore. They need to try some new stuff out.
 
I love games that try something new even if they suck as a final product. However I agree that companies are afraid of losing money and that is understandable. We as humans are creatures of habit that is why strange or new things hardly ever succeed.
 
I think everyone likes something new and original, but it's always harder to get into than something that you already are familiar with. I was part of a huge art show featuring video games as the art peices and alot of people from the art world really responded positively to creative games. More and more there seems to be a small rebelion of emerging game artists... the problem is that we need more of them.
 
I always wonder why games cost so much to develop. On top of which, there must be many ways to cut costs on games. If the main costs for games come in the form of polish, extras, environment/mood and other such non-game parts, I think it's necessary to refocus on what parts of the game are necessary to spend money on, and what parts of the game are just fluff.

We should all know that games like Psychonauts aren't going to sell as well as a game like GTA for many reasons. THere's no reason to spend the same amount of money on production if we know it's not going to return the same amount of money.

Risks are great in this sort of industry. High-Stakes risks, on the other hand, are not, since they will make or break a team. In this sort of industry, baby steps are necessary, or cheaper games (I'm sure katamari sold well by virtue of how inexpensive it was. We heart katamari sold as well as it did by virtue of name recognition).

I can also point to smaller games, such as Amplitude or Frequency, which, more than likely, did not cost a whole lot to create.

Personally, i don't think that EA is that big of a bane on the industry as a whole. There have been quite a few different games they've made. NFSU2 created a different type of environment for racing. Burnout 3 was a totally different arcade Racer than just about any other around.
 
[quote name='capitalist_mao']I'm sure katamari sold well by virtue of how inexpensive it was. [/QUOTE]

I would agree it was $20 bucks and a lot of people who read games mag probably picked it up cause it received high ratings. People look at a game like that, great ratings and cheap, whats to lose. However something like Psychonauts was $50 and it got 7's and up. People don't want to take a risk yes great reviews but its $50. With something that is $50 and you can't really get all of your money back people are not as willing to try it out. Most people if paying $50 for a game its going to be something they know or have tried and liked.
 
Maybe if they spent some marketing money on sending out Psychonauts demos they may have gotten better sales. Was there a demo in OPM ? I don't remember it. In fact, I don't even remember hearing anything about this game except when it launched for Xbox. I didn't even know it was coming out for the PS2 until I saw it on the shelf a few months later.

And come on, is Psychonauts really any different from the standard platform fare ? All games are basically the same anyway. Here's your cute furry avatar, jump to platform A, shoot enemy B, collect coin C. Yawn...
 
[quote name='bmulligan']Maybe if they spent some marketing money on sending out Psychonauts demos they may have gotten better sales. Was there a demo in OPM ? I don't remember it. In fact, I don't even remember hearing anything about this game except when it launched for Xbox. I didn't even know it was coming out for the PS2 until I saw it on the shelf a few months later.

And come on, is Psychonauts really any different from the standard platform fare ? All games are basically the same anyway. Here's your cute furry avatar, jump to platform A, shoot enemy B, collect coin C. Yawn...[/QUOTE]

They did show a quite a few commericals. Enough that even someone like me who rarely watches TV saw one.
 
New games that are 20 bucks will always do better than a full priced game. Great examples are Katamari Damacy, Guilty Gear (Xbox), and Phantom Dust. All of these were great games that I would have never picked up at 50 bucks.

On another quick note, anyone know why I would've gone from a CAG Veteran to a CAG in Training??
 
I know all about the new system but that's what made me a veteran in the first place. I've been a veteran since it changed over to the new system and now today I get pushed back to a CAG in Training? I thought I did something wrong or pissed somebody off with some of my posts the last few days... Anything else on the boards that could explain this?
 
[quote name='depascal22']I know all about the new system but that's what made me a veteran in the first place. I've been a veteran since it changed over to the new system and now today I get pushed back to a CAG in Training? I thought I did something wrong or pissed somebody off with some of my posts the last few days... Anything else on the boards that could explain this?[/QUOTE]
Cheapy changed the title system to be reflective of one's time as a member of CAG, not based on the amount of posts you've made, at least not just on posts. Those that didn't get to 1k posts were subjected to the new titles, and those that've been here for a year got the ability to use custom titles. CAG veterans under the new systems have to be here for about 9 months or have 250+ posts, which you don't fall under either category, so you're a CAG in Training. You didn't piss anyone off to get the title.
 
Innovation is why I was looking forward the DS when Nintendo announced it. But when I looked at the launch line-up, I was disappointed by games since they did not interest me at all. But now, it's a different story. There are so many great DS games and nearly all of them offer something new in terms of gameplay!:)

I'm hoping the Revolution is the same way except I hope it starts out with a bang once people see that they're paying money for the same old thing on the other two consoles (unless they get some fresh games going for them).
 
Well the DS was rushed to get out before PSP (so were the games) so that was Nintendo's fault.
However, with some dev's already having kits we'll most likely see lots of cheap first gen games and a couple of AAA from Nintendo. I'm hoping anyway.

Innovation seems to be dying now, but that is because gamers seem to be stuck on certain genres. When gamers get tired of the popular bloated genre's they move on to a new genre and then it gets populated with new games and ideas, then wash, rinse, repeat.
The Revolution should bring about new genre's (in theory). It's all up to the developers though.

I do have more hope for new IPs this next gen. With being able to just download demo's and all.
 
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