I think that Microsoft, and maybe Nintendo, have realized that the AAA game studios have forced a stagnant situation on the industry. Games cost so much to make now that trying new things becomes more and more risky, and yet, not doing anything new forces the market to split profits among a bunch of like games that come out near eachother.... do I pick this racing game, that one, or the other one, when they are really just like my old one with slightly better graphics... more and more people are waiting for the prices to come down to 20$ or less and making it even harder to be successful with any title...
essentially... the cost to make a game goes up faster than the cost of technology... so while the games can DO more, it must cost more to PRODUCE them. what once took a team of 5 to do, now takes teams of 50 or more... Not because the quality of things is higher, but because the number of things is higher...
A great example is Morrowing to Oblivion...
They are basically the same game... minor differences, but Oblivion could have easily been made for the Xbox and not Xbox 360... however it has much MORE... and not in a way that really matters when you get down to it..... there are more objects with more polygons and more faces and weapons and armors and dungeons and more wilderness and more textures and more more more... and it all costs money.... in reality.. the only thing Oblivion does that morrowind -couldn't- is the AI... and I'm not so sure it couldn't have been done...
Oblivion had to look like it does... thats what we expect... thats what the industry drives us to expect... People weren't getting tired of their xbox and ps2... they were getting tired of the same game over and over... and they weren't excited for the next gen for any reason other than that it might offer something NEW
even if what is new is the graphics.... which so far is ALL that is new with the 360... and most games didn't even get that right...
All the things I was ecited for didn't happen yet.... interfaceless games, new gameplay driven by the power of the system... graphics driven gameplay (like the how Fight Night's supposed to have, where you can see stuff in the players faces)
What does this all add up to? An industry that needs something freash and a way to get it to the people.... And when a game of Xbox Live Arcade becomes popular and doesn't something new... maybe even makes a new genre.... you better believe the big companies will have more made... with better graphics... and large breasted near-nude girls, and lots of blood.
essentially... the cost to make a game goes up faster than the cost of technology... so while the games can DO more, it must cost more to PRODUCE them. what once took a team of 5 to do, now takes teams of 50 or more... Not because the quality of things is higher, but because the number of things is higher...
A great example is Morrowing to Oblivion...
They are basically the same game... minor differences, but Oblivion could have easily been made for the Xbox and not Xbox 360... however it has much MORE... and not in a way that really matters when you get down to it..... there are more objects with more polygons and more faces and weapons and armors and dungeons and more wilderness and more textures and more more more... and it all costs money.... in reality.. the only thing Oblivion does that morrowind -couldn't- is the AI... and I'm not so sure it couldn't have been done...
Oblivion had to look like it does... thats what we expect... thats what the industry drives us to expect... People weren't getting tired of their xbox and ps2... they were getting tired of the same game over and over... and they weren't excited for the next gen for any reason other than that it might offer something NEW
even if what is new is the graphics.... which so far is ALL that is new with the 360... and most games didn't even get that right...
All the things I was ecited for didn't happen yet.... interfaceless games, new gameplay driven by the power of the system... graphics driven gameplay (like the how Fight Night's supposed to have, where you can see stuff in the players faces)
What does this all add up to? An industry that needs something freash and a way to get it to the people.... And when a game of Xbox Live Arcade becomes popular and doesn't something new... maybe even makes a new genre.... you better believe the big companies will have more made... with better graphics... and large breasted near-nude girls, and lots of blood.