We Need a Renaissance

Let's face it: the industry's needs change. I'm not going to lie and say we saw some good things coming from this generation of games so far (some would even argue that this is the best generation yet), but it seems that all this horsepower, people have stopped watching the game the way the game is meant to be looked at.

I know countless people who will take one look at the screen shot of the game and judge it based on its graphics. If the graphics look like they could be done on the PS2, the game is crap. Period. I'm not going to lie, I do from time to time. This is a problem that has been running rampant this generation and it scares the hell out of me. Purely from a game standpoint, I see the failure or success gamings which is measured by its graphics. Quite simply, a game that has amazing graphics will certainly do far more than a successful game that looks like crap. Sales decline and investors / publishers do not make it an incentive to be coming out with more games.

Then I try looking at this from a developer standpoint: Ok, so if you do not have amazing graphics for our games, we are not going to get, as well as we'd hoped, so we can better focus all our resources to play looks, not how the story develops, or how gameplay fits. Those programmers are pretty much being thrown into an endless loop and are forced to focus their talents on the wrong thing for a good game of chance. Do not get me wrong, there are some companies out there that can squeeze the incredible graphics and gameplay at the same time (here looking at you, 2kGames), but the smaller guys are not able to devote sufficient time for its original IP that nobody has ever heard of that players must catch the eye of the moment they look at the boxart, or the first screenshot. On the other hand, business behemoths out there and struggle: how to get more money for their large concessions, they have to shut down "Shovelware" game that looks like it could have been made ​​design freshman student game day. I do not know if I can make excuses for EA: There is no reason why they can not improve some of their franchises (that is, far lackluster NBA Live and Madden NFL games), especially when you know you're one of the richest and most powerful companies in the industry today.

Then I try looking at this from a developer standpoint: Ok, so if you do not have amazing graphics for our games, we are not going to get, as well as we'd hoped, so we can better focus all our resources to play looks, not how the story develops, or how gameplay fits. Those programmers are pretty much being thrown into an endless loop and are forced to focus their talents on the wrong thing for a good game of chance. Do not get me wrong, there are some companies out there that can squeeze the incredible graphics and gameplay at the same time (here looking at you, 2kGames), but the smaller guys are not able to devote sufficient time for its original IP that nobody has ever heard of that players must catch the eye of the moment they look at the boxart, or the first screenshot. On the other hand, business behemoths out there and struggle: how to get more money for their large concessions, they have to shut down "Shovelware" game that looks like it could have been made ​​design freshman student game day. I do not know if I can make excuses for EA: There is no reason why they can not improve some of their franchises (that is, far lackluster NBA Live and Madden NFL games), especially when you know you're one of the richest and most powerful companies in the industry today.

, not just AI, but the gameplay as well. I must admit, some of the most innovative advances in gameplay mechanics are the way of this generation. When you have components such as the Nintendo Wii and EyeToy3, it is difficult to say. However, it still is room for improvement. It seems like everyone is watching a big game and copy / paste. I do not even need to remind anyone how popular cover system and online co​​-op has become over the past three years. And no way is this a bad thing: If the game can not copy well, and then copy the. But we need more than just 2 or 3 game defines the rest of the industry for the next five years.

So where is the rest of the industry? When are you guys going to come dig us out of this little hole graphics and offers a bit more substance than being able to count nose hairs in your main protagonist? I hope the day comes sometime before my 360 died its slow, inevitable death. Until then, somebody wake me when Killzone 2 is released.