- Seit
- 8 Feb 2008
- Beiträge
- 13.980
Hier kommt der Gegenschlag - IGNs zweiter Artikel behandelt zehn Trends und Erscheinungen, die ihnen zufolge unser Hobby retten sollen.
Casual Gaming
Nintendo DS
Immersion and Wii MotionPlus
User-generated Content
Downloadable Games
2D
Passively Online Multiplayer
TRUE 3D
SYSTEM WARS
INDIE GAMES
Vervollständigt durch diese hier, macht auch die andere Liste weitaus mehr Sinn, IMO...
Casual Gaming
Yes, it was in the other list too. We know. But as we mentioned previously, casual gaming is a double-edged sword, capable of truly great things, like reinvigorating and broadening the whole industry. But it can also be a tool for evil, much like a lightsaber in the hands of a Sith or a baby with a chainsaw. For that take, go here. For everyone else, let's delve into why 'casual' isn't a dirty word and is, in fact, inextricably tied to several other categories below, such as indie games, downloadable games and the persistence of 2D.
First off, mobile gaming is on the rise, but before the iPhone, why would you bother? The iPhone has answered this with an interface that welcomes gaming – simple, customizable and intuitive. In the process, it has drawn a great, fat circle around the explosion of casual gaming – something that Nokia tried and failed to do, and Nintendo is seeing incredible successes from. It taps into a rich market that has, for a long time, been stuck replaying Minesweeper and Snake II – and it benefits all of us. Without short-burst game concepts out there, where would many of Xbox Live's best games be? Instant classics like World of Goo and slow-burn concepts like Nintendo's much touted Touch! Generations titles would be missing too …which means you'd still be trying to foist a 360 controller into your mother's hands while explaining the social implications of topping the global leaderboards in Call of Duty 4.
These days, your mother's much more likely to get her head around something that can be grasped immediately – simple concepts like card games and digital recipe collections. These are the games that non-gamers tune into – pushing the term 'game' into strange and sometimes amazing new places. The market is growing, the game shelves are full and the cash registers clink away happily. Casual equals more money for the industry, too, which benefits hardcore gamers by freeing up developers to create more traditional games with profits earned. Besides, without casual games, you'd probably never get Guitar Hero or Peggle either, which appeal to just about every kind of audience out there. Casual. It's a good thing. Which brings us to…
First off, mobile gaming is on the rise, but before the iPhone, why would you bother? The iPhone has answered this with an interface that welcomes gaming – simple, customizable and intuitive. In the process, it has drawn a great, fat circle around the explosion of casual gaming – something that Nokia tried and failed to do, and Nintendo is seeing incredible successes from. It taps into a rich market that has, for a long time, been stuck replaying Minesweeper and Snake II – and it benefits all of us. Without short-burst game concepts out there, where would many of Xbox Live's best games be? Instant classics like World of Goo and slow-burn concepts like Nintendo's much touted Touch! Generations titles would be missing too …which means you'd still be trying to foist a 360 controller into your mother's hands while explaining the social implications of topping the global leaderboards in Call of Duty 4.
These days, your mother's much more likely to get her head around something that can be grasped immediately – simple concepts like card games and digital recipe collections. These are the games that non-gamers tune into – pushing the term 'game' into strange and sometimes amazing new places. The market is growing, the game shelves are full and the cash registers clink away happily. Casual equals more money for the industry, too, which benefits hardcore gamers by freeing up developers to create more traditional games with profits earned. Besides, without casual games, you'd probably never get Guitar Hero or Peggle either, which appeal to just about every kind of audience out there. Casual. It's a good thing. Which brings us to…
Nintendo DS
Is the PSP still relevant? Is that what the market wants? That's what Nintendo is asking you and the market is responding accordingly. Sony's handheld has seen depressed sales and a general lack of software, while the DS seems to go from strength to strength. Why is this? It's not voodoo, number tampering or blind luck – Nintendo don't deal in accidents. Well, they do, but that's something else entirely.
No. Nintendo read the market and fed it what it never knew it wanted – a fresh, novel way of playing games on a device that did something that really hadn't been a success before (Game & Watch aside) – two LCD screens, various input options and ways of interacting, and a catalogue of titles that catered to purist Nintendo fans with titles from Square Enix, SEGA, Konami, Namco and every major player in development through to start-up developers with titles like Cave Story or Bob's Game (a strange a tragic tale, that one). What you're seeing now is a market reaction to getting a device that people never knew they wanted until they saw it, and then they needed it. The same can be said of the iPhone.
No. Nintendo read the market and fed it what it never knew it wanted – a fresh, novel way of playing games on a device that did something that really hadn't been a success before (Game & Watch aside) – two LCD screens, various input options and ways of interacting, and a catalogue of titles that catered to purist Nintendo fans with titles from Square Enix, SEGA, Konami, Namco and every major player in development through to start-up developers with titles like Cave Story or Bob's Game (a strange a tragic tale, that one). What you're seeing now is a market reaction to getting a device that people never knew they wanted until they saw it, and then they needed it. The same can be said of the iPhone.
Immersion and Wii MotionPlus
Two points in one, tied at the middle by you, the player and how you experience games. If you're not immersed in the experience, be it stacking blocks, shooting aliens, crashing cars or simulating a chef in the kitchen, then you're either a casual gamer on the train killing time or you're probably not having fun – and thus, the developer has failed. That's why immersion is so important and why companies spend a long time retooling how games are experienced and how you interact with consoles.
One half of why we're excited by the future rests purely within the creative limits of games designers. Truly great game design takes a familiar concept and turns it on its head, allowing you to experience things from a fresh point of view. Take Mirror's Edge and Portal, as well as a game like Braid. All three do amazing things with your heads-up display (in that, there is very little or none), your point of view (Mirror's Edge is a first-person platformer, Portal is a first-person puzzle game at heart) and gives you a setting that is familiar with things you've done before and yet, the result is fresh (Braid is textbook platforming and then, suddenly, wham – inventive mechanics come pouring out), immersive and compelling, blending genres and redefining them.
That's the software side of things, in brief. Then there's how you physically interact with the world. While peripherals are nothing new, games like SingStar, Guitar Hero and Wii Fit all introduce new ways of experiencing gaming. But then there's the Wii, where it all comes down to how you move. Wii MotionPlus, however, goes one step farther and makes this movement 1:1 with what happens in the game world. Essentially, Wii MotionPlus has the potential to make inaccurate Wii games a thing of the past and finally delivers on the promises that Nintendo made when it thrust the Wii remote into your hands for the first time. Let's hope Nintendo does the right thing and makes it default within its remotes when it finally launches later this year. Moreover, let's hope third parties really take advantage of this as well.
One half of why we're excited by the future rests purely within the creative limits of games designers. Truly great game design takes a familiar concept and turns it on its head, allowing you to experience things from a fresh point of view. Take Mirror's Edge and Portal, as well as a game like Braid. All three do amazing things with your heads-up display (in that, there is very little or none), your point of view (Mirror's Edge is a first-person platformer, Portal is a first-person puzzle game at heart) and gives you a setting that is familiar with things you've done before and yet, the result is fresh (Braid is textbook platforming and then, suddenly, wham – inventive mechanics come pouring out), immersive and compelling, blending genres and redefining them.
That's the software side of things, in brief. Then there's how you physically interact with the world. While peripherals are nothing new, games like SingStar, Guitar Hero and Wii Fit all introduce new ways of experiencing gaming. But then there's the Wii, where it all comes down to how you move. Wii MotionPlus, however, goes one step farther and makes this movement 1:1 with what happens in the game world. Essentially, Wii MotionPlus has the potential to make inaccurate Wii games a thing of the past and finally delivers on the promises that Nintendo made when it thrust the Wii remote into your hands for the first time. Let's hope Nintendo does the right thing and makes it default within its remotes when it finally launches later this year. Moreover, let's hope third parties really take advantage of this as well.
User-generated Content
From PC game mods to console-based, in-game content creation and beyond, user-generated content is a no-brainer for the future. It all began a long, long time ago – people hacking Wolfenstein 3D and retexturing its walls, or reworking industry-defining titles like Super Mario Bros. to work out the scrolling technology at play behind the scenes. Now, gamers can access incredible reams of knowledge, hundreds of thousands of lines of code straight from the developer in order to create their own mods and freeware games. The PC mod market is booming with fresh talent waiting to be scooped up by developers hungry for fresh programming skills. Portal, which famously began as an indie game project, went on to be one of 2007's biggest titles, for instance.
On the console front, things are a little different. There are restrictions in place – some obvious, some legal, some hidden, that keep players from generating their own Garry's Mod concepts on this generation of consoles. The first is, you need tools – tools that are available on PC, but don't really exist on consoles. Second, you need some way of getting your creation out there, which is fine over the net, but hasn't traditionally been console-friendly.
Except, now it's fast becoming possible – and the games that figure out how to do it are becoming sensations; the stuff of forum lore. The key is in-game content creation tools and a reliable network of player-to-player hosting. Two major successes were Halo 3's map and gameplay editor, which allowed for some nifty mods and even data-based recording of matches for replaying and editing. The real success story, though, is a game like LittleBigPlanet, where the game gives you what are essentially the same tools and constraints that the developer had, as well as a captive audience to exchange and rate content from. The future is now. All we need is for more developers to foster a console-based creative community.
On the console front, things are a little different. There are restrictions in place – some obvious, some legal, some hidden, that keep players from generating their own Garry's Mod concepts on this generation of consoles. The first is, you need tools – tools that are available on PC, but don't really exist on consoles. Second, you need some way of getting your creation out there, which is fine over the net, but hasn't traditionally been console-friendly.
Except, now it's fast becoming possible – and the games that figure out how to do it are becoming sensations; the stuff of forum lore. The key is in-game content creation tools and a reliable network of player-to-player hosting. Two major successes were Halo 3's map and gameplay editor, which allowed for some nifty mods and even data-based recording of matches for replaying and editing. The real success story, though, is a game like LittleBigPlanet, where the game gives you what are essentially the same tools and constraints that the developer had, as well as a captive audience to exchange and rate content from. The future is now. All we need is for more developers to foster a console-based creative community.
Downloadable Games
If a company doesn't have to share its profits with a merchant, do you think it would opt for another method? The future of gaming will move away from storefront game sales; the day of the physical game disc as standard are numbered. That's the long-term outlook for the game industry in a nutshell – it's more cost-effective to cut out the manufacturing costs, retail middlemen and the associated costs in favour of direct to drive downloads.
Enter: Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and Virtual Console, PlayStation Network Store, Steam, iPhone App Store and even IGN's very own Direct2Drive. Right now, we're seeing the first significant steps towards direct download games becoming standard in the mindset of players worldwide, whatever their preferred platform. Potentially, if companies choose to do so, the money that is saved can be passed down to the consumer. For countries like Australia, where game prices are often almost double that of the rest of the world, such savings might go some way towards alleviating the pricing discrepancies.
There are a few stumbling blocks that need to be overcome before EBs, GameStops and GAME stores shutter their glass doors for good, however. For one, not every nation has the telecommunications infrastructure in place to support continuous, large-scale downloads *cough*Australia*cough* at an affordable price. Also, there's a reason why eBooks never took off – sometimes people just like having a physical copy of something that they're paying serious dollars for. Again, it's likely that attitudes will have to change and technologies will have to catch up globally before this method becomes the standard rather than the option. Cutting out the middleman also opens the door to more niche or risky projects, which is perfect for indie games development, which we'll get into in a moment.
Enter: Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and Virtual Console, PlayStation Network Store, Steam, iPhone App Store and even IGN's very own Direct2Drive. Right now, we're seeing the first significant steps towards direct download games becoming standard in the mindset of players worldwide, whatever their preferred platform. Potentially, if companies choose to do so, the money that is saved can be passed down to the consumer. For countries like Australia, where game prices are often almost double that of the rest of the world, such savings might go some way towards alleviating the pricing discrepancies.
There are a few stumbling blocks that need to be overcome before EBs, GameStops and GAME stores shutter their glass doors for good, however. For one, not every nation has the telecommunications infrastructure in place to support continuous, large-scale downloads *cough*Australia*cough* at an affordable price. Also, there's a reason why eBooks never took off – sometimes people just like having a physical copy of something that they're paying serious dollars for. Again, it's likely that attitudes will have to change and technologies will have to catch up globally before this method becomes the standard rather than the option. Cutting out the middleman also opens the door to more niche or risky projects, which is perfect for indie games development, which we'll get into in a moment.
2D
In an era when the graphical plateau or the law of diminishing returns seems almost within our reach, 3D polygonal rendering is so standard that it's almost pass?. It's a wonder what a decade can do to an industry; from baby steps in the early 90s through to the wonders and pratfalls of middleware engines that look amazing and samey. All the while, the old stablemate, two dimensional, pixel or Flash-based game design has continued to soldier on in the background. Generally such games are reserved for handheld game platforms or indie game development (see below). But that in itself is the beauty of 2D.
Long live two dimensional gaming!
2D, as a graphical preference, actually deemphasizes the importance of having the latest, greatest graphics processor. In turn, it also reinforces artistry and how important good design is in the games industry. That's important. It's the reason why the Wii and the DS have a glut of 2D titles – it takes the pressure off the developer's rendering skills and places the focus back on gameplay, where it belongs. Take a look at PixelJunk Eden, flOw, Braid, N+ and many of Nintendo's recent titles – the 2D resurgence is alive and well – and in many of these games, the gameplay shines while the graphics charm with their artistry and originality.
It's also a lot cheaper to start with 2D as an engine; it requires a different kind of know-how than 3D spatial programming, with its all-important physics and collision detection, rendering and lighting techniques and so on. Therefore, from the perspective of the developer, sometimes keeping things paper-thin is just good business – and a focus on gameplay is almost a positive side effect.
Long live two dimensional gaming!
2D, as a graphical preference, actually deemphasizes the importance of having the latest, greatest graphics processor. In turn, it also reinforces artistry and how important good design is in the games industry. That's important. It's the reason why the Wii and the DS have a glut of 2D titles – it takes the pressure off the developer's rendering skills and places the focus back on gameplay, where it belongs. Take a look at PixelJunk Eden, flOw, Braid, N+ and many of Nintendo's recent titles – the 2D resurgence is alive and well – and in many of these games, the gameplay shines while the graphics charm with their artistry and originality.
It's also a lot cheaper to start with 2D as an engine; it requires a different kind of know-how than 3D spatial programming, with its all-important physics and collision detection, rendering and lighting techniques and so on. Therefore, from the perspective of the developer, sometimes keeping things paper-thin is just good business – and a focus on gameplay is almost a positive side effect.
Passively Online Multiplayer
The beauty of being connected to the internet is that you have access to the most wondrous things whenever you want them – IGN, for instance. In the gaming sphere, being connected means having access to your friends list, being visible to others and joining in on multiplayer games on the fly. Certain developers have seen the potential of being connected to the net at all times, applying this to their approach to multiplayer game design. For example, Fable II allows you to see 'orbs' representing other players while connected to Xbox Live. In GTA IV, you can transfer straight into multiplayer games through the cellphone interface. In Shawn White Snowboarding, other boarders are tearing down the mountainside alongside you and you're free to join in. Test Drive Unlimited brought it to the racing genre and it changed how we thought of open-world, online racing.
In the land of the PC, it's called massively-multiplayer. But on consoles, where you may be midway through a single-player mission or level, the concept needs a new term entirely. Something along the lines of 'passively online multiplayer' might do. Regardless, the idea of a seamless drop-in/drop-out experience is something that's gradually becoming prevalent. It's also changing the face of the console interface. Microsoft's New Xbox Experience takes elements of this, extending concepts from the original. For instance, when booting up certain games – say, Gears of War II – you'll now get a message notifying you of who's also playing. Similarly, the party system now allows you to chat between people playing different games and in different modes, upping the usability of the social elements.
The concept is just itching to be applied to the next round of handhelds, too – taking a slice out of the iPhone's always-connected manifesto, allowing you to communicate ad hoc and over the internet, accessing your friends list via a website or through the console's interface. All of this adds up to a more social experience – if that's something that appeals to you. If it doesn't – well, the entire point may be moot, but hopefully the potential of the technology can be appreciated.
In the land of the PC, it's called massively-multiplayer. But on consoles, where you may be midway through a single-player mission or level, the concept needs a new term entirely. Something along the lines of 'passively online multiplayer' might do. Regardless, the idea of a seamless drop-in/drop-out experience is something that's gradually becoming prevalent. It's also changing the face of the console interface. Microsoft's New Xbox Experience takes elements of this, extending concepts from the original. For instance, when booting up certain games – say, Gears of War II – you'll now get a message notifying you of who's also playing. Similarly, the party system now allows you to chat between people playing different games and in different modes, upping the usability of the social elements.
The concept is just itching to be applied to the next round of handhelds, too – taking a slice out of the iPhone's always-connected manifesto, allowing you to communicate ad hoc and over the internet, accessing your friends list via a website or through the console's interface. All of this adds up to a more social experience – if that's something that appeals to you. If it doesn't – well, the entire point may be moot, but hopefully the potential of the technology can be appreciated.
TRUE 3D
Fooling your sensory perception to think what you're seeing has depth rests within your left and right eyes. Fooling your eyes to think that a flat image, like a screen, has depth takes a little more technological trickery. Usually, but not always, special refractive 3D glasses are involved. This is curious, because the image to the non-glasses-wearing bystander looks doubled up, which doesn't make for the most pleasant experience for other people in the room.
It also has traditionally caused nausea and eye-strain in some viewers - Nintendo tried it back in 1995 and the Virtual Boy bought the farm in under a year. Nonetheless, there's been a recent resurgence as the technology is gradually refined and the glasses look less like a bad 80s vision of the future. NVIDIA has a new device catering exclusively to the PC market that makes a handful of games like Left 4 Dead a convincingly immersive experience, thanks to the included glasses. The beauty is, it works – and it works flawlessly, in high resolution and with minimal strain on the retinas. Sony recently demonstrated versions of some major releases like WipEout HD running on a version of the technology too, which lit up speculation that Sony is planning some curious uses for 3D farther down the line.
However, there is technology on the horizon that looks set to change the need to wear 3D glasses entirely – and that's a reason to get excited. Autostereoscopic displays are already out in the market, providing simulated depth of field and true 3D effects by effectively imitating what 3D glasses do with the lens on the screen itself. Major hardware manufacturers like Sharp, Philips and Apple have announced that R&D is already underway – and in some cases, test screens are already being demonstrated. It wouldn't be a huge stretch to guess that Sony may include a 3D option in games to take advantage of these kinds of screens sometime down the line.
It also has traditionally caused nausea and eye-strain in some viewers - Nintendo tried it back in 1995 and the Virtual Boy bought the farm in under a year. Nonetheless, there's been a recent resurgence as the technology is gradually refined and the glasses look less like a bad 80s vision of the future. NVIDIA has a new device catering exclusively to the PC market that makes a handful of games like Left 4 Dead a convincingly immersive experience, thanks to the included glasses. The beauty is, it works – and it works flawlessly, in high resolution and with minimal strain on the retinas. Sony recently demonstrated versions of some major releases like WipEout HD running on a version of the technology too, which lit up speculation that Sony is planning some curious uses for 3D farther down the line.
However, there is technology on the horizon that looks set to change the need to wear 3D glasses entirely – and that's a reason to get excited. Autostereoscopic displays are already out in the market, providing simulated depth of field and true 3D effects by effectively imitating what 3D glasses do with the lens on the screen itself. Major hardware manufacturers like Sharp, Philips and Apple have announced that R&D is already underway – and in some cases, test screens are already being demonstrated. It wouldn't be a huge stretch to guess that Sony may include a 3D option in games to take advantage of these kinds of screens sometime down the line.
SYSTEM WARS
A point of instant contention and probably confusion, the idea of 'system-wars' usually engenders visions of fanboy rants and anti-brand sentiment – often foregoing logic and tolerance for personal taste. In fact, having passionate fans out there who barrack for a particular console or company beyond all others is equivalent to being emotionally or economically invested in a sports team or car brand.
This passion and commitment drives healthy competition in the marketplace, which means a few important things for the consumer. One, it drives excitement, which keeps marketing teams, PR and IGN staffers in jobs. Two, it promotes more AAA-grade titles – the headline catchers and media darlings, if you'll indulge us. This, in turn, promotes more exclusives – the Fable IIs, Metal Gears, Gran Turismos and Halos of the industry. And this all filters back to console sales and competitive pricing.
Or, that's the theory, anyway.
In reality, pricing is still at the mercy of hardware manufacturing costs, weighed against software sales and licensing revenue. Nintendo smartly chose hardware that would make their consoles profitable from day-one – whereas Sony and Microsoft are still playing catch-up, hoping that fanboy favouritism and a healthy number off AAA exclusives is enough to push profits beyond losses from hardware. Regardless, gamers being passionate and voicing their thoughts keeps things interesting and has some legitimate positive results. I know – it's hard to believe. Try to keep your lunch down.
This passion and commitment drives healthy competition in the marketplace, which means a few important things for the consumer. One, it drives excitement, which keeps marketing teams, PR and IGN staffers in jobs. Two, it promotes more AAA-grade titles – the headline catchers and media darlings, if you'll indulge us. This, in turn, promotes more exclusives – the Fable IIs, Metal Gears, Gran Turismos and Halos of the industry. And this all filters back to console sales and competitive pricing.
Or, that's the theory, anyway.
In reality, pricing is still at the mercy of hardware manufacturing costs, weighed against software sales and licensing revenue. Nintendo smartly chose hardware that would make their consoles profitable from day-one – whereas Sony and Microsoft are still playing catch-up, hoping that fanboy favouritism and a healthy number off AAA exclusives is enough to push profits beyond losses from hardware. Regardless, gamers being passionate and voicing their thoughts keeps things interesting and has some legitimate positive results. I know – it's hard to believe. Try to keep your lunch down.
INDIE GAMES
Not games about Dr. Indiana Jones, but rather games from garage developers who do this stuff for the love of the gameplay. Without them, there'd be no World of Goo, Audiosurf, Crayon Physics Deluxe or Desktop Tower Defense – all games that worked their way up from nothing to catch gamers' eyes with their gameplay and innovation in front of a flashy marketing push or the latest middleware. The Independent Games Festival has a lot to answer for here; the international competition gives a much needed push to games that really propel creativity and fun – and do so through sheer quality, rather than a big name publisher.
It's easy to take for granted some of the titles that have come from independent sources – Braid, Darwinia, Cloud, flOw, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter, Aquaria, Samorost 1 and 2. Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare have aided these garage and start-up developers with a platform that brings great concepts to a broader market, but what really matters is that this pool of talent is who, with some faith on the part of larger developers, will be creating the best games of the year – perhaps of all time – in the generations to come.
Independent development is also a great way to cut your teeth if you're itching to experience the realities of game development. The start-up costs aren't enormous – just a PC and your patience and willingness to learn programming. But the potential for a genuinely great idea to go far is very real – and then, if you're lucky, the money begins to flow and you can call yourself a paid game developer. Braid and Portal: give us a wave from the top.
It's easy to take for granted some of the titles that have come from independent sources – Braid, Darwinia, Cloud, flOw, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter, Aquaria, Samorost 1 and 2. Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare have aided these garage and start-up developers with a platform that brings great concepts to a broader market, but what really matters is that this pool of talent is who, with some faith on the part of larger developers, will be creating the best games of the year – perhaps of all time – in the generations to come.
Independent development is also a great way to cut your teeth if you're itching to experience the realities of game development. The start-up costs aren't enormous – just a PC and your patience and willingness to learn programming. But the potential for a genuinely great idea to go far is very real – and then, if you're lucky, the money begins to flow and you can call yourself a paid game developer. Braid and Portal: give us a wave from the top.
Vervollständigt durch diese hier, macht auch die andere Liste weitaus mehr Sinn, IMO...
.......... finde beide artikel letztlich überflüssig.......... bedenklich ist allenfalls, dass sich einige entwickler mit ihren hd-games überhoben haben und nun leute entlassen müssen oder ganz schließen............ schicksal bzw aufs falsche pferd gesetzt.