Macho Macho Man !

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 16th, 2006 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Society, Videogames. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Responses to “Macho Macho Man !”

1. Rasty says:
   

   Surely I can’t but agree with you!
   I haven’t tried Gears (and likey won’t since I don’t own a 360), but indeed from what I’ve read it’s more and more of the same. And I’m not thrilled at all even by the much hyped newer editions of hot selling titles like Metal Gear or Gran Turismo. Definitely not!

   We used to like the demoscene because coders always came out with this or that innovative trick to exploit the hardware. That’s what it was all about back then, novelty. Now we’re mostly lacking it in the gaming industry, and that’s why I moved over to mostly DS and Wii. But surely that’s not a perfect world as well. Both the devices are graphically limited and I wouldn’t despise some improvement on that side.

   Actually I’ve come to like the DS more and more since it seems like a very well balanced system, and the sub-PSP graphics pushed the coders to invent something new, both graphically and gameplay-wise. Never a bad thing!
   Maybe it’s really the PSP power that lured the developers to just port titles over from PS2 and kill innovation…

   The 360 is sexy but there are still zero games I like on that system that I couldn’t play on my PC, with the added value of a decent FPS control system (keyboard+mouse of course!).
   I’m mostly attracted by its connectivity, and may end up getting one later (when bigger hard drives will be available) just maybe to play around with XNA, download some HD movies and the likes.

   I also mostly despise the current games scene on the PC where copycat RTS and WW2 FPS games keep coming out one afther the other (or simultaneously as well ;). Pretty sad, but likely thanks to the easier access to development tools and means of publishing on a PC rather than on a console, there’s a pretty good range of independently-developed games that have seen most of my (very reduced) playing time invested there during the last few years. If you need a brief list, just ask! They’re really surprising sometimes, with captivating art and nice physics. Lots of choice and easy on the wallet!

   Some of those games are popping up on XBox Live Arcade, and that’s and interesting development, isn’t it?

   December 16th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
2. rince says:
   

   I have to agree too. The game industry is somewhat stale in terms of new ideas. As far as playing goes, there are really no new games that I would want to play. I still play Starcraft (released in 98) and an occasional game of Q3. From the most recent games, I played World of Warcraft for a while, but then eventually stopped because it became somewhat time consuming at higher levels.

   But I enjoy working with the new hardware and learning new techniques.

   One thing I dont know though, is why is kaz so angry and negative lately and turning everything towards Bush and the war in Iraq!!!

   December 17th, 2006 at 5:41 am
3. Sexy Lara says:
   

   Well, I have to agree too. I have to say those games are very bad for kids and especially to teen-agers.

   Rince,….it’s because Kaz is an angry man 8)

   Narrow minded and very selfish, too!
   And I hope he’s aware of it. I don’t care if he gets mad at me(probably mad at me already and who cares!!) for saying that because I want him to know that. It’s good to be aware 8)

   December 17th, 2006 at 7:26 am
4. Davide Pasca says:
   

   > Rasty
   I don’t feel at ease saying that innovation is lacking. While it’s probably true, it makes me feel like I’m just old and tired to play games, like there is something new coming up and I can’t grasp it just because my need to play is I’m stuck my teenage years.
   Or perhaps things are really just repetitive and as we get older we realize that… while younger generations think they are playing something truly innovative 8)

   > rince
   I didn’t mention Bush. I was simply trying to make a connection between a country that is so much into war games but also into making real wars, and eventually regretting getting into wars. “Bring the troops home, but let’s blow up some brains on the XBox anyway !”

   > Sexy Lara
   

   Well, I have to agree too. I have to say those games are very bad for kids and especially to teen-agers.

   Rince,….it’s because Kaz is an angry man 8)

   Narrow minded and very selfish, too!

   ..talk about being narrow minded.
   I didn’t say violent games are bad for kids.
   I don’t believe in censure. Violent entertainment can stimulate violent types, but we can’t censure everything just because some random idiot can’t tell the difference between reality and simulation.

   ole’

   December 17th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
5. Sexy Lara says:
   

   >Kaz
   You misunderstood it!

   What I meant to say is:

   I actually have to agree with you on what you said about the violent games. And I personally think that those violent games are not good for kids and especially to those teenagers.

   And then I response to Rince’s comment about you:

   “One thing I dont know though, is why is kaz so angry and negative lately and turning everything towards Bush and the war in Iraq!!!”

   My response is:

   Rince,….it’s because Kaz is an angry man 8)

   Narrow minded and very selfish, too!
   And I hope he’s aware of it. I don’t care if he gets mad at me(probably mad at me already and who cares!!) for saying that because I want him to know that. It’s good to be aware 8)

   Now, did I make myself clear to you, Mr.Kaz 8)

   December 18th, 2006 at 4:03 am
6. Rasty says:
   

   Kaz: I’m not saying that innovation is globally lacking, but it is in the high-budget game industry. In Japan, luckily, software houses look generally more willing to risk and try something new. That’s one more thing I love about Japan! ;)

   December 18th, 2006 at 9:18 am
7. duddie says:
   

   Games are for people with too much free time :) I wish I had some…
   But speaking seriously, the whole industry is not willing to invest in something that they cannot sell in millions. Games became too expensive in first place and general audience changed as well.
   If the crowd demands FPS things, industry will offer them. Take some 3D artist, buy an engine, launch a product… already spending a few millions…
   Innovate something and you might never get return on investment.
   So it is easier to sell another (by advancing year and changing names) NFS, NHL, NBA, and any kind of FPS which is basically mutation of another one…
   Just developing games became too expensive to try something new.
   So I will stick to play chess with real people :)

   December 18th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
8. Ragin' Lion says:
   

   In this post Kaz said:“But isn’t it a bit stupid that so many top selling titles are about simulating war ?”
   Yet in a previous post Kaz said:“The killer application for me is probably Armored Core 4.”

   Isn’t Armored Core a war game? Yeah, I know it’s Mechs … but war is war. 8P

   If you really want to blame the whole FPS war thing, I guess one could blame it on id Software for releasing Doom … It seemed the industry (starting on PCs) shifted from the various types of games made back then to the cookie cutter stuff we see now.

   The (unfortunate) reality is that it’s all about making money and for most (large) game companies, that’s their objective. Few companies out there are willing to take risks to create new IP in this current environment.

   While the Wii and DS are lacking in CPU and GPU abilitiy it seems that (sales-wise) people are preferring those systems (especially the DS) over the stronger ones; at the end of the day I think that most consumers don’t care about the game machine’s muscle, but the kind of experience the software provides … and it would seem that making software for either the Wii or DS is the most cost effective way for developers to make a profit … Wasn’t it last week that Square-Enix announced Dragon Quest IX for the DS? I think they’re definitely going to turn a healthy profit!

   On the other hand, a while back I read that Capcom said that they’d have to sell at least 500,000 copies of their games to make a profit … Sony’s not helping things too much with less than 100,000 PS3 units (in Japan anyway).

   It was fairly predictable that the “next-generation” would more or less bring more of the same (with the associated graphics upgrades). Welcome to the next level! 8P

   Just be glad that you’re doing R&D now … ;-)

   December 18th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
9. Ragin' Lion says:
   

   Hmm … forgot the italics close … Wordpress needs some “Preview” technology …

   December 18th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
10. rince says:
    

    I think that generally if you make radical statements on any topic you are going to paint yourself into a corner.

    Thats why I am surprised that the usually shy and moderated mr Kaz is expressing himself so strongly on the topic of first person shooter games =)

    December 19th, 2006 at 3:17 am
11. Davide Pasca says:
    

    > Rasty
    You love Japan so much that you’ve actually never visited it !

    > duddie
    I agree.. games take time. I play for a while every few months, but after a while I feel like I’m being too lazy. I get pissed at myself for not being productive and I quit.
    Whether then I actually become more productive is a different matter 8)

    > Ragin’ Lion
    I know, it sucks that WordPress doesn’t have a preview option. But you could always subscribe to this site and enjoy the ability to edit messages (I think that’s how it works).
    It’s not like I’m collecting email addresses for spam anyway 8P

    Armored Core is more about technology and less about blowing heads. I see it more like a flight or a racing simulator. There is a lot of weaponry, but in my view, it’s quite a bit different from FPS, where simulated fight is close and personal, and you kill or get killed very rapidly before re-spawning.
    The FPS are a lot closer to the actual possible experience one could have in a war as he/she could join in right now (ability to re-spawn aside 8)

    The cost of producing games is a technology problem. We have the technology to push a lot of polygons, but not the technology to build data fast enough.
    So perhaps we should look into ways to automate certain development processes..

    > rince
    I think I often burst out with strong comments. Sometimes it’s because I have a few drinks, sometimes I dunno why. Mind works in mysterious ways. One day we’ll be able to analyze it in real-time and it will be funny, or stupid.. to realize that I wrote something because I just got out of the shower where the ionized whatever stimulated something in me.
    I once saw a documentary that was hinting strong a connection between food ingested and mood !

    woo !!

    December 19th, 2006 at 3:39 am
12. Ragin' Lion says:
    

    I can subscribe to this site? I didn’t know that! 8P I guess I’ll have to subscribe now … more power to the users!

    I think some (R&D) time needs to be invested into looking at how to procedurally generate data … or at least have a “CAD” kind of system for games. By CAD I mean something like, “Computer Aided Game Making” … basically where the software fills in or takes over those tedious gaps that people still do. Honestly, the way many games are made today is still like those pre-assembly line days when cars were built by hand.

    I’m actually looking forward to Spore more for the technology than the gameplay (seems like an RTS type game).

    Ah … here’s a nice setup:
    I think I often burst out with strong comments.Mind works in mysterious ways. One day we’ll be able to analyze it in real-time and it will be funny, or stupid..

    I think we’ll discover what’s controlling all this is the Emotion Engine … yeah, bad joke, but my resistance is low today. 8P

    December 19th, 2006 at 10:30 am
13. Sexy Lara says:
    

    Hmm…Kaz, maybe you need to attend an anger
    management class 8)
    Well, you need to find out if they have something like that in Tokyo.

    Take care :)

    December 19th, 2006 at 12:18 pm

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