New Console Stall

sakichop said:

I'm in no way saying I want these things instead of good gameplay I want them to work on both.

Graphics are not my #1 concern I still play wizardry 1 a couple times a year and there's nothing immersive about those wire frame graphics but it is fun. Same with infinity engine games (if they made more today with no changes to the tech. I 'd buy it day 1.)

I think we both want the same things we just disagree on how to get there. I believe if they had better tech. they could make better games.( If they don't want to take advantage of the extra tech. to make a better game that's a different story.) You believe if they don't they will focus on better and more innovative gameplay.

My greatest fear is that we are both wrong. If tech. remains stagnant they won't improve any thing and just keep shipping out more of the same. If they get better tech they'll just throw some more eye candy on and forget about AI and gameplay.

Weather it's dumbing down, lack of technology or lazy dev's who just want to cash in I find myself enjoying less and less games every year which is a sad thing for me as gaming has been my hobby for many many years.

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Ah, I think I understand now. So what you're saying is that in the last few years, you have witnessed not only a stagnation of technology, but also a stagnation in terms of creativity. I can certainly agree with that sentiment, with a couple of rare exceptions. I don't think that new tech is the answer for the lack of creativity, but you mention a disturbingly valid concern: What happens if the tech remains stagnant, and yet developers still don't take advantage of this golden opportunity to focus primarily on gameplay and story mechanics?

Luckily, there still seems to be at least a few titles that I really enjoy each year, despite how bleak the gaming landscape often appears to be. I remain optimistic that a new developer will appear in the next few years that will create something really amazing and innovative, and the stability of the tech situation might play a part in that. E.Y.E. came close to being that game to come out of nowhere to be something really unique and spectacular, and while it missed the mark and was ultimately a failed effort, I think that it is a sign of things to come from new, inspired developers who are also fed up with the status quo.

Madgamer -You actually want a new console to have to buy? Are you insane? Well i guess you are the "Mad gamer"…

That's the last thing I want, now that I have tons of games for the equipment I already have. I dread the next console, and windows making my stuff obsolete. Fuck that! Time to make an OS that requires 16 GB of RAM and a new console that doesnt play any of the old titles… yeah, great idea.

I wish that hardware and OS's would just stay right where they are, and we get new software to play with. I'm fine w/ a 360 and Windows7, Just come out w/ new games.

That's just me tho, i'm fine w/ the level graphics have come to. How much faster than the blink of an eye, and how much more photorealistic do I need things? I realize that's not how businesses stay afloat tho, and not how they sell new computers and consoles.

Drithius said:

I could just as easily say that flash over substance stemmed from the inevitable tide of developers designing for people who pick up a console controller for 10 minutes at a time and prefer mindless pew pew

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No, I think/believe it's rather deeper :

The overall economic[al] circles are just too fast. No matter into which industry you look, he target are fast profits.

Just take a look at the wood industry. I mean the one that doesn't consist on going into woods, cut what's available and disappear again - like locusts - but the wood industry which does plant new trees for later to harvest.

This kind of wood industry is thinking in decades ! - Trees need several decades to grow ! - Last week or the week before that I read in the local newspaper a forester saying that a tree he planted, could be gharvested by his children or by his children's children. They're thinking in generations !

And now, compare this to the computer industry. Where 5 years are like 10 years elsewhere. It comes apprent that the fast profits are what people are looking out for.

Not only in gaming.

And you'll find this economic mind set *everywhere* no matter where you look to !

And it's even worse : The TV also supports a short attention lifespan. If I look at recent imported ameruican documentaries (on Dinosaurs, for example), they have this irritating "flash-cut", and each bit if information is no longer than let's say 10-20 seconds !

And right now, people are beginning to drop out of it. A "slow movement" is forming, and we already have here in Germany a small movement which xalls itself "slow bakery". The really ancient receipes. Letting the dough "develop" for several days !

So, in my opinion, this is a global problem of profit-oriented "western" economics.

And I'm not the only one who holds this opinion. In one of the better newspapers with a higher reputation a former university professor also holds this view, in an interesting article that is far too complicated for me to translate, because it contains numerous terms of economic science which I don't know how to translate.

Nerevarine said:

Ah, I think I understand now. So what you're saying is that in the last few years, you have witnessed not only a stagnation of technology, but also a stagnation in terms of creativity. I can certainly agree with that sentiment, with a couple of rare exceptions. I don't think that new tech is the answer for the lack of creativity, but you mention a disturbingly valid concern: What happens if the tech remains stagnant, and yet developers still don't take advantage of this golden opportunity to focus primarily on gameplay and story mechanics?

Luckily, there still seems to be at least a few titles that I really enjoy each year, despite how bleak the gaming landscape often appears to be. I remain optimistic that a new developer will appear in the next few years that will create something really amazing and innovative, and the stability of the tech situation might play a part in that. E.Y.E. came close to being that game to come out of nowhere to be something really unique and spectacular, and while it missed the mark and was ultimately a failed effort, I think that it is a sign of things to come from new, inspired developers who are also fed up with the status quo.

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I hope you are right.

Bitmob just posted an interesting article that talks about a rumour regarding Playstation 4 being only 18 months away.

http://bitmob.com/articles/source-playstation-4-in-18-months

Things are the same as normal in my humble opinion first playstation was 1994… playstation two was mars 2000…. playstation 3 was 6 and a half year later. So by the end of 2012 or beginnig of 2013 it would make sense for the ps4 to be out. Things are just like normal…. we just tend to forget I suppose.

Read about a "slim" Wii (?) that isn't able to play any Gamecube games anymore - and it is supposed to come soon ...