Who Innovates?

Dan, Joe and their special guest Martini talk about who in the gaming industry actually innovates!? Martini talks about his feelings on E3, and briefly talk about annual releases.

[GreetingsfromCanada]

The most innovative thing to come out in the last decade is the nemesis system and even that isn't all that impressive in my opinion. So to answer your question, no one really.

[Poli_Games]

I have to totally agree with you. None of the big 3 really innovates at this moment. I think it is the smaller developers and indie devs that actually go out on a limb to do something different and then the big publishers just copy them after the fact.

[98xpresent]

The controllers of this generation are innovative.

[Poli_Games]

I think that controllers have really plateaued since the six generation. I think that in a future podcast we're going to talk about the controllers of this generation. I think they're all a bit flawed. With the dualshock 4 controller's analog sticks chipping apart after little use and the R2 button breaking (I've gone through 2 DS4 controllers atm) The Xbox controller i feel took a step back from the 360 controller. Lastly the Wii U controller has to be the most ambitious it just feels so cheap though, like its a fisher price product.

[johndoe11211]

"I've gone through 2 DS4 controllers atm"
I don't care what anyone says, to go through 2 DS4's in a year and a half, yo have to be ill treating them. I'll give you the rubber on the thumbsticks but not chipping, and to break the r2 buttons on two controllers? You're using it wrong.

I have 158 people on my friends list, out of that 70 of them have ps4's. Not one of them have broken the shoulder buttons. What the heck are you people doing with your controllers?

[Poli_Games]

You know the usual dropping them off buildings. Rage throwing them around my house when i get teabagged in destiny. But in all seriousness i treat my tech really well. I keep em clean, keep them in a designated place on my desk so they don't accidentally fall. Maybe its just my bad luck. Yet, i am looking into getting some protection for the analog sticks. Any suggestions?

[rainslacker]

GameStop sells some caps. Can't remember the brand, no one I ever heard of, and they work pretty well. I got a set after one of my DS4's finally succumbed to the rubber peeling during my plat attempt for DOA5 in training mode, not too long after it went out of warranty.:(

They seem a bit off due to their size, but over time they form a little bit to your fingers and become rather comfortable.

[DillyDilly]

Batman innovates the innovators

[DaGodKing]

nintendo because they try to be differnt ( even if it doesnt work all the time) and they had the most influence on the video game industry..

d-pad,analog,rumble ,wireless with rumble,motion ,dual screen,glassed free 3d,(i personally like the wiiu controller)..
world wide recognizable characters...

[WizzroSupreme]

VR is gonna be the most innovative thing this gen but probably won't catch on for two or three more generations.

[scark92]

I hope they stay as a gimmick, I fear the decrease of the average attention span!

[OhMyGandhi]

While things are getting smaller, more powerful, games themselves aren't really changing. They are getting bigger, prettier, and you can DO more in them, but central mechanics haven't changed much.

Compare the innovation of having an accelerometer in a dualshock 4, with the addition of a second analog stick in the original dualshock for example. The former has hardly been utilized to any great effect, while the latter has made most 3d game traversal POSSIBLE.

The thing that scares me is that these new ways to play games; fancy sensors in cameras, and controllers and what-not haven't been showed to do anything for games. Why is it that your average mobile game uses tilt and rotation to great effect and you have Delsin flicking open cell doors with the center touch pad in the DS4 for no apparent reason.

Innovation can be fraught with gimmicks. And the problem these days is that the big three often cannot tell the difference.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

"the problem these days is that the big three often cannot tell the difference."

Sadly, those words are even more true of many of today's closed-minded gamers, which is why a lot of cool new ideas get slapped with the "gimmick" label then unfairly ignored.
Often for some of the pettiest reasons, like the console said "gimmicks" belong to.

[D-riders]

Nintendo

[Lennoxb63]

Hilarious

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Splatoon.
Checkmate.

[Morgue]

Nobody innovates per say but once in a while someone will blow you away and do something that has never been done and right now as far as gaming is concerned ( 2015 ) I'm not.

Xbox Live and Halo 2 and even Crackdown still hold the crown even though I can't stand Halo but for then. That was a defining moment as far as consoles were concerned.

Disagree if you want but yeah.

[rainslacker]

Innovation doesn't have to be an all or nothing explosion of change. Innovation in gaming often is much less tangible, and tends to happen over time in small increments.

Given that games themselves aren't changing too much in core mechanics, there hasn't been a huge need for huge pushes to new types of hardware innovation. When companies have tried to force the innovation it usually comes up short, because it is only done in the interest of marketing, and not in the interest of making games better.

Anyhow, innovation doesn't mean much without implementation. Motion controls were innovative, but the implementation came up short for games. VR was innovative back in the day, yet had no support for the long haul. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Rumble in controllers was innovative, and was adopted to where it became standard. Optical media was innovative because it was cheap while allowing massive storage compared to other options. Since technology evolved, the innovation went away, but the implementation continued.

[TheCommentator]

All the devs working on remasters?