A Ten Step Checklist for Defining a Next-Gen Game

Jason 360 - 978 days 21 hours ago

This gen is going to be greatest ever for gaming.

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Bhai - 978 days 19 hours ago

Wow ! as was saying, most of these are already in Resistance.
It proves yet again, that Gears is only a texture-swapped old-gen
title.

-A User-Unique Experience(like physics based and non-linear)
-A Believable World
-Be Rid of Handicapped Characters(non-swimmers/climbe rs/jumpers)
-Goodbye Mr. Crate(like old-gen crate/boxes physics)
-Integrated Online
-Ace Presentation
-User Added Content
-Superior A.I(At least there should be more than 3 NPCs on-screen)
-It Remembers the Little Things(Resistance !!! intact bodies/debris)
-Refreshing Gameplay(Not just cover-shoot-exit-Repeat !)

Anyone can agree to those above ten tips for next-gen defining titles and its so clear Sony knew all those from day 1, and why not ! they actually are bringing it !!!

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Hayabusa 117 - 978 days 17 hours ago

"Be Rid of Handicapped Characters: Unless a character is bound to a wheelchair and/or has no arms, there is no excuse for them not to be able to jump, climb or swim. It would be better if a developer turned an ocean into lava or built ultra high fences - whatever is believable within the game world - just as long as we are not expected to believe an elite soldier can’t get over a knee-high wall."

Sorry Gears of War.

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Dukester101 - 978 days 16 hours ago

I agree with pretty much all of that. Immersion and cohesiveness is the key. You cant get that by segregating online play... intertwine them, make them one in the same... do the little things. That's how it's gotta be- realistic, believable, and fun.

The only problem I have with all those points is that they're too good. I dont think devs can create games that do all those things with the current generation of hardware. It may be possible, but having an interactive environment with large levels, tons of particles, realistic effects (craters from explosions), rain/snow, etc... all that takes processing power. I honestly dont think the systems we have in place now can do that- perhaps in 5-10 years, definitely so. All I can say is, my kids are going to be playing the types of games I want to play now!

Also, the way business models are set-up- especially the micro transaction BS arent going to change much. Unless people riot and picket outside of companies corporate offices, the industry wont change as dramatically as it needs to. Consumers are still buying the "same" things over and over again, and that's what drives the industry.

Why create something new and exciting if you're still making millions off a repetitive game with prettied up visuals, and some cool new features? Answer- you're not going to. As long as people pay, there's no reason to change. All gamers, as a whole cohesive unit (put the fanboyism aside), need to demand these things, and then maybe the bigshot executives will feel the pressure of their market falling apart and do something about it, so they arent in the red, and can get back in the black. Until then, I dont expect drastic change in a timely manner.

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Odion - 978 days 14 hours ago

Lets look at that list again

-A User-Unique Experience- Gears has multiple paths to take that can effect how difficult the game becomes.
-A Believable World- The entire World of Gears of War has a consisted and original feel to it. Very Roman Gothic/modern
-Be Rid of Handicapped Characters(non-swimmers/climbe rs/jumpers)- They can get up to any place, the only difference is that unlike every other shooter you can't just jump around the map.
-Goodbye Mr. Crate- the Games not built around physics
-Integrated Online- Online Co-Op, best 4 on 4 deathmatch around, tons of downloadable contant. Ya they have this down pat.
-Ace Presentation- Was and STILL is considered the best looking game to date.
-User Added Content- Sadly none of this
-Superior A.I(At least there should be more than 3 NPCs on-screen)- Many times in the game you getting attacked from multiple sides by like 10 men per side. In addition to this you can't run around and kill everything fire fights are far more realistic, and on higher levels of difficulty you can easly be out flanked and killed by the AI.
-It Remembers the Little Things(Resistance !!! intact bodies/debris)- Do i really need to count all the fine details in GoW for you?? How about bodies stay on the ground and realistically have damage so i can blow the arm off an already dead corpse.
-Refreshing Gameplay(Not just cover-shoot-exit-Repeat !)- WTF was so refreshing about RFOM, it had the same gameplay as every other shooter, please name me one other game that is completely squad based and is more about flanking your enemy and pushing them back, and if you standing around spraying fire your going to get killed by the AI.

Please don't try to compare RFOM to freaking GoW

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nicodemus - 978 days 11 hours ago

but most will not be seen this gen. The processing power just isn't quite there yet: especially since both consoles use in-order execution, instead of the more flexible out-of-order used in pcs and the original xbox...

Interesting list, but off the top of my head, there's one more thing that should be added for the "next-gen"
-- Games don't just have destructible environments, but living, breathing, fully interactive ones where all surfaces and objects are given real-world physical properties. ie: Rocks are scorched by a grenade, while the resulting fire spreads to grass, trees, buildings, and whatever else would burn in real life.

But that level of sophistication is probably a long way off... For now, explosive crates will just have to do.

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SlappingOysters - 978 days 4 hours ago

i found resistance to be extremely limited as a next-gen game. The world just felt plastic, with invisible walls everywhere.

If Gears of War and Rainbow Six were 'sims', resistance was 'arcade'. It reminded me of a Timesplitters game in its LEGO like design - still fun though.

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