Innovation in Video Games, is it dead or just hiding somewhere?

[Wanzer]

Alright, I've been a gamer since I was old enough to hold a controller in my hands and not spittle all over myself; over the years I've watched games become more advanced and systematically gain more main stream attention. What bugs me though is that since the days of the PS2 and Xbox, games haven't really been doing anything new or adding anything to the equation. Sure, you can say we've begun grander scale online video games and have jumped into deeper moral choices in games, but is that really anything new? My question to you all is can you show me a game that is truly innovative and does something completely different than before? I'm tired of playing the same Halo/Call of Duty clone over and over, while they are good for a few hours or the first play through, I can't seem to find a game that truly sets me on fire and makes me want to return to it over and over again. Games like Spore came close to drawing me in by the new evolution feature; granted, the game fell flat on its face. So here are three questions to get this started.

1. What is your opinion on innovation in video games?

2. What was the most innovative video game of all time?

3. What is a game coming out in the future that you feel will be innovative?

 

[Aean]

Creative games still exist, but its mostly indie stuff at this point. A well-polished game that flows nicely tends to be much safer than any game with a lot of innovation. Why take a risk when you don't have to?

Also. As far as innovation goes I'd say most of the things that I'd put up as candidates for "Most innovative game of all time" are being duplicated as we speak. (Cover based FPS? Real time RPGs? MMOs?)

In the near future as far as innovation goes I'm still praying that Nintendo will come out with an RTS that uses their AR.

 

[moose_man]

STOP. MAKING. THIS TOPIC. AGAIN. AND AGAIN.

Video games have plenty of innovation; you just need to know where to look. Original IPs by smaller companies tend to be the riskiest, and then they stick with the formula from then on. Look out for THOSE, not COD 26 or Final Fantasy CXVII.

 

[D0WNT0WN]

1. Innovation is there, indipendant developers have to make their game stand out so they innovate and change things. Just look at Achron, Minecraft & Bastion.

2. Maybe Demons' Souls or Little Big Planet.

3. I have no idea.

 

[Wanzer]

I suppose I can respect that opinion, but the entire process of making a video game was a risk in the past; so...now that we are comfortable does that necessarily make it right to produce the same thing over and over again? While it is true that CoD fans would pick up a turd of a game if it had the words Call of Duty printed on at this point and defend it with every last drop of their blood, does that make it right for the company to sell the same game over and over? As consumers we do have the right to influence what the producers create.

 

[WanderingFool]

Its there... in Indie games and smaller titles.

The big developers wont be putting out anything that isnt guaranteed to make money, unless they wish to take a risk.

 

[Wanzer]

I apologize if I have offended you, I'm new to the site as you can well see. The issue with your statement about smaller IPs and companies making innovative games is that most of the public won't find out about them. Sure, they can be out there, but it becomes almost impossible to find these games in the mainstream flood of crap that gets shoved down our throats. I'll use two games as a perfectly good example of this concept: Beyond Good and Evil and Psychonauts. Both were innovative, funny and above all else, AMAZING GAMES; however, they got little attention in the mainstream buzz and went out with barely a whimper. While Tim Schaeffer fans, excuse the spelling, will obviously know everything the man spawns because of his bizarre take on most games, assuming that he did come up with them, then I concede to the point that it is out there.

The issue of the topic is more concerning the main stream and the companies that make ABSURD amounts of money producing the same game repeatedly. While companies that actually attempt to make fun and new ideas are eaten by the bloated monster of big business.

 

[Ohlawdylawdy]

1. Innovation is thriving in the video game industry just look at all of the recent indie game hits. (Minecraft for example)

2. I don't know to close to call.

3. No idea. There are a bunch of sequels coming out this year and they're probably not going to innovative much they're going to be a lot of fun.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Assassin's Creed

Back when it was first revealed it was unlike anything we'd ever seen in both setting and gameplay. It might've drowned a bit in it's own hype, but it's still the most innovating current gen triple A franchise. Though a new AC every year is becoming a bit too much.

And ofcourse there's the smaller downloadable games.

 

[the spud]

OT: I think there is still a healthy amount of creativity left in games. Not as much as we once had, but that is to be expected.

 

[Wanzer]

Alright, there again with the whole Indy game thing; I'll admit Assassin's Creed got me excited for a time, but now that I look at it...I can say the company milked the franchise a bit too much already. I love the story and am ready for the next installment, but I'm also ready for the series to end so it doesn't suffer from the 'Star Wars' syndrome.

In attention to you all again, I'm not talking about Indie games. I know that some of them can be innovative, Minecraft being a good example; however, I'm talking on the main stream level, games made by major companies whom could do so much more with their funds. You've got your Minecrafts out there, but how many people can name the developer?

 

[Ohlawdylawdy]

Alright, there again with the whole Indy game thing; I'll admit Assassin's Creed got me excited for a time, but now that I look at it...I can say the company milked the franchise a bit too much already. I love the story and am ready for the next installment, but I'm also ready for the series to end so it doesn't suffer from the 'Star Wars' syndrome.

In attention to you all again, I'm not talking about Indie games. I know that some of them can be innovative, Minecraft being a good example; however, I'm talking on the main stream level, games made by major companies whom could do so much more with their funds. You've got your Minecrafts out there, but how many people can name the developer?

I can. It was originally developed by Markus "Notch" Persson and is currently being developed by his company Mojang.

 

[Wanzer]

You are currently the first person who has been able to tell me that so I congratulate you good sir. -Hands Ohlawdylawdy a cookie for his knowledge of the Indie producer.-

 

[Casual Shinji]

Alright, there again with the whole Indy game thing; I'll admit Assassin's Creed got me excited for a time, but now that I look at it...I can say the company milked the franchise a bit too much already. I love the story and am ready for the next installment, but I'm also ready for the series to end so it doesn't suffer from the 'Star Wars' syndrome.

Right you are!

I'm still trying to play through Brotherhood, but the entire game feels just so unstructured and dull compared to the previous installments. And eventhough your assassin's groupies are pretty nifty, they do take away from the engagement of the killing itself.

Ubisoft is swifty wasting the credit they earned with the first AC by releasing a new sequel every year.

 

[Wanzer]

There in lies by entire issue with the claim that games are still innovative; because the moment something becomes successful, developers milk it to no end. Ubisoft did with Assassin's Creed and those that are unlucky just have shameless rip offs made by other companies. In accordance with all fairness, I understand gaming is a business and you have to give people what they want; otherwise, your business will fail. I also know that when something is successful others are going to immediately hop on the bandwagon; the end of the whole, innovation in video games debate is going to happen when we get total emersion gear and we're all playing the same mmo instead of living life as it should be. At which point some rogue A.I. is going to dominate us and enslave us; take your pick of which science fiction movie then follows. Anyway I digressed on that point.

My whole point is that games can be creative; however, most companies take the 'easy' route instead of taking a risk. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing; more, it is disappointing that everyone is so intent on making money that they forego the more creative ideas simply because they don't know how the audience would react.

 

[krazykidd]

Well here is the problem , back in the day , games took 3 months to make . Working for 3 months on something and have it fail was bad but still managable , developpers brushed it off , and spent another 3 months to make a better game . Today games take on average 2 years and millions of dollars to make . Theres a significant difference . Having a game fail means millions of dollars and a lot of blood sweat and tears wasted . Innovation doesn't equal success so game companies are reluctant to make innovative games due to the high risk of it failling. In a business perspective it makes sense to make CoD and Madden games ( and their clones ) every year, since a rediculous amount of people buy them .

I do believe we are in a creative drought that is almost only quenched by the indie scene ( so i hear i never bough anything indie myself because i mainly only buy jrpgs) . But i firmly believe ( and hope with every fiber of my body ) that this is only temporary, the dark ages of gaming if you will . It will get better with time ... Or until someone assassinates the ceo of EA. Either which the end result will he the same . And gaming will move foward.

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Bitching about lack of innovation in the modern/early modern generations of interactive gaming has been going on since at least the mid 90's and isn't likely to be stopping anytime soon. [http://au.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/ihavenomouthandims/review.html?tag=summary%3Bread-review]

You can tell when the next big step has been taken in gaming when a game does something new and all proceeding adaptations of the idea attract the "-clone" suffix. We saw it with early FPS games getting the "Doom Clone" at the turn of the FPS revolution, and then again with "GTA Clone" when the open-world gameplay concept came to consoles.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

inovations over rated, why ask for people to continually reinvent something when already existing is a vast variety of game play mechanics.

simply being good should be enough, a game dosn't need some technological gimmick or unique game play element to be good(thats how we got the 3ds).
Bisoshocks a good example, nothing gameplay wise was at all inovative.
LIMBO is another.
Rather they placed well executed challengeing ideas in interesting environments.

(but child of eden was good and as inovative as they come)

 

[Wanzer]

@Krazykidd: I agree with you there, but it just seems sad that gamers have become jaded to a point where they won't buy a game unless it comes from a pre-existing formula of success. CoD, Halo, Final Fantasy and etc are all excellent games, for the most part, and while opinions vary you can't argue with their success. The issue is, that these big names dwarf out just about everything around them and the anticipation for their sequels puts a choke hold on other developers. As humans and in the global economic crisis right now, we simply don't have the money to procure every game out there; nor do we have the time to play them and enjoy them to the fullest. So companies work and construct their games to the best of their ability; making a flop is their worst fear considering the new turn...so yeah I understand how the process works. This isn't about belittling companies for their practices, this is the questioning of gamers' own choices over the years that have lead us to the point of just waiting for another CoD or another Final Fantasy or another Tekken/Soul Caliber or another Star Craft/Age of Empires/Civilization.

@Jelly: No one is really bitching about this, I just want a good conversation regarding other peoples opinions on the matter. Again, I'm new so I didn't really know there had been previous topic discussions regarding the matter. Otherwise I would have created a different thread topic; regardless, I'm getting good feed back here. As with the -clone suffix. Sometimes it is given to anything sharing the same genre which doesn't make the suffix true. While GTA and Saint's Row share enough in common Saint's Row can be claimed a GTA clone, the real question is which does the formula better and create more entertainment value. As consumers the whole issue again points to us and how we demand our products. CoD gets a huge turn out, then we are going to get more and more of the same until the millions of people who play CoD suddenly stop playing it and stop buying the game. Same goes for Final Fantasy and any other genre based game you go after.

As another question to pose to everyone, seeing as the first topic question went out the window.

What sort of innovations would you like to see in a video game? I'm partial to seeing a new format for play; while the Wii was heralded as a motion sensing machine, it still seems a bit too clunky in regards to gameplay. I'd honestly like to see a 'cockpit' style set up for applicable games, and yes I know they do this in some arcades and have centers where it is being developed, but it has yet to be released to the public

 

[Wanzer]

@Shadow_Fox81: People seek new ideas so they don't feel like they are just playing the same game with a slap of paint over it again and again. Bioshock actually was an innovative game as the idea it presented; while, similar to System Shock 2s, still was performed in a very well thought out and original format. Bioshock was an original game with a grand scheme, but like most games over-hyped itself a bit too much; then promptly tried to recreate the experience give a lackluster feel with Bioshock 2. Yes, games are meant for entertainment value; however, having too much of a good thing, is still a bad thing. People get tired of the same old, same old; meaning eventually even though Call of Duty is probably the best FPS around at the moment, once it is remade enough, people will get sick of it.