Let us talk, you and I, about Blizzard

[Anaklusmos]

I just want to know how you would innovate one of Blizzards game. Or how you would innovate the gaming industry. Just one idea. Right now. If you had the money, and the resources, the people, the time... how would YOU innovate one of Blizzards game. How would you innovate any game. What would you do, so differently, that it would drastically change the face of gaming.

 

[Innegativeion]

Blizzard doesn't innovate in hardware or software. Sure they get better. The Japanese were really good at making swords but then Oda Nobugnaga got his hands on a matchlock musket and nearly united Japan. Also, are those trailers pre-rendered or engine-rendered?

...And then that generation of Japanese people had great grandchildren who would go on to make good use of the firearm.

Blizzard uses new technology as it becomes available but doesn't produce it. What is the problem, exactly?

 

[Inkidu]

I just want to know how you would innovate one of Blizzards game. Or how you would innovate the gaming industry. Just one idea. Right now. If you had the money, and the resources, the people, the time... how would YOU innovate one of Blizzards game. How would you innovate any game. What would you do, so differently, that it would drastically change the face of gaming.

I plead the fifth.

 

[Innegativeion]

I plead the fifth.

Means to refuse to self-incriminate, not refusal to provide evidence of a sensible argument. You're suggesting forceful implantation of micro-chips in children's brains, right? Cuz I thought of it first.

 

[mekose]

Seriously? Blizzard has stuck with their three IP's because their good and insanely fleshed out. Blizzard's IP's go over the top to create a world and a story. All of them have multiple novels about the world. They have a department designed to just create the lore. Do you know how hard it is to write 6 novels worth of lore for a world? I doubt their writers have a whole lot of creative juices left. I mean, blame EA and other big time publishers/developers who keep making COD rip offs and first person shooters. Well theres a rebuttal for one of your statements. I don't really want to take the time to write an essay.

 

[bob1052]

Blizzard doesn't innovate in hardware or software. Sure they get better. The Japanese were really good at making swords but then Oda Nobugnaga got his hands on a matchlock musket and nearly united Japan. Also, are those trailers pre-rendered or engine-rendered?

What kind of hardware innovation is being made on PCs by any other game developer? And as far as software goes, Blizzard are the king of quality in what they do. Oda Nubugnaga might have been good with a musket but at 300 yards against an entrenched .50 he wouldn't have such an upper hand.

Okay maybe a better phrasing would be, "Don't make a game that needs support out the wazoo." Give themselves a breather, time to be creative that kind of thing.

So you are suggesting that they should just release games and then offer them no support so they can get on to making the next? That's retarded.

 

[Inkidu]

Blizzard doesn't innovate in hardware or software. Sure they get better. The Japanese were really good at making swords but then Oda Nobugnaga got his hands on a matchlock musket and nearly united Japan. Also, are those trailers pre-rendered or engine-rendered?

...And then that generation of Japanese people had great grandchildren who would go on to make good use of the firearm.

Blizzard uses new technology as it becomes available but doesn't produce it. What is the problem, exactly?

Actually the Japanese make terrific matchlock firearms. My point is even after they got their hands on guns, America came back in the 19th Century and they still had the matchlock. Polish is fine but those great grand children were in the same boat as their ancestors with their swords. Innovation is what humans thrive on to move forward. Yes, we take missteps, we make mistakes, and we pay dearly for them. Blizzard just needs to devote some funding to something different, not radical, but pick something and run with it.

 

[ShadowyMOON]

I can see Inkidu's point, to be honest. Blizzard have the manpower and money to really push the industry forward, but they are content to sit on old laurels and simply release more of the same.

I don't agree with Inkidu because I don't see that as wrong. Games may be art, but they're also entertainment and primarily a money making industry, why would an industry giant invest in changes who have the potential to flop, when they can go on with the same old story perfectly fine?

Our friend Oda Nobunaga didn't take up the musket and re-invent Japanese warfare for the sake of curiosity or trying, he had a vested interested in shaking things up and using that to gain an advantage over his rivals. Blizzard is not in that position.
Blizzard are the Shogunate who want exactly the opposite.

Anyhow, I'm probably repeating myself by now and I seriously need some sleep, I'll check this thread tomorrow.

 

[Inkidu]

I plead the fifth.

Means to refuse to self-incriminate, not refusal to provide evidence of a sensible argument. You're suggesting forceful implantation of micro-chips in children's brains, right? Cuz I thought of it first.

Fair enough. How about an M.M.O.R.P.G. that isn't stat based, has an element of skill isn't so standardized that it's basically the same thing over and over for the sake of whiners. Something based more off of an organic exploratory vibe than just the next level or the next new loot. Something that doesn't have dozens of virtually identical quests of collect specific number O'animal parts. Something where flying isn't just point A to B but combat and only has flying related quests. A million ideas, but all the M.M.O.R.P.G. I've ever played are basically Diablo with a bunch of people.

 

[Innegativeion]

Blizzard just needs to devote some funding to something different, not radical, but pick something and run with it.

WAIT WAIT WAIT... "pick something and run with it"

*massive record scratch*

You mean like... RTSes and RPGs, keep improving 'em, run with something like that? Because they've been pretty much doing that for a decade or so.

A million ideas, but all the M.M.O.R.P.G. I've ever played are basically Diablo with a bunch of people.

1. Diablo; not an MMO

2. So you basically have no clue whatsoever what their biggest property, wow, is actually like.

 

[Innegativeion]

edit: double post

 

[Gxas]

Reason one: They've not produced anything new since 2001

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/unannounced-blizzard-mmo-to-be-a-new-ip.ars

Refuted.

I address this. Try reading the whole thing. Also note that it still isn't here yet, so you can just come and get me in thirteen years when it comes out I suppose.

I read the whole thing. They're still making a new IP. Hence, refuted.

 

[Inkidu]

I can see Inkidu's point, to be honest. Blizzard have the manpower and money to really push the industry forward, but they are content to sit on old laurels and simply release more of the same.

I don't agree with Inkidu because I don't see that as wrong. Games may be art, but they're also entertainment and primarily a money making industry, why would an industry giant invest in changes who have the potential to flop, when they can go on with the same old story perfectly fine?

Our friend Oda Nobunaga didn't take up the musket and re-invent Japanese warfare for the sake of curiosity or trying, he had a vested interested in shaking things up and using that to gain an advantage over his rivals. Blizzard is not in that position.
Blizzard are the Shogunate who want exactly the opposite.

Anyhow, I'm probably repeating myself by now and I seriously need some sleep, I'll check this thread tomorrow.

But why could they not be the mover and the shaker? Why can't they have a vested interest? Of all the companies with the capital to do it, Blizzard is at the top of my list. They can take that hit, reap that reward, or step on their own foot if that happens, but they can take that hit and still keep fighting. They're not a fledgling company.

In that regard, independent developers have more guts than Blizzard. Not because they can, but because they have to.

 

[MaVeN1337]

I hate blizzard for the following reasons:

1. They made MMO's accessible to any Joe schmoe, capable of playing farmville. If you had played everquest back in the day, you'd know what the community was like, Nothing but nice people enjoying the same challenges and experiences together, and it was all so new and exciting too... Now go log into to WoW on ANY server, and read barrens chat or 1-9 or any of the chat for that matter. Immaturity and adolescence at every turn. It's a lot more difficult to find a group of intelligent individuals to play with.

2. By making it so accessible for anyone to play an MMO, WoW, has literally EATEN all of the MMO market, and made it nearly impossible for other games to flourish. It's sick and disgusting, watching developers spend times making great MMO's, then having them shut down because of lack of player base. Everyone is too invested in WoW, to look at anything else. For example, DDO, or Tabula rasa. TR was shutdown, and DDO had to turn to that SHITTY micro-transaction garbage business model, Convenient as it may be for some people, It's awful to see games flaunted as "Free to play" even though, It's only free if you want to experience 1/10th of the game as a whole, without spending money on it.

3. WoW clones, and more WoW clones. Not only has blizzard officially swallowed the market whole. It also spawned a whole bunch of games that are so disgustingly similar, they might as well be the same thing.

I could put a lot more here, But my bulletstorm demo has finished installing and I'm dying to try it

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

No one ever claimed Blizzard was innovative. They take what someone else did, polish the everloving fuck out of it for several years, and then release an absolute classic. There's nothing inherently wrong with that business model. It's safe, and it's obviously extremely successful for Blizzard. Honestly I wouldn't want them to innovate. When I buy a Blizzard product, I know exactly what I'm getting. A game with tremendous polish and quality that plays it relatively safe.

I'm interested in their new MMO 'Titan', which is supposedly a new IP. If they take everything they've learned from WoW and iterate on that for Titan, it could very well become the MMO Bible.

 

[ReinofFire]

No game developer tries to differ from the norm. If they did they'd be in a world other than their own, and you can't make good things when your away from home. BTW you mentioned DaVinci. He may not have finished the Mona Lisa, but the art style that he used for it was something that had been done many times before, innovation wasn't exactly looked on too kindly then

And thank you for comparing Blizzard and games in general to art, i adds a whole lot to our revolution.

 

[Skipper3]

You do realize that MB has absolutely no clue what he was saying in that video, right?

Like I mean absolutely nothing.

Predicting the future does tend to lean on the "difficult to do" end of the spectrum.

But he tried basing his predictions on what is going on now and in the past, and he has absolutely no clue at all about it.

Everything he said is complete bullocks and it is based on his completely wrong interpretation of the past and present state of things.

Nope, movieB is right. No one is driving their horse to work anymore--yet.


I understand what the OP is saying though. Blizzard does go through the motions.

 

[daemon37]

OBVIOUS TROLL. All you guys are posting in a troll thread. Please, do not feed the trolls.

 

[Gemore]

They're a handful of devs not creating new IPs at the rate of a totalitarian factory. Bethesda pops in mind. Technically Valve because they didn't come up with all of their IPs since most of them came from mods but I could be spewing bullshit, prove me wrong.
Anyways you can advance the medium without creating new IPs. Picasso didn't painted with a magic marker, he did it with a common brush. Look at Warcraft 2 to 3, they looked at what was wrong with 2 and replaced it with new mechanics.

It's not a question of whether or not I like Blizzard games, it's not a question of are Blizzard's games good or bad. It's a question of what is Blizzard doing to move the industry forward, and I feel the answer is, nothing.

Ive been saying this for years. Its the saem issue that CoD developers (and CoD clones have)

Did you HEAR DICE?

They want to make their game MORE like CoD

I think we do not give CoD enough credit or at least the now dead Infinity Ward. Lets have a look at CoD4, it broke the mold of WW2 FPS with something that felt fresh, granted they pioneered that WW2 genre. CoD4 did a lot of things right in my opinion, MW2 expanded on the formula because why fix what isn't broken.

I really lean more to the idea they refined it, not expanded. Guns still kill quickly, they just took longer to unlock. Blizzard, as the OP says, does the same thing. They refine, and they refine, and then tey refine some more. Points to CoD4. Everything else, imo, is not new.

And thats ok. The industry DOES need, does wnat games that are just refined better. The problem is that they keep using the same formula and it KEEPS being succesful. Even that would be ok if it wasnt making other developers follow suit

 

[Innegativeion]

OBVIOUS TROLL. All you guys are posting in a troll thread. Please, do not feed the trolls.

If he was a troll he'd be trying to annoy people. We're having a discussion here. Try to have at least a little faith in humanity.