You mean like how every medium on the planet has it's version of CoD?
It's not unique to gaming, and honestly, saying things like CoD hold back the industry is like saying Twilight holds back the literary arts or that Transformers holds back the film industry.
^This. Don't get me wrong, CoD is everything wrong with modern shooters in a nutshell, but it's not like it's making every other game worse by existing.
You know, sometimes I feel like I'm the only person on this planet who remembers COD4 exists. Nuke scene? Intro bullet to the head? Pripyat? Hello? COD has done WAAAAAAAAY more to help gaming as an art from than it ever has to hurt it.
Twilight has never had a single entry worthy of literary merit. Transformers as a movie series only really has artistic notability as the final great sellout for Orson Welles before his fat ass bit the dust, and went to a place filled with Misses Pelles Fishsticks. COD is not Twilight, and it is not Transformers.
When I say "CoD is everything wrong with modern shooters in a nutshell," I'm talking about the current generation of CoD games. Previous games definitely did interesting things from time to time, although I wouldn't go so far to say that they did anything for gaming as an art form.
The Community holds gaming back. I'd say the Community is to blame for not kicking Publishers in the Face for trying to control the Market with an iron Fist.
Because of People who will still buy Product from certain Companies even when they know that those Companies will try something to screw with the Market next Chance they get are the a Reason why those Companies are now able to sink millions of dollars into Software development for Software that we don't want, like copy protection.
I'd say the community. As a specific example to point to, look at how the community is snuffing out innovation and risk-taking.
We piss and moan when we're handed the same bland, cliche format or story or ending, yet when the industry tries to give us something new we say "Holy shit what the fuck were you guys thinking you're ruining my game that you all made!"
We need to be more open to new ideas and not just say that we are.
The thing is that people want something new and good, not just something new. Dragon Age 2 wasn't disliked because it almost did something interesting with an unreliable narrator, it was disliked because it was rushed and poorly written. Metroid: Other M wasn't disliked because it did something new with the Metroid series, it was disliked because it was sexist, badly paced, and badly written.
Why? They use outdated tech. Even on release their tech is inferior to your average gaming pc. If they caught up we would have better graphics, better physics engines, bigger game worlds. The list goes on and on. It does however look like the next gen consoles are going to be using somewhat decent tech and that can only be a good thing.
This question makes little sense when I didn't even know the industry was being held back (from what?). You'd do better identifying what issues you have with the game industry and then decide where you'd want it to be - then take steps to get there.
The thing that is holding back gaming is the lack of risk willing to be taken by companies. We've gotten to the point where everyone knows that if their game looks and plays like Call of Duty, they can possibly sell the game really well without having to worry that much. We've gotten to the point where we don't award games who create amazing stories, or don't follow the same old formula, because it simply isn't as profitable as creating a game that is similar to "The Big One" out there.
Now I know this isn't true about every game in the business, but if you look at a lot of the multiplayer titles, you'll definitely start seeing many resemblances to CoD.
As long as the primary focus of a game is to make money it'll never be as good as it could be. The primary focus should be that of other art forms: to be art. Until the focus of games changes to being art we'll never see them reach their full potential.
I voted the community because we seem to think the medium is being held back when it isn't really. Just because big titles like COD release every year and stagnate it doesn't hold back the industry as a whole. More and more indie games are finding sucess thanks to digital distribution via various outlets.
Take games like Jounrye; back on the PS2 Journey would've been a full price retail release because there was no other option so nobody would have played it.
Consoles don't hold back the medium either, limitations to the hardware should be a challenge and developers should be creative: that's what will drive it forward as an artistic medium, not "MOAR POWER" in the hardware. Plenty of creativity is in this industry, I'd sure as fuck call Mario Galaxy creative, sure it's still Mario, but they did something very different with it and made a unique and enjoyable experience.
When we get too hung up on artistic value over entertainment value, that's what will eventually hold the industry back in my opinion. When a game needs to be artistic and make a point and all that rubbish over being enjoyable to play we'll have real problems.
At any rate the whole discussion is pointless and I voted the community, not because of retake mass effect or fan backlash retardation or anything. Just because we're even having this thread, we shouldn't be so negative about gaming and we should look forward to things in the future rather than whine about how games are getting worse or other nonsense.
I'm sorry, I don't see video games as the normal type of "art" they should have their own subcatagory like "interactive art" or something like that.
The main things that are holding gaming back are
1: Online play was actually one of the biggest reasons games started to be held back. They wanted everyone to have fun and an equal chance so they dumbed it down. They made people "nerd rage" and everyone now has something bad to say about every online game. (Note: I love online gaming, but even since OLP came out I notcie I get pissed at games and drop them.)
2: DLC you have to pay to complete a game? You used to be able to play through and do new game + to unlock a new character, or do a special mission that was harder, or do something out of the ordinary, like an achivement or collect something. (Note: I do buy all DLC that I like, usually for games that I'm going to be playing for a long time. ex, Mass Effect Series)
3: The ESRB, really, if a game has a 'M' rating Gamestop usually doesn't stock it. I know they have lots of games that are 'M' rated but the obscure games that yes, has things that kids shouldn't see, are blocked. Especially games that would be a benefit to their genre. And there are parents who don't even look at the rating and think 'herp-derp mah babeh wans dis games me is buy eet!'
4: The fact that people are not willing enough to try a new game just because they haven't heard of it. I was walking through EB when I spotted a game called Valkyria Chronicles, I had the money and was looking for a new game and I've never heard of it, it was a new release. I thought "why the hell not, worst I can do is hate it and return it" I fell in love with the game, and played through it like 10x getting an A rank on every mission. Then when VC2 was announced I was like.. YES! but then it ends up that the game didn't do well on the PS3 so they had to port it to the PSP, I have a PSP so I bought it, but it still wasn't the same, the style was lost. Okami, I heard of it and bought it when it came out for the Wii, loved it. But I know alot of people who look at it and think "so you're a dog?"
and Finally
5: Every dumbass media outlet that says "Games caused this school to be shot up, because he played CoD everyday for a year he knew exactally how to handle a gun!" or when a parent who's kid does something horrible comes out and says "yea, he sits at home and plays those violent video games all day" Mario crushed anthropormic (heh damn furries) turtles and mushrooms with his body weight, burnt them to death with fireball, clubed them to death with a blunt force tail, and then took the power of a star to, what I assume would do, to vaporize his enemies.
also:
Us, we are all reasons that the industry is going to go stagnant, The graphics can only get so good, the stories can just keep getting worse and the replay ability can drop to 0 or nil for my British readers. But we will keep buying them, we will keep the industry where it's at because they think they are doing just enough to get by to keep us quiet. Remember the good Final Fantasy? Stopped at what. 10? 10-2 was a joke. I skilled 11, 12, 13.. I don't know what that was. Zelda games have a good story, but they're stagnant it's all the same story with different mechanics. Mario's story is growing stagnant same story differnt mechanics.
The industry won't change, other than indie companies who push out games that break the mold, but then no one buys it because "I'm not paying 15 dollars for a game that takes 3 hours to beat" Buddy you just payed 10 dollars for a DLC that takes 45 minutes to beat.!"
If companies actually were being forced to bring out new and better games they would but they aren't. All this COD 4.5.6.7.8.9.1x will get old, no matter what they do. I'm thinking they're going to have to go to aliens invading earth soon. And people will keep buying. I'm sure over half the people who say bad things about those games have them in their collection. I stopped at COD 3, even though everyone I know new has 4 I told them it's a waste of money for new levels and weapons.
This question makes little sense when I didn't even know the industry was being held back (from what?). You'd do better identifying what issues you have with the game industry and then decide where you'd want it to be - then take steps to get there.
The reason for this question is that, as a young industry we have faced quite a few problems that have held the medium back as an "entertainment and story medium", as opposed to say movies or books, and many things are at fault because of this. A lot of that causes the gaming industry to seem young and unimportant in the eyes of say, the media and the government who out the gaming industry at pretty much every possible angle. Essentially, gaming in our vision is consistently improving at all sides, the truthfully, there are quite a few things holding it back from maturing as fast as say, the movie industry did. If you don't think any of the listed options are, just say other.
SkarKrow said:
Revolutionaryloser said:
I was going to say an unhealthy obsession over things like graphics and realism.
I agree quite a bit, especially looking back to the PS2 era. How many of those games looked "really good", but you remember being a lot of fun? Its why I will always put Wolfenstein 3D as one of my favorite FPS because you have no realism, no map, no clue where you are going, and all you do is shoot Nazis who make hilarious noises when they die. I'm fine with realism occasionally, but this obsession with "every shooter must be realistic because it worked for call of duty" needs to stop.
Greed, the people on top dont care about innovation. They care about stagnation, sucking the life from it until they have everything they can get. If they can make you pay 10 times for basically the exact same product, then they are "smarter" and they "win", thats the problem and it will continue to get in the way.
Consumers/gamers. The gaming industry is a growing industry. its not in its infancy, but its still young. Its development is being stifled by consumers allowing their bad habits to teach the industry bad habits by rewarding bad behavior.
If the industry puts out bad DRM, you dont reward it by making 3 games that have it "best sellers"
If a company trys to trade a license of use for ownership, you stop rewarding that by purchasing games that are still sellable after use.
Its like raising a child. And much like raising a child when you see it do something bad, and you do not correct the behavior immediately all you have done is told the child that the behavior was acceptable and encourage them to push the boundaries even further.
All other problems in the industry stem from the fact that we have failed to properly discipline our industry and we let it behave like a bratty spoiled screaming kid in the middle of a grocery store.
Honestly I'd say that the current console gen IS holding us back. I kinda doubt anyone will read this or care so let me know if you want the details. I'd be more than happy.
I'm actually interested to hear what you have to say on the matter. I know that, with this console generation being the longest to date there have been quite a few issues with modern consoles, but I would like to hear why you think this console generation is holding us back.
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