The Future of Videogames

[PsykoDragon]

We care about video games right? We need more games that we can geek out over, right? & what is it about a game that makes them worth geeking out over? One word:

Immersion.

Immersion covers just about every aspect of what makes a game good. The whole shebang needs to be right for the game to be immersive, from style to pacing to gameplay to platform etc.

Now I don't believe for a second that I'm saying anything you haven't thought/heard before, so I'll pop the link right here, which for many reasons may immediately alienate me:

cracked.com: 12 Video-Game Annoyances that Need to Die [http://www.cracked.com/blog/12-video-game-annoyances-that-need-to-die-part-2/?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Video+Games&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module]

For the past decade, the AAA gaming scene has been warping gamers' & non-gamers' perception of what a good videogame is, causing standards to drop & innovation to die out. The gent who wrote that article... I don't care who he is. All I care about is the fact that he has the right idea of what we collectively want from our games.

Cracked may have had a severe drop in quality over the past months, but it's still attracting a lot of readers. He has a means to spread the word & he's using it for the betterment of our world. See what I'm getting at here?

For all Geekdom's sake, I beseech you to help spread the word. There are countless revolutions that need to be waged for our envisioned future. We can't dilly-dally on this any longer, we don't want to be left behind.

Whether you accept this quest or not, I just hope you don't think I'm messing with you. I'm totally infinity percent genuinely serious. Please consider.

 

[Racecarlock]

Anyone who thinks that shooters are the only things the industry makes has to have some serious blinders on. Even the AAA industry. Sports and driving games I guess don't count and I was not a real gamer until I played star fox or some shit, but even then the industry is more diverse than people give it credit for.

Crackdown 3 was shown at e3 this year. So was a new mass effect and dragon age and some others I'm forgetting right now.

But we really do need to get rid of the idea that only AAA games are worth anything or that they attract the biggest crowd. I mean, minecraft wasn't AAA, limbo wasn't AAA, braid wasn't AAA. Those games got plenty of attention.

I agree that microtransactions are crap and so are moral choice systems. I don't like social features much either.

But gaming is not as doomed as everyone keeps saying it is. I know we're bored and we need something big and dramatic to keep us distracted from the fact that life isn't very exciting when you're not hunting things in the jungle, but let's stop with the doom prophecies, yes?

 

[Maxtro]

Right now there are two things that I believe are the future of video games.

Virtual reality like the Oculus Rift and Sony's Morpheus. And Sony's PlayStation Now.

VR will change how we experience games, and PlayStation Now will change how we get them. I predict that in 15 years, there will be tons of VR games available and nobody would be playing any games on a powerful gaming system, because they will all be streamed.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

If the 8th gen pitches are anything to go by the future is "connectivity" between players. Also known as "more of the same".

 

[PsykoDragon]

Anyone who thinks that shooters are the only things the industry makes has to have some serious blinders on...we need something big and dramatic to keep us distracted from the fact that life isn't very exciting...

The majority of AAA gaming then. That is, most of the money flows out of the hands of people who gobble up whatever they're fed without really paying attention, & into the pockets of businessmen. Any industry follows the money, & that results in fewer good games released.
I'm not accusing the industry exclusively though. The consumers are a part of the problem, & they don't realize how much those few bucks they spend on regular sequels harms gaming. So spread awareness.

Right now there are two things that I believe are the future of video games. Virtual reality like the Oculus Rift and Sony's Morpheus. And Sony's PlayStation Now.

I'm hyped for VR myself, but who cares if all you're gonna do on it is shoot the same cookie-cutter soldiers from behind cover? VR is a tool that can greatly add to immersion, the issue I bring is with how these tools are being used.

If the 8th gen pitches are anything to go by the future is "connectivity" between players. Also known as "more of the same".

Again, just a tool.

All of your points were brought up in the article I linked. C'mon, he brings up some pretty good points, read it!

 

[Racecarlock]

Anyone who thinks that shooters are the only things the industry makes has to have some serious blinders on...we need something big and dramatic to keep us distracted from the fact that life isn't very exciting...

The majority of AAA gaming then. That is, most of the money flows out of the hands of people who gobble up whatever they're fed without really paying attention, & into the pockets of businessmen. Any industry follows the money, & that results in fewer good games released.
I'm not accusing the industry exclusively though. The consumers are a part of the problem, & they don't realize how much those few bucks they spend on regular sequels harms gaming. So spread awareness.

Maybe people like buying games they enjoy. Which is a factor neither you or the article seems to address. You don't like mainstream stuff, neither does he, I respect that. But I'm not joining any crusades, ok?

 

[Fox12]

The world is ending, video games suck, and everyone's going bankrupt. Meanwhile Sony and Microsoft report the largest launches ever, steam is counting millions more users by the day, gaming is growing larger and more diverse by the day, and the indie market is being celebrated by Sony, Microsoft, and valve during their biggest expos of the year. There are also more critically acclaimed story driven pieces than ever before. Spec ops couldn't have existed thirty years ago. The industry is thriving, no matter what your personal taste. Even the most obscure titles can be found either online or at my local game stop. I think we'll be okay.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Good article. Some of the things he brought up seemed to be more from a lack of patience though. As far as games being padded, I personally like some good value for my entertainment dollar. Otherwise there were a lot of good points in there. I'm a big fan of immersion as well and one of my main complaints with ME2 was the mission ending xp screens and removing the elevator/side-quest/dialogue loading screens with a graphic of an elevator. It would be nice if gaming moved this way but until people start buying games with those qualities, it probably won't happen.

 

[Vault101]

somethign about David Wongs articles on videogames seem leave me pissed off for some reason...even if I do see his points

althiugh Bioshock Infinite didn't "fail" financially as far as I understand

as for "THE FUTURE" the movie "Her" has a really cool set up with 3D projection and a charachter you can ineract with one on one...although I can't imagine waving my hands in the air being anymore imersive with no tactial feedback...nor can I imagine keyboards going anyway and people dictating [sub/]although I do wonder if people had to say everything they post online would they think twice before posting something done[sub]

The world is ending, video games suck, and everyone's going bankrupt.

Wong predicted a Crash in 2007 which...hasn't happned 7 years later

I think my issue is I get the impression he's this older guy who hasn't picked up a conroller in years and acts liek modern games are "benith" him...yet feels qualified to "educate" us all

I mean don't get me wrong...I usually feel people are too damn defensive ovr their games...mabye its just me

 

[EternallyBored]

Wong predicted a Crash in 2007 which...hasn't happened 7 years later

I think my issue is I get the impression he's this older guy who hasn't picked up a controller in years and acts like modern games are "beneath" him...yet feels qualified to "educate" us all

I mean don't get me wrong...I usually feel people are too damn defensive over their games...maybe its just me

Wong seems to actively dismiss anything he deems as too "gamey" (see the point about visible game mechanics), and ultimately seems to have a very narrow romantic view of what he wants games to be and kind of flails around blindly at anything that doesn't meet his definition.

He seems to want games to be like interactive short stories, he actively wants padding and mechanics cut out to make stories focused, wants games with no violence or shooting, and takes then wants games to tackle "serious" issues.

Not that what he wants is bad, but even when I'm agreeing with him he just seems to come off as really pretentious and condescending to people that want to play games a different way than him. I also think he doesn't realize how hard some of these things would be to implement, and you can tell that neither does he when he starts talking about games in vague philosophical terms and wistful concepts that sound more like a fever dream than a realistic concept you could actually make a video game about.

It's like when we try to imagine our perfect game with deep story, oodles of characters and diversity, a meaningful morality system, and engaging nontraditional game mechanics, before we wake up and realize that such a project is either so nebulous we have no idea how it would work, or so complex it would take the world's greatest developers 10 years and a billion dollars to make such a project a reality.

 

[Vault101]

Wong seems to actively dismiss anything he deems as too "gamey" (see the point about visible game mechanics), and ultimately seems to have a very narrow romantic view of what he wants games to be and kind of flails around blindly at anything that doesn't meet his definition.

He seems to want games to be like interactive short stories, he actively wants padding and mechanics cut out to make stories focused, wants games with no violence or shooting, and takes then wants games to tackle "serious" issues.

Not that what he wants is bad, but even when I'm agreeing with him he just seems to come off as really pretentious and condescending to people that want to play games a different way than him. I also think he doesn't realize how hard some of these things would be to implement, and you can tell that neither does he when he starts talking about games in vague philosophical terms and wistful concepts that sound more like a fever dream than a realistic concept you could actually make a video game about.
.

did he say dear Ethser was good or bad? because I felt like he talked about all the things you said (story focus, no killing) and came up up dear Ethser but then addmited its common criticism (that theres bareley any actual gameplay) and then...didn't go anywhere, I don't remember the article, but yeah...the kind of thing where he's too good for games that are actual games

I do agree with him being somone who is more often concerned with story or at least context, and I do honestly find multiplayer completly pointless

in fact that kind of led me to a moment were I realised the only difference between for me between Tinanfall and Bioshock infinite is the story/setting...everything is the same

so mabye devs do need to find a more creative way to do other than "fit the story around the existing format" because when it comes to storys in games...players ruin everything, you want it to have focus you have to shackle the players so they can't fuck it up, and thats not always a bad thing

 

[Racecarlock]

I think in mentioning endless combat games he forgot that sports, racing, and puzzle games all exist.

Also I really don't think this guy has played stanley parable, and he should.

Here's the thing. You guys have just been introduced to this guy. He has an article after e3 every year on this stuff. All of it is doomsaying. It's nice enough to read the stuff, but he's a pretty big doom predictor.

I do think the people need to stop using the "But games are getting millions of sales" argument, though. The part people always seem to forget is that yes, games are getting millions of sales and so are consoles AND BOTH ARE STILL FAILING TO MEET PROJECTIONS. That's the problem.

 

[mindfaQ]

Next step of immersion is presence btw, which can be achieved by VR. So if you want to talk about the next step in this direction, this would probably the more important topic.

I'm not that massively into story games, but so far immersion works where it should for ME.

 

[balladbird]

Not that what he wants is bad, but even when I'm agreeing with him he just seems to come off as really pretentious and condescending to people that want to play games a different way than him. I also think he doesn't realize how hard some of these things would be to implement, and you can tell that neither does he when he starts talking about games in vague philosophical terms and wistful concepts that sound more like a fever dream than a realistic concept you could actually make a video game about.

I've never read an article by david wong where he didn't come across as pretentious and condescending. that'd be like seeing him write an article where he didn't shamelessly plug his book every few paragraphs. XD

Granted, I feel conflicted, since for all his faults, Wong and I want the exact same type of games in the future. Pull away from the "kill things to advance" standard for video game story progression, with more care taken in stories and greater risks taken with narrative. If we could see an entire genre of games with the loving care and crafting of telltale's "walkin dead" rise to prominence and flourish I'd be a happy gamer.

that said, he's always been a tad too pessimistic about the video game industry. As vault said above, he's been predicting a crash since 07, and while his worries are generally understandable, he tends to assume the worst. Is Candy Crush and its ilk the future of gaming? well, after the insane profits those skinner box-styled app games have drawn, they surely aren't going anywhere, and the AAA scene has had a number of hangups, but I don't think a time will ever come when the market for narrative driven or single-player experience games will be completely gone... at least not as long as I'm breathing. XD

 

[JayRPG]

As long as Japanese devs keep making JRPGs and coming up with zany new ideas... and they keep localizing them, I'll be happy.

The PS3 and Vita are what I would consider the Must-have consoles at the moment, they have a huge list of games being released this and next year and most of them are unique in some way.

I want to play more games that have new, interesting battle systems, like Baten Kaitos or Resonance of Fate.

Or have amazing stories backed up by solid gameplay like the Tales series.

It just seems like there are far more developers in Japan that don't care about taking risks because they don't expect their game to sell 25 million copies, so they do whatever the hell they want while keeping development costs to realistic and sane levels.

Of course there are devs over here/in the west that also come up with new and unique stuff but it's much less prevalent.

Not every JRPG (or Japanese game in general) is a gem but in my opinion there are far more gems in that pile than any other, and the gems are at least sitting on a pile of rubble and not elephant shit.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

"Immersion", a bs excuse for people putting in stupid ideas, such as the lack of health bars in game nowadays or for making bland, easy-to-forget protagonists. A game reminding you that it's a game does not break immersion by default; immersion is a far more complex notion than that.

 

[Genocidicles]

nobody would be playing any games on a powerful gaming system, because they will all be streamed.

God that sounds horrible.

Could you imagine the problems that Netflix has, but applied to games as well?

"Hey you know that game you loved to play? Well it's gone now because the publisher wanted more money and we're not giving it to them. Have fun playing something else."

 

[Richard Dubbeld]

I liked that cracked article too. Probably the most serious piece on the whole website.