Which game developer is pushing the industry foward?
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I think only EA isn't moving forward 
Most developers do their best to combine good things from old games and try new things, but if you try something new it's not always coming out right.
Don't blame developers for their misses if they try something.
Namco created the dynamic cover system we see in Gears of war, but kill.switch never was a hit.
Valve only made a few shooters and steam is a distribtion method they are not moving the industry forward.
Blizzard does what it does best making rpg and rts games. Won't say they do it badly.
But they don't really try anything new that other developers pick up and use in their own titles.
and from that point of view I must say Epic. for their marvelous unreal engine that has been used in the industry for about a decade.
Most developers do their best to combine good things from old games and try new things, but if you try something new it's not always coming out right.
Don't blame developers for their misses if they try something.
Namco created the dynamic cover system we see in Gears of war, but kill.switch never was a hit.
Valve only made a few shooters and steam is a distribtion method they are not moving the industry forward.
Blizzard does what it does best making rpg and rts games. Won't say they do it badly.
But they don't really try anything new that other developers pick up and use in their own titles.
and from that point of view I must say Epic. for their marvelous unreal engine that has been used in the industry for about a decade.
blizzard, valve and even EA have all done their part to push it forward, but in recent years, they have produced only decent, mediocre and piss poor games respectively. Bethesda is putting its heart into it, and whilst they are stumbling a bit, i still hold none but the highest respect for them.
maxis gets an honorable mention. its never really innovated, only mixed and matched the bes of what others offered.
i hold a special place in my heart for bioware, as they brought us both baldurs gate and mass effect, both of which i love, and truly believe pushed their respective genres forward.
however, i believe now is the day of the indy developer. people who make small, low budget games, that never the less become awesome. portal, for instance. a true innovation in both game play and in game technology.
maxis gets an honorable mention. its never really innovated, only mixed and matched the bes of what others offered.
i hold a special place in my heart for bioware, as they brought us both baldurs gate and mass effect, both of which i love, and truly believe pushed their respective genres forward.
however, i believe now is the day of the indy developer. people who make small, low budget games, that never the less become awesome. portal, for instance. a true innovation in both game play and in game technology.
Obviously it has to be EA - I mean, they've made so many games recently that they must be really innovative and skilled. Why else would people keep buying them?
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I don't think there's much innovative stuff happening now outside of the Wii - there's only so many ways to dress up a FPS or RTS, and only so many gimmicks to include. Good games are coming out, yes, but none of them are exactly ground-breaking. Fable 2 is a sequel, so surely that cannot really be considered to be innovative? The Wii wins because with its unique control system it has the most potential for new gameplay.
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I don't think there's much innovative stuff happening now outside of the Wii - there's only so many ways to dress up a FPS or RTS, and only so many gimmicks to include. Good games are coming out, yes, but none of them are exactly ground-breaking. Fable 2 is a sequel, so surely that cannot really be considered to be innovative? The Wii wins because with its unique control system it has the most potential for new gameplay.
ID software used to be very groundbreaking in the FPS field. Bioware did a lot for rpg's... With all the mergers it is hard to tell which developer has the most talent on board these days. There is a lot of it in the indie gaming scene though. The major players seem to relying too heavily on reselling the same concepts over and over again albeit with added graphical sparkle and gimmicks. And that includes Valve.
And here's where your whole point against valve and portal fall: No Portal, No Mirror's Edge.Stubee post=9.71959.743409 said:
Portal was a beacon, a proof you can do more of FPSes than the average "gun in hand -> shoot people/monsters". You never kill a single person in Portal, and here you spend the whole game in first person view shooting things to solve puzzles using gravity, momentum shifts and creative thinking.
Mirror's Edge took this concept and went with it, seemingly (from what we've seen so far at least) taking it a step further: "What if we CAN shoot people...But what if we can do more? People like games where they can simulate free running and have freedom of movement, like say Assassin's Creed, what if we give them that in first person + FPS elements?", and it might just work.
I'll give you "short" against Portal though, 2 hours long, 4 most if you never played an FPS before and take your time to adjust to the mechanics or if you really sandbox it a lot by playing around with portals. But at least those are 2 - 4 hours of pure quality.
Criterion & DICE are awesome too - they regularly update their games with free downloadable content available to anyone with an internet connection. They may not produce perfect games but they sure as hell refine them. In terms of constant community support these guys really up the ante.
You made me laugh when I read that. I completely agree that EA is moving things forward. They just finished collaborating on Spore, which, for all it's failings, is an incredibly unique game in the way that you can customize ANYTHING and that it takes other people's creations randomly from the net and adds them to your universe. That's not been done before.Stubee post=9.71959.743409 said:
You were talking about Dead Space and the strategic dismemberment. Also incredibly innovative, if something I'll never play (not a fan of horror games. They scare me, and I'm not kidding)
And, Mirror's Edge, even though I find it hard to believe somebody could forget the logo if they've seen the trailer, that seems to be made in a footprint of blood, the developer for that is EA as well.
In short, THREE of the most innovative games to be released around this time are coming from one developer, things that will very likely pave the way for more ideas from other people along the same lines, and may even change the way first person shooters are done forevermore. I think EA is moving the industry forward. I really do.
I do agree, KOTOR was NWN with Jedi, I am going through Mass Effect right now and I am seriously disappointed in that there is nothing mind blowing about it. They have a four year dev schedule and the writing is fragmented in its quality and delivery. Mass Effect had 1 Excellent Writer, a handful of pretty standard writers, and a couple that needed a little more time in the oven. The game is noticeably buggy, their different "planets" are a terrain editor with slightly different texturing and skyboxes.Knight Templar post=9.71959.743377 said:
Four years! What the hell were they doing? And the only "new" thing in the game was the way you could get quests by riding in an elevator. An unexplored RPG feature (making your adventure be defined by more than the people you chat with).
Work like this is not going to push the industry forward.
I will say Atlus is pushing Boundaries. With Orange Box Valve took the award (game-play) Steam is one of the most progressive business pushes out there. Love 'em or hate them, Mirror's Edge is an exciting experiment with the FPS genre That gives EA a mention. And Vivendi is an industry powerhouse with WoW and the fact that they are still driving and shaping the MMO side of things.
Valve is definetly doing something to innovate, and I think that Bethesda and Rockstar are up there too
I'll throw in a reference for Bungie, but not for what you might think... it's for the back-end stuff they're doing; UI design, dynamic host switching (part of their the "Party system), and AI architecture of theirs are particularly influential the industry.
-- Steve
-- Steve
DICE is the one making Mirrors Edge and also:Stubee post=9.71959.743409 said:
Am I the only one who doesn't get the hype behind Dead Space? It all looks like more of the same to me, System Shock 2 without the gripping story, also, other games have been doing dismemberment before it, and you might say "it's not strategic" yes it is, in Lost Planet there were creatures with weak points on arms and legs and VATS in Fallout 3 looks to be using it also, from everything I figure it's just more of the same.
The no HUD system might be cool but other titles that I can't remember the name of have done this before.
indie game developers, students, small downloadable game developers; those with no money push the industry forward. (Portal for example, yeah Valve helped