Re: E3 2011: PS Vita and Wii U
Ok, I found the original article.
[url]http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/07/02/the-rise-of-costs-the-fall-of-gaming/[/url]
[b]:I've revised my post because it was a little derpy, an example would be better:[/b]
I was taken back by seeing the trends of costs and staff sizes/layoffs going up across the board. I don't want to infer that companies should never take financial risks, but I share the feeling that many are spending a bit too frivolously, and leaning on flashy set-pieces and Hollywood action over substance. For example, Uncharted 2 may have amped up the H.S.Q. to make it the gaming equivalent of a summer Hollywood blockbuster, but it had a heart. I played that through four times and wouldn't mind another go. It's easy to compare Uncharted 2 and 3 and see that they went waaaaaaay fucking overboard.
Whole levels were built before they had a plot to justify them, incompetent villains with poor characterization, silly one-vs-dozen fistfight sequences... Plenty of HOLY SHIT moments, but overall lacking in a quality narrative. In the end, every location was just a breadcrumb on a trail. Flashes of brilliance, but a lack of focus for the final product. (And the multiplayer is unbalanced as [i]fuck[/i] compared to Uncharted 2.
) Amy Hennig had a lot to be proud about when she talked about her experience working on Uncharted 2, and it's obvious that they let the reins over to guys who were super psyched about the [i]rad-awesome[/i] procedurally generated ocean and [i]killer[/i] 3D effects and chase sequences, [i]man[/i].
Hire more/spend more/borrow more/invest more, but whether or not this actually makes the final product more worthwhile is not certain. ND made a killing with a massively successful game, so what do they do? Take the money and rush a sequel, hype the shit out of it, promise everything and give us a generic globe hopper, all sizzle, no steak, disappointment. The lady at the Gamestop counter asks me if I want to buy an online pass for the multiplayer, to which I respond, "huh?" I believe that the game industry can spend much smarter than what they are trending towards and still make high quality titles.
I know I'm not them, I don't know all the decisions they have to make. It's a case by case basis for what the right decision should be, and I'm not without empathy if their product fails to meet expectations. But I've been playing games forever, and my eyes don't deceive me when supposedly "AAA" titles routinely have questionable elements in them or are significantly lacking in content, or too much emphasis of DLC. I'm worried that there is a growing lack of creative vision, that a lot of companies are being very wasteful with spending and not realizing it, all in the pursuit of the "perfect game".
As a funny aside, Conan O'Brien's segment on Resident Evil 6. The way he immediately latched onto the terrible animation for the compliment "feature" had me in stitches. And the comment, "It's just Hollywood telling the same old story". Holy shit. [url]http://www.gamezone.com/products/resident-evil-6/news/conan-o-brien-does-good-work-reviewing-resident-evil-6-during-clueless-gamer-segment[/url]
:edit in response to mare:
Heh, you know, a former coworker was a bit of a CoD player, when we were discussing games he would tell me snippets of the plots and no doubt, I People's Eyebrow'd. You reminded me that these games tend to go for political shock value. I don't think I much care for history twisting to make villains of actual nations...
