More Proof the Video Game Industry is Out of Ideas (E3 2010)
It's Day Two of the biggest week in the world of video games, and the industry is completely out of ideas.
If you missed it, here are my impressions from Day One of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where I declared that the industry was floundering toward its own destruction, aimless and lost. You might think that was rash, considering I had only seen the sad disaster that was the Microsoft conference, where they tried to surprise the world with a series of games Nintendo came out with four years ago. And dancing.
All of that was for their new motion control gimmick called Xbox Kinect. However, Day Two arrived and saw conferences from Sony and Nintendo, also known as "the only two other companies in the game console business." I saw nothing to change my mind.
For instance, debuting today were two of the games I mocked in the graphic above, Killzone 3 and EA's embarrassing Modern Warfare 2 ripoff, Medal of Honor (though I guess if we're collecting "guy with cool machine gun with blood splattered on the screen" pics, then we could have thrown Bulletstorm in there).
Killzone 3 might be the most significant of the games Sony showed today, but not in a good way. Sony, perhaps horrified at the spectacle that was Microsoft and its demonstration of its motion control gimmick, barely mentioned Move, their own motion control gadget. The long gaps in their presentation, when it appeared they were trying very hard to fill time, made me think they took one look at the reaction to Xbox Kinect yesterday and quietly nudged Move under the sofa with their toe.
Instead, they spent most of the time talking up how you could play Killzone 3 in 3D. Well, as long as you have a 3D TV, also known as "The TV that costs several thousand dollars and requires $150 glasses to watch." A 52-inch 3D TV will cost $5,000, though at least that one comes with two pairs of glasses. Even then, if you want to have a few friends over, they'll need glasses too. So that'll cost you as much as a new console. That's assuming the headaches don't keep them away.
Don't get me wrong; I'm sure one day 3D TV's will be common. That point will be right after you no longer need glasses for them to work. Oh, and when the TVs cost less than a new kidney. In the mean time, Sony is spending all of their energy touting a feature that the vast majority of gamers won't be able to take advantage of for several years. It's as simple as that. Hell, most of us just bought our HD TVs in the last few years, we're sure as hell not ready to upgrade yet.
When Sony did mention Move, it came off as a brief afterthought. They showed off Sorcery, which appears to be a Harry Potter game only without the familiar character and lucrative license.
Then they spent many "fill for time" minutes showing off Tiger Woods 2011, the crowd watching in awkward silence as the guy demonstrated that their state-of-the-art game works exactly like several previous Tiger Woods Golf games for the Wii.
It's hard to know exactly which video they showed next was the most cringe-worthy. Was it the montage of people playing with Move set to a remix of "Bust a Move" by Young MC? Or was it this video featuring a stereotypical sassy black kid talking about the Sony PSP, using the most authentic urban dialogue a room full of white 30-somethings working for a Japanese electronics company can manage?
History will have to decide.
When Nintendo took the stage, many of us in the comedy industry got out our notepads and leaned forward. For about the last three years Nintendo has had some of the most spectacularly retarded E3 conferences in history, including the infamous demonstrations of Wii Music.
Drums.
Instead they began by rattling off a list of games that combined will probably sell 50 million copies: safe sequels to their top franchises. There was a Wii Zelda game, which somehow looked significantly worse than the Zelda game made for the Gamecube four years ago:
We saw a new Metroid, a new Kirby, a new Donkey Kong, a new sports game starring Mario, none of it very original and yet I'll likely wind up buying all of it. But then Nintendo pulled out what many of us had previously assumed was just a cruel hoax:
A 3D game system that doesn't require glasses.
It's the handheld Nintendo 3DS. I'd post screen shots here, but what's the point? You can't perceive it unless you have the thing in front of you. But Nintendo passed out dozens of the systems on the show floor and according to the people who have seen them, it somehow works.
Hell, how can even a grizzled old man like me remain cynical in the face of something that even long-time journalists said filled them with childlike joy? And let's be clear, handheld gaming is pretty much all that matters now: there are about 40 million Xbox 360s in the world and 35 million PS3s, but there are 130 million Nintendo DS handhelds. That's almost double the total of the big fancy HD consoles combined. So this 3D successor should be a license to print money, right? Industry saved!
Well, maybe. See, while we game fans spent our childhoods arguing over whether or Nintendo could beat up your Sega, the competition now isn't another game company at all. It's this:
The iPhone has sold 50 million units so far, a number that is growing exponentially. Android phones are selling even faster. Yes, the 3DS can do gaming better--the graphics appeared to be roughly on par with the Wii. But as the famous saying goes, there is a limit to the number of electronic devices a person wants to carry in their pocket, and that limit is one. If your phone can play games that are perfectly competent at killing time in the dentist's waiting room, what motivation are you going to have to grab a Nintendo 3DS or Sony PSP2 on the way out the door?
Now, let's be clear. Video games aren't going away, just as they didn't go away after the game market collapsed in 1983. Enthusiasts like me will keep playing right on through. But right now, between endless Space Marine shooting games and everyone desperately clutching for the next tech gimmick, I'm seeing an industry stuck firmly in a rut. It's a market that needs another major correction before it can plunge into a future where it will likely be the cornerstone of our popular culture. Gaming is growing out of its childhood, but before maturity arrives we'll have to deal with some incredibly awkward teen years.
Don't laugh, we've all been there.
Here are my impressions from Day 1, if you haven't seen them yet.
For more of Wong's insight into the gaming world, check out 5 Things The Gaming Industry Will Never Fix (And Why) and The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey.
Oh, yea. Show a clip of Link standing boringly. Not him flying on his epic sky mount, or the dramatic boss battles. The character model, which is ment to look more like a drawing that the more realistic Twilight Princess. Good fair game. You know what I think is wierd? Ahem. WHIIIIINE, the new Cracked logo looks signifigantly worse than the one from 2001, WAAAH!"
ReplySure, don't show a clip of the boss that breaks Zelda Rule #1 - All bosses will be weak to the item found in their dungeon. Don't show pictures of how they managed to fuse the forest and water worlds and force you to fight the same boss multiple times. And definitely don't point out that the "amazing sky world" is pretty much random rocks floating around the place.
These opinions on video games are some of the worst Cracked articles in the site's history.
ReplyI love this new "whining" feature on Cracked.
ReplyAll you had to do was note that every famous game title has about 80 games in it. Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda, Mario, Battlefield, etc. I'll forgive Deus Ex, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls because it's been an ASSTON of time since their previous titles (as in the time between their current title, and the one before it), but just think, when was the last time there was an original title, the first in it's series, that was a world shattering game? That's partly due to the fans being so in love with their games that they'll barely give mention to it unless it either starts with "Call of Duty" "The Legend of Zelda" or "Uncharted" and ends with a number greater than, or equal to 2, but that's mainly because of the lack of original titles receiving advertisements. Nowadays all I hear is "Continuing from the events of..." coming out of gaming websites of video interviews.
ReplyOther titles include, but are not limited to, Pokemon, Assassins Creed, and Halo.
I think the last couple were Arkham asylum, Rage, and Red Dead Redemption. Batman went pretty well, only I'm fearing that they're starting to fall into that sequel trap. Red Dead Redemption was GREAT, only it was a long ass while ago. Rage just came and went with almost 0 publicity. I think there were all of 12 people there at the release of it, and a good chunk were for Dark Souls. Rage is a pretty good game, not great, but certainly not worth total shunning from being released along with MW3, and AC:R. I'm not saying that sequels shouldn't exist...just that they're becoming the highlight of EVERYTHING.
Do you remember Portal, Minecraft or Bastion? All three are wildly popular and completely original titles.
PS: The "3D" tech in the 3DS was invented a while ago, and now they have that same thing in TVs, but better. In fact, the new TVs can show two people different full-screen images AT THE SAME TIME. Screen-looking will die soon.
ReplyIt's apparent that the author has no idea what he's talking about and that he's a company loving guy. He talks about Micros*ck and then calls Nintendo and Playstation (the other consoles). NEWSFLASH! Nintendo has been around LOOOOOONG before Microsoft was even a company and Bill Gates was still picking s**t out of his ass and rubbing it on his face. Xbox is 10 years recent and PlayStation has been around for at least 15+ (and Sony doesn't just make Playstation it also makes Tv's, Headphones, computers, etc. That Vaio with Windows on it... That's a Sony Vaio...)
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesI'm so glad I usually just stick to reading SeanBaby's articles here... Most other writers are just hacks.
NEWSFLASH! Nintendo has been getting worse since the n64, and they were annilated in the 6th gaming generation, they only survived the 7th generation because the wii fad, their Wii U will kill them in generation 8, due to the fact that generation 8 console games will be funnier then i pad rip offs on a generation 7th graphics console.
Sad to say, but Nintendo has not grown quite as well with its audience as Xbox and Sony has. They squandered their market dominance worse than AOL.
sorry, but p360Assassin it's right(despite the "original" name) but nintendo it's taking the easy way this time
Would somebody tell this guy that Twilight Princess was a Wii launch title. It was not on gamecube.
Reply Hide All See All 4 Repliesit kindof was on gamecube bro...along with the wii
Wait, it wasn't? Then what the hell did I play on my Gamecube all those years ago?!
Pretty sure it was like the final gamecube game ever made, right?
Dude, why don't you at least check your facts the next time you chime in to correct somebody? You're now eternally on record as a know-it-all loudmouthed idiot. Every future statement of yours has been devalued.
I also find your treatment of 3D in a very short-sighted way ridiculous. Even at least years E3, 3D was a fairly new technology, and the Wii and Move weren't even on the market. At this point in time, 1.5 years later (Exactly following Moore's law) A very good 3DTV can be purchased for FAR less money than 5000. So you are analyzing 3D in terms of the 2010 Summer market, when you know that with all technology, everything gets cheaper and more popular over time.
ReplyThat is aside from the fact that 3D is a f*****g stupid gimmick that has been pointless for decades and is horribly implemented in movies, even in the best of scenarios.
And here in 2011, looking back, everyone that isn't retarded knows the Kinect is the best f*****g motion control system around - they have perfected the system so far. It can be improved, as can everything, but it's definitely superior to Wii and Move. The problem being, motion control was a retarded idea in the first place. If we wanted to physically use guns, we'd go paintball or join the military.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesU kno the move is great right? only thing that sucks is that every good game needs new accessories KZ3, Resistance3, Socom and Resident Evil 5 Gold All need a navigation controller and Sharpshooter and what sucks is if they are PS Move compatible Sony's idea of a collectors edition is a Game and Move Combo pack but over all great system just not the greatest im a PS boy threw and threw but i can at least admit when Sony has it faults in which Microsoft does it better Kinect is king but if it only had good libary like what if GoW3 had a kinect mini mode?
the wii and move are much better than kinect since you can actually play real games with them, not just dancing and rail shooters
its quite easy to make a playable game on kinect, everyone is retarded who make the games, since kinect is an untapd idea
The Kinect is terrible for gameplay. It's actually horrid. There's not a good game for it in sight, there are basically no controller inputs at all and it is ridden with bad controls.
What's it awesome as is as a household 3D-space webcam. Kinect hacks have been one of the greatest demonstrations of homebrew technology I have ever seen.
All I know is that the Kinect is terrible for games, but amazing as a 3D camera.
People are winning awards in academia with the Kinect, so no need for anybody to defend it.
Could you explain to me how Medal of Honor is an MW2 rip-off when the Medal of Honor series has literally been around for 7 years before the first call of duty ever came out? If you take your FPS to a modern setting, there's a very small amount of s**t you can do without being utterly ridiculous.
ReplyI'm pretty sure he meant the current MOH title is a ripoff, not the entire series
Wow, you must be the biggest hypocrite I've ever seen... in your article about the 7 commandants of video games you said that graphics don't make the game better... yet here, your criticizing Nintendo for making a game with worse graphics then a similar one 5 years ago. It's like the people at Nintendo read your previous article and did what you said, only then to be shot down by you. You're either bipolar or just plain crazy.
ReplyExcept that, being another Zelda game, on the exact same console, five years later, there is no conceivable reason for graphics to just decrease. Graphics don't make the game, but there is no reason for them to inexplicably go down in quality. Whether that is true, however, is a matter of opinion. One could argue they have simply changed styles, giving the impression that the graphics are of lower quality.
doesn't anyone realize that skyward sword is cel shaded and NOT meant to look realistic?
did someone say skyward sword doesent look shit? the reason people who dont like zelda arent even wanting to look at it is because the cartoony-ness assumption people are making about it makes it seem like a s**t rpg. Also 3D doesent make a game with s**t graphics look good, glasses or not. Also wats this s**t about headaches on 3d tv's. Ive watched 3 hour movies at the cinemas with the glasses on and ive been fine. Also at my nearby theater which has 3d they never say we cant take the 3d glasses home, just that we should recycle them in the bins outside the viewing areas room. They never said we were renting the glasses for the movie or anything. So 2 bucks per glasses for entire family simply cause theater is retarded and forgot to mention that we cant keep 450 bucks worth of glasses. TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOOL
Reply Hide All See All 3 Replieswhere do i start... you don't have a 3D t.v. do you? because those 3D glasses ONLY WORK THERE. I bet you haven't ever seen a 3D tv,and its glasses before have you?because the glasses look different and run on batteries.
But still, i mean really, you think that the theater is that stupid, to throw all that money away like that? if you seriously meant what you wrote, than one of those 10 cent glasses would be worth more, and smarter than your IQ lowering brain.
P.S.
if the glasses there was supposedly all worth $50, why does it only cost a couple dollars to have them?
nevUS003
"Where do I start..." I believe all of the 3D glasses that I've brought home from the theater work very well with my 3D television, because they are passive lenses just like the ones needed for my television, the only difference is that the theater glasses are made with cheaper plastic, you may be thinking of the glasses people use in IMAX showings, which will not work, because they are total different lenses. Also there are no batteries in the pair of glasses that came with my television or in the ones that have come with quite a few 3D televisions, so wrong again. You pretty much look like an ass, because you failed to do any research, you most likely repeated what you heard.
I think that people need to get innovative, and go back to the good old days of a good story, solid character structure, firm combat, and cut the s**t with guns and move back to good old swordplay and wizardry. A multiplayer FPS with swordplay, wizards, Oblivion'esque knights in shining armor, and ability to ride trolls like in LOTR. I don't just mean Xbox live, I mean splitscreen Xbox Live. That would be a dream come true in my eyes.
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesI agree, but guns can be very fun at times.
Black Ops had split screen online
i love FPS's i just wish every call of duty game since world at war paid more attention to the story mode (and allowed 2 players to play together...you know on the same f*****g console!) and pretty much every other FPS paid more attention to their s****y graphics which keep people going back to call of duty!
Sadly, no more FFVII's or even VIII's, I have to put up with sh*theads online if I want to use a chocobo like a rental car.
You know medal of honours been around for longer than call of duty, right? "Similar" does not equal "rip-off"
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesCOD just plain sucks ass nipples.
But Medal of Honor stopped making games. The new one was made after COD started making a bunch of money.
call of duty should have been called a medal of honor rip-off since the first game
And they all ripped off wolfenstein. Killing nazis in 3d spaces isn't new to your generation my young male and female gamers.
Meh, I don't really care for Skyward Sword's artstyle, but I'm still getting it for sure. I was the same way about Wind Waker, and that game was still awesome.
ReplyThree words. Guild. Wars. 2. Completely remaking the concept of a MMO and doing it WITHOUT A MONTHLY FEE is huge. Seriously, look to PC gaming while you're tooling around out there. You won't find the GW2 crew at E3 ether. Try PAX or Gamescon.
ReplyWow 3 people made similar games, it's almost as if there's a certain type of genre that's popular now and a lot of people are doing. That's never happened before in the history of games and is clearly a sign the entire industry is out of ideas.
ReplyYou have a very good point there, if you flip a few pages back in video gaming history, in the 70's pretty much every game that was made back then was a PONG variant. It died out when companies started making a wide assortment of games of varying genres, each trying to improve their graphics, until Crysis. So don't worry folks, this FPS craze will die out when somone turns something else into a major fad, I'm thinking... 3D motion control games (the tech is avalable now but it will be vastly improved in the future).
Reading through your gaming shit.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesI just want to say, stop. talking. about. nintendo.
They were good... in the 90's, they're utter shite now.
You're so full of s**t it's coming out your nose.
signs that you are indeed a faggot
1. spelling "shit" with an "e" at the end.
its not just s**t with an e it gives the word a different inflection.
plus its what they say in scotland and scottish accents are awsome
i dont know why i like reading about gaming when the only thing i play is the sims and dance dance revolution. just something about the mystery of it all, i guess.
Replyits only a matter of time before pokemon can be bought on an iphone/android and then the DS will immediately die as will every mans manliness for playing pokemon in public. shooters have been dead since CoD4 although battlefield 3 is coming which leaves some hope for a diverse shooter genre.
Reply