The Gamer's Quarter

[Mister Toups]

[Scratchmonkey]

What I wonder is if Chris Hecker's portion of the 'Burning Down the House' rant at this year's GDC is actually relevant or not.

For those who weren't there/haven't gone through the transcript, Hecker claims that the CPUs on the Xbox and PS3 will be 'in-order' processors as opposed to the current-standard 'out-of-order' processors. More importantly, the change from out-of-order to in-order will hamper the creativity of the programmers and (assumedly) the creativity of the designers.

At least according to Hecker. It's not entirely clear that this will be an issue or not, I haven't seen anybody provide a reasonable counter-explanation, although I'm taking what Hecker said on faith.

[JasonMoses]

[aderack]

Well. The thing is, the point that he has is... kind of obvious. Yes, more power is more power.

So. Okay. Now that we've established that the sky is blue, let's... look at this a little more deeply, then.
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[dark steve]

Well. Traditionally, artful game design has utilized the limitations of hardware, and turned them into strengths. Metal Gear became a stealth game when Kojima realized the MSX hardware wasn't powerful enough to handle the more traditional action title he envisioned. So, if these consoles are really as grotesquely powerful as is being claimed (they aren't of course, but if they're close..), what happens when all the technical boundaries begin to recede? Will this make games "better?"

[aderack]

I know that game music took a nose-dive for years once developers abandoned chiptunes for redbook. It took until about five years ago for sound teams to adjust and figure out how to set their own limitations.

There's also the factor that many of the best NES games (Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden, Rygar) are as they are because it was impossible to replicate the arcade experience; the design teams therefore elected to take a different approach, more suited to the capabilities of the hardware at hand.

Then there's Silent Hill.
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[disneyland]

It is interesting that in the process of "downsizing" they were forced to completely alter the design of the game. There was a lot of that when the arcade scene was vibrant and technologically dominant. The new designs were observing: Player Sitting on Couch with Controller (and Start Button) for Extended Periods, instead of Player Standing in Arcade with Joystick (and 25 Cent Coin) for Several Minutes.

We probably don't have that kind of forcibly inspirational dichotomy anymore, do we? The motivation isn't so direct. Steering one game down two different design paths by necessity. One could hope that the 360/PS3/Revolution are so different that this might begin to happen again.

But no, we'll still be getting far too many multi-platform titles. Like a Prince of Persia 4, you know, running at 100% on the X360, 95% on PS3, and 85% on Revolution. And we get to play "Spot the insufferably minute discrepancies between each version" with another generation of systems and games.

All it takes is a couple of fantastic system exclusives from a talented and stable developer, and that developer's third or fourth game could be pure, system-defying magic. I'm ok with this, because it usually raises the bar. Then maybe another developer, just as talented, but smaller and not as stable, looks at that third or fourth title and says,” We can't live up to that size, but we can figure something out that's a bit more original and probably make it work better." Sort of like the console team trying to conjure up something new and fun when the arcade port was deemed unfeasible. And progress is made.

Having a tremendous amount of raw power to start with will certainly help matters in such situations over the next few years. I’d love to say that gaming is sacred and untouchable and should be immune to the pace at which technology progresses in other forms of media and entertainment, but that era is long gone. Gaming consoles have to keep pace now. Such is the state of cross-pollination and integration. And if you honestly can’t believe that next-gen technology will foster completely new (and interesting, and fun) opportunities for evolved gameplay, you just don’t have faith in the amazing game designers we have in this industry.

- DL

[dessgeega]

[mudokononastick]

Where Final Fantasy 7 going to Sony was a crippling blow to Nintendo, MGS permanently defecting to Nintendo or Microsoft would possibly do the same thing to Sony. Sony had better watch their backs...
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Dinah Moe Humm, Dinah Moe Humm, Where's this Dinah Moe comin' from?

[Mister Toups]

[ApM]

I will start having faith in the amazing game designers we have in this industry when they start figuring out how to make games my fiancee wants to play. Just as a sign that they don't have their heads completely up their asses. It doesn't honestly seem like it should be all that hard; it just requires them to stop being adolescent boys about everything.

Right now that essentially means I have faith in Will Wright, and Nintendo. There are some standouts here and there, Katamari and all that, but that's essentially it.

[Mister Toups]

And note, the few developers and personalities worth having faith in tend not to particularly make fancy use of new hardware.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[TOLLMASTER]

[aderack]

Eventually, yes. The problem I see at the moment is that I'm not sure developers have yet really learned to do anything especially interesting with the current generation of hardware. Now they're being asked to move on and learn new hardware and spend another few years adjusting before they have an opportunity to do anything that really takes advantage of the technology they have. Then at current rate, they'll be asked to do the same again even sooner. It's just a silly way of doing business.
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[Mister Toups]

And it's counterproductive in the short term because of increased developmont costs, which have a the undeniable effect of squashing innovation and encouraging sequels and rehashes of established gameplay models.

The only real reason Microsoft and Sony are even doing has nothing to do with video games. This is about their stated attempts at expanding their consoles' identity into a "media content delivery platform" to "take over the living room", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. That's only reason we are seeing a next generation so soon.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[dhex]

that and they've got to stay ahead of the housing bubble.
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[aderack]

Those thinks work like a katamari, then?
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[dhex]

very much so, minus the whimsy and cute accessories.

i do sometimes wonder what people will do when they can no longer charge their glorious entertainment. are people willing to save up to buy madden reiterations?
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