Sunday, 8 March 2009
Auditorium
I know that innovation isn't exactly the best place to go at the moment as a topic and it is all a little touch and go, (i think that maybe things have got a little "blue sky" so they will be reined back in this week... but before i do...) here is a game i wanted to share, I thought it would be appropriate as we have people that have joined us from the music module. This is one of my all time favorite browser games.
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Ha, we all love innovation to a point, I'm just a second year who's become cynical after noticing for every World Of Goo's success there are dozens of commercial failures. I think the games last week where interesting as a diversion from game everyone has on their current generation consoles at home but its important to remember we are clearly spoilt by what's on offer today. The emotional aspects in those games feature in dozens of games I've played over the years so while they where interesting to play I personally didn't see anything new in the end from a gameplay perspective as a designer.
ReplyDeleteI think Chris is right, everybody in our year are currently playing current generation consoles and games, and only a few of us are replaying older titles.
ReplyDeleteI rearly liked these games, reminded me of the early 1990s with my dad's NES; playing Metroid. Only a few games of this generation (like Chris example of World Of Goo) only tries to break the current gaming niche and thhe other try and stick to the current trent to keep their sales up and create more profit.
I mean EA broke the mould last year with the releases of Dead Space and the great Mirror's Edge, Ok some of their elements might have been featured in some other titles of this generation; but their unique IPs and sometimes great storyline and gameplay offered gamers a change to the norm, just a shame that they didn't sell as much as the usual crap that EA sell (Need for Speed inparticular)
Innovation Vs money for shareholders, yeh the latter will always win especially now with the economic downturn. I'm with Luke I love playing older games mainly because how they made me feel. When I was a teenager but when I look back and the nostalgia fades away modern day gaming is vastly superior, the graphics, tech, console features. Gameplay was the most important aspect of older games because the graphics and tech where substantially limited. the Jason Rohrer games we played last week didn't have much real gameplay to keep veteran gamers like us interested, I've played hundred of games in my life so they where nothing new, thats not to say they where not useful tho from an academic close textual analysis.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments. Missed last week but I've played Rohrer's games in the past. Just a quick point, Rohrer's games aren't retro games in the sense of the way we experience replaying an old NES game or similar, are they?
ReplyDeleteBetween was released in 2008 and Primrose came out this year, designed for the iPhone. His choice of game style - including mechanical limitations - is really part and parcel of his whole project, some of which can be understood as a rejection of the drive to ever greater levels of realism at the expense of emotive content and pure play. I suppose I should rephrase that as more of a question than a statement as I think we can all read something different into how these sorts of games function in the current climate and market.
It's interesting to hear Chris and Luke's perspectives. Guys, would you say that the experience of playing next-gen console shuts down in a sense an aesthetic appreciation of more power hungry games? That's not a judgement; I'm interested in the answer. I play next gen games too but I wonder if because most of my life was spent playing what we now consider retro-games, that somebody like me has a deeper sympathy and whether or not that sympathy is really just deep-down nostalgia?
Finally question, did you play Auditorium? What did you think? That's a game that can make me cry...
I think nostalgia definitely clouds judgement, gamers are constantly banging on about years gone by. A fantastic example is the 1998 release of Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. While I can appreciate the game as a key part of my teenage gaming years, its been improved in both aesthetics and gameplay by future series releases yet its considered by many as the greatest game ever made PURE NOSTALGIA!
ReplyDeleteAgainst current generation games role-playing games its ancient! the industry moves the goal posts so fast! When it comes down to it I'm doing a degree to gain a qualification and work in the modern day games industry where innovation that breeds success if rare. Auditorium? nope not yet :(
is* rare
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