Jump to content
NEurope

jammy2211

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    1,081

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by jammy2211

  1. Posted

    I suppose I just think being "blown away" by anything says more about the consumer than the product. If my mum plays Kinect she might come out the other side thinking of it as magic, but I'm going to be harder to impress as I've seen behind the curtain and can recognise the fairly rudimentary game design underneath. It seems you feel much the same way, but where we differ is I don't see it as a bad thing.

     

    Knowledge of the field makes it less likely I'll be bowled over by something singular, but on the other hand it puts me in a position to appreciate the micro as well as the macro. The first time I saw Portal was a bit of a wow moment because it was so wildly different, but other games consistently impress me with smaller innovations: the chain-kill system in AC: Brotherhood completely changes the way combat encounters play out, despite ostensibly being a minor change. It all comes down to being in a position to appreciate smart design.

     

    There's great ideas and quiet innovations everywhere, seeking those out is one of the things that keeps me so interested in games. And you still have titles like Braid around to subvert traditional thinking, they're just generally more prevalent in the lower risk download space before their ideas slowly trickle in to the biggest releases.

     

    This is the generation of the hybrid, not the sequel. Mass Effect, the aforementioned Assassins's Creed, Borderlands and even CoD's multiplayer: this is the generation where genres aren't so important, where conventions converge to throw up new species not easily placed. It is a medium maturing, an audience growing and something that is neither better nor worse, merely different.

     

    Don't get me wrong, I have a huge place in my heart for the little innovations, the small ideas, the easter eggs that can make a game something special. This generation has been better then any other for refinement and polishing, and the games as a whole nowadays are far more accomplished then even those releasing 7 or 8 years ago.

     

    However in all my appreciation for this somewhere I long for something new or different, whereas you don't. I like this hybrid school of game design, but it's ultimately still just leading to the overall feel of things going stale.

     

    I'm struggling to really put my feelings on this into words, maybe this is just what its like to start getting older :(.

     

    in that case, sorry if I offended you :) I very much prescribe to the school of thought that was mentioned in the post above yours; we've been blessed with a console runtime that seems to be twice as long as previous generations. My favourite console before the 360 was the N64 - it produced so many gems that, while the PS was big-mouthing its thousand-game catalogue, managed to provide a higher standard of consistency.

     

    However, this generation really pushed gaming into the nation's living rooms while at the same time encouraging a higher standard for sequels and really utilising the tool that is online gaming. Smallware games have been given a larger platform to launch from with PSN, wiiware and xbla, and generally I think it's an exciting time to be a gamer.

     

    One question we've not considered; having three big console manufacturers, admittedly for the third time, has really driven each one to consider their role and play to it. AND STUFF> WORDS ASOFHOSIFH

    This generation has been incredible and is still probably still my favourite of all - even with nostalgia tinted glasses. I could easily talk for hours about all the brilliant stuff that has come with it.

     

    Just with all the brilliant stuff that is coming from it, I have that one little niggle in the back of my mind, and the OP seemed to feel roughly the same. It's an interesting discussion to see how others feel about it, hopefully i can get some clarity on my thoughts from it :).

     

    in that case, sorry if I offended you :) I very much prescribe to the school of thought that was mentioned in the post above yours; we've been blessed with a console runtime that seems to be twice as long as previous generations. My favourite console before the 360 was the N64 - it produced so many gems that, while the PS was big-mouthing its thousand-game catalogue, managed to provide a higher standard of consistency.

     

    However, this generation really pushed gaming into the nation's living rooms while at the same time encouraging a higher standard for sequels and really utilising the tool that is online gaming. Smallware games have been given a larger platform to launch from with PSN, wiiware and xbla, and generally I think it's an exciting time to be a gamer.

     

    One question we've not considered; having three big console manufacturers, admittedly for the third time, has really driven each one to consider their role and play to it. AND STUFF> WORDS ASOFHOSIFH

    This generation has been incredible and is still probably still my favourite of all - even with nostalgia tinted glasses. I could easily talk for hours about all the brilliant stuff that has come with it.

     

    Just with all the brilliant stuff that is coming from it, I have that one little niggle in the back of my mind, and the OP seemed to feel roughly the same. It's an interesting discussion to see how others feel about it, hopefully i can get some clarity on my thoughts from it :).

  2. Posted

    I've skimmed the last page of argument because it's another stupid one. Jammy, your argument of 'memorable moments' is a purely subjective one. you may have less memorable moments simply because you have aged, seen more TV, more films, read more books, learned more about all sorts of subjects. To me the N64 was the ultimate memory manufacturer - but that was due to the time and place that I was in. There's no way that I can say that this generation is poorer than previous generations. I've spent more on games, played more games, invested more hours and therefore enjoyed myself for more hours this time round. Nostalgia holds you back, bro.

     

    I was never putting forward an argument, just expressing my feelings (Hence why I started the whole post with 'I think').

     

    I'm well aware of the many reasons that could be, but it's still how I currently feel about gaming and how i feel about this generation. Whether or not there is a bias in me or I've just played too many games - it's still a part of my feelings towards this generation.

     

    I viewed this thread more as a discussion then a debate, no ones claiming to be right, I'm just interested what other peoples take on this type of stuff is.

  3. Posted

    I simply don't see the importance in reinventing the wheel all the time or this exultation of 'new'.

     

    Comparing LittleBigPlanet to a 16-bit platformer or Assassin's Creed to GTA is not only reductionist, it's completely missing the wood for the trees. On a very basic level they may have similarities but they play completely differently, are tonally divergent, have different priorities, et cetera. I'd expect such broad strokes from someone who doesn't know anything about games, but anyone with actual experience with the things should be able to appreciate the differences between CoD, Halo, Portal, Mirror's Edge and Amnesia despite them all being in first-person and sharing a base level of control familiarity.

     

    In other words, as your knowledge of games grows so should your ability to appreciate their many divergent and innovative intricacies. We shouldn't be hearing people draw a straight line between Vanquish and Gears of War, the differences should be obvious to anyone with a finger on the pulse of third-person shooters; if you went to a wine tasting evening you'd expect a slightly higher level of insight than, "This one tastes red!"

     

    So much has changed in this generation. Allow yourself to notice it rather than waiting to be beaten over the head.

     

    I am probably enjoying this generation probably more then any other, and obviously am focusing my discussion on the negative for the purpose of this thread. I think for the most part that refining of working game formulas to make them as good as possible is fine, I sure as hell won't miss Uncharted 3 or Batman: AC or sequel-x

     

    Don't get me wrong, I think it's important that many of these game worlds are expanded upon, the stories fleshed out and I have alot of time to appreciate this sequel type stuff too.

     

    But they've been doing this for 5 years nearly now, and I guess at some point I want to play something that really ignites my imagination.

     

    When I look back to this generation I'll think of really good games, but nothing yet stands out at blowing me away. I'm well aware I could just be getting older, I could have just played too many games to feel something new, but this is the only reservation I have about this generation and whether or not it's reductionist or naive it'll still be there.

  4. Posted · Edited by jammy2211

    Generally they won't be as memorable. Mario 64 was the first well done 3D platformer. GTAIII was the first proper stab at a 3D sandbox. I'm going to take a wild guess and say FFVII was the first JRPG you ever played.

     

    Firsts are always memorable, it doesn't stop them being bettered. Gears of War is derivative of Kill Switch but you don't have to be much of a fan of the former to see which is the superior game.

     

    FFVII wasn't the first JRPG I played (not even on the PS1) but it was the first game of which the scale and depth of which just blew me away. Just that feeling where about 10 hours in you leave Midgar, and you realise the environment you spent the whole start of the game in was a spec on the whole game world was just mind blowing.

     

    You throw in the whole Aeris thing and amazing storyline and it's a game people will never forget and people still talk about today.

     

    My point is games this gen just haven't had that memorable factor to them, you can think that even just first Guitar Hero was released only 5 years ago, and that carved a whole new genre to itself and gave us a game like nothing we've ever played, an experience we've never had before.

     

    Since then it feels that nothing coming out nowadays has that potential to completely blow me away in the same way. Games like LittleBigPlanet, Borderlands, Mirrors Edge came close but they were still just a bit too familiar to really feel like nothing but really brilliant games.

     

    I'm sure my age / experience in playing games is hurting me here and that the more you've gamed the less will surprise you, but I'm sure it's not asking too much that in the 5 years these consoles have been out something could be the same breath of fresh air as many of the gaming greats that came out on previous console. I still at the moment sit with the air of hope that it's simply a matter of time :).

  5. Posted

    I think the biggest disappointment of this generation is, as being disucssed, the iterative nature of games now. All the 'big' games are now sequels, and all orignal / new IP's normally don't stray from taking a successful formula and adding a small twist to it - like Assassin's Creed was just GTA with platforming. It's all very derivative, and despite these games often being brilliant, I think it'll feel less memorable then the first time I played Mario 64,Final fantasy VII or GTAIII etc.

     

    The Downloadable space is a God send and done alot to rectify that, but it will always still feel that games like flower and Limbo just can't be that memorable like previous generations best games, simply cause they're too small. Still fun though.

     

    Nintendo have done some really good stuff with casual / fitness type software but in all honesty, while I'm sure it's pretty significient for gaming future and will define where gaming heads, it hasn't really interested me outside of SMG1&2.

     

    Personally I think I've grown to appreciated games more in this generation as I'm older now and have more money, but I don't think there have been as many games that really stand to define this generation. We're at a stage where it's all about doing what's already been done but really really well, which leads to awesome games but an overall sense of repetition after too long.

     

    Hopefully we'll see that change in the future, afterall this generation doesn't seem to be drawing to a close anytime soon.

  6. Posted

    If this is a rail shooter, then I'm not going to be happy. At first I was pleased with the re-emergence of the rail shooter, now I'm tired of them. Both COD:WAW and COD:MWR have been great on Wii, have had well sized online communities and have been great alternatives to the PS/360 versions. If they go down the same route as COD I'll be happy, if not, the game will no doubt flop and then Ubi will slag the Wii!

     

    Funny, because COD3 and WAW have done over a million and MWR is already over 800k, and MWR had ZERO advertising and is two years old! There is a 'hardcore' market on Wii, it's just a bit sick of rail shooters!

    I think they'll go down the COD route here too, seeing as it makes the most financial sense / easiest developement route to share as many resources (i.e. voice acting, storyline, Cut scenes, marketing budget etc) then create a completely different game.

     

    The core gameplay might vary, but what that means is anyones guess, most likely a greater focus on local multiplayer and an aiming / cover system designed for motion controls.

     

    I can understand Ubi's reservations about it though, Call of Duty is the biggest brand name in gaming right now, and they can't really expect a similiar game in a similiar genre to out sell any Call of Duty game; on any system. They need something to differentiate this on the Wii :/.

  8. Posted

    Name another company (in the console video game manufacturer business) that went from dead last to record sales in one foul swoop?

     

    I don't think there is one.

     

    That's why I have respect for Nintendo (from a business perspective).

     

    Sony did, and then back the other way :P.

  9. Posted

    I er...

     

    Yeah, well, getting a game to the same stage as GTA4 (technically speaking), creating the same amount of buzz and being able to essentially guarantee a good game costs a lot more than 50 million.

     

    And I won't bother thinking of a reply for Nicktendo's three highly intelligent and well-thought out points.

     

    $50 million should cover you for a one platform game. Gears of War only cost $7 million, Gears of War II $12 millioon and the two Uncharted games were like $18 million...

  10. Posted

    I'm not sure I totally agree with this. I believe that the decline of the genre on the home console market is more to do with the spiralling development costs of RPGs - the genre has probably been more affected by the advent of HD gaming (whereas most games now shrink in gameplay length to balance budget/profit; but thats simply not an option in RPG - hiddeously long quests are a staple of the genre). Back in the day, RPGs were probably the games with highest budget.

     

    I wonder if the traditional RPG gamer now gets a fix from the likes of World of Warcraft - at least the few people I know who are massive RPG fans seem to be.

     

    All that said, this is sounding great. Its been quite a while since Nintendo hit us with new IP for the core gamer.

     

    The HD developement thing really hasn't affected them - There is only a userbase of like 5 million HD console owners in Japan anyway, and no one's rushed to put many high budget JRPG's on the Wii. It's just when there are 5 times as many PSP's and DS's in Japan then home consoles, you're going to put most your support there.

     

    There's probably more RPG's nowadays then ever before - and as a genre it very rarely had any 'huge hits' outside of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts. Not alot has changed, just on the PSP and DS people tend to ignore them more, as it's hardest to really make a JRPG standout on limited hardware.

  11. Posted

    Iwata is a big fan of JRPG's, he bought a PS1 on the release day of Dragon Quest VII, and he seems to really want to push RPG's in japan even further, which I am loving to be honest.

     

    Since most JRPG 3rd party companies have ignored the Wii besides the Dragon Quest series, it's obvious Nintendo are now taking it into their own hands, to try and make sure that JRPG can survive since it's been on a decline (Final Fantasy XIII has yet to make 2 mill in Japan which is a very bad sign of a decline as each FF title has been on a decline)

     

    The JRPG isn't in a decline, it's just the Japanese people have moved from the PS1/Ps2 to the handhelds.

     

    But this project sounds cool, I just can't get over the title, 'The Last Story'. It's like a shameless rip right from Final Fantasy right up to the logo. I know he made FF in the first place and all, but still, it seems shameless and cliché.

     

    Need to see some footage!

  12. Posted

    Also the fact that the Crystal Chronicle series had a fanbase originally already, sales of all the Crystal Chronicle games have done fairly well. Because the style of gameplay has rarely changed.

    Now you have the big bosses of S-E who think because the Wii have a different audience, that they want a completely different game. So in the end, with what they did, they lost the fanbase behind the series, but also no one wanted to pay much attention to it since it looked like a meh game, I am surprised how excited I was about this game, only to have it taken away so drastically.

    I think even the creator of the game said it was going to bomb. Next time Square...give us the Chrystal Chronicle games that most people know and love.

     

    People complained about FF:CC being too different, and were pissed the GameCube one was like a multiplayer FF when all we wanted was an epic single player.

     

    Now we've gone full circle :laughing:.

  13. Posted

    Let me recommend these guys Video Games Plus and only for £23 You can change the currency you view the price via a option on the right hand side. Tis where I got my copy from....last year! :D

     

    Cheers, I've never played a GOW but love the hack n slash type genre. Figure it's best to work through the trilogy from start to finish :).

     

    I'll get on top of that soon, probably make it my next purchase. Got an unopened Red Faction Guerilla to play first...

  15. Posted

    With Wii 3rd party sales falling behind PS3 its going to be hard for Nintendo to stop this. Sony seem to have created a system where they gain from Wii development and middleware companies are already promoting the idea with free crossovers etc. Now you are hearing game companies want their motion games on PS3(Marvelous's head to Capcom etc.). But lets see how it turns out.

     

    edit: Would be funny if PS3 is going to be your Wii HD.

     

    Most these companies can't afford to make their games in HD, they just don't have the tech required.

  16. Posted

    I too am on a limited budget, as a student I've got to buy food, pay bills, drink alcohol and use my scrapes left over for gaming. Obviously I haven't got much time to commit to gaming nowadays either, although I can normally find a few hours in the evening.

     

    For me this is why I have to avoid the Wii selection of games, as it just never feels like the Wii games I missed over the years are worth the same (Or normally more money) then the shelves of PS3 games. I've bought Smash Bros, Metroid 3, Smash Bros, No More Heroes etc but after that I just don't see any games that for me are a better investment.

     

    It's quickly becoming the standard on PS3 for the 'biggest' games to have a full offline story, online multiplayer and online co-op, whereas Nintendo still arn't bothering to put online in their big multiplayer games this Christmas. It's not me being greedy, just very cautious, I'd happily buy a Wii game if I felt it was worth the money (As I'm sure I will with SMG2) but in all honesty I don't see many games on the Wii horizon that have anywhere near as much ambition or scope as the PS3 :(.

     

    I think Nintendo are the ones being greedy, haha.

  17. Posted

    Muramasa and No More Heroes likely coming to PS3. Alot of Wii games are looking like they will be ported. I think the main reason for the Wii is Nintendo's games. I want Mario Kart Wii 2.

     

    Neither of those games have been linked with the Ps3 at all :/.

     

    I know there was some rumour about a Marvelous game heading to the PS3 but it was probably just BS.

  18. Posted

    These games really confuse the hell out of me, why are there two versions? Wheres the logic? Are they the same game? :S.

     

    I'd guess if they're different games they'll both get ports in a years time or something.

  19. Posted

    I expected similiarities to Zelda but that trailer showed the game as pretty much a straight rip off. The music at times I thought was from LTTP, it had the Zelda chicken things, boomerang to hit switch puzzle thing and the game just looks like Zelda and plays like it lol.

     

    It should be fun mind.

  20. Posted

    I too haven't bought a game for my Wii or played it in over a year, I think Smash Bros was the last game I bought / played. I plan on going through Zack and Wiki with my housemates some time though.

     

    The problem for me is Wii games simply don't feel like great value compared to any PS3 offering now. Online play still isn't a standard like it should be, and while I can cope with lesser graphics the weaker hardware just makes Wii games feel more limited for some reason, I can't really describe it though :P.

     

    It's like someone else said, there just arn't enough awesome single player must own games on the console. I thought the big 3 of Metroid, Smash Bros and Galaxy was just the beginning but it feels like it was just the premature end :( (Until 2010 anyway).

     

    Erm yeah.

  23. Posted

    Well the one's I'm personally looking forward to:

     

    New Super Mario Bros Wii

    Silent Hill

    Dead Space Extraction

    Resident Evil Darkside (will probably be either Dead Space OR this)

    Muramasa (was 2010, brought forward to November)

    Night Game (WiiWare... and IF it hits before the end of the year).

     

    Muramasa is a must buy then, woo. Really not alot else to excite me there though, that's a really sucky line up to be honest :/.

  24. Posted

    You mean unlike all the titles that were delayed in every other platform? And to be honest the Wii probably has the most quality titles out this fall, just not Modern Warfare 2.

     

    Just curious, what games are these? I'm looking for ANYTHING to buy for my Wii once I go back to uni and the only title I see coming out soon is New Super Mario Bro's, which although fun and a must buy feels somewhat like a let down to me, I really don't want another multiplayer orientated game.

     

    Looking around the various websites and such I really can't find much else that looks that great to me, I've not a clue what Cursed Mountain is though and I see alot of hype for that so I'll check it out. I believe Muramasa was delayed until 2010 too? :(

     

    Ohhhhhh and I already own the Metroid Prime Trilogy.

     

    Btw this isn't a flame or anything, I really just want to give my Wii another chance before sticking it on Ebay... especially as SMG2 is due out next year >_>.

  25. Posted

    The reason they announced the psp go is beacuse it will be digital so you don't need UMD games and they are not cheep the ones on the PSN Store will be and Sony is doing a good will program for people who got UMD games to transfer them to the PSP GO and we will now how much the PSP GO will cost in UK this Tuesday at Gamescom

     

    You're missing the point.

     

    I know what the PSP Go is for, but I'm curious to know whether, if say an old PSP game costs £5 off play.com (Wipeout Pulse does for example) whether I'd just be able to buy the UMD and then 'transfer' it to my PSP Go, rather then buy it off the PS store for £8 or whatever it costs.

     

    They might not bother but they might want to convince PSP 3000 owners to convert, who knows!

×